Flipkart expands tablet portfolio with three Intel devices starting Rs 5,999

Widening its portfolio of devices under the Digiflip Pro brand Flipkart has launched three new Intel-powered tablets. The new range includes a 7-inch Wi-Fi only ET701 as well as 8 and 9 inch tablets with both Wi-Fi and 3G versions.

In fact, the seven inch tablet will be among the most affordable in the market with a price tag of just Rs 5,999. It has an 1024x600p IPS display and is powered by a  1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2520 processor running Android Jelly Bean. The tablet has 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage expandable by up to 32GB. It comes with a 2800 mAH battery.

The 8-inch XT 811 and XT 801 will be powered by 2 GHz Intel Atom Z2580 processors and have a 1280 x 800p HD screen. It will be powered by a 4200 mAH battery and will have 16GB storage. The Wi-Fi only version will cost Rs 8,999, while the version with 3G calling will cost Rs 10,000.

The 8.9-inch XT 911 and XT 901 come with a Full HD screen and has a larger 6500 mAh Li-polymer, but has the same processor as the 8-incher. The Wi-Fi model has been priced at Rs 13,999, while the 3G version will cost Rs 2,000 more.

Michael Adnani, VP – Retail & Head – Brand Alliances, Flipkart, told IndianExpress.com that the idea was to offer something for everyone who can afford to spend on a tablet. Fipkart had launched another Android device a couple of months back and Adnani said the new devices made their specrtum pretty wide and plugged all the gaps. “At the moment the premium is all about quality and not the price as before. Our tablets offer affordability and value,” he added.

Sandeep Aurora, Director Marketing and Market Development, Intel South Asia said it is good see that the low quality tablets which had been clouding user judgement for long has started exiting the market. “We can now ensure that the customer is wowed by their first tablet experience, unlike before,” he said, adding that the market will keep evolving till it figures out what are the types of tablets that will sell.

Aurora said the trend of tablets with calling was still quite storng in India as a lot of Indian look at this feature as a fail safe mechanism when their primary phone has an issue. Adnani added that the tablet market in India was unlike the rest of the world. “Our effort is to develop a tablet market for the India consumer that solves his specific needs and problems.”

Intel: Small Changes Big Impact

For years Intel has been a well-known name in the technology world, but now with the advent of  a new, even smaller microchip technology, a small change could have a huge impact. Most people know that technology continues to get faster and faster. However, most are unaware of the reasons why, or even how that is possible. Understanding the basic design behind the technology consumers use every day, may go a long way in really appreciating the amount of effort being put into making everyday life a little easier.

Manufacturers may be able to pop out a new phone every couple of months like its easy as pie, but only because of the efforts of major chip companies like Intel. Many may not realize the obstacles that must be overcome in order to bring about that Note 4 or iPhone 6. Intel’s new 14 nm(nanometer) technology had to overcome the same obstacles as many before it. The main problems usually tend to center around power and space. Just so that it is understood, a nanometer is about how much a human nail grows per second, and a piece of paper is about 100,000 nm thick in comparison. While the understanding of what exactly this measurement refers to in relation to a microchip has been a bit blurred over the last few years, clarification is still possible. Basically, the smaller the measurement in nanometers, the more transistors can be fit on to any given chip.

Much of the smartphones and tablets in use today are using 22 to 28 nm technology. While Intel has not been involved to a very large degree in creating chips specifically for mobile technology in the past, following this small change to 14 nm technology, the tech giant could start to be seen far more often as the immense impact is felt around the technological world. This new technology draws half the power of current standard chips, not to mention half the space as well. This means that far more technology will be made available to each handset, tablet or other mobile device. Many flagship phones today run on quad-core processors, it is possible however that octa-core processors could become the new norm. This new technology is not simply limited to the mobile world however. Data servers, home desktops, Ultrabooks and many of the upcoming IoT (Internet of Things) technologies will no doubt be running on this new standard as well.

Intel will be making this new advancement available in new devices by the end of 2014. While billions await their new phones, tablets and many other devices, it remains important that the details are known about the trials that companies like Intel go through in order to bring about the “next best thing.” So perhaps in the future consumers will be able to appreciate just what went into making the Note 5, iPhone 7, and so on. As time goes by and mankind requires even more advancement in science and technology, companies like Intel will still be there making all the precise little changes that will have a big impact.