Onda V813 Quad Core 8 Inch Ultra-thin Android Tablet White 16GB

Customer Reviews

Overall good product with good support Review by ymilev

Star

Hello! Using the tablet since May 2013.
Overal impression is good. Shell is solid and the devise is very thin and comfortable to handle. The screen is good in resolution and responsiveness. Video playback is smooth, also gameplay even with "heavy" games.
Software updates come at regular basis, and there is even KitKat version available.
There are some drawbacks, mostly with the design:
- non standard micro USB socket - it is deeper than normal, that requires either trimming the plastic of common regular plugs, or cutting the plastic shell of tablet to allow connecting normal plug.
- same is for the micro HDMI socket
- about audio - for my expectations it is acceptable, although the sound could be stronger
- micro USB socket is some "loose", so you can insert the card inside the shell, not in the socket if you are not carefull. This happened to me once and I had to disasemble the shell in order to extract the card from inside.
- OTA update is not working for me - it is starting, then "rolling" and finally says - "Unknown error" . So the only way to update is using the Phoenix suite. Widely available in the packages is the chinese version, that is a problem for someone flashing for the first time the device, but after some searching you can find english version, at least for 1.0.6. Later you can update the flashing software online, with the latest english version. But since November Onda launched its own flash utility, that is wery similar to the original one by Allwinnertech, but till now I could find it only in chinese (Posted on 1/27/14)

Good performer, but depending on what you look at Review by Radek

Star

Dear buyers.

This product is a solid performer and plays video smoothly, handles multiple videos at the same time and generally performs very well in terms of display resolution, responsiveness and design:
-touchscreen is sharp and responsive, no problem selecting pinching or double tapping;
-video plays smooth and scrolling through video is not a problem, it loads up quick and easy
-wifi of good reception and solid performance
-camera performs well its quick to take pictures and produces acceptable images vith good video capabilities.
-the speaker is loud enough to use it indoors and even though it is positioned oddly in the corner and you tend to cover it up with your hand when skyping it is in general a good performer

There are several "bad" sides to this product however:
-firstly if you want to upload new firmware you have to get through several stages where everything is in mandarin, if you don't speak it use Google translator.
-some apps are sluggish and unresponsive. After plugging the micro sd card provided by manufacturer (type4) it a lot of time to scan the drive for videos or perform file management tasks.
-apps crash very often, even the ones that are supplied by manufacturer. I owned this for a couple of days only and already had to revert to factory settings just to see if apps would load up faster - it didn't help
-the connection ports are of very poor quality: my micro usb port would very often not connect to pc or not charge simply because the manufacturer supplied plug does not sit snug enough in it. I had to trim the sheath on my own cable so that it goes a bit deeper and it still does not sit well enough (major impact on charging connecting etc), same goes for mini jack port, I went through 3 sets of headphones before I found ones that would not produce crackling sound on this device
-there is no support whatsoever if you are buying from outside of china like Europe. I already contacted Onda with questions and did not get an answer yet even though it was simple and it was submitted more than 24 hours ago.
- sound performance is quite average and disappointing. The device produces sound that is of quite a high volume though.

Overall In my opinion it is a solid product for the price and even better if you speak mandarin. It can be sluggish, which I think is down to internal storage being slow, but it performs really well in some tasks. It’s a good tool to exercise your “geek muscle” as you will have a lot of “fun” playing around with settings and trying to upgrade firmware and root the thing with your own apps. Be aware though that once you get this you are pretty much a wiser man to depend on yourself to manage the device and keep it healthy as if anything goes wrong, there is no (responsive) tech support. I will be trying out a few things with this device and in all fairness I will update or change this review if rooting the device and using cat 4 micro sd card will improve things.
(Posted on 8/3/13)

good tablet but... Review by Ricardo

Star

Good design
Good screen quality
Good wifi reception
acceptable battery duration
BAD and poor sound quality. I would like to know how difficult and expensive could be for Onda using a better audio chipset. Remember that little details can make the difference. And sound quality is an important detail. Maybe on next generation tablet.. its just an advice..
Thanks (Posted on 6/20/13)

almost perfect Review by jrk-smk

Star

Good design
Good screen quality
Acceptable battery duration
Acceptable CPu and GPu speed. Enough for me
Wifi reception good as well
AUDIO quality very poor.. I would like to know how difficult and expensive could be for ONDA use a better audio chipset. Onda guys are doing a good job, but they should know that little details make the difference.. and audio is a very important detail. (Posted on 6/20/13)