Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab Review

Cherry Mobile launched late last month the MAIA Smart Tab – an affordable 8-inch slate powered by an Intel Atom quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, and a 3,800mAh battery. Specs don’t sound much on paper but it offers something that you don’t see in other tablets – the capability to boot in Android and Windows. Find out if the Cherry MAIA Smart Tab is worth getting by reading our review below.

Design and Construction

As mentioned earlier, the MAIA Smart Tab is an affordable device aimed at consumers with a tight budget yet want to own a capable tablet that can run Android and Windows. Given the low price tag, the MAIA Smart Tab is modest and won’t impress you when it comes to build and design.

Up front, we have the 8-inch screen with 1280 x 800 resolution which equates to 189ppi with decent viewing angles and good colors. No mention of glass protection but it already has a plastic screen protector out of the box.

Found right above the screen is the 2 megapixel front camera and light sensor. Down below is the capacitive Windows home button. On the right are the power / lock and volume buttons, while the left side and bottom are devoid of any buttons or ports.

Found right up top are the headset jack and microUSB port. Situated on the rear are the 5 megapixel main camera, microSD cards slot, loudspeaker, and tablet’s branding.

When it comes to quality, the MAIA Smart Tab is plasticky, sounds hollow when you tap on its back, and far from premium which is understandable given its asking price.

It’s also chunky at 9.2mm but can be easily carried inside a small bag. On the bright side, it’s easy to grip thanks to the indentation found on the sides, while the matte finish at the back resists smudges and finger prints.

Next Page: Display and Multimedia / Camera / OS and Apps

21 Comments

Zaq says:

9 years ago

No sim capabilities. :(
Good for its price but hopefully Lollipop update coming.
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Ji-Soon says:

9 years ago

Ano ba naman ang review na to walang sustansya
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Donimus says:

9 years ago

Nice…. Very nice. For a 5k php tablet I’m surprised. Thanks for the review!
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John Decena says:

9 years ago

I bought one because of the dual boot capabilities, considering its performance this budget tablet is bang for the buck. I can do anything with it specially with emulators, screen angles are quite good. One thing missing in this tablet is the gyroscope though it has an accelerometer but you can’t play games that needed tilt controls. Using windows 10 is a breeze performs just like a normal laptop if you plugged in a mouse and keyboard. They never officially mentioned in the specs that it has gps capabilities.
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BIKTIMA KAMI LAHAT NG SUN CELLULAR says:

9 years ago

YES WE AGREE… THIS ARTICLE IS MORE SUITED AS A MERE INITIAL PRODUCT IMPRESSION… NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A “REVIEW” … SUPER BITIN !!! DO BETTER NEXT TIME… PLEASE…
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baconbriefs says:

9 years ago

Any success with rooting the Android side? Just got my Smart Tab a few hours ago.
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wb says:

9 years ago

cloudfone has dual boot tablets, too. i got the epic 8.9 because of the larger 8.9 in. 1920×1200 screen. thay also have a 7 in. tablet available but other specs are not up to par with the 8.9. the 8.9 has specs similar to this cherry smart tab except for the screen. you also need to turn the power off and reboot in order to switch OS. it’s quite cumbersome and i think cheery’s solution could be better. the epic 8.9 goes for almost P9k. this cherry tablet, granting performance is as expected of its specs and bar other hitches, should give the epic 8.9 a very good challenge. one other advantage of the epic 8.9: it comes with office 365, which allows you to install the suite on three different machines regardless of OS.

the 8.9 is my first windows tablet. i think windows is catching up on the touch screen features but definitely not there yet if compared to android and ios. windows apps developers should also make their contribution in making windows more touch friendly. i know its a tall order and some apps are really going to be better off with mouse and keyboard. but having a tablet that could run productivity apps like ms office acceptably is Godsend on those tight situations.

one gripe i have with the epic 8.9 is that the otg port is also used for charging the battery. would this also be the case for the cherry smart tab? i’ve been looking at the internet for cables that would allow me to use the usb otg and still be able to charge the battery. so, any suggestions?

another thing for the epic 8.9 is that it has a micro hdmi port, which is very handy if you’re gonna use the tablet for presentation using a projector.
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Anon says:

9 years ago

Can this play mmorpg? Ragnarok online for example ?
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Bud says:

9 years ago

na try ko mag play ng COC sa android ang tindi ng init at ang bilis ma drain ng bat.. maganda gamitin ang windows nya hirap lang mag install due to small space yun lang tlga mabilis ma lo bat.
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Erickson says:

9 years ago

Wala syang Free 1 year Subscription ng Office 365? Sabi sa isang site meron. Sayang naman. Gawa naman kayo ng article na listahan ng mga Windows Tablet na may free Office 365. Thanks!
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iantero says:

9 years ago

nakakaba read/write ba to sa mga portable hard disks via OTG cable?
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Kan Tutan says:

9 years ago

Can we configure it to run only as a single OS machine?
If we can configure it as a single OS machine, can we assign the full 32gb internal memory to a that OS?
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bhongski says:

8 years ago

Anyone root the android side of maia smart tab? Ty
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Muaad Al-Quqa says:

8 years ago

Battery life if you’re on Windows is about 4 hours, Right?
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joemarie says:

8 years ago

guys help namn nag hard rset ako tapos nawala yong switcher ng tab ko
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Alsop.May says:

5 years ago

If we do or don’t do it, someone will laugh
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