A great accessory for the Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet from CVS

Cover works as a great stand for the Craig 7 inch Tablet

This cover for the Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet doubles as a great stand. You will find that this inexpensive little accessory will make using your Craig Tablet so much more enjoyable.

It folds up like a book to throw in your bag

It protects your Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet, and it also has a Velcro surface to allow you to adjust the degree of slant in the tablet. This is not a flimsy little stand, but it is quite sturdy. I use it in conjunction with a stylus.

To be sure that your stand/cover fits your Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet,  you can order it here.  
The stand that fits my Kindle Fire does not fit this device from CVS.

Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet for 88.88: Glad I bought one (again!)

The Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet 4.0 is on sale for $88.88 this week at CVS. I bought one in a similar deal on Black Friday. I think it was actually a little cheaper! I am so glad I got the little tablet, and my husband is also enjoying it for monitoring Twitter while we watch television at night.  (Yes, that's what we do! I use my Kindle Fire and he uses the Craig Touch Screen Tablet 4.0) 

The Craig Touch Screen Tablet is really a nice little device to have around for under a hundred dollars.  This Christmas, it appears that the top electronic gifts are 7 inch tablets, and this one is a pretty reliable one.  

If you read my first blog entry, you will see that I took back the original Craig 7 inch Touch Screen 4.0 tablet that I bought. It was a great device, but the charger had something wrong with it and wouldn't charge overnight. Although I had had an older model Craig Touch Screen Tablet 2.2 for over a year, it also had a short in the charger which may have been from the way I used it. That was why I opted for taking it back for a refund. 

When the price dropped so low, I decided to try another one.  The performance of that first one was superb, except for the charger problem.  The ladies at the CVS near my home assured me at Black Friday that the one I returned was the only one out of around 20 sold at that time. So, I bought another one. 

I've had it now for several weeks, and it has performed well.  In comparison to my Kindle Fire 7 inch tablet,  I would probably prefer my Kindle. But there are a few things about the Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet that are superior to the Kindle Fire. The first is that the Craig has a USB port.  It actually has a mini-USB port with an adapter included. I often really miss this about my Kindle Fire. 

The Craig Tablet also has a front-facing camera, albeit not a great one, but a functional front-facing camera for using Skype.  You could also do a passable photo for social media accounts or icons.
Just remember that the big button on the front is not the power button, but the camera button. 

The Craig also has a traditional Android operating system. The Kindle Fire has the "Silk" browser, and it is a little difficult to navigate at first. It's not like anything else, really. So, if you are familiar with standard Android, you can operate the Craig 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet.


If your CVS doesn't have one, you may find one here at Amazon.  Currently, you can get the Android 2.3 model here. Occasionally, they get the 4.0 models in. 

Black Friday at CVS: Craig Touch Screen Tablet

The Craig Touch Screen Tablet is available at $78.88 during The Black Friday Sale at CVS, and it will go on through Saturday. This is a Android 4.0 version, and it is not a bad little device. 

Kim Komando warns people to avoid inexpensive tablets under $100.00, but this is a nice computer for $78.88.

A good part of this deal is that you can save your CVS extra value bucks to put toward the purchase.

If you can't find one at a local CVS, Amazon carries them and you can get one in the sidebar of this article. 

Is CVS out of the Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet with Android 4.0?

The CVS stores don't usually get too many of the electronic items at one time, so what can you do if they are sold out? You can order both the newest Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet with Android 4.0 and the older, Android 2.3 version from Amazon.  The newer model is only a few dollars higher, and the older model is available for almost nothing now.  Here are the links:

The newest model is here.



Here is a link to the older model.

The New and Improved Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet from CVS and Rite Aid has Android 4.0

The new tablet has Android 4.0

CVS and Rite Aid have unveiled the new and improved Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet with Android 4.0.  They were advertised in the sales circulars on August 5. 2012.  Could it be worth a look or is it just another frustrating cheap Android device?

You may have bought one of the $99 tablets or netbooks from CVS in the past few years and been a little disappointed.  While the price point was in a league of its own, the devices were not as user-friendly as the others available at higher prices. Craig has upgraded their devices, and actually the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system is as good or better than some of the competing devices at a higher price. For instance, the Kindle Fire uses Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)  and the new, much-awaited Google Nexus Tablet has Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean.)

