Guidelines in buying a budget tablet

Introduction

If you have been planning to buy a reasonably priced tablet but are confused by what to buy then you are not alone. There are so many tablets that are available, many from names that you may not even heard of. In some cases the prices that are being offered seem superb, and just so tempting. However, after buying, judging by negative comments from frustrated buyers the user experiences seem distinctly unhappy.

This guideline is for those thinking of buying a good budget performance budget tablet not an Apple Ipad.

Here are a few considerations that you need to keep in mind while buying android tablets.

PROCESSOR

There are many cut-price offerings where the tablet supplier is silent on this spec or is giving limited specs. BEWARE of such tablets. As tablet functionality increases and as you use the tablet for myriads of functions it is important to have a tablet that has good horsepower. Given the current product offerings, you should not be going in for anything less than a quad core processor. Tablets being offered using a single core, or dual core should be consigned to the dustbin. As a buyer you should not be supporting or buying such products as these are products which have no market overseas and are being dumped on Indian consumers by Chinese factories by their commercial partners in India. Tablets having single or dual core are -

The minimum CPU one should consider at this point in time is a quad core offering. If the tablet you want to buy does NOT have quadcore don’t buy it. Simply put anything less than a quad core will not have enough horsepower to allow you to do multiple things with ease. Multitasking is something which will happen much more easily with a quad core processor- like say listening to music and browsing the internet. Try that on a single core and you will be in tears.

MEMORY

This is another mostly ignored parameter. One common factor amongst all the cheap throwaway tablets is insufficient memory. The biggest mistake you can make EVER, is buying a tablet with low memory. It will not work. Buyers need to wise up on this. Products being peddled with 512+4G should be put in the dustbin. This is being brutal, but this is a fact of life. It’s like trying to fill up a 1L jug with 1.2L of water. It won’t work. If there is one thing you must NOT do is overlook this. And surprising if you look online you can see so many tablets shoving 512+4G stuff. These are some of the tablets I have seen, and I would suggest stay away from them -

samy SM007 512+4g
ambrane a3-7 512+4g
vox V-105 512+4g
datawind Ubislate 7CZ 512+4g
penta t pad ws 703c 512+4g
ambrane a3-770 512+4g

Another ploy used by sellers is to offer a 512+8G. Honestly speaking this is not much better.. Sellers using this ploy are makers like the zebronics Zepad 7c.

Please remember that RAM is the place where data is stored temporarily, and like in a computer the higher the RAM the better the experience.

The minimum RAM you should be looking for is 1G+8G. Thankfully there are some tablets that have that like MQ7W, MQ73G, lenevo Tab 2 A7-10 and micromax tab 470 etc.

SCREEN

Probably the single biggest differentiator amongst the tablets is the screen resolution. Take any cheap tablet and the common resolution is 800×480. Resolution is defined as pixel width and height. Generally the higher the number the sharper the screen. The screen is what you use and see all the time.

I have seen some makers not even listing the screen resolution. This is an absolute no no and an attempt to hoodwink the buyer. I list below some of the tablets with different screen sizes. Anything less than a 1024×600 screen will not give a good user experience.

BATTERY

Nearly all tablets in the budget space have battery capacities hovering around 3000mah. There seems to be little choices in this matter. Still, as a guideline don’t opt for anything less than 3000mAh. Sadly there are very few tablets above that. Only the lenevo Tab 2 A7-10 has excellent battery at 3450mAh. The worst of the lot is the iBall 6351-Q40 which has a measly 2500mah battery and the datawind Ubislate 7CZ which has a 2600mah. It would take a brave soul indeed to accept such a low battery as surely the battery would run out of juice in no time.

OS

As a general rule any latest OS will give a better experience. The latest version is the Android Lollilop, but there are no budget tablets offering Lollilop. Having said that, an acceptable OS should be the Android kit kat 4.4. If you find tablets being offered with Android Jelly Bean or Ice Cream Sandwich then surely these versions are products which are last buys and really cheap deals from overseas which are being sold by sellers thinking the buyer doesn’t care

CAMERA

Sadly no budget supplier has paid enough attention to the camera. Most are offering dual camera 0.3+ 2.0. Surprisingly a good tablet like the lenevo Tab 2 A7-10 has only 1 primary VGA camera. Bluntly it means u cannot take a selfie, and u cannot do Skye etc. What a letdown!

The micromax tab 470 has a 0.3+5.0 camera giving it a good camera. However, for budgetary reasons I would say that the 0.3+2.0 combination is acceptable.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, for a decent experience the minimum specs should be as below-
CPU- quadcore 1.2G up
Memory - 1gb+8gb
Camera- 0.3+2.0
OS - at least KIT KAT
Battery - 3000mAh

Anything less than that and you will have a user experience which will leave you unhappy. Only the following models can reach these specs
lenevo Tab 2 A7-10
MQ73W
micromax tab 470
MQ73G