Pierre Cardin PC-7006G Tablet PC review

What you don’t get is raw power. The Pierre Cardin scored 1,190 in our Quadrant test, took 6,177ms to finish the SunSpider benchmark, and loaded the BBC homepage in five seconds – all three of which are less than half as fast as the Acer Iconia. Despite this weak performance, the Pierre Cardin still feels snappy to use, with homescreens, menus and the app drawer feeling slick and responsive, and games such as Angry Birds and Reckless Racing Play exhibiting no slowdown.

Processing power is provided by a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 chip – the same single-core architecture as inside the original iPad. It’s partnered by 512MB of RAM, and includes 4GB of onboard memory with support for 16GB of external storage. There’s no 3G, you’re limited to 802.11g Wi-Fi, and there’s no proper rear lens to complement the 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

Of more immediate concern is the screen, as it’s one of the poorest we’ve seen on any tablet. The 7in panel is visibly grainy, and we spotted pixelation – a symptom of the mediocre 480 x 800 resolution. A maximum brightness of 265cd/m2 and a measured contrast ratio of 827:1 are both decent enough, but the viewing angles are consistently terrible.

The Pierre Cardin does at least boast good battery life, its 8hrs 36mins of video playback well ahead of the Acer’s 4hrs 53mins. But that’s one of only a few plusses in a tablet that’s mostly outclassed by the competition. For the same price, the Acer Iconia Tab A100 serves up Honeycomb, a higher-resolution screen and far better performance, so (as in most walks of life) you’re best off ignoring this designer label.