ViewSonic ViewPad 7x review

ViewSonic hasn’t neglected the hardware either. The ViewPad 7x is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, has 1GB of RAM, an FM radio tuner, HDMI output and a microSD slot. The latter helps compensate for only 8GB of storage. And it squeezes all this into a tablet that’s both compact and light, at under 400g.

Even with all the extra software, the Android 3 interface feels responsive, web pages pan and scroll without hesitation, and they load quickly. The BBC homepage took only four seconds to appear over a fast Wi-Fi connection.

Battery life is good for a 7in tablet: it lasted 6hrs 37mins in our video playback test, much better than Acer’s Iconia Tab A100, which lasted under five hours.

The main disappointment is the 7in 1,024 x 600 resolution screen, which isn’t the crispest or brightest we’ve seen. The ViewPad can’t match the HTC Flyer for build quality, either. The deep red plastic back with red trim surrounding looks smart enough, but the rear panel is prone to scratching and scuffing.

There are two cameras – a front-facing 2-megapixel and a rear-facing 5-megapixel one – but quality is deeply mediocre. Heavily compressed, smeary and detail-free images are the order of the day. It can shoot 720p video as well, but footage looks similar.

In all, though, the ViewSonic ViewPad 7x is a decent tablet for the money. It’s compact, light and combines this with slick performance and reasonable battery life. There isn’t much to choose between this and its main rival, the Acer Iconia Tab A100, but if you’re after something a little different then the ViewPad edges it.