Cheap chinese tablet discussion and deals.

[infamouskid]

the chinese tablet market is heating up. with the last CES show many chinese tablet tech companies were raising eyebrows.
even the ainol novo 7 got the runner up award for best tablet. now with the allwinner chip dropping to 7.00 and ingenic entering the cpu fray at an unknown price but i'll bet even lower since ainol tabs are at the 89.99 mark things are only getting hotter. ips displays have dropped and from early product q1 release lines we are seeing 7 inch ips tabs at as low as 139.99. as more and more consolidation continues in mobile semi-conduction it's only going to better for consumers.
prices on other hardware such as flash memory is taking all time dives as well. indian tablet maker aakash has a 25 dollar tablet now. now it's no beast at all but this goes to show that soon. tablets will be in everyones hands sooner or later.
so without further notice let's get talking rfd. this is what we do best.

have a chinese tablet?
thinking of buying one?
see one that interests you?
know a place local or online that is safe to buy from?

discuss all this here.

RFD Chinese Tablet Group Buy thread:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/chine...p-buy-1145560/

CURRENT DEALS & BEST OF:

IVIEW 760TPC @ 120.99+
http://www.directron.com/iview760tpc.html124.99
http://www.sundialmicro.com/rj-tech-...2185_2232.html129.99

This is the OEM version of the PLOYER MOMO9 from china. the good part is the OEM is in the USA!! better part is it is a 100% IDENTICAL clone inside. which means all ployer momo9 firmware will work on this OEm no problem.
So you can buy with trust. full discussion on this over here as well as all technical info http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merit.../#post14339491

7inch best buy: NOVO 7 ADVANCED II & PLOYER MOMO9
the novo 7 advanced(N7A) and novo 7 basic(N7B) shocked the tablet market when they dropped at 99.99. ainol was not prepared for the demand and before they could resupply it was too late cuz their board thought these tabs were gonna flop and ceased production of them immediately only to be surprised by the growing demand and the awards they won at CES 2012. now out of production many tablets like the MOMO9 and ONDA VX610W try to fill that void but just do not have the full hardware spec to fill it. so ainol decides to make a follow up with replacement models but in tiered retial fashion. advanced II ,elf and aurora to replace to N7A...and the paladin, swordman and legend to replace the N7A...being the ingenic cpu xburst which is a MIPs based cpu is in the N7B and it's replacement models. MIPs being so new into the market right now even though backed by google with full CTS certification is still not widely adopted yet by devs and because of that many apps won't work on the ingenic models. (i'd say a good 90%) so for this reason and this reason only the brother N7A still remains the champ. but no where to be seen or purchased the rightful choice is now the N7AII
sold out everywhere else and with rock solid support and a good development following the N7A.. the novo 7 advanced II's arrival has a lot of forums buzzing who is going to drop it first.
pro orders are filled almost at every online site. but pandawill to the rescue @ only 139.99 to pre-order this tablet is set to make it's official debut on the 6th.
order while you can because there is already enough files and support on almost every tablet forum for all ainol tabs.

9.7inch best buy: tie... ONDA VI40 & CUBE U9GT 2
this was a very tough one to call. both sport the latest 4.0.3 ICS.
both have great third party dev support and both have currently bug free experiences.
both look solid with great designs and both sport aluminum finish housings.
while the onda has better cameras, an low power allwinner a10 cpu and a cheaper price. the u9gt 2 has a better 10 point multitouch screen and more ram and a proven rockchip+vivante cpu/gpu combo but costs 50 to 80 dollars more.
they both come in different nand size flavours as well. tough call to make but both seem worthy to mention here. prices start as low as 199.99 while on sale and as high as 299.99. this right now is where every forum is debating on which is better and IMHO the best tablets on the market at this price point.

