HCL ME U1 Vs Karbonn Smart Tab 1: Budget Android Tablets in Comparison

Yes, the Galaxy Tabs and the iPads are great but it is also true that there is life beyond these giant tablets. And in a year or so the growing tablet market in India has corroborated the statement just made. Today what we call budget tablets is flooding the domestic market. And from that plethora of gadgets I have picked two very fine, and cost effective tablets, and am going to compare them one against another, in order to help the readers make a better suited choice for themselves. Let us start.

The Price List

HCL ME will cost the users 8000 INR whereas the Karbonn Smart Tab will come for around thousand bucks less. Thousand bucks is not a meager sum as far as the budget is in five digits; the other half of this article will inform you that the additional 1000 bucks are worth spending or not.

Hardware Comparison

In the processor and RAM segment the HCL ME has a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, which is well complimented by a DDR3 512 MB. The Other tablet in question the Karbonn Smart Tab has a 1.2 GHz processor and the RAM here is 512 MB. The Karbonn device has a slight edge here. If we talk about the battery spec of the devices the HCL ME has a Li-Ion 3600 mAh battery, in reply the Karbonn Smart Tab 1 has 3700 mAh battery. Here too the Karbonn emerges victor.

In the camera section, on one hand the HCL ME U1 has a VGA camera on the front side of the body, and on the other hand the Karbonn Smart Tab 1 has a 2 MP camera to show off it picture proficiencies.

In the display arena there in nothing much to choose between the two devices as both of them sport a 7 inch screen with somewhat similar resolution and features. The same goes true in the connectivity and storage segment as both the devices have HDMI, USB, and Wi-Fi connectivity and 32 GB of expandable memory. Both of them support 3G with the help of USB modem.

Operating System

The tablets stand on the same platform as far as the OS is concerned; as either of them have Android ICS on board. But neither comes with Google Play on board you will have to jail break for being able to avail full version of the Google play.

The Verdict

With better features and lesser price tag the Karbonn Smart Tab 1 gets the green signal. I recommend it over the HCL ME U1. Go grab your tab. 

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Samsung Galaxy Y Vs. Samsung Galaxy Y Duos : Budget Android Phones in Comparison

In one of my older posts I compared two budget Android handsets for you: Galaxy Y and Galaxy Pocket. Today, I am going to compare two budget Android handsets again, this time it is Samsung Galaxy Y versus Samsung Galaxy Y Duos. Both of them are well below the five digit mark and both of them are doing quite well in the market. But as they say a thing is as good as your need and liking in it lies. So let us divulge into a head to head comparison.

The Price Tag 

As said earlier, both the handsets are well below the 10K mark; the Galaxy Y comes for 7.5K INR and the Y Duos costs the users 8.5K. The Galaxy Y comes for thousand rupees less but we will find out in the later half of the article is it worth spending the additional 1000 bucks for the Samsung Y Duos or not.

Hardware Head to Head  

The Galaxy Y and the Y Duos, both the handsets sport a 830 MHz processor, which is well complimented by a 290MB RAM. So, there is nothing much to choose as far as the CPU and RAM are concerned. Moving to the storage capacity of the handsets, the Y has an internal storage capacity of 180MB whereas the other handset in the comparison, the Y Duos has a 160MB capacity. Both of them have the same expansion capacity – 32GB. Y holds a slight edge here.

In the camera segment the Galaxy Y has a 2MP camera on the back side of the body in reply, the Y Duos sports a 3MP cam on the posterior. None of the handsets have a secondary camera on the front side of the body. You might think (you have all the valid reasons to think that way) that the Duos has an advantage in this segment, but I would like to tell you, folks, that both of the cameras are not strong enough and both of them take somewhat similar pics.

In the battery segment the Y has a Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery, the Duos comes packed with Li-Ion 1300 mAh battery; but again the end result, which, in this case is the talk time and the standby time and music & video functioning time is somewhat similar. Due to smaller size and single SIM Y stands a little taller here.

The display of the Y is just 3 inches and in reply the Y Duos come with a 3.14 inch screen. Both the handsets have the similar pixel resolution of 320x 240. Duos, with a bigger screen size, wins this  section hands down. 

As far as the connectivity is concerned both of the handsets have GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Bluetooth, USB, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Software Segment

In the operating system segment both of the handsets are Android Gingerbread driven devices. Hence, they have the full version of Google Play to visit and download software and apps.

Friends, the two of the handsets possess Google Talk, YouTube, Email, Push Mail, IM, WAP support, Java, image viewer/editor, and Document viewer/editor.

