Am I Dreaming, A $150 Android Tablet Available This Week?

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/augens-150-android-tablet-hits-kmart-circular-coming-to-store/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/...oming-to-store/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"We can't say we've heard of Augen before, but the company certainly sparked our interest (and that of Kmart circular readers) this weekend with its $149.99 7-inch Android tablet. Oh yes, you heard right shoppers -- the small Florida-based shop is bringing an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, 2GB of storage and 256MB of RAM to a store near you for just 150 buckaroos. And according to an Augen spokesperson, it will have access to the Android "Market App Store.""</em></p><p><em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1280184233.usr10.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></em></p><p>I already hit up my local Kmart on my way home, no luck. &nbsp;But they get their trucks in on Wednesday, so I'll try again then. &nbsp;At $150 they will have had to fail in a ton of way to not make this an interesting device, so I'll be picking one up as soon as I can get my hands on one and before the reviews start pouring in. &nbsp;If it pans out, I'd say major coup for the little guy getting this thing out while the big players keep stumbling all over themselves. &nbsp;Here is the <a href="http://www.augenus.com/indexhome.html/GENTOUCH.html" target="_blank">official product page</a> if you'd like to read up.</p><p><em></em></p>

[Jason Dunn]

I have to wonder what kind of hardware they're using to build it for so cheap, but in some ways, it only has to be "good enough"...

[Chris Gohlke]

Found out my Kmart is not getting them. I'm going to go sweet talk the manager and see what they can do to get one transferred here. The closest store that has one is about 3 hours away, but don't know that I feel up for a 6 hour round trip especially since there is no guarantee that it is actually there when I arrive.

Jason, you are exactly right, it only has to be good enough. From what I've read so far the main negative is that it is a resistive touchscreen. Other negatives (but things I expected) were no GPS. Ify on whether there is a camera or not.

I'd use this as a complement to my Droid, mostly to surf the web and as an ebook reader. What I'm really curious about is how they managed to access the market. I thought it was off-limits to devices of this size (although I don't see why as the resolution is the same as many phones).

[crimsonsky]

For this price, I'd really be concerned about build quality and durability. And from an off-brand no one has ever heard of before? Meh.

[Jason Dunn]

For this price, I'd really be concerned about build quality and durability.

But at that price, it's almost - not quite, but almost - disposable. If you lost/destroyed a $150 tablet, it would be a lot less upsetting than losing/destroying an $800 iPad. ;)

[Chris Gohlke]

The local manager just told me that he has one on hold for me at an out of town store that he is going to visit and that he will have it for me here on Monday.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Yea, first thing that goes is the capacitive touchscreen. Going back to resistive is so ewwwww.

[Jason Dunn]

Yea, first thing that goes is the capacitive touchscreen. Going back to resistive is so ewwwww.

Yeah, but if you're cutting costs, that's a sacrifice you have to make...I do wonder how usable it will be though...

[Joel Crane]

I'm anxious to hear what you think of it. 150 bucks, that's crazy inexpensive.

[Chris Gohlke]

The Kmart manager didn't come through, so no tablet for me. From what I'm reading though, sounds like it is probably for the best I didn't get one. There will be a post going live in about an hour with a link to a fairly thorough and harsh review of the tablet.