Asus' Rs. 32,999 Transformer TF101 Tablet is Here

Finally, after much speculation and rumors, Asus has launched the TF101 Eee Pad Transformer for a price tag of Rs.32,999 which is presumably the MRP. This pricing is for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, the 3G variant will be launched at a later date. We've also got confirmation from Asus that this price will include the docking station as well. Keyboard sold separately The tablet alone has limited connectivity, however when paired with the docking station, we get two USB ports, a multi-touch touchpad, SD-card reader and a full QWERTY keyboard. The Transformer uses a 10.1-inch IPS panel with 1280x800 pixel resolution and features 10-finger multi-touch support. Powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and with 1GB of memory, 1080p video playback is a non-issue. We also have Bluetooth v2.1 and Wi-Fi ‘n’ for connectivity. Unfortunately, we’ll be getting Honeycomb 3.0 for now, so some sluggish behavior is to be expected.

Your Tablet Choices Available on the Shelves 2

With a fresh batch of tablets due to arrive in the months to come, we as consumers are once again spoilt for choice as every manufacturer is trying their best to out-do the competition with price cuts, freebies etc. Galaxy Tab P1000 With its elder brother all set to make its debut anytime now, the Tab P1000 is still a good option for those who don’t want to spend too much and require a more compact form factor. You can buy the 3G version of the Galaxy Tab P1000 for Rs. 24,700 which makes it a pretty good deal. Still offers good value A few facts about the Tab P1000: 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v3.0 + EDR and A2DP 3.1MP rear AF camera with LED flash, 1.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid/H.264/H.263support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Viewsonic Viewpad 7 Viewsonic’s Viewpad 7 has the potential for a decent tablet but it was too overpriced for a 7-inch form factor. To add to its woes, it's quite underpowered as well, if you think about the measly 600Mhz CPU. We just got a update from Viewsonic regading the pricing which has now dropped to Rs.17,999. Unnecessarily expensive The Viewpad 7 includes the following feature list : 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 3MP rear AF camera , 0.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. MP4 and 3GP support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Viewsonic Viewpad 10 The Viewpad 10 is a completely different beast compared to its younger and more timid sibling. This tablet lets you dual boot between Android and Windows 7 and instead of an ARM CPU, it's powered by Intel’s Atom N455 processor. The Viewpad 10 is priced at Rs. 30,000 with 16GB built-in memory and Wi-Fi only. Windows or Android? How about both The Viewpad 10 Features: 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 1.3MP forward facing camera HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Olive Pad V-T100 The Olive Pad and the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 are practically identical as the OEM that's built the tablet appears to be the same. It is cheaper though at Rs. 24,900 for the 3G version, mostly due to the fact that  they don’t have to charge a premium for the brand name. Affordable 3G tablet The Olive Pad has the following features : 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 3MP rear AF camera , 0.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. MP4 and 3GP support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Zinglife E-Pad ZL-101 The E-Pad could have sold really well with the whole iPad look-a-like design but sadly it's not the most user friendly tablet. It does manage to playback 720p videos smoothly though, I’ll give it that. The pricing is good for a 10.1-inch tablet at just Rs. 15,000 but honestly, I would give this one a skip. Buy it if you dare Some facts about the E-Pad ZL-101: 10.1-inch resistive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP VGA forward facing camera for video calling. HD video playback Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Creative ZiiO 7 Last but not the least we have Creative’s own ZiiO 7 PMP. I refuse to call it a tablet since you can't really do much beside watch videos or listen to music. It packs in a great audio chip, the X-Fi, which helps quite a bit for music and videos. It’s a little pricey at Rs.17,999 but it’s any day better than the Zinglife. A good PMP, but that's about it It packs in the following features: 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels  Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP VGA forward facing camera for video calling. H.264, MPEG4, WMV9, MOV, AVI, MKV support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB That's all for now folks. Be sure to read up on reviews before you make a buying decision. It's recommeded to try out the tablets before since many of them may look identical on paper but the real world experience can differ greatly.

Bangalore Based EAFT Launches 10.1-inch Android Tablet

It’s been hard enough trying to make a choice when it comes to purchasing a tablet, however, things just got a little tougher with yet another device that has been recently announced for India. The latest tablet to enter into the foray is by another local manufacturer, Bangalore-based EAFT (Everything at your Fingertips) Technologies. Their offering is the MagicTile-Marathon 10.1-inch, NVIDIA Tegra 2 infused, Android tablet.

With features that include full HD i.e. 1080p video playback and Flash 10.1 Support, the MagicTile should be worthy competition for the Xoom, ICONIA A500 or even the iPad 2. However, that might not necessarily be the case here. For one thing the MagicTile has very limited internal storage i.e. 512MB for the OS and running apps etc. and is available with Android 2.2 aka FroYo, which is not upgradable.

