VANKYO MatrixPad Z4 Android 9 Overview

Ever heard of the Vankyo brand before? Me neither.  There's always an "unknown" brand that comes along, and going on reviews looks to be an excellent tablet. However, these days it pays to be suspicious of any new brand that has a mountain of 5 star reviews on Amazon UK. Why do I say this you may ask? Well, basically it is so easy to manipulate the review system on Amazon. Yes, even when the reviews are "verified".

And given that this tablet (the VANKYO MatrixPad Z4 Android 9), and the brand itself, is fairly new to the Amazon tablet marketplace, a trick that some sellers use (but not necessarily this one) to get their product feedback off to a flying start, is to pay for some "verified reviews".

This, in turn, makes that product look great and reels in genuine customers. Another tactic is to give some products away in return for a review. This is completely fine, and many companies do this. But needless to say, these reviews will most of the time be a bit bias in nature because the person has received a free product, so they will "be nice", while listing a few minor annoyances, rather than be brutally honest.

So what does the VANKYO MatrixPad Z4 have specification wise

It has a 10.1 Inch 1280 x 800 IPS display, Quad Core Processor @ 1.5 GHz, Android 9.0 (Pie) pre-installed, 32GB of internal storage space (expandable to 128GB via SD card), 2GB RAM, a fairly good 8 mega pixel camera (rear facing) and a 2mp front camera, WiFI, Bluetooth and a respectable battery life. It also comes with a 1 and a half year warranty.

So what's my opinion on this tablet?

Going on the research I have done, and what I know to look out for on Amazon regarding fake reviews, my opinion is that this tablet is not as good as it looks.

The big majority of 5 star reviews have conveniently added many pictures of the product, and a good amount of them have added video footage of the tablet in use, almost like they were given the product for free in return for an in-depth review that must include either pictures, video, or both. Seems very suspicious to me.

You don't even get that many people posting sample pictures taken from a top of the range camera they just bought from Amazon, let alone that many for a cheap tablet. Not even Apple iPads have that many picture / video reviews on Amazon per 54 reviews. That's the amount of reviews the VANKYO MatrixPad Z4 has as I'm writing this.

It may be a decent tablet, but with how much it costs, and with how dodgy the reviews appear to be, why buy this tablet over the many brands that are not just much more well known,  but tried and tested, and also sit within the same price range. Brands like Samsung, Fusion5, NeoCore, Lenovo and Huawei.

Be Careful When Buying Cheap Tablets

What's the biggest problem with cheap tablets. Is it the manufacturers, the cheap electric components used in the device, or is it the actual companies themselves. Do they go into the tablet business with the wrong mindset and the wrong goals. Most notably, to use the cheapest components possible in each tablet so as to maximise the profit from each sale. A lot of these cheap brands, which mostly originate in China, build a few different models of tablet, fill them with cheap but capable technology and electronics, then launch them for sale online on sites like Amazon.

If sales are slow, that's not a problem. All that is needed is to buy a few fake 5 star reviews to get the ball rolling, and the real sales will eventually start to trickle in. Sorry to burst your bubble if you weren't aware of these types of shady tactics, but that is the sad reality of the situation. They are all the rage in this day and age.

Am I being too harsh? Maybe. Not all cheap tablet brands do this, and not all of them produce completely terrible devices. Example: I'm not saying the OYYU brand of tablets have done this. Actually, looking at their other models I'd say they haven't, because the general Amazon review scores for most of their other tablets is not very good. And their OYYU T11 Tablet / Phablet is actually not a bad device for the price.

The key giveaways for fake reviews are either an excellent review score with not many "verified purchases", review text that seems odd, or a review score that started off with everyone rating five stars and then going downhill as soon as the "real customers" started buying the product. Some sellers are more savvy and will mix it up constantly. Needless to say, this type of deceit is much harder to detect.

However, I've been in this business for quite a few years now, and I've seen so many little known brands come and go. Take for instance, brands like PolaTab and NPOLE, they used to sell tablets under their brand name. In fact, some of the  PolaTab models were pretty good. Where are they now? Well, PolaTab are nowhere to be found and  NPOLE sell a whole range of other products. They have one tablet for sale in used condition.

What I'm saying here is that not many of the cheaper tablet brands originating from China specialise in only tablets. For most of them, tablets are just another product within a long line of products that they produce and sell, from PC accessories and mops, to toothbrushes.

That's one of the main reasons NOT to buy a cheap tablet from an widely unknown brand. There's not much support if things go wrong, and sadly, not much care has gone into ensuring a quality product is being sold to customers. Quality control and reliable parts are lacking. In so many cases, the internal components are just not of a high enough standard of quality to last a long time. Hence why you see so many of the cheaper tablet review scores filled with unhappy customers.

The really really good news for you, as a consumer, is that now in 2018 - 2019, you absolutely don't have to buy a tablet from an unknown brand with a poor review score. That's because brands like Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei now have tablets for sale at the same price as what many of the cheaper "no name" brands cost to buy. In some cases the better, more well know brands, such as the Huawei "T" models, are even cheaper.

So, before you buy a unknown brand just because the spec sounds amazing, and you think that's all your budget will allow, have a shop around for some of the brands mentioned here. I think you'll be surprised at what you can get for the same price.