AllDoCube Freer X9 Review - A thousand there is
It is not the first time that we of the staff of XiaomiToday.it we bring to your attention one review relating to a tablet, which although it is part of a segment of products that struggles to break the hearts of users, often proves to be an optimal solution for leisure time, but also for work. Today thanks to the store Banggood.com, which I thank personally for sending the sample, we will deepen the knowledge of the tablet Freer X9 produced by AllDoCube, company we have already dealt with in the past, for example with the Free Young X5 model, and that had amazed and satisfied us. Will it be the same for this new model? Let's find out together in our full review.
As per our small tradition we start from the content of the package, which is presented in opaque black color, almost velvet, while inside the equipment is really poor. In fact in addition to the tablet we will only find the USB Type-C charging cable, the user manual, a sort of warranty leaflet and a high-quality tag. Also one is applied on the tablet display transparent protective film that does not affect the fluidity of the touch but that for technical reasons I proceeded to remove. Finally Banggood he pays homage to a wall charger with European plug and 5V / 2A output.
design the Alldocube Freer X9 tablet it is rather anonymous showing itself devoid of elements that distinguish its recognizability at a glance. To look at it well It looks like a giant smartphone from the 8,9 inch display with 16: 10 and a ratio physical button that resembles a fingerprint sensor but alas it is not. In fact, the physical button only allows you to return to the home from any screen or applications in which we find ourselves, or awaken the tablet from standby.
Above the display we also find a front camera but unfortunately there is no proximity and brightness sensor. The Freer X9 will not win any design awards thanks to the pretty marked frames on all the profile even if the same ones they find meaning by virtue of the size of the tablet, which involve more space for two-handed grip.
Returning to talk about design, on the top profile of the tablet Freer X9 we find two small plastic inserts related to the receiving antennas, the slot for theinsertion of a Micro SD card that will expand the internal memory with support up to 128 GBIt is also present one of the two grids used for the system stereo speaker, in fact the other one we find on the lower profile accompanied by thejack input from 3,5 mm and the USB Type-C input for charging with OTG support and the main microphone. The left profile is completely clean while on the right one we find the volume rocker and the on / off button.
A positive feature of the Freer X9 is the use ofaluminum all around the perimeter of the tablet, on the physical buttons as well as on the whole back shell with reinforcement on the corners, and dark gray color is treated with the process of anodization, in order to guarantee protection against corrosion but also against scratches. To finish on the back we find the back chamber and a small plastic band for receiving the antennas. The X9 Freer measures 228 x 144 x 8.3 mm and weighs 366 grams, all in all compact enough for the 9 inch range. If the design is anonymous, the same can not be said for the solidity and robustness that instead they show above expectations transmitting the sensation of a premium product, underlined by the double milling that runs along the entire perimeter.
Another aspect that gives a soul to our tablet Freer X9 is the display from 8,9 inches with technology IPS and resolution from 2560 x 1600 pixels (WQXGA) with density of PPI 320 (like a retina display) e 10 touch points provided by JDI. in conclusion a display among the best we can find on devices of Chinese origin, which manages to give bright and well-calibrated colors, with a good relationship in terms of contrast and saturation. I would not dare too much but if we put the display of our X9 to that of an Apple iPad, the first would not be overshadowed.
Unfortunately there is no ambient light sensor and therefore we should manually adjust the backlight of the screen every time, which is very bright and enjoyable even under direct sunlight even if the brightness gap is not very wide. But if the brightness is not a problem under the sunlight, it could instead be the extreme reflective capacity of the glass that covers the display with OGS (One Glass Solution) technology, an aspect that the company has neglected, perhaps thinking of using the tablet only comfortably seated on a sofa.
An aspect to underline is the audio that spreads through two speakers symmetrically distributed on the lower and upper profile, which sound satisfactorily, loud and clear. Maybe the low frequencies are poco full of emphasis, while at maximum volume the high frequencies will tend to distort a hair, but overall the audio offered is definitely better than the classic mono speakers offered by the competition, even of more noble brands.
But what do we find under the hood of this tablet?
The processor takes care of the Freer X9 MediaTek MT8173, quadcore 64 bit (2 Cortex cores [email protected] Ghz and 2 Cortex cores [email protected]) with a maximum frequency of clock to 2.0 Ghz, accompanied by one GPU Imagination PowerVR GX6250 to 700MHz. The latter two are flanked 4 GB of RAM memory LPDDR3 e 64 GB of type eMMC to be used as internal storage, expandable via micro SD card. The performances are also guaranteed by the fact that the operating system that we find on board the AllDoCube tablet is the well-known one Android 6.0 Marshmallow in stock version and without customization. A decidedly strange choice since the FreeYoung X5, which we had reviewed some time ago, adopted the Android version 7.0 Nougat instead.
