Creative Ziio 7-inch review

A budget Android tablet that more than justifies its own existence

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Creative Ziio 7-inch
The Creative Ziio 7-inch is half the price of an iPad, but is it half the quality?

TechRadar Verdict

This tablet is a good deal for the price, even if it doesn't stand up to the more expensive tablets.

Pros

  • +

    Price is right

  • +

    X-Fi audio

  • +

    Easy to use

Cons

  • -

    Poor screen

  • -

    It's not pretty

  • -

    No Android Market

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Tablets are the next big thing! They're brilliant! They're wonderful to use! They're super-convenient and awesome!

That's what everybody is saying, isn't it? But where are all these brilliant devices that everyone's been squawking so loudly about?

It's fairly safe to say that the tablet market hasn't exactly exploded in a whirlwind of fiery, world-beating über-tablets. Not yet, anyway.

Until the likes of the BlackBerry Playbook, the Motorola Xoom and the Asus Eee Pads finally make their way onto the shelves and into our homes (not long, now), we're left with a fairly disjointed-looking product line-up.

The latest Android tablet to grace the TechRadar office is the Creative Ziio 7-inch. It was announced last year alongside the Creative Ziio 10-inch, which has yet to hit the shops.

Creative ziio 7-inch

At just £199, it's one of the cheapest Android tablets available. So is it a bargainous wonder, or is it a dead touchscreen dog?

The specs don't promise much. This is a tablet running a slightly modified Android 2.1, a resistive touchscreen, no 3G connectivity and no Android Market.

Can it recover from that fairly so-so start?

James Rivington
James Rivington

James was part of the TechRadar editorial team for eight years up until 2015 and now works in a senior position for TR's parent company Future. An experienced Content Director with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce Optimization, Journalism, Digital Marketing, and Social Media. James can do it all.