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Kmart Briefly Offers $149 Android Tablet
pickens writes in with word that Kmart put an Android tablet on sale for $149 — and quickly sold out. "A Kmart circular came out last week with an uber-geeky product that perked up a few ears in the gadget community. Augen's 7-inch Gen-78 Android tablet which runs Android 2.1 is on sale for $150 (normally $170). The tablet is as bare bones as it gets, but it does work and has some features which may interest those who can't reconcile the $500+ price of Apple's iPad. Features include Android 2.1 (no skinning), 7" 800x480 Display, WiFi 802.11G, 2GB of storage +SD card slot (up to 32GB), 256MB of RAM (same as iPad), HDMI out for 720P viewing on an external display, an eBook reader, YouTube app, and Maps. ... 'I'll be honest,' writes Seth Weintraub. 'I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car.'" It seems that Kmart offered rainchecks to those who found the item sold out at their local store — up until July 31. It is not clear whether after the retailer restocks the pipeline, they will stop at fulfilling the rainchecks, or will offer the Augen tablet again to new buyers. An update to the article notes that Augen does not have a license for Android from Google, and therefore the Android Store is not supported on it.
Augen included proprietary Google software in their product via an unauthorized vendor. Google only licenses its software to partners and OHA [Open Handset Alliance] members directly.
And Augen's CEO responded saying it was unintentional:
the Google Mobile Service and Android Apps were pre installed during the development process on our tablets for testing purposes, and were not removed unintentionally before releasing the products in the market place. Google and Augen came to a mutual understanding that the Google Mobile Services Application Suite pre-installed on the GENTOUCH/ GENBOOK Series; could not be removed due to technological constraints for the products that were sold, shipped, or already produced. For future production runs and deliveries, Augen will block and remove the Google Mobile Services Application Suite from the current devices until further notice.
Augen is not listed as a member of the Open Handset Alliance. Augen's website still says:
The GENTOUCH78 is a sleek Android powered tablet with a 7” touch screen that connects you with hundreds of your favorite applications from the App Store.
But does not indicate which "App Store."
My work here is dung.
For those unfamiliar with this ultracheap Augen tablet, I'll do my best to sum it up: it's an unusable POS that somehow made it into production (apparently in limited quantities). It has a *resistive* touchscreen (hello 2004), a buggy and nearly unusable implementation of Android 2.1, and mediocre hardware specs which make the G1 feel like it's from the future. I hoped this would make a decent device to play around with for Android hacking and some kernel development, but it's a huge disappointment in nearly every respect. Really, it's not worth it, no matter how cheap it is. You'd have better luck buying an old HTC Magic (MyTouch) from ebay if you want a device to play around with (even with a substantially smaller screen, it's a better experience all around).
The KMart closest to me is such a dump it makes the local Wal-Mart look like Macy's. Even if the local store was giving them away for free, I probably wouldn't be able to find them in the store, nor would I be able to find an employee in the store who could find it for me. The last time I went into the store not only did it look like a small tornado went through the store, the only "employee" (using the term very loosely) I could find was the rent-a-cop security guard at the front door, who was old enough to be my grandfather. The store had neither a cashier nor a customer service employee at the front went I left (after abandoning my purchase on the cash register belt).
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It seems that Kmart offered rainchecks to those who found the item sold out at their local store up until July 31
Due to this month being August, the rainchecks are good until 2011? Although by then a better alternative should be.
Maybe that was supposed to be Aug 31. Whatever. The price is good, but why do they always tease like this and not have enough for everyone? Of course that has to do with trying to not make too many etc etc. Make a portable tablet that can give high-performance VNC into a real computer, pretty please.
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
This would be news if it had showed up ahead of the 7/31 deadline for getting a rain check. Now it just comes across as recycling last weeks weather report.
If you really want news on this, check SlateDroid (I'm not gonna link to it as they've already got enough bandwidth problems). The latest rumor I've heard is that CyanogenMod 6 will be released for this device: That would bring the new, uber-fast Dalvek VM
to the GenTouch.
n/t
I would love a tablet computer. but not a really tiny one. Vendors: Start making tablets that have an unlocked bootloader, run android, and are at least 10" (ideally 12" or bigger). If you make that at a reasonable price, I will even locate and visit a local K-Mart to get it.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car.
I'm not sure if I know what that is supposed to mean
I'm not not even sure that I want to know, but, "have fun with that."
Remember the first law of 'merikan sex . . . "Do it in the dark . . . with your clothes on."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Someone is trying to make the cost seem psychologically higher - the retail price for the cheapest iPad is $499, not $500+.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So does this mean that Android is not truly open source, i.e. available to anyone without right holder approval?
You can browse the source right here. All of that code should be Apache 2.0 license. I think the issue at stake is that they took a module of code that connects to Google's Market place for Android and they're not supposed to be doing that unless they are a member of the Open Handset Alliance. It's not like Google's launching a lawsuit against them but I'd imagine Google doesn't really appreciate that. Hosting that sort of thing can't be cheap (look at how much Apple claims it loses distributing apps) and maybe that's why your membership is needed -- to support that and keep it going.
I never realized that one had to a member of fruity club to develop Android hardware. I thought that was the point, anyone could innovate without corporate approval. It is just a gimmick to sell phones with promise of multi vendor support 'open apps', like MS?
You can get the source yourself and do whatever the hell you want with it. Carriers and phone vendors are demonstrating that they can even lock down Android so "open" doesn't mean f-ckall to the end consumer. You want to get down and dirty and hose up your own version of Android? Go ahead and pull it from that git repository linked above and do something fancy with the sqlite phonebook tree or whatever you want.
It's open source as can be but how do you "open source" a centralized app store with tons of traffic? I guess you're free to make your own app store and as far as I know, more are emerging. With sideloading you could make it as simple as a file download as long as the user's Android supports sideloading.
My work here is dung.
The Eken M001 - also an Android tablet can be easily obtained on eBay for just over $100.
But I don't recommend it, either. The hardware ought to be capable of reasonable response - but the software is so slow as to be ~unusable.
I expect when bigger players come along that we'll see some decent Android based tablets for $200 offering comparable functionality to the iPad with none of the downsides.
but i think most customers wont buy any netbooks soon, also netbook are good value notebook for children and cheap tablet pcs running android are not a good help if you need it for work, productivity and speed.
Saw a review of it on Youtube. It looks like a piece of crap. It's a shame, I hope they come out with a quality one soon. With at least a Snapdragon CPU in it.
I put in a rain check with my local KMart early on during the sale, and I just got mine yesterday. Therefore they must be filling the pipeline, albeit slowly (I was told only five units came in). Out of the box, the device has a number of problems:
I spent a fair chunk of yesterday getting everything working on my device. After rooting, adding shortcuts to manually rotate, changing the launcher since the default won't rotate to portrait mode, getting Market working, etc, the device is in pretty good shape. There's no way someone's parents or grandparents should buy this device, but for a geek who's reasonably comfortable following instructions from hackers it's a neat little device with decent hardware for a good price.
Too bad the resistive screen sucks. But that's not Augen's fault. All resistive touch screens suck once you've used capacitive.
Plus taxes, shipping and recycle fees.
Then the new android tablet isn't $149 either as per the headline, is it?
I would fully accept someone saying something like $500 (plus taxes). But insteda you get an article saying the Android tablet is $149 (not even $150) and the iPad is "$500+". Do you not see the bias at work there? Sure it's only a minor difference but it's illustrative of the poster trying to influence your opinion by making the Android tablet seem as cheap as possible and the iPad as expensive as possible.
I was going to point out you could buy the iPad tax free on Amazon but apparently Apple is still supply constrained, as the $500 iPad on Amazon is $600+ (and that really is a plus there). Generally though, that is the case and will be eventually for the iPad.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The correct term is Android Market
Here is an android 2.1 7" wifi device for $149.
http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/Electronics/Novel-7-inch-Color-Multimedia-eReader/ID=prod6021970-product?V=G&ec=frgl_&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=sku6020686
Carriers and phone vendors are demonstrating that they can even lock down Android so "open" doesn't mean f-ckall to the end consumer.
Thus providing a very widespread example of why the EFF released the GPLv3.
Let me tell you something (and sort of answer this other confused post), the people who decide which operating system gets put on a phone are not you and me. The end consumer doesn't get to decide that. You don't get to go through a checklist when you select your carrier then model of phone then operating system for it. We would all like that but we know that you select a carrier then they have a sub-selection of phones and each of those phones is stuck with a single operating system. For instance, I cannot get a Verizon plan on an iPhone 4 running Android 2.2.
There are big bucks at stake when it comes to mobile programs being sold to huge swaths of customers and the CEOs and jerkfaces that run the carriers and phone manufacturing plants aren't about to let that chunk of change slip through to the people who actually write those apps. So by sacrificing openness, they know they can lock you into a certain market application or operating system with a built in validation routine for marketing applications. This ensures you do business through them and their affiliates. "Oh, you can't uninstall the NASCAR App that sells you NASCAR crap? Too bad, NASCAR gave me five million to put that piece of trash on all my customer's phones! And honestly, we both knew that wasn't a dealbreaker on your purchase. "
Google knows this. If Google released Android and went to the carriers and phone makers and said "Look, I think you should use Android but when you release it on your device it has to stay open and you can't do this and you can't do that because that harms the end user experience." What do you think the carriers and phone makers would say? You think they'd line up to join the Open Handset Alliance? Nexus One would be the only phone running Android.
So Google makes an open mobile operating system and who's it open for? The people that decide it gets used. It's not you and me, it's not the customer, it's the people running the show.
So what would you rather have? Situation A where we're all running the traditional locked down Symbian/iOS/Microcrap Mobile operating system with no ability to see the kernel source? Or Situation B where parts of the phone are locked down like you can't install a different operating system on most of them and you can't install any marketplace app and some of them have programs you can't remove BUT you can see every line of source code for the underlying kernel!
This isn't perfect but this is progress. Any other attempt at open source and the who party would have walked away from Google. You're out of your goddamn mind if you're going to criticize the current scenario. After Android mops the floor with iOS and other mobile operating systems, we might even edge closer and closer to true openness where I can install whatever Android ROM I want on my phone the second it comes out of the box and my carrier isn't breathing down my neck when I do it. Until then, you gotta take what you can get.
My work here is dung.
Gumby's fluid motions only aggravate motion sickness. Stick to sesame street in cars and boats.
Seeing as it is now August, it seems this story is a bit late. I don't see how it does anyone any good now besides being a slashvertisment for this tablet and K-mart.
DealExtreme has several Android tablets all for less than $150. I'm not certain if they have comparable specs to the one mentioned in the article, but they are all POS (including the one mentioned in the article) anyway so what does it matter. DX Android Tablets
I have one of the mentioned Rain Checks, but I am glad that it was mentioned that there will be no app store for this device! I had planned on using it to keep the Grand Children occupied while on a car trip! No app store equals no games or other diversions for this thing. That means that I have one rain check that will not be used! After checking out the videos at various places on the Web, it also seem that even if you could install the games on this thing they would be a PITA to play on that resistive touch screen. No thanks I don't need two aggravated children in the backseat on a long trip!
Do you not see the bias at work there?
I see sloppy editing, not a deliberate attempt subconciously influence readers.
$149 is expensive for a 7 inch picture frame. And that is all this piece of sh!t is good for. To under powered for web or video and the screen is unacceptable for ebook reading.
Why the hell would anybody with a brain expect an Android based cheap tablet to have Windows 7 drivers.
FACT: It is an Android tablet. NOT A WIN 7 DEVICE.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/a31f/
an iPhone compatible stylus
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Thanks for the excellent review.
Final analysis: Wait for version 4, when more of the problems will be fixed.
The N900's resistive screen does not require much pressure and seems fairly responsive for gestures. I'm doubtful that multitouch gestures are doable on N900, but the underlying pressure issue was solved.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Thank you for the very in depth description of your daughters day to day adventures with your iPad.
The only thing you failed to make clear is what this has to do with the original post.
If you have actually used it, then when? There have been a firmware upgrades that have made a big difference.
Actually, I very much doubt that you have used it, or if you have, if you are giving it a fair review.
Take a look at the demos on youtube. The device is really not that bad at all.
It is certainly capable for watching movies, reading books, listening to music, etc.
Kmart: "I am shocked, SHOCKED there is android piracy going on"
Clerk: "Your android tablet sir..."
If google needed proof of market demand for it...
I have a G1, it's ok, I'm waiting for either one of the new dual core or a 2GHZ LTE phone before I upgrade/replace the G1.
In the interim I've been looking at these resistive screened devices. Still not there. Even at $100.
The $139 for the Nook/Kindle + $149-169 I didn't spend on one of is being banked for a "real" android 2.2 10 inch capacitive device
later this year (Gingerbread would be even sweeter.)
Title says it all.
...for example, on direct-sale Chinese marketing sites like DealExtreme or Focalprice.
Examples:
7" tablet with Android 1.6 for $107.70
a different model with Android 1.7
this one is $95.50
$132 for a tablet with an 8" screen
this one is $105
There's also a news site and a forum to discuss them.
