After using the Huawei S7 tablet for three weeks (or a month, I don't remember anymore), I can say the following - if this thing really costs about 15,000 rubles, then we have a hit of sales. There are questions to the device, but if the price remains like this, then you can safely close your eyes to flaws and shortcomings.
True, here again the question arises - what to do with such a tablet? At first, I honestly tried to replace the iPad with it. It did not work out due to a number of circumstances. The iPad has a much more responsive display, a number of unique apps, and there is no replacement for them in Android. But the S7 is smaller, you can shove it into your jacket pocket if you want to, plus it's easy to record the movies you need on a memory card and watch them right there - without conversion. I am glad that there are all ways to communicate with the outside world, from Bluetooth to 3G.
But let's talk about everything in order.
Design, construction, management
The device is quite impressive in size, 258 x 180 x 15 mm, weighs about five hundred grams. Fits in the inner pocket of a jacket or jacket, somewhat similar to Sony VAIO P. The assembly is good, except that the battery cover moves a little to the left and right. The materials are not bad, the back is brown plastic, the cover is made of metal, in my opinion, metal and the stand too. It can be installed in two positions, locks with a click. There is a 2MP camera lens window on the lid, there is little use from it, but it is there, which is good. At the bottom there is a slot for a microSD memory card, a connector for connecting to a docking station (apparently). I was not able to use it. On the left side there is a volume rocker and a speaker hole, the same is on the right side. When watching a video, you get a kind of stereo effect, if there is no one nearby, it is better to watch movies or YouTube without headphones. On the right side there is a charger and microUSB connector, it is strange that there is more than one connector for charging and for synchronization.
To the right of the display is a camera lens (webcam, if you like), an optical joystick, call acceptance and rejection buttons. After all, we have a refueling phone in front of us, if you wish, you can easily make calls. The optical joystick is good in devices with a small display diagonal, now imagine how many times you have to swipe here to get to an article on the Mobile-review website. As a result, you just stop using it. To the left of the display Home buttons, calling additional functions and returning. Everything is traditional for devices based on Android OS. Unfortunately, manufacturers rarely turn to traditional control systems. In my opinion, the presence of red and green buttons is necessary at least for budget phone, even for an ultra-modern communicator or smartphone.
Anticipating the question - yes, over the years I more and more do not like that the iPhone does not have such buttons, sometimes it is very annoying and even interfering.
On the top of the device there is a 3.5 mm jack, a power button or a sleep button.
Display
I was given a sample with a capacitive display. However, I would call it responsive enough. Enough. Sometimes there is just a delayed reaction to pressing, there are erroneous pressing, the main problems with handling touches in the upper and lower status bars. The diagonal of the display is 7 inches, the resolution is 800 x 480 pixels. The viewing angles are not bad, in principle, the screen of stars from the sky is not enough, but it does not cause negative emotions either. This is a plus.
There is an automatic adjustment (light sensor).
System
Android 2.1 is used, there is nothing to add to this. Another issue is that each hardware manufacturer strives to add something of their own, and therefore the user experience gained with HTC is not very applicable to Sony ericsson... Rather, it is even applicable from a negative point of view. Huawei S7 also has its own characteristics, let me tell you about them point by point:
- In the lower part there are links to segments invented for some reason. For example, "Home" has two desktops. Here is a time and weather widget, notes and photos, some kind of picture, alarm clock, search and so on. Other segments - Web, "Entertainment", "Communication", "Favorites", clicking on the symbol in the lower right corner brings up a list of programs. The image on the display can rotate depending on the position of the device, I turned off this feature, it is more convenient for me to use S7 in landscape orientation
- At the top there are icons quick turn on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, brightness and sound adjustments, operator network status, battery indicator and notification menu. Rather, there are some "Tasks" here - these are, apparently, running programs, and "Notifications", everything is clear with them.
- Can be set animated background picture, but it is better to put a static picture. It seemed to me that the device works faster in the second case
- Two words about software, there is already the Twidroid program, the weather widget takes information from the AccuWeather.com website, and there is also a Facebook widget. Everything else you will need to find yourself (well, or there will be customization from the operator)
In general, you can fashion anything from Huawei S7 - even a tablet for working with mail and the network, even a game console (although not all programs are running due to the resolution and the display used), even a bed video player. However, you already know this without me - Android has a lot of possibilities. It would also be great to see "custom" firmware for S7, where there would be no conditional division into the main screen, web, and so on.
