Murena /e/OS Tablet Review: Privacy for a Price

I can't stand iOS devices, and I don't much like Google’s Android system, either. As you might imagine, this makes shopping for a phone or tablet difficult. Fortunately there's the GrapheneOS project, which means I can use a Google Pixel phone without Google, but there's never been the equivalent for tablets. Technically you can load GrapheneOS on a Pixel tablet, but the Pixel tablet is too small for entertainment purposes. (In my house, the primary use for tablets is watching baseball games.)

Earlier this year Murena, the company behind /e/OS, began selling a tablet that's both Google-free and bigger than the Pixel. It's not perfect, but after months of testing I'd call it the best privacy-respecting, de-Googled tablet you can buy right now.

A Tablet Without Google

Murena's /e/OS-based tablet was developed in collaboration with German-based hardware maker Volla. The version Murena sells comes preloaded with Android-based /e/OS (see our full review of the phone version of /e/OS), which has some optimizations for tablets and offers (optional) integration with Murena cloud services as an alternative to Google.

The Volla tablet has a 12.6-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel, 240-ppi screen that's plenty bright and sharp, and has pretty color depth. It might not win any accolades from photographers or graphic designers, but that's not really the market here. It's great for watching movies, browsing the web, doing the sort of office work people do on tablets, or, in my case, watching MLB, although there is an issue with that which I will get to in a bit.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson