View Full Version : Cheap chinese tablets ( android )
hi folks ,i was planning to buy an android tablet ( cost is not more than a 100 $ ) which contains android 2.3.7.I really wanna know if this is a good idea or not.Other than that any one have any idea how to update / upgrade to 4.1.1 jellybean cuz mostly they dont come up with an upgrade option.So is there any one know of any good android chinese tablet which is good or which can be upgraded to latest software from time to time ?
thanks in advance if some buddy could really pour some light on it.:)
...any good android chinese tablet which is good...
I dont think so ;)
PanzerSajt
2012-11-04, 13:56
hi folks ,i was planning to buy an android tablet ( cost is not more than a 100 $ ) which contains android 2.3.7.I really wanna know if this is a good idea or not.Other than that any one have any idea how to update / upgrade to 4.1.1 jellybean cuz mostly they dont come up with an upgrade option.So is there any one know of any good android chinese tablet which is good or which can be upgraded to latest software from time to time ?
thanks in advance if some buddy could really pour some light on it.:)
I recommend you SmartQ tablets. It's a chinesee brand, but it is made up from exactly the same components as European based tablet's. Omap4460+TF201'S screen. It's not cheap but has the newest firmware every time. Look at this (http://www.smartdevices.com.cn/support/download/T20/). (It even has a ubuntu firmware) I have a T20 tablet and I'm more than hapy with it.
If you want cheap, then I would suggest adding an extra $50 to your budget for something with a little more oomph! and better spec. (I know you said below 100, but it can mean the difference between "cheap to buy" and cheap to make :)
>>And also, here's my obligatory HP Touchpad recommendation... ;) http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=HP+touchpad&_ sacat=0&_from=R40
panjgoori
2012-11-04, 14:03
Also check Ainol Tablets. for about 110$ you will get Ainol Novo 7 elf 2 with dual core 1.5 ghz processor, dual core mali 400 gpu and 1 gb ram. i have used it my self. build quality is good and performance is great.
if you add another 10 or 15 $ you will get Novo 7 crystal with IPS screen and Quad core mali 400 gpu with Android 4.1.
hi folks ,i was planning to buy an android tablet ( cost is not more than a 100 $ ) which contains android 2.3.7.I really wanna know if this is a good idea or not.Other than that any one have any idea how to update / upgrade to 4.1.1 jellybean cuz mostly they dont come up with an upgrade option.So is there any one know of any good android chinese tablet which is good or which can be upgraded to latest software from time to time ?
thanks in advance if some buddy could really pour some light on it.:)
if u looking for under 100$ tablet u can buy a allwinner a10 tablet. not too good but for the price its best . Will cost u around 70-90$ for 20-30$ more u can buy an rockchip or amlogic dual core tablet. Just check any good chinese tablet seller site(there are many scam site so beware). Ipadalternative.com pandawill.com mcbub.com merimobiles are some i have heard of that are not scams.
My experience with the one cheap android tablet I bought is that it was for the trash. I'd save a few more bucks and go for a used nexus 7. Guaranteed to get latest android for at least 2-3 releases and reviews are raving. I think it should be relatively easy to find a used 8gb one for $150 now that the new 16GB one dropped to $199
The problem I find with the very cheapest tablets is the screen. They are typically very poor quality TFT affairs that suffer from dreadful viewing angles and colour banding. This renders the tablet quite useless for typical use cases such as viewing media. I would recommend spending slighty more to get an IPS display.
As for upgrading, I think most of the cheap tablets can easily be rooted and upgraded using a custom rom, though I haven't yet found the time to root mine (Sumvision Cyclone Astro+, which came with Android 4.0).
>>And also, here's my obligatory HP Touchpad recommendation... ;) http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=HP+touchpad&_ sacat=0&_from=R40
I'll second the Touchpad. :) Not only you can dual boot Android with WebOS easily, every second developer has it so we can still expect many (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb3Jz-lAGK4) interesting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UpVZRv1Dus&feature=related) things. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPJTFJqMTkk)
^^^ And Ubuntu with chroot :)
^^^ And Ubuntu with chroot :)
Thats what the last video is running in. :) Unfortunately it has not acceleration, so it doesn't handle full screen redraws very well. It is quite usable with modRana, but completely unusable in Mieru if you manga/comics doesn't fit on the screen.
On the other hand, as a CLI environment, is perfectly usable. :) I've actually compiled the Qt Components I've used to run Mieru on the Touchpad itself (after installing build-essential & Qt-dev packages) running off battery while sitting at a cafe. :)
Oh, I did not realise you made 3 separate links bud, sorry :)
first of all thanks , well actually here while i am in china i can see loads of cheap tablets may be even less than a 100 $ and some of them are a bit goodie etc .But neverthless what i really wanted to know is that if some one was having a chinese tablet ,did they ever get a chance to upgrade from the stock version ? like if the tab was having 2.3.7 ,could we really upgrade it to jellybean 4.1.1?
