Review: Micromax Funbook

In a market flooded with Android tablets, with increasingly competitive pricing, Micromax announced Funbook – an Android 4.0 tablet focused for 10-21 years olds with focus on education and entertainment.

In a market flooded with Android tablets, with increasingly competitive pricing, Micromax announced Funbook - an Android 4.0 tablet focused for 10-21 years olds with focus on education and entertainment, the two tenants that Micromax claims are primary for this age group.

Specifications

MicromaxFunbook has decent specifications under the hood. A Dual Mali 1.22 GHz Cortex A8 processor ensures smoother processing to run applications and multi-task and powers the latest version of Android for smartphones and tablets - Ice Cream Sandwich. The 7-inch tablet has a 17.78cm multi-touch capacitive display. The device allows HD video playback at 1080p and the HDMI output allows you to play your desired media content on external display at home. The 4GB internal storage can be expanded up to 32 GB with a memory card.

Now for the negatives, although justifiable for the pricing and target audience it focusses on. The tablet includes a modest 2800 mAh battery. Interestingly, the tablet does not feature a rear camera, although includes a front-facing VGA camera for video calls et al.There is no SIM slot, so the only Internet connectivity is via WiFi or via the bundled Tata Photon USB dongle to provide additional 3G connectivity with free 1 GB of additional downloads for the first 2 months.

The device comes in two colors - Suave Silver and Brilliant Black - and the slim and sleek design with only a centimeter of thickness, is not only attractive, but also easier to carry and work in both landscape and portrait modes.

Content

While many tout the low price or the feel-good fact that the device has been designed, developed, and manufactured in India (at a facility in Haridwar district) as the USP of MicromaxFunbook, I believe it is the content partnerships that Micromax has enabled for a unique experience.

The educational focus of Funbook comes from the fact that it packs in study material from kindergarten to entrance examinations via the Funbook's E-learning app with content from leading publishers like Pearson, Everonn, GK Publishers, Scholarshub, Vidyalankar, Universal Tutorials, and more. Powered by Vriti, the app has more than 500 smart courses ranging from Class 1 to degree courses and preparatory material for engineering, medical, and MBA courses.

For entertainment, Micromax has partenered with big publishers and aggregators like Bollywood Hungama, Indiagames, BigFlix, and Zenga - a formidable lineup by any far measure. You could choose from over 4000 videos and 6000 songs with more added each day. Although, this is available unlimited for free just like games from Indiagames, BigFlix offers over 600 movies in 9 languages - Hindi, English, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Teluge, Malyalam, Marathi, Punjabi - and Zenga offers Live TV with over 48 channels to choose from, free for the first 30 days further which you'll need to subscribe to them individually.

Final Take

For just ₹ 6499, the MicromaxFunbook seamlessly brings everything from study material to games to a single platform packaged in a neat device that you can carry anywhere. While there are several other alternatives in the market at a sub-10K pricing, MicromaxFunbook impresses the most. With useful bundled content and well thought-out hardware compromises to lower the price, it is a highly recommended device for your school going kid or the Web surfing friend.

MicromaxFunbook can be purchased online from micromaxfunbook.com while Micromax works on an exhaustive distribution plan so that the device would be available at stores in both top-tier and middle-tier cities through the physical retail ecosystem as well.