Tablets – Tech Raman

Asus ZenPad 7.0 Review [Z370CG]

Lakshmi Rajan — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 11:52:18 +0000

Couple of seasons back, tablets were tipped to replace the laptops but then the Smartphones grew in size and the tablet market shrunk. The increasing popularity of 2-in-1 laptop segments compounded to the tablet’s woes. Even if the momentum is with the XXL Smartphones, the tablet market cannot be ignored. At my home, my son and mom likes the tablet for media consumption and I often come across many who uses tablet even as a primary device to make calls. The later segment is what Asus ZenPad tries to capture with the 7-inch ZenPad Z370CG – a tablet that can be a calling device as well as easy to carry around. I could even fit it into the back of my Jeans pocket! Then there is also the ZenPad 8.0 for those needing a tab bigger display. Asus comes with tons of experience in 7-inch tablets, having build both the generations of the successful Nexus 7tablets, and outside the Nexus family, they had dug into the tablet segment with FonePads earlier. Back in August, they announced the new ZenPad family and it caught my attention. This October, the Taiwanese company made the device officially available in India along with the ZenPad 8.0. Finally, I got the the ZenPad 7 and here is what I think you should know, in case you plan to buy one. The ZenPad 7.0 is priced at Rs 11,999 (US $180) and if you are a movie buff, you should be really thinking of picking the tablet along with the audio cover, the bundle costs Rs 14,999 (US $225) and the cover boasts of a 5.1 channel surround system. Out of the box your get:

Tablet,
7 W Adaptor,
USB Cable,
Warranty Card, User Manual

The screen is WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) IPS LCD. Not an exciting numbers and it translates to 216 ppi. On the other hand, the Mi Pad, which is also similarly priced features a 1080p display. Asus could have given it a fullHD for a better respect. To compensate it, Asus has equipped the display with its Tru2Life technology found in high-end TVs and it does gives the display a respite and also gives a good outdoor readability. The colors are vivid and bright. Also the Asus Truvivid technology helps a bit on the clarity and responsiveness by making the screen a two-layer and fully laminated. Additionally, there is also the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protective layer. There is a noticeable pixelation especially when in gaming but the display is good for media consumption for average use. On the notification shade, there is a toggle for bluelight filter, which when enabled minimizes the blue light emission and helps in reducing the eye fatigue. You can also play around the display color, brightness, color, temperature for a customized experience. The ZenPad 7.0 is not the thinnest block out there but its 8.7mm is not bad either. Its great to hold the and especially if you are used to making calls with it and it weighs 272 grams. The ZenPad 7.0 unit I received is the dual-tone white-aurora metallic combination. The back panel is removable and can be swapped with other Zen cases accessories. The textured pattern adds a dash of character to the device and also makes it non-slippery. The Asus branding blazes on the case. An 8-megapixe rear camera sans the LED flash is placed at the left top corner. Peel the back panel off and you find the slots for the SIM slot and a microSD slot. There is no 4G support, a dampener considering the faster proliferation of 4G of late. The 3450mAh battery is non-removable. The bottom holds the microUSB port and a microphone, the top has the audio jack and the right side has the power button and the volume rocker, both of them are easily accessible even during one hand operation. The front has a chrome trim around the edges, the Asus branding on the bottom and the 2 megapixel front camera along with the speaker grille. In the power department, Asus likes Intel and prefer their chipset for most of their devices including ZenPads. So what we have in ZenPad 7.0 is Intel Atom X3-C3230 Quad-core processor with a 64-bit architecture. It has integrated 3D graphics support and Mali-450 MP4 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, with an option to boost it up further via microSD card. On the software front, out of box there is Android 5.1 Lollipop, with ZenUI giving it a level of customization. I quiet like the ZenUI which retains the stock android experience along with a dash of own flavour. There are touch gestures that include double tap to wake and suspend, draw gestures to launch apps, shake to screenshot and screen cast to send your content to compatible TV. The lockscreen also has quick access to camera, dialer and messaging app and it can be replaced by apps of your choice.

