This $69 Android tablet is a sign you should stop overpaying for fancier ones

What’s the deal?

The Doogee U10 10.1-inch Android tablet is 54% off on Amazon. This amounts to a savings of $76 for a total price of just $69. 

Why this deal is ZDNET-recommended

Here’s the great thing about Android-powered hardware: The myriad of manufacturers competing against one another means that consumers can find some amazing deals. While a 10.9-inch iPad starts at $449 (if you’re willing to go for the older version, that price comes down to $329), you can pick up Android tablets for a fraction of this. 

Take this 10.1-inch Doogee U10 Android 13 tablet.

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Doogee U10 10.1-inch tablet

Need a tablet and don’t care if it has an Apple logo on the back? This Android 13-powered tablet, which costs a fraction of the price of an iPad, might just fit the bill. 

Doogee U10 tech specs

• Quad-core RK3562 Arm Cortex-A53 X4 2.0GHz processor
• 10.1-inch IPS HD display, 800 x 1280 pixels (16:10 aspect ratio), 300nit brightness
• 9GB RAM (4GB built-in + up to 5GB extended RAM)
• 128GB ROM (expandable up to 1TB with microSD card)
• TUV SÜD blue light certification
• 5060mAh battery
• 8-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel front camera
• Wi-Fi 6
• Android 13
• USB-C
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Graphite Gray, Mint Green, and Lavender Purple finishes

What you can buy these days for under $150 blows me away. 

A 10-1-inch display, 4GB of dedicated RAM, 128GB of storage, a decent front and rear camera, and a big battery make for a tablet that a few short years ago people would have paid big bucks for. While I wouldn’t pay big bucks for this now, at the right price, this sort of spec is more than enough for a lot of people.

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I’m a big fan of Doogee hardware, and this tablet doesn’t disappoint.

I’m not going to try to convince you that the Doogee U10 is the best tablet you can buy. It isn’t. Rather, I want you to think about what it is you actually want or need from a tablet. 

• A decent display perfect for indoor use with a neat blue light filter?
• A processor with enough power to keep the Android operating system and apps running smoothly?
• Sufficient RAM and storage to meet the average user?
• A battery with enough power to let you watch a good six hours of video?
• A 3.5-mm headphone port that enables you to still use your favorite wired headphones?

Well, all the above is what you get from the U10.  

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Even the cameras — an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera — are fine for selfies, social media photography, video conferencing, and even taking photos in the field for reports. Sure, if you’re used to the cameras on an iPhone, iPad, or high-end Android smartphone, you’re going to be disappointed, but if you just want a tablet with a decent camera, then this is what you need.

You even get a silicone protective case and a charger for your tablet in the box. 

All for $120 (or $109 during this sale).

Is the U10 perfect? No.

The display is great for indoor use, but I find it a bit dim for outdoor use in bright sunlight. If you want a tablet display that’s easy on the eyes in the summer sun, you’re going to have to spend more money on something admire an iPad, which has a high pixel density retina display that’s 60% brighter than the display on the U10. 

The speakers are also a bit tinny, especially for music or movies with boomy bass, but I am comparing this to my iPhone and iPad Pro. 

Also: No new iPads? This big-screen Samsung tablet could be your holiday winner instead

For $69, they’re excellent speakers.

ZDNET’s buying advice

While you can’t expect a $69 tablet to blow your hair back with its performance, most people aren’t using their tablets for any sort of heavyweight workloads that demand blow-your-hair-back performance. To be frank, 95% of the time my super-duper M2-powered iPad Pro is being used as a dumb screen for watching YouTube videos or for typing, and all that power I paid for is going to waste. (I’m really only coming close to using the power of that tablet when I’m editing drone videos on it.)

Also: The best cheap tablets you can buy

The Doogee U10 is a great choice if you want a tablet for basic day-to-day tasks, maybe a tablet in the living room, a cheap one for work or school, a tablet for the workshop, one to take on road trips or camping. 

And why settle for one? You can buy almost four of these tablets for the price of a single iPad. It’s a great way to equip yourself and others with a quality multipurpose tablet that won’t break the bank.