{"id":12897,"date":"2011-06-29T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T16:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pocketpccentral.net\/newscenter\/2011\/06\/29\/editorial-beware-budget-no-name-android-tablets\/"},"modified":"2011-06-29T12:10:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-29T16:10:00","slug":"editorial-beware-budget-no-name-android-tablets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/?p=12897","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Beware Budget, No-Name Android Tablets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"generic_tablet\"<\/a>You walk into a local mom and pop computer store and see a line of inexpensive, custom-built PCs running Windows 7. You\u2019re in the market for a desktop, so you spend a few hundred dollars, take it home and fire it up.  Sure, the case isn\u2019t emblazoned with a recognizable logo, and the keyboard and mouse don\u2019t share the same color scheme, but home-brewed or not, a PC is, by and large, a PC:  <\/p>\n

It can run all Windows 7 software; its internal components can be updated with new drivers from their respective manufacturers; you can plug in any Windows-compatible peripheral and begin using it immediately; any old monitor you have lying around will, as they say, plug and play.<\/p>\n

In short, an off-brand PC behaves like any other PC on the market.  It\u2019s just not a Dell, a Sony VAIO or an HP.<\/p>\n

But in the brave new world of Android tablets<\/a>, this is all too often not<\/u> the case.  Windows is Windows. Android, on the other hand, is not necessarily Android, at least not the Android you\u2019ve seen or used on mainstream devices.  On that $200 no-name Android tablet you bought on eBay, Android may be little more than a sandbox OS akin to what you\u2019d find on a cable company DVR.   And that\u2019s probably not what you had in mind when you bought it.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Case in point: yesterday I received an email from a reader who had recently purchased a NextBook Android tablet.  Now, NextBook<\/a> is one of the better-known Android tablet brands outside first-tier makers like Motorola, Samsung and LG, but the tablet is not at all what the reader expected.  <\/p>\n

The main reason: no Android Market.  <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever used an Android-powered smartphone, a Motorola XOOM or a Samsung Galaxy Tab, you\u2019re familiar with the Market.  It provides a way to augment the functionality of the device by providing a way to install additional software (or apps), arguably the most important feature of any smart-device.  If you have an Android phone, you\u2019ve almost certainly added games, productivity tools and\/or utilities via the Market to increase the number of tasks your phone can perform.  <\/p>\n

Some lesser-known Android tablets, though, don\u2019t include the Android Market because of app compatibility issues \u2013 both with the tablet\u2019s software and the hardware.<\/p>\n

Android is an open OS, meaning once a company gets its hands on the operating system, they\u2019re free to change it in just about any way they wish.  That level of freedom provided to device makers is a double-edge sword, though, because while it allows more flexibility in how the OS operates, and also makes it possible to create Android-powered devices that vary greatly from the Android-standard.  This can result in issues with hardware and software.<\/p>\n

On the NextBook website, in the FAQ section<\/a>, you\u2019ll find dodgy declarations like \u201c[n]ot all applications can run in [SIC] the device due to the system and hardware incompatibility,\u201d and \u201c[a]pps in APK format can be downloaded to the unit. But not all apps can run properly\u2026\u201d  A real world translation might be more like: of the hundreds of thousands of Android apps available in the Market and elsewhere, you can run a few hundred, and mostly only those we support.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then there are more deceptive statements.  One<\/a> FAQ is: Can you download skype [to the NextBook]?<\/em>  The answer: Yes, you can download if the app is available in the SLIDE ME app library.<\/em>  (FYI, Skype is not available in the SLIDE ME app library, a third-party application source with apps supported by NextBook devices.)  This is akin to posing the question Can a pig fly?<\/em>  and getting the response Yes, if it has the ability<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To be fair, the NextBook web site does state: \u201cThe Nextbook has NO Android Market Place\u2026\u201d  However, this admonition is not included on the product description pages, but is buried in the FAQ section; and this would seem to be a somewhat important bit of information to pass along to prospective buyers.  <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not picking on NextBook; there are more lesser-known Android devices that have the same app-problems.  The Camangi WebStation<\/a> is another example of an Android tablet without the standard Market.  And there are others.<\/p>\n

The point is this: if you want an Android tablet, I suggest you stick with a well-known, established company for now.  Motorola, LG, Samsung \u2013 these devices are manufactured and implemented in such a way that they conform to Android standards, at least to the degree that they come with the Android Market.  That $150 tablet may seem like a bargain, but if you want to use it the way most tablet users do, you may find yourself frustrated, out of cash, and without a desirable third-party app in sight.<\/p>\n

M. Nichols<\/a>, Products Editor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You walk into a local mom and pop computer store and see a line of inexpensive, custom-built PCs running Windows 7. You\u2019re in the market for a desktop, so you spend a few hundred dollars, take it home and fire it up.  Sure, the case isn\u2019t emblazoned with a recognizable logo, and the keyboard and […] Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computerhunter.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}