A Wild and Crazy (and Possibly Foolish) Android Tablet Story

[Qs Laptop]

Several weeks ago a story came up on my Google newsfeed regarding a new Android tablet being released. I’m in the market for a new tablet as my 2013 Google Nexus is very slow. The new tablet is the Blackview Tab 13, a 10.1” tablet, 1920 X 1200 resolution, 7280 mAh battery, 6 GB RAM (expandable to 10 GB), 128 GB ROM, 1 TB micro SD storage, E-sim and dual sim cards, and it runs Android 12.

The introductory price was $134.99 after coupons and discount codes.

Sounds too good to be true, but OK, I’m intrigued. The catch is that this tablet is not yet available in the US and once the introductory price expires it will be $299.99. You have to order it from AliExpress and wait 3-4 weeks for it to be delivered from China.

After considerable research and mulling it over I finally went to AliExpress, created an account and ordered the tablet. I also bought the Blackview bluetooth keyboard that goes with it ($19), and since I was going all in I also got Blackview bluetooth Earbuds ($21). Since I delayed buying it for about 8 hours one of coupon codes expired. Anyway, total bill was $197.99. This is for tablet, keyboard, and earbuds. Pretty crazy, right?

Here's where it gets “possibly foolish”. My payment via my Chase Visa card did not go through. Tried it again, didn’t go through. Contacted Chase Visa and they asked me, “Are you sure you want to order from this company? We usually have a block on them but if you want me to lift the block, I can.” I told him, yes, I want to buy from AliExpress. My order went through and there is an estimated delivery date of September 21st. According to their tracking system my tablet is now in Chicago so it should be here any day now.

Here's a link to the Blackview description of the Tab 13:
https://www.blackview.hk/products/item/tab13

 

[pacergal]

I guess my first question would be, why does Chase have a "block" on this company?
"There" tracking system is showing in Chicago, is it Fed Ex or something where you can go to the actual shipping site to check? Yea, I am a bit suspicious.
At any rate, enjoy your new tablet

 

[Major Tom]

A block on AliExpress wouldn't raise my suspicions. I know of many people who have ordered from them with success. It is a large and well-known commerce site. I bought a shortwave receiver from a small yet credible business in Belarus about a year ago, and had to request that a payment block be lifted for an hour while the transaction went through.

It's just your bank acting to protect you against possible scams.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I guess my first question would be, why does Chase have a "block" on this company?
"There" tracking system is showing in Chicago, is it Fed Ex or something where you can go to the actual shipping site to check? Yea, I am a bit suspicious.
At any rate, enjoy your new tablet

From what I can gather the block is on because people have ordered from AliExpress and complained about not receiving their product in a timely manner. So, basically it's customer complaints about the transit time. I suppose Chase got tired of refunding money to customers that were impatient.

Once the package got to the US it's being handled by the US Postal Service and I can check on tracking details on the USPS website.

 

[Qs Laptop]

A block on AliExpress wouldn't raise my suspicions. I know of many people who have ordered from them with success. It is a large and well-known commerce site. I bought a shortwave receiver from a small yet credible business in Belarus about a year ago, and had to request that a payment block be lifted for an hour while the transaction went through.

It's just your bank acting to protect you against possible scams.

That's what I thought too. But hearing that the site was blocked by Visa did give me pause.

It's not the craziest transaction I've done, however. I once had some leather gloves custom made by a company in Pakistan (found them on AliBaba.) The terms were to wire the money via Western Union and they would send me the product 10-14 days later. To my mind this was similar to taping an envelope with cash in it under a park bench and hoping I got my product later. I did get the gloves so it worked out.

 

[ERD50]

I've purchased a few things (mainly electronic DIY stuff) over the years. I used a paypal account though. Never any problem.

I did have one dispute (they sent the wrong model version of the part I ordered, all basically the same, just different current ranges) - they asked for some proof, I just took a few pictures of the labels and the order form, and I got a full refund in about a week. So I was impressed that that went smoothly. And of course, they said I could just keep them (shipping would have been more than the parts cost I imagine).

Best part was, I then had no qualms about opening them, and it was easy to convert to the model I ordered (snip out one part).

