Colorfly E708 Q1 review

e708_q1_en

What’s behind 7 ” tablet with 1Gb ram , Quad processor and IPS display for $84 you can read next in this review.

Ordering , Banggood

I have ordered tablet for $84 from Banggood (with -$6 coupon which I can share in the comments). It was shipped next day and came in 22 days. So far I am very satisfied.

Specifications

Svega 240 grama

It weights only 240g

For some time I was looking for a tablet which is not too expensive, but you can still do something with it. For 100$ I couldn’t find any good tablets in local store. Searching for them on internet I first found Alffine Fine 7 tablet for around $90 with a slightly lower screen resolution. With further analysis of Fine 7 tablet- I have concluded that rotating the screen also changes the contrast/backlight and I lost interest in Fine tablet, same problem with screen has Pipo S1 Pro. My choice was tablet Colorfly E708 Q1 which costs only $84 or about 62 Euro. I have order it without reviews on the web and now after using it for a week I could tell you that I have made a good choice. Price is attractive, but what’s behind it?

It has powerful Quad processor Allwinner A31S Cortex A7, graphics processor is PowerVR SGX544MP. Internal memory is 8Gb where you will have enough space to put all your photos and apps (or you can put them on MicroSD card). 1GB of RAM ensures fluid operation in Android 4.2.2 which comes with the device. The biggest advantage is beautiful 7 inch IPS screen with resolution of 1280×800 which is really a rarity in this price range. And to make things even better it weighs only 240 grams and it is light like a feather. It is extremely easy to carry.

For comparison, in local store I could buy only tablet which offers 512MB RAM, single-core processor which in practice means slow opening applications, you wouldn’t be able to play any type of the games and the screen would have a resolution of 800×600 with horrible viewing angle.

Unpacking from the box, the first impression

Tablet came in a box of styrofoam, and in a well- protected cover made of bubbles. The package contains; a tablet, USB cable and 5V/2A charger. Minus thing is U.S. Charger with EU adapter which leads to the fact that when you remove the charger from the outlet that small EU converter remains attached to the socket, so you will have to remove that small part too again. Not so much a lack but they could place the original EU adapter inside the box. Screen protector has been applied without bubbles and fingers on it leaves no trace.

In addition, for $ 10 you can order a special leather case for this tablet.

First turning on lasted about 8s , tablet has very fast start. Touch is accurate , there is no deviation. Google Play has come pre-installed on the tablet, and there are only two Chinese applications that can be uninstalled. OS is Android 4.2.2. Mine came with 1.07 build from 02/September/2013 . It is funny but true, the disadvantage from this version is that you can’t capture the screen. Ie Screenshot is disabled. Installing applications like Screenshot UX and then capturing you get black image with Colorfly logo on them. Meanwhile, several recent version came out that remove the bug. For this reason the images on review were taken with the phone and not directly from ss.

OTG 

Colorfly E708 OTG test

Colorfly E708 OTG test

Although not specified tablet supports OTG. I have tryed connecting USB 4GB flash drive, wireless mouse and everything is supproted. That is big plus. However, you need to buy OTG cable separately (not included) but price is only $1.

 

Screen

The display is as you already know 7 inch IPS with 1280×800 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio. It looks great on paper and it is good in reality. Brightness of the screen is great, it can be used at the sunny day without any problem. Viewing angle is excellent, from every angle you look at the display, everything is is the same, full of colors. The ratio of 16:10 is slightly narrower than 16:9 models. The resolution of 1280×800 is really great, small text can be easily understood, there is a lot of details. Reading newspapers on the web is easy, requires no effort and you don’t need to zoom  and you don’t hurt your eyes from reading.

Performance

Rezultat oko 12000

Antutu around 12000

Antutu benchamrk shows score around 12-13 000 which is great for quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM.  At the same time you can open browser with 3 tabs and then open a game that will work without problems. My previous tablet with 512MB of RAM choked, I couldn’t open most ordinary news portal without a major stop. Colorfly opens all quickly, you can play one of the most demanding games Real Racing 3 without any problems, Minion Rush, Angry Birds… all loads quickly and games are fast, without low fps.

