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.

Comments

More Details on the Unauthorized App Store Code

[eldavojohn]

From LaptopMag Google said:

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."

Re:More Details on the Unauthorized App Store Code

[Troed]

Google's applications are not part of Android.

Android is truly open source.

Google's own applications aren't.

Re:More Details on the Unauthorized App Store Code

[Anonymous Coward]

Only GPL v3 fits my re-definition of open source.

FTFY

Re:More Details on the Unauthorized App Store Code

[Bigjeff5]

Except the Android source is freely available. Your PHONE might be locked down, but Android's source code is not.

Do you even know what "Open Source" means?

Re:More Details on the Unauthorized App Store Code

[vigmeister]

But with the Nexus 1 discontinued, and Eric Schmidt having announced there will be no Nexus 2, where does that leave people going forward into the future?

Queuing up to by the Nokia N900. Yes, it runs Linux.

Cheers!

Uber geeky?

[LordBoreal51]

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).

Re:Uber geeky?

[damn_registrars]

it's a huge disappointment in nearly every respect

Sounds like exactly the kind of merchandise I would expect to see sold at KMart. For that matter, it is a pretty good summary of the KMart shopping experience.

Re:Uber geeky?

[nacturation]

So the fact that a shitty retailer offered a $20 discount (the price of a sushi roll or bottle of wine)

That's one hell of a special sushi roll you've got there! Either that, or they really rip you off for sushi wherever you live.

Re:Uber geeky?

[DrXym]

It has a *resistive* touchscreen (hello 2004),

Don't believe the hype about capacitive. If you intend to take notes on a device then capacitive by itself is absolutely fucking useless. To take notes you have to finger paint like a child rather than write properly with a stylus. Any device pitched at students / ereaders really should have resistive functionality. Apparently there are hybrid screens that offer the best of both worlds.

Re:Uber geeky?

[LordBoreal51]

I've owned touchscreen devices since the Palm III, and I have to say, I can't stand resistive touch screens any more. I would sacrifice stylus input for no-pressure-required screen interaction any day.

Re:Uber geeky?

[DrXym]

That's why I suggested hybrid devices. There is no doubt capacitive is more responsive for finger gestures but for writing it stinks badly. Capacitive devices including the iPad are useless for note taking. The best of both worlds would be something that handles a light touch via capacitive but allows pressure based sensing too for handwriting.

Re:Uber geeky?

[Dionysus]

Like this?

Re:Uber geeky?

[RobertM1968]

it's a huge disappointment in nearly every respect

Sounds like exactly the kind of merchandise I would expect to see sold at KMart. For that matter, it is a pretty good summary of the KMart shopping experience.

I was debating modding you troll or replying... you can guess which won out.

First, when there aren't cheap, low end options, everyone complains - now, when there is an entry level option, you complain.

Second, KMart sells cheap stuff at cheap prices? OMFG!!!!! So the hell what? That's what they are there for. Not everyone can afford to buy a $500 bookcase or $200 pants. If you want something cheap, go to KMart. If you have the money to spend (or waste, depending on how much), then shop elsewhere.

It's really not like people go to KMart, expect to spend $20 on a bookcase, or $150 on an Android tablet and think they are getting top of the line products. KMart isnt trying to fool anyone, and no one is being fooled or is so deluded that they think anything different than what I outlined.

Re:Uber geeky?

[LordBoreal51]

If it helps, an Android hacker, http://twitter.com/thedudesandroid, has done some work with it, and installed a custom recovery (Clockwork). So potentially there's an opportunity for community work to port CyanogenMod, or a more functional rom to the device. But that all depends on who buys them, I suppose.

Re:Uber geeky?

[RobertM1968]

Supposedly, CyanogenMod has already been ported for it. I guess I need to look into it (maybe after I get off my lazy ass and root my G1 and install Cyanogen's Froyo on it).

Thanks for the link, info and your perspective on it!

Best,
Rob

Re:Uber geeky?

[damn_registrars]

First, when there aren't cheap, low end options, everyone complains - now, when there is an entry level option, you complain.

I encourage you to go back and re-read my comment; it isn't very long. I did not at any time complain about the product itself; how could I when I haven't seen one? Rather, I was pointing out the "KMart experience".

Second, KMart sells cheap stuff at cheap prices? OMFG!!!!! So the hell what?

Again, go back and re-read the comment.

It's really not like people go to KMart, expect to spend $20 on a bookcase, or $150 on an Android tablet and think they are getting top of the line products.

