Maylong M-150 Android tablet: worst gadget ever?

Tech website Ars Technica has an entertaining review of a product called the Maylong M-150.

We've seen lots of bad tablet computers over the last year or so. It's something that happens a lot in the technology industry: an unexpected success comes along (Apple's iPad) and lots of copycats follow.

There have been some good ones too, but these are outweighed by the failures. And going by Ars Technica's review, the Maylong M-150 is definitely a failure:

Unfortunately, the Maylong M-150 is the very epitome of "race to the bottom," and anyone looking to buy one would get more bang for the buck by setting it on fire for warmth.

The interesting thing here is that one of the M-150's retailers, Best Buy, has posted a response to the review (more information and pictures after the jump).

The Maylong M-150 has all the hallmarks of being a cheap 'OEM' tablet built for peanuts in the far east, and rebadged by manufacturers all over the world. In fact, from the pictures it looks very similar to one we've reviewed, the Storage Options Scroll.

However, where the Scroll had a new-style 'capacitative' touch-screen (or at least our model did) the Maylong M-150 has an older 'resistive' touch-screen, as do other cheaper models in Storage Options' range. That can make a huge difference to the price - it's why the M-150 costs only $99 (£60), but it's also part of the reason the cheaper M-150 is so poor to use.

In any case, Best Buy decided to take action about the review, and posted on its blog an interesting response. At the time of writing the Best Buy blog is down so we've linked to a Google Cache of it, and some of the pictures are reposted below.

Instead of being angry about it, Best Buy has decided to suggest some alternative uses for the tablet, some of which are not exactly orthodox:

As a chopping board

As a wipe-clean whiteboard

As an 'analog picture frame'

Who says big companies don't have a sense of humour? Click through to read more (and see more pictures) at the Best Buy blog (Google cache link)