Tablets by stefan @ 2014-12-11
The tablet from the E-CEROS Chinese OEM has really impressed us in terms of performance; Revolution 2 is the successor of the original Revolution tablet which was launched last year and packs a gorgeous IPS 2048x1536 9.7’’ display and in some way it has some resemblances with the Apple products.
At first we would like to thank Chinavasion for offering us a sample of the E-CEROS Revolution 2 Tablet for testing and reviewing.
“Ever since 2005, Chinavasion has been serving wholesale and dropship customers worldwide. Chinavasion is headquartered in Hong Kong with its warehouse and logistics in the center of the world's electronics manufacturing hub: Shenzhen.
Our mission is to be the leading online partner of high quality electronics & gadgets from China by offering competitive prices and exceptional service.
We aren't the type of company that will offer you whatever we find in China in our online electronics store. Instead, our products are carefully curated by our experienced sourcing and quality control team. Moreover, all products you find online are in-stock, shipped out within 1 working day, and come with a 12-month quality guarantee.”
Quad Core Power
With a Rockchip RK3288 Quad-core Cortex-A17 CPU running at 1.8GHz and backed up by 2GB of RAM, the E-Ceros Revolution 2 performs like a true heavyweight champion. Even the most demanding applications and games will run smoothly and multitasking is performed effortlessly with the high end specifications of this Tablet PC.
Lush Retina Display
The E-Ceros Revolution 2 features a beautiful 9.7 inch display that has a 2048×1576 resolution so all your media, pictures, games and anything else are displayed in immersive, crystal clarity with rich color depth and crispness that will bring the screen to life. The IPS screen on the Revolution 2 means you can view it from wider angles without loss of quality so content can be viewed and shared more easily.
Battery Power High
The E-Ceros Revolution 2 comes with a built in 8000mAh battery that allows for hours of endless fun before needing a recharge. With such an impressive battery life you won’t need to stay near the plug socket; therefore you have the freedom to go where you please with this long lasting tablet.
32GB Memory
Having 32GB of memory lets you install all your favorite apps, games as well as your entire media library. With OTG Support and a micro SD card slot that supports cards of up to 128GB, you’re no longer limited by memory space allowing this E-Ceros tablet to revolutionize the way you view, use and store your media making it more accessible and fun to enjoy anywhere, anytime with anyone.
One Device Will Suffice
Join the revolution with this new E-Ceros tablet, paving the way to more affordable computing without compromising on performance. The Revolution 2 combines the best features of Android 4.4 with a super lightweight tablet that boasts stunning specifications that delivers an outstanding performance. E-Ceros make this tablet available at a remarkably low price that is sure to revolutionize the future of what tablets can do.
3G Support
3G models come with a Huawei UltraStick ES1220 3G Mobile Broadband Dongle supporting the following bandwidths. EDGE:1800+900MHz; HSUPA/HSDPA+/WCDMA:2100/900MHz
The Revolution 2 tablet from E-CEROS takes part of the new breed of Chinese tablets, which sport really impressive performances. These are equipped with the quad-core RK3288 SoC at 1.8GHz, while the 3D acceleration is held by the quad-core Mali-T7; two gigabytes of RAM should be enough for running many games and applications while the internal memory is spacious at 32GB. The product comes packed inside a medium-sized box, which holds a photo of the tablet on the top cover, along with the quantity of available internal storage:
On the back side we do not have a lot of stuff listed except the product code name (CT9717) along with the website of the manufacturer (www.e-ceros.com):
After removing the cover, we will see a layer of protective foam which is placed right on top:
In the middle, we will find the Revolution 2, which is wrapped inside a semi-transparent plastic bag:
The placement of the screen protector is not stellar because it could get damaged during transit; we would have liked to see it inside a cardboard envelope or even better, pre-installed onto the device for saving the hassle when the user installs it by himself/herself:
Besides the screen protector, we will also get a protective cover, one User Manual, some extra cables and the power adapter:
Unlike some other brands, the User Manual is in English and easy to understand:
The OTG cable permits connecting storage on the USB interface while the USB cable allows us to transfer data to and from the tablet:
