Azpen A848 Projector Tablet

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet

The A848 Projector Tablet from Azpen addresses a need that many users have had without knowing it. The A848 is a product that lends itself equally well to both business users as well as home consumers. It allows users the freedom to share in a way that works well for groups of people in a small setting. No more will people have to look over your shoulder, the A848 is a presentation tool for media and games alike.  

For business users, sales professionals, and executives, the A848 is a diminutive portable device that holds the power to captivate attention focus your audience. Its small but powerful speakers are perfect for small groups and even better for those 1 on 1 scenarios. Home users will like the ability to take the A848 on their next plane trip and watch a movie on the back of their tray table instead of the nearest display panel which may be 5 rows in front. Mothers and fathers will find the A848 useful for occupying children who can watch and play games or movies together on a single device instead of bringing a tablet for each.

This is the concept behind the creation and development of the A848 Projector Tablet from Azpen. A single device with so much potential. We have the A848 at TechwareLabs for some in depth testing. Does it live up to the hype?

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Specifications

We provide specifications so that detailed readers can see exactly what they are getting with a product. Important features we note from this specifications listing is that the A848 includes Wireless B/G/N but not AC. This is not critical but it would have been nice, especially for a tablet in this price range. Additionally we do not see a MicroSD card slot which is really a shame and could be a deal breaker for those power users not wanting to be limited to the on-board 8 or 16GB of memory. For those that watched our preview video of the D100 and A848 we made note that the A848 includes a proprietary charger and cannot be charged via USB, this too is a let down and could be a problem for some consumers.

Our review unit was provided as a prototype and as such the included battery is not final revision. Our prototype has issues holding a charge after power off but seems to maintain a charge during normal use. Thus testing battery life on our unit would not be indicative of performance on retail units. We can say that retail units employing the rated 5500mAh battery will probably get closer to 3–4 hours and not the 6–7 listed above. When we get a retail unit we will test and update this review with real world testing. If 6–7 is accurate then the A848 presents excellent performance as we will demonstrate in the benchmark section of this review.

The built in DLP projector is rated at 50 lumens and thus leads to a 20,000 hour life span. We can say that the projector only gets slightly warm so longevity shouldn’t be an issue.  The projector is rated at 854 x 480 and is designated as a 480p. This is not bad considering the relatively short throw of 1–10.5 ft. Overall the projector is best used in dim/dark environments and would be appropriate for small groups (2-4) of people. In conjunction with the speakers it makes for an excellent presentation platform. The speakers are more than loud enough when not in an overly noisy environment.

In terms of horsepower the A848 employs the Rockchip RK 3288 and Mali-T764 graphics processor. The RK3288 is a mid range ARM SoC processor that integrates 4 Cortex A12 cores at 1.8Ghz each and a DDR3 memory controller. The RK3288 lacks support for 64bit processing so no virtualization of Windows 10 for those wanting to try that. While the RK3288 does include support for HDMI 2.0 Azpen has chosen not to integrate an HDMI port into the A828. As the A828’s main feature is the included projector this makes sense. For comparison the RK3288 places roughly anywhere between 8% and up to 50% faster than the Intel Z3735 in the Antutu Benchmark with the most noticeable difference being in 3D applications where the Mali 764 outshines the Intel GPU significantly.

While Azpen lists the on-board storage at 16GB of SSD, it does not specify which SSD it utilizes. All of the utilities we ran were unable to determine the SSD type used. We can say that it works very well as you will see in the benchmarks.

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Benchmarks

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Benchmarks

All benchmarks were run on battery power disconnected from AC. This means the results are more indicative of performance you will have on the go. Some tablets and chips enter a powered down lower speed and performance when on battery power. Most users will not have the AC adapter connected during use. A business user may indeed have the AC adapter connected during a meeting as such you can expect slightly higher performance.

We utilized several benchmarks and testing utilities as shown below. There were discrepancies between AIDA64 and CPU-Z identifying the CPU and frequency. According to both tests the frequency varies between 126MHz and 1.42/1.46GHz and not the full 1.8GHz as listed in the specs. This could be due to the prototype nature of the device we tested. As such you should expect the retail version will perform as good or better than below.

These benchmarks show that the A848 is a capable performer even when multitasking. The SSD access is particularly good and the A848 worked excellent with almost no lag switching between applications, starting applications, and during gaming.

What these benchmarks also show is that this tablet is not designed for heavy 3D work. It will function, and better than an Intel powered device for 3D but dont expect to great performance in 3D gaming or applications. Given the inclusion of the ARM MAli-T624 at 600 MHz, dedicated 2D processor, 1080P H.264, VP8, MVC encoding, 4K H.264 and 10 Bits H.265 decoding, 1080p multi video decode, the A848 is perfectly suited to video playback as well as audio and running non-4K video.

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Real Life Use

Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Ergonomics

In actual use the A848 is a pleasure to use. It fits nicely in your hand, the controls are easily laid out, and the rose gold rear aluminum finish is a nice touch. The bump on the bottom that accounts for the projector hardware is not overly noticeable nor does it get warm in use. We did find the camera placement inconvenient and quizzical as the power button placement usually dictates the top of the device and in the case of the A848 its located on the opposite side of the camera. This will mean you turn the device on and then rotate the device in hand to take pictures. Its not a deal breaker as the expected use of the device is not for picture taking, especially given the relatively low resolution of the included camera, but it is inconvenient if used. It very well could be that due to the included projector hardware, routing the camera to the top of the device proved to be an engineering difficulty.

Overall we liked using the device, and its snappy performance was a welcome feature from the low performance usually expected of tablets.

If you are a business user making a decision on a tool to aid you in meetings and as a potential tool for presentations and demonstrations then the A848 has no equal in price for performance. Only Lenovo offers a similar Android Projector tablet the Yoga Tab 3 Pro and theirs is considerably more expensive ($499 vs $299) and less portable at 10.1″. This leaves the A848 as the only viable portable and usable system at this time.

Conclusion:

The Azpen A848 Projector Tablet achieves what it sets out to and does so in an attractive and usable fashion. It is a snappy device that doubles as a media presentation tool and checks off the right boxes for many users. The device leaves us with some questions related to battery life and the lack of MiroSD card slot is kind of a bummer but if you can live without the expandable storage then it should serve well. For the estimated $249 – $299 price tag its an easy decision for home consumers and business users alike. The argument becomes even more compelling if you are in any aspect of sales as it looks cool, grabs your attention, and will be a more effective tool at your next sales meeting.

The A848 is expected to hit stores in August and should be available at Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Hammacher Schlemmer, and QVC.

TechwareLabs Silver Product Award.

  Previous Page         1. Azpen A848 Projector Tablet2. Azpen A848 Specifications3. Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Benchmarks4. Azpen A848 Projector Tablet Real Life Use5. View All         Next Page