Iron
The device uses a Snapdragon processor, a very good word, the performance is not bad. There is nothing to find fault with.
Nutrition
The claimed battery life is about three hours in video playback mode, a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2200 mAh is used. Let's see how long commercial samples will work - I used mine pretty tightly during the day (mail, browser, etc.) after which I had to look for an outlet. It's not good that a special power supply connector is used. That is, there is a separate microUSB for connecting to a computer and a separate connector for a power supply unit.
Camera
You can take pictures with the camera. In principle, if there is a desire to quickly rivet photos to "attach" to the contacts, then it makes sense to use it. She removes, to put it mildly, not very well. The camera on the front panel is not quite clear for what, I wanted to use it in some way with Skype, but it didn’t work. By the way, Skype is here by default.
Memory
Installed about 8 GB of internal memory, but I'm talking about my sample, there is the possibility of customization - perhaps there will be samples with 16 GB or 32 GB (or even 4 GB) on sale. Of course, there is also a microUSB card slot. The RAM is about 512 MB. During use, I have not experienced a shortage, if you plan to use the device to watch video, you should look at the versions with big amount memory.
Connection
There is Bluetooth, profile 2.1 with EDR, there is Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g / n), there is a slot for a SIM card and, accordingly, the device can be used like a regular phone. If you want - use a browser, if you want - make calls. I didn’t understand where the microphone is, you can speak directly “into the display”, it is quite normal to hear. At first, I inserted the SIM card without removing the battery, so that it worked, I had to reboot the device. In order to quickly go to the list of calls, you can press the green button, to hang up - the red one. The operator's logo is visible on the screen when it is locked.
Of course, all this is very positive - when there are literally all the ways to connect with the outside world.
conclusions
Let's talk about the patient first - no camera, a set of programs should be compiled and installed independently, a separate charging connector (non-standard), the operating time could be longer. For this, it may have been worth making the battery non-removable. I would like among basic capabilities see support for a good bunch of codecs so that any video or music can be played smoothly.
On the other hand, this well-assembled piece has a pleasant appearance, quite convenient control, you can find fault with the display - but, gentlemen, there is already a question of price. The fact is that Huawei S7 retail will cost about 13,000-15,000 rubles, and soon even less. A tablet for the price of a smartphone, and you can safely use this tablet even for conversations. Use scenarios you can think of yourself - from mail and browser on the road to games and videos in bed. I liked the product, it's an interesting thing. Probably, we will see the Huawei S7 in the operator's war paint and under a different sauce - well, it certainly won't get any worse.
Sergey Kuzmin ()
WITH the release of Apple iPad manufacturers have somehow revised their attitude towards tablet PCs and the announcements of the RoverPad 3W G70 and Huawei Ideos Tablet S7 did not look revolutionary. But after offering us to test the latter, we agreed with interest and would like to introduce you to an unusual device from a Chinese manufacturer, a tablet running Android 2.1 OS based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 768MHz processor with 512Mb RAM and 8Gb flash memory.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Design and features
We will not hide, having received the device from the courier, we were in some confusion - what, how? Not a phone anymore, but also not a computer, not a netbook, some kind of intermediate and unusual niche. However, the eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing, and the work with Huawei Ideos S7 was based on this principle. We will start our narration by tradition with the device case and gradually get to the software component and operating experience.
The monoblock case of the novelty has the following dimensions - 209 x 108 x 15.5 mm and 500 grams of weight. It is difficult to say whether this is a lot or a little. especially there is nothing to compare with (for statistics - Apple iPad, 242.8 x 189.7 x 13.4 mm at 680/730 grams, RoverPad 3W G70, 190 x 120 x 12 mm at 360 grams). In operation, the dimensions of the device evoke ambivalent feelings: on the one hand, holding it in your hand, you feel reliability, and on the other, for example, when reading, heaviness. Transportation will not be difficult, the S7 will fit into most of even small bags, and on the eve of autumn and winter, you can try to fit it into the inner pocket of outerwear. Thanks to the rounded corners and smooth edges, the tablet will not cling to the protrusions, which is valuable. The materials of the Huawei S7 case are a competent symbiosis of metal and plastic: the front panel is made of plastic, surrounded by a metal frame along the contour, which at the junction of the halves of the case is in contact with the anthracite-colored plastic of the back panel. In addition, the rear panel houses a metal battery cover and a stand frame for placing the tablet on a flat surface. It is worth noting that all the few details are tightly and intelligently fitted to each other, which gives the impression of a monolith and reliability.
