Vankyo Matrix Pad S8
Opening
The MatrixPad S8 by Vankyo is proving to be a good choice for me as a casual tablet user.
Over the past ten years or so I’ve had several tablet computers and I’ve been pleased with most of them. My latest was a Galaxy Tab 2 that I got as an upgrade via a Nook e-reader promotion.
That Galaxy has worked very well for the past couple of years but alas the battery began to fail and it would hold a charge for more than 2 hours.
That put me on the lookout for a new tablet and boy was I shocked at the prices that top of the line tablets command.
Part of that is that I’m not running my business off a tablet-based dashboard or editing videos on one. I simply don’t need the capabilities that expensive tablets include. And that’s the reason you should feel good about considering an inexpensive tablet.
If your primary tablet use is as an e-reader, email device and music or video streaming device, a low-cost tablet will likely be good enough. At about the $90 dollar price point, even if it falls apart after 18 months, you can still buy 3 or 4 of them and still have paid less than a single high-end tablet.
S8 Features
In this review we’ll take a look at the Vankyo S8 tablet available on Amazon. There is also a very similar S7 tablet, too. Obviously, the S7 is an inch smaller than the S8. The S8 has a custom cover from Vankyo available for about $13 dollars, the last time I looked.
The S8 has a couple of features I need to call out. First, it has a 1.3 gigahertz quad core processor so it’s pretty fast. The processor isn’t the newest one out there, but is solid. Additionally, it comes with the Android 9 Pie operation system and has full access to the Google Play store and other Google services. For me, this sets this apart from the Amazon Fire Tablets. We’ve got a Fire Tablet in the house and it’s a nice machine. I just don’t like the barrier to Google services.
The S8’s screen is a 1280 by 800 IPS screen that is plenty bright and seems to have a good viewing angle. It also has the ability to accept up to a 128GB SD card for lots of onboard storage. The card is easy to access on the top bezel of the tablet so you can bring a whole library of books or movies with you when you’re on the road and not have to remove the back to get to the SD card.
They claim the S8’s 4000 millamp hour battery will last for 10 hours. I haven’t tried that yet but haven’t had any battery issues either.
The las thing I want to mention is that the S8 is a WiFi only device that does have a GPS receiver. If you have a hotspot mode on your smartphone, the S8 becomes a big screen outlet for your phone’s data services when on the go.
S8 Conclusions
So far I’m impressed with this little inexpensive tablet. As a casual tablet user, this device is perfect for my needs while helping my stay within a budget. If you’re looking for a tablet to toss in your purse or backpack, or something for the kids to stream their programming, the Matrixpad S8 by Vankyo is a good choice.