The Wikipad has faced a long and sometimes arduous journey to find its way to market. Originally announced during CES 2012 as a 10-inch Android gaming tablet with a whopping $500 price tag, the Wikipad has scaled back in both dimensions and cost , resulting in a 7-inch display for a more affordable $250. And while there's a distinct appeal in turning a tablet into something resembling a Nintendo Wii U Gamepad, the outcome leaves a whole lot to be desired.

Unfortunately, the Wikipad has essentially fallen behind its main competitor right out of the gate. The Nvidia Tegra 3 mobile processor, while certainly more than capable of running demanding mobile games, is already a generation behind the Tegra 4 chip found in the Nvidia Shield . And at $250, the 16GB Wikipad is only marginally cheaper than Nvidia's $300 alternative, and more expensive than Google's 16GB Nexus 7. Even the Android version that ships with Wikipad--4.1 Jelly Bean--is two versions behind and over a year old.But the conceit of Wikipad is providing more options than its competitors. The 7-inch tablet, when separated from its controller attachment, is a fairly competent Android device with a nicely rubberized back plate. And when paired with the controller via its micro USB port--a pleasantly seamless process--you'll find mobile first-person shooters are overwhelmingly more approachable. There's even a micro HDMI port to play your Android games on the television, and expandable storage up to 32GB with a Micro SD slot.Those initially ambitious concepts still don't translate into a great experience with Wikipad. The controller has an achingly cheap quality, with a flimsy plastic body and even shoddier face buttons clacking with every press. The shoulder and trigger buttons are placed at an inconvenient angle, and the on-board audio in the controller is inexplicably more tinny than an iPhone. Moreover, the review unit sent to IGN had a dead pixel on the tablet's display which constantly glowed red. Quality-wise, the Wikipad feels like one of those horrid knock-off game controllers purchased from Hong Kong.But glaring blemish notwithstanding, the Wikipad tablet display delivers an expected level of clarity and bright images on its 1280 x 800 resolution screen, similar to the display of Google's Nexus 7. And while the Wikipad only features a front-facing camera, its 2-megapixel capture does best the 1.2 megapixel camera found on the front of the Nexus 7. Clearly, you're not going to spend a lot of time taking great photos with the Wikipad, as the image quality is less than stellar.One great feature of the Wikipad is its surprisingly decent battery life. Packing a 4100mAh rechargeable, the device lasted well through hours and hours of play time throughout the day. Recharging the large battery takes some time--which is to be expected--but overall the Wikipad performs admirably in terms of providing a gaming experience without constant dead battery delays; no small feat considering the addition of a USB-connected controller.Aesthetics aside, the Wikipad does provide a physical alternative to the virtual controls of mobile games. For the most part, games like Grand Theft Auto III and Dead Trigger feel more accessible, and the Wikipad is compatible with a growing number of titles. Unfortunately, there's also some occasional latency from the controller, and despite a PlayStation Mobile app packaged with the Wikipad, major games like Super Crate Box were totally unresponsive.Outside of the latency from the controller, the Wikipad runs Android games fairly well. More graphics-heavy titles did crash the device back to the home screen on a couple occasions, but not with a level of consistency to cause major concern. While the Tegra 3 processor is obviously not top-of-the-line at this point, games--when they're compatible--generally run in a similar fashion to the performance found on the similar, Tegra 3-based Nexus 7. But for a device so clearly directed at gamers, albeit Android gamers, the Wikipad needs to excel at handling any game thrown at it for the next couple years. Instead, it's just sort of average.But maybe the most head-scratching feature of the Wikipad is its entirely inconvenient size. The tablet itself is expectedly thin and portable, but you're most likely not buying a Wikipad just for the tablet. When the controller is attached, the Wikipad is a giant, cumbersome monstrosity capable of filling up a lot of space in even a decent sized bag. Where are you supposed to carry this thing? And it's difficult to comprehend just playing Wikipad at home when devices like the $99 Ouya Android console now exist.