Very good point and one which has bugged me for years and continues to do so. The more I read and observe, the more things are not what they seem

It seems especially clear in the US. For example if you want a soft drink you seem to have choice, but is the option of Pepsi Cola or Coca Cola really choice or just a duopoly to give that illusion.

As Lenin said, the best way to control the opposition is to be the opposition.

I have always been cautious as a consumer not to give more power to these huge corporations then I absolutely have to.

Yet another reason, apart from cost, to support Chinese entrepreneurs.

Too bad the Nexus Tablet has the weakest Tegra III chip available

It would be interesting to count the number of corners that Asus had to cut in order to meet the Google determined price point.

The YuanDao Windows N70 is one of the first 7" Rockchip RK3066 tablets to be shipping.

There is a thread on it here with user impressions
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/3525...al-core-video/

A price of $140.99 incl shipping
http://www.pandawill.com/window-yuan...am-p64588.html

It seems to be a very decent device, Bluetooth is included but not GPS.

This helps people to shop for tablets for Christmas gift. Yup, it is August now, and with a shipping of 2 - 3 wks, Xmas shopping is not too off the topic. Three more tablets will be added by the end of this month . If I am NOT waiting for shipping, I cannot get out of bed to go to work, yike!

I have posted 1st impression on almost all of these tablets, just google bunanson and name of tablet.

Enjoy,

bun

In general 1 G ram is better. However, I have several good experience with 512 MB RAMs.
ICOO D50 lite is one, 4G/512 MB/roooted/$74, it works right out of box and I cannot even find one complaint. Battery is good, at least 2 days on hibernation

X6, 4G/512 MB/unroot/$59 same superior performance. This is from the mouth of somebody playing with over 12 tablets, all with different brands! I would NOT recommend X6 because of incompatibility due to MIPS, but the tablet itself is a solid build. battery is average

Freelander PD10, GPS/8G/1G/easy root/HDMI/$109 is the top pick. I have NO idea why is that, but the PD10 can multi-touch, multizoom a lot of apps and browsers, almost ALL I have been testing. While the D50 and X6 can only zoom with a couple of browsers, and less apps. They run/multi touch the apps and browsers fine, but they dont zoom, could be the way I tested them? Except PD10, it zoom in/out on almost ALL browsers and apps I played with. Video skype, though ran on all three of these, PD10 is the highest quality. Battery is good, about 2 - 3 on hibernation

Ainol Novo7 Mars, 8G/1G/rooted/HD screen/$119, would not touch with a 10 foot pole. It is buggy. and with screen input requiring a hammer's effort . Other than that, it is kind of functional. Battery is supreme, cannot remember the last time go flat on me, more than 2 days on hibernation

Ainol Novo7 Tornado, 8G/1G/rooted/$89, the little brother of Mars, works better, and smooth provided you are seeing the router because of weak wifi. Even next room, the Tornado drops the signal. Skype ran, but people can barely hear you because of weak wifi. Video skype, forget it. Both Ainols are advertised as 5 point multi-touch, they are only 2 points. People are quipping Ainol is now working on 3 point touch, then 4 points, and maybe 5 point 2020. . Battery is supreme, cannot remember the last time go flat on me, more than 2 days on hibernation

Hyundai A7, 8G/512 MB/easy root/HDMI/$108, hiccups quite often and with random freeze, not quite sure why, other than that, it is also an acceptable tablet. Except it is powered only thru USB port, if the port die/malfunction, your tablet is gone. Battery is good to supreme.

WM8650, 4G/256 MB/2.2/easy root/CWM/$84, hackers toy, anything under the sun, you named it, WM8650 has it, very slow, outdated technology. Battery is not there, about 45 min, ooch.

Being said, it also boiled down to what is your goal of getting a tablet. Using like an average laptop replacement, these cheap, sub $100 tablet will get you excited, it does email/surfing/video skype/streaming audio/video/video chat with NOT even 1 hiccup. That is probably my Xmas gifts for my family 2012. However, if you are looking for a tablet with bleeding edge technology, playing smooth 3D games, eyeblinking animation with cellular attachment, those will not be your choice. And if you have more kick out of hacking than using the tablet itself, you will look for tablet with a large supporting community, like the Allwinner A10, and always wait awhile.

Finally, regarding shopping tablets. I believe the vendor is just as important as the tablets. I am waiting for a couple of tablets coming... and they are also under $100.

Posted 7/2012, price has come down a lot by now!

bun