There’s an Android-powered iPad competitor that you’re now able to buy cheaper than ever…and it’s not at a place you’d expect.
Walgreens has become the first retailer to reach the magic impulse-buy price of $100 for a tablet device, reaching that barrier by selling a device from unknown company Maylong for $30 below its list price.
The M-150 Universe carries a suggested retail price of $130, but it’s on sale now at the drug store’s online store.
The device carries a 400 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM and supports 3G, but it runs on the outdated Android 1.6 operating system. Upgrades to newer versions of Google’s operating system seem unlikely, so in this case, you get what you pay for.
While its technical specs are nothing great, it does still have some features that give it a leg up on the iPad. For example, it has a USB port and a lighter form factor. However, there’s no camera, no support for online Flash video, and no room for external storage media.
For $100, though, what do you expect? It’s devices like this that should be what define the power of Android for tablets. The $600 ones *coughSamsungGalaxyTabcough* do nothing but provide a muddled and uncertain battle against the insanely popular iPad.
