Ainol Novo 7 Venus - Nexus Like

No, that is not a Google Nexus 7 in the picture above. It's a Novo 7, more particularly Ainol Novo 7 Venus. Similarities to the Google Nexux 7 are more than skin deep. This 7-inch Ainol tablet has a IPS LCD HD (800 x 1280) display and a quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor and 1 GB of RAM, just like the Nexus 7.  The quad-core processor in the Ainol Novo 7 Venus is not of the Nvidia/Tegra variety, but a rather built on a Actions ATM7029 with Vivante GC1000 graphics processing unit. But given will cost about half the price of a Google Nexus 7, I don't think anyone will be all that disappointed.

The Ainol Novo 7 Venus does not disappoint in other respects. It comes with Android 4.1.1 JellyBean, not the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean that you can update your Nexus 7 too, but close enough. The battery on the Ainol Novo 7 Venus is a 4000 mAh unit, again a bit smaller than the 4325 mAh unit on the Google Nexus 7. You also loose Bluetooth and GPS.

In some ways the Ainol Novo 7 Venus has better specifications. While you get only 16 GB of internal storage, you get a MicroSD card slot, so you can expand storage beyond the 32 GB of the Google Nexus 7. You also get a mini HDMI port which supports 1080p output. Instead of the one camera on the Google Nexus 7, you get two, a 2 MP primary camera and VGA front camera. While no 3G model is offered, you can plug it to a 3G dongle 

The biggest problem is, you can buy the Google Nexus 7 32 GB locally (Php14,400), while you have to order the Ainol Novo 7 Venus online, which will cost you about US$165, shipped with insurance. Still I would not be surprised if you see this selling on local shelves in the next few weeks for around Php7-8K.