The new Craig Android 4.0 operating system is indeed much better than the Android 2.0 and Android 2.2 previously found on the CVS Craig Touchscreen Tablet.  This device has a capacitive touchscreen, so there is no beating and banging with a stylus to get something done, nor is there any touch and wonder.  (That means you touch the screen and wonder what in the world happened!)

The new Craig Android wireless touch screen tablet is a far superior model to the ones previously available at CVS.  It is quite responsive, and you will be pleased with the Internet capabilities.  These are significant changes, and you will notice first thing that the new, improved tablet is much easier to use.

Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet 4.0 specs

Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet with Android 4.0 at CVS and Rite Aid

In simple language, this is a 7" touch screen tablet that has the newer Capacitance touch screen. Its is powered by Android 4.0.  There is a built-in camera on the front for self-portraits or Skype type sessions, although it is only a .03 megapixels. Amazon's Kindle Fire does not have any camera at all. 

The Craig Wireless Touch Screen with Android 4.0 has 4 GB of built in flash memory. The on/off switch is convenient and easy to operate. There is a microphone, speaker and place for ear buds.  Most importantly, there is a slot for a SD card to add a lot of storage to your device.  The new Google Nexus, available in 8 and 16 GB storage, does not have a slot for SD storage. 

Here are the official specs from the Craig Electronics website for the CMP741D.  There is another device called the CMP741E, and models may vary by store.  The important thing to look for is that Android 4.0 designation on the front.

FEATURES & SPECS
•             7 inch Digital Capacitance Touch Screen (800 x 480 , 16:9)
•             Processing Speed 1.3GHz
•             Operating System : Powered By Google Android 4.0, Flash 11.1
•             4 GB Built-in Flash Memory
•             Built-in 1GB DDR III RAM
•             Built-in WiFi (802.11b/g/n)
•             Built-in Front Camera (0.3 Megapixel)
•             Multi-Point Touch Screen
•             Support Video Format : MKV/AVI/RM/RMVB/FLV/WMV/MP4/MPG/VOB (Up to 1080p)
•             Support Audio Format : MP3/WMA/WAV
•             Support Photo Format : JPEG/BMP/GIF/PNG
•             Support e-Reader Format : PDF/PDF/DRM/TXT/EPUB/EPUB DRM/HTML/FB2
•             Support 3D Gaming Accelerometer
•             Mini HDMI AV Out Jack (1080p)
•             Mini USB to Connect to Computer
•             USB Host for Jump Drive Connection
•             Built-in Rechargeable Battery
•             Built-in Speaker & Microphone
•             Micro SD Card Slot (Supports Max. 32GB)
•             Supports GetJar, Browser, e-Book Reader, e-Mail, Photos, Maps, Video, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Music, SlideME Marketplace, Clock
•             3.5mm Stereo Headphone Jack
•             Connect With PC as Mass Storage Drive

I really liked the Craig Wireless Touch Screen Tablet 4.0, but...

There always seems to be a but, doesn't there? Well, this particular model that I bought had a little problem with the battery charger. It had almost a full charge when I got it, and that night it indicated that it should be plugged in because only 14% battery was left. After an overnight charge, the battery meter showed almost full, but the same message came up.

So, I plugged it in again, checking all the connections.  An hour or two later, the same message came up. I considered the possibility that it was charged and the error message was a fluke.  I proceeded to use the device, and it did power itself off in a few minutes to confirm there was a problem.

I returned the Craig Wireless Touchscreen Tablet 4.0 for a refund from CVS.  They offered me an exchange, but I opted for a refund anyway. Why?

1.  The earlier version of the Craig Touch Screen Tablet with Android 2.2, although I got some good use out of it, ended up having issues with the battery charger.  It requires some skillful jiggling of the cord, which probably just indicates a short from regular use.  It did, however, concern me that I had two Craig units with a problem like that.

2.  This tablet did not access Google Play so that I could not get my favorite game, Draw Something. I might have been able to get around that through the SD card. (In retrospect, I could have gotten it on GetJar.)

I did like the device, and actually considered getting another one, but I don't need really need it.  I usually have some kind of tablet to play on that I am evaluating for Verizon. If I could get my favorite game on there, I would probably have gotten another one.

The manager at CVS told me that they had eight of them and that was the first one they had gotten back.