Buying a cheap tablet PC, Any reccomendations?

I'm after buying a cheap tablet PC, Ideally running a upto date version of android OS. I'm looking to spend less than £100 and I've been considering the cheap china tablets available on ebay, which seem to match specs to alot of high priced tablets.

I'd also consider buying second hand if anyone has one for sale?

Could anyone give me some advice? whats good and whats not?

Thanks, 

Matt

Generally Made In China quality coming from established suppliers here in UK is lot better then people selling on ebay version of Made In China. 

Does it have to be Andrioid & tablet pc or any notebook/laptop with Linux distro would do the job?

Nah it has to be tablet and android. One of its uses would be to show .PDF's to clients, recieve emails and check any files sent over (e.g photo's. logos .etc) 

I like the idea of using it as a Kindle style e-book too, so auto - screen rotate would be a great feature. Also a high definition screen would be a good feature.

I'd be 100% happy with the cheaper china replicas aslong as the software is android 4.0 and the processor is above 1ghz and RAM 1 gb or more. But I just can't seem to find a list of whats good and bad out there so if anyone has any experience?

Be careful, it may not last very long.

Be good to know if you come across any good deals.

I'm interested in what you find out too...

The cheap tablets always review really very badly in terms of:

battery life
screen response
image quality
lack of access to apps store
Early versions of android, eg 1.6 and no update path

If you can stretch to  about £280 inc vat, then there are some really satisfactory ones out there. I've got a galaxy tab 8.9 and there is also a Sony. Otherwise I'd save the £100 for something else.

The Doctor speaketh wise words: £100 is not enough to buy the specs you want.
Keep in mind, specs on paper are easy to do. 

If numerous top class brands (HP, RIM Playbook, Motorola etc) can't bring out models which sell reasonably well (ignore the dominance of the iPad for a moment), how could sub £100 chinese tablets be any good or at least usable? 

£100 target price is unrealistic, I'm afraid.

Pop along to your local Maplins. They have Tablets at a range of prices. A few quick demos and a "thank you I'll think about it" would give you an idea of what you can expect for the £100 mark.

I picked up one via Amazon. Just wanted something to use so I could surf Facebook and play the odd game. I picked up a decent 10inch one with a Keyboard/case for around £160.

Might be worth buying a good brand second hand if you are on a buget.

Martin, Have you got anything available at the moment? Might be looking for myself.

So far I've found this...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ainol-Novo-7-ELF-7-HD-Capacitive-Screen-Google-Android-4-0-8Gb-A10-1-2GHz-1GB-/280912129085?pt=UK_iPad_Tablets_eReaders&hash=item4167aaec3d#ht_1860wt_1139

It runs Android 4.0 

Capacitive screen (so its smooth like iphones - not a horddible clunky touch screen) 

100% compatible the with the google store if I'm not mistaken.

1024 x 600 lg screen.. 

1.2gmz processor and 1gb ram

And it looks quite smart too.

I also had a gander on maplins and also Scan and both stores do sell chinese makes of tablets to cover the lower end however they seem to sell older versions of the tablets. If people above would be interested in the above Ainol Novo tablet, perhaps we could sort a group buy perhaps?

As I said I want the tablet to show clients work, check emails and read the odd book. Battery life (which I can imagine is the main drawback with these kind of tablets), and updateability isn't a massive bother to me as If i really like it and find it usefull I'll probably go on to buy a Ipad.

Does anyone have any experience or warnings about the above tablet.. alot of comments seem to be based on opinion or about the older chinese tablets which were available a year or two ago which were aweful. As far as I can see if it has the same operating system and specs as higher priced tabs. Battery life is short on these it states 5-7 hours but im guessing thats abit optimistic.

Derek, I will PM you.

I've been looking at budget Android tablets too. There's one in particular on Amazon which gets very good reviews - though a few users now are reporting problems. But the main thing which puts me off is that none of these tablets (and very few others) have replaceable batteries. When the battery dies, probably not more than a couple of years, the whole thing can go in the bin.

The new Nexus 7 at £159 may be a better bet. It's getting good reviews and apparently the battery is replaceable without too much difficulty.

Good point barry, I've assumed that these tablets will be easily dismantleable and that the battery will just simply be one that is used in another device. I may just bite the bullet and buy one next week. Do you have a link to the one you saw on amazon?