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MoDaCo Recommends... Best Sub £200 Tablet - The Results...
Mar 26 2012 11:00 AM |
Mark Dearlove
in Android
The votes are in and the count is complete, and the old workhorse has come out on top. Congratulations to the Advent Vega, which garnered 50% of the votes in the poll. Surprisingly, given its age, the Vega is still thought of most highly amongst our community. It has been given a new lease of life with first the VegaComb and now the VegaICS ROMs. The young pretenders have failed to impress the Modders and Rooters with only the Archos G9 80 Turbo getting anywhere near the Vega's remarkable 50% of the vote. The Archos G9, with 20%, and the Ainol Novo 7, with 12% were the only tablets other than the Vega to get into double figures.
The biggest issue facing those looking to purchase a Vega is the lack of availability - they are pretty much only available second hand or refurbed on ebay and similar sites. They seem to have help onto their value pretty well as they are still selling at over £100.
All of this makes the Archos our number one recommendation for those buyers looking to purchase a brand new model. The cheapest on the internet today is around £160 if you look hard enough. If you prefer to buy from the bigger retailers then Amazon are currently selling for £190. It has a smaller 8" screen, where the Vega has a 10.1" and a rather smart 3G option. The Archos G9 now has ICS available as an update from the manufacturer.
Rounding out the top 3 is the Ainol Novo 7 Aurora, a 7" tablet that comes with ICS out of the box, and costs around £140.
It is pretty a disappointing position we are currently in with the sub £200 tablet category if the best we can recommend is a tablet that isn't produced anymore, followed by one that doesn't get the best of reviews. Hopefully we will see a big change in the coming months if we see either the rumoured 'Google Nexus' tablet, or the Asus MeMo tablet range.
Personally I would suggest waiting until we have something concrete regarding these tablets, or go and take a look at the Blackberry Playbook. Although it is not an Android tablet, it can run Android apps, has an excellent screen, and currently is available for around £170.
The biggest issue facing those looking to purchase a Vega is the lack of availability - they are pretty much only available second hand or refurbed on ebay and similar sites. They seem to have help onto their value pretty well as they are still selling at over £100.
All of this makes the Archos our number one recommendation for those buyers looking to purchase a brand new model. The cheapest on the internet today is around £160 if you look hard enough. If you prefer to buy from the bigger retailers then Amazon are currently selling for £190. It has a smaller 8" screen, where the Vega has a 10.1" and a rather smart 3G option. The Archos G9 now has ICS available as an update from the manufacturer.
Rounding out the top 3 is the Ainol Novo 7 Aurora, a 7" tablet that comes with ICS out of the box, and costs around £140.
It is pretty a disappointing position we are currently in with the sub £200 tablet category if the best we can recommend is a tablet that isn't produced anymore, followed by one that doesn't get the best of reviews. Hopefully we will see a big change in the coming months if we see either the rumoured 'Google Nexus' tablet, or the Asus MeMo tablet range.
Personally I would suggest waiting until we have something concrete regarding these tablets, or go and take a look at the Blackberry Playbook. Although it is not an Android tablet, it can run Android apps, has an excellent screen, and currently is available for around £170.
About the author
6 Comments
The Alpha Gamer
Mar 26 2012 02:21 PM
Didn't one of the Nexus Tablet rumours say Asus are making it and have scrapped the MeMo tablet to make the Nexus instead?
Mark Dearlove
Mar 26 2012 02:45 PM
JMS74
Mar 29 2012 09:08 PM
ChrisIan
Jun 27 2012 03:37 PM
Android for me is the way forward, ios will soon be left behind to rot!!!
jimac
Jul 13 2012 11:59 AM
I have been buying lots of kit recently, as we decided to ditch the laptops and several desktops in the home and garage and have a NAS, a domain server and some tablets.
Today I recieved my Nexus 7!!!!!!!
It's lovely, need to have a wifi connection to setup (so I turned my phone into a hotspot to set it up.)
I have been playing with it for a few hours and am fairly impressed with it, mostly the feel of the back cover.
However, I don't think it's the *best* tablet under £200.
I also ordered a pair of Ainol Novo 7 Aurora 2 tablets (£100 each inc delivery) which arrived on the 7th July.
After rooting with the johim patch (makes the device represent as something else, so you have full Google Play access) and using titanium backup to remove the chinese apps, I think it is significantly better value.
I have them side-by-side right now and the only things I can say I prefer about the Nexus is having bluetooth (I use an MW600 headset a fair bit for listening to music) and the textured back panel (the ainol is a bit shiny). Build quality feels similarly high on both.
The Advent Vega? For a 10.1" tablet, you are better off with a Cube U30GT
** update **
actually, the Nexus is annoying me a bit.....
landscape would be nice!!!!! and although Jelly Bean seems smoother in the menus, I'm not keen on the phone-style app dock and pull-down (I have only just got used to the repositioned buttons in tablet ICS)
I will be rooting this ASAP!
masterpfa
Jul 16 2012 09:54 AM
jimac, on 13 July 2012 - 11:59 AM, said:
actually, the Nexus is annoying me a bit.....
landscape would be nice!!!!! and although Jelly Bean seems smoother in the menus, I'm not keen on the phone-style app dock and pull-down (I have only just got used to the repositioned buttons in tablet ICS)
I will be rooting this ASAP!
I think I would prefer a Tablet UI when in landscape, so something likewise I think I will be looking for an alternative launcher and or rooting to enable a tablet view.
Obviously I need to get it first