New Amazon tablets go downmarket

[s44]

The low-end prices are neat, but 12*8 on a 10" tablet today? Give me a break.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TSUGXKE/ref=sv_devicesubnav_1

There are no HDX devices this year.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Wow I didn't mind that resolution on my Nook Color in early 2011 because of a lack of options. But in 2015? Tablets have raced to the bottom.

 

[Aikouka]

Eh, I bought one just to see how it is. At worst, I'll have a cheap tablet that I don't mind messing around with. It also makes dealing with Amazon Coins in Hearthstone a lot easier than having to fire up Andy the Android emulator.

To be clear about one thing, it isn't truly $50. It's $50 with screensaver advertisements. If you want them removed, it's an extra $15. While I've heard good comments about Amazon's advertisements in the past from people with Kindles, I decided to go without.

 

[cronos]

Eh, I bought one just to see how it is. At worst, I'll have a cheap tablet that I don't mind messing around with. It also makes dealing with Amazon Coins in Hearthstone a lot easier than having to fire up Andy the Android emulator.

To be clear about one thing, it isn't truly $50. It's $50 with screensaver advertisements. If you want them removed, it's an extra $15. While I've heard good comments about Amazon's advertisements in the past from people with Kindles, I decided to go without.

I think you just threw $15 to the ground

If it's the same as the previous (no reason to think that it isn't), the advertisements only shown on the lock screen, and in fact sometimes do show exclusive deals that you may be interested in.

 

[s44]

The $50 one has the same resolution as the very first Galaxy Tab.

Sorry, no go.

 

[cronos]

Wow I didn't mind that resolution on my Nook Color in early 2011 because of a lack of options. But in 2015? Tablets have raced to the bottom.

I think Amazon is purposely targeting low end market with their tablets. Remember that even at the last generation they came out with the 6 inch and the 7 inch that are also budget-type.

The HDX 7" and 10" are the last high-end tablets from Amazon, and I won't be surprised if we don't see anymore like these.

 

[sweenish]

I wouldn't consider that money wasted at all.

If I can avoid ads, I'll pay a little extra.

 

[Aikouka]

I think you just threw $15 to the ground

If it's the same as the previous (no reason to think that it isn't), the advertisements only shown on the lock screen, and in fact sometimes do show exclusive deals that you may be interested in.

Fine! Quit twisting my arm! I decided to cancel that order and reorder it with the advertisements. The thing is that you can just pay to remove the ads later, so if I decide that I really don't like them, I can still remove them.

 

[Artdeco]

If they're anything like the Kindle ads, they're not bad at all, I actually sort of like them.

Interesting move from Amazon, seems they don't understand middle ground though, stupid expensive like the Fire Phone or dirt cheap like these.

 

[Chiropteran]

I am not as concerned with the low res as I am with the memory- 1GB of RAM for Amazon's flavor of Android wasn't enough 2 years ago. While there is some possibility that the new version handles memory a little better, I still think it's a poor decision to go down to 1GB, especially on the 10" model.

The $50 variant is sorta neat as a low-risk toy for the beach or other places where you wouldn't dare risk a $500 device, and the new kids edition is still a great value. I just don't understand the idea of handicapping the otherwise higher-end variants with 1GB of RAM.

edit: and the ads are fine, not intrusive at all and actually relevant and useful occasionally. you can always pay to disable them later if you want, so I would just buy the ad-supported version.

 

[Midwayman]

Yikes, that's worse than my old fire HD. And that's like 3 years old. I'm sure they'll play videos just fine and basic 2d games.

I can only imagine last years crappy low end tablets far outsold the high end ones.

 

[MustISO]

Looking forward to the reviews, would be a nice tablet to have for $50 if it can handle games and videos.

 

[Strk]

Trying to make them less expensive is fine, but cheap? Yuk!

 

[notposting]

Uggggh - the 7" is now back to 1024 x 600 with a mono speaker. SD playback whooohooo! Slower quad it looks like, no more SlimPort (we have last years HD7 which has this, hmmm).

Glad I got ours last year around BF - 16GB, no ads, and I think once all the discounts and cash back was applied to my account, it was around $20-30.

 

[blairharrington]

The HD8 is a great choice for movies on the road at that price.

I question how useable a 189ppi resolution is for reading text though.

 

[Geekbabe]

My son loves the Kindle Fires & has a seven inch HDX. I will now have to find a replacement tablet for him. These are just too low end.

