back to article China gets 64 quid Android 4.0 tablet

It's not politically correct to snigger at foreign folks' names, but we're not sure how well the Ainol tablet will play with Westerners - even if it does cost as little as $100 (£64) and come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Ainol's 7in offering is being touted by chip maker MIPS, which built the 1GHz processor the cut- …

COMMENTS

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  1. Pete 2 Silver badge

    alibaba and friends

    People who frequent the chinese online bazaars and exporters will have seen many instances of Android tablets available to UK buyers for < 100 USD (plus whatever VAT/import duty you get dinged with)

    Just how you'd deal with a warranty claim could be a show-stopper and they don't seem to be A4, but you can definitely get 'em shipped here for not very much, if low prices are your biggest motivation.

    1. Anonymous John

      For £64, I wouldn't be bothered about a warranty As long as it worked out of the box, that is.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Anyone who wants Ainol should be satisfied that it comes in a box.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't care if it's called "Naughty Bum Sex Tablet Just for Weirdo's", you can't beat a £64 tablet can you!

    1. Danny 14
      Stop

      um

      well you can if its shite. Asda were flogging £79 tablets and they were piss poor.

  3. Naich
    Thumb Up

    Can I be the first

    Can I be the first to say that I will happily do ainol for 64 quid.

  4. Kingprawn
    Paris Hilton

    It's got to be done...

    Paris: Because she'd likes a nice 7" Aionl

  5. tmTM

    Proof is in the pudding.

    or sandwich as it may be.

    The internet is littered with sub £100 7" tablets, on the whole they are ARMv6 chipsets with resistive screens.

    In a word rubbish.

    The information on this tablet is alittle thin in this article, no way of knowing if its worth the hype or just another one to ignore.

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge

      Well the review did say

      it was a *capacitive* screen ...

    2. Boothy

      Capacitive not resitive.

      Assuming this is the NOVO7, which it does look like it is, then it's a capacitive screen.

      Although as a single core CPU, it's not going to be very powerful. This is going to be a light use device, not in the same league as the Tegra 2, 3 etc devices.

      But for the cost, it's what I'd expect.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      says it's a capacitive screen, could have an almost iPad killer if it were not for the CPU.

    4. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      As the Chinese have long proven, one man's rubbish is another man's highly desirable commodity. Those sub-£100 tablets are perfect for cheap and cheerful uses. Nout wrong with a resistive screen either. A tablet like this makes a very good, inexpensive browser, ebook reader and media player, and you can use it with your gloves on in cold weather too.

      That said, I'm writing this on a tf101, so...

    5. Patrick 14

      I find this very funny. You will find out if you visit the Website mipsdotcom its made by a real company and mips is a very old cpu type that was big back in the day with pocket pc's

      Just because you are the type pf person that does not know what you are buying and from the sounds of it you might have been stung in the past, get over yourself.

      Things come down in price, did you kow the dual core cpu in the Kindle fire only costs $14 . The screen is only around

      it Company like Apple that have over priced goods cause they look good and the iSheep just buy them.

  6. b166er
    Coat

    I'd consider it, but I don't want to get shafted...

  7. Tim Parker

    @tmTM

    "The information on this tablet is alittle thin in this article, no way of knowing if its worth the hype or just another one to ignore."

    Well there is one of those clever hyper-link fellas in the article - that gives a bit more information, worth clicking those sometimes... and the screen and CPU type are mentioned in the article so you have some of the answers there as well.

    If those are a tad tricky to navigate, you could have a look at those

    http://www.itworld.com/230459/tablet-priced-under-100-android-40-surfaces

    http://mips.com/news-events/newsroom/newsindex/index.dot?id=53265

    http://en.ingenic.cn/product.aspx?ID=78

    Of course it could still run like a pig, have the viewing angles of a drain-pipe and the touch sensitivity of a breeze block - but a gambling man might have a punt on it not being a total lemon should the specs be accurate.

    1. tmTM

      I can't remember

      Stating it will have a resistive screen and rubbish processor, I do remember commenting similar tablets do.

      In fact all I did was comment on the lack of information contained within the article, for example they make thier own chip, is it a worthy competitor to similar single core 1Ghz chips, or a complete load of rubbish?

      The price seems attractive, is that the sale price in native China or will that be the price punters in Blighty will pay??

      1. Tim Parker

        "I can't remember ..

        Stating it will have a resistive screen and rubbish processor, I do remember commenting similar tablets do."

        No indeed, and I didn't say you did. I said the that the knowledge of the CPU and screen types might help answer some of your questions, e.g. is it worth considering.

        "In fact all I did was comment on the lack of information contained within the article, "

        It is light, agreed, but there was a link that gave more information - and a large number of reports on this on the internet as a whole. Your comment gave the impression, to me at least, that you couldn't be bothered looking - fair enough if you're not interested in it, but then to ponder whether it's worth considering without looking comes across as a bit contrary, does it not ?

        "for example they make thier own chip, is it a worthy competitor to similar single core 1Ghz chips, or a complete load of rubbish?"

        Some of that is covered in the link from the article (and subsequent links) - some from the links I added. General considerations about MIPs core performance are easy to find, and there seems to be hardware decode for some stuff (according to the articles and links). As to whether it's actually any good in the real world.. well, I don't know - hence my last comment.

