Looking for a good, cheap, 10in Android tablet

February 24, 2014 5:07 AM

Anyone know of a 10in or so Android tablet that's both good and cheap?

There are a number of cheap-and-good 7in-8in models (cheap meaning $85 to $160 at the moment), but I don't see much in the 10in range. Anyone know of one or have one that you'd recommend? Say from $150 to $250.

posted by aerotive to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Does it have to be brand new? You can get a used wifi-only Nexus 10 for about $250-$300 from swappa.com.
posted by Poldo at 5:19 AM on February 24, 2014

Depending on what you mean by good, and how comfortable you are getting your hands dirty, you could pick up an HP Touchpad for about 100 bucks (judging by eBay) and then toss CyanogenMod on it.

It's a couple years old at this point, but should serve you just fine for anything other than heavy-duty gaming. I have been rocking one for the last two years for daily reading, web browsing, videos, and light gaming.

Feel free to MeMail me if you want to go this route and would like a hand getting a custom rom on there.
posted by SpiffyRob at 5:23 AM on February 24, 2014

Response by poster: By good I mean well reviewed and generally liked...in the 7in-8in size, I found the Hisense Sero 7 Pro, Dell Venue 8, Nexus 7 current gen, and Asus Memo Pad HD 7. Something like one of those but in a 10in size.
posted by aerotive at 5:39 AM on February 24, 2014

Best answer: If you're looking for new, I think the trouble is that $250 is just... really low for something with a screen that size and so to get the prices down they less-great hardware, either just plain cheap or just lower-specs. But what're your priorities as far as use? Like: I want stock Android, period, so I own a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 5. Some people want performance. If you want something new but don't need great performance, the MeMo FHD 10--well, a friend of mine has one and basically described it as "good enough", and that seems to be the review consensus online, too.
posted by Sequence at 6:07 AM on February 24, 2014

Response by poster: Yes I agree, there's not much for $250 or less at least that I can find. I'm most willing to give up high resolution but would still want a good display, and a solid tablet overall. Will look into that FHD 10 model.

I'm willing to go refurb but not used.
posted by aerotive at 6:58 AM on February 24, 2014

Best answer: There's lots of reasonable models in that price range, particularly if you go with a refurb. Liliputing has a deals page that's updated M-F. If you watch it for a week or so, you'll see several things that match your specs posted. Just look up the reviews to make sure it's not a lemon.

Groupon currently has the Memo 10 pretty cheap.

I would caution to you make sure that whatever you get should have at least 16GB of storage space - Android is a pretty miserable experience with 8.
posted by Candleman at 7:44 AM on February 24, 2014

I have a kindle fire HD 8.9 rooted with cyanogenmod. It does everything I want it to, but I had to get my hands dirty to install the OS because the vanilla OS was really dumbed down. I'm happy with it, but the build does feel cheaper then the Nexus 7.
posted by Dmenet at 7:11 PM on February 24, 2014