 

[Strk]

My son loves the Kindle Fires & has a seven inch HDX. I will now have to find a replacement tablet for him. These are just too low end.

Yeah, it is hard to understand the logic of making them that bad.The last series they bragged about all the 300+ DPI displays and capabilities and now it is just 'hey, they're cheap!'

 

[SKORPI0]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VKIY9RG/ref=ods_fs_theb

Fire HD 10 at $229.99...

• Beautiful widescreen 10.1" HD display with over a million pixels (149 ppi / 1280 x 800)

  

 

[Geekbabe]

Yeah, it is hard to understand the logic of making them that bad.The last series they bragged about all the 300+ DPI displays and capabilities and now it is just 'hey, they're cheap!'

They are clearly looking for a market that will purchase content from them. The sad thing is they are ignoring their customers who want higher end tablets. Of course, the Anazon apps work pretty well on other devices.

These cheap tablets are Amazon betting that entire families will buy them. I have 11 Grandchildren & could see a kid's tablet for the youngest but not for the older kids.

 

[Chiropteran]

The HD8 is a great choice for movies on the road at that price.

I question how useable a 189ppi resolution is for reading text though.

Really? I am using a 1080p 23" monitor right now, that is under 100ppi. I think cell phones with crazy high resolution figures have distorted the view of a lot of people, anything over 100 ppi is fine for most purposes, unless you intend to have the device 2 inches from your eye.

Obviously higher res would be better, but it doesn't come free. I think the lower resolution is a fine trade off for getting a tablet at such prices. The only problem I have with them is the lack of RAM, 2GB is the minimum acceptable for an Android tablet IMO.

 

[Midwayman]

Of course, the Anazon apps work pretty well on other devices.

Yah, you can get amazon video anywhere now and I think they even enabled the offline viewing a while back. Probably just decided they couldn't compete in the high end market. Or rather the cost of it wasn't worth it.

 

[blairharrington]

Really? I am using a 1080p 23" monitor right now, that is under 100ppi. I think cell phones with crazy high resolution figures have distorted the view of a lot of people, anything over 100 ppi is fine for most purposes, unless you intend to have the device 2 inches from your eye.

Obviously higher res would be better, but it doesn't come free. I think the lower resolution is a fine trade off for getting a tablet at such prices. The only problem I have with them is the lack of RAM, 2GB is the minimum acceptable for an Android tablet IMO.

My original iPad Mini had a ppi of 163. Text was fuzzy. Especially in portrait mode. I don't think 189 ppi will be much better of an experience.

Still worth it for movies and games on the road. But for a better text viewing experience at 8" there are better options in the $200 range.

 

[jpiniero]

My original iPad Mini had a ppi of 163. Text was fuzzy. Especially in portrait mode. I don't think 189 ppi will be much better of an experience.

Still worth it for movies and games on the road. But for a better text viewing experience at 8" there are better options in the $200 range.

I've used the original Mini. In fact I used it briefly a couple days ago. I love the size of it but it's blurry. You really do need a high dpi on a tablet.

The Nexus 7 (2013) and it's great 1200p screen still seems good even today.

 

[Geekbabe]

My original iPad Mini had a ppi of 163. Text was fuzzy. Especially in portrait mode. I don't think 189 ppi will be much better of an experience.

Still worth it for movies and games on the road. But for a better text viewing experience at 8" there are better options in the $200 range.

A lot of people view $200 spent on a tablet as a luxury they don't need, particularly families with several children. For people with good eyesight & casual usage habits a $50 tablet probably looks like an irresistible bargain. Heck you could dedicate one to bring the kitchen tablet, just to look up and bookmark recipes.

Most people aren't like us, they don't already have several tablets lying around the house.

 

[blairharrington]

A lot of people view $200 spent on a tablet as a luxury they don't need, particularly families with several children. For people with good eyesight & casual usage habits a $50 tablet probably looks like an irresistible bargain. Heck you could dedicate one to bring the kitchen tablet, just to look up and bookmark recipes.

Most people aren't like us, they don't already have several tablets lying around the house.

Sure, there is a strong market for cheap tablets.

Personally I find the difference between a 7" and 8" tablet to be enormous. It's only an inch but it goes a long way when browsing the web or watching video.

This difference will matter little to people on a budget. But personally, I would not use a tablet smaller than 8". My original comment had more to do with people contemplating an iPad Mini, an HD 8X, and other similar tablets, and less so why someone would to buy a $50 7" tablet.