Reasons to buy

+
Stylish leather case
+
HDMI output
+
SD card support

Reasons to avoid

-
Runs Android 2.2
-
Heavy build and poor screen
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No physical volume controls

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By Michael Sawh

published 13 October 2011

in Reviews

Can a fashion brand really crack the tablet market? Most dedicated tech vendors can't even crack the lucrative tech de jour so we held out little hope that Pierre Cardin would be any different. Sadly, we were right. Zoot alors

The arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet has made the world of 7-inch tablets are much more interesting place and with a wallet-friendly price it also has the iPad 2 in its sights. The tale of tablets and fashion mixing in the same circles has been a brief and forgetful period in tablet history (remember the Next tablet?). Could the Pierre Cardin PC-7006 tablet prove that you can offer style and substance?

It may not feel antiquated in smartphone terms, but with Android 2.3 Gingerbread or Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablets already available in the same price range we are not sure why people would opt for an older OS. With the standard five homescreens layout, the PC-7006 also appears to be running a custom skin over the top which doesn't improve and already disappointing user experience. Running on the same Samsung 1.0 Ghz A8 processor found in the iPad there's significant zip under the fingers for browsing and navigating, which is certainly one of few positives.

Pierre Cardin PC-7006 tablet features

There's support for both Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) and 3G, but if you want to connect via the latter you will need get your hands on the appropriate 3G Dongle that unfortunately doesn't come in the box. We've yet to see the true benefits of rear-facing cameras on a tablets, but when most have them, we were surprised to see just a 1.3 Megapixel front-facing camera. Results for pictures were less than impressive delivering grainy, drab images. You can also shoot 720p HD video but not let's too carried away, this was similarly grainy in performance.

Other notable features include an E-Book reader, access to the Android Market, Gmail, Google Maps and the standard Android hangouts. We tried out the multimedia player which you can transfer music from your computer, but we wouldn't bother. The sound performance is mediocre at best, and when we plugged in the cheap-looking headphones included sound performance was extremely tinny.

Pierre Cardin PC-7006 tablet Battery

Boasting a Lithium 4400mAh battery you can expect to get around 8 or so hours of use before you have to charge up again, but as we mentioned earlier in the review lack of USB charging means keeping hold of the mains adaptor is a must. In comparison to other 7-inch tablets and other tablets in this price bracket the HTC flyer is touted to have 8-14 hours in standby mode while the PlayBook is around 10 hours, so it doesn't really shine on that front either.

Pierre Cardin PC-7006 tablet verdict

When one of the few positives is the leather-like case included, it doesn't bode well for the PC-7006. It runs on a version of Android which feels aged compared to Honeycomb and Gingerbread and has a heavy build that hampers the overall tablet experience. It may look like a big iPhone 4, but don't be fooled, this is not in the same league as the Apple smartphone let alone any other tablet of its kind. If we had some advice for Pierre Cardin, it would be to stick to what you know, mid-priced suits and leave the tablet business to the big boys.

Michael Sawh studied Journalism and Media Studies at Staffordshire University before joining T3 as a Feature Writer. You can find articles by Michael on the topics of Apple products, Android phones, laptops, bikes, games consoles, smartwatches and much more on T3.com, as well as neat retrospectives on classic tech products, events and game series.