Onda V891W, a tablet with every chance of becoming popular.

There aren't many operating systems for personal computers, tablets, and other devices. But only relatively recently has Windows started making an aggressive push into the mobile-device market. Some people are used to this OS on their home desktops and don't want to switch to another one. This review is mainly intended for that group of users.
For me, a Windows tablet is primarily connected with my professional work.
Anyway, if you'd like to learn more and see some tests and comparisons, come on in.

As I wrote at the beginning, some people are either simply used to the Windows interface, or have tasks for which the Android (or iOS) familiar on mobile devices isn't suitable for various reasons.
One reason is familiar software, as well as software that's only available for this OS.
Android and iOS are very good operating systems, and I have no intention of downplaying their merits.
That's exactly why this review will take the form of a comparison, specifically with a similar tablet running Windows.


But let's take things in order; there's a time for everything.
First, as always, the packaging. In my opinion, it's an important part of a tablet, especially on a long trip.


The package contents are very sparse :(
I would have liked at least a matte screen protector, or even just a cleaning cloth. As they say, it's a small thing for the manufacturer, but a nice touch for the user.


That's everything that came in the package.
Tablet.
Power adapter
MicroUSB-to-USB cable
Manual
A little piece of paper I can't make sense of, with a character that looks like a house on it. :)


And here's the tablet itself.
There's a protective shipping film on top. The front panel is black. I had a hard time photographing it, so apologies if some of the photos aren't great.


The tablet is designed for portrait orientation, as you can tell from the position of the Windows button, although I'm personally more used to landscape orientation.


The right edge (or top edge in landscape orientation) has:
Power button.
Volume rocker.
Microphone hole.
Memory card slot.


The buttons are made quite neatly.
At first I criticized the designers for putting + on the left and − on the right. Actually, it's fine: since the tablet is designed for portrait orientation, + means up and − means down.


The memory card slot is covered by a flap.


The cover has a silicone latch. It doesn't take much effort to open, but I wouldn't call it easy either.
This detail is thought out pretty well.
The card sits quite deep. If your nails are short, you may not be able to get it in.
So it's best to “poke it with a stick” :)


The bottom edge (or right edge when holding the tablet horizontally) has a microUSB port. An OTG adapter isn't included, even though the tablet supports OTG.
There's also a charge indicator LED nearby.
It glows red while charging, then simply turns off when charging is complete.
But as far as I could tell—and forum posts confirmed it—the LED turns off a little before the tablet is fully charged. In my case, that happened at 98–99%. By the way, the tablet never showed 100%; 99% was the highest it reached.
The tablet was a little unstable while I was taking photos and fell onto its back a couple of times, but it didn't suffer any damage.


The top edge (or left side when held horizontally) has a speaker and a headphone jack.
The speaker sounds pretty good, in my opinion. I have a Cube tablet at home, and that one is really quiet. I also brought home another one at some point (I think it was an Onda too); it was a little louder, though it did have two speakers.
When you hold the tablet horizontally, your left hand acts like a horn and makes it louder.
At volume levels above 70–75–80%, the case starts to rattle noticeably, but the sound is already quite loud by then. If you press the back cover with your hands, the rattling almost disappears, so it seems to be caused by the case itself.


One of the cameras is on the front of the tablet; it's rated at 2 megapixels.


The back cover is made of plastic. While watching one of the unboxing videos, I noticed the reaction of the person filming it. He said the back cover felt really nice to the touch.
I can confirm that: it has a soft-touch finish and really does feel nice in your hands. You notice it as soon as you pick up the tablet. It also isn't slippery. There's one small downside, though: the finish picks up fingerprints easily. An aluminum cover might feel less pleasant, but it would get less dirty.
I noticed that the back cover flexes a little when pressed. If there's still some room inside, what stopped them from fitting a slightly higher-capacity battery?


There are a couple of holographic stickers on the back, along with information stating that the tablet needs a power supply rated for 5 V and 2.5 A, and that it has 32 GB of flash memory.


The rear camera is 5 MP, with autofocus. You can choose the area to focus on by tapping the screen, and the exposure is set based on that area too.
There's a small (microscopic, you could say) raised rim around the camera that offers a little protection against scratches.



I removed the protective shipping film and was a little surprised to find that the tablet had two films: there was another one underneath. A small thing, but nice.




When you hold the tablet horizontally, it's easy to accidentally hit the Windows button.


The tablet came with a cable. It's pretty good quality, as people on the forums have also mentioned. The cable is about 80 cm long.


The connector is quite well designed. With my previous tablet, I had to trim the rubber around the plug, otherwise it wouldn't go all the way in. No such problem here; there's even a little room to spare.


A charger is also included. It charges the tablet and doesn't get very hot during use—about 45 degrees to the touch.

First boot. User V; then, naturally, I created a new account and deleted the old one.
The first thing you notice is the image quality. No complaints at all. The screen is only 8.9 inches, but 1920x1200 is hard not to love; the sharpness is simply excellent.



Initially, 19.1 GB of storage is available.
By the way, I’d seen people on forums mention a “crystalline effect” in the image. I searched for it, read about it, and even watched videos online, but I still couldn’t find it here.


