Review of the Icarus Bluefire G2 tablet...

[Hans de Cock]

Yesterday I receive my Bluefire G2 tablet home. I want to share my first thoughts about this tablet with you, having spent most of my evening with it

Unboxing
The tablet comes in a nice packaging, which contains the 7" tablet, a USB cable for connecting to a computer, a set of earphones, an HDMI cable, a cable for connecting regular USB devices, a quickstart guide and a user manual. So far so good.

The device itself is very compact and light. It is a bit funny that when you turn around the device, the text is upside down (logo, serial number and so on). Don't really understand why.
The looks in general are good though, there is a nice metal-look button on the front and the other buttons are on the side (home, menu etc.). The tablet does not come with a protective cover, I hope this will be available soon as I do not want to get scratches on the device.

Turning the device on
After turning on (press and hold the power button for a few seconds) a bootlogo appears and after that the Android boot-up sequence starts. This takes a minute or so. Then the Android desktop appears (version 2.3) which is locked by default. One slide of the unlock icon and the desktop is available.

Opening the application menu shows a whole list of pre-installed apps. Some games (Angry Birds, Asphalt 5, Guerilla Bob, Fruit Ninja), several reading apps (Aldiko, FBReader, Bol.com), Docs To Go, Youtube, ES file explorer, Android market, Google Maps, K-9 Mail, Tune-In Radio and more).

I have opened most apps (had to give away the tablet to my son after opening Angry Birds....) and they open quickly and work fine.

In general the device is pretty fast, and the (capacitive) multitouch screen responds really well.

Tonight I will try to hook up the tablet to my HDTV to see how the movie performance is (the device claims to play 1080p over HDMI).

More to follow. I attached some pictures!

[Sweetpea]

Can you install the ako app? One reason for me to get an android tablet is this app (to read magazines).

[Hans de Cock]

Dear Sweetpea,

indeed I have installed the AKO apps (I did not even know this one) and it works pretty nicely!

Hans

[Hans de Cock]

As I promised you I would test the other functionalities of the Bluefire G2.

HD video out
The HD video output really is a great feature. It took me a time to figure out how to do it (there is a user manual included, but I never read them ), but once I got it working I was very impressed.

Even on the screen of the tablet itself (only 800x480) the video playback is really nice. I am looking into the option of attaching it in my car's seat so my children can watch video's while driving. Not sure how to do this yet though.

Apps
Having used all of the pre-installled apps now, I have to say I am really satisfied with the selection. Sure there are some specific apps that I am interested in that are not installed (like Dropbox) but for the majority of tasks you really do not need to install anything, as the tablet plays it out of the box.

Final verdict
I have to say I am very happy about my purchase. The Bluefire G2 is very solid (I did not have a single crash with any of the apps), responsive and quite compact. I have noticed that I am using it almost daily, often to quickly look up something on the web, check my e-mail or to play a quick round of Angry Birds. It is not a replacement of my laptop, but I am not sure if any tablet will be. I in any case can only recommend this tablet.

[Sweetpea]

Thanks for the review!

If the Acer wasn't coming out this year, it might be a good replacement for my eldering JE100... (I never expected this imported-from-China device to last 2 years!)

[DaleDe]

There is now a wiki page on the Bluefire G2.