The market for discounted tablets is very difficult for manufacturers because, except for a few models from renowned manufacturers, it is invaded by an army of tablets made in China and the possibilities of getting noticed are reduced. One such attempt is the company GoClever, a Polish producer active on the Central and Eastern Europe market, who launched the Orion 101, a business 10 ” tablet equipped with keyboard which attempts to provide a much cheaper alternative to well established models.
Since price is one of the main factors in purchasing a tablet, many manufacturers are trying to offer cheaper products with pretty good performances. If you don’t know what kind of tablet you should choose, make sure you go to Ten Mania in order to better understand tablets.
Design
The new tablet from GoClever is not to different from the standard design of Android models that we have become accustomed with in recent years, it has a rectangular shape with rounded corners and a front providing only the screen and camera lens hidden under the protective glass. The side frame has a comfortable rounded shape, which is made of a plastic which was good adhesion. The same material is used for both sides of the rear cover, which also has an aluminum surface.
Orion 101 stands out from other cheap Android tablets, with a good attention to detail. The MicroSD slot, Micro USB connector Mini and the HDMI video output are hidden by a protective cap, thereby reducing the enumeration of ports. Speakers have a dual grid, on both sides and rear frame to reduce the chance of signal fading regardless of where we position the tablet in hand. Attention is reflected in the quality of construction and assembly, the housing is rigid and there are no flex-free areas or poorly joined.
Further details include a set of buttons for volume control and the Power / Lock, with small, good finish that are made from the same material as the frame. The most interesting aspect of the package is the GoClever keyboard. It uses standard Bluetooth connectivity, making it easy since there are no connectors detached and the tablet is supported only by a simple stand. Compared to the tablet, the keyboard uses clearly inferior materials and the design and workmanship are not too impressive.
Software, Audio and Video Camera
At this point, the tablet runs Android platform version 4.1.1, an update to 4.2 is promised for the near future. Beyond a few applications, such as a file manager, a video player and an alternative store for games, Go Clever did not interfere much with the software, the interface and options are the default ones.
A particular feature of the CPU Allwinner A31 processor is the CedarX video decoder, an internally developed product that enables playback with resolution 4K video streams. To showcase this feature, characteristic only for more expensive solutions like Snapdragon 800, Allwinner offers a proprietary video player that brings wide support for codecs, subtitles, multiple audio channels and support for 3D videos.
Screen, Hardware, Performance, Autonomy
With a diagonal of 10.1 “and a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, the screen is not impressive in terms of density, but we could not ask for more than 150 ppi at this price level. Panel type used is IPS, it provides a reasonable brightness, contrast and beautiful colors, making the product more than satisfactory for a low cost tablet.
The touch surface has low friction and provides very good control.
The battery with a capacity of 6200 mAh offeres a good range but poor video playback for Web browsing, the Allwinner A31 processor being to blame, which is manufactured in a 40 nanometer process and is not even a standard for energy efficiency.
