If you’ve been thinking about getting a new tablet but are concerned about them running $300, $400 or more – there are options out there for you. Many Android tablets are available that run Google Play and so have all the apps you’re used to seeing on Android, but do not come from a big “Brand Name” company. These tablets can be very very affordable. Assuming you want an Android tablet and are willing to go outside well-known brands, what can you expect?
First, Android tablets come in all sorts of sizes and form factors, from 7″ that are available on Amazon for $50 to 9.7″ for a couple hundred. When choosing a tablet, decide how much you want a warranty or tech support, and consider how much you care what version of Android it’s running. This will help you narrow down your choices. The most mainstream choices will be on sites like Amazon from unknown name brands. You’ll have some support from Amazon and you receive a pretty basic tablet. These aren’t that exciting, though, you could get a 8″ Samsung for $150 or so.
One thing that often gets overlooked with tablets is the actual screen resolution and form factor. Many, even expensive tablets have less than HD screens, often around 1200×800 or so. This is fine at 7″, but the 10.1″ ones like that just look cheap and grainy. The super widescreen 10.1″ tablets are also a little awkward in my opinion. The quintessential tablet form factor pioneered by the iPad is the 9.7″ one. These can be hard to find in Android devices, however. To do so, you need to go further afield. My site of choice is the AliExpress site or App. There you can order many different styles of Android devices direct from China.
If you’re willing to look there, you can get devices with good processors, GPUs, SD card support, and really nice screens. The downside is you will not really have a warranty, and you need to be OK with no official tech support (Have you ever actually called and gotten help from Samsung though?). You also will have some odd pre-loaded apps that are in Chinese. That’s OK, you can ignore them, the actual Android OS and Google Play Store will be in English, and you can usually uninstall at least some of the extra software. I’ve purchased many tablets in this manner and with decent results.
For instance, right now there’s a great deal going on (prices subject to change of course) on a really nice 9.7″ tablet. It has the QXGA 2048 x 1536 resolution. This is very very sharp, it’s basically the Android version of an iPad Retina display. It has Android 4.4 ( a little old, but perfectly serviceable – most Apps work on Android > 4 with no issues), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of local storage and I’ve personally used a 64GB MicroSD card just fine. To round it out, it has Bluetooth, mini HDMI, 2 cameras, microphone, and headphone jack. The operation is smooth and you can view videos with no issues. The device is light and charges just like most phones, using a micro USB adapter. The best part? You can order one for ~$130 plus shipping, which is around $15. This is very inexpensive for these sorts of specs. It is the Onda V989Air. This is an incredibly affordable way to get an excellent tablet running Android for whatever use you want. Now, when you order from AliExpress, it can take a while for delivery – up to 2 months, so that’s another con.
Of course, if you’re interested in security or privacy, Android has none due to Google’s advertising data collection, and the Chinese government may also have data collection installed. For most users, these issues are irrelevant, though if you are concerned you may consider the Pyra when available or a device you can wipe and load CyanogenMod on instead of using stock.
Stay tuned for the next post regarding Android – where I’ll be talking about some apps that are really useful or that I find are the best for certain tasks.