Digiflip Pro XT 712 review: an affordable yet feature-rich tablet, but not without a few kinks

Published On: August 25, 2014

“The Digiflip Pro XT 712 is a decent budget tablet for the price, only if Flipkart can iron out the kinks”

The very first Flipkart tablet, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 (unboxing and first impressions) is not a high-end Android device, but one that is offered for the masses. Therefore, the tablet has been price reasonably. For a first, Flipkart has managed to pull it off really well and has gained popularity for being the first Indian store to follow Amazon in launching its very own brand of tablets. Flipkart has gone all out with the hardware specifications and features offered. While the tablet is designed well and offers great value for money, let’s find out how well it actually fairs in the real world.

Table of Contents

Solidly built, and clad in metal

The first thing you may notice after unboxing the Digiflip Pro XT 712 is its non-regular size. The tablet has been designed more on the lines of the Apple iPad Air than the other 7-inch tablets from competing brands like Samsung and ASUS. This 7-inch voice calling tablet features a design which is a tad wider than most other slated in its class. Single-handed utility is not the idea behind the making of this device, and you will need to use both your hands. The use of a metallic shell at the back gives it the much-wanted sturdiness. Despite the metal, the tablet weighs well within the comfortable limits and isn’t too unwieldy to use and carry around.

The slate comes in white or black options, with the same colour being used throughout, and not just at the back panel as we have seen on some devices. The front features a secondary camera right at the top, followed by the earpiece. The front has a flush finish and there are no hardware buttons present, as the navigation keys have been incorporated within the user interface itself.

At the back, the tablet gets an all metal cover, apart from the top most portion. This removable flap hides the SIM card tray and memory card slot. Design-wise, the cover looks fine but the construction seems to be flimsy and while opening it, you get a feeling that it might snap-off.

7-inch IPS display to flaunt, but with an iffy touch

The display offered by the device is a 7-inch IPS unit which is known for its ample brightness levels and wide viewing angles. The screen stood true to the fame of technology used, and the colours displayed were spot on. The brightness level offered was good, but not so much as to make it visible under sunlight. The display offers a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels, and for most tasks including multimedia and gaming, it’s a perfect match with its high refresh rates and colour variance offered.

The touch response of the tablet however, was a little erratic at times, though it could be an issue with just our review unit. Otherwise the touch responsiveness was quite sharp and responded to touches accurately.

Generic Android Jelly Bean with a few bundled goodies

The use of the archaic Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 seems strange now, more so because there are budget Android smartphones these days that run the latest KitKat 4.4. There’s no concrete info on whether the tablet will ever get upgraded to the latest version of Android. The OS comes in the most generic form, and that should bode well for it since there’s no learning curve required.

In terms of the customisations, there are a few custom backgrounds and wallpapers added to the device along with two different themes that come pre-installed. One theme is for those who want a more subtle look on their device with generic icons and default wallpapers, while the other one offers a more dynamic look with bias towards the red colour and custom icons. Sadly, there is no option provided for installing more themes on the devices.

There’s good news for all eBook and shopping lovers, as the purchase entitles you for eBooks purchases of up to Rs 2,300 free along with discounts of up to Rs 5,300 on shopping across various categories on Flipkart.

Connectivity and multimedia features galore

The Digiflip Pro XT 712 comes with dual-SIM connectivity supporting 3G data connectivity on both the SIMs. For many, a 3G calling tablet is a great idea as it makes up for a perfect convergence device which has the benefit of calling, internet browsing, multimedia and entertainment all rolled-up in one. The dual-SIM connectivity is convenient, but only supports dual standby, and users can only make use of one SIM at a time for calling or for data.

In addition to that, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 also offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as standard wireless connectivity options. In addition, the tablet also offers A-GPS so users can also take the help of this device for navigation.

The multimedia features can be summed up with the dedicated audio and video players that come as stock with Android Jelly Bean 4.2, though users can simply download any number of third-party applications from the Play Store that allow them to play their favourite videos or songs. Along with this, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 also features stereo FM, and for a tablet, this is a rare feature to have.

The Digiflip Pro XT 712 also sports dual cameras with a 5-megapixel autofocus camera at the back supplemented by an LED flash, and a 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera on the front. However, the quality offered by the primary camera is not comparable to even budget 5-megapixel smartphone cameras. Most images captured lack detail and sharpness, and low-light photography is really not an option even with the added flash.

Speedy hardware configuration for smooth performance

The Digiflip Pro XT 712 offers an impressive set of hardware specifications. The tablet is powered using a MediaTek 1.3GHz, quad core processor, mated to 1GB of RAM and with 16GB of onboard storage, it’s ready to take over anything from productivity to even moderate graphics-intensive gaming without sweating. With its large screen real estate, the tablet can offer better utility as compared to smartphones. As a result, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 offers some good performance and we really enjoyed running apps and games on the device.

Although the slate did crash a number of times throughput the duration of the review, but considering it happened only when we were trying to push it to its limits, we could easily discount that for regular usage. Overall, the tablet offers decent performance and has enough muscle to take on most present day applications with ease. However, one thing should be kept in mind is that it’s a budget tablet at the end of the day, and if you think it can perform as well as the Apple iPad then you may be expecting a little too much.

Verdict

The Digiflip Pro XT 712 tablet from Flipkart is really a bold effort by the online megastore to offer an interesting product to the customers. However, it’s a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to a few aspects. The battery has a 3,000 mAh capacity and it offered close to six hours of playback time in our battery drain test, and with a 7-inch display size, this isn’t too bad. However subsequent recharges offered lower backup times. Nevertheless, for the price the tablet is a great bundle of joy, and with the freebies Flipkart is offering along with it, the buyers are surely in for a treat.

To sum it all up, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 is a capable budget Android tablet that is designed for those who want to stay connected using dual-SIMs. It offers a number of useful features such as a 16GB storage, a quad-core processor and a 5-megapixel camera along with a flash. However, the company has clearly missed out ironing out the kinks and if it manages to do that, only then it will be a compelling product. If you are looking for other other products in the same price range then the best alternative would be the Asus Fonepad dual SIM, which also offers similar functionality along with a bigger brand name attached to it, while being offered at almost the same price now.