Talking about the performance, the ZenPad 7.0 is no powerhouse but handles the day to day task efficiently. There is no visible lag but where the ZenPad takes a hit is when playing graphic intensive games. The graphic detailing is not the best seen and it shows. Casual games should be ok but this is not clearly meant for serious gaming. It also makes for a good media device to watch movies. Asus says the ZenPad comes with DTS HD premium sound but the in-built speaker does not help. The audio cover makes a huge difference though.

The audio cover is a must-have accessory if you use the tablet mainly for watching movies, streaming music or YouTube consumption. The 5.1 channel surround system enhances the audio experience substantially. The rear panel can be replaced with the audio cover and it combines as flipcase, tablet stand and audio system, It has a built-in power pack with a battery life of 5-6 hours. It comes with a power dongle with microUSB port that magnetically attaches to the cover and can charge the audio cover.

With a 3G SIM slot, Asus comes with calling capabilities. The dialer is what we have seen in Asus Zenphones and also has call recording features. The call quality is good. The One hand mode feature that was seen in some of the Asus Zenphone is missing here but should have been included considering the screen size.

We have seen many tablet users using it to take pictures. To cater to them, the Asus ZenPad 7.0 is equipped with 8-megapixel rear camera with Asus Pixelmaster technology. Lack of LED flash is a downer. For the video calling and selfies, there is a 2-megapixel front camera with a f/2.0 aperture and wide angle lens. The camera app has various modes similar to the ZenFones and we have presets for depth of field, HDR, miniature, GIF animation, low light mode, night mode etc. About the imaging capabilities, it’s just about OK and a far cry from the Smartphones.

Closing the list is the 3,450mAh battery. Asus claims a battery life of eight hours but expect a 5-6 hours of battery life on an average.

Closing call

The Asus ZenPad 7.0 is a decent tablet, it is not a powerhouse and does not offer any compelling single reason to choose it amongst others.. The audio cover makes a point but I doubt it would be a deciding factor when you buy a tablet. In an overcrowded, mid-ranger segment, Asus faces tough competition. It is an average slab, if you are not into serious gaming, it is a decent buy for meeting you day to day tasks and regular diet of media consumption. ]]>

