14 DAY TRIAL // Android 4.0 tablets aren't really known for being all that cheap, especially when they aren't of the small type (7 inches), but Eken decided to see if it can help change that perception.
It looks like it falls to less known slate brands to actually do something about the pricing scheme of tablets in general.
Not that there aren't affordable slates, but most of them still sell for well beyond $300 or even $400 (225 / 300 Euro).
It is Eken, a somewhat unknown Chinese company, that has actually put together a product of this sort that can be considered cheap.
And by cheap we mean that a slate with a screen of 9.7 inches sells for around $160 (120 Euro).
At the time of writing this article, the exact price listed on Android-Sale was $157.99 (118 Euro).
For the sake of comparison, Amazon's Kindle Fire, the one that just got a firmware update, measures 7 inches and sells for $200 (150 Euro).
Going back to the Eken A90 slate, as it is called, the 9.7-inch LCD hides an Allwinner A10 processor underneath, whose speed is of 1.2 GHz (it is a single-core).
1 GB of DDR2 RAM (random access memory) is present as well, along with 8 GB of storage space.
Furthermore, the company tossed in a 0.3-megapixel front camera, a 2-megapixel camera at the back and a microSD slot, for extra NAND capacity via memory cards.
Not only that, but buyers will also get microUSB (two ports), HDMI and a 3.5mm earphone jack, all in a package of just 11mm in thickness.
Finally, the panel resolution is of 1,024 x 768 pixels and the whole thing runs the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system on the energy provided by a 5000mAh rechargeable battery.
Alas, some concessions had to be made to reach the aforementioned price. Though WiFi exists and 3G is supported, Bluetooth and GPS are absent.