Tablet under 10k(budget)

The battle of the budget tablets just got a whole lot sweeter with the launch of budget tablets powered by Google’s latest Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich. Of late, we have seen quite a few Ice Cream Sandwich running budget tablets hit the streets such as the HCL Me tablet U1, Zync Z990, iberry AUXUS AX02 and the Micromax Funbook to name a few. All these tablets are priced below the Rs. 10,000 price tag.
If you were in the market to pick up one of these tablets, you are spoiled for choices. So, to help you with your buying decision, we have put together a quick look at the specifications, benchmark scores and some of the features of these budget ICS powered Android tablets.

 

Particulars	Micromax Funbook	HCL Me Tab U1	Zync Z990	iberry Auxus AX02
Price	Rs. 6499	Rs. 7999	Rs. 8990	Rs. 9990
Screen Size	7-inch	7-inch	7-inch	7-inch
Screen resolution	480x800	480x800	480x800	480x800
RAM	512MB	512MB	1GB	1GB
Processor	1.22 GHz Cortex-A8	1GHz Cortex A8 CPU	1.2GHz	1GHz Cortex A8 CPU
Front Facing camera	0.3MP	0.3MP	VGA	0.3MP
Rear camera	NA	NA	NA	2MP
Internal Storage	4GB	4GB	4GB	4GB
Expandable Storage	32GB via MicroSD card	32GB via MicroSD card	32GB via MicroSD card	32GB via MicroSD card
Ports/Connection	DC in, Mini USB, Mini HDMI, MicroSD card slot and the headphones jack	mini USB port, a headphone jack, microSD card slot, DC in and a full sized USB port	DC in, USB hub, micro USB port, 3.5mm jack as well as mini HDMI out	mini USB port, mini HDMI out, a headphones jack, microSD card slot, DC in
battery	2800mAh	3600mAh	3600mAh	4000mAh
App store	Google Play Store	No Google Play Store. Hcl Me App store	Google Play Store	Google Play Store
3G	Yes via a USB dongle	Yes via a USB dongle	Yes via a USB dongle	Yes via a USB dongle
Wi-Fi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth	No	No	No	No
Benchmark Scores	Higher is better
Quadrant	1674	1173	1156	1733
Antutu	2702	NA	2148	2941
Linpack Single thread	15.86	NA	7.04	14.53
Linpack Multithread	14.01	NA	6	13.58
GlBenchmark (Egypt Standard)	4384	NA	1541	4265

From the above table, one thing is clear. The iberry Auxus AX02 is the best of the list as it has the highest capacity battery, very good benchmark scores fells really comfortable in our hands and above all is a good overall  performer. It is also the most expensive tablet on our list. 

The iberry is closely followed by the Micromax funbook in terms of benchmarks. The device is the cheapest on our list and hence you may find the touch to be a little less responsive than the others but it is capacitive in nature nonetheless.

Coming in third is the Zync Z990. Its specifications are at par with the competition but its performance wasn’t at par with the other tablets on the list. 

The HCL Me tablet U1 is the last tablet on this list for only one reason. HCL has decided to remove access to the Google Play Store and instead put up its own HCL Me App store. The advantage of this is that you don’t need to log in or have a Google account to access the store. The down side is the App store isn’t updated frequently enough and you don’t have access to all the latest apps. We wish that HCL included access to the Google Play Store along with its own app store.