Coby Tablet - Is it a Good Purchase?

**_Cathy_** · March 2nd, 2013 05:00 PM

My friend is planning on purchasing the tablet below:

Coby Kyros MID1042 10.1" Android 4.0 8GB with Wi-Fi (Black) | Lazada
₱ 5,349.00

Android 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich
1GB RAM
10.1" Capacitive Multi-Touchscreen, 1024 x 600 (WSVGA)
Allwinner Cortex™-A8 1.0 GHz
3.5mm Headphone Jack & Built-in Speaker
Built-in Microphone
USB 2.0 High Speed Full Size and USB 2.0 Mini-USB Connector
Front Facing VGA 0.3MP

This tablet will be used primarily as an e-reader for Epub and PDF Ebooks and as a browser too. It won't be used be heavily as my friend will still be relying on his desktop for his computing needs.

Does anyone have any experience on this tablet? Can this be bought at brick and mortar stores or is it only available at Lazada? Is there any other brand to consider along the same price range and screen size.

I am looking for the helpful and insightful inputs from the board. I told my friend that my tech purchases were all based on recommendations from the members of the board. So far I am very happy with my purchases

**ghosthunter** · March 2nd, 2013 05:13 PM

Well, let us just say you are getting what you pay for, cheap performance in a cheap tablet. BUT if you want to cheap tablet, you might want to go something like the Asus MeMO Pad.

Asus MeMO Pad ME172V specs:
7.0 inch LCD * 1024×600 pixels, 170ppi
1.0 GHz VIA WM8950 processor
Mali-400 Graphics
1GB RAM
8GB, 16GB internal storage
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Li-Ion 4270mAh battery
Android Jellybean 4.1

REVIEW: 7-inch Asus Memo Pad ME172v lands for Php6,995 - YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews

**ghosthunter** · March 2nd, 2013 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by Cathy_for_you

My friend is planning on purchasing the tablet below:

Coby Kyros MID1042 10.1" Android 4.0 8GB with Wi-Fi (Black) | Lazada
₱ 5,349.00

Does anyone have any experience on this tablet? Can this be bought at brick and mortar stores or is it only available at Lazada? Is there any other brand to consider along the same price range and screen size.

Tried some of Coby tablets before and I was not impressed by it's responsiveness, rather its lack of responsiveness since you can feel the lag between your gestures and the screen responding. Anyway, some shops at 3rd floor in V-Mall in Greenhills sell Coby tablets... but its still a far cry in performance if you are used to branded tablets like from Apple and Samsung.

**_Cathy_** · March 2nd, 2013 05:18 PM

^GH, can you recommend a 10 inch tablet around the same price range?

My friend is particular with the screen size. Speed won't be much of an issue since the primary purpose of the tablet is for ebooks only. The question on the Coby Tablet is more on the durability. What are the problems associated with a cheap tablet as the Coby?

**ghosthunter** · March 2nd, 2013 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Cathy_for_you

^GH, can you recommend a 10 inch tablet around the same price range?

My friend is particular with the screen size. Speed won't be much of an issue since the primary purpose of the tablet is for ebooks only. The question on the Coby Tablet is more on the durability. What are the problems associated with a cheap tablet as the Coby?

1st problem, the charger. Tends to fail based on user feedback from around the world. Second is buttons, tend to be stiff to use. Third, the apps on the touchscreen is not as responsive (as compared to regulate tablets like Apple, Samsung, etc). Fourth, the graphics quality is very obviously poor. Trying to read documents, etc might strain the eyes and the patience of the user since there will be times when you want to pinch/zoom into documents and the tablet would be hard pressed to do it smoothly.

Why not just a second hand Apple iPad 1st gen?... plenty of those around. They should sell for under P10K for one with 32gb.

**stickers** · March 2nd, 2013 05:29 PM

+1 sa 2nd hand iPads.. or Samsung P1000.. add ka na lang ng konti sa budget mo... sa 8 to 10 inch screen categories, branded lang talaga medyo maayos specs at responsiveness..
but sa 7" screens maraming maganda.. may irerelease ang Cherry mobile na 1.2ghz dualcore 1GB RAM.. March 6 ata ung Fusion Bolt.

**_Cathy_** · March 2nd, 2013 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

1st problem, the charger. Tends to fail based on user feedback from around the world. Second is buttons, tend to be stiff to use. Third, the apps on the touchscreen is not as responsive (as compared to regulate tablets like Apple, Samsung, etc). Fourth, the graphics quality is very obviously poor. Trying to read documents, etc might strain the eyes and the patience of the user since there will be times when you want to pinch/zoom into documents and the tablet would be hard pressed to do it smoothly.

Why not just a second hand Apple iPad 1st gen?... plenty of those around. They should sell for under P10K for one with 32gb.

This is great feedback. Graphics quality is important since the tablet will be used as a e-reader.

My friend was enticed with the price of the Coby kasi

It would be great if you could recommend a tablet that is good for EBooks. Preferably 10 in since my friend is not sure if it's comfortable to read Ebooks with a 7 inch screen. Maximum budget is 8k.

**ghosthunter** · March 2nd, 2013 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Cathy_for_you

This is great feedback. Graphics quality is important since the tablet will be used as a e-reader.

My friend was enticed with the price of the Coby kasi

It would be great if you could recommend a tablet that is good for EBooks. Preferably 10 in since my friend is not sure if it's comfortable to read Ebooks with a 7 inch screen. Maximum budget is 8k.

Depends on your definition of comfort. 10inch tablets are heavy. Try holding one while reading a e-book or viewing a movie.

7 or 8 inch screens on tablets are fine since you can double tap zoom on the book/document so the text will be bigger & easier to read. I read e-magazines on my laptop before and now I do the same on my nexus 7 tablet (with 7 inch screen). With my laptop, I dont need to zoom since my screen is big (13.3 inch) but I have to rotate the display to read it in "book" format. With my tablet, I need to double tab areas of text I want to read. Other than that, it's ok.

**_Cathy_** · March 2nd, 2013 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by stickers

+1 sa 2nd hand iPads.. or Samsung P1000.. add ka na lang ng konti sa budget mo... sa 8 to 10 inch screen categories, branded lang talaga medyo maayos specs at responsiveness..
but sa 7" screens maraming maganda.. may irerelease ang Cherry mobile na 1.2ghz dualcore 1GB RAM.. March 6 ata ung Fusion Bolt.

I recently went to restaurant that is using cherry tablets for the menu. I got used to tinkering with my friends' Apple or Samsung devices and that cherry experience was a first for me. It got me quite frustrated because the responsiveness was so erratic. That's when I noted the difference between high end and cheap (?) tablets.

**_Cathy_** · March 2nd, 2013 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Depends on your definition of comfort. 10inch tablets are heavy. Try holding one while reading a e-book or viewing a movie. 7inch screens are fine since you can double tap zoom on the book/document so the text will be bigger & easier to read. I read magazines on my laptop before and now I do the same on my nexus 7 tablet (with 7 inch screen).

GH. how much is your tablet? Are you happy with it? Pros and Cons?