Good China tablets?

[Phantomaniac]

I'm looking to get a 10" tablet on the cheap. For the most part I'm only going to be using it while traveling, so I really didn't want to sink $300-400+ into it. Anyone have any experience or recommendations for 10" China tablets?

 

[Red Storm]

My recommendation is don't get one.

 

[TerryMathews]

I'm looking to get a 10" tablet on the cheap. For the most part I'm only going to be using it while traveling, so I really didn't want to sink $300-400+ into it. Anyone have any experience or recommendations for 10" China tablets?

Don't.

You want to travel with it. Most of them have shitty battery life.

 

[s44]

Nook HD+

 

[Roland00Address]

Don't get a cheap 10" chinese tablet

Get a cheap 9" nook color instead

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Nexus 10s are pretty cheap now, but you should probably just wait for the next one.

Don't get a cheap tablet. It might be fun, but once you get a good model, you won't ever look back. I had a TouchPad and for $99 it was fun, but in the end all the effort I spent updating it, finding hacks, fixes, ugh. It was only useful as a movie platform but I dreaded using it. When I got the iPad 2, it was worlds better. Same with the Nexus 10. I actually use my tablet for daily reading now. I don't have to worry about the battery dying in 3 days in idle anymore.

 

[Zaap]

Nook HD+

This.

It's a great tablet for the price ($150 16GB, $180 32GB) It's not bad out of the box but even better with CM10. I've done a lot of travel with mine and it's perfect for it; quality enough to get the job done, affordable enough you wouldn't completely lose your mind if it got stolen or banged up during a trip.

In comparison, most of the Chinese tablets cut corners somewhere in order to be so cheap, mostly with crappy batteries that self-drain even when the device is off. Probably the worst choice for travel.

 

[lopri]

Another vote for the Nook HD+. It's pointless to get a no-name tablet when Nook HD+ is so cheap.

 

[Phantomaniac]

This.

It's a great tablet for the price ($150 16GB, $180 32GB) It's not bad out of the box but even better with CM10. I've done a lot of travel with mine and it's perfect for it; quality enough to get the job done, affordable enough you wouldn't completely lose your mind if it got stolen or banged up during a trip.

In comparison, most of the Chinese tablets cut corners somewhere in order to be so cheap, mostly with crappy batteries that self-drain even when the device is off. Probably the worst choice for travel.

Oh wow, it has a CM10 port? I wasn't too crazy about the default UI but if CM10 is relatively painless I'm sold.

 

[Zaap]

Yup, and it now has official CM support. http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=ovation

xda-developers site is disorganized and puts a lot of people off, but really all the info you need to ROM the Nook HD+ with CM10 is in this one thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2263553

There are unofficial ROMs too like Slimbean and Carbon, but I've found CM10.1 (currently 10.1.3 RC3) to be stable and fast. (It was even before it was official). I haven't yet tried CM10.2 as it used to be buggy, but I think it's come a long way.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Seems like some of the newer Nooks HD+ tablets though have a different touch screen. And as a result touch sensitivity is really bad when running CM10.1. So I'd probably try the SD card install first to see if the sensitivity issue is a problem on your tablet.

 

[Zaap]

^ Yup, no harm in running the SD method first to make sure.

I will say, I've never heard of this problem except here. (Not doubting it, just never seen where its widespread). I've seen no mention of it at xda.

I just helped set up a friend's Nook HD+ last month (and several before that) and didn't see that problem. I'm guessing it must be a small percentage.

 

[Phantomaniac]

I caved and went over to my local B&N to pick one up. Software wise the stock UI is pretty terrible IMO. Within the hour I downloaded nova launcher and google keyboard from the play store. Much better, and I can assume that CM 10.1 will only improve things. Hardware wise this thing is awesome! The screen and battery life are both fantastic, and the lack of a camera is a plus to me. Can't wait to show this $150 tablet to my dad, who paid $500 for his Moto Xoom a while back. Thanks guys!

 

[Ravynmagi]

I caved and went over to my local B&N to pick one up. Software wise the stock UI is pretty terrible IMO. Within the hour I downloaded nova launcher and google keyboard from the play store. Much better, and I can assume that CM 10.1 will only improve things. Hardware wise this thing is awesome! The screen and battery life are both fantastic, and the lack of a camera is a plus to me. Can't wait to show this $150 tablet to my dad, who paid $500 for his Moto Xoom a while back. Thanks guys!

CM is pretty nice. But what I like about staying on stock is the battery life is MUCH better, particularly standby battery life. My Nook HD+ isn't my primary tablet so it sits around for days sometimes without being touched. And I'm just amazed at how great the idle battery life is on idle. Also, as I mentioned earlier, stock is much better at recognizing taps and swipes than CM has been for me, YMMV one that issue depending on the hardware I believe.