I didn't say that they would. However, as I stated, the KMart shopping experience has become a torturous act. KMart has decided to not only carry crappy products (which arguably are appropriate for the price) but they have also decided to shaft the customer on things like keeping products in stock, hiring halfway competent employees, keeping the store looking better than an average thrift store, ensuring a reasonably quick transaction, and keeping the damned lights on (to name only a few). A lot of KMart stores have become such utter crapholes that people are going to Wal-Mart - or even the dollar store - because it is a better use of their time and money.

KMart isnt trying to fool anyone, and no one is being fooled or is so deluded that they think anything different than what I outlined.

KMart is (naturally) trying to compete with Wal-Mart. Except the prices are no better (sometimes worse), the items are no better (also sometimes worse), the help is no better (often worse), the stores are no better (often worse), and the hours are pretty much always worse. So if they can't come up with a reason for customers to come to their stores they might as well just give up and close up shop.

That won't get me into KMart...

[damn_registrars]

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).

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[emj]

Visiting KMart in Left4Dead 2 doesn't count as going outside.

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[Dee Ann_1]

That's exactly what happened to the K-Marts in this area (SE Texas) just before they shut them all down about 9-10 years ago.
They got trashy and you couldn't find anyone to help you with anything. It was really sad to see that happen.
I liked having an alternative to Walmart, as those were really the only two department stores in the area.
The other option is to drive way out to the extremely over-priced mall where they sell the same quality imported crap, just at greatly inflated prices and snottier sales people.

The local Walmart is deteriorating just like the old K-Mart did. The theft problem is so bad that they quit bothering to stock a lot of basic things and I have to drive out of town to another Walmart to find just about anything.
I don't know about electronics but clothes and shoe? Nothing. All they sell now are warm up pants and flip flops.
I'll bet the electronics dept is stripped clean. I expect the local Walmart here will shut down within 5 years.

I would have liked to have one of these little things to read e-books in bed.

Now there are no K-Marts in Texas. :-(
You have to drive out of state now. :-(

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[Animats]

The store had neither a cashier nor a customer service employee at the front

Many years ago, I had a similar experience in a J.C. Penny store in New Jersey. I had just moved, and was buying an armload of bedding, curtains, and towels the middle of a weekday afternoon. So I had a stack of merchandise about three feet high. I couldn't find any store staff anywhere on the floor. So I went to a checkout, picked up the phone behind the counter, and dialed 0. I told the store operator "I'd like to speak to the store manager. This is an unhappy customer." The store manager was put on, and I told him I was in linens, ready to pay, and unable to find a store employee.

About two minutes later, five people show up. One was the store manager. He wasn't the senior person present. Higher management was visiting the store that day. The oldest, a distinguished looking man in a very good suit, quite possibly the CEO of the chain, personally unlocked the register and competently handled the sale. The others stood there silently, looking very uncomfortable. One was sent off to find the missing retail staff.

By now, there were three other customers lined up behind me with merchandise ready to check out. The person sent off to find the sales staff returned from some back rooms, reporting that he couldn't find anyone. Visible annoyance from the senior management. Fear from the store manager.

The senior manager turned the register over to one of the junior people (not a clerk, part of the corporate group) to handle the rest of the line, and the management group departed, taking the store manager off to his fate.

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[mjblecha]

You're far too kind.

The KMart I walked into could have been used as a set for a dystopian future reality "Escape from New York" style movie. There was neither customer nor cashier in any of the check out lanes. The woman behind the counter at the service desk had the demeanor of someone waiting for a bus.

Once I got her attention I gave her the SKU. She told me they did not carry that item. I asked if a rain check was possible and she told me they don't do rain checks. I informed her she was standing under a sign that proclaimed a "Rain Check Policy" but she held her ground and told me rain checks weren't done there.

By this time we had attracted the attention of several individuals wearing smocks similar to hers. I walked out before they decided I was threatening one of their own.

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[RocketRabbit]

Do what I do, and just order your shitty Chinese crap from China. There are plenty of vendors there who are willing to ship individual items. Housewares? How about 50 cents for that steel ladle, not $15. Shipping is not expensive from China either, and is in fact extremely prompt for me. Import duties are now so low as to be inconsequential.

Order a bunch of stuff at once, and cut out the middleman. Having hundreds of thousands of giant stores to display stuff from China is infeasible and I don't pity the businesses who practice this kind of commerce one tiny bit.

Seeing all the American flags that were Made in China last year pushed me over the edge. Local retailers all had them! Fuck those guys.

Re:That won't get me into KMart...

[iYk6]

There are plenty of vendors there who are willing to ship individual items.

Citation needed. Please?

