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| Brandon | $50 Android TabletsIf you visit eBay and look for the cheapest new tablet that you can buy, you will find a bunch of sellers selling tablets that all are re-branded versions of the same tablet. They have 4GB storage, 512MB RAM, and an A23 1.5GHz Dual Core processor. Over the past few years I've had an ASUS TF101 Transformer, a Nexus 7, a Thinkpad Twist, and an iPhone 4s. I also have used the iPad 1 and 2 quite a bit at my summer job. I have to say that this $50 tablet is the best tablet that I've used. The problem that I have with expensive tablets is that you can get a used laptop and then install an SSD and have a much more functional machine. Obviously a laptop is less portable, but if that is your concern the the 12 inch Thinkpad laptops like the X200,X201,X220,Twist laptops can be found at iPad prices refurbished, and run full OSes. Personally I have never liked Android, Assuming that you have hundreds of dollars to spend, If you want a tablet because you want a really light machine then the iPad is much more stable, and if you want a machine for "hacking" the Thinkpads mentioned above are a much better fit. However, at $50, the story is completely different. Apple has no products in that price, and hold their values good enough that you won't even find a working used device at that price. If you look hard enough, you can probably find a used laptop for that much, but it's going to be slow, probably have a dead battery, and it's going to be heavy. For $50, I have a 7 inch device with Android 4.2 and the Play Store, so I can get pretty much any Android application that I want. It also has wifi (of course) and a nice touch screen. I'm not finding Android any better, it is still slow and freezey (compared to a laptop with Crunchbang and SSD), but this tablet works just as well as any other Android tablet that I've ever used. Then factoring in what you can realistically do on a tablet and the cost of an iPad, it's easily beats them (IMHO). Now, if you read that right, you'll find that I just said that a $50 tablet is that best one that I've ever used. But note, there are a couple of flaws with these tablets. First, the LCD has very bad viewing angles when held in portrait orientation. Second, as soon as I plugged in the AC adapter it made a popping sound and then smelled horrible and no longer works. The solution to this is to charge using the included USB cable. In the next weeks I hope to post some pictures/answers to any questions. I'm curious as to what you guys think of the mobile OSes/what portables have/do you use(d)? | 2014-03-28 | 2:28 PM |
| RetroM | Re: $50 Android TabletsAs somebody who has both an iPad mini and a cheapo 7 inch Android tablet, I can relate to a lot of what you're saying. IOS is a very stable and easy to use OS and the build quality of the iPad is excellent. However, Android has far more free apps available and hacking and modding it is much easier. Unless you jailbreak IOS you're basically stuck with what Apple will allow you to install. Android is much more open to hacking and there are no restrictions on what you can install. The iPads are great devices don't get me wrong, but the cheap tablets are great if you just want something basic for web browing/Email or video playback. And yet still give the nerd plenty of options for hacking. | 2014-03-30 | 9:47 AM |
| geekbasic | Re: $50 Android TabletsI would personally go with the $50 tablet as you can put a better distro of linux on it. You could probably even use Windows CE. In my opinion, if you are willing to sacrifice wifi, this is also a great investment (it is a GPS that is powered by an ARM processor and Windows CE. This thing can run word processors, Python, games, and more. It even comes with built in mp3 player and FM radio transmitter. I use thins thing to get around california with power and style): http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-3-Inch-Windows-CE-6-0-Built-in-4GB-Touch-screen-GPS-Navigator-with-FM-Transmit-/271251049719?pt=GPS_Devices&hash=item3f27d28cf7 If you aren't into touch screens, then I would try these ARM netbooks (I own and regularly use these to program in C, listen to music, run apache web server, browse the web, and run my DOS and NES emulators): http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Via-8850-Windows-CE-4GB-Notebook-Laptop-PC-digital-Screen-New-Semester-gift-/310887780484?pt=Laptops_Nov05&var=&hash=item48625b1084 (windows ce 256mb ram) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sylvania-SYNET07526-7-Netbook-Mini-Laptop-with-Windows-CE-6-0-/171283262215?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item27e1472b07 (windows ce 128mb ram) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3DC17C7781 (android) You can find these with up to 512mb of ram. I purchased mind with 512 for only $45! | 2014-04-05 | 4:30 PM |
| Brandon | Re: $50 Android TabletsMy biggest problem with Windows CE has always been the web browser, I've never found them to be very useful. Those mini laptops don't make much sense to me, I just got a used Thinkpad X200 for under $100 that is many many times more powerful. | 2014-04-08 | 3:45 PM |
| geekbasic | Re: $50 Android TabletsIt use useful considering you the browser supports html 4 and cookies, but no javascript. You can also run Putty for telnet session. Other than that, I think the dos emulator is killer considering the machine is rated at 9v. I can multitask pocket excel, pocket word, an mp3 player, a multi tabbed browser, a few games, and more without too much latency. Lately my favorite gadget has been the Zipit Z2 which has an ARM processor and a wifi adapter. It is sold with software for instant messaging, but is based off of linux and may be easily flashed with a variety of linux distros. Here is the one I use: http://chainxor.org/openwrt-zipit/ The device only coasts between $10 to $20 on average currently. I purchased mine on ebay from a reseller for $14+$6 shipping. Open WRT, the distro of linux that I use has a large library of software including, but not limited to telnet, emacs, nano, apache, Links web browser, mp3 player, bywater basic, and php. Browsing the web on this thing is fast and secure because of the lack of javascripting. I am able o quickly log in to and navigate my yahoo and facebook accounts (including my email). | 2014-04-08 | 11:54 PM |
| Brandon | Re: $50 Android TabletsI have a Z2, but I was using Debian on it, I got tired of resetting up wireless every boot. I also found the size made me feel very claustrophobic, I have trouble working on small screens. But it is a neat device, I guess I just want to see the internet in it;s full javascripted glory. | 2014-04-09 | 8:45 AM |
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