See also: Best budget tablets to buy right now Colours are also new and you have a choice of black, white, magenta, cobalt or citron. Our advice is to avoid the latter – it’s almost the same shade as a yellow highlighter, and we received some less-than-impressed glances from fellow commuters during testing. Thick bezels around the screen make the HD 7 bigger than other 7in tablets, but it doesn’t weigh a whole lot more than the HD 6 at 337g (versus 290g). On the back the speakers are placed down the left-hand side, but when you’re watching videos this becomes the top edge. They sound very good, considering their size and are more than loud enough. We’d prefer front-facing speakers, though. The 7in IPS screen has the same 1280×800-pixel resolution as last year, but because it’s also the same as the HD 6, it has a lower density of 216ppi. It’s no cause for complaint, though, as everything still looks sharp from a normal viewing distance: photos, text and videos. The backlight is fairly bright, but it’s very annoying that brightness isn’t automatically adjusted for the ambient light conditions. Despite the extra price – a £40 premium for each equivalent model – you don’t get any extra storage. The base model at £119 has 8GB (5GB usable) and you’ll pay £139 for 16GB. As ever, if you don’t want adverts on the lock screen it’s an extra £10. The rest of the internal hardware is identical to the HD 6, so it has the same speedy quad-core processor, single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4 and no GPS receiver. We saw virtually identical results in our benchmarks, and you’ll have no complaints about the HD 7’s performance for web browsing, launching apps, playing casual games etc. Not all videos can be downloaded, but a good proportion can, so it’s a bit frustrating when the one you’ve chosen to watch doesn’t have the download button. Fortunately, if you tap the menu, you can view only those films or TV shows which can be downloaded. It’s also a little confusing that the search brings up TV shows and films which aren’t included in an Instant Video subscription – i.e. those that you can buy outright – and we couldn’t find an option to filter the search and show only items you can watch with your subscription (as you can in the iOS version of Prime Instant Video). The Second Screen feature also lets you connect headphones and listen to the audio from your tablet, just as you can with a Roku 3. As we mentioned at the start, the cameras are disappointing. The camera app may support panoramas, HDR photos and full HD video, but the actual quality of photos and video from the 2Mp rear camera is well below par for a tablet costing this much. In anything but excellent light, quality is appalling. While it’s relatively easy to recommend the HD 6 at £79 or £99, it’s significantly harder to like the HD 7 at £119 or £139. Importantly, it runs Android and has the Google Play store plus all of Google’s useful apps. It also has decent parental controls, allowing you to create multiple profiles and set time limits. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
