If you’re okay with forking a monthly service fee over to Sprint for two years, you can get your hands on Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 starting this Friday for just $50.
This is the cellular data-equipped version, of course, which will work on Sprint’s 4G/LTE network. The Wi-Fi-only version, by comparison, runs around $200, so this is a pretty good deal. It’s not the greatest tablet in the history of tablets – the 1024×600 screen resolution is arguably the biggest knock against it – but for $50, you could do much, much, much worse. And this deal is good for “a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement.”
As for what you’ll need to shell out each month for the privilege of getting a not-too-shabby 7-inch tablet, Sprint’s tablet data plans currently start at $5 per month for 25 megabytes and run up to $50 per month for six gigabytes.
Here’s a chart of Sprint’s current monthly tablet service prices:
It’d be hard, though not impossible, to only use 25 megabytes of data each month without going over your limit. You’d almost be better off not even turning the cellular data connection on: You’d be paying $5 a month for two years ($120 total), which would still bring you out on the winning side ($170 total outlay versus $200 for the Wi-Fi version). Fifteen bucks a month for two gigabytes of tablet data isn’t a bad deal at all if you want to actually use the tablet regularly while you’re out and about.