dgstorm
Editor in Chief
It's not too often that we get free gear from the various mobile vendors of the world. Today breaks that trend. The folks at Gearbest were kind enough to send us a cool new toy to try out. We have the Onda V820W Android & Windows 10 Dual-Boot Tablet!
Of course, we felt compelled to review it, so that's what we have brought you today! First, here are the internal specs of the Onda V820W:
- 8-inch 1280x800 IPS Retina capacitive touchscreen
- Intel Atom X5 Z8300 Quad-Core CPU 1.84GHz / Intel HD Gen8 Graphics
- 2GB DDR3L RAM + 32GB ROM, microSD support up to 128GB
- Front and rear camera at 2.0MP
- Bluetooth/OTG/WiFi/HDMI functions
- 4200mAh battery
- Dual-boot between Android 4.4 KitKat and Windows 10
Instead of the usual multi-page monstrosity that you folks normally see reviewers use, we will respect your desire for brevity and throw down a bullet-point of all of our primary thoughts regarding this intriguing dual-boot tablet. This should serve as a quick summary to most of the relevant things that matter when considering a purchase of the Onda V820W.
Case Design & Aesthetics -
- Good looking outer case design and aesthetics
- Nice light weight and surprisingly thin for a budget-friendly tablet
- We liked the texture on the back - it makes the tablet easier to hold
- No included wall-charger could be a turn off (but includes USB transfer and charging cable for PCs/Macs)
- Connectivity is pretty robust with microSD, HDMI & More
- Good but unremarkable display quality with bright colors and sharp images/text
- The glass of the display is a bit too glossy for background lights
- The glass doesn't feel as smooth as other tabs - not rough, just a bit "dull"
- Dual-boot between Windows 10 and Android is quick and easy - (really cool selling point)
- Snappy performance in Android, with only some minor and rare lag in Windows 10
- Surprisingly good gaming performance in Windows 10, especially considering the anemic 2GB of RAM
- Solid WiFi connection
- Audio is pretty bad - the onboard speaker is practically unusable, but using the headphone jack was marginally better
- Relatively mediocre battery life (for a tablet), but fits about what you would expect for the price
- Tablet Shuts off in Windows 10 when left for a long time (and must be rebooted with a long press of power button) - this is obviously the power saving settings of the OS as the same thing did not occur with the tablet in Android mode
- Both cameras are terrible - wouldn't use them for pictures or video, but maybe Skype if you are desperate
- Cool that it includes a version of Microsoft Office for Tablets
- The Windows Logo on the front of the case is actually functional - brings up the Start Menu in Windows 10
- In Windows 10 you must manually bring up the keyboard for any time you want to type - for example, when tapping in a Google Search bar it won't automatically bring up a keyboard - (this could be a setting we are unaware of)
- Edge browser doesn't resize web images and web sites properly (again... setting maybe?)
Ultimately, we would say that wherever you can get this tablet for less than $100, it is a decent investment if you want a dual-boot tablet which includes Android and Windows 10. At any price above that, we can't recommend it.
The Onda V820W is currently on sale at Gearbest for the next 5 days. Its normal retail price is $155.77, which is not a good deal considering the tablet's shortcomings; however, the current sale price of only $85.49 is worth considering if you have no need for quality audio or a decent camera. At that price it's practically a stocking stuffer that will let users browse the web, game (with headphones), or even get a bit productive with Windows 10.
We'd like to thank Gearbest for giving us this opportunity to check out the Onda V820W Dual-Boot Android/Windows 10 Tablet!
Here's the link for those considering picking one up: http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_266786.html?utm_source=GB&utm_medium=GBYJ
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