The Hisense Q5 RLCD tablet is unique in that it comes with a Reflective LCD or RLCD display, which, quite like E Ink displays, has almost zero glare and is hence extremely eye-friendly. It was the first to come with a Reflective LCD or RLCD monochrome display. Going by its very name, the RLCD display is completely reflective in nature and comes with no backlight or front light feature of its own.
The display is entirely dependent on ambient lighting for its illumination. What that means is, the brighter the external lighting condition, the more is going to be visibility of the display. That way, it is perfectly readable when outdoors or even in bright sunlight conditions as well, situations where the LCD displays would usually seem washed out. Another inherent positive with RLCD panels is that they have much higher refresh rates, something that can be considered one of the biggest banes with E-Ink panels.
Specifically, the Hisense Q5 comes with a 10.5-inch display having a resolution of 1280 × 800 pixels and 150 PPI pixel density. The display has a 16:9 aspect ratio and includes a glass and matte screen protective layer on top. The integrated gyroscope will ensure the display orientation would flip automatically depending on whether you are holding the device in landscape or portrait mode.
Also, while the display is dependent on an external light source for its visibility, it tends to take on a different hue depending on the ambient light. For instance, the displays take on an orange hue when used outdoors while under LED light, the screen tends to have a blue hue. The layer of glass ensures there is some amount of glare which you will have to manage by tilting around a bit depending upon the angle that the light is incident on the display. The matte screen protector does its bit to cut the glare, but it still falls short of achieving the desired result.
The rest of the specs include an Octa-core UNISOC Tiger T610 processor that works in unison with 4 gigs of RAM and 64 gigs of storage, the latter being further expandable to 128 GB via microSD cards. Connectivity options with the Q5 include Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE, and Wi-Fi. There is a 3.5 mm headphone slot as well as an HDMI port that will let the tablet be connected to a TV or a monitor for use as a secondary monitor. Power comes from a 5050 mAh battery with 5V/2A quick charge support. The tablet runs Android 10 and weighs a quite convenient 490 grams. There is also a 2 MP front and 5 MP rear-facing cam.
The Q5 was first introduced in 2020 and that shows in its specs which have already started to look a bit dated. Interestingly, the tablet was discontinued soon after its launch but was relaunched again within just months. Now the company has made available fresh stocks of the tablet though it would have been a whole lot better if it had upgraded the internals as well. In any case, the tablet right now is available to buy via the Good e-Reader Store for $499.99. Book your before stocks run dry again.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
