Cheap Android tablets from China are a dime a dozen these days, but one that stands out a bit is a new 7 inch model called the Rena3 which you can pick up from merimobiles for $215.

The tablet has a capacitive touchscreen display and a dual core Renesas ARM Cortex-A9 processor. While merimobiles describes the CPU as a 1 GHz processor, it actually appears to have a 533 MHz core and a second 666 MHz core, which I guess is supported to offer performance on par with a 1 Ghz processor — and in demo videos the tablet does appear to be quite speedy.

The tablet supports 720p HD video playback and 3d graphics acceleration, but struggles with 1080p HD video.

There are a few marks against the tablet. First, it has a relatively low resolution 800 x 480 pixel display. Second, the tablet runs Android 2.2 which is starting to look a bit dated. And third, it packs just 4GB of flash memory, although there’s a microSD card slot for additional storage.

For a few bucks more you can get a Barnes & Noble NOOK Color with a higher resolution display and which has the backing of a company you’ve actually heard of which means it’s more likely to get regular software updates. But the Rena3 is still a very interesting tablet for the price — especially for users interested in hacking the tablet with custom software. Unlike many cheap Chinese tablets, the Rena3 has Bluetooth and 802.11n support.

You can check out a of demo video after the break courtesy of Shanzai.com.

via reddit

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3 replies on “Rena3 Android tablet features dual core chip for $215”

  1. Take a look at “Nook Color CM7” videos on YouTube, they’re nowhere near as snappy as this tablet, the lag really puts me off a Nook Color. However like the article says this tablet has a lower resolution screen, so I guess it depends on what is more important to you

  2.  Is the performance of a rooted Nook nearly as snappy as the Rena 3’s?  I was rather impressed by the responsiveness compared to other Shanzai tablets…I’m really hoping this is where the tablet scene is going to open up, with cheap-but-capable tablets instead of a constant push at the bleeding edge.

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