There are a few things we always wanted from MapMyIndia devices - a capacitive touchscreen and a simpler UI. The Car Pad 5 is exactly that.

Powered by Android 2.3, the Car Pad 5 is a full-fledged tablet with 3G capabilities and application support courtesy the Google Market (it hasn’t been updated to the Play Store yet). The device boots tablet-style, into Android’s default UI, so to use the actual navigation, you will have to click on the icon that starts the app.

There are other useful pre-installed apps in there as well, but just about all of them require a data connection to function. In other words if you don’t have a sim card with data in the device all you’ll be able to use is the navigation app and play media files.

MapMyIndia has the right idea with the Car Pad 5, but the device needs some more finish. Just placing a nav app in an otherwise vanilla Android tablet is not the best way to go here. There are some improvements that we’ll be looking out for in the future versions, like direct boot to navigation, a custom car-friendly UI, and some more focus on GPS related apps that don’t need an active data connection.

The navigation itself is a better experience than any other MapmyIndia GPS device. But as a fully-functional tablet, the device needs more focus into what it’s actually meant to do - be an on-dash, navigation-specialist device or just be another tablet with a good nav app.

The numbers
5-inch (800x480) capacitive touchscreen; 1 Ghz SAMSUNG CORTEX A8 EXYNOS 3110; Android 2.3.4; Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g; Mini USB Micro SD (up to 32GB); 3.5mm headphone jack; GPS & aGPS G-Sensor; E-Compass; 2000 mAh battery

Rs 19,990; mapmyindia.com

Tags: car pad 5, mapmyindia