Even as companies are still introducing dual-core tablets, quad-core tablets priced at about Rs 19,000 and based on Google’s Android Jelly Bean operating system have hit the market in India.
Among the first quad-core tablets to hit the market are the Ramos W30HD, the Onda V972, the Ainol Novo 9 Firewire and the Sanei N10. One of them even has a retina-display.
The first model, Ramos W30HD, uses Samsung’s EXYNOS 4412 processor, has a retina display, and is priced at Rs 20,500, but in a big miss, comes without HDMI output.
The Onda V972 and the Ainol Novo 9 Firewire uses the Allwinner A31 processor and are priced at Rs 18,800 and Rs 18,000 respectively, and the final one, the Sanei N10 uses the Freescale i.MX6Q processor and costs Rs 16,000.
However, even though all of the four tablets are quad-core, their powers are different. For example, the Ramos W30HD scores the highest thanks to its EXYNOS processor, which typically hits a CPU-power score of 12,000 plus in Antutu tests.
In comparison, the Freescale i.MX6Q has been reported to score only in the 8,000s on the same test.
However, the most interesting of the quad-core Android tablets in India would be the Onda V972 and its near identical clone the Ainol Novo 9 Firewire. They come with Cortex A7 processors, unlike most others that come with either Cortex A8 or Cortex A9. Cortex A9 is roughly twice as powerful as Cortex A7. As a result, a quad-core Cortex A7 may have an equivalent power of a dual-core Cortex A9 processor such as the Rockchip RK3066 used widely in tablets in India (Antutu score 8000).
However, the A7 is technically a more modern version, but was designed primarily to cut power consumption. As such, there are reports that the 1.3 GHz Allwinner A31 processor actually scores about 12,000 in Antutu tests, though authentic information is yet to come by.
Except the Sanei model, the others have 2 GB of RAM, double what is offered on tablets in India at present.
As hinted already, all three models have 10-inch displays. The cheapest one, Sanei N10, however, has a rather poor resolution display of just 1280*800 pixels (roughly 1 million pixels). The Ramos W30HD has a 1920*1200 (2.3 million) pixel display while the Onda V972 and the Ainol Novo 9 Firewire take the lead with 3.15 million pixels on their 2048*1536 pixel display.
The Onda V972 and the Ainol Novo 9 Firewire are being pitched as “retina display” Android tablets, which would make them the first such devices in India. In comparison, it must be noted that the Samsung Note 10 inch, which costs exactly double the price, has only a 1280*800 (1 million) pixel display. Samsung’s displays, however, typically have vibrant colours.
Based on video reviews, none of the displays on the tablets seem shabby.
In addition to these, India-based iBerry is launching a model with the same Samsung EXYNOS processor at Rs 16,000. Unlike the others, the Auxus CoreX4 3G will come with built-in 3G (and not dongle 3G). The downside is that its display will be of even lower resolution than that of the Sanei N10. CoreX4 3G will have 1024*768 display, or about 0.75 million pixels. While the other three are already available, this model will be launched only in mid January.
Besides the above, Icoo has launched Icou10GT with very similar specifications to the Onda and Ainol model, except the display, which is just 1 million pixels (1280*800) in resolution. However, the model is about 15-20% cheaper than the other two. With the Allwinner A31 onboard, the model has been shown to have an Antutu score of about 11,263.
Interestingly, it is only in the last two months or so when the Indian market saw the launch of several dual-core tablets such as the iBall i9702 and the Videocon V10, which was launched yesterday. Most of these tablets come with dual-core RK3066 processor.
However, the launch of quad-core Android tablets is likely to disrupt the market further.