The tablet was priced at $199 (Rs 12,336 approximately at today's exchange rate) in the US, and appeared to be a compelling buy. Of course, we didn't expect it to sell in India at the same price and at Rs 17,999, a price that pitchforks it in the league of Google's new Nexus 7 tablet and Asus's Fonepad 7.
We try to find out if the Xolo Play Tegra Note - without 3G and calling support - offers more bang for your b uck than the competing devices in our review.
Build and design
Upon first glance, you might mistake the Xolo Play Tegra Note for an HTC device, thanks to its dual front speakers (more so because there's no branding on the front). The tablet features curved edges at the top and bottom (when held in portrait mode) unlike other tablets that usually have linear edges. The two speakers sit on a plastic frame that houses the 7-inch display panel surrounded by a black bezel. The front-facing VGA camera lens sits above the display.
The right edge features the volume rocker key and a slot for the microSD card, along with a placeholder for the stylus. The top features the Power button, the 3.5mm headset port, the micro-HDMI port and the micro-USB port while the bottom edge features another small speaker outlet. The keys are made of plastic and offer decent tactile feedback, though we felt that the volume rocker key was slightly recessed.
Turn the tablet around, and the first thing that strikes you is the partial rubberized dimpled finish, that gives the illusion of ruggedness (the tablet is not dust or waterproof, mind you). This design is also in line with the positioning of the device as a gaming-focused tablet. The rest of the back is also made of plastic though it sports matte finish, which we found, was prone to scratches. Besides the branding, the back also features a 5MP rear camera.
Overall, the design of the tablet is interesting. We wish the build quality could have been a little better.
Display and camera
The Xolo Play Tegra Note's display is its biggest weakness. The tablet that boasts of relatively high-end hardware, cuts corners in the display department, sporting a 7-inch IPS display with 720p resolution (1280 x 800 pixels). With competing tablets like Nexus 7 (2013) sporting ful l-HD displays, the low resolution screen sticks out like a sore thumb. Not only is the screen resolution low, the tablet's brightness levels are also sub par. This is worsened by the screen being highly reflective and prone to smudges, though viewing angles are good. We so wish Nvidia had included a better display.
The tablet sports a 5MP rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera. The Tegra Note features the Camera Awesome app which makes its debut on Android with the device; previously, it was exclusive to iOS. This app is indeed the default camera app and is optimized for the Tegra 4 processor that uses Nvidia's Chimera computational photography architecture.
Some of the features that it offers are always-on HDR (through which one can shoot HDR shots in real time without long processing time) and an object tracking feature (to lock focus and track it even if it moves or the camera is displaced) and video stabilization. The camera app offers a number of filters and effects that can be applied after taking shots. The app also offers select settings and options like burst mode and timer shots.
The quality of images captured in daylight was above average, but indoor shots were noisy. At times, colours were also a bit off. While cameras in tablets are still behind smartphones, we expected a better sensor on the Tegra Note as it boasts of some unique camera capabilities that leverage the Tegra 4 processor. The object tracking feature mostly worked but the always-on HDR will arrive with a future software upgrade. The rear camera is capable of capturing 1080p video with results comparable with the still captures. The videos are saved in 3GP, which is an old format.
The front-facing camera is functional at best and can be used for video calling apps.
Software
The Xolo Play Tegra Note run s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Nvidia and Xolo sticking to a near stock build of the OS. It does feature some additional apps, including the Camera Awesome app, Xolo Care app, TegraZone, Eden to Green and Zen Pinball HD games, and two apps that can be used with the tablet's stylus, namely Tegra Draw and Write.
Apart from the apps, the software offers all standard Android Jelly Bean features, including Daydream and support for wireless display mirroring via Miracast standard.
The stylus
The Tegra Note comes with a chisel tip stylus featuring Nvidia's DirectStylus technology. Though the tablet's display panel doesn't feature a digitizer unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the stylus works exclusively with the Tegra Note screen and offers a similar solution. It's sensitive to pressure and even detects and prevents accidental touches when the stylus is being used.
A launcher is displayed as soon as one removes the st ylus from its holder with the shortcuts to the Write and Tegra Draw apps. The Write app lets you jot down notes and even integrate pictures with them. It doesn't, however, support text conversion. So you can't use an email address that you jot down as a contact entry. The Draw app, as the name implies, lets you make simple drawings.
The tablet displays two additional buttons on the navigation bar when the stylus is used, namely the stylus-only mode toggle and the lasso-tool button. The stylus-only mode makes the screen reject touch other than that of the stylus, while the lasso tool lets you take a screenshot and annotate.
Performance
The heart of the Xolo Play Tegra Note is its 1.8GHz Tegra 4 processor with 72-core GeForce GPU and quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU with a fifth b attery-saver core. Nvidia's hardware is known for superior graphics performance, and the Tegra Note's USP is its gaming prowess.
The tablet comes with the Nvidia Tegrazone, highlighting games optimized for Nvidia Tegra devices. The experience while playing games like Dead Trigger 2 and Shadow Gum was better than most other Android devices, with no lag or dropped frames. The loading times of games was also lesser compared to the Nexus 7 (2013).
Navigating through the phone's menu and launching apps was a breeze thanks to all the power under the hood. The tablet was able to play HD video clips very smoothly, supporting all major video file formats.
The battery lasted a good 10 hours with continuous video playback. It will last about a day and a half with moderate to mixed usage, including some web browsing, casual gaming and video playback.
The quality of sound delivered through the front stereo speakers was excellent and we feel that it's one of the lo udest compared to other tablets.
The microSD card slot can be used to expand the tablet's 16GB internal storage.
Verdict
The Xolo Play Tegra Note aspires to be a high-end tablet with a mid-range price point. While it creates benchmarks in terms of CPU and graphics performance, the tablet is marred by its low resolution display. In our opinion, for a large number of users, the tablet's display matters the most as the primary use case for them is reading and viewing multimedia content.
The camera on the Tegra Note is also nothing to write home about. Another factor that goes against the tablet is the Xolo branding. We're not sure if a prospective customer would choose an Indian brand, relatively less known in the tablets segment, at a price point of nearly Rs 18,000 over Google's Nexus 7 or a Samsung tablet.
The lack of a 3G variant is also a big letdown as public Wi-Fi networks in India are far and few. Unless you carry a Wi-Fi hot spot or use your mobile phone as one, you'll not be able to connect to the internet. Tablets like the Asus Fonepad 7 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 fare better in this department.
We'd recommend the Nexus 7 (2013) over the Xolo Play Tegra Note.
via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE2qFJ_4pkOXliw-Q4QK-aezjoZ6A&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/reviews/Review-Google-Nexus-7-rival-Xolo-Play-Tegra-Note/articleshow/27653222.cms
Put the internet to work for you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment