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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- The Blackview Link 8 is disposable present for $209.
- It's a bladed and airy 13-inch Android tablet with all-day artillery life.
- The surface isn't agleam capable to woody with nonstop sunlight.
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While the iPad is arguably the best-known and best-selling tablet, Android users bash get the payment of selecting a tablet from a wide scope of manufacturers.
One of those manufacturers is Blackview, a institution champion known for making ruggedized smartphones with thermal cameras. But since tablets are fundamentally upsized smartphones, it's a earthy marketplace for Blackview to get into.
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And that's a bully thing, arsenic the institution makes immoderate precise bully tablets. I know, arsenic I've tested and reviewed rather a fewer of them implicit the past fewer years. The latest successful the enactment -- the Link 8 -- continues that pattern.
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The Link 8 is simply a 12.9-inch tablet that's built from the crushed up to beryllium bladed and light. It measures 8.4 x 11.1 x 0.3 inches (214.2 x 282.98 x 8.4mm) and weighs 1.5 pounds, oregon 25 ounces. This makes the Link 8 a highly portable unit, cleanable for throwing successful a container to instrumentality to enactment oregon instrumentality traveling. It's airy capable to clasp comfortably successful the manus for extended periods during longer browsing oregon speechmaking sessions.
At its bosom is the 12.7-inch, 2160 x 1600 solution IPS show that runs astatine a 90Hz refresh rate. Big capable to get absorbed into whether you're browsing your socials oregon watching movies.
The 300 nits brightness is good for astir indoor environments, specified arsenic homes and offices, and is bully for extending artillery life, but it mightiness not beryllium agleam capable to usage comfortably successful nonstop sunlight oregon precise agleam environments.
The Link 8 is lone 0.3 inches/8.4 mm thick, and the decorativeness is excellent.
I recovered the show connected the Link 8 to beryllium capable and comfy connected the eyes connected the whole, but I person been spoiled by the 1,000 nits of sustained brightness offered by the iPad Pro (but that's a tablet good implicit $1,000).
The show supports Google's Widevine L1 Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, allowing the tablet to grip premium contented from outlets specified arsenic Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube successful afloat HD.
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HD contented is thing without decent speakers, and Blackview has erstwhile again turned to the tried-and-tested quad-box Smart-PA stereo speakers it's utilized successful different tablets. These present rich, wide dependable whether you're connected a video telephone oregon watching the latest enactment movie.
Powering the tablet is an octa-core MediaTek Helio G100 processor astatine 2.2GHz, paired with 18GB of RAM (6GB of carnal RAM and 12GB of virtual RAM -- and I urge you acceptable the virtual RAM to maximum to get the champion bang for your subordinate for precise small cost) and 256GB of storage.
The Link 8 has a beauteous decent spec expanse considering the price.
The processor isn't going to triumph immoderate benchmarking competitions, but it tin tally the DokeOS_P 4.2 operating strategy (a customized Blackview OS based connected Android 15), on with each the Google apps smoothly enough, and switching betwixt apps oregon adjacent opening ample video files doesn't faze the tablet.
And don't worry, DokeOS has afloat entree to the Google Play Store and each the latest Google AI wizardry that modular Android users tin access.
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When it comes to capturing moments, connected the backmost you'll find a 16-megapixel main camera on with a 2-megapixel extent sensor, cleanable for snapping shots for societal media, capturing HD video, scanning documents, oregon being an oculus into the satellite for Google Lens. On the beforehand is simply a 13-megapixel camera that does a bully occupation of handling selfies, video calls, and look unlock.
Two cameras connected the rear of the Link 8 -- a 16-megapixel main camera on with a 2-megapixel extent sensor.
The artillery wrong the tablet is an 8,400mAh unit, which is comparable with the existent iPad lineup, and bully for astir six hours of sustained runtime, which translates into "all-day" of regular use. And if the artillery does commencement to get a spot low, you tin complaint it up rapidly acknowledgment to its 18W accelerated complaint capability.
To implicit the tablet, it comes with a enactment of basal accessories: a folio case, a stylus, mouse, and keyboard.
ZDNET's buying advice
Having utilized the Blackview Link 8 for a fewer weeks, I person to accidental that it's a precise decent tablet for the terms -- presently $220. It's not the fastest, it doesn't person the brightest displays, and it's not the thinnest and lightest, but it's a large tablet that tin grip the sorts of workloads that radical privation to bash astatine home, school, oregon the office.
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I threw a batch of antithetic apps and workloads astatine the Link 8, and it took it each successful its stride. The tablet not lone runs good but besides looks stylish, though the accessories are somewhat plasticky and cheap, and if you extremity up needing to usage a keyboard and rodent long-term, I'd suggest upgrading to thing amended (like this oregon this).
But for those looking for a decently priced tablet with a ample display, the Link 8 is hard to beat.
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