Bangalore January 7 2012: We had reported briefly on the launch of EAFT’s new tablet with a useful music feature embedded: access to the extensive libraries of WorldSpace, the innovative but now sadly defunct satellite based world music resource.
WorldSpace had 90% of its customers in India but couldn’t survive long after the global parent collapsed. The India employees had the bright idea of buying out the WorldSpace brand and its extensive music libraries to fuel a new digital and Net music venture: Timbre Media. They partnered with the Saregama music label to offer a whole new slate of services – and one of them is the partnership with EAFT which enables buyers of the D90T tablet to activate music service that allows them to access some 12 genres of music totalling some 70 plus hours music -- both Indian and International.
If you were a WorldSpace fan then this tablet will have a special attraction. Even otherwise it is a device with excellent multimedia capabilities -- very good sound; superior video reproduction at a display resolution of 1024 by 768 that is better than many tablets -- and full 1080p HD.
The screen size – 9.7 inches is about the biggest you can get these days in a tablet and provides excellent experience when viewing movies.
We found the multi-touch screen (HD IPS, In Plane Switching is a new LCD display technology) features rather better than many capacitive screens we have tried. And 2 cameras both 2 megapixel is a luxury, if you plan on doing Skype video calls or even basic web conferencing.
The dual core Cortex A9 processor ensures that most apps you run are adequately powered and the OS is the current Android 40.4 Ice cream sandwich.
For Internet connectivity you can of course harness the WiFi to find a nearby hotspot – but this alone is not enough when you are on the move. One needs to access the Net anytime anywhere using the GPRS features of one’s phone – or a dedicated 3G USB dongle. You can certainly do that with the D90T – there is a standard USB port. The catch is no tablet today comes with the drivers for ALL currently available 3G dongles.
We found from the product site that the D90T accepts Huawei E1750c, Huawei E1750 dongles for HSPA ( GSM) SIMs. Now which provider – Airtel, Voda, Reliance, Idea, BSNL or whatevcr – offers one of these two models of Huawei dongle? We don’t know… If you plan on buying the D90T ( it is currently selling for Rs 14,999 against an MRP of Rs 16,999 ) it is best to ensure that it works with the dongle you have. Alternately you may ask the supplier to provide a dongle that can be demonstrated to work with the D90T. A nuisance we agree – but not one special to this make of tablet. It is an irritant for anyone buying a tablet these days and one the industry has not bothered to address. For this reason and if mobile Internet is important to you, we would suggest buying in a shop and checking it for connectivity with a dongle, rather than buying online.
That said, we think the D90T is superior to most tablets sold in India. It is certainly no entry level 5000 rupee device -- but for what you pay, we think you will get value for, money by way of a superior touch and audio-video experience. Anand Parthasarathy
Link to more product info
Bangalore January 7 2012: We had reported briefly on the launch of