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The iPad has done a great thing by kick starting the tablet PC revolution. Apple has also paved a smooth road for Android by confining the iPad to specific regions of the world. The iPad’s self imposed boundaries have become a boon for burgeoning Android tablet PCs. Whilst Apple is reluctant to cater to the price sensitive Indian tech enthusiasts, the iPad’s delay has become OlivePad’s gain.
The OlivePad is yet another wonderful Android treat from the Silicon Valley of the east, and it is now available for purchase online and will soon hit major electronic stores in India, with heaps of features packed into its small chassis.
The Steve Jobs of Olive, Arun Khanna, said during the launch: “At Olive, it has been our constant endeavor to create products driven by technology at the forefront. With this launch, we are bringing consumers to experience cutting edge technology that the world has been talking of. It is the true convergence device that brings together the Computer, Mobile Phone and Entertainment on one platform. The Olive Pad is aimed at today’s technology savvy generation who want easy on the move connectivity.”
Convergence of tablets and smartphones started with the 4-inch Evo tablet, and was then redefined again by the 5-inch Dell Streak. The OlivePad has taken convergence of tablets to another level by enabling voice and video calling on a 7-inch screen. It is designed to double up as a smartphone, with integrated voice services thanks to a mic and speaker, and support for 3.5G HSUPA networks. It might seem awkward to be taking calls from a 7-inch device unless you’ve got giant ears, but a Bluetooth headset will easily save you from holding it on to your head.
The OlivePad is a hybrid tablet, boasting a resolution of 800x480 on a 7-inch capacitive touch panel. Olive has picked a safe bet with the 7-inch size since the device has to work both like a tablet and a smartphone. The smaller size also makes it lighter than the iPad, at 375g compared to the 725g of the iPad 3G model. The OlivePad runs on a 600MHz Qualcomm M7227 chipset and has 512MB of internal NAND flash storage which can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card.
Olive Telecom launched the OlivePad with Android 2.1 Éclair way back in July, but the retail version now sports Android 2.2 Froyo. Being a genuine Android product it will provide access to the 100, 000 apps on the Android Marketplace. Unlike the iPad, it also supports Flash video playback. To back up its video calling function, it has dual cameras with a front VGA camera to make video calls on the 3G network and live video calls over the Internet. The 3MP rear camera supports photo capture along with 4X frontal zoom.
The OlivePad has an inbuilt GPS sensor and will support Google Maps, but in addition to this, Olive Telecom has also collaborated with MapMyIndia to provide an option to choose between Google Maps, or free lifetime subscription of preloaded MapMyIndia software, which offers features like mapping, navigation advice, voice-based direction, and distance and route calculations, which turns to OlivePad into a fully featured GPS unit. I did mention convergence earlier didn’t I?!
The OlivePad also supports mobile TV and comes preloaded with 6 months of free subscription to Zenga TV, with popular channels like Colors, MTV, UTV Bindaas, and UTV Movies.
The Olive Pad scores well against the iPad in terms of connectivity. It has Wi-Fi, 3.5G and GPRS for Internet surfing, and supports both GSM and WCDMA networks for making calls. There’s also Bluetooth and miniUSB for data transfer, and programs like Push Mail, Microsoft Exchange and Active Sync. Internet surfing and watching movies should be a breeze with its 3240mAh marathon battery that can support 24 hours of net surfing before running out of juice.
Besides its smartphone functions, the OlivePad also can also work as an eBook reader with its preloaded Aldiko eBook reader app. If you’re an Amazon Kindle fan, you can always download the Amazon app on the Android Marketplace. OlivePad also comes preloaded with a music player and apps for Notes, Calendar and Data Wiz’s Documents app to view, create and edit Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations.
Artem Orange, CEO for Olive Telecom, CIS/CEE added: “With Olive Pad we launch a new generation of mobile devices which become your true window to the world in your pocket. With the same concept, we will evolve into more and more convergence devices giving the same reach and affordable experience to customers in India and across the world. We have received tremendous response from operators and consumers in highly sophisticated markets of Central, Eastern Europe and Russia and expect to launch Olive Pad in that market in the near future.”
Alright, so before you book a flight to Delhi to pick one up for yourself, I’d better give you the skinny on the bad points … it lacks the visual appeal and polished looks of the Apple iPad. The availability of only 512 MB ROM and 32GB memory card will also run a little short for all your media files (although cloud services could come to the rescue there).
Another gloomy factor is the price. It’s available for INR 25,990 (USD 584) via Olive Telecom's website. This comes in quite close to the iPad’s Wi-Fi versions, which is not good if it has to compete in the price sensitive Indian consumer market, although the iPad’s price is only going to raise more with import duties. This leaves a lot of space for shanzhai’d versions of the iPad or OlivePad to take over and woo the Indian audience.
As a true convergence device, however, the OlivePad really does offer a lot of usable features that you’d find in a portable TV, smartphone, GPS and tablet. It’s fantastic to see such a well-engineered and designed device that tries very hard—and succeeds in many ways—to break expectations of what a tablet can be.
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