New, £50 Android tablet arrived today.

SnowTiger

Lum wrote: »

No bluetooth is a killer. That means no tethering to your phone and so no internet unless you're in your house or the likes of Starbucks, McDonalds etc.

Get a cheap Android phone and use it to set up MiFi? I have two bottom of the range Android phones and they both offer this. I'd image most do.

flashg67

Lum wrote: »

ICS runs just fine with 512MB RAM and a single core CPU. I ran it on my old HTC Desire Z for ages, and my GF is still using it now, albeit as a backup phone.

No bluetooth is a killer. That means no tethering to your phone and so no internet unless you're in your house or the likes of Starbucks, McDonalds etc.

OP: Does this tablet have bluetooth, and does it have access to the Google Play store?

Maybe I misunderstand the term, but as it has wi-fi, tethering shouldn't be an issue?

Looks good value to me, especially the way my kids treat stuff!

BigRonW

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Most threads I've seen warn against cheap Android tablets. Usually correctly.

That one is almost certainly missing some sensors such as GPS and the standard memory is low at 512MB which will limit the number of apps that can be installed (supporting an SD card won't alter that by much). It's a low res screen so all the mention of HD playback is hogwash.

It may well be worth £50 but a more expensive tablet will be better. There is no free lunch.

"memory is low at 512MB which will limit the number of apps that can be installed" This is, of course, complete and utter tosh. The 512Kb (not MB!) is the amount of space in which pre-installed programs can run - and it's fairly generous (unless you plan to run half a dozen programs at once?!) Compare it, for example, to the average mobile phone, (aside from the absolutely laetst £500 each ones) or indeed to an iPad. Built-in storage is 8 Gigabytes, and can be expanded inexpensively using Micro SD cards, or (using the supplied "OTG" cable) even MORE can be added via a normal USB "Pen drive". True, there is NO GPS chip - so the machine can't talk to GPS Satellites. But this forum has been laden with pleas for sugestions for affordable tablets from the parents of children aging from 3 to 12 years in age. I doubt that many of them have an urgent need for GPS Positioning Data.

Screen quality is good, viewing angle is likewise good (not as good as IPS, but for £50, a 45 degree angle is quite acceptable, AND it's better than you get on my wife's laptop) BBC iPlayer came pre-installed, but needed (automatic) updating. The vendor hadn't bothered to change the language setting to UK English from US English, nor had he set the time to GMT, but he DID provide a standard UK 3-pin charger, rather than the more usual "2 pin model plus adaptor". The tablet came with Android 4.03 "ICS" pre-installed, but it is my intention to upgrade that to the Cyanogen version of Android 4.1 "Jellybean", because I think that the additional work that Google put into the latest (or maybe latest-but-one? "Key Lime Pie" is out there too!) version is visible, and makes for a clearly "slicker" interface.

Yes, the tablet DID come with working access to "Google Play" (previously "the Android Store") pre-installed. The AllWinner "A13" CPU/SoC, has enough power to play most games more than adequately, and will certainly play AVI, MP4, FLI, MPK... etc., format Movies withouit stuttering (which is more than you'd get from Apple's new £269 "mini-iPad," which supports a MUCH narrower range of formats). Havent had a chence yet to check battery life... And THAT above all teneds to be the Achilles' heel of cheap tablets. But, bottom line, for £50 it represents absolutely AMAZING value for money, particularly considering that the cost of DHL delivery was included, and only took four days.

Note that Cyanogen's Android upgrade (specifically for the Eken A13 tablet, but with "patches" to fix any differences in the sensors) includes drivers for standard USB Bluetooth modules (available on Ebay for next-to-nothing) which was a reason for doing the upgrade. It'll give the upgraded tablet a Bluetooth capability via the (included) OTG Cable and a spare B/T module.

I spent £50, inside of four days the doorbell rang and I got a tablet that - I think - is worth MORE than £50. Other people have been asking for advice on where to get cheap tablets.... I'm utterly amazed by all the hatred-of-things-Chinese that's been displayed. Loads of wild (and usually totally unsubstantiated) claims.

