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Sub-$100 Android 4.0 Tablet Coming Soon
jfruhlinger writes "One of the reasons the iPad has stayed at the top of the tablet heap for so long is that — in contrast with the story of the Mac and PC 25 years ago — the iPad has remained competitive with its rivals on price. That may be starting to change, with cheaper tablets like the Amazon Fire coming to market. And now, the sub-$100 Novo7 is on sale in China, sporting Android 4.0. It promises to arrive in the U.S. for a similar price point soon."
The official press release from MIPS has a bit more detail. Of interest is the use of a MIPS SoC designed by Ingenic.
The problem with the other cheap android tablets has been the resistive screens. If the article is correct and this has a capacitive screen it could revolutionize the tablet market.
The Fire is only 7 inches. It's not really the same category as an iPad or any of the 10 inch Android tablets. I think it's stupid when people compare the two. There is an element of overlap for sure, but I don't see this eating significantly into the larger tablet market.
Experience: I've got a 5 inch tablet/phone, tried some cheap 7 inch chinese tablets and also have a 10 inch Xoom.
You can watch movies on 5 and 7 inch screens in a pinch, but I'd probably prefer just to read instead.
My Kindle (Keyboard version) is 7 inches and it's just big enough to be comfortable for reading in portrait orientation. When I've used my phone for reading, I've needed to switch to landscape to read comfortably.
I probably wouldn't even use my Xoom for watching movies, but I'd definitely choose it over a 7 inch tablet for web browsing and watching YouTube. I also like it for reading.
which is totally what she said
My co-worker's iPads are sluggish. The real reason why it is successful is because people are stupid enough to think all Apple products are top shelf. Not always the case... Even if the lower priced tablets are just below par, it still perks the attention of people not wanting to fork over their wallets for an iPad.
Price was not the only reason Apple lost out to the PC, not by a long shot. Gates seemed to be the only smart enough to figure out the whole familiarity factor to computing, people who use X computer at work will be much more likely to buy X computer for use at home as well. Knowing "how to use" such a computer puts the buyer at ease, and of course they can always take stuff from work home. Furthermore, there was a lot of stagnation in Mac OS after Jobs' ouster, pre-Mac OS sucked even worse than Windows, as hard as that is to believe.
If price was the only thing consumers considered, we would be seeing Linux everywhere and Apple wouldn't be gaining market share every year....
Monstar L
Interesting, but it's MIPS, not ARM
There goes a load of games, and whatnot ... but on the plus side they're paying license fees to MIPS, which prior to this they weren't, which is nice.
do you really think the majority of apple customers care about price? they'll fork out $2k+ for a 17" mbp w/ a 5400rpm hdd... i highly doubt a cheap chinese co's tablet is going to put a dent in their thinking.
I purchased the Fire on the idea it might make a good present for parents to use while camping (free WIFI is almost always found in the campgrounds they visit) for simple email and browsing. It also want to see how it performed versus the iPad for the same.
The experience is certainly not up to the standard set by Apple but I find it very acceptable when one factors in the price point. The price point is important because for me a loss of a $200 device is far easier to take than losing the $500+ iPad. The Fire has already done the bounce test on the carpet, something I hope the iPad never tries.
Web browsing, hands down better on the iPad. The Fire just doesn't have the oomph. So will knock offs have the same problem? It might be related to Amazon's browser but I am not wholly sure on that. Mail reading is fine, it could be better, but it works and I tend to leave the Fire on the counter and one hand hold it while eating so I can check up on mail. Something that the iPad form factor is not good at.
I hope the seven inch size takes off, it really is much more portable without losing too much screen to make it just worth sticking with a phone. There are rumors Apple may head this way too which should push prices down.
I find I can treat a seven inch tablet more like a tablet than the 11 inch iPad, with the iPad I just felt I needed an external keyboard, possibly because after use it certainly loses the feel of portability. You don't one hand an iPad.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I just bought a couple of these, though the current versions still have Android 2.3. They're remarkably well made for the price, and also remarkably responsive to use. They're not an iPad killer in that they're only 7" and 800 x 480 screens, but that doesn't mean they won't find their own niche.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
USD 99 is price in China: US version estimated at +USD 50 = USD 149
I don't know, until we see it we won't know much on the performance levels of it, but I do think there is a market for even a slugish cheap tablet. Durring the tablet craze, I got myself an netbook for $99, it's a cheap piece of crap, barely can handle flash games, but for basic utility purposes, reading, browsing the web etc... I still cannot wrap my head around the tablet craze or what makes them worth $500, to me they seem to be a fairly comfortable device, that can do almost as much as a low end laptop, almost the same size as middle end laptop, at the price of... a middle of the line laptop, but hey you can get a keyboard for it for only $20-$80 extra and make it even closer to a laptop!
You made a $70 dollar downpayment and will be paying off the phone over the next two years.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
This reminded me of a post regarding thoughts on Yellow Dog Linux being ported to velocity's stuff. It made me wonder if a more X11 friendly version of Linux could be ported to another inexpensive tablet running MIPS. Maybe more tablets like these will help make that happen. I'm getting to like the idea of running a phone inside Xnest.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
I bought a $400 laptop last boxing day, which is pretty much bottom of the line for notebooks. There are a few cheaper models, but most of those are just last year's left over stock (I actually just saw the same laptop I bought last year for $300). It's actually built pretty well. There's no reason that a quality tablet should have to cost $500. Maybe sub $100 is a little low, but we should easily be seeing the price get to $200 for a really good tablet. There's only so much processing power you need on these things. As long as you can play a movie at full resolution, and play some simple games, you are pretty much set. A tablet isn't a device for editing videos, or running a database server on. It is a media consumption device.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
It is really nice to have devices that work well and like you said...there are lots of niches to fill because people use devices differently.