What you say sounds awesome, but it runs counter to my experiences looking for many things that I have tried to find on the internet but can only find at my local retail and grocery stores. Where can we find a $15 ladle for 50 cents? What other kind of Made in China stuff can we get? Do we have to know how to read Chinese?

Stop making tiny tablets!

[Improv]

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.

iPad is UNDER $500, not $500+

[SuperKendall]

Someone is trying to make the cost seem psychologically higher - the retail price for the cheapest iPad is $499, not $500+.

Re:iPad is UNDER $500, not $500+

[Legion303]

"How long does it take to copy Apple?"

Android tablets hit dealextreme before the iPad was out. So if we can just reverse the flow of time I can answer your question.

Link to Source

[eldavojohn]

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.

Re:Link to Source

[stephanruby]

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. Just take ArchOS for example. ArchOS makes a tablet that has no phone functionality, no camera, and not the usual buttons you'd find on Android. For those reasons, it's not allowed to use some of the Google applications and connect to the official Android Marketplace (it had to create its own special Tablet app store, which it is also licensing to other companies in the same position that they are). Not to mention, they do not even have capacitive touch. This is the route they chose to take. Developing an Android tablet that met the minimum system requirements listed by Google was just too cost-prohibitive for them.

And as an Android developer, you're free to take your existing app and distribute it (or sell it) on the ArchOS app store, assuming it works on the stripped-down physical hardware and buttons that ArchOS/Android is supporting.

Compare the ArchOS tablet to the Dell Streak for instance, and I think you'll notice what I'm talking about. Dell decided to meet all the minimum requirements of the Android platform. As a result, the Dell Streak is still more a phone than a tablet itself, and it's much-much pricier as a result.

Re:Link to Source

[Anonymous Coward]

> You can browse the source right here.

No, actually you can't. The link you provided is the official Android source code, but it does not run on the Augen tablet. According to http://mjg59.livejournal.com/126162.html, the kernel source code for this tablet is not available anywhere at all, which is a blatant license violation and I hope Kmart gets sued for this. Note that while most of Android is under the Apache license, the kernel itself is still GPLv2 like any Linux kernel is, which means that it cannot be relicensed.

Android tablets on ebay for less than this

[DrXym]

Ebay is filled with auctions for android tablet devices circling $99. Most seem to be something called an Eken aBook running Android. Charitably it looks functional, less charitably it looks cheap and nasty. There are a few models one which looks gaudy, another which is an iPad ripoff shell and another somewhere in between. Despite being pitched as an iPad knock off it does demonstrate one thing - there is no reason that tablet devices should cost $500 upwards.

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.

Re:Android tablets on ebay for less than this

[willy_me]

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.

No, quality components simply cost more then the cheap ones used on those garbage devices. I would guess that quality Android devices will retail in the $300 to $400 price range. When this happens, Apple will drop their prices accordingly. The outrageously high price for the iPad is simply due to a lack of competition.

Once more manufacturers start producing quality components for such tablets, the prices will come down. This requires high demand for such components - something that is starting right now thanks to Android. Well, Apple also helps in this regard but they limit the number of component suppliers (as all companies do) thereby making it harder for other manufacturers to enter the market. Android opens up the market giving manufacturers the required incentive to compete. This helps everyone - even Apple.

Oh, and eBay will always have cheaper devices. They generally ship from Hong Kong, offer no warranty or support, and illegally bypass local tariffs and taxes. They usually ship as personal mail with an outrageously low declared value. Legally, you are supposed to declare such purchases but nobody does.

Re:Android tablets on ebay for less than this

[DrXym]

No, quality components simply cost more then the cheap ones used on those garbage devices. I would guess that quality Android devices will retail in the $300 to $400 price range. When this happens, Apple will drop their prices accordingly. The outrageously high price for the iPad is simply due to a lack of competition.

I see no reason that this should be so. I see no reason at all that something with better build quality and performance than a $99 tablet shouldn't occupy a price slot considerably less than an iPad. After all netbooks manage it and have as many, if not more components & costs to worry about than a tablet.

