Google Nexus 7
Android is all the rage in smartphones. Come to tablets and you will struggle to name one good Android tablet. Google wants to rectify it, and it went ahead and made one itself, with the partnership of ASUS. Wisely it does not want to take on the mighty iPad. The design with it’s textured rubber back, gives it a quality look, and the 7-inch screen is gorgeous and complements the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS. While it is a steal with it’s `16,000-plus starting price for a quad-core tablet, it’s main drawback is it’s paltry on-board storage of 8 and 16GB and that it works only with WiFi. This makes it reliant on cloud storage and so it’s usefulness depends on what Google has on offer on it’s Indian Play store.
Reliance 3G Tab V9A
The next 7-incher is made a little closer to home by Reliance. An upgraded version of last year’s 3G tab, this tablet boasts of a better screen and a faster 1.4GHz processor helped by 512MB of RAM. With it’s 3 megapixel back camera and 0.3MP front camera you can record video and make video calls. Reliance’s nation-wide 3G coverage affords it Internet connectivity on the move. While it’s 7-inch capacitative touch display and pre-loaded apps like Docs to Go make it a compelling device, one of its most surprising features is the ability to make calls and SMS like a phone. The drawback is that it runs on the centuries-old Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Micromax Funbook
Micromax Funbook can be described in two words. 7-inch and Ice Cream sandwich. Surprisingly for a tablet that runs Android 4.0, the Funbook costs just `7,000. Behind that capacitative touchscreen you get a 1.2GHz Cortex-A8 processor, and 512MB of RAM. The 4GB internal memory can be expanded up to 32GB using microSD or microSDHC cards. It does away with the back camera and just has a 0.3 megapixel front facing camera. While it comes only in the WiFi variant, it supports connectivity on the go using a 3G dongle via USB. For a tablet this cheap, it even has a HDMI port.