Cheap tablet, any thoughts

martyn706

Hi,

I am thinking of purchasing a cheap tablet (android), noticed a couple around at the £100 mark, but just wondering if anybody has one and how good they are?

Places spotted are dvdr.com and maplins.co.uk

Thanks

fwor

It really depends on what you're going to use it for and what your expectations are.

It will probably have a cheaper, less sensitive design of touchscreen, be based on an old, slow processor and use an old version of Android which can't be updated and may have little app developer support.

As a general rule, provided you don't pay a premium for an i-name, you get pretty much what you pay for with this type of gadget.

martyn706

thanks, I am certainly not an i-man and do not want to join the jugganaut that's all things fruit based.

I have seen one for £100 with latest Android and HDMI out, which at the moment is what I am thinking of going for?

jaydeeuk1

Plenty of tablets wih various spec under £100, such as HDMI, flash support etc, but they have one thing in common - a sh*t touch screen. And as that is the one feature you need most in a tablet, get one with a decent capacitive screen. Might involve pushing budget to £120- £130 or so

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?&sku=335573&WT.mc_id=101780

Looks ok

as does

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130582310469&clk_rvr_id=272774050120

fwor

You don't say exactly what model you're looking at, but check the CPU against the minimum spec for Android 2.2 onward. IIRC (and I may not be!) it's 800Mhz minimum, and reviews suggest that even that can be a bit slow...

jaydeeuk1

Mines 597, and has 2.2 on. Slow yes, but don't think there is a minimum per se.
Wifes Orange San Fransisco has 2.2 and that flies.

I'd avoid the archos and go for the vega, at least you can put android 3.0+ on it relatively easy

kwikbreaks

The resistive screens are certainly the killers. Plus slow processors. I bought an Archos 7 out of curiosity because it was cheap (£75 delivered). It is a good sturdy machine but using it for anything much beyond a simple media player sees it struggling.

There is also the question of compatibility. I flashed the Archos with Android 2.2 giving access to the proper Android market as well as the Archos Appstore and another unofficial Android store who's name I forget and although you can download stacks of apps many fail to work.

AngryBirds installed and ran but the resistive screen and sluggishness makes it horrible to play compared to my HTC Desire and my wife's iPad.

At some point I'll probably get around to reinstating the Archos firmware and stick it on eBay.

I think you are likely to be disappointed with any sub £200 tablet available at the moment. Unless you are easily pleased of course.

I wouldn't normally recommend looking in Maplin as most of their stuff is way overpriced unless on special and often even then but I have noticed quite a few tablets in their weekly advert newsletter which looked like they could be interesting and as a local bricks and mortar store which accept returns reasonably readily they might be worth a squint. Do not touch anything with a resistive screen though.

12bdebt3

Why don't you wait for the Kindle Fire to come out? I'm a big fan of Apple and have the iPad but if I wanted the cheapest tablet I'd go for that. You're looking at around £200, half the price of any other tablet on the market brand new. It also has no storage issues as all of your data is backed up online.

martyn706

any thoughs on this, only want to watch a few films, surf the web and perhaps e-mails?

Disgo 6000 touch 7" andriod 2.2 tablet from scan.co.uk

plus what's the advantages of going from andriod 2.2 to 3.xx

Jmarles

Amazon.com are advertising their new tablet - the amazon kindle fire. It's only $199, which will hopefully mean that when it becomes available over here it won't be ridiculously overpriced like its apple counterpart.

jaydeeuk1

martyn706 wrote: »

any thoughs on this, only want to watch a few films, surf the web and perhaps e-mails?

Disgo 6000 touch 7" andriod 2.2 tablet from scan.co.uk

plus what's the advantages of going from andriod 2.2 to 3.xx

Resistive touch screen.
Also has a crap battery, 2-3 hours.
Did you read my post above? Unless you're chinese, the first thing to look for in a tablet is a capacitive touch screen with decent viewing angles.

If it was £30 I'd still not buy one

3.x is made for tablets - you'll find apps and programs just look and feel better due to the way its tweaked, 2.2 and 2.3 were never designed to be run on these 8 or 10" tablets, and look a bit crap with nothing fitting right. The Vega and hanspree probably come with 2.2 or 2.3, but there is a version of 3.x that can be installed making it far more usable and nearer the experience you would get from a much more expensive device.