It has been some time since we had the pleasure of reviewing a Tablet PC. In fact looking at the functionality and convenience that tablets offer, it makes us wonder why manufacturers keep ignoring this segment of mobile computing. Very few manufacturers tend to release products in this range in India and when they do... the machines end up being sub-par and extremely expensive to boot.

LG recently released their Xnote C1 tablet. Is it able to escape the problems that have plagued other players in this segment? Read on to find out...

LG as a brand-name is far better known in India for their white good products. Though they have marketed and released laptops in India earlier too, they have not been able to achieve any kind of success in this sphere. Hence coming into this review, I was a little bit curious and wary on the looks and performance of this new product.

Well my fears on the looks of the product were laid to rest quite quickly. The X1 is a 10.6 inch tablet and is surprisingly small and light. LG has opted to go with a plain white-black color combination for the Xnote. There is a strange color variation here though. The top lid of the tablet is piano-black with a smooth finish, while the area around the LCD Panel is a lighter matte finish and the keyboard area is plain glossy white. The whole effect gives the tablet a rather sober look and actually demeans the laptop - making it look less expensive than it is actually worth. Another irritating note here is that the top lid is a fingerprint magnet. Every little thumbprint shows up glaringly. In its defense however, LG has provided a cloth to clean the laptop. While this does solve the problem somewhat, a better selection of paint and a less reflective surface (like HP’s DV2000 series) would have been more appropriate. However once you get past this problem, the LG shines. The construction material used for the tablet is very sturdy. The hinges of the tablet are well secured and despite being flexed in every possible direction was free moving and without squeaks.

The keyboard of the tablet was one of the many surprises that we found in this product. Unlike standard keyboards offered on tablets of this size, the X1’s has surprisingly large keys, excellent placement and great tactile feedback. The normal cramping that one faces when typing on a tablet’s keyboard, was thankfully and conspicuously absent. In a similar vein the touchpad too was top-notch. It offers very good traction and a pair of surprisingly firm mouse keys.