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Pendo Pad 7 (Android) - Quadcore 8GB - $69 @ OfficeWorks

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Pendo Pad 7 (Android) - Quadcore 8GB - $69 @ OfficeWorks
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Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 12:02 officeworks.com.au (291 clicks)
Last edited 11/11/2015 - 12:49

For those wanting more than the weaker link Dual Core version (currently ~$41 from DSE).

$69 is about the lowest price point for this tablet, ideal Christmas pressy perhaps.

Not to be confused with the much slower dualcore or older Pendopad releases. These deals always have people complaining about the lag and lack of Google Play - both resolved in this version. I think the remaining weak points are the screen followed by potentially poor battery life. But for my daughter so she stops stealing my phone, this meets my needs just fine.

Available in other colours (blue, green and white)
I haven't performed postcode stock levels

Productreview for this Quad Core version - thanks battler

Specs:

  • Display: 1024x600 (not IPS)
  • Memory: 1GB + 8GB Internal (supports 32GB MicroSD)
  • Camera: Crap
  • Processor: 1.3GHz Quad Core
  • Connections: Wi-Fi / BT 4.0 / Micro USB / 3.5mm
  • Battery: 2500mAh (poor for a tablet)

An alternative and similar spec'd tablet is the Lenovo Tab 2 which certainly has a better battery (3450mAh) and better IPS screen removes at least 2 weak links for $97 - Thanks manic

Electrical & Electronics 7inch Pendo PendoPad Tablet Android

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closed Comments

  • brocky2006 on 11/11/2015 - 12:07

    any indication on current battery life? main plan for 1 of these is videos during travel

    • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 12:28

      There is lots of discussion in a monster thread on WP Forums but it covers all the pendopad versions not just this quad core version so determine which version the commenter has first.

      That said, I strongly suspect battery life is still a weak link in this tablet. I would say the weakest link though is the screen - viewing angles and using outdoors.

      Sorry this hasn't truly answered your question. I hope owners will chime in.

      EDIT: One guy in the productreview link says 3 hours but doesn't go into detail his usage to achieve that. I'm sure I read similar on WP forums though. The ~1hr battery life comments floating around I am pretty sure relate to older dual core versions.

    • INFIDEL on 11/11/2015 - 12:30
      +1

      Quad core review below… (2500mAh) "battery lasts about 3 hours". That may not be that good for viewing movies when travelling.

      But I'm still enjoying an old $27 single core Huawei 7" from Coles (IPS 1024x600, 4100 mAh battery) when travelling - just for videos ;-)

      Found as long as the screen is good (as good resolution as possible for price, IPS for clarity & good viewing angles), the sound loud enough (or use headphones / Bluetooth) & battery lasts (can use power pack or charger) , you don't need that much for most video use.

      • AlexF on 11/11/2015 - 14:39
        +1

        as good resolution as possible for price

        Practically, can you get any lower than 1024x600?

        • INFIDEL on 11/11/2015 - 14:44

          Wouldn't want to for viewing video.

          15 months back an IPS screen with 1024x600 resolution was about "as good resolution as possible for price" in a $27 tablet ;-) And that unit was old even then.

  • beigehornet on 11/11/2015 - 12:14
    -3

    http://www.productreview.com.au/p/pendopad-7.html
    Dont do it. Hopeless tablet.

    • battler on 11/11/2015 - 12:17
      +1

      clearly didnt read the OP. review is for Dual Core, deal is for Quad Core.
      http://www.productreview.com.au/p/pendopad-7-quad-core.html

    • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 12:17
      +2

      It only took 2 posts for this to start.

      By no means am I saying it's a fantastic tablet but you're comparing apples to oranges - that link is the Dual core version. Much slower/laggier and lacking FM/GPS/Bluetooth, 3 things the Quad core version has, including 8GB vs 4GB and 1GB RAM vs 512MB, improvements that address the lag issues.

      From my understanding, screen and battery weaknesses still remain. But $69…

      EDIT: See Quad Core review link above, thanks battler I'll add that to the deal description.

      • bargaino on 11/11/2015 - 12:30
        +3

        I agree this is way better than the old model, but you also correctly identify problems: poor screen and battery.
        I will add a third: high failure rate.

        Do yourself a HUGE favour, and spend an extra $30 for the Lenovo.

        http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-tab-…

        Similar specs, but much better display, battery life and reliability. Still a cheapy, but less likely to regret it.

        • Gravy on 11/11/2015 - 12:35

          Display seems to be the same resolution (1024x600) on both products, does the Lenovo have better viewing angles or something and have you compared the two side by side?

        • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 12:36

          Actually to be completely fair there could be a 4th, I recall hearing lack of speaker volume in the WP comments I read very late lastnight - cant remember if that only applies to older version though. For me low speaker volume doesn't matter and is actually a bonus when my daughter is using it (lol).

          I wasn't aware of failure rates being an issue though.

          EDIT: Not taking into account the above, the Lenovo is overall similarly spec'd but does have a superior battery (3450mAh)

        • bargaino on 11/11/2015 - 12:43

          The Lenovo is IPS, which is usually good.

