Nextbook Premium 8SE: Low Cost Doesn’t Have to Mean Cheap

Are low-cost Android tablets worth your hard-earned dollars? Last year the answer would have been an easy “no” but a new wave of cheap tablets like the $169 Nextbook Premium 8SE is slowly changing the answer from a hard “no” to a firm “maybe.”

Last year $250 would have bought a frustratingly slow Android tablet with a weak processor, an unresponsive resistive touch screen and an old version of the Android operating system (OS) meant for smartphones. The Nextbook Premium 8 SE from E-FUN Inc. comes with Android 4.0 (a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich), the newest version of the OS and its eight-inch capacitive touch screen proved responsive and snappy when tested with common tasks.

The medium-powered tablet has a single-core, 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor as opposed to the muscular dual-core processors found in more expensive tablets, but was robust enough to handle processor-intensive games like Angry Birds, which can cause weak tablets to crash.

The Premium 8SE’s 4GB of internal data storage can be expanded by using its microSD card slot, which accepts removable memory cards with capacities of up to 32GB. The sturdy tablet is 0.45 inches thick–not as svelte as some expensive tablets–but is comfortable to hold in the portrait or landscape position.

So what are the compromises of a $169 tablet? At 800 by 600 pixels, the screen doesn’t come close to the sharpness of the screens on more expensive tablets like the $500 Wi-Fi-only 16GB Apple iPad

(2048 by 1536 pixels) or the $400 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (1280 by 800 pixels). The Nextbook Premium 8SE does, however, support multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom.

When tested, the display proved to be sharp enough for com

fortable Web surfing, e-book reading, e-mail management, Angry Birds shooting and other common tasks. Photos had reasonably accurate colors, but don’t expect the smoothness or rich colors of higher-priced tablets.

Click here to read more about this affordable tablet…

Like other low-cost Android tablets, the Premium 8SE can’t connect to Google Play (formerly called the Android Market), the premier online store for Android apps. Instead the unit comes with an app for GetJar, which houses thousands of Android apps, but many popular titles are missing. (Tip: Go to Amazon.com and download the Amazon Android App Store app, which opens the door to even more Android apps, including the Amazon Kindle e-bookstore app.)

Other preinstalled apps include the Barnes & Noble Nook e-bookstore app (Canadian units get Kobo instead), Fring, a video chat and phone service, and Office Suite, an app that lets you open documents saved in popular formats like Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF.

The Premium 8SE has a Wi-Fi adapter and stereo speakers. The tablet comes without Bluetooth capabilities, which means you won’t be able to connect to wireless headsets or speakers. Wired headsets will

work fine in its headset jack. The unit has a motion sensor and flips the screen image as you rotate it, but it lacks a GPS receiver, relying instead on Wi-Fi to provide location data. The Premium 8SE’s single front-facing 0.3-megapixel camera is more practical for video chats than for casual snapshots.

So will this tablet work for you? With medium power and acceptable, but substandard graphics, the Premium 8SE is well-suited for a student or family; its low cost makes it a viable choice for vacations or commuting when you don’t want to travel with expensive gear. The tablet will debut in Kmart in June, and arrive at other popular retail outlets  later.