HCL Me U1 Tablet Review

Sameer Mitha

Budget tablets have always been looked down upon for a few simple reasons. To maintain the low price point they compromise on many features such as build, screen, wireless connectivity and battery life to name a few. But lately we have seen quite a few budget tablets that have skimmed on features but managed to deliver a good user experience and a bang for users buck.

The biggest criticism of these budget tablets was that they do not offer the latest version of the Android OS. But that has changed. In the past few weeks, we have seen the launch of budget tablets running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich while maintaining the sub 10k price barrier. These tablets are – Micromax Funbook, iberry Auxus AX02, Zync Z990 and the HCL Me Tablet U1.

Today we have with us the HCL Me Tablet U1. This is HCL’s third foray into the budget tablet segment and its first venture into the ICS tablet domain. Does the device have what it takes to stand out of the crowd?

Look and Feel
On first impressions, the device is quite well built, at par with the competition if not better. The rear panel however feels flimsy near the ports and you get the feeling that you can wrench it out.The device has a glossy white finish making it a fingerprint magnet.

The front of the device has a 7-inch display that boasts of a resolution of 480x800. The front also has the 0.3MP camera and no physical buttons. Since ICS is an OS that displays all the necessary functions such as home, back and running apps on the screen all the time, there is no need for the device to have a physical back or home button. The absence of any buttons on the face of the device gives it a plain and clean look, which is nice. There is no rear-facing camera.

In terms of connectivity, all the ports are at the right of the device (when held in landscape mode). The device has a mini USB port, a headphone jack, microSD card slot, DC in and a full sized USB port. The addition of a full size USB port is nice as users can directly plug in their 3G dongles into the device. The ports are neatly and well laid out.

On the top of the device (when held in landscape mode) are 3 small buttons. Two of these buttons are used to control the volume and one is the on/off/sleep/wake button.

Overall the device has a nice look and feel to it. The white colour and absence of any face buttons distinguishes it from the run of the mill budget tablet crowd.

Visit page two for a look at the HCL Me Tablet U1's features, performance, and our verdict...