OS, UI, Apps
A dual-boot tablet, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab can be used in Android or Windows mode. The tablet can easily switch from Android to Windows by selecting ‘OS SWITCH’ from the quick setting panel and vice-versa by selecting the ‘DualOSSwitcher’ shortcut on the Windows Desktop.
Although the Maia Smart Tab is using an older Android version (4.4 KitKat), the UI is fast and responsive. Aside from the Back, Home and Recent Apps buttons, the tablet has an extra Screenshot button on the onscreen buttons, something that I find useful at times.
As with other Windows devices, the Maia Smart Tab comes with a free trial of the Office 365. Of the 32GB internal storage, 24GB is used by Windows and the remaining 8GB is used by Android, this explains why Cherry Mobile kept the pre-installed apps to a bare minimum. On the other hand, users can take advantage of the microSD card and USB OTG support for additional storage.
Camera
The Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab’s rear camera can capture photos up to 5MP while the front camera can shoot selfies up to 2MP. Surprisingly, the tablet allows users to adjust the white balance when taking videos and can even shoot time lapse videos.
Moreover, users can adjust the exposure and the camera even features a timer and scene modes for taking portrait, sports and night photos among others. The tablet can also shoot panoramas.
While the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab’s camera is packed with advanced features, its output is nothing out of the ordinary. The tablet also lacked an auto-focus and flash. Check out some photos taken by the Maia Smart Tab below:
Performance and Benchmark
The tablet’s 1.8 GHz Intel Atom Quad Core processor and 2GB RAM configuration is remarkably snappy and performed really well both on Android and Windows mode. The tablet is able to efficiently handle casual games and apps from Minions Paradise and Lego, to more rigorous ones such as Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8. Paired with a bluetooth keyboard, the Cherry Mobile MAIA Smart Tab is particularly useful for running office productivity software.
Check out below for some of the benchmark scores:
Antutu Benchmark – 35015
Quadrant Standard – 16241
Vellamo
Browser – 2419
Metal – 1202
Multicore – 1401