The Toshiba Excite Go
The $99 Toshiba Excite Go is a case study in getting what you pay for. It's cheap, but a lackluster, reflective display soils the whole experience.
Light and sturdy
The tablet has a 7-inch screen and weighs 12.5 ounces, making it easy to tote. While cheap, it feels sturdy enough to confidently leave in the charge of a small child.
A middling display
The 7-inch display has a 1,024-by-600-pixel resolution: that's low, even for budget tablets. But the real problem here is how reflective this screen is.
Even in normal lighting settings, it can be hard to see what you're doing without staring back at your reflection. This makes for a very poor viewing experience, as videos, games and even text can be hard to see.
Bloatware-free, mostly
There isn't too much bloatware on the device, which is great: you'll run into a few Toshiba apps, and things like Adobe Reader, eBay and the Amazon Kindle reader come preinstalled. That's not exactly onerous, but a pure experience is always preferred.
Android 4.4 KitKat
That Toshiba Excite Go runs Android 4.4 KitKat, bringing all that this current generation of Android has to offer -- a rare feature on budget devices.
A quad-core Intel processor
A quad-core Intel Atom CPU powers the device, and performance isn't too bad. You'll have no trouble getting around apps and the like, and it should prove good enough for most casual games. That said, you will run into the occasional bouts of lag and stuttering, especially if you're fluttering through multiple apps.
Extra storage space
The microSD card slot can support up to 128GB-capacity cards, which will go a long way to extend the meager 8GB of onboard storage.
Subpar sound
The single speaker on the underside isn't very good. It can get fairly loud, but is easily muffled by your hands.