This is our first tablet review,the tablet reviewed here is Datawind UbiSlate 7c+ Edge popularly known as Aakash 3 commercial version.We have used popular benchmarking tools and played with tablets and tested hands on before publishing this review.
Aakash tablets were distributed to students and some economically backward section in India to help them get exposure to education,technology and internet. Aakash tablets range are very innovative for providing various features at cheap rates.Aakash is termed as the cheapest tablet in the world according to some popular survey. Datawind holds 18 us patents according their website.Datawind manufacturer of Ubislate 7c+ Commercial version of Aakash 3 claims it enables people to stay connected to internet at lowest price of rs 98 /month by using its patent technology.
Datawind is using a proxy server to compress data usage on the Ubislate to reduce data usage.Thus the lowest 2G data plan can be used to browse favourite sites,email and education at most affordable rate.
Before we dig further into details lets have a look at what datawind ubislate7c+ has to offer to its customers.
| Model | Datawind UbiSlate 7+ (Edge) |
| Type | Phablet (Tablet +Smartphone) |
| Touch screen type | Capacitive |
| Processor | Cortex A8; 1 GHz (Over clocked up to 1.5 GHz) |
| RAM | 512 MB |
| Internal Memory | Flash ( 4 GB) |
| External Memory | Expandable up to 32 GB using Microsd card |
| OS | Android 4.0.3( Ice cream sandwich) |
| Camera | Only Front Camera (VGA) Can be used to make video calls over Skype and Google Talk |
| Sensor | G-sensor |
| Networking | GSM (single sim slot) |
| Connectivity | Data cable Wi-Fi |
| Battery | 3 hours on continuous usage(wi-fi and video usage) 4 hours ( Videos HD Playback) 6 hours ( App usage and surfing on GSM) Standby (8-10 hours) More hours if no GSM sim is used/Sync OFF. |
| Charging Adapter | 200-240 Volts |
| Full Charge time | 4 hours |
| Audio | 3.5mm jack /audio in: 3.5mm jack |
| Price | Rs 4999/- (without any accessories) |
Design: The tablet feels designed for masses,as it was designed for the same segment of users.The volume buttons and power on/off buttons are situated on the side,due to some reasons you have to always push the power button to wake the tablet when it is locked/in sleep mode.The plastics used for these buttons don’t give us feel that they are durable and premium.The back of the tablet is rubberised and which provides grip to hold the tablet when using it holding on your palm.The tablet front capacitive screen is 7 inches which makes it big to hold it to make calls using the inbuilt sim.The tablet weight around 300gms.The front panel has speaker for hearing when used to make voice calls,the vga 0.3 mp camera is also at the corner of the front panel. Adjusting volume during voice calls is difficult due to placement of volume adjustment button on the side.Usb port,charging port,ear phone jack everything is on side of the tablet.
There is rubber flap on the side which can be pulled out to insert GSM sim and Microsd memory card.There is a reset option for the tablet in the back of the tablet,one has to push the reset button through the pinhole using some plastic/metal pin hole sized object.If you are buying this tablet you have to carry something to reset the ubislate whenever it hangs and doesn’t respond after a long time.
Performance and Features:
The tablet runs on Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which is not the latest version of the Google Android OS. There is no special UI/Custom Home screen offered on this tablet.The best feature would be Google Market place is offered in this Tablet from where you could download a large volume of apps.Datawind tablet comes pre installed with ubislate surfer the special browser we have mentioned here earlier,Datawind store,Datawind educational apps.The device also comes pre installed with Kingston office for word,excel and PowerPoint usage.
The educational apps offer free book downloads,tests,quizzes and other features.The UI is over sensitive as well as the touch screen.When we tried swiping the app drawer screen we accidentally opened several apps in the back ground due to touch sensitivity.Getting used to this hyper touch sensitive screen took some time.The apps performed well.We are unable to surf web faster on the inbuilt GSM sim usage.Even a simple Google home page took around 1 minute to load on the browser.We tested with Firefox and the speed was better than inbuilt browser.Google market place never finished loading when we used it on inbuilt sim gprs.
Wi-Fi is felt better on our internet usage on this tablet.Sometimes the wi-fi is unable to scan the hotspot/wi-fi router signal on our usage. The Wifi inbuilt operates over 802.11 b/g/n.
Surfing on wifi is better on this tablet. The inbuilt GSM is not good for surfing.
We are provided with a USB cable through which we connected Huawei E3121 Data Card and it worked.We were able to surf faster when we used the dongle than in built GSM sim card.Dongle provided better speeds when we used the same sim card which we used with tablet with built in GSM slot.
We are unable to play temple run game after a level or two as this tablet lacked required sensors. The game ran smooth but there are not sensors present to detect tablet tilt.
Angry birds ran smoothly on this tablet.
Productivity apps like Ever note installed successfully.
Due to non –presence of back camera we are unable to install some bar code scanning apps etc..
We are also unable to install some popular app like sbi freedom,axis bank app,icici bank app etc..
sync doesn’t work well on this tablet once we download an app from play store,if it fails to download, the app store marks it as installed and the tablet has no app installed on it when we check for the particular app. This makes us unable to install an app if we are not successful in installing a particular app.
In built flash memory fills up 50% with os and user data,so if we use the remaining space for installing apps (new) other than pre installed apps ,we will definitely face system hangs and crashes.
There is no freebie supplied with this tablet apart from usb cable,charger.
One has to buy a Microsd card from the market to store additional data without downgrading performance.
Videos play well on this tablet without any pixel breakage,we tested 720p and 1080p videos and the tablet played the videos without jerking.But we are unable to run Antutu 3d benchmarking on this tablet.The Antutu cpu and other speed tests scored an impressive score.
Non presence of IPS (In panel switching) on this tablet makes it difficult to view the screen from side angles.We recommend 90 deg viewing angle if you purchase this device.Colours looked fade when viewed in other angles.
The in built speaker is not audible when we used it for voice calls.One should invest on good headphones if they purchase this tablet.Forget about watching movies without using headphones as the inbuilt speaker is not audible well.Even a 1000 rs china mobile phone sounds louder than this.
The tablet is powered by 3200 mAh battery and offers decent standby and usage times.Check specification table above.
Verdict:
This tablet is definitely not recommended for people who are looking for reliability as the device crashes several times even with apps that are not extreme cpu using.One has to invest on a pair of earphones/headphones,dongle (as in built sim slot is useless for surfing,low speeds),screen guard,accessories like leather cover for tablet,keyboard for tablet,microsd card.which sums up to Rs 7000 for which you can purchase a better tablets from micromax,zync,zen and other brands which offers better features and reliability.
This tablet can be purchased for gifting to children,old people who want to play games,watch movie,stay connected and learn lessons.
This can be also purchased by people who want to learn using tablets/android based devices for buying a better device in future.
If you are a gadget freak and technology expert this tablet is not for you.
This is definitely a budget tablet and one should not compare this with high end tablets. Datawind UbiSlate 7c+ is probably the lowest priced 7 inc phablet.
http://www.getlifetips.com Some Rights Reserved,Contents sharing and distribution should be done only under creative commons license.
