We were recently invited to attend the launch event of the GalaPad, a very capable 7 inch WiFi tablet  powered by a Tegra 3 SoC. This wasn’t actually the first time we heard of the GalaPad since it has already been out in the Philippine market since at last March.

The GalaPad was released by Galaxy Microsystems through their local distributor channel, Banbros International Inc and has been selling in stores Still, it’s never too late to have a proper launch event and we were able to get some hands on time with this impressive piece of hardware.

Nvidia Tegra 3

[two_fifth]Related: ASUS Google Nexus 7[/two_fifth]

The GalaPad 7 inch WiFi tablet’s main claim to fame is its Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip. It’s an interesting piece of silicon in that it’s designed to optimize power usage so that it only delivers performance when you actually need it rather than run your batter dry before you can really enjoy the tablet. The quad core CPU is technically clocked at 1.3GHz but each core only really hits that mark in single core mode. When it’s working in tandem with the other high performance cores, whether it’s two cores or up to four, it only reaches a max load of 1.2GHz.

In addition to the four high performance cores, there’s also a fifth companion core clocked at 500MHz. This core handles tasks that don’t require too much processing power. For example, it can be used for playing music or videos. When launching an app, one to four high performance cores will handle launching an app for faster loading times and then the companion core will kick in and take over once the app has been loaded and doesn’t need as much processing power. That’s probably why Galaxy Microsystems think they can get away with a 3,500mAh battery on the GalaPad.

Other Key Features

The rest of the specs are what you would expect from a tablet that’s trying to compete with the Nexus 7. There’s 1Gb of RAM and 8Gb/16Gb variants when it comes to internal storage. Aside from WiFi, it also has Bluetooth and GPS, which is much appreciated considering most budget WiFi tablets tend to skimp on those.

The GalaPad is priced at Php9,995 and is already selling in stores. However, the price wasn’t clarified whether it’s for the 8Gb or 16Gb variant. Make no mistake. The GalaPad isn’t a budget tablet, but if you can afford it, you’ll be getting more in terms of performance than if you were to buy a tablet in the same price range from the likes of Samsung, Acer or ASUS.

GalaPad 7 WiFi Specs

  • 7 inch WSVGA IPS display (1024 x 600, 170ppi)
  • 1.3GHz Tegra 3 SoC, 416MHz 16 core ULP GPU
  • Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
  • 1Gb RAM
  • 8/16Gb internal storage, expandable via micro SD
  • 2mp front-facing camera
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
  • 3,500mAh
  • Price: Php9,995

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2 Comments

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  1. Actually the Nexus 7 is faster in gaming, especially Nvidia optimized ones.

    MT6589T has that 20-30% boost that makes it faster than Tegra3 – check out UMI X2, it’s like A919i etc. but with the turbo version of the MT6589.

  2. Mediatek offerings right now like the MT6589 + PowerVr544 (OmegaHD2, A919i) are much much better gaming SoCs. I owned a Tegra 3 powered Nexus 7 and it lagged like Hell in most of the games that I liked