Help - Looking for a cheap tablet...

I love my Nexus 7. The 7 inchers start at $199 (US) for 16gb.
There is a 10 inch version of the Nexus but those start at $299.

Only thing is it only has a front facing camera- no camera on the back. I read that the 2nd gen Nexus, which might be out soon, will have a front facing camera though.

Interesting. I don't know if I would pay £160 for a 7 inch without front facing though. A nexus appears to be a clear favourite. The only reason I wanted a 10" is because my mum might use it and find it easier and she might want to add a keyboard too.

I still don't know if going for a big brand is necessary - if I did go for 7" the Acer Iconia looks nice and I love my Acer laptop. But is it good...

you're from the UK. are you considering getting a new phone as well? if so, maybe it would be cheaper to get a phone with a (free) tablet? Carphone Warehouse has those offers on a pay monthly basis, and one of the tablet options is Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 which is really good I think. (http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/special-offers/categories/free-gifts)

if you're not into that, well I think most people are gonna recommend you to get the more renowned brands. Google Nexus is one of the best budget tablets, but it's still quite expensive if you want something in the range of £150s. but I'd say if you want a budget tablet and don't wanna spend the money, then go for it.

my advice, albeit I'm not an expert so anyone correct me if I'm wrong:
- the processor should be at least 1Ghz
- RAM should be at least 1GB (the first two are so that you can afford to play 'heavy' games such as TSTO with good experience)
- the storage capacity: if possible 16 GB. why? because that isn't actual memory you can use, as some of it is filled by must-have-data for the android OS to run. so if you're getting an 8GB, you only have about 4GB for use. FYI apps are automatically stored in the device memory, and can't be changed unless you use some third party app to move it to the SD card. but it's a bit risky in my opinion although my sister's phone has done that just fine. so it's up to you. if you're getting the 8GB you'll have to get an SD card and do some techy stuff in order to make it work if you're gonna have a lot of apps. otherwise you'll be fine and life would be much easier. if you know you're defs gonna get a lot of apps then I'd go for the 16GB.

those are the three things that I always look for. I personally don't really care about screen resolution/quality but if that's important for you then you should also pay attention to that. lastly is the battery life, if you're gonna play games a lot then you should look for one with not-so-crappy battery.

and the most important thing before you decide: read reviews. read the reviews at TechRadar and CNET at least, those are the ones I trust&like because they always put the positive points and the negative points about the device on top, so I know if the negs are stuff that are important for me, I'd decide against it.

one last thing: are you gonna use your tab a lot, or are you gonna use mainly your phone? if you know you're gonna use it a lot then I'd invest at least 100£ more in it. when I bought my tablet I didn't know I'd use it so much that I kinda don't really use my phone anymore (I just use it for texts and calls) but well it depends on the person right? but I'm glad I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7") instead of the budget choice I had before (forgot what device I was considering back then) because it's really fast and all that.

I hope that helps you narrow down your choices! I'm no expert though, so if anyone would give a better advice then please go ahead!

SimonLYW wrote:

mmmmdonuts0 wrote:
I've been trying to research decent cheap tablets since I'm very good at destroying electical devices but now I've just confused myself so I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what I should buy?

I want an android - TSTO is a must and I asume Jelly bean and Sandwich both can run it?
I don't want to spend over £150 which probably means I'm asking for the world since I also want a 10".
I'm in the UK so would like BBC iPlayer (don't need Netflix) and youtube, 2 cameras for Skype, did I mention TSTO? Otherwise it would be mainly for interneting.

I've found some on Amazon UK:
NATPC X210 Bluetooth Dual Core 10.1 ANDROID Tablet
neoCore 10.1" 16GB CPU 1.5 GHz+GPU 400MHz 1GB RAM
Archos 80 Titanium 8 inch Tablet (ARM Cortex A9 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 8GB Memory, WiFi, 2x Camera, Android 4.1)
Sumvision Cyclone Voyager 10.1 inch Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Tablet

Also Currys:
VERSUS Touchtab 8 Dual Core 8" Tablet - 16 GB
ARCHOS 101 Titanium 10.1" Tablet - 8 GB

What do people think? Or should I end up getting a more reliable 7"? You guys always know stuff :mrgreen:

For that sort of price range, you're not going to get a great experience regardless of which one you choose. I'd agree with liketoannoyyou and just pick up a Nexus 7. They're the best budget option imo.

