Tech Tools review: Alba 7-inch Android tablet

I have always sworn that my child wouldn’t have a tablet until they were old enough to responsibly look after it. That was before I realised that taking this stance would mean continuously having to pry my smartphone and tablet out of the hands of a curious toddler who has developed a fascination with Fisher Price apps. Sticky hands at that.

I’ll admit, I’m wavering. When Alba’s budget Android Lollipop tablet landed on my desk, it seemed like a good time to wave the white flag at least temporarily and see if it would last the week.

On the inside, it’s got 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage that can be expanded with a memory card and a 1.3Ghz quad core processor. There are the obligatory cameras – front and rear – and wifi. First impressions are that this is definitely a budget tablet. It’s thicker than its higher priced rivals, but still reasonably light. A little bit of substance is not always a bad thing though. Thicker can mean more durable, particularly if you’re pitching this at a younger audience. Fancy glass and casing is all very well, but if it cracks when you drop it, what’s the point? Plus with the Alba tablet, it’s going straight into a silicon bumper anyway, which is included in the box and gives a pleasing amount of protection to the device.

It needs it. She has it in her hands about two minutes before it is flung to the floor. Any other tablet I’d be worried about its future, but not this one. It survives with no scratches, cracks or visible damage. And it still switches on, which is always a positive.

Setting it up is the standard Android routine, adding your Google account and logging into wifi, adding some child-friendly apps. Once all that is done, we hit a snag. The tablet crashes and puts itself into Safe mode, seemingly for no reason. It doesn’t happen again since, so we chalk it up to a glitch in an app and move on.

One area where budget tablets usually fall down is the screen. While higher-priced devices are racing to develop even more high definition displays, their budget brethren are usually a bit murkier and a lot less sharp. The Alba tablet is middle of the road. Its IPS display is by no means the worst display I’ve seen on a budget tablet recently, but it won’t cause too much concern for the high end tablets. It’s responsive too, without the usual delay you can find with cheap screens. So far, I haven’t wanted to throw it through a window, frisbee style, so the frustrations factor is low.

But the sound is an issue. It’s on the tinny side, and volume controls seem to make little difference. The placement of the speakers doesn’t help. One small speaker on the rear of the device means that if the tablet is laid flat, the speaker is affected. Even on full volume, this tablet wouldn’t disturb the upper deck of the local Dublin Bus. Again, that’s not always a bad thing, but it might get a bit frustrating for those of us who confine your tablet use to the privacy of our own homes. It comes with Bluetooth and a headphone jack though, so you have the option of a wireless speaker or headphones if you find it’s too poor to deal with.

Did I say the frustration factor was low? Only once you get passed the initial loading. The Alba tablet is slow to start, so slow that at one point I thought it had frozen. Don’t panic: they just really seems to want you to notice the Alba colour splash screen.

Don’t expect miracles from the camera. The rear camera isn’t the worst, but the images it produces won’t blow you away. The front-facing camera, as with most tablets, is even lower quality.

The good

The price. At €70, it’s budget friendly, so if you are looking for something that won’t break the bank, it fits the bill. The Alba tablet is also pretty durable, even without the silicon bumper (you only make that mistake once). It’s survived the toddler test with flying colours, something that has stopped many a more expensive piece of kit in its tracks.

The not so good

The sound isn’t great, although you wouldn’t expect top-notch audio for this price. The slow start up time was a pain too. At one point, it took close to two minutes to start up – I timed it.

The rest

There’s a choice of two coloured bumpers in the box – blue and red – so you can swap them if the mood takes you.

The verdict

The Alba tablet is budget friendly but the trade off may be too high for some users.