Comparing Similar 7 inch tablets
November 24, 2014 9:51 AM Subscribe
Hi - I'm hoping for a bit of help comparing two similar 7 inch tablets that are on sale this Black Friday.
The Walmart version, in particular, has lots of negative reviews and reports of battery problems and others, but I'm trying to see if it is possible to understand through the specifications, if that model is inferior to more expensive ones being sold at other retailers.
The Walmart one appears to have a lower quality webcam (0.3 MP vs. 2.0 MP for the other one), and a shorter battery life (4 hrs vs 6 hrs). The processor comparison seems unclear to me - the Walmart one says Quadcore, but doesn't provide a lot more details, while the Target one says dualcore, but does give a little more info: "Rockchip RK3026 Dual Core"
I've read that, contrary to popular belief, more cores in processors doesn't necessarily mean a better machine, but i'm not sure how to make a specific comparison in this case.
Thanks for any help.
The Walmart version, in particular, has lots of negative reviews and reports of battery problems and others, but I'm trying to see if it is possible to understand through the specifications, if that model is inferior to more expensive ones being sold at other retailers.
The Walmart one appears to have a lower quality webcam (0.3 MP vs. 2.0 MP for the other one), and a shorter battery life (4 hrs vs 6 hrs). The processor comparison seems unclear to me - the Walmart one says Quadcore, but doesn't provide a lot more details, while the Target one says dualcore, but does give a little more info: "Rockchip RK3026 Dual Core"
I've read that, contrary to popular belief, more cores in processors doesn't necessarily mean a better machine, but i'm not sure how to make a specific comparison in this case.
Thanks for any help.
Response by poster: Thanks. I actually agree with you - I'm just trying to understand a little bit more about why the Walmart model can be so much cheaper. I definitely understand their history of lowering quality to get to a lower price. It is tough to understand from the listed specs how they've done that in this case (other than the two examples I cite.) Thanks.
posted by stewieandthedude at 10:38 AM on November 24, 2014
posted by stewieandthedude at 10:38 AM on November 24, 2014
Best answer: This is not a good device. Please save yourself the trouble and buy a refurbished Nexus 7, or pretty much any of the other name-brand Android tablets with 7" screens.
On the cheap tablets:
* CPUs are slower
* Screens are lower resolution, and/or have bad viewing angles and/or have poor color rendition
* Often less storage and always slower storage
* Smaller and/or lower quality batteries with lower batter life per use and a shorter lifespan.
* Construction is cheap. Cheap plastic, flexes when you use the tablet. Gaps between seams in manufacturing
* No Gorilla Glass, which means you're more likely to have a scratched screen and it's more likely to break when dropped.
posted by cnc at 10:46 AM on November 24, 2014 [6 favorites]
On the cheap tablets:
* CPUs are slower
* Screens are lower resolution, and/or have bad viewing angles and/or have poor color rendition
* Often less storage and always slower storage
* Smaller and/or lower quality batteries with lower batter life per use and a shorter lifespan.
* Construction is cheap. Cheap plastic, flexes when you use the tablet. Gaps between seams in manufacturing
* No Gorilla Glass, which means you're more likely to have a scratched screen and it's more likely to break when dropped.
posted by cnc at 10:46 AM on November 24, 2014 [6 favorites]
Best answer: The problem here is that the specs alone don't really tell you a lot about the actual usability and performance of a device, especially toward the lower end where the parts in question aren't going to be as well-known and often-compared as higher-end parts. You can't just say "oh, this cheaper crappier one has a dual-core chip and this other one has a quad-core chip" - there are a lot of things interplaying here, and a lot of the internals aren't going to be listed as "specs."
Basically, when you say "it is tough to understand from the listed specs" you've hit the nail right on the head - high-quality devices proudly advertise every component, while low-quality ones hide things, use misleading names, etc, to help obscure their lack of quality.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:51 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]
Basically, when you say "it is tough to understand from the listed specs" you've hit the nail right on the head - high-quality devices proudly advertise every component, while low-quality ones hide things, use misleading names, etc, to help obscure their lack of quality.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:51 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]
Do not buy either of these.
Look into the dell venue 7 and 8 3000(not pro, just regular), nexus 7, and nvidia tegra note 7.
There's also a tegra-based tablet walmart used to sell that's still on clearance, for like as cheap as $50 that was basically a spot on nexus 7 2012 clone.
But yea, seriously, none of these cheapies. It can be as little as $20 more to get a decent one.
These tablets are like walmart pants. They rip in a month.
posted by emptythought at 1:33 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
Look into the dell venue 7 and 8 3000(not pro, just regular), nexus 7, and nvidia tegra note 7.
There's also a tegra-based tablet walmart used to sell that's still on clearance, for like as cheap as $50 that was basically a spot on nexus 7 2012 clone.
But yea, seriously, none of these cheapies. It can be as little as $20 more to get a decent one.
These tablets are like walmart pants. They rip in a month.
posted by emptythought at 1:33 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: One impression I get is that the cheap ones may even have the same listed specs, but they skimp on design and quality control. So you can get a tablet with the same 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU as the more expensive ones, but the cooling is so poor that it has to slow itself down to a quarter of that to avoid overheating.
posted by alexei at 2:01 PM on November 24, 2014
posted by alexei at 2:01 PM on November 24, 2014
This might appeal to you. Even if you don't want the phone, you could sell it in an hour on craigslist for $120. And if your phone is janky anyways, the nex4 is still a solid performer running Android 5.
The old nexus 7 is also the only tablet you're going to get running Android 5 for $40 net. And it has a nice tegra CPU that still muscles through any app you put in front of it like a champ.
Bonus points if you have a friend/family member/S.O. Who needs a new phone that you could either hand it off to or get to throw down on the deal. Someone will want that phone for $120, or $100.
posted by emptythought at 5:29 PM on November 24, 2014
The old nexus 7 is also the only tablet you're going to get running Android 5 for $40 net. And it has a nice tegra CPU that still muscles through any app you put in front of it like a champ.
Bonus points if you have a friend/family member/S.O. Who needs a new phone that you could either hand it off to or get to throw down on the deal. Someone will want that phone for $120, or $100.
posted by emptythought at 5:29 PM on November 24, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
That being said, they're both crap.
If you absolutely must buy a cheap tablet (to, say, watch netflix on in the tub) this is a much, much better deal
posted by Oktober at 10:10 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]