Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by lenni » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 7:49 PM UTC

jon_hendry wrote: post #8

tibbon wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Could you explain the joke for non-Americans?

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

#52

Post by pyre » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 7:50 PM UTC

lukeschlather wrote: post #41

blhack wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a small LCD panel cost instead?

Generally more. And they don't come with integrated WiFi or enough CPU to display anything on their own. I'm trying to figure out if one of these would be useful as a wireless display for data that updates once every 5 minutes or so. I live at a retreat center in the Cascade mountains, and we've got all sorts of diagnostic data about our hydroelectric generator and furnaces that would be useful to show.

I'm interested in info on this retreat. Is there anything available online? Does the retreat have a name?

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

#53

Post by billswift » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:00 PM UTC

bsk wrote: post #29

ctkrohn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the Altair was the first of its kind. Despite its flaws, it was a revolutionary product that sparked an entire market. This tablet, on the other hand, comes after the iPad and other less shoddy Android competitors. If there's innovation in the tablet space, it's not going to be kickstarted by cheap knockoffs.

It was the first cheap computer. Cheap enough for the unwashed masses in US. And tablets like this one are the first computers cheap enough for billions of ppl in Asia, Africa and Latin America. And for many, many, many other purposes. 90% of the time innovation in IT is kick-started by cheap knockoffs ;-)

90% of innovation in most fields comes from low end products working their way up - hasn't anyone here read Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma? In fields from steel, backhoes, and IT most innovation starts with something that isn't quite good enough and works its way up quality. The tablet discussed in the original post may be just a cheap knock-off that isn't going to have any effect. But then how did they get the cost that low? Maybe there is something there to build on too? Only time and a bit more work will tell for sure.

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

#54

Post by fogus » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:00 PM UTC

aberkowitz wrote: post #16

If Google were smart, they'd come out with their own Android tablet. That way people would stop being enticed by this absolute crap.

Will Google also sell it at Walgreens? Because if not, the people who are enticed by low-end gadgets sold at Walgreens will not know about it.

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

#55

Post by tibbon » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:18 PM UTC

lenni wrote: post #51

jon_hendry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Could you explain the joke for non-Americans?

Most electronics equipment sold at Walgreens are of low quality. Its a pharmacy and general store. Most of their electronics are novelties at best.

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

#56

Post by jon_hendry » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:24 PM UTC

lenni wrote: post #51

jon_hendry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Could you explain the joke for non-Americans?

No joke, really. It's a drugstore/pharmacy that also sells greeting cards, house cleaning supplies, candy, snacks, coke and pepsi and milk, and really low-quality hardware like screwdrivers made of weak steel.

The sorts of electronics they sell there are overpriced and low-quality unless they're actual name-brand items. An LED nightlight sold there is likely to be weak, and badly designed, and overpriced even at $5.

If I saw a $99 Android tablet at Walgreens, I would assume that it would be better to simply burn the $99 - at least then I wouldn't have a useless device to store or dispose of.

(I was just at a Walgreens, and they actually had some Wii units for sale. I wouldn't buy one there, but I assume there's nothing wrong with them.)

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

#57

Post by Natsu » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:33 PM UTC

lenni wrote: post #51

jon_hendry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Could you explain the joke for non-Americans?

I don't know how much there is to explain.

I don't know that Walgreens has that much of a reputation, but I think of them mostly as a drugstore, even though they carry a lot of random stuff. They are a fairly large chain with stores all over the country.

That said, they're not really somewhere you go shopping for high class goods or electronics.

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

#58

Post by aberkowitz » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:42 PM UTC

fogus wrote: post #54

aberkowitz wrote: post #16

If Google were smart, they'd come out with their own Android tablet. That way people would stop being enticed by this absolute crap.

Will Google also sell it at Walgreens? Because if not, the people who are enticed by low-end gadgets sold at Walgreens will not know about it.

People will buy it because it says "Google", in the same way products are bought because they say "Apple".

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

#59

Post by alanh » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:46 PM UTC

> The lag is slow and inconsistent, forcing you to always wonder if you need to hit something again or whether the M-150 is just trying to figure out if you hit S, A, or D.

I almost missed this journalistic easter egg!

Also… did you see the thumbnail they are using to link to this story? They photoshopped in some, er, brown froyo. http://static.arstechnica.net/assets/2010/11/m-150-list-thum...

I still can’t get over the IE icon showing up on an Apple-imitating “dock.”

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

#60

Post by acabal » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:53 PM UTC

This reminds me of when one of my good friends came back from China with a knockoff iPhone. I bought his extra one off him for $50 out of sheer curiosity. Everything this article said about the knockoff tablet vs. the real thing was true for the phone--it was billed as a touch phone and yet came with a stylus, because using it with your fingers was impossible; in fact using it with the stylus was almost impossible too. It had the look-and-feel of an iPhone, but all the apps were clearly just cheap, badly translated knockoffs that were just truly awfully made. The wifi would "connect" but never worked. The screen was scratched after two days of use.

I ended up sending a few text messages with it (it took me 15 minutes to compose each one because of the awful interface) and after messing around with it for a while got so frustrated that I promptly "lost" it.

It was a great conversation starter though--"Hey, want to see my Chinese iPhone?" It always got a laugh out of people when I showed them.