The Oukitel OT5 is a great bargain for a tablet that can serve many needs.

's key takeaways

• This is a review of the Oukitel OT5 Android tablet, which starts selling on November 11 for$179 on the Oukitel site .
• This tablet has an incredible battery life and a buttery smooth display that is sure to please any Android tablet user.
• The cameras cannot compare to those of costlier devices.

Android tablets get a bad rap -- and there's a reason for that. For the most part, Android tablet hardware simply cannot compete with Apple. 

Where Apple focuses on premium, flagship hardware, most Android tablets tend to lean heavily into the budget-friendly zone. And that approach is great because it makes Android tablets affordable. But for those people looking for a more advanced experience, Android tablets are a hard sell these days. Often they include underpowered CPUs, not enough RAM, or displays that do not impress.

Also: These are the best Android tablets you can buy

Every so often, however, I run into an Android tablet that punches above its weight. Don't get me wrong, I've never used a sub-$200 tablet that checked off every box. But once in a while, a tablet comes along that ticks most of the important items.

To be clear, I don't need a table with a best-in-class camera because I don't tend to use tablets for video or photo purposes. What I do need is a table with enough resources to function without lag and without crumbling under the weight of multitasking.

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The Oukitel OT5 tablet

This 12-inch tablet impresses in enough categories to make it a no-brainer recommendation.

I need an Android tablet that makes it easy to work with the Google suite of tools, read news, work with my teleprompter, and watch the occasional video. I also need a tablet with a solid battery life.

So, when someone from Oukitel reached out to me to review the OT5 tablet, I was more than willing to give it a go (assuming it would underwhelm). When I received the tablet, I fired it up, connected it to my wireless network, associated it with my Google account, and had a play.

Also: The best cheap tablets

To my surprise, this sub-$200 tablet really impressed me. 

No, it's not going to best Apple's flagship tablet, but the OT5 can certainly stand toe to toe with any mid-range Android tablet -- and even some flagship devices.

The specs

Before I dive into my experiences with the tablet, let's take a look at the specs:

• 12" 2K display at 2000 x 1200 resolution that is T