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Haleron iLet Mini HAL: 199$ deal or scam?
- Author: Ionut Popa (John Pope)
- Filed under: News
- Updated: March 1, 2010
If there’s something I hate about cheap products is the fact that most times it’s a trap, there’s a catch that’s making it not worth buying and Gizmodo seems to had caught a lead on the Haleron iLet Mini HAL, the cheapest touch tablet using Android, with a projected retail price of only 199$. Some things are too good to be true and I really hope it’s not the case with iLet Mini HAL, a cheap tablet with a 7 inch screen and Android 1.6 OS (upgradable).
Available in both black and white, the Haleron iLet Mini HAL is powered by a VIA CPU at 600 MHz, 128 BM RAM, 2 GB flash storage (complemented by 10 GB online storage and expandable through memory cards or USB flash disks). What’s interesting is the fact that the battery lasts for up to 16 hours of use and 72 hours standby. Even if it’s meant to be cheap Haleron iLet Mini HAL doesn’t lack anything in connectivity options: Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n and optional 3G. iLet Mini HAL is ideal as an eBook reader as it features a 800 x 480 pixels resolution display, enough to render text crystal clear. iLet Mini HAL comes with some pre installed apps but you’ll be able to install more from the Android repository.
Sometimes things are too good to be true, hope not today
About the scam thing I really hope the iLet Mini HAL proves to be true in the end. I guess we’ll know more in a few days as Haleron said they’ll start shipping on March 1st which is today. If you find out more let me know so I can update this article.
Source: Pocketables, Slashgear
John (Ionut Popa in Romanian) is the Editor in Chief at AllTouchTablet.com. He studied Computer Science and worked in IT press since 2002. He’s now involved in his own projects. My Google+ Profile, Twitter
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Having read the Gizmodo article I’d say it’s a scam. You might also want to consider these three points:
1. Why doesn’t Haleron accept credit cards?
2. Why is the only image of the product a render?
3. Why are there no “hands-on” reviews? The company has them ready to ship and they haven’t sent some prototypes to reviewers?
Bill, I tend to agree with you, even if this is not a scam is sure fishy why they didn’t send samples to reviewers and why can’t you pay by card…
Just to add more fuel to the doubt-fire (see what I did there?). This site-
thisandroidlife.com/2010/03/scam-alert-haleron-ilet-mini-hal-too-good-to-be-true-after-all.html
…seems to be investigating this further and has found some damning evidence. Firstly, some dodginess with Haleron’s “support forums” and secondly, the address that the company claim from their contact page as being one of their offices, is in fact a school in Colombia!
More of this saga can be seen in the comments of the pocketables site at http://www.pocketables.net/2010/02/haleron-ilet-mini-hal-the-latest-device-to-join-the-7inch-tablet-army.html
I ordered an iLet, and payed via Moneybookers.
After reading comments on the net, suggesting this was a scam, I wrote them and asked them for proof, or else I would notify Moneybookers that this is a scam.
I quickly got this respond:
“f you wish to contact us our contact numbers are posted on the contact us section of the website. Our customer support hours are 10am to 6pm monday thru friday. If you wish to cancel your order, simply log into the order section and cancel, or send us your order number and we will cancel and refund. However, we have been unable to match your Moneybookers payment to your order. This is done thru email addresses, and apparantly you have used different email addresses for the order and moneybookers. This will be resolved once you send us the order number.”
Since this was no proof of the existence of the iLet, I told them to cancel my order, and refund my money.
Shortly after, I got an email confirming my order was canceled, and my money was refunded. Checking my Moneybookers account confimed that my money really WAS refunded.
So I guess I’ll wait until someone really has received their iLet before I re-order, but I must say that it was painless to get my money back, and that might indicate that this is a legit company.
I most say t
Haleron is established in Colombia, on two cities, Monteria and Medellìn. They accept payments to their banking account in Bancolombia, the account number is legit. Unfortunately in Colombia the e-commerce is just beginning to establish, so all I can say is the company is legit, I live in Colombia, so I’ll buy one and let you know how it works.
3 weeks ago I made the request of the tablet ilet Mini, after reading comments on your page, send them an email to cancel the order and the return of money.
I wanted to comment that I could still get my money and I have already written about 20 e-mail I think are not serious and is a scam
30.03.2010 pay Haleron $255 iLet Mini HAL.
The goods have not received.
Had to resort to contesting the charge with credit card company since Haleron would not respond to any emails
I just received the iLet. first of all, the box was razored, a sticke with Haleron’s info was placed on the box with chinese print underneath. the unit itself had a what looks like a fake UPC sticker, very smudged, and unreadable and the instructions are a poor photo copy – not real manual. any ideas.??? looks like grey market to me.
Scam. Read my posts here:
mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75217&page=5&highlight=haleron
I place an order for two units after a few emails and run-around I notified my credit card to stop Paypal payment. Haleron website today is dead. So I did the right thing to notify my card early. I have done a search now in Google and found a lot of hits with scam from Haleron.