4.3" Trio Stealth Lite Android 4.1 Tablet - $29.99 | Hacker News Reader

4.3" Trio Stealth Lite Android 4.1 Tablet - $29.99

biglots.com

21 pointsgillis16 comments

My grandmother bought these for all my younger cousins (claiming she got them an "iPad"). They were horrible. Everyone kept coming to me for "tech support", wondering why it's not working or why it's so sluggish or unresponsive or why they can't install Angry Birds on it (it doesn't come with the Play store).

At $29, you're overpaying.

Can it be used as a digital photo frame?

The resolution is really low, and you can only install apps from their own app store -- so probably not worth the trouble.

Is it possible to root it and install CyagonMod + Google Play Store + Google Apps?

That is the thing. People dont ever consider asking and help aka "tech support" values anything. I dont mind helping once or twice. But being on constant support is just like a CS working for that devices company.

That is why i have always like simplify, ease of use solution.

It's in-store only, on clearance, so good luck finding one, they're just clearing out stock. Even if you do, 4.3" is smaller than the screen on new phones -- that's hardly what I'd call a tablet. It has pretty terrible reviews online; bad screen, slow responses, high failure rate. I don't think this is particularly interesting for HN either way.

It's pretty interesting when technology that was 2-3 years ago pretty novel costs now the same amount of money as a dinner at a slightly better restaurant. Given idk how usable it really is.

Similar to the HP Touchpad, I don't think this price is representative of how much it cost to manufacture it.

Calling it a tablet is silly but it kinda resembles an iPod touch which surprisingly remains a major gap in android lineup.

Available online at Walmart for $50: http://www.walmart.com/ip/22587332

I got this for a friend in February. I followed these instructions to root and add the google play market:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=37295457&post...

http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/65866-trio-machspeed-stealth...

What I'd really like to see happen is for one of these very cheap tablets to be given a set of ports for interfacing with motors and instruments. It could become a sort of Raspberry Pi that's already in a case with a screen and battery. It would then function as a kind of extremely flexible Lego Mindstorms competitor that could be put into the middle of home automation, robots or garden automation.

I think it was just six or seven years ago that 4gb of flash storage would have cost $30 by itself

how can something like this reach HN #1 ? Its a terrible terrible product, so whats the point if its cheap? Like on low-end android smartphones, the user experience is horrible and that "tablet" is smaller than many modern smartphones.

If only my flag link hadn't been taken away.

Capacitive touchscreens are the devil, ugh!

Capacitive touchscreens are used in all modern tablets/smartphones

i think you are confusing that with resistive touchscreens.

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