Polaroid Elixir 10 Review

When we dropped by Red Dot Philippines’ office in Manila we chanced upon one of Polaroid’s new Intel Medfield-powered tablet called Elixir 10. They were kind enough to allow us to take it for a spin for a week, so we thought of sharing our initial thoughts about the 10-inch slab.

From the build standpoint, the Elixir 10 exudes a more premium look and feel compared to other budget tablets in the market. It’s light enough that even holding it in one hand feels comfortable, yet hefty enough to provide a sense of durability.

To break the monotony of its otherwise all black body, the manufacturer painted the flanks with silver which also helped in highlighting the ports on the left side of the Elixir 10. This includes the HDMI, Micro-USB, ports for audio and charging, as well as the micro-SD card slot. The power button and volume rockers, on the other hand, are found at the top, situated on a black matte surface which is an overlap of the Elixir 10’s posterior.

And while the matte coating makes the tablet easier to grasp, it offers little to no protection from grimes and fingerprints which are a tad more challenging to get rid of compared to other surfaces.

A good portion of the Elixir 10’s front is occupied by its 10.1-inch WXGA display panel. Although the screen’s pixel density, which only equates to 149ppi, isn’t exactly something to write home about, it isn’t an eye-sore either. The only major concern that we had with the display was its poor sunlight legibility even after cranking the brightness to its max. Other than that, we were pretty satisfied with the screen’s performance.

Speaking of performance, the Intel Medfield processor at the core of the Elixir 10 continues to dazzle us with its uncanny ability to stay responsive even under pressure. The single-core chip was able to breeze through basic task and even allowed us to play games such as Asphalt 7 without any hiccups.

But where the SoC shines the most is in its efficient use of the device’s power, which is also the case with the Elixir 10. I think that we can all agree that on a typical setup, a 6600mAh battery on a 10-inch tablet isn’t gonna last for an entire day, right? But the Elixir 10, or at least its engine, was able to make use of its considerably small power pack for almost 4 days on moderate use. Here’s a screenshot of its battery usage.

The usage includes playing Asphalt 7 (2-3 hours), browsing over Wi-Fi (16-18 hours) and movie playback (7-8 hours) throughout the entire 3 days, 20 hours and 50 minutes. Unfortunately, due to the limited time we had with the tablet, we weren’t able to test how well will it fare on heavy use.

Initial verdict

There are a lot of things to be desired about the Polaroid Elixir 10, but one thing in particular that makes it a standout is its awesome, yet underrated engine under its hood. That alone gives this tablet a competitive edge over other tablets in the same price point.

Of course, given its relatively affordable price tag (Php10,995USD 187INR 15,883EUR 178CNY 1,364), there are a few minor drawbacks that you have to live with should you wish to opt for this tablet such as poor camera, weak sound and the fact that it only runs Android ICS. Still, if you’re in the market for such tablet, the Polaroid Elixir 10 should be a viable choice.

Pros:

• Sturdy build.
• Above average performance
• Good battery life
• Stock Android interface

Cons:

• Android ICS
• Weak sound even in max volume
• Poor outdoor legibility
• Appalling 2MP rear camera
• Proprietary charger and no USB charging support