Reliance 3G Tab

Reliance 3G Tab: Not just a poor man’s tablet

Not everyone can afford to spend upward of Rs 25,000 on a tablet, but we all still want one.

For someone on a tight budget, there wasn’t a lot of choice when it came to buying a tablet, but that’s not the case anymore. These days a lot new tablets are coming out at some really affordable prices. One such budget tablet is the Reliance 3G Tab.

Despite a modest price tag of just Rs 12,999, the Reliance 3G Tab is not short on features. It has a large seven-inch, 800x480 resolution, capacitive multi-touch display, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 3 megapixel camera at the back, VGA camera on the front, expandable memory, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, FM radio, and of course, 3G.

The seven-inch display makes the 3G Tab small enough to be carried in a coat pocket. The display quality is pretty decent, but the viewing angles are not that great.

The 3G Tab comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, unlike the 3.2 Honeycomb found on the premium Android tablets. It has all the basic Google apps built-in such as Mail, Maps, YouTube, etc., and you also have access to the Android Market for downloading more applications. The hardware of the 3G Tab does put a few restrictions on the choice of apps available on the Market, so, for example, you won’t be able to download Adobe Flash on the 3G Tab, but that’s not really a deal breaker.

The hardware of the 3G Tab also leads to another problem. It’s not as powerful as compared to the expensive Android tablets, which means the performance is not nearly as good. The user-interface (UI) is generally bit sluggish and this is more noticeable if you have or used a more powerful tablet or smartphone. Still, for non-demanding users, the performance on offer here is more than acceptable.

The multimedia performance is a mixed-bag. The cameras are poor, but the audio and video playback is pretty decent. The battery life on the Reliance 3G Tab is quite satisfactory. We got seven hours of video playback time on a full charge.

The device, however, is locked to Reliance’s network. But that’s not a problem as at least in Mumbai the 3G speeds on the network are excellent. Overall, the Reliance 3G Tab is a good value for money. It may not offer the same level of performance as the more expensive tablets, but at Rs 12,999 you can’t really ask for more.

Pros

*Compact design

*Feature-rich

*Good audio quality

*Good battery life

*Fast 3G speeds

*Value for money

Cons

*Slightly sluggish UI

*Poor cameras

*No Adobe Flash support

RATING

Features: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Looks:4/5

Performance: 3/5

Overall: 3.5/5