{vsig}ws802c{/vsig}
Already last year, Orange Mauritius introduced two affordable tablets (price tags: Rs. 2,999.- and 5,999.-) for every household at the Infotech 2012. So the vision at that time. Actually, I pre-ordered both tablets as they seem to be 'good value for money'...
The Penta WS802C tablet is generally available since begin of this year, and eventually you might be interested in whether this tablet could be a good choice to enter the world of Android tablets. Pantel has the official specs on their website but don't get confused as there are actual two models. Orange sells the 3G version here in Mauritius.
Based on the hardware and software the Penta tablet ranges in the entry-level. It comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS version 4.0.3) and a couple of pre-installed apps, like Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds and LinkedIn just to name a few. Even thought you can install additional apps from the Google Play Store, it seems that those cannot be updated.
The Penta WS802C is classified as a Calling Device and in combination with a standard SIM card you can actually call other people with the telephone app. The tablet comes with 4GB memory built-in and the capacity can be extended with an additional MicroSD card of up to 32GB (highly recommended). Furthermore, it has a lot of ports to offer which allows to plug in USB peripherals and you can hook it up to your TV set via HDMI cable. Equipped with a Cortex A8 single core processor at 1.0GHz the overall performance could be better.
The main disadvantages of the Penta WS802C are its weight, the battery life-time, the low screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, and the casing gets very hot at the backside. With its 570 grams you cannot hold this tablet for long to read a book or to surf the web for some hours. Which isn't possible anyways thanks to the surprisingly short battery life-time. The shortest period of intensive use timed in at roughly 3 hours starting with a fully-charged battery. Browsing the web is sufficient enough to read the latest news or check your mails.
Overall the Penta WS802C is clearly a low-end device for the mass market. It provides a solid base for first experience with Android tablets at a very affordable price compared to other devices on the market. In our household the Penta is mainly used by the children in order to keep them away from the more expensive ones. They simply love it and I don't have to worry about accidental drops.
