...and One Week with the Hisense Sero 7 Pro

So, I did actually buy the Hisense Sero 7 Pro, and yes, I did take back the Sero 7 Lite and got a refund.  So, I got to try out the Lite for a week, as I discussed in my last post, and now I have spent a week with the Hisense Sero Pro 7.

So, after a week, and I can say it is just as good as the Sero 7 Lite, which if you will remember, or just read right below this, I liked a lot.  The screen on the Sero 7 Pro is gorgeous, though to be quite honest I cannot see what all the fuss is about.  Is the 1280 x800 screen better than the 1024x600 screen?  Yes, but I really do not see a big difference.  Is the 7 Pro faster?  Probably, but not so that I would really notice.  Is the battery life better?  To be honest, I have not really noticed, but then I have not had time this week to really put it through its paces.

What will you really notice as differences between the Lite and the Pro?  Well, there is the pebbly back on the Pro, while the Lite had a back of smooth, some would say slippery, plastic.  The pebbly back is nice and grippy, but it also makes the tablet feel a little thicker.  Overall, yes the pebbly back is better.  The other difference you will notice is that there is a cover over the SD card slot...and it does not fit perfectly.  Oh, it fits well enough, but it is not completely smooth with the top of the tablet, when there is a disk in the slot. 

Now, if you were to hold them in your hand, you would notice something else.  The Sero 7 Lite has the power and volume buttons on the left side.  The Sero 7 Pro has the two buttons on the right side.  Obviously, you won't really notice that unless you hold them both.

So, the last difference to note is the camera on the back.  I have taken only one picture, and it was okay, but I do not plan to run around and take pictures with my tablet.  I did not mind that the Lite did not have a rear facing camera.

My conclusion is that Hisense has hit a homerun on their first try at a tablet.  Both of the Hisense Sero 7s are good tablets.  One is the equivalent of the HP Slate 7 or ASUS MeMo Pad 7 but you save $50-70.  The other is the equivalent of the Nexus 7, and you save $50 there.  In both cases, you get less storage, but you have the SD card to make up for that.  I think Walmart has a winner on its hands.

One Week with the Hisense Sero 7 Lite

Walmart sold out of the Hisense Sero 7 Pro so fast that by the time payday rolled around they were sold out everywhere nearby.

Now, this leads to a quick aside, something that I find most annoying.  Walmart has a wonderful site, but they are so focused on supporting their stores, that it seems that many items cannot be purchased for shipment to your house, but are only available for ship to store delivery, which is a little annoying.  Mostly, if they do not have it in stock, some items cannot be purchased.  So it was with the Sero 7 Pro.

So, I bought one of the Lite models and hoped for the best.  Well, let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  Reviews have referred to the Sero 7 Pro as the poor man's Nexus 7, because it matches the processor, quad core Tegra 3, and the resolution, 1280x800, or the Nexus.  Well, if the Pro is the poor man's Nexus 7, then the Lite is the poor man's HP Slate 7, or Asus MeMo Pad 7.  The Lite has a dual core processor and a 1024x600 screen, to match those two tablets.

Well, having never seen or held the Nexus 7, all I can say is that the Hisense Sero 7 Lite did not disappoint.  The screen is bright, and the resolution is high enough that my old eyes did not notice a real difference.  One of my main uses for a 7 inch tablet is reading and the Kindle app looks beautiful on the Sero 7 Lite.  The performance is good, with only occasional delays, and during my week with the Sero 7 Lite, I did not have to restart it once.  It performed like a champ.  The only oddity was that the paypal app was not available for installation.

The tablet has a very nice feel in the hand, the weight is very low, but substantial enough to give you confidence in the quality of the product.  It is very thin, at least to my thinking, and it feels solid.  The back is plastic, but it is a solid piece and after a week, I have noticed only the tiniest bit of flexing in the chassis.  The back is a little slick, not enough to have it slip through your hands often, but enough to make it a little worrisome.

So, in conclusion, I feel like this is a great tablet, for $99.  I fully intended to keep it, but it looks like the Pro model has come back into stock and tomorrow I will see if I can get one of those and then return the Lite.  Walmart has a very nice 15 day return policy.