Huawei MediaPad First look

Huawei has joined the already expanding tablet market with its MediaPad tablet. The Android Honeycomb OS, 7-inch device is Huawei attempt at providing an affordable tablet for the masses.

The Huawei MediaPad will ship with the latest version of the Honeycomb OS – Android 3.2.

The MediaPad isn’t designed to compete with high-end tablets such as the Apple iPad. It focuses more on low-range and mid-range customers. But many ’budget’ tablets until now have failed to match up to the consumers’ expectations. Will the Huawei MediaPad be any different?

Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 730 and Blackberry’s Playbook, the MediaPad is a 7-inch tablet. But, aesthetically it might not match up with its high-end rivals.

The tablet seems a bit bulky at 10.5mm thickness. Apart from its operating system the Huawei MediaPad doesn’t offer anything that stands out.

The tablet is equipped with an IPS capacitive touchscreen display, which comes with a 1280 x 800 pixels display. The display quality might actually surprise you at the first look. Although it might not be as good as say, Apple or Samsung, it’s much better than your average Spice Mi-720 or iBall Slide.

The hardware is tells a different story altogether. The tablet is endowed with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, along with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB onboard storage. It comes with dual cameras for video conferencing and clicking photos.

The MediaPad will come equipped with 3G connectivity, which will make it a smaller, cheaper alternative to Apple’s iPad 2.

 The Huawei MediaPad comes in India for a price of Rs. 28,359, which makes it neither too cheap nor too expensive. Along with that mobile operator Aircel offers free 3 GB download for 3 months with the tablet.

While you can opt for many other devices in that price range, the Huawei MediaPad, really isn’t a bad buy compared to devices such as the PlayBook, which have started to seem ancient. 

Huawei has also provided the tablet with a selection of pre-loaded apps, such as Angry Birds, Asphalt 6 and Lets golf for free in its pursuit of the consumer.

The MediaPad lacks a bit when it comes to performance, even while playing games such as Angry Birds, we faced shutter and lag.

The MediaPad comes with Android Vanilla UI, which we actually like.

Summing up, the MediaPad, as a budget tablet makes the same mistake as many of its contemporaries as it is burdened with an unattractive design and shutter and lag issues.

But, still, Huawei has made a valiant attempt of venturing into the budget tablet market. It just needs to come up with better hardware and software for its devices, before it competes with brands such as HTC, Samsung or Motorola.