Amazon has a 7″ tablet for $50 and I’ve always been intrigued by it. When my nephew got one for Christmas, I finally got to at least see one in action and I was pretty impressed. When it went on sale for $40 a few weeks ago, I snagged one. I was expecting it to be frustratingly slow but it is actually a pretty pleasant experience. It is obviously snappier than our original Surface RT, and the battery life is plenty good for our use case. It’s really nice having all the Android apps at our fingertips too.
Our main use case right now is a recipe display. All our recipes are in OneNote and the tablet works well in that setting. I also used the Amazon Instant Video app to download a few free Amazon Prime videos that Elijah likes so we can use them while traveling, etc.
It’s definitely a consumption device, not a content creation device. If I was going to type an email, typing on the tablet would be my last resort. I prefer an actual keyboard, but if that’s not available, a phone keyboard fits better in my hand.
But remember, this is a $40 device. if two people go to a movie and buy a popcorn and a drink, they’re going to spend more than that. I feel like an old man when I pick it up because I think about what my 7-year-old self would have thought about a device like this and then I realize it’s basically a throw away toy.