Display and Multimedia
The MAIA Smart Tab uses an 8-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 which equates to 189ppi. No mention of IPS but viewing angles are okay with degradation only obvious in extreme angles. Other downsides include no special glass protection but has a screen protector already installed, it’s reflective and suffers from glare as well. On the bright side, colors are good and capable of producing enough brightness.
As for the loudspeaker which is found at the rear, it’s capable of producing decent sounds with just the right amount of bass and treble. It’s a bit weak when it comes to loudness but audible enough. That being said, the MAIA Smart Tab is good enough for watching movies and listening to music. But if you want a better listening experience, better connect it to an external speaker either via wired or Bluetooth.
Camera
The MAIA Smart Tab’s imaging department is pretty basic with a 5 megapixel main shooter and a 2 megapixel front. It doesn’t have auto-focus and other in-camera settings, just Panorama and HD video recording in 3GP format. On the bright side, the resulting images have an acceptable level of color and detail. Take a look at some of the sample shots below.
OS, UI, and Apps
This is the most interesting part about the MAIA Smart Tab as it is capable of dual-booting to Windows and Android. Out of the box it has Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4.4 KitKat. Managing the dual-boot process is a pre-installed software called Dual OS Switcher.
As Windows 10 has already been released in the public, we didn’t spend a lot of time on the old OS and installed the new one right away. There are two ways to install Windows 10 – via Windows 10 Download tool or you can just wait for Windows 8.1 to automatically download the free upgrade.
After the installation, we cleaned the hard drive of its old OS installation and we got 7.5GB of usable internal storage out of the 17.7GB assigned for Windows. The OS Switcher still works as advertised and boots to Android and back to Windows without any problems. On the downside, it doesn’t have Microsoft Office pre-installed but you can sign up for a 1-month free trial of Office 365.
As for Android, it’s very much vanilla and has 7.53GB of usable storage out of the 7.75GB assigned. We’re glad to report that Cherry Mobile didn’t include a lot of pre-installed apps aside from the basic Google goodies. It also has an OTA updater but no word yet if it will get Android Lollipop.
Storage-wise, the MAIA Smart Tab doesn’t have a lot to go by granted its dual-boot functionality but we’re glad that the device works well on both OS given the limitation. Just don’t expect it to carry a lot of multimedia files or big file apps. On the bright side, there’s a microSD card slot and support for USB OTG.
Next Page: Performance and Benchmarks / Battery Life / Conclusion
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