T-Mobile SpringBoard

T-Mobile has updated the launch plans for the SpringBoard tablet, known overseas as the Huawei MediaPad. The 7 inch Android tablet will be available from the US wireless carrier starting November 16th when customers will be able to pick it up for a down payment of $179.99.

You’ll notice I said down payment, not price. That’s because you’re not actually getting a subsidized tablet here when you sign up for a 2-year service plan. Instead, T-Mobile will just tack an extra $10 per month onto your data plan until you’ve paid off the full price of the tablet, which is $429.99.

But wait there’s more. You actually have to shell out $229.99 at the time of purchase, and T-Mobile will give you a $50 mail-in rebate card to get you to the $180 price.

The T-Mobile SpringBoard is a nice looking tablet with a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor, a 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, GPS, WiFi, and HSPA+ and front and rear cameras.

The tablet runs Google Android 3.2 Honeycomb, and it’s a bit cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus tablet which T-Mobile is offering for a down payment of $250 (or about $200 more when it’s all paid off) starting on November 16th.

via Unwired View

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7 replies on “T-Mobile SpringBoard tablet coming Nov 16 for $430”

  1. In reality a $430 device which also requires a 2 year commitment runs to a lot more than $430.  2 year commitments usually knock $200-300 of the price of the device. 

    1. It’s a bit more complicated when it comes to T-Mobile.  They have two different ways of charging their customers.

      One is to provide a more affordable range of plan options but offsets the increased cost to them by not providing a discount to the device.  Instead they use a down payment with a payment plan for you to pay the rest for the device over a 20 month period.

      The other is to sign you up for a higher priced range of plans and that provides the usual up front contract discount offers.

      T-Mobile markets mostly with the first option. Using the lower priced plan as the main appeal and is no surprise they’re putting the tablet under that system.  

      So this tablet is actually $430 and you’ll just have to decide if T-Mobile’s data plan is worth the 2 year contract and paying the full price of the tablet.

      Alternatively, you can see if you can find the tablet for a better price and then either sign up for the contract deal from T-Mobile, they’ll still let you get the lower priced plan without having to buy the device from them, or opt instead for one of their pre-paid no contract plans, which are pricier than the contract plans but still competitive to other carrier plans.

      1. Keep trying to convince yourself they aren’t ripping you off here.

        There is no way around the fact that it is $430 with a contract.  That is expensive.  There isn’t even a low priced plan to go with this.  It starts at $40 a month for 2GB unless they are bringing out a new plan just for this one (unlikely).  On AT&T tablet plans are $25 a month for 2GB.

        You are looking at an equivalent off contract price of around $630.  The Samsung tab plus is the closest to it without 3g and that goes for $400 off contract and it is a Samsung not a relatively unknown brand.

        This should have been $430 off contract and then $200ish with a contract.  Anything more and it is over priced. 

        Highly disappointing. Not only does it look like the htc flyer on the back it is priced like it was a launch.

        1. For one thing you shouldn’t be basing comparisons on price and looks alone.  This tablet isn’t offering the exact same features as the HTC Flyer and the differences in specifications matter as a whole with everything considered. 

          While this isn’t the only tablet sold without a significant discount by the Carrier.  None of the carriers have to automatically provide a contract discount for the device, especially when they offer the plan with contract even if you don’t buy the device from them!

          All of which also depends on what deal the manufacturer has with the Carrier and whether the deal is good enough for both to afford to provide the discount.  So should be remembered this is a Huawei product and they don’t have the marketing leverage in the US as the better known big name companies like Samsung. 

          Second, what I stated is just how it works for them.  Whether you like the deal or not should have no bearing on whether it’s a good deal or not for others because it’s more complicated in most cases.

          Like you’re probably not considering that T-Mobile provides Overage-Free as part of their data plans and instead of cutting off at the limit they only throttle you to 2G speed.

          All the carriers leverage different things for their so called deals, giving customers one or more types of different kinds of deal benefit but usually there is always a catch and things like overage charges and cut offs are usually part of them.  So don’t just assume one is better than the other on just the up front pricing.

          Service reliability and quality for each carrier can vary per area as well.  So what may not be a good deal for you can be a good deal for someone with different considerations than yours.

          T-Mobile isn’t any more crooked than AT&T and Verizon, they all could be providing better deals but we have to remember they’re in it for profit, and besides…  In about 6 months AT&T and T-Mobile may still merge into one company.  So who knows how pricing will be a year from now.

          1. Yes yes who is to say what is good or a bad deal.  Of course there may be one feature or another that raises the appeal of this.  Just saying relatively it stinks.  You cannot justify such massive differences between competitor products in the real world.

            No they don’t have to offer a discount but when everyone else does it is expected and makes this more expensive relatively. 

          2. Well there’s the assumption that’s the problem, not everyone is providing such deals.  I already pointed out T-Mobile isn’t the only one selling tablets without a up front discount.

            Like the LTE Galaxy Tab 8.9 is going to be sold by AT&T after November 20th for $480 with a 2 year contract. Among other examples…

            Even with phones it’s not always the case to get a discount.  They just use the discounts to help push sales, and lock in customers to make up the difference in profit from guaranteed usage of services, but they’re not going to do that as much for tablets as they do for phones because of the smaller profit potential and higher risks.

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