7 Inch iRulu eXpro X1 Android Tablet Review
A decent starter/budget tablet, good for casual browsing and streaming. Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/HfcUET As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
The tablet has a lightweight plastic outer shell in a pastel purple pastel. The unit measures 4.75" L x 7" W x 3/8” H and weighs just under 2 lbs. It comes with a screen protector pre-installed, and you have to pull the backing off first which has some quickstart instructions printed on the front. The application of the screen protector wasn’t very precise on my unit so it's clearly done by hand; there’s a few speckles of dust and bubbles under it around the edges and they're not perfectly flush with the edges. I also noticed a light colored 1/4" hair/filament trapped beneath the glass of the screen that I wouldn’t be able to get rid of even if I changed the screen protector. While this is simply a flaw specific to the unit I received, it's worth noting that the manufacturing process may allow for these small defects.
There’s a thick black border around the screen that’s nearly 3/8” wide making the screen look bigger than it really is; the diagonal of the viewable screen is just under 7" with a 1024 x 600 dpi resolution. This unit has a 0.3 MP centered on the front and 3.0 MP center back camera, so both are pretty low resolution. It charges via the microUSB port at the top with the included 39" USB cable, or optionally can use a 5V barrel style DC charger, but a cable and adapter weren’t included for this port. The headphone port is on the right-hand side as well as the volume rocker and TF card slot for an optional microSD card to expanded the internal memory of 16GB by up to 32GB, however, a card is not included.
The mic sits just about the front camera and the power button is on the top right. The tablet has a long splash screen and sometimes takes over 50 seconds to turn on. I think as the battery runs low it takes even a few seconds longer. This tablet OS is Android 4.4 KitKat, so it's not the newest 5.0 Lollipop. It has a 1.5GHZ Quad Core processor but isn't what I would call zippy. The unit is pre-loaded with a bunch of apps and promotional stuff from iRulu, but you can remove the ones you don’t want and install some from the Play Store.
The interface overall is like a typical Android system and has five home screens that you can swipe left and right to, however, there’s no navigation bar to indicate which screen you’re currently on, typically shown as dots, and the screens don’t wrap around when you reach the first or last screen so it's easy to forget which screen you're on. Each screen holds up to 36 apps. The responsiveness of the system is slow and it oftentimes it takes a few extra seconds to load up apps, graphics, and webpages. As long as you're patient, things will load eventually. The screen itself doesn't have great resolution or color balance and the contrast isn’t very high. Dark colors are faded and what would be vibrant colors on HD screens get washed out. I compared this to the Kindle Fire HDX screen and the difference was stark.
The included leather folio case is nice. It provided some padded protection for the tablet and has a magnetic clasp like a notebook. It features a built-in keyboard and the tablet fits easily into the corner brackets. There isn't a cutout for the back camera on the case, so you can't take photos or videos with the back camera while it is in the case. The back of the case does have a fold out stand for handsfree viewing in landscape though. The keyboard has no battery, instead it is powered by plugging it into the microUSB charging port on the tablet. You can use the keyboard as you would any normal keyboard whenever you need to type, although the keys are very small and feel cramped.There also aren’t any Android specific keys like 'Back', 'Home', or 'Open apps' on the keyboard but these buttons do appear on the tablet screen along the bottom. There are also on-screen soft keys for volume and two side bars for quick access to apps on every screen. The right side bar is customizable with up to 6 apps while the left is not (only Google and Google Now voice search).
Overall, the tablet is very usable. It’s not the best: it doesn’t have the greatest screen and it’s not super fast. The battery life is mediocre, and it will drain even when the unit is turned off. On a full charge it typically lasts about 2 days on standby and at least 4-5 hours of continuous mixed use. There are a few quirks with this unit but at least it can do what every other budget android device does, and it allows you to browse the web, download apps, play games, and stream videos.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/HfcUET