At Rs.6499, Micromax Funbook, the tablet grabs eyeballs of any prospective Indian buyer. But like every doubting Indian, who will demand trial, guarantee, warantee and ask the express opinion of all his contacts, the mind pops questions – Could this be worth it? Is it just some cheap thrill? This review delves into the billion dollar question (or Rs. 7000 question) – to buy or not to buy?
It’s all in the mind
Surprisingly, this tablet is equipped with Android version 4.0.3, ICS (ice cream sandwich), 1.22 GHz Cortex-A8 CPU and 512MB RAM. The ‘surprise’ is that I honestly did not expect such a powerful processor nor such a recent release of Android OS for the cost. In-built memory is about 4 GB RAM, SD-Card support is upto 32GB. It supposrts 3G and Wi-fi. Most applications worked on a decent load. The browser was slow at times, causing Android to pop urgent notifications, but a bit of patience brings the over-wrought software back to shape. The poor battery performance was unexpected. It is quite stable but on a competitive basis, it fails. Ah, ‘power’ misunderstands the ‘mind’.
Bottomline: Mind-blowing!
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye
The slim design with the capacitive 7-inch display seems modest. No impression or dislike. Until you play a video, (as a bonus, it comes pre-loaded with some Hindi song videos! – This is my first-hand experience with Chammak Challo). The quality of picture is quite mesmerizing, though unbelievably the spec says the resolution is just 480×800. The interface is pretty rugged, buttons solid and touch screen response definitely not feather touch. A perfect example of design by experience, to be prepared for the worst. While most games load beautifully, I personally had problems with Temple Run, simply because the screen wasn’t responsive enough (this is not my excuse to hide an abysmal score!). Audio quality is good. All in all, eye candy assured.
Bottomline: Sleek and simple
A picture is worth a thousand words
The camera is one of the hugest disappointments. As a tech informed person, as I read the specs, I should have know better than to expect razor sharp images from a 0.3 MP front facing camera. Alas, I was distracted by the quality of the videos and my brain automatically demanded the same for my face captured by the camera! The difference is most jarring.
Bottomline: Find a thousand words!
Personal Quirks
Most advertisers capitalize on the unique selling point of this gadget – Edutainment! Offering an access of an impressive array of resources to learn and an equally interesting amount of entertainment tailor-made for Indian students. The courses include lectures, videos and tests and a fee that would put most coaching institutes out of business. It is quite convenient to learn and play.
Bottomline: You get the best of both worlds
Conclusion
As a person, I have become attached to this gadget. It redefines value for money. A healthy choice for parents who are on a tight rope between their child’s ever-growing gadget craze and their responsibilty of a) making their child successful and b) not pampering the child. If you need a gadget on the go, prone to accidents that make you hesitant of getting a top-notch table and yet get more value than what you pay for, head to your nearest online store and grab it. Get your thrill cheap. This baby is power personified!