Although it might mean to someone, Q1 has no bluetooth. In addition to USB and headphone jack another plus is that it has a HDMI output. I connected tablet with the television and watched the movie on TV which I played from tablet . This is usually characteristic of tablets that cost more than 150$.

More advanced users will want a little more, like rooting tablet. I have made a tutorial how to root and upgrade firmware which you can find here. Colorfly E708 Q1 is extremely popular in China , and it is only starting to come in other markets including the European. It is interesting that Colorfly is one of the largest manufacturers in China and they have a European branch/office in Germany who you can contact.

Primjer gdje se igra vrti bez problema

Screen and view angle is excellent. Minion Rush can be played with high FPS

Built-in 8GB capacity can be expanded with a memory card up to 64GB. The speaker on the back is loud enough, although not fully understood at the highest setting. Camera is only at the front and it’s enough for Skype. For what is meant, it is just fine. Wi-fi signal is good, it catches at a great distance , the connection does not break.

Colorfly E708 Q1 will not get heated if you use it for long time, it becomes a bit warm but not so much that you can hold it in hand. It isnt slippery and it holds easily in hand.

Battery

The battery has a capacity of 2400mAh which is not so much but it is enough. You can use it about 4 -5h without any problems with constant wi-fi, it also can hold out several hours of gameplay. It is quite satisfactory. From 0% to 100% tablet is charged for about a half hour- 45min because of strong charger. It also supports charging via a computer or USB power. Colorfly E708 Q1 could be used at work or school where it would last one day without any problems.

Conclusion

If you’re wondering which tablet to buy and you mean to go up to 130$, I recommend you this tablet. Colorfly E708 Q1 cost only $84 with free shipping. Tablet has a high build quality- Quad processor and 1Gb ram will be a good choice for you. The screen resolution is excellent and you can use it in direct sunlight. And the best, it weights 240 grams, you can carry Colorfly everywhere with you and the time will pass more quickly if you have one. Really it is worth to take.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments.

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44 Responses

  1. Luis Hernandez From Mexico says:

    You can give that code of -$6 dollars 😛
    great review
    you can tell me if this tablet run ShadowGun?

  2. iconic says:

    nice review, hows the sound quality?
    I live in china and considering to buy one for 399RMB around $67.
    If i buy one we can exchange informations about rooting and updating FW!

    • Anton008 says:

      That’s great. Sound quality is ok but not perfect on highest setting. It is better then from my previous tablet and it is louder.
      I know that tablet is selling for 400 Yuan in China but 80$ with shipping to other countries is also ok price.
      Here is tutorial for root and upgrading however as I could understand program is on Chinese so your help would be great 😉

      • iconic says:

        yeah I saw this website and haven’t read on how to root yet, because still not decided whether to buy or not 😛
        I am also waiting for next month, there might be a new model q3 since its end of the year.

    • iconic says:

      bought it this morning and will arrive tonight!
      excited to check what I can do on it.

  3. Sam says:

    Any luck in getting English instructions on how to root this tablet? Thanks.

  4. Parminder says:

    Hi,

    I just wanted to know more about the battery life and the usability of the tablet, i totally understand that you have mentioned about the battery in your review but since i have already ordered the tablet and i was so curious to know more about the battery performance.

    can the tablet play all the recent apps without any delay and how long exactly the battery lasts with a use of all the high end games and apps on google play store. did you had any problem like sudden restart or apps being closed suddenly.

    what about the screen, since the tablet has a very beautiful screen, did you find any sort of problem like dead pixel or blackness in the screen.

    please let me know if you have faced any problem so far with the tablet.

    much appreciated.

    • Anton008 says:

      Battery life is ok and if I play Real racing for 2h battery from 100% go to 20%. If you only go to internet it could last like a day. I am playing Real Racing 3 without any lag and Minion rush is sometimes slow when you are just kicked on start but it is ok when you run. I haven’t had any restart or closed app or something like that. Screen has nice angle of view and I set it to almost lowest backlight setting because battery on that will last for long.
      I had in my hands Pipo S1 Pro and screen on that tablet is like bad TFT comparing to Colorlfy E708. Only problem which I have is that I cant take screenshoot and I don’t know how to root it. I tried contacting Colorfly Europe and Colorlfy Cn but they didn’t respond.

  5. QuestionTablet says:

    do you try the mtk8389 quadcore tablet?? i just buy the colorfly A31s but i want to know more information about mtk8389 because we can found it for the same price and he have 3G ,Bluetooth and GPS function.. it look more powerfull? but im not sure because there is no comparison between both of this tablet… can you tell me more about that please?

  6. rydonwunali says:

    Fantastic review. You delivered everything that I wanted to know about this tablet. Bought mine and hoping to root it asap.
    @iconic I am going to try your root tool and will report back. Fingers crossed.

  7. Ken says:

    Just bought the Q2 version of this tablet (16GB) for my dad for roughly $760HKD (~$98US) and I’m thoroughly impressed by it!

    My opinions of it is pretty smooth but it does seem to lag a bit when you’re multitasking (downloading apps and then trying to run other things), it does get quite hot when playing heavy 3D games which I noticed whilst testing the graphical performance on Real Racing 3 – which ran surprisingly smoothly.

    But for the price, I can’t complain. If I didn’t buy the HiSense Sero 7 Pro for myself I would consider this one!

  8. Luis Hernandez From Mexico says:

    Mine’s was come with 4gb of internal memory 🙁

  9. Mark says:

    Order one and have just noticed that the description says 8GB but the screen shot shows “internal sd card” as 3803/3847 so that means that they are only 4GB not 8GB, can anyone else confirm the ram size?

  10. Ionel says:

    Any valid Banggood coupon to reduce price for Colorfly E708 Q1, please?

  11. Cindy Hudson says:

    hi I live in Australia and was wondering if this tab will be ok….I know absoloutly nothing about them I want it 4 fb,readingbooks,hotmail.music…so on…..I have DXTREME..at the moment and it is pretty slow….

  12. Jonno says:

    Pros:
    fast for the money, A31s CPU + Sgx544mp GPU = ePSXe running Grand Tourismo2 and 720mkv video in window via 4K player at the same time – impressed –

    IPS 1280*800 170* screen (smooth and sensitive)

    Kitkat 4.4.2. Released from colorfly website (slight antutu increase 12250 to 12857)

    Micro SD slot claims 128gb support.

    Cons:
    ONLY WIFI, no bt/3G/NFC.
    Only 2.5 hrs on utube @ 20% screen brightness.
    Gravity sensors only.
    Only 4.2gb usable on internal SDcard (8gb model) 700mb usable (1gb)
    Gets quite hot under heavy gaming.
    Creaky case when held and gently twisted.
    Slow refresh on camera under low light conditions.
    Unsure of micro USB and hdmi sturdiness.
    Heavy hacking required for more usable space.

    Solutions: please use Google LOTS! If you like a challenge this is for you.

    Root at your peril using Vroot, (possible spyware unconfirmed, check xda developers) I risked it as its only hacking gaming tablet)

    Upgrade to kitkat via the Chinese website, google translate.

    Buy 32/64gb class10 SDcard from a reputable dealer, i.e. amazon will never sell fakes on their ‘amazon only stores’.

    Download Link2sd app and correctly setup ext4/2 fat32 multi partitions on ext SDcard using pc.

    Download/Buy Foldermount app, worth every penny!

    Buy and install bigger battery (GENTLY crack the case using SIM card holder).
    http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Samsung-original-3766C5-4500-mAh-lithium-polymer-3766125-3-78V-onda-tablet-battery-V811/1464095338.html

    Conclusion: if your mad enough to take on the challenge and oversee its shortcommings it turns out to be a good pocket gamer/media player, less embarrassing than my ipad for gaming in public.

