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Thread: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

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    Theoretical Element Spud1's Avatar
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    So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    If you know my posts on hexes, I am someone who really doesn't like Android for my high end devices. No need to go into the whys and where's, but it's not my OS of choice for a high end device.

    I have also started developing Flex/AIR apps for my Blackberry Playbook recently which is a lot of fun (albeit with action script, so it's definitely lazy development rather than programming!), but it would be great to get more reach with my apps..so I kinda do need to make an Android version. Super easy with Flex, but needed a device to test with.

    Enter FocalPrice and their mega cheap £45 tablets. Did a bit of research 2 weeks ago and one drunk night ordered one..and today it turned up. I ordered a 7" Ainol Novo 7 Tornado, which is a 4.0.3 tablet with a 1ghz Chip, 1GB ram and 8GB storage.

    I am actually quite impressed! I still don't like Android (lets keep that clear), but considering that this thing cost only £45, it's a decent bit of hardware. The screen isn't great, but it's sensitive and works well. everything remains responsive, the sound is loud enough, and it handles high bitrate 1080p sample videos perfectly smoothly..and they actually look pretty good even with the fairly poor screen.

    Full access to google play store is there, and Angry birds + Fruit ninja both work really well..amazingly smooth considering. I have to keep reminding myself that this is only a £45 tablet..screen aside it's really impressive.

    I might get around to doing a review at some point - but the main point I am making here is that these dirt cheap chines tablets can actually be scarily good value for money. It's 1/3 the price of a nexus 7, and OK it really needs a better screen, but for what I want it for (dev) or even if I had kids and wanted something for them, its pretty amazing.

    Don't write off the cheap tablets if you just want something to play with - I wouldn't pay any more than 45-50£ for one of these, but at that price, it's a steal! Good news is that this is getting 4.1 too since the official source code has just been released, and some custom roms are already out. Surprising but a good thing to hear

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    DDY
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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    I'm really tempted to get one myself, every other person seems to have a tablet nowadays including - myself, though a large and unwieldy 12" convertible tablet that's impossible to use on the go.

    What's the build quality and battery life like on the Ainol? *chortle*

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    ALT0153™ Rob_B's Avatar
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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    There's a few half decent (for the price) floating around, I had a Vega and wasn't impressed by it but I think that's all tablets with me to be honest. I would try a cheapy one, the Droid X360 that eurogamer 'reviewed' looks ok for about £75

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    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Thanks for the mini-review Spud.

    I've been wanting to get a few cheap tablets for a while to stick some videos on for the kids while they are in the car. As they will probably end up on the foor and stood on at some point, I don't want anything expensive. And one of the kids is four as well. Had thought of the Archos tablets, but these sound much better value.

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    DDY - build quality is good so far, feels really solid (like the original Galaxy Tab), all the ports line up and work, buttons click well..no issues on build quality to be honest, feels more expensive than it is. The only thing that lets is down there is that it has a recessed screen (about 0.5mm) and a shiny aluminium bezel - I would have preferred flush but they don't seem to exist at this price point. Its light and thin too - although would need to check the spec list to confirm the exact dimensions.

    Only had it for 1/2 a day so I can't comment on my own battery experiences, but google tells me expect around 5 hours video playback and 10 hours general usage with wifi enabled.

    This is the sort of thing I could give to kids etc to play with in the car/watch movies/play angry birds - in fact my boss @ work is waiting to see this tomorrow to order some for his kids

    The only thing that really lets it down is the screen..its 800x480 which is really low these days, especially when I compare it to my 7" Blackberry Playbook with it's IPS display.

    here it is @ Focal - I used a voucher to get it for this price [£45] since I had one in my account, but you can find them all over the web, and if you signup as a drop shipper you get a 10% code for your first order

    http://www.focalprice.com/CE0076X/Ai...l?Currency=GBP

    Took 2 weeks with standard Chinapost - EMS shipping [5 day] is expensive at £15 so I wouldn't bother, just wait. for one!

