tablets for children...can anyone talk me through them?!

BigRonW

tomotooze wrote: »

BigRonW wrote: »

Yes, but not the best offer around. In the same price range you'll find THIS one:


Do you know if the following is true-

If you buy from a Chinese / Hong Kong seller an extra 13.9% customs duty and 20% VAT is likely to be demanded by your shipping company (DHL, Royal Mail. etc) before they hand over your item.

Many thanks

Over the last few years I've bought tons of items from China, and I've never had a single moment of trouble with customs. (Probably because Chinese retailers are in the habit of declaring that what they're shipping is a "gift"). Dozens of assorted electronic gizmos, a drawerful of ceramic knives for the kitchen (Amazingly cheap!!) dozens of jewelry items for my wife...some from Ebay, some from AliExpress, some from Deal Extreme... in fact from loads of different suppliers. Based on real life experience, I think we can take that "Is LIKELY to be" with a large pinch of salt. It might happen... or (rather more likely) it might NOT.

tomotooze

BigRonW wrote: »

tomotooze wrote: »

Over the last few years I've bought tons of items from China, and I've never had a single moment of trouble with customs. (Probably because Chinese retailers are in the habit of declaring that what they're shipping is a "gift"). Dozens of assorted electronic gizmos, a drawerful of ceramic knives for the kitchen (Amazingly cheap!!) dozens of jewelry items for my wife...some from Ebay, some from AliExpress, some from Deal Extreme... in fact from loads of different suppliers. Based on real life experience, I think we can take that "Is LIKELY to be" with a large pinch of salt. It might happen... or (rather more likely) it might NOT.

Many thanks - I have ordered the tablet your friend has . . . .lets hope its not to hard to use!!
I dont suppose you know if you can get cheaper IPADs from China aswell - and if so from where.
Thanks again.

BigRonW

tomotooze wrote: »

BigRonW wrote: »

Many thanks - I have ordered the tablet your friend has . . . .lets hope its not to hard to use!!
I dont suppose you know if you can get cheaper IPADs from China aswell - and if so from where.
Thanks again.

My main concern isn't so much with price as with value - subtle difference, but an important one. Already an enthusiastic early adopter of Android phones, I briefly owned an Eken 7" tablet, expecting it to be as good as (or better than) my HTC Dream phone. It wasn't, and it went back to the seller in short order. There's a wide range of qualities available; the knack is to find good quality at the lowest possible price. When you've found the item (brand, model etc.,) you want, then the cheapest prices for it are probably found on AliExpress.com, a vast Ebay like website that's part-owned by Yahoo.

I've noticed in the last few days (maybe it's a new thing, maybe I was just slow noticing it?!) the rise of sites that latch on to a few particularly good value products, and offer them for to customers for a limited period at a heavy discount. http://www.zzkko.com is one, http://www.ebellking.com was the other.

Buying and selling in China is VERY different to buying and selling in the UK: different cultures. Back in 2010, I was IN China, and wanted to buy a new tablet (the Zenithink ZT-180, which was getting excellent reviews). In Beijing I found loads of tablets for sale.. but ALL emblazoned with a large chrome Apple logo on the back (despite them being quite clearly ANDROID tablets!) The price was "whatever you could barter the sales assistant down to", and the assistants generally knew little or nothing about the products they were selling. I finally tracked down what I wanted in the first shop that didn't insist that what they were selling was an iPad, and that was "Cybercity" in Shanghai. Shanghai and Beijing are a LONG way apart, (further apart than for example, London is from Moscow) and the two reputedly have significantly different cultures. LIkewise, China has an extraordinary range of incomes. In parts of rural China, they can barely afford to eat, and certainly don't have the cash to waste on luxury items. In China's larger towns you're likely to find more Millionaires than live in London. So there's demand for "the absolute cheapest, don't care if it's slow as long as it works" and for the most expensive. More so than there would be here, where effectively nobody lives on the edge of starvation.

There are a large number of Chinese online retailers - I keep finding new ones (new to me, anyway!) And many of them have very slick websites, offer goods at £GBP prices, and take they Paypal. A few even provide "tutorials", like "a history of Ainol's range of tablets", or "what is a Retina Display". Some of them (Notably Pandawill, Ainolstore and Merimobiles...) provide forums attached to their websites and offer easy download of software upgrades (as well as advice from other enthusaists, owners and users)

Bottom line, when you want CHEAPER tablets, bear in mind that China's one of the very few places where you can still get (what are now generally regarded as obsolete) resistive screens. I looked up 10" Android a few days back on AliExpress, and sorted the huge number of responses by price (cheapest first) The list started with two or three pages of tablets with cheap resistive screens.

Rosie1980

Has anyone used chinaeshops.com? I can't find much in the way of reviews so any experiences would be appreciated and I've seen a tablet I like the look of.

pmduk

A friend has this which seems quite good and seems very reasonably priced, I've seen it go for £50 more on tv within the last few months.