iBall Slide : iBall’s Android 2.3 Tablet, costs Rs. 13995

iBall, which brought us phone for senior citizens with an SOS button and a water proof phone, has launched its Android 2.3 powered tablet, iBall Slide. The tablet is priced at Rs. 13995 which is a tad higher, more about that later. We stopped counting who is getting into the tablet game and started counting who is not in the game. On that count, Micromax is yet to launch its Android tablet. But then I digress. iBall has roped in Hrithik Roshan to make iBall Slide, slide through the competition and into consumers hands.

iBall Slide Specifications

Like all tablets before Slide, it comes with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen, 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 2 megapixel camera, 8 GB internal memory (expandable to 32 GB), WiFi, Bluetooth and HDMI output. iBall Slide has a 4400 mAh battery which provides 6.5 hours of music and 5 hours of video. iBall Slide is priced at Rs. 13995.

iBall Slide’s Strengths

Like iBall’s earlier products like Aasaan, the water proof phone or the slimmest QWERTY phone, iBall slide doesn’t really stand out on any specific features but there are some good ones.

• Android 2.3 operating system. Only a few tablet makers have launched with Android 2.3 operating system.
• Battery : iBall Slide’s 4400 mAh battery is massive when compared with the current crop of tablets.

iBall Slide’s Weakness

iBall has some thinking to do with Slide. Given the buoyant tablet market in India, a price cut wouldn’t harm its prospect. Here are the 3 things iBall Slide as a product could have done better :

• 3G dongle on a tablet : Really? Come on seriously? How archaic does that sound? I actually wanted to say ‘how stupid’ but, I refrained from doing it. You provide the consumer with a tablet for greater mobility and impede with a dongle. Not cool.
• Price  : I don’t want to be a haggling Indian and suggest that iBall Slide at Rs. 13995 is a tad pricey. But for iBall’s sake, how does it plan to sell this tablet against the Reliance 3G Tab and its advertising machine? I mean those ads are everywhere. I know you got hottie Hrithik Roshan but how many Acer laptops did he sell? Also how do you justify the obvious 5K price difference with MTS 1055?
• Cameras : The main camera is 2 megapixel and there’s no front-facing camera. Understandable because iBall didn’t think of 3G as much of deal as they have included it via a dongle.
• Bezel : What’s with the bezel? Looks like an old transistor to me. It also reminds me of the Indian HRD’s $35 tablet.

If I was writing about iBall Slide yesterday, it would have painted a different picture in my mind. Unfortunately iBall Slide’s launch coincided with MTS 1055 tablet. MTS Tablet is Android 2.3 powered with 3 megapixel camera and comes with 3G in-built. It is attractively priced at Rs. 8000. I’m not sure how iBall Slide can justify the 5K price difference with MTS 1055.

Update 1 : An after thought : MTS 1055 tablet doesn’t come until December, which probably gives a wee bit of respite  to iBall Slide’s pricing. Not a whole lot though.

Via TheMobileIndian