Micromax Canvas Tab P650 tablet review

Micromax created a name for itself in the tablet space with Funbook pro range of devices not so long ago but failed to evolve with the market where consumer needs were fickle and demanding. While the company has managed to scale up to the top rung of market share in smartphone arena, their action on the tablet has been wanting. With Canvas Tab P650 the company has tried its best to imbibe the change in culture at the company (Hugh Jackman endorses Micromax) and bring out a competent product.

Features

Canvas Tab P650 is company's first ever product in the 8 inch line-up which comes with 1024x768 pixels display. The tablet packs 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU clubbed with 1 GB RAM for stable performance. With an interesting addition of SIM slot, the tablet offers calling support as well as 2G/3G connectivity. With 5 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras, the company has satisfied the basic need of fitting in imaging options which can be shared via social platforms on-the-go. 16 Gb internal storage (12 GB usable) can be expanded up to 32 Gb via microSD slot. The tablet loaded with 4800 mAh battery is the travel companion for users which should supplement long device life. The tablet comes bundled with flip cover.

Performance

The tablet is easily one of the best in terms of build and design by Micromax and far cry from the Funbook tablets. The tablet is on the heavier side at 448 grams (which goes to 500 grams with cover), not the easiest to carry around and a stand should be high on priority.

The wide angle display is decent for viewing content like movies, e-books etc. Gaming on the tablet is good and despite facing few lagging issues, the tablet tends to offer stable output even while multi-tasking thanks to the quad-core CPU and 1 GB RAM, however device heating was more than obvious.

In terms of calling facility, we tried it out with a Bluetooth headset (crazy to hold it on-ear) and results were quite good with good voice clarity and no network connectivity issues. That said, for price of Rs 16,500 the Canvas Tab P650 lines up against brands like Samsung (Galaxy Tab 3) which also has an 8 inch model. By comparing the score of Canvas Tab P650 (Antutu 13032,Quadrant 4043, 3DMark Ice Storm 3173 and Vellamo HTML5 1469) with Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (Antutu score 11201, 3692 on Quadrant and Vellamo HTML5: 1564).

During our battery test (wherein HD movies where run at full brightness on Wi-Fi), Canvas Tab P650 lasted for almost four hours and with our experience this translates into six to seven hours of battery life on normal usage. One can clearly see there is not much of a difference and by paying Rs 1000 more you get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and by paying way less (Rs 9,999 to be precise) you have the Nexus 7 tablet that can be looked at also.