Applications have been reduced to the essentials, providing only the Play Store, GMail and the third-party ES File Explorer app. At the level of connectivity we have no possibility of telephone functions, and then we will use our tablet only through the Bluetooth 4.0 or via the form Double-band WiFi (2.4 / 5 GHz). The latter managed to surprise me because the hotspot signal was also hooked in areas where other devices were struggling and above all the stability of the signal was always constant. The limited connectivity in a certain sense also limits the use of our tablet, as we will hardly install messaging applications, exploiting the device mainly for internet browsing, use of multimedia content and some games. Ma to impress in a negative sense is the integrated GPS module, which during the period when I tested the tablet he never managed to hook the signal, if not using the smartphone as a hotspot. Undoubtedly it would not have made sense to operate it, except with the use of offline maps, but since it is present as a hardware element, its operation would certainly have been a plus.
BENCHMARK
Unfortunately I was not able to perform the CPU test of Geekbench, because the tablet arrived at about 80% of the same was turned off, perhaps due to excessive overheating. In reality I tried to stress the tablet with heavy graphics games and doing video editing: the response was surprising and pleasantly usable. I decided then to take advantage of the dimensions of the Freer X9 e also connect an external keyboard with an integrated mouse in order to edit Word and Excel files. in conclusion if necessary, our tablet can become a portable PC workstation with which you can also watch videos with resolution up to 4K (absent support for files in .mkv format).
Therefore the limited stress of the AllDoCube Freer X9 will ensure that the battery integrated with 5500 mAh can perform up to 4 hours and 45 minutes of active screen, performing the loop playback test of video in Full HD with brightness to 50% and WiFi enabled to receive notifications from various social and email.
Values that in a sense do not meet the expectations even if all this translates into the fact that our tablet could be recharged even after 3 days since the last recharge, considering that most users would use the Freer X9 for web browsing, reading mail and news, some videos on YouTube and some games with no complex graphics. Anyway the battery is certainly able to guarantee every type of use, from the most extreme and stressful to the most pantofolaio and sofa. The recharge finally it takes place via USB Type-C cable, but with theabsence of Quick Charge support, bringing the tablet from 0 to 100% in about 3,5 hours.
Finally we talk about a often overlooked aspect of this category of products, Namely the camera that in the case of the Freer X9 on the back is a 13 megapixel unit in 4: 3 (we go down to 9,4 megapixel if we select the mode in 16: 9) with function of automatic focusing. The software is to say the least poco simple by offering few features such as the ability to insert the HDR or not or set the timer for shooting, but the final rendering of the photos is all in all a surprise. It must be said that land good performances are obtained with immobile subjects while the background noise and various smudges are immediately out with the movement of the same, but the final quality is very good when compared to the majority of tablets on the market.
The focus is really slow for both photos and videos, which can be shot with resolution Full HD 1080p. The yield of the latter is discreet especially in conditions of good lighting even if the color rendering seems slightly faded and sometimes you notice the loss of details. On the other hand, we find one instead selfie camera from 5 megapixel (we go down to 3,7 megapixel if we select the mode in 16: 9, video to 480p) for which they are more or less the same considerations made for the latter with the negative difference that in this case the defects become even more pronounced. I do not understand why the photographic aspect on tablets is always left out; maybe the producers consider it awkward to take pictures and shoot videos with a generously sized tablet?
This table I found on the net reports some features of the Freer X9 tablet compared to similar models, and this reveals that the tablet proposed by AllDoCube is very close to the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3, but offering a higher screen resolution.
The personal choice of buying a tablet is influenced by significant factors, but the AllDoCube Freer X9 has strengths, and at the same time disadvantage, the extreme ease of use and hardware. In fact, we do not have the fingerprint sensor that could be an obstacle for someone, while for others an added value to privacy. But the build quality is undoubtedly a plus, So like stereo sound, the color rendering of the display and the guaranteed performance on a daily basis, make the Freer X9 tablet suitable for most users who prefer to spend their money on a product that is not just for aesthetics and the brand to which they belong , but that is practical, functional and reliable. Unfortunately, the price is not the most competitive, and similarly we can find cheaper and perhaps even better products. I thank the store once again Banggood to which you can apply for the purchase of the AllDoCube Freer X9.
