Hannspree Poseidon 11.6” HANNSpad Tablet Review

I’ve been in the market for a new tablet for quite some time, since my old one has been running incredibly slowly, due to use and age. It’s five years old, so is literally older than one of my children who can make up her own jokes. So when I was offered to review the Poseidon HANNSpad from Hannspree, I snapped it up. The last new tablet I even touched was an 18 month old generic Android tab -- it literally didn’t have a name or model number -- so I was hopeful.

A mid-tier tablet, the Poseidon includes a plug with UK and European adaptors, a micro-USB cable, and a USB-to-micro USB adaptor. There is also a warranty, Quick Start Guide and list of ways to find help if you have trouble, all printed in 24 languages.

The tablet has the usual power and volume buttons, but also a reset button and a microphone on the right side. On the rear are stereo speakers and a micro-SD card slot, and the 2 megapixel rear camera. There’s a 2MP camera on the front, too, above the 11.62 IPS display, which has a resolution of 1366 x 768 HD. The CPU inside is MT 8163 ARM A53 Quad Core 1.3 GHZ, it has 2GB RAM and there is 16GB internal storage. The one I received had a screen protector on it, but I don’t know if that is standard.

The build quality of the Poseidon is decent, fully constructed in plastic composites. So long as you don’t try to bend it, then it is nice and solid. The screen is clear but does pick up reflections -- as you’d expect with it being a touch screen -- if the brightness is turned down. However, even in daylight I found the lowest brightness was enough to play and read by.

There is a 6000mAh capacity battery inside the tablet, and after four hours of playing The Simpsons Tapped Out the battery had gone down 50%. That’s with the screen and wifi on, brightness turned down, and I actually played Family Guy: The Quest For Stuff for a little bit, too. The recharging time is quite reasonable, at about 1% per minute, unless you’re playing games while it’s plugged into your computer -- then it will gain 1% about every half hour.

There were occasions where I found the Poseidon not quite doing what I wanted it to do whilst swiping the screen, but I put that down to me not pressing firmly enough. It wasn’t until I had been playing Spider-Man Unlimited, an endless runner-style game which requires lots of quick swipes, that I realised that the sensitivity isn’t set high enough. I was having to do broad strokes to make the tablet realise that I had indeed done something to avoid that obstacle. It can detect exactly where I am tapping, but for whatever reason swipes aren’t always registered.

Since it has 16GB internal storage, it’s plenty for some music, movies and apps. You can stick a micro-SD card (up to 32GB) in it -- yes, it’s not the highest, but it’s plenty to get on with. However, if that’s still not enough you can easily connect a USB pen drive using the USB-to-micro USB adaptor. Of course, you can’t charge it while that’s connected, but how much do you want attached to your tablet at one time?

The reset button I mentioned at the start was something I hadn’t seen before. It turns off the tablet instantly, like whipping the battery out, so useful on any occasion the tablet locks up. I never had to use it for that, the only times I used it were the first time to test it, and the second because I was being particularly lazy and couldn’t be bothered to hold the power button down. Incidentally, powering up the tablet takes exactly one minute.

The speakers are powerful enough for what they are, but suffer from both being on the right hand side. Most people will be holding the Poseidon horizontally while streaming Netflix, for instance, so the sound will only be coming from one side of the tablet. Games that are played with the tablet held vertically are fine, however.

The cameras admittedly aren’t great at 2 megapixels. You need decent lighting and the subject to not be moving for the images to come out well. They do what they’re supposed to, but it’s hard to imagine they are on there for any reason other than the fact that cameras are what you’re supposed to put on an Android tablet.

Despite the older CPU, the Poseidon reacts as quickly as I would expect. Apps load nice and quickly, games don’t stutter in odd places, and streaming video is great. For the price, I’ll admit that I got more than I expected. Sure, the cameras are a little disappointing, but judging by the number of photos I took on my five year old tablet, I won’t notice it very often. It’s perfect to read, watch and play on, so long as you’re not playing an endless runner -- which I rarely do. I’ve been using it to watch video and read comics, while playing a few games, and for those things, it is ideal.