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$48 Windows 8 Tablet Now Shipping in China

With Microsoft shipping one for $79, Windows tablets are getting pretty damned cheap – and they’re going to get cheaper. Mike Cane has uncovered a 7″ Windows 8 tablet which is selling in China for 299 yuan, or about $48.

The Ployer MOMO7W is very likely junk by any sensible standard, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is cheaper than I imagined would be possible.

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The Ployer MOMO7W runs Windows 8.1 on a quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Baytrail CPU with 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage.

It has an HDMI port, a microSD card slot, a camera of unknown resolution, and there is also a single speaker on the back. The 7 inch display has a screen resolution of 1024 × 600, which is fairly typical of the cheapest Android tablets in this size.

According to Mike’s source, this tablet is selling in China for 299 yuan. That makes it a heck of a lot cheaper than the HP Stream 7, which can be found in the Microsoft Store for $79.

There’s no telling how much the Ployer tablet will cost if it shows up in the US, but I know I wouldn’t buy one. Based on Chris Meadows' experiences with the $79 HP Stream 7, I think Windows tablets have hit a minimum threshold for usability. Anything below $99 is IMO too cheaply made to be worthwhile, and from what Chris says the 7″ screen frankly isn’t very usable.

He thinks that "Windows 8.1 isn’t really a true mobile operating system", but is rather "a desktop operating system, shrunk down and crammed into a tablet form factor, with a mobile app launcher fig leaf on top."

Sure, you can install desktop apps, but they aren’t designed to work on a 7″ screen, so "it’s often hard to tap the right thing with fat fingers". Just about the tablet’s only redeeming feature is when a BT keyboard and mouse are attached, making it a mini laptop (and rendering its tablet state null).

If you are looking at a Windows 8 tablet, I’d get one which is 8″ or larger.  The 7″ form factor just doesn’t seem to work.

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