Coby Kyros Android 4.0 Tablets Incoming for $179 and up

Coby makes some of the most popular budget tablets on the market and are getting set to release a new line Coby Kyros tablets in the next couple of months that all run Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich.

The tablets range in size from 7-inches to 10-inches, each with a capacitive touchscreen. Coby is expected to release nine variations of these new tablets with the price range of $179 to $299.

The new tablets have the same basic specs. Each is powered by a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 single core processor (their weakest point) with 1 GB of RAM. They all have cameras and microSD card slots and the standard features like an WiFi, microphone, accelerometer, etc.

They don’t have Android Market access, they have the GetJar appstore instead, but the benefit of being cheap and widely available attributes to plenty of options for hacking and mods.

Here’s a list of the specs and prices for the new line of Coby Kyros tablets via PCMag. The interviews say Coby has nine new tablets incoming; not sure why only six are listed:

- MID7042 (7-inch, 800-by-480 display, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 4GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $179

- MID8042 (8-inch, 800-by-600 display, 4:3 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 4GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $229

- MID9042 (9-inch, 1280-by-800 display, 16:10 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $259

- MID9742 (9.7-inch, 1024-by-768 display, 4:3 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $279

- MID1042 (10.1-inch, 1024-by-600 display, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $289

- MID1045 (10.1-inch, 1280-by-800 display, 16:10 aspect ratio, 1GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, up to 32GB expandable storage, front-facing VGA 1.0MP, 720P camera): $299

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Sales and Deals: Tablets and eReaders (1/31/12)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a sales and deals post. Aside from a few deals here and there, since Christmas there really hasn’t been very many sales on ereaders and tablets.

Today there seems to be enough going on to scrape out a daily deals post. If you happen to find a good deal not listed below feel free to add it to the comments.

Also, I stopped by a local Target store yesterday and they had the Sony PRS-T1 on sale for $99. Target’s online price is $129 so it must be an in-store only sale. They also had the Kobo Touch for $99, but it may have been the Special Offers model.

Nook Color and Nook Touch

Once again Barnes and Noble is selling refurbished Nook Colors directly from their eBay store for $129. This is the second lowest price (it was $119 on Black Friday/Cyber Monday), aside from the ongoing $99 bundle deal for a new Nook Color with a year subscription to the New York Times.

The refurbished Nook Touch has resurfaced on Barnes and Noble’s website for $79 after having disappeared for several weeks. The Nook Touch can also be had new for free with a year subscription to the New York Times with the aforementioned bundle deal.

$99 Kindle Keyboards are Back!

A couple of months ago Amazon stopped selling the $99 Kindle keyboard, and then they ran out of $139 Kindle keyboard model too, both Wi-Fi only. I thought that maybe Amazon would stop selling them in favor of the 3G keyboard Kindle and the newer Kindles.

And now suddenly the $99 Kindle Keyboards are back in stock! But Amazon is still out of the $139 model without special offers. It looks like maybe Amazon isn’t doing away with the Wifi-only Kindle keyboards after all.

Cheap Tablets

Here are some tablets on sale. I listed them in order of goodness.

ASUS Transformer – Walmart has refurbished ASUS Transformers for $298. The Transformer sells for about $100 more new. It should be getting a software upgrade to Android 4.0 in a couple of weeks.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10s – TigerDirect has a 10? ViewSonic tablet on sale today only for $249. The ViewPad has a lot of extras like cameras, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, Android 2.2, and a 1024 x 600 screen. The main downside is it has a single core 1GHz processor that is slower than you’ll find on more expensive tablets.

Velocity Micro Cruz T301 – Walmart has the Cruz Tablet T301 for $89. It’s the one I reviewed about a year ago. It has a 7? capacitive touchscreen, comes with the Kindle for Android app, and runs Android 2.0 (there may be a newer version by this time).

PocketBook IQ – For some time now the PocketBook IQ has been selling for under $100. It’s not a bad basic tablet for that price; it’s built better than most cheap tablets like the Pandigitals. It has a resistive screen and runs Android 2.1.

Pandigital Star – Walmart has the Pandigital’s cheapest and crummiest tablet among their new line for $89. It is cheaply made but it has a lot of features for the price, including Android 2.2, an HDMI port, front camera, and it works with Barnes and Noble’s ebookstore.

Cheap eReaders

Here are a few ereaders on the cheap:

Sony PRS-T1 – If your local Target doesn’t have any for $99, $119 is about as low as it has gotten since the new year. B&H has red ones for $118.

Kobo Touch – Buy.com has the Kobo Touch with Special Offers on sale for $79. That’s $20 off the regular price. Special Offers are advertisements that appear on the homescreen and screensavers.

Kobo Wi-Fi – Best Buy has refurbished Kobo Wi-Fi ereaders for $49. This is last year’s Kobo Reader.

5? Astak EZ Reader – Geeks.com has an ereader I haven’t seen in a while, the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro. It has a 5? E Ink screen and supports several formats. It sells for $54.99.

Aluratek Libre PRO – Geeks.com has the Aluratek Libre PRO refurbished for $45.99. It has a 5? LCD epaper screen.

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