Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Eskom targets 32GW green energy shift by 2040

      16 July 2025

      MTN Group appoints new chief enterprise officer

      16 July 2025

      Kruger Park’s white rhinos get a hi-tech lifeline

      16 July 2025

      South Africa loosens media ownership rules – but keeps one hand on the remote

      16 July 2025

      The real cost of a cashless economy

      16 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Gadgets & Reviews » SA’s Wise tablet: close but no cigar

    SA’s Wise tablet: close but no cigar

    By Craig Wilson30 May 2012
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Pitched as an “SA-inspired” tablet, the first generation of Wise Touch Tablets are meant as a budget alternative to high-end tablets. The tablets offer preinstalled localised content and are intended for educational applications. The biggest selling point of the Wise tablet is its price. At R2 100 for the Wi-Fi-only model, it’s one of the cheapest options in SA today.

    From a hardware perspective, it’s little surprise that the Wise is fairly run-of-the-mill. That’s not to say it’s bad — it isn’t. Running Android 2.3, the 7-inch tablet is powered by a 1GHz Rockchip 2918 processor and 512MB of RAM, which makes it a surprisingly speedy device.

    The screen is a capacitive multi-touch, 800×480-pixel display and it’s unusually responsive – so responsive, in fact, that it sometimes registers the briefest touch and takes a little getting used to. The resolution might not be the highest for a 7-incher, but that’s in keeping with the price point.

    Like most budget tablets, the Wise tablet includes only 4GB of flash memory but, like the bulk of its peers, it also offers expansion up to 32GB via a microSD slot on the rear. Due to the large number of applications preinstalled, users have access to only about 2GB of the onboard storage. However, this can be increased with a little pruning of the applications folder contents.

    The team behind the Wise tablet has really gone to town when it comes to installing apps on the device. Although setting the local time and installing some of the most popular Android apps is a good move, installing dozens of applications and creating shortcuts to a slew of SA websites is less inspired.

    By way of example, just the A through C section of the apps menu includes shortcuts to the websites of 1Time, Absa, Auto Trader, AutoMart, BidorBuy, Business Park (a Wise application that duplicates many of these), Capitec Bank, Checkers, Computicket and Cum Books. This is less useful than it is annoying.

    Kalahari has six separate shortcuts in the app menu alone. PriceCheck has four, including the general site and shortcuts to its books, music and travel pages.

    Aside from the Business Park app, the tablet also includes two other Wise-branded portals, the Wise Education Centre and the Wise Shopping Mall. Like the Business Park portal, Shopping Mall feels like it’s simply a means of punting SA brands. This may have helped bring down the cost of the device but one wonders how much use the average user will actually make of either.

    The Wise Education Centre, meanwhile, offers a small selection of educational videos and PDFs of the public school syllabus for all major subjects. There’s also a selection of interactive educational games but these are very basic. If the offers are substantially expanded this could be one of the best selling points of the device, although its poor screen resolution means it’s not ideally suited for protracted reading sessions.

    Though the unit we received for review doesn’t offer 3G connectivity, there is another model that does, and while it only costs R400 more, it offers a smaller battery — 3 000mAh compared to 4 000mAh — which makes it seem like a poorer deal, even with a higher screen resolution of 800×600 pixels.

    The Wi-Fi-only model takes about three-and-a-half hours for a full charge and then lasts about four hours in normal use with Wi-Fi activated. This figure drops further if the device is used to consume video or audio.

    There’s no automatic brightness option in the display menu, but again these sorts of omissions are to be expected when a device can offer such a modest price. Other notable omissions are GPS and Bluetooth.

    Sensibly, the tablet includes only a single, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, which is ideal for video chat or shoddy self-portraits — arguably the only things a tablet camera should really be used for.

    Like almost all Android tablets, the Wise has a proprietary charger. However, unlike other tablets it uses mini USB rather than rather than micro USB. There’s also a mini HDMI-out port and a 3,5mm headphone jack.

    The front of the tablet has a power/lock button and a volume rocker on the top right edge when held in landscape orientation and otherwise the only buttons are capacitive ones to the right of the screen. These are the standard Android offerings of search, home, menu/options and back.

    Compared to many budget tablets on the market, the Wise feels pleasingly sturdy and the finish is equally pleasant. The volume and power buttons are responsive, and the faux metal trim around the screen and rubberised rear panel belie its budget price tag.

    The tablet’s treatment of Android is understated and includes a couple of pleasant but confusing touches, most notably the volume, back and menu buttons in the display bar. They’re good to have, but they also render the buttons alongside the display somewhat redundant.

    There is, however, one aspect of the Wise tablet that cripples it to some extent. It doesn’t offer the Google Play store, which means apps can’t be updated or replaced should you delete something and wish to restore it. The Wise Support Forum is no use in this regard, either, as there haven’t been any posts since last December.

    It turns out the absence of the Play store is due to the device not being registered with Google. Wise says it’s working to rectify this for the second generation it plans to launch later this year.

    Ultimately, the Wise tablet is a step in the right direction if the destination is getting budget tablets into the hands of more people in SA. But without an official Google tie-in or access to additional apps, it seems those most likely to buy it are consumers looking for a cheap tablet they can hack, which can’t be what its designers had in mind.

    With any luck, the second generation will make up for the deficiencies of the first. It’s a noble project, but it still needs a lick of polish.  — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media



    Android Google Wise Wise Touch Tablet
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleTelkom outrage at copper theft
    Next Article Lobby group to pressure gov’t on digital TV

    Related Posts

    OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

    10 July 2025

    What Steve Jobs feared is now the tech industry’s reality

    9 July 2025

    Apple’s AI ambitions rattled by defection to Meta

    8 July 2025
    Company News

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025

    Mental wellness at scale: how Mac fuels October Health’s mission

    15 July 2025

    Banking on LEO: Q-KON transforms financial services connectivity

    14 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.