Panasonic UT-PB1 Review

Panasonic UT-PB1 is an android tablet that does the double duty of an ereader as well. Panasonic is touting the UT-PB1 as a tablet that can purchase content directly without PC. Folks at pcwatch were able to get the unit in their hands and they say that their experience was nothing but fantastic.

UT-PB1 runs Android 2.2 froyo operating system which is two generations behind the current Android version (v3.2) but since this is an ereader and not an Internet tablet, we are not complaining about the use of old OS. Another major glitch is lack of Android market. Fortunately, you can easily install Amazon app store and still download thousands of Android apps from there. UT-PB1 also comes with built in Wi-Fi which lets you browse the web on its brilliant screen.

Ereader experience

The app is wonderful. You can move to the next page either by tapping the screen or by flicking the screen with your finger. When you flick, it does a paper-like animation. You can bring up the setting option by tapping in the middle of the screen. The icons are large in size which makes them easy to tap onto.

Performance, Storage

The Panasonic UT-PB1 is more powerful than Nexus One, Motorola Droid, HTC Evo and Droid X. This was confirmed by the benchmark test.

It scored 2052 which is the highest amongst the bunch. the UT-PB1 also comes with a micro SD card slot that can be used to expand the internal storage. Read the whole review at pcwatch (Japanese)