WickedLeak Wammy Desire Review

Low-cost Android tablets are a dime a dozen these days. There are over a dozen models to choose from and most of them feature similar specifications – 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 7-inch display and 4GB built-in storage is the least you can expect. The WickedLeak Wammy Desire offers a substantially more powerful feature set for an attractive price. This clearly marks the onset of the second wave of budget Android tablets. Let’s find out how exciting is WickedLeak’s latest offering, the Wammy Desire.

Compact design thanks to the slim frame

Design and build quality

The Ubislate 7Ci was the most compact 7-inch tablet we’ve come across so far. This one's a close second. It’s just 9.9 mm thick and measures 19 x 11.5 cm – about as large as a 5x7 photo. This is mainly because the frame around the 7-inch display doesn’t have any physical or touch-sensitive buttons for Home, Menu and Back. They aren’t provided even on the sides, which makes sense because they are a part of the user interface. When held in landscape mode, with the 1.3 megapixel camera on top, you’ll find the power and volume rocker on the left side. These are the only buttons present on this tablet. A 3.5 mm headphone jack is located below the volume rocker. The right side houses the power jack, a micro USB port and an HDMI port. A minor drawback is that this tablet doesn’t charge while it’s connected to the PC; even a micro USB charger won’t help. So, you have no option but to carry a separate adapter while you’re on the move.

Power button and volume rocker are the only buttons on the Wammy Desire

The microSD card slot is hard to spot – it’s placed just below the power jack, along the curvature, and it’s covered with a port flap. The back panel has a matte, rubberised finish with a dimpled texture. The large, white WickedLeak logo is stamped right at the centre. Whether you like it or not is subjective, but if you don’t, you can get rid of it by using your fingernails or a credit card as a scraper – it seems like the logo is screen-printed and comes off too easily.

The overall build of the Wammy Desire is far above par, and it feels quite sturdy when held. Despite the simple, no-nonsense design, this tablet is one of the best looking in its segment.

Features and performance

The Wammy Desire has everything that a budget tablet should have. The configuration is a notch higher than the standard 1GHz single-core processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB built-in storage, which most budget tablets feature. Here, you get a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and 8GB built-in storage. That’s almost twice as fast with double the amount of storage space. Plus there’s the Mali 400 GPU to accelerate graphics, not to mention the latest Android OS v4.1 aka Jelly Bean. As a bonus feature, you get a capacitive stylus as part of the package, but you’d be more comfortable using your fingers to swipe and perform gestures.

Along with the preloaded apps, the ROM takes up around 2.7GB of storage, which leaves you with around 5.3GB for installing applications and storing your videos, music, photos, documents and other data. This storage can be further expanded by up to 32GB via a microSD card. The 7-inch display isn’t extraordinary. It has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, which is similar to what the competition offers. However, the screen is crisp and vibrant, because of which videos and photos look great. However, we noticed that the LCD wobbled at two specific points around the centre with the slightest touch on the back panel. This might be a case with this specific unit, but it was quite distracting.

A capacitive stylus is included in the package

We ran our usual battery of tests to evaluate the performance of this tablet. On an average, tablets with single-core processor log 15.13 MFLOPS in single thread test and 13.48 MFLOPS in the multi-thread test in Linpack. This tablet, with twice as powerful hardware, logged 46 and 66 MFLOPS respectively. AnTuTu reported 7427 points and Nenamark 2 reported 60 fps – both the scores are twice as much as what single-core tablets usually report.

Interface

Thanks to the powerful hardware, the user interface is extremely fluid. It didn’t feel sluggish even after prolonged usage. The stock tablet interface doesn’t have any unwanted widgets other than the commonly used ones such as Bookmarks, Calendar, Email, Gmail, Music, Play Store, Power control and so on. The homescreen doesn’t have any widgets, but you have the option of adding the ones of your choice. You also get a handful of wallpapers, both static and live.

Connectivity

As with most budget tablets, the connectivity options include Wi-fi and 3G. However, the latter is supported via a 3G dongle that has to be connected using the USB host interface. Note that you can also connect input devices such as USB keyboards and mice, external storage devices and USB Ethernet adapters. The Settings section has a separate button to toggle the Ethernet connection. The mini HDMI port allows connecting this tablet to a television, monitor or a projector should you want to watch movies or photos on a large display or show a presentation.

Textured rear panel with rubberised finish. Also note the HDMI and micro USB ports

Media

The stock video player supports various media formats, which include AVI, MP4, MKV, 3GP, H.264, DivX, XviD, MP3, FLAC, WAV and WMA. Full HD videos played without any stutter, but the speaker quality wasn’t up to the mark. It should have been louder and crisper. Even at full volume, you’ll have to pay attention to the sound, because it’s a tad soft. You would be better off with a pair of earphones or a portable speaker.

Bundled apps

Except for the few wallpapers and widgets, WickedLeak hasn’t added much. You only get the basic and most important apps that are part of the stock Jelly Bean ROM. These include Browser, Calculator, Camera, Clock, Gallery, Email, Play Store, Music and Video. WickedLeak should have provided social networking apps, a few popular games and handy utilities such as PDF reader and Office Suite. In this case, you will need to take time out to hunt for apps and be patient while they get downloaded and installed.

Battery life

Wammy Desire comes loaded with a hefty 3,000 mAh battery. To assess the battery life, we first charged the device completely and then played a video in a continuous loop till the battery ran dry. The battery lasted for around 4 hours and 30 minutes, which is very commendable for a tablet with powerful hardware. Next, we threw in web browsing, music listening and media streaming, and this time the battery lasted for around 5 hours and 50 minutes.

Verdict and Price in India

The average price of budget 7-inch Android tablets with the basic feature set is around Rs 4,500, and the Wammy Desire is priced at Rs 6,499. So, you get twice as much powerful hardware and storage space for a difference of Rs 2,000, which is completely justified by the stellar performance and solid build. If you’re planning to buy the best low-cost Android tablet, we strongly recommend the Wammy Desire – at present, there’s nothing better than this tablet. However, you can expect other brands to come out with similar offerings in the next few months.