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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not

By | December 9, 2011, 5:48am PST

Summary: $99 … plus $60 ’shipping and handling.’

When something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

This is the NOVO7 by Chinese manufacturer MIPS Technologies. It claims to be the world’s first Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ tablet. What’s more, it’s only $99.

Sounds good? Personally, I think it sounds too good to be true.

Now, let’s ignore the lackluster specs (after all, what do you expect for $100) and just straight to the catch. Clicking on the button to add this to your PayPal shopping basket (yep, that’s how it works) adds a whopping $60 shipping and handling fee to the price. I find it hard to believe that shipping and handling should cost this much and conclude that it’s a crafty way of bumping up the price.

So a $99 tablet suddenly becomes a $159 tablet.

No thanks!

Related:

Thanks to George Ou for pointing me in the direction of this “$99″ tablet.

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Google Android 4.0, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
non-biased 16th Dec
@nfordzdn Charging inflated shipping fees to boost revenue is nothing new and has been in use since mail order started.
View in thread
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
Cylon Centurion Updated - 9th Dec
I'm beginning to agree that tablets need a third contender. Android tablets have lost their shine, and no matter how hard one tries (Unless you trust buying from China and don't mind using something that should be in a McDonald's Happy Meal), a $99 tablet is never going to happen, no matter how subsidized it is.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
Rob.sharp@... Updated - 9th Dec
ooops
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
Rob.sharp@... 9th Dec
@Cylon Centurion

The 3rd contender is Microsoft and it will happen in 2012. Android isn't the answer...For everything thats good theres 10 manufacturers producing garbage that only drags them down. MS and Apple won't allow that to happen. Sure the Softies are behind but it's a wait worth while because how many Android early adopters are kicking themselves for purchasing an over glorified tablet that shaky at best!
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You .....
linux4u 9th Dec
get what you pay for comes to Mind.

Me, I think somewhere between 200 -300 USD would be a GREAT price point .
1 Vote
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Adrian says "No thanks" to a US$159 tablet
markbn 9th Dec
but he embraces enthusiastically a $599 tablet with lackluster specs.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
fldbryan@... 9th Dec
@markbn : Yeah I saw that too. He attacks an ad but never evaluates the machine itself.

BTW: if you go to the link they are sold out, so obviously those people didn't have that problem. I ordered the Novo 7 with Android 2.3. Fortunately the machine is easily upgradeable so I'm looking forward to it.
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They said it was being released in the US later this month, right?
daboochmeister 9th Dec
Why don't we wait and see what the price-point will be using their distribution chain the way the intended?
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That's True. You Can't Tell From an Opportunistic Importer
CFWhitman 9th Dec
@daboochmeister
I agree. This isn't the official release of this tablet in the US. It's someone opening up an import site to take advantage of the recent news stories. You can't tell what the price will actually be from this.

In actuality I suspect there will be disadvantages to this tablet in build quality and materials. It will probably have a plastic screen (fingerprints show up more readily) and be a bit flimsy. Whether it'll be worth the price they charge or not is up in the air, but I don't think it will stand up in build quality to most $250+ tablets.
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Nothing new...
nfordzdn 9th Dec
Third-party vendors at Amazom.com have been doing this for years. For example, search for "HDMI cable" and you can find some listed for $0.01 plus $4.99 "shipping" while others sell for $2-$3 with no shipping. Why Amazon allows them to get away with this scam is anyone's guess, but it lowers my otherwise high opinion of Amazon.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
nuzerxe 9th Dec
@nfordzdn Tell me about this! The last 2 Amazon purchases I made surprised me when 50% of the purchase price was added for shipping. BEWARE 1 click puchase on Amazon. If you buy from Ebay they do the same. Personally when I sell and ship I try to keep cost at a minimum providing a safe ship and hoping for return buyers.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
Pete "athynz" Athens 9th Dec
@nfordzdn There's a couple of ebay sellers who do this crap too - one in particular was selling a bluetooth headset for $0.99 with shipping of $39.99. For a used headset.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
non-biased 16th Dec
@nfordzdn Charging inflated shipping fees to boost revenue is nothing new and has been in use since mail order started.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
sms21@... 9th Dec
First just because it is out of stock doesn't mean the purchasers aren't having issues. Also $159 if it is just better than substandard is a risk on the quality of the tablet construction materials, chipset, features, reliability. I wouldn't throw away $159.
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Even still...
geolemon 9th Dec
Not an uncommon practice, you shouldn't consider yourself savvy for spotting an inflated shipping price. Lots of sellers essentially put the "our cost" price as the sell price, and inflate the shipping by enough to build the profit margin in there rather than the price tag.

