$100 tablets

[pfarber]

I really have no need for a tablet. And I certainly have absolutely no need for an $800 i-whatever. But the $100 tablet space is pretty diverse and lots to chose from... so I pulled the trigger on a PD20 7 inch tablet from Amazon - $114.

There were cheaper ones, but I wanted built in GPS... few have that option.. but the PD20 did. There are other versions of the PD line that have 3/4G and SIM support.. but I don't want a data plan or a 7 inch phone.

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the PD20. It runs Android 4 and has most of the bells and whistles: wifi, 8GB storage, 1GB ram, HDMI out, FM transmitter, cameras (low end not good for much more than videoconferencing... not sure how often I will do that) and GPS. The Google Apps marketplace runs fine and all the built in apps are good enough. Yes, I tried angry birds and it worked fine.

The one thing that really pisses me off is that while the app market is full of free apps, the advertising is god-damn-rediculious. So I am fiddling with Angry Birds... and after EACH LEVEL I get a commercial.. not a splash screen... but an all out t.v. quality commercial (over wifi). First for car insurance, then for toothpaste.. it never got to a third level as I removed the app. FUCK THAT. Yes most apps are less than a few $$$... but I'm not ready to build up a cache of $50-75 worth of apps on a $100 tablet. There might be some 'must have' apps that I will run across... but other than maps for the GPS I can't see what they are.

I live in a small town so I have no need for bus schedules, or traffic updates, there is little in the way of entertainment so apps that find the best nightspot, or dinner are useless unless they have a local franchise... doubtful. There is no VPN client for my work (unlike my company laptop) so that's out.

The only real things I can think of doing with the tablet is streaming video/music but I have to have wifi to do that... plus why would I use a 7 inch tablet with shit for speakers when I have a nice 46inch t.v. and Bose stereo system for that... not to mention a nice couch in the perfect spot (insert Sheldon Cooper 'my seat' diatribe here).

What the heck do people do with these things??