Advent Vega Tegra Note review

Advent is no stranger to the budget tablet market, having launched the surprisingly good-value Vega in 2010. Advent is hoping to repeat that success with the Vega Tegra Note, which uses Nvidia’s flagship Tegra 4 chipset to provide greater processing power than more expensive rivals such as the Nexus 7.

With an all-black finish, fairly slim screen bezels and a soft-touch rubber rear casing for added grip, the Vega Tegra Note certainly doesn’t look like a budget tablet. There are no obvious signs of flex in the plastic chassis either, and the Vega Tegra Note is thin enough to hold comfortably in one hand.

We’re also happy to see a good selection of connection ports, including a Micro USB port, a Micro HDMI output and a 3.5mm audio output, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and even Miracast wireless display support. You also get a stylus, and its chisel tip that’s supposed to create a more natural writing style. Conveniently, the stylus slots into the bottom of the tablet for storage.

The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the Tegra Note captures reasonably clear images outdoors, although they show a noticeable lack of detail when you zoom in. The tiny sensor was incapable of keeping the foreground exposed without rendering the sky white in several of our test shots, although colours were at least accurate. The camera app is very responsive, with plenty of useful photo modes including timer, burst, panorama and HDR, but indoor picture quality isn’t so good. As the Vega Note has no flash, low light images are incredibly noisy and lacking in detail.

This is a shame, because high-quality photos look great on the Vega Note’s 7in widescreen display. The screen may only have a 1,280×800 resolution, but the screen’s bright and colourful. We measured its peak brightness at 299cd/m2, which falls behind that of the Nexus 7 but puts it firmly ahead of more expensive tablets such as the LG G Pad 8.3. It’s bright enough to use outdoors, although the glossy finish could make light reflections a little troublesome. The Vega Note’s pixel density of 215 pixels per inch (PPI) means it’s difficult to see individual pixels with the naked eye, but text and images aren’t quite as crisp as on a 1080p Nexus 7. If you’ll mostly be watching HD video with your tablet, the Nexus 7 is worth the extra cash.

Even so, the Tegra Note can more than hold its own when watching video and playing music thanks to two forward-firing speakers and a third speaker on its bottom edge dedicated to bass. Combined, they produce impressively clear and loud audio, with a respectable low-end.