Dell Venue 8 Review

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 14:40:49 +0000

Phablets have taken a bit of shine out of the pint sized tablets (read: 7-inchers) but that doesn’t mean no takers for tablets. The 8-inch display suddenly seem to be the right size for a tablet, bigger than the phablets and still compact than the 10-inch displays. It covers a good middle ground. And that is what Dell Venue 8 offers at a price that might not burn a hole in your pocket. The Dell Venue is a dark, black slab unassuming and bland atleast on the front like most of the Android blocks out there. The LCD display comes with a 1,920 x 1,200 pixels resolution and the the screen measures 8 inches diagonally that translates into a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is slightly unusual for tablets, most of which are 16:9 or 4:3 but I found it to be good. A thick bezels surrounds the Venue 8’s screen. At our review desk, we have the Dell Venue (model 3840) and let me take you through the device and my take on the tablet. The Venue 8’s plastic body feels solid and the rear has a matte finish. There is a 5-megapixel rear camera and a glossy Dell logo very prominent. The textured, narrow circular grooves on the back panel that spread out from the Dell logo, add grip and styling to an otherwise generic tablet design. It’s quiet refreshing and adds a dash of individuality. Along the edge on the tight side of the Venue 8 you find the microUSB port for charging and connecting to your computer, volume buttons and a microphone. On the same side on the other end, you find the slit that conceals the microSD and SIM slot. The slit is quiet a pain to open with bare fingers unless you have a good nail. The Power button is found on the top, next to a 3.5mm audio port. Along the bottom, lies the tablet’s stereo speaker positioned off-right. The Venue 8’s 283ppi density display delivers bright and crisp visuals even when you press your nose to the screen. The colours appear pleasingly saturated, offers good contrasts and lively reproduction, in short, the Venue 8 doesn’t disappoint in the display front. Under the hood of the Venue 8 lies one of Intel’s Merrifield Atom SoCs. The 1.33GHz Atom Z3470 CPU sports a tweaked version of Intel’s Bay Trail architecture, and features two processor cores capable of boosting from 1.33GHz to 2.13GHz. Alongside, a PowerVR G6400 GPU takes on graphics duties, and Dell has mated Intel’s hardware with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of eMMC storage. Out of the box, you get 10.58GB user available. On the software side, the Venue 8 comes with Android 4.4 Kitkat OS. It’s a near-clean version of the Android feels comfortable and right at home with the Dell Venue 8, there is the familiar clock widget in the lock screen and the home screen has seven shortcut icons at the bottom. Swiping down from the top left takes you to the notification drawer where you also gets the built-in MaxxAudio quick settings. Swiping down from the right, opens the quick access settings panel. There are three on-screen soft navigational keys on the bottom that lets you go back, return home and see all open apps. Dell has included many pre-installed apps like Dell cast for to screen cast to a monitor or TV, MaxxAudio, Polaris office 5, Skitch, Evernote, Dropbox, PocketCloud ( an app allows you to connect your tablet to your Mac or PC) On the performance scale, the Venue 8 behaves well while browsing and watching movies. It handled well the fullHD movies. When playing heavy games like GTA2 or Asphalt, though it had difficulty with the frame rates and a marginal lag was noticeable. Quiet a few times, the apps crashed, which doesn’t bade well of the performance. For the money, it delivers fairly well. You can also set up various user profiles and also choose to have restricted profiles which gives access to choosen apps and content that has been assigned to the profile. This comes handy when you handover the tablet to a guest or you want just a few set of apps for your kids to access. I would be the last person to take pictures or make calls with a tablet but with Venue 8 you can do both. Though the Venue 8 (Model 3840) is stated to be a LTE device but it doesn’t support the Indian 4G band. Though, you can use a 3G SIM and it supports voice calls. The call quality is decent enough. The camera set up includes a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera. There is no flash nor auto focus. It delivers modest pictures. The images suffer from over-exposure and lacks a lively feel to it. For video calls and Skype, the camera is handy. Check out the sample pictures below. [gallery columns="4" link="file" ids="8833,8834,8835,8836"] On a final note, Dell Venue 8 (2014) makes for a good mid-range tablet that will serve up all your favorite videos in full HD. Additionally, you can also make video calls if you buy the voice-supported device. I would give the Venue 8, a decent marks for media consumption. It is not blazing fast or feature-rich but a value for money especially for media consumption.

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Eddy Tablet Review – Right choice for your kid?