The real question is this:
This costs $41 less than a Kindle Fire (shipping on Kindle Fire? I haven't looked at one), at least.

Is it still a good value, given the reduced specs?
That's the real question.
This is still a bargain price, it's not as though the shipping charge invalidates that.
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Doubt it's inflated
stano360 9th Dec
What do you think it costs to ship from China? That is probably FedEx, in which case that seems cheap. Even Postal would be close to that and it needs to be insured. But why bother, there are decent tablets showing up for $200, which means by this time next year there will be great tablets for $200 and decent ones for $100-$150.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
non-biased 16th Dec
@stano360 That is at least double what FedEx would charge to ship.
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Wake up
Lucky2BHere 9th Dec
Geez! First, it doesn't take rocket science to figure this out. This practice is typical. Those who complain about Amazon must lead sheltered lives. This happens on *every* retailer's site that provide goods from third parties. Always has. If you are so pressed for time in your life you have to use one-click for every purchase? Your fault.

Regarding the tablet, the price with the shipping is still great! Lackluster specs? Are you kidding? For less than $200 you get two cameras, a decent main processor, a dedicated video processor, excellent connections and - possibly - access to the Google market. That is ground-breaking! That is as big as it sounds in the hype. When it is announced here, additionally, you can bet the shipping will be reasonable. I'm in.
1 Vote
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Totally Absurd Article
Isolated 9th Dec
Why don't you wait until the tablet is actually released here in America *before* complaining about the shipping prices? Third party retailers all over the net do this: lure you to an item with an attractive (low) price but then jack up the shipping charges.

Lackluster specs? Didn't you just complain about the $60 shipping price tag? So I'm guessing you didn't actually purchase the device to play with it, am I correct? Therefore, you have no idea what you're talking about do you? Unless you know of someone who already had the device and you got a chance to use it?

The fact that rise of the cheap tablets is going to make a dent on Apple's $500+ tablet is making a lot of people scared. In my opinion, the perfect price range for a 7" tablet should be anywhere around $150-$199. The fact that the Novo7 can play 1080p content (probably useless anyways on such a small screen), has dual cameras (probably not the best of quality but hey, the iPad 2 is known for their awesome camera quality right?), standard battery life, 3G capabilities, micro-SD card for space expansion, and HDMI out makes this tablet well worth the $100 price tag, heck even $160. This bad boy can already do more than what the Kindle Fire can.
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
jpelfman@... 10th Dec
I tried to order one but it was not possible; guess they read ZD as well.
But I couldn't really find the specs in a table like fashion, just in the advertising blurb. As for shipping, companies like deal extreme ship for free so $60 for p&p is hilarious. Not uncommon though, I've seen nice things offered at ebay for afe bucks, p&p at 15 euro is no exception. Buyer beware is still necessary.

But I'd pay 99,- for a small tablet. If it were to suck, it's just a 99 dollar suck, and we all know that dreams seldom do come true. I've invested worse...
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RE: Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' tablet for $99? Maybe not
topgun966 10th Dec
I think this author is a little threatened about the onslaught of competition of his beloved apple products that pay him a crap load for "free" publicity. This "article" has no merit and isn't based on one piece of fact. I think that the fanbois out there are starting to subconsciously have some deja vu going on. Like what happened with Mac computers. A closed system that is based solely on a status symbol and actually hurts the industry has a whole will never survive. There are plenty of reports of users that did risk it and shelled out the 160 finding out for its purpose its great. Its not going to run Crysis but it holds its own and for what tablets do, its great. Portable, light, good battery life and gets you online. Sorry Apple guys, but until Apple actually creates something new the marketing juggernaut can only go so far. Free market always wins and freedom of choice is inherent in all of us. Mark my words, in 5 years after Apple has exhausted most of its cash buying IP licenses for all the patients they are infringing on, will be broke and asking Google or Msft for another bailout. The irony of all if it is it will be Apple's own undoing with starting the patient war in the first place. If they would just compete in the free market and let the best man win, they would do ok.

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