Asus has become the other international player to enter the budget tablet market in India, with the launch of its MeMO Pad ME172V tablet.
Asus has entered the Indian budget tablet war with the launch of the MeMO Pad ME172V. The 7-inch Android 4.1 Jelly Bean tablet from Asus is priced at Rs. 9,999.
The Asus MeMO Pad ME172V tablet has a 7-inch LED backlit LCD display with a 1024×600 pixel resolution. The tablet is 11.2mm thin and weighs in at 370 grams. It is powered by a 1GHz processor and Mali 400 GPU on the VIA WM8950 chipset, coupled with 1GB of RAM. The front of the device has a 1MP camera with 720p HD video capabilities. It has 8/16GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The tablet doesn’t have the ability to house a SIM card slot but it does support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It also sports a 4270mAh battery.
In terms of its looks and appearance, the Asus MeMO Pad ME172V is very similar to the Google Nexus 7, which is also made by Asus. In India, the Asus MeMO Pad ME172V is targeted to directly take on the Acer Iconia B1. Acer was the first major international brand in India to bring a budget device with the launch of the Iconia B1.
The Acer Iconia B1 has a 7-inch TFT display with 1024×600 pixel resolution. It houses a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 8/16GB storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card, VGA video call camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It runs on Android 4.1.2 and sports a 2170mAh battery. You can read our review of the B1 here.
If you are in the market to pick up a tablet for Rs. 10,000, you can also take a look at the iberry Auxus CoreX2 3G tablet. The Auxus CoreX2 3G has a 7-inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels giving it a pixel density of 216ppi. A dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and the Mali 400 GPU power it. The device supports a 3G SIM card not only for data but for voice calls as well. The rear of the device houses a 2MP camera and the front has a 0.3MP camera for video calls. Straight out of the box, the Auxus CoreX2 3G runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can read our review of the device here.
