Micromax have today announced a new tablet, the Canvas Tab P690, destined for the Indian market and due for launch on the 7 June. It’ll cost Rs 8,999, about $140, but comes with a free flip cover (worth Rs 1,500) and Rs 3,000 (almost $50) worth of free content bundled with the device. The Canvas Tab P690 is based around a 8-inch display of 1,280 by 800 pixels, so it’s slightly higher resolution than 720p HD. It’s powered by a quad-core Intel Atom processor with a quoted clock speed of 1.3 GHz but can be run at up to 1.83 GHz in “burst mode,” backed up by 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory complete with a MicroSD card, allowing for up to 32GB of expansion. There’s a 5MP rear camera complete with LED flash and a 2MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls. The Canvas Tab is 7.8mm thick and is a rather portly 318g in weight. The device comes with 3G and voice calling functionality, 802.11 b/g/n grade WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and USB. There’s a 4,000 mAh battery, around the same size as the Nexus 7 devices, and in regards to the software the P690 will launch running Android 4.4 Kit Kat but Micromax are promising an upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop shortly after launch.
The P690’s Intel Atom processor uses “burst mode,” which is a software controlled ability to temporarily increase the clock speed of the processor. In the case of the P690, the normal continuous maximum clock speed of the processor is 1.33 GHz but it may be overclocked to 1.83 GHz when conditions allow and up to 1.83 GHz. The manufacturer is able to adjust how “burst mode” is used and enabled by the device and so it may be tuned for better battery life or performance depending on the device or, in some cases, the application being run.
However, although the tablet’s specification is interesting, Micromax appear to be hoping that customers will buy the device for the bundled contents. There’s plenty included with the P690 including six free ebooks on Kindle, 1 GB of Vodafone data per month for two months. There’s a free three-month premium subscription to music service Saavan, six months premium subscription to TrueCaller, a month of free movies with Hello TV plus Angry Birds and Angry Bird Go with free in-app goodies. Micromax Informatics’ Chief Executive Officer, Vineet Taneja, said this about the launch: “Since January, we’ve been attaining strong growth of 30% month-on-month with our new Canvas Tab portfolio, and believe that we are set for market leadership in the key segment of Rs.6k-Rs.15k that we operate in. Our role as category leaders will be to grow the category itself by bringing in first-time users by demonstrating how tablets can enable a connected, portable and yet more immersive experience to our content-hungry consumers.”
Intel state that the Canvas Tab P690 has been designed with the family in mind, based around an Intel Atom chipset as this offers, “Intel Processor based tablets offer the optimal balance of battery life, high performance and mobility to users. We are proud of our collaboration with Micromax that is able to deliver a range of personal computing devices to Indian consumers. The new Intel Processor powered Canvas Tab P690 is set to deliver an amazing computing experience for consumers.”