The rumors going around were true as Amazon has revealed their new Fire line, particularly their $50 Fire tablet which also comes in a 6-pack for the cost of 5. The catch is that it's $65 unless you get the ad-supported version.

Specs:
7" IPS 1024x600 screen
"1.3 GHz quad-core processor"
0.3MP front-facing camera, 2MP rear
802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth
8GB flash with MicroSDXC slot ("up to 128GB")
1GB RAM
"Up to 7 hours" battery life

So... thoughts?

Forbes pretty much blasted it, but I don't think it takes a genius to figure out a $50 tablet isn't going to be using fantastic hardware. It's not really revolutionary (sub-$100 tablets have been available for years from China, and now even near $50) but coming from Amazon it'll be a breeze to deal with warranty issues with their pretty awesome customer support. Even the worst Chinese quad-core tablets available now are a lot more usable than the 700mhz single-core non-capacitive touchscreen tablets available years ago.

Not sure why they're so reluctant to release the details on the processor used though. That's really what's going to determine if this thing is comparable to similarly priced tablets from China. Unless it's total crap, this could probably be a very nice thing after a rooting and minimal ROM.

9 years ago*

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Yay?

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Yay!
Maybe...
Meh
Potato tablet

Not worth it in my opinion. There is no way to use this kind of tablet without wanting to throw it against the wall.

9 years ago
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I bought a crap Chinese tablet years ago and indeed it was a bit of a hassle. One of those 700mhz dealies with a crap screen, glorious Android 2.x and 256MB of RAM if I remember. I bought it to watch movies, read comics, and do a bit of low-end Android gaming. For that purpose it was honestly fine.

9 years ago
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I'd rather pay 3 times it's price and get a decent tablet which wouldn't be a pain in the ass to use. I just can't stand when phones/PC/tablets lag. I'd rather have no tablet than having a laggy one. :D

9 years ago
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This kind of tablet has a different target market and we are not one of them. This tablet is great if you have children that want to play games and you don't want to spend a lot for an Ipad. You have to take the Forbes review with a grain of salt, it seams that the reviewer was biased on the tablet and didn't consider the target market for this tablet.

9 years ago
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I was surprised that they came in 6-packs. Would make a heck of a stocking stuffer for sure.

For me it really depends on what kind of processor they put in it. The Z3735G Atom, which is in some very similarly specced/priced Chinese tablets, isn't too shabby performance-wise and is a bit better a Galaxy S4 though that has twice the RAM. I still know people using that phone. Having used the crap from years past, I have to say the low-end Android tablets of now are fairly capable.

9 years ago
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Seems reasonable for the price. The thing that drives me away is Amazon's heavily customized Android interface, until a Cyanogenmod build comes out for it (it was for the previous Fire's), only then will I consider it.

9 years ago
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+1, spending a $300+ tablet for a child will end up with a broken screen and a waste of money

9 years ago
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Spec wise its super decent for the low price they ask... too bad that they usually fortify their android builds so much. One of those vendors who do lock the bootloader so unless there is an exploit no customroms feasible. Also wonder if its 150mbit wlan or better...

9 years ago
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