thumperchick wrote:I can't imagine what this tablet is useful for. Anyone got any ideas?

It's great for taking up space in some store's inventory. I bought one, two woot-offs ago, and it blows. One good thing about it is it's durability. I've thrown it, my kids have dropped it and kicked it several times but the thing won't die.

jwmcclure wrote:Any idea if this would work well as a Sonos controller? It's running a new enough version of Android to meet the minimum requirements...

The Sonos controller will not load on this device. I have tried.

thumperchick wrote:I can't imagine what this tablet is useful for. Anyone got any ideas?

Target practice. It's so slow you can't miss it.

Cnet has some interesting things to say about this little tablet. Go to Cnet dot com and search it. Nothing good to say.

Fabr1zi0 wrote:Watch out. This tablet has a MIPS CPU. It means that although Android apps should be all Java-based, most of them are not and distribute a native library only for ARM-based systems.
In few words: even using the Amazon Appstore marketplace (or even installing applications by yourself), you will find that 70% of the applications WILL NOT INSTALL.
Out of those remaining app that install, probably half of them are usable... the others crashes or are too slow to run.

On the other hand, this tablet is a great e-book reader. It consumes very little power and you can go for a whole week without recharging.

Thank you for pointing that out, even though I'm an Apple guy I was considering this. Even if this plays Angry Birds, its not worth the money. I will look for a cheap ARM Android tablet. I'm actually looking for an Android device and a terminal app to play around in the command line with along with the ability to flip birds and learn the Android system in case I ever change and the possibility is coming more and more.

promisedplanet wrote:Several posts have already indicated that you cannot play Angry Birds on this tablet.

Thanks, and that's precisely why I edited it and said nevermind. :-) Some items sell out faster than it would take to read 4 pages of comments. As I mentioned earlier....I WANT MY PHONE BACK!!

kb3pxr wrote:Thank you for pointing that out, even though I'm an Apple guy I was considering this. Even if this plays Angry Birds, its not worth the money. I will look for a cheap ARM Android tablet. I'm actually looking for an Android device and a terminal app to play around in the command line with along with the ability to flip birds and learn the Android system in case I ever change and the possibility is coming more and more.

If you want to learn Android, get yourself a decent tablet. Here is a Toshiba Thrive for $220. This is will give you a much better experience, and you will realize that the extra $170 you spend is well worth it.

http://bensoutlet.com/products/toshiba-8gb-thrive

Bought it last time for my daughter and had incorrect power cord (still unresolved) and had browser issues that are not solved from the manufacturer. They know and have not resolved? Reall bummer!

All I would want from this thing is to stick it on the refrigerator to look up recipes online and to keep a grocery list.

Is this thing capable of those simple tasks, or should I look for something else?

Thanks!

chadwsmith wrote:I have a T301 - which is a step up from this, (got it on Woot, go figure). I will say if you go into it with your eyes open, then it can be a fun device.

It is not an iPad, it's not a Xoom, it's not even a Kindle Fire. Do not expect a $50 tablet to give you everything a $600 one would.

No, you won't watch Netflix on it, or Hulu, or Amazon Prime Videos. You might get YouTube.

That said, it is a fun toy. It is a good mp3 player, and not-HD-videos that you have copies of already, or can download off the net, (as in, not streaming).

It is a decent eReader, especially for comics. And it's good for checking email, serving as an alarm clock, playing small games (Angry Birds will not render properly for me, so I mean LIGHT games), doing light web surfing, (Don't expect Flash to work - at least not out of the box). And, as has been mentioned, a picture frame. Oh - or maybe a tablet for the kids... no, not the teens, they will be mad - I mean, KIDS, like 6-12ish.

If that's worth $50 for you, then go for it.

If not - there are great deals on far more capable tablets on other sites (cough - EBAY - cough). I have an Acer Iconia Tab A100 - and you can get those for about $160 now. That is an INCREDIBLE deal. No compromises there. Ice Cream Sandwich, HDMI out, capacitive touch screen, yada yada yada.

I don't think the T301 is a step up (it has half the RAMs, and no camera). Maybe a step sideways.

I know it's not the same as this, but I bought 2 T301s installed Opera mobile and have never looked back. I also installed I heart radio and it works great too. I surf the web, play videos read books ect. I'm posting this with my T301 right now. I'm loving my Cruz and I haven't rooted it yet.

Can this help fuel my Draw Something addiction?

I second, third, fourth and fifth that these are hunks of junk.

How does this work with Excel?
I just need a handy spreadsheet.

I picked up one of these from Woot and it is sitting on the shelf. Works okay as a reader but that is about it. Very few web pages load and many make it crash back to its desktop. Very slow. Kids won't play with it. No it will not play Angry Birds. Enough said.

All I want is to load and view pdf files. Can this tablet do this?

fed3rd wrote:How does this work with Excel?
I just need a handy spreadsheet.

If you print the excel sheet out on a 7" diagonal piece of paper and paste it to the front of the screen, it should work fine.

This would be good for reading in the tub - I'd still put it in a plastic bag, but wouldn't care so much if I dropped it.

