Asda slashes Samsung tablet price

Will Samsung clear the way for its new, much more svelte 8.9in and 10.1 Galaxy Tabs by selling off the original, 7in model cheap? If it won't, retailer Asda will. It is now offering the Android 2.2 Froyo tablet for a mere 300 quid, down, it says, from £437. Samsung Galaxy Tab Samsung has never made clear the Tab's base …

[Anonymous Coward]

Not enough

Apple wants £330 for the ipad 1, which that tablet was competing against. So it's just £30 more for a bigger screen and a whole lot more app support. I think they'll need to do more if they have many to shift. Not a bad price though, considering that somebody's probably making a loss at this point.

[technome]

Tempted?

No. I tried one on display in Vodafone. Abysmal is the word that springs to mind.

[biglug]

really

I don't own the Galaxy Tab, but I too have tried the Tab and must ask - was I playing with the same tab? - I found the screen very good and the overall unit to be great. I found the size to be more portable than the Ipad too.

[Tim Brown 1]

how are you supposed to hold a tablet PC?

Whenever I see these oversized smartphones I'm always left wondering, how do you hold it to use in a practical manner?

And if you aren't holding it but just put it on a desk, doesn't it slide around?

[DrXym]

Heretic!

Question not the practicalities of such devices for they are shiny and expensive. Those who raise such issues shall be cast down and shall suffer the torment of using more affordable netbooks.

[BristolBachelor]

Holding a tablet PC

How do you hold a clipboard?

I'm assuming you have two hands. You can either hold it by the edge with one hand, or if it gets too heavy for you, you rest it on your forearm, holding the edge with your hand.

The boffin icon because I must be one to work that out.

As for putting it on a desk; if it's like the original iPod touch with a flat back, it just sits there while you do your thing. If it's like the newer one with a back that looks like a weeble, you can't use it on a desk; it just wobbles (but it doesn't fall down).

[Anonymous Coward]

Just pick up a book

If you want to know how to hold an iPad (for example), just pick up any book with one hand and look at the cover. That's how you hold a tablet. Varies with use of course, depending on whether you're sitting up, lounging around, lying down, etc. There were complaints about the rounded back on the iPad v1, because it tended to move too easily lying on a flat surface. Therefore, Apple changed the back to flat in iPad v2. Beyond that, there are a huge variety of docks and stands to suit whatever purpose you might have in mind.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Just pick up a book

"If you want to know how to hold an iPad (for example), just pick up any book with one hand and look at the cover."

That's as far as the shiny brigade gets with a book. Not shiny enough!

[Robert Carnegie]

Mine's on a neck cord, inside a book-cover binding.

The "book" - cover of an old diary - is duct-taped closed, and the Galaxy Tab is rubber-glued("Copydex"), duct-taped, and mount-taped onto it, with a hole previously cut forsthe camera and flash. Releasing the tape lets the Galaxy Tab hinge out into my hand, landscape angle - for convenient camera and video-player use. Android keys on the right. I can put Freeview TV recordings on it, although not easily, yet (any hints?) I could probably just use the camera to record the TV...

For a phone call: tricky, but I'm not a big phone user. It accepts a corded phone headset, or Bluetooth, and also ordinary headphone / earphones, and the built-in microphone pickup is in the book hinge in my case, which unfolds.

[Anonymous Coward]

BOGOF

This is the price it should have been from the start. Now they'll probably want to put it on BOGOF in a couple of weeks.

Probably just so Samsung can back up those sales numbers with actual sales.

[Neil Lewis]

Different market

Isn't the point of a 7" tablet that it is, in fact, a whole lot smaller and more portable than a 10" one?

From that POV, the Samsung Tab is aimed at a different type of buyer to the 10" iPad. Price is a consideration only if you're seriously trying to choose between the two on that basis. If one is too big (or too small) for your purposes, then the relative prices really aren't an issue, surely.

[hochgurgler]

399 - 300 != 100

Read the article again

"[Asda] is now offering the Android 2.2 Froyo tablet for a mere 300 quid"

"The entry-level Apple iPad 2 will be priced at £399 when it goes on sale at 5pm tomorrow"

"Asda wants exactly £100 less than that."

