Sprint offering ZTE Optik 2 Android tablet for $30

Summary: The wireless carrier had offered a similar deal on the original Optik, but for $99 instead. The new tablet still lacks 4G LTE capabilities, however.

Most consumers are perfectly fine with using their tablets as Wi-Fi-only devices, but there are some -- and with some good reasons -- who would prefer to have cellular capabilities for accessing the Internet on the go. Sprint is trying to appeal to those users with a dirt-cheap deal, though it comes with a big caveat.

A couple of years ago, Sprint offered the ZTE Optik 7-inch Android tablet for what was then a bargain price: $99, as long as the buyer purchased a two-year service agreement. Flash forward to 2014, and it's not difficult to find a $99 tablet with no strings attached, so the wireless carrier has been forced to up the ante with the new Optik 2.

Sprint will offer the new tablet for a mere $29.99 with a two-year contract. The Optik 2 is, not suprisingly, a solid, if not spectacular, tablet spec-wise: quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 8GB of built-in storage, 1,024x600 7-inch display. While that sounds promising enough for the price, the same limitation from which the original Optik suffered will hobble the new model: it lacks 4G LTE service.

The inability to access Sprint's fastest service will make it easier to keep within the Tablet Connection data plan limits available with the Optik 2. These include (prices per month): $5 for 25MB, $10 for 100MB, $15 for 2GB, $34.99 for 3GB, $49.99 for 6GB, and $79.99 for 12GB of data. You can pay extra to use the Optik 2 as a Wi-Fi hot spot for up to five devices for $19.99 per month for 2GB or $49.99 for 6GB.

Is Sprint's deal worth it? Or is the lack of 4G support enough to be a deal-killer? Let us know in the Talkback section below.