Blackview Tab 9 WiFi review: A cheap, big-screen Android tablet

About Blackview Tab 9 WiFi

The Blackview Tab 9 WiFi features an 11-inch screen (1200 x1920 pixels) with modest 12.7 mm (0.5-inch) bezels on all four sides of the screen (83% screen-to-body ratio). The device is only 9.1mm thick. This is a far cry from the iPad Air’s 6.11mm depth, but it’s still impressive. The Blackview Tab 9 WiFi is also fairly lightweight at 512 grams (1.13 pounds). It’s lighter than you might expect, although it might be too heavy to read ebooks unless you’re putting the tablet on your lap or leaning it against a table or desk using the folio case.

The rest of the design is OK, but it looks and feels like plastic (as opposed to aluminum). We reviewed the ink gray version, but it also comes in frost blue and blush pink. The back of the device has a slightly protruding dime-sized camera lens and flash module against a textured matte strip, while the rest of the body has a slightly glossy but clean finish. It has become.

On the top of the Blackview 9 WiFi, next to the centrally placed USB-C port and microSD tray, you’ll find a power button and volume rocker on the right side of the speaker grille to match the speakers on the bottom of the tablet.

There is a headphone jack in the bottom right corner of the tablet. Yes, in 2024. thank you.

The sides of the tablet are bare except for the microphone hole on the right side of the tablet, along the screen’s landscape bezel, near the front-facing camera lens.

Blackview Tab 9 WiFi specifications

• price: $179.99
• size: 11 inches (measured diagonally)
• Processor: UNISOC Tiger T606 Octa Core 12nm
• Storage: 256GB (expandable up to 2TB via microSD)
• System memory: 6GB RAM (virtually expandable to 18GB)
• screen: 1200×1920 FHD IPS (83% screen-to-body ratio)
• camera: 13MP rear camera (Samsung), 8MP front camera
• port: USB type C
• Connectivity: Bluetooth / Dual Band Wi-Fi 5
• battery: 8200mAh; 10W fast charging
• Weight: 512 grams
• size: 246.8mm (length) x 161.75mm (width) x 9.1mm (thickness)
• color: Ink gray, frost blue, blush pink
• Durability: Not applicable
• operating system: DokeOS_P 4.0 (Android 14 variant)
• guarantee: 2 year limited warranty

what we like

Expandable and versatile

All iPads and most Android tablets don’t allow you to expand storage, but Blackview says the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi includes a microSD slot that pops out from the bottom of the tablet to add up to 2 terabytes of cards. . Add to your existing 256GB of internal storage. In fact, the Tab 9 WiFi’s manual says it’s limited to 2TB, but I inserted a 4TB card and it worked fine, and I was even able to play videos on the card.

You might wonder who needs that kind of storage in the age of streaming, but some of the games available for download from the Google Play Store are large. Needless to say, you may need to bring in some .mkv or .mp4 files containing movies, TV shows, and other files. Enjoy other videos on long flights. It’s convenient to have, that’s all.

On the software side, Android 14-based DokeOS_P 4.0 features a full suite of personalization tools, including app colors and cluster options. Preinstalled WPS Office suite (compatible with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF). Touchscreen PC mode (with optional keyboard and trackpad/mouse connected). The EasyShare app also lets you quickly and securely share with compatible Android devices around you, including AirDrop on Apple hardware.

unexpectedly good display

As you might imagine, we weren’t expecting a high-quality display at this price, but the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi’s 11-inch screen is unexpectedly good, albeit not OLED/Ultra Retina XDR. It’s a 1080p Full HD IPS display (1920×1200), which may be a bit narrower than an iPad or Samsung tablet, but all the apps and games we tested were automatically set to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

With a wide viewing angle, this display boasts high brightness, sharp contrast, and realistic colors. Additionally, there’s Widevine L1 support that improves your experience when watching DRM-protected media from Disney, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more (we also do sideloading). I used an offline video and played it in VLC player).

Other features include built-in reading modes (automatic or manual) based on your environment, nightlight mode and dark mode. A split-screen option that lets you hold it like a book and run two apps side by side at the same time. Optional real-time subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen based on what your microphone picks up, such as during a meeting in a conference room (English only).

what we don’t like

Insufficient processor power

While the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi’s display exceeded our expectations, the tablet’s processing power and graphics capabilities were impressive. Apps certainly loaded fairly quickly, but performance was noticeably slower than many other tablets we tested. This is especially true when playing games. Even a somewhat basic puzzler like Royal Match slows down considerably when explosions destroy pieces on the game board. Mind you, the game didn’t freeze or crash, but it was painfully obvious that even a modest match-3 game with simple graphics wasn’t going to be easy to handle.

