Like it or not, 2012 will be the “Year of the Tablet,” as far as the holiday season goes. Like digital picture frames a few years ago, cheap tablets from brands you never heard of will find their way into the hands of millions of gift givers this December.

First off, I must say I am not promoting any particular tablet, or even saying you should buy a tablet. However, 60-90 bucks for a big Android 4 device, whatever it does, seems like a heck of a deal. In this article I wanted to quickly share the differences between two version of a tablet brand that you have probably never heard of (among many others) known as Visual Land.

Prestige 7 Versus Prestige 7L

There are 3 simple differences between the Visual Land Prestige tablets. The introductory 7L, or Lite version, has a slower processor, is missing the mini HDMI TV-out connection for connecting to your flat screen TVs or monitors, and is for some reason available in one different color than the regular 7 edition. I guess expensive market research says more cheap people like pink!

Solid Tip: Note that the mini HDMI TV-out will allow you to send 1080P video to another display, even though the Visual Land Android 4.0 7 inch tablet is only 800×480 resolution.

Presitge color comparison

Direct Comparison

  • 7 has white as 5th color, 7L has pink
  • 7L has 1 GHz CPU, 7 has 1.2 GHz
  • 7L does not have a mini HDMI TV-out

That’s it! In a marketplace flooded with cheap tablets, you now have a little more information! Happy Holidays.

Same Hardware Otherwise

In case you aren’t familiar, these two Android 4.0 tablet versions share the same hardware specs other than the processor and connector:

  • Android 4.0
  • 8 gigabytes storage
  • MicroSD card expansion up to 32 gigabytes
  • 512 megabytes DDR3 RAM
  • WiFi enabled
  • 1 speaker, 1 headphone jack, 1 mini USB, 1 mic built-in
  • 1.3 megapixel front camera
  • 5 point capacitive touch screen
  • 16:9 800×480 pixel 7 inch screen
  • battery life of 8 hour use or 5 day standby
  • Adobe Flash 11 IS installed on these

Solid Tip: A final note- “Android Market/Google Play is not currently available on the Prestige… we’ve included the GetJar market…” According to tablet forums, GetJar is a decent market application among a few that are installed on tablets like these.

You can also use app stores from Amazon, “APKTOP”, “SlideMe”, and “1Mobile.” If you want Android Marketplace, then you will have to “root” or “jailbreak” your tablet.