[Review] ICOO ICOU Fatty2 Hands-On

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After months of advertising, the ICOO ICOU Fatty2 is now finally on sale. The entry-level price of the tablet (Wi-Fi only) is RMB 899 (USD 149), which is much higher than competitions like the Yuandao mini one (USD 119) and CHUWI V88s (USD 119), both of which have the same 7.9 inch IPS display. But the Fatty2 is pricier for a reason, the 5500mAh battery it features gives the slate an extraordinary 10-12 hours run time, and the Wi-Fi reception is the best I’ve experienced on a Chinese tablet!

Key Features:

◇7.9 inch 16M-color IPS display at XGA resolution (1024X768 pixels)
◇Weighs 310g, 198*134*7mm in size.
◇Rockchip RK3188 SoC., 1.6GHZ quad core Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP4 GPU, 1GB DDR3 RAM
◇Stock Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
◇16GB of built-in-storage
◇2.0MP front facing camera; 5.0MP rear-facing camera
◇Stereo speaker
◇HDMI TV-out
◇Bluetooth V2.1
◇USB host
◇MicroSD card slot
◇Standard 3.5mm audio jack
◇1080p video playback
◇5500mAh Li-Po rechargeable battery, 10-12 hours battery life

Main disadvantages:

Too similar to the iPad mini
So-so Cameras
Pricier than alternative options

First Impressions​

The one thing that sticks out most about the Fatty2 is how much it looks like an iPad mini. And I'm not talking about the interface and apps, but the weight and size of the tablet, which is so thin and weighs so little you'd almost think you were browsing the web on a piece of paper.

The ICOU Fatty2 may not have the Retina Display and 2GB of DDR3 RAM of many 9.7 inch Chinese tablet, but it still looks beautiful and is extremely responsive. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Most apps are designed to run on standard resolution, only a few apps actually support the latest superior graphics of the retina display.

The 7.9-inch ICOU Fatty2 is only slightly larger than many 7 inchers, thanks to the narrow screen bezel it uses. When I pick it up with one hand, it seems just right. While many of the 8 inch tablets beg to be held with both hands, it feels natural to hold the Fatty in one hand, even for a long period of time.

Retail Package

It seems ICOO determined to stick to this colorful packaging approach for its tablet products this year. Fatty2 is wrapped up in a paperback box which has 7 colors to it. I personally prefer more simplistic style taken by Samsung and many other internationally well-known manufactures, but I can’t say that this packaging isn’t attractive.

Again, ICOO has carried on its wonderful tradition with a slew of buddle fittings. You will find a 5V-2A charger, a USB data cable, an OTG cable and a pair of SONY earphones along with the fatty2.

Design and Build

The front of the tablet is dominated by a 7.9 inch IPS display, with very small bezel around it. At 198*134mm, it is even smaller than the popular Apple iPad mini (200 x 134.7mm), and only slightly bigger than the Nexus 7 (198.5 x 120mm) and Kindle Fire HD (196.7 x 133), both of which use a much smaller 7-inch display.

As for thickness, the ICOO ICOU Fatty2 is easily the slimmest tablet I have ever seen, at 7mm it is even thinner than the ultra-slim iPad mini (7.2mm) and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (7.9mm). Although Yuandao has claimed the their so-called 6.8mm mini one is the thinnest tablet on earth, it is later proved to be just another lie, amongst many lies told by this unprincipled tablet maker.

All the connectors are hosted on the bottom edge. From left to right are a mini HDMI port, a micro USB port, a 2.5mm DC port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a tiny microphone pinhole and a MicroSD card slot which supports cards up to 32GB.

Again, ICOO has taken a simplistic approach with the hardware keys, only a power/standby key and a volume rocker will be found on the transition area between the right edge and the back. Personally, I dislike the arrangement that the power button is actually below the volume rockers. Moreover, I am really disappointed that, in portrait mode, the lower part of the volume rocker is actually volume +. I know this may be due to the fact that we more often use the tablet in vertical mode, but if a tablet is designed to be like an iPad, it should be arranged like an iPad.

The back of the slate is partially plastic, partially aluminum. This is, contrary to the button layout, a brilliant arrangement. The plastic can guarantee solid Wi-Fi reception, and the use of hairline metal can avoid the feel of cheapness. A 5MP auto-focus front facing camera sits comfortably on the upper left corner, and the only speaker gate is on the lower left corner.

Also, you can choose to purchase a magnetic protection cover or a Bluetooth keyboard for your Fatty2, both of which are at relatively low price (cover: $7, Keyboard: $17). When you open the cover, the Fatty2 magically wakes up. And while you close it, the Fatty2 automatically goes to sleep. I have only seen this useful function on the iPad series and some Windows tablet before. Its presence here on a low-price Chinese tablet is pretty surprising. The Bluetooth keyboard feels even more solid than the tablet itself, at just 7.7mm thick it can turn your Fatty2 into a super-slim ultra laptop in just a second!

 

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Screen

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The Fatty2 sports exactly the same display used on the iPad mini. The IPS display technology together with the 7.9” XGA display delivers seamlessly brilliant colors that redefines the best visual experience a tablet can offer.

