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Advent Vega reviews thread

Guest sipart

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Guest sipart

Guest sipart

Posted
Posted (edited)

Your starter for 10:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/smartphones...172/advent-vega

Note sure why they put it into the Smartphones section - but as a long time subscriber of PC Pro I forgive them.

And they even mention the great work of MoDaCo - hope they paid the £10 for the kitchen and ad free :-)

Edited by sipart
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Guest Jonathan Maxwell

Guest Jonathan Maxwell

Posted
Posted

I've had my Vega for less than a day now but it's not great news I'm afraid so here's my review ...

I first heard about the Vega at the start of the month as I was looking for an Android 2.2 iPad alternative with Flash 10.1 support and was really pleased to see Advent bring out a product that hopefully could fulfill my requirements at a really great cost. Then the wait lol ... but finally managed to nab one.

Played with it all yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning and at first I was pretty impressed. I managed to hook up to my work's wireless connection with no problem and started surfing the web in a few minutes. Straight on to Twitter to boast :D The touch screen is ok, quite responsive but nowhere near the quality as an iPad but that was to be expected. The big problem was it kept clicking on links even when I was sliding over them to move down the screen.

Then onto Youtube and wow! it rocked especially in full screen. Flash requires a tap to activate it (although you can turn it on by default in the settings) and to be honest it's ok. At least it plays flash video but games can be a bit of a problem sometimes and ok at others. Double tap zooms which happens by mistake on occasions.

I downloaded USB driver and 1.04 update from myadventvega.com (which was tricky on vista) and was going to attempt Paul's hack to give me the full experience but to be honest I'm not too sure where to even start. And the big question is why should I need to do this? Surely Advent should have added all these features before launch and fair play to them for excellent customer support and communication after launch but no apps to install without a hack? Come on!

The UI isn't great and the back button is for all programmes which takes a bit of getting used to. To be honest it seems very tacky and not as intuative as Apples stuff which im used to. The browser has no tabs, no easy refresh button and weird thick yellow lines around links when pressed.

But the thing that concerns/annoys me the most is it crashes ALL the time. My daughter and I were watching Peppa Pig on Youtube today when it just crashed and wouldnt come back on. Had to hold power button for 6 secs then turn wireless back on again for some reason. Many times screen goes very dark during use and suddenly goes bright?? Have I faulty one?

OK I sound very negative in all of this don't I? :P But I'm just a bit disheartened after all the build up and promises and the hope of someone knocking Apple off their high spot and Samsung from their crazy priced Galaxy Tab. I personally don't think the Vega is 'there' yet ... it's going back to PC World today I'm afraid and Gingerbread tablet next year after a lot of testing and good reviews will be purchased instead.

To all those who will say but the apps are great like Angry Birds etc. without Paul's hack this isn't easy to do and unfortunately even a simple download from an app website didn't go well for me as it wouldn't let me select the Nexus 1 as my default phone due to the Android web browser being buggy.

Overall: 4/10

Disappointment Level: 9/10

Believe me, I didn't want to be on here moaning but wanted to give everyone my thoughts. Btw, the viewing angle was fine for me.

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Guest removed-14

Guest removed-14

Posted
Posted (edited)

Lets face it, without Paul's work more Vegas would have gone back by now!

Oh and another thing, what people don't seem to get with Android is that if a stock application doesn't do everything you want or you dont like it then replace it. I've replaced the keyboard for smart keyboard pro, browser for dolphin browser hd and tonnes of other applications that make the Vega 10 times better than stock. Android is about choice, this isnt iOS people!

Edited by removed-14
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Guest obb

Guest obb

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Posted
Lets face it, without Paul's work more Vegas would have gone back by now!

Oh and another thing, what people don't seem to get with Android is that if a stock application doesn't do everything you want or you dont like it then replace it. I've replaced the keyboard for smart keyboard pro, browser for dolphin browser hd and tonnes of other applications that make the Vega 10 times better than stock. Android is about choice, this isnt iOS people!

I think thats the problem though for some people. Android is for tech savvy people like us ... IOS to be frank is for people who have no idea what a command prompt or a terminal session is.

IOS works because of its ease of use, but its limited in order to keep that ease of use. Android is a lot more open and therefore hackable to the where you can take a device like this which admitidly is badword awful out of the box, and change it something more useable.

If anybody ever asks me about Android vs IOS regarding what to buy i always say the above. You pay the premium on apple stuff for the ease of use and better build quality ... the andoid tablet so far which comes close to the ipad out of the box is the galaxy tab .. which has the price premium to match.

Im perfectly happy with my vega but then i knew what i was getting into i suppose.

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Guest rferrett

Guest rferrett

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I think if "civilian" pals of mine ask about the Vega I will recommend it. But the caveat will be that it needs some work to make it usable. I am far from a clueless n00b having dabled in hacking devices and stuff over the years. But I found it really challenging to get even the 1.04 onto the machine let alone the trouble I had installing the rom...

The shame is now I have the customer ROM on it is flipping great at the price, and just what I wanted. It will certainly tide me over until the Adam comes out anyhow :P

I can't help wonder if Dixons group were half hoping the community might adopt it, they do seem to have made it pretty easy for us.

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Guest matneee

Guest matneee

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The notion that android is only for the tech-savvy, and the entry requirements are a willingness to faff about in terminal etc or equivalent depresses me immensely. Not meaning to ruffle any feathers here, but that's the sort of thinking that blighted desktop linux for many, many years and I'm sure many of us have seen newcomers on distro forums ask perfectly innocent questions, only to have crowds of marauding beards descend on them to kick them in the shins. I'm quite desperate for android not to go a similar way :P

Certainly Android is more configurable than iOS and god knows I love it for that. But I do believe that it's an OS for the mainstream and as such is largely user-friendly for most to get it to do what they want. Let's not forget that the Vega's bugbear for configuration is that it's essentially a tablet using a phone OS - it doesn't meet Google's criteria for it's marketplace/gmail/maps/et applications as standard. This may well become a moot point once google is forthcoming with more suitable versions of Android tailored for this class of device.

