Creative 8GB ZiiO 7" bundle for $120. You need to apply the coupon code to get the $50-value accessory bundle for $10 more.
N.B.
- resistive, not capacitive touchscreen. Not multi-touch.
- non Google Certified (have to use Amazon appstore or Creative's, or sideload .apks, like people do with the Fire)
- single core, 512MB RAM.
- Android 2.2.
Unique (audio and video) features I appreciate (they market this as an "Entertainment Tablet"):
- apt-X bluetooth codec. When paired with their WP-300 apt-x bluetooth headphones, the sound is excellent.
This site tests a Sennheiser headphone with apt-x, and says that when they pair to an apt-x source, the sound is "all but indistinguishable from using the cord." Apt-X is the best consumer bluetooth codec available.
- lots of video format support, the best I've found. Of course I can't test all the formats and video players, but most reviews say something like "plays any video I throw at it." I take 640x480 MP4 videos on a micro SD card taken directly from an old Sandisk V-Mate recorder (it's like a VCR but records to memory cards instead of VHS tapes) and just put it in the ZiiO and play using the in-built Creative video app.
- Creative X-fi music enhancers.
Handwriting is less useful because a) no palm rejection, b) only supported in their Notepad app (or more accurately, I haven't found any other app that will take handwriting), c) their Notepad app doesn't share to Evernote or anything useful, d) some lag. But I still use it sometimes for quick notes.
Oh yeah, reading. I like the in-built reader (ePub, don't know what else it supports), mostly because it's so easy to change brightness by just sliding your finger up/down vertically along the right edge. I believe another app does this too, maybe Aldiko? But I haven't found a pressing need to install that app. ezPDF displays PDFs just fine, though you can't do multitouch zooming on the ZiiO. For .mobi's, I use the Kindle app.
Anyway, I recommend you read reviews over on Amazon and decide if it fits any of your needs. It's definitely not a top-line device, yet it has a few top-line features. For reading, I'd have to rate the $139 sale-priced refurb Fire as offering more for a similar price. I hate the ZiiO's unlit touch buttons, because they're not very responsive (they're resistive), hard to see in the dark, and in a different order from my phone's (though the order probably makes sense on a tablet). I also had a lot of freezing (reading customer reviews, only some people experienced this). But since the last update, I've had no problems so far in about an hour of use.