I want to buy a tablet

BigRonW

Given that this is the "MoneySavingExpert's" Forum, it's worth noting that tablets split into two basic groups: those made by people with brand names you already know... and those essentially made for the Chinese domestic market by brands you've never heard of. (Like Onda, or Ainol) The former are pitched at prices Westerners can afford.... the latter are priced at a far lower level - how much the average Chinaman can afford.The quality of these Chinese tablets has been steadily creeping up. Periodically, a Western distributor gets his hands on a load of Chinese tablets, doubles (or more) the RRP, and sells them here. A Chinese company called Ainol was in fact the FIRST company to release a product pre-loaded with the new Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", an event largely ignored in the West.. I bought one (direct from China for around £100) and found it to be pretty good. Ainol's products keep on improving. I subsequently bought their "Aurora 2" - which has a specification very similar to that of Apple's iPad3 (1 Meg of RAM, 16 Meg of ROM, a 1.5 Mhz ARM CPU, A very high quality IPL screen...) My only regret was that I didn't wait a couple more weeks, to buy their next model (the "Flame") which was roughly the same price, (around £100) but with an even HIGHER spec, and TWO built-in cameras.

The Chinese market is well-established, there are plenty of online retailers who are happy to take your US$ (via paypal) and deliver the goods. I used DealExtreme.com to buy my first Ainol, and Merimobiles.com to buy the second. Next time, I'll probably use AliExpress.com (China's equivalent to EBay) A freind recently bought a 7" tablet via AliExpress for an astounding £38 (what was astounding was the combination of low price AND the high specification) Note that it's standard practice in China to offer "Free Delivery"... but also to offer a faster delivery service at a significantly higher cost. "Free Delivery" can takes literally WEEKS to reach you - but then again, it IS "free". Paying £20 extra for "expedited delivery" (using DHL or UPS) on a product that only cost £38 to begin with seems.... impatient.

A little research pays dividends. Familiarise yourself with the products of brands like "Newsmy", "Onda", "Haipad". (Easily done through countless video reviews on YouTube) Decide which make and model is the one you prefer. Take a deep breath... and order a tablet direct from China. Quite probably nobody you know has ever done this before. But when they admire your shiny new tablet and ask "how much was it?" - and you're able to reply "Under £50, which is surprising when you consider that it plays 1080P MKV video files direct through my TV, which is more than my friend's iPad can manage" They'll look at you in a totally new light.