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cheap android tablets - best of the worst ?
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JasonWatkins
18-06-2011
i could potentially be coming into around £60 or £70 quid in the next week or so and I was looking at maybe picking up a cheap second hand android tablet.

I fully appreciate that i wouldn't get anything special, and would likely be looking at a lower end version of android - i've seen many tablets with version 1.6 even.

but I was wondering if anyone had had any experience with cheap, low end tablets ?

i'm not really looking for an all singing, all dancing one - just something that i can do a bit of surfing, check emails, read the occasional ebook and maybe the odd game of angry birds here or there.

something like this ..

http://www.elonex.com/images/elonex-etouch-04.jpg

which I can get for £65 quid second hand.

cheers
grumpyoldbat
18-06-2011
I think the only thing that would put me off there is that it's only got wi-fi b/g, not n, so you'll get a bit of a slower speed on wifi.

Have you checked around to see if it can be rooted and have newer ROMs put on. Android 1.6 is fairly basic and you'll get a few nice extra features if you're able to update it to something newer.
Magic Cottage
18-06-2011
My OH 'invested' in one of these cheap Android 1.6 tablets about three weeks ago for my birthday. I was over the moon until we tried to use it!!

There are many, many 'generic' tablets on the market at this price scale with this OS installed, most of them flooding the market from China where the stuff under the bonnet is basically the same and just the case is different.

With this experience in mind, my advice is still well clear. The device is slow and the screen extremely unresponsive. Any sort of browsing is slow and of course on Android 1.6 there is no flash and you certainly wont be able to use iPlayer. Ours and many of these devices, as I have no found out don't even connect to the 'proper' Android Market, it is a cut down version and many of the apps seem to be aimed at the foreign market from where these devices originate.

What finally blew it for us was that our device would only sync with GMail. Even the sync functions for Calendar and Contacts were disabled! Surely these are the main functions for which you would purchase an Android device in the first place.
Warming
18-06-2011
Originally Posted by JasonWatkins:
“ I was looking at maybe picking up a cheap second hand android tablet.”

No no no - it will scar you for life having a cheap tablet!

Instead get a paper round and get the additional £328, then go for the Asus Transformer
John259
18-06-2011
A few months ago all the advice was to avoid resistive screens and be sure to opt for a tablet with a capacitive screen, which upped the price of the device considerably. I'm not sure all that is true today though - comments, anyone?
alanwarwic
18-06-2011
Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat:
“I think the only thing that would put me off there is that it's only got wi-fi b/g, not n, so you'll get a bit of a slower speed on wifi.”

To me that is quite irrelevant compared to the very low RAM and the slow and very old 300MHz CPU
grumpyoldbat
18-06-2011
Originally Posted by alanwarwic:
“To me that is quite irrelevant compared to the very low RAM and the slow and very old 300MHz CPU”

As the OP states he wants to do web surfing, ebook reading, email, and the occasional game, the only one of those that might struggle with the low RAM and CPU is the games. Reading is hardly processor intensive.
JasonWatkins
18-06-2011
Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat:
“Have you checked around to see if it can be rooted and have newer ROMs put on. Android 1.6 is fairly basic and you'll get a few nice extra features if you're able to update it to something newer.”

Apparently the Elonex 700ET "under the hood" really is a tablet called a Gome Flytouch - which can be rooted and flashed, which i'd certainly look to do. Saying that though, the tablet flashing market seems a bit more muddled than the mobile flashing market so it would take a bit of research.

Originally Posted by Warming:
“No no no - it will scar you for life having a cheap tablet!

Instead get a paper round and get the additional £328, then go for the Asus Transformer ”

I can't imagine my local papershop would give a paper round to a 41 year old man with back problems
steford
18-06-2011
I found the Zenithink ZT-180 perfectly acceptable for the price - although a little higher than you want to pay. Flashed to 2.1 easily. Speed was relatively good in 1.6 and 2.1 - played Angry Birds fine. Screen was generally OK although not the most responsive but all in all it did a good job with a few minor inconveniences eg not every app was compatible (mostly games).

Got rid of it in the end as my wife wanted a more practical Netbook.

Worth a look if you can see one cheap.
c4rv
19-06-2011
the flytouch range are probably the best value tablets out there. Just about to get a flytouch3 myself (you can check specification on amazon) for pretty much the same reason as you plus for media playback for the kids in the car. Comes with Android 2.2 (can be flashed to 2.3), 1080p video playback, HDMI, marketplace support, etc. Come with up to 32GB built in RAM expandable with micro SD card.

They are not captive screens meaning you have to press a bit harder but I have used one several times and if you use your fingernail instead of pads of your fingers, no problems.
alanwarwic
19-06-2011
Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat:
“Reading is hardly processor intensive.”

The user will have to accept the 'click and wait' approach to web browsing.

If it lets you install Opera Mini then of course acceptable web speed is possible.
JasonWatkins
19-06-2011
thanks for all the suggestions so far.

if i can't find one i like i might even just got for a cheap and cheerful ebook reader as it'll likely be the thing I use a tablet most for anyway.

