Oukitel OT8 review: a cheap and cheerful 4G LTE tablet, what's not to like

Oukitel reached out to me and asked if I was willing to take a look at its OT8 tablet, which becomes available for purchase tomorrow, on January 22. Initially, I was excited to be reviewing what I thought would be a rugged tablet, but as it turns out, it is just a "normal" low-end tablet. That said, it does come with a couple of surprises, read on to find out more.

As can be seen from the specifications, disappointingly this uses the same hardware as the Doogee T10 tablet that I reviewed in December 2022. So it is not offering any groundbreaking features aside from a cheap entry into mobile data support through the use of a SIM card. There's no eSIM support and no NFC or fingerprint scanner onboard either.

What's in the box

The packaging is standard fare, the cardboard box includes:

• OT8 Tablet
• Leather case
• USB Type C Charging cable
• EU plug
• User manual + limited warranty card
• SIM ejector tool
• Stylus pen
• Screen protector (pre-installed)

It feels a bit like Déjà vu, but the packaging, Leather case and accessories are pretty much the same as I remember from the Doogee tablet; honestly, I lose track of these sub brand Chinese companies, the stylus is exactly the same as well, but you do get everything you need to get started, and that is important.

Design

The tablet itself has an all-glass front protected with Gorilla Glass 5, and a plastic rear which probably accounts for the slightly lighter 515g weight versus the Doogee's 570g, the latter of which utilized an aluminum rear. The Type-C USB port can be found centered on the bottom with two speakers on the left and right. In the right bottom corner is the SIM tray access port. On top, another pair of stereo speakers can be found on the left and right of the power button that is situated almost on the top right corner of the tablet. The volume buttons are located on the top right side of the tablet, on that same side on the bottom corner is what looks like a mic hole.

At around half a kilo, the tablet becomes heavy when holding it for prolonged periods with one hand. I would say it is not comfortable to use as an e-reader in bed, as it becomes too heavy for that purpose, and the back side of the tablet is slippery without the case, so you will end up using two hands to hold this device when not using the cover stand. There is also 1 cm of bezel all the way around the screen which is handy because it is easier to not register accidental touches on the screen.

Oukitel has included a pre-installed screen protector and shipped it with a case that can double as a stand in landscape mode for media viewing. It is not as great as some of the tri-folds I have used for a couple of Samsung Galaxy Tabs I have owned in the past as it is also not magnetic. It appears that it only really works in landscape mode and is not really suited to use as a stand in portrait mode, although it is entirely possible to prop it like an opened book.

According to the specs, the screen is certified by TÜV SÜD for low blue light, which means that it protects your eyes in the dark and prevents eye fatigue during long sessions.

Software

The Oukitel OT8 comes with Android 13 pre-installed, which is completely stock, I could not find any third-party apps installed. This tablet even uses the default Android home launcher. All of Oukitel's devices are said to come with 24 months of warranty.

As far as Android support goes, it's poor. I have asked my contact for confirmation, but these companies usually only commit to, at max, four security updates a year for one year. Given that the warranty is a year longer at 24 months in comparison to Doogee, I have asked my contact if that means this can expect an upgrade to Android 14. Update: My contact has said that there will be no upgrade path to Android 14.

As you can see from the above screenshots, it's a pretty stock experience, the last image shows all of the apps that are installed, no third-party bloat is to be seen here!

The OT8 comes with Google Widevine L1 support, which means you will be able to stream in full HD at places like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and more, which makes it an even more interesting choice for media consumption coupled with mobile data support. As I experienced on a recent trip on the Eurostar heading to London from Amsterdam, you will quickly realize that the onboard Wi-Fi is insufficient to stream Netflix, I ended up having to create a mobile hotspot with my phone to my laptop. If I had just the OT8 with me, then the onboard SIM's mobile data would have had me covered. Update: My contact has told me there is no support for HD video support for Netflix.

Benchmarks

Because people like benchmarks, I installed Geekbench 6, which tests single-core and multi-core power, for everything from checking your email to taking a picture to playing music, or all of it at once. The Compute benchmark tests the system's potential for gaming, image processing, or video editing.

As you can see from the above benchmarks, this is no powerhouse. The single core score at 364 comes in lower than the Redmi Note 7 tablet, which launched in 2019, with its mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, which incidentally, is the lowest comparison in the test. The multicore score does come in slightly higher at 1,323, beating the same Xiaomi tablet, which scores lower at 1,264, which again is the lowest example in the test.

I tried to run 3Dmark to stress the battery a bit, but it kept crashing, so this is definitely a device where you will not be wanting to do much in the way of multitasking and fast app switching or any heavy gaming.

The speakers are quite loud and they sound a bit tinny, but thankfully there is a headphone jack, and Bluetooth 5.0 support, so you can connect just about any headphones or earbuds you want. Call quality was good, however the person I called said that I kept dropping out when I was talking, I did not experience this problem on my end, but who is using a tablet to make phone calls anyway?

Battery

After frustratingly waiting for a 100% charge (at 12:44pm it said 6 mins until fully charged, however it finally showed as fully charged at 1pm). I ran a 12 hour YouTube video at 1080p with 40% volume, and after two hours the battery percentage was at 78%, and after 6 hours it was at 32%. I think it is fair to say that the 8,800 mAh battery has enough juice, when fully charged, to get you through three two-hour movies, and you'll still have enough battery to check and reply to emails and browse the web.

Although my test isn't a battery stress test, we're confident that this will last as long, if not longer than many of the flagship tablets that are now shipping with an 8,000 mAh class battery (looking at you Samsung Galaxy Tab S8) but you'll only be paying a quarter of the price for that juiced capability. It has to be said though, that this tablet does not support reverse charging, which would have been a nice option considering most modern phones now do for things like earbuds.

Conclusion

For under $200 you can stick a data SIM in this and not worry about getting on Wi-Fi, which could be useful when traveling and public Wi-Fi is unavailable or just plain terrible, as was the case with my trip on the Eurostar. With laptops and Ultrabooks getting ever smaller and lighter, and smartphone screens getting ever larger, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify lugging around a tablet.

However, with the included mobile data option, it does become an enticing choice for media consumption with Full HD support at a very low price point. Let's not forget the massive battery this thing has too. At 8,800 mAh, it will get you through the day, or a long journey without having to worry about juicing it up or having to switch it off after watching one movie on Netflix. Talking about big things, we should also remember the generous 256 GB of UFS (flash) storage vs the 128GB eMMC on the Doogee T10, but these are easier to upgrade than the chipset.

Right now the MSRP for the Oukitel OT8 is $179.99, which is $10 less than the Doogee variant launched in 2022. In addition, my contact tells me that the first 200 orders will receive a "Smartwatch worth around $60" with their order. You can also share your email address for an additional 5% off code. Shipping to the EU and U.S. is free, and they say on their website that they can fulfill shipment between 3-7 business days if it is stocked at a local warehouse, but it can take longer if it ships from China.

What more can I say? Stick your mobile data SIM in it and enjoy streaming on the go, and there's no tears if you lose it, drop it, or it breaks, after all it's not a $600+ iPad. If you look close enough, there's definitely a few deal-breakers here, especially with the older chipset, and spotty Android support, but it's cheap and cheerful. Get it for your kids first tablet, or as a cheap backup.

Gallery: Oukitel OT8