When you think of getting a new tablet, the odds are that your first thought is to get either an Apple or a Samsung made device, well Hisense is looking to change that with the launch of their 7.9 inch slate, the Sero 08 Pro.
Keeping with its ethos of low cost hardware, the Sero 08 Pro packs more than you’d expect into a R2999.00 package.
The Sero 08 Pro features an aluminium body, a 2048 x 1536 resolution Retina IPS display, 8MP rear camera + 2MP front facing camera, a 1.8GHz quad core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB built in storage.
Hands on with the 8-inch Hisense tablet was far more pleasant than we expected.
The device felt good to hold and while some have said that the chamfered edges felt a bit too sharp, we didn’t find it uncomfortable to hold.
Using the tablet was fairly easy, although at times we did encounter some lag when switching between apps.
The rear -facing camera was not bad in well-lit conditions and captured OK pictures, but it’s clear that the Sero 08 is not going to be challenging your DSLR camera anytime soon. Nighttime and poorly lit conditions produced less than desirable pictures, but that seems to be the issue with most mid-range devices these days. Your tablet is not meant to be your primary camera after all is it.
Sound quality on the Sero 08 was better than expected, thanks mostly to the Dolby Digital Surround sound (it sounds even better with a good set of headphones), and beat out many of the high end tablets and smartphones that we’ve tested. One thing that we would’ve liked, is of the speakers were on opposite ends of the tablet as opposed to both being on the bottom of the device.
Overall, Hisense delivered a pleasant surprise. With its 2K display, Dolby Surround sound, metal body, expandable memory and 4400mAh battery, the Sero 08 Pro is definitely worth a second look when shopping around for your next tablet. It’s not perfect (we’d love to see a 3G / 4G version of the device, unfortunately it’s Wi-Fi only), but for a sub R3000 tablet, the minor snags we encountered are negligible. And if like us, you don’t like the Hisense UI, there are some really good launchers to be found in the Google Play store.
Check out the full specs as well as our time lapse video of the Sero 08 Pro below :
Specifications
| Operating System | |
| Android | 4.4 Kitkat |
| Connectivity | |
| BlueTooth | 4.0 |
| WiFi | Yes |
| Headphone Jack | 3.5mm |
| Display | |
| Type | Retina IPS |
| Size | 7.85″ |
| Resolution | 2048 x 1536 |
| Multi-Touch | 5 Point |
| Circuitry | |
| GPU | 1.8GHz Quad Core |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage Memory | 16GB |
| Camera | |
| Main Camera | 8MP |
| Secondary Camera | 2MP |
| Video Recording | Yes |
| Focus | Auto |
| Panoramic Function | Yes |
| Features | |
| Colors | Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Red |
| Physical | |
| Dimensions | 200.3*135.6*6.35mm |
| Weight With Battery | 326g |
| Battery | |
| Capacity | 4400mAh |
| Standby Time | 170h |