Touchy-feely

The Silverstone T11’s signature metallic body provides good heft and durability. The only concern is its high susceptibility to fingerprints. The back panel is also smooth and slippery so handling requires care. Fortunately, the T11 includes a folio-style cover that improves handling and acts as a stand. It also has a screen protector applied and two more in the box so there’s no excuse for scuffed screens.

On display

The Silverstone T11 is best suited for users either in creative fields or who have a highly visual and interactive workflow. Its 10.1in 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display is decent enough. IPS tech means users don’t have to worry about finding a specific angle to enjoy the visuals. Colours are bright and vivid, and the deep blacks help add detail and depth to images.

Because of the low-end chip, visuals above 1080p pose a real struggle for smoothness. The YouTube app won’t even allow you to go above 720p on most videos. Film fans might not prefer this as their main viewing device, but it’s still a quality backup to catch up on missed episodes. At least it responds well to multi-touch, making for a better typing experience.

The 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera, though a step above the sub-10MP rear cameras you’ll find in this price range, clears a very low bar. The front camera is decent for video calling, but not much else. The 13MP rear struggles for sharpness so much that it can barely scan a close-range QR code. Users should be fine provided they’re working in the daytime, and taking no professional photos or footage. You’ll get more mileage from messing around with various productivity and creativity apps.

Silverstone’s drivers

We’re not the biggest fans of Android 13. Despite this, the combination of the processor and OS allows for a smooth navigation experience, though nowhere near the level of a premium tablet. It’s buggy in some respects, and the black-and-white UI is underwhelming. The Auto-rotate function doesn’t function well with many third-party apps. The Silverstone T11 also struggles with accessories and its OTG (on-the-go) function pales compared to many mid-level smartphones. Mouse and keyboard have slight lag. When using a drawing tablet, the T11 doesn’t even show the cursor on screen, dissolving the prospect of using this as a primary screen for digital art.

The Silverstone T11’s powered by the 8-core Unisoc SC9863A chipset, which you can also find in the T10 and the Nokia C32. It also supports the T11’s 4GB of RAM. Considering what the general user will purchase the Silverstone T11 for, this is passable. The thickness and weight at least come in handy by permitting four air vents on either side. It’s highly unlikely that the T11 can be pushed to the point of overheating.

The chipset is best at power efficiency and conservation. Paired with the 6,000mAh battery, a full charge will last you about a day and a half. This whittles to a quality eight hours of binging Netflix and YouTube.  A lack of fast charging means you’ll wait roughly three hours to get from empty to full charge. This can feel excruciating if you’re used to faster devices. With 128GB of internal storage, you won’t worry about deleting pictures and apps any time soon, especially if you’re using this tablet as a secondary or tertiary screen.

Packard Bell Silverstone-T11 verdict

Ultimately, the Silverstone T11 proves to be a decent tool for creative professionals who need a budget tablet with a vivid display, but also packing more of a processing and storage punch. It’s difficult for many to justify R4,000 for a tablet. The Silverstone T11’s crisp display and long-lasting battery make it a reliable companion, but creative types should remember that rather than pairing it with extra gadgets, a device like this is better as an accessory to something more powerful.

The post Packard Bell Silverstone T11 review – Versatile value on a second screen appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

2024 has been an interesting year for Packard Bell. We’ve since played with and reviewed two of the company’s laptops, and there’s still more to come. That ‘more to come’ bit involves Packard Bell’s range of tablets, of which we’ve been messing about with the Silverstone T18 – a R4,300 bundle of dynamite. For legal reasons, that’s just a metaphor.

Or is it? We’re not trying to instil some sort of Galaxy Note 7 fear in you, but instead remarking that, like a bundle of dynamite, the T18 isn’t exactly the belle of the ball, looks-wise. But it packs a punch where it matters and gets the job done. And it’ll do so for a whole lot less than the competition.

You’ve seen the price. The Silverstone T18 is budget in every sense of the word. That doesn’t mean you get to turn your nose up at it. We commend Packard Bell for dressing up a package capable of taking on load shedding head-on, and then some. It does what tablets do best: play Netflix (but, you know, in bed).