10.1inch best buy: Zenithink ZT280-C10 aka Zepad C91
superpad...flytouch...epad...zepad... we seen all of them. every single one of them from #1 to #6. all had the same problems. crappy cpu's and limited to 800mhz and froyo....not anymore.
for a very long time the 10inch category had nothing but single or dual touch resistive screens and flaky VIA cpu's.
now there is something worthy of comparison to the hot 9.7 and 7 inch lil bro's. armed with a mobile AML8726-M amlogic cortex a9 and a MALI 400 and 4.0.1 ICS.
this tablet brings everything to the table as a good all rounded tablet with some pretty sleek looks too. best of all its price can be seen as low as 169.99!!
lemme say that again. 169.99!! while on sale and normally can be found for 179.99-199.99ish. this tablet is best suited for the older crowd who wants to skype relatives back home or who just want to brag that they have a tablet to friends.
it's no novo 7 advanced but it is something that works well and looks good.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

7inch - this is the most competitive category and it's only getting hotter in 2012..this category has huge huge huge shoes to fill since the N7A's departure. because of that departure the void is so wide there are many models trying to fill it. each does a good job but there is so many that it really comes down to appearance in the end. in this category there is a few models that deserve mention rather then 1..MOMO9C , ONDA VX610W, TECLAST P76ti, BMORN V99, Ramos W6HD, Bmorn V11 and Gemei G2 all fill this void. also there is 1 tablet worth mentioning for those who care. the Herotab C8t... hero surprised us with built in 3G. however it only has android 2.3 and the price is almost the same as buying an oem galaxy tab.

9.7inch - this is a rather hard category to say because there are not that many 9.7 tablets at all when compared to the 7 and 10.1 category. after looking over the list of models again there is only 3 left worth mentioning and 1 subjective choice and 1 choice that is super subjective. they are the Teclast A10, Ployer momo11, bmorn v99 and the one that is subjective is le pan 2. now i know some of you may be like... the le pan is awesome!! but it is plagued with bugs and problems and lets face it... it's the le pan 1 with a new cpu and honeycomb...well it isn't really new since it's actually an old and expensive one but you get the picture why its subjective now. the last is the Herotab S1. now this has what other tabs don't. 3G built in but it costs $$$ where a 3g dongle only costs 20 to 75 dollars.

10.1inch - this category is kinda joke right up until now that manufacturers are actually planning on making worthy models. there are a few though. well maybe 3. anyways i will mention the 2 that did not make the best of list.
1. Ployer MOMO15 2. the ENTIRE FLYTOUCH SERIES 1 TO 6...i know that sounds crazy but every other 10.1 tablet made was absolute CRAP. up until the c91 came out and the only tablets that were worth buying that worked stable with cameras and all were the FLYTOUCH series. the MOMO15 is very very new to this and not much is known on it's performance yet so therefore it cannot beat the c91 which has been around longer and just works great at everything.
btw don't even bother looking at any other 10.1 tablet cuz they seriously suck. i mean earlier Zenithink models worked and were stable but they had single touch resistive screens and were well over 200 at the time. no thanks.

SAFE AND KNOWN PLACES TO PURCHASE FROM:

WWW.PANDAWILL.COM - based in china. prices are always good. and they have constant promos going on. also one of the only places to offer pre-orders for new stuff.
WWW.MCBUB.COM - they also have an LA warehouse they can ship from.
WWW.MERIMOBILES.COM - very solid pricing and deals of the day section.
WWW.ANDROID-SALE.COM - cheapest prices around period. shipping and handling is not included.
WWW.BESTMID.COM - they somehow seem to always get the new stuff first and sell out of stock FAST.
WWW.OWNTA.COM - they also have an ebay store.
WWW.CHINA-TABLET-COMPUTER.COM - not much is know about these guys. but TR members have ordered with success.
WWW.IPADALTERNATIVE.COM - these guys have been around for sometime but also charge a premium vs the rest.
WWW.GADGETFREAKZ.CO.UK - these guys are on point. lots of reviews on youtube and many xda members buy from them.
WWW.SPEMALL.COM

GREAT SUPPORT FORUMS and AFTER MARKET SUPPORT:
www.chinamobiles.org
www.tabletrepublic.com
www.slatedroid.com
www.pandawillforum.com/
http://www.merimobiles.com/Firmwares...oads_s/393.htm
http://colonelzap.blogspot.com/
www.gadgetfreakz.co.uk
http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/cort...cific-556.html <----NEW!

