Anyone try cheap Chinese tablets?

I've been buying and reselling from China (selling the stuff on Craigslist, actually) and there is a huge Android tablet market. The OS is free, unlike Windows, so it is cheap to produce. Of course, being made in China, a lot of the stuff isn't great- but it is workable. Going past the $50 tablets, you can find some good tablets. They have good specs, but often come at some sort of downside. Common cons are low battery life, bloatware, lack of updates, few features. There are other forums out there that talk about these issues and finding the good ones, as the majority are, to put it nicely, fly-food.

Anyone tried any? Here's what I got: (btw, I got good prices on them, so I wasn't losing $ when I resold them. I just like to try them out and move on to other ones, just for fun. All the following are 7" tablets.)

Ramos W28

Pros
The thinnest tablet I've seen, just under a centimeter thick.
VERY light, only 275g
Biggest screen of a 7" tablet I know, the edges are hair-line.
1280x800 resolution
Can get one under $100 new in box

Cons
The thinness comes at a price: It only has a 3000mah battery (about 3 hrs. of normal usage, and battery is gone)
Few features: no Bluetooth or back camera, no hdmi slot...
Although the processor is a 1.5ghz dual core, it lags a bit when doing hard gaming, and gets hot
Touchscreen sometimes needs to be tapped twice.
Verdict: Not really practical

Ployer Momo7 Talent- this is an upgraded Momo7, hence the Talent

Pros
Thin, a little thicker than the Ramos
Light
1280x800 resolution
Despite the thinness, it has a 4000mah battery
Strong wifi, I was surprised
1.6ghz dual core processor, the 'famous' RK3066
16gb with expandable micro sd card slot

Cons
Battery doesn't last as long as 'normal' tablets like the Nexus or Galaxy. The RK chip is thirsty during standby.
A little lag when playing NFS

Verdict: If you're not gaming, this is decent. But if you want something that lasts all day without a charge and you can just pick up, use, and put down, make sure you have the charger handy. You might as well get the Momo7 without the Talent to save money as some features of the Talent are unneeded; prices have been falling, and it is a STEAL. Price: $85 for the Momo7, about $115 for the Talent.

And now, the best one: Hyundai (not the car manufacturer) T7s. The T7s is an upgraded version of the T7. This is a Samsung Galaxy Note/s3 knockoff; it looks like the original except in 7" form. I've ordered it, but haven't gotten it yet, it is being shipped as I type this (it might take a few weeks to get)

But the similarities are more than just skin deep. This actually uses the same processor as the Note 8.0/Galaxy s3, the Exynos 4412 quad core 1.4ghz. This apparently is merciful to the 3300mah battery (not great I know, but...), letting it live for roughly 6 hours before killing it. (With a battery saving app(s) it can go longer, I think. I heard a combination of Antutu apps are better than the battery saver 360) It has 2gb RAM and 16gb storage with micro sd expandable. I don't think it lags at all during any game, and stays cool. Has a 5MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front camera. Like the others, it has 1280x800 resolution screen. I think the extra 1gb RAM (vs. the T7) is just for bragging rights. I don't think it makes a difference. The T7 has a 1024x720 resolution.

The T7 costs $136, the T7s $166. The T7 lasts about 4 hours, and the T7s 6. Compared to the Galaxy Note 8.0 (which costs more than the Ipad mini) and has similar performance, this is pretty good. The tablets can be updated to the latest version of Android using the firmware from the Hyundai site. If anyone wants, I can say how the tablet is once I get it and if you want me to try anything out with it.

ave said:

Thanks for sharing! yes please do update once you get your next one. Let me know what the gaming performance is like. I've been looking at these for ages, but there aren't that many reviews on them. I keep going back to the Chinese phones like the iocean 7 and star but haven't yet plucked up enough courage to order one. Which supplier did you use and how was the experience?

Click to expand...

Will do. It will probably take a while though, it takes weeks to get from my experience. There is a video on youtube, search for 'juegos t7s' to see a guy play games on it. (I don't understand Spanish btw), it seems quite good.

Are you looking for a phone, or tablet? There are tons of brands out there, I've never gotten a phone from China, I like to use Boost Mobile service. Tablets are common to get from China, I don't know about people getting phones from there into the US. Although if you are getting a phone, I think other brands are better than the ones you mentioned.

As for suppliers, I use Aliexpress. To order, make sure you get one from a seller with many transactions, not some generic 'online store #2358734605something', that is a guaranteed way to lose your money. Those stores give too-good-to-be-true offers, and their track record is unknown. You have to order from someone with a lot of feedback and good ratings. But I have been getting pretty good experiences on there. I got a messed up tablet once, but it was a bad brand, unknown even by Chinese. Ramos, Cube, Ainol, Onda, Hyundai, etc. are known brands in China. But even then, they are not quite on par with the Samsungs and Apples in terms of quality. Yet.

I forgot to mention, the T7s also has features not offered in 'average' Chinese tablets, such as bluetooth. The only 'problem' I heard is the firmware updates. It comes with Android 4.0, when 4.2 is already out. It can be installed, some people have had no problem, and others have bugs, so they went back to 4.0. Also, some apps might not be recognized by the Play Store (you can get apps from apk, even ones that you would have to pay for normally, free) so people root them. I'm not a techie, and I think 4.0 would be enough for me. But on the other hand, if it is possible to make something better, I WILL go for it, despite my ineptitude...hmm...

For reviews and info on these things, I highly recommend the slatedroid forum. Those people know a lot about it, some are professional dealers, techies, all that. But you can ask me stuff, just not the really technical stuff, I don't know anything about that. At least not software. Hardware, maybe, I remember modifying my rc cars when I was little, and burning them out.

Oreo1909 said:

Just to throw this out and I'm not affiliated past being a customer. Icemonkey is a lot like the deal a day sites and has good tablet deals. Not AS good in price as the Chinese tablets, but close. With them you're getting regular brand referbs vs off-brand new.

I grabbed a Galaxy Tab 7.7 with AMOLED screen for like $220 shipped. Came in like new condition and I have been happy thus far. It's used daily for many hours on and off, no issues yet (knock on wood).

Just another option.

Click to expand...

Nice, I didn't know about that site, I'll definitely look into it. I did see one guy selling refurbished Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0's on Aliexpress, they were being dropshipped from the US (Walmart, I think) so the shipping was really fast, for just $95. I snapped up a ton and resold them for a nice profit, but then the guy disappeared, and one of the tablets had a minor problem.

Phones? I don't really know that much about them, but Lenovo makes phones. I heard the Chinese company Jiayu makes good ones as well, maybe the brands you said aren't that bad either actually now that I look at it. There is Huawei, and some iphone and Samsung knockoffs. If I wasn't using Boost, I would get a Chinese phone for sure.

I don't think there is a catch; smartphones are overpriced, hence the huge profit margins of Apple and Samsung in the smartphone division. The other brands are not sold in the US, but they are in other parts of the world, and they don't price phones ridiculously high like in the US. That's probably why things like these depreciate so fast; their real value is way below the sale price.

Oh yeah, another thing. Some tablets have unusual features to try to help them stand out from the rest. The Talent, even though it is just a 7", has TEN point touch. Useless in the real world, most likely, but it sounds cool. The regular rk3066 Momo7 doesn't. But, (someone correct me if I'm wrong) because it has a 1024x600 resolution, it might save battery during gaming, and have less lag. I found this out recently, and I ordered a Momo7 rk3066. I hope it plays games better (just to test. I actually have no games on my personal stuff.)

If anyone has any requests for me to download any apps on any tablet and see what happens, let me know. Maybe even paid apps (as I could get some free from apk)

I currently ordered:
Hyundai T7s
Momo7
Generic $50 tablet

I have not heard the Hyundai have any problems downloading anything from the app store, but other tablets might have to be rooted before some apps can be downloaded from Play store. Or, one could download from apkmania.

ave said:

A $50 tablet
I would be interested to know how something like need for speed performs. Something that will push your graphics chip.

Yes that was also something I wanted to ask about- access to the play store. That's a must for me.

Click to expand...

You can get those $50 tablets on Aliexpress. Cost plus shipping, due to competition, is slightly under $50 now, actually. I could try NFS on it, but I bet it would be a joke. The Hyundai plays it flawlessly.

