Tell me about your experience with cheap Android tablets

[4691mls]

By cheap, I mean under $100.00 US.

I'm putting this in the Lounge rather than the "which one should I buy" forum because I am not looking for a device to read on. I'm thinking of getting a cheap tablet for use when I'm away from my computer and would like a bigger screen than my phone. I would probably use it for viewing photos, looking at videos on Youtube, checking the news, Mobileread, etc. I don't play video games. I don't need a good camera.

If you have bought a cheap tablet, did you buy a really low-end but recent model, or a slightly better but older model on clearance, perhaps with a dated version of Android?

Some criticisms I've seen in reviews of cheap tablets include poor battery life, low resolution, and tablets getting really hot after only a short time watching videos.

What (if any) issues have you run into? Did your cheap tablet last a while or break down after a short time?


SEE UPDATE IN POST #18

[hobnail]

Not a tablet but I bought a cheap android phone and the resolution was bad and very annoying. The icons on the home screen and the text were very pixelated. To the point of being unusable for me.

[kacir]

I have purchased a super cheap tablet back in a day, in 2012 through the site "1 deal a day" or "1 sale a day" or something like that when I was at a business trip in USA. It was not even marketed as a tablet but as an e-book reader.
Paid 50 bucks for that, which was fantastically cheap at that time for any tablet.
At that time there were Kindle Fire tablets available for $160 (introduced to the market in 2011 for $200)

That ... thing ... had a very obsolete version of Android on it (less than 1.something, I think), *low* resolution, low memory, ...
It saw little use, so despite being super cheap I do not view it as a good buy ;-).

Nowadays I would look for something refurbished, something that was good quality brand-name product 3 years ago. Or perhaps something on sale.

[LucyOne]

I bought a tablet for €50 once. It was really slow, so even simple tasks as you described them weren't any fun. I sold it after a while.
The important thing is that you have enough RAM for the system and a fairly recent Android version.

[4691mls]

Thanks, Hobnail and Kacir and LucyOne.

I'm pretty sure I don't want a tablet from one of those manufacturers that I've never heard of (Ematic?). I'm guessing this is probably the tablet equivalent of the cheap phone Hobnail tried.

I'm wondering if something cheap but from a better-known source, like the Nook Tablet 7 or Lenovo Tab M7, would be usable. I think these both use recent, but "Go" versions of Android - I don't know how that affects usability.

Name brand tablets like Samsung on sale/clearance are usually running older versions of Android. I'm not sure what Android version would be too old to be useful with current apps.

[cromag]

Just for the record I have a few Android tablets that I've bought over the years -- a 4" screen, a 7" screen, and two 10" screens -- and I've been very happy with them. None of them can be updated to newer versions of Android than they came with, but they continue to do what I bought them for. I don't use the 4" model these days, but it came in handy when I was making frequent long highway drives for use with public wifi at rest stops. The 10" tablets are for reading PDFs.


Edited to add: All cost under $100.

[Hemmi]

I love my Samsung Tab A. Had the 10.1" version for about 2 years. My mother wanted a tablet so I gave it to her and upgraded to the newer 10.4" (maybe it's 10.5?) and I love that one even more. Bought it refurbished from Ebay for less than $200. The 10.1 version can be had refurbished for slightly over $100 on Ebay. Around $130 when I was looking last October.

[tempest@de]

My first tablet was a cheap one from a Chinese company bought in 2014, it was slow and crashed a lot, but at the time I used it for reading scribd books and the occasional email browsing.

4/5 years ago I bought a samsung Tab 8 Pro and although it still works fine I recently got very frustrated with it, it has an old version of android and I found that I cannot install the apps that I wanted, I wanted to had hoopla and overdrive and some TV apps so I could read the library books and see tv shows and was unable, I tried to updated it, there are tons of instructions on the internet but it involved a lot of steps so I gave up.

I was looking to buy a new tablet but I like things to last a long time, I don’t really care for the new shiny models, as long as it works well for my needs I’m happy, and It pains me to throw away something that is still in good conditions, and a new android would mean that in a few years I would have the same exact problem, I was considering an ipad, and got lucky and was gifted one.