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:01:47 +0000

Before they even hold a chalk, many kids these days learn to swipe and use a tablet like a duck takes to water. I still remember my son when he was barely two years old trying to swipe at the screen of my laptop and looking at me questioningly when it was not responsive. Even before his mom got comfortable at using a tablet, he was ‘naturally’ quiet at ease with it. Today’s toddlers are undoubtedly tech-savvy. Ask any parent who uses the tablet the most at home, the likely answer would be the kids. It also brings along some amount of concern and anxiety among the parents on the time their kids spend on the tablet as well as the content. The children focused tablets help the parents at ease and bring a safe environment and controls alongside good, learning and fun contents to keep the children engaged. [pullquote]I am going to review it from the point of view of a parent which I think is the right way to approach this niche product[/pullquote]Surprisingly in India, though the tablet segment boomed, none of the brands entered into the kids-specific tablets segment. Metis Learning is the first home-grown company to fill in the space. Here we have their Eddy tablet and for a change, I am going to review it from the point of view of a parent which I think is the right way to approach this niche product. . . Bland. It’s how I describe the design of the tablet. Kids love colors and I would have preferred a dash of colors on the tablet. Even otherwise, the Eddy tablet is pretty ordinary in looks and is way too generic in design. Thankfully, the rear shuns the glossy finish and sports a matte, textured design and is non-slippery. Clearly, Eddy is not dressed to kill. The good news is when you give the tablet to your kid you would most likely be cocooning it in the silicone bumper case that comes along with the tablet. I received a bright red bumper case and is quiet nice. Atleast, my 5-year old son felt so. I for one was not worried when my the little one was walking up and down the stairs holding the tablet. But one can buy a bumper case for any good tablet so the dressing is not the forte of the Eddy tablet then what is? Read ahead. Let’s come to the display. To begin with, the Eddy sports a 7-inch IPS display with a 1200 x 600 pixels resolution. In a period where full HD is a norm, the resolution might look a bit underwhelming on a first thought but hey, the tablet is NOT for the kid within you but for the real kids. So realistically, the display should suffice. Of course, the more the better but for a the targeted audience i.e, kids aged 2-10 they would not be complaining of the pixel counts. [pullquote]there are two areas most nitpick at with Eddy – a below par brightness and the touch response. As a parent, I was rather happy with the shortcomings when I understood the reason[/pullquote]More than the resolution, there are two areas most nitpick at with Eddy – a below par brightness and the touch response. As a parent, I was rather happy with the shortcomings. Purely as a techie I might frown upon it but when you know the reason behind it, the dad side of me was not complaining. My son has this tendency to slide the brightness of the display to full when he uses it. I tend to worry that it will be too harsh on his eyes. In Eddy, while in the children mode the brightness can be fixed and the child cannot max it. The display of the Eddy comes with a toughened glass with anti-shatter technology, so you don’t fear the display crashing when your kid drops it. Metis also claim that the screen is ophthalmologist approved, and ensures UV ray protection and lower eyestrain compared to other screens. All this explains a slight lag in the touch responsiveness. For a caring parent, this must be assuring. The tech muscle of the Eddy Tablet G70 might fall apart when compared to the regular tablets at this price range. It is powered by Intel Atom Z2520 processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage which can be boosted by another 32GB via microSD card. There is also a 2-megapixel front and rear camera I was a bit aghast that it still runs on Android JellyBean, an iteration of Android that is quiet outdated and not seen in any of the new devices out there in market. [pullquote]In spite of the antiquated Android Jellybean, the Athena OS brings in a UI which is child and parent friendly and easy for them to navigate and explore[/pullquote]For the UI, the company uses their propitiatory Athena OS. In spite of the antiquated Android Jellybean, the Athena OS brings in a UI which is child and parent friendly and easy for them to navigate and explore. Talking about the software which is the key differentiator and gives the characteristics of the child-friendly tablet, there is a parent zone and a kids zone. The parent zone can be password protected and you have the complete control over how and what your child access through the tablet. You can control the apps you want your kids to access as well as restrict the time your child spend on the tablet and even manage and allocate time limits for games and other creative and educational apps. A good parent will appreciate the parent zone and use it diligently to use the tablet as an edutainment aid for his child’s growth. If the tablet will be accessed by more than one kid at different age profiles, there is an option to create multiple profiles and choose personalized learning objectives for each child. [pullquote]A good parent will appreciate the parent zone and use it diligently to use the tablet as an edutainment aid for his child’s growth[/pullquote]The home screen of the kids zone is nicely divided into key categories. Each categories has many curated apps and learning contents that is appropriate for the children. Eddy also comes preloaded with the Maxthon kid safe browser. This allows your child to browse online, safe from access to any inappropriate sites. Though there are many free apps for your kid to start righaway out-of-the-box. Some require in-app purchases for full content. Depending on the age of your child you set in the profile, the learning content is personalized and includes contents that will keep your child hooked up not just on games but also learn in the process. The contents include 160+ Pre-loaded Applications and 100+ books with interactive features. The parent zone also includes a nifty feature that generates usage reports for you to keep a tab on the quality time spend by your child and the contents that interests him so that you can engage him more into that.

Eddy worth the buy?