There are really not many structural elements in the presence of a touch screen - most of the manipulations are assigned to it, so let's start with it. It is a 7-inch matrix with a resolution of 800x480 pixels with a touch-screen. The screen is resistive, which is why it is susceptible to both finger pressure and stylus control (the latter, by the way, is neatly hidden on the back panel and can be mistaken for a technological plug at first). Picture quality screen Huawei S7 is good - the colors are saturated, the brightness is sufficient for most situations with a margin, the viewing angles, although not maximum, are generally decent. The pressure response is good, but not perfect - a capacitive screen would be more responsive and accurate.
On both sides, the screen is surrounded by two vertical stripes: on the left - the standard Android keys "home", "menu", "back", and on the right - the camera, call buttons, surrounding a small control touch-pad and a microphone hole at the bottom. With the exception of a kind of joystick, the rest of the buttons, no matter how they look sensory, are not such, but due to the size and tangible movement, they are comfortable in operation. As you can imagine, the grip of the device looks like holding it under the "back" with the phalanges of four fingers of each hand, and with your thumbs acting on the buttons.
The side faces are filled even more modestly - on the left there is a small recess in which one of the speakers is hidden under the mesh and next to it is a miniature volume rocker. On the right, diametrically opposite is the second speaker in a similar design, a microUSB interface connector and a socket for a charger plug. Alas, and this is a tangible minus in our opinion, from USB device does not charge (perhaps the manufacturer will fix something by the time of release, but so far this is the case).
On top panel located in the corners, there is a small power button, which, among other things, extinguishes the screen and the classic 3.5mm mini-jack audio jack. The bottom panel of the case, on the other hand, has gathered its elements together, in the center is a cradle connector (purchased separately) and a slot for a microSD memory card on the protruding console.
The back of the tablet contains the frame-stand already described above, which can be folded back in two positions (approximately 55 and 85 degrees) and the battery compartment, the metal cover of which is directly tied to the above-described frame. The frame covers the lower part of the lid, where there is a recess for its removal - therefore, you need to snap off the frame, then pry the lid with your fingernail and pull it up.
There is a small removable battery under the lid in the recess, which covers the SIM card compartment on the left. The card connector is a recess with a contact pad and a transverse fixing bracket. It is convenient that you can put a couple more SIM cards in the recess on top, if you set yourself the task of optimal use of the Internet from cellular operators and not be afraid to lose them.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: User interface
Despite the fact that we have a tablet PC in front of us, it still has an operating system familiar to our readers - Android 2.1, albeit with some "additions" from the manufacturer concerning both additional applications and the shell of the main screen, let's start with it.
By tradition, for the operating system, there are always more than one main screens, and in the case of our guest there are ten of them. The value or importance of each of them is equal, so you can decide which one to stop at this or that moment in time. Wallpaper in this case are extended panoramic frames that smoothly flow from screen to screen, animated pictures or your own images / photographs, which must first be adjusted to the size with the appropriate software.
Filling screens by default for an amateur - traditional and branded widgets are first found on each, and then through one display, according to the types from the bottom functional line - the main page, web, entertainment, communication, favorites (as well as the menu key). The location of shortcuts and widgets is tied to a kind of screen grid and their number depends on each specific element - in the presence of both small and gigantic widgets. Moving, like deleting, is done by holding until the element grows in size. Then it can be displaced, or moved to the place of the menu key, which is being replaced at this moment by the basket.
Left top corner The screen (s) contains a laconic digital clock, and the right one contains active indicators for Bluetooth, WiFi, brightness, cellular network, battery and notification area. The latter, as before, appears as a layering on the desktop from above and includes two columns - notifications and tasks, that is, received events and open applications... From the notification area, you can either go to the application or close it, which is very convenient and visual.
