The Samsung Galaxy Tab is going to cost upwards of £500. If you had your heart set on one, but are now getting that sinking feeling at the thought of splurging too much cash, you might want to pop down to Maplin and satisfy your Tab urges with the Maplin version, a fraction of the price at £150. Downside you say? Ah yes, there are quite a few of those…
For starters, the Maplin 7″ Android tablet is running Android Donut 1.6, which is the same Android OS that the HTC Tattoo and Xperia X10 are running, but on a bigger device. Are you cringing yet? No? Ok, well it also has a resisitive touchscreen, and a battery life of 3.5 hours. Ouch. This is very much like buying a cheap knock off with a spelling mistake in the brand name, apart from this is actually running Android.
However, it’s not all bad news for those of you on the hunt for an Android Samsung Galaxy Tab knock off. There are some (very) minor factors in its favour. The screen has pretty decent resolution, at 480 x 800, and it has a USB port and Micro SD slot. It only comes with Wi-fi, but the USB port means you can get a dongle, right?
The Maplin 7″ tablet it will only support MP3 audio formats, and video support is limited to 3GP,MP4, and FLV, and while it does not have a camera, it does have a built in speaker and mic. So, while it might look like A Samsung Galaxy Tab, specs wise it’s a long way off. If the Tab is M&S, the Maplin 7″ tablet is Netto.
We’re getting the feeling this tablet might be a false economy, but what do you think? Are you tempted? £150 is cheap, even if you will only get 3.5 hours of use out of it before it conks out…