No. What you see is what you get.
Get specs which u think u can live with, don't go under.
For instance, if u think an A10 is good enough u could he very disappointed later on. Or with 512MB RAM may not be enough for certain Apps. Or a 4GB NAND. Or lack of microSD, ffc, Wifi n, Bluetooth.
My last advice is to not trust the salesman, they are used to lying about specs and never accept a refund or warranty. What you see is literally what you get.
I have Zenithink ZT280 C71, was USD $80. I would not recommend it. Battery life is crap, wifi antenna is awful, making it impossible to use. It overheats and touchsceen sensor goes crazy. It came with Android 4.0 and that was bad... slow and lots of app incompatibility (no Flash, no Netflix, Popcap games don't work, etc.). Downgraded to 2.3 community ROM and it's much better, but still not very useful because of the lack of wifi if you are more than 3 meters from the wireless access point (and I'm not kidding about that distance).
I have Zenithink ZT280 C71, was USD $80. I would not recommend it. Battery life is crap, wifi antenna is awful, making it impossible to use. It overheats and touchsceen sensor goes crazy. It came with Android 4.0 and that was bad... slow and lots of app incompatibility (no Flash, no Netflix, Popcap games don't work, etc.). Downgraded to 2.3 community ROM and it's much better, but still not very useful because of the lack of wifi if you are more than 3 meters from the wireless access point (and I'm not kidding about that distance).
zenithink is known for its poor build quality.
Buy either from cube or pipo both Dual core ips screen tablets are being sold around 150$ online so it should be 30$ or more cheap in china.
The days of buying craplets are numbered.
The Nexus7 (16GB) is exceptional value for $199.
Grab a used Transformer Prime with the Keyboard for $230, yes it sucks that you don't get GPS but everything else is flagship quality with modern specs and great design. And don't forget, community support !!!!
Those choices are much more value for money than a $150 craplet without a warranty.
The days of buying craplets are numbered.
The Nexus7 (16GB) is exceptional value for $199.
Grab a used Transformer Prime with the Keyboard for $230, yes it sucks that you don't get GPS but everything else is flagship quality with modern specs and great design. And don't forget, community support !!!!
Those choices are much more value for money than a $150 craplet without a warranty.
cube ,ainol ,pipo,ramos ,smartq big chinese companies like these give you 1 year warranty.
google nexus 7 still costs around 250$ here. And i dont think all of chinese tabs are crap. something that comes from google but no expandable memory thats a no go for me . Data plans aren't cheap here that i upload and download from their cloud storage.
You think chinese tabs days are numbered but i dont think so they are also moving on from dual core to quad core now . Also they are improving there build quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfroj3oZvgg&feature=related
whats your idea ? should i go for novo 7 (ainol) anal fire ? lol
alright i am going for G nexus 7 then ,couldnt get an immediate response from you guys about that novo 7 fire tab .I believe this is a good idea that i choose GN7 though i am still waiting for your suggestion.Even though i have already made up my mind about google nexus 7,it is about 1600 RMB which is about 250 $ so that is a better choice ,right ?
Some time ago I was itching for a tablet, and decided to get an Ainol, since they are considered among the best of the chinese tablets. Somehow really never got as far as ordering one, and am quite content usign N9 and a laptop anyway.
After seeing this thread (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=87586) I would definitely go for the nexus7 too.
i just ordered GN7 for 1900 rmb ,its about 3 hundered $ ,sighs ! but i think to get the original stuff you got to spend the money ,hopefully tomorrow or day after tomorrow i will be posting my experience .i guess GN7 just won over cheap chinese tabs.
By the way thanks to everyone who participated in this thread & helped me to buy the right thingy .Thanks once again people !:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfroj3oZvgg&feature=related
whats your idea ? should i go for novo 7 (ainol) anal fire ? lol
rockchip is better amlogic dual core has issues.
i just ordered GN7 for 1900 rmb ,its about 3 hundered $ ,sighs ! but i think to get the original stuff you got to spend the money ,hopefully tomorrow or day after tomorrow i will be posting my experience .i guess GN7 just won over cheap chinese tabs.
By the way thanks to everyone who participated in this thread & helped me to buy the right thingy .Thanks once again people !:)
well choice is choice. is your gn7 8gb or 16gb.I wanted myself to buy when i heard it was around 199$ but i went to buy is found it way more then advertised. You should have gone for lenevo A2109 instead its around 250$in china has same tegra 3 as in google nexus and has sd card slot too plus its 9inch.
