Apple’s iPad mini features a 7.9 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel display, an Apple A5 processor, and iOS 6 operating system. It’s smaller than a full-sized iPad, and at $329 it’s also cheaper.

But it’s still kind of pricey compared to Android tablets like the Google Nexus 7 or Amazon Kindle Fire line of tablets, which have starting prices of less than $200.

If that’s still not cheap enough for you… there are always Chinese knockoffs.

GooPad mini

GooPhone has already revealed a $99 iPad Mini clone that’s coming in November. The GooPad mini has an 8 inch display, a 1.4 GHz dual core processor, and a distinctly Apple-inspired design.

Sure, it won’t run iOS apps and I wouldn’t expect the kind of build quality we’ve come to expect from Apple products. But you could buy 3 GooPhone models and just keep replacing them as they break, while still spending $30 less than you’d spend on an iPad Mini.

Yeah, I’d opt for the Nexus 7 instead too.

Anyway, the GooPad mini Clone has a 1024 x 768 pixel display, a 2MP rear camera and a 0.3Mp front-facing camera. It features 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and Android 4.1 software.

I haven’t seen an actual photo of the GooPad mini yet — the company seems to just be using Apple’s iPad Mini promo shot.

Oddly, this isn’t the first iPad Mini look-a-like we’ve seen. One showed up a few weeks ago… before the iPad Mini was even released. That model was just a non-functional dummy, but it did look surprisingly like the tablet Apple actually introduced earlier this week.

via GizChina and GizmoChina

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12 replies on “$329 iPad mini too expensive? GooPhone has a $99 Android version”

  3. I heard that there is selling for Goopad Mini on website Orientdeal. I bought one for Christmas with paypal payment and the item is good. If you need, you can also try it on orientdeal for goopad mini

  4. Orientdeal have pressed a 8 inch Dual Core Mini Tablet PC, it called Goopad, But It’s Price is 129USD, Who have buy this one, How about its function?

  5. Archos 80 g9 is same screen no ? Turbo version better than original. Both need jelly bean update to reach maximum speed. Too bad neither has gorilla glass. Really too bad no pixel qi screen and power saving tech.

  6. Battery life seems to be a very common issue with these $100 devices. Not just capacity (typically only 3-4 hrs) but reliability too.

    1. True, but, short of long flights, long battery life is overrated. (That said, I love my ASUS transformer w/ keyboard dock) Pretty much goes hand in hand with the SUV tablet mentality. Better support for inductive charging would largely erase this issue. The quoted 5hrs on the Cube U23GT for video is very reasonable.
      More importantly a small cheap tablet is generally an auxiliary tablet. If you have a Rolex or even a Casio, you probably have a Timex for when you are going out to play sports or you are going into a rough neighbourhood.
      I’d much rather hand one of these to a kid, or stuff it in my pocket for a quick read on the bus or train than a iPad mini. In the same sense, this would be a near perfect replacement for my Infocast 8 when the chumby servers finally die.

      1. If these tabs were are reliable as a Timex, I would have not trouble with buying one tomorrow. The issue is that at such low prices, they have to cut corners somewhere, and given that soldering a bunch of chips to a motherboard is pretty much a fixed cost (which usually either works or doesn’t), they skimp in other ways, like build quality, screen and battery, and quality assurance. It’s not necessarily the battery specs that are the main problem either. I’ve used several cheap, aftermarket laptop batteries, and they usually do fine the first few months, but they soon start losing capacity and acting unpredictably, and in one case, the casing itself began to disintegrate.

        Once they start promising 8 hours and up, I would have more confidence, since even a poorly made battery with that spec has a better chance of having a decent rating and lifespan.

        All that said, I can certainly see why people are happy to take a chance on a $99 tablet with those specs. After all, you still have a reasonable chance of getting a fairly decent tablet for a good price. Just don’t expect a lot of sympathy if you end up with a piece of junk after six months 🙂

        1. it’s not so much that goopad is cutting corners, it;s that apple is jacking up the prices. tablets are only supposed to cost about $100. i’ll never buy an apple anything because i know they hire shills like you to convince me to buy apple

  7. An 8″ 1024×768 capacitive Onda V802 will only set you back $129.99 with a dual core Amlogic8726-MX with a quad core Mali 400, while a RK3066 based Cube U23GT only runs $10 more. Both available at Merimobiles now. Given the RK3066 I suspect that it benchmarks better than the iPad mini. In addition both have microSDHC slots, USB OTG and HDMI ports! They have upgrades to jelly bean as well. The new iterations of the same are sub $95.
    My experience with Onda tablets has been very good, extremely solid construction with a surprising amount of metal.
    In short it is the iPad mini which is the cheap knockoff at caviar prices.

  8. The Archos 80 Turbo has pretty solid build quality, if the 8″ 4:3 form factor is preferred. It splits the price between the iPad Mini and Goo.

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