Retailer intros cut-price 10in Android tablet

Cheap 10in tablet, anyone? Aussie retailer Kogan - which also operates here in the UK - will have one out next month for 151 quid. Not an inherently bad spec, either. 10in, 1024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen; 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 derived processor; 512MB of DDR 3 memory; HDMI and USB portage; and a 2Mp webcam. Kogan 10in Android …

[melt]

Hmm...

Does it have the Android Marketplace?

[Martin]

"Corners have been cut...."

...is that to try to stop them being sued by Apple for being too rectangular?

[BristolBachelor]

No, you've misunderstood. It was cutting the corners off and making them rounded that is key to Apple's patent. Rectangular corners would be OK.

[Captain Scarlet]

Rectangular corners would be OK

If used with safety glasses, gloves and high vis overall

[JDX]

I'll wait for a review

That's a hint, Mr. Reg :)

As the technology matures, the low-cost tablet market could become very interesting I think... when iPad4 is 50X faster than iPad1, iPad1 level tech will cost little but will be just as good for web-browsing as it ever was.

[David Webb]

I have a Kogan, battery life means it's useless when taken anywhere as it'll drain in a couple of hours, the firmware constantly looks for a 3G signal (so turning the screen on often) even though there is no 3G capability.

[Anonymous Coward]

3G

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124647

Suggests you can sort the 3G wake-up.

Custom ROMs will probably follow. Looks like one to keep an eye on.

[dotdavid]

Hmm

Looks good but I'd rather wait for reviews than get it at the cheaper pre-order price.

There's gonna be a catch, you just know it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Market?

Does this meet the right spec for access to the market?

[Vulch]

Live Price

The price is ticking up slowly, and there's roughly the same number of days between now and the shipping date as the number of pounds between offer and full price which fits the tick rate. At the moment the price is £151.35, ticked up from £131.33 since I first looked at it.

Hmm, nothing mentioned about GPS in the spec, though it does imply the full Android Market is available...

4:3 screen too which I'd prefer for ebooks. Twitches nervously towards credit card...

[Vulch]

Bah.

Ticked up from £151.33 is what I meant. I'd not been staring at the screen for nearly 3 weeks, well, not all at once...

[ADJB]

Sharks Ahoy

"Corners have been cut, of course."

That should Apple's lawyers on the "case" then.

[Anonymous Coward]

At that price it's hard to say no

Despite still not having any need for a tablet whatsoever...

[tmTM]

Better than Hannspree?

Who's tablet was £150 for eBuyer a few weeks ago an sported a Tegra2 chip.

Clearly both will need a custom Honeycomb ROM installed to get the best functionality, but it's good to see some competition at the budget end of the tablet market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Whats the battery life? 2 hours?

[Ian Entwistle]

Hannspree Hannspad, 154 quid at ebuyer a few weeks ago when I got mine

also got a dual core 7" capactive 2,.2 tab from Dealextreme for teh liitle one for 127 quid delivered. had a quick play with it and its very very good.

now is the time of cheap tabs as long as you aren't of the fruit based outlook

[HMB]

Screen Quality

My concern for a tablet is going to be screen quality.

No mention of IPS here. My touchpad screen is very good, my laptop screen is dire in black level and black uniformity compared to the touchpad, let alone viewing angles. I wouldn't want a laptop quality LCD in a tablet. To be honest a laptop quality screen in a laptop is kind of sucky.