Love your avatar simon, +1 :thumbup:

mmmmdonuts0 wrote:
Interesting. I don't know if I would pay £160 for a 7 inch without front facing though. A nexus appears to be a clear favourite. The only reason I wanted a 10" is because my mum might use it and find it easier and she might want to add a keyboard too.

I still don't know if going for a big brand is necessary - if I did go for 7" the Acer Iconia looks nice and I love my Acer laptop. But is it good...

You mis-read it only has a front facing camera...... :mrgreen:

dessskris wrote:
you're from the UK. are you considering getting a new phone as well? if so, maybe it would be cheaper to get a phone with a (free) tablet? Carphone Warehouse has those offers on a pay monthly basis, and one of the tablet options is Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 which is really good I think. (http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/special-offers/categories/free-gifts)

if you're not into that, well I think most people are gonna recommend you to get the more renowned brands. Google Nexus is one of the best budget tablets, but it's still quite expensive if you want something in the range of £150s. but I'd say if you want a budget tablet and don't wanna spend the money, then go for it.

my advice, albeit I'm not an expert so anyone correct me if I'm wrong:
- the processor should be at least 1Ghz
- RAM should be at least 1GB (the first two are so that you can afford to play 'heavy' games such as TSTO with good experience)
- the storage capacity: if possible 16 GB. why? because that isn't actual memory you can use, as some of it is filled by must-have-data for the android OS to run. so if you're getting an 8GB, you only have about 4GB for use. FYI apps are automatically stored in the device memory, and can't be changed unless you use some third party app to move it to the SD card. but it's a bit risky in my opinion although my sister's phone has done that just fine. so it's up to you. if you're getting the 8GB you'll have to get an SD card and do some techy stuff in order to make it work if you're gonna have a lot of apps. otherwise you'll be fine and life would be much easier. if you know you're defs gonna get a lot of apps then I'd go for the 16GB.

those are the three things that I always look for. I personally don't really care about screen resolution/quality but if that's important for you then you should also pay attention to that. lastly is the battery life, if you're gonna play games a lot then you should look for one with not-so-crappy battery.

and the most important thing before you decide: read reviews. read the reviews at TechRadar and CNET at least, those are the ones I trust&like because they always put the positive points and the negative points about the device on top, so I know if the negs are stuff that are important for me, I'd decide against it.

one last thing: are you gonna use your tab a lot, or are you gonna use mainly your phone? if you know you're gonna use it a lot then I'd invest at least 100£ more in it. when I bought my tablet I didn't know I'd use it so much that I kinda don't really use my phone anymore (I just use it for texts and calls) but well it depends on the person right? but I'm glad I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7") instead of the budget choice I had before (forgot what device I was considering back then) because it's really fast and all that.

I hope that helps you narrow down your choices! I'm no expert though, so if anyone would give a better advice then please go ahead!

The problem with these deals is that on most of them they still earn there money back for example if it was a £120 tablet and a 24 month contract for the phone. They would just +on another £5 a month, therefore you are gaining nothing. A lot of companies use this tactic to entise you to buy a phone. Don't just buy a phone for the sake of it when you could buy a seperate tablet

I'm in the US, and recently picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7". It's not as nice as my iPad ; but it only cost $50 off Craigslist.

A new 10.3 would run somewhere around $200 here, which is close to what you want to spend.

Note: My complaints about it stem more from IOS just being more user friendly, and not functionality of the device.

And TSTO does run on it.

dessskris wrote:
I hope that helps you narrow down your choices!

Thanks for that - I was actually thinking I don't need 16GB, what would I do with it etc etc, and completely forgot app size!! Will definitly keep what you said in mind! I don't need a new phone at the moment so that idea is out but I didn't know they did that. I probably will splash out on an Nexus or Samsung it's just you read so many reviews that say there is no point in spending big money and that cheap was not necessarily bad so was wondering people here thought since we are on our tablets/phones a lot obviously!! :lol:

Kicksplode wrote:
Have you looked at the Nook HD?

I just looked at that and since you can put Jellybean on it it is very tempting. The screen sounds amazing.

iliketoannoyyou wrote:
You mis-read it only has a front facing camera...... :mrgreen:

This is exactly why I need help!! :oops: :lol:

Thanks for everyone's imput so far....still haven't decided what to do...so keep the advice coming. :D