I’m currently looking to expand into the online retail sector, and looking at suppliers of quality tablets, smart phones, PCs and laptops.

If you are interested, take a look at: No Nonsense Computers

In this case, I was looking for a high-end 7 inch Android tablet, and thought I’d found the right one.

It had good specifications, and the manufacturer (Champion Asia) seemed to have a good reputation.

FYI, the tablet was 7″, 1024 x 600 resolution, a dual-core 1Ghz A9 CPU, 8Gb storage, built-in 3G / phone, 4000 mAh battery, WiFi, 3.2 Mpixel camera (rear), 2.0Mpixel camera front, so I should also get 4 – 5 hours of life from the battery.

So, just to be sure, I order a sample (its quite expensive, so its best to check things out first, before sending goods to customers).

Well, I was very dissappointed.

Why?

Well here is a list of minor and major problems and annoying features:

• Once the tablet starts, everything is in Chinese (since I know my way around android, I was able to switch to “Australian”).
• The microphone would sometimes stop working (needing a reboot to fix, until it stops again).
• Battery life was awful (30 minutes). After decreasing the brightness and disabling the 3G phone/SIM card, I could get 1 to 2 hours.
• A corner of the display becomes unstuck (lifts slightly). By pushing it down it re-sticks for a few hours, before it pops up again.
• I decide to dismantle the unit, to see if I could re-stick the display (cannot be fixed, as it seems the frame is slightly distorted), but then I notice that the battery says 3850mAh!!! Thats not the 4000 mAh they are advertising!
• The front and back cameras are badly out of focus… the resolution is correct, but everything from distant objects, down to 1 meter away are blurry and worse than a 1.0Mpixel camera.
• Refund is only offered if I could “please trust them” and buy another unit, and that unit is also faulty.

Yes, I know what most of you are thinking: if you are going to buy goods directly from a Chinese manufacturer, there can be great risks.

In this case, the biggest problem was the cost of a faulty unit.

Next time, I’ll be looking at the lower end of the market, so I can afford to get a few bad samples.

Yet what I find most surprising, is that I would expect a manufacturer to make an extra effort to provide a good sample, even if the standard production quality is low.

Anyway, Champion Asia have lost me as a customer, and I hope other potential customers think carefully before committing to this company.