It depends on the kind of parent you are. Foremost, do understand Eddy is not a tablet for grownups, though there is a regular Android shift for the normal android experience, the underwhelming tech specs might not excite you and nor can play graphic intensive games. It’s purely for children at the age bracket of 2-10. At an restaurant you can either choose an à la carte or order an thali meal. If you are tech-savvy and can put in the time and effort, you can buy a good tablet, house it in a bumper case, explore and spend time at the play store and download the various apps and content for your kids and go test various apps for parental controls and then customize the tablet for your kid. Easier way out? You can choose Eddy which is typically a ready-to-serve product custom-made for your children with apps curated by educators and provide a safe environment.]]>

Mercury mTab 7 – Entry level budget friendly Tablet review

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:47:06 +0000

The tablet market is expected to have shipped almost 120 million units in 2012 and is expected to grow to over 180 million units in 2013. India accounted for 3 million devices and the tablet market is expected to grow by 100% in 2013 here. It is predicted that in 2013, the tablet market in India would cryztalize into three price points – Rs 5,000-10,000; Rs 15,000-20,000 and over Rs. 35,000

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ercury, a leading player in computer peripherals entered the Tablet market in 2011 and since then has expanded its mTab range with several models. mTab 7, an entry level tablet was released a couple of months back in October 2012. Since then, there have been a newer competing models from other makers, lets find out if mTab 7 is still relevant in this review.

mTab 7 box contents:

No surprises here, the box contents are pretty as expected

The tablet
Charger
USB cable
Headset
Manual

Oh ya, the box is pretty neat too without any frills.

Look and feel of Mercury mTab 7

What really got me interested in this 7 inch tablet is its form factor. For an entry level tablet, mTab looks pretty good. A pleasing black front and an attractive white rear body, bezel width that is not awkward for the 7-inch size and more importantly the curved edges that not only adds a perception of slimness to the tablet but also makes it easy to hold on hands. Measuring 192mm x 117mm x 12mm and weighing 300 gms, mTab 7 looks dapper thanks to the dual colour and the curved edges… All the ports, slots plus the power and volume rocker are nested on the right hand side… The plastic bodied white rear is shiny as well as pleasant… The rear also indicates the various ports and slots – power on/off button, volume rocker, earphone port, micro USB port, charging port, microSD slot and a reset button, incase of emergency.

Tech Specifications and Performance of mTab 7:

mTab 7 sports a 7″ TFT LCD capacitive touch screen with a screen resolution of 800×480. The tablet is powered by a 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 processor with a 512 MB RAM. It runs on Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich and I don’t think it would ever see the flavour of Jelly Bean on it in future. It has a 4 GB internal storage and an expandable memory upto 32 GB through microSD card. On the front it has a VGA camera for the basic video calls through apps. It supports a full HD video playback and has a 2300 mAh battery. Network connectivity options include Wi-Fi and 3G through micro USB dongle. At the time of launch the specs could have been pretty decent for the entry level budget tablet but technology is growing at a knee jerk speed and just a few months down the lane there are serious and spec-wise more powerful tablets in the similar price range from the likes of Karbonn and Micromax. So the going gets tougher for mTab 7 when we bring out the spec sheet comparison. Otherwise, if you still opt for mTab 7 the tablet does have a decent performance. The touch is good for the segment and the video playback quality is appreciable. Along with a decent browsing experience and ability to handle the most common apps, it does fit the needs of an average entry level customer. [gallery columns="4" ids="1424,1425,1426,1427,1428,1429,1430"]

Kobian Mercury mTab 7 price

mTab 7 retails at Rs. 6,499. The tablet seems to be sensibly priced for the decent build quality and performance it delivers. It faces stiff competition from the home grown Tablet makers like Karbonn and Micromax to the newly launched low cost tablet Iconia B1 from Asus. [pros]

Pretty impressive form factor in this segment
Decent touch experience
Decent performance

[/pros] [cons]

Stiff competition with better specs at comparable pricing

[/cons]]]>