A 7" tablet would make a much much better media control center than either an iPad (a tad big) or iPhone (a tad small).
The iPad can definitely be sluggish - regularly I have to wait more than 10 seconds for iBooks to display the book pages on opening, or go to swipe twice to turn a page because I thought it hadn't registered the first swipe only to have it turn two pages when the first swipe is eventually carried out.
Also, the iPads Safari has a tendency to reload pages when you switch between "tabs" - which can be fucking annoying when you are swapping between pages to cut and paste information or filling out a form... Even though I haven't added any new applications recently, it does seem to have gotten worse. Safaris UI can also lag a lot, with attempts to click on the bookmarks or "tabs" icons taking several seconds to register some times.
And thats without any other apps lingering in the background...
I love my iPad, I use it every day and its my primary browsing tool for on the couch or out and about, but it does have its foibles.
For me, no tablet exists that will really change how I live.
I'm not going to get a data-plan with one because I object to paying $50 a month to carry a device around with me.
I simply don't have that much desire to access the internet on the go... sure, it would be cool- but not $50 a month worth.
I'm not going to use it to watch videos often. I have a television with a larger screen and better resolution at home.
If I'm not at home- I'm driving somewhere, I'm busy, or I'm at work. Yeah- there may be occasions- waiting at the doctor's etc- but rarely get enough uninterrupted time to watch anything at those places.
Some people have use of a tablet- some people it is all they need- but I know there are plenty of people like me.
For us, if we got a tablet (or if we already own a tablet)- it is a toy more than a functioning device. For us (and I suspect we're the majority of those 30 and over)- price matters- because we don't want to throw money away on a toy that will be available half the price in 18 months.- then half the price again in another.
So price matters. Even if it isn't as good as an iPad. You need to get a device that is low enough to be worthwhile just being the "occasional" toy that connects to our wifi.
Expensive Samsungs and iPads have their market- kids and executives who have $50 a month to throw on data plans. (yes, and geeks who like electronic toys- and don't balk at the idea of shelling money for them- which is probably a lot of people on here- which makes this not the average representation of the planet earth)
To get the rest of us- you need to make the devices cheaper- OR get the cost of data plans to be low enough that we consider it worthwhile.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I don't know what you mean by "iPad killer" but, to me, a large tablet is a huge turn-off, as is a pharaonic price tag for what' essentially a simple discount computer used as a secondary machine. To me, a 7-inch tablet selling for 100 euros beats a 10-inch selling for over 500 euros in every single meaningful comparison point. I believe I'm far from being the single one thinking like this, as this is essentially the same argument which pins the iPhone Vs android phones, and currently Android leads the smartphone market with a market share which goes well over 50%.
Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
If you're on a budget and have a family, "six of this one" or "one of the other" can be a pretty compelling argument. Not having to share is kind of nice too.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Comparing an iPad or Galaxy 10.1 tablet to these cheap 7" Tablets is like comparing an i7 Laptop and a cheap netbook. Some people at first will buy cheap but when they realize it's limitations they'll opt for the better tablet. I purchased a cheap 10" Epad awhile back for $150 and was sorely disappointed with its performance, and lack of features. Most of these cheap tablets are slow and don't respond well to your touch, leading to misspelled words when you type and frustrating web browsing experiences.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
If an Android tablet actually comes out in the US for $100 or less, it won't matter whether the iPad is snappy or sluggish. What will matter is that for the cost of the cheapest iPad, one could buy five (5) of these. Heck, I'd buy one for each of my two teenaged boys (my wife already has an iPad2, a gift from her father) AND one for myself. Plus, two more to keep on the shelf as backup gifts for people.
Had I managed to get any HP Touchpads at $99 before they ran out I would have bought as many as I could get my hands on.
For me at least, at $100 these are practically disposable.
"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." -- Lily Tomlin
IBM, IBM, and IBM.
It's hard to remember these days, but before 1985 or so, those three letters were all a platform needed to be successful. Anything IBM was automatically better than anything else. (Ironically, that's sort of the reputation that Apple has today.) There was nothing Apple could have done to compete with that kind of mindshare. It wasn't a fair fight; it wasn't even a fight. It was over before the first Lisa was demoed.
Microsoft took the insidious approach, which was to hitch itself to IBM early on, and worm its way into Big Blue's customer base so thoroughly that, within fifteen years, they were Microsoft's customer base. That's how the PC war was won. What you describe happened much later, after Microsoft had already taken over.
This "sub-$100 Android 4.0 tablet" is kind of like saying you can run Windows 7 on a 600mhz Pentium 3 with 512mb of Ram. Yes, it actually boots and runs, and you can get Aero working on an old ATI card, but that doesn't mean it's a pleasant experience. If you were to sell such a PC with the headline "Windows 7 PC, runs great", you would be one hell of a scumbag and the potential buyer just might swing that heavy dinosaur upside your head.
The chinese love cheap gadgets, because often times it's cheap gadget or no gadget. For us here in the western world, we tend to want un-crap gadgets, perhaps because we have better things to do than staring at "busy" spinners. Maybe if I lived in the 3rd world, my opinion would be different, but I don't.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
There already are several sub-$100 Android tablets out there. Here's one, for example: http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-SYTAB7MX-7-Inch-Screen-MiniTablet/dp/B0065DVTHO/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1323185519&sr=1-8
Spoiler alert: the reason they're not sweeping the nation is because they're crappy. Quality does matter.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)