SKK Mobile SK8 Review: More Than A Tablet

INTRODUCTION:

The SKK Mobile SK8 is an 8-inch tablet-phone powered by a 1GHz dual core CPU, PowerVR SGX531 GPU coupled with 512MB of RAM.

SKK Mobile SK8

Key Specs:

• Single SIM, supports 3G
• 8" capacitive touchscreen (768x1024) display, 5-point multi-touch
• Android Jelly Bean 4.1
• 1GHz Cortex-A9 Dual Core CPU, PowerVR SGX531 GPU MediaTek MT6577 chipset
• 512MB of RAM
• 4GB internal, expandable up to 32GB via microSD
• 2MP main camera
• VGA secondary camera
• GPS with A-GPS
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, WiFi Hotspot
• 3.5 Audio Jack
• Stereo FM Radio
• MP3/MP4 Player
• Micro USB 2.0 with OTG support
• Bluetooth 

Main Disadvantages:

• Low resolution main camera
• Low FPS in video recording
• Bezels are too wide

For UNBOXING please kindly click HERE.


INTERFACE:

Lockscreen

The lockscreen features a padlock icon inside a circle. You can swipe it to the left to go directly to the camera interface while dragging it to the right will unlock the device.

Homescreen

The homescreen has five pages by default and there is no option to add or delete. The app drawer icon can be found on the upper right hand corner while the search icon is on the upper left corner.

There is a reserve space below the homescreen, wherein you can find the on-screen keys on the left and the notification area on the right.

Default Apps

Default Widgets

The apps are arranged in 5 rows by 6 columns while the widgets have 3x3 layout. The Play Store shortcut is also available on the upper right hand corner.

Notification Panel

The notification panel is located on the lower right portion of the screen. To access the quick toggle settings you need to press the icon below the last digit of the clock.


TELEPHONY:

Telephony

The SK8 is not a mere tablet, it supports full phone functionality too. The dial pad is only "half" smart since it can only detect matching names in your contacts. It has speed dialing of up to 9 numbers, the number 1 is assigned to voice mail while the remaining 8 can be customized.

Incoming and Outgoing Calls

The tablet has a wide bezel which makes it next to impossible to hold it in one hand when making calls therefore if you are planning to use its phone function you need to put it on loud speaker or better yet use at least a wired headset.

When there is an incoming call, the only choices you have is to reject or answer it while for the outgoing calls it is just the usual sets of options.

Call Logs

The call logs list all your call history, you can filter it by missed calls, received calls or dialed calls. Selecting a certain item in the log will present you a more detailed information about that call.


PHONEBOOK:

Contacts

Groups

The phonebook is viewed in two parts, the left portion is the list of your contacts/groups while the right shows the detailed information of the selected contact/group.

Both contacts and groups can be synced to your online accounts such as Google and they can also be imported or exported.



MESSAGING:

Messaging

The messages are listed based on the newest item, the number you see in the upper right portion corresponds to the number of unread message/s. If you have long lists of messages you can use the search icon.

New Message

The SMS and MMS share the same editor, if you attached anything on a message it will automatically be converted to MMS.

Message Conversation

Under any conversation, your message will be on the right side while the recipient is on the left side. You can also call that person by selecting the handset icon in the upper right hand.


EMAIL:

Email

Gmail

The SK8 tablet has generic email and Gmail app pre-installed, both can can multiple accounts. Setting them up is quite easy, just enter your username and password and you are good to go.


MULTIMEDIA:

Gallery:

Gallery

The gallery houses both pictures and videos, they can be arranged by Albums, Location, Times, People or Tags.

Video Options

Photo Options

Photo Editor

Pictures and videos can be shared locally or online via email and social accounts. Photos can also be edited using the inbuilt Photo Editor.

Video Player:

Video Player

The video player will list all the movies/clips on your device, those that are playable will have their respective thumbnails. Other information available are title, length and file size.

Video Interface

The stock video player can play almost any file (except for the .flv) including .mkv. The videos which are 720p or lower can be played smoothly, 1080p are no go. Playing videos are quite pleasant on the tablet's 8-inch screen plus its loudspeaker also delivers good sound output.

Music Player:

Music Player

The music player uses tab interface, it will all songs on your device  and you can view them by artist, albums, songs or playlists. When you are playing a song and you minimize it there will be a mini player in the notification panel.

FM Radio:

FM Radio

There is also an FM radio on board and like most devices it requires a wired headset to work. You can search each channel manually or automatically, broadcast is playable thru headset or via loudspeaker and you can record them too.



MULTIMEDIA: Continued

Camera/Video:

Camera/Video

The camera and video interface is very simple, the upper left shows how much time/picture you can capture with your available storage while the upper right is the thumbnail of the last photo or clip.

Panorama and Multi-Angle

On the lower right you will see 4 small icons which correspond to camera, video, panorama and multi-angle respectively.

Camera Settings

Video Settings

The main camera can capture 2MP pixel still and VGA video. The video frame rate is a bit disappointing not only because it can only record 640x480 but its frame rate is also too low at only 7 fps.

The secondary/front facing camera resolution is only VGA both for pictures and videos (5 fps).

Sample shots:

Night

Day

Front

Browser:

Browser

The SK8 has stock Android browser, website loads quickly even those with lots of pictures and scripts. You can view the website in desktop mode without any worry of straining your eyes because you can read texts easily, there is also no re-flow when moving the pages up or down.

One Browser

Aside from the stock browser there is also "One Browser" installed. The upper part shows the address and search bar while at the bottom are the navigation controls.

Gaming:

Angry Birds

Temple Run

Fruit Ninja

Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Temple Run are pre-installed on the tablet and all of them are working without any issue.

Dungeon Hunter 4

Asphalt 7

Graphics intensive games like Dungeon Hunter 4 and Asphalt 7 are also both playable.

Install Location

The device has only 4GB of internal storage but you will be delighted that games can be moved to external SD card so you won't need to worry running out of space. I used 32GB SanDisk Ultra MicroSDHC Class 10 and the device can handle it properly.



CONNECTIVITY:

WiFi

The SK8 supports high speed mobile data connection via 3G and of course it also has WiFi which can detect good signals.

OTG

The SKK Mobile tablet has an OTG function, I tested an external flash drive using supplied OTG cable it works just fine. The 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth complete the list of connectivity sets.


PRODUCTIVITY:

Calendar

File Manager

Notes

Sound Recorder

Stop Watch

Calculator

The tablet has basic productivity tools like Calendar, File Manager, Notes, Sound Recorder, Stop Watch and Calculator. One important app which is missing is the document viewer/editor but you can easily find your favorite one in the Play Store.


GPS:

GPS - Google Navigation

Google Map and Local

GPS works as it should be, I can easily get satellite lock when using Google Navigation, Maps or Local.


BATTERY:

Battery Stats

I left the SK8 in standby mode and after 12 days the battery percentage still shows 71%.


OTHERS:

Manual

If you are newbie to Android O/S or want to learn more about the SK8 tablet there is an app called Manual to help you.

iReader

iReader is an app to store or buy E-books, however I doubt that you are going to use it especially that some portions of it are still written in Chinese characters.


CONCLUSION:

The SKK Mobile SK8 is suitable for those people who wants to carry an all-in-one device but are tight on their budget. The performance may not be top notch but it is quite good, it can deliver the basic tasks of being a tablet and a phone.

The main downside here is having a low resolution camera and low FPS when recording video. The design may not also pleasing to some especially that its bezels are quite wide.

Overall, the SK8 is still a good device, you can watch 720p videos, play casual or graphics-intensive games and even use it to call or text.