Finally, an affordable tablet you can buy

No, it is not Aakash, Aakash 2, Aakash 3 or the mythical tablet Moses carried. It is Nexus 7, Google’s first tablet.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Micromax Canvas HD, terming it the phone to buy if you are looking for an affordable option. Today I am going to talk about Nexus 7, the tablet you should buy if you can’t shell out money for an iPad.

Indian market is full of budget tablets, including a few from Micromax. But all of them leave much to be desired. Some suffer from poor performance. They lag during use. Most of them have poor screens that show dull colours and lack good touch sensitivity. Most of them also have very poor build quality, are unnecessarily heavy and run older versions of Android.

Big companies like Samsung, Huawei and Acer have tried to satisfy demand for affordable tablets but their efforts have not been entirely successful. They often lack the hardware that can make the tablet a joy to use. For example, even Galaxy Tab 2 comes with a graphics chip that is too old to properly run many games available in the Android Play store.

So far, whenever someone asked me for the cheapest tablet to buy, I always pointed out iPad Mini. It is a superb device at a very good price.

All that changed this Tuesday. After a long wait, Google launched Nexus 7 in India.

Nexus 7 is a fantastic tablet at a very good price, Rs 15,999. It is available directly from the Google website. (Go to Play store, log in with your Google ID and you should be able to buy it using a credit or debit card).

I continue to consider iPad Mini a very good option but if you can’t spend Rs 21,900 on it, Nexus 7 is not a bad deal at all.

Consider the hardware, for example. Nexus 7 is powered by quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1GB RAM. It is a fast device and there is no user interface lag. It handles demanding games well. It has a fantastic IPS screen with 720P resolution and top-notch touch sensitivity. While it lacks the exotic aluminium, the tablet is put together with tough and quality plastic. It feels solid. It comes with a front camera which is decent for video chats and has 16GB internal storage, which may not be very generous but is enough for day-to-day usage. The only downside that I see in Nexus 7 is lack of support for 3G. Google is only selling the Wi-Fi model for now and those who want a budget tablet for internet-on-the-go should still look at Galaxy Tab 2.

While the hardware is good, the real star in Nexus 7 is the software. The device runs the latest version of Android and is guaranteed feature updates for at least one year, directly from Google. The latest version of Android – more commonly known as Jelly Bean – is beautiful, fast and functional. Unlike the modified versions of Android that power tablets from other companies, the untouched Jelly Bean complements Nexus 7 very well.

Another important point to note about Nexus 7 is the content it can access. Compared to Apple, Google has been a little slow in bringing its device and content services to India. But since the beginning of this year, it is making some progress. In February it launched Google Books. Just days after the launch of Nexus 7, it launched Google Movies. The rates for both books and movies are decent. Most books cost between Rs 150 to Rs 300. Classics like Great Expectations and Treasure Island are free. Movies can be rented or bought in SD or HD. The cost is usually between Rs 80 to Rs 450. If you are renting the film, you have to watch it within 30 days. Once you start watching a film, you have to finish it within 2 days. If you buy movies, you can access them from any Android device or any PC using a browser.

There is a possibility that Google Music will also be available in India soon.

The availability of affordable movies and books and the fact that Nexus 7 runs an updated version of Android makes the tablet a fantastic package. It is not perfect yet. I would have loved to see the 3G version of the tablet. But if you have a budget of around Rs 20,000 and can manage without 3G, both iPad Mini and Nexus 7 are great options.