What I do notice is that the tablet is slow, not sure if it is worse now than when it was newer or if it was always like that but I only notice it now because I have another device to compare it, I notice that it takes a lot longer to connect and to open apps. I still use it though, it sits on the living room for me to play or browse my email when watching tv, and it has all my cooking books, I don’t want to have to pass those to the ipad, too much work, as long as it works I will use it.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

it has an old version of android and I found that I cannot install the apps that I wanted

That is what I'm afraid of if I buy a clearance model.

I guess I will have to either gamble on something new and cheap, or be prepared to spend more to get quality in the first place. Samsung's current 8" model runs around $150; maybe I will watch for a good sale on that. This isn't something I really NEED, so I don't have to rush into it.

[tempest@de]

Unfortunately I think even if you bought a newer model in a few years you would have the same problem, I bought that Samsung tablet new and it had been released not long ago, and it only got one update, I think in the 1st year.

The companies don’t care about updating, they want you to buy a new device each year.

For me, I found that android tablets/phones will not do, although I find them easier to work with (they seem more straightforward then iOS devices) but when I buy an electronic device I want it to last several years, I will use it until it stops working, and only then I will replace it. And I had the proof with first my phone and later with the tablet that with android that would not happen because I could use it for what I wanted because of the lack of updates.

So my conclusion is that I’ll go with iOs only because the devices get updates for several years, and also they still work ok after several years, if I was a person that liked to change device often I would go with android.

I still have my first android phone that I sometimes use to play audiobooks or music mainly when working around the house, but it is slooowwwww, and crashes a lot, it also was a Samsung and it never got an update.

[4691mls]

Tempest, I share your frustration with the planned obsolescence of so many modern devices (I saw your post in the vent & rant thread too.)

I suppose I can buy a really cheap but recent Android tablet and plan to recycle it in a few years (I'm guessing it might be good for 3 years). Or if I want something to last longer, spend the money for an ipad or a small laptop that would be updated farther into the future.

I don't know why anyone would spend a lot of money on a top-of-the-line Android phone or tablet knowing the short lifespan.

[HLS]

I have a $200 Samsung 8" and its slow and sluggish I am guessing because I had to store everything on a memory card but the high-end android tablets Like the Samsung S series run fantastically. Cheap ones are not worth it its worth investing on the high end models

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

By cheap, I mean under $100.00 US.

Some criticisms I've seen in reviews of cheap tablets include poor battery life, low resolution, and tablets getting really hot after only a short time watching videos.

What (if any) issues have you run into? Did your cheap tablet last a while or break down after a short time?

Slow, crash prone, poor battery life.

Tried to make a go of it for a couple months but I always end up going back to the iPad. Imported the Android tablets from China and returning just isn't worth it considering shipping. To be honest, it's akin to throwing money into the trash.

[BetterRed]

I sometimes use an android tablet I bought in Guangzhou in 2010 for a lot less than US$100. I bought it to see if I 'liked' touch devices - I didn't, and today I hate them.

I only use it for reading local files, it has a click-in battery (like phones used to have), so I can carry a couple of spares to save running down my phone battery when I'm away from home.

BR

PS it has wide bezels, none of this edge to edge stuff, so I ruggedised it with some thick rubber banding - if I drop it, it'll bounce - if I'm lucky :lol

[ardeegee]

Late last year I had $500 to spend on computer hardware at Amazon. I wanted to maximize the amount of stuff I could buy, so multiple cheaper things instead of 1 or 2 more expensive ones. I looked at lots of 7 to 8 inch tablets, wanting something for reading comics and manga and small enough to hold in one hand. I settled on the Vankyo MatrixPad for $65. At the same time, I saw a refurb 2017 model Kindle Fire HD 8 for $30. I have been hesitant about buying a Kindle Fire because I wasn't confident that I could side-load all of the apps I wanted on to it, but for $30 it was worth the risk.

For size and weight, the Vankyo is close to perfect for handling one-handed for extended times. All my reading apps work on it. But the screen leaves much to be desired. The Kindle, on the other hand, while being bulkier and heaver is the one that I use because it has a beautiful display (though I've found the screen size is a little awkwardly large big for epub reading and continue to use my 5.5 inch (9:16) phone for that.) So the $65 hard-researched Vankyo sits packed away as a spare device in case something bad happens to the Kindle and the cheap afterthought Kindle is heavily used. I highly recommend an 8 inch Kindle Fire, even if you can't get it for 30 bucks.