9/29/2011

$199 Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet Unveiled, is it a steal?


The stock market is a mess this week but there were still exciting news announced in NYC at the Amazon Tablet Event.  The very first Amazon android tablet called Kindle Fire is all over the news, but is it a steal at $199 price tag?

Lets first examine the specs and then compare it to the competitor.

Specifications
  •  7-inch IPS panel
  • Gorilla Glass coating
  •  1GHz TI OMAP dual-core CPU
  • 512MB of RAM,
  • 8GB of internal storage
  •  weighs 14.6 ounces
  • Access to Amazon's services (Android Appstore,  Kindle books,  free Amazon Cloud Storage )




Comparisons (taken from geekapolis.fooyoh.com and unplggd.com)

original image



Final Verdict
It is one of the cheapest android tablet given the spec.  All the cheap tablets out there under $200 do not have IPS screen and duo core processor.  However, the lack of camera,  expandable storage, bluetooth, GPS and Google's android market will pull some people's interest away from this tablet.  If you want all that bells and whistles (i.e bluetooth, GPS, front and back camera, USB ports, HDMI ports), you are still better off getting other tablets like Ipad or honeycomb tablet.

If you want a very portable device specifically for reading books, surfing the net, play multimedia, casual gaming, this device is for you.   Also, if you like Amazon services and you shop from amazon often, this tablet is really good for that as well since you can get a month of free amazon prime membership if you pre-order the device now.

By the way, if you are only interested in ebook reading, then you should also consider the new Amazon Kindle and Kindle touch as they are much cheaper.


You can buy this amazing tablet here.

Resources

7/19/2011

Stock Pick Performance

On Feb 08 this year I recommended 2 stocks.  Lets look at the performance of those two stocks FOSL(Fossil, Inc.) and SNDK(Sandisk Corp.)





Up to this point, our stock pick has a 50% hit rate, but average gain is about 27%, which is not bad for 5 months performance.  Both stocks are fairly conservative stock with decent balance sheet, therefore, I would expect in the long term, the gain will be much higher.  Stay tuned for more stock picks and performance report.

5/20/2011

How to use this site to its utmost potential

Most of you who visit this site once a while are probably wondering why this website has infrequent posts.  The reason is simple; we do not post a deal unless we think it really a good deal.  On top of that, the deals websites we recommended and the deals feeds on this website is more than enough for people to screen out the good deals from the bad and to use them as a reference to how much a product should cost.  This post is to help the readers of this site understand how to use this website to save money, make money, and most important, to have fun during the money saving as well  money making process.

What is a hot deal?  Everyone has their own definition of a hot deal.  But here's mine:

A hot deal is a product or service that one has interest in or are useful to one's daily live but for a bargain price (i.e. price much lower than competition and much lower than MSRP).  Whether a hot deal is a hot also depends on how much money you are willing to spend on a product or services and how much you can tolerate bad customer service or bad quality products and services in return for cheaper cost.  Sometimes a hot deal is something that can hold or increase its value through time (i.e. investment deals).  In addition, a hot deal could also mean free or low cost services that can help you be more productive or to save or make money.  

This website include many, if not all of the tools needed to find and analyze hot deals for saving, making money, and buying bang for the buck products and services.  All of the recommended sites on the top right hand corner are the main tools for you to get the hot deals that I have described above.

The HDA(Hotdealanalyzer) Way

If you are a gadget person like me then you will like all many of the deals posted on the deal websites that I recommended on this website (slickdeals.net, fatwallet.com, dealslava.com).  Also, this website takes the top 5 current feeds of the popular tech reviews, blogs, and deal websites so that you can get up to date information without actually going to those websites.  All the links recommended on this site should be more or less what you need to analyze whether a deal (especially electronic deals) is good enough for you.  Typically this could save you $10 to several hundred dollars. 

So you save couple bucks here and there.  What now?  There are several things that you can do to get more out of these savings.  You can buy more than one of these deals then sell them on Ebay or Craiglist for some profit.  Or, you could use the savings to buy more gadgets or services that is also a hot deal.  OR, you can put the savings in the bank to earn some interest.  Or, best yet, you could invest the amount of money you saved from those deals for much more interest than the bank.

