Introduction, design and features
An affordable £125 tablet with 4G and 6GB of data thrown in. That’s the Vodafone Tab Speed 6. It sounds like a bargain – but even at such a low price point the competition is steep.
For proof of that you only need to take a wander over to our best cheap tablets guide, where you’ll find the Amazon Fire HD 6 for £45 less with similar specs, albeit with a slightly smaller screen and no 4G.
Then there’s the EE Harrier Tab, a rival network’s offering that’s no longer available on pay as you go, but which comes at a similar contract price yet boasts far higher specs.
Even the iPad mini 2 can be found for just £65 more if you shop around, so suddenly the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 doesn’t seem like quite such a good-value proposition.
But while the 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8.0-inch 1,280 x 800 screen don’t make for the best back-of-the-box reading, specs only tell so much of the story. So does the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 have hidden depths, or is it as compromised as it is cheap?
Design
The Vodafone Tab Speed 6 actually doesn’t make a bad first impression. It’s plastic through and through – well, not literally; that would be wildly impractical – but the back is plastic. Plastic and dull.
It seems like it might be aiming for a brushed-metal look, but it’s not at all convincing. It’s also quick to pick up marks and smudges, and has few distinguishing features – just a 5MP camera lens, which juts out worryingly, a Vodafone logo, covered slots for a microSD card and SIM card, and a small speaker.
Sounds like a bad first impression right? But it’s not – not considering what the Tab Speed 6 costs, anyway.
Yes, it’s plastic, but it feels solid and well built, and the edges have a gentle curve to them which lets the slate sit comfortably in the hand, and it’s got a reassuring amount of heft to it at 330g. It’s a little bit slippery, but given the price that’s far less of a worry than it could be.
The front is even plainer, with just the screen and black bezels. The bezels aren’t tiny, but they’re not massive either, and a certain amount of bezel is desirable on a tablet, as it gives you something to hold.
Overall the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 has a functional rather than stylish appearance, but it’s smart and understated.
It’s also easy to operate. Its 8.0-inch screen makes it fairly compact – it’s still too large to use one-handed, but you can happily chuck it in a bag and forget you’re even carrying it – while the power and volume buttons, which are on the right edge when the tablet is held in portrait orientation, are easy to reach.
Key features
There aren’t a huge number of standout features here. At £125, the price is clearly the Vodafone Tab Speed 6’s key selling point, and it achieves that low price at the expense of almost everything else feature-wise.
The inclusion of 4G is worth a mention though, since not all tablets have it, especially low-end ones, and its inclusion here makes sense as it’s a low-cost way for people to hop onto Vodafone’s network.
But then again, I can’t help feeling that most people who are okay with shelling out for data every month on their tablet would probably also be okay with spending a little more upfront to get better hardware.
Still, if you want a low-cost slate with 4G connectivity the Tab Speed 6 certainly ticks those boxes. Coupled with the small size it also makes some sense as a tablet you’d take out and about with you and still be able to get full use out of when there’s no Wi-Fi.
The problem is that it’s never going to be that pleasant to use. Take the screen, which is always a key, even vital feature of a tablet. It’s just 1,280 x 800.
That’s lower resolution than the full-HD EE Harrier Tab or the sadly discontinued Tesco Hudl 2, and the same resolution as the far cheaper Amazon Fire HD 6 – and the resolution works on the Fire’s screen because it’s packed into a smaller 6-inch size, but spread across eight inches it’s distinctly lacking.
While it’s still perfectly useable, everything from gaming to web browsing looks a lot worse than it could, and left me feeling like I’d much rather just do these things on my phone – which currently isn’t even a high-end one.
And don’t even think about using the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 outside. While you can just about see the screen if you pump the brightness up to max, it’s incredibly reflective.
In fairness to the Speed 6, few other slates offer 4G at such a low price, and it’s arguably an improvement on the Vodafone Tab Prime 6, which offers the same meagre resolution screen in an even larger size.
But unless you’re desperate for 4G on the cheap I’d say either spend slightly more or live without it, because the Tab Speed 6 isn’t strong enough for those ‘key features’ to work for it.
Specs and performance
At £125 you’re probably not expecting much from the Vodafone Tab Speed 6’s performance, and you’d be right not to. In some ways, however, it’s better than I expected – only in some though.
It uses a 1.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 210 chip, which is low-end however you look at it, coupled with just 1GB of RAM. That’s about the minimum I’d expect to see in 2016, but it’s enough to comfortably run Android Lollipop.
Apps load surprisingly quickly, with less than a second’s delay much of the time, and swiping around the home screens is generally smooth. Even jumping between apps tends to be fast – or at least it is once the multitasking screen populates, which can sometimes take a few seconds.
Gaming performance is not so good. Stick to casual games and you’ll be fine, but Asphalt 8, for example, looked fairly hideous, due to a combination of the screen and the settings presumably being dialled down so the slate could cope; even then performance was far from smooth, but it was at least playable.
The Tab Speed 6 averaged 1095 in multi-core Geekbench 3 tests. That’s pretty low. The Amazon Fire HD 6, by comparison, averaged 1476 – and remember that’s a lower-cost slate, though it has a slightly faster 1.5GHz quad-core chip.
The Tesco Hudl 2 also beats it with a massive 2147 multi-core score and a 792 single-core result – and you don’t even want to know what the EE Harrier Tab scored. Oh, you do? How’s 2324 sound? Yes, that’s a more expensive slate, but not drastically so.
Thankfully, performance isn’t too much of an issue when it comes to the other thing you’re likely to want to use the Tab Speed 6 for: consuming copious amounts of video content.
The screen, as discussed earlier, is a limiting factor here, although the lack of resolution isn’t as apparent as when you’re gaming or web browsing.
Along with the fairly weak and back-firing single speaker it means you won’t get the most out of bombastic action movies on the Tab Speed 6, but for TV shows and more low-key content it gets the job done.
If you plan to store your media locally you have 16GB built in to play with. That won’t go far, but there’s also a microSD card slot, giving you the space to bulk up your collection.
Navigating to your content is painless too, as the interface sticks very closely to stock Android Lollipop. There’s no Marshmallow here – and as it’s such a low-end device I’m not super-optimistic about it being updated – but even on Lollipop it’s clean, intuitive and easy to navigate.
The only real way in which the interface strays from Android 5 is that the furthest-left home screen is used by Flipboard, delivering news and information tailored to you. It looks good on a screen this size, but as it’s an app you can just download from Google Play it’s not particularly beneficial.
It’s not that intrusive either though, as you can delete it, in which case that far screen gets used by Google Now instead.
There are a couple of Vodafone apps – one which highlights other Vodafone apps you can download, and another that’s a storefront for accessories. These add nothing to the experience, but they can easily be ignored and one of them can even be deleted.
The main problem with the interface is that it seems a bit glitchy. Navigation controls would sometimes stay on screen when playing a game, obscuring some of the content; videos would sometimes play audio but not display an image; and apps crashed on more than a few occasions.
These are all things which could presumably be fixed with a software update, but until or unless they are, they’re a bit of a nuisance.
Battery life and camera
Battery life
The Vodafone Tab Speed 6 is fairly respectable when it comes to battery life. Running our 90-minute video test with the screen at full brightness and Wi-Fi on drained it from 100% to 76% – a drop of 24%.
That’s a little worse than top tablets like the iPad Air 2, which dropped just 21%, but beats many budget slates. The EE Harrier Tab, for example, dropped 32% and the Tesco Hudl 2 lost a massive 37% of its juice.
In general use the slate held up quite well. Playing Asphalt 8 for 30 minutes at mid brightness knocked just 10% off the battery for example.
The drop is even less when watching videos and using most apps, so with mixed use you should be able to get seven or eight hours out of it, especially if you don’t max-out the brightness – although you might need to, as the screen on the Tab Speed 6 doesn’t go all that bright in the first place.
The tablet’s stamina is especially impressive given that it has just a 4050mAh juice pack. That’s smaller than the 4650mAh battery in the EE Harrier Tab, and much smaller than the 6470mAh unit in the iPad mini 2. It’s not one of the best we’ve tested, but it’s comfortably above average.
Despite the small battery, though, the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 takes a considerable amount of time to charge – and the only way to conserve life once it runs low, other than to not use it, is to leverage Android Lollipop‘s fairly basic battery-saver mode, which limits the tablet’s already undercooked performance.
Camera
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 doesn’t have a good camera… at all.
That’s not the end of the world. If you’re using a camera on a tablet then you’re probably doing life wrong, but some slates do at least have acceptable snappers – oversized, impractical and no match for most smartphones cameras, but acceptable. The camera on the Vodafone Tab Speed 6, however, is not acceptable in any way.
There’s a 5MP snapper on the back and a 2MP one on the front, which is worse than you’ll find on the EE Harrier Tab, but better on paper than the Amazon Fire HD 6‘s setup.
You also get quite a few settings to play with, from a handful of modes such as auto and night to a manual option which enables you to tweak the ISO, white balance and exposure.
None of this helps much when the results are so lacklustre, though.
The biggest problem is an almost complete lack of detail, especially in the background, but if the light is particularly strong or dim the camera can struggle even to bring out details in the foreground. Low light is especially problematic, especially given the lack of a flash.
The only time photos come out well is in close-up, but the caveat here is that the Tab Speed 6 really struggles to focus, so while you can wrestle your way to an okay-looking shot, it’s hard work.
Verdict
The Vodafone Tab Speed 6 aims to stand out through a combination of 4G connectivity and a low price of just £125. But to get there it’s had to cut a whole lot of corners, on everything from the screen to the processor and the camera.
Even at such a low price that’s not all excusable, especially as competition is fierce at the bottom end of the market, but a decent battery and solid build ensure it’s not a total misfire.
We liked
There’s an above-average amount of juice in the Vodafone Tab Speed 6, despite its fairly small battery. It won’t be troubling tablets at the top of the heap, but it’s longer lasting than many budget slates and should just about see you through a movie marathon.
It’s also cheap, of course – especially for a tablet that offers 4G. That could be enough to tempt some buyers, as it opens up a whole world of streamed media on the road.
The build is also decent for a slate of this price. While it’s distinctly low-end it’s solid, with a plain but sturdy design.
We disliked
The Vodafone Tab Speed 6’s screen is a real issue. It’s low-resolution and reflective, and frankly just not very enjoyable to use. I’d always rather have a sharper screen, even if that means it has to be smaller, as on the Amazon Fire HD 6 or even a smartphone.
The Tab Speed 6 isn’t packing a lot of power either. It’s reasonably nippy when you’re using basic apps or navigating the home screens, but its gaming performance isn’t good, and it puts in a poor show in terms of benchmarks.
The camera is awful, and the software was slightly glitchy in my time with the tablet; hopefully that latter issue will be fixed, but in the meantime it’s an annoyance.
Verdict
If you really want 4G in a tablet and can’t stretch to the EE Harrier Tab then, well, the Vodafone Tab Speed 6 will do the trick – but that’s about the closest thing to a recommendation I can muster.
Battery life is above average, so it could keep you entertained all day, but with a poor screen and dodgy performance your standards for entertainment will have to be pretty low.
You can get a lot more by spending just a little more, or settle on a solid slate without 4G if your budget is really fixed. The Vodafone Tab Speed 6 isn’t a complete disaster for the money, but it’s uninspiring, underpowered and unlikely to find many fans.
Source: techradar.com
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