RasPad3 portable Raspberry Pi tablet review

The Raspberry Pi has revolutionized the IT by offering a cheap but powerful platform to hackers, DIY fans, manufacturers and the stem brigade. Throughout the versions, the material improved with a price flying over $ 35.

Today, the high-end range includes a 64-bit quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM, 4K 4K double display capacity and USB3 host. Of course, such a beast has a lot to offer and it is not surprising that Sunfounder, the Raspaad manufacturer, has decided to refresh this original but surprisingly simple product to support raspberry PI 4.

As the name suggests, the Raspad is a raspberry pi tablet. The first Incarnation, which came out in a 2018 Kickstarter campaign, was successfully funded and gave a rough product on the edges. The 2021 version feels more polished, addressing some of the initial complaints such as the life of the short battery and a better screen.

As the first version, the Raspad3 tries to take advantage of PI 4 interfaces, which makes most of them accessible outside. It also comes with a large IPS screen, an internal battery, a speaker and a fan. This is a great product but for the price of $ 219, we get a kit that lacks pi, which thus limits the experience out of the box.

Price and availability

You can buy the Raspad 3-A directly from the Raspad website with a US / EU or UK plug for only $ 219. The price excludes all local taxes or email accusations that can be taken by any intermediary.

Design

The Raspad3 is shipped to a box containing all the necessary accessories for the construction of the tablet, with the exception of raspberry PI4. Add a keyboard and you could get a portable pseudo for engineers. The unit weighs about 900 grams and has a lower footprint than an A4 sheet.

The RASPAD3 separates three USB3 ports from a single USB3 port of Raspberry Pi. An audio jack with two small stereo speakers complete the sound system.

A gigabit Ethernet port and an HDMI output are also routed from PI at the edge of the case.

Cables for HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports are included in the package. These custom cables connect IP to various boards internally. A screwdriver is also provided to help assembly. A flat cable mounted on a small PCB serves as an extension to the micro-SD memory card. Thermal heatsink for all PI electronic chips as well as a 5V fan are provided. The power is supplied by a universal power supply of 30 W (15V, 2A) supplied with the assembly manual.

Inside the housing, two boards are securely mounted in the gray plastic case. The main printed circuit containing the LCD driver, the USB hub and the power distribution is located on the left side, while on the right side, the control board containing the push buttons, the battery level indicators and The micro-SD socket are present. The remaining components are speakers, a Li-ion battery and a small PCB serving accelerometer. The latter connects to the main PI header and allows the automatic rotation of the screen. The 36WHS battery will provide up to five hours of use for

Raspad.

The Raspberry Pi 4 card is attached to the case with four screws. Most PI ports are used in Raspad with connections between tables performed using cables that are perfectly aligned with connectors. This means that it is unlikely that all cables will come off and disconnect while moving the tablet.

Used

As in the case of many raspberry PI systems, a microSD card must be supplied with the appropriate operating system before the computer can be started. Sunfounder offers this as an image that can be downloaded from their website. The Linux software comes with integrated applications, including Scratch 3, Ezblock Studio and Minecraft. Accelerometer drivers are also included and light the landscape screen in portrait based on the orientation of the tablet. The custom operating system also supports the touch screen to navigate smoothly via installed applications.

Raspad behavior when you press the power button differs from other tablets. Although on, a normal tablet fell asleep on a power button event to save the battery life, but the current Raspad firmware does not seem to support that. Only the display turns off always causing the operation and creating a significant amount of current. LEDs showing the battery level are also constantly powered. The system is completely stopped with a long touch on the power button.

It seems that the Raspad3 did not designed to minimize energy consumption or implement an energy saving scheme. This would be an area to improve future Raspad versions. Another aspect of the tablet that could be improved is the cooling system. The grouped fan is a bit strong and better thermal dissipation using a larger heat sink could have avoided completely.

The IPS 10.1 display “is sufficiently shiny and comfortable for the eyes to be used daily. The sound from the integrated speaker is not for a listening of high fidelity. That said, it will be suitable while watching movies or to play Games. Overall, the unit feels solid and thanks to its large edge, can be placed in standing position without falling.

Since the Raspad is a shell for the IP, its main goal is to allow the IP to be portable.

The fact that most users and general purpose interfaces are originally looking for raspberry PI are also on the side panel increases the tablet functionality. Raspad can be used as a controller for many products. For example, it is perfectly adapted to operate as a 3D printer controller. It is also able to work as an interface of the human machine in an industrial frame. Of course, this will probably be on the desk of a computer hacker connected to Arduinos and other gizmos.

The competition

A tablet based on the Raspberry Pi is not a new idea. The first that happened to the existence taken the form of an LCD screen with a housing that housed a pi. Slap A Li-Ion battery and a rudimentary tablet for an affordable price. Kits exist on Amazon that builds a 10.1 inches display for $ 169.99. But at this price, the battery and the sound system are non-existent while the number of ports is also less than the Raspad.

Like the Raspad3, Cutiepi is another tablet that started with a campaign on Kickstarter. The device is based on the PI 4 computing module with an eight-inch eight-inch LCD battery and 5Ah 5Ah battery, but at $ 229 is more expensive than Raspad.

Another product very similar to Raspad is the reminal available from Studio Studio. Based on the calculation module 4 like Cuttiepi, the remitorial functions have a smaller five-inch display and no built-in battery. It is also at a similar price at Raspad to $ 195 but includes a CM4 module of 4 GB / 32 GB for this price.

Final verdict

 The Raspad 3 has all the ingredients to be an excellent product. The big screen as well as many interfaces from the PI will make an excellent hacking companion / DIY. Weak points are a noisy fan and power management that could do a better job with energy saving functionality.