According to EAFT’s Engineering Manager for the project, Pankaj Verma – the reason why EAFT has launched the Marathon with FroYo and not Honeycomb, is because of the fact that this version has, so far, proven to be the most stable of the lot. While that’s understandable from a certain standpoint it seems a bit that even Gingerbread was not an option seeing as NVIDIA’s 1GHz Tegra2 processor is quite capable of handling it.

Could it really take on even the ICONIA A500?

The lack of ‘GB-capacity’ memory is what will automatically take it out of the running with the big boys like Motorola, Apple, Acer or Samsung. What the MagicTile, or Marathon does support is USB 2.0 connectivity, which will allow you to connect a pen drive up to 16GB for added support. If that isn’t enough, you can also thrown in a 16GB microSD card. The USB port can also be used to attach a keyboard or mouse, which means it has only FAT32 support and not NTFS for hard drives.

With regards to media, the device is capable of reading AVI files and H.264 formats in full HD. EAFT is also providing customers with their own App Market for downloading applications (hopefully the device will also come preloaded with the native Android Market as well). The MagicTile is also equipped to handle 3G connectivity but will have no calling functionality, it’s strictly for data.

Here’s a quick look at the specs -

• 10.1-inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution
• 3G for data only, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi,
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• GPS with aGPS support
• USB 2.0 with plug and play capability
• 1.3MP camera
• HDMI out with 1080p video support
• MicroSD card support up to 16GB
• Stereo speakers built in

EAFT has priced the MagicTile-Marathon tablet at Rs. 29,990 (MRP), but it is available at a special online price of Rs. 26,990, since it’s only just been launched. You can get it online at that price here.

Your Tablet Choices Available on the Shelves

With a fresh batch of tablets due to arrive in the months to come, we as consumers are once again spoilt for choice as every manufacturer is trying their best to out-do the competition with price cuts, freebies etc. While it’s not a bad thing to wait a while to decide which one to pick, there are some who are impatient and that’s why we’ve rounded up all the worthy tablets that are currently available in the market under one roof, so take your pick.

BlackBerry Playbook 
If you are a BlackBerry (BB) fanatic then the Playbook is worth considering. As a stand alone tablet, its feature set is a little weak compared to Android-based tablets but when paired with a BB, you get access to a host of new features like BB Bridge for instance. It’s also very compact, making it easy to carry around in your briefcase. There are three memory options available :

16GB - Rs.27,990
32GB - Rs.31,500
64GB - Rs.36,000

Your BB's best friend

Some highlights of the Playbook :

• 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels
• Wi-Fi only model currently available
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with 1080p video recording capability, 3MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• 1080p HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid support
• Stereo speakers

HTC Flyer 
HTC’s Flyer is another 7-inch tablet currently available in the market, so naturally it competes with the BB PlayBook and the aging but still capable, Samsung Galaxy Tab. But the Flyer has an ace up its sleeve as it runs on Google’s Gingerbread (2.3.3) OS thereby giving you greater flexibility in terms of app support or customization. The 3G version with 32GB built-in memory is the only one currently available for Rs. 39,890.

Stylish but expensive for it' size

Some facts about the HTC Flyer :

• 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth v3.0 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with 720p video recording capability, 1.3MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• 720p HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

Motorola Xoom 
The Motorola Xoom is a good option if you’re looking for a 10.1-inch tablet and although it released quite some time back internationally, it still packs quite a punch. Motorola have launched it for a rather steep price in India though. The 16GB Wi-Fi only version retails for Rs. 34,490 where as the 3G version goes for Rs.41,490.

A good 10.1-inch option

The Xoom also features :

• 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 800x1280 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video recording capability, 2MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

Acer ICONIA Tab A500
The competitor to the Motorola Xoom, Acer’s ICONIA Tab A500 offers similar functionality and more by including a standard USB 2.0 port for plugging in pen drives. With the current Honeycomb 3.0.1, it's a bit sluggish to use but the 3.1 update has already started rolling out in some parts of the world and we will be getting it some time next month. The Wi-Fi version with 16GB built-in memory sells for Rs. 27,990.

3.1 update coming next month

The A500 features:

• 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 800x1280 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 5MP rear AF camera with LED flash and 720p video recording capability, 2MP forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support
• Stereo speakers
• Expandable memory up to 32GB

iPad 2
The iPad 2 needs no further introduction. If you love iOS and everything Apple then this is the one for you. The pricing hasn’t changed much since the time it launched but then that's the case with most Apple products. The following are the configurations and their respective pricing

              Wi-Fi Only     3G+Wi-Fi
16GB    Rs.29,500    Rs.36,900
32GB    Rs.34,500    Rs.41,900
64GB    Rs.39,500    Rs.46,900

Still going strong

Some facts about the iPad 2:

• 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen
• Supports resolution of 768x1024 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi support
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP
• 0.7MP rear AF camera with 720p video recording capability, VGA forward facing camera for video calling.
• HD video playback, MP4 support
• Stereo speakers
• No Expandable memory

Update: Acer Iconia Tab A500 Honeycomb 3.1 Update Not for India Yet

Update: We've spoken to Acer about the Honeycomb 3.1 update and it seems that users in India will only get their hands on it sometime in mid-August OTA. So that means there's some more waiting for us. For now, those who haven't yet updated thier devices will receive an update to 3.01. We'd like to thank all our readers for sending in their comments about the upadte.

