It started with the Reliance 3G tab, then came the Beetel Magiq tablet and now Mercury (subsidiary of Kobian) has launched the Mercury mTab priced at Rs. 9,499 in India. Tabs are getting cheaper in India and with more players entering the Android Tablet market, the choices are also increasing.
About a year back buying a tablet PC was distant dream for many Indian consumers but that is not the case today. You can get a tablet for less than Rs. 10,000 in fact it is even cheaper than buying a netbook or a high end mobile phone.
Mercury mTab features
No doubt the mTab price tag is definitely a killer factor, but let’s check out the specifications and see if it really is worth it.
The Mercury mTab is powered by the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and comes with an impressive 1.2 GHz triple core processor (this needs to be confirmed). The touch screen is 7 inches, well most low cost android tablet are about the same 7 inch sizes. The display screen supports 480 by 800 pixels resolution which is good.
The Mercury mTab weighs about 400 grams and is of dimension 19.3 x 11.7 x 1.4 cm. This mTab comes with 4 GB of internal memory and 512 MB RAM. MicroSD card is supported up to 32 GB so you need not worry about additional storage space.
The Mercury mTab does come with built in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) but does not come with built in 3G support which means you will need to use an external USB dongle to get 3G on the mTab. There is a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front side which can be used for video chat; however I am not sure if there is any additional camera at back for normal photography.
Since this tab is powered by Android 2.3 it is but natural that all Google services will be pre-loaded by default which includes access to android market. Even at such a low price tag the Mercury mTab comes with G Sensor that will automatically rotate the screen depending on how you handle it.
This is the only information available so far and the press release also deos not mention about the battery life and the capacity. The most common problem faced on low cost devices is usually the battery life which leads to more frustration. I hope the mTab will live up to its expectation.
The mTab specification is impressive except that you may need a workaround to get the 3G working. This is probably the cheapest tab in the Indian market, so far. I am waiting for more information on two things, the battery and more details on touch screen.
Mercury mTab price in India
MRP: Rs. 9,499