The Best selling gadget of 2010, Apple iPad has got one serious competitor in India, which is the Infibeam Pi, a product built in India along with a excellent sales price and decent enough features. Amazon – one of the biggest eCommerce website of the United States had first launched the Amazon Kindle, following which the Indian brand Infibeam launched ‘pi’ which is a 180gms eBook Reader, thin and that supports Local Indian Languages.
The Apple iPad has a screen size of 9.7 inches, measured diagonally while the Infibeam Pi is 6″ E Ink® Vizplex which is decent enough only as a eBook Reader, while you cannot use it as a movie viewer like iPad. The weight of the Infibeam Pi is around 180grams for the small device, where as the Apple iPad with a larger screen size and more function weighs around 680grams which is quite bulky and cannot be continuously held with your hands. Apple iPad is 0.5 inches thin with a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching) along with a wide, 178° viewing angle which means that many people can view the display at the same time without much blurry screen, while the Infibeam Pi comes at a Height of 188 mm, Width of 118 mm & Thickness of 9.5 mm.
Battery Backup : Infibeam Pi comes with a small screen size, limited functions but along with a huge battery backup which is around 7 days of usage battery life at a 4 hours charging period powered with a Rechargeable built-in Li-Polymer battery (1000 mAh), while the Apple iPad has a larger screen, powered with 25-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery which offers you upto just 10 hours of usage backup which you can charge through the Power Adapter or the USB connector.
Supported File Formats : Apple iPad supports the following file formats when you are using this gadget ie Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel), while the Infibeam Pi supports PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, MOBI, DOC for Books, JPG, BMP, PNG for Images & MP3 for Music Files.
Storage : The Infibeam Pi comes with a 512mb of Internal Storage and a 4GB SD Card which can be connected to store or transfer ebooks or other files from different storage devices, while the Apple iPad comes in different models based on storage capacity & 3G functionality. The most basic version comes with 16Gb Storage Capacity minimum with maximum upto 64Gb version.
Price : The Apple iPad would cost around 35000Rs onwards in India which would include the shipping, customs duty, local sales taxes etc and this is for the basic version of 16Gb storage capacity. While Infibeam Pi comes in just a single version costing 9999Rs which means that you get a decent enough eBook Reader at a price which is almost one fourth of the other gadget and comes with a extra large battery backup and completely free shipping anywhere in India which is another reason why you could buy this reader.
Overall i would recommend Infibeam Pi to everyone who are looking for a eBook Reader which has limited functions, where in you can transfer books through the SD Card and which can be used while you are traveling because it supports upto 7 days of reading along with MP3 playing for entertainment. While if money is not a issue and if you are looking for a bigger iPhone, then we can recommend you to go for the iPad which is backed up with more than 1,50,000 Apps downloadable through the iTunes Store offering you with never expected functions and a classy look.
“if you are looking for a bigger iPhone”
The iPad is not a phone so how can it be a bigger iPhone?
yes its not a phone, but more or less can be considered as the same. Also with wifi and apps like skype or fring in the future i feel we can obviously make calls and receive them on the Apple iPad.
But I dont think, iPad is made to be used like a phone, as it is not very convenient to have something so huge weighing 680 grams.
Pi Reader with wifi / 3G capability and color display under 15K will defiantly be good product for Indians.
True, i extremely miss the Wifi option in the Pi, because if thats added with a little price hike, the product would be a great hit.
Can u compare infibeam pi with kindle..
I would like to see the Pi reader before I buy it. Is it available in any store in Mumbai? Does anyone have a list of its distributors in Mumbai?
Hi Amit , What you said is true when people are looking for ebook reader , but Ipad is not just an ebook reader , its a mini computer , with apps its mind boggling , recent study of engadget blog says that this is first generation Ipad like First Iphone with normal features and with Iphone OS 4 released by apple soon , the next generation Ipad will have Video camera in front , so you can do video chat and that too with skype as apple is interested to buy Skype….Multitasking which all are shouting now , more featured only apps for Ipad , a widescreen option, amazing endless updates , may be MAC OS….so for me , i will wait for the second generation ipad …Cheers!!!!
If you check out the 4G version of iPhone came after years of original launch. Hence the first ipad is still recommended to all.
There is still no 4G iphone. Apple just yesterday held a conference announcing their Iphone 4. This simply means it is the 4th Iphone model to come out. In the USA Apple still has exclusive contracts forcing users to be with AT&T who is still on the 3G technology at present, and they are anticipated to be working on their 4G infrastructure all the way into 2011.
The only big carrier in the US with 4G is sprint. You could always jailbreak your iphone and use sprints 4G network but that should be done at your owwn risk. Anytime there is a new software update you would have to re-jailbreak it.
Good Point. The OS 4 is about to come out and along with that there will also be available the 4th generation iphone with a front facing camera. The next Ipad will clearly have a camera. Although Apple likes to roll things out slowly to encourage you to go ahead and buy the current product and then have the burning desire for the next upgrade. It took them 4 generations of iPhone’s to finally get up to a front facing camera at 5 Megapixels. HOPEFULLY the 2nd Ipad generation will skip straight to the 5 Megapixels with front facing camera, but knowing apple we might not be so lucky! Hopefully I am overthinking!
This front facing camera deal is going to be awesome!!! Video conferencing, HD video recording, I am salivating!
Hi,
I have not seen the Pi.. I just visited the website.
It looks awesome. It would be an amazing gift for some one who reads a lot.
I personally own a Sony PRS 505 for my reading.
Thank you.
how can you compare a kindle with an i phone? its like comparing a Fully featured Latest Colour TV with the old age B/W Television.
and add to that 9999 price tag is ridiculous.
You’re comparing a tablet to an ebook reader? Seriously??