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Guest dagrim1

Guest dagrim1

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Posted

Well, I don't own the Vega itself but the identical POV Mobii 10" so here are my 2c.

Out of the box it's very limited, mainly due to the lack of market access... Many people don't dare to tweak their tablet or flash a custom rom. Many people simply have no clue how to and to be honest, they shouldn't. A tablet like this should deliver a basic experience which is good enough for the largest population.

The POV has no market hack yet, luckily I also own a Galaxy S and using titanium backup and mybackuppro I could transfer the APK's from my phone to my tablet. Still no market, but atleast choice in applications.

A big plus of the android tablets is customizability... If you don't like the keyboard, install another one. If you don't like the browser, install another one. But without a market (a proper one) this advantage drops out of the picture and what's left is a tablet which out of the box is probably a lesser experience then the iPad and for many/most users without a possibility to customize their device it might be dissapointing.

The people showing up in forums like these are usually the more advanced users who know what they start with, know the limitations and know the possibilities so they can work around it, wait for someone else to work around it and use that.

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Guest mclanecxantia

Guest mclanecxantia

Posted
Posted

the hype on the advent vega reminds me a little on the hype of the Acorn BBC A/B...

or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum

or later the hype about the Amstrad CPC 464.

somehow things repeat itself.

;)

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Guest Bobbler

Guest Bobbler

Posted
Posted
the hype on the advent vega reminds me a little on the hype of the Acorn BBC A/B...

or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum

or later the hype about the Amstrad CPC 464.

somehow things repeat itself.

;)

How can you call such things "hype" - computers like the ZX Spectrum are what started the whole computer at home scenario as well as the games industry and "attic" programmers. Pioneering would be a better description IMO

Hardly the same as "yet another Android tablet" made in the far east - I don't mean that offensively just putting it in context that this is not by a long way a "new" product

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Guest Jonathan Maxwell

Guest Jonathan Maxwell

Posted
Posted

Ok an update i decided to keep the Vega and downloaded Pauls rom and kitchen updates and WOW it really makes a big difference. Far less crashing, quicker and android markeT. Angry Birds full screen is ace! Thanks again guys

I've had my Vega for less than a day now but it's not great news I'm afraid so here's my review ...

I first heard about the Vega at the start of the month as I was looking for an Android 2.2 iPad alternative with Flash 10.1 support and was really pleased to see Advent bring out a product that hopefully could fulfill my requirements at a really great cost. Then the wait lol ... but finally managed to nab one.

Played with it all yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning and at first I was pretty impressed. I managed to hook up to my work's wireless connection with no problem and started surfing the web in a few minutes. Straight on to Twitter to boast :P The touch screen is ok, quite responsive but nowhere near the quality as an iPad but that was to be expected. The big problem was it kept clicking on links even when I was sliding over them to move down the screen.

Then onto Youtube and wow! it rocked especially in full screen. Flash requires a tap to activate it (although you can turn it on by default in the settings) and to be honest it's ok. At least it plays flash video but games can be a bit of a problem sometimes and ok at others. Double tap zooms which happens by mistake on occasions.

I downloaded USB driver and 1.04 update from myadventvega.com (which was tricky on vista) and was going to attempt Paul's hack to give me the full experience but to be honest I'm not too sure where to even start. And the big question is why should I need to do this? Surely Advent should have added all these features before launch and fair play to them for excellent customer support and communication after launch but no apps to install without a hack? Come on!

The UI isn't great and the back button is for all programmes which takes a bit of getting used to. To be honest it seems very tacky and not as intuative as Apples stuff which im used to. The browser has no tabs, no easy refresh button and weird thick yellow lines around links when pressed.

But the thing that concerns/annoys me the most is it crashes ALL the time. My daughter and I were watching Peppa Pig on Youtube today when it just crashed and wouldnt come back on. Had to hold power button for 6 secs then turn wireless back on again for some reason. Many times screen goes very dark during use and suddenly goes bright?? Have I faulty one?

OK I sound very negative in all of this don't I? ;) But I'm just a bit disheartened after all the build up and promises and the hope of someone knocking Apple off their high spot and Samsung from their crazy priced Galaxy Tab. I personally don't think the Vega is 'there' yet ... it's going back to PC World today I'm afraid and Gingerbread tablet next year after a lot of testing and good reviews will be purchased instead.

To all those who will say but the apps are great like Angry Birds etc. without Paul's hack this isn't easy to do and unfortunately even a simple download from an app website didn't go well for me as it wouldn't let me select the Nexus 1 as my default phone due to the Android web browser being buggy.

Overall: 4/10

Disappointment Level: 9/10

Believe me, I didn't want to be on here moaning but wanted to give everyone my thoughts. Btw, the viewing angle was fine for me.

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Guest adamcro

Guest adamcro

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Posted

Hi,

Just wondering from all you people who now have a VEGA was it worth the wait? I've just ordered one but was also considering the N700 which has GPS and 3G... ;)

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Guest removed-14

Guest removed-14

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Posted
Hi,

Just wondering from all you people who now have a VEGA was it worth the wait? I've just ordered one but was also considering the N700 which has GPS and 3G... ;)

Not had an N700 but Paul returned his as he favoured the Vega. But it depends what you want from a tablet.

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