Windows has not excelled at the OS for smart mobile devices, especially hand-held ones. That’s why Lumia series once hyped to be the next big thing are in our rear-view mirror. Microsoft’s attempt at giving a life to their smartphones and tablets hasn’t returned expected results so far. Don’t get me wrong however, they are the kings of the desktop, and they do a stellar job at it. But computing is going more and more to smaller screens. And this is where players like Remix OS powered by Android come in. The traditional Android interface on tablets is not built for productivity, its mostly for entertainment and maybe staying connected to your work in the cloud.
This tablet, being powered by Remix tries to being in some productivity, while not leaving behind what makes Android appealing, apps. There is access to the millions of exciting apps on Google’s Play store. So what does the Tecno Droipad 10 Pro II do well?
Reading device
For those like me who read a lot (being a writer makes you read ten times more than you write), you need constant access to a screen you can read from. For some it’s books and libraries, I’m a fan of digital books and other reading material because of the mobility it presents, especially across devices. With the Droipad 10 Pro II you have access to reading apps like Kindle app, numerous news apps and also the browser where you can keep tabs on happenings via news aggregators and feeds apps.
Secondary Computer
The Tecno Droipad 10 Pro II doesn’t promise a lot but you will have access to documents in the cloud, open word, excel and power-point presentations via their mobile apps and do both consumption and creation. This article was written from the Droipad. The Keyboard that it comes with works the same way your average keyboard works, including shortcuts for essential functions, including some that are specific to the Droipad.
It has all the workings of a standard desktop, including tool-tips, drag and drop, notification center, start menu and even one thing that the Windows desktop lacks; a calendar that syncs with Gmail. You can do essential computing via the device when away from your main computer. It can also be a main computer to some, especially students.
Entertainment Device
Tablets are built to be entertainment devices first, before anything else. The 10 inch screen on the Droipad together with its HD resolution is a great fit for entertainment. You will have a good experience watching movies off the screen, whether streamed or via media storage devices like microSD cards and flash disks. You see, it has USB on the go, meaning you can move files from a flash disk or hard drive. Game-play on the device is quite good, and with the 32GB internals, you are sure to load several games to play on tablet mode.
Powerbank Alternative
As pointed in the specs sheet here, the Droipad 10 Pro II does pack in a mean battery at 7000mAh. You will get some 3 to 4 days of battery life. Something that’s not common among smartphones. These do a day on average. With reverse charging made possible by the dongles provided in the box, you can charge your smartphone if you run out of juice, just like you would with a powerbank.
Bonus: Voice and Video calling device
Although quite awkward to do voice calling on this device (as it’s a 10 inch slate), you can do just that when you want. It has a SIM card slot, actually two slots for more choice, and you can place voice calls and send text messages via your favourite network carrier on top of numerous voice and video calling apps like WhatsApp and Google’s Hangouts.
The presence of a SIM card also means you can perform USSD functions so airtime and data bundle set-up alongside other SIM toolkit dependent functions like mobile money can be done on the fly.
The Droipad 10 Pro II isn’t the best of options when it comes to a convertible device, but for what it represents and the price point it fits in, it does pull it’s weight to deliver options. Especially due to the way Remix OS is done.
