Hisense Sero 7 Pro

Yet another low-budget competitor for the Google Nexus 7, the Hisense Sero 7 Pro presents the typical mixed bag of pluses and minuses reminiscent of such tablets. Performance isn’t the best, but the Sero 7 Pro is nicely lightweight and does contain a surprise or two, including a serious suite of Google apps.

At the price, the specs and extras in the Sero 7 Pro are attractive enough: Two cameras (including a 5MP rear version) are here – though it must be noted that the 2MP front camera is really little more than a waster of time. The Sero 7 Pro comes standard with 8 GB, a decent if unexciting offering in a budget tablet, to which may be added 32 GB via the micro SD card slot. Micro-USB and mini-HDMI ports are included as well. One also gets WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity plus GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer all standard.

It’s in the processor where things get really disappointing. For one reason or another, the 1.3 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU is not only a bit out of date, it’s well slow for running more complex software or “heavier” video files.

Seemingly to make up for the deficiency, Hisense has included dozens of Google apps that work smoothly and quickly, beginning with the usual suspects such as Google Play, Google Talk and the like and finishing with an original and interesting one-click screenshot creator right on the desktop – this is one feature every electronic device should have these days… So call the Hisense Sero Pro 7 a sensible alternative in a budget tablet – After all, it is available at WalMart.