Today Tablet PC’s have become very popular among students, businessmen, professionals and technology lovers. They are used for browsing, gaming, watching videos/streaming contents apart from just video chatting.
India alone has more than 3 million tablet users currently and the number is busy increasing. With such popularity these days variety of budget oriented tablets ranging between Rs 7k to Rs 10k are coming up in the market from both big and local brands.
So selecting a right tablet with promising technical specs from the available ones without getting trapped to their attractive price tag is quiet tough. In this article we will be looking at the most probable features which should be considered before buying one.
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Below are the list of best features to be looked in a 2013 budget tablet before buying:
1) System – Dual Core + GPU + Memory
In the budget section the consumer cannot expect a very high end specs and performance from the device. However the technology today is so much advanced that the buyer can expect an enough powerful machine with decent performance in the affordable devices.
Looking at today’s technology the tablet’s system on chip (SoC) must incorporate atleast a dual core processor (would be good if its Cortex A9/A15 CPU) clocked between 1 to 1.5 Ghz frequency alongwith and a powerful GPU (most probably Adreno or Mali 400 or PowerVR SGX series).
The GPU performance is gaining lot of importance from a user’s perspective because applications and high graphics games simply require a significantly faster graphics core to provide an optimum experience without any lags.
In the memory front, larger the RAM better is its multi functionality. 512MB or 1GB RAM would be an ideal choice with a minimum of 4 to 8GB internal memory along with a micro SD card slot.
Tablet with similar specs: Acer Iconica B1 (currently selling between rupees 7K to 8K)
2) Operating System
Here it is important to make a decision which Os is better for you. Currently there are four choices in this category – Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows where Android seems to have more number of choices then any other platform.
Word of advice would be go for the brand which has reputation of providing software upgrades. One of my friend had a tablet with a bug in Wifi connection. The tablet used to get disconnected from the internet very frequently. To his fate the tablet was from a start-up brand. Till now he hasn’t got any bugfixes for it and he cannot do anything about it but just live with it.
So the main advantage of software updates is not only minor enhancements but also the much needed bug fixes.
More reading: World’s first Dual Os running device – ASUS Transformer All-in-One Tablet PC
3) Display
Tablets have their screen size ranging from 7-inch to 10-inch diagonally. Most of the tablet in the economical range come with the screen size between 7 to 8-inch which sounds good for portability.
Most important feature to look for in the display segment is whether the tablet’s screen is integrated with IPS technology or not. If its not then the user mayn’t get a wider viewing angle.
4) Connectivity
The connectivity option for a tablet under 10K is sparse when compared with high end and more expensive tablet. Choose a tab which include many connectivity options like – Wi-Fi or 3G for video chatting.
– Tablet with a sim slot for those who use their tab as smartphones. This feature is an added advantage for the tablets portability. With the internet package activated on the SIM Card one can browse or watch videos online far from home.
Other features should also include HDMI Port for sharing the pictures, videos on the TV. USB port can be used for connecting keyboard, printer, pen drives, 3G Dongles etc
5) Battery
Battery life of a tablet depends on your usage. But look for a tab which must atleast offer 5-6 hours of continuous usage on a single charge.