The main menu, in contrast to the notification area, spreads to the bottom of the desktop by pressing the corresponding key. This is an 8x4 matrix initially not completely filled with icons and they are added to the root as they are installed. The background of the menu is unchanged and is a wallpaper made of dark gray "chain mail". On the contrary, the icons are colorful, well-drawn and have white captions below them. The static nature of the icons is generally perceived as normal and does not cause any negativity. The location is as follows - in alphabetical order, first Latin names, then Cyrillic, without the possibility of customization. The submenus are simpler and often have a vertical list of text options, white on a black background.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Telephone service
Calls is the second tab in the general telephony menu. There are both incoming and outgoing calls, and they are not grouped by name or contact number. That is, if you called the same number five times, the list will contain five lines with the time of each call and an indication of how long ago it was, for example, "5 days ago." Directly from the list, you can view the record in more detail and immediately call, send a message or add a number to your notebook.
The first tab is the dialer, "buttons". 4 columns of keys contain 3 keys each, and the bottom line contains a voicemail key, a call button and delete the last entered character. If you hold the dialed number, then a menu pops up, allowing you to edit the entered.
The third tab is contacts with an unlimited number of subscribers, each of whom is invited to add:
You can also set a photo or picture of the subscriber, what is done in a small window at the very beginning of the "questionnaire".
If more than one number has been added to a contact, then when you select it in general list before dialing, an additional window will be called to which of the numbers to call, after which you can specify the default number and in the future the dialogue will not be repeated. Unfortunately, you cannot choose another default number for sending SMS. However, when you open a contact, you can send a message to any of the specified numbers- there is a button for each number.
Favorites is the fourth tab. Here are displayed those records that you use most often, or marked in advance.
Let us remind you that we still have a tablet and call service is not a priority for it, which is why the GSM module is more necessary for GPRS \ EDGE. It is better to call Ideos S7 through a headset, so as not to shock others " speakerphone"When talking.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Messages
Everything is elementary here: a field for entering a number and a field for text, we type numbers or the first letters of a contact's name, we get possible addressees, of whom you can select several. What is inconvenient - there is no possibility to view the entire phone book right when choosing a number. The field for entering text is also as simple as possible - a small window at the bottom of the screen, while the main field is left for the "sheet" of correspondence. Alas, there are no alerts about glued messages or the number of characters. But it is possible to select (in whole or in part), copy and paste text. By clicking on the menu button, you can add emoticons to the message, view the entire conversation with the selected contact, attach attachments, specify a subject (here sms is automatically transformed into mms) and delete the entire message thread. By the way, a message thread is a message grouped by phone number, both sent and received. In the messages section, there are no Inbox or Outbox folders at all, everything is added to one list. It would seem unusual, but very convenient. In drafts, by the way, the message is saved only if the recipient's number is specified.
E-mail has been moved to a separate menu item and at the first call it is proposed to set up a mailbox: we register all the data, login, password, addresses and ports of servers, after which we can use it. There were no problems with encodings, attachments are accepted regularly, but only those supported by the phone can be saved and viewed. Thus, a picture in * .jpg format was saved easily, but a book in * .fb2 is no longer there - the phone did not recognize it as a supported format. You can add pictures to the attachment, the device automatically opens a folder with pictures to add them, and will not let you go anywhere else.
Checking mail can be carried out both manually and automatically every 5-10-15-30-60 minutes (with or without sound notification of the receipt of new letters). The email client looks standard: first, the Inbox appears, and when you send or save drafts, the corresponding folders are created. Selecting and editing text works the same way as in messages, which is logical.
For account google mail there is a separate item in the main menu, Gmail. The account is set up automatically at the first start. almost everyone is tied to it Google services, from a notebook to a market. Otherwise, there is no striking difference with the "nameless" post office.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Organizer, office
The photo album selects all pictures from the device's memory and displays them either by dates / geotags, or in the form of a gallery wall. Open image you can simply scroll vertically with your finger, or start a slide show. Additional functions - sending a picture by email, Bluetooth, mms, or posting to Facebook and Picasa, deleting or rotating, cropping or snapping to a map. When rotating, the position of the frame is saved and during further viewing it will be immediately displayed in the last selected position.
Alarms are set up from the application of the same name: the time and days of triggering, signal repeats, alarm melody can be configured, vibration can be added to the melody. After that, all alarms are displayed in a single vertical list, from which it is enough to simply deactivate them in one tap.
