Ainol branded Novo7, a low cost tablet running on the ice cream sandwich OS was recently released by MIPS for just $99. This low cost tablet will soon enter global markets and hopefully will be available in India. Ingenic Semiconductor and MIPS Technologies are the companies behind this and they are also planning to launch the 8 inch and 9 inch versions soon.

The price tag of $99 is quite tempting that comes to around Rs. 5,000 in India. This tablet will compete with the Aakash tab, yes the Indian tablet that was announced, but there is still no word as to when it will be available for Indian consumers, moreover according to sources Aakash manufactures & the Government of India are planning on another high end / Low cost version, the Aakash 2.

If the Novo7 enters the Indian market (highly unlikely – since Aakash project is backed by the Indian Government and they may avoid any completion until Indian’s tablet reached the Indian masses) it could sound trouble for Aakash project because the specifications are quite impressive and the Novo7 tab is more powerful than the Aakash tab.

Ainol novo7 low cost tablet
Ainol novo7 1 GHz CPU with Android 4.0

Novo7 Tablet features

Novo7 proudly claim to be the first tablet with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich OS) with an affordable price tag.

This tablet comes with a 7 inch capacitive touchscreen with multi touch panel. The Novo7 tablet is powered by single core 1 GHz MIPS based Xburst CPU and Vivante GC860 GPU that operates at 444MHz with OpenGL ES2.0, ES1.0 and OpenVG1.1 supported. Games will run smoother and faster, Spider-man game come pre-installed and you can also play angry birds.

The Novo7 houses dual cameras, a front facing VGA and a rear 2 MP camera. Multiple video formats like MP4, mov, mpg, mkv are supported. You can also watch FULL HD movies at 1080p resolution.

Other features are HDMI 1.3 port, USB 2.0 port, microSD slot, external 3G support (you need to connect a 3G USB modem or dongle), 4GB exFAT storage format, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

novo7 tablet
$99 tablet Novo7

The average battery power is under 250mw and on standby mode this tablet can last for up to 300 hours. You can play continuous music for almost 25 hours, videos for up to 8 hours and website browsing up to 7 hours.

There is no word about when this tablet will be available in India or its price tag. The Novo7 specifications are very impressive and will be quite affordable. This tablet will not only give a tough competition to other tablets like Reliance 3G Tab but will also compete with the low cost Aakash tablet.

1 GHz CPU and Google Android 4.0 OS is the selling point, however built in 3G support and GPS is missing.

Source : MIPS

By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in