Chinese device maker Hisense recently started selling a low-cost 8 inch Android tablet in the US market and the company seems to have a few new 7 inch models in the works as well.
But if you’re looking for something a little more premium, the folks at Mobile Geeks seem to have found it. They spotted a Hisense Sero 8 Pro tablet on display at the IFA trade show in Berlin. It’s expected to hit Europe in November for €199 which means it’ll probably sell for around $250 or less in the US.
The Hisense Sero 8 Pro features an 8 inch, 2048 x 1536 pixel IPS display, a Rockchip RK3288 ARM Cortex-A17 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a microSD card reader.
The tablet has a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, a 4500mAH battery, and a slim design: the aluminum case measures just 0.25 inches (6.35mm) thick.
Hisense loads the tablet with Android 4.4 KitKat.
Anyone know when exactly this PRO version is coming to the US?
If they ever release this Canada wide, then they’d have some interested customers. The old versions were never released here. I’d be interested in the Sero 8 Pro.
The volume softkey screams “crappy knockoff with no support”. I’ll pass.
Right because Apple and Samsung are about softkey volume.
Whoops, that’s not what I meant; I need to reread my comments before submitting. “Knockoff” wasn’t the right word since it connotes a direct imitation of something. What I meant was that of the myriad of cheap tablets with no support or updates, a large number of them have volume softkeys while virtually no well-supported tablets do. Therefore, it’s a good indicator that it might not work out in the long term (charging over a barrel plug rather than micro USB is another warning sign).
If 199 euros includes VAT then it’s a good price, too bad for the AR.
US pricing would likely be in the 200-220$ range and that’s rather good too considering what’s available.
I was ready to say that USD$200 (not $250) for an 8″ Android would be overpriced in this downmarket, until I saw the specs. Looks like a capable iPad Mini Ret clone. Especially appealing is the 4:3 aspect, which is rare to see in the Android world. Still, it needs OS support, which means some XDA dev would have to take a hankering to it and port CM over. But this could be a good follow-up to the Nook HD+.
More like a Galaxy Tab Pro clone but yeah
If they sell this at Walmart for close to $200, I would say XDA support would be very good. Also, rk soc has TONs of developer support oversea. XDA wouldn’t have to start from scratch.
To be fair – we don’t know that Hisense won’t release updates for it. The problem is that we don’t know that they will.
I’m not familiar enough with them and their history of providing updates to guess either way. Still, if they wanted more presence they could simply state a guarantee they will update it.
Frankly, between the generally maturing hardware/software and the war Microsoft is going to shell out to try to bring against Android/ChromeOS devices I think this Holiday season (and probably the next year or two at least) is going to be an embarrassment of riches for capable, cheap hardware.
Hisense Sero is a Chinese brand sold in Walmart stores. Chinese brands don’t normally get Android updates. Last year’s Sero models had some maintenance updates, but no major ones. I’m pretty sure this one won’t get Android L. Also, a benefit of getting a 3rd-party ROM is that it’s more customizable than stock.
The current Sero 8 is selling in Walmart for $129, so $199 (projected) for this new model would be a major price jump. Aside from the specs bump, this one is obviously nicer with the Al shell, but it would be aiming for a different price band.
Hisense is a Chinese brand but they sell in a lot more than your local Walmart store. They were the only manufacturer, if memory serves, to show a working Andriod TV box back at CES.
They aren’t a small company and even if they were there is no reason in the world they couldn’t get updates for their hardware if they wanted to. It’s just a matter of what they want to do.
Third party ROMS have upsides and downsides. I’m happy they are there but I’d rather use straight Android personally. Not that I’d rule out using one. But I also wouldn’t rule out getting actual updates for a Chinese product sold in Walmart.
I have a Sero 7 Pro, been using it happily for well-nigh 2 years now. It’s a great, reliable tablet, and it does have a dev community at XDA. I use Dopa 6.2, a kit-kat version that is stable and solid, and a Lollipop rom is under active development. It has outlasted my Asus Transformer TF300T, which died of a hardware failure a year (almost to the day) after I got it.
However, it was nearly a year before Hisense released the source code for the Sero 7 Pro, and that crippled early root / rom attempts. So while I like the product, and have had good experience with it, I’m not sure I’d get one of these until the source was released. The price should have come down a bit by then as well.
Hisense has no problem with updates. I have their Hisense Sero 8 and it regularly by itself updates to the latest version of Android firmware. No other company besides Apple does this regular firmware updates, especially not from Android tablet companies. The Sero 8 is the best running Android tablet I ever owned and I have tried all the brands.
Love my Hisense sero pro 7, had it a year now…have not had a single OS update. ZERO in that time. Still running 4.2.1. Only updates have been minor security/ maintenance pushes. Updates are a very real issue when considering Hisense tablets. If your about staying current, blow the extra cash. Im really quite satisfied.