By We’re used to seeing Android-based clones of Apple’s line of smartphones and tablets, but one manufacturer seems to have drawn its inspiration from ASUS and Google. Ainol, a China-based entity, has launched the Novo 7 Venus, a familiar-looking Android tablet that could easily be mistaken for a Nexus 7 at first glance.
You’re getting a 7 inch 1280×800 display, a 1.5GHz quad-core “Actions ATM7029” processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 2 megapixel camera on the rear with a VGA camera on the front and comes pre-installed with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can net all of that for $155, but considering the cheapest Nexus 7 unit costs $200 we’re not sure we’d spring for less than $50 in saving for what looks to be a clean rip-off.
The Novo 7 Venus does have a couple of advantages over the Nexus 7, including that aforementioned camera and the inclusion of a microSD card slot, but it also has its shortcomings — for one, there’s no GPS. If you absolutely must find $50 in savings I’d urge you to get a Nexus 7 on eBay or Craigslist, or just go with something from a more reputable brand such as Acer or ASUS.
I’m not saying these Chinese manufacturers don’t have products worth spending money on, but when all you’re doing is blatantly copying Google’s official offering then it only makes sense to spring for that particular device. Still, someone’s bound to want the Novo 7 Venus so if that someone is you then it’s waiting for you at this link.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Based on the specs and the close resemblance to the nexus 7 this should have been a 99 dollar tab. @ 155 this is just to closely priced to the better N7 to really sell much at all
and for $99 im sure they’d be making practically no profit
$45 is quite a bit of savings especially when you can get a sdcard slot or are buying multiple tablets. My only issue would be the updates.
No issue.
Three won’t be any.
I don’t know. The SD slot is a big deal with me and the only thing that has kept me from pulling the trigger on the Nexus 7.
I would be concerned that “Ainol” may sound too much like “anal”.
It’s the reverse effect of Chevy Nova meaning “no go”, or Nokia’s “Lumia” phone meaning “prostitute phone”.
Figures it’s from out of China. Why do Chinese manufacturers love to rip off other people’s products so much? Personally I don’t really care too much because it looks like they actually make a better Nexus 7, minus the quality hardware. It’s too bad the processor is probably absolute junk, I’d try getting one of these for the wife so she would leave my tab 2 alone lol
For your sake, I hope your wife doesn’t drop by on occasion…………. ;)
if this had a GPS, i might have actually bought it.
Just got one and it does have GPs
I’d take mSD over GPS on a tablet any day.
If Asus were to sue this company it would the first lawsuit with merit. Its a direct rip-off of the Nexus 7.
am I the only one that keeps thinking of anal when reading ainol?
I’ll take one of these,provided it comes w/all the usual GOOGLE applications (STORE, etc….)
EDIT:It appears that GAPPS is included. Anyone check out the NOTE2 “clone” ;) on the same page/link?
After buying and giving my boys Matrix One tablets, I discovered that there’s a whole world of cheap Chinese tablets with quite decent specs, and Ainol is a very popular manufacturer. If you’re OK with getting absolutely no support, and open to experiments and hacking experience, they are a very suitable alternative to brand names. And they can be actually ordered and obtained online, at least in Canada via either ebay or other online markets like aliexpress.
I wonder what will be the next progression point of Chinese Allwinner A10 processor, which is a single core, up to 1.1Ghz.thingy with unbreakable architecture. It’s core boot instructions are hardwired into the processor itself, so you literally can’t brick a device that’s built upon it. Even flashing a ROM from absolutely different manufacturer won’t ruin your tablet/pc-on-stick.
$50 cheaper- no?
What about 25% off? That seems make it more than a reasonable alternative. Just sayin…
This is nothing. How do you like “HDC Galaxy S3 Plus”? http://android-sale.com/hdc-galaxy-s3-plus-phone.html
They forgot to add “HD” somewhere in the name.
EDIT: Oh, that site made my day! Checkout the review section for Anol 7 Vanus.
Here’s another one on the same page,actually doesn’t sound too bad………
http://android-sale.com/kungfu-k3.html
Likely better build quality than asus
I have the Nexus 7 and would be interested in this because of the SDcard and throw in the fact my Nexus 7 is moving super slow, I don’t think I will ever trust Asus again. After owning 4 of their tablets all plagued with issues, my Nexus 7 was their last shot to win me. So many people with the 16gb ones are having issues with it becoming very sluggish. I have reset it 7 times and refuse to do it again and lose everything. I might finally root it, which I didn’t want to do, because I didn’t feel the need to and see if that helps, but, I think I might give this one a whirl.
Maylong tablet anyone?
Quentyn Kennemer, do you hate much? I mean like how much google stock to you own man??
I personally can even see the NEED for GPS on a wi-fi only enabled device.
Having expansion memory is a BIG deal.
I would purchase this over the Nexus 7 and feel great about the savings