Jstabum wrote:dont like the new layout. is this new???? refurbished???? used. Come on who's writting these descriptions. Woot your blowing it....

It says under the price that it is refurbished...

richspirit wrote:Actually, this is about the new alternative Amazon (formerly woot).

Goodbye.

Change is not always for the better.

Horrible new look.

Never used to sign out, and checked site almost every day.

Woot is now gone from my bookmark toolbar.

Suck it up baby. It's the same woot with a new, better look.

I fear change, somebody hold me.

Tyross wrote:This is all you need to know:

Processor: 800MHz
RAM: 512MB

All the speed and power of a 14 year old computer! Based on these stats, this is slow as molasses in January.

Hey those are the same specs as an iPhony... nice

sdkammer wrote:OK...so seriously...someone please explain how this could not be worth fifty bucks?

i bought one when they had the deal a few weeks ago. wouldnt even power-up.

bmw66x wrote:Is this thing up-gradable to any more current OS? Like Gingerbread, Honeycomb, or Ice Cream Sandwich?

Nope. You're stuck with the original OS.

DonKudler wrote:Can this access the Marketplace (now play)?

Can another version of Android be installed?

No and No.

I own one of these. Paid full price when they came out. Horrible waste of money. It will play mp3 files and makes a great Bible. Beyond that, it's pretty much a paperweight. Horrible customer support. No upgrades to the OS. No access to the Android Market (you do however get to use the Cruz Market which is full of crap). It doesn't support any video natively and you must install a third party app. No support for pdf or ebooks unless you install an app.

We use other Velocity Micro devices where I work and we hate them. No support. RMA process impossible. If it were $5 w/ free shipping, I'd still pass.

chadwsmith wrote:I have a T301 - which is a step up from this, (got it on Woot, go figure). I will say if you go into it with your eyes open, then it can be a fun device.

It is not an iPad, it's not a Xoom, it's not even a Kindle Fire. Do not expect a $50 tablet to give you everything a $600 one would.

No, you won't watch Netflix on it, or Hulu, or Amazon Prime Videos. You might get YouTube.

That said, it is a fun toy. It is a good mp3 player, and not-HD-videos that you have copies of already, or can download off the net, (as in, not streaming).

It is a decent eReader, especially for comics. And it's good for checking email, serving as an alarm clock, playing small games (Angry Birds will not render properly for me, so I mean LIGHT games), doing light web surfing, (Don't expect Flash to work - at least not out of the box). And, as has been mentioned, a picture frame. Oh - or maybe a tablet for the kids... no, not the teens, they will be mad - I mean, KIDS, like 6-12ish.

If that's worth $50 for you, then go for it.

If not - there are great deals on far more capable tablets on other sites (cough - EBAY - cough). I have an Acer Iconia Tab A100 - and you can get those for about $160 now. That is an INCREDIBLE deal. No compromises there. Ice Cream Sandwich, HDMI out, capacitive touch screen, yada yada yada.

Good info...thank you!

The refurbished part isn't an issue. The issue is the laggy performance and the pain of setting it up to use google play. I bought this a couple weeks ago. I was able to root and get the google apps working, but it's incredibly slow. Also, the browser VM provides has major javascrapt issues. It crashes regularly. None of the major custom android os's are available for the T103 because it's using a mips processor.

Only buy this is you are looking for a color e reader. As a tablet, this device fails.

In for one. If it works, great. If not, it's a $50 digital photo frame.

For $20 more you can get a much better tablet from pandawill.com that has ICS.

It shipped directly from China so be prepared to wait a few weeks to get it.

downing9790 wrote:New format sux...big time...go back to the original and demote the foolish fool that thought of this.

Demote???? Why not FIRE?....

Charitwo wrote:Suck it up baby. It's the same woot with a new, better look.

What are you smoking????

I don't come to woot to be inundated with ads and crap I DON'T wanna see.

I come to see the WOOT DOTD, and maybe look at the child sites, not have to weed thru crap and actually CLICK to see what I came there for.......

jzmacdaddy wrote:These things are awful. They have about a dozen of these in my local Goodwill for the same price. They are returns from Walmart (I think). People bought them expecting it to act like an iPad, but quickly found out that wasn't the case. I bought one (tablet only) for $25 just to try it out. I definitely was not expecting an ipad...just a web browsing device. But is was just too damn slow for even that use. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

THIS NEEDS TO BE A QUALITY POST!

+1 VOTE HERE

So - I see so many folks hatin on here about this tablet. I want to get one to use SPECIFICALLY as an alarm clock, Pandora radio and a "picture frame"......

Velocity lists the following as unsupported on their device:

AccuWeather
Adobe Reader
Angry Birds (all editions)
APV PDF viewer
arcMedia.player
Audible
beamreader
CHM eReader
eBookDroid
Fruit Slice
Inktera
Issuu Reader
Isilo
MailDroid
Meridian
MobilityFlow Animated Weather
Mozilla Firefox
mVideoPlayer
My Weather Watch
Netflix
News & Weather
nook
OfficeSuite Pro Upgrade file (the Pro version is paid, the preinstalled version is the free viewer)
OliveOffice
Opera Mini
RockPlayer
TuneIn.player
'txtr
Weather Bug Elite
Zinio

And the following is their list of supported 3rd party apps:

1Mobile Market
2x.client (version 10.1.1222 or later)
^3 (cubed music player)
4 Player Reactor
Advanced Task Killer
ADW Launcher
Aldiko
Amazed 2.0
Amazon Appstore
Amazon Kindle
Amazon MP3
Andors Trail
Any Cut 1.0
AppLock
Appoke
Armored Defense
Armored Strike Online
Astraware Casino
Astrid Tasks
Astro
AVG Antivirus Pro (v2.8 and earlier)
Backgrounds
Ball Madness
Battery Indicator Pro
BatteryMinder
BattStatt
BBC News
Beautiful Widgets
Box.com
Brain Genius Deluxe
CloudPrint
ColorDict
Color Note
CPU Benchmark
Crystalight Defense (works full screen)
Cute Piggy Clock
Defend Homeland
DejaOffice
Desktop Visualizer
Documents to Go
Dolphin Browser
Doodle Farm
Doodle Jump
Drag Racing
Droid Comic Viewer
Droid Explorer
Dropbox
Drunk RagDoll
DynamoKid Touch
eReader
Evernote
Facebook
FancyWidgets
Farm Frenzy
FBReaderJ (version 1.3.1 or later)
Free Running
Frozen Bubble
Gandhiisms 3.0
GasBuddy
Ghost Commander
Go LauncherEx
Grave Defence Gold
Guns N Glory
Hotmail
iReader
Jewels
Jewel Lust
Juice Defender
Jumpy
Just Pictures
K9-Mail
Kobo
Launcher Pro
Letter Tower (Tower defense on simulated paper)
Loops
Lunar Calendar
Mechanics Touch
Meebo IM
Memory Booster Lite
MemoryUp Personal
Mini Army
Miren Browser
Miso
Mobile PDF Viewer
MusicGrid
Musical Pro
MyBackup Pro
myRemote
New York Times
Note Pad
Office Rush
OfficeSuite Pro Full Version file (the Pro version is paid, the preinstalled version is the free viewer)
Pandora
PileUp Candymania
Pocket Racing
Printershare
Proxoid
Pulse
Qlocktwo
Quick System Info Pro
Real Blackjack
RealPlayer
Remote RDP Lite
Remote Web Desktop
Repligo Reader (fast PDF reader with bookmarking etc)
Robo Defense
SeePU
Sleep Now!
Skyfire
Slideme Marketplace
Solo
Startup Manager
Tajm
Tetronomis (great Tetris clone)
Thumb Keyboard
Tiki Towers
Tower Bloxx
Twitter
Uloops Studio
Uninstaller
UniWar
Weather Channel
Wifi Analyzer
Wifi Buddy
Wifi File Explorer Pro
Wikipedia
Word-Player (ePub eReader)
Wordfeud Free
Words with Friends
World Newspapers
Yahoo Mail
Yahoo Messenger
Zeam

jru5002 wrote:I purchased this a few weeks ago when it was $60. As long as you're fully aware that you get what you pay for than it is worth it. I use it for very casual surfing when it is inconvenient to use my phone eg looking up a game guide that I can reference continuously, looking up something on Wikipedia or YouTube or pulling up a recipe and propping it up in the kitchen. It also isn't terrible as a cheap kindle.

Yes you can get google play on it. No you cannot upgrade the os as the hardware is incompatible. There are not many fun apps available to it and it is very slow, so not conducive to use beyond the basics.

It's exactly what I wanted it to be so I'm happy with my purchase. My phone is an HTC One X though and this thing doesn't even come close to it in functionality. I didn't need it to though so that's not really a complaint.

The Cruz a few weeks ago was the T301.

I bought a similar Velocity Micro Reader for $70 about a year ago. It has a resistive touch screen, not capacitive. I rooted it, overclocked/throttled the CPU (166-800MHz), to improve performance and extend battery life, depending on what's being run, upgraded the internal microSD card to 8G, and added apptoSD to allow more apps to be loaded. As a browser or reader, it's fine, but as a game machine 'forgettaboutit, aint happenin'. I'm going to pass on this one, you can't upgrade to ICS as this only has 256M of RAM, ICS requires 512M. Still, for $55 delivered, not a bad deal.

When woot had the Velocity Micro T301 awhile back the comments were basically the same as for this tablet.

It is a great tablet if you want to get frustrated.

Pyst wrote:Does anyone know if this can be rooted? Will this support Honeycomb at least? I'm guessing this isn't powerful enough to run ICS but I don't know for sure.

A comment on the amazon page said that because it uses a non-ARM CPU you will get no support from hackers no Android upgrades and no access to Android Marketplace or flash support...NeverEverEver
Essentially def not

sdkammer wrote:OK...so seriously...someone please explain how this could not be worth fifty bucks?

It's not worth $50 if you want an iPad or even a Samsung Galaxy or a Kindle Fire.

If you want a reader that also allows you to answer e-mail and update twitter from a safe WiFi hot spot, and you don't mind using your fingernail or a stylus to manage the touch screen, this was totally worth $80. At $50, it's practically a steal.