Now am waiting for ramos w30/w30HD if they turn out to be good am buying myself one .
After seeing this thread (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=87586) I would definitely go for the nexus7 too.
still doesnt change the fact the device itself is dependent on cloud storage.
It doesn't. It supports otg, and 16gb is ok for starters, as soon as you ditch android you don't need the cloud at all.
It doesn't. It supports otg, and 16gb is ok for starters, as soon as you ditch android you don't need the cloud at all.
8gb cost around 300$ 16gb will be around 400$.
ditching android just saves space from apps and games not for music and videos. usb flash drive is and option but its doesnt power most external hdd well since otg was never official feature of nexus 7.It's said to be providing inadequate power for external hdd's. And I won't be carrying a bunch of pendrives in my pocket just because my tablet doesnt have sdcard slot whereas my 60$ secondry phone has a sd card slot . I never see a reason how sd card slot will rise tablet price by 50$ when my secondry phone provides it in 60$ along with 3g support
and you still wifi connection for internet surfing if you want to use it as internet device.
... I never see a reason how sd card slot will rise tablet price by 50$ ...
the speculation has been that MS is charging a fee for their patent on FAT(or something like that) as file system for the external SDCARD, plus somewhere I read that there is a technical reason(but it can be resolved with extra effort -- ie. costing the manufacturer more money to develop) on the android o/s.
Now, according to this http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20121022054044954 Apple wants a between $20 to $40 per unit for their patent, so MS may not be far behind especially if MS/Apple really wants to make android device too expensive for the end-user.
the speculation has been that MS is charging a fee for their patent on FAT(or something like that) as file system for the external SDCARD, plus somewhere I read that there is a technical reason(but it can be resolved with extra effort -- ie. costing the manufacturer more money to develop) on the android o/s.
Now, according to this http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20121022054044954 Apple wants a between $20 to $40 per unit for their patent, so MS may not be far behind especially if MS/Apple really wants to make android device too expensive for the end-user.
Then I dont see how chinese tablets are selling around 60-90$. all of them would be gone to pay apple and ms then. And also didnt they have to pay ms for fat filesytem already?? since ur 6gb space on a 8gb nexus 7 will be using it?
Makeclick
2012-11-07, 03:56
NO no no no.. If you thinking going to the Nexus 7. Buy Ainol novo 7 aurora 2 or ainol novo 7 fire. They are fast and very good tablets with LG ips screen, but you have to flash new rom before even try it :D. There is much ghost touch at default rom
http://www.ainol-novo.com/ainol-novo-7-aurora-ii-dual-core-1-5ghz-7-inch-ips-touch-screen-1g-ram-android-tablet.html
Coming from as maemo's craplet enthusiast, I bought an Ainol novo7 Elf 2 16GB for $148 shipped (on a special offer). I bought some accessories as well such as screen protector (wasnt necessary), stylus (several and some missing), pleather folio cover, otg cable (which didn't work) and hdmi cable for about $30 shipped.
I not only resorted to "custom roms" but had developed a little (if you've heard of Dark Elf). Another member started a petition and me and a few got into NOLogic Ainal contact, suffice to say it took about 5 months and we had a [extremely] dirty source. By this time I left the virtually nonexistent community.
It sucks that the Elf 2 could've been a much better product if it had a few improvements here and there. But for $50 more a Nexus 7 is actually more value for money despite its crude otg support, lack of HDMI or SD slot.
Like I said before, target devices with support. The ASUS TF Prime with keyboard sells for $220 - $290 and that's exceptional value.
Then I dont see how chinese tablets are selling around 60-90$. all of them would be gone to pay apple and ms then. And also didnt they have to pay ms for fat filesytem already?? since ur 6gb space on a 8gb nexus 7 will be using it?
Chinese manufacturers aren't big enough to sue. MS has sued almost all major android manufacture about FAT and won. It is jokingly stated that MS makes more money from android than wp.
The 8gb in the nexus are probably a proper linux parition, not FAT32. Newer androids don't have mass storage mode anyway (they use MTP) with which if I'm not mistaken the device can export to usb regardless of the filesystem.
Coming from as maemo's craplet enthusiast, I bought an Ainol novo7 Elf 2 16GB for $148 shipped (on a special offer). I bought some accessories as well such as screen protector (wasnt necessary), stylus (several and some missing), pleather folio cover, otg cable (which didn't work) and hdmi cable for about $30 shipped.
I not only resorted to "custom roms" but had developed a little (if you've heard of Dark Elf). Another member started a petition and me and a few got into NOLogic Ainal contact, suffice to say it took about 5 months and we had a [extremely] dirty source. By this time I left the virtually nonexistent community.