The Verdict

10-12 hundred rupees are not that big a deal but no one does-and should not- throw away his hard earned money. Unless and until you have an utmost need of two numbers you should go for the Samsung Galaxy Y. Plus it is better looking than the Duos. I give my full and final recommendation to the Galaxy Y. I own it myself!      

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Microsoft will Add a Curved Keyboard to Windows Phone 8

If you are one of those guys who face problems in handling your touch sensitive handset with just one hand of yours, here is some good news for you. The software kingpin Microsoft, in its next gen OS for mobiles, is going to include a keyboard that is specially designed for being used single handedly. The sources say that the OS is expected to hit the market in the fourth quarter of the year.

The aforementioned keyboard is spotted on some leaked presentation of the Microsoft Reasearch; it dons a curvaceous pattern that makes it a useful proposition for being used by the thumb.

The rumors about this kind of keypad were brewing for quite some time now; but the company never accepted the rumors to be anywhere near to being a real prospect. But now the chances are that the said curved keyboard will surface on the devices with the coming OS.  

According to the screen shots (courtesy WMPoweruser) some of the keys have been assembled together, but despite the jumbled up keys the users will be able to type with comfort and without the piquancy of having to look down every now and again.

It is almost a certainty that the new style keyboard will reduce the indistinctness related to the words being typed on the screen. The foremost thing that is to be seen is whether the said keyboard will be available right from the word go or will be brought to the fore later. Let us all keep our fingers crossed and wait for the fourth quarter of the year.           

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Toshiba Excite 13: The Biggest Tablet in Review

It is a matter of discussion that how big or how small a tablet should be, in other words what exactly the right size for tablet is. All the way from 7 inches to 10.5 inches there are different sizes of tablets in the market. And now, the Japanese tech conglomerateToshiba has raided the market with a 13.3 inch monster named Toshiba Excite 13.

The users will eventually decide whether the idea of the bigger the better goes true in the case of Toshiba Excite 13 or not. The device is marketed as a $650 device that is, “ideally suited for the home use”.

Your first glimpse of the tablet might tell you that Toshiba has taken a cue from Samsung’s Galaxy Note and gone for the bigger size of the handset.

Tech specs of the Toshiba Excite 13

In spite of the mammoth size of the body the handset weighs just 2.2 pounds, though that weight is a little too much for long time usage. The 13.3 inch LED backlit display has a 1600x900 pixel resolution, which is a great thing for such a humongous screensize. Just above the screen a 2MP camera sits pretty and on the back side of the body a 5MP camera with LED flash adds glitter to glory.

The device comes with a 32 GB onboard memory. And for those who believe in mega storage options there is a microSD card slot as well to enhance the already huge storage capacity. In the processor segment the device has  Nvidia Tegra 3, which happens to be a quad core one the processor is well complimented by a 1GB RAM.

If we turn our heed towards the OS of the handset it has got the latest and the best Android till date – the IceCream Sandwich 4.0.

The Verdict

The high point of the device is, without doubt, its superfast quad core processor and the ICS OS. And the low point (somewhat low) is the mammoth size of the body, which at times will become too much to handle. But all in all it is a good device, no doubt. For me, Toshiba Excite 13 is a worthwhile thing. 

Google to Announce Nexus 7 Tablet & Jelly Bean, the Latest Android OS

With the beginning of Google’s I/O conference the rumors about the next version of ICS has started to get thicker by every passing minute. According to some concrete sources the name of the OS will be Jelly Bean and it will be announced towards the end of the conference. Though, it is not a proper surety that whether it will be an Android 4.1 or Android 5.0, but that is only playing with numbers.


Knowledgeable readers should know that the newer versions of the Android OS has always been named after edible delicacies, all the way from Angel Cake to Battenberg to Cupcake to Donut to Eclair to Froyo to Gingerbread to Honeycomb to IceCream Sandwich and now it is Jelly Bean, another sweet savory. 

At the present moment the features are not conspicuous enough but it is being conjectured that in order to pose some serious competition to Apple’s SIRI Google is expected to sport something akin to the said voice assistant. The voice recognition software project has officially been codenamed the Project Majel.

There are reports that the Jelly Bean will bring with it the final version of the Google Chrome for Android devices which has been in the beta state for quite some time now.

One more thing that is raising a number of eyebrows is Google’s plans to unveil a $199 tablet in association with Taiwanese tech giant ASUS (which itself has some reputation in the tablet world). The Tablet is expected to be called the Nexus 7.

The 7 inch tablet will sport a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad core processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB. The Nexus 7 will also be sporting NFC and Android Beam.

There are some more things to be expected let us keep our fingers crossed and wait for things to happen. Adios.

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