PTCL Blogger’s Meetup: Charji EVO LTE Tab did not meet our expectations

PTCL launched Pakistan’s first 4G Charji EVO LTE Tab at Atrio Cafe and Grill, Islamabad, yesterday. This is the first time that PTCL organized a blogger’s meetup for its device launch as part of the digital campaign. PTCL distributed the tablet among attendees to provide hands-on experience and receive feedback to improve upon the specs.

During a small presentation on the tablet specs, Adnan Shahid, Chief Commerical Officer PTCL, made it clear that their business model was not focused on the tablet but on the ways which can make PTCL Internet fast and accessible to users across Pakistan. This is why, PTCL made sure that LTE was the highlight feature for the tablet along with two applications offered on top to it – PTCL SmartTV app and Sygic Navigation app.

Here are our initial impressions of the gadget which we managed to use for a few minutes.

Specifications

The device offers average features, a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory extendable to 64 GB, an 8 MP rear camera and 2 MP front camera and a 7 hours of battery life. It has a dual Sim slot so you can make and receive calls and SMS which makes the device more of a “Phablet” than a tablet. With 6.98” display, the device fit well in the hand without feeling slippery but it required a two-hand operation. This means you cannot hold it in one hand and then, dial all the digits in a number or reach notification bar with the finger of the same hand.

The built quality of the phablet does not seem durable for longer use. The back cover is rough; it will most likely tear or get damaged with extensive use, but a protective casing can easily solve this problem.

Despite having an 8MP camera, the pictures were not detailed, crisp or sharp; the pixels blurred significantly as we zoomed into the picture. TechJuice compared Charji picture with a picture taken from 8 MP camera of Samsung Galaxy S3 and the later did not blur the pixels at all. Well, this phablet is definitely not for photographers. As far as the display is concerned, it was pretty smooth and transitioned well but we felt a slight lag as we opened few apps on the phablet.

Bundled PTCL applications

We really liked PTCL’s LTE service for the Smart TV app since it provided around 8 Mbps speed and seamless TV with more than 150+ live channels and video on demand capability. The live video streaming did not experience any jitters or lag on the LTE service. However, you cannot multi-task while watching TV, so if you want to edit a document, send a tweet, update a Facebook status, browse the actor in the movie then you will have to interrupt your program to do all these tasks. Moreover, pop-up notifications may pause the live stream which can be quite irritating.

The phablet seems more or less a smaller version of your home television which you can take anywhere anytime. Though you will need your laptop or smartphone to carry out parallel tasks if you cannot stand more than 20 minutes without checking in on social media. If you are looking for productivity, multitasking and a device which packs it all in a single device, then you will have to spend money on high-end phablets available in the market.

Apart from Smart TV app, we loved the GPS Navigation app, Sygic which came pre-installed with the tablet. The provision of car tablet holder will help users navigate while driving. This feature will come in handy when coupled with fast LTE internet service provided by PTCL.

Conclusion

Overall, we will recommend this tablet to a non-techy person, someone who can survive on limited features and needs cost-effective on-the-go entertainment and simple browsing. This tablet is definitely not cut for professionals or techies whose entire life exist on a digital device. We think the tablet is slightly overpriced at Rs. 25,000 keeping in mind that there are some really great tablets available in the market in same price point.

Personally, I would prefer PTCL SmartTV app but on a high-end LTE smartphone which offers me multi-tasking capabilities as well. However, I might not be able to experience the PTCL LTE Internet on any other smartphone without the LTE sim. Therefore, for me, who does not watch TV, buying a tablet just to experience PTCL LTE seems a total waste of my money. I can easily experience fast browsing through other carriers offering 3G, 4G or 4G LTE services such as Telenor, Zong, or Warid.

You can check out the specification and freebies offered by PTCL here.

Image Credits: Saad Hamid