# $99 tablet at Shoppers Drug Mart



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Shoppers has a sale with a few low-end tablets. I bought an Acer Iconia tablet (runs Android) for $99 yesterday and have been playing with it today. Seems pretty nice, though obviously not as fashionable as the Apple ones.

Seems like a good sale as the normal price for this is $150 to $170

It's the first new computer I've bought in 5 years!


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I wonder if you're better off springing for the slightly more expensive but very nice Nexus 7. They go on sale every now and then for a bit over $200. I have one (2013 version) and I'm quite pleased with it.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

You can get all sorts of tablets under $100. There's a website Dino direct<?> that sells all sorts of stuff I'd never even seen before...probably 20+ tablets in that price range.

General rule with computers and technology is, as long as you never use something better, you'll love what you have.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

No question the hardware is superior on the Nexus 7. It's all a tradeoff of, in my case I needed something immediately because my laptop is dying and this sale presented itself.

The OS is basically the same though, versus my $99 one. I think the main benefits of the Nexus are sturdier construction and better battery life. But I'm a novice to all of this anyway, can I really tell the difference? Is it worth more than double the price of what I paid?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Just a Guy said:


> You can get all sorts of tablets under $100. There's a website Dino direct<?> that sells all sorts of stuff I'd never even seen before...probably 20+ tablets in that price range.


I went on tigerdirect and ncix (both usually very good outlets) and didn't see any tablets in this price range; only refurbished ones were around that price. That's why I thought $99 for a brand name tablet is quite attractive


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Since I'm in the States I grabbed a $129 Kindle Fire...in less than a week it has replaced my iPad.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Just a Guy said:


> You can get all sorts of tablets under $100. There's a website Dino direct<?> that sells all sorts of stuff I'd never even seen before...probably 20+ tablets in that price range.


Yes but it's probably sold directly from china and the user's manuals are in terrible broken english and the OS probably has chinese versions of everything and if you have a problem with it and need to exchange it, good luck. At least Acer has a big presence in north america so you are getting a much more polished product.

Is the $99 tablet at SDM the 7" or 10" version?


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## MoreMiles (Apr 20, 2011)

Just a Guy said:


> You can get all sorts of tablets under $100. There's a website Dino direct<?> that sells all sorts of stuff I'd never even seen before...probably 20+ tablets in that price range.
> 
> General rule with computers and technology is, as long as you never use something better, you'll love what you have.


The same can be said about your intimate partner... as long as you don't compare or ever have the chance to compare, you will remain satisfied.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Sherlock said:


> Is the $99 tablet at SDM the 7" or 10" version?


That's for the 7". Something I like, it has a microSD slot so I can easily pop in a 16 GB storage card I had lying around.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

I like our Nexus 7. Durable. Nice. Easy. Fast. Fun.


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## Grover (Jun 3, 2013)

A few days later how is it going??


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I'm really happy with this product. The processor is powerful, it's just plain old Android so you can do anything Android. The GPS seems to work fine (when not in a building) and I can use it with cached google maps, when driving. Even the iPad doesn't have GPS. We're talking the real satellite GPS here, independent of wifi.

I think it's a great find for $100

The downsides I think are the screen is not as durable as higher end products, and the battery doesn't last as long. Still, I went 3 days without having to recharge the tablet with occasional use.

Last night I loaded the X-Plane 9 flight simulator on it and it blew my mind... can't believe this tiny thing has the power to run such a good simulator. It's perfectly smooth and looks great to me.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

How much does it cost per month on your phone bill? If you use it for internet access how many G can you use for how much money?


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

I'm sure it's Wifi only.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

I don't like to overpay, but I don't like things that are 2 cheap either [and never buy anything used], because most times, you get what you pay for.

Now that I've become a bit of a 'showroomer', I've noticed pretty good online sales for tabs that are double what J4B paid for, but probably would last much longer as well, so was your purchase really frugal? Maybe not. 

I deposited a cheque for the 1st time using a tablet, lol I'm catching up. :encouragement:


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> Now that I've become a bit of a 'showroomer'


What's a 'showroomer'?


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

^ http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/showrooming.asp


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> ^ http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/showrooming.asp


Ahh yes, I've heard of that, but didn't know the term.

Thanks for getting me up to date!


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

^ You're not as behind as in the movies, LOL, as apparently the word only recently made it to the Oxford dictionary. :wink:


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## Dibs (May 26, 2011)

james4beach said:


> No question the hardware is superior on the Nexus 7. It's all a tradeoff of, in my case I needed something immediately because my laptop is dying and this sale presented itself.
> 
> The OS is basically the same though, versus my $99 one. I think the main benefits of the Nexus are sturdier construction and better battery life. But I'm a novice to all of this anyway, can I really tell the difference? Is it worth more than double the price of what I paid?


I'm assuming you bought the Acer Iconia B1. Here is a breakdown of the specs between it and the Nexus 7:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Acer-Iconia-B1,Google-Nexus-7/phones/7622,7143

The extra 99$ gets you several decent upgrades:

Faster CPU (4x1.2 GHz vs 2x1.2 GHz processor)
Better screen resolution (1280x800 px vs 1024x600 px)
Higher pixel density (216 ppi vs 170 ppi)
Better screen (IPS vs TN) - better viewing angles and color reproduction
Stereo speakers
Gyroscope and compass
More battery (4325 mAh vs 2720 mAh)
Better camera (1.3 MP vs 0.3 MP)

The Nexus 7 will give you better hardware that IMHO is worth the extra price. However I think the Acer Iconia B1 is a cheap tablet and will work well for many people. The battery life is apparently quite good which is always key feature for me.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> How much does it cost per month on your phone bill? If you use it for internet access how many G can you use for how much money?


This almost sounds like trolling.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I really haven't had any problems (yet) with this Iconia B1. It would have been nice to have more battery life, but this one is still quite good. A screen with better viewing angles would have also been nice, so I can see the advantages of the higher end models.

The processor is plenty fast and I've been running some very CPU intensive applications (like 3D games) and they all work smoothly.

I can't bring myself to pay lots of money for mobile devices, ones I travel with, because of the risk of theft and damage. At this price range it's no tragedy if it gets lost/stolen, which makes me feel better. I've seen so many friends with expensive smart phones where the screens have shattered glass, and it's just horrible


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

thanks for the tip and update james4beach. I grabbed one of the shopper's units the other day, and last night I watched a Netflix movie on it clamped to the tray of my treadmill. I am impressed. It seems to have a good processer for streaming media (better than my bluray player)
I loaded Navionics and it seems to run very well. (also surprised the d/l of that was no charge - I guess because I already paid to load Navionics on my phone through the same google play account)
disclaimer: it's the first tablet I have ever held, so I have nothing to compare it to.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Neat, how did you clamp it to the treadmill?

Yeah it seems to do well for video. I have high resolution mp4 video that I downloaded from torrents. I transferred it to the tablet using the USB cable (from PC) and watch them on the tablet using vlc. The video is smooth, but obviously this burns through the battery pretty fast


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