I got one of these

[Osty]

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:

• No Windows 7 drivers at all. There are XP/Vista drivers for 32-bit that may work, but there are no drivers for 64-bit. Flashing does work when you put the device into "fastboot" mode, but for standard connecting it might be a while before there are drivers.
• There's an update to add screen calibration and a working recovery mode, but see above about drivers.
• Market doesn't work. The device is missing an Android ID with no way to create a new one from the device itself. This is fixable.
• Once Market is working, you'll often find that it doesn't want to start any downloads. The problem is that the cache for Market is too small, so once you've downloaded a couple of apps there's no more room for it to download more. This is fixable by frequently clearing the Market cache.
• Every device has the same MAC address. This is not really an issue until you get multiple devices on the same network. This should be solvable with a software MAC change, but it's indicative of Augen being forced to release this early to satisfy KMart's sale. Augen wasn't planning on shipping until later in the fall, when they would've had time to sort out a lot of these problems.
• There is no HDMI output despite claims to the contrary, no accelerometer for orientation changes, the headphone jack is a 2.5" jack rather than the US standard 3.5", and the MicroSD card slot is poorly design such that it's very possible to push the card into the body of the device rather than getting it into the socket. Not a whole lot that can be done about these hardware flaws with a software update.

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.

Adding taxes? Then why is the Android tablet $149

[SuperKendall]

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.

Pandigital Novel at Walgreens for $149

[walterbyrd]

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

Re:Pandigital Novel at Walgreens for $149

[Phoobarnvaz]

I have an Asus EEE 701 4G Surf with a 7" screen/no webcam and 1 GB of memory that will run either XP/Linux. You can also find them on Ebay between $75-125 US.

With several netbook versions of Linux...I can make any computer act like Android...except for the touch screen function. I can even rotate the screen and use it as a book reader.

Wake Up

[eldavojohn]

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.

Re:Wake Up

[Anonymous Coward]

Not legal? Where? In your country?

Meanwhile in the rest of the world people do this every single day. Where I live, it's illegal for a carrier to force you to use only phones sold by them. They HAVE to support any GSM phone. You walk into any mobile shop and buy a SIM card directly from the carrier themselves.

Re:Wake Up

[Cimexus]

No - that is how most people, in most countries, buy mobile phones. They buy a handset, then shop around for a plan (or just go home and pop in the SIM card from their existing plan).

It may be 'the minority' in the US, but it's the norm elsewhere. I haven't bought a carrier-locked phone (or, for that matter, a phone plan with a 'x month' committment) in over a decade.

Re:Wake Up

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

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

Progress? Open source isn't for open source's sake - it's for the end user's sake. Or at least that's what the GPL has always been about. That these companies have such a stranglehold on their market that they can then use the tivo loophole to get free labor is not progress for anything but the corp's bottom lines. Let them use BSD were no loophole is required if that's what they want.

You say, "we might even edge closer to true openess" but your prediction is in direct conflict with your own thesis that the "CEOs and jerkfaces that run the carriers and phone manufacturing plants aren't about to let that chunk of change slip through"

So yeah, I am criticizing the current scenario and I say you are out of your goddamn mind for rationalizing it.

Re:DealExtreme has several Android tablets

[LesFerg]

I just got one of those from DealExtreme. Not ready to make a final judgement just yet but not excessively impressed so far.

It is running android 1.6, no clear indication at this stage if it is possible to upgrade it.

Wifi was working briefly then it seemed to start rebooting whenever a wifi connection was established, may be a config issue, need time to sort that out.

Eth connection fails to make a DHCP connection, got it working after typing in gateway, DNS etc myself.

Android Market appears to think it is working, but after registering an account I get to the download stage and it freezes. Cleared cache and tried every stoopid solution I could find from only about an hour of googling and reading. Hopefully I will find a more useful help site after I get more time to investigate this.

Downloaded a free PDF reader and managed to get reasonable access to a ebook, which is the main reason I got this thing. Would like to see a better PDF reader with useful navigation interface, but I will have to use a freebie until I can find a way to use the market thing.

So how is the uninformed user supposed to know if a product can actually use Android Market before buying? Ok I didn't have high expectations from ordering a cheapie from a foreign country, but this seems just a little bit ermm.. under tested? ill prepared? Or is it the Google software at fault? Really, I don't understand why it would freeze and offer no suggestion whatsoever on how to diagnose what went wrong; if the product is not licensed with Google or whatever, then why put me thru the process of registering, offer a bunch of products, then simply freeze once I actually decide to buy one? If the app has filled it cache or whatever, why the hell wouldn't you write software that detects this condition and warns first?

Seriously, Google software? WTF?

Oh, and as for purchasing stuff from DealExtreme... good service but it looked like the screen on this thing had been rubbed around on a dirty floor. No protective removable film over the screen, it was scratched to bejaysus and looked seriously second hand. Not likely to be a repeat customer.

Re:Win7 drivers????

[RobertM1968]

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.

The drivers are to CONNECT it to and USE it with a Win7 machine - NOT for the tablet itself.

K-Mart Still Exists?

[Macrat]

I haven't seen one in a decade.