BW Communities

The Irony And The Ecstasy

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[There's a certain irony to the fact that the "world's cheapest tablet" and the most expensive were launched in the same week. Within a day of each other, actually. There is also irony in the sharp contrast in every aspect of the Aakash's commercial successor, UbiSlate 7, and the new iPad.   But let's not even go there. The Aakash has been in enough trouble, first with its shoddy build, and then with its sub-contractor. Despite a claimed 30 lakh pre-orders, it hasn't managed to change the lives of students or anyone else yet. Meanwhile, a new Android budget tab is launched almost every week, merging into a crowd of devices already barely distinguishable from one another. One or the other stands out for its value for money or an extra boost to a specification, or even by the mere absence of capacitive touch. A few tablets are even sporting the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android missing from higher-end tablets. From Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000, a quickly expanding range of options is unfolding for the Indian consumer. Google sees the opportunity too, and is rumoured to be getting ready to launch a low-cost Nexus tablet this year. ABI Research predicts that by 2016, low-cost tablets will have 60 per cent of the tablet market share. And at the other end of the spectrum, you have the iPad, the latest avatar of which slid elegantly into place in Indian stores on 27 April. At first look, it didn't tell me anything. Yes, it was an iPad. Getting into the apps and looking at photos, videos and text however showed a remarkable sharpness on the screen. The difference was most evident with movies and games, specially when you see water fly up and textured detail. The Retina Display is the one outward and visible difference from the iPad 2. But that difference and the step up is not as dramatic as the improvements to the iPad 2 over the original iPad. I arranged the screens of the two devices to be identical — same wallpaper, same icons — and showed them to a friend. He ended up preferring the iPad 2, but that was because the display was a little warmer yellow than the new one. There are minor variations in display from one unit to the other. Again, getting into visual content meant he was soon able to see the difference. Interestingly, I had assumed the higher resolution of the new iPad would make it a little more difficult for me to read (and many others who have less than perfect incorrectable eyesight) but that turned out, pleasantly, not to be the case. Only in some stubbornly small-text apps and mobile versions of sites was it marginally more difficult. In my short time with the new iPad, I haven't managed to outright heat it up. Hours of movie watching didn't take it beyond mildly warm. The battery too behaved just fine and took me through my day — which ends halfway through to the next. The faster processor is not something easily detectable, as the iPad 2 is pretty fast at what it's designed to do in any case. The new iPad is a touch heavier and thicker, but probably not enough to make a difference to the usage experience overall. I do think though that iPad users need to make sure they give their hands a rest, if their usage of the device is heavy. When it comes to apps, almost everything looks better on the new iPad. The apps that are primarily visual, such as Flipboard or the National Geographic magazine, really come into their own. So do games like Infinity Blade II, Temple Run and Mass Effect. Photo, art, travel and science-learning apps look impressive. Everywhere, the text is sharper, but if an app is well-designed, the Retina Display enhances the experience. The drawing app, Paper, and photo-editing app, iPhoto, feel as if they were created with the Retina Display in mind. Despite the availability of low-cost tablets and the iPad and higher-end tablets like Samsung's, both, in their own way, face challenges. For low-cost tablets, it's the pressure to differentiate in a market becoming rapidly crowded. Being able to offer a compelling experience while keeping production and marketing costs down, is another. For the more expensive tablets including the iPad, the challenge is that people don't quite understand why they need it. Seeing it as a pure indulgence and hesitating because it doesn't quite seem to replace a workhorse laptop or computer, they don't feel the cost is justified. With tablets, their enabling capacity and the needs only begin to be evident when a person begins using the device. That makes it difficult for one person to describe to the other exactly why the purchase is warranted. Everyone's usage is entirely different. mala(at)pobox(dot)com, @malabhargava on Twitter (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 14-05-2012)