Android Tablet 7" for $59 @ TigerDirect

You get what you pay for with tablets. Refurb or not a tablet that cheap is going to be crap.
 
I've seen some decent ones for $99 that run Android 4.0 .. so I'd hold out and wait a little longer. As Amazon's new one comes out, it's going to force the others down lower. I'm expecting the Nook Color to drop as well, that one can be rooted and has a good dev following.

Btw, I believe they have these at Frys.com so you may be able to play with it. I remember when the cheap tablets were going for $400-$500 back before the major players brought theirs out (after the iPad launch), they were the iPad-clones from China. Frys.com was gouging the hell out of people with the units (you could get them on Ebay for $150), and those were complete junk.
 
it doesn't make any sense to buy anything other than a nexus 7 at this point
 
Modred189 said:
You said ANYTHING ;)
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at first I had it as kindle/nook for the non-geeks and nexus for the geeks until I realized how ubiquitous google is and how even grandmas are knowledgeable about their products (to the extent that they exist, at least)
 
I understand not wanting to spend $200-$250 on a Nexus 7 / Galaxy Tab 2. But seriously.

If you want a $100 Android tablet, pick up a used/refurb Nook color. With CM7 on it (and CM9/10 still in the works) it's a lot better with its pretty IPS screen than these cheap POS tablets. Along with solid hardware and a great homebrew ROM community for it.

They go on sale all of the time on cowboom or ebay or whatever for $100-$120.
 
GreenMonkey said:
I understand not wanting to spend $200-$250 on a Nexus 7 / Galaxy Tab 2. But seriously.

If you want a $100 Android tablet, pick up a used/refurb Nook color. With CM7 on it (and CM9/10 still in the works) it's a lot better with its pretty IPS screen than these cheap POS tablets. Along with solid hardware and a great homebrew ROM community for it.

They go on sale all of the time on cowboom or ebay or whatever for $100-$120.
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I'm rocking a CM9 Nook color right now, and fwiw, it's not a smooth experience. Better than CM7, but not smooth. Just food for thought.
 
Modred189 said:
I'm rocking a CM9 Nook color right now, and fwiw, it's not a smooth experience. Better than CM7, but not smooth. Just food for thought.
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Yeah, hardware accel isn't working 100% yet on CM9 on the NC. That's why I've stuck with CM7.2 for the kids' NCs for now.
 
GreenMonkey said:
Yeah, hardware accel isn't working 100% yet on CM9 on the NC. That's why I've stuck with CM7.2 for the kids' NCs for now.
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are you sure it's that or is the aging graphics chip not strong enough to handle the more hardware dependent ICS?

I've noticed this with my aging adreno 200 devices. I'm hoping project butter helps but I haven't seen enough discussion about it correctly predict whether we can do anything about it
 
Woot had this a few weeks ago for $50, I believe, and the consensus was that it's not an amazing deal even at that price. It'll cost a little more, but you'll get way more mileage out of a used Nook Color or similar. Unless your expectations are in the gutter or it's for a child or someone else who won't care, this isn't an awesome buy.
 
mope54 said:
are you sure it's that or is the aging graphics chip not strong enough to handle the more hardware dependent ICS?

I've noticed this with my aging adreno 200 devices. I'm hoping project butter helps but I haven't seen enough discussion about it correctly predict whether we can do anything about it
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Well, it might be both, but the nightly build threads state that HW acceleration isn't 100%, so, who knows.
 
Best tablet for price/performane ratio? Rooted, used Kindle Fire with gedeROM ICS. Oh man am I loving this tablet.
 
Some Big Lots have a $20 android



The biggest problem I see is no bluetooth
 
shoota said:
Best tablet for price/performane ratio? Rooted, used Kindle Fire with gedeROM ICS. Oh man am I loving this tablet.
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I had a refurb Kindle Fire that I got for $129 and ran it rooted with ICS for a while - it really sold me on the 7" form factor but ultimately the Nexus 7 is still going to be the superior price/performance machine. Especially if you care about mobile gaming because the Tegra3 processor in the Nexus 7 will run the THD optimized games in the play store (Tegrazone.com to check them out) and some are pretty awesome for a mobile platform.

Then there's the instant updates of the latest Android O/S (and jellybean makes android absolutely fluidly smooth on Nexus 7). Anyway I sold my Fire when I heard a Google 7" tab was on the way because I knew the extra power & features would be more than worth the difference in price.

So don't even waste a dime on these other chinese tabs - they'll be more a waste of your time than a savings in cost, and time is more valuable.
 
STAY FAR AWAY from any Android device with less than 512MB RAM. Android 2.x and up really really really doesn't run all that well on devices with less than that.

You'd just about have to use this thing as an e-book reader only and maybe really laggy web browsing.

Fry's routinely has a 7" Coby with halfway decent specs for like $79 - $99.

Personally I would buy (as everyone else has said) a Nexus 7 - spend a remarkable price on a unit that is quite literally way more quality than we've ever seen for the money.

A used Nook or Fire is tempting at $100 - $120 used, but when you can get a quad core Tegra based device for $200.... holy cow. Choice made.
 
vibe said:
Some Big Lots have a $20 android



The biggest problem I see is no bluetooth
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Pretty bad... Resistive screen (works best with a stylus, no multitouch), 256MB RAM which means it's going to be laggy as dirt. About the only redeeming thing (aside from the price) is it actually has HDMI output.
 
odditory said:
I had a refurb Kindle Fire that I got for $129 and ran it rooted with ICS for a while - it really sold me on the 7" form factor but ultimately the Nexus 7 is still going to be the superior price/performance machine. Especially if you care about mobile gaming because the Tegra3 processor in the Nexus 7 will run the THD optimized games in the play store (Tegrazone.com to check them out) and some are pretty awesome for a mobile platform.

