The budget tablet rant.

Back in December I received a $80 RCA Viking II tablet. At the time I had an aging iPad 2. It is fine for my needs. I currently still have it. Many people say that you need to put down $500 or more for a tablet. I don't, even if it is a second-hand iPad around $100, it is easily worth it.
For the most part, I can get by with a cheap Android tablet, even if they break every few months or have bad battery life or inaccurate readouts on the temperature or time remaining until flat, but they can also be slow at tasks like powering through videos or webpages (don't get me started on games like Angry Birds or Minecraft)

However, don't expect killer performance from a budget tablet, because the standard is 1 GB of RAM (512 MB on an Android 4.4 tablet) And generally a cheap MediaTek processor or similar, and some lack components you would expect to come standard, like a micro USB cable for syncing to a PC or a back camera (a decent amount of RCA and other Chinese tablets lack rear-facing cameras.) But then there is the question of "what about the Amazon Fire" overall the new model is the best in its category, just buy the 16 GB model without offers (offers are lock screen ads that you can pay to get rid of, but aren't really worth it in the end.) However, if you are wanting a higher quality tablet (to replace your laptop for travel) you can look into a used Apple iPad (stick to the iPad 4 or newer for application compatibility) or a Chromebook which runs Google's Chrome OS and is just now getting Android app support out of the box, and some Chromebooks are 2in1 laptops where you can use the screen as a touch screen. However, stay away from the cheap Windows tablets, even if they seem compelling, just buy a second hand netbook (like a Toshiba NB305 or HP Mini) for about $50 and you will get anywhere from 32 GB of storage to 256 GB of storage, and then a new battery runs about $5-$40 and another GB of RAM runs about $20.

Amazon Fire 7 (2017) Review

The Amazon Fire 7 released earlier this year is leading the way in budget tablets (under $200) with many features not common yet like apps to SD card support.

The Fire OS is inherently basic, running on a launcher that you can't change even after side loading Nova Launcher onto the device, also the included Amazon App Store is lackluster with its selection, lacking apps like YouTube (however you can download a link to the device that pulls up a stripped down instance of the Silk Browser that can only view YouTube, same goes for Google Drive and Google Plus.) Also, there is no official 3rd party browser in the app store, but you can load Opera Mini or Firefox on in .APK file formats, Google Chrome won't work without Google Play Services installed to my knowledge. As far as storage goes the base-model 8GB is only good for playing Youtube, checking Twitter and web browsing, so you will need an SD card for games/pictures, I'd recommend a 4GB or larger for photos and light games (like Angry Birds or The Sims Freeplay) 2GB should be big enough for photos. And that segways me on to the cameras, with a 2MP on the back of the device and a VGA Skype camera, so this won't replace a better spec digital camera or smartphone as your main camera.

And battery life is what you'd expect for $50, just don't buy a used one as the battery will not get the advertised "up to 8 hours" in my testing (playing Youtube then reading my local CBS affiliate articles) I get about 5-7 hours on a charge, but there is power saver, but that does nothing when playing Youtube or tweeting. And the performance is excellent, only stuttering when looking at intense webpages or playing games, thus making it a perfect 'throwaround' device to keep in a bag for when your laptop dies on you or when you need a bigger screen that that on your phone (not an issue for my considering that my iPod is 4 inches and my LG Phoenix 3 is 5.5 inches, putting it between an iPhone 6 and 6 plus.) And due to the small storage even at 16 GB, if you want a device to play videos on while traveling, consider a portable DVD player and disc case/sleeve, however if you want a Fire for that task then go with an 8 inch which is 16 and 32 GB models, or a 10 inch model which is more expensive (around $150) which has a 64GB option, or if you just want a video playing tablet go for an older iPad (around the $60 mark, but no modern apps or fast web browsing.)

As far as cases go, you can buy a universal case for $10 or go for Amazon's official case, the Amazon children's case (also available in a bundle) or a other type of case, like a keyboard case or anti-slip case. Overall though, the Amazon Fire 7 released earlier this year is still a great device in its category, while it won't replace an iPad, it will still be adequate for the person who just watches videos, a child getting their first tablet, or someone who needs a spare tablet, and the Fire is built like a tank, so it is a perfect tablet for travel.