Intex iTab Review

Connectivity 

The company has given quite a few connectivity options with the iTab. The all-important USB slot allows you to connect keyboards, mice and there’s on the go support for flash drives and portable hard drives as well. 1080p media content from our 32GB NTFS flash drive and 1TB portable hard disk played seamlessly on the iTab. It’s important to note here that the Funbook wasn’t capable of reading that same portable hard disk. 

Connectivity options well covered

The iTab also comes with a USB to LAN port adaptor and in our tests, it performed just as expected. It’s as simple as connect your LAN cable and you’re ready to go. The company also provides a 3G USB stick so you can put in your 3G SIM card and access the Internet on-the-go. Wi-Fi is there, but Bluetooth, however, isn’t included.

Great as an eBook reader

The inbuilt browser supports flash and browsing the Internet is a pleasant experience, due to both the form factor and the lag free experience. Manouevring through image heavy flash websites was slightly jittery, but we’re not complaining. The iTab’s form factor makes it one of the better eBook readers in the market right now. The tablet is easy to hold in both the portrait and the landscape modes and makes for a nifty reading-on-the-go device. Something that reminded us of the Tablet P’s eBook reading capabilities. 

Misc. Features

There’s not much out here, besides Arcus Dictionary, Apk Installer, File Explorer, Hanuman Chalisa, Gita and Office Suite. An app called Intex Zone has been included as well, and it basically accumulates all your bookmarks into one app. Besides the devotional content, there’s nothing special, but that’s why you’ve got the Google Play store.

Poor viewing angles

Camera

The iTab is equipped with a front facing VGA camera, and a rear camera. Who needs a back camera on a tablet anyway, right? That could be a debate for another article. Anyway, coming back to the front camera, it’s decent enough for video calling. We did have a few issues with Skype compatibility initially, but it was pretty smooth thereafter. It’s decent enough for self-portraits as well. 

Battery Life

This 8-inch tablet is equipped with a 5000 mAh non-removable battery and in our video calling test with brightness set at 75 percent and connectivity options turned off, the iTab lasted for ten and a half hours, which surpasses the time set by other tablets. The Ainol Novo 7 Paladin, its closest competitor, came in at nine hours and twenty minutes. Under normal usage, you’ll easily manage to get close to one and a half days of usage, which is pretty impressive, making it one of the strong points of the iTab.

Worth a buy?

Verdict

The Intex iTab is priced at an MRP of 11,900. For this amount, you get a 3G data card (with SIM slot), LAN adaptor, leather cover and a pair of Reebok sunglasses. If the omission of the last accessory would have resulted in a one or two thousand buck price cut in the overall pricing of this tablet, we’d have definitely given it more marks. At this price, it’s a very good tablet with great multimedia capabilities, but the relatively high price and the fact that it comes with Gingerbread, holds it back from being a must have.