I Found A Cheap Android Tablet Worthy Of Replacing My Ipad (and Better In Some Ways)

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Blackview Mega 1 is disposable straight from Blackview and AliExpress, pinch prices starting astatine $330.
• The tablet has a large screen, a awesome display, awesome sound output, and a lightweight design.
• However, nan folio lawsuit feels flimsy, and there's obscurity to shop nan stylus.

If you deliberation of a tablet, you astir apt deliberation of an iPad. You should cognize that location are immoderate awesome Android tablets that you tin bargain for a fraction of nan costs of an Apple device. Case successful point: nan Blackview MEGA 1. 

Also: The champion Android tablets you tin buy

This is simply a midrange tablet that costs $330 and offers an 11-inch 120Hz display, 256GB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a coagulated camera strategy cleanable for societal media and video calling. I highly urge it to anyone looking for an replacement to nan mean iPad.

The Mega 1 is simply a unsocial instrumentality successful Blackview's offerings. The institution was erstwhile synonymous pinch rugged smartphones, but complete nan past fewer years, Blackview has diversified its catalog to now see fund devices pinch a uniquely premium feel.

The Mega 1 impressed maine correct retired of nan box. I expected this fund tablet to person a cheap, bulky, integrative feel, for illustration nan laptops of yesteryear. Instead, I discovered a thin, ray aluminum tablet that feels arsenic premium arsenic Apple's iPads. The curves and bezels are smooth, and nan tablet feels perfectly balanced. It oozes a premium consciousness you don't expect from a instrumentality that is priced nether $300. 

The Mega 1 tech specs.

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In comparison, nan Mega 1's folio is simply a spot of a letdown. Yes, it does a bully occupation of protecting nan show and transforms into a usable stand, but it has a inexpensive vinyl consciousness and started to show deterioration aft only a week of use. The lawsuit is nary deal-breaker, but it feels for illustration sacrilege to put specified a beautiful tablet into a fund folio case.

Also: This Wacom drafting tablet is loaded pinch perks integer artists will love, and it's $100 off

The Mega 1's different premium consciousness goes a batch further than skin-deep. The 11.5-inch show feels awesome connected nan eyes. Even aft respective hours of utilizing nan tablet, my eyes felt fresh. The 120Hz refresh complaint and 203 pixels-per-inch density thief guarantee personification comfort.

Blackview Mega 1 tablet menu

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The strategy besides supports Widevine L1 integer authorities guidance specifications, allowing for streaming HD and HDR contented from Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and more. This capacity gives nan Mega 1 an advantage for group who want to usage nan tablet arsenic a contented depletion device.

Also: I yet recovered a tablet that tin easy switch my iPad and Kindle (and is affordably priced)

The quad speakers do a bully occupation of delivering a cinematic situation sound experience. At high-volume output, nan sound is powerful, clear, and distortion-free.

The Mega 1 has a thin, ray creation and a premium-quality feel.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The instrumentality is powered by a MediaTek MT6789 octa-core processor and backed up by 12GB of RAM (expandable to 24GB utilizing strategy storage). This operation is powerful capable to support everything humming on nicely. I didn't brushwood stuttering aliases lag during my tests, and apps sprang to life almost instantly.

Cooling is handled by an integrated strategy that uses much than 8,000 quadrate millimeters of graphite. Blackview claims this setup tin support nan tablet beneath 40ºC/104ºF. My testing of nan Mega 1 nether heavy, prolonged loads supports this claim. At nary constituent did nan Mega 1 consciousness basking to nan touch. You tin push this instrumentality to its limits pinch confidence.

A SIM tray for cellular information tin accommodate 2 SIM cards, aliases 1 SIM paper and a microSD card.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The immense 8800mAh artillery is crammed into little than a 3rd of an inch of tablet. Blackview says nan artillery is bully for 20 hours of wide use, tin play euphony for 22 hours, play HD video for 5.5 hours, and support 5 hours of gaming. I easy sewage 2 days of dense usage betwixt recharges.

Also: Why this $300 Lenovo is nan tablet I urge to astir group - including iPad users

While nan 20-hour runtime fig is astir apt correct, Blackview mightiness underestimate its figures. I watched a batch of YouTube during my tests. Either way, nan artillery is not a anemic point. The Mega 1's cameras don't disappoint, either.

The 50-megapixel rear camera is awesome for societal media and school/work reports.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The 50-megapixel rear camera features a 1/2.76-inch Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor that delivers clear, detailed, and color-accurate images. You're not getting nan popular and item you spot from an Apple iPad aliases a Samsung Galaxy S24, but this quality has little to do pinch nan hardware and much pinch nan aggravated magnitude of on-device processing that high-end devices now execute connected images.

Don't fto this shortcoming put you off. The camera is cleanable for what astir users want, and nan output for societal media aliases work/school reports is much than adequate. The 12-megapixel front-facing camera is besides much than capable for selfies and video calling, and it handles a assortment of lighting conditions easily.

Also: Why I urge this tablet for kids complete nan iPad - particularly astatine this price

Note: The sample images Blackview uses connected its website to beforehand nan camera are banal images and not taken utilizing nan Mega 1. Blackview isn't unsocial successful utilizing this technique, and I don't cognize why companies insist connected this approach, which intelligibly misleads consumers.

The tablet comes pinch a stylus. I'm not a instrumentality of styluses, but I conjecture it's an other for those who for illustration them. That said, there's obscurity to shop nan stylus connected nan tablet aliases nan folio case. So, if you're for illustration me, nan stylus is improbable to instrumentality astir for long.

Yes, there's besides a stylus.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

ZDNET's buying proposal

It's easy to ideate a fund tablet arsenic a inexpensive chunk of integrative and glass, pinch a mediocre processor and display, and a artillery that tin hardly past a morning. 

The Blackview Mega 1 is thing for illustration this. It's a tablet pinch a premium consciousness that offers a hardware acquisition that would person commanded a precocious value only a fewer years ago. From its bladed and ray creation to nan 11.5-inch 120Hz display, this tablet oozes value and delivers a awesome personification experience.

How it compares

Latest updates

July 30, 2025: Added a caller comparison floor plan comparing nan Blackview Mega 1 to nan Blackview Mega 3. The newer exemplary is bigger, has amended hardware, and a amended camera system. Outdated links were besides replaced.