Dragon Touch Max10 Tablet, Android 10.0 OS, Octa-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB Storage, 10.1 inch Android Tablets, 1200x1920 IPS Full HD Display, 5G WiFi, USB Type C Port, Black

Update July 14th, 2021...It has been a year since I purchased my tablet, and I thought it would be a good idea to provide at least 1-update, since this tablet is still being sold today. When I bought this tablet back in July of 2020, they came running Android 9 at the time. Then in October 2020, TE refreshed the tablet to run on Android 10. Oddly however, were now in July 2021, and they have not refreshed the tablet again to run on Android 11 or 12. IMHO, I think its time for TE to come out with their next tablet that supports Android 12 and has at least 4GB of RAM if not more, to keep up with the times.So, what is my opinion after owning this tablet (Android 9 version) for an entire year? Well, as with most things in life, its a mixed bag. As for how this tablet performs, its performed amazingly well, infact so well, I rarely ever have to restart it! It still performs snappy to this day, loads all apps I ask of it, and it just works. I haven't noticed any strange slowdowns with it, and the battery seems to be about on par as when it was new, but of course, the battery is only 1-year old, so ya.Screen brightness is still good as long as you run it at full brightness, anything lower, colors begin to fade bad. But if your in a super dark pitch black room, lowering the brightness will save on your eyes, especially when viewing white background browser pages. The screen doesn't really have the contrast ratio at 100% to overpower the sun outside, don't expect it to, you'd need to spend far more money to achieve that. But for what it was designed to do, it does it well. And at the end of the day, thats what you are paying for, something that is value cost, with a balance of features, not high end.One of the things that seems to be common among all budget phones and tablets, is that I can never seem to upgrade the OS's to a new version, this is because the manufacturer, (such as TE in this case) does not support updates. And to add further salt to the water, not only can you not upgrade your OS to a new version, but you also can't receive security updates past, June 5 2019. (For Android 9 version of tablet) Those who have the Android 10 version of this tablet, might not receive updates past April of 2020.And thats where things are a mixed bag. For a device that connects to the internet, that can't receive security updates, or OS upgrades, puts yourself at risk. Were now in summer of 2021, it will be 2022 before we know it, and its my opinion that these devices are out of date, even the last refreshed model is out of date, mine is way out of date. The tablet still works fine yeah of course, but safety is always a concern when it comes to the net. While Samsung and Apple certainly do cost more, (lord knows I would never be able to afford them) at least their kept updated.I still have the plastic screen protector from the factory on mine, but it is showing scratches after all this time, normal for plastic ones. So I am sure I will soon be removing mine, so I can look at a clear screen again. Should you buy this tablet? The answer is it really depends. During a tech shortage its really hard to pick and choose, its not like you have a bunch of choices like we used to. But if security is a requirement, the answer is very clearly no. If you don't care about security, and you just need something to connect to the net, play a few games, do social networking, then sure!Original Review...I've used Dragon Touch tablets before, back in 2015, I purchased one of their quad core A1X models. However, it wasn't that fast at the time that I bought it, because it was bottlenecked by having only 1GB of RAM, and these days it lags terribly! Plus, Android Kitkat is outdated, and there is nothing you can do with it in modern day in the form of apps. So it was time to upgrade...This is a Dragon Touch Max-10 Android tablet, made by Tablet Express, running on Android OS 9 Pie. Incase you didn't know, Android is Linux based, and is using Aarch64 kernal architecture. It has a 1.6GHZ Octa core Unisoc SC9863A chip that runs on the ARM64-V8A architecture. Specifically, the core clock is 768-MHZ on all 8 cores, capable of pushing 1.6GHZ. I bought the 3GB version, so this tablet has 3GB of RAM, more specifically, 2.824GB after system overhead.NOTE: The Running services screenshot was taken before I loaded the system up with apps and games.After loading my tablet with a bunch of apps and games, I now have 1.509GB of RAM available. This tablet comes with 32GB of internal storage. However, the OS uses at least 6GB, along with its default Google apps pre-loaded. So, in all actuality, you will have a total of 26GB of internal storage to work with, which is actually plenty! After installing many apps and games, I have 18GB available. I also have installed a 128GB Sandisk Micro SD card to increase storage capacity.The GPU is a PowerVR Rogue CE8322, which is provided by Imagination Technologies. This is most certainly not high end, as high end would be an Nvidia GPU, so most of what you are going to be doing with this tablet, will be limited by the abilities of the generic GPU. Its better then what my old tablet had by miles, so if you haven't been spoiled by Samsung or Apple, then you will probably like this tablet. lolIn an effort to be thorough, I benchmarked this tablet using the ever popular Geek Bench. The Dragon Touch MAX-10 is getting a "133" in the single-core, and 535 in the multi-core. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, at the same CPU 1.6 GHZ spec, gets a 348 on the single-core, and up to 1240 on the multi-core. Its a sign that the GPU is the real bottleneck in the Max10. But remember, these are benchmark scores, how it actually performs, is what really matters.The display is a 10" 1920*1200 16/10 glass IPS capacitance touch screen display, running at 48-Herts. The screen is very clear, colorful, and is quite beautiful, much better then my old tablet! The screen is also extremely responsive. Even the slightest touch is registered on the tablet, despite the fact it comes with a plastic screen protector from the factory by default. It is very easy to navigate by the touch screen, so if your buying this for portable on the go use, you won't be disappointed.The tablet comes with a 2.4G-5G WIFI adapter that supports the WIFI standard of wireless "N" and later. Make sure that your router supports at least 150-MBPS or better WIFI links, as the tablet is designed to link at 135-MBPS. My Netgear router supports 450-MBPS, so its well above the tablets abilities. 