back to article Dixons touts tablets

First Next, now Dixons. The retaill group's PC World and Currys stores will next month begin selling - yes, you've guessed it - an own-brand 7in Android tablet for the low, low price of £130. Not as cheap as the £85 job Morgan Computers is offering, but less than the £180 Next wants for its 10in tablet. Dixons Advent Vega …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why don't they make netbooks like this?

    This is what they should have been, ARM-based and cheap. having broke the screen on my aspire one, i'd lap something like this up if it had a keyboard (i type quite a bit, and jabbing at a screen doesn't seem much cop), as it stands i'll probably just replace the screen, and suffer it's crap battery life.

    1. Nexox Enigma

      Easy question

      """Why don't they make netbooks like this?""" / """This is what they should have been, ARM-based and cheap."""

      Netbooks were probably headed in this direction, but then MS got all huffy about netbooks, and the entire thing got ruined before it had a real chance to get started, since they all had to have enough hardware to run Windows all of a sudden. Kind of rules out ARM and a whole lot of other hardware, plus it increases the price quite a lot.

      So, as it typically goes, a huge corporation ruined any chance of a good product. And this time they some how managed to hand the entire market to Apple, which I can hardly imagine was their goal...

    2. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Thumb Up

      "Why don't they make netbooks like this? "

      ^ This

      By the way, AC, why don't you go get a new netbook? Unless you have a good warranty on that screen, you may be better off getting a better (albeit intel) netbook for perhaps little more than the cost of replacing your screen.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now that's about the right price point

    I've always said that the iPad is a great £300 gadget but sadly costs double that. The 10" Android 2.2 for £250 could well be a winner though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Erm...

      £429 != 2 x £300. £429, because that is the nearest equivalent iPad. I must admit the price pint is about there, but I'd never consider buying any DSG own brand product. Bad quality matched with an ever worse customer service.

      1. LuMan
        Thumb Down

        @AnotherNetNarcissist

        Got to say I agree on the DSG point. Even when I worked for them they thought less of me than the plastic bags they gave their products away in. Since working for them I used them about half a dozen times and was constantly let down. Despite the product looking a decent option I'll wait until a reputable dealer with a touch more appreciation of their customers starts stocking them.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Maths...

        Well it's quite clear either 2 of you aren't very good at maths, or you are fans of DSG. I cannot for the life of me believe the latter. Or are upset because I mention the iPad? Dear me...

  3. Dante Alighieri
    Headmaster

    GPS or it's no use

    can we know if there is GPS on board so it can navigate - a deal breaker for me, and many others I suspect

    1. John H Woods Silver badge
      Happy

      less use, maybe ...

      ... no use is a bit strong. You could always connect it to a bluetooth or USB GPS receiver. I got a bluetooth GPS from Morgan Computers for under a tenner, it works well with my ASUS eeePC and googlemaps.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      10'' on your dashboard....

      a 10'' screen for navigation..... uhmmm.... are you driving a space shuttle or a car? If it's a car then I suggest a smaller screen and a pair of glasses.

    3. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD

      GPS

      LOL

      HInt:

      those tiny Garmin/TomTom satnav devices they sell that sit unobtrusively above the dash? That's the way to go. On android anyways in my locale, if I used my phone as a car satnav system, it'll run up $$$ in costs, for one. I would think a screen as large as 10 inches to be unnecessary and plain cumbersome, to be honest.

  4. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Happy

    It's getting there

    But still a long way to go on pricing for what is in essence a digital picture frame with some higher-tech innards. In fact, when some Chinese manufacturer decides to use Android as the heart of its digital picture frame and that 'reference design' gets wide-spread cloning is when I expect to see prices tumble.

    That's also an obstacle for Android tablet uptake; people know the prices will drop, so I expect many (especially techies) are holding off for now. Plus waiting for the latest Android version as it's far from clear how upgradeable or hackable any tablet is with Android still not fully evolved yet.

    Chinese manufacturers seem more interested in mass-market and income rather than lock-down and DRM so the future could be promising for the best Android platform. Fingers crossed.

  5. Dan Price
    WTF?

    7 != 10

    Isn't the Next tablet 10", not 7 as mentioned in this article?

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: 7 != 10

      Well spotted.

  6. Valerion

    Screen?

    Resistive or Capacitive?

    I want an iPad but a cheap 10" Android with a decent touch-screen might sway me.

  7. PaulR79

    Capacitive or resistive?

    For that price if it's capacitive then it will likely sell quite a lot but I'm not expecting it unless it's a horrible plastic screen.

  8. Tony Paulazzo
    Thumb Down

    Battery life is important for sofa surfers

    Having bought a Chinese knockoff (resistive screen, 5 hours battery with wifi off, android 1.6 with no market), I want a tablet with 10+ hours, capacitive screen, instant on and decent speed - I mean, for fsck sake, Apple showed 'em how to make one (that's selling like hotcakes apparently) and, even tho' I dislike the Apple ethos and hate iTunes, I'm kind'a beginning to think about getting an iPad (maybe I could jailbreak it and thus maintain my philosophical anarchist bent).

    After all, the best up and coming iPad beater, Samsung tab, offers maybe 7 hours (unproven) on time - (Froyo doesn't have a proper sleep command does it?), it doesn't specify how long bootup takes, and remains suspiciously quiet on price. The screen looks nice but apparently isn't as good as the iPads, and you get no android marketplace.

    7 inch vs 10: personal preference, but after experiencing capacitive, it's so hard to go back to resistive, esp. when it doesn't offer anything better (like text recognition). I've been waiting for an iPad beater to turn up, but so far nothing...

  9. Gordon861

    Getting There

    I know a few people that have been eyeing the iPad and/or an eBook reader, and keep telling them not to buy anything yet as there is so much stuff coming onto the market in the next month or so.

    So far from what I've seen the Archos 70 Internet Tablet looks to be the best hope for price/performance/abilities http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_70it/specs.html

    Capacitive Screen - yes

    Recent OS - yes (Android 2.2)

    Fast CPU - yes (1 GHz)

    Good Storage - yes (8GB flash or 250GB HD), also micro SD slot

    WiFi & Bluetooth - yes

    Battery - 10 hrs surfing (will probably be 7 in truth though)

    Also has built in webcam.

    Just need to see what their service will be like and actually get hands on time messing with one now.

    1. aThingOrTwo
      Stop

      Software?

      One thing you have missed off your list - software designed for the form factor.

      2.2 doesn't fit the bill, Google have said as much themselves.

  10. Peter X

    Rory Cellan-Jones wasn't impressed with the Next tablet!

    See here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11475015

    So I'd be kind of wary of the Dixon one for the same reason, although they've got more to loose trying to punt a duff product.

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