It sucks that the Elf 2 could've been a much better product if it had a few improvements here and there. But for $50 more a Nexus 7 is actually more value for money despite its crude otg support, lack of HDMI or SD slot.
Like I said before, target devices with support. The ASUS TF Prime with keyboard sells for $220 - $290 and that's exceptional value.
ainol has already released all codes for its present tablets.
And your also forgetting it still cost 40-50$ more to ship worldwide.
plus you will be paying custom duties and they wont calculate it on a second hand product they will calculate it on the original price.
If second asus tf prime was that cheap here I would have already got one for myself
A friend has an Ainol 7" tablet with ICS.
USB host mode on it and SD card support is neat, but the CPU is noticeably slow and has almost no overclocking ability.
If you're fine with 2010 hardware on a tablet and are patient, then it's just fine for the price.
A friend has an Ainol 7" tablet with ICS.
USB host mode on it and SD card support is neat, but the CPU is noticeably slow and has almost no overclocking ability.
If you're fine with 2010 hardware on a tablet and are patient, then it's just fine for the price.
is it a single core or dual core??
Ainol's single core are available for around 80$.
well i have never been a big fan of android or apple.Actually my all time favorite thing has always been maemo/meego and fav device n900 .But according to my research GN7 was the best media device and with the help of OTG cable you can now add upto 64gb of memory to your GN7.The one and only bad thing i could say about GN7 is that even if it was made so brilliantly but still it looks dark when it comes to brightness issue.I mean even with the default brightness ,it feels like you still wanna see it more brighter like mini pad .Anyhow other than that it is a great device (according to me ) .Mine is 16 GB and hopefully its gonna be here tomorrow . Will let you know everything.Since i am a med student ,i am more into video lectures and study stuff . Gaming could be a time wasting activity but its handy .Its fast with quadcore and 12 gpu.
Hootenholler
2012-11-07, 11:59
God damn it, I came to this thread looking for Viagra and Cialis. This is an outrage!
ainol has already released all codes for its present tablets.
And your also forgetting it still cost 40-50$ more to ship worldwide.
plus you will be paying custom duties and they wont calculate it on a second hand product they will calculate it on the original price.
If second asus tf prime was that cheap here I would have already got one for myself
I severely doubt they've released EVERYTHING, cause I don't believe even they have access to it all.
They probably have released more for the M6 chips, but last time I checked the Bluetooth driver was the wrong source, Wifi was only partial and some missing drivers for the LCD.
The Chinese sellers are too busy competing with themselves to think of the bigger picture: share internals, share code and beat others with competent hardware, bearable quality and superb price.
I could see a Nex7 with the Rockchip, and 600p resolution and priced down to $149. Add in microSD and microHDMI and simply sell sell sell
I severely doubt they've released EVERYTHING, cause I don't believe even they have access to it all.
They probably have released more for the M6 chips, but last time I checked the Bluetooth driver was the wrong source, Wifi was only partial and some missing drivers for the LCD.
The Chinese sellers are too busy competing with themselves to think of the bigger picture: share internals, share code and beat others with competent hardware, bearable quality and superb price.
I could see a Nex7 with the Rockchip, and 600p resolution and priced down to $149. Add in microSD and microHDMI and simply sell sell sell
last time i checked pipo m1 was selling around 148$ with ips HD screen with no screen bleeding issues.
hi guys ,after spending three days with nexus 7,i am quite happy with the fastness and so many other things but i am going to give it back to the seller . Its probably the build quality of the nexus 7 or perhaps i rooted it.The tab system halted 30 times in 3 days,some times screen just does not respond to the touch ,anyway i am returning it back.Now i need an advice from you guys as if i should be buying the 32gb version of nexus 7 or the 16gb ipad mini because of mini's build quality? As they are almost at the same price here in china . thanks in advance .
iPad mini has equal performance (iOS code is more efficient than Android), great screen (but not HD).
iPad mini is better in terms of perfect build materials and quality, superb battery life, future 1st and 3rd party support. iPad Mini has a lot more Apps and Apps that are optimized and are simply better. iPad mini is 4:3 shape so its more comfortable to use and things look better like Browser and some Apps.
The Nexus 7 is better in terms of price (cheaper), software (Android is much better and advanced than iOS), customization (make it yours) and generally less restricted. Unlike the iPad, Nexus 7 can be held with one hand (XL Hand people only). Nexus 7 shows videos much better and a select few Apps (like Doodle Jumps long vertical requirements). The screen is 720p HD which is awesome.
What should you get?
It depends on you. iPad mini is a better gift and better tablet (hardware and Apps) and is stupidly simple. The Nexus 7 has more potential, and if you have special needs or/and can get your hands dirty its a better device AND cheaper.
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