The calendar is highlighted in separate application and by default displays the current month in full screen, with the current date highlighted in gray. The pop-up menu provides access to the agenda (current date), week, settings and creating a new event. For the last item, you need to set a name and date / time, as well as, if desired, a location, description, repeat period and synchronization with the Google calendar. In the settings, you can hide declined events, select a notification, a ringtone and activate vibration, as well as set the default reminder time.
The service of notes with a choice of the color of the background for recording will allow you to create both handwritten notifications and typed on virtual keyboard... A simple, but at the same time convenient service, in demand with the current screen size.
The default calculator is classic (adding machine), but you can enable an extended panel with trigonometric functions, logarithms, pi, e, square root and brackets.
The file manager is a visually simple tool in the style of classic operating system menus: two tabs at the top are memory types - built-in and microSD card, and below, in vertical lists, the existing files and folders are located. All the standard functions are available - cut, copy, delete, search, new folder and information about the state of memory.
Huawei S7 :: Overview :: Communications
The tablet is designed to work in GSM networks, there is support from communications
WiFi 802.11b / g / n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, GPRS / EDGE, HSDPA / HSUPA and USB 2.0.
The Wi-Fi module works flawlessly, quickly finds available networks, supports WEP / WPA / WPA2 encryption, allows you to add networks manually and remembers previously connected ones.
Bluetooth supports A2DP and communication with wireless headphones keeps stable, files are also transferred without problems.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: GPS
From software for GPS there are branded maps (Google Maps, 4.1.0). If you do not take into account the fact that the current location of Google Maps is pumping out of the Internet, we can say that the application is more than correct. The first launch will be marked by information about innovations in current version, after which the communicator goes online without prior request.
The settings are familiar to most users of this application:
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Camera
Application start time is not lightning fast, with some delay. The working area of the screen is given to the viewfinder, and the right column contains a preview of the last shot, information icons for selecting a photo-video and a shutter button. On the right is a "curtain" of functions, which can also be called by the "menu" key. Among them:
For video, the settings are as follows:
As you understand, the settings are not rich, however, the camera in the tablet is the same front (2 megapixel CMOS without flash), so it is not suitable for shooting anything other than itself, and for these tasks it has everything you need. You can evaluate the quality of the pictures by the test frames offered below, they will more than clearly tell you about this shooting parameter.
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Apps
The Huawei S7 is equipped with a small, but rather curious and demanded set of applications designed to get advanced functionality right out of the box. Among them:
Huawei S7 :: Review :: Impressions and conclusions
Let's summarize the narrative. Let's try, because the area of application of the Huawei S7 tablet is not completely clear to us, perhaps they did not look like that, from the wrong angle. Judge for yourself, as a reading room - heavy and not too cheap. To watch the video, the size is debatable, it requires additional software, although the latter is not so critical. For music it is huge. It looks like a photo frame on the table, but again the price and you will have to keep the power adapter turned on all the time - the battery cannot boast of high performance autonomous work... For surfing, the Internet is very good, but multi-touch is lacking, although this is already nit-picking. Use as a terminal to exit social networks Facebook, Twitter, etc. perfect, but not narrow for a tablet? It seemed to us that the S7 is a pleasant device for entertainment, but not for work and office functions, although in general, if necessary and installed software, it will cope with these tasks. It is pleasant to receive it as a gift and received, it is impossible not to be delighted, the first impression is really wonderful. We would call significant disadvantages a resistive screen, battery life, a single front camera and no charging via microUSB, but this is more for the manufacturer. On the other hand, there is already information that a sample with a capacitive screen and a 2-megapixel camera on the back in addition to the front one has appeared in the Russian representative office of Huawei.
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IDEOS S7 Slim - compact tablet, equipped with a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. The device allows you to access high-speed Internet access, watch movies, listen to music, view news feeds, visit social networks and shop in online stores. IDEOS S7 Slim runs on Android operating system, supports H.264 / MPEG4, MP3, PCM, etc. Besides. the device can be connected to a home gateway, TV or Android smartphone.
