LINux on MOBile - adviceLINMOB.net is a blog about LINux on MOBile devices. With the PinePhone (Pro) and Librem 5 shipping it is back to report on GNU+Linux on mobile devices.Zola2011-03-08T12:24:00+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/advice/feed.xmlA thought about cheap tablets - what you should figure out before buying2011-03-08T12:24:00+00:002011-03-08T12:24:00+00:00https://linmob.net/a-thought-on-cheap-tablets-what-you-should-figure-out/<p>I am still about to get a tablet, and every time a new cheap tablet pops up, I am considering it because I like to make a bargain. Of course, a cheaper tablet always lacks some features when compared to a more expensive one - be it the brand or more. </p>
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<p>If you are considering cheap tablets, you are apparently not too much about brands, and if you are willing to import such a device, you shouldn't care about warranty. Often there are some more features that aren't quite as good as with the more expensive alternative: These are <b>CPU / GPU</b> performance, amount of <b>RAM</b>, <b>weight</b>, <b>touch</b> screen quality, <b>3G</b>, <b>battery</b> life - if the, say, china tablet not made/sold by a top brand at a drastically lower price, you have to expect one or more of the named features being inferior</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;margin-left: 1em;text-align: right"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center"><img src="CIMG0058.jpg" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center">Pierre Cardin PC1018 9.7” Tegra2 tablet</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Independent of your use case, you shouldn't go for an Android tablet that has specs inferior to: 500+MHz ARM11 CPU, 256MB Ram, WiFi, Android 2.1 - as battery life is usually not on the average spec sheet (or mentioned for fictional usage cases), and weight varies depending on the form factor, I don't give you numbers here. Of course, tablets may still work for you, if you just want to use them as a digital picture frame or an e-reader - but still, it won't be fun to use them as build quality will be most likely crap, too.</p>
<p>If you want to use your tablet for the web, you might need Flash for a full web experience. If you want to have a good Flash experience, with Flash 10.1 for Android, you will need a tablet that has an ARMv7 (ARM Cortex A8, ARM Cortex A9) SoC and runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) - and if you want to play safe and have a snazzy device, 512MB RAM are better for you (a device like <a href="http://armdevices.net/2011/03/02/kinstone-95-7-arm-cortex-a9-amlogi-single-core-tablet/">this one</a> shows that this doesn't mean you'll have to pay a fortune).</p>
<p>But then, again, great specs don't make a great tablet user experience yet. At the Pierre Cardin booth at CeBIT I was told that their Froyo running 9.7” Tegra 2 tablet has a battery life of 3-4 hours - which is way inferior to what brands like Samsung, Motorola, LG or Apple offer. You may argue, that Froyo isn't optimized for Tegra 2 devices - and you are damn right, Honeycomb is Tegra 2 optimized and may increase battery life, but still: You can't tell when you'll get Honeycomb on your cheap Tegra 2 (or in general dual core ARM) device - though unfortunately you can't be sure of fast Android updates on your top brand (tablet) device, anyway. </p>
<p><em>Still, it all depends on your use case. Most of us don't really know what their use case of a new device class is. So get a cheap device or a more expensive one that you can return to find this out - and then make your decision.</em></p>