          The Pendo has a cheap display which will be hard to use in a brightly lit room.

          @Click_It:

          I wasn't aware of failure rates being an issue though.

          Anecdotally , yes. Including my kid's one :) Though maybe the repuation is more applicable to older models.

        • Fiximol on 11/11/2015 - 13:24
          +1

          The A7-20 (http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-tab-…) is available for the same price, which is an updated version of the A7-10 - though the only difference is the inclusion of a rear (crap) camera.

  • Aarent on 11/11/2015 - 12:40

    I've been eyeing these for a couple weeks now as Christmas presents for kids in the family. I suspected the battery was the weak link in this, as no site mentions it. The manual from the pendo site sights 2500mAh, which is really bad for a tablet.

    I was looking for cheap alternatives and the best one i could find is Kogan's tablet, which i would buy in an instant if it were in-stock ($60).

    https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/agora-mini-8-dual-core-tablet-8…

    a bit bigger, slightly bigger res in height, probably more reliable (kogan haters gonna hate), but it comes with a 4500mAh battery, which would last alot longer for the kids.

    The Lenovo suggestion is good, but i'd rather wait for a discount on ebay and use cashrewards 3.5% cash back.

    • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 12:50

      I'm leaning that way too (dont want to pay the premium). I've had 2 older Nexus 7's die on me and those were arguably better than both of these tablets. So I'm thinking $69 is still a goer - I'm unsure if fail rates relates to this Quad core version or the older Dual Core also.

      • bargaino on 11/11/2015 - 13:22

        I've had 2 older Nexus 7's die on me

        Die how? Did you open them up and check the battery connection, etc?

        BTW, battery life is about a lot more than the battery capacity. Different SoC and display can make a huge difference. Software even.

        • Aarent on 11/11/2015 - 14:16

          That is obviously correct, but this pendo pad 7 and the kogan are similarly spec'd though the kogan has a much larger battery. Understandably 4.4 and 5.0 lolipop there are firmare/software variances with power saving, but the brute power of the battery gives us a good bet on life.

  • pjwilco on 11/11/2015 - 13:49

    Hi
    First time post but I had to share my concerns.
    I bought very similar tablet from Target (Pendo Pad) that was advertised here about three weeks ago.
    After being forced to accept Windows updates, it froze at "updating your system 3%" for ages.
    There are multiple examples of this on the net - many tied to Windows 10 update.
    I have tried every available technique to resolve this but I now have a bricked tablet.
    Additionally I purchased a Pendo bluetooth keyboard from Pendo Australua.
    Just after 14 days, it won't charge so I have lodged a Paypal dispute.
    So there's nothing to say that this could happen to you - but don't say you weren't told in advance.
    Cheers

    • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 15:39

      Not disputing your findings, though I will point out this is their Android offering (not Windows).

      • pjwilco on 11/11/2015 - 17:25

        Oops. You are right - my mistake. But I'm still concerned.

  • hoons on 11/11/2015 - 13:58

    OW will price beat Target $59, got a blue one for my son and pink one for my daughter, OW didn't have pink so got the pink one from Target.

  • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 15:34
    +1

    Guys, I bought one. I got surprised to see its Android Lollipop 5.1 (expected 4.4) which has potential benefits to battery life. When I open it up I'll report of the are any other pleasant surprises.

    Couldn't price match, my local Targets are out of stock, as is target online. Others might be luckier.

    EDIT: Subsequently, the model number is PNDP51M7 (51 indicating 5.1, unsure what M7 means) - My guess is this is purely a firmware update on the assumed 4.4 version.

    Also, the specs no longer mention GPS on this tablet. Could be connected to what gmckay mentions below, I haven't opened mine yet but I'm guessing its got the same Wifi-based GPS and no longer claiming genuine GPS.

  • gmckay on 11/11/2015 - 15:37

    I bought a couple of these, as they purport to include GPS capability. They don't. They use wifi location which is useless.

    Took them back, and for a small additional amount bought the Lenovo units, like chalk and cheese.

    Don't waste your money.

  • Lionmaru-G on 11/11/2015 - 17:24

    Not even worth buying… crappy screen which only good in specific tilt angle. Only suitable to view in landscape. Portrait mode is nightmare. You'll see a lot of shadows!

  • josecejas83 on 11/11/2015 - 17:27

    flash video? I need one with flash video (cheap prefereble) :P

    • Gravy on 11/11/2015 - 19:38

      Is that for watching unmetered iview or something? Is that actually possible if a tablet supports flash?

      • josecejas83 on 12/11/2015 - 18:36

        Yeah basically if you are able to load it BOOM!!!! TV in the palm of your hand :P, I know it is possible to put it on the Samsumg Tab 2 but tablet have to be original (not updated). Tab 2 still alitle expensive for me so thats why im looking another cheap tablets options.

