The lower end of the Android tablet market has got something of a bad reputation as a result of being filled with underpowered budget models which do not really live up to the promise of their more expensive stable mates. While the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime and Samsung Galaxy Tab families are paving the way for range topping Android tablets, the bargain basement examples often fail to cut the mustard. However, a pair of new entry-level Android tablets have recently arrived to try to remedy this situation. Their success relies largely on how willing you are to forgive their flaws in the face of the low asking prices they command.
Viewsonic ViewPad 10e
The first is the Viewsonic ViewPad 10e, an Android tablet which is marketed to be around the same price as the Amazon Kindle Fire while offering a larger 9.7 inch touchscreen display and a less locked-down take on the Android 2.3 operating system.
Because this is an affordable, unsubsidized Android tablet it only has a single core 1GHz processor. This is accompanied by a native display resolution of 1024×768, which is not the most impressive pixel count on the market but is nevertheless adequate.
The look and feel of the Viewsonic ViewPad 10e is based heavily on the Apple iPad 2 and it even comes close to matching this device when it comes to weight and chassis thickness. The ViewPad 10e is surprisingly thin and easy to hold, so it should impress at first glance.
You only get 4GB of internal storage space and the Android 2.3 iteration on show here is not officially licensed by Google, so the Android Market is not accessible. However, it does have its own app download platform and comes pre-installed with a few useful bits of software to keep you entertained.
Disgo Tablet 7000
The Disgo Tablet 7000 is even cheaper than the ViewPad 10e and has a smaller seven-inch display with an 800×480 resolution. The storage space available on the two is identical, as is the fact that the installed Android 2.3 platform lacks full Google sanctioning.
Mirroring the Kindle Fire when it comes to size, the Tablet 7000 feels relatively well made given that it is roughly a fifth of the price of a typical Android tablet device. The screen also uses resistive touch technology and while it is not the most responsive display on the market there is a USB controller port which will let you connect a keyboard to improve typing accuracy by a significant margin.
The price of these two Android tablets is really what is going to sell them to any prospective buyers. You could get cash for phones which you no longer use by recycling them and then invest this money back into buying a new tablet device to use when you are lounging around at home. Browsing the internet will be quick and painless and neither device is short on applications, so it is simply a matter of balancing the limitations against the savings you will make.
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