Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE Tablet Review
Final Thoughts & Conclusion
Tablets are definitely a wave of the future, everybody is on the move these days and everybody wants to stay connected. The Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE tablet is perfect for doing just that. Right now I am able to purchase the Ellipsis 7 4G LTE tablet for as little as $119.99 with a 2 year contract or $299.99 without a contract.
Overall the performance of the Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE tablet was a little lacking compared to that of the Google Nexus 7 we tested along side it. While it may not have been a record breaking performance, the key to a tablet in my opinion is the user experience. Ultimately the user experience was spot on with what I would expect from a $120 tablet. I never really had any issues when I was browsing the web, watching videos, or even playing any of the mobile games I like to toy around with. Granted I don’t play to many of the mobile games out there, I leave that up to my 6 year old (I’m a PC gamer myself), but he’s not a great judge of performance (yet).
The 3.2 mp camera on the back of the Ellipsis 7 tablet was probably the least impressive feature of the Ellipsis 7. The biggest problem I experienced with it was response time, hit the button and it would look like it captured the shot, but if you didn’t continue to hold the shot and Ellipsis 7 tablet still it would come out blurry. This isn’t a camera I would rely on for great shots, it will do in a pinch. Every phone I’ve tested in the past has easily outperformed this camera.
I was really impressed by the Verizon 4G LTE network on the Ellipsis 7 Tablet. The Ellipsis 7 4G LTE hit nearly 60Mbps download speeds during one of the 20 SpeedTest.net runs that I performed. Of all of the mobile devices that I’ve been fortunate enough to look at this is the fastest that I have come across! It wasn’t consistently at 60Mbps, but it was able to manage an average of 21.67Mbps across the 20 runs. This is nearly as fast as the Comcast service I have to my office which the last run was at 29.31Mbps download.
As much as I liked having a tablet on the Verizon 4G LTE network, there is a bit of a downfall to the Ellpsis 7 tablet, it only runs on the 4G LTE network. Verizon does have a great network (and fast as we can see above), I’m not arguing that, but the coverage isn’t perfect yet. Depending on the strength of the 4G LTE coverage of the area you’re at or where you’re going, the Ellipsis 7 Tablet may not have any connectivity. I live in Chicago, so I didn’t have to much of an issue. There was only one point while I was in my families machine shop that I wasn’t able to pick up the 4G LTE network. Whether it was interference from the machines, or just a week signal in the area, it left me without any connectivity since it wont fall back to 3G or Edge networks.
Since we’re on the topic of the 4G network, it’s worthwhile to mention the data plans that Verizon has available with the Ellipsis 7 4G LTE tablet. The least amount of data that is available is the 4GB of shared data. The 4GB plan is only 30 per month and is shared across all devices. Each of the devices on the plan incur a $10 a month line charge. If you’re only running the Ellipsis 7 tablet, your monthly bill would be $40.00. Beyond the 4GB plan, the data plans increase by 2GB increments up to 20GB plans, each step up adds $10.00 to the cost. After the 20GB per month plan, it increases by 10GB to 30GB, 40GB, and 50GB each step increasing in cost by $75.
I do understand that the 4G network is getting to the point that it is the bulk of the coverage in major cities and the surrounding areas so for 99.9% of the people they won’t have any issues. So the decision to save some money and keep the cost down by only running on the 4G LTE network makes sense, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind if you don’t have the greatest 4G coverage. Fortunately the Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE is more than capable of running on your Wi-Fi network or any number of hot spots. If you are running the Ellipsis 7 from a Wi-Fi network, you won’t suffer any issues with speed as the Ellipsis 7 is capable of running 802.11b/g/n.
Legit Bottom Line: At only $119.99 with a 2-year contract from Amazon.com the Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE tablet is a great deal. I never had any significant issues while I was using it, the camera left something to be desired, but it when it came to the usability and user experience it was able to handle everything I wanted it to do with ease.