Last month Cherry Mobile has announced the MAIA series of devices and these devices are powered by Intel Atom processors, a first in the brand. Out of the three devices that they announced, there’s one device that really caught my eye and it’s the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab. Why? Because not only this tablet is powered by a powerful Intel Atom Z3735F processor but this tablet also supports dual booting to Android.
Hardware and Specifications
If you have a powerful P4,999 tablet that runs on Android and Windows. You might think that the body and its construction is super cheap and squeaky. Well, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab doesn’t disappoint. Yes, it might have a plastic body with a simple & thick design but damn, for a P4,999 tablet with this specification, I wouldn’t complain about its plastic body as long as it doesn’t squeak and it doesn’t break easily.
One of the dealbreakers of this tablet is its lack of HDMI port but of course, there’s the MicroUSB port and the 3.5mm audio jack. There’s an 8-inch display on the tablet and below that display in portrait, you’ll see the capacitive button which I accidentally press most of the time whenever I swipe from that side of the tablet.
There’s only one Micro USB port on the tablet and you can use it for charging, plugging in your keyboard and mouse, or opening your flash drive but of course, you can only use one of them at once. When I got my Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab, I immediately bought a Micro USB keyboard for it and it was amazing. It became a productivity device in Windows and a pretty damn good gaming device for Android.
The Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab packs a 32GB of internal storage. However, the storage of the Android OS and Windows OS on this tablet isn’t shared. The Android OS has 8GB of Internal storage while Windows got the rest. But of course, Windows 8.1 takes too much space compared to Android and if you’re planning on upgrading to Windows 10, be sure that your storage on Windows is clean and almost empty before upgrading.
For apps, you don’t have to worry that much because there’s a MicroSD card slot on this tablet and you can use it on both Android and Windows. In my case, instead of installing applications on its internal storage, I always install apps on the MicroSD card to save a lot of space. Oh, and did you know that installing Microsoft Office on the main drive will almost clear up your free space so I really suggest getting a MicroSD card whenever you get this tablet.
If you’re an audiophile, don’t expect too much from this tablet and the output wasn’t that loud. There’s a front and rear camera too that you can use for Skype but of course, the quality of the camera wasn’t the best one out there for a tablet. But for a P4,999 tablet, I wouldn’t complain.
There’s a 3800mAh battery inside the tablet which is just enough, but you might wonder how long will last because this one uses an Intel Atom Z3735F processor which is also used on the Cherry Mobile Alpha Morph and some laptop. Thankfully, this 8-inch tablet could last up to 3-4 hours of average use. It can’t match the batteries of the bigger laptops but considering its hardware and price, it’s not that bad.
Display
There’s an 8-inch display on this one and It boasts an HD resolution. There’s nothing special about it but for its price, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab has a pretty good display. Actually, there are only a few tablets that have an Intel Baytrail processor inside and an 8-inch HD display. And as far as I know, this is the most powerful 8-inch tablet at its price range.
Software
The biggest interesting feature of having this tablet is dual booting function. You can now have both Android and Windows on an affordable tablet. There’s Android 4.4 Kitkat and there’s Windows 8.1, but you can upgrade this tablet to Windows 10 if you want and yes, the current drivers work on Windows 10.
If you’re on Android, the UI is familiar and if you’re using a Cherry Mobile smartphone, it won’t be hard for you to use the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab on Android. It’s easy to navigate and to understand. Of course, you can download apps and games on the play store just like an Android tablet.
To switch to Windows from Android, all you need to do is to pull down the notification bar and then just choose the OS switch. Of course you’ll see a Windows UI with no signs of Android in it and to switch to Android, all you need to do is to open the DualOS switcher app on the desktop and then poof. You’ll automatically restart to Android after a few seconds.
For a P4,990 tablet, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab is actually very powerful. There’s a Quad-Core Intel Atom Z3735F processor inside along with 2GB of RAM. It might not be the best processor out there but it can do its job well for Windows and you can install legacy applications and games on it while on Android, all of the apps ran really fast and smooth and the demanding games can run on this tablet.
On Android, I’ve installed some games including Hearthstone and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and those games ran without hiccups on the tablet. I was actually surprised with the performance of this tablet. I didn’t expect that it could run these games really well.
Unlike the Cherry Mobile Alpha Play and Alpha Morph, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab ran faster than those two despite having almost the same specifications. There are fewer bugs too on both operating systems that’s why I really love using this tablet as my mini blogging machine.
When it comes to gaming on Windows, games such as Warcraft III can run on this tablet at max settings. Some other popular games like League of Legends, Atlantica Online, Ragnarok Online, Civilization V, and Torchlight 2 however, you need to set it at the lowest settings to play the game. Oh and since this is a Windows tablet, I was also able to install and use Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom on this tablet but of course, only light tasks can be run on this tablet
However, one of the gripes that I have on this tablet is that I can’t use the MicroSD card on both operating systems since both OS supports different formats. But since 8GB of space is enough for me on Android, I decided to use my 64GB MicroSD card on Windows 10 since I can only use 4-8 GB of storage after updating it to Windows 10.
If you’re planning on using this device for playing too, I highly recommend you guys to buy a MicroSD card and use it as a directory to install all the apps and games because I’m pretty sure that the storage left on Windows wouldn’t be enough for you
Accessories
Probably, the biggest dealbreaker in this tablet is the lack of Micro HDMI port and there’s only one Micro USB port too which serves as the charging port and for OTG. It means that you cannot use this tablet for powerpoint presentations and you cannot use a keyboard and mouse and charge it at the same time because there’s only one MicroUSB port.
To have a full Windows experience on this one, I bought a MicroSD card, Micro USB keyboard sleeve, 4-port USB hub, Micro USB female to USB Male port, and a mouse. This gives me the ability to have a productive and faster Windows experience. Again, it’s a really great mini blogging machine.
Verdict
Whether you’re looking for a Windows or Android tablet at P5,000 and below price range, this is the best one that you can get. Actually, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab could even trump tablets at P10,000 price range since you’re getting a dual-booting tablet with a good performance. This tablet is a balance of productivity and media consumption. You can do your office work on Windows but you can also play your favorite games on Android and yet this tablet wouldn’t put a hole in your pocket.
I highly recommend this tablet and yes I’m actually using this tablet more than my iPad Air 2.
