# cheap tablet for the teen son.



## TLM (Apr 8, 2010)

My son wanted a cheap tablet (under $100) like his cousin had.  I got it for his birthday in Sept.  He had it for exactly 2 weeks and it died.  Cousins is still working after several months.  I returned it to Amazon and we got a Pandigital for $85 as a replacement.  Well, it isn't what we expected.  He want to download apps and play games, ie. Angry Birds, etc.  It has a preloaded app site, but doesn't have any really good games.  We can download Amazon App store, but not the apps themselves.

My question is this:  is this the norm for this tablet or are we just confused and not able to figure it out.  At this point I am ready to return it and order a Fire for the kid and tell him it is birthday and part of Christmas (but not make him wait for Christmas to open). 

If he was a normal teen I would just get him a smart phone.  But, we don't make many calls and another $35 a month for another phone just so he can play games?  Not cost effetive.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Kobo also recently announced the Vox. . . . but the price is about the same as the Fire and I'd say Amazon's excellent customer service is a huge plus.  

But the Vox will be able to use the full Android Marketplace as well as Amazon's App store.  Some see that as a plus.  

I don't know anything about PanDigital but just based on pricing I can't find myself too surprised it's not quite what he wanted.  Which was the one that died?


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## kay_dee (May 24, 2009)

You have to be careful with lower end tablets because they often don't connect to the android app store. You may want to consider getting him an iPod touch. You can get great apps, watch videos, etc., and all without a data plan.


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## TLM (Apr 8, 2010)

I don't remember the name of the first tablet.  I got on Amazon for under $100.

An i-touch might be the thing.  He is over it now after 2 haven't worked out.  Poor kid.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Kobo also recently announced the Vox. . . . but the price is about the same as the Fire and I'd say Amazon's excellent customer service is a huge plus.
> 
> But the Vox will be able to use the full Android Marketplace as well as Amazon's App store. Some see that as a plus.
> 
> I don't know anything about PanDigital but just based on pricing I can't find myself too surprised it's not quite what he wanted. Which was the one that died?


From what I've read on mobileread the Vox won't have the full Android Marketplace, it'll be connected to Getjar, which has fewer apps.

It's going to be tough to find a tablet under $100 that'll do what you're (not Ann, but TLM) talking about. But you can get a refurbished Nook Color for $150, with a full 1 year warranty (not as good CS as Amazon though) and buy a N2A (Nook to Android) SD card for $35 and run it as an Android tablet. Access to both Android Marketplace and to Amazon's Appstore for Android. It has a really nice 7" screen, aside from its being a fingerprint magnet. Or you could get a $199 Fire and have Amazon's customer service to back it up, but have limited storage space and (probably) be restricted to Amazon's appstore.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

You don't always get what you pay for, but you almost never get more than you pay for.  Low-price Android tablets are treacherous.  For less expensive Android tablets, the ones I'd recommend would either be a Nook Color (as Ann mentioned), a Kindle Fire (which has the good points and bad points of being married to Amazon) or possibly a Dell Streak 7, which has by far the most computing power, but has a mediocre screen and probably isn't going to be supported by Dell for long (of course, the original Nook Color probably won't get much more support from B&N either).  All are a lot more than $100, alas.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> You don't always get what you pay for, but you almost never get more than you pay for. Low-price Android tablets are treacherous. For less expensive Android tablets, the ones I'd recommend would either be a Nook Color (as Ann mentioned), a Kindle Fire (which has the good points and bad points of being married to Amazon) or possibly a Dell Streak 7, which has by far the most computing power, but has a mediocre screen and probably isn't going to be supported by Dell for long (of course, the original Nook Color probably won't get much more support from B&N either). All are a lot more than $100, alas.


Well, like I said, the refurbished Nook Color is only $150 - you can either buy a card to make a DIY SD card to root it to use as an Android tablet, or you can buy the N2A SD card for about $35. Still brings it to $185...


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## TLM (Apr 8, 2010)

He decided he wants an i-Touch.  I believe if he has access to wi-fi he can text or even make calls from an app.  At least that is what someone at work mentioned once.  And even if he can't, not a big deal, he doesn't need to call or text, we have a house phone for him to use. 

So, I guess I am boxing and returning once again.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

TLM said:


> He decided he wants an i-Touch. I believe if he has access to wi-fi he can text or even make calls from an app. At least that is what someone at work mentioned once. And even if he can't, not a big deal, he doesn't need to call or text, we have a house phone for him to use.
> 
> So, I guess I am boxing and returning once again.


That's just what I was going to recommend. It's a great choice! The google voice app is what my kids use for texting and calls via the iTouch, as well as Skype.


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## kwajkat (Nov 6, 2008)

It is more than $100 but you might look at the new Samsung Galaxy Player. It does run $224 for the 4inch model and 269 for the 5 inch one. They both run on android gingerbread has 8GB on board plus slot for up to 32GB micro sd card. After looking at the Fire etc, I got the 5.0 player and it is great size alternative tablet. It is the same as the Galaxy S phone just without the phone part. It has a larger screen and is perfect for movies, music and especially reading.


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## TLM (Apr 8, 2010)

Went to get the i-Touch at BB this morning.  (they were giving a $30 BB card with purchase)  Saw the Samsung Galaxy.  After getting a few questions answered, I got the 4.0 instead of the apple.  They were both $199. (no gift card with the Samsung though  )  Hopefully the son will like it.  I guess I can return if he doesn't, again.  But he loves my Droid so there shouldn't be a problem.  And he can access all my already downloaded apps from the Amazon app store.


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