Aldi £80 tablet sells out in a day

You'll have had to make a trolley dash if you wanted to get your hands on Aldi's cheap tablet -- it's already sold out. The wallet-friendly supermarket joined Tesco and Argos by selling a tablet over the weekend, but it sold out in less than a day.

Aldi put the 7-inch Medion Lifetab E7316 on shelves on Sunday for just £80, but stocks were limited to a special Christmas promotion.

A spokesperson for Aldi told me demand was "exceptionally high", with queues forming outside some stores. Although there are no plans to get more LifeTabs in stock in the foreseeable future, Aldi suggests that bargain hunters "should keep an eye on the Specialbuys we’ve got coming up in store over the coming months as we continue to offer something new every Thursday and Sunday."

Inside the LifeTab is a quad-core 1.6GHz processor with 8GB of storage, running Android 4.2.2 software. The screen is an unremarkable 1,024x600 display.

Cheap tablets have clearly proved a hit with customers. Aldi is keeping schtum about the number of tablets it's sold, but Tesco has revealed it's shifted 300,000 units of the £120 Hudl -- enough to inspire a follow-up next year.

Low-cost tablets are great for the family as kids can throw them about without giving you a heart attack, while you can use it for the odd bit of quick Web surfing. But if you want 3G browsing or streaming and sharply-detailed movies or super-fast gaming, then you don't have to splash out too much extra for the brilliant Google Nexus 7.

Have you got your hands on an Aldi tablet, or have you plumped for a Hudl? Are cheap tablets great value or a waste of money? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our well-stocked Facebook page.