India is warming up to tablets. The sales are at 8000 units per month, but that will only pick up when two things happen – hardware prices fall and so does the data plans. Hardware prices have a wide range right now. The cheapest can go for Rs. 8000 (check out on Ebay, you may get it even lower) and the most expensive one can run up to Rs. 40,000. The data plans, lets just say, one hasn’t settled yet – subscribers and providers alike.
So what does this nascent market look like? It is not the most vibrant of the markets like in America, Europe or China. It is picking up slowly. Indian consumers had a chance to buy from a choice of 10 tablets launched at various stages. Two new tablets which have received rave reviews across – iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom – are rumored to hit Indian shores. The new tablets not withstanding, India has seen some decent tablets. It all started with Olivepad and reached the crescendo with the launch of iPad. In between, there were quite a few tablets. Let’s take a look at them all.
Olivepad
Olivepad is the pioneer. It could probably be the first tablet to be launched in India. Priced at Rs. 25,000, Olivepad packs in a lot of hardware. OlivePad is ideally suited for mobile internet and browsing with 3.5G HSUPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It comes with a 3 megapixel in-built camera and a front camera. Olivepad comes with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen.
Binatone HomeSurf
Dubbed as poor man’s iPad, Home Surf has 128 mb RAM, ARM11 667 MHz processor and 2GB internal storage and an 8-inch resistive screen. Built-in Stereo Speakers and microphone, Li-Ion Rechargeable battery which can support up to 4 Hrs video playback on full charge and one miniUSB port. Cost : Rs. 8995. More
Infibeam Phi
Phi runs ARM9’s 600 MHz processor with 8GB storage and 256 MB RAM. Though, it has a 7-inch resistive touch screen. Phi has Wi-Fi but doesn’t have Bluetooth or microphones on-board. Infibeam Phi costs Rs. 14999.
Accor @Pad
7-inch TFT Full touch display, Built-in Wi-Fi 2GB flash memory. Expandable to 32 GB through MicroSD card, battery backup : 4 to 5 hours, USB ports available – Can connect external mouse, keyboard or hard drive and Ethernet. @Pad comes with 128 MB RAM and is powered by 400 MHz VIA VM8505. Price : Rs. 9999.
Wespro ePad
At Rs. 7999, this is still the cheapest tablet launched in India. Wespro pad has 7-inch resistive touch screen, VIA WM8505 400MHz, 2GB NAND flash memory, WiFi, 128 MB RAM and Ethernet connectivity. But you can imagine at 400 MHz there is not much you can do with it !
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Launched at a price of Rs. 37,000, Galaxy Tab has settled at a price of Rs. 24,900. Though Olivepad was launched much earlier, Galaxy Tab was the one which created flutter. Probably the ad spend of Samsung and the ‘star power’ of Karan Johar helped Galaxy Tab reach that status. Galaxy Tab’s specs include : 7” TFT-LCD, front-facing and rear-facing cameras, 1GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi and in-built speakers. Read our Samsung Galaxy Tab Vs Olivepad comparison article.
Notion Ink Adam
A 178 degree rotating swivel camera, a touchpad at the back, pixelQI screen to facilitate sunlight reading and a radio to go with it. All these are features of Notion Ink Adam. Though Notion Ink isn’t retailing at any stores, there is a strong family sentiment in selling the tablets. The tablets are sold to people who comment on Notion Ink blog. A nice way to get around the supply problem.
Apple iPad
Two weeks after iPad was launched, the price was dropped by 3K. The cheapest iPad is available for Rs. 24500. iPad has a 9.7 inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixel and a lot of apps which Android tablets can only dream of. Everyone just love to have one of these. Enough has been said about this tablet.
Motorola Xoom, the first decent Android tablet and iPad 2 are rumored to be hitting Indian ports sometime soon. Until that happens, these are the noteworthy tablets India has seen and bought.
