Any generic Android tablets worth a darn?

[Jim Bancroft]

I see on the dealextreme site there are a slew of Android 4.2 tablets that go from < $100 to $150, 9" range or thereabouts. Example at random: http://bit.ly/1f2wGm2

Are any of these names worthwhile, or better to stick with the Samsungs of the world?

 

[Roland00Address]

Dell venue 8 goes for 180 and the 7 inch goes for 150 at normal prices both have been on sales for less.

 

[Radeon962]

Buy a used Nexus 7 2012 if cost is an issue. Should be able to find a 16gb one for under $150 used and it will be better than any generic one.

 

[Bateluer]

I see on the dealextreme site there are a slew of Android 4.2 tablets that go from < $100 to $150, 9" range or thereabouts. Example at random: http://bit.ly/1f2wGm2

Are any of these names worthwhile, or better to stick with the Samsungs of the world?

Those aren't in the same league, though I think they've improved since I had my Witstech tablet.

An N7 2012 goes for around 120-130 now, though they dropped to 100 the day after the N7 2013 launched.

http://swappa.com/buy/nexus-7-wifi/us

 

[StrangerGuy]

When the N7 2013 is $220? Hmm no. I'm sure you can score better deals in China if you bought them directly over there but their international sellers are too shady to be worth it.

 

[Joe1987]

The generic Android tablets are just painful, buy a n7 first or second generation instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834231233 first gen $99 after rebate.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nexus-7-Lat...01098102010?pt=US_Tablets&hash=item461ad86cfa second gen

 

[Scarpozzi]

http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/global/err...98F5AF17F95238DD69FE2FEA27C.bbmdotp-app34-104

I just picked up an iPad mini for the wife from Target for $299 + $50gc. She seems to be really happy with it. (On the apple bandwagon)


Dell has been pushing their hardware lately, but I'm still angry about my Axim 3.

 

[zerogear]

Wait for Nexus 8

 

[s44]

I see on the dealextreme site there are a slew of Android 4.2 tablets that go from < $100 to $150, 9" range or thereabouts. Example at random: http://bit.ly/1f2wGm2

Are any of these names worthwhile, or better to stick with the Samsungs of the world?

budget: Nook HD+
$200+: Nexus 7, MemoPad FHD
more: G Pad, G Pad GPE, TabPro, Note 10.1 (2014)...

 

[shabby]

The generic Android tablets are just painful

I know someone who gets these cheap tablets/phones and ships them off abroad to family, every time he shows me one and lets me use it i feel like throwing it against the wall because they lag so badly. Get the 1st gen n7 at least, even the cheap samsung tab's i wouldn't get since they use old dual core a9's.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I haven't touched any of the generic tablets. It's one part fear of dealing with a generic product and one part fear dealing with a generic retailer I never heard of.

The Nook HD+ starting at $150 is a pretty nice deal. And the Nook HD (7 inch) is sometimes $99. Don't see much reason to take a chance on a generic tablet with these prices.

 

[smakme7757]

I'm very happy with my Nexus 7 32GB 2012 LTE. Perfect size and weight. Fantastic screen and great battery life (I'm not gamer, so i guess it's worse if you game).

I went with Cyanogenmod, but the stock rom from ASUS/Google is very snappy indeed.

Nexus 8 is on the way though.

 

[cbn]

I see on the dealextreme site there are a slew of Android 4.2 tablets that go from < $100 to $150, 9" range or thereabouts. Example at random: http://bit.ly/1f2wGm2

Specs for tablet in link:

Dual core cortex A7 @ 1.5 Ghz, 512MB RAM, 8GB NAND, 9" 1024 x 600 resolution for $89.999 Free shipping.

^^^ I am not impressed with that for the money.

I've found Walmart is a much better deal (in general):

Example--> http://www.walmart.com/ip/HKC-8-Tabl...vices/23709346

Dual Core Cortex A9 @ 1.5 Ghz, 1GB RAM. 8GB NAND, 8" 1024 x 768 resolution for $59.99 shipping.

So for $30 less a person is getting a higher resolution screen, a better processor core, more RAM by going with the Walmart tablet.

 

[Rdmkr]

The ones with Rockchip RK3188 are just OK (1.6x4 cortex A9); they outscore some last generation tablets on antutu and the like. I wouldn't recommend you to get anything slower than that. Especially avoid anything thats marketed as quad-core but has cortex A7 or A5 as the microarchitecture. and the combination of anything dual core and poorly optimized software will undoubtedly make for an insufferable lagfest.