MAIN TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions and weight
Weight: 440 g Dimensions (LxWxD): 200x110x13 mmConnection
Audio / headphone output: yes, 3.5 mm Connecting to a computer via USB: yes Connecting external devices via USB: yes Connecting to a TV / monitor: mini HDMINutrition
Battery capacity: 3250 mAh Working time: 12 hours Working time (video): 4 hoursAdditional Information
Features: support for RMVB (720P), MP3, PCM, AMR formatsScreen
Screen: 7 ", 800x480 Screen Type: TFT Pixels Per Inch (PPI): 133 Touch screen: capacitive, multitouch Widescreen: yesFunctionality
Sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor GPS: yes, with A-GPS support Automatic screen orientation: yesSound
Built-in microphone: yes Built-in speaker: yesFormat support
Audio: AAC, MP3 Video: MPEG-4, WMV, H.264Wireless connection
Wi-Fi support: yes, Wi-Fi 802.11n Bluetooth support: yes, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR Mobile communications: 3G, EDGE, HSCSD, HSDPA, HSUPASystem
Memory card support: microSDHC, up to 32 GB Operating system: Android Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 1000 MHz Internal memory: 8 GB Memory card slot: yes, microSDHC, up to 32 GB RAM: 512 MB Support: Android 2.2Camera
Front camera: yes, 0.3 million pixels Rear camera: yes, 3.2 million pixels.If we examine the base model of the Huawei Ideos S7 tablet, we will notice two key flaws in it. First of all, it is a processor with a low frequency, as well as a resistive screen. It is clear that for the Russian consumer these shortcomings more than cover any advantages.
Fortunately, both of these shortcomings have been fixed in MTS Tablet. Let's make a reservation right away - we will briefly call it that way, because even company representatives disagree in their testimonies. In the MTS online store, it is called SmaKit S7, in ordinary stores - the MTS Tablet, in the search for prices - Huawei Ideos S7, and in the early announcements it was said that its name would be MTS 360. The full name sounds like MTS Huawei Ideos S7.
So, instead of a resistive sensor, a capacitive sensor is installed in it, and the processor is overclocked from 768 MHz to 1 GHz. Agree, it is already getting interesting. However, first things first.
Appearance and controls
Now it has become fashionable to call every new tablet "iPad killer". Even if the device is frail, and even peaceful at all, more stamped headlines still come out from under the keyboards of newsmen. So in the case of the Huawei S7, this comparison is not very true - initially this tablet was not going to kill anyone, which is very clearly visible from the design.
Those who created the tablet design were clearly inspired by devices from science fiction films 90. I remember seeing something similar in the game Privateer 2, something like this could look like a PDA from Bill Gates' book "Road to the Future". Now this approach looks original and distinguishes Ideos S7 from other tablets.
The growing number of seven-inch tablets clearly demonstrates to us new market trends: the ten-inch format is gradually being replaced, as well as all others. In addition, seven inches turned out to be optimal size for the budget segment, which is its main supplier. The new product from Huawei, however, does not play by the rules to the end.
Huawei Review IDEOS S7 Slim: "seven" for retirees
Calling Huawei IDEOS S7 the word "slim" (thin), the Chinese comrades clearly got excited. Although its thickness is formal 12 mm, with a weight of 400 grams and rather rounded sides, they somehow do not feel. The tablet looks rather bulky, and after thin and graceful models Samsung last generations ( Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7), this impression only intensifies. But let's be fair, the tablet is on an equal footing in its price niche.
Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim
From the front, the S7 looks like all other tablets and doesn't stand out much. Glossy black screen, to the right of which there are three touch buttons (Home, Menu and Back - as in Sony Ericsson, Huawei wisely got rid of the Search button), and to the left - a lens front camera and a light sensor. The plastic body is white and a rather wide metal (or metallized) strip running in the center of the back, which divides the body into two unequal parts. The battery and the SIM card slot are located under the removable bottom part, but under the top there is nothing at all that could somehow be removed or moved: why it was made removable at all remains a mystery. But I must admit that from the point of view of design, the back turned out to be quite nice.
The tablet provides the ability to connect a docking station
On the left side there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a stereo speaker and a volume rocker. For some reason, the location of the latter turned out to be rather inconvenient - it is impossible to find the swing by touch at first. At the bottom there is a proprietary interface connector with a magnetic mount for a docking station (hello Apple MagSafe) and a slot for hot swapping of micro-SD cards. On the right side, you can find micro-USB and mini-HDMI connectors, as well as a second stereo speaker. Above - the power button and the hole for the power adapter plug.
Epic fail
The biggest and most tangible disadvantage of this model is the screen. If you read ours (including preliminary ones), then you have already noticed that you have slowly begun to acquire screens with enough high resolution: from 1024x600 (budget) to 1280x768 (premium). And all the more strange it is to see even in a new, albeit budget tablet today, a screen with a resolution of 480x800, which is typical today more smartphones than tablets.
