Database Info

Ainol new 7" 4.0 tablet PC line $99 to $189.

I wanted to get a discussion going about this line of 7" ICS tablets *coming soon* from Ainol. Ainol is a budget chinese brand, but has been establishing a name for itself after becoming the manufacturer of the first ICS tablet. I have played with an older Ainol model, the Paladin, which has a pretty nice build quality to it, but the crippling factor was that it used a MIPS processor that was incompatible with a number of popular apps. This line of tablets uses ARM processors, so there shouldn't be any app compatibility issues. Here are the tablets with a list of key features. I've listed in green what the upgrades are from the previous model.
Tornado $99
Screen: 800x480
CPU: 1ghz Cortex A9
RAM 1GB
Memory: 8GB or 16GB(+$20)
Camera: 0.3MP front
Micro SD slot
Mars $129
Screen: 1024x600
CPU: 1ghz Cortex A9
RAM 1GB
Memory: 8GB or 16GB(+$20)
Camera: 0.3MP front
Micro SD slot
ELF II $149
Screen: 1024x600
CPU: 1.5ghz Dual Core Cortex A9
RAM 1GB
Memory: 8GB
Camera: 2.0MP front
Micro SD slot
Mini HDMI
Aurora II $189
Screen: IPS 1024x600
CPU: 1.5ghz Dual Core Cortex A9
RAM 1GB
Memory: 8GB
Camera: 2.0MP front
Micro SD slot
Mini HDMI
It appears that they should be getting the Tornado and Mars tablets very soon, but the Elf II and Aurora II will not be available until May according to what I've read. Spemall appears to be a fairly reliable seller of android tablets. You can see them interacting with customers on their facebook page and twitter . They have posted pictures of the tablets and spec sheets on their facebook page as well. You may want to wait to order until they have given confirmation that they have stock on hand.
I like the look of these tablets. They have a nice clean modern look with a solid piece of glass covering the front. Most cheap chinese tablets are fairly ugly and have raised borders over the screen. I would find it hard to spend $189 on the Aurora II, especially since I'm expecting to see a Google/Asus tablet with the same specs coming in July for $200. However, the first three seem reasonably priced to me.
If you want to get a better idea of what these are like, check out this set of video reviews for the original Aurora. I believe they are using the same case/build style as the original Elf/Aurora on these new tablets. Really, the only difference between the original Elf/Aurora and the Elf II/Aurora II is the dual core processor. You can get the original Aurora for $169.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYHpHKIGqYk

Anybody tried Ainol products yet...

vNa5h said:
Anybody tried Ainol products yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got an Elf (original model)
Its pretty nice, build quality is a bit...cheap, there's some creaks in where the bezel connect to the back plate, and this thing is unusable when its really hot.
But it does have a nice dev community and if you're not happy with that, just use some ROMs for the Aurora, they're pretty much the same, save for the IPS display on the Aurora.
But, thy buy a tablet like his nowadays, when the Nexus7 just managed to massively outclass these Chinese tablets
Sent from my Ainol Novo7 Elf using xda premium

Lesicnik1 said:
I've got an Elf (original model)
Its pretty nice, build quality is a bit...cheap, there's some creaks in where the bezel connect to the back plate, and this thing is unusable when its really hot.
But it does have a nice dev community and if you're not happy with that, just use some ROMs for the Aurora, they're pretty much the same, save for the IPS display on the Aurora.
But, thy buy a tablet like his nowadays, when the Nexus7 just managed to massively outclass these Chinese tablets
Sent from my Ainol Novo7 Elf using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the thing is nexus hasnt arrived in my country and is slated for an oct release
even if it does it will be like $300-330 for the 8gb one

Identify this Chinese ICS Tablet... (Updated with pics and specs)

UPDATED WITH NEW FINDINGS. STILL DUNNO WHAT BRAND IT IS THOUGH.
G'day. I thought I'd go around and hunt on eBay for a cheap ICS android tablet for kicks. I found the one below for a respectable $200. I know that isn't that cheap, but hey, at least it allows me to rip it apart if I'm not happy with it. I've seen some 7" ICS tabs are actually like dev boards hooked up to a LCD and battery... rather amusing (and goes to show how lazy the chinese makers are).
Was wondering if anyone knew about this particular tab.
------
Here's the specs:
EDIT: Disregard these specs, read the specs on the device itself here.
Chip: Allwinner (Boxchip) 1.2GHz
GPU: ARM Mali-400 400MHz (same as Samsung Galaxy S II)
Operating System: Android 4.0.3 ("Ice Cream Sandwich")
16:9 Display: 10.1-inch 1024x600-pixel resolution Capacitive Screen
Storage: 8GB Internal
Memory: DDR3 1GB
Sensors: Gforce auto rotational adjustment sensor.
Wireless and Cellular: Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/N).
Front camera, Photos, and Video Recording: 1.3 mega pixel
Video recording, VGA up to 30 frames per second with audio; VGA-quality still camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it boots up, this is the splash screen:
Here's the photos of what it looks like:
So yeah. Question is, what tablet have I got? The listing URL below says Brand: EKEN, but I doubt that - EKEN only made crappy VT8505 tabs, didn't they? The listing in question: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/300699439891.
Cheers!

