New $250 Verizon Ellipsis 8 HD tablet boasts Snapdragon 617 and 3GB of RAM

By Christian de Looper Published November 11, 2016

Verizon Store — Digital Trends / Robert Nazarian

The Verizon Ellipsis tablets have been around for a while, but they generally get lost in the mix considering their largely boring hardware. A new device in the Ellipsis lineup has been released touting somewhat improved specs and showing that you shouldn’t totally discount Verizon when looking for a new tablet — you should just mostly discount it.

The new tablet is called the Ellipsis 8 HD, and it boasts a 1,920 x 1,200 LCD display along with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, which can be expanded on with a MicroSD card.

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When it comes to the device’s processor, it features an octa-core Snapdragon 617 chip, which is a serious step up for the series. Previous Verizon tablets didn’t even have named processor models, although they were probably built by MediaTek, so it’s nice to see Verizon switching to a chip that it’s actually proud enough to name. Still, while Verizon touts the processor as being “high-end,” it’s clearly not — it’s much more of a midrange processor. There’s nothing wrong with that, to be sure, but let’s keep things honest.

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The design of the tablet isn’t anything special — the manufacturing is handled by ODM Quanta — but as far as $250 tablets go its not that bad.

In general, the Verizon Ellipsis 8 HD doesn’t seem all that bad. Sure, it’s not a flagship model by any means, but it also doesn’t have a flagship model’s price. If you’re in the market for a midrange tablet that can do basic things like browse the web, go on social media, reply to emails, and watch YouTube videos, this might be the device for you. As far as software goes, the device runs Android 6.0.1.

You can get the Verizon Ellipsis 8 HD from Verizon now for $10.41 per month, or $100 on a 2-year contract. Alternatively, you can just spend the $250 and get it outright.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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