Quad core performance, all the way from Leeds
The Best Tablet Company started life a few years ago when Nova Smith, the founder, required a tablet for her work while she was in and out of hospital caring for her newborn son.
The current slew of tablets at the time were a little too expensive for the then-struggling family, but Smith found one of the many Chinese import tablets on Alibaba and was so impressed she started a company selling them on Amazon.
Since then, the company has grown, and it now sells its own brand of tablet, using the name the IT Tablets.
This is has a 10.1" IPS screen that's powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core Mediatek MTK8127 processor, with a Mali-450 GPU, 1GB of memory, 16GB of storage and Android 5.0.
The tablet comes with all the usual connectivity: wi-fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, micro-SD card slot, headphone port and a mini-HDMI port. There's also a 1.9MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front camera. In the box you get a power supply with a 0.5m USB cable, mini-USB-to-USB extension, EU and UK plug fittings, a quick setup guide and a stylus with a rubberised end to minimize screen damage.
In terms of performance, the IT Tablets 10" managed a GeekBench 3 single-core score of 346, while the multi-core score was a reasonable 1,122. Although okay numbers, it sadly isn't the fastest tablet you'll ever come across. The multi-core score does equal that of the Moto G and the Galaxy Note 10.1, though, so it's capable of running the latest apps, within reason.
The screen is clear, with a good 1280 x 800 display and a decent level of colour depth. The brightness could do with being increased somewhat, even when set to the maximum, but that's more of a personal opinion and differs between users.
One of the best aspects of the IT Tablets 10" model is that it only costs £99, which isn't too bad for a tablet of this level of performance and number of features. Plus, when ordered through IT Tablets, there's currently free shipping on everything over £40.
It is, on the whole, an okay tablet. It's perfect for a child, since it only weighs around 500g, and the battery life from a full charge lasted a little over six and a half hours. The performance is enough for average users, for things like light gaming, web browsing and reading.
The obvious benefit, though, is that you're buying from a company that's based in Leeds. Should anything go wrong, the manufacturer is a quick phone call away, so you can get the problem resolved faster than you would if it was from a faceless company in China (plus you'd have no way of returning it).
We quite liked the It Tablets 10” model. It's simple, easy and is a good family tablet that ticks all the right boxes. David Hayward
A good enough 10" tablet for everyday use.