Sub-$100 Android 4.0 Tablet Coming Soon 278
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.
Capacitive screen (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Not really... (Score:1, Insightful)
The reason the iPad is successful is because it isn't sluggish. If the Kindle Fire is sluggish at $200, I doubt this will be an iPad-killer at sub-$100.
...no, really. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think there is some misremembering of history (Score:5, Insightful)
If price was the only thing consumers considered, we would be seeing Linux everywhere and Apple wouldn't be gaining market share every year....
Having both the Fire and iPad2 (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Not really... (Score:4, Insightful)
No you didn't... (Score:5, Insightful)
You made a $70 dollar downpayment and will be paying off the phone over the next two years.
Re:No you didn't... (Score:4, Insightful)
You made a $70 dollar downpayment and will be paying off the phone over the next two years.
Yeah. Had he only bought an unlocked phone instead, he wouldn't have a bill every month over the next two years by way of contract. He'd just spend a lot more up front and have a bill every month. The carriers are going to get your $50 to $120 a month. It's the only way they will let you on their network.
Re:Not a competitor (Score:5, Insightful)
Finally, there is device security. There has yet to be a single piece of malware on an iPad in the wild.
Apart from carrier IQ obviously....
Re:...no, really. (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with Facetime is you're locked in to Apple products. I really with Google would push Google Talk with video chat or Google+ Messenger via mobile a lot more. The tech is there and it works, across platforms, but hardly anyone knows about it it seems.
Otherwise I've found that for pretty much any mainstream app there's parity between the iOS and Android phone apps. Tablets may be a different story but I'm sure that'll get closer, too.
Re:...no, really. (Score:2, Insightful)
An expensive tool? How many people buy iPads and think of them as expensive tools? Furthermore, what other available tablet offers much better battery life?
How many days battery life do you get with your table saw?
Theres no Comparison (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not really... (Score:5, Insightful)
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, there were three reasons (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Capacitive screen (Score:2, Insightful)
Resistive or capacitive, the ones I've tried are junk. You get what you pay for. They're not cheap to make and getting support from Chinese-based organizations has been frustratingly difficult for me. Others may have had different experiences, but there's a different expectation set by mainstream vendors, that while being occasionally ugly, isn't the total lack of support that I've seen from direct Chinese sources.
Don't expect iPad or Xoom quality at a low price point.
Re:...no, really. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:...no, really. (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because to them its like comparing apples to oranges. The Transformer isn't really a tablet sure it has the rounded corners, a flat screen, and thin boarders but if Apple can't get the courts to ban its sale then it can't be a tablet.
Re:...no, really. (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit. Viewing the Android phones at the majority of the US telecoms sites the phones with FFCs are in a tiny minority of all Android phones they are selling. But one doesn't really expect truth from a fandroid.
Why does it matter if only some of the Android phones have an FFC? If someone wanted an Android phone with an FFC so that they can do video chats, they can do so. How many models of iphone are there with an FFC, two? If the number of models with an FFC was important, then I guess Droid wins! But, it's not important. Some people don't care if there is an FFC, there is a wide variety of needs and the wide variety of Android phones are trying to hit the different markets, so they don't all have to have an FFC.
If FFC is such a big deal, didn't Droid have it before the iphone? At that time I think iphone had zero models with an FFC.