Joojoo review
Take note, too, that the joojoo is cheaper than the iPad. In fact, at £319 exc VAT, it’s £46 cheaper. Unlike Apple’s tablet, it won’t cost you any extra thereafter. Even adding a keyboard or mouse won’t increase the price as the joojoo allows you to connect any standard keyboard or mouse via its single USB port. Meanwhile, our technical tests suggest the joojoo is a fast performer, too, completing the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark in 1,762ms compared to the iPad’s 10,864ms.
Flash in the pan
So the joojoo is an iPad-beater, right? Alas, no. First and foremost, it isn’t as easy to use. To give an example, it took us a good few minutes to figure out how to enter a web address. Given that its sole purpose is as a tool for browsing the web, that’s just mad. The answer? Swipe down with one finger on the home screen, tap a blank area in the menu bar that appears at the top of the screen and up pops a text box with the onscreen keyboard attached.
Other peculiarities include having to use two fingers to scroll (what’s wrong with one?); having to bring up the menu bar and tap tiny arrow icons to navigate back and forward; and having no multitouch pinch-to-zoom capability. In fact, there’s no way to zoom in or out of pages at all. The most intrusive of all the joojoo’s foibles, however, are the shudderingly slow home-screen animations and transitions. It’s bizarre that this tablet can’t animate a few basic icons smoothly when it can scroll pages perfectly while video is running, and flick between them with hyperactive alacrity. The iPad, by comparison, is slick whichever element of the interface you happen to be using.
Most crucially, the product itself just isn’t as well made or as desirable as the iPad. Look closely as you’re tapping away at the screen and you’ll see the TFT panel ripple slightly as the touchscreen layer on top makes contact with the panel below. The quality of the panel can’t compete with the iPad’s IPS screen, either – it isn’t as vibrant and viewing angles aren’t as good. Thanks to that 12.1in widescreen, the joojoo is also more awkward to wield – measuring 199 x 19 x 325mm (WDH) compared to 190 x 13.5 x 243mm – and heavier too (weighing 1.1kg versus 0.7kg). It’s less baggable as a result.
Its battery life just doesn’t come close, lasting a mere 3hrs 15mins sitting idle at the home screen with the screen on half brightness. And although all the Flash content we attempted to access worked, you should take any claims you see on the joojoo website about being able to play back full-screen, HD video with a very large pinch of salt, because it can’t. In fact, maximise any video to full-screen mode, even standard definition, and footage slows to an unwatchable slideshow. Surprisingly, some text- and link-heavy websites – a full Gmail inbox being a prime example – also slow it down. And last but by no means least, it’s a bit of a thigh warmer, running rather too hot for our liking.
Despite all these issues, we enjoyed our time with the joojoo. As with the iPad, it turns browsing the internet into a more enjoyable, social affair than with a netbook or laptop, and it does have its advantages – Flash and multitasking, principally. But if we’re honest, it’s never going to rival Apple’s iPad. It may be cheaper, have a larger, wider screen and that all-important Flash support, but crucially, it doesn’t come close to the quality and ease of use of Apple’s groundbreaking tablet. If you’re willing to pay this much, save up the extra for an iPad – or just wait for the throng of cheap slates that are looming into view.
Price when reviewed: £319 (£375 inc VAT)
