9.7 inch ICS Android tablet for $120 (wholesale)

[Phokus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNz-Q6lDIrI

Not bad.

 

[MrX8503]

I like how he says, its really fast and all he does is scroll apps. That's some serious performance! I don't understand why reviewers don't run an app to test fluidity.

For $120 though, it looks pretty good. Doesn't look like something that will come to the states though.

 

[Phokus]

I like how he says, its really fast and all he does is scroll apps. That's some serious performance! I don't understand why reviewers don't run an app to test fluidity.

For $120 though, it looks pretty good. Doesn't look like something that will come to the states though.

Actually it probably is coming to the states, what i've read is that they'll sell to other companies to rebrand/rebadge.

 

[ponyo]

I like how he says, its really fast and all he does is scroll apps. That's some serious performance! I don't understand why reviewers don't run an app to test fluidity.

For $120 though, it looks pretty good. Doesn't look like something that will come to the states though.

It's not fast and it showed in the video. specs are terrible even for $120. I'm usually one to accept lower quality for lower price but there's minimum baseline. I think this is overpriced.

 

[Mopetar]

It's not fast and it showed in the video. specs are terrible even for $120. I'm usually one to accept lower quality for lower price but there's minimum baseline. I think this is overpriced.

Even if it's not the greatest tablet in the world, for $120 it's probably a pretty good deal. Even if Android isn't as efficient as iOS, the single core A4 and 256 MB of RAM in my first generation iPad was good enough for most things. If the come to the US at that price I'll probably pick one up. At that price I can definitely accept a few shortcomings.

I have a feeling that the quantities will be limited. That they're using a 4:3 screen suggests that it might be some left-over stock that was originally for an iPad. If that's the case, they probably won't have continued production runs unless they continue buying screens, which seems unlikely if they want to compete against Apple's buying power.

 

[MaxFusion16]

looks good, finally android is adopting 4:3 aspect ratio screens, much better than that stupid widescreen.

I might pick up one once it comes over even though I hate android, it'd be a nice cheap gift/toy for kids.

 

[Bateluer]

looks good, finally android is adopting 4:3 aspect ratio screens, much better than that stupid widescreen.

Heh, I came in here to deride that 4:3 aspect ratio. PCs, desktops and notebooks stopped using that shitty aspect ratio in the mid 90s. Let it stay dead. 16x9 is better for video in landscape and better for reading in portrait. Win on both.

FYI guys, you can already get Chinese tablets running ICS with similar innards for only a little more than that right now.

 

[WelshBloke]

Heh, I came in here to deride that 4:3 aspect ratio. PCs, desktops and notebooks stopped using that shitty aspect ratio in the mid 90s. Let it stay dead. 16x9 is better for video in landscape and better for reading in portrait. Win on both.

FYI guys, you can already get Chinese tablets running ICS with similar innards for only a little more than that right now.

That.

Its one of the things that irk me about my touchpad. Theres not a massive amount of things that tablets are better than other things at. One of them is as a portable video viewer, effectively shrinking the screen by giving it a daft aspect ratio doesn't help.

 

[akugami]

Heh, I came in here to deride that 4:3 aspect ratio. PCs, desktops and notebooks stopped using that shitty aspect ratio in the mid 90s. Let it stay dead. 16x9 is better for video in landscape and better for reading in portrait. Win on both.

FYI guys, you can already get Chinese tablets running ICS with similar innards for only a little more than that right now.

I prefer a 16x10 ratio but 16x9 would be a decent second choice. For tablets, 4x3 can definitely die a horrible horrible death.

 

[SickBeast]

That's great for $120 but I want a dual core cpu and 1gb of ram as a minimum. The casing looks really cheap as well - they should use metal.

1024x768 is also too low a resolution for a 10" screen imo.

 

[MaxFusion16]

you are all wrong, just because widescreen works for TV and movies doesn't mean it'll work for tablets. some people just don't get it.

you sit down to watch a video or a movie, so widescreen is good for covering your entire field of view.

however, you hold a tablet, and they are supposed to mimic a natural medium, in this case, paper and books, which are very close to the 4:3 ratio.

did you ever think to yourself that "gee, I wish this book was in widescreen format", no? didn't think so.

