Once again, India would be seeing another budget-friendly Tablet as Kobian announced today its newest entry into the Indian tablet market in the form of Kobian iXA Tab. Speaking of budget-friendly slates, Kobian iXA Tab is actually among the ones that are offered below INR 4,000, thus very affordable for ordinary students and masses. In truth, Kobian does not only target the students in the country but also ordinary people who might have been looking for cheaper tablets available in the market just to be able to experience or learn the ways of portable yet very useful portable computers. But for INR 3,999, you cannot really expect a device that would compete the ones in the mid-level market, so it’s better we set our expectations a bit lower.
I would like to reiterate that Kobian iXA is not for tech enthusiasts who basically are looking for more muscles from a tablet. This device is designed for moderate use and is mediocre in most aspects. Nonetheless, anyone who simply wants to learn how to used these devices would be helped when he/she buys this tablet for a very affordable price. Now, let’s try to look a little closer into the inside properties of this tablet and see if it is worth the price.
Kobian iXA Tab comes with a single-core processor clocked at 1GHz frequency paired with 512 MB of RAM. I could say we can always expect these key specs from a device as cheap as this one. But when you ask about its performance and usability, you would be amazed to know a 1GHz single-core CPU with 512MB RAM could also impress you with smoother operations and normal performance. These specs are more than enough for this device and it’s good to know Kobian didn’t decide to go lower than these specs. I couldn’t say it performs better than other tablets in the same category because almost all of them have the same hardware and features, but as far as price is concerned this tablet is cheaper. The same specs and features for lower price, it’s a good deal.
I think one of the downsides of this tablet is the fact that it is coming with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. This is actually one of the biggest factors that would affect the decision of the buyers. We have seen a lot of tablets having the same specs as this but were released with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This is the part where Kobian failed to impress anyone who knows a thing or two about the Android mobile OS. Everybody is looking forward to using ICS even if they have devices with lower specs.
As of now, we could say that it could have been better for Kobian to put ICS into this device just for the sake of being ‘updated’ as far as firmware is concerned. A 1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM are more than enough to run ICS smoothly. But the least we can hope for now is for Kobian to assure the people before the release of this device that an ICS update will be coming shortly after the release. Otherwise, Kobian iXA Tab would become just another dusty tablet on the shelves. Knowing it only has 7 inches screen and 4GB of internal memory, the OS could have been the only redeeming factor to impress potential buyers and users of this device. But at least, iXA Tab is among the cheapest tablets in the Indian market today. For students, this device could become a great help as it is very useful in school. So, in fairness to Kobian, the company still made a good decision is making this tablet as affordable as it can be. The specs are just worth the price.
Post a Comment