<p>Irashly asked a little girl I know what she wanted for her upcoming birthday. Tablet, she announced promptly, without batting an eyelid. But while this child is longing for her own device, the rest of the world isn’t so keen on tablets anymore. One reason may be that smartphones have become so large. Another that hybrid laptops are now getting more affordable and are more common. And yet another may be that there’s little to differentiate between one tablet and another.<br><br>iBall begs to differ with the launch of yet another tablet called the iBall Slide Stellar A2 tablet. That mouthful is a narrow compact 7-inch tablet that looks like a phone that didn’t know when to stop growing.<br><br>It’s got itself a pretty good build: metalized on the sides to give it an expensive look, and synthetic on the back. It isn’t, in fact, expensive, at Rs 11,999, and not a bad option for someone who wants a tab they can slip into a bag. Handy is the word that comes to mind when I pick it up every so often in the day. Except that I have a phone that’s just a little smaller than the tablet is so it’s fairly superfluous for me as it could be for many others who have a large phone.<br><br>The Stellar A2 runs on an 1.7 GHz octa-core Mediatek processor with just 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage space. But it does have space for a micro-SD card. You’ll wonder where that is housed on this device until you try to tackle the tough task of opening the little panel at the back and bottom of the device. There, you’ll find two SIM slots as well. You can call using this tablet and a set of earphones with mic.<br><br>The tablet is on Android KitKat and is smooth performing. It’s just that the 1280x800 pixels IPS display is a little blocky and un-finessed. It’s bright enough, but not crisp. If you need a fabulous screen, you’ll have to look further up the food chain.<br><br>The big USP claimed by the maker is the set of two 8MP cameras on the device. This should have been really cool except that the images are a little pinkish-blue and dark, proving that sheer megapixel power counts for little. It’s meant for “selfie addicts” but honestly, smartphones will do that job better.<br><br>There are many situations in which a tablet like the Stellar A2 will be a good fit. Businesses that need to give on-the-go workers a device to record data, for example. Or indeed, a toy and learning tool for a little girl who could drop it, but hopefully won’t. <br><br>mala.bhargava@gmail.com<br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)</p>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
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