-ERD50

 

[Major Tom]

I once had some leather gloves custom made by a company in Pakistan (found them on AliBaba.) The terms were to wire the money via Western Union and they would send me the product 10-14 days later. To my mind this was similar to taping an envelope with cash in it under a park bench and hoping I got my product later. I did get the gloves so it worked out.

Yes, that would give me cause for concern too. It does indeed sound a bit shady! That reminds me of when I bought my first house. A small company run by Italians was arranging the mortgage. The main feller instructed me to meet his brothers in the parking lot of a bank in Pasadena, and hand over the $30,000 down payment to them. Here I was, a young guy who had never participated in a transaction of this size before, being asked to meet two Italians in a parking lot, and give them $30K. Yes, I was nervous, and quite suspicious. I called a friend and told her, "If you don't hear from me with the hour, call the Police!"

As it happened, I did meet them in the parking lot, but then we went inside the bank to complete the transaction. I got the mortgage, and everything was fine. Looking back, I suspect that the owner of the company was just having a bit of fun with his Italian heritage in the way he worded his request to me

 

[ERD50]

From what I can gather the block is on because people have ordered from AliExpress and complained about not receiving their product in a timely manner. ...

I've noticed they often have a big font disclaimer that "this product will take XX days to ship - do not file a complaint before that time is up", or something like that.

I suppose many people don't pay attention and complain anyhow. Some of their stuff is so low priced, I don't mind waiting 3 months for it, I buy it as a back up, or just 'nice to have on hand' in my parts inventory. Usually comes much quicker, but not always.

-ERD50

 

[Qs Laptop]

Yes, that would give me cause for concern too. It does indeed sound a bit shady! That reminds me of when I bought my first house. A small company run by Italians was arranging the mortgage. The main feller instructed me to meet his brothers in the parking lot of a bank in Pasadena, and hand over the $30,000 down payment to them. Here I was, a young guy who had never participated in a transaction of this size before, being asked to meet two Italians in a parking lot, and give them $30K. Yes, I was nervous, and quite suspicious. I called a friend and told her, "If you don't hear from me with the hour, call the Police!"

As it happened, I did meet them in the parking lot, but then we went inside the bank to complete the transaction. I got the mortgage, and everything was fine. Looking back, I suspect that the owner of the company was just having a bit of fun with his Italian heritage in the way he worded his request to me

That is a great story!

 

[Qs Laptop]

I've noticed they often have a big font disclaimer that "this product will take XX days to ship - do not file a complaint before that time is up", or something like that.

I suppose many people don't pay attention and complain anyhow. Some of their stuff is so low priced, I don't mind waiting 3 months for it, I buy it as a back up, or just 'nice to have on hand' in my parts inventory. Usually comes much quicker, but not always.

-ERD50

Yes, they are very up front about how long it will take for delivery. I don't see how anyone could miss it.

Now that I think about it I purchased a replacement cooling fan for a older computer graphics card from AliExpress or was it AliBaba? Anyway, yes it took about 3 weeks to get here but it was the only place it was available. And yes, it was inexpensive.

If everything goes well with this transaction I may start buying a bunch of stuff from AliExpress, mostly electronic related items. Things like USB sticks or micro SD cards, security cameras, laptop docking stations, wireless ethernet dongles, mouses (mice?), etc.

 

[Qs Laptop]

This is hilarious. I'm looking to buy some black rubber door stops, not for keeping doors open but to elevate the front edge of my center speaker in my home theater setup. My speaker is about 18" off the floor on a shelf inside my entertainment center. The idea is to put shims under the front edge of the center speaker so it is aimed at ear level instead of its current target of my knees.

I can get a four pack on Amazon for $10.79 with free shipping and they will get here tomorrow. Or I can buy a four pack on AliExpress for $0.36 with $1.79 for shipping and they will get here around November 14th.

This, in essence, is what ordering on AliExpress is all about. Most stuff you are buying on Amazon is made in China it's just that it's already in the USA so you pay for convenience. If you buy direct from China it's super inexpensive but takes a while to get here.

I've gone over a year without propping up my center speaker so maybe another 60 days is OK.