Blackview says the Unisoc T606 octa-core 12nm CPU handles most of the heavy lifting. Sounds impressive, but it’s not. To quantify that, I ran Geekbench 6 and got a single-core score of 378 and a multi-core score of 1313. Compare this to the 2024 iPad Air’s CPU single-core score of 2581 and multi-core score of 9377. Meanwhile, the 2024 iPad Pro had a Geekbench score of 3788 single-core and 14347 multi-core.

Wi-Fi is also limited to Wi-Fi 5 (not Wi-Fi 6, 6e, or 7), and is noticeably slower in this department as well. As the name suggests, the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi is a Wi-Fi only model with no support for cellular networks (SIM or eSIM).

camera is not good

The Blackview Tab 9 WiFi has a 13-megapixel rear camera (supports 1080p video) and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Both are ok. Unless you’re outdoors during the day, photos and videos lack detail and depth, and most photos look washed out. The photograph of a crimson cherry blossom pottery in the middle of a glass table, set on an elaborate Persian rug and surrounded by fake green trees, lacked vibrancy. Sure, you might never reach for your tablet to take a photo or record a video, but a tablet isn’t necessary, it’s nice to have.

However, this camera is useful for video calls, Google Lens (for web searches with photos), facial recognition (for biometric login), and document scanning, so it will definitely be used, if not for capturing memories. Probably.

Battery life is not as advertised

I’m not sure how Blackview tested the tablet’s battery life, but the 8200mAh battery, while it may sound amazing, doesn’t last very long in our tests (at default brightness settings). did. The company says the battery will last for more than 37 hours of calls (presumably with voice calling apps over Wi-Fi), or 15 hours of music playback, 7 hours of web surfing, 4.5 hours of gaming, or about 5 hours. is. Hours of video playback. I tried a little bit of everything, but I had to charge the device to about 6%, which didn’t last an entire day.

Not a disaster, but not great. Even in standby mode, it dropped by 25% overnight (screen off).

mediocre durability

Like most other tablets, including Apple’s iconic iPad series, there’s no protection from the elements. It’s nice that it comes with a case and screen protector, but the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi can’t get wet or dusty. While holding the device while enjoying a video, I noticed a slight squeak when I slightly shifted my grip, and noticed that the front screen wasn’t firmly attached to the back part of the tablet. In other words, it doesn’t feel like a well-made device. It may feel more like plastic than it looks, especially when you hear the subtle squeaks. The tablet didn’t break, but it felt like it could. Craftsmanship is not our strength.

Should I buy Blackview Tab 9 WiFi?

If you want a really cheap tablet, perhaps

I know this may sound like I’m nitpicking, but it’s a $179 device, so it’s my duty to point out the good and the bad. In fact, at this price, for someone who wants a casual device for e-book reading, web surfing, word processing, etc., this is a fairly thin and light tablet with a large screen that looks better than it should. The box includes a folio case and screen protector, as well as expandable storage and a headphone jack. Despite some odd issues, including a strange misspelling (the menu says to consider “Speaker Cleaning”), this Android 14-based operating system is spot on.

But on the other hand, the Blackview Tab 9 WiFi wasn’t as powerful as advertised (even for casual gaming), the battery life wasn’t great, and the camera was mediocre at best. The design is great, but the build quality is not.

Bottom line: If you want to gift yourself (or a child in your family) a new tablet that won’t break the bank and impress in many ways, you can’t do it unless you’re a gamer or video editor. No one is likely to complain about a tablet’s lack of power or battery life. Neither are terrible, but don’t expect premium performance at a non-premium price. There’s really good value here, but be aware of the drawbacks before purchasing.

meet the testers

mark saltzman

Contributor

@marc_saltzman

In addition to Reviewed and USA TODAY, Marc has worked as a freelance journalist for more than 20 publications, has written for 16 times (including Apple Watch For Dummies and Game Design: Secrets of the Sages), and is syndicated. He is also the host of Tech It Out radio (and podcast) and the Tech Impact television show (Bloomberg TV and FOX Business). Based in Toronto, Marc specializes in consumer electronics, games and apps, smart home innovation, automotive technology, and future trends.

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