LE PAN II

The Le Pan II tablet PC gained instant popularity after its January 2012 release due to a budget price and an accent on entertainment first. While this edition of Le Pan does suffer from the usual limitations of budget tablet, the plusses put this device among the tops in the low-price range.

At first glance, the Le Pan II stands out in its design with a subtly curved frame around the bezel. While this adds a bit of size and heft to the tablet, the Le Pan is still well manageable and totable at dimensions of 9.29” x 7.44” x 0.48” (23.6 x 18.9 x 1.2 cm) and weight of 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg). The brushed aluminum finish isn’t much to look at, but does give a greater feel of solidity to the device.

Naturally, as a device built primarily for media-playing purposes, much of Le Pan’s success rides on its screen. The 9.7”, 1024 x 768-pixel display on this tablet is indeed impressive enough. Colors and contrast are quite sharp; while this screen is no Samsung, it’s certainly impressive at its price of $250 to $300.

Other specs – except one – are decent to well above average for a budget tablet PC: Powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm processor, the Le Pan II includes WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity. The operating system is currently Google Android 3.2, but an upgrade to 4.0 is promised by the company. In-built memory is 8 GB which can be expanded to 32 GB via micro SD card, and the device includes one front-facing 2 MP camera.

The chief drawback: A sorry six hours of battery life. Yes, you’ll be recharging the Le Pan II often ... If you can live with this one disadvantage, however, the Le Pan II represents quite a satisfying choice for the video-first tablet user.