Kogan Agora ICS tablet: unboxing

By Joseph Hanlon |

So, you want a tablet, but you're not willing to pay iPad prices for one? We hear you, and so does Ruslan Kogan, it seems. The enterprising Aussie entrepeneur is back with yet another budget priced Android tablet — this time with a larger screen and the latest version of the Android OS. We got our hands on one of the country's first units, and ripped back the plastic to see just how much tablet you get for AU$179.

(Credit: CBSi)

No serving suggestions

Kogan's stark white box offers no clues as to what lies beneath the cardboard.

(Credit: CBSi)

First impressions

So far, so good. The new Agora tablet is lightweight and fittingly attractive, compared with other tablets currently in market.

(Credit: CBSi)

Back it up

The chassis is a cool-feeling plastic, designed to look (and feel, somewhat) like a stiff aluminium. It looks great and feels nice to hold. Even the large Kogan branding fits nicely. Again, so far, so good.

(Credit: CBSi)

The small things

There isn't much else in the box, aside from the tablet and the standard assortment of chargers and USB cables. Although, we were impressed to find a USB host adapter included.

(Credit: CBSi)

Ports-a-rama

Unlike some of the more popular tablets, the Kogan includes just about every popular connectivity option available. There is a 3.5mm headphone socket, a micro-HDMI port, a micro-SD card reader and, strangely, two USB ports: one for the Host adapter and another for PC connections.

(Credit: CBSi)

Bare bones Android

This is the homescreen we were greeted with, as soon as the tablet booted up. A clock and a camera shortcut — the absolute necessities. There are, actually, a couple of extra apps pre-installed: a Skype app, a Twitter app and the confusing-titled tool "2160p Super HD player". Is this really a 2K(ish) video player?

(Credit: CBSi)

Benchmarking begins

We have loads of tests to put the Agora through its paces, but this early result isn't great when you compare the 96288 score we got with the ASUS Transformer Prime, or even the 90748 result on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. Then again, this tablet is a quarter of the price, so maybe a benchmark result a quarter of the speed is right on the money?

More on: Kogan, Tablet, Ice Cream Sandwich, Budget, Android

About the author
Joseph Hanlon - CNET.com.au

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8 comments

Latest comments (Add your comment)

Don't ever buy from this MOB Kogan, there products such as there Androids are not compatible , there TV's are out of sink , it's like watching and old Japanese move where there lips are moving but the sound comes later there vacuum cleaners break on first use and worst of all there customer service rates a zero , having to wait over one hour on hold is a joke just like this so called company and you can get there rubbish for a lot cheaper else where which they won't tell you .
Posted by HamoMark
Reply
So far looks great for the price.Can't wait for the video, perhaps it will focus on how this would be good for school?I've been thinking of getting the kids an iPad but don't trust them too look after it, a couple of hundred isn't too much to loose if they damage it or it's stolen.
Posted by Adam86
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Thanks for the review, I was looking for reviews yesterday. Surprised you didn't go into more detail but can appreciate you just got it How about :- screen responsiveness? - video playback (choppy or smooth, format compatability) - any Google play store compatability issues? - was it smooth in multitasking / switching between apps? Thanks
Posted by StuartM5
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I think your comment: "Then again, this tablet is a quarter of the price, so maybe a benchmark result a quarter of the speed is right on the money?" is quite right - I'd be willing to have a tablet like this at this price and not expect to see too much in the way of performance - I would like to see how it performs playing video files and so long as it handles them fine, I'd be happy!
Posted by GrahamL1
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I stopped caring about synthetic benchmarks years ago. They just don't correlate to the real-world experience consumers can expect. A hands-on video of the tablet in action would be far more useful.
Posted by techAU
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We agree with that too. We'll have a video ready early next week.
Posted by Joseph Hanlon
Reply
Nice work Joe, looking forward to your more detailed review/thoughts of how it is to use.
Be interested to hear how the viewing angles are of the screen and overall screen quality.
Posted by Im Batman
Reply
The viewing angles are pretty impressive, though it's not a terribly bright screen. Much better than the screen on the last Kogan tablet by a huge margin.
Posted by Joseph Hanlon
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