116 replies to this topic

[FatherD]

Hi folks,
After a recent debacle trying to get a nice android device sorted ....
I wondered into phones4u and wondered out with the Commtiva.

I love it ... It looks like the iphone4's amazonian cousin, the capacitive screen is fine, the system feels resonably snappy, it comes with  a decent hard cover, 4gb micro sd.

Specs are not through the roof, but it feels nice to use and fits in my inside jacket pocket.

Anyone else got one?
What do you think?

http://www.techdiges...commtiva_n.html

[mistercovert]

Can you confirm if this tablets supports Flash? I saw these in Tescos yesterday and they looked good value for money?

[FatherD]

mistercovert, on Nov 13 2010, 13:06, said:

Can you confirm if this tablets supports Flash? I saw these in Tescos yesterday and they looked good value for money?

Yep, it comes with the youtube app and *flash plays in the browser fine*. Its not a fast tablet, but certainly usable.

Hope that helps

*oh no it doesn't .... see later in this thread

Edited by FatherD, 25 November 2010 - 02:49 PM.

[FatherD]

@developers !
Would anyone like to have a go at rooting this device  

[FatherD]

FatherD, on Nov 14 2010, 00:52, said:

@developers !
Would anyone like to have a go at rooting this device  

ROOTED

Had to boot into Win XP, and let the N700 install its sync software which allowed SuperOneClick 1.5
To do its thing; it did take a few re-plugs and toggling the debugging ... then I ran titanium backup, which seemed to half get permission half not!! hit the 'problems' button and that fully rooted it. Sorted!

[firedup]

FatherD, on Nov 14 2010, 11:57, said:

ROOTED

Had to boot into Win XP, and let the N700 install its sync software which allowed SuperOneClick 1.5
To do its thing; it did take a few re-plugs and toggling the debugging ... then I ran titanium backup, which seemed to half get permission half not!! hit the 'problems' button and that fully rooted it. Sorted!

Any chance of a little review?

[FatherD]

firedup, on Nov 15 2010, 12:12, said:

Any chance of a little review?

Yep ... After 48 hours I am still very pleased with this device. Having changed to launcher pro and rooted it, I am well quite pleased with the speed, despite it having only the 600mhz cpu.

The screen is not the highest quality being tft-lcd, and can look a little low res on pages with small text, also viewed from acute angles it shows it's definitely no amoled! However I watched a movie on it and it did a good job, sound is also excellent, with a speaker at each end.

Battery life is looking good with well over 24 hours between charges at this early stage, better to come for sure.

The camera is average fare at only 3mpx. But that's not what I bought it for!

Build feels solid with a very iphone4 like appearance, the back is plastic though, but at this price, no problem.

Call quality on bluetooth or over the speakers is excellent, no problems with wifi, and this comes with a lifetime freerunner account, and 3 month trial of co pilot nav.

In short this makes the galaxy tab look extortionate, it is better packaged and performs without any major issues. with snapdragon and amoled this would be perfect!

Entirely my opinion, but if you offered me a Desire HD I would not swap out for such poor build and awful battery life, just to get a better camera and snappier performance.

[Newboy]

Sorry for looking like a complete novice (which I am), but can you please explain what you mean by "rooting"? I am very interested in this device and clearly in your opinion this was an important step in getting the best out of it. Cheers  

[FatherD]

Newboy, on Nov 15 2010, 16:24, said:

Sorry for looking like a complete novice (which I am), but can you please explain what you mean by "rooting"? I am very interested in this device and clearly in your opinion this was an important step in getting the best out of it. Cheers  

Thats ok, no need to apologise!
Rooting is covered in detail elsewhere on this and many other forums, so I will be brief: it is alike to jail breaking, it gives you access to the otherwise locked out system partitions, this allows you to make fundamental changes to the system, for instance l have removed the ereader app, games app and several others which come embedded in the system, I have changed the boot animation, and with much greater expertise than mine - much more could be done like a different rom optimised for speed, or even new version of android as they are released!

Hope this gives you some idea, look around the posts for other devices you will see plenty on the subject, and finally, no rooting was not essential to the function of this tablet, it has freed-up some memory, and given lots of opportunity for future changes.

All the best

[Newboy]

OK, having trawled around a bit I'm now up to speed on rooting - I hadn't twigged that Android was Linux-based and that (fairly obviously!) rooting referred to gaining superuser access. Probably not something I need to worry about as an Android beginner. However, I will probably need to get an unlocked device. Did yours come unlocked? Any idea if those from Tesco come unlocked? Tesco seem to offer it at the best price currently (although out of stock right now)...

[FatherD]

Newboy, on Nov 15 2010, 18:03, said:

OK, having trawled around a bit I'm now up to speed on rooting - I hadn't twigged that Android was Linux-based and that (fairly obviously!) rooting referred to gaining superuser access. Probably not something I need to worry about as an Android beginner. However, I will probably need to get an unlocked device. Did yours come unlocked? Any idea if those from Tesco come unlocked? Tesco seem to offer it at the best price currently (although out of stock right now)...