Screen performance is poor
You can recall a year ago with almost the same screen - and emphasize the word "annual". Peace information technologies does not stand still, and in 2011 to offer a spoiled consumer technology a year and a half ago for the price of today is an unforgivable mistake for the engineers of one of the largest manufacturers electronics.
Another disadvantage is the touch buttons to the right of the screen, completely invisible without backlighting. In the dark, you can find them only if you get used to the gadget, but at first the user will definitely be confused.
And the last minus is the viewing angles. They are very small and an angled tablet loses all of its ink. In defense of the screen, we can only say that it is not the worst in terms of tactile sensations: its sensitivity is not enough high level, although it certainly cannot be compared with more modern displays.
Standard connector set
We disassemble the bones
The first impression of the tablet, you guessed it, was not the most pleasant one. Now let's see what the Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim has to offer in terms of performance.
The "fiery engine" of the novelty is the well-known and inexpensive single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a frequency of 1 GHz. RAM - 512 MB, internal - 8 GB, there is also an expansion slot for micro-SD cards, which has already been mentioned above.
Tablet memory expansion tools familiar to many users
Wireless communication is provided by Bluetooth 2.1 protocols with EDR, WiFi (802.11 a / b / g / n), GPS-module with aGPS, as well as 3G, EDGE, HSDPA and HSUPA standards. The latter should be noted as a significant plus of the tablet - even today, not all state employees have the ability to install SIM-cards. The device has 2 cameras - a rear three-megapixel one and a front one with a resolution of 0.3 MP.
The battery of the gadget is removable, with a capacity of 3250 mAh. This is enough for about a day and a half of work in medium intensity mode (games, applications, navigation, video, music). If you enjoy watching movies on the go, the battery will drain faster.
By the way, about recharging. For power, a separate, monstrous-looking multifunctional cable is used, consisting of three cables ending in one full-size USB port. The solution is uncommon, but it has its advantages - if you like to take a bunch of gadgets with you on a trip, functional charging from S7 will do a good job. Contrary to popular belief, the tablet can also be recharged from a computer via a USB port, but this happens so slowly (literally less than 10% of the charge per hour) that it is better not to do it. This certainly should be attributed to the merits, tk. closest competitors do not charge from a PC at all. In the case of the S7, this feature is implemented rather for maintaining a charge than for a full charge. But it is worth scolding for the length of the micro-USB cable, it is impossibly short - only 17 cm.
Not every tablet has a removable battery.
Interface
Usually interfaces for mobile operating systems still retain some features of the original. In the case of the S7, we are dealing with a very serious rework, and we can even say that little is left of the original. In this, the tablet differs sharply from the IDEOS X5 smartphone, where no proprietary interface was installed at all.
To begin with, we will mention that the gadget from Huawei works on Android version 2.2, for which he can be scolded. But with a branded shell, for which, in general, it is not a sin to praise.
Widgets home page in tight quarters, but not offended
Take the traditional main menu window. In regular Android, as a rule, from one to seven main windows are offered, to which the user can add shortcuts and widgets. There is also a persistent group of shortcuts at the bottom of the screen. In S7, the main window was slightly redesigned and presented with five groups: Main, Internet, Entertainment, Communication and Favorites. Each of these shortcuts offers to work with two windows of their own type. That is, formally, only two windows are reserved for ordinary shortcuts and widgets. In fact, these are 10 windows of regular Android, divided into thematic areas, in each of which you can place any shortcuts and widgets. Nobody bothers to put the browser shortcut, say, in "Entertainment". There is enough space for everything. Even though branded widgets take up half of the window each.
If you go further through the windows, then in the "Internet" group on the first window there are two preinstalled widgets: news from Yahoo and bookmarks for the main Western services: Google, Picasa, Yahoo and MSN. The next window contains the main shortcuts to Internet applications. The group of shortcuts "Entertainment" offers in the first window two large widgets for the music application and videos, the second window is entirely given over to the gallery.
