[Android General] domiankrey:
Hi there,

since there is no subforum for general Gamingtablets I post my review here because nobody talked about the device on this forum. Furthermore since there are much more Gaming devices than the OUYA, the Nvidia Shield and the Mad Catz Mojo, I think a subforum for general Android gaming plattforms would be good.

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The device is called Gametab One. Like the wikipad it is a tablet with a custom made controller.

On my blog I wrote a review (link) and on Youtube I did a video with the emulating performance (link).

Because my review is in German I also post a statement I wrote in english on an other board.

Price

The advertised price is 200€, in spain it's even 250€ but I saw shops which offered it for 180€.

On Amazon France it costs 169€. This is the best price I saw for the device.

Specs

CPU: RK1388 Cortex-A9 up to 1,8GHz

GPU: Mali 400 Quad-Core 533Mhz

Ram: 2GB DDR3 Dual Channel

16 GB Hard drive

Micro SD/SDHC Port (up to 64GB)

bluetooth 4.0

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

HDMI Mini Port

USB Mini Port

Headphone JAck

4000mAh battery

2MP back camera

0.3 MP front camera

Build quality:

Since I heard so many bad things about alle these devices and despite being a product from a french company (BigBen) the device was also build in china I feared that the quality would be not that good. But I am quite impressed. The back of the tablet is metal and feels really heavy (but no too heavy). The controller shell without the controller does feel really light but combined I think it has the perfect weight for a handheld this size.

Alle the buttons, the d-pad and the analog stick feel perfect. I really prefer the classic d-pad, this was one of the main reasons not to choose a GPD G7. I already beat Super Metroid on the device and doing Walljumps is easier than with a SNES controller. I am a PS3 player and the PS3 controller has convex analog sitcks, but these of the Gametab One are concave which feels really great. The positions of the buttons are great too. The Select and Start buttons are build with a good quality too, but they click really loud when you press them (I sometimes play bevor sleeping and when I play an emulator which does not need L2 and R2 or L3 and R3 I map them on these buttons, so that my girlfriend won't get awake). L2 and R2 are buttons and no triggers.

The display is 1024*600 TFT. Therefore it does not have that great of a viewing angle and the resolution cannot compete to modern tablets. For gaming and webbrowsing it is enough though.

Ergonomics:

I really love the ergonomics. After playing with a Wii U gamepad I do not like to comeback to normal controllers like the PS3 controller, because I like the horizontal positioning when you hands are not more away from each other (therefore I prefere a GBA over a GBA SP). The ergonomics of the Gametab One are even better than on the Wii U Gamepad. I don't want to exaggerate but the Gametab One is the must comfortable handheld/controller I know.

Gaming performance:

As you could read in the "Setup Emulation"-thread I did take some time to setup all the emulators. But now they run just fine. All 8 and 16 bit emulators run just fine like on other devices. Scumm VM too. With N64oid Ocarina of time, Paper Mario and Super Mario 64 run great. On Mupen 64 Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart did run but Zelda and Paper Mario had glitching. PSX (ePSXe) runs really great. I already played some Resident Evil and nearly beat Tomba. With the PSP I played some The Legend of Zelda Return of the Hylian and tried Patapon, Prinny and Little Big Planet all play really good. Fifa 14 was playable but the commentary did stutter. I tried Resident Evil Code Veronica on Reicast, the cutscenes glitched but the rest was really good. On one playtrough the shooting animation always glitched but on my recording for the video it ran fine. I am not that big of a Mame player, but I tried Splatterhouse and it plays really good. Nintendo DS also runs fine.

I got GTA San Andreas for testing the performance, it run just fine. It made so much fun I nearly beat the complete story despite I have GTA V since 2 weeks and I did not play it for more than 10 hours. Even if a like GTA V more, I love playing on the handheld so much, that I prefered San Andreas over GTA V. I also tried Deus Ex: The Fall and Shadorun Returns, buth games run fine too. Deus Ex had one or two slowdowns. Besides all of that I only play leightweight android games like Plants vs. Zombies 2, Iddle Dew and Metal Slug, these games run of course perfectly.

Software/Firmware:

The Gametab runs on Android 4.2. The mapping software works perfectly. When I see videos of the GPD G7 and it's mapping software I think you can clearly see that these devices come from the same people. The Gametab comes with some preinstalled games, which don't are my taste of gaming. Oddly after deleting them they are still there on my app list when I look again for them.

Miscellaneous:

-Like on other devices the Gametab cannot be charged via USB.

-The sound outlet is of the back, because the controller can be removed.

-In my opionion it has the best design of all the Android handhelds

Conclusion:

I am really happy with the device. Like I said the D-pad alone is a reason against the GPD G7 despite I hear so many good things about it. I love playing with it so much, when I want to play GBA or NDS games I prefer the Gametab One over my GBA SP and my DS Lite despite I have flashcards for both. It is my first time that I can play SNES and PSX on the go without using touch controls with my phone and I already spent hours playing my favoring childhood games on the handheld.

I really love the fact that you can remove the controller. Since I am a student at university and I do not earn that much money I would not buy a tablet. But with this I can remove the controller and I have a normal tablet for browsing, watching videos and playing touch based games. This feature is not the main reason I prefer the device over others, but I think it is a huge advantage. If you buy controller solutions which work on several devices they often fit not perfectly therefore something like this would not be as good as this. This makes the Gametab One (and the Wikipad, but this again has a bad d-pad) a really good hybrid between a normal and a gaming tablet.

I really ask myself why the Gametab One does not get more popularity.

Why do you not interest for the device? Is it the price? Is it because it is hard to find a shop which is in english and delivers in your country?

If you have further questions just ask me. In the following days I will upload the video.

Pictures:

What I forgot to say:

It seems that BigBen thought this device would be a big succes therefore they put out high accessories like HDMI cable, screen Protectors or car adapters which cou can get for a much better price from other companies. But they also released a premium pack accessorie. It also has random crap like headphones, screen protector etc. but it also comes with a stand and a protection case. I really like that you can buy a protection case for the device, since most other devices do not offer one and therefore traveling with it can be dangerous.