Murena /e/OS tablet review: Privacy at a price

Inside the Volla is an octa-core MediaTek Helio G99 chip, which while not the fastest mobile chip ever, was fast enough for web browsing and watching 4K video. The only place I see this segment as a limiting factor is in gaming. So, maybe you want something more powerful.

Along with the processor, you get 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. There are no additional configuration options, and disappointingly, there is no microSD card slot for expanding storage. However, there is a sim card slot, and I was able to use the tablet on the T-Mobile network without any issues.

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

For its part, Murena hasn’t added any tablet-specific widgets to /e/OS, the way Samsung and OnePlus have built their own productivity-boosting UIs for their tablets. You can get Android 14 features in the form of split-screen apps, but that’s about it for tablet-specific features. The main attraction, of course, is the privacy-focused /e/OS and the lack of Google services installed on Volla. Alternatively, you can get Murena’s services (optional), or you can do what I do and use your own web services (a combination of Syncthing and NextCloud with some other odds and ends). Either way, you’ll have to start without Google.

Photo: Scott Gilbertson

This means that there may be issues with the applications. As noted in My review of /e/OSSome banking apps in particular seem to be having issues with microG, which is what /e/OS uses instead of Google’s various APIs and tools. On this tablet, I encountered another issue that may be microG related (although it may also be hardware related).