HP Delivers a Big-Name, 7-inch Android Tablet For $100: Comes With Compromises 182
Ars Technica reports that HP is back in the $100 tablet market, and this time with a tablet that's intended to be priced there instead of just a fire sale. The new offering lacks Bluetooth and GPS, among other features you might wish for in a tablet, and the screen is surrounded by a hefty bezel, but manages a pretty good list of features. Ars summarizes: "For $100, you can't expect much of the spec sheet. The HP 7 Plus has a 7-inch 1024x600 IPS display, a 1GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor (made by a company called "Allwinner"), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, 802.11 b/g/n, a microSD slot, and a 2800 mAh battery. The biggest downside HP could have fixed at this price point is the software: it's only running Android 4.2.2. Android versions are free, HP." Having an avaialble microSD slot beats some more expensive options, too.
Never heard of Allwinner!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
The Cubieboard is also a popular RPi alternative with faster CPU (and sweet sweet SATA
In my opinion Allwinner is more credible than HP these days since they actually seem to believe in their own market... whereas HP is practically at the point of execs jumping out of windows (Or the modern equivalent of selling the company out for peanuts).
Is this really news? Got a $99 tablet at Aldi (Score:4, Insightful)
last Christmas.
It's similiarly specced to the HP. Something like this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u... [huffingtonpost.co.uk]
To be honest, it kinda sucks compared to an iPad but makes for good presents. What makes it suck is android more than the hardware, tbh. Android and software bloat by the manufacturer. HP won't be any different going by past computer purchases.
Re:Stop crippling the technology; boycott needed (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Aren't you barking up the wrong tree? This isn't a hobbyist machine - its' a bottom barrel consumer device. The customer that HP (and Allwinner) is going for doesn't know a driver from quantum superposition. It's cheaper to just throw stuff together that works at time of shipping and not worry about what happens next week.
Think one step up from disposable.
Yes, in your Richard Stahlman utopia, we would be able to upgrade these pieces of crap until Unix integer overflow but that's not a realistic commercial solution. Not that these things are, but you're acting as crazy as an HP exec and that is NOT a complement.
made by a company called "Allwinner" (Score:5, Insightful)
Allwinner is the Intel of ARM chip these days, they're a Chinese National ARM chip manufacturer, they produce in volumes that allow them to get the chip in under $7 for the dual core models. The quad core models are pretty competitive as well. They're in pretty much every Hobbyist robotics kit (check out the PC Duino) and are quite reliable, and have been for years... I won't disagree that it's a silly name, but they did win basically the entire (all) of the low end Android market. So it's pretty accurate. Nobody else can compete on price.
Re:No bluetooth? (Score:4, Insightful)
This is not the tablet you are looking for....
This is not for you.
It's a cheap consumer tablet.