Mi Pad: Beating the competition hands down

If you have been scouting for a tablet which looks good and does its job without burning a hole in your pocket, this just might be for you. Xiaomi, the electronics manufacturer dubbed as Apple of China, threw its hat in the ring for tablets with the launch of its maiden tablet - Mi pad, which is available exclusively on Flipkart.

The packaging follows the 'minimalistic design theme' lineage and tucked inside neatly is the 7.9" device adorning a white rear. Although the Mi pad was unveiled in March 2014, the design is in no way outdated. In fact, it resonates the curvatures of iPad Mini 3, and at 8.5mm it is only one mm thicker. It weighs only 350 grams and you can work on Mi pad for hours without getting your wrists tired. The power button and the volume keys are placed on the top right hand side and the memory card slot on the top left hand side. Turning the device on will reveal the three capacitive touch keys underneath the display.

The Mi pad hosts a full HD IPS Retina Display with a 2048X1536 screen resolution. On the 7.9-inch screen, clarity and sharpness of the video playback is stunning. The sound isn't bad either. It's loud and clear, but not as clear as a JBL or Bose. Also, do not expect any thumps and bass. Keep your expectations realistic and the Mi pad will definitely surprise you.  

The 2.2GHz quad-core Tegra K1 processor from Nvidia with 2GB RAM can seamlessly run almost any heavy game on its Android KitKat OS. The suicide bomber of Candy Crush - that wrapped piece of delicious candy which explodes the entire square of other candies surrounding it -- looks amazing. The brilliant sharper and richer colours makes you feel that the candies on Mi pad are crushed better than on any other tablet.   

The cameras on Mi pad will not be a match to the camera on your phone as it sports an 8MP camera on the rear and a 5MP front-facing camera. But it does click decent images. If you happen to be at an office offsite or a picnic, the pictures would be worthy of upload on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Mi pad has a proprietary Xiaomi MiUi interface and the apps are placed across the home-screen windows. The Mi pad comes with 16GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 128GB. One of the big pluses is the 6,700 mAh battery on Mi pad that lasted me close to 10 hours on a single charge.

On the whole, the Mi pad has enough hardware to hold on its own and rise above the sea of tablets in the sub-15K category. Bag it or Junk it: The best tablet you can own for Rs 12,999

Plus: Design, Lightweight, Battery, Price
Minus: Android KitKat OS
Price: Rs 12,999 for 16GB WiFi variant