I love a good bargain. Who doesn't? When a Singapore-based company called Hekka approached me offering to let me test one of their favourite products, a cutting-edge tablet, I was initially cynical because of the price. Retailing at £1219, the Blackview Tab 11 and NOW reduced to just £175.99 in this handy Prime Day deal, it quite comfortably undercuts a similarly-specced device from Samsung and, usually, if something sounds too good to be true, it is.
And then the nice people at Hekka upped the ante. They offered our readers a further discount, which brought the price down to a cat's whisker over £146. I had to see what all the fuss was about.
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Out of the box, there's instantly a nice, high-quality feel to the tablet. Blackview has been around for a while and is quickly making quite a name for itself in the world of budget tablets, so don't be under any illusion that this is some faceless brand packing in false spec claims.
To illustrate this, if you were to line it up alongside the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 which, I kid you not, is its closest rival, on paper at least, the Blackview pretty much has it licked. And, remember, the Samsung costs over £200, spec-for-spec.
While the Samsung has a slightly better battery, and an ever-so-slightly bigger screen, the Blackview has the same processor, an IPS display, dual sim capability, better cameras, with a flash at the back, and better connectivity.
To be fair, the Samsung does offer 15W fast charging, four speakers over the Blackview's two, and the option of creating a wireless hotspot. But, let me remind you, the Blackview is over £50 cheaper with our discount.
And it's got such a lovely weight and tactile casing to it. It comes bundled in with a book cover and it's available in three cute colours.
There's not a lot to dislike about it, to be completely honest. I love the weight and the metallic feel. The sound quality can be bettered, but not without stretching the budget a bit, and it did crash on me once - it refused to unlock, but a restart soon solved it.
Perhaps it would be nice to have had smaller bezels surrounding the screen. They're no different to the Galaxy Tab A8, but that would have given it just one last edge.
Apart from that, it really is a bargain. I was wrong to be cynical. If you're after a capable tablet and you're on a budget, it's absolutely ideal.
Find the latest Prime Day deal here.
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