VODAFONE SMART TAB II 7

Once the iPad was launched, it was followed by a whole host of imitators. The same has happened with the Google Nexus 7 – and here’s just one of those devices that has jumped on the bandwagon – the Vodafone Smart Tab II.

The Smart Tab 2 is built like it's ready for medieval war with its thick plastic dotted armour, which is encompassed by a metal outer-rim that, overall, weighs a ton. Well, not an actual ton, more like 400g, which is pretty hefty for a 7-inch "on-the-go" tablet.

The 7-inch screen has a so-so resolution of 1,024x600 pixels (165 ppi), so less than HD. It's not bad to look at, but there are better out there in this price range and it's a shame there doesn't seem to be any sort of oleophobic coating on it -- it soon greases up from contact with your fingers.

The Vodafone Smart Tab II is powered by a single core ARM Cortex A9 1GHz processor. This processor has access to 1GB of RAM while on-board memory is 4GB which fortunately can be expanded through the addition of a microSD card – just remember to turn off the tablet before inserting and removing the card. You should get a full day’s use with basic email and browser activity from the unit’s 3,550mAh built-in battery.

With the Smart Tab 2 priced around the same as the Google Nexus 7 (which has sold millions around the world), the Tab 2 was already facing a tough job of competing. Unfortunately the Smart Tab 2 failed to impress in nearly every area during testing.

By last year’s standards this wouldn’t be a bad budget tablet. It’s reasonably well built, runs a decent OS, and doesn’t have an awful or badly unresponsive screen. By this year’s standards, however, it’s only worth a look if you must have built-in 3G connectivity, or if the contract option makes sense for what you want to do.