Android JXD S7300 Review

[wraggster]

Whenever one of the big console manufacturers comes up with a new design idea, you can bet your bottom dollar that a Chinese clone will appear shortly afterwards. Just as the PlayStation Vita was shamelessly copied by the catastrophically poor Droid X360 (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-droid-x360-review), the Nintendo Wii U GamePad has been shamelessly ripped off by Shenzhen-based JXD.The result is the S7300 Gamepad 2, an Android 4.1-powered 7-inch tablet device running an ARM-based Amlogic 1.5GHz chipset, packed with 8GB of internal storage and - most importantly - armed with an array of dedicated gaming controls which make the product look like the Wii U GamePad's slightly thinner cousin.JXD isn't the first company to hit upon the idea of physical gaming inputs on an Android device, of course - Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-04-08-xperia-play-review) was the early trend-setter, and since then we've also seen the disappointing Archos GamePad (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-archos-gamepad-review) and the aforementioned Droid X360, while JXD itself seems to have an entire range (http://jxd.hk/products.asp?selectclassid=009006&clsid=3) of its own Vita/PSP knock-offs. The undesirable reputation of Chinese hardware may lead you to assume the worst, but amazingly the S7300 is a long way off being a complete disaster - although it does comes with a few unfortunate shortcomings which sully the experience ever so slightly.From the front, the S7300 certainly looks awfully similar to Nintendo's revolutionary controller. The arrangement of the buttons is practically identical, but the larger 7-inch screen (which is capacitive rather than resistive) is a welcome change. Around the edge of the unit there's a faux-metal plastic strip, calling to mind the white iPhone 4. The back of the device is practically flat, and eschews the ergonomic bulges present on the Wii U GamePad - something which ensures that the S7300 remains as portable as possible. Overall, build quality is pleasing - everything is fashioned out of plastic as you might expect, but aside from a little movement on the front of the tablet, nothing feels as if it's going to fall apart.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-jxd-s7300-review