Then there's the instant updates of the latest Android O/S (and jellybean makes android absolutely fluidly smooth on Nexus 7). Anyway I sold my Fire when I heard a Google 7" tab was on the way because I knew the extra power & features would be more than worth the difference in price.

So don't even waste a dime on these other chinese tabs - they'll be more a waste of your time than a savings in cost, and time is more valuable.
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But how is the screen on the nexus 7? I read it has ghosting issues.
 
Its $60. It is what it is. Why would anyone expect a Nexus competitor from that?
 
jpm100 said:
Its $60. It is what it is. Why would anyone expect a Nexus competitor from that?
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I think the point is that once a top tier tablet hits $200, the reasons to spend $60 as opposed to saving up start to dwindle quickly.
 
Modred189 said:
I think the point is that once a top tier tablet hits $200, the reasons to spend $60 as opposed to saving up start to dwindle quickly.
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Umm... no.

I see a couple of uses for a $60 tablet. Probably plays movies well enough. It less than what is charged for a DVD player people have for the kids in the car on trips. Its also something you can take somewhere and not give a 'darn' is you lose it. Like an airport/airplane time killer that you aren't going to worry as much if you lose it or it gets stolen.

I can see the fad factor feeds the desire for having the 'bestest' thing. And the desire to have the 'bestest' thing feeds the fad factor.

But like a few other threads in here people criticizing stuff for not being the next Lamborghini, some of this tech is at the 'good enough' state. The number of people who go for 'good enough' and worry more about cost are going to grow. People would still like to have the bestest, but they aren't going to pine over it. The fad effect is going to implode. Seriously why do you think that $200 tablet became $200.
 
jpm100 said:
Umm... no..
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First of all, it has 4gb of space, that's not a lot of movies at a decent quality.

That said, I didn't say this was BAD, or that there were NO uses for it. My point is that the NUMBER of situations in which a $60-100 tablet makes sense anymore are shrinking. The VALUE of such a tablet is decreasing in the face of affordable, cheap alternatives like the Nook Color, the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7.

That's just the nature of what happens when these things stay the same (Android 2.2 has been the fallback for such low end devices for YEARS, and the hardware hasn't really changed) and the standard 7" tablets have become so much more powerful and so much cheaper.

Compare this to the Galaxy Tab rev1 vs the Nexus 7. There is a much more compelling argument for something like this thing against the Tab than against the N7.


TLDR- there may still be situations where these make sense, but fewer and fewer every day.
 
Modred189 said:
First of all, it has 4gb of space, that's not a lot of movies at a decent quality.

That said, I didn't say this was BAD, or that there were NO uses for it. My point is that the NUMBER of situations in which a $60-100 tablet makes sense anymore are shrinking. The VALUE of such a tablet is decreasing in the face of affordable, cheap alternatives like the Nook Color, the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7.

That's just the nature of what happens when these things stay the same (Android 2.2 has been the fallback for such low end devices for YEARS, and the hardware hasn't really changed) and the standard 7" tablets have become so much more powerful and so much cheaper.

Compare this to the Galaxy Tab rev1 vs the Nexus 7. There is a much more compelling argument for something like this thing against the Tab than against the N7.


TLDR- there may still be situations where these make sense, but fewer and fewer every day.
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My only use for it would be as a remote control for an HTPC. But the lack of dev support and limited Android OS versions makes me think those apps wouldn't run on it any longer. Hence, not jumping for joy.
 
Spidey329 said:
My only use for it would be as a remote control for an HTPC. But the lack of dev support and limited Android OS versions makes me think those apps wouldn't run on it any longer. Hence, not jumping for joy.
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Ironic, since that's pretty much all I use my CM9 Nook Color for. gmote ftw.
Well, that and reading Pule on the pot.
 
Modred189 said:
Ironic, since that's pretty much all I use my CM9 Nook Color for. gmote ftw.
Well, that and reading Pule on the pot.
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Yeah, that's why I suggested the Nook Color up above. My last post was referring to the tablet in the OP, not the Nook Color. If you can get a refurbed or a sale Nook Color at $100, it's a good price. To be honest, I think they'll need to consider that price point if they want to compete with the new 7" tablets coming out unless they phase it out. The N7 is supposedly going to be $199. I think this will eventually push the Nook Tablet to $160ish. The Nook Color should then replace the B&W Nook Touch at $99-$120. Granted, just my speculation.
 
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Spidey329 said:
Yeah, that's why I suggested the Nook Color up above. My last post was referring to the tablet in the OP, not the Nook Color. If you can get a refurbed or a sale Nook Color at $100, it's a good price. To be honest, I think they'll need to consider that price point if they want to compete with the new 7" tablets coming out unless they phase it out. The N7 is supposedly going to be $199. I think this will eventually push the Nook Tablet to $160ish. The Nook Color should then replace the B&W Nook Touch at $99-$120. Granted, just my speculation.
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I would not be surprised. I mean, the N7 is such a superior device, and you can just go out and get the B&N app.
The question is, do they have something in the pipeline to compete with the Nook Fire and the N7.
 
odditory said:
:headdesk:
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The screen on the Nexus 7 doesn't 'ghost' any more than any other IPS screen, and it's still better than just about any tablet screen out there aside from (as much as I hate to admit it) the iPad. One person says the word 'ghosting' and two hundred people run with it... :rolleyes:
 
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