It's a reply to one of the parents further up about the iPod Touch being inferior to this cheap tablet for tablet duties (since an 8gb iPod Touch is the same price as this thing off-sale. IE ~179USD)
Honestly the primary reason I'd go with one of this 'cheap' tablets over the iPod touch is the same reason I got one of those cheap off-brand Touchscreen MP3 players for 50 bucks instead of an iPod or similiar device: A Mini/MicroSD card slot. I like being able to shove my data on removable media so that WHEN (not if) my device breaks I have a quick and easy way to restore my media when the broken device is replaced. While the tech behind the iPod Touch/iPad certainly seems better, the lack of a SD slot is really a deal killer there.
That's still WAY too expensive.
Funny, people said that it was going to cost $1k before it launched, and that it should really cost $500.
I find for what it does it provides great value. It's almost half as much as a Cintiq for example, and while it's not as advanced as that for drawing it can also do a lot more than a Cintiq can.
The iPad actually IS more expensive than $500. http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-MB292LL-Tablet-16GB/dp/B002C7481G
It's $500 at Apple.
Your mistake is not looking at the seller, one of those companies that takes supply constrained products and charges an out outrageous amount more just for you to be able to get it faster. Yes, they are selling at over $100 above retail!
You can buy at Apple for $500, it will just take a bit longer to reach you.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And you're an idiot for buying into the "99" bullshit. The cheapest iPad is, for all intents and purposes, $500,
Then the android tablet is, for all intents and purposes, $150, not $149. My only issue is with the discrepancy, however slight.
I think of things selling at $.99 as really costing $1 too.
Are you really that locked into the consumer mindset?
Why are you defending the $149 price of the Android tablet? You seem equally locked into the consumer mindset as myself, since you overlooked it. Where is yur post about how the headline should be corrected, if the use of "99" so offends you in pricing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Anyone who has had any exposure to Apple knows that the advertised shelf price is not the final price you'll end up paying.
Why not? You can buy an iPad for $499. You can't expand the memory or storage (a fact haters such as yourself delight in noting) so the price is obviously quite fixed.
In fact with other devices you could replace the battery so that would be an extra cost - but not so with the iPad.
You just can't seem to get your story straight with Apple. Is the price fairly fixed or is it non-expandable? Make up your mind.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I haven't seen one in a decade.
Really? $20 off on a product I've never heard of? I try to stay positive when I think of Kmart's future, but I don't think anyone is going to be waiting in line at midnight for this thing. This is the same company that a few years ago had such a bad reputation that it's stock was selling for a third of what its real estate was worth.
I'm not the one with this problem. I've stated that the price is not fixed.
I know that if I buy anything from Apple, it's not the final thing I'll end up paying for. The entire system is designed to ensure you keep paying Apple in one way or another (ITMS lock-in, Recessed headphone jacks, no buttons on Ipod Shuffles to lock you into Apple's overpriced earbuds).
Total cost of owning a 16 GB Cowon iAudio7 A$169. Initial cost of buying a 16 GB Ipod A$250, plus I have to pay extra for an additional cord, not that I can use it with my Linux lappy or media centre. Extra costs are what one expects with Apple and no amount of whining will change that.
Further more, labelling people who disagree with you as "haters" only serves to make your own point less valid as this fails to actually contradict any of my point. Please keep it up.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Here's an Android 1.7 tablet, $107, free shipping.
Fanboys have to do everything they can do defend whatever it is they are a fanboy about, and that includes being incredibly nitpicky and pedantic about things like this. They want to find any point they can to be "right" on even if it is a minor technicality. That way they feel like they are promoting their device, countering your arguments, etc. It is aslo a saw to try and deflect things away from the main point, by concentrating on some minor issue.
So that's what's going on here. When you write out $499 and $500, anyone can see that they are just $1 off. What he's doing is trying to nitpick and say "No it isn't $500 and up! It starts at $499! You are wrong! WRONG!"
He's not interested in a realistic comparison, just in trying to find pedantic points to attempt to win on, and to spin things away from anything he perceives as bad about the iPad.
The best thing to do is simply ignore the argument, because there really isn't any winning. If you argue the point, well he'll just keep being pedantic and arguing it back, thus deflecting from the main argument. If you concede the point, he'll then harp on it and keep on bitching how you were "wrong" and so on.
