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

Inside the Volla is an octa-core MediaTek Helio G99 chip which, while not the fastest mobile chip on the market, was fast enough for browsing the web and watching 4K video. The only place I would consider this chip a limiting factor is in gaming. For that, you’d probably want something more powerful.

Along with the processor, you get 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage space. There are no additional configuration options and, unfortunately, there is no microSD card slot for expanding storage. There is, however, a SIM card slot and I was able to use the tablet on T-Mobile’s network without any problems.

The version of /e/OS that comes with Volla is based on Android 14, which is a little late at this point, but it’s at least the version that saw Google finally add some features that make it easier for developers to create apps for big screens. All applications taking advantage of these features should work fine on /e/OS.

For its part, Murena hasn’t added any tablet-specific tools to /e/OS, in the same way that Samsung and OnePlus have built their own productivity-enhancing user interfaces for their tablets. You get stock Android 14 features in the form of split-screen apps, but that’s it in terms of tablet-specific features. The main appeal, of course, is the privacy-focused /e/OS system and the lack of Google services installed on the Volla. Instead, you get Murena’s services (optional), or you can do what I do and use your own web services (a mix of Syncthing and NextCloud with a few other odds and ends). Anyway, you can get started without Google.

Photography: Scott Gilbertson

This means that there may be problems with the applications. As I noted in my review of /e/OS, some banking apps in particular seem to have issues with microG, which /e/OS uses in place of Google’s various APIs and tools. On this tablet, I encountered another issue that could possibly be microG related (although it could also be hardware related).