Emy1501

You can pick up something like this from Ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/407319-sumvision-cyclone-voyager-tablet-pc-cycvoy7 which apart from the screen has pretty much double of everything, 4 times the storage and HDMI also for £30 more.

The Tablet described on this thread is only worth what has been paid even in the UK market.

Its one thing buying a tablet for £50 from China which would cost £100 here.

The problem is that the price of tablets are falling all the time.

You can pick up the 7 inch galaxy Tab 2 for around £120 after cashback now so the price of cheap tablets are falling in line with china prices now.

kwikbreaks

BigRonW wrote: »

The 512Kb (not MB!) is the amount of space in which pre-installed programs can run - and it's fairly generous (unless you plan to run half a dozen programs at once?!)
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Built-in storage is 8 Gigabytes
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RAM Installed Size: 512MB
Hard Drive Type: NAND FAST FLASH
Hard Drive Capacity: 4GB

At least I can read the specs which it seems that you cannot.

It may well be that the 512MB will not pose any huge limitation but it is less than more expensive tablets which was all that I was pointing out.

I've owned two cheap tablets and the experience wasn't good. This one may well be better as I bought those a year or more ago. I don't dispute it's probably worth £50 and plenty good enough for children. I still maintain that spending a bit more will buy something that an adult can use on a daily basis whereas I suspect most cheap tablets endup in drawers and later maybe eBay just as mine did. I bought a Nexus 7 and it gets daily use - 4 times the cost but many many more times the usability. Who got the bargain? Thats an open debate.

crystal9

i brought this one recently for my 9 year old son i have played around with it quite a lot just to make sure it does work ok and so far it has been great, i have downloaded apps like cut the rope, angry birds etc and they all play well so i am really pleased.

just thought i'd mention for those still looking to buy.

BigRonW

Emy1501 wrote: »

You can pick up something like this from Ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/407319-sumvision-cyclone-voyager-tablet-pc-cycvoy7 which apart from the screen has pretty much double of everything, 4 times the storage and HDMI also for £30 more.

Or, to put it another way.... FOR A PRICE THAT'S SIXTY PERCENT HIGHER. Let's try to remember that the title of this forum is "Money saving expert.com forum"

spannerzone

it is 512MB ram, if it was 512KB it wouldn't likely be able to even boot up :-)

this amount of ram is lower than many higher priced devices as you'd expect and will mean it mean it'll struggle with some apps or running a number of apps together but at £50 you really can't grumble.

if yiu want higher specs you pay highrr price.

sorry for the typos, this was typed on my samsung 10" tablet and touch screens are no substitute for real keyboards hehehe

marisa

spannerzone wrote: »

it is 512MB ram, if it was 512KB it wouldn't likely be able to even boot up :-)

this amount of ram is lower than many higher priced devices as you'd expect and will mean it mean it'll struggle with some apps or running a number of apps together but at £50 you really can't grumble.

if yiu want higher specs you pay highrr price.

sorry for the typos, this was typed on my samsung 10" tablet and touch screens are no substitute for real keyboards hehehe

512Kb he said originally, so that's Kilobit right? :rotfl:
I doubt it would even start to boot :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Also I hate touchscreens too so cheers :beer:

Emy1501

BigRonW wrote: »

Or, to put it another way.... FOR A PRICE THAT'S SIXTY PERCENT HIGHER. Let's try to remember that the title of this forum is "Money saving expert.com forum"

I think my definition of money saving and yours differs. I personally look at value for money and the tablet you posted simply isn't value for money when you look around for what else is available.

Post your deal on Hot UK Deals and I doubt it will get any heat.

As others have said its the minimum spec you would need to run a tablet and it's going to cost you another £5-10 just to get a reasonable amount of storage.

The one I posted is way better value for money especially when you take into account it's UK sourced.

If people are skint though and wish to take the gamble good luck to them though.

Personally though if I am buying from china I'm expecting to pay 50% less than a similar item costs in the UK not less simply because the spec is poor