Since exactly when, exactly, is £300 "exactly £100 less than" £399?

I think you'll find that £300 is "exactly" £99 "less than" £399.

[Anonymous Coward]

er..Asda has it on sale for £299 in store

so it's EXACTLY £100 cheaper, except there's around a fiver (to be exact £4.95) postage if you order it online for home delivery. so it's a bit of a fuzzy - real world price. Exactly. some rounding errors, anyway....

I just bought the iPad1 refurb from apple store in Italy for £287.27 with free delivery.

SamSMUGs small shiny devices sometimes crash & stop working (viz Gadget Show test of the SamSMUG Nexus S - which just stopped working whilst filming) My Apple iPad el'cheapo refurb hasn't shown any nervousness yet, but it doesn't have a phone. You pays your money (and you takes your choice) by the way ASDA tried to overcharge me for a tenner on the last Blu-ray disc I bought there, was on special offer on shelves - but not at the checkout. So check your bills carefully!

[Amazon Wageslave]

there are these really cool things called hyperlinks...

Or you could have a look at the Asda link in the article. And see the price is £299.

[Vitani]

Not yet

I'm still waiting for a nice cheap Android tablet that I can leave in my car hooked up to my stereo. Spotify in my car? Mmmm, yes please!

(in off-line mode, sync'd via wifi when near my home of course ...)

[DrXym]

Why a tablet

What's wrong with just a handheld device like a phone? I'm sure a cheapo PAYG model would suffice and you'd be able to stick it in the glove box, charge it from the lighter socket etc.

[Jon B]

there's loads of el cheapo android tablets

Just go to dealextreme and take your pick..

[Anonymous Coward]

Reduction in price...

...= too much stock lying around?

And does having too much stock lying around have anything to do with the demo unit's I've played having a screen colour gamut like a bad acid trip?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apples, meet oranges

I use all these devices on a day basis. Even comparing identically specced 7" v 10" devices is pointless.

Add to the fact that the samsung device has 3g and the entry level pad doesn't and you spectacularly miss the point.

On my daily commute I prefer the tablet. Home in front of the TV, the ipad. If I had to choose one I would be really bewildered.

And if I had to pay for one ... the samsung, to me, is still overpriced (build quality etc) but I like the 7" form.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am waiting for

The new version of android to come out specifically for tablets before I take the plunge and I think a lot of people are doing the same. When it comes out there will be a lot of new shiny gadgets on the market and hopefully the silly prices will even out (not withstanding this article). Even then, 300 notes will be the max I will ever consider for a tablet, anything more and its just not worth it for a not really required toy.

[twunt]

Still too expensive

You can get a 1st Gen iPad direct from Apple, for £289

At £200 the Tab is an attractive aternative - at £300 its still overpriced.

[Jon Press]

Thought about tablets...

... and eventually bought a 1366x768 netbook instead for around £200 from the Dell outlet store which will bluetooth to my phone for 3G data (and came with a TV card as a bonus). Even that resolution is a bit of a squint for my ageing eyes, but at least I can type comfortably and don't need another gadget to prop the screen up.

Tablets seem to be too big to be comfortably portable and too feature-light to be worth the bag you need to carry them around. And hideously expensive. And need another SIM card.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thought about tablets...

Good for you.

Personally, I went shopping for a motorbike the other day, and realised they had no luggage space, no air-con or radios, and I needed a helmet to ride one.

Did I buy a car instead? Hell no - I knew I was getting a motorbike and why...if I had ended up buying a car, it would have been my own fault for not defining the requirements correctly. That does not mean the motorbike is "inferior" through implication.

Likewise anyone looking for a tablet, but end up buying a laptop, were trying to get laptop features in a tablet. You don't, and you can't. So don't blame the tablet for your bad expectations.

[Jon Press]

RE: Don't blame the tablet

I realise the car analogy is mandatory these days, but most people I know who've bought motorbikes haven't been in the market for transport but desperately seeking an aura of youth to disguise their spreading middle age. And I suspect the reasons people are buying tables are equally orthogonal to their utility.

