116 replies to this topic

[space_cowboy1985]

I might have a look at one at the weekend. If the vega is put back another couple of weeks I might get one of these. I mainly just want something for dev purposes. The processor is a big put off though, I believe they were saying that future versions will require a 1Ghz chip. Id hate to be hasty and get one, just to kick myself in the new year when they start to bring out ones that can clean my dishes. Ill keep checking to see how Paul gets on.

[froobra]

I picked one up from Tesco on the way home from work today. Here's a mini review:

Pro's

- Its Android! 2.2 no less!
- Its fairly responsive. Zipping around from app to app to menu etc is nice and quick.
- Speakers are great.
- It comes with a nice case
- It has removable storage

Con's (this is where it all falls apart for me)

- Screen resolution is poo. As mentioned in an earlier post, small text is a bit jagged and not very clear at all.
- Video playback is poor. I tested a low res avi and a 720p mkv file (with Rockplayer). The avi file lost audio sync about 30 secs into playback and didnt recover. The 720p file played about 1 frame a second. Unwatchable.
- The soft buttons (back, home, search, menu) are poorly placed and get in the way. I used the device almost solely in landscape mode and I kept accidentally touching a soft button which just ended up annoying me.
- I found touch input to be flaky. While scrolling pages, screens with a finger it would sometimes think I'd clicked on a link or button.
- The camera takes poor stills. A 2mp iPhone 3G took better snaps.
- No Flash support! Gah!
- Its too expensive for what it is. You can buy much cheaper Shanzai based tablets for roughly the same performance.
- Its not 10 inches (the optimum size for a tablet device IMO)

My primary tablet at the moment is an iPad. I am a Mac user but not an IOS fan (I'm not impressed with how Steve Jobs wants to control the way we use his mobile devices) but there really isnt anything that comes remotely close to the user experience on an iPad right now. For £130 more, go buy yourself an iPad and wait for Android and OEMs to catch up to it. Not even the Samsung Galaxy Tab comes close to matching the iPad (I used one of them for all of about 2 hours before I put in on ebay!) in terms of hardware design and ultimate functionality.

I'm glad I used this device. Because now I know I can give the Advent Vega a wide berth IF it's ever released

[PaulOBrien]

froobra, on Nov 18 2010, 21:56, said:

I'm glad I used this device. Because now I know I can give the Advent Vega a wide berth IF it's ever released

Why? This device doesn't have much in common with the Vega really...

P

[ccs-digital]

froobra, on Nov 18 2010, 21:56, said:

Con's (this is where it all falls apart for me)
.
.
.
- Its not 10 inches (the optimum size for a tablet device IMO)

Erm, how big did you expect the screen on a 7" tablet to be?  

[froobra]

Paul, on Nov 18 2010, 22:05, said:

Why? This device doesn't have much in common with the Vega really...

P

Video is a big deal for me Paul. Air Video on the iPad has spoilt me. I love being able to stream nearly any video format even at HD resolution without any frame skipping. Try as I might I havent been able to do this on any android tablets Ive tried so far.

[froobra]

ccs-digital, on Nov 18 2010, 22:36, said:

Erm, how big did you expect the screen on a 7" tablet to be?  

7 inches. Duh.

Im merely stating I prefer a 10" form factor.

[dwok]

- Screen resolution is poo. As mentioned in an earlier post, small text is a bit jagged and not very clear at all.

It's standard resolution for Android. Haven't noticed jaggy text, what were you using?

- Video playback is poor. I tested a low res avi and a 720p mkv file (with Rockplayer). The avi file lost audio sync about 30 secs into playback and didnt recover. The 720p file played about 1 frame a second. Unwatchable.

Can you provide a link to the video/s you used for comparison? I've only tried you Youtube app so far and that played fine.

- The soft buttons (back, home, search, menu) are poorly placed and get in the way. I used the device almost solely in landscape mode and I kept accidentally touching a soft button which just ended up annoying me.

Do you mean touch sensitive buttons? "soft" to me refers to *on-screen* buttons (if not, my mistake). I've also noticed it's easy to accidentally hit one of these button but I'm sure I'll get use to them. I like that they all light up once one is pressed.

- I found touch input to be flaky. While scrolling pages, screens with a finger it would sometimes think I'd clicked on a link or button.

Give the screen a bit of a rub with a lint free cloth. I've noticed on several touch screens that the plastic cover leaves a bit of sticky-ness. Much smoother after a bit of polishing.

- The camera takes poor stills. A 2mp iPhone 3G took better snaps.

Agree it could be improved. Expected better from 3M camera. I'm betting it can be improved in sw.

- Its too expensive for what it is. You can buy much cheaper Shanzai based tablets for roughly the same performance.

But same spec? Which alternative tablets are you thinking of?

