Quite surprisingly, the budget tablet PCs do not seem to appear on many tablet best seller lists. It seems that people are opting for the more expensive models. One tablet that does appear on the best seller list, however, (and for under $200) is the Coby Kyros.
The Kyros MID7024 doesn’t appear to have an agenda of hype. Even though it’s cheaper than most Android tablets, it doesn’t pretend to be as functional or as powerful as some of the expensive tablets. It knows its place in the market well and also knows that it’s a fairly nifty device that gives all the basics that someone could want in a tablet PC.
Key Specs For The Coby Kyros MID7024
- Costs less than $200
- First launched in 2011
- Runs on Google Android 2.2
- 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches in size
- Weighs 0.87 lb. / 0.39 kg
- 7 inch touchscreen
- 800 x 480 resolution
- 4 GB storage (up to 16 GB)
- Telechips TTC8902 1GHz processor
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- 2.1 MP Camera
- 7-hour battery life
[easyazon-image-link asin="B004XT6WV0" alt="Coby Kyros 7-Inch Android 2.3 4 GB Interent Touchscreen Tablet, Black MID7016-4G" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415gQOMUBSL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="160" height="160"]
What We Like About the Coby Kyros
Price: For under $200, the Coby Kyros may well be the cheapest Tablet PC that has decent amount of mid-range functionality. While some budget tablet PCs seem to severely reduce performance and functionality in order to bring down the cost, the Kyros manages to keep the performance decent and the cost low.
Design: From looking at the Kryos, you wouldn’t necessarily know that it is a budget PC. The design is solid and the device is as light and as easy to carry as you would want from a Tablet PC.
Battery Life: Compared to battery life of many of the high-end tablet PCs that have a battery life of around 9-10 hours, the battery life of the Coby Kyros comes in at around 7 hours. So why are we putting the Kyros’ battery life is our “What’s great” section? Well, many of the other budget PCs do not offer the functionally of the Kyros and yet they have a battery life or around 4-5 hours. For a budget tablet PC to have this battery life is a bonus. What’s also great about the Kyros is that its charging speed is known to be fast.
Camera: The Kyros has a single camera 2.1 megapixel camera. While this little camera isn’t going to be taking over the role of your digital camera, or even your smartphone anytime soon, it gets the job done in terms of video messaging and chat is concerned.
Ports: The Kyros comes with a range of available ports – from a mini-USB port to headphone jack, to a mini-HDMI port so that you can connect the Kyros up to your HDTV and watch your screen on the TV.
Media Support: Even though the Coby Kyros is a budget Tablet PC computer, it still supports all of those main features that you could want from a tablet pc. It fully supports music – perfect for audiobooks! – and also supports PDF files for all of those eBooks that you’ll surely be wanting to read!
Despite being a budget device, this tablet still supports the main media formats for video and music, as well as PDF files and even Adobe Flash. The latter is useful for watching certain videos on websites or playing Flash games.
What We Don’t Like About the Coby Kyros
Screen: A 7 inch screen is fairly small in today’s world of tablet computers. Of course, for many this won’t be a drawback. In fact, those that are looking for a device to read their books on but has slightly more functionality than a standard eReader such as the Kindle, this may be something that is extremely favourable. If you’re looking for something small and light weight this is one of the smallest tablet PCs that there are out there on the market and so it can fit in your bag easily.
Operating System: We like the fact that it is a fantastic Android tablet that has a good selection of Apps available. Of course, there are fewer apps available for Android systems than there are for the Apple App store but Android is fast catching up.
What’s not so great is that the Kyros comes with Android 2.2 – a version of Android that was designed even before the idea was to put it on a tablet PC. This means, that this was originally based for use of a Smartphone and not a tablet PC. It means that the functionally is not as fluid as it could be with other Android tablets. It also means that not all of the most recent Android apps are available on the Kyros – something that may put some people off. It certainly put us off a little.
Apps: Instead of providing us with access to the Android Market – the usual place where most Android apps are found, the Coby Kyros comes with something called AppsLib that has over 38,000 apps. This means that your choice of apps on this tablet could be somewhat limited because it doesn’t have access to the full range of Android apps out there. While this isn’t too much a problem as some of the newer apps don’t work with the older Android 2.2 operating system anyway it’s still a little disappointing that Coby haven’t joined the best party in town.
Processor: There’s no point even suggesting that a budget tablet pc such as the Kyros is going to be as powerful as its more expensive relatives. If you are a heavy user of fames and large applications then the Kyros won’t be for you. If you just want it for reading and browsing simple websites, you’ll have no problem. That’s not to say that the Kyros can’t hander larger apps and websites, but everything’s relative.
Resistive Touch Screen: We thought that resistive touch screens were a thing of the past but it’s obviously not for the Coby Kyros. The Kyros uses a resistive touch screen – meaning that you need to actually push the screen to see an effect. This means that you can’t use a soft touch in order press a button or use a function. This also means that the multi-touch functionality, where you touch two parts of the screen at the same time, does not work on the Kyros.
Connectivity: The Kyros has no 3G connectivity. This isn’t a disaster as many people only tend to use the Tablet PC in their in homes or in their workplace. We don’t mind it but for those that want to use the 3G and want to always be connected, look elsewhere.
Storage Space: For a modern range Tablet PC, the Coby Kyros has an extremely limited 4GB of storage space. Small by today’s tablet standards and even smell where one of the latest smartphones are concerned. It is however possible for you to upgrade to up to 32GB of storage space using an external memory card.
Conclusion
The Coby Kyros is a budget tablet PC. While it is an Android tablet, it doesn’t have the latest Android technology and unfortunately lacks access to the official Android market store. While this is isn’t a problem for light users, it may deter those that are looking for the complete package. It is however, one of the more reliable tablet when compared to some weaker efforts to the market place. If you’re looking for a decent budget tablet PC then the Coby Kyros will serve your needs at an amazing and surprising price. If you want something a little more functional, check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
As always, we would love to hear your thoughts on the Kyros.
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