Nextbook Premium8se

Small form factor Android tablets usually come with older versions of the Android software, such as Honeycomb or Gingerbread. But not the Nextbook Premium8se. It comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a somewhat unconventional 8-inch touchscreen display. In a sea of mid-range 7-inchers, it may at first seem like a breath of fresh air. But while it does indeed bring a few noteworthy things to the table, it’s clear that the manufacturer had to cut some corners in order to deliver it to market.

First of all, the Premium8se’s screen features a native resolution of 800×600 pixels. This might have been fine if it had a 5-inch screen or smaller, but it doesn’t look quite right on an 8-inch panel. There’s also the fact that its default operating system has been optimized to work best on HD resolution displays, which just underscores the Premium8se’s failure to reach its full potential.

And the letdown with the screen is just the beginning. It comes equipped with a lowly 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU and 512MB RAM. Its internal storage space is also limited to 4GB. In other words, it houses lackluster internals, and at this point it may seem questionable whether it is really fit to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or not. It does come with other standard Android tablet features, though, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD card support, and microUSB connectivity. It even has a built-in VGA camera.

At the end of the day, you want a tablet that can give you the standard Android treatment. Unfortunately for the Premium8se, that target is nigh unreachable. It can give you a taste of the digital lifestyle with Android, for sure, but as most reviewers will tell you, your money will be much better spent on something else.

Need to Know: Nextbook Premium8se

1. Built-in wired and wireless features make this a well-connected mobile device. (The Good)

2. Default software is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. (The Good)

3. Low-resolution touchscreen display. (The Bad)

4. Weak battery with under 5 hours of Web surfing time on Wi-Fi. (The Bad)