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Group test

Gigaset isn’t a well-known brand, but can the QV830

show that the fi rm can mix with the big boys?

F

ormerly part of the Siemens group, Gigaset has

an illustrious history in landline phones, but the

£99 QV830 is a rare foray into the tablet market

for the fi rm. From the get-go you’ll appreciate the

metal-backed 8-inch frame of the tablet, but the rest

of the plastic build is very fi ngerprint friendly. All

necessary ports are located at the top of the tablet,

which can be a bit awkward to use considering the

square shape of the device. It certainly takes some

getting used to, but you’ll soon fi nd the benefi ts of

using it in both landscape and portrait orientation.

The QV830 runs a mostly stock version of Android

4.2.2, but we doubt we’ll see any update to Android

5.0 here. The Cortex A7 CPU is powerful and makes

navigating the tablet an absolute pleasure. It handles

multitasking well and has no problems dealing with

the more demanding apps on the Play Store. There’s

only 4.9GB of internal storage available, but users can

expand through the microSD slot, if necessary.

It’s when you dig a little deeper that the cutbacks start

appearing in the QV830. The general camera quality is

grainy and colours are washed out. There are some great

shooting options available, but the results simply aren’t

worth it. For some strange reason there’s also

noticeable lag when you use the camera, but this seems

to be solely down to a software fault.

The 1024x768 resolution display is the worst of the

group here, though. Lettering and icons have noticeable

pixellation and some colours feel oversaturated at times.

This is a common cutback for budget devices, but where

the other budget tablets in this test shine in this

department, the QV830 just can’t compete.

Although Gigaset may not be as well known as the

competition in this group test, the QV830 is an

all-round solid tablet. This metal-backed 8-inch

offering outshines most in the design department,

but obvious cutbacks have been made in other areas

where they really shouldn’t have.

Gigaset QV830

Metal is right

We really love the metal

back used on the QV830

tablet. It’s not the best

we’ve seen, due to the

amount of fi ngerprints we

managed to get on it, but

it certainly beats having a

pure plastic design

Poor camera

The camera just really

isn’t up to scratch for

either taking photos or

recording videos. Both

tend to be grainy and

don’t display colours

very well at all

Stay updated

Gigaset has included an

OTA Update app where

users are able to

self-install an APK or ZIP

fi le. This is probably the

only way in which users

can get the Lollipop

update on the QV830

Odd shape

What could potentially put

some users off the QV830

is the strange square

shape of the tablet. Going

against the typical

rectangle frame is brave,

but it certainly takes some

getting used to

»^ Operating system........Android 4.2.2

»^ Processor ...........................Cortex A7 1.2GHz quad-core

»^ Memory ...............................1GB RAM, 8GB storage

»^ Dimensions .......................200 x 141 x 8mm

»^ Weight ...................................328g

»^ Display size .......................8.0-inch

»^ Display resolution ........1024 x 768 pixels

»^ Connectivity .....................Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0

»^ Camera ................................5MP front, 1.2MP rear

technical specs

Price £99.99

»^ More information http://www.gigaset.com

»^ Supplied by http://www.gigaset.com

information

The QV830 has pros and

cons. It may be the cheapest

of the group, but you can pay

out just a little more for a

much better experience

»Verdict

Gigaset QV830

»head-to-head

Design

To include a metal fi nish to the back of a £99

tablet is staggering, so we tip our hats to

Gigaset for that. The rest of the device does

feel well made, but we don’t like how easily

fi ngerprints get picked up on it

Performance

Navigation is smooth since the Cortex A7 is

speedy. Multitasking is easy to accomplish

and the only hiccups we noticed were when

we were trying to open up certain movies

within the built-in video app

Camera and video

One of the major cutbacks in the QV830 is

with the camera that’s on offer. We can’t

really recommend it at all, and the same

goes for the video recording capabilities.

Use it only when absolutely necessary

Battery life

With a 3260mAh battery – which is marginally

bigger than most high-end smartphones

• battery life isn’t fantastic on the QV830.
  Expect to get a solid 6 hours of high usage
  before reaching for the charging cable