The power adapter comes with a special jack plug and not USB connector; despite this, we have seen that the tablet also allows charging via USB:
The power adapter comes with the BY-M13-0532500 code name and is rated on the output as 5.3V, 2.5A:
The supplied cover looks very nice on the outside but we are not so excited by the mounting mechanism (you will see in the next photos):
As we have seen with the iOCEAN X7S cover, the cover comes with an adhesive mounting; we would have preferred to see a hard case layer in which we would be able to insert the tablet, but usually the adhesive system is meant to save a bit of manufacturing costs:
On the back side of the cover we have the orifices for the speaker and camera lens:
We have received the black version of the Revolution tablet and this only translates into a black screen frame; the back of the tablet is white in both versions:
In the front we have the 2MP camera sensor for video conferencing:
Nearby we will also get to see the light sensor:
Considering the 8000mAh battery capacity, the tablet is pretty slim:
If we flip the tablet, we will be able to check out the back; the middle is built from brushed aluminum while the top and bottom are from white plastic:
The E-CEROS logo sits in the middle, while the Revolution 2 product name can be found on the lower side:
On the lower area we will also find a small white plastic cover; this one is for the optional 3G modem:
On the top, the interfaces are carefully described, so the new user would know which is which; here we also have the camera lens along with a small button hole for firmware upgrades:
On the same line with the camera lens we have the speaker grill:
Near the DC-IN port we have the headphone jack, one microSDHC card port, the USB port, but also a power button and the microphone port:
After removing the protective film from the adhesive, we can place the tablet carefully onto the cover, which also has different docking positions for watching multimedia content:
There is enough space left between the tablet chassis and the ending of the protective case, so protection should be assured in case the product falls out of our hands, although it is not recommended ?:
The Revolution 2 tablet from E-CEROS comes with a pretty stock firmware, without a lot of bloat, leaving the user install the applications of his/her choice; we will first make contact with the default launcher, after the tablet boots up:
Inside the drawer we will be able to see the full list of available applications:
In case we won’t use Play Store much and install 3rd party applications, ApkInstaller comes in to help, but it is a bit redundant when thinking that we also have a file explorer available:
The stock browser works pretty well and is speedy thanks to the RK3288 SoC:
We also have a stock camera application available:
The included Explorer application is usual with RK ROMs and is a little bit different when compared to the usual MTK versions:
The Gallery application is pretty self-explanatory:
Google Maps is pre-installed and works quite well, without stuttering:
Next we have the Play Store from where we can install tons of free applications:
The stock Recorder application does not fill the full screen and has the same skin as we have seen on other gadgets sporting the Android 4.4.2 ROM:
The supplied 4K video player does not seem to work as expected; we have loaded up the default 4K LG demo videos and in almost all of them, while the video gets displayed without issues, the audio remains behind so yeap, this is something which should get fixed with a firmware update:
Let’s go now and check out the Settings section, which is self-explanatory; the Wi-Fi sub-menu displays the currently detected networks and allows us to connect to them after entering the respective credentials:
Same thing can be said with the Bluetooth menu; we had no issues connecting the tablet to our Creative speaker system:
The Data Usage section will show the traffic/application for each interface:
The More menu also shows Mobile Networks sub-section, since the Revolution 2 WiFi can be also transformed to the 3G model when installing the suitable dongle in the respective socket:
From the Sound menu, we will be able to select different Volume sliders, define a ringtone when the tablet is used as a regular phone, enable or disable the vibration when the tablet is ringing, but also regular options like the Default Notification Sound, Dial Pad Touch Tones and so on:
The Display menu allows Brightness customization, Wallpaper, Sleep timer, Daydream and so on:
From the MHL menu we can enable the specific feature, but also perform some customizations:
The screenshot function is easy accessible from the Settings menu, without the need of installing any 3rd party applications:
The Storage menu tells us that the first defined partition is 1GB and the rest has a total space of 27.08GB. We would recommend setting this first partition to 4GB because 1GB consumes really quickly when installing only a few applications from the Play Store:
From the Battery menu we can see which applications use its resources the most:
Next, we have the Apps section, which informs us of the installed applications and also acts as a task manager:
The Location tab will list the applications which are in need of localization information:
The Security menu is pretty self-explanatory, with the usual settings which we have found on other smartphones and tablets too:
The Language & Input menu permits modifying the interface language, but here we can also define the Input methods:
The Backup & Restore menu allows resetting the tablet to factory defaults:
Next, we have the Date & Time menu:
The Accessibility menu contains all the usual options:
Developer Options can be altered for different purposes:
Finally, we have the About Tablet which shows the product code name, running Android distribution, Kernel version and current Build number:
The E-CEROS Revolution 2 is equipped with the quad-core RK3288 SoC at 1.8GHz, while the 3D acceleration is taken care of by the quad-core Mali-T764; we also have two gigabytes of RAM and plenty of internal storage (32GB); as you can see from the screenshot, CPU-Z wrongfully displays the SoC as being a RK3066, which is in fact a two-core part:
The System tab will supply us more information regarding the board type, Android version, kernel, resolution, free memory and so on:
The Battery tab will show the current status; the battery sensor is locked at 26.9 degrees Celsius:
The application also shows live data from the pre-installed sensors; in this case we only get information from the Gravity Sensor:
To test out the performances of the Revolution 2 tablet, we have installed some freeware benchmark apps from the Google Play Store in the internal memory (did not transfer them to a 3rd party microSDHC card, in order not to influence the test results). Afterwards, the applications were ran one-by-one, and we recorded the final scores; the obtained results were also compared with the previously tested systems, in order to spot the performance differences.
The tablet from the E-CEROS Chinese OEM has really impressed us in terms of performance; Revolution 2 is the successor of the original Revolution tablet which was launched last year and packs a gorgeous IPS 2048x1536 9.7’’ display and in some way it has some resemblances with the Apple products. The device is also quite slim and supports optional installation of a 3G modem, but no GPS is present. Despite the fact that the tablet features 32GB of internal storage, we can expand it even more with the help of the TF-Card slot and the tablet can be charged by via the DC-IN port with the supplied power adapter but also on USB as we have seen. MHL is also supported but we need to acquire the necessary adapter and we will be able to output video on a larger display.
Coming back to the tablet performance, we ran quite a few games like Crazy Taxi, Beach Buggy Racing, Asphalt Overdrive, Carmageddon, Angry Birds Go, Asphalt 8 or Dead Trigger 2 and we could say that there were times when the Revolution 2 seemed smoother than our Nexus 7 2013 with Android 5.0.1; the loading screens also took considerably less time, which give any potential user a very good experience. The browsing experience is also similar, with pages which load almost instantly if there aren't a lot of animations on the homepage.
On the other side though, the battery life is not that stellar, so make sure you pack the power adapter with you wherever you go since it will be highly needed; we think that the battery life issues can be fixed by future firmware updates. We have also performed a test with the Antutu Battery Test utility and got average results when compared to some of the quite known smartphones:
Besides the tablet, we will also get the much needed protective cover, a screen protector and also an adapter for connecting OTG storage which adds overall value to the product.
Some people would need root access for installing different useful applications like popup blockers; the Revolution 2 does not come rooted, but we can follow some of the online guides in order to complete this process; also, we would appreciate if E-CEROS will publish online the latest available firmware for the tablet, in case something goes wrong with the modifications.
Chinavasion seems to be a very good place to purchase this model at the moment, in both white and black flavors. The tested model is available online at the time of the review for about 192.78 Euros; if we buy three or more units, the price per unit will be discounted to 176.60 Euros.
We would like to thank again to Chinavasion for making this review possible!