Tolino Tab 8″ Unveiled: Features Intel Atom Chipset, Lightweight Design, and More
A few weeks ago, the Tolino Tabs went on sale as part of a promotional event. This made the two tablets available at particularly attractive prices for an extended period (and to some extent, they still are). The price reduction also sparked speculation that the Tolino Alliance might be withdrawing from the tablet business.
However, that assumption was incorrect. The book retail alliance made their return just in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair with the introduction of the new Tolino Tab 8″. This time, they’ve limited themselves to a single new device, choosing a screen size that hits the sweet spot between the older tablets (7 and 8.9 inches). As the name suggests, it features an 8-inch display.
The resolution of the LCD-IPS panel is 1920×1200 pixels, delivering a pixel density of 283 ppi for very sharp image quality. Operation is as usual via a capacitive 10-point touchscreen. Additionally, a capacitive home button is available, familiar from the newly introduced Tolino Vision 2 (and its predecessor).
New Chipset
New 8-inch format tablet – with Tolino Home Button
The most notable innovation is arguably the chipset. Instead of relying on the usual Qualcomm, MediaTek, or RockChip technology found in many current tablets, the Tolino Tab 8″ uses an Intel Atom Z3735 chip with up to 1.83 GHz and four cores. The GPU runs up to 646 MHz. Apart from the new Tolino device, this SoC has mostly been used in various Windows tablets so far. According to initial benchmarks, the system performance might be comparable to a Snapdragon 600 chipset. If that’s accurate, it would be an excellent value—many comparable tablets are slower.
The battery life won’t suffer from the performance: According to the press release, you can get up to 12 hours on a single charge.
The internal storage is generously sized at 16 GB and can be expanded by up to 32 GB with a MicroSD card. Dual-band Wi-Fi (b/g/n) and Bluetooth 4.0 are available for wireless connectivity. SleepCover support is also included.
Low Weight as a Special Advantage
Special attention has also been paid to reducing weight. The Tolino Tab 8″ weighs only 308 grams, which is an excellent value for a device of this size. This makes it not only lighter than the Tolino Tab 7″ (335 g) but also lighter than the Apple iPad Mini (331 g). By comparison, the Google Nexus 7, at 290 grams, is considered lightweight in the 7-inch category. They’ve certainly improved in the right area, especially concerning handling during longer reading sessions.
The dimensions are also very decent at 215.3 x 124.6 x 7.9 mm, with the particularly slim case depth likely to be a positive factor in usability. The operating system is Android 4.4 Kit Kat. A 2 MP front camera allows for video contact with the outside world.
All in all, it seems the Tolino Alliance and Telekom (responsible for technical implementation) have put thought into the redesign of the tablet. Rather than just going with the flow, they have introduced the Tolino Tab 8″ as an attractive and competitive device that stands out, especially with its chipset and light weight, from many competitors. The ability to expand storage with a memory card and the open Android interface are also significant advantages over the Amazon competition.
The new tablet is expected to be available from November at 199 euros.