There was an SDK 2.0 update that raises performance for the RK3188 that only some models incorporate; make sure it has that.

 

[luv2liv]

the only cheap tablet that's worth a look is the Hisense Pro. only available at Walmart for about $90. tons of features along with the IPS screen. only reason i chose it over the N7 is because it has expandable SD card

 

[makken]

The generic Android tablets are just painful, buy a n7 first or second generation instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834231233 first gen $99 after rebate.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nexus-7-Lat...01098102010?pt=US_Tablets&hash=item461ad86cfa second gen

Anything decent in the 10" range? Am I still best off with the nexus 10?

 

[Joe1987]

Anything decent in the 10" range? Am I still best off with the nexus 10?

Honestly, I'd get an iPad Air till there are more and better apps particularly for 10" Android tablets.


http://slickdeals.net/f/6724416-walmart-ipad-air-refurbised-32gb-479

 

[quikah]

Honestly, I'd get an iPad Air till there are more and better apps particularly for 10" Android tablets.


http://slickdeals.net/f/6724416-walmart-ipad-air-refurbised-32gb-479

Ipad air is a piece of junk until they fix the app crashing issue in iOS 7. Better off with an ipad 4.

 

[MagickMan]

Buy one of these (N7 2012), don't screw with generic tabs. I'd get the 32GB.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Google-...71225547246?pt=US_Tablets&hash=item27ddd681ee
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-FACTOR...61224762418?pt=US_Tablets&hash=item2589bea432

 

[Joe1987]

Ipad air is a piece of junk until they fix the app crashing issue in iOS 7. Better off with an ipad 4.

I haven't had any problems with mine, what apps are crashing? I have an Air, a retina Mini, and a 5s, IIRC, there is a problem, but it's not that big of a deal, and should be fixed with the next OS update.

 

[Rdmkr]

this looks pretty good; only risk is that the retina screen might drag down performance by too much:

http://www.pandawill.com/onda-v975m...oid-43-retina-2gb-ram-16gb-silver-p85263.html

I wouldn't expect to find anything worthwhile for much cheaper than this. RK3188 with 9-10 inch screen tends to be in this price range too.

the reseller is one I've had mixed experiences with...

 

[Bateluer]

Honestly, I'd get an iPad Air till there are more and better apps particularly for 10" Android tablets.

Ugh, seriously? Again? That argument has been discredited, rebutted, and buried so many times now it makes my head hurt.

Once more: There are no widespread problems on Android apps on 7, 8, 9, or 10in screens.

 

[quikah]

I haven't had any problems with mine, what apps are crashing? I have an Air, a retina Mini, and a 5s, IIRC, there is a problem, but it's not that big of a deal, and should be fixed with the next OS update.

Safari mostly. There is a 1400+ post thread on apple support forum about it https://discussions.apple.com/message/23689745#23689745 of course it kind of devolved into a flamefest.

 

[Joe1987]

Ugh, seriously? Again? That argument has been discredited, rebutted, and buried so many times now it makes my head hurt.

Once more: There are no widespread problems on Android apps on 7, 8, 9, or 10in screens.

I respectfully disagree about the app situation on 10" Android tablets, the 7" and 8" stuff isn't so bad, but the 10" iOS apps are simply better right now.

I'm not saying they will never be as good or better, the quality of Android apps in the smaller screen sizes is fine and IMHO, comparable to iOS, but the 10" stuff isn't there yet, I think it's a chicken VS egg thing, there's no hugely successful 10" Android tablet to motivate developers.

I have a 10" Galaxy Tab, a n7, and a 7" LTE Galaxy Tab, along with the Mini Retina and Air, and use all of them on a near daily basis. The 10" Android apps simply aren't there yet, they'll get better, but 10" Android tablets need to be more mainstream before that happens.

 

[makken]

Honestly, I'd get an iPad Air till there are more and better apps particularly for 10" Android tablets.


http://slickdeals.net/f/6724416-walmart-ipad-air-refurbised-32gb-479

Hmm, at that price, how do the win8 tablets compare?
I think I can get the Intel Atom Dell venue 11 pro for the same price, any reason I should take an ipad over that?