When tablets first started to show up in the mainstream, they were pretty expensive to say the least. During the “early days” of Android tablets you were lucky to find anything of reasonable speed and quality under $350.

Fast-forwarding to today? While $150 or less isn’t going to get you an “iPad killer”, there are now tablets in that range that can run most of the basic entertainment, productivity and gaming apps. Most of these can also do things like watch Netflix, Hulu and handle your browsing needs.

One of these low-cost tablets is the latest 7-inch Coby MID7065, which ships with Google Play and all of the Google software preloaded. Generally a tablet that actually includes full access to the 750,000+ apps found on Google Play tends to be a bit pricer– but J&R and Adorama are both offering the MID7065 for an impressively low $139.

What kind of specs does this Coby tablet feature? A 1.2GHz Amlogic AM8726-MX dual core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of Storage, microSD, front VGA cam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mini-HDMI and a 1024 x 600 pixel display. As for the OS, it is Android 4.0 ICS.

The dual-core Amlogic processor isn’t going to blow you away, but overall these are pretty good specs. The only downside seems to be the display, which reportedly has rather poor viewing angles (colors wash out when you move the tablet), but for $139, it’s hard to complain.

Although Coby tablets probably aren’t the brand of choice for those who plan on regularly using their tablets, but they could be perfect if you want a secondary tablet or aren’t too big into the idea of using your tablet daily but still want one around for those occasional uses.

[ source ]

The post Coby MID7065 is a Reasonably Capable Android Dual-Core Tablet for Just $139 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

[CES 2013] Tablets are quickly becoming household staples, with many families easily having at least two such devices per household. Part of this tablet revolution has to do with price-friendly devices like the Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7.

From the sounds of it, 2013 should continue this trend in an even bigger way as prices continue to drop and the age of a sub-$150 tablets from decent brands starts to be ushered in. One of these cheap options for 2013 will be the Iconia B1-A71.

The B1-A71 features a 1.2GHz MediaTek dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM and a 7-inch display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution. Other specs include 8GB of storage, a .3MP front camera and a tiny 11.3mm-thin package that weighs just 11.3 ounces.

Best of all, the pricing is said to be no more than $150.

Based on other rumors and speculation we’ve heard, the price could be as low as $100 in select markets in Asia and Europe, though North American customers can probably expect it to land in the $140-$150 price range.

Let’s be clear, this is no Nexus 7 killer with relatively modest specs. So what is the Acer B1-A71 all about? It’s a tablet at a cheap as hell price that is actually from a reasonably popular brand.

For those that can’t afford a high-end tablet or are looking for a 2nd or 3rd tablet for their families– this could be perfect. What do you think, excited or not?

The post Acer Announces Iconia B1-A71 Tablet, Will Cost Less Than $150 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The rumored specs and release dates of the Apple iPad 3 are definitely going to be a hot topic for the next couple of months. Especially over the next week as Apple fans and perhaps even underground marketing agents persist to steal the spotlight and pull the carpet from all the electronics companies knee deep in sand out in Las Vegas @ CES.

The latest rumor on the much anticipated device has come from iLounge’s Jeremy Horwitz.  This isn’t as much of a real discovery – like the iPhone 5 having a quad-core A6 – but more along the lines of what someone “thinks” could happen.   Horwitz believes that the next iPad will come equipped with better cameras, not much of a shocker there since every Apple device that follows its predecessor has a better camera.

According to Horwitz, who gave life to the new rumors via his Twitter account, the iPad 3 will boast a FaceTime HD camera on the front of the device and its rear camera will be upgraded to either the 8MP cam on the iPhone 4S, or the camera unit in the iPhone 4.

As you might already know, the iPad 3 has been long rumored to be coming with a Retina Display. If Apple decides to stick with the iPad 2′s front camera for the iPad 3, the images would look extremely bad.

But if a combination of an HD FaceTime camera and Retina Display is coming, the new tablet will definitely be a head turner.

Horwitz also claims that the new iPad will be slightly thicker to accommodate new internal parts, but will retain a case design similar to the current iPad. He said: “Curve radiuses on the body will change only a little to accommodate the added thickness, not dramatically. Think iPad 2 Pro, not a redesign”.

But a thicker iPad will be against Apple’s rules. They will always try to go thinner, because that is perceived by the majority as an improvement.

We expect the iPad 3 to be released in March. And as we reported before, Apple could possibly lower the price of the iPad 2 to $399 to fight off lower-priced competing devices such as the Kindle Fire.

The post Today’s iPad 3 Rumors appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Thanks to the runaway success of the original model, called Aakash, a much beefier 7-inch second model of the UbiSlate 7, has now been announced.

The UbiSlate 7 touts the following specs:

• Android 2.3
• 7-inch touchscreen with 800×480 resolution
• Cortex A8 700 MHz Processor
• 3 hours battery life
• Wifi and GPRS
• HD Video playback
• one USB 2.0 port
• 256MB of RAM
• 2GB Internal Storage
• MicroSD slot for memory expansion

While these specifications aren’t exactly what some of us would call impressive, the price point of $57 US dollars certainly is. This model is actually $10 more expensive than the original, but features much improved specifications particularly in processing department (the original had a measly 336MHz Arm11 processor).

The device is expected to hit the markets in India in January, with DataWind planning to produce roughly 1,000 units per day.

The post India’s Second Budget Android Tablet Is Just $57 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

CherryPal released the $188 Android tablet last year. Its design took many queues from the iPad which in my eyes gave it higher expectations. We’ve just been handed some “unconfirmed” details of a new CherryPad Android tablet heading down the pipes in the next couple of weeks.  It’s still a 7-inch slate, but this time around it will have an upgraded 1024×600 capacitive multi-touch display, rather than the low-res 800×480 resistive type of its predecessor. The price is going to be double, in the $300-400 range, with front and back cameras; VGA and 3.0 MP with AF lens and LED flash.

In terms of processing power, the previous 800Mhz chip has been upgraded to a 1 GHz Cortex A8 cpu.  For memory and storage, 512MB DDR and 8GB to 16GB of onboard flash expandable to 32GB with MicroSD.  Power is by way of a 4200mAh, 3.7V battery.   GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, MicroSD expansion slot, HDMI,  with an unlocked GSM antenna for when WiFi is out of range are to be included.  It will even have an accelerometer and light sensor.  It will ship with Android 2.2 at a minimum.  None of this is final or confirmed yet, so stay tuned for the official announcement in the coming weeks ahead.

Update: This model will most likely be plastic backed, not aluminum.

[CherryPal]

The post Exclusive: Next CherryPad 7-inch Android tablet will have GSM, capacitive touch, under $400 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.