A colourful personality

People have been trying to make these tech-filled rectangles more attractive for years. Companies with bigger budgets have (mostly) succeeded, but you’ll have to suffer through with a comparable price if an aesthetic body is all you’re after. That’s not an option here. What you see, which admittedly isn’t much, is what you get.

Attracting all the attention on the front is the 10.5in 1,920×1,200 in-cell display that’ll hit all the right notes when watching Netflix or playing Fallout Shelter but expectedly falls short when matched with anything from the Apple factory. It’s all coated in a healthy mass of aluminium that goes a long way to help make the T18 feel more premium than it really is.

Unfortunately, metal means fingerprints. And an increased fear of the dreaded ‘butter fingers’. That’s a non-issue for the T18 because Packard Bell’s thrown in a free folio-style cover right out of the box. You may dislike missing out on the metal feel, but slapping on the cover immediately makes the tablet a more comfortable hold, with the bonus of defending the rear from our prints.

Where the buttons are, depends on who you ask. Packard Bell clearly wants this to be a horizontal affair from the get-go because of the camera’s notch found along its fat bezels. By that logic, the power and volume buttons run along the top, leaning towards the left. There’s a USB-C charge port right where you’d expect, alongside a couple of speakers, a SIM tray, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Another two speaker grilles line the opposite end.

Keepin’ it light

For a R4,300 tablet, we were relatively surprised at how well our review model stood up to the heat. It features a MediaTek MT8788 octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM and a rather rough 128GB of built-in storage. It’ll require the sacrifice of your own SD card if you’re looking to turn this thing into a proper load shedding-beater, though.

That 6GB of RAM isn’t quite as malleable and that’s… fine. It proved more than capable of keeping up with our demands — managing some light (and we mean light) gaming, bouncing between multiple streamers, and flipping through the occasional comic book. All the bits in between proved to be just as smooth of an experience, only running into the occasional issue when our gaming ambitions got ahead of us.

Dial it back to something that doesn’t require a whole lot of prodding or a high 120Hz refresh rate and you’ll be just fine. If you’re looking to compete in the COD: Mobile Championships or something similar, you’re looking in the wrong place. A casual bout of Marvel Snap or Game Dev Story, though? You’ll hear no complaints.

The epic highs and lows of highschool football Silverstone T18

Stepping into any sort of relationship with a tablet and expecting a camera system that’ll blow you away is always going to lead to heartbreak. Especially when you’re working with a sub-R10,000 tablet like the Silverstone T18. Properly manage those expectations and admit that you’ll never use a tablet for snapping pics anyway, and the 5/13MP setup used here makes a whole lot more sense.

Honestly, for a tablet, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a company willing to drop the necessary dough on anything more than a 13MP sensor in the first place. It’s still got nothing on the smartphone residing in your pocket, but if it’s all you have at hand, it’ll do just fine. Images are fairly decent as long as you’ve got the right lighting, though expect some detail to be lost in translation. Colour reproduction, too, leaves a lot to be desired.

Had Packard Bell swapped the 13MP sensor on the rear for the 5MP sensor on the front, we’d have been a whole lot happier about it all. The most likely candidate for its use is during the odd video call that would benefit from the added megapixels. As it is now, the front sensor muddled along perfectly fine the one time we actively used it.

You won’t hear nearly as many complaints when it comes to the T18’s battery life. Why would you? The 7,000mAh battery that’s in there is easily the tablet’s best feature, putting it roughly on par with something from Samsung’s budget range. Considering all you’ll be doing is watching Netflix or using the Kindle app, it’ll garner at least two days of life before whining for a charger. Add some regular gaming in, and you’ll knock 24 hours off that.

Packard Bell Silverstone T18 verdict

If all of that sounds good, expect to set aside R4,300 for the privilege of owning one. It’s on sale more often than not, which only ups our opinion of it even further. Even if you’re unlucky enough to only find the Silverstone T18 at its full price, Packard Bell’s efforts won’t leave you disappointed.  It’s not the prettiest tablet out there, but it makes up for all that with a decent screen and a battery that’ll eat load shedding for breakfast when Eskom inevitably brings about its return.

The post Packard Bell Silverstone T18 review – Keep your eyes on the price appeared first on Stuff South Africa.