Augen's 7" Android Tablet hits K-Mart stores this week for $149

[RemyL75]

I don't get why people were expecting this to be a real answer to the iPad, and thus are such harsh critics of it. Was it like this when the G1 came out (I wasn't into Android back then, but it seemed like good software)?? Android tables will take a good 6-12 months before they are even close to the iPad, so comparing them now (and/or even being so negative about the specs) is moot. Augen's tablet did the same thing that the G1 did close to 2 years ago... it's telling Apple "hey, umm, you are not the only game in town, and when I am bigger and older, we are gonna get in the ring and duke it out. So get ready."

When Motorola, HTC or some of the other heavy hitters get a tablet out there, THEN we should pick those apart (if we can afford them lol) and see how they stack up to Apple. Until then, it's a toy, and if you don't have fun with it or if doesn't interest you, leave it in the store or take it back.

... goes back into the corner to call the 24 K-Marts in the ChicagoLand area and dream about the Motorola tablet rumored to come out around Christmas (Hoping they call it the Droid XXL lol)

 

[oozeeh]

i think that this is quite a good step forward. i mean, a company actually tried to bring forth an eclair with theoretically working market at a bargain bin price.

albeit (i think) they botched the first round of shipment. and it seems to me that they're already working on a fix + maybe holding off on shipping out more until the issues are resolved.

honestly, look back at the moto droid with it's plain stock 2.0
and look at it now with its custom froyo and root only stuff.

honestly, i'd try to do as much cloud computing and a little music/video, wi-fi remote (utorrent, xbmc, etc), kindle replacement, and so on and so forth.

 

[lukem]

Here's a new review just posted with a 30 min video. Shows a lot of issues with it.

[video=youtube;7wPJYcfXsrM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wPJYcfXsrM]YouTube - Hands On With The Augen Gentouch78 Tablet - Part 1[/video]

[video=youtube;msFtUG6agI8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msFtUG6agI8]YouTube - Hands On With The Augen Gentouch78 Tablet - Part 2[/video]

The Android Blog - Hands On With The Augen Gentouch78 Tablet

 

[gadgetrants]

Guys, for about $150 I'd recommend the Pandigital Novel over the Augen. Some benefits:

- a larger (4:3) 7" screen
- runs Android 2.0 (some 2.1 apps)
- a decent keyboard
- is easily rooted/hacked
- currently runs at 800MHz with latest firmware update

Pandigital® Novel 7" Color Multimedia eReader - Bed Bath & Beyond
Pandigital Novel Android Tablet Discussion

The two major disadvantages I see is that it has smaller internal data store (1Gb, but you can open/replace with microSD card) and there are no dedicated Menu/Back/Home/Search buttons.

-Matt

 

[gadgetrants]

I forgot to mention that the Pandigital seems to have an accelerometer...at least it responds to changes in orientation by rotating the display.

-Matt

 

[Bxrider117]

I don't need to watch the video to say that this item is a great thoughthought but needs improvement. I want to wait for the update but I don't think it will make me wwant to keep it. I had the same problem when I first started it up. I can't even delete my gmail aaccount. I can't wait for someone with some time and effort attempts to perfect this item because it would be a good alternative to travel with.

 

[oozeeh]

are there other similar dedicated android tablets floating around? the novel seems more dedicated to e-reader like the nook.

 

[fishstick600]

You can't delete your gmail account on any android device because there are apps that depend on it, but that's besides the point.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[oozeeh]

have you tried settings>privacy>factory data reset ?

 

[gadgetrants]

are there other similar dedicated android tablets floating around? the novel seems more dedicated to e-reader like the nook.

I think there are two Android tablet niches/markets or price points. Here is my reasoning (I hope it doesn't sound pretentious...I was taught to "lay out my assumptions"!):

$100 - $300 = Ereaders
$300 - $400 = netbooks
$400 - $500 = mainstream Android tablets???
$500 - $700 = IPad w/wifi
$700+ = notebooks

(a) Ereaders. The new price-point (e.g., Amazon's move on the Kindle yesterday) looks like sub$200. More expensive models have optional features, e.g., color, touch screen, 3G, etc.

