Does Wishtel get an underdog tablet equation right with the IRA Duo Pro 5G?

NOt exactly a nominate that’d be on your shortlist for a planned humanoid convertibles fling, but thither’s thomas more gravitas to Indian tech company Wishtel than many realise. They’ve been around since 2012, missed the manufacturing contract for the government’s ambitious Aakash affordable tablet project by a whisker, launched their own low-cost IRA tablets which have been around for more than a decade now, developed education solutions such as Vidya AI, has solutions for the financial as well as healthcare sectors, and has a rather wide lineup of affordable convertible computing devices that run Microsoft Windows as well as Google’s Android too. They’ve been pushing for a digital India, since before it became a policy.The reason for that jog into the historical timeline of Wishtel is because the company has widened its already fairly wide tablet portfolio, with something that again would be relevant for that overlap between education usage, a collective computing device at home, and an unassuming on-the-go secondary computing device for the younger audience. The price of the Wishtel IRA Duo Pro 5G is ₹31,096 with the stylus and keyboard combo at an extra ₹6,999.Inevitably, the OnePlus Pad 2(that’s ₹36,999; and Wi-Fi only with mobile data requiring a phone) will figure in the same conversation—though both will require a keyboard or stylus be purchased as separate accessories. OnePlus will charge you an additional ₹8,499 for that. Good Samsung tablets with an official keyboard accessory around these price points is rare. There’s also the Xiaomi Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G at ₹28,999 with the keyboard accessory at ₹3,499. The themes are, you’ll get more performance from some rivals, but particularly for the education and enterprise verticals that Wishtel wants traction in, the alternatives may not work due to a variety of factors—custom software, preloaded apps, repairability, and security concerns that IT teams often have.This is great value, also because you’ll scarcely believe everything Wishtel has casually bundled with the tablet—a keyboard case (with a rather wide touchpad), an 18-watt charger, power cable, a stylus pen, and an OTG cable for connecting peripherals such as a printer or external storage. Speaking of which, there’s a memory card slot on the tablet, which I’ll get to in a moment. This is a rare tablet with two USB-C ports, one of which is capable of outputting to an external display. The 5G connectivity is a genuine value addition, and Wishtel has kept simplicity with a physical SIM slot. There is no eSIM option here.Speaking of which, the 12-inch display has a 2000 x 1200 pixel resolution and up to 90Hz refresh rate. This is a plain LCD display at a time when most tablets are adapting varieties of LED display tech—and the reason for that is Wishtel using what is called an in-cell display. Unlike traditional displays that need 3 or 4 distinct layers for touch sensors and display pixels which can make these panels much thicker, the in-cell methodology integrates more than one functionality in a layer. There are just 2 layers, which means there is a comparative advantage of not just freeing up space inside, but the visuals you see are clearer.These displays are built on LCD backlighting, which means there is the tradeoff in terms of deep black colours and overall contrast. I’m certain that the demographic considering the IRA Duo Pro 5G wouldn’t exactly mark that as a significant shortcoming, because this is a bright screen and extremely responsive (in fact more than tablets made by some brands that have better recall value). Perhaps not the best for watching movies on, but this is more than usable outdoors in bright sunlight as well as indoors with typically harsh office floor lighting.Wishtel has unlocked split screen multitasking on the 12-inch display, in what is a mostly untouched and clean Android operating system. That is the IRA Duo Pro 5G’s strongest point. It simply works for the masses, who don’t always have a checklist of needing the latest hardware or top notch specs.While this tablet will only do a certain amount of heavy lifting in terms of multitasking, and 8GB memory is mostly enough, it is clear that Wishtel is trying to balance the books with a Unisoc T760 chip that doesn’t really keep up with the Qualcomm and MediaTek silicon if you wish to push the performance envelope. There is a case for Wishtel to have gone with a slightly more powerful chip here. For perspective, the OnePlus Pad 2 is based on Qualcomm’s 8 Gen 3 Platform, while Xiaomi’s built the Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G around the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chip.Wishtel going with a 10,000mAh battery capacity is great news, because it does exhibit very robust stamina, and you’re looking at days of usage before this needs plugging in for a charge.There can be some concern over the 128GB internal storage, which will start filling up after a point in time no matter how careful you may be with spring cleaning. There is the SD card support for extending this up to 1TB, which whilst an additional step that must be walked eventually, isn’t exactly an inconvenience.There is a distinct lack of that refinement in places when compared with everything Samsung or Xiaomi or OnePlus offer in the tablet space. The audio levels out of the box are jarringly loud (and trust Android to send along an inevitable notification when you least expect it). This still runs Android 14 and despite giving it days to find the groove, no update to Android 15 arrived—the Google Play system update is for June 2026. Wishtel though says the IRA Duo Pro 5G will also get the Android 16 and Android 17 updates.Could I also point to the somewhat unique placement of the USB-C ports, which if you’re holding up the IRA Duo Pro 5G in portrait orientation, will be at the top. The one that will charge the tablet is clearly marked as such, while the other will be handy for connecting peripherals or an external display. When docked with the keyboard case and in horizontal orientation, both ports sit on the left side spine. Most tablets would have this on the right side. A nice change.A big positive for long-term ownership and repairability (and this is often overlooked by individuals) is that Wishtel is empaneled in the Government’s right to repair initiative, which mandates manufacturers share product manuals, schematics, and spare parts with consumers and third-party repairers. The idea is to not just offer consumers protection in terms of repair as an option, but also reduce e-waste and create opportunities for repair shops to be able to deliver what a service centre may otherwise exclusively be able to.Wishtel has undoubtedly delivered on the most important aspects, the ones users interface with most often. The keyboard case, for instance, despite the rather long winded mechanism to prop it at the back, does have an excellent touchpad. As well as just the perfect spacing between each key, and accurate responsiveness for typing—great for long documents or if you’re patiently threading between spreadsheet cells. Robust battery life, a very usable display and simplicity of the overall bundle makes this a rather interesting choice.Perhaps not the fanciest tablet one could buy, but I’ve a feeling educational institutions and corporates who need tablets for the field workforce, would appreciate what Wishtel has delivered with the IRA Duo Pro 5G. The focused approach, with an eye on the bill of materials, simply works.(Vishal Mathur is Technology Editor for Hindustan Times. When not making sense of technology, he often searches for an elusive analog space in a digital world.)