[DoeBoye]

Hi INFAMOUSKID!

I appreciate the info!

If you were going to buy a 9 to 10 inch Chinese tablet, for under $250, what brand/model would you consider?

Things that are important:

1. 1024x768 or higher
2. Capacitive, IPS Screen
3. Able to play (local content) 720p video flawlessly
4. Reasonable Battery life

From what I've read, this AllWinner A10 combined with a Mali 400 GPU seems to be a front-runner...

Thanks for any advice you might have!

Cheers,

DB.

[ck01]

How is duties and taxes at customs for those tablets?

Do any of those tablets have GPS?

[jackie999]

Thanks for this thread...I just *know* this is going to cost me...

[globalc]

whoa..so many tablets on there...(pandawill)

hard to differentiate

[jackie999]

Found this on slatedroid forums,

Posted 24 January 2012 - 03:44 PM
Canadian Tablet Ship Times

These are some typical shipping times for Chinese Airmail service. This is fairly typical for a service which is a free option on many sites. As you can see, all of these tablet orders arrived in Canada from 9-11 days from the order date. If it ends up taking 3+ weeks until delivery, it is not the fault of the Chinese supplier.

I can’t comment on taxes or duty in any other country, but in Canada these tablets are normally delivered without additional charges. Chinese tablet vendors will typically label the tablet as an Ereader valued @ $30-40.

Two of these tablets are coming from Pandawill. The other is from Merimobiles.


Tracking # Date / Time ↓ Description
RA425473965CN 2012/01/24 / 11:05 Item released by Customs now with Canada Post for processing Ordered Jan 15/12


RA387816314CN 2012/01/23 / 09:59 Item released by Customs now with Canada Post for processing Ordered Jan 12/12 Rec'd Jan 27/12 - 15 Days


RA366639473CN 2012/01/17 / 17:46 Item released by Customs now with Canada Post for processing Ordered Jan 8/12 Rec'd Jan 27/12 - 19 Days

[infamouskid]

Hi INFAMOUSKID!

I appreciate the info!

If you were going to buy a 9 to 10 inch Chinese tablet, for under $250, what brand/model would you consider?

Things that are important:

1. 1024x768 or higher
2. Capacitive, IPS Screen
3. Able to play (local content) 720p video flawlessly
4. Reasonable Battery life

From what I've read, this AllWinner A10 combined with a Mali 400 GPU seems to be a front-runner...

Thanks for any advice you might have!

Cheers,

DB.

i was in your position a few days ago.
after lots of reading and watching plenty of reviews from colonelzap here. http://www.youtube.com/user/SchlumpfiHB/featured
and asking him about his personal hands on experiences with the tablets.

it came down to 3 tablets.
1. cube u9gt2
2. onda vi40
3. bmorn v99

in the end i choose onda vi40 for a few reasons. 1. support. there is a more active support group in tabletrepublic and slatedroid for this model and several overclocking and script fixes already available.
you can see this here http://youtu.be/hTeQLOXZ7FY and here http://youtu.be/YHWtVFnLsF0.

2. price. out of the 3 the onda was more cheaper and more widely available. 3. dual camera support. the back camera had the highest resolution compared to the others.
i loved the look of the bmorn and the aluminum body build quality but the price and the missing physical buttons on the front was a deal breaker for me. i prefer physical buttons especially if your into testing like me.
the cude u9gt 2 had the best of the best... hardware. design. but in the end it was lacking what the onda had. better support. this may change over time but the price of this was almost 90 dollars more compared to the onda at the time.

How is duties and taxes at customs for those tablets?

Do any of those tablets have GPS?

not sure. i do not know but i can say when i run google maps it always works.

Thanks for this thread...I just *know* this is going to cost me...

haha i said the same thing when i found colonelzap's youtube page.

whoa..so many tablets on there...(pandawill)

hard to differentiate

more choice = more competition. that's good thing.
also not all of these tablets are made alike. pick on that has what you need.

