Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#1

Post by arnemart » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 1:22 PM UTC

Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet
arstechnica.com

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#2

Post by nuclear_eclipse » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 2:51 PM UTC

I pity all the uninformed consumers who buy this, or even worse, people who receive this as a gift from those uninformed consumers...

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#3

Post by gregpilling » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:00 PM UTC

i bought one to play with. it wasn't quite as good as the reviewer said, although i briefly got the wireless working. My run time was about 20 min before dead batteries. It took 45 minutes for Walgreens to figure out how to refund my money, and in the end could only refund it within $2 on my creditcard with the rest in cash

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#4

Post by ajays » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:19 PM UTC

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #2

I pity all the uninformed consumers who buy this, or even worse, people who receive this as a gift from those uninformed consumers...

I pity even more the computer-savvy relatives/friends/neighbors of the aforementioned uninformed consumers.....

// praying that no-one I know buys one!

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#5

Post by tibbon » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:23 PM UTC

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #2

I pity all the uninformed consumers who buy this, or even worse, people who receive this as a gift from those uninformed consumers...

I almost did run down to Walgreens to buy one when I heard about it. I thought, "Android is open source, it should be fun to hack right? How bad can it be?" It seems the answer is really really bad. Much of it reminds me of my original Phillips Windows CE 1.0 device I had. Glad I didn't go and buy one.

Its bad when a device that was never supposed to run Android (the iPhone) can be hacked to run it better than a device that was designed for it.

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#6

Post by bsk » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:28 PM UTC

I'd guess there were similar reviews of Altair 8800 in 1975/76 ;-)

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#7

Post by marknutter » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:34 PM UTC

Competing with Apple on price alone in a market they essentially created. Great strategy..

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#8

Post by jon_hendry » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:46 PM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #5

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #2

I pity all the uninformed consumers who buy this, or even worse, people who receive this as a gift from those uninformed consumers...

I almost did run down to Walgreens to buy one when I heard about it. I thought, "Android is open source, it should be fun to hack right? How bad can it be?" It seems the answer is really really bad. Much of it reminds me of my original Phillips Windows CE 1.0 device I had. Glad I didn't go and buy one. Its bad when a device that was never supposed to run Android (the iPhone) can be hacked to run it better than a devi…

Hell, I'd be wary of a $5 LED nightlight sold at Walgreens.

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#9

Post by ralphc » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 3:47 PM UTC

My favorite part - "anyone looking to buy one would get more bang for the buck by setting it on fire for warmth. "

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#10

Post by Splines » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 4:06 PM UTC

I learned about the Nook Color over the weekend. It has the potential to be a really good Android tablet ($249, 800MHz A8, 8GB storage). Only thing is that it's restricted to running apps approved by B&N, and it's running 2.1.