 

[walkinwood]

Aliexpress, I think is owned by Alibaba. It is like amazon where a lot of 3rd parties sell their stuff. I've used them to buy non-name-brand computer components etc and they've always come through.


Let's hope the tablet lives up to your research. Let us know how it works - that's a great deal.
btw - will it get android security updates? From where and for how long?

 

[Qs Laptop]

Aliexpress, I think is owned by Alibaba. It is like amazon where a lot of 3rd parties sell their stuff. I've used them to buy non-name-brand computer components etc and they've always come through.


Let's hope the tablet lives up to your research. Let us know how it works - that's a great deal.

Me too. There are 369 reviews of the tablet on AliExpress. The overall rating is 4.9 out of 5.0. There are a several 4 star reviews and a couple 1 star reviews, the rest are 5/5. I copied and pasted some of the reviews (they are in Arabic) into a Word doc and used the translate function to put them into English. The reviews are very encouraging.

btw - will it get android security updates? From where?

Whether or not it gets security updates is a good question. Looking at reviews of previous Blackview Tablets on Amazon (the Tab 11 and/or Tab 12) they have gotten a couple of them. These tablets ran Android 11.

The Android 12 they use in the Tab 13 has a "skin" on top of it called Doke OS. I presume the updates would come from either Doke or Blackview.

 

[street]

Let us know how things turn out.

 

[Souschef]

You never know where things are coming from any more. My wife ordered a poster back in May from some place in Europe.
After waiting some time, we asked where it was. They sent me a copy from USPS that it was delivered to an individual. I thought that was interesting because all our mail and packages are delivered to an unmanned hub building.
In late August I get a message from our leasing office that there is a package waiting for us, and to pick it up or it will be returned. I went down and picked up the package, and it was the poster.
Where it was between May and August, I have no idea, I did e-mail the company to tell them we finally got it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

You never know where things are coming from any more.

Yes, what is weird is my tablet and keyboard went to Singapore, then the US, then Chicago.

Meanwhile my earbuds went to the Netherlands, then the US, then Chicago.

My wife ordered a poster back in May from some place in Europe.
After waiting some time, we asked where it was. They sent me a copy from USPS that it was delivered to an individual. I thought that was interesting because all our mail and packages are delivered to an unmanned hub building.
In late August I get a message from our leasing office that there is a package waiting for us, and to pick it up or it will be returned. I went down and picked up the package, and it was the poster.
Where it was between May and August, I have no idea, I did e-mail the company to tell them we finally got it.

That is strange. Had the package been opened?

 

[Qs Laptop]

Let us know how things turn out.

I will. I'm anxious to get it.

Prior to ordering this one I had been looking at Samsung and Lenovo Android tablets. The closest thing Lenovo has to this Blackview Tab 13 is the Lenovo Tab 11 plus, but it's still on Android 11 and doesn't have LTE. The cost is $279.

The most comparable Samsung is the Tab S8. It has a 11" display with better resolution, is on Android 12, but it doesn't have LTE capability and costs $579.

So I figured I could roll the dice with the Blackview at $195 and see what I get. Blow that dough, huh?

 

[stepford]

I've looked at a lot of the Android tablets. While there are certainly cheap ones out there usually customer reviews reveal some 'gotcha' that make them undesirable (slow, dim, bad wifi, bloatware, etc.) I've ordered a lot of stuff from AliExpress over the years and think they're reliable enough for small parts, but quality control can be pretty hit or miss.

My feeling now about Android tablets is either go super cheap with the Amazon Fire series (using Fire toolbox to get rid of the Amazon bloatware) or just suck it up and buy a Samsung Galaxy S series. I've nearly pulled the trigger on the latter a few times, but for my uses the Fire HD does the job well enough for a quarter the price.

 

[Walt34]

A block on AliExpress wouldn't raise my suspicions. I know of many people who have ordered from them with success. It is a large and well-known commerce site.

Same here, I have ordered stuff from them although it has been a while. Mostly because of the shipping times. Another one is BangGood.com - I've bought stuff (mostly R/C model related) and although it takes six weeks or longer to get here it does eventually arrive.

