Gemini Hands On Review and Comparison

Kairnage

Member
Sep 25, 2011
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Sorry Folks, this one is a little long
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I decide after getting my Skytex Skypad Gemini that instead of just a review I would do a performance comparison to a couple other similar tablets within the price range. I decided on the Zeki 7 " TB782B for one and the Zenithink ZT282 C71 for the other. Sometimes people want to compare apples to oranges or don't find a simple description enough for a decision in purchasing a tablet.


First my hands on review of the Gemini:

Having had the Skypad tablets from the original Alpha and Pocket to the Alpha 2 and now Gemini I didn't know what to expect at first. Each progression from Skytex has been a big improvement over the last, but they all were decent tablets, so hopes were high. The Gemini is no exception to the rule.

The Gemini has a good look and feel right out of the box. Slim, lightweight, and Skytex went back to the rubberized no slip back that was on the original Alpha which is nice. With ICS 4.0 as the release OS they went with the no button sleek casing and moved the camera to the top center of the screen as opposed to the upper right corner with previous tablets. This is good for the Skype users (tested and works) and other video chatters, as well as people who still want to try to take pictures with the front facing web cam. While it is not what they are designed for it is easier to aim the camera with it top center.

The Gemini comes with the standard headphones, USB cable, and wall charger. I know this probably doesn't mean much to anybody but the bigger geeks of us out there, but I like the fact that Skytex ships a decent set of headphones and a quality USB cable. Many tablets come with cables and headphones that really could have been left out of the box.

The Gemini boots fast, about 23 seconds. For ICS the screen density is set to 120 which looks nice and crisp. The screen is very responsive with no lag between menus. Which is very nice since it relies on software buttons as opposed to physical or capacitive buttons. On many tablets I have tried that use software buttons for navigation it can get a little frustrating if the screen is not sensitive or responsive enough particularly since the back button is always in the corner of the screen.

It sounds like Skytex has also upgraded the internal speaker quality in the Gemini. While I have had no real complaints on their previous pads the Gemini definitely has nice crisp sound, above many of my other tablets.
Videos look great. I haven't had anything I have tested fail yet. Youtube runs and looks great. Netflix is playing smooth and clear, no issues so far. Now if Netflix would just fix their menu system. If you have noticed on other tablets it takes awhile for the full menu to load, that is not your pads fault. Hooked up to my big Plasma and LCD and 1080P looks great.

WiFi is strong. It connected fast the first time, no dropped signals or rescan issues so far.

Gemini's Bluetooth connected with my headphones and keyboard with no issues.

All of the ports Mini HDMI, Mini USB, Power, Headphone, and the Microsd are solid. No slop or play when plugged in. They have moved the Microsd slot to the back of the tablet which is different, but actually makes for easy access when you have other things connected like the charger or USB cable.

Overall Skytex did not disappoint with the Gemini. With the 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage the tablets as it sits is ready to go. Aesthetically and performance wise I couldn't find any issue with the tablet. Given my past experience with Skytex customer support and being a US company this is an easy recommend to anybody looking to get a really good tablet in the starter tablet price range.

Now on to the comparisons:



For testing I used CaffeineMark(CM3)and Quadrant Benchmark for overall performance comparisons and WiFi Analyzer to ckeck and monitor WiFi performance.
WiFi was tested at the farthest point from my AP in my home.

These tests were on stock images of each tablet with no tweaks to the systems.

While CaffeineMark(CM3) runs simple JAVA code tests to judge performance, I find it is actually pretty accurate in judging how atablet will perform overall. CM3 was run on a single pass.
Quadrant was run using the full tests.

Battery life was tested running a looped movie with WiFi on.

There are many things that can attribute to these results. Results can vary.

RESULTS:

ZT282 C71 AmLogic Meson 3 Cortex A9 @ 1GHZ or 800mhz

CM3 - 6014
Quadrant - 1589
Wireless Signal - -50dBm (the lower the signal - the better) No drops occasional rescans.
Battery Life - 4.5 hours
Display/Touchscreen - Nice and crisp but a really low backlight except for on high. Good touch sensitivity and response
Sound - Average

Zeki TB782B AllWinner a10 Cortex A8 @ 1GHZ or 900mhz

CM3 - 6189
Quadrant - 1614
Wireless - -45dBm No Issues
Battery Life - Just shy of 5 hours
Display/Touchscreen - Nice and crisp, good backlight on all settings. Great touch sensitivity and response.
Sound - Average

Skytex Gemini AllWinner a10 Cortex A8 @ 1.2GHZ or 1008mhz

CM3 - 6735
Quadrant - 1635
WiFi - -40dBm No Issues
Battery Life - 5.5 hours
Display/Touchscreen - Nice and crisp, good backlight on all settings but lowest was a little dimmer than I am used to. Great touch sensitivity and response.
Sound - Better than Average

Overall the two closest were the Zeki and the Gemini. The ZT282 has a lot of hardware features but the AmLogic processor just doesn't quite keep up with the AllWinners.
In Quadrant the Zeki performed slightly better in the FPS(frames per second) 2D video test, but slightly less in the 3D and overall.

I think with overall build quality, features, and US based customer support makes the Gemini a great bargain for the price. Unfortunately for the Zeki and Zenithink customer service is nonexistent or just plain bad.
 
Nov 7, 2012
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Thank you so much for your review. It's about the only one on the web that I could find that actually was useful. Would it be possible for you to answer a few questions since you have hands-on experience?
I'm looking for a tablet in about the $100-110 price range. (I found a good buy on the Gemini for just a few bucks more, so I'm considering it) I'm looking to replace a white Pandigital novel that has a dead battery (can be used plugged in, but kinda unhandy). The Gemini seems to have everything I want: capacitive screen, bluetooth, HDMI, camera and expandable SD slot. One thing that I couldn't verify is how much it weighs. That might seem odd that I would base a purchase on the weight of a tablet, but my Novel weighs 19 oz. plus the weight of the cover and holding it for any length of time ( I use it often as an ereader) makes my hands go numb.

1) How much does the Gemini actually weigh?

2) How easy is it to get Google play on it? And is it "legal" to do so? Licensing issues or anything?

3) Would my Barnes and Noble ereader program on my Novel be able to be loaded onto the Gemini? (I really do like this program for reading)

I'm sure I'll have other questions as my research narrows things down a bit.
Thank you in advance.
 
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