A sk for a tablet recommendation and I’ll tell you the iPad is still the tablet to beat, nearly two years after its launch. Of course, the iPad does tear out an iPad-sized hole in your wallet, that’s for sure. Which is where the new breed of Android tablets, many priced well below the Rs 15,000 mark come in. Are they downright fantastic deals or are the compromises they make to achieve such phenomenal price points too much to suffer? I looked at the Reliance 3G Tab and the Beetel Magiq to answer just this.

Reliance 3G Tab

On the face of it, with the 3G Tab, Reliance seems to have pulled one out of the bag — build quality and finish is pretty good (even though its mostly plastic) and the device is portable enough to slip into most small bags. It ships with Android 2.3 — a relief in that there are just far more apps available for this version than for their Honeycomb version (this is a version of Android expressly meant for Tablets). Where the device excels, and more so keeping the price point in mind, is that it features a multi-touch enabled capacitive screen that makes interacting with the device a breeze. Granted, this screen isn’t very high resolution — at 800x480 pixels, it has less pixels than the year-old Galaxy Tab P1000 — but the use of the capacitive display makes a lot of difference to every day use and sets it apart from a lot of similarly priced tablets.

Reliance 3G TAB

Performance wise, the device manages admirably, handling movie playback and web browsing pretty well, though the device does stutter if you try to do too many things all at once. Battery life is good for a day’s use with 3G on and some browsing, emails and calls — yes, this device can make calls too! As can be expected, the device is locked to the Reliance network, so you can’t just use any SIM you have.

At Rs 12,999, the device delivers…and how! I would recommend the optional data plan to get the most out of this experience.

Beetel Magiq

BEETEL MAGIQ

With the Magiq, Beetel has dipped under the psychological Rs 10,000 barrier to offer a somewhat unconventionally shaped 7-inch tablet. Running a 1 GHz processor with 512 MB of memory and 8GB storage, the Magiq packs in the kind of specs that would be hard to find even on smartphones in the same price range. Impressive! You also get a SIM card slot to add 3G and voice calling capabilities, plus the micro SD card for storage expansion.

The display, much like the Reliance tablet, packs in 800x480 pixels of resolution but it uses the older resistive type of touch panel. Talk of killjoys — the lack of response from the screen takes a lot away from this tablet, and even though it’s packed to the gills performance wise, you walk away from the tablet feeling just a tad unsatisfied. Plus, it packs in Android 2.2 running a custom skin — why Beetel didn’t choose to go with 2.3 with the vanilla Android skin is beyond me.

With the Magiq more than the 3G Tab, the big question is — is the low price worth the compromises? If you’ve experienced capacitive touchscreen devices, you will wonder how we tolerated touchscreens before them. But to many who haven’t used touchscreens at all, the compromise may not be as severe. In fact, its poor battery life and bulk may be bigger resons to proceed with the Magiq with caution.

Reliance 3G Tab

• Rating: 8/10 • Price: Rs 12,999 • URL: http://bit.ly/tKXGqq

Beetel Magiq

• Rating: 7/10 • Price: Rs 9,999 • URL: http://bit.ly/tPXJDv

A cool combination

It could easily be mistaken for a Nokia N9, except that the Lumia 800 is the first “real Windows Phone” borne out of the marriage of Nokia and Microsoft. Packing in excellent hardware specs, a radical mininimalist design and the latest Windows Phone 7.5, the Lumia is all about new beginnings at Nokia. Expected in India around the year-end, can’t wait! Watch this space.

• Price: $600 • URL: http://bit.ly/vZBz8I