2.4-GHZ performance is not really that good. With my tablet only 8-feet away from the router in direct line of site, I was getting only -30-DB, which is barely on the edge of GREEN!However, when I switched over to my routers 5-GHZ protocol, my performance ratings went so far into the green, it surpassed -100-DB, and completely went off the scale in what I'd like to call, ultimate in your face performance! Internet surfing, video streaming, and app downloading are way faster and smoother using the 5-GHZ protocol, so I really recommend using it if you have it available! Also, 5-GHZ connections help to improve screen casting performance and bitrate too. ;)The battery in the tablet is a 4.2-V Lithium-Ion battery that has a max capacity of 2900-MAH. In the year of 2020 when this tablet was released, I would have preferred the more modern battery technology, Lithium Phosphate. A LIFE-PO battery is a much safer battery technology, but I believe that TE cut costs by using an old battery standard. It does run relatively cool around 20-C though, so thats good. I also wish it had double the amp hours, but it is what it is.As with all tablets when you first turn them on, they take you through the setup process. First thing it wants you to do, is input your credentials to setup your WIFI connection. Once you do that, you can then connect to your Google account, and setup a few other things right away if you wish. Your tablet is going to need updates, both system security updates, and app updates from the Google Playstore, I recommend installing all updates before you really get going.Once I had all updates installed, I went through the system settings, in order to personalize. I found it odd that there were no display resolution and refresh rate settings, even among the hidden developer section. TE really doesn't want you changing those for some reason, could it be that the internal display can't handle 1920*1200 at 60-Hertz and they are hiding that fact by not allowing you to change it? The tablet is not rooted, so its not like you can use an APP to change that either.One of the drawbacks with this tablet, is it does not come with an HDMI port, and only has 1-USB-C port, and 1-3.5mm headphone jack. These devices are really going for pure wireless now days which is a shame, cause it makes us have to spend more money, to buy everything that works with wireless. In order to keep the tablet charged, you will have to dedicate the only USB port for charging only, thats just the reality, no way of getting around that.And forget buying an OTG power through USB hub for the tablet, I tried that, those don't work. I had to buy a Google 3rd generation Chromecast device, in order to cast my screen, to a 24" 1080P IPS monitor. The tablet barely has enough horse power to cast the screen when doing everything with it but gaming. In games, it can have a little bit of frame rate loss, but does technically do it. I recommend tablets with better hardware SPEC for doing casting with games.When I am portable on the go, I will just use the touch screen display, thats what they were made for. However, when I am home, I rather use my tablet like a desktop computer, and I use an Arteck Universal Bluetooth keyboard, and a Logitech MX Master 3 wireless mouse. Both the keyboard and the mouse paired quickly, and performance has been awesome with them, no issues. I also have a Cowin E7 Pro headset paired with this tablet, as well as a Green Throttle Atlas gaming controller.The responsiveness from the tablet is quite good, navigation in apps, and in-between apps, is quite peppy. This is the result of both the fast CPU with 8-cores allowing for parallel processing, and the 3GB of RAM, allowing multiple apps to remain open at the same time. My old tablet was so lacking in SPEC, that it would have to auto-reload each app, I tried to jump in-between. And with only 400MB of RAM left in my old tablet, it also contributed to the sluggish behavior.Games like, Doom, Dead Effect, Plants Vs Zombies, Bejeweled, all which lagged poorly on my old tablet, now play smooth as glass on the Max10. Screen casting is literally the only thing that seems to bring this tablet down enough to cause frame rate drops in games. But if I am not screen casting, I am getting rock solid performance, despite those low Geek Bench scores. ;)The stereo speakers are still horrible in Dragon Touch tablets, no surprise there. Your always going to be better off using a pair of headphones, or full headset. The good news about Bluetooth audio however, is that the quality can be adjusted in the developer options. I set the sample rate to 48-KHZ, and the bitrate to 24-bit, and the internal DAC really sounds pretty good, despite not being audiophile grade. So I don't think you will be disappointed with Bluetooth audio, unless your headphones suck. lolThe onboard camera's are certainly behind the times. The rear camera is a 8-MP, which if you know anything about camera's, thats like circa 2008 technology. The front camera is a 5-MP, which is circa 2005. The rear camera assembly does have a flash LED, but if you think that is going to compare to a Canon pocket camera flash, you can think again! The front camera assembly doesn't have a flash, its pretty much meant to be a selfie cam. Look at my pixalation in 5-MP! HAHATechnically, I should be calling this thing a Phablet and not a Tablet. This is because, in the same section that houses the micro SD-card, there is also a SIM-card slot. I bought this for use as a tablet however, and I just can't see somebody using a tablet for a phone. Could you just imagine someone holding up a 10" tablet to their ear? If there are, I think they are overcompensating for something, just saying. Or maybe their from Texas, cause you know, everything's big in Texas. ;)I bought a Fintie Leather Folie Case for my tablet, its a nice cheap one for the price, and works great, I also recommend.Personally, I can't afford a 400 to 800 dollar Samsung tablet, and nor do I support Apple and their crazy 1000 and up dollar phones and tablets. I chose the Dragon Touch Max 10 for its value. Yes, this tablet is not perfect, but its a pretty good one for the price. And if you don't mind the performance gap between Dragon Touch tablets, VS Samsung or Apple tablets, then this would be a great tablet for you. So for now, until otherwise stated in a review update, I am giving this tablet a 4 out of 5 stars.