 

[zinger1457]

I've looked at the golf stuff sold at Aliexpress and most of it is a direct knockoff of a brand name product, maybe with a slight change in name or model number, no actual brand name products being sold from what I saw. No way could that stuff be sold in US stores without some legal issues.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I've looked at a lot of the Android tablets. While there are certainly cheap ones out there usually customer reviews reveal some 'gotcha' that make them undesirable (slow, dim, bad wifi, bloatware, etc.)

Agreed. I almost pulled the trigger on a TCL Tab 10 but it was still stuck on Android 11. The reviews for the Blackview Tab 11 and Tab 12, the predecessors to the Tab 13 were pretty good on Amazon and You Tube. There were a handful of YouTube reviews for the Tab 13 on the day I ordered which were very positive. Of course one never knows if these reviews are posted by shills.

My feeling now about Android tablets is either go super cheap with the Amazon Fire series (using Fire toolbox to get rid of the Amazon bloatware) or just suck it up and buy a Samsung Galaxy S series. I've nearly pulled the trigger on the latter a few times, but for my uses the Fire HD does the job well enough for a quarter the price.

My sister had a Fire 10 about 4 years ago and I did some work around I found on the internet to enable it to sideload and run apps from the Google Play store but the functionally of some of these installed apps were unreliable. The ability of an Android tablet to run apps from the Play store was an absolute must for me, do that ruled out the Fire. I also like the idea of having a tablet with 4G capability, which the Blackview Tab 13 provides.

I could not spring almost $600 for a Samsung tablet. I'd rather get the basic iPad for $280.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I've looked at the golf stuff sold at Aliexpress and most of it is a direct knockoff of a brand name product, maybe with a slight change in name or model number, no actual brand name products being sold from what I saw. No way could that stuff be sold in US stores without some legal issues.

I can see it now--TaylerMaid, Kalloway, Titlelyst, etc.

 

[ncbill]

I have an Android phone but for tablets use my kid's hand-me-down iPads.

 

[triangle]

That's what I thought too. But hearing that the site was blocked by Visa did give me pause.

It's not the craziest transaction I've done, however. I once had some leather gloves custom made by a company in Pakistan (found them on AliBaba.) The terms were to wire the money via Western Union and they would send me the product 10-14 days later. To my mind this was similar to taping an envelope with cash in it under a park bench and hoping I got my product later. I did get the gloves so it worked out.

Did you get far enough into the check-out process to directly see that the card was denied by Visa or Chase? The reason I ask is that I have had a few problems and have never been able to pin point the source. A couple of examples:


1) Recently, within the past few months I tried to buy an item from AliExpress and kept getting the error code CSC_7200029, saying that the payment failed and to try again later. When logging into my credit card account I could find no evidence that there was a payment pending or denied. I tried a couple of different CC and tried AliExpress again the next day but ultimately gave up. The same item was available on Amazon but was bundled with something I did not care much about which made the price even more expensive, so I put the purchase on hold until I could research item alternatives a little more. A month or so later I noticed the desired item on Aliexpress was on sale, now ~$40 instead of ~$50. So I tried to purchase again and got the same failure. I remembered that I had a rarely used Discover card which I then tried and it worked to make payment. The item was shipped promptly and all went well from that point forward. One suspicion I had was that AliExpress was refusing to complete the purchase because the major CC I used all had good cashback options, better than the Discover, which caused them to abort. But I had no way of knowing that and I might agree that makes little sense (as why would they first present the CC option to begin with).

2) Years earlier I received a similar error when trying to make a purchase, I think it was the same error code. I called the credit card issuer to ask about the transaction and they said they never saw it, meaning they had not denied it. I then tried a different CC and was able to complete the AliExpress purchase. I don't recall the details as I may have also been changing from a MasterCard to Visa or vice-versa. But in every case the failure happened so quickly that I got the impression that AliExpress was not even trying to complete the purchase, that they were looking for me to switch to payment method. But later this stored card no longer worked as described above in #1.

 

[Souschef]

That is strange. Had the package been opened?

Yes, the package was totally intact.I had to borrow a knife to open it. Really strange.