Le Pan II TC979 Android Tablet Review

Final Thoughts
I was a huge supporter of the original Le Pan TC970 tablet.  I have looked at a lot of tablets over the past few years and Le Pan did so much right with their original tablet.  That is why I was really excited that they were coming out with the second version of it and that they were keeping the same form factor and design.  Many people may knock this tablet for being a bit thick, but when you are carrying around a tablet of this size you are most likely going to have it in a case anyways.

So the design is the same, but what has Le Pan done to improve the tablet?  They have upgraded the processor from a single-core ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor to a dual-core Qualcomm APQ8060 1.2GHz processor.  The memory has been doubled as well so instead of the 512MB you get a full 1GB of memory.  As far as storage goes that has gone up from a simple 2GB to 8GB and remember you can always add more storage by simply installing a micro SD card.  On top of all that you get Android 3.2, which is much improved over Android 2.2 that was on the original Le Pan tablet.  It is very fluid, easy to use and seems like it was more made for a tablet rather than a phone.  Also keep in mind this tablet will be upgradeable to Android 4.0 when it becomes available.

So how about performance!  Check out the previous page to see how well the Le Pan II outperformed the original Le Pan tablet.  Besides that from using the Le Pan II on a daily basis for 3 weeks there really is not much this tablet cannot do.  All of the games I tested with it play great and without any issues.  Of course simple applications like Facebook and Twitter work perfectly.  As I showed in my usage video this tablet is able to play 1080p video and it looks damn good!  You are able to make Skype video calls using the front-facing webcam, I made quite a few video calls and everyone said the video looked clear and the audio sounded good.  As I always say speakers on a tablet are not meant to be powerful, but the ones on this tablet do a great job.  I threw pretty much everything at this tablet and it was able to handle it.

The only thing I do not like about this tablet is the volume buttons and the power button.  The volume is controlled by a rocker button.  I really do not like this design or the location (at the top of the tablet) I would rather have seen 2 separate buttons for volume up and volume down and it would have been nice if they were located on the side of the tablet.  The power button is quite small and you have to press it in for a long time for the power to actually turn on or off.

When it comes down to it this tablet is selling for $279 at my favorite online retailer.  This puts it at a very low price point compared to other tablets that do not perform as well.  Just like the original Le Pan tablet the Le Pan II really is a steal!  Overall ThinkComputers gives the Le Pan II TC979 Android Tablet a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!

rating9 10 small TC award recommended small

Pros:
– Price
– Great performance
– Runs Android 3.2 with a future upgrade to 4.0
– Speakers are quite loud
– Great overall feel

Cons:
– Volume button implementation could be better

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