Reliance 3G Tab

Web browsing is an easy task

All of Google’s goodies are loaded up of course – YouTube, Google Maps to work with the onboard GPS module and supported by GPS, Latitude, Gtalk and the Android Market Place for apps. Reliance also has their RWorld option available for VAS and more. Social networking options include a preloaded Facebook, Twitter and Orkut (that just refuses to shut down) apps. Of course, they’re easily available via the Marketplace.

Misc. Features
A few extras like a file manager, Documents to Go and a Task Manager are thrown in. Basics like the calendar that can sync to your Google account for keeping track of appointments, anniversaries etc., alarm clock, strop watch and a few more are all accounted for.

Space for quite a few apps

Camera
A 3 megapixel fixed focus (official website states 2MP) camera with basic features is strapped onto the rear of the device with a video calling VGA camera located in front above the display. Features include Sharpness adjustment, Saturation, ISO levels up to 800, colour effects, location tagging and White Balance. Video records at a maximum of VGA quality and it’s not too bad all things considered. Image quality is not the sharpest and in low light conditions it’s quite grainy when viewed at native resolution. On the device itself it’s ok and of course for Facebook and other social networking sites, it’s quite passable.

Average 3MP camera

Battery
Equipped with a 3400mAh Lithium-Ion battery the 3G Tab manages functionality extremely well. It fared quite well in our video test where we ran videos non-stop with 3G active and without 3G for 4 hours and 4 hours and 55 minutes respectively. In our tech2 loop tests it ran a full round with 2 hours music, 2 hours video, 2 hours of internet usage via 3G and 1.5 hours of talk time. In the second round, we ran it for 1 hour with audio and also managed to squeeze 40 minutes of video out of it. In total, it ran for about 9 hours non-stop with relatively heavy usage. In real time, we were able to use the tablet for about a day and a half with 3G switched off running on 2G, but got just about a full day’s use on 3G and Wi-Fi.

The Bottom Line
With a price tag of just Rs. 12,999, the one possible thing we could say is lacking in the Reliance 3G Tab is the lack of substantial internal memory. Nevertheless, the 3G Tab should do quite well for itself considering it offers tremendous amount of functionality albeit just a little slowly for our taste, but we didn’t expect too much considering the price bracket. For those who need the features only a tablet can provide like large screen internet and email browsing on a 3G connection, the 3G Tab is a great choice if you're willing to go with Reliance's 3G plans of course. If you're not into the whole 3G bit, it's perfectly usable without a SIM card. Its only competition is going to be Beetel’s tablet, so stay tuned for a showdown once we’re done reviewing that.