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.
Not a competitor (Score:4, Interesting)
The Fire is only 7 inches. It's not really the same category as an iPad or any of the 10 inch Android tablets. I think it's stupid when people compare the two. There is an element of overlap for sure, but I don't see this eating significantly into the larger tablet market.
Experience: I've got a 5 inch tablet/phone, tried some cheap 7 inch chinese tablets and also have a 10 inch Xoom.
You can watch movies on 5 and 7 inch screens in a pinch, but I'd probably prefer just to read instead.
My Kindle (Keyboard version) is 7 inches and it's just big enough to be comfortable for reading in portrait orientation. When I've used my phone for reading, I've needed to switch to landscape to read comfortably.
I probably wouldn't even use my Xoom for watching movies, but I'd definitely choose it over a 7 inch tablet for web browsing and watching YouTube. I also like it for reading.
come on... (Score:3, Interesting)
do you really think the majority of apple customers care about price? they'll fork out $2k+ for a 17" mbp w/ a 5400rpm hdd... i highly doubt a cheap chinese co's tablet is going to put a dent in their thinking.
Re:I think there is some misremembering of history (Score:4, Interesting)
My memory is of people wanting me to build 10 PCs for the cost of buying 3 macs. True I was basically a cheap hardware whore; but the fact remains, it was significantly cheaper to build then buy. Add to that the way free copies of DOS popped up out of nowhere. It was if Microsoft was making the OS as available as possible so people would buy software made for it instead of their competitors. wink wink nudge nudge.
Re:Not a competitor (Score:4, Interesting)
I do use mine as a glorified universal remote. I control my crestron processors for the theater, whole house audio and home automation daily on mine. It's great to simply enter the crestron app and turn on the lights, open the garage door, turn on the sirius radio to Octane her in the den, etc...
it works fantastic for home automation.
Re:Not really... (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know what you mean by "iPad killer" but, to me, a large tablet is a huge turn-off, as is a pharaonic price tag for what' essentially a simple discount computer used as a secondary machine. To me, a 7-inch tablet selling for 100 euros beats a 10-inch selling for over 500 euros in every single meaningful comparison point. I believe I'm far from being the single one thinking like this, as this is essentially the same argument which pins the iPhone Vs android phones, and currently Android leads the smartphone market with a market share which goes well over 50%.
Re:Price vs Quality (Score:4, Interesting)