LAST month, Digicel launched the Huawei Media Pad 7 lite, their US$200 tablet, into the 7-inch tablet ring. Just in time for Christmas, this mini-media station, which is riding on Digicel’s 4G Mobile wave, was created earlier this year and packs quite a punch for the local price of J$19,950.

This seven-incher boasts a 1024×600 IPS multi-touch 1080p high-definition display, perfect for watching high-definition movies, a 1.2GHz, A8 processor, which can handle practically any game or application you throw at it, and is tied in a neat little package with one of the most recent Android OS’ — Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Launched as the best value tablet in the region, Media Pad 7’s affordability is the product of a partnership between the Digicel Group and the international ICT company Hauwei Technologies. According to Digicel’s CEO Andy Thorburn, this is to facilitate Internet accessibility reaching a wider audience in the region.

“We have a vision of making Internet available everywhere and to everyone. That is why, following the launch of 4G mobile earlier this year, Digicel is now pleased to partner with Huawei to bring this exciting, great value tablet to the market and enable wider Internet accessibility for business and consumers across the island,” he said.

Now, while we don’t doubt that an ultra-portable, mini-media station is an excellent way to carry the Internet far and wide, we do want to state, off the bat, that that’s all this tablet is.

Like any other tablet out there, it cannot replace a laptop or even netbook, and is best used as a secondary computer, something to load your favourite movies, videos, music pictures and files onto to take them with you. If that’s all you’re looking for, then look no further, the Media Pad 7 is just for you.

We put the Media Pad 7 through some very rigorous testing over the past few weeks, all so that we can tell you, our readers, what’s hot and what’s not about the market’s newest seven-incher.

The pros and cons of the most noteworthy features are listed below.

Battery

When we received the tablet, we were promised a battery that would last us all day. Sadly, the battery only lived that long if the tablet was idle all day.

Browsing

To browse the Internet we had two options, Digicel 4G (which was frequently 3G, depending on where we were) and Wi-Fi. Both options allowed us to browse webpages, stream videos and run apps like Facebook, Twitter and Skype with ease.

3G/4G

Pro: The Huawei Media Pad 7 picked up Digicel’s 3G/4G service everywhere we went in the island when we took it on our TEENage Observer Expressions Tour for a few weeks, including the Mocho Hills in Clarendon and Junction in St Elizabeth.

Con: Being able to browse the Internet eight hours away from your original destination only means so much if the battery cannot last half that time browsing on the way there. Using Digicel’s 3G/4G network drained the tablet’s battery considerably, we barely got three usable hours of battery life with just basic browsing and infrequent tweeting. We didn’t dare watch video or listen to music.

Wi-Fi

Pro: Using a Wi-Fi connection, videos loaded faster and had comparable web-browsing speeds to using a laptop on the same wireless network. Videos did not lag and music and media downloads went smoothly.

Con: Battery life, though it lasted up to four-and-a-half hours through heavy browsing and video play back, and even game play, we still wished the battery would last a little longer, especially since it seemed to take hours to charge.

Memory

The Media Pad comes with 8gb flash memory, but take into account the almost 3gb for the OS and you have roughly 5gb of usable storage space left. The Media Lite also offers cloud storage, that is online storage hosted by a third party, like Google Drive for example. But as that isn’t popular amongst persons without an international credit card, if you’re looking for more space to hold all the music, movies, games and files your tablet can handle, we recommend getting a micro SD card. The Media Pad 7 can accommodate up to 32gb.

Game play

Pro: We tested some of the most played, processor burning, 3D video games available for Android OS and found that games like Need For Speed, Most Wanted, Drag Racing and Pro-Evolution Soccer (PES) 2012, ran excellently, without lagging and with pristine graphics.

Con: But some games are a bit more taxing on a processor than others, and we found the exact opposite happened, like ridiculous game lag, scrambled graphics that made game play near impossible when playing games like zombie shooter Dead Trigger.

Camera/Video

Pro: The Media Pad 7 has both a rear and front facing camera so you can capture your friends in person or Skype with them without putting down your tablet.

Con: The rear facing camera comes in at the very bottom of the “camera on mobile devices” line with an unimpressive 3.2 megapixels. As for the 0.3 mp front facing camera, we have only one piece of advice, do not Skype in low light.

Video Playback

Pro: It showed the most fast-paced, action-packed 1080p, high definition movies like The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises in stunning colour. Regular video playback, like that of YouTube videos also came in a lot clearer and crisper than what we are used to on a laptop screen.

Con: If you plan on carrying your Media Pad 7 on long car rides, count out movies and basic browsing if you actually want to be able to still use your tablet once you’ve reached your destination. Or you could get a car charger.

Audio Playback

This is another area where the Media Pad seemed to shine. Music played was crisp and clean and the battery outlasted the amount of albums we had on hand. Audio playback: six albums and counting. We also tried the app Double Twist Player, which allowed us to sinc our iTunes library with the Media Pad, after which we promptly “misplaced” our iPod. Audio output was so impressive on this tablet, that we even tried our hand at a little audio mixing using the apps: Gamelan DJ, Pocket DJ Free, DJ Control and DJ Studio 4, all of which ran easily without lagging, and mixed our music beautifully.

Accessories

Digicel is currently the only comany carrying the Media Pad 7 Lite, but the tablet comes with a micro USB cable and a portable charger attachment, which opens up the door to the endless possibilities offered accessories.

At its size it is a tad bit longer and a wee bit narrower than most seven-inch tablets on the market, so it might be difficult to get sleeves and cases locally. So our advice, buy something that stretches!

So, to conclude, The Huawei Media Pad 7 Lite is a bright-screened little dynamo, which reminds us of the little engine that could. If you choose to add the Media Pad 7 Lite to your Christmas list, here’s a list of a few of our favourite apps to help you get the most out of your tablet. These apps either come pre-installed on the tablet or can be found for free in the Google Play Store.

Our favourite Apps:

Google Chrome for Android

Plume, Twitter for Android Google Maps

Jamaica YP

Double Twist Player

Facebook for Android

YouVersion the Bible App

Adobe Reader for Android

IMDB official app

Cracked Lite Official App

Wired News Official App

CNET News Official App

Skype

Instagram

Our favourite games:

Words with Friends

Angry Birds

Temple Run

Triple Town

Fruit Ninja

Check out more more info and photographs on out Facebook.com/TEENageObserver (magazine page).