The ultra slim 7.9” XGA display offers brilliant contrast ratio, the best color gamut and response time, making text or image-viewing extraordinarily crispy and vivid regardless the viewing angle.

http://image14.poco.cn/mypoco/myphoto/20130702/01/173385433201307020105472732452363556_005.jpg[img]

[img]http://image14.poco.cn/mypoco/myphoto/20130702/01/173385433201307020105472732452363556_004.jpg​

There is nothing special about the resolution and some 7" tablets like the Nexus7 and the Kindle Fire HD even push the pixel density above 200 ppi. If you did the math already, you'd know the Fatty2 is far behind at 163 ppi. The Retina display of the new iPad is the standard-setter in tablets at 264 ppi, and you will always keep in mind the existence of the Google Nexus 10, which holds the tablet record of 300ppi. Hacing said that, the Fatty2’s display is still vivid enough for most users, packing an XGA resolution in such a small screen definitely brings much better visual experience than most of the computers.

Even when you put the Fatty2 next to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, which features a more expensive, more vibrant Super AMOLED Plus display, it still won’t be outshined. In fact, the IPS display the Fatty2 sports is likely to be more accepted by the majority of users as its color expression is more close to real.

 

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Performance

The Fatty2 is powered by the 1.6GHZ quad core RK3188 Chipset, along with 1GB DDR3 RAM, which put up some incredible benchmark scores.

The 17,472 overall Antutu benchmark score handily beat the 16,734 notched by the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and smashed scores achieved by the Allwinner A31 powered Onda V818 mini and Actions ATM7029 powered Ainol NOVO8 Dream.

It’s more or less the same story on the Quadrant Advanced. Again, the RK3188 powered Fatty2 scored higher points than the other 3 devices.

In the graphics-focused Nenamark2 test, the Fatty2 scored 55.6 FPS, higher than the category average. But the Allwinner A31 powered Onda V818 mini scored a much more impressive 58.9 FPS, thanks to its impeccable PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU.

The An3D Bench XL also centers on the 3D capability of the device. But the Fatty2 turned the tide around this time, notching an incredible 37,018, blowing the other 8 inch competitions out of the water.

Vellamo is by far my favorite Benchmark application, the scores of certain device are very consistent, regardless of the version of the software. Although the Fatty2 was beaten by the more all-optimized Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 in both HTML5 and Metal test, it still smashed the other two quad-core slates.

CF-bench also witnessed the Fatty2’s capability, the 15888 final score easily outshined its competitions.

Fortunately, the Fatty2’s real world performance cohere with its benchmark scores, at XGA resolution, it is truly the fastest tablet I have ever used, and I want to continue using it until the Quad Core A15 era’s here.

The stock web browser works fine enough, but I am more of a fan of Dolphin HD and Chrome. Even with more than a dozen of webpages opened in different tabs, the Fatty2 remained super responsive with no delay and lag at all. Most apps I have used on this device work perfectly, but with this resolution you will find a few of the apps specifically made for 16:10 screens appeared somewhat distorted on the Fatty2’s display, but I don't mind that as the screen and colors are incredibly amazing, and until you hold this in your hand it’s hard to put in writing just how beautiful it really is.

With 1GB of DDR3 RAM, the Fatty2 isn’t as strong as the PIPO M9 in multi-tasking, with lots of big applications running at the same time the smoothness could be crippled. By big applications I am not talking about the chatting apps such as Skype and ICQ, or even games like the “Angry Bird” and “Temple Run”, I am talking about real big apps such as “IRON MAN 3” and some Office applications. So, for anyone who’s not a psycho tester like myself, the Fatty2’s RAM is enough!

Although the Fatty2 isn't exactly the most incredible multi-tasker, it really shines in the game department. In both portrait and landscape modes, the tablet is easy to hold and control, making it a snap to play games where you need both thumbs on the screen. One-handed tapping and swiping is easy as well, thanks to the form factor of the unit. While you can appreciate the size of a 10-inch tablet for gaming, the 7.9 feels very good in your hands. Also, it had no issues with any of the games I opened up on it, ranging from “Temple Run 2” to “Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots” to “Virtua Tennis” to that lone pre-loaded level of “Dead Space”. I even loaded the insanely graphic-intense “Need for Speed: the Most Wanted”, and quickly became obsessed with the fast racing and crushing. Despite the fact that these games can be processor intensive, particularly on a tablet, I had no issues whatsoever.

Movies and Videos play very well with the stock video player and there are several on the market you can use if you find videos that do not work on the stock player. In my actual test, I have no problem playing any local video file in my mobile disk. Even with a few 1080P videos which cannot be played through hard-decision decoding, you can use soft decode them smoothly, thanks to the extremely powerful RK3188 quad core chipset.

 

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Audio​

Sound-wise, while the HD videos really show off what this tablet is capable of, you'll want some headphones or an external sound solution. I am not saying the Fatty2’s speakers are bad, in fact, it is much better than most of the 7-8 inch tablets I have used in the audio department. But the single speaker still doesn't pack nearly as powerful an audio punch to match the visuals. Even at full volume, sounds like a whirring computer fan or a printer will easily drown out anything from the tablet.

