After the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, Android tablets that could make voice calls instantly became a dying breed. However, there has been a resurgence in tablets these days that can make voice calls, one good example being the ASUS Fonepad. However, the Fonepad is a bit pricey, and if you’re looking for a more affordable alternative, the Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue might be more to your liking.
The Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue is a mid-range 7 inch Android tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with the company’s Emotion UI 1.5. It sports a mediocre 1024 x 600 IPS display, which should be adequate for regular web browsing, but might not be sharp enough for reading manga and comics. At least it redeems itself by rocking a capable quad core K3V2 Cortex-A9 CPU that Huawei developed in-house. There’s also an ample 1Gb of RAM for decent multitasking and 8Gb of storage, expandable via a micro SD slot.
The MediaPad 7 Vogue puts a lot of emphasis on connectivity, which shouldn’t come as a surprise for a device that touts voice-calling as its killer feature. There’s WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS with A-GPS and even DLNA. Naturally, there’s 2G/3G connectivity with up to HSDPA 42Mbps download speeds. There’s also a VGA front-facing camera for video calls and a 3mp for stills and basic video recording should you need it. Finally, the Vogue is powered by a 4,100mAh battery, which should be more than enough considering a lot of other tablets make do with less.
I find it curious that tablets with voice-call capabilities are becoming a trend that OEMs are force-feeding us. Perhaps companies like Huawei and ASUS are trying to get a head start on the next big thing by creating an all new device category. I’m especially amused that they keep telling us to use them they way would a smartphone when making calls by holding a 7 inch slab against the side of you head. Frankly, I’d still buy one of these if I could afford one and just plug in a headset for calls, but maybe that’s just me. No word yet on how much this will retail for or when it will arrive in the Philippines but it will become available in China this month then shortly roll out to other regions.
Source and Image Credits: Huawei