It is necessary to dwell on the group of shortcuts "Communication" in more detail, since here we are dealing with a proprietary application for e-mail Emotion. "Branded" in this case does not mean that you will be required to create an account in some proprietary mail system: this is a pre-installed mail client, which allows you to check mail and write new letters in any mailer (provided that you know all the necessary POP3, SMTP and others servers). Also, this group allows you to write SMS, make calls (!) Using stereo speakers (or headphones) and a microphone, and control the address book. In general, they tried to make such a bulky phone from a tablet.
The last group of shortcuts, Favorites, offers two large widgets - a calendar and a planner.
The suite of applications complies with Android OS standards
The status bar at the top is also different. The clock in it moved to the left corner, the traditional icons remained on the right, except for one - with the letter i. When you click on this icon, a window for controlling wireless interfaces, auto-rotate and screen brightness opens with one button, the task manager lives in the right half of the window with the ability to terminate any applications "with one click", on the left - notifications.
Convenience and discomfort
Even the standard browser has undergone changes, and here you need to praise the developers, because this only benefited the application. To be honest, the proprietary browser that comes with Android-based systems is extremely poor and offers very little to the user. Even tabs can be opened no more than four. In S7, the browser has acquired a status line at the bottom of the screen (and it does not include the address entry line, which is traditionally located at the top), which is constantly present and contains all the necessary information: the number open tabs, forward / backward buttons, a button for opening a new tab (by the way, you can open not 4 tabs, but as many as 11) and a menu button with additional functions, access to bookmarks, digital time, etc.
The Android Market interface in S7 differs from the standard one, but it differs unexpectedly - it duplicates the Market interface that you might have seen when working on an "adult" PC. It is possible that this is it, and Huawei developers simply did not bother with rework standard interface to your. And this is rather a virtue, tk. the interface turned out to be convenient and functional.
Unfortunately, networking requires additional settings
Of the pre-installed branded applications, apart from the above widgets, we can only mention the "reader" Aldico. Although reading on such a grainy screen is rather inconvenient ..
The main question is: how convenient is it to work with all this? Alas, not really. Native keyboard named IME due to not very good screen is difficult to press, false hits are common, and the vocabulary is very sparse. Swype is not preinstalled in the system, and it also failed to install it over the IME. In general, the convenience of the keyboard on a ten-point scale pulls somewhere in the four.
Two-way communication
Communication with the computer at IDEOS S7 Slim is rather confusing. First, at startup file manager(included in the kit) it turned out that the tablet has two flash-cards: for one of them it accepts its own gigabytes, and not all, but only 4 GB, the rest of the volume (about 3.5 GB) is given for the system. The custom card is displayed under the name sdcard2.
Inconvenient touch keyboard affects the speed of the user on the Internet
Secondly, at the first connection, it turns out that you need to install drivers, and it is advisable to install a proprietary software called Hi-Suite, with which you can synchronize contacts, messages, view the list of applications (as well as delete them from the PC), and also take screenshots ... A quick glance at the application gives a positive impression: nothing is buggy, everything is quite modest and of high quality, all functions work - and in general there are no complaints about Hi Suite. For this, the tablet gets its own piece of cake.
The past
Camera. It is precisely the interface of the three-megapixel camera that has not been changed at all, not to mention some improvements there. The camera has a choice of image size, quality, one of three effects, geotagging, white balance and 4x zoom. Which makes horrible pictures even worse.
Yes, alas, photography is far from the strongest feature of the Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim. As well as video shooting - for example, it is programmatically limited to thirty minutes, and from the additional options there is only a choice of white balance and the same three effects. The quality of the photo leaves much to be desired, the autofocus is weak, the colors are faded, the pictures are fuzzy and blurry. And the video - guess three times - "twitchy".
Test shots of the camera Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim
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Although it is possible to make video calls using the front camera. For all its poor quality, it turned out to be very nimble.
Outcome
To summarize, the gadget turned out to be ambiguous. Weak screen (by the way, its speed is due to the average screen, good processor and sufficient volume random access memory quite high), a very high price (on average 11,000 rubles) and almost no set of proprietary applications. On the other hand, a thoroughly reworked branded shell, an interesting solution with charger(and the very possibility of recharging from a computer is expensive). You can also add high-quality software package for syncing with a desktop, acceptable battery life and interesting, diverse widgets. Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim would have the right to the title "hit" if it appeared on sale a year ago, or if it had a price 1.5-2 times lower now. However, for all that, he still has the right to commercial success, and let's not forget that in the class of inexpensive devices, rarely does anyone manage to release a flawless gadget.