    Good luck fellow owners.

  13. dicky says:

    Hello,

    I have a question about the battery. Did you really managed to replace the baterry, and does it fit properly?

    Kind regards…

  14. Alain says:

    Here is what the inside of the tablet looks like, so there should be enough space for a bigger battery, i have one spare from icoo fatty 2, maybe it can fit>?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UQuOC2BnYs

  15. bernard young says:

    The battery is beginning to be slow.can I also shop

    • Anton008 says:

      You have link to facebook group called “Colorfly E708”. Some guys there explained which battery to buy and how to change it. But it inst so easy and you could damage your tablet.

  16. lartey joe says:

    I will like the features of the tablet but how can I reduce the processors to conserve battery or post or idea on the page

  17. Scott says:

    how do you get the back of it off?

  18. dicky says:

    I just pused my fingernail between the two parts of the tablet and got it loose that way, so i could check how the inside looked like.
    I still haven’t got a bigger battery, maybe i will try in a few weeks, after the hollidays…

  19. Jonno says:

    Only the battery I listed above works and fits, be slow and methodical when removing the battery, do not pull, work it GENTLY off by sliding a credit card type object behind to remove the double sided tape, cover any contacts of the old and new battery until its time to tin and solder (25w iron, be quick, dont burn) and get the battery as close to the motherboard as possible without stressing the wires, currently getting just over 5 hours @20% brightness on youtube, not the biggest improvement but certainly better.

    Cracking the case with a fingernail is good to get a ‘feel’ for the plastic if you can.

  20. Joseph Whitehead says:

    I’m interested in an external version of that battery mod. I mean sure, I can use a micro-USB adapter for some 18650 Lithium or AA NiMH batteries, but it would be sweet if they had an (semi?)official accessory that fit flush to the back and matched the E708 Q1/Q2 cases. Seems like you could have a simple battery pack with a velcro sticker in the kit. This isn’t even remotely original of an idea so I’m not sure why none of the stores are trying to upsell a universal kit for the majority of 7″ tablets…

    Also, on the Q3, give it a real charging port – the micro USB ports s*ck for charging – too thin of pins! The pins are made of a very thin wire, per the USB foundation’s specifications. This is the only major problem I’ve had with the Q2 I got for my mother. An official North American distributor wouldn’t hurt.

    I’ll have to check, to see if the Q2 is able to fit that lithium cell someone linked to. I don’t feel like doing this though, until both the warranty is up and the existing one gets weak. It’s worth mentioning that this is the thinnest tablet I’ve used so far, so I’m not sure it can even take an extended battery mod internally. I’ll probably just use an external USB power pack if I can find one that matches it.

  21. bernard nyantakyi says:

    i bought my e708 q1 not long ago but ihv forgotten my pattern in debugging mode .i hv tried many attempt to open it .please can u help me with any attempt. iwill be very greatful

  22. a clayton says:

    I got this tablet for Christmas yesterday and its heating very quickly .what should I do

  23. Kriss says:

    My e708 Q2 battery seems to be broken. Can i use a Q1 battery on this model? Thx

  24. Marina says:

    After 7 months of usage, it wont charge. Usb port doesnt respond. Dont know solution. Sad.

    • kokie says:

      Same here and I got my usb port changed in a local service for around 15euros instead of sending it to China or Germany to Colorfly. If there is a warranty you can do that thought

  25. rob says:

    Fuck Colorfly. I have had nothing but issues with the E708 Q2 since we’ve had it. The microusb port is very loose, and the battery just sucks. Poor lifetime AND out of the blue, we’ve had to reset it twice within months. We barely use the tablet as so that months figure might as well be 2 weeks of actual use.

    Had it doing HDMI out and I think the think is ready to really die now. Reset button not working, can’t get it to charge from an outlet, but it will turn on if plugged into a USB port. The batteries on these models are total shit. It was a good value, but if it doesn’t last or even want to boot why even bother!?

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