[Loki23]

It is a different market to the iPad

I should know - I bought one since it would

a) fit in my suit jacket pocket and I wouldn't need a briefcase to carry it around. Even fits in my suit trouser pockets although not stylishly.

b) You can hold it one handed from behind - which I do while reading my books on it one handed while holding onto something on the tube in the morning

c) Doesn't have iTunes tying me to just one computer but it just appears as a removeable drive on any computer I own at home or work.

d) It is also my phone so I only have to charge one thing - I have a bluetooth headset to avoid Dom Joly moments although it's speakerphone is very good for conferencing in my daughter when her mother is away on business.

e) (Using "locale") I have it go silent at night, wake in the morning and only connect to certain wifi - siwtching off it's wifi to avoid powerdrain elsewhere.

Apart from all that - yes the software isn't as nice or polished - but it works for me and Apple can't stop me doing what I want with it. Android software will catch up in a year or two.

[Anonymous Coward]

all good valid points. But.

"b) You can hold it one handed from behind"

Made me giggle like the stupid child I really am.

[ElNumbre]

Breathe. In through the nose...

I still don't think this represents good VFM. The 'new' Sammytabs due imminiantly are not going to be much more expensive, but offer the newer tablet Android build and have the bigger screen. IMHO 7" tabs shouldn't be >£200. If this 'old' model dropped to around that price limit, I might be tempted.

[Dan Wilkinson]

Tesco

Had these on sale at £369 a couple of months ago. Looked very much to be trying to get shut of them. I suspect were I to go hunting for one I would no longer be able to get one, at least not from Tesco.

And hey, so much for the Xoom matching the iPad price!

[Dave Fox]

£200? Are you having a laugh?

For those who think that the Tab should be priced at £200, consider this:

An unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S phone currently retails for around £350. The 7" Galaxy Tab shares very similar hardware except that the Galaxy Tab has:

1. A much bigger, and higher resolution screen (ok, not AMOLED, but it's very good).

2. A much more capacious battery

3. A front facing camera in addition to a rear camera (rear camera lower MP on Tab, but has a flash!)

4. A gyroscope

To suggest that somehow it should cost £150 *less* than a less well specified smartphone is a nonsense.

To those comparing it to the iPad 1 - ok, apart from the fact that they are completely different devices due to the difference in size, show me where you can get a brand new 16GB iPad with 3G for £330, because if you are going to make a comparison at least make it like for like! :)

I paid £500 for my Tab when it first came out and I don't regret it for an instant, because it is a constant companion whether I'm home, out and about, or travelling for business. A Tab for £300 is quite frankly a steal!

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh

I got my GT back in January.... I got a good deal, but an extra £100 would have been welcome.

Its a good device, yeah it crashes now and then, but thats Android! Flakey nonsence. Other than that its great, saves booting up the laptop if I want to check something quickly. Perfect as an ebook reader (easy to read in a dark room at dimmest setting without eye strain).

T-mobile sim, £20 6-months internet pack and i'm set no mater where I am in the UK.

[Michael Ross]

Free delivery

From Asda's website:

Collect In-Store!

Free delivery on orders over £25 when collecting in store (selected stores only)

[Anonymous Coward]

lol

Also:

" Get a second, free tablet worth £200!"

(Price on ticket: £400).

[Anonymous Coward]

Beware Amazon Pricing

"Amazon, for instance, says it's £799 "

Last month I bought a camera at £199. This was the cheapest I could find the particular model, but most retailers were between £250 and £400. Amazon OTOH had it at almost three times that. Strangely you'll hardly ever see an item on Amazon that doesn't quote some impressive discount from MSRP.

In the case of my camera I was surprised that different retailers quote very different MSRPs. So I contacted the UK agent for the manufacturer and was told that they don't actually give out suggested retail prices. They just let dealers sell at the price they want - a refreshing attitude. So dealers are making up the MSRPs they quote.

[biglug]

Tab sold out now in asda

Although sold out on-line - might be possible to grab one in store.

[Carol Orlowski]

Meh

Just picked up an Advent Vega (Tegra2, 10.1in Capacitive) for £200. The Tab and the iPad1/2 look crap value in comparison.

[Sandy Ritchie]

Carol

I dunno... .you bought an Advent! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Dixons quality. Hope you took out the new for old replacement warranty! You'll probably need it! ;)

Hands up who had a shonky Saisho telly when they were a kid!