What are those no brand android tablets on trademe like ?seem to sell cheap?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › What are those no brand android tablets on trademe like ?seem to sell cheap?

qwerty7

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#115084 13-Mar-2013 11:48

Are they not worth bothering with?

garvani

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#781037 13-Mar-2013 11:57

Most arn't worth the money.. Check this thread which goes through a lot of the brands etc.

Get yourself a nexus 7, fairly cheap and outstanding performance!

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kobiak

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#781038 13-Mar-2013 11:58

You get what you pay for, but everything devices specs... some of them are better than others and well worth buying for a cheap price, but be prepared for no software updates, lags and god knows what else...

helping others at evgenyk.nz

NonprayingMantis

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#781043 13-Mar-2013 12:11

the specs areusually good, but they still usually suck and are very slow. also things like screen responsiveness is usually terrible.

Go for a Nexus 7 or iPad Mini. Much better value for money.

kiwijunglist

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#781045 13-Mar-2013 12:19

The cheap ones on trademe are the same ones you can import on the internet but at inflated prices, or they are similar price but even nastier. If you want a cheap tablet you should look at Nexus 7 and if that is too expensive then look on ebay or somewhere like dinodirect.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

richms

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#782477 15-Mar-2013 20:28

The PB tech one is the same as one on DX/Priceangels for about US$60. the warehouse 7" vigo is total crap in comparison but has a full USB socket and a mini HDMI out.

Always useless panels on them, cant even get a decent image at any viewing angle on the vigo. either the light text is pushed out into white, or darkish text is just black.

Spend a little more and they get better, but are so close to the samsung tablet price range that you may as well go for a brand that will be there to do software updates.

All the no brand tablets are rooted out of the box.

Richard rich.ms

Wade

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#782480 15-Mar-2013 20:48

As a very hard and fast rule you probably want to get a device that is supported by the developers on xda forums. At least this way you will have some form of non official but guaranteed upgrade path

Batman

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#782488 15-Mar-2013 20:59

that means yes some are usable but you must decide whether to go for functionality longevity fixability or reliability

Batman

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#782496 15-Mar-2013 21:08

when i said usable i meant
- does the touch screen work well
- is the processor fast enough (single vs dual core)
- is there enough RAM (1GB+)
- does the battery last many hours
- screen resolution/brightness
- etc

jim69

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#782534 15-Mar-2013 22:43

Sounds to me like none of those people have actually bought one. "everyone knows" that most of what everyone knows is heresay and wrong.
I'm into my second tablet (and 3rd phone) and highly recommend the experience.

For context: my first tablet came with android 2.1, my last one came with 4.1.1, my first phone was 1.5, current is running 4.2.2, I know my androids and spent far too much time updating them.
In the old days you definitely "got what you paid for" but that was as much a criticism of the state of Android as anything else. Early android was incomplete, integration with the h/w was incomplete, the whole thing was a journey, not just a purchase.
Another poster said "check that there is support on xda developers first" - until last year I would have said that was very good advice, I did & extensively used it on both my tablets and phones.
But since android 4.1 the game has changed dramatically.
I'm now running stock android on both tablet & phone and just loving the ease of use - and the relaxing as I dont have to be a syadmin to my devices any more.
And the chinese factories have had to raise their game on the h/w just as much as the s/w just to survive in the market, thats no longer something to be too worried about. My latest tablet is such a sexy beast, h/w and s/w, yet cost me $180 to my door - call it 1/5th what a name brand samsung or asus or ipad would be for the same h/w & s/w capability.
Will I have problems updating it to android 4.2? I have absolutely no doubts at all. Already I have 5 rom updates saved on my laptop ready for the day, and with them lots of notes from people that had troubles and bricked it. But you know what? I have absolutely no intention of doing it! It does everything I need and more, still, almost a year on.
oh - I forgot one thing, it didnt come with a case, I had to find one from somewhere else. But eve that was a hoot - it cost me $3.95 (thats not a typo) - and that included postage from HK. Incredible. Compare that to a case for a samsung or asus or ipad at $50 or $70 or something like I did before doing that.
You're still only getting what you pay for but at $180 its worth playing the game just for the fun of it.
Here's what I'm looking at getting next, again just for the hell of it. Like Trademe, read the reviews - and just dont take it too seriously.
www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Android-Mini-PC-TV-Stick/803232_211686097.html

richms

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#782543 15-Mar-2013 23:02

The 2 HDMI sticks I have tried dont have the UI go to the edges of the screen, and also dont seem to let the output refresh rate be changed, It does 60Hz so most stuff is fine, but some 24FPS stuff seems to play totally horrid, and 50Hz content like pal sourced tv shows are unwatchablely juddery.

Cheap logitech kbd and mouse and they are great media centers, and the latest plex for android seems pretty well behaved on the one in the bedroom. Certainly craps all over the inbuilt smart tv stuff for usability and functionality, but not there as far as image quality yet.

Richard rich.ms

jim69

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#782550 15-Mar-2013 23:23

I'm looking at some of those tv sticks because (a) my tablet does movies to my Sony TV at 1080 just fine and (b) half those sticks are running the same chipset as my tablet, some are even saying android 4.1, so ... they should work? how bad can they be :-) It seems a cheap (and of course fun) way to try to convert my TV to an internet tv. There are things to look for, like power - I dont want to use a power brick, so I want one that plugs into the hdmi port but can run off a short cable that itself is plugged into to a tv usb port (my tv doesnt deliver power on hdmi but even so I havent seen any of these sticks that pull from there either). And I want one that works well enough on wifi that it does the internet bit to my lan. But what I've read says I'm still pushing boundaries, some have poor wifi, some overheat if you work them (1080 move would definitely work them), etc so I'm in no rush, will probably wait for the next generation.
Another note - I got my tablet from dhgate.com not that previous link. They act as broker to the place you buy from, they only pay the vendor when you tell them it arrived ok, it worked easily enough but I had no problems with delivery or quality so didnt have to test it really.