I think CEX do a Sony one for about £55 quid.
Warming
19-06-2011
Originally Posted by JasonWatkins:
“
I can't imagine my local papershop would give a paper round to a 41 year old man with back problems ”

The smiley went to the paper round part, not the suggestion to get the Asus
alves
19-06-2011
Originally Posted by JasonWatkins:
“thanks for all the suggestions so far.

if i can't find one i like i might even just got for a cheap and cheerful ebook reader as it'll likely be the thing I use a tablet most for anyway.

I think CEX do a Sony one for about £55 quid.”

You're already well on the way to being able to afford a Kindle. Why not just wait and save up the rest?
Magic Cottage
19-06-2011
I feel cleansed!!

I have managed to persuade the dealer I bought my cheap tablet from to take it back on the basis of not fit for purpose. It took some doing but I have done it. What a relief. A heap of junk!
Last edited by Magic Cottage : 19-06-2011 at 14:52
JasonWatkins
19-06-2011
I think i've found it .. although, to be fair, it does seem a bit too good to be true.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/7-GOOGLE-ANDRI...item2c5ce9c56f

UK Seller, £61.98 all in.

Android 2.2
1ghz Processor
WiFi
HD Playback
"2D/3D Graphic Accelerator" - although i'll take that with a pinch of salt.

According to this review, there's no accelerometer, but that's not really a problem.

The summary does really paint it as something that would be ideal for what i'd want - especially the part in bold.

Quote:
“Therefore, don't buy the Disgo Tablet 6000 if you want to be part of the Android revolution, making use of all of the cutting edge apps and so forth. Buy it if you want a cheap tablet-like device that you can chuck in your bag and make use of when you're out an about. Look at it as a decent MP3 and video playback device, with some nice web enabled widgets thrown in. It's also handy to have laying about on the living room coffee table if you want to look something up quickly and you haven't got your laptop fired up.”

alanwarwic
19-06-2011
You really can't go far wrong at that price, especially with HDMI, 2.2 and a more recent CPU.
John259
19-06-2011
Before you leap, you might want to read the purchaser reviews of it on (for example) Amazon and Reevoo.com.
MrKev
19-06-2011
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...-911506/review

Doesn't sound particularly great. I know it's only £60 but even then if it's frustrating to use to the point where you don't bother, that's £60 wasted.

The screen sounds terrible, it doesn't have the android marketplace, the processor struggles and the battery life is only about 3.5 hours
alanwarwic
19-06-2011
That review is far too ambiguous to even believe the reviewer was using one.
It was also for a £180 RRP device, and its standard screen should help it run most apps plus the ARM 11 CPU is certainly 50%+ faster than my SF.
If the review was of a £65 product it might have well impressed.

This review is more likely to be hands on whilst it is quite likely the software has now improved..
http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/51...android-review
JasonWatkins
19-06-2011
I do read user reviews of things like this - i actually consider them quite an important factor when making a decision if i'm honest. But then if i'm also being honest, i do also think that you do get a certain percentage of those reviews who may not necessarily be too technical. (as much of a snob as that makes me sound...)

I've had gadgets in the past that have had plenty of comments on being hard to use, prone to crashes e.t.c. and i've had no trouble with them at all.

It appears that a kernel update is available as well as a potential update to 2.2 in the pipeline.

The reviews on Amazon seem to be largely positive and accepting of it's limitations due to the price so it's certainly pushing me further along the road to getting one.
alanwarwic
19-06-2011
You'll also find you can put/hack the Android market on to it too.

It just happens some apps will certainly crash because they are untested for the Disgo.
Funnily enough those 'horrible resistive screens' are in fact much more accurate for input.
JasonWatkins
19-06-2011
Originally Posted by alanwarwic:
“You'll also find you can put/hack the Android market on to it too.”

I was actually just reading that particular hack earlier on

I imagine you can probably track down the actual APK files for apps as well to install directly on it if need be.

The 3.5 hour battery life won't really be an issue for me. If i'm using it as an e-reader then i've certainly never read for 3 and a half hours in my entire life

Likewise with gaming - surfing might be another story, but we'll have to see.
JasonWatkins
19-06-2011
it's a pain actually as i also have £30 quid tied up in the news of the world alleged cashback site. if i could have got my hands on that i might have been able to get a very nice bit of kit

i do suspect it'll be easier squeezing blood out of a stone than getting that money though ..
c4rv
19-06-2011
Originally Posted by JasonWatkins:
“The 3.5 hour battery life won't really be an issue for me. If i'm using it as an e-reader then i've certainly never read for 3 and a half hours in my entire life ”

I would be concerned about battery life, especially if you have the brightness turned up on the screen. It only has a 1500mAh battery, you will be pushing to get a couple of hours of real world usage. Plus 7" is a pretty small screen if are going to be doing a lot of reading. I would look for a 10" screen if possible.
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