Newegg has a pretty good deal on an 8-inch Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite tablet for the next few days.
The price is $149 with free shipping, but if you use coupon code EMCPTER77 at checkout it takes an extra $20 off the price.
For $129 it’s a pretty big upgrade over the equivalent Fire HD 8 that sells for $95 without ads.
What’s nice about the MediaPad M3 Lite is the fact that is has a high resolution screen with 283 ppi, which is a lot better than most 8-inch tablets in the same price range that only have 189 ppi. The higher pixel density makes the Huawei MediaPad a better option for reading.
They claim that the display has been optimized to relieve eyestrain. Who knows what that means exactly but it should be a step up from most budget tablets.
It also has fairly good specs for the price and it runs Android 7.0 Nougat.
It has a 1.4 GHz octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space, with a microSD card slot for expansion. There’s also a fingerprint reader, dual speakers, it has 8MP front and rear cameras, and battery life is rated at up to 10 hours for video playback.
Some reviews complain that apps can’t be moved to the microSD card so that’s its biggest limitation, but it looks like a decent option for an inexpensive reading tablet.
Another way to compare is that the Fire HD8 goes on sale periodically for $50, while the Fire HD10 I have cost me $100 back in December.
With ads, that is.
Hmmm. This is interesting. I do suffer from eyestrain and read a lot so this might be an option for me when I’m next in the market for a new ereader. Until now I stuck to Kindle Fires 7 due to price and convenience. They fit into pretty small handbags. I didn’t think about eyestrain. Are there any other ereaders out there that claim less eyestrain? Thanks.
Just the ones that have night reading features but to me reading on an orange screen is much more irritating for the eyes than just turning the brightness down. I’m not sure if that’s what Huawei is referring to with this or if it’s something else. Either way I wouldn’t put much stock into those claims. It’s usually just a marketing gimmick. To me higher resolution and lower brightness are best for the eyes when it comes to tablets.
If you have eyestrain problems reading on a tablet you might try an e-ink reader like the Paperwhite. It gives a much better reading experience although it’s not much good for anything but reading. It’s also good for reading in the dark or in bright sunlight or anything in between.
And since size is a concern to you it’s also a little smaller and lighter than the Fire tablet.
Barry
How would you rate it for comic book reading? I’m on the fence to buy this or the Fire HD 10. I would probably be using it for reading mostly, and light media consumption (movies/series and the like). I’m just not sure how important those two extra inches are.
It depends on the portability factor. I’ve always liked 10″ tablets much better than smaller ones. The extra 2″ makes a huge difference. That’s why I’m surprised there aren’t more 10″ E Ink ereaders, as mentioned in the previous post. It’s my favorite size, as I type this on the Fire HD 10.
Amazon has a prime exclusive deals on Fire tablets just now. The price of HD10(with 32G RAM) is now less than Huawei M3 lite 8″.
For $109 the Fire HD 10 is definitely the better deal!
It is strange. Just now, Kindle basic and Kindle Paper white are all sold out. And there are stocks for Fire HD. In addition, Amex offers additional discounts for card holders on top of Amazon discounts. Still, I can’t buy anymore Fire tablets, despite of the low price. I bought 3 in the last 12 months.
It looks like their system is messed up right now. The Paperwhite is supposed to be $79 and the Kindle $49, according to the deals page. It’ll probably get straightened out soon. $79 is a great deal on the Paperwhite.
Lenovo’s Tab 4 range is pretty good too and is priced similar to the MediaPad tablets.
I use the Fire HD 10 as my primary tablet and it is priced similar to the HD only Lenovo 4 10.1. When discounted the Fire HD 10 is an even better deal. Also, the Fire HD 8 when discounted is preferable to the Lenovo Tab 4 8 (the difference, after discount, is twice the price).
The Tab 4 8 and Fire HD 8 both have 1280 x 800 screens. However, the Tab 4 8 has a better quality laminated IPS screen, better cameras and the battery lasts longer.
I think the MediaPad and Tab 4 range offer the best options for an afforadble set of good quality Android tablets.