Ainol NOVO 10 Hero vs Google Nexus 10 Comparison Review
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The NOVO 10 Hero ($149 in our store) is Ainol’s first attempt at a 10-inch high-end Android tablet , similarly the Nexus 10 is Google’s equivalent. So it would make perfect sense to compare the two, right? That’s just what we’ve done. Here’s our Google Nexus 10 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 comparison review . Just keep in mind, Ainol already released NOVO 10 Hero II Chinese version in January. The English edition of Hero II should come out very soon. Hero II is more a direct competitor of Nexus 10, while Hero is more like Nexus 10 size tablet with half price and 3/4 of the performance.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero : Price
Both the Nexus 10 and the Ainol NOVO 10 Hero come with 16GB and 32GB storage options. The cheapest version of each tablet are the 16GB models, which are priced at $219 for the NOVO 10 Hero and $399 for the Nexus 10. Basically NOVO 10 Hero is about HALF price of Nexus 7 . Both doesn’t work 3G version, but Hero support 3G dongle via USB port, while Nexus 10 doesn’t have USB port at all, and it is not 3G compatible. It’s worth nothing that the Nexus 10′s price is subsidised by Google in an attempt to lock customers into spending money in it’s Play store, so you really are getting a bargain in terms of its build/spec, but still you are paying double the price than Ainol NOVO 10 Hero.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Built Quality
Nexus 10 is built by Samsung. It’s quite solid. Ainol is also famous for its high built quality and low price. However, you feel you can bend Hero a little bit if you want. That’s just our feeling. Overall Hero’s quality is close to Nexus 10.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Dimensions
There’s not an awful lot of difference between the Nexus 10 and NOVO 10 Heroin terms of size and weight, to the naked eye it would be pretty hard to say which one is bigger/smaller for definite. We can tell you that the the NOVO 10 Hero is in fact slightly smaller in terms of height and width than Google’s tablet, but the Nexus 10 is significantly thinner. NOVO 10 is heavier, because it uses a bigger battery than Nexus 10. The NOVO 10 Hero measures in at 262 x 178.3 x 9.5mm and weighs 669g. The Google Nexus 10 is 263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9mm and weighs 603g.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero : Screen
Perhaps the biggest difference between these two tablets is the screens, in this round the Nexus 10 wins hands down. Both screens are jet over the 10-inch mark, but the real difference can be found by comparing the two’s pixels per inch (ppi). The Nexus 10 has just over double the number of pixels, coming in at 300ppi next to the Ainol NOVO 10 Hero ’s comparatively puny 149ppi. For the screen nerds out there, the Ainol NOVO 10 Herohas a 10.1″ WXGA (1280×800) Corning Gorilla Glass screen, and the Google Nexus 10 has a 10.05″ (2560×1600) WQXGA Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen. To be fair to the Ainol NOVO 10 Hero , it looked pretty good during use too, but if it’s pimple-showing clarity you’re after then the Google Nexus 10 is the tablet for you here.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Processor and memory
The Ainol NOVO 10 has a dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz based on ARM Cortex-A9, with 1GB RAM, yet the The Google Nexus 10 comes out on top here again, as it features a 1.7GHz Exynos 5250, a dual-core processor based on the ARM Cortex-A15 architecture, it also has 2GB of RAM. However, we don’t see any visible difference between those two for most of the applications, such as browser, photo, and office. That’s probably because Nexus 10 has 4X more pixels to drive.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Storage
As mentioned above, both tablet are available to buy with 16GB or 32GB of storage. The only difference is that the Ainol NOVO 10 Herohas a micro-SD card which allows you to add an extra 32GB of expandable memory.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Camera
Using a tablet to take pictures is still a bit of a weird concept to us, nevertheless if your tablet has a camera you’re going to want it to be a gooden. In the camera stakes it is yet another round for the more expensive Google Nexus 10, with its 5Mp rear facing camera and 1.9Mp front facing camera , it also has a flash. The Ainol NOVO 10 Hero however has no flash and an inferior 2Mp rear facing camera and a VGA front facing camera .
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Connectivity
Both tablets come with 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as standard. The Ainol NOVO 10 Hero work with 3G dongle through its USB port, whereas the Nexus 10 doesn’t offer this option. The Nexus 10 offers NFC (near field connectivity), while the The Ainol NOVO 10 Hero doesn’t. Ainol NOVO 10 Heroalso have mini HDMI port (come with a HDMI cable as the free gift), so you can connect it to your big screen TV to either play games or movie. It actually support up to 4K Super HD video output – only the top end TV from SONY can play 4K HD video.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Software
Part of the reason Nexus hardware exists is so Google can sell Android devices that are free from manufacturers’ clutter/bloatware, and that’s exactly what the Nexus 10 and Ainol NOVO 10 Hero demonstrate. Both Nexus 10 and NOVO 10 Hero are running the latest Android OS, Jelly Bean. Ainol NOVO 10 Hero also support hardware rendered FLASH, while Nexus 10 doesn’t support. You can watch videos in the browser on Ainol NOVO 10 Hero. From our time with the two tablets , we can see we prefer NOVO 10 Hero a little bit more. Although Ainol NOVO 10 Herothat we carry is the English edition for oversea market – it has English usual manual, box, and warranty card, it shares the firmware with Chinese version. Ainol just set the language into English. Because of this there are some Chinese apps pre-installed in the tablet. If you don’t like them, you can simply disable them in Settings-Apps. We found the tablet runs faster after we disable those Chinese apps.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Battery
The Nexus 10 has the slightly better battery here too, with its 9000mAh battery giving it the ability to run for a few days of moderate use. That said the Ainol NOVO 10′s 8000mAh battery is no chump either, thanks for less pixels to drive, and will easily last well over a day of similar use.
Nexus 10 vs Ainol NOVO 10 Hero: Case
Nexus 10 has a plastic case. Ainol NOVO 10 Hero has a metal case . The metal case on Hero definitely gives the tablet the high end looking.
Conclusion
Nexus 10 is definitely the best 10 inch Android tablet in term of speed and resolution. If you love Android and have extra dollars to spend, then it’s definitely your best choice. If you only have half the budget, but still want a tablet with the same size and very good performance, then Ainol NOVO 10 Hero is definitely your choice. If you want to play games and movie on your big TV screen, then you have no choice – only Hero can do that for you. If you want expanded storage, you have to choose Ainol NOVO 10 Hero. If you want 3G, you have to choose Ainol NOVO 10 Hero. If you want to continue watching FLASH video or playing FLASH games in browser, you have to choose Ainol NOVO 10 Hero.