South African consumers certainly have no shortage of options when it comes to low-cost smartphones. Now they can add tablets to the mix. Earlier this month, MTN launched its first low-cost tablet, the Steppa Tablet. It’s a rival in every sense to its fiercest competitor, Vodacom’s new Smart Tab 3G. Both cost R999. But which is best?
The two devices compete head-on in price and specification, but only one offers the best value for money.
With the Steppa Tablet, MTN chose to play it safe with a reference design from Qualcomm. The colour scheme of the Steppa Tablet is a combination of white on the front bezel that wraps around to the back of the device where there’s a non-removable brushed aluminum cover. It’s not as good looking as the Vodacom Smart Tab 3G, which features an all-black plastic chassis.
But MTN managed to check off an impressive specifications list for the Steppa. It features a quad-core 1,2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Vodacom’s tablet has only 512MB and the additional 512MB on the MTN device makes a huge difference in performance.
The Steppa Tablet only has only 4GB of flash storage, but this can be expanded by way of a microSD card (as it can be on the Vodacom tablet).
There’s also a full-size Sim card slot and a 3G HSPA+ aerial (the 900MHz and 2,1GHz bands are supported). Naturally, there is also support for Wi-Fi (up to the 802.11n variety on both the 2,4GHz and 5GHz bands).
The MTN Steppa tablet feels solid in the hand, but is quite a bit wider than its competitor’s offering. The 7-inch LCD resolution on MTN’s device is higher than Vodacom’s with a display resolution of 1 024×600 pixels for a pixel density of 169ppi. Vodacom’s, on the other hand, is just 960×540 pixels for a pixel density of 157ppi.
Although MTN’s tablet has a slightly higher display resolution, comparing the two devices side by side it’s clear Vodacom’s Smart Tab 3G has a much brighter display — an important factor to consider for those planning to use their tablet in bright sunlight.
Considering that this is an entry-level device, it should come as no surprise that the camera on the Steppa Tablet is poor. The rear-facing camera has a 2-megapixel sensor, while the front-facing camera has a paltry 0.3 megapixels. The same camera resolution is found on the Smart Tab 3G.
The MTN Steppa Tablet runs Android 4.4 KitKat; it’s not yet known if it will receive the recently released Lollipop update. The software is surprisingly smooth and basic apps and games run quickly.
The Steppa comes bundled with apps such as Amazon Kindle, AVG Antivirus and MTN PriceCheck. Social media apps like Facebook and Twitter should find favour with a broader audience.
The battery life on the Steppa Tablet is average for a device in its class. With a 3 500mAh battery, you’ll get a few hours of heavy use — and again, it’s better than Vodacom’s offering, which has a 2 840mAh battery. The Steppa’s battery charges rapidly, too.
In summary, the MTN Steppa Tablet offers much better value for money than Vodacom’s Smart Tab 3G. It only falls down on the brightness of its display. The Steppa Tablet comes with 200MB/month of data for 12 months. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
