Any cheap android (wifi) tablets out there?

dantheman2010

Hi all

My partner has a HP Mini 110 which is knackered (hard drive) she only uses it for internet browsing but it is going to cost £80-100 to fix. It only cost me £200 in the first place so a bit annoyed at spending another £100 to fix.

Is there any (decent) android tablets out there that wouldnt set me back as much as say £50-80 that she can use for internet browsing and then I can sell the Mini 110 on eBay as spares/repair and cover the bulk of the cost of the tab?

I have seen a few on eBay but dont know if they are any good, so wondered if any of you have any recommendations?

Thanks

Lifeforms

(IMO) no there aren't any dirt cheap (decent) android tablets out there if you're looking at £50-80.
You need to look for a capacitive screen first off. They are just much nicer to use. My mum has the Scroll Essential Tablet 7" which she paid £70 for, and when she uses that, then plays with my Xoom she's a bit miffed. Tablets are cheaper now, but good decent ones are not as cheap as say £50.

Yes you can get Chinese models on ebay relatively cheaper and tend to have resistive screens which are just not as nice to use (being move push on the screen, than just lightly touch the screen with capacitive). Can't personally comment on the cheap far east tablets on ebay, I've steered well clear of them due to usually lack of after market support, Japanese/Chinese market places (if they even run the market place). The Scroll essential my mum has is very limited market place, doesn't support the proper one, and I don't think she'd enjoy using it to surf on constantly.

I'd really suggest for length of use to go for a better tablet like the Xoom, or even an Ipad 1/2 (no flash though). There are a couple of other models out there that I'm sure others will recommend, but as always go into a shop and use a few models. If you like those, then pretty much you'd be unhappy/disappointed with any other really cheap makes. (and will be able to compare prices better)

If she's had a netbook before, and is happy with that, have a look on ebay for older netbooks, you can get those sub £100 for reasonable names as a working netbook.

dantheman2010

Thank you.

How much does the Xoom's go for?

dantheman2010

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Google-Android-2-2-8650-Tablet-PC-Netbook-Laptop-MID-Flash-Camera-notebook-/140694285734?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item20c2086da6

Is this no good?

Lifeforms

I dont know what type of screen that is. I'm not trying to put you off with buying those, or any tablet, but you really should fiddle with one and decide if it is right for your partner. They will have to end up using it to do what they want on it, and some with tablets also decide they want a keyboard to work with it too (bluetooth)

That particular one; well it looks great for the price, in reality I couldn't say. Can you afford to waste the cash if it's not good? Upto you. Be wary of unbranded goods of ebay etc. It screams to be a fake iPad though. Same design as an ipad, clearly not an ipad however

You may find others that have bought one of these types, but usually there is a reason they are so cheap, because they're not good, or are fake products.

With the likes of a Xoom, they're around £300 priced atm, less if you wait for another offer on them (mine I got a couple weeks ago for £225, with a voucher for %10% of a £250 price)

Maybe if you've never used tablets, or even android phones then you'd be fine with one of those, but using my mums cheapy tablet compared to my Xoom (even ipad 1) and the difference is astonishing, and makes me glad I have a decent one.

If you are looking for a sub £80, those or things like the Scroll essentials bog standard dirt cheap tablets are what you're gunna get. Maybe if you're happy to pay that and not worry about quality, or even it working for long times then go for it, but I'd then not suggest playing with the ones available in the shops use you will find the difference is highlighted a lot.

I'd ask the seller if it's UK market place included on that one, and whether the screen is resistive, which is suspect it will be. Even using one of those for a long time over a capacitive will be annoying, if not hurtful. Seeing my mother jabbing hers with her nails makes me cringe and wonder just how long the screen will last! The other thing to find out first is how expandable it is? 4GB flash memory isn't really a lot, it says it can take TF/MMC but to what capacity. (it says it has a Micro SD socket, but in specs talks about TF/MMC and MMC is not the same as Micro SD, so which is right?) No indication on how long the battery will last either.

The camera is astonishingly terrible too even compared to a couple of phones back.

bingo_bango

I bought my wife an Arnova 10 G2 recently and she loves it. She has an Acer netbook which she used all the time, but now uses the tab permanently. £140 delivered.

Like the Xoom, it also has only 4Gb memory, but takes Micro SD which I currently have stuffed with a 16Gb card.

It doesn't have the App market installed, but there are firmware revisions about which can be used if you desperately need it. It does come with Appslib, which is a cut down version of market and still have tens of thousands of apps.

A bit dearer than the £80 you wanted to spend, but well worth it IMHO. (oh, and if you get one, don't upgrade from the installed Flash 10.3. The newer version doesn't seem to like some sites and apps.)

fwor

First thing to check would be whether she can live with working on a 7" screen. I wouldn't like to for any length of time - I'd consider a 10" screen a minimum requirement.

And a question on the HP mini: Is it really going to cost £100 to fix? Just replacing a HDD should not cost much more than £55 if you DIY, and you could even go with a reasonable size SSD for a fair bit less than £100!

shakeitright

this is a bit dearer but has a capacaitive screen and access to the Android market,http://www.amazon.co.uk/NATPC-M009S-Capacitive-Gingerbread-Responsive/dp/B006M07X34/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

shakeitright

another one here but this one has a resistive screen but has access to android market http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005ERD1MS/ref=pe_82971_28694381_pe_epc_dt8