I see this kind of shit happen with videocard fanboys all the time. nVidia/ATi produces the best card that beats anything the other has. Then the ATi/nVidia fans swoop in and try to find any little thing they can wrong. They'll latch on to tiny things, like a single benchmark from a single site. The nVidia/ATi fans will argue back about this and it'll all get derailed in to a flame war. This then repeats with the sides reversed when the other company has the card that is the best.
Fanboys aren't interested in facts or logic, they are interested in their stuff being showered with nothing but praise.
Michi Sushi in silicon valley is popular for their unique sushi. Their special rolls (and there are about 50 of them) range from $17 to $24. Michi's chef is somewhat of a local celebrity due to his local cooking show as well, but really his little restaurant is just an easy going little place that the locals love.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Render a PDF file correctly so I can view it.
I have a crapload of technical PDF's I use daily, and all the Android PDF reader apps suck horribly.
Why cant anyone make a decent PDF app for these things?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Loose items such as portable dvd-players, laptops and phones are potentially fatal in a car crash and can kill a child in crash at just 18mph
There are devices out there designed to withstand a car crash. I'd buy one of those instead of a loose cannon OLPC.
It has a *resistive* touchscreen (hello 2004),
Eh? Resistive touchscreens have their own advantages - I like the precision of a stylus, and not covering my expensive 5800's screen with food. I can still use finger touch fine, and I never find myself wanting multitouch. It's a matter of opinion which is better, and it's ludicrous to dismiss it as "dated".
Lots of things we use today were around in 2004 - I guess you must dislike smartphones, qwerty keyboards, mice and operating systems, as they've all been around since then.
I when I glanced at the headline my brain jumbled the words android and tablet. As a result my follow-up thought was "Big Deal, K-Mart has always carried tabloids."
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert Einstein
It's actually closer to $550 or so unless you're an idiot. By "idiot" I mean "someone who does not factor in 5-15% or more of the overall purchase cost".
So you feel the same way about the story headline saying the Android tablet is $149?
Where is your post complaining about that?
Thought so.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The $1k predicted pricetag suggests to me people where expecting a tablet with a x86 cpu and a more capable OS (perhaps OSX with a launcher widget?)
Some people were expect that, others were not - but regardless of what they were expecting the hardware to be, most guesses were around $1k (well, except for mine).
But OS X is not a more capable OS X than iOS - for mobile devices. There iOS is far better suited. And in fact if you think about it it meant a much wider range of software to be had at launch and after.
Something that was a Macbook Air but with the screen flipped around would have failed just as much as all the other Windows tablets, past and future. It would have been WAY too bulky to use as a tablet, and would have made no sense to buy if you already had a laptop. The iPad is something it makes a lot of sense to own even if you already have a laptop.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
know that if I buy anything from Apple, it's not the final thing I'll end up paying for. The entire system is designed to ensure you keep paying Apple in one way or another (ITMS lock-in, Recessed headphone jacks, no buttons on Ipod Shuffles to lock you into Apple's overpriced earbuds).
The headphone jacks have not been recessed since the very first iPhone.
There is no iTMS lockin, almost all my music is ripped from CD's. You can take video from anywhere and put it on the device. Music is sold from iTunes DRM free, you can play it on a Zune... video is locked down but then if you don't like that, buy video somewhere else (or download it).
As for the shuffle thing you can buy inline adaptors that ad a button to any standard headphone cable.
You are breathtakingly ignorant of how anything Apple related functions, even for an Apple hater...
I'm glad you enjoy your Cowon iAudio7, it looks like a fine device (though kind of bulky) but just because you like something you use doesn't mean you should spread disinformation about other products. That makes you far more of a Cowon iAudio7 fanboi than me an Apple fanboi, since I am just telling you the way things actually are instead of trying to bring down some other product.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The SD slot makes it more likely to break. I've had iPods last years under heavy use. The cheapie ones last a couple months under similar use. I'd rather just not deal with it breaking.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
You're a fucking moron that didn't even read the post. It says " 'I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car.'" right at the top of your page. Fucking AC people should be blocked from posting. Anyone without a karma bonus shouldn't be allowed to moderate either. Stupid wannabe geeks that can't do anything more than play World of Warcraft.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
There are devices out there designed to withstand a car crash. I'd buy one of those instead of a loose cannon OLPC.
I don't expect a Toughbook is going to help. More likely what you'd want is a restraint system to prevent the object from becoming a projectile, in which case you could continue to use pretty much whatever you want if it can be restrained.
A good generic restraint system would probably be some kind of open backed clear fronted vinyl (soft) window box that can be velcroed to a car seat back.