LTE-connected Android tablets are often expensive and not always worth the money, but Verizon and TCL are hoping to change that with the $199 TAB 8.
The TCL TAB is an 8-inch Android-powered tablet that is exclusive to Verizon’s network but definitely has a few hints of the original Google Nexus 7. Now while Android tablets are nowhere near as popular as their Apple-branded counterparts, some people do prefer the underlying OS on a secondary media device.
This might not be an iPad replacement, but the TCL TAB 8 could be a solid, affordable LTE capable Android tablet that will do the “basics”. Let’s reel off some specs first though. The TCL TAB 8 comes with an 8-inch FHD+ LCD display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, 32GB of onboard storage, with 3GB of RAM, and 5,500mAh battery. It’s a modest spec sheet for sure.
Now there is a little trick up the sleeve of this tablet here, as the TCL TAB 8 can actually reverse charge your device via the USB-C port — which is a really cool addition. We can see this being useful if you just stuff this device in your bag and want to grab a little juice bump for another piece of tech like earbuds or maybe your main smartphone.
The only downside to this feature is that it’s reliant on a separate USB-C OTG add-on that you’ll need to fork out for. Other notables on the TCL TAB 8 include an 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel selfie camera, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 support, a 3.5mm headphone port, fingerprint reader, plus it weighs under 330 grams or 11.5oz.
It will be shipping with Android 10, but is only promised on major OS upgrade. Although at $200 it’s harder to really complain too much that the TCL TAB 8 won’t get updated to Android 12. However, it will get security updates for two years.
You can grab it now direct from Verizon priced at $199 or at $8.33 per month over a 24 month period.
Author: Damien Wilde
Source: 9TO5Google