I made fun of the original iphone's 4:3 ratio during jobs' keynote launch back in 2007, how it was an awkward resolution and would be terrible for movies. But guess what, I was wrong, I used one and I was hooked, the screen was marvelous, it felt just right.

A good product has a purpose, it does a few things extremely well; it shouldn't try to do everything, because then, it'd just be a compromise.

 

[MaxFusion16]

That's great for $120 but I want a dual core cpu and 1gb of ram as a minimum. The casing looks really cheap as well - they should use metal.

1024x768 is also too low a resolution for a 10" screen imo.

seems low now after the new retina display, but that didn't stop apple from selling millions of "low res" ipads over the last 2 years.

for $120, I'm not gonna bitch about the resolution.

 

[SickBeast]

It's true. At that price they are great. It's cheap to the point that schools could now buy one for every student and get rid of all the paper books that they have, and they would probably save money in doing so.

 

[dagamer34]

Something tells me they are using rejected iPad panels for not being up to snuff in the quality department...

 

[ponyo]

Something tells me they are using rejected iPad panels for not being up to snuff in the quality department...

or leftover Touchpad screen. Both shared the same IPS 9.7 screen.

My local Craigslist shows several 16gb Touchpad for sale $150-175 range.

 

[SickBeast]

Probably what has happened is that Apple no longer uses these panels so they have gotten dirt cheap as a result.

 

[senseamp]

That's not fast enough for flash. Could be a good splashtop thin client and e reader.
They could spend a few more dollars on better SOC, flash, RAM, and build, and have a decent $200 10" tablet. That is a pretty key pricepoint.

 

[senseamp]

Probably what has happened is that Apple no longer uses these panels so they have gotten dirt cheap as a result.

Apple still uses them,but not as much with retina iPad out, so there is spare capacity out there.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

i might buy one so i can hack it
seems like a good cheap little computer

 

[Puddle Jumper]

you are all wrong, just because widescreen works for TV and movies doesn't mean it'll work for tablets. some people just don't get it.

you sit down to watch a video or a movie, so widescreen is good for covering your entire field of view.

however, you hold a tablet, and they are supposed to mimic a natural medium, in this case, paper and books, which are very close to the 4:3 ratio.

did you ever think to yourself that "gee, I wish this book was in widescreen format", no? didn't think so.

I made fun of the original iphone's 4:3 ratio during jobs' keynote launch back in 2007, how it was an awkward resolution and would be terrible for movies. But guess what, I was wrong, I used one and I was hooked, the screen was marvelous, it felt just right.

A good product has a purpose, it does a few things extremely well; it shouldn't try to do everything, because then, it'd just be a compromise.

This might shock you but if you rotate a 16:9 or 16:10 display 90 degrees you get tons of vertical real estate which is excellent for reading. Basically widescreen is better for both media and text and 4:3 has no redeeming qualities.

 

[MaxFusion16]

This might shock you but if you rotate a 16:9 or 16:10 display 90 degrees you get tons of vertical real estate which is excellent for reading. Basically widescreen is better for both media and text and 4:3 has no redeeming qualities.

no

 

[SickBeast]

i might buy one so i can hack it
seems like a good cheap little computer

Yeah that would be fun. I'll bet you could hit 2ghz on the cpu. There is a lot you can do with a rooted android system.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Yeah that would be fun. I'll bet you could hit 2ghz on the cpu. There is a lot you can do with a rooted android system.

exactly. itll be a cheap alternative to an ipad
and for android lovers

 

[SickBeast]

i might buy one so i can hack it
seems like a good cheap little computer

Yeah that would be fun. I'll bet you could hit 2ghz on the cpu. There is a lot you can do with a rooted android system.

 

[MrX8503]

I prefer 16:10 over 16:9. 16:9 offers good vertical space in portrait, but its horrible in landscape mode. For a tablet that you use mainly for movies, this is a plus, but I'm certain that most people don't spend most of their time watching movies on a tablet. They're either surfing or using apps.