Chewi Hi8 SE 8″ Android Tablet Review

Performance

As this is a tablet, you’re probably going to be using this quite a lot for playing videos, internet browsing and even perhaps playing games. As such, it’s an important factor to understand how this is to operate. We will, therefore, break this down into the main key features we feel a tablet is purchased and used for.

General Usage

This is more of a testament to the Android Oreo operating system rather than the tablet itself. In terms of functionality though, it operates well with a nice response to all of your inputs. We should note that at times, the input can get a little laggy. This is particularly frustrating when it occurs when you’re simply punching in your lock key code.

In terms of your general usage though, be it on the internet or taking pictures, the tablet works well.

Gaming

We tried a few very basic games out on the tablet and found it more than responsive. When pushed into the ‘higher-end’ of mobile gaming though, such as that seen in Fortnite or PUBG, it did struggle a little. It’s certainly more than capable of playing games, but the limited RAM almost definitely plays a roll in making the experience not as good as it might be.

Image Quality In Photographs

While you are provided with a 2mp ‘internal’ camera and 5mp ‘external’ camera, in truth the quality is not very good. Despite taking pictures in numerous different lighting conditions, it really struggled to produce a nice strong quality image. The HDR function (which is available) often provided no better (and occasionally worse) management of the lighting.

At best, we could achieve mediocre quality images. Good enough for Skype and social media, but certainly not if you value strong image captures.

As you can see in the pictures below, I experimented both indoors and outdoors with the HDR feature. In truth, in both instances, it felt like the camera operated better with HDR off. We should, of course, note that HDR is best suited for capturing a fixed image and depending on your hand jitters, results can vary hugely. Despite this though, the quality is certainly less than you would hope for.

The camera really did struggle with lighting conditions. Be it too much light or not enough, the ‘sweet spot’ is very specific. A lot of the pictures we door outdoors (even on an overcast day) ended up being overexposed and whitewashed. Playing with the settings did allow us to get better pictures, but on the whole, this tablet is certainly not well suited for photographs.

Screen Quality

The screen quality of the Chewi Hi8 SE is certainly one of it’s best features. The colours and quality (with the 1920×1200 resolution) are excellently clear, crisp, bright, and vivid. I have used many tablets in the past and in terms of screen quality this looks significantly better than every Android one I’ve used.

With the tablet supporting split-display via Android, we should also note that the quality remains excellent throughout.

Video Playback And Recording

Video playback on the screen is absolutely excellent. The Chewi Hi8 SE will provide a huge step up in quality for the vast majority of Android tablet users. The images are again, strong and vivid making watching either a YouTube video or an entire film a more than pleasant experience on the eyes.

In terms of video recording though, this does juxtapose the tablets strongest and weakest points. Video recording is as equally poor as the image capturing. Again, the tablet really seems to struggle with lighting by either under-exposing or overexposing and rarely finding a happy middle ground.

Audio

Audio is provided via two speakers to the base. While these provide a nice level of ‘loudness’, they are lacking a little in depth and bass. At full volume, the speakers do get a little ‘tinny’. This again isn’t usual for more tablets within this budget and while the sound might not be strong, it is at least loud. On balance, the quality is fairly good.

Don’t forget though, if you’re after a stronger sound output, this tablet does come with a standard headphone input.

Evaluation

The Chewi Hi8 SE provides a lot of really strong points and a lot of really weak points. If you’re after a tablet to play videos and browse the internet this is really excellent. We again make a major highlight of the fantastic quality of the screen imagery. If you were looking to use it to take photographs though, it’s poor.

In terms of suitability, it honestly all depends on exactly what you want from this.