The next generation play pal

HCL ME Champ promises to educate and entertain; it comes packed with myriad features

Technology has touched everyone's life, crossing even age barriers. HCL ME Champ tablet attempts to reach out to the tiny tots with a singular purpose - education combined with entertainment. With a prolific content, including children's videos, comics, games, general knowledge, music and study exercises, this tablet's uniqueness can woo children as well as parents.

Appearance: The first thing that would strike you about this seven-inch tablet is its looks: An adorable design at the device's back with cartoons and scribbles. The screen resolution of 800x480 pixels with a multi-touch display leads to an almost smooth operation. The two-megapixel rear and the 0.3-megapixel front camera is a modest feature, but for kids, it could be their first camera experience, which does not require it to be a sharp-shot one.

PROS:

• Excellent design, good finish
• Interactive interface
• Parental control

CONS:

• Average battery performance
• Clumsy navigation
• Limited target audience

HCL ME CHAMP SPECIFICATIONS:

• 7-inch (800x480 pixels) multi-touch capacitive display
• Android 4.1  (Jelly Bean) OS
• GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor with Mali-400 GPU
• 2MP rear camera
• 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Full HD 1080p video playback
• 3G (via Dongle), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n,  Mini HDMI
• 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB internal memory , 32GB expandable memory with microSD
• 3100mAh Li-Polymer Battery

Capacity and performance: HCL ME Champ tablet might target kids in the range of three-12 years, but it is a powerful device supporting a huge dose of kid-oriented content. It is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor with a Mali-400 GPU, and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system. Coupled with a 1GB RAM, it comes with a 4GB of built-in storage which can be further expandable to 32GB via microSD card). The battery performance is average, especially when being operational continuously. Connectivity options are limited to Wi-Fi, Mini-HDMI and 3G (via dongle).

Interface: The ME Champ tablet has a clean interface designed especially for kids. The animations and cartoons add to the appeal and help in navigation and operation. Its interactive icons and colourful graphics are not only children-friendly, but give a glossy uniqueness to the experience. However, navigation gets slightly clumsy. Shuffling across screens is a little slow and at times the devices gets hanged when one is juggling across its load of features.

Content: The tablet features two modes - Parent mode (where the tablet functions as a normal device) and kids mode (in which parents can define the content the kids can access). The Kids mode comes with various categories like games, education, books, music, TV and study exercises in art, geography, history, language and mathematics. The application manager offers free access to more than 500 apps under the multifarious segments.

Parental control: One of the striking features of this tablet is that it allows parents to monitor and track their child's activities and select the apps the kids have access to. It also enables them to restrain the time of access for kids. This way, parents can aid in the child's development, while balancing instruction and recreation. This feature indeed makes it a great Christmas gift for kids and parents alike.

HCL ME Champ promises to make the kids a champion indeed, packed with myriad features and interesting apps. It makes learning fun and interesting, as it nurtures the creative and entertainment aspects of a child, though its target audience is limited. A definite must-have for the little adults.