This
"Rapid 5" tablet from A1CS, looks like a genuinely discounted price - at the time of writing! It has a 7 inch touchscreen by the way - don't be fooled by the 5 in "Rapid 5".
It's true that these different 7-inch slates all look quite similar, but this one has quite a few similarities to the branded alternatives under the hood as well.
To Look At - Hard to Tell From the Google Nexus 7
And in particular also harder to tell from the Nexus 7 because it comes with the newest version of Android - Jelly Bean.
Performance
This has a dual-core processor quoted as running at 1.66GHz (or in fact 1.5GHz if you look at a different part of the Amazon web page.) Either way, that's not at all bad, and quite a number of the branded options are not so fast.
What's Not to Like?
Don't get too carried away, though. There are some cons. In fact, here are some pros
and some cons:
Pros
It's got a proper memory card slot. Both the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7 lack a memory card slot, for sharing photos, backing up files, and maybe just to accommodate a few extra apps.
Standard Connectors - USB, HDMI...
Latest version of Android. Don't expect updates to be delivered to you on a plate, though. That doesn't happen, in general, for budget products.
1 Gb of RAM. Many cheaper slates have less.
Quite a respectable battery, quoted at 4400mAh
And, of course, being cheap - which always comes in handy.
Cons
Lower resolution screen. This is the older screen resolution, and at 800 x 480 you might be able to tell. Don't expect miracles in terms of brightness and contrast either. [To get a little technical, the Nexus 7 has a resolution of 216 ppi - Pixels Per Inch, while this Rapid 5 has only 133 ppi. Don't start getting sniffy about that resolution however, as the all-conquering iPad 2 had a screen resolution of just 132ppi.]
No GPS.
Unlikely to be as well integrated, or as well supported as the offerings from the big manufacturers.
Doesn't have the all-encompassing ecosystem of films, books etc. that come from Amazon or Google. (Some people might consider that a good thing.)
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