About two weeks ago we heard that the Acer Iconia Tab A500 was  going to get the latest Honeycomb update sometime in July. In doing so, at least after the update, the tablet’s high-end specifications will be utilized in the right manner, so we hope. Well July is here and it looks like Acer has kept their promise of delivering the update.

The goodness inches closer...

According to AndroidOS.in, the update should bring a leap in system performance. Better support for USB and Bluetooth devices is also expected.  Acer has balanced the focus with support for HTML5 video content and there’s also support for additional video file formats, as well. The goodness doesn’t stop there though, there’s improved Wi-Fi networking and last but not the least, there’s support for Microsoft Exchange server, as well.

That’s definitely a whole lot of improvements that’s being promised. The update is globally available OTA, but we hope it’s also available for the Indian community. If you’ve got the notification for a software update, do let us know whether you’ve found any improvement in the performance. Since we have the product in our labs, we checked for the OTA update however there was none. We'll keep checking of course spo stay tuned.

Getting Under The Hood of a Tablet

Since tablets are light and compact, their primary purpose is mobile computing. This means that they must have sufficient battery life, despite the large display screens and touch interface. Here’s the hardware that helps manufacturers make that happen. Processors The brain of any tablet is the processor that powers its core working. Since most devices are touch sensitive, and need to connect to the Internet and offer a long battery life, the processor should be light on the system. Most tablets today are powered by the processors from ARM or those based on Intel’s x86 architecture. A typical chipset based on the simple ARM architecture can handle 4 million instructions per second at 8 MHz (ARM1) to a maximum of 220 million instructions per second at 200 MHz (ARM9E). The architecture is licensed to a host of companies to develop their own processors, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon, the Samsung Hummingbird, Nintendo, Nvidia Tegra and the Apple A4. Intel has developed the Atom processor based on its x86 architecture. The Atom Z6xx codenamed Lincroft, offers GPU speeds of 1.6 GHz. Operating Systems The heart of the tablet is its operating system. There are several OSs that are device and vendor specific, while others are multi-platform. The most prominent OSs for tablets include iOS (a proprietary OS for Apple devices), Microsoft Windows 7 and Google's Android OS and now the more recent Blackberry Tablet OS or the Playbook tablet. More OS' are expected to come up in the future, which will include the Maemo operating system based on Linux, which is being developed by Nokia, and the webOS, originally developed by Palm, which would now power tablets and smartphones from HP. There are also talks of Chrome OS for Google tablets being developed by Google and HTC. The two mobile opertaing systems that have yet to be spoken of in terms of tablet technology is Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and the on-its-way-out Symbian opertaing system, butyou never know. The Apple iPad's innards Storage Space Tablets come with varying memory capacities, starting from 2GB (Wespro Epad) to, as much as 64GB (Apple iPad) built-in storage space. Tablets usually come with an SD card slot to increase storage space, but that is of limited use if the device is powered by Android 2.1 or lower, as those don’t let you install apps on external storage. Moreover, if your tablet offers USB ports, you can attach an external hard drive to get extra storage space for your data. Touch Screen UI A touch screen user interface is a bit different from the graphical user interface primarily due to touch-based inputs. While this kind of interface is useful to make the command selection via text more accurate, they offer extended features like adding widgets and live wallpaper to make your device more interactive. The iPad features a proprietary UI developed by Apple, there is the TouchWiz UI from Samsung, and the Sense UI by HTC. Sensors The touch screen in a tablet is not pressure-based, and relies on several sensors. The high-end tablets include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor and temperature sensor. The accelerometer or the gravity sensor helps to change the orientation of the screen in terms of how it is held. The ambient light sensor adjusts brightness and contrast of your tablet screen with respect to lighting conditions. The temperature sensor intimates you of your battery heat levels. The Galaxy Tab exposed Connectors Most of the tablets offer several ports like the USB and HDMI, plus audio connectors and SD card and SIM card slots. However, the iPad is one of the few tablets that sports only one outlet that doubles as a charging port for the device. Camera Tablets usually feature a front camera for video calls on-the-go. The camera quality ranges from VGA quality right up to 8 megapixels. With the introduction of the Android 3.0 OS, which supports 3D, tablets are likely to sport dual cameras to help capture 3D pictures and video.