The iBall Slide i701 is a 7 inch tablet that is powered by Intel Atom quad core processor running Windows 8.1 out of the box. This tablet comes with 1GB RAM, 16GB storage and a 3200 mAh battery. Slide i701 is priced at just Rs. 4,999.
Slide i701 unboxing
I got the mini HDMI to standard cable for free, as per the offer, it was bundled separately- not included in the box pack. Inside the box you will find the i701 tablet, soft protective cover, cleaning cloth, user guide, warranty card, feedback form, travel charger with micro USB pin attached, OTG cable and 3 colourful protective cases.
Design and Display
The iBall Slide i701 tablet built quality is good. There are no navigational buttons on the front panel. The rear side is black colour, matte finish with velvety touch. Weight with battery is 271 grams and tablet is 9.99mm thick.
Volume rocker and power button is placed on the top. On the left side you will find the audio jack, reset point, mini HDMI port and micro USB port. There is an micro SD cars slot at the bottom (supports up to 64GB external cards).
This tablet sports a 7 inch screen with 5 point multi touch and supporting 1024 x 600 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction is good but viewing angles are no good. The screen is not clearly visible from several angles. The only thing disappointing on this tablet is the screen quality.
You can however improve the quality, a little bit, buy changing the screen resolution to 1024 x 600 instead of the default 1280 x 768 pixels. The viewing quality will improve with 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, however some apps may not work probably and might required the 1280 x 768 resolution.
Memory and OS
This tablet comes packed with 1GB RAM (DDR3) and 16GB storage. Of the 16GB you will get about 4GB to 5GB free space. The i701 is running Windows 8.1 and will get windows 10 upgrade as per the company – but I am not sure how that will be done, because there is hardly any free space left on the C: drive.
You can use the micro SD card slot / connect OTG supported pendrive – as external storage.
Users also get 1 year free subscription of Microsoft office 365.
Performance
This tablet is powered by Intel Atom Z3735G quad core GPU clocked at 1.3GHz (1.8GHz in turbo mode). It’s using the Intel HD graphics GPU. Performance is smooth and I did not find it lagging. The screen is small and difficult to tap at the required point.
This tablet can play few games, but don’t expect too much out of it.
I connected a USB hub so I could connect a 64GB pendrive and a wireless mouse. I did not have a USB keyboard otherwise I would have connected that too. The i701 comes with built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can also access 3G by connected supported 3G dongle.
I attached the tablet with my SONY Bravia FHD TV using HDMI cable (the one that I got for free). The viewing experience was much, much better on a FHD screen. Check the video review to get an idea. Once you connect the tab with the HDMI TV there are two option you can either mirror the tab screen or use only the 2nd screen (i.e. the TV screen).
So technically I made the Slide iBall i701 tablet a CPU, the output was on the TV screen and input from connected wireless mouse / onscreen keyboard and was also able to connect external pendrive.
You can run EXE files, I tried Tally 9 it worked and I could also play the Wolfenstein enemy territory game that was stored on the external pen drive. The game lagged a little but was playable. (Check video review).
Sound output is good. The tab does get heated up when using it for a longer time, especially when using heavy apps.
i701 can play 4K videos.
Camera
There is 2MP camera on the rear without flash and a VGA camera on the front. Both the fixed focus cameras are no good, just ignore it. You can check the camera sample images below and decide for yourself.
Battery
There is 3200 mAh built-in battery. I used the tablet for about 1 hour 51 minutes – the battery dropped by 21%. On a single charge you should be easily able to get about 3 to 4 hours of moderate to heavy usage time.
Verdict
iBall Slide i701 can be compared to a netbook. It is as powerful but with just 16GB storage space and with a not so good screen. However for the price tag for Rs. 4,999 this is still a very good buy. In case you don’t own a PC but own an HDMI TV, you can buy this tablet, a USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB flash drive and USB hub. Connect all then and get a desktop kind of experience for under Rs. 6,000 – and of course you can use the i701 as a tablet too.
iBall Slide i701 is available on Flipkart for Rs. 4,999 and also on Amazon.in for the same price.
Image gallery
Rear Camera Sample Images
Video Review
Giveaway – this review unit (please read Terms and Conditions)
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Update: The winner Rajat Rana did not reply to my eamil, I even event sent a message on facebook, still no reply. It’s been over 2 days and hence I have selected another winner using the same random method.
The new winner is Abhinav Bajpai, congrats, I have sent him a mail now.