Has anyone bought a tablet directly from a Chinese manufacturer?

[cutedroid]

I'm looking into buying a tablet.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (from 3 years ago). I find that opening an app up (calendar, tasklist, amazon kindle, etc) takes quite some time before it's ready for use. I really dislike this "friction" (wasting time waiting), and so I'm looking into buying another tablet that has enough power and speed to avoid unnecessary waiting.

I watched a Wired UK magazine video called "Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Full Documentary) | Future Cities".

It made me consider buying a tablet from a Chinese manafucturer. My working theory is that you can get a tablet with the specs of an iPad Pro or a Samsung S3 for a fraction of the price for a non-branded tablet.


So I went to AliExpress (where I believe many of these Shenzhen manufacturers try to sell to the world). I typed “tablet”, and the refinement bar shows several names:

• onda
• cube
• teclast
• chuwi

Does anybody have experience buying a tablet directly from a Chinese manufacturer? How is the quality of the tablet you bought?


Here’s a list of things I want my tablet to have:

• Power/Speed (I don’t want to wait for apps to fully load. Please note I don't play games, so it doesn't have to have the top-of-the-line processor or whatever.)
  
• Large size: 10 inches or more. 12 inches is better.
• Capacious storage, either in the form of an internal ROM, or an SD/microSD slot. (A tablet with just 5 GB ROM and no SD slot is no good for me. A tablet with 5GB ROM but has a microSD slot is okay.)
• WiFi
• GPS
• high-resolution camera. My Tab 4's cameras are so poor I don't take any pics with them. Instead I use my Samsung Galaxy S3's back camera, which is 8MP. In this "dream" tablet, hopefully it have a camera as good as, if not better than, the S3's 8MP camera. UPDATE: Mikedt says it's hard to find a hi-quality cam in such tablets. In that case, a good camera is not necessary.

I have no concerns about:

• Bulk: it doesn’t have to be as thin as an iPad Air. It can be half an inch thick and it’s okay with me.
• Weight: It could be 3 pounds or more, it doesn’t matter.
• Brand name: I believe the company’s label on a tablet may jack up the price. I don’t mind getting a brandless tablet, as long as it’s high quality
• Front-facing camera
  
• Shipping time (if it takes 6 weeks to get to North America, I'll wait patiently.)

Things I don’t need:

• Cellular ability (e.g. 4G/3G)
• Bluetooth
• Built-in speakers (I listen to audio through an earphone jack)\
• Windows OS or iOS (Android is just fine with me. Or even Linux. Lol)L

 

[mikedt]

Yes I have, and in fact I've bought many devices directly from Chinese manufacturers. I am in China.. LOL

Shenzhen, "The Silicon Valley of Hardware", I've been there many times, and was last there in October.

If you're hoping to buy a cheapo tablet, I think pretty much all of them have crappy cameras in them. I bought a cheap Windows tablet last year, and frankly the camera in it is dreadful. So if it's good quality pictures you're after, don't bother. Other thing is about long term support with OS updates, well with cheapo Android tablets, basically they're not, they usually get what they came with, and that's it. There are reasons why things like Samsung and Apple tablets around $400-500 or more, and these things are only $50-100 or something. If you do buy a device cheap from Ali Express or something, and it craps out or has problems, possibly due to poor quality, bugs, etc. you'll very probably have to ship it back to Hong Kong at your expense, and wait. Unless you're in Shenzhen, there's no local support for them.

I'm not in the market for another tablet at the moment, I don't even use the Windows one now, but when it comes to buying phones, I'll buy from manufacturers I know and trust, have good service, support and provide updates. And my last three phones have been Oppo, along with a Samsung Note7 briefly last year.

EDIT:

Since you mentioned Onda tablets, you might find this thread interesting to read....
http://androidforums.com/threads/tablet-locked-down-for-china.625226/
Bought in China, and apparently comes complete with Chinese government censoring in it

 

[cutedroid]

MikeDT

Yes I have, and in fact I've bought many devices directly from Chinese manufacturers. I am in China.. LOL

Shenzhen, "The Silicon Valley of Hardware", I've been there many times, and was last there in October.

MikeDT,
Nice to hear from someone who lives in China!

If you're hoping to buy a cheapo tablet, I think pretty much all of them have crappy cameras in them.

OK, in that case, scrap "high-quality camera" from my "wishlist". I'll just continue to use my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone's 8MP back camera.

There are reasons why things like Samsung and Apple tablets around $400-500 or more, and these things are only $50-100 or something.

I thought the reasons where similar to why a Big Mac in China costs $2.83 while a Big Mac from the US costs $5.07: Different costs of living. I didn't think the price difference was entirely due to difference in quality.

I'm not in the market for another tablet at the moment, I don't even use the Windows one now, but when it comes to buying phones, I'll buy from manufacturers I know and trust,

Hence my question. I want to know whether anyone in this forum has direct knowledge of buying directly from these manufacturers. I want to know whether the devices can be "trusted".

have good service, support and provide updates. And my last three phones have been Oppo, along with a Samsung Note7 briefly last year.

Hmmm... I'm okay with a company that provides no or good service/support (I'm hoping I can get help online). I'll look into Oppo.

 

[mikedt]

MikeDT

MikeDT,
Nice to hear from someone who lives in China!



OK, in that case, scrap "high-quality camera" from my "wishlist". I'll just continue to use my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone's 8MP back camera.

I thought the reasons where similar to why a Big Mac in China costs $2.83 while a Big Mac from the US costs $5.07: Different costs of living. I didn't think the price difference was entirely due to difference in quality.

There are many differences in prices of things in China compared to western markets, like the US or UK. On Sunday I was nosing around the Apple Store here in Jinan, I saw Bose QC35 noise cancelling BT headphones, price 2990 yuan CNY, which is probably around $440 USD I believe. Same headphones from Apple US $350. Premium foreign brands like Bose, Apple, Samsung, Nike, etc. can sometimes cost considerably more in China. But on the other hand public transport here is incredibly cheap, like buses, taxis and trains. I can go anywhere in Jinan for equivalent of about 15 cents by bus, taxi maybe only 2-3 bucks.

Hence my question. I want to know whether anyone in this forum has direct knowledge of buying directly from these manufacturers. I want to know whether the devices can be "trusted".

Hmmm... I'm okay with a company that provides no or good service/support (I'm hoping I can get help online). I'll look into Oppo.

I know Oppo doesn't make tablets. and in fact in the last couple of years, there are much fewer makers of them now, there was a massive over supply of them I think. Frankly I can't think of anything really cheap that would be much good, that I'd be happy with it. If I actually needed a tablet now, I would probably buy a Lenovo actually.

That Wired UK video about Shenzhen was made a couple of years ago, and during that time in the tech malls and online like Taobao(same company as Ali Express but it's for sales in China), I've really noticed a drastic reduction in the supply of cheap tablets. Android phones on the other hand, those are everywhere. In fact at the moment the current fad is cheap smart-watches, all of which I've found to be rather crummy, and cheapo VR is very much currently in vogue as well.

 

[Arribones]

I've got a brand less tablet from china help it has a virus on it that is bloatware that cant be removed

 

[Davdi]

Actual viruses (Viri?) don't exist for Android, as it's Linux at heart. There are, however plenty of other types of Malware around.
Why do you think there's malware on the tablet? is it misbehaving, or did an 'Anti Virus app' tell you it found something. If so, what is it telling you?
ALso, if it's a bloateare app that you can see in the Apps part of settings, you can always disable the app. It won't remove the offending app, but will stop it from running.