Cameras

The cameras mounted on the ICOO Fatty2 aren't anything to write home about. Rear camera photos are decent, especially if you have enough light, and shooting video in 720 HD also can be seen as a bonus.

Of course, 5MP cameras on different Chinese tablets perform pretty much the same, and the Fatty2 isn’t really disappointing, it just cannot produce crisp HD photos that you would expect to go with this fabulous display. It is still worth using the camera on-board, especially because if you've ever seen someone holding up a full-sized iPad to take a photo or shoot video, you know how ridiculous they look. With this sleek 7.9-inch pad, it's much easier to get away with using it as a camera and not looking like you're a protester at a rally.

Connectivity

The Fatty2 is well equipped in terms of connectivity. There is a Micro USB connector for computer connection. There is a microSD card slot as well. The 16GB of internal storage helps too.

The Wi-Fi support includes a/b/g/n versions, with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz band compatibility. Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA support are also available. In my actual test, the Fatty2’s Wi-Fi reception is more than satisfactory, thanks to the M500 Wi-Fi module it features. This type of Wi-Fi Module is more often seen on those high-end smartphones. Below is the readings of Wi-Fi Analyzer on different spots and the comparison with readings of other tablets:

Also, the addition of Bluetooth is always a good thing, not only can u use it to transmit files without a data cable, u could also connect your tablet to those bluetooth input and audio devices:

Naturally, the Fatty2 supports USB on-the-go, and the adapter is already packaged in the paperback box along with the tablet. You can connect card readers, USB flash drives and other compatible devices to your tablet and access their contents through the file manager. Mice and keyboards are supported as well.

Unlike the iPad or Samsung Galaxy tabs, there is an independent mini HDMI port, all you need to do is to buy a $5 HDMI cable, and you can enjoy your tablet content on a much bigger screen.

Battery Life​

The tablet is powered by a 5500mAh battery which, coupled with the power-efficient 28nm RK3188 SoC., is more than enough to make the Fatty2 one of the best tablets in terms of battery backup. In our battery test the slate achieved a score of 86 hours. This means that if you use the Fatty2 for an hour each of gaming, web browsing, and video playback every day, you will have to recharge it every 86 hours. And the tablet stood 11 hours, 55 minutes of online video streaming (30% of screen brightness, 50% of speaker volume), blowing the Beneve Miracle One’s 10 hour record out of the water:

In local video playback, the ICOU Fatty2 broke the long-held record by Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, and smashed the other 8-inch Android tablets I’ve tested:

Charging the tablet is relatively fast, with the buddle 5V-2A charger you only have to wait 3 hours for a full charge (0%—100%). Shutdown charging support not only guarantees the efficiency, but also gives the tablet a longer life span.

 

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Verdict

The good:

1. The screen is truly impressive. Although the resolution doesn't match the iPad4 and Nexus10's Retina Display, it is definitely in the same ballpark and provides very crisp images.
2. The slim chassis and narrow bezel design make holding the tablet in one hand no longer that much of an effort.
3. The slew of ports and slots the Fatty2 provides for its users are truly wonderful, you no longer need to buy expensive adapters to enjoy functions such as HDMI or OTG.
4. The Wi-Fi reception of the tablet is amazing, arguably the best I have experienced on a Chinese tablet.
5. The 5500mAh battery paired up with the power-efficient RK3188 SoC. gives the tablet an incredible 10-12 hours’ run time.


The bad:

1. The price is the biggest barrier to fully enjoying the Fatty2. Although compared to the iPad and the bunch of Samsung tablets, it is incredibly cheap already, yet its major competition comes from other Chinese tablet makers: the Yuandao Mini One, the Chuwi V88s and CUBE U35GT are all $30 cheaper than the Fatty2.

2. The Fatty2 ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and uses the stock user interface. Although ICOO has promised an upgrade to Android 4.2 and a delicately designed Metro Launcher, and there are already a few beta ROMs out there. However, without a clear date in sight who knows when the official ROM will arrive.

3. With the 7.9 inch display and similar-sized chassis, it is pretty much another iPad mini look-alike, and this can bring you some queerish stares and annoying questions.

Final verdict​

The form and size of the Fatty2 feels perfect for a device you can grab to take with you for a long trip, a meeting, or a trip to the ballpark. It isn't as unwieldy as a 10-inch tablet, but the tradeoff is the screen loses real estate previously devoted to input. As a result, it doesn't feel like a serious business device, even if you paired it up with the Bluetooth keyboard, the lack of capable Office applications is still standing in the way of carrying this Android slate around for tight-scheduled business meetings.

What you will really find in the Fatty2 is a very pretty, functional media device. Android fans should consider this device if it fits their needs, but with other similar options in lower price ranges, you'll want to take a hard look at those needs and decide if it actually works for what you need it to do. For a casual entertainment unit, it works well. Any more than that, and you're going to find the capabilities stretched very thin.

With more Chinese tablets coming to the table every day, most now in quad-core configurations and with equally impressive screen options, the Fatty2 faces quick obsolescence unless it can compete. A price drop and software upgrade would be a big step in the right direction.