I’ve been a big fan of tablet computers for a while. I have actually used for years the original Windows tablets soon after they first came out. However, once I bought my first iPad I instantly got converted to this much more convenient and user-friendly form factor and OS format. I have been using that first generation iPad for years, and in many respects it’s still a pretty decent tablet. However, it has increasingly become slow and hard to use. I have been considering buying one of the latest iPads, but since I don’t use it for much more than web browsing, news and document reading, and some light writing and e-mail, I have been reluctant to invest that much money into a whole new product. This is why I am so happy that I came across this Kocaso SX9720 Android tablet. It exactly satisfies my needs. It is also a very affordable tablet, especially in the 10” tablet category.

This tablet looks very much like the second-generation iPad. That is probably the first thing you’ll notice about it. But that’s where most similarities end. The Kocaso tablet runs Android, so from the get-go the user interface will look and feel different. I only occasionally use the Android devices, so I am still getting used to this environment. However, Android is a pretty intuitive environment and after just a little bit of fiddling you can get your way around.

The best feature of this tablet, IMHO, is its sharp and fairly bright screen. It is fairly large, and it is good to look at. Both the pictures and the videos that I watched looked pretty nice on it. Reading the web pages and other text felt like a very satisfying experience. The screen is still not as bright and sharp as the iPad (especially if compared to iPad Air), but it more than gets the job done. The screen is also very responsive to touch, and it’s very easy to use it for navigation purposes.

Another great thing about this tablet is its processor and OS. The tablet feels very fast. All the tasks I used it for were very quick and responsive, – loading the email and web pages, editing a document, watching videos, etc. In fact, the processing power is a bit of overkill for my purposes.

The tablet features two cameras – one back facing and one front facing. Their resolution and image qualities are decent, but nothing spectacular as far as I can tell. They work fine for taking of some impromptu photos or for Skyping.

The sound quality is probably one of the least appealing aspects of this tablet. It has fairly small and soft sound. Due to this sound I have not been able to properly enjoy watching movies on it.

At 16 GB this tablet also doesn’t provide you with a lot of onboard storage. It’s very easy to fill up that amount of storage with apps and photos, especially since the tablet comes with a lot of preinstalled software. Furthermore, unlike most other Android tablets and phones that I’ve come across, SX9720 has no micro SD expansion slot. This is one aspect of iPad design that I wish they had left out.

The tablet has quite a few preinstalled apps, but most of them were unfamiliar to me. I decided to erase most of them and install the more popular apps that I was familiar with. Unfortunately, I still think that Android tablet apps are not nearly as smooth and well developed as their iPad counterpart. Be it Gmail, Facebook, or the News Reader app that I am using, most of them seem less refined than the corresponding iOS apps.

This is a pretty decent tablet for some very basic tablet uses. I have been using it daily ever since I got it, and really enjoy having it. However, it has its share of shortcomings and for a hundred dollars or more you can get a substantially better designed and more powerful tablet. However, if you are on a budget and just need a decent 10” tablet than this one would be a great one to have.

**** Product provided for review purposes. ****