Specs:
Allwinner a13 single core 1.2ghz processor
512 gb ram
4gb storage
800x480 resolution

Play store, hmm. From what I've heard, only the Hyundai T7s can get any app from the play store from the aforementioned tablets. These Chinese tablets are not recognized by some apps, so they can't be downloaded. I think it is something to do with the chip. Since the Hyundai has a Samsung chip, there are no problems. But many 'good' Chinese tablets use the rk3066, which has problems with the Store.

Now that I think about it, I don't really need the Hyundai, so I'll just sell it when I get it. It has a ton of features I'll never use and specs I won't need. I can't justify paying 2x the price of the Momo7 (which I'll keep). But, the benchmarks for the T7s are nearly double that of the Momo.

I'm just a fan of replicas, and the Chinese specialize in that. There are even Dr.dre headphones and earphones they have knocked off. The cheap ones cost less than $10, but replicas of solos that look and sound JUST like the original cost $42.90. They even have the Wireless, Studios, Pros. And the replicas for like original Tours cost under $10, compared to the $150 original. Can you believe it? Paying just the tax of the original will get you a perfect replica. I heard that the Dr.dre factory actually produces the knockoffs side by side with the original. Don't know if it is true...? A lot of people sell them on Craigslist and pass them off as the original. I didn't do that, I told people they were replicas, and I made no money, I had to sell them at the price I got them, lol. I won't be selling those again.

OK, so I used the $50 tablet. I already had one, just not the charger, but I found a charger, so I can give you a review.

It's bad. The screen isn't responsive, the display is dull, and when you press things on it, it often selects something next to what you pressed. The screen protector is easily scratched, and the battery lasts about 3-4 hours, I think; I didn't really try, because there's no way I'd be using it for that long. My unit might be a bit defective on the touchscreen, though. It's light. Build quality is decent, but not the materials. The whole thing is plastic, and the screen can be a bit bendy. I played angry birds on it, that was OK. (I tried to restart levels, but it didn't press, so I had to press the menu in the game, not tablet, and then went back to playing.) I didn't try playing a high level graphics game. I'll try later though, but I heard even 2d games can lag on this.

The antutu score of this tablet is in the 3000 range. antutu scores are basically an overall benchmark of the performance of a tablet, but will not necessarily reflect real world performance. A nexus 7 gets about 12k-13k, to put it in perspective. I don't really know that much about it, though.

OK, so I got the Hyundai T7s. Or should I say, T7? I paid for the s model, and they sent me the standard one. Noooooooooooo.............. I contacted them just now, I'll see what happens. This practically never happens. I doubt it was a scam, I think they just made a mistake. But still... A major disappointment...

I don't know if it is actually worth shipping back the tablet that I got, maybe I'll keep it and get a partial refund (or sell it on Craigslist). This tablet is decent. I haven't really tried it out just in case, until I get this issue resolved. The only problem might be battery life, I heard it lasts about 4-5 hours when using it. I don't think standby is great, not really sure. The seller had a lot of transactions and feedback, I guess it was just one of those things. I ordered it on July 4.

The Momo7 might come next week, maybe, I ordered a few things and another thing came, so it should come soon.I can make a comparison, hopefully.

I thought it was the car manufacturer at first, but the logo was different, so I thought not. But Hyundai is a Korean company, and they use the Samsung chip, which is Korean...and it has a sticker with the 'car manufacturer' Hyundai on it too, so yeah, you're right, my bad.

OK, so I got the Momo7 tablet. And the screen is CRACKED. A huge chunk of it is dead. Must have hit something during shipping, the box is bent. I'll have to contact the seller. Man, this is getting ridiculous. This is the first time that something this bad had happened, I don't know what I'll do. Contact the company, I guess.

As for the T7, it has bugs, probably because I rooted it. It freezes when I use the Youtube app sometimes, and the music pauses for no reason (and sounds weird). If I hadn't rooted it, it probably wouldn't have those problems. I was supposed to get a $20 refund for getting the wrong product, don't know when I'll get it.

I guess readers of this post are probably turned off by these tablets now...but I'm not. Oh well.