Ainol Novo 7 Aurora II and Bq Kepler 2. Android 4.0 tablets for less than 200 euros

Today we are going to offer you a comparison between two Android tablets under 200 euros and that, therefore, belong to the territory of the so-called low cost tablets. This trend can well be said to have been opened by the Kindle Fire and that, after the barrage of similar proposals from companies smaller than Amazon, Google has already responded with Nexus 7 and it seems that Apple will do so with iPad mini.

This time we bring you a model from a Chinese company whose products both for their quality and their price will give a lot to talk about –the Asian giant is always a threat- and a Spanish-made tablet. Yes, yes, made in Spain and at a very competitive price as well and with good features. We talk about the Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II and the bq kepler 2 respectively.

These two tablets use operating system Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Spanish Bq Kepler 2 came out a couple of months ago on the market, while the Chinese Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II has recently come out and can only be purchased in Spain by foreign online stores and by Amazon.com. Its price is identical, from $169, as long as we choose Kepler 2 in its 16GB version, since there is another 8GB version for 149 euros. To the price of the Chinese tablet we will have to add the shipping costs, like about 10 euros more.

Let's go into detail.

Size and weight

We are facing two light tablets of small sizes. The Bq Kepler 2 measures 205 x155 x 11mm compared to 189mm x 123mm x 9mm for the Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II. The Spanish tablet weighs 498 grams compared to an incredible 313 grams for the Chinese one.

Screen

The difference in size corresponds, how could it be otherwise, with a larger screen on the Bq tablet that reaches 8 inches, higher than the other 7 inches. Both are capacitive 5 points, although the one in the Ainol tablet is made with technology IPS that allows a greater viewing angle, up to 178 degrees. The resolution is also higher in the case of Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II, reaching the X over the 800 x 600 of the Bq Kepler 2. It is true that a tablet of that size does not need much more resolution but who has never had too much resolution.

Processor and RAM

Processor Kepler 8 1 GHz Cortex A2 it is on par with the New iPad in terms of power. However, the Chinese tablet reaches 1,5 GHz thanks to its dual-core processor Cortex-A9 Amlogic 8726-M6. In addition, it helps to graphically manage a GPU DualMail-400. That is, we will manage images and watch videos with more agility, especially noticing it in games. The RAM of both is 1 GB, although the Chinese one is of the DDR3 type that offers greater speed in data transfer.

Hard drive and storage

16 GB storage seems sufficient for both tablets, although in Bq they believed it necessary to be able to expand an additional 32 GB for microSD card while in Ainol they thought that an additional 16 GB was sufficient.

Connectivity

Both can be connected to the Internet through a port WiFi. None have Bluetooth but I do not think it is something that users miss so much.

Cameras

Neither company considers the rear camera necessary. On many occasions, specialized media and users have expressed that they see a camera useless, beyond the front web cam, for a tablet for the inconvenience of taking a photo with it. Perhaps in small tablets like these it makes more sense, although we do not find them here. The fronts of these two tablets are of normal quality.

Battery

They have a very similar battery capacity, the Kepler 2 being somewhat higher, which will give us between 6 and 8 hours of life.

Conclusions

The Chinese Ainol Novo 7 Aurora II tablet is clearly superior to the Spanish-made Bq Kepler 2, especially in terms of screen resolution and the power of the processor that has the help of a GPU for image and video management. It is true that its accessibility in the market is lower, as well as customer service. Kepler 2 is superior in terms of storage capacity, so if we use this device to view photos or videos that we will save on the tablet, we can have a larger repertoire, even if we do not reach a spectacular resolution.

The price of both is fantastic and in the case of Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II, which is easily obtained in the US, it could have some impact on the battle of low cost tablets worldwide.

We leave you a graph with the raw data of this comparison.

	bq kepler 2	Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II
Size	8 inches	7 inches
Screen	Capacitive 5 points	TFT IPS Capacitive 5 points
Decision	800 x 600	1024 x 600
Thickness	11 mm	9 mm
Weight :	498 grams	313 grams
Operating system	Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich	Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Processor	Cortex A8 (1GHz)	Dual Core Cortex-A9 Amlogic8726-M6 1.5GHz
GPU		Dual Mail-400 GPU
RAM	1 GB	X
Conference proceedings	16 GB	16 GB
Extension	microSD up to 32 GB	microSD up to 16 GB
Connectivity	802.11 WiFi b / g / n	802.11 WiFi b / g / n
Ports	HDMI, miniUSB 2.0 OTG, 3.5 mm jack	miniHDMI, miniUSB, 3.5 mm jack
Sound	Speaker
Camera	Wall	Front 2 MP
Battery	5.000 mAh	3700 mAh
Price	$169	$169