    Image of mine next to my playbook for comparison - same thickness at the thickest point, but the ainol is about 1/2 the weight.
    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/wp000300p.jpg/

    Apparently the stock rom I am on is a bit buggy - but no problems so far..I will have to update to 4.0.4 soon (waiting for someone to cook a good rom now that the source is out for this tab) and then 4.1 again when someone makes a stable version. Good fun and makes me want to get more! This is what Android is about for me now I guess - cheap but decent devices that you are not scared of breaking. I wouldn't be that happy constantly reflashing and messing with a £200+ tablet - but a £45 one? Much lower risk. Will post up a full review when I have had time to play with it more, promise.
    Last edited by Spud1; 03-09-2012 at 11:05 PM. Reason: removed incorrect 1080p reference

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    I've been looking at the Onda V711 myself. It's a dual core A9 at 1.5ghz with a Mali400 GPU and a 1024x600 IPS screen. £82 delivered seems like a bit of a bargain considering that spec.

    Quote Originally Posted by Spud1 View Post
    The only thing that really lets it down is the screen..its 800x480 which is really low these days, especially when I compare it to my 7" Blackberry Playbook with it's 1080p IPS display
    1080p? I was under the impression the playbook is the same resolution as the one I mentioned above, that is 1024x600.

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Sorry, yes you are correct that was a mistake

  8. #8
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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Our son bought a cheap android tablet also from FocalPrice.

    Within a month it stopped recognizing sd cards, within 3 months it would not even boot up.

    So not all cheapy tablets are created equal, make sure you do your research.

    Both me and the wife have tablets but we went the brand name route because they get used often and we got them both for free with contracts

    Mine is a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Wifi and the wife's is a Tab 2 10.1 3G

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Hi guys

    Just noticed this thread i recently bought one of these Prestigio PMP 5080B i have updated it to ICS and it works perfect does all i request plays ABirds and plays 1080p films nps very good for price i paid £120 a snip for a 8" android tablet...

    I did look at Archos 10.1 G3 but its restricted you can't use Google play/Market on it so that was a no good....

    Also looked at the galaxy tab 2 mmmm too expensive

    Cheers

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Bit of an update after a full day of having this turn on and "doing things" at work.

    Battery lasted the whole day (8-5:30), albeit not used all day but sat there with wifi on all day..showing 42% left, which is encouraging.

    Used it today for:

    Personal email checking
    2, 1 hour Goto meetings (similar to Webex)
    Streaming iPlayer during lunch
    Playing music during the day

    Really happy with it - and sold 4 of these to my workmates today after they had a go

    It's also left me with a resounding conclusion about the whole iOS vs Droid thing.

    iOS - The slickest UI and awesome presentation, but lacking features and customisation.
    Blackberry 10/QNX - Most intuitive and all round best UI but no apps....
    Android - Most unprofessional BUT also most fun and feature rich. Lots to play with and mess with without any apps at all - something that can't be said for either iOS or the BBX.

    Following this I will probably stick with a droid for a tablet..but then stick to iOS for my phone (replacing this Windows Phone with the iPhone 5 in a couple of weeks), unless the new BB10 devices are really amazing..and I can't see that they will be ;/

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Wow! QNX looks really like WebOS with its use of cards.

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Any chance of an update on how this puppy is fairing? interested to know now you've had it a while.

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Sure - well it worked fine and has kept on working fine..however last week I bought myself an iPad mini, and it's not been touched since.

    I'm keeping the android tab for development purposes only now - never gets any day to day use (surprisingly, a £269 tablet performs better than a £45 one ) but I would not have seen a need to replace it otherwise - works well, battery/screen are holding up..it just does what you would expect from a tablet at this price.

    As long as people recognise what it is - I would still have no issues in recommending one for people.

    As an aside - the people at my office who bought the same one have let their kids have them - and around 2 months on they are still worknig too. You all know how kids (under 10) can treat things, so the fact that they have survived intact is a really big plus point imo. They mostly use it for "wheres my water" and watching videos and they love it!

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    Re: So.*gulp* I bought a £45 Android Tablet

    Firstly, I like your profile picture.

    Secondly, I have the same preference as you it seems - not hugely fond of Android for high end but I recently took the swing and bought a Nexus 7 anyway. I'm impressed to read what you say about a sub-£50 tablet, I'm just considering the life expectancy of them - but my dad has been interested in getting a tablet recently and his attention was directing toward the BlackBerry playbooks as they've had a massive price crash, but personally would think it's a better idea to get this.

    I think its a good entry level tablet indeed as some people just don't like/get along with them as a whole - so good way to test it out.

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