- Its not 10 inches (the optimum size for a tablet device IMO)

Doh   Didn't you know it was 7" when you bought it?

- My primary tablet at the moment is an iPad.

Oh   Not really a fair comparison then. Staying on the same playing field, a better comparison would be to the Samsung tab and I'm happy with my bang-for-bucks  

- I'm glad I used this device. Because now I know I can give the Advent Vega a wide berth IF it's ever released

Scratches head, like your logic there buddy, don't like device X (used) therefore won't like device Y (not yet even reviewed) Just kidding with yer, long live your iPad!

[steviesteve]

Got one myself at Staples a week ago. I work for a Mobile Phone network and get to play with all the latest tech and trust me when I say, this device is an absolute bargain. The Galaxy may have a higher screen resolution and higher speed processor but in real terms it's hardly noticable - plus the cost saving on this makes those differences more than edible. Tried the Toshiba Folio and that was an abomination, the Vega will be the same. The 7inch form factor is just perfect and better than the iPad (which I have also owned but sold) IMHO. If a custom rom could be created to add a little overclock for some extra speed, it would be flawless - well apart from the Flash player limitation (not sure if that will ever be sorted due to the MSM7227 chipset).

Cheers Paul: I've used your ROMs for years and I'm a big fan - any info you need regarding my device, let me know. If you are creating a ROM I will be glued to this forum for some time to come!

Thanks again.

[PaulOBrien]

froobra, on Nov 18 2010, 23:00, said:

Video is a big deal for me Paul. Air Video on the iPad has spoilt me. I love being able to stream nearly any video format even at HD resolution without any frame skipping. Try as I might I havent been able to do this on any android tablets Ive tried so far.

Well, yeah, but this has a 600MHz processor and the Vega has a 1GHz Tegra that should be able to handle 1080P output. Hence my comment.

P

[hucqim80]

I've port a ClockworkMod recovery for this devices..cwrecovery.img
Its a same device as Spice MI700 or Viewpad 7 or Camangi FM6..

[PaulOBrien]

Nice work!

P

[hucqim80]

Paul, on Nov 19 2010, 18:06, said:

Nice work!

P

Thanks   Can't wait for your custom rom..

[PaulOBrien]

Any ideas what the codename of the device is?

P

[hucqim80]

Sorry noob question what do you mean by codename?
ro.build.version.codename=REL

Edited by hucqim80, 19 November 2010 - 10:54 AM.

[steviesteve]

Sorry if it's been mentioned already, there is a root/recovery guide on XDA developers but thats pretty much it for this device at the moment.

Paul: Can this thread be moved to the relevant forum?

[PaulOBrien]

Do 'adb shell ls /', that might give me a clue!

P

[PaulOBrien]

The relevant forum - http://android.modac...700-modaco-com/

P

[hucqim80]

Paul, on Nov 19 2010, 18:57, said:

Do 'adb shell ls /', that might give me a clue!

P

this is what I get..hope this help..
$ ls /
ls /
var
misc2
hidden
misc
config
cache
sdcard
acct
mnt
d
etc
persist
system
sys
sbin
proc
init.rc
init.qcom.sh
init.qcom.rc
init.goldfish.rc
init
default.prop
data
root
dev
$

I've been looking at commtiva z71 at cyanogenmod github..most of it compatible with our devices..wonder what to take in system.img for proprietary files in bin and etc..

Edited by hucqim80, 19 November 2010 - 11:28 AM.

[PaulOBrien]

froobra, on Nov 18 2010, 23:00, said:

Video is a big deal for me Paul. Air Video on the iPad has spoilt me. I love being able to stream nearly any video format even at HD resolution without any frame skipping. Try as I might I havent been able to do this on any android tablets Ive tried so far.

Yes, but that doesn't really explain why a 600MHz MSM7227 tablet's performance makes you rule out a Tegra2 based tablet.

It's like saying "I want to do 150MPH" but then ruling out a Ferrari because you drove a Trabant once and it couldn't do it.

P

[FatherD]

steviesteve, on Nov 18 2010, 23:22, said:

Got one myself at Staples a week ago. I work for a Mobile Phone network and get to play with all the latest tech and trust me when I say, this device is an absolute bargain. The Galaxy may have a higher screen resolution and higher speed processor but in real terms it's hardly noticable - plus the cost saving on this makes those differences more than edible. Tried the Toshiba Folio and that was an abomination, the Vega will be the same. The 7inch form factor is just perfect and better than the iPad (which I have also owned but sold) IMHO. If a custom rom could be created to add a little overclock for some extra speed, it would be flawless - well apart from the Flash player limitation (not sure if that will ever be sorted due to the MSM7227 chipset).

Cheers Paul: I've used your ROMs for years and I'm a big fan - any info you need regarding my device, let me know. If you are creating a ROM I will be glued to this forum for some time to come!

Thanks again.

Here here!