Devices like these can be very harmful to Android's image in the public, especially if their only feature/selling point is "powered by Android".

My brother bought a Samsung Galaxy cellphone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy). The half-baked combination of hardware and software, with no updates available, made him soon regret the purchase. He was angry at Samsung and Google/Android for "producing such crap". Somehow he managed to return it and got an iPhone instead.

This experience made him to not buy an Android phone again. More of such bad examples/devices could become a really big problem for Android.

Conversely, the Samsung Galaxy S class of phones (I have the Captivate from AT&T) is a wonderful device. The only limitation is that it is still on 2.1, but it is supposed to be upgrade "sometime". That's AT&T's fault, though.

I think they've learned their lessons since the first Galaxy.

It seems that there's much dependency on carriers and manufacturers in the Android world.

What if security related bugs are discovered? Are there minor updates to fix these? And how fast are they deployed by the carrier or manufacturer?

It is not entirely carriers' fault though. Samsung is yet to roll-out the update even in out countries like India, where carriers don't interfere with it at all.

To top it all off, they've disabled OTA and need a Windows only desktop software (Kies) to update the OS. The latest version of this doesn't upgrade even minor upgrades of the firmware.

A HN user suggested a workaround on another thread by downgrading the version of Kies. When I tried it, it didn't even show that a minor firmware upgrade was available.

While Galaxy is wonderful on the hardware side, it has miles to go with its software.

I agree, but that's generally true of hardware companies. Intel's software (other than their compiler) is terrible. I wish hardware companies would just agree on a standard and let the software companies (Apple, Microsoft, etc.) handle synchronization.

Yes, I know it is isn't as easy as that, but it would have to be better than the ghetto that is hardware company-supplied software.

Right, and tablets generally. If a lot of ordinary users buy these or receive them as Christmas presents they may just conclude that tablets and/or Android are worthless and should be avoided in any future purchases.

More likely, they'll think, "I should've gotten an iPad!"

"I don't get all this talk about the I-Pad. I bought a pad of some sort at Walgreens and had to return it. Pads aren't very good for anything."

I almost did run down to Walgreens to buy one when I heard about it. I thought, "Android is open source, it should be fun to hack right? How bad can it be?" It seems the answer is really really bad. Much of it reminds me of my original Phillips Windows CE 1.0 device I had. Glad I didn't go and buy one.

Its bad when a device that was never supposed to run Android (the iPhone) can be hacked to run it better than a device that was designed for it.

Hell, I'd be wary of a $5 LED nightlight sold at Walgreens.

Could you explain the joke for non-Americans?

No joke, really. It's a drugstore/pharmacy that also sells greeting cards, house cleaning supplies, candy, snacks, coke and pepsi and milk, and really low-quality hardware like screwdrivers made of weak steel.

The sorts of electronics they sell there are overpriced and low-quality unless they're actual name-brand items. An LED nightlight sold there is likely to be weak, and badly designed, and overpriced even at $5.

If I saw a $99 Android tablet at Walgreens, I would assume that it would be better to simply burn the $99 - at least then I wouldn't have a useless device to store or dispose of.

(I was just at a Walgreens, and they actually had some Wii units for sale. I wouldn't buy one there, but I assume there's nothing wrong with them.)

I don't know how much there is to explain.

I don't know that Walgreens has that much of a reputation, but I think of them mostly as a drugstore, even though they carry a lot of random stuff. They are a fairly large chain with stores all over the country.

That said, they're not really somewhere you go shopping for high class goods or electronics.

Most electronics equipment sold at Walgreens are of low quality. Its a pharmacy and general store. Most of their electronics are novelties at best.

walgreens was a small drugstore chain. they got national when they started selling alcohol during prohibition as a remedy (exactly like it happens with marijuana in some states now).

nowadays they sell pretty much everything, even prescription medicine in a distant corner :)

most of what they sell is cheap snacks, 99cents products and trinkets.

also walgreens and other drugstores here all have their own brand of copied medicine "walgreens product X. compare to Brand Y product X" on the labels

'I almost did run down to Walgreens to buy one when I heard about it. I thought, "Android is open source, it should be fun to hack right? How bad can it be?" It seems the answer is really really bad.'

If Android using the Apache license means that vendors only have to provide the (Google) source they started from and not for the final result, you basically can't hack what you got, but have to deal with code that was never customized for the device you've got. In effect the source was open for the vendor, but it isn't for you. So much for fixing bugs in what you get...

I pity even more the computer-savvy relatives/friends/neighbors of the aforementioned uninformed consumers.....

// praying that no-one I know buys one!

I'd considered getting one for a six-year-old to bang on. As I started reading, I was thinking "maybe with alternative firmware," but the OOBE sounds atrocious.

I am replying to you now from one. It is working alright especially for the price.