Micromax Funbook Review

May 28, 2012

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The Micromax Funbook is an another animal in the ever growing dense jungle of Budget Tablets. The device is meant for multimedia users and combines certain educational tools. On the launch of the event the CEO of Micromax said that the company was trying to provide a balance between ‘Fun’ and ‘Education’. Micromax has achieved various partnerships to enhance the device capabilities and experience for the user.

BUILD QUALITY

Not a great deal can be expected out of such competitive pricing at around six and a half thousand Indian Rupees. The device still does not disappoint much. The entire body, buttons and protective flaps are all made out of plastic. The back side though has been given a metallic aluminium look. A coated plastic layer runs around the edge of the device which prevents the side of the device from developing scratches. Overall the quality is satisfying for the class of the device but Micromax could have done a better job with the plastic quality.

HARDWARE

The device boasts of 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor and a Dual Mali – 400 2D/3D GPU for Multimedia Processing. The processing ability is just about sufficient for the device and the GPU just adds to the multimedia abilities on the device. The device has an internal memory of 4GB , expendable upto 32 GB using a SD card and a 512 MB ROM.

The combination of hardware and processing ability is quite precise. Given that the device offers the user to store and enjoy media (music, videos, movies as well) on the device,store and read books on the device, the storage should have been a bit higher as users will more or less try to make this their default multimedia device. But given the cost constraint, Micromax has tried to provide the maximum to the users, so we cannot really blame them.

It has a secondary 0.3 MP front camera for capturing images & videos and support video calls through applications. It has a HDMI output slot to screen content over your Television or projectors. The device also comes with a cable to support 3G dongle connectivity to the tablet. There are special data plans available to the users from Tata . The only complaint coming from this is that the device only supports Tata dongles and Micromax is supposedly working on the issue.

DISPLAY, CAMERA & MULTIMEDIA

The Funbook has a 17.78cm Multi Touch Capacitive TFT Touch Screen with Pinch Zoom and a 0.3VT front camera. The screen is very responsive and did not faulter even once. The display does not excite much, it rather disappoints. The screen seems clear during most part of the usage but the resolution 800*400 does not match up. The video playback seems to be good enough but HD content often suffers from pixellation due to the poor resolution on the device. The overall impression of the screen is continuously dull, the home screen, games, applications all appear dull. Though, during video playback the screen lits up a ted more but the visual still doesn’t become crisp.

The camera is just there for the sake of it. The image and the video quality will not be enjoyed by the users. The camera would just let you take that emergency snap and video and support a Video Calling through applications such as Qik Video.

The speaker is fairly loud, though don’t expect it to rock your party. Not many sound options are available in the device and the audio quality needs to be quite high to have a fairly audible listening experience. The headphone sound performs better than the speaker. Its clear and loud, though you would still prefer your mobile phone over the Funbook because it does not offer anything brilliant.

The bottomline is that the device capabilities only make it suitable for private viewing and listening. You can watch a movie along with an another person or put on those earphones on your bed. Do not expect any lavish experience with the Funbook.

CONNECTIVITY, APPS AND BATTERY

The device has wi-fi connectivity but no support for GSM voice communication. The tablet runs on Android 4.0.3 – Ice Cream Sandwich, so there is a plethora of Applications available to the user. In addition to that the device comes in with educational applications from Pearson, Everon, GK Publishers, Scholarshub, Vidyalankar, Universal Tutorials, CAPS and Zion. Bigflix, Indiagames and Zenga bring in lots of entertainment applications. You would not be lagging on applications on this device for sure.

The device has a 2800 mAH battery that does the job. The battery life is good. The display really does not extract lot of power from the device, so with normal usage , you can expect this device to last for you for a day and not die down quickly. Though, the battery power is a bit less when compared to the tablet’s HCL counterpart with 3700 mAH of power, which was released a few days before Funbook.

CONCLUSION

The biggest USP of the device is its price and that it has sufficient features which deliver. It might not be as dynamic as the other big tablet daddies around (read: iPad). But in its class, the Funbook is a serious competitor. One can go about finding its limitations but the fact is that it is perhaps the best deal available in the price category. The device will not disappoint you with its performance for your private use. It provides a decent combination of third party applications, latest Android OS version and decent hardware capabilities.