Teclast has been known for making some pretty good cheap Android Tablets. The X98 Plus II is one of their latest offerings and it brings quite a lot of value to the table for less than $150. Learn more in our full review.
Thanks to Bangood.com for sending Teclast X98 Plus II for a review.
We are happy to provide Gizmochina readers with a generous $30 off coupon code that you will find at the end of this review.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: VIDEO REVIEW
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: UNBOXING
The tablet ships with a charging brick, which has the power output of 2.5A, some paperwork and USB OTG cable. In addition to the regular micro USB cable, Teclast included a proprietary cable for fast charging.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: SPECS
Display |
9.7″ 2048×1536 |
Processor |
Intel Cherry Trail Z8300, quad-core, 64-bit (1.8GHz) |
RAM |
2GB |
Camera |
2MP Front/2MP Back |
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, micro HDMI, DC, micro USB, microSD, 3.5mm headset jack |
Battery |
7.800 mAh (non-removable) |
Dimensions |
250x165x8mm / 583g |
OS |
Android 5.1 |
Storage |
32GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB) |
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
The Teclast tablet sports a 9.7” display, which makes the tablet similar to the iPad Air in terms of the size.
Speaking of the display, we have a 2048×1536 IPS LCD panel, which is sharp and has a decent colour reproduction. However, the display is a little bit reflective if you use the tablet outdoors.
Just above the display, there is a 2MP selfie camera. The tablet has only on-screen navigation buttons like many other cheap tablets.
The tablet sports a metal backplate, which adds a little bit of a premium look and feel. It has a somewhat textured coating and thus, it does not attract fingerprints so easily.
On the top, there are all the ports that include a headset jack, DC power input, HDMI and micro USB ports, and the microSD card slot.
As far as camera, we only have a 2MP shooter.
The loudspeakers sit on the back and I was not blown away be the quality of sound as it lacks depth and balance. On the other hand, most of the cheap tablets have mediocre sounding speakers.
All the buttons are on the right side of the tablet. Although they feel a bit plasticky, the buttons have a good tactile feedback.
Overall, the tablet is well-built and the addition of metal in its construction, makes it look even a bit more expensive than it is.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: BENCHMARKS
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The tablet has really good specs for the price. It sports a quad-core Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
I am very impressed with the way this tablet handles 3D games given the fact that the device has to push a lot of pixels.
Games like Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 5 run absolutely fine on the highest graphics. The tablet gets just a little warm but this fact does not alter the performance even after 40 mins of intensive gaming.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: USER INTERFACE
The downside of the Teclast tablet is that it runs on the outdated Android 5.1. On the other hand, the device runs fast and fluid on the daily basis.
We have a pretty much stock-looking Android interface and there are not many added features to talk about. However, I was disappointed that the tablet ships with some Chinese bloatware. Also, the OTA updater app does not seem to work for some reason.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CAMERAS
Both cameras on this tablet are quite terrible. I understand the fact that there aren’t too many people who use their tablets for taking pictures with the back camera but I want to see a better front facing cameras even on the cheapest tablets.
You may get some usable photos with this tablet but the image quality will not impress you.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CONNECTIVITY
I have the Wifi-only version of the tablet and I don’t have major complaints about connectivity. However, the Wifi range could be slightly better.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: BATTERY LIFE
The tablet sports a generous 7800mAh battery that performs quite well.
I could get over 5 hours of screen-on time when I used the device for browsing the web, playing a few 3D games and running benchmarks, so I would say that the battery life is pretty good.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Teclast X98 Plus II is a good tablet for less than $150.
It has a nice and sharp display, although it could be a bit less reflective when using outdoors. Also, the device is fast whether you just browse the web or even play some graphically intensive games. Other great features include a good build quality and great battery life.
However, you have to know that the tablet ships with a few pre-installed Chinese bloatware apps, the loudspeakers are far from the best and the cameras will definitely not impress you (like on any other cheap Chinese tablet).
At the end of the day, the Teclast X98 Plus II is still a great cheap China tablet for the price. Sure, it has some shortcomings that are common to most of these cheap tablets but in general, it definitely has more pros than cons.
Currently, Banggood has a generous $30 OFF Coupon: 82abff, which makes the Teclast X98 Plus II tablet a rather compelling offering at the price of just $120.