And here’s our second test participant in all its glory.
The Asus VivoTab Smart tablet ME400CL 3G 64GB was bought in November 2013 and cost about $615 at the time. You can easily find the full specs and reviews online.
Briefly:
10.1-inch IPS screen, 1366x768 resolution, 64 GB flash storage, 2 GB RAM, Windows 8.1
The tablet is used at work. Last summer it went through a minor ordeal when its screen had to be replaced (I won’t mention the cost) after it was dropped on the asphalt. I brought it home for a comparative test.


And the very first comparison was system startup time. I didn't time it precisely; I just turned them on at the same time and noticed the difference. The Onda boots 2–2.5 times faster.


Screenshots from the tablet itself, and switching its interface to Russian.

Next, I moved on to comparative testing. I'll run various tests one after another on both devices.

Aida's processor cache and RAM test.
Onda, respectively:


And the Asus.


When I first started using the tablet, I noticed that its WiFi reception was pretty good.
The thing is, my desk is in something of a dead zone: my access point barely reaches it. So it's easy to tell how well a device's WiFi works.
With the really weak networks, I can't connect at all; with the strong ones, everything works great.
Among all the devices I've tested, Onda came in somewhere in the middle (laptops usually have better antennas than tablets), and it did pretty well among the tablets.
To check how it performed, I installed an app that shows what's going on over the air.
Since I took the screenshots through TeamViewer, I tested the tablets where the signal was stronger. I'll use that spot to test devices that come my way in the future, just for the sake of comparison.
Onda — 32 access points (30 on screen, with 2 more hidden beyond the scroll bar)


Asus: 24 access points.
As they say, no further comment needed.


And finally, the 3DMark 2006 test.
Onda scored 1746 points.


Compared with 380 for the Asus. :(


The following was also tested—
The video files used to test the TV box, namely:
The Ducks, familiar to many, play without any problems, with CPU usage at around 20% (in the 2160p test)
The 60 fps video — Noah_Trimmed.mkv — plays perfectly, with CPU usage at around 25%
The video from the IXBT website — 1080-50p-5.1.mp4 — has barely noticeable stuttering, with CPU usage at 15%


And that's how this review turned out. I wanted to make it a bit more compact, but as I went along it grew like a snowball.
I had actually planned to publish this review a little earlier, but decided not to rush and to use the tablet more extensively first. In the end, I put it through its paces for a week, as they say, from top to bottom. I've already installed most of the programs I need, and I'm planning to make the interface look more like Windows 7. My home PC runs XP, but I find Windows 7 just as convenient. By the way, they say it will be possible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

So, here's the verdict.
Pros.
Good performance
High-quality screen and viewing angles
There's only one speaker, but it's perfectly decent.
The WiFi sensitivity was impressive.
Windows 8.1 OS; Windows 7 would have been better, but 8.1 is better for tablets.
Quite good build quality.
Two protective films on the screen.
The back cover feels nice to the touch.

Cons.
Rather sparse package contents.
The system's default language is a mix of English and Chinese.
32 GB of flash storage is still a bit too little; 64 GB would be nice, or better yet, 128 GB :)
One USB port is barely enough, especially since the power adapter also connects through it.
The camera is pretty mediocre. It's okay indoors, on a table, but outdoors it's a whole different story.
The back cover shows fingerprints quite easily.

My opinion. I think this is a pretty successful tablet, although of course it has its drawbacks. I was pleasantly surprised by its performance, and even more so by the ability to run all the same programs I use on my desktop.
I also liked the screen, even though people say that the resolution is too high for such a small screen and makes it hard to use. Yes, I agree that it takes some getting used to, but the Asus with its 10.1-inch screen and lower resolution isn't much easier to use (I really did have to hit the menus just as carefully), and I much prefer the sharper image.
Of all the cons, the one USB port disappointed me the most. A second one would have been very useful, preferably a full-size port.
WiFi works reliably; I had no complaints about it.
The battery is average. Of course, I would have liked a larger one, and there was room inside for a slightly higher-capacity battery, but apparently they either couldn't find one or didn't want to. Even so, around four hours of battery life is quite good. It's also strange that other manufacturers don't try to fit a higher-capacity battery, even though a 7–8 Ah battery would easily fit inside.
In my opinion, the tablet deserves an honest 4 points, possibly even 4+.

This tablet was provided to me free of charge by the gearbest store for testing and review.

I'm sure some readers will say I'm just praising the freebie. But with all due respect, I have to disagree. If I genuinely like something, why should I criticize it? In the review, I deliberately compared it with a similar device and included all the information needed to assess its performance.
Of course, it's no Microsoft Surface, but it costs less, too.
At the moment, this is the cheapest Windows 8 tablet with an 8.9-inch screen and a resolution of 1920x1200, and that's exactly what won me over.
I'm planning to use this tablet to configure digital FullHD surveillance cameras. I think it will be more convenient than using a laptop; maybe I'll come up with a way to mount the tablet on my arm. And, of course, various work-related programs.

P.S. I'm no expert on tablet testing, so suggest some tests and test programs, and I'll give them a try.