OlivePad may not be an iPad beater by any stretch, but being the first tablet to hit the Indian market, it sure has an advantage in the ?tablet wars? between the bigger players like Apple (iPad that has not yet launched in India), Samsung (Galaxy tab), Dell (Streak) and others like the SMC tablet and the Magnum pocket PC.

Wrapped in a smart looking leather case, the OlivePad at first glance looks like a notebook. But, once you see the 7-inch screen of the OlivePad, it is nothing short of exciting. The device is what you can call a bigger phone with more real estate to play around with. And with 3G already here, it will become all the more exciting and things are sure to speed up.

Once powered on, the device gives you the pleasant Android 2.2 experience. The orientation remains in the landscape mode when switched on and the five home screens have loads to offer. Users can move between screens with a swipe of their fingers. The constants on the screen are the email, documents, music/video player and the Web access on the left of the screen and the Web, menu and phone to the right of the screen.

The 480×800 screen resolution, though not very high, still gives you a good experience. The device gives you the option to play with resolution compatibility and run applications in 320×480 mode as well. Powered by a 600 Mhz processor, the device functions like most of the other smartphones today. The menu appears in an interesting 3D interface, but it always remains in the landscape mode. However, once you get past the menu and access each application, the G sensor (Gravity sensor) changes the orientation pretty quickly.

The Olive Pad also comes with a 32 GB expandable memory via microSD (a 16 GB card is provided with the device). However, I still haven?t been able to figure out the reason for providing an SD card in the kit as well (not that we?re complaining).

Slightly heavy at 410 grams, the device is a handful. It is black in colour with a silver metal band on the sides. Depending on how one holds it, (we did portrait) below the screen are the feather touch controllers (back, search, home and menu) and the top has the front VGA camera. The left has the reset, mic, 3.5 mm audio jack and the mini USB slot. The right hosts the volume controls and the microSD card and the SIM card slot covered with the same plastic flap. There are two speaker grills at the top and the bottom of the device have speaker grills (which is a good feature) and the top has the lock/power button. The back is unfortunately glossy and features the 3 MP camera.

Let us analyse some of the essentials and offerings from the Olive stable. The OlivePad has a host of connectivity options with the micro USB connectivity and the 3.5 mm audio jack. It features all the essentials like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS and with 3G coming in, the 3G SIM card slot will also come in handy.

The experience of typing on a big screen is amazing and the ease with which one can type on the OlivePad is great. The Qwerty keypad is equally comfortable to use, in vertical as well as landscape modes. If one wants, one can also change the typing to multi-type with the swipe of a finger across the keypad, and vice-versa.

Being on Android is a blessing for OlivePad as there are millions of downloadable apps that can be accessed. It comes with Google apps like YouTube pre installed and one can also get other stuff like Shazam for music from the Android app store. The OlivePad comes with inbuilt Zenga TV that has a bunch of channels on offer.

Multitasking is the OlivePad?s forte. I was surfing the Internet, chatting and speaking on the phone, all at the same time. However, the device does slow down while doing this. The fact that one can sync upto four emails including Gmail, is quite remarkable. The OlivePad takes in any SIM card and transforms the device into a calling machine. Making voice calls is easy and the speakers and the mic are all quite powerful, providing great sound quality. One can normally make calls on the loudspeaker or can use the provided headset to make calls.

With 3G already on offer and more companies in the fray, the video calling facility offered by OlivePad is sure to be a big hit. The front-facing VGA camera captures images quite clearly and considering the sound quality. This feature is sure to rock. OlivePad comes with a lifetime subscription to MapMyIndia and comes pre-installed with the software, which is a pleasant surprise.

The OlivePad makes gaming fun with 7-inch screen and the Android OS. The many paid and free games are highly addictive and makes it difficult to put it down. Some of the popular games like Talking Tom, Angry Birds, Paper Toss and relatively new ones like Talking Roby make the OlivePad a complete entertainment package.

Overall, the device, though not the best looking in the tablet market, does compete with the bigger brands quite well. It gives you a great experience at a price of Rs 23k as compared to the much higher-priced Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak.

? CyberMedia www.LD2.in

Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in