        • Gravy on 12/11/2015 - 22:06

          Interesting, are you sure its unmetered still using flash on a tablet? I have an old HP touchpad running an older version of cyanogenmod that I think supports flash, havent turned it on in months but will give it a try and see if its unmetered iview.

        • Gravy on 13/11/2015 - 09:04
          +1

          Well…. I tried it on my HP Touchpad running Cyanogenmod 9. Initially the flash 11.1 would result in a message basically saying the stream was not found with iView, tested in Chrome, inbuilt browser and also Dolphin browser. Then I installed Penguin browser which has inbuilt flash support with newer version of flash apparantly, good news is it worked and displayed the video stream ok (I was using it in desktop mode) however the bad news is it came in as metered usage on my iinet account (which usually has free iView from PC). Also tried on my Huawei Y550 phone with same result.

          My conclusion is that the ABC are now monitoring the actual device name and if its android or iOS then they are metering it. If you know of another way then I'd love to hear it. :)

  • DU99 on 11/11/2015 - 18:01

    always this cheap unit
    https://www.telstra.com.au/tablets/tablets-on-a-plan/alcatel…

  • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 19:17

    Early thoughts

    I've now started using it.

    First thing I installed was Nova Launcher, I found responsiveness improve right away.

    Some lag is evident, though I'm comparing to my superior Note 3. I wouldn't call it "laggy".

    It's very light like everyone says. It gets quite warm when pushing it.

    The screen? Not nearly as bad as people say it is, maybe they improved it over old models. For $69 I have no issues. The res, well yeah you'll notice that right away such as web browsing. Video I haven't tested but it should be fine.

    The battery remains my main concern, I think this tablet can only handle 2 stepping modes on the CPU - Idle and MAX. If correct this won't help the underwhelming battery.

    Would I buy it for myself? I buy tech to last the distance so, no. For kids? so far, sure. I'm sure my daughter will be most happy with it.

    I might look at ROOTing it one day and flash a minimalist ROM, that should give it a further boost. But for $69, I think it's OKAY.

    • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 20:46

      Maybe I was being too kind on the screen. Certainly at night time it's borderline terrible. To use at night, this is certainly not the tablet to buy at any price.

      I'll hold off giving it to my daughter until I play with it further tomorrow. I think it'll be okay but I want to do further tests now.

      • Lionmaru-G on 11/11/2015 - 21:45

        seriously if you want your daughter to keep her good eyesight… dont give it to her ;)

        • Click_It on 11/11/2015 - 22:21

          Wife and I were just discussing that lol.

          Videos btw are quite good on it, but tinkering around, particularly at night was tough on the eyes, and then going back to my note 3, such a difference. I think maybe the IPS screen is a must. If I do return it I'll look for improvement there as well as battery, not sure if that means the Lenovo or just wait and see.

        • INFIDEL on 12/11/2015 - 07:52

          @Click_It:
          Click_It, IPS is a minimum requirement for enjoyable long term screen viewing in my experience.

        • Click_It on 12/11/2015 - 09:42

          @Infidel:

          I think you're right.

          Okay so if I take it back, what to buy next? The Lenovo corrects 2 problems but it's otherwise the same tablet. Thinking I should just shoot for something better. There is eBay, which turns this into a Christmas present instead…

        • INFIDEL on 12/11/2015 - 09:53

          @Click_It:
          You were lucky you bought from a business that has easy returns - a safe approach when you are uncertain of what you want.

          I have no suggestions. I have an 8" quad core Win8 (connected to FHD screen) & old 7" single core Android tablet (mainly used for viewing videos) with a combined purchase price just a little more than this deal ;-)

          Good idea to keep your daughter happy so you retain your phone :-)
          Best of luck with your decision.

        • Click_It on 12/11/2015 - 10:30

          @Infidel:

          Exactly, I also told them I had some concerns with the screen and may be bringing it back should we not be entirely happy. So they'll be half expecting me :)

          I might have to look at eBay and chinese suppliers (BuyInCoins) etc, if our $AUD still gets any value that is.

          FWIW I don't find the pendo screen all that bad during the day, but at night it's just terrible and that's a genuine concern. As you say, IPS really is mandatory to correct that problem.

  • Aarent on 12/11/2015 - 16:23
    +1

    Click, went to office works yesterday to pick up a gigabit switch. Office works people were moving stock under the tablet section, but decided to jump in and take a look anyways. picked up the pendo…thank god i saw it in real like before buying, i'm a person who can be unbiased, but even after 15 seconds of swiping around, i knew at the 10 second mark i wasnt going to buy this. On paper it sounds great, IRL its a POS.

    I looked at the Lenovo Tab 2 A7-10 next to it, it is definitely an acceptable step up and would find myself comfortably using it myself.

    FYI, newer model just released at officeworks Lenovo Tab 2 A7-20, has rear camera and i think the display is IPS over the A7-10. Other than that, i think theyre identical, same price too.

    http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-tab-…

    • [Deactivated] on 20/11/2015 - 08:26

      Nice work. I bought the Lenovo, very nice for the price, I would have to agree it's perfectly serviceable

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