iPed Tablet in the flesh, first impressions

With the help of our tipster, we went to VirraMall to look for the iPed yesterday. The store wasn’t very easy to locate so we had to wander around for a bit before we got there.

The box of the iPed Android tablet itself was a poor replica of Apple’s iPad with a little Android logo on the sides. Inside the box is the tablet, a regular charger and a USB cable. The unit did not have a stylus with it but I am told other stores offer them with one.

It looks like a smaller iPad, even the finish, but is obviously just made up of plastic and not aluminum.

The device is about 7 inches across and boots with Android 1.6. The manual indicates the tablet runs using a VIA processor @ 300MHz with 128MB RAM.

The display is just okay but not really that bright — gives an impression of a simple photo-frame you see in stores. It also has a resistive screen so you will need a stylus/pen or have to use your nails instead of fingers to navigate.

For storage expansion, the iPed comes with a microSD slot which you can plug up to 16GB. There’s no 3G SIM card slot here but the microUSB port hooks up to a cable where you can plug in your Globe Tattoo or SmartBro dongle to get wireless connectivity if WiFi is not available. The box says the device only lasts about 2.5 hours on a single charge.

The cheapest offer was for Php6,800 but I reckon there are other stores that might give this for as low as Php5k.