What Might a $50 Tablet Inspire? (arstechnica.com)

theodp writes: Surprisingly, says Ars Technica's review of Amazon's $50 Fire tablet, it doesn't suck. "There's simply very little reason to spend more when you can get 90 percent of the functionality for a fraction of the price," writes Mark Walton. "The only real niggle right now with the Fire Tablet is the display (and the camera, if you really want to take photos with your tablet). Once budget tabs start coming with 1080p displays as standard, the writing really will be on wall. For now, the Amazon Fire Tablet is the budget tablet to beat." How does cheap technology like this mesh with Bill Gates's dream of putting a computer in every home, and projects like OLPC? Beyond that, any thoughts on what a $50 tablet price point might inspire in education, gaming, and other areas?

Comments

Yes, it does suck

[thsths]

Sorry, but 1024x600 is a terrible resolution. The small screen may be acceptable at this price, but the resolution is not. 1GB of RAM and the MTK CPU also make for a painful experience. So it does suck, even now, and certainly even more so next year.

That being said you can get some decent tablets for $100. But somehow everybody is already on the internet, and these cheap tablets have not caused any of the predicted revolutions.

Re:What would we do without Bill Gates!

[nyet]

What would we do without visionaries like Bill Gates imagining cheaper computers?

He never imagined cheap technology for anybody. He wants everybody to pay up, always has.

How could he get as rich as he did w/o government subsidy in the form of statutory monopoly?

Nothing without root.

[sethstorm]

If it's not locked to Amazon's walled garden, it's fine.

If it's like about any other Amazon device, then it's an expensive paperweight.