ONDA V820W WINDOWS/ANDROID TABLET REVIEW
OVERVIEW
$90 on Gearbest.com
Onda V820W Windows Phone/Android Tablet
POSITIVES
Bright screen, IPS panel
Quad Core Intel Baytrail processor
Intel HD graphics
HDMI
Glass screen with pre-applied protector
Can install linux in addition to existing OS
Electronics hardware is top notch
Massive 4000mAh battery
Crushing raw performance
Can play HD videos
Quad Core Intel Baytrail processor
Intel HD graphics
HDMI
Glass screen with pre-applied protector
Can install linux in addition to existing OS
Electronics hardware is top notch
Massive 4000mAh battery
Crushing raw performance
Can play HD videos
NEGATIVES
Stock Android ROM is not perfect
No GPS
2MP Camera!
4K videos tend to glitch intermittently
Build quality and material is cheap (all plastic)
Screen supports higher resolution but limited by OS
No GPS
2MP Camera!
4K videos tend to glitch intermittently
Build quality and material is cheap (all plastic)
Screen supports higher resolution but limited by OS
Dual booting is a common thing on computers, but not so much when it comes to smartphones. Dual booting on smartphones does require additional ROM to store the two operating systems and that can push the costs upwards. Apparently, what we are going to see today is the cheapest dual boot tablet available on the market. Some may already say that it could be a low end device but the specs should be enough to change your mind.
Build
It comes in a nice little cardboard box with ‘Onda’ logo as well as an ‘Intel Inside’ logo on the front. Onda is generous enough to provide a 2A charger which can charge the tablet’s massive 4000mAh battery quite quickly. There is the micro USB cable, user manual and all usual stuff.
The device itself is all white and made from plastic. The internals are made from moulded plastic as well. The screen is 8 inches in size and supports a measly resolution of 1280×800. The resolution may not be that high, but apparently the pixels are much tinier than expected which leads to the conclusion that the IPS panel may actually support a higher resolution but it is limited by the operating system. Nevertheless, the screen is good and should not be that big of a problem. There is a glass panel on the screen which gives some strength to the body and feels good to use. The back panel has curvy, grooved lines all across the panel and that gives good grip while holding the tablet. Since, the back panel is all white, it looks nice when it is new, but I expect it to become slightly yellowish and dirty along the edges because that is how my other white products have become.
You can find the volume rocker and the unlock button on the edges and there is also a slot for micro SD card if you want additional memory. A 3.5mm audio jack can be found on the top side, along with a micro USB port for charging and OTG support. One cool feature I noticed here is a second slot which is used to connect HDMI devices! Basically, you can project your tablet’s screen on a larger display with this port using an HDMI cable. That can be handy if you do not have wireless screen cast devices such as an Easycast.
Inside the tablet, we have an Intel Baytrail Z3735F Quad core processor with Intel HD graphics. It operates at a maximum clock speed of 1.33GHz but can go up to 1.8GHz in turbo boost. Along with that, there is 2GB of RAM sitting around.
Keeping the good stuff aside and looking at the real picture. Even if there are all those cool features that everyone wants, the overall body is just as important to make sure the devices stays in one piece. Since everything including the internals are plastic, the device easily bends and that can crack the glass if it bends too much. You will notice squeaking sounds if you press the back cover in certain places, especially at the bottom indicating a bad build quality. Well, you cannot complain because Onda is giving away this tablet for mere $90 on Gearbest.com!
Overall Performance
With all this great hardware, Android 4.4.4 runs smoothly on this device but there are too many flaws that need to be fixed through firmware updates. The graphics appear slightly blurry on Android. The icons appear to be of low resolution. Looking at the system statistics, we can see the processor is constantly at 1.8GHz and this is confirmed by a lower battery life while running Android as compared to Windows 8.1. All the usual Android apps run great on this device and the benchmarks give quite good results.
There are Android updates coming from Onda quite frequently thus improving the overall experience but installing the updates themselves can be a pain! On the air updates do not seem to go very smoothly and often result in an error, so you have to turn to your PC and do it manally. If you are ready to do some technical fiddling, you can go ahead and install custom ROMs such as the Onda Z, that are known to have fixed a lot of the issues in the stock ROM, especially the resolution issue. Display becomes a lot crispier with custom ROM plus you get a much better UI.
Even if there are some flaws that I mentioned the device works just great running Android and the flaws I mentioned will not bother you unless you are hell bent on making no compromise.
Problems like the clock running at 1.8GHz are non existent on Windows 8.1. The performance is excellent on both operating systems. Users have claimed that the internal graphics processor is super powerful and it can actually encode HD videos quite quickly. Speaking of videos, the Onda Tablet can also play 4K resolution videos with an intermittent glitch whereas 1080p videos will play with no glitch or lag whatsoever.
What is disappointing is the camera. The back camera is only 2.0MP which is really bad in terms of resolution but it does take quite decent images. A lot of users have claimed to have used twitch streaming while playing Steam games which shows that all Windows apps will run with no problems at all.
Audio performance
The audio can get quite loud on the Onda V820W tablet. It is crisp but lacks bass. That is one disappointing thing about the loudspeakers it has. Putting on your favourite earphones or headphones should make things much better. Considering that there is an Intel HD graphics processor which also happens to have a good audio codec will output excellent audio through the 3.5mm jack but that will only give you a stereo output. To have surround sound, you need to expand your horizons.
In order to experience the true music, you need to make use of that HDMI port that is provided on this tablet. I have noticed a lot of people buying this tablet as a backup device to their existing high end tablet or smartphone. Assuming that you have a cool large screen display with HDMI receiver setup with surround sound setup, you can connect this tablet to your HDMI receiver and stream music that will provide a much richer experience. If you are into surround sound over WiFi, there are receivers like Yamaha RX-V577 7.2 channel receiver or the Sony BDV-E3100 5.1 channel receiver, both of which are high quality systems.
Another option is to make use of Bluetooth speakers such as the Bose Soundlink or Xiaomi Mini Bluetooth speakers. The two speakers I just mentioned do not really support surround sound. There are surround sound speakers out there that work on Bluetooth as well such as the Frisby FS-5020BT which seems to have great ratings on Amazon and users have pointed out that the sound quality is just as good as an expensive Sony system.
Conclusion
Onda V820W is perhaps the most inexpensive dual boot tablet computers I have come across. Yes, it may have some flaws but the electronic components used inside are not usually given away for such a low cost. This device can beat the high end tablets from renowned consumer electronics companies in terms of raw performance. It is a tablet worth buying, at least to keep it as a backup.
When it comes to support, they have their own OndaForums where you can get help from other users as well as their staff.
At this moment in time the tablet has met all of my expectations and everything is working (mine is the v3 model)
Beautiful and bright display with a good gyroscope for rotation.
This tablet on a stock rom is nothing fantastic
This ONLY becomes a great tablet once you have flashed it with a custom ROM
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