First impression: Starmobile Engage 7 TV

When we attended the announcement of the Starmobile Knight last month, some of the media partners (including us) were given a Starmobile Engage 7 TV as token of appreciation for attending. And while we’re prepping for the review, we thought of giving you a brief intro on what this tablet has to offer.

Considering that the tablet is mostly made out of plastic, it doesn’t look or feel that cheap compared to other slate in this price range. The design strays away from the conventional slab form factor that we often see on affordable tablets.

Its corners are a bit rounded, the sides are a bit tapered and it sports a rubber-laden back panel that has faux-brushed metal finish. The back panel does a decent job of warding off fingerprints and makes it easier to grip. Unfortunately, the other half of the tablet (the front panel) is not as commendable as its posterior.

One thing that strikes our attention when looking at this tablet’s front panel is the annoyingly thick bezel around the 7-inch display. Thanks to this almost-an-inch bezel, the tablet looks like an electronic photo frame at a distance. We know it’s just a small quirk, but something worthy of noting nevertheless.

Apart from the VGA camera mounted upper left corner of the bezel, as well as the pair of speakers on each side of the display, most of the components of this tablet is located at the bottom portion. This includes (in order from left to right) the Home button, a pair of holes for Reset and Mic, a pair of rounded ports for audio and charging, a trio of ports for micro-USB, full-sized USB and HMDI, a slot for micro-SD and Power/Sleep/Wake button.

The buttons for Home and Power is a little too flushed for our liking and is a bit hard to reach without tilting the tablet a bit. Just like the thick bezel, it’s not too big of a deal, but it’s definitely worth pointing out.

The tablet’s antenna is tucked inside a carved hole on the upper left corner of the slate, neighboring the 3MP main camera at the back.

That pretty much sums up the basic features of the Starmobile Engage 7TV. From what we’ve seen so far, we can say that this one is the more decently built tablet in this tier despite of some of its quirks. The full review of this 7-inch tablet should be ready in the next coming weeks, so stay tuned for that.