Hasta La Gadget!

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Pavel, who seems to be primed and ready to splurge on a bargain-bin Android tablet during the impending Black Friday rush. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I’ve been looking into getting myself a tablet, but being a high school student, I don’t have the money to go buy an iPad. I was wondering if there were any good Android tablets under $200. If there were any expectations, it would be a 7- or 10-inch screen and that the OS doesn’t lag from basic tasks, because I’ve seen many of these tablets lag on the app drawer. Peace and love.”

Here’s our advice: “good luck.” Every sub-$200 Android tablet that we’ve touched lags somewhat, but it’s definitely possible to find some units that are more snappy than others. You’ve got a number of low-rate options if you’re cool with fighting the Black Friday crowds, but otherwise, have a listen at the readers below in comments. Keep things helpful, alright folks?

Ask Engadget: best Android tablet for under $200? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Creative hasn’t gone public with a US release window for its Ziio tablets, but it’s probably only a matter of time — the 7-inch model arrived at the FCC this week, complete with user manual and lovely snapshots of its innards all laid out. There’s no mistaking that ZiiLABS ZMS-08 system-on-a-chip front and center, flanked by four slabs of NAND flash from Hynix Semiconductor, and in the upper left-hand corner you can even see the AzureWave chip responsible for its 802.11 b/g WiFi connectivity and Bluetooth functions. None of this simple beauty can make up for the fact that a resistive touchscreen is calling all the shots, but battery life should be relatively long — FCC documentation describes a chunky 5,000mAh lithium-ion cell, images of which are below. Also pictured: the FCC squishing the poor device into copious amounts of styrofoam.

Creative’s 7-inch ZiiO tablet hits the FCC, ripped into component circuitry originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not kosher with ponying up $500+ for an Android tablet? You’ve got options, kid. Velocity Micro’s Cruz Tablet has finally hit the shipping stage, and sure enough, it’s doing so in the month that was promised back in September. $299.99 lands you a 7-inch Android 2.0 tablet with an 800 x 480 capacitive touch panel, 512MB of RAM, 12GB of total storage, 802.11n WiFi, inbuilt speakers, a headphone jack, mini-USB port and a rechargeable Li-ion good for around ten hours of use — or so they say. Of course, you’ll be stuck accessing the Cruz Market rather than the bona fide Android Market, and you can forget about embedded 3G. But hey, it’s three Benjamins sans any sort of life-altering contract. And that’s got to count for something, right?

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading Velocity Micro’s 7-inch Cruz Tablet now shipping for $300

Velocity Micro’s 7-inch Cruz Tablet now shipping for $300 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already shared some opinions on why Samsung’s Galaxy Tab pricing makes sense stateside — granted, that was before AT&T announced it would be charging $50 more than every other US carrier. After initially showing up for pre-order in the UK on Carphone Warehouse for £530 ($850) and for a Queen’s ransom of £799 ($1280) on Amazon though, we’re glad to find The Inquirer reporting that Tab prices on both Amazon and Dixons have dropped to £469 ($738) for a 16GB model with free delivery. Carphone Warehouse has also cut prices down to £489.99 ($784) for the 32GB version. Sure, that may still sound steep to us Yankees, but keep in mind it’s now a good bit less than the basic 16GB 3G iPad which currently sells for £529 ($850). Whether these prices will slide even closer to Stateside levels is still obviously anyone’s guess, but at this point we’re sure those of you in the UK won’t have an issue paying less for your tab.

Samsung cuts Galaxy Tab prices in the UK, still more than AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo led us to believe that our LePad chances weren’t terribly good, but CEO Yang Yuanqing recently told the Wall Street Journal that the Android tablet is indeed slated for a 2011 US launch. Though Lenovo’s COO Rory Read was pretty clear that the LePad wouldn’t ship stateside until a tablet-ready version of Android was ready to go, it seems the company’s now confident that Google will deliver the goods. However, our gain is apparently China’s loss, as the publication reports that the slate’s been pushed into 2011 (as opposed to this December) in its country of origin as well. What’s a multinational computer corporation to do?

Confirmed: Lenovo LePad headed to US in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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