Found this on slatedroid forums,

nice find.

[DoeBoye]

Excellent! I'll check out those links and take the plunge! Thanks Again!!!

[ck01]

How is the gaming on the Onda Vi40? Any lag? The Allwinner A10 is single core, how does it compare do dual cores?

There is no GPS on it so I guess you are not able to pinpoint your location.

[SkimGuy]

Although I do buy a lot of things from these types of sites, I stay away when the purchases climb over $50. Too many risks involved, would rather pay a couple dollars extra to get a genuine product instead of taking the chance that it could be a fake.

[Super strokey]

While not a "chinese" tablet maybe add the Kindle Fire as its cheap and pretty impressive.

[infamouskid]

How is the gaming on the Onda Vi40? Any lag? The Allwinner A10 is single core, how does it compare do dual cores?

There is no GPS on it so I guess you are not able to pinpoint your location.

not a single problem. gaming is not determined by the cpu but more rather the tablet ram size and speed and the gpu onchip.
thus far with the allwinner a10 is the mali 400 which right now trounces anything out there including the adreno easily.

Although I do buy a lot of things from these types of sites, I stay away when the purchases climb over $50. Too many risks involved, would rather pay a couple dollars extra to get a genuine product instead of taking the chance that it could be a fake.

that's what paypal buyer protection is for. if they send you anything not as described.. dispute it.
there is also cc protection as well. trust me you have more protection then the seller does then you know it.
the only time there is risk is if your pay using something unsecured like western union or wire transfer. this would definitely not be safe at all.

[infamouskid]

While not a "chinese" tablet maybe add the Kindle Fire as its cheap and pretty impressive.

cheap and impressive but at 199.99. there are cheaper tablets that offer more features and better hardware. look at this comparison chart for example.



mind you since this document there are now tablets like the novo 7 specs that are in 100 dollar range now.
like the novo 7 advanced II or the teclast p76ti or the momo9c also the kindle along with the nook use a OMAP 4430.
it is arm based but again proprietary. compared to the allwinner which has it's full GPL source code out.
you can see where this is going just by looking at the forums and support around the world now. there is more out there for allwinner a10 and rockchip based tablets and constant scripts and mods being developed.
it took a total 5 days to get ICS ported from the onda to the rest of the allwinner tablets in the market and less then 1 day to get root. which didnt matter cuz once official support kicked in every firmware release came pre rooted.
kindle fire is a good lil tablet. and at the time it was released it was the cheapest option. now it's a lil different.
the chinese seem to be playing catchup at phenominal speed. first rockchip then allwinner then there is ingenic with MIPS.
2012 just started and we now have more then a dozen arm based cpu's and a totally new mips instruction based cpu backed by google.
tablets are only going to get cheaper, smaller and faster this year. i can't wait to see how the mips support will fan out as well.

[qewcool]

Found this on slatedroid forums,

So you dont get hit by duties at customs because the they put value at 30-40$ ? I know there is an exemption for "gifts" under 100$.

Do they mark as "gift" as well ? do you have to speak with them and specify this to get it done ?

Even if they dont put as gift ... paying duties on 40$ is much better than 250$

Can infamouskid confirm this ?


The Onda vi40 seems good but their official site is chinese only though (onda.cn) .... might be tricky finding the right firmware updates on it.

Also i guess you are stuck to pay the return shipping if anything is wrong with the tablet once you receive it.

[ck01]

So you dont get hit by duties at customs because the they put value at 30-40$ ? I know there is an exemption for "gifts" under 100$.

Do they mark as "gift" as well ? do you have to speak with them and specify this to get it done ?

Even if they dont put as gift ... paying duties on 40$ is much better than 250$

Can infamouskid confirm this ?


The Onda vi40 seems good but their official site is chinese only though (onda.cn) .... might be tricky finding the right firmware updates on it.

Also i guess you are stuck to pay the return shipping if anything is wrong with the tablet once you receive it.

Further to this, a guy named Francis on Colonel Zap blog does not seem to like his experience with this tablet. He says he has a smoother experience with cheaper, and earlier dual core tablets...