That's good, enjoy the rush as you enter the android world it is great fun
I didn't know that Tesco was selling them when I bought mine from phones4u .... I think they will be less than the 320 I paid, and they will be unlocked  

[ccs-digital]

Bought an N700 in Tesco today for £299 (actually paid £279 in real money as I had some Clubcard vouchers which can be doubled in value on Tabs).

Reasonably impressed so far, although the touchscreen has gone nuts three times already - requiring power cycling to fix. If it carries on doing that it will be going back.

Flash does work on YouTube, but NOT in embedded sites - BBC News for example, gives a missing plug in error and iPlayer doesn't work either.

Plain vanilla Android is a bit of a shock after Sense on my HTC Legend, LauncherPro is pretty much a must-install.

Device comes with a 4Gb uSD card containing a 30 day trial of CoPilot Live navigation software. However the instructions on how to activate it don't work, and I have yet to figure it out...

Incidentally the N700 is identical to the Viewsonic ViewPad 7 (which has had quite a lot of positive coverage on numerous sites) but is £100 cheaper.

More opinion to come as I play with it a bit more - assuming the screen behaves itself.

[FatherD]

ccs-digital, on Nov 15 2010, 20:56, said:

........
Flash does work on YouTube, but NOT in embedded sites - BBC News for example, gives a missing plug in error and iPlayer doesn't work

Yep, missed that one should have tested flash more thoroughly! I hope your screen works out ok, no such problems here.

Edit: I also tried to get Flash 10.1 apk to solve the problem, but this just crashes the browser, I think it something to do with the chipset/cpu limitations, or a feature of the odexing of the rom!?

Edited by FatherD, 16 November 2010 - 07:48 AM.

[FatherD]

Request to any Devs!

I know that this is a minor device on this forum, but would anyone be willing to invest some time in getting a custom recovery image onto one of these, I am not sure how to do this! But I have managed to root it. Also, compiling a custom rom for this?

[ccs-digital]

FatherD, on Nov 16 2010, 00:59, said:

Yep, missed that one should have tested flash more thoroughly! I hope your screen works out ok, no such problems here.

Edit: I also tried to get Flash 10.1 apk to solve the problem, but this just crashes the browser, I think it something to do with the chipset/cpu limitations, or a feature of the odexing of the rom!?

Unfortunately the screen problem continued so it went back at lunchtime. Replacement is working fine so far, and CoPilot installed with no problem on this one.

Interestingly the original was clearly not box-fresh as it didn't have the front and rear protection films on it and booted straight to the home screen, unlike the replacement which ran the expected configuration screens. Naughty Tesco reselling an ex-demo or previous return perhaps.

Despite the shaky start I think this is a pretty nice device for the price, and definately the form factor of tablet for me (would still have liked a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but not at £500!).

On with re-installing all my apps again!

[Wild Angus]

I just got a Commtiva N700 from Staples. Staples are doing a deal which works out at around £285 but you have to trade in a working laptop. £60 discount doesn't seem very generous for a perfectly good laptop so I paid the full £345. I'm very pleased with it, well except for the lack of Flash! Download  z4root from the market for one-click rooting. I did try installing Clockworkmod but although ROM Manager said it had flashed OK - the tablet hung on bootup. Luckily it did right itself when I put a pin in the reset hole. PHEW! No clockworkmod but at least I don't have a brick. Can anyone out there make clockworkmod work properly?

[Newboy]

Back in stock at Tesco online today for £299. I think this lack of Flash support will stop me buying though.

[FatherD]

Wild Angus, on Nov 16 2010, 18:07, said:

I just got a Commtiva N700 from Staples. Staples are doing a deal which works out at around £285 but you have to trade in a working laptop. £60 discount doesn't seem very generous for a perfectly good laptop so I paid the full £345. I'm very pleased with it, well except for the lack of Flash! Download  z4root from the market for one-click rooting. I did try installing Clockworkmod but although ROM Manager said it had flashed OK - the tablet hung on bootup. Luckily it did right itself when I put a pin in the reset hole. PHEW! No clockworkmod but at least I don't have a brick. Can anyone out there make clockworkmod work properly?

Nice work ..z4root is something new to me .. nice one
I d'loaded Rom Manager and tried the same way as you, I had to reset permissions before it would let me install Clockwork, the device boots fine, but not into recovery!

[FatherD]

ccs-digital, on Nov 16 2010, 14:55, said:

Unfortunately the screen problem continued so it went back at lunchtime. Replacement is working fine so far, and CoPilot installed with no problem on this one.

Interestingly the original was clearly not box-fresh as it didn't have the front and rear protection films on it and booted straight to the home screen, unlike the replacement which ran the expected configuration screens. Naughty Tesco reselling an ex-demo or previous return perhaps.

Despite the shaky start I think this is a pretty nice device for the price, and definately the form factor of tablet for me (would still have liked a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but not at £500!).

On with re-installing all my apps again!

TUT TUT Tesco!    

[PaulOBrien]

Interesting to hear your thoughts guys... I'm tempted to try and get hold of one to play with!

P