I'm sure that most people who are considering this tablet also looked at the Vankyo S20 because they are similar in price and specs. I was also making that decision and went with the Vankyo first but then returned it for the Dragon Touch.- I mainly liked the Vankyo but I had WiFi issues. Amazon replaced the tablet but the second one had the same problem. It was stuck on "obtaining IP address" and wouldn't connect. I changed it to static IP and that worked. It connected so I thought I'd keep the tablet, but then randomly it would get "WiFi connected, no internet" without any rhyme or reason and there was nothing to do but wait for it to pass.Dragon Touch connected immediately to my home WiFi and I haven't had issues.- Vankyo has a much nicer build (aluminum) while Dragon is plastic. Dragon has little texture bumps around the perimeter for better grip. We use a case so I don't care.- Camera. Vankyo's selfie cam was definitely better quality but Dragon's is so much more intuitive. The settings are easy to access, it's simple to switch from front to back cam, turn flash on and off AND you can turn of shutter sound in Dragon, unlike on the Vankyo.- Dragon has Android 10 which is the most recent OS right now while Vankyo has 9.- Vankyo has its cameras on the short side of the tablet near a corner. Dragon has them in the center of the long side. I kind of liked the offset camera on the Vankyo because I was able to walk up to my daughter in middle of a remote class and not be in the shot but with a center camera I will be visible no matter what side I come in from but that's not a big deal.A few annoyances with Dragon: You're able to select free rotate or lock rotation. Free rotate didn't work on the home screen. But if you enter and exit an app, the home screen will retain the orientation the app was in when you left it. The only way to change it is open an app that is able to rotate, turn to your desired orientation, then exit it. I downloaded Nova Launcher to fix that and it did, but I can't use Android 10 navigation gestures with it. Tablet says it's not compatible but it works fine on my phone with Nova so not sure what's up.It comes with a screen protector installed which is great but I found that it interferes with the mic when the tablet is in a case. I removed the protector and there was sticky residue all over the screen that took a long time to scrub of. Super annoying.I wasn't able to install Chrome on my daughter's school account at first. The install button wasn't reacting. I fixed that by deleting data from Play Store app and disabling it, then enabling it again. I set up the stock keyboard (Gboard) with my custom preferred options and then it reset the next time I used the tablet for some reason.I hope these weird little annoyances don't persist.One plus for the Dragon tablet for me personally is the availability of a great heavy duty case. It's made for Dragon K10 but fits the Max10 perfectly besides the camera cut outs. I drilled and cut holes in the right places and it's perfect.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H5FXX3V/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AH4NBJW3N8LMH&th=1Vankyo doesn't have any cases with handles, and I feel like a large, heavy tablet that's used by a child should have a handle.Overall, if it wasn't for the WiFi issue I would have happily kept the Vankyo. I think it's a little more polished overall. I thought I got a bad copy but since the replacement acted the same I knew it was a problem with the tablet. I'm surprised I don't see that many reviews about WiFi issues. It obviously works well for many people so I don't know why it wasn't working for me. All other tablets and phones (including Dragon) connect to my WiFi without a hiccup.

Update (Feb 22, 2023): When I contacted customer service, I was asked to send the item back at my own expense for a refund or replacement. Soon after though, they reached out to me separately as a result of my original review and offered a full refund without having to ship the item to them, plus an additional gift card for the inconvenience. I'm very grateful for the responsive customer service and have amended my rating from 1 star to 5 stars.Original Review: I bought my son a Dragon Touch 10 tablet for Christmas, and unfortunately, it has already stopped working after only a month of use.Since we're now outside of the Amazon return window (by only a week, argh!), I've sent a message to Dragon Touch customer service and will update this review after I hear back from them.Before reaching out to them, I did lots of troubleshooting first, including testing the charging cable and outlet, leaving the device to charge for a full 3 days, and attempting to hard reset the device. However, the tablet still shuts down within less than a minute of booting up.Hopefully, Dragon Touch will respond with an offer to refund the item. Regardless though, this has been a real bummer for my son since he's now lost all of the files he had stored on the device.