Ainol launches Novo 10 Hero tablets with dual, quad core CPUs

Chinese device maker Ainol has two new 10 inch Android tablets in the works. Both feature 1280 x 800 pixel IPS displays and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software, but the Ainol Novo 10 Hero II has a quad-core processor while the cheaper Novo 10 Hero has a dual-core CPU.

Gadget Greats is selling the Novo 10 Hero II for $240 and the Novo 10 Hero for $194.

The cheaper dual core model features a 1.5 GHz Amlogic 8726-MX processor with Mali 400 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, front and rear cameras, microUSB, mini HDMI, and microSD card ports. The tablet has an 8000mAh battery and features WiFi and Bluetooth.

The Ainol Novo 10 Hero II has a 1.5 GHz Actions Semiconductor ATM7029 quad-core processor and ARM Mali 400 graphics. The rest of the specifications are the same as those for the dual core model.

I haven’t heard much about the ATM7029 processor, but there’s a discussion thread about the chipset at the SlateDroid forum. Just because a processor has 4 cores doesn’t necessarily mean it will be faster than a dual core CPU, but theoretically multi-core architecture can lead to speedier performance especially when running tasks that support multi-threading, or running multiple apps at once.

Multi-core chips can also help keep power consumption low by allowing a tablet to run several cores while achieving similar performance to what you’d get when running a single core at a higher speed.

It won’t be clear whether the Novo 10 Hero II benefits in either of those ways until we start to see some hands-on performance tests.

Update: Ainol-Novo.com is selling the Hero for $199 and the Hero II for $209, although the quad-core Hero II is currently out of stock.

via xda-developers