Hands-On With Wikipad's 7-inch Gaming Tablet
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Wikipad Inc., a company that was already on the verge of bringing a 10-inch gaming tablet to the market in the next few weeks, says it will also be bringing a 7" model to the retail market this spring.
This new model will go on sale for $249, and it sounds like it'll be rather heavenly for those who like gaming on the go. It features a premium 7-inch screen with In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology and full 16:10 widescreen HD display (perfect for touch screen play or media viewing), 16 GB of built-in memory with the option to expand with an additional 32 GB through a micro SD slot, an ultra-thin build that makes it easy to carry around, and, most importantly, an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor, making it ideal for your mobile gaming needs. It fully supports Android's 4.1 Jelly Bean, with plenty of games available.
While it doesn't quite match the processing horsepower of Razer's Edge tablet, the 7-inch Wikipad is certainly more affordable at about a quarter the cost of that device's cost.
We had a chance to get a brief hands-on with the tablet during a showcase prior to the Consumer Electronics Show last month in Vegas, courtesy of Big Fish Games – one of the supporters of the device. The display is bright and colorful, and details stand out. It was also quite responsive, as we didn't experience any sort of lag in performance playing through a pair of Big Fish's casual offerings.
And, if you prefer a more in-depth game experience, you can buy the optional game controller attachment, which comes with a chassis similar to the Wii U Gamepad, where the tablet sits firmly in the middle, with two analog sticks, a D-pad and buttons on the sides. It does make the 7-inch Wikipad a bit bulky (like the Razer Edge), but it's ideal for those who want to get the most out of their games. Unfortunately, none of Big Fish's games made ideal use of this attachment, but the controls do feel quite comfortable, with an easy-to-grip build, so they won't wear down your hands.
The 7-inch model comes with TegraZone, a built-in app by NVIDIA that supports various game services, including Google Play and OnLive. That's on top of what Big Fish Games has to offer, along with PlayStation Mobile, which is also a partner. Again, we didn't get to test this portion out, but it sounds quite promising.
To learn more about this little wonder, head to http://www.wikipad.com.
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