This is a budget tablet, and it clearly shows in the build quality, performance and even the display. But at this price, the real enticing factor is that it has ICS on-board. While there are a whole host of connectivity ports as well, but there is no getting away from the �budget� build quality.
Straightaway, the build quality betrays the price tag of the tablet. We have reviewed a whole host of budget tablets in the past, but this one takes the cake for playing the part! The consumer, quite obviously, wants a product with a better finish than this. The Zync Z990 is plasticky all around, but that feels quite low quality. There is a matte finish to the front, while the rear panel has an enamel finish. No hardware buttons around the screen, but if you hold the tablet in landscape mode, the top spine does make up for it! Menu, Power and Return (called Esc) are all placed here, but since all three look the same, you will have to remember the position of each to use it without looking. To the right of the display is the video call camera, nicely camouflaged. The right spine has a USB hub, micro USB port, 3.5mm jack as well as mini HDMI out. No volume rocker anywhere, which means you will have to manage playback volume from within whatever app you are using at that time.
We understand that quality cuts need to happen to keep the budget tablets as a sensible business proposition, but Zync needs to take the quality up a notch on this tablet.
On the spec sheet, the Zync Z990 looks like an impressive package. The combination of a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.0 does make it quite enticing. Despite that, the benchmark scores and the usage experience clearly shows that the tablet isn’t as quick as it could have been. At times, there is a distinct lag when flipping between the home screens, or even through the app list. At times, there is an annoying lag when you are typing a web address in the browser. Quite frankly, we expected a smoother ICS experience with such a decent spec sheet. However, the Z990 handles multi-tasking very smoothly. We had multiple apps running – web browser, YouTube app, media player in the background, and still the Z990 didn’t slow down. If Zync can optimise the Z990 a little better to iron out the sudden appearance of lag, the performance will surely be quite impressive.
The 7-inch display is a capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution. The brightness levels are quite good, even though the colour reproduction does seem a little less vivid than what the iBerry AUXUS AX02 offered. We kept the two tablets side by side, with the brightness turned to 100% and played the same video on both displays. The comparison showed that while the Zync Z990 has a brighter display, the AX02 offers better colour reproduction. In terms of video playback quality, both are the same. HD videos were smooth, and even jumping forward and back in playback was handled very smoothly. Speaking of which, the Z990’s speaker isn’t very loud, and was a definite second place to the iBerry AX02 at full volume playing back the same video.
Visit next page to continue reading Zync Z-990’s features and performance; also check out our verdict…
Touchscreen is a bit of a mixed bag. While it responds well most of the time, there are moments when it suddenly becomes too responsive and selects something even though you may just be flicking through a list.
Annoyingly, the Z990’s display hasn’t been optimized. Put an app shortcut on any of the homescreen, and chances are they will only be half visible at the top. Quite clearly, a part of the display wants to escape! The only issue is that all icons on the taskbar are a little too small and too closely placed, with accidental selections quite the norm. On top of that, the display is clearly at a lower level than the side bezel, and the plastic gets in the way most of the time.
Zync haven’t done much modification to the ICS in terms of visual tweaks. The lock screen as the “slide in circle to unlock” method as we saw on Honeycomb tablets. The apps can be accessed via the top right corner. Multiple home screens to put the app shortcuts and widgets on.
The Z990 has a USB port that also supports data card connectivity, and integrated Wi-Fi. However, there is no Bluetooth, which is a surprise. The HDMI out feature works well with the mini HDMI port on the tablet.
Battery life is very similar to most budget Android tablets out there. For continuous video watching, this will last 5 hours, and that should get you through approximately two movies.
This is an ICS tablet that looks quite impressive on the spec sheet. However, in real life, it has been a disappointment. The build quality deserves a lot more loving. Little niggles like an un-optimized display, no Bluetooth and no volume rocker mean this one will not give you the perfect ICS tablet experience. We suggest waiting for a while, since a lot more budget ICS budget tablets are on the way.
Contact: Zync Global Pvt. Ltd.
Phone: N.A.
Email: info@zync.in