Submitted by nbeam85 on
Lets talk about the screens on these devices first. They both are the same on paper, but in reality they are quite different in one very important area. First, the similarities. Both screens feature what is now considered a rather basic 1280x800 resolution on a 10.1" panel. Both use an IPS display, however Ainol touts that it's panel is from Samsung. Color saturation/reproduction is good on both panels, as are viewing angles and overall panel quality is excellent with no dead pixels, ghosting, or light bleed. However there is one key item that sets these panels drastically apart... brightness.
The KNC panel is excellent. One of the original features we praised about the Ployer Momo 12 was how exceedingly bright its screen was. In that case though, the brightness came with a trade-off in that some color saturation was lost and as a result colors didn't quite "pop" as much as they could have and brights could look a bit over-exposed. Furthermore, on some screens that featured gradients (like the settings menu) there was some banding. All-in-All, it was an excellent screen and the negatives didn't detract much from the experience and were a fair trade-off in brightness. The KNC IPS Panel is either very close to or matches the screen brightness on the Ployer Momo 12, however it does so without any of the drawbacks. Color clarity is excellent, no banding on gradients, no over-exposure on bright colors. Everything "pops" and looks great. The fact that the screen build quality is so excellent with no defects on top of this come together to make one of the best panels I have seen at this size and resolution. Very admirable, especially from a budget "off off brand" tablet.
Unfortunately the Ainol Novo 10 Hero II swings the other direction. It is slightly darker than most panels and just looks dim when placed next to the KNC. It isn't bad enough that it would have prevented us from selling it, but it would have had a note in the item description so people were aware.
Now, let's discuss sound. If there is one thing I could say that Ainol got right on the Hero II, it is the ridiculously (for a tablet) good sound quality that the rear stereo speakers pump out. It's no "Bose Sound-Dock..." not in the least. However, it is the best set of speakers I am pretty sure I have ever heard on a China tab. Which basically means, they are extremely loud, treble and mids are decently reproduced, unfortunately not much bass but that is pretty much expected, and no distortion at max volume. Considering how high max is on this device, that is laudable.
The KNC MD1006 features a single, rear, mono speaker and once again it is very comparable to the speaker on the Ployer Momo 12... which is to say it is very loud and very clear with little or no distortion at high volumes. In a review on its own it would be noted as a positive feature as it sounds quite good relative to most China tabs. Next to the Hero II, the MD1006 speaker holds its own, but is still bested in the end.
Wifi performance is nearly identical on both units. Range is good, from downstairs in my townhome (wireless router upstairs...) against the far opposite wall I still have a solid signal (some tablets that are less than average cut out at this range) and can browse Amazon. I use Amazon because there is rarely a question of whether or not the servers for Amazon are an issue and it serves up a lot of graphics. Even though Wifi and data speeds are nearly identical, the KNC MD1006 is notably faster at getting around the Web due to the significantly more powerful processor and extra 1 Gb of memory. Which actually leads us to talk about performance next!
Charging is one affair where the Ainol tablet has an advantage. It has the very convenient ability to be charged via USB. Most tablets out of China are either exclusively USB charging (still preferable) or exclusively charged by a dedicated DC port. The Hero II does both, while the MD1006 uses only a dedicated DC charge port.
Finally, I will put one line in about cameras here. They aren't good. No Auto Focus, no Flash, and only 2.0 MP for the Rear Camera and .3 MP for the front camera on both tablets. If you need a tablet with a camera, move on... honestly you probably are stuck getting an expensive name brand Android or Apple device if the camera is really expensive as pretty much all of the lower-cost android units (even the larger brands) don't have good cams. Some are definitely better than others, the cameras on these units work, they just aren't good.