Best cheap Android Tablet?

[Geisty]

Long time reader, first time post though for me. With all the hooplah over the Touchpad (and getting several orders cancelled), I'm really wanting a tablet now. I don't have the money to spend on one of the new ones I would love like the Galaxy Tab 10 or Xoom, but am looking for a decent alternative. I am looking for a tablet, could be 7" or 10" for under $200 that is worth while. I have seen a bunch of different ones out there, but not sure which is the best and actually worth the money.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

PS Being able to upgrate to Honeycomb would be a bonus.

 

[Geisty]

Bah, I just decided to order a refurbished Nook Color using the $20 gift card for them not having the Touchpad in stock. So basically for the same price, got a better tablet with excellent android support.

 

[geetechfever]

I'm afraid it's a little difficult to get a decent tab from top brands under $200 in current, but you can take a look at some china tablets. If you do a good research homework and compare in detail, you would find a good deal as well. Here is one, em73s tab. Android 2.3, 1GB processor, 7" capacitive screen... It's not pretty good based on specs.

 

[colchiro]

Congrats. Pay us a visit when you get it. B&N NOOKcolor - Android Forums

 

[geetechfever]

In regards to B&N Nookcolor, the most attractive feature would be millions of books, including newspapers, magazines & interactive kids' books, and etc.
So, any one know what the current Android OS on the tab? I can't find it on B&N site.

 

[colchiro]

CM7 (Gingerbread) is the current custom rom version.

Stock rom (B&N) I think is still Froyo, but they recently had a 1.3 update.

 

[geetechfever]

Thax, @colchiro.
Gingerbread would be good,and Froyo is also OK. I know Google still hold the 3.0 or + source code, right? Just afraid it would be less than 2.2. That would be horrible. From this point, I think the N&B Nookcolor is not bad than Kindle. If N&B improve the hardware and config. in beautiful scale, this tab would bite the coming Amazon's tablet.

 

[colchiro]

The CM devs have done wonders with the NC and ICS is slated next when it comes out. You can OC from 800 to 1200/1300 and it really flies.

Same team is porting GB to the HP Touchpad

 

[colchiro]

My take: Don't buy a cheap foreign laptop if you want a custom rom or to mod it in any way.

 

[geetechfever]

My take: Don't buy a cheap foreign laptop if you want a custom rom or to mod it in any way.

Do you OC and make the frequency too high? Read it on another forum that if you keep the frequency on a reasonable(depending on hardware and configuration), your device would fly smoothly.

 

[colchiro]

Yes, Nook Color... stock 800, chip rated at 1,000, runs nice at 1,300, but gpu is fastest at 1200.

My DroidX... stock is 1,000, running at 1250.

My Hp Touchpad (dual cpu)... stock is 1,200, chip rated at 1,500, runs nice at 1,800. My wife's TP will do 1,900, but super fast with CM7.1 so 1,600 is plenty fast.

If you go too fast will either crash or slow to a crawl.

 

[ronniekate]

This guide can be useful for you:
Cheap Tablet PC Review - Best Android 4.0 Tablet for Sale

There are some decent tablet recommendations for you. All at a suitable price.

 

[PwnsomeWin]

I really like my Nexus 7. It has 16GB of space, and was $249 when I bought it, but now it is lowered to $199.

You've probably heard of it, but here's a link: Click

EDIT: If you want to go even cheaper, the Icoo D70 ProII sounds good. My dad has the Icoo D50, and it works well for him. The Icoo D70 ProII has Android 4.1, 8GB of space, and is only around $100.

Link: Click

Problem with the Icoo one is that not many people know about it, so it may be hard to find help on it.

 

[nickdalzell]

Big lots has a few D2 pads for sale at $100 which run ICS and sport decent spec for normal use and come with free pay apps. Just treat them nicely because they break easy. Lost a nice 10" one from a short fall to the carpet. They are also pre-rooted too

 

[idomeudou]

The zeki tab is a good one its $139 it come out the boxs root it 1g and 1g of ram its nice

 

[Riscilla]

Chinese tablet is cheap. PhoneTab M8 only costs $161.29 with many great functions.You can have a try!

 

[nickdalzell]

Just found out the D2 pad and Emerson and Polaroid tablets all have overclocking kernels and I do know you can exceed 1.4GHz.

 

[zaivala]

I love my Zeki. You can find it as low as $69 at Best Buy when they're not selling them too fast... I paid $139.99 through Fingerhut.com.

Yes, it comes rooted out of the box. But the Allwinner A10 chip needs to be updated before you can get Google Play store, and that process can kill off your Zeki if you use the wrong update file. Best to just stick to the Amazon store. It also comes with GetJar using the Soc.io store, but Soc.io has been having problems signing Zekis in, even with a known-to-be-correct login. They say they are working on the problem.