That's what lendingclub.com, fool.com, and other investment related links and posts are for; to make your hot deal a even better deal.  Worst case scenario is losing the amount money you saved from the deals and it's as if you buy something that you are going to buy anyway but without discount.  The best case scenario is having additional cash power without affecting the money you already have in the bank.  

Typically,  I recommend signing up electronic accounts for credit cards, banking, and investments because you can link and monitor all those accounts from a single site called Mint.com.  I strongly encourage everyone to try it out and it is a free tool that can help you figure out your financial situation and to help you save money toward a certain goal.  It is really safe because mint.com is built from the company who created Turbotax, so it's it's really safe if not safer than Turbotax.

From the saving you get from the deals you find, you can invest those saving or keep those money saved in the bank.  By using mint.com, you can keep track your spending and prevent unnecessary spendings so that you can save more money that you can use for future purchases or investments.  What you can get out of doing all these work is having additional money to buy stuffs you like but without worrying about your financial situation.  

Finally, I really hope people can benefit from this website and I will post more details how to use all the free tools that I recommended.

4/21/2011

Eee Pad Transformer North American Launch


The highly anticipated android tablet will finally be available in North America at various well known retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. This sweet tablet runs for only $399 and the optional keyboard dock runs for $149.(see Eee Pad Transformer North American Launch News for details)

Why is this tablet a big deal and what is this tablet different from any other android tablets out there?

This is the cheapest android tablet out there that sport the latest android software, the tegra 2 processor, and an IPS screen with resolution that is same if not better than its competitors.  Combined with the dock, the combination can get very good battery life, ~15 hours, and weights only about 2.9lbs total.

Shown below is a comparison table taken from Anandtech's recent review on the transformer tablet.:



















As you can see, the Asus Eee pad has a very competitive pricing compared its rivals and I am glad to see this as it will create pressure on the cost of tablets in the future.  I believe that netbook/tablet transformer platform will dominate the market in term of mobile gadges in the near future.

For more detailed review on this tablet, please check out http://www.anandtech.com/show/4277/asus-eee-pad-transformer-review and http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asus-eee-pad-transformer/4505-3126_7-34467853.html?tag=mncol;txt.

Related videos



CNET's video review:


User review by andyxover:




BTV's first look clip on the Asus Eee Pads product line:


4/12/2011

$114 Amazon Kindle 3 Wifi Special Edition


Just recently found a deal from dealslava.com that book lovers shouldn't pass up.  This special edition is the newest kindle 3 WIFI along with bunch of freebies and sponsored screen savers.  It is cheaper than the normal version which is $139.  The only draw back to this deal is that it's on pre-order and they will not be released until beginning of May.  The Kindle3 is a really neat device and many specs were improved from the previous version.

Below are the features and improvements of Kindle3 as compared to Kindle2 (taken from Amazon.com):

  • All-New, High-Contrast E Ink Screen - 50% better contrast with latest E Ink Pearl technology
  • Read in Bright Sunlight - No glare
  • New and Improved Fonts - New crisper, darker fonts
  • New Sleek Design - 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6" size reading area
  • 17% Lighter - Only 8.5 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
  • Battery Life of Up to One Month - A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
  • Double the Storage - Up to 3,500 books
  • Built-In Wi-Fi - Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
  • 20% Faster Page Turns - Seamless reading
  • Enhanced PDF Reader - With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
  • New WebKit-Based Browser - Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)
  • Special Offers - Special offers and sponsored screensavers display on the Kindle screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen—they don't interrupt reading
In my opinion, the specifications for the Kindle3 is really decent considering the fact that it's a relatively low cost device.  It's about the same or cheaper than it's predecessor but with all the above improvements.  Personally, I would get this device just because of it's great e-ink screen, it's super light weight, and it's superb battery life.  Although some people think that ipad or other tablet would do the trick, but I believe this version of Kindle is best ebook reader you can get on the block. 


VIDEO REVIEWS

MobileTechReview:


D3Live(this kid did a really good job talking about the Kindle3):


A user review on the PDF part of the Kindle3: