iRULU eXpro X1s 8" Android tablet

Rating: 4/5

Review: A very good budget tablet

I was sent this 8" Android tablet for my objective review.  It has some weaknesses but I think it is very good, especially at this budget price.

The packaging is a sturdy cardboard box in which you get the tablet itself, a mains charger (plug with micro-USB lead built in) and a micro-USB lead for data transfer or charging from a USB port.  (There's no OTG lead.)  There's also a basic manual in questionable English which isn't a lot of help, but if you're familiar with Android this won't be a problem.

The tablet seems robustly made; it's a bit weighty at 400g and it's almost 1cm thick, but I find it fine in use and it looks nice, I think.  The back is brushed metal with solid white plastic bezel but and a very good screen: it is sharp and bright with good colours and has a good tolerance of viewing angle.  The tablet has Bluetooth (which is very solid) and ports for micro-USB, microSD card, HDMI and 3.5mm jack so connectivity is good.  

In use it's good, but set-up was a tricky experience for me.  This may just be the individual tablet I was sent as I see no other reviewers so far have mentioned any problems, but it wasn't easy.  On start-up, I didn't get the normal Android set-up screens but a series of screens for Google locate, wi-fi connection, and registration before it finally took me through the Android set-up.  I then found that Google Play kept crashing, and I eventually had to do a factory re-set and start again.  This time it worked OK and once set up I like it a lot. 

The specs are good at this price – the screen is especially impressive.  It runs Android 5.1 and has 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM.   The cameras aren't great (2mp front, 0.5 mp rear), but the tablet performs well for what I need.  Battery life is around 4 hours with my usage which is enough for me  It boots pretty quickly and programs run without any delays.  I don't game or use social media and I don't multi-task much so I can't comment on these things; my usage is mainly TV, music, web browsing and email. The tablet is fine for most of these, although some apps like ITV Hub and Demand 5 aren't compatible with this version, which is a disadvantage for me.

Things generally run smoothly and without problems.  Playing and streaming video is fine.  The speakers aren't great, but through headphones or an external speaker the sound is very good quality, both wired and via Bluetooth, although the maximum volume level is pretty low.  With slightly limited RAM, I find that although video streaming and Bluetooth are fine individually, running both together can sometimes cause annoying buffering.

Small problems aside, I think this is a really good tablet at this price.  It's well made and it just works for me.  It's not a high-end tablet, and if you use the cameras a lot it may not suit, but it does the basics very well and the screen in particular is very good to use and a pleasure to watch.   I think this is very good value at this price, and it's a good product which I enjoy using. Recommended.