Disgo 9104 Reiew

                         
                              Disgo 9104


Before the Google Nexus 10 came along, the Disgo 9104 was the
first budget large-screen Android tablet actually worth a look


“Many will write off the Disgo as a  no-name brand, but  the 9104 is worth a second look”


● Price £179 ● comPany DiSGo ● WeBSiTe mydisgo.com


Many will write off the Disgo as a no-name brand, but the 9104 is worth a second look. It's the first budget Ice Cream Sandwich tablet to emulate the  iPad's 9.7in screen, but this 1024x768 capacitive IPS screen has a 4:3 ratio. The screen itself is an impressive panel in such a cheap tablet: relatively bright,  with good contrast and wide viewing angles. It isn't on a par with the iPad 2's screen, and the resolution is yesterday's, but don't forget that low price. Build quality is significantly better than that of Disgo's 8104 (a tablet the company is likely to want to forget), and rivals Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. However, the Galaxy has a plastic back, whereas the Disgo has an aluminium panel. 

                            The 9104 is reasonably light at 630g and feels thin, despite measuring 10.4mm. All the buttons and ports are consigned to the right edge: power and volume controls sit above the power socket, mini-USB and mini-HDMI connectors. There's also a 3.5mm headphone output and a microSD slot for boosting the 16GB of internal storage. A rear-facing 2Mp camera is twinned with a front-facing VGA version for video chat. It seems the corners have instead been cut on the inside. The Disgo’s 1.2GHz single-core processor is paired with 1GB of RAM but, even with Android 4.0 installed, the 9104 isn't as slick as we'd like. Disgo has personalised Ice Cream Sandwich so it feels more welcoming to new users; as this is likely to be a first tablet, that's a good thing. Shortcuts to the browser, email, camera and settings apps are on the desktop. 

                              There's no access to the Google Play store, though, and no Google apps are installed by default. Browsing the web is one of the 9104's strengths. There's enough resolution to view the desktop versions of websites, and Flash is supported. Battery life isn't fantastic, with the 7,000mAh slab lasting just under five hours in our video-looping test. It's better than most budget laptops, though, and fine  as long as you carry the power supply with you. Wireless 802.11n is supported, but there’s no GPS receiver or Bluetooth.  This is worth noting if case you planned to use the 9104 as a satnav.

Specitations

9.7in (1024x768) capacitive multitouch  IPS screen; Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich; 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB storage; 802.11bgn;  2Mp, 0.3Mp cameras;  mini-USB; mini-HDMI; 243x190x10.4mm; 630g