I can remember sitting in my high school IT lessons and not being all that interested in what my teacher was explaining and bored my the prospect of having to complete my GCSE IT coursework. Forward a few years (well maybe a few more) and I work in administration and run Boo Roo and Tigger Too in my spare time. If I’d only had realised back then just how important technology was going to play in my future I would have paid more attention. In a bid to get more technology friendly I have been test driving the HP Slate 7 for the past few weeks and I wanted to share with you my thoughts.
First thing you will note about the Slate 7 when taking out of the box is the fabulous red back cover, gone are the boring black/grey back cover. It’s a small thing but really does add that little something to the appearance of the tablet and can’t wait to see if they add additional colour options to the range.
Getting to know the HP Slate 7
- The 7 inch-diagonal screen has a thumb thick screen edge which allows you to hold the tablet without accidentally touching the main screen and selecting something you didn’t want to.
- Along the top of the tablet you will find the headphone jack, perfect for plugging your BEATS headphones or for families the APPen.
- An internal microphone for when you are doing your Google hangouts, or creating a video for YouTube.
- As the Slate 7 has only 8GB of memory you will most likely want to add some additional memory in the form of a micro SD card.
- The power button has a dual function of both powering the tablet on/off as well as ‘waking’ the tablet from its sleep mode.
- The Slate 7 boosts both a rear and front facing cameras however at 3MP/0.3MP respectfully they are not a camera you would rely upon to take crisp ‘David Bailey’ shots
- The speaker and headphones volume toggle can be found on the top right hand side of the tablet
- Finally the micro USB is found along the bottom of the tablet and is used for both charging and connecting to a computer.
Setting up the Slate 7
- Complete the initial charging of the tablet
- Connect to a wireless network
- Sign in to a Google account, if you do not have one you will be prompted on how to create one
- Home screen – to unlock, place your finger on the lock icon and swipe to the unlock position
- Home screen – to lock, press the power button
To select which apps you would like to feature on your screens simply press and hold the relevant app from your app screen and it will be transferred to your home screen.
Alongside your apps you are also able to add widgets to your screens, so for example I find the Gmail and Twitter widgets handy as I can see at a glance what is happening in those accounts without having to open up the app.
The device also boasts Beats Audio™, a unique sound experience which allows the kids to listen to their favourite albums and tracks when travelling or at home.
Boo Roo and Tigger Too’s thoughts…
The Good
The expandable storage offers a wider flexibilty for apps, photos and video downloads. For those who listen to films and music a lot via their tablet will really like the Beats Audio, especially if they have compatible headphones. Priced at just £99.99 it offers an affordable family tablet.
The Bad
The screen resolution is low which makes you what to squint at the screen. As the Slate is currently running on Jelly Bean 4.1.1 it is an old OS compared to other Android tablets on the market and whilst we might nit notice the difference between updates when using an older version you can see the improvements that have been made. There is no GPS and the cameras offer low quality shots.
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