(b) Netbooks. In functionality, a netbook and an IPad are pretty comparable. The rationale that puts the IPad at a higher price point is probably based on the Apple "ooh" factor plus the capacitive touch screen. It's very hard to find a reliable netbook (e.g., EEEPC, HP, Dell) under $300 (though refurbs can be found for $200), so I guess this is an industry-imposed floor on pricing.

(c) IPad. What can I say? Gorgeous device, great software. Personally I'm not interested in owning one, but let's see if it transforms the playing field like the IPhone has.

(d) Notebooks. $700 is a pretty arbitrary line for a notebook. For example, I own an Asus thin-and-light that just squeezed under that price point. There are lots of machines out by HP, Toshiba, even Lenovo with dual-cores, HD displays, wireless 11n...pretty good specs for $500-$700. But you probably need to move toward $1000 if you want a machine with decent (a) portability (<4 lbs), (b) battery life (>8 hours), or gaming potential.

OK, so now my prediction: I'm looking into my crystal ball, and what I see is HP, Microsoft, Dell, and others pricing their entry-level tablets at $399. Specs should come close to an IPad, if not slightly better (e.g., dual-core ULV processor).

What about the $100-$300 price point? Right now, there are several Chinese-made Android tablets that come in just under $200 (check Amazon). While I can't disparage an entire nation, I will say I am pretty wary of these machines, esp. the chances of firmware updates, build quality, customer support, and whether they even have the guts to run Android 2.0.

Where does that leave us? I see two options. First, we wait until Q4 to see what the Android tablet market looks like. As I already predicted, I think those machines will come from mainstream U.S. manufacturers (e.g., HP), perform well, and run around $400.

The only other option afaik is the $100-$200 price point, which leaves the Pandigital and the Augen. And since I've already made the case for the Pandigital, I won't rehash the comparison. Remember, the Pandigital is not a dedicated EReader--it's an Android tablet with a built-in UI that emphasizes ebooks. It's not hard to mod it into something generic. The bottom line is....for about $150, you get what you pay for: a low-end machine with pretty weak hardware, that's able to run Android 2.0. If I wanted something with better specs or reliability, I'd expect to dish out another few $100.

-Matt

PS So hey, I think I earned my screen name!:icon_ banana:

 

[lukem]

have you tried settings>privacy>factory data reset ?

Yes, that's what doesn't work. It just reboots when you select it. Their support said the update tomorrow will fix that though.

 

[Ataranine]

Looks to be a resistive touch screen... what you guys think? I want one, but if it's a resistive touch screen I'm not going near it.

 

[wuyanks]

gadgetrants: great price breakdown. i think you nailed it right on the head. the cheapest android tablets from the major companies will be around $350ish IMO... and will go all the way up to $600-700. i personally can't wait to see some real high-quality tablets (albeit android, ubuntu, win7, WebOS, chromeOS, etc).

and i hope companies move to capacative screens. i don't understand how resistive screens are still mainstream

 

[RemyL75]

OK< I finally found one (Had to go to St John, IN because no other K-Mart had them in Chicago, and all of the others I checked in IN didn't get them either).

Pretty much what i expected. Nothing special..yet. It is snappy, and the resistive screen is hard to work with, but my last phone was an AT&T Tilt, so I am used to resistive screens. Waiting on Augen to post the update, but I am not too worried about apps and the Market. Only thing I want from the market is RockPlayer right now lol

 

[gadgetrants]

gadgetrants: great price breakdown. i think you nailed it right on the head. the cheapest android tablets from the major companies will be around $350ish IMO... and will go all the way up to $600-700. i personally can't wait to see some real high-quality tablets (albeit android, ubuntu, win7, WebOS, chromeOS, etc).

and i hope companies move to capacative screens. i don't understand how resistive screens are still mainstream

Thanks. That's high praise coming from you...I've really appreciated your tablet-related posts, e.g.,

Pandigital Novel e-reader hacked, now works as a tablet

-Matt

PS Tonight I installed the Youtube apk on the Pandigital, and I was really impressed at how well it works over wifi. But now the wifi connection itself is acting a bit wonky!