Dubai: Creative is certainly not new on the shelves in the portable media player world, but it sure is in the tablet PC domain. But its newcomer status has certainly not affected Creative if you are going by the feature-laden ZiiO 7-inch Android 2.1 Eclair tablet it has introduced.
The 480 x 800 resistive-touch screen is powered by a 1GHz ZiiLabs ZMS-08 HD processor. The Creative ZiiO lacks some of the polished qualities of its tablet cousins and has a plastic case with large benzel around the screen.
A potential stumbling block is that the screen tended to be resistive rather than capacitive. Don't get deceived by the resistive screen. It is purposely made like this for handwriting features. And it is top-class. You can use it like a normal capacitive screen minus the multi-touch.
Truly impressive
Even if you really can't get to grips with the supplied stylus, text entry is comfortable enough.
What's truly impressive is the great audio experience, and certainly has the best quality among all the tablets out there.
Creative's big push for the tablets is their capability with music and movies. The tablet can sync with audio products via Bluetooth to play music. The Pure Android Audio player is nicely put together, with X-Fi settings and a Bluetooth device manager set within the app.
As you might expect, it has the X-Fi Crystaliser and Expand enhancements, and its apt-X codec allows for high-quality audio streaming.
Web portal
The downside is that the video quality is average, but the tablets can pump out 1080p HD video to an external display over an HDMI port, and high quality audio over a Bluetooth (or headphone jack) connection.
It features 802.11 B/G WiFi support, 8GB or 16GB of internal storage expandable via a micro SD card slot and a HDMI port, stereo speakers, mic, a mini-USB port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. It has a front-facing VGA camera for video calling and no back camera.
ZiiO does not ship with access to the Android marketplace. Instead, you can sign up to the installed ZiiStore for apps. It is a web portal providing you the sources to the free popular apps straight to your ZiiO.
Alternatively, ZiiO Space, which irritatingly requires a separate sign-up, is where you get your firmware updates, and it also features popular web-based apps with instructions on how to get them yourself.
There's no 3G and so cannot be used for make phone calls. The accelerometer is quite slow when you move from portrait to landscape mode. The company acknowledges it will benefit greatly from the arrival of Android 2.2, which will be available as an over-the-air update or via PC.
It comes at a price tag of Dh1,199.
Pros
- Price
- Handwriting recognition
- Best sound quality with X-Fi settings
- Stylus
- Long battery life
Cons
- Plasticky case
- Old version of Android OS
- No back camera
- Low resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
- No 3G and cannot make calls
