$125 MIPS-based Jelly Bean tablet rolls in India

Karbonn Mobile India has released a media tablet featuring a MIPS-based processor and running the latest version of the Android OS for about $125, according to MIPS Technologies Inc. The tablet claims to be the lowest priced tablet on the market featuring Android 4.1, a.k.a. Jelly Bean.

The Karbonn Smart Tab 1 tablet features an ultra-low power MIPS-based JZ4770 SoC from China's Ingenic Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The tablet is available through Karbonn's website and online portals and retail outlets in India such as Reliance Digital and Walmart, MIPS noted.

The Karbonn Smart Tab 1 tablet was first introduced in early July with the Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" OS. An upgrade to Android 4.1 will be available to customers who purchased this earlier version of the tablet, according to MIPS.

Other low-cost Android tablets featuring MIPS-based Ingenic processors have launched in emerging markets in the past eight months. Last December, Ainol Electronics Co. Ltd launched an Android 4.0 tablet in China for less than $100.

The latest version of Android includes a smoother and more responsive user interface, a home screen that adapts to fit content, a predictive keyboard feature that suggests the next word before a user begins typing it and more interactive notifications, said the company.

"Millions of tablets are already shipping around the globe based on our design, and we anticipate increasing success as more and more companies recognize the differentiation our solution can enable," said Qiang Liu, chair and CEO of Ingenic Semiconductor.

Gideon Intrater, VP of marketing at MIPS, said MIPS has achieved a number of additional design wins since the announcement of the sub-$100 Ainol Android 4.0 tablet in China in December. "Working closely with Ingenic and its OEMs, we are seeing increasing success for the MIPS architecture in tablets, especially in emerging markets such as China, Indonesia and now India."

- Dylan McGrath
??EE Times