Cubed3’s ever popular Tech Up! series has looked at many different types of products on the market, but the last time a tablet PC was under the microscope was back in 2012 when the features team took the Google Nexus 7 for a spin. Back then tablets were still somewhat of a novelty, but nowadays that is rapidly changing with a plethora of options available for purchase. The question is, which one is the best value and quality all rolled into one? Well, GOCLEVER’s ARIES 785, weighing in between £140 and £200 depending where it is bought.
Speed is essential when using tablets, since the whole idea of using them instead of laptops is the sheer convenience of them. Less cumbersome? Check – at 7.85 inches this slim device is fantastic in terms of portability. More versatile? Check – 3G capabilities mean that slotting in a micro SIM will allow for usage of personal phone plans to access the Google Play Store, emails, as well as the Internet in general! How useful, right? Skype calls or even normal phone calls work very well indeed as well.
Lasts longer? Check – okay, whilst laptop batteries are getting better with each new upgrade, the GOCLEVER ARIES 785 managed to keep going for around 8 hours, switching between watching movies on the internal player, Internet radio, browsing various websites, and even using the in-built Office features for doing some of this very write-up! Not bad at all
With a display of 1024 x 768, capacitive 5-point touch screen and an impressive 1.2GHz QuadCore Cortex A7 engine powering it, along with 1GB of DDR3 RAM and a PowerVR SGX544 GPU driving things along, this lower cost option is a great little device and can work with numerous apps on the go simultaneously without dying rapidly like some tablets. The camera is not the best, especially the 0.3 MP front-facing one, but the outward facing 2MP camera is passable in the right lighting conditions and can liven up some dull moments with friends.
The team thoroughly enjoyed putting the ARIES 785 through its paces with Gameloft’s Asphalt 8, which is a joy to play in general, but on this near enough 8-inch device it suddenly got a new lease of life! Finally, anyone concerned that the initial 8GB of internal storage space is insufficient will be pleased to hear a micro SDHC card can be slotted in to expand this by an extra 32GB.
