New Delhi: My belief is that in the value conscious and price-driven Indian market, the tablet PC is still a luxury, and not yet a necessity. Somehow, somewhere, many users think of tablets as more of a status symbol rather than as a utility tool.
So, if they plan to shell out a hefty sum of money for a gadget, they will obviously, apart from rich features, look for elegant looks. In spite of its high price tag, the Milagrow TabTop PC misses grace and looks cheap.
Running Android 2.3.1, the device comes in two variants - 16GB model and 32GB model, which cost Rs 24,999 and Rs 29,990, respectively. I had the 16GB model for the review.
The packaging, and I am not exaggerating, is awful as it puts you off in the very first look. The box comes with a tablet PC and three accessories - a charger, USB cable and an ear phone, along with a manual and warranty card. Milagrow also includes a protective case, which the company claims to be a leather case worth Rs 4,000. But the fact is that its look and feel do not even come close to what we would expect from a Rs 4K case. The leather case also makes the device heavier, however a user can remove it (with some effort).
The front has a brushed metal finish with aluminium coating at the edges, something in other devices add some class, but not here. Also Milagrow needs to work on their logo, it makes the device look uglier.
Riding on its hardware specifications, the company claims TabTop PC to be an alternative to a fully loaded laptop. Well it is, in a way. Quite like our Windows laptops, it also takes 2-3 minutes to boot when you power it on. On second thoughts, most laptops manage to boot faster. Thumbs down!
With prices starting at Rs 25,000, the device's 8-inch touchscreen is not very responsive and is also a finger print magnet. The screen is not sunlight readable. The tablet comes with a 2 megapixel rear camera that does not deliver quality images. It also includes a front VGA camera.
Having numerous flaws, there is still something that increases the utility of the device. And that is the number of additional hardware features on the right side of the device (usually not found in most tablets). It has an HDMI port, USB 2.0 interface, USB host, line out, microSd card slot and a SIM card slot. This is the only thing I liked about the device. There is no bundled HDMI cable. This means a user will have to buy his own. For a device of its price they could have easily included an HDMI cable.
Another thing that I found disrupting was that the back button was placed in between two other buttons. Often, I found myself pressing the volume button instead of the back button as both were closely positioned. They should have found a better place for that.
The interface is intuitive, but at the same time it is boring and is loaded with dull icons. The device is both 3G and Wi-Fi. While I was able to easily connect the review unit through Wi-Fi, I just couldn't get a 3G connection on. I tried to use three different SIM cards - Vodafone, Airtel and Aircel, but all in vain. I was not able to figure out the reason for that. It could be a glitch in the SIM card slot in the unit or it could be something else. All that the TabTop PC said "Error while searching for networks. Unable to connect to this network at this time. please try again."
It is good that Milagrow pre-installed a plethora of apps and also divided them into various groups such as productivity apps, networking apps, educational apps and more. But some users may find many of the apps useless for their purpose. While it is good that devices come with pre-loaded apps, but companies should refrain themselves from putting all that they can get their hands on to a device. Let the users choose and decide for themselves what they want.
The device offers good audio quality and video clarity. The battery life is good and it takes around 3 hours to get fully charged.
Milagrow has also chosen a charger that matches the look of the tablet, both are ugly. One small consolation is that earphones look okay.
In a snapshot, the only thing worthwhile about the Milagrow TabTop PC tablet is the extra holes on its body. Also, it is not a good deal for its price. I believe a consumer will be much more satisfied with the base model of the Apple iPad 2 or even the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Milagrow should have set its goals lower and think of alternate prices.
Tech specs
Powered by a 1.2GHz processor, the Milagrow TabTop PC features an 8-inch capacitive multi-touch display with a 1024x768 pixels. The device runs Android 2.3.1 operating system and sports a 2 megapixel rear and a VGA camera on the front. It comes in two variants – one with 16GB of internal memory and 512 MB DDR3 RAM and the other with 32 GB of internal storage space and 1GB DDR3 RAM. The device has a 5000mAH lithium polymer battery that the company claims gives more than 10 hours of play time. The Internet connectivity options include GPRS, Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. Weighing 455g, it is capable of recording 1080p full HD video and supports Adobe Flash 11.
Rating: 1.5/5
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