Can Cheap Android Tablets Bridge the Digital Divide? (teleread.org)

It's now possible to buy a 7-inch Android tablet for under $50 -- for example, the Nook Tablet 7 or Amazon's cheapest Fire tablet. "Since the Fire can now easily install regular Android apps, it has become useful out of all proportion to its price," writes long-time Slashdot reader Robotech_Master, noting that for many applications tablets can replace a desktop or laptop computer. TeleRead.org is even arguing this could be what bridges the digital divide: [N]ot just for reading ebooks and assisting in education, but for more basic tasks. People with low or no incomes could search and apply for better jobs. Students could do homework and term papers on their tablet if their siblings or parents are using the desktop.
Besides the obvious applications like email and web browsing, $50 Android tablets also offer cheap phone calls via Google Hangouts. (You can even get your own phone number through Google Voice.) Calling the tablets "a full-fledged internet terminal... easily within reach of even the lowest-income families," the article concludes "I can hardly wait to see where these tablets go from here."

Comments

China was already pumping ~$25 android crapphones

[fubarrr]

China was already pumping ~$25 android crapphones for half a decade.

Those things sell like hot cakes in South Asia and Africa.

For an even longer period, they were selling $70 arm6 based crapbooks. First ones came during netbook boom, and they are being sold to this day to the same markets I named above. You can't do anything with them other than checking email, playing mp3s, or browsing nineties level websites, but for most people there it is more than enough.