      2. Tim Parker

        @tmTM

        "I can't remember ..

        Stating it will have a resistive screen and rubbish processor, I do remember commenting similar tablets do."

        My previous reply to this seems to have disappeared into the aether (again), but in very brief summary - I very deliberately didn't say you did state that, just that the article and the link in it, had info in there that would help with your question "is it worthwhile considering". Other info was in the links I gave or at large on the internet.

        As to whether it's any good in real life - I honestly don't know, hence the last comment.

        I wish El Reg would stop swallowing posts, it's getting more and more common...

    2. Al Jones

      The fact that MIPS are not just providing the hardware, but are associating themselves with it would also suggest that it might not be a total lemon. At least you won't expect them to be actively promoting their association with it if peoples first impression when picking it us was "what a piece of crap".

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I went Ainol

    Just ordered the higher specced, (ARM based, ie. not ICS ready yet) version of this tablet at a UK retailer this morning with free shipping.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Uh

    Link says it's called the Novo7, made by a company called Ainovo ...

    Sure someone's not pulling your leg El Reg?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    omg , omfg good one.

  11. Alan 6

    Is the CPU in the picture to scale? If so there's not a lot of room left inside for the rest of the bits.

    By the way, do you take the tablet after the Ainol to ease the pain? If so, I've got a mate who'll sell you some Boy Butter that does wonders for that sort of activity...

  12. Homer 1
    Joke

    Does this Ainol tablet...

    ...have its own apps suppository?

  13. TeeCee Gold badge
    Headmaster

    "Ainol tablet"

    Unnecessarily wordy there. "Suppository" would have done......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You can take your pedantry and shove it...

      Do I really need to say where?

  14. fishman

    Trickle down

    Its all a matter of time before high resolution "retina" screens will be cheap as chips, dual core 2Ghz processors are just pennies, etc. At some point they will be good enough for the majority of consumers.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mine's an Ai....

    No, sorry: I just could not bring myself to say it.

    Mind you... I wondered why a new colleague was laughing hysterically at my directory listing of analysis files: anal01, anal02, anal03... Nope. Honest! It /really/ had never occurred to me to pronounce it /that/ way!

  16. chipxtreme
    Thumb Up

    I have zero interest in a fondleslab

    But at £64 i'd take the plunge and wouldn't care after i'm bored with it and it goes in the drawer collecting dust like every person i know who has an ipad.

  17. Ralph B
    Thumb Up

    They'll make piles with this product

    Geeks of a certain age might find Ice Cream Sandwich quite soothing for their Ainol problems.

  18. Mediocrates
    Gimp

    What will we call the Fanbois?!

    Ainol Retentives?

  19. This post has been deleted by its author

  20. uhuznaa

    800x480 pixels

    Really, this is smartphone resolution, just on a larger screen. You won't be able to do anything on that thing you couldn't do with your smartphone anyway.

    1. Tim Parker

      @uhuznaa

      "800x480 pixels

      Really, this is smartphone resolution, "

      It is a bloody high smartphone resolution currently...

      "just on a larger screen."

      ..and... isn't that good ? My old 14" and 15" goldfish bowl CRTs ran 800x600 and looked fine. Which screen would you rather play a game on - this, or a 3"-5" one on a smartphone ?

      "You won't be able to do anything on that thing you couldn't do with your smartphone anyway."

      'phones with 1080p hardware decode and HDMI out aren't exactly common - and I certainly don't know of any that even remotely match the spec of this (even ignoring the very obvious screen size difference) available for anywhere near the anticipated price point.

      This thing is not a phone although, with 3G, it could probably be used as one (albeit a somewhat large one).

      So - your point would be ?

  21. Arnold Lieberman

    As an owner of a Novo 8

    I'm pleased to say that the brand name does not appear on the casing.

    1. Tim Parker

      @Arnold Lieberman

      "As an owner of a Novo 8"

      ..any thoughts on it ?

  22. ThomH

    How prevalent is NDK software?

    I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that a reasonable proportion of big name Android games are built with the native development kit for the simple reason that they can reuse C and C++ stuff that can also be used to target iOS, Windows, consoles, etc. And such titles are going to be built for ARM, which means they won't run on MIPS devices.

    With that in mind, surely a tablet like this is headed for some vocal consumer disappointment? It should be the app writers' problem because they'll have chosen not to use the normal Dalvik route and hence to provide processor neutral applications, but I'm not sure that subtlety is going to get across.

    Even without knowing their UK price, I still think the Kindle is going to be the big thing.

  23. Vitani

    Hmmm, what a tempting piece of in-car entertainment kit...

  24. Toastan Buttar
    Paris Hilton

    Ainol Ice Cream Sandwich?

    Two girls one tablet.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ainol

    Wouldn't the usual rules for Romanisation of Chinese mean that it's pronounced Aye-nol?

  26. David Lawrence
    Thumb Up

    Very tempting!

    I agree with Vitani - at that price it could be a very nifty in-car entertainment device, or an in-home glorified remote control for my extensive music collection held on a small low-power computer which is connected to the Hi-Fi..... ah just think of the possibilities!

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