中国200美元的平板多了去！配置高价格便宜！

One of my friend has one if this, and it's terrible. they wont let u install market apps and etc. The android version on it is terrible and it's better to wait a lil bit til the prices drops from asus tab or galaxy tab than get a "ICS" tab that will never work properly,

EKEN Has this A10 Powered at android-sale
All A10 Processor Device are main able to install google-play script to get market to download apps and games as I9100

Okay crew, check it out. My tablet has arrived, and interestingly enough, it's nowhere near what it said was it was going to be in the images department. I'm updating the first post with new pictures, but yeah, it's interesting.
Seems to be using a CraneBoard under the bonnet. At least Android System Info says so, you can check out the details for yourself here.

Opened it up and it's not a craneboard. It's actually an Allwinner CPU for sure.
However, I did manage to get Clockwork Recovery running on it which makes it easier to fool around with.

[Q] Allwinner a10 vs cortex a9

Hello everyone
I want to buy a budget tablet and of so much research i have found two tablets in my budget
1. Ainol novo 7 tornados
2. Ainol novo 7 advanced 2
The screen size, processor and most of the hardware are same and both run ics. The only difference is that Advanced 2 has a allwinner a10 processor and tornados has amlogic. The allwinner is based on cortex a8 while the amlogic is based on cortex a9. The following site compares them but i am confused that if a8 is better than what is the use of a9. Isnt the cortex a9 successor of cortex a8
Actually i cant post link because of restriction so do a google search for allwinner vs amlogic and click the link of "slate 4 sure blog"
Please recommend me that which one should i buy and is the comparison true.(i.e A8>A9)

Hey...
AndroidAddiction said:
Hello everyone
I want to buy a budget tablet and of so much research i have found two tablets in my budget
1. Ainol novo 7 tornados
2. Ainol novo 7 advanced 2
The screen size, processor and most of the hardware are same and both run ics. The only difference is that Advanced 2 has a allwinner a10 processor and tornados has amlogic. The allwinner is based on cortex a8 while the amlogic is based on cortex a9. The following site compares them but i am confused that if a8 is better than what is the use of a9. Isnt the cortex a9 successor of cortex a8
Actually i cant post link because of restriction so do a google search for allwinner vs amlogic and click the link of "slate 4 sure blog"
Please recommend me that which one should i buy and is the comparison true.(i.e A8>A9)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey...check this website out. i don't know why XDA developers haven't dug into everything Ainol since they're cheap and powerhouses. i would suggest you ask there but in my experience the a9 is a successor and it's much faster. here's the lnk http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/341-ainol-amlogic-cpu-devices/ and there you have all the devices. unfortunately the Advanced 2 is in the upper thread since it's a bit older! I got my Tornados for only 71 USD off of ebay and it regularly ranges to 100 USD...so if you gotta spend the extra couple of bucks for newer software ..then why not...if i helped press the Gracias ( thank you) button

if I could relight this one briefly so I don't create a new thread: can one of you more knowledgeable guys explain to me: for a single core Cortex-A9 implementation like an AW or the AGPtek / WM8850 unit, does it matter much how generous internal memory is? 512mb sounds like enough for such simple design but I do not yet understand how the memory controller manages memory especially to feed the graphics processing unit. for the little cost, i'm prone to want to go "more is better" route: 1GB of internal...

cognus said:
if I could relight this one briefly so I don't create a new thread: can one of you more knowledgeable guys explain to me: for a single core Cortex-A9 implementation like an AW or the AGPtek / WM8850 unit, does it matter much how generous internal memory is? 512mb sounds like enough for such simple design but I do not yet understand how the memory controller manages memory especially to feed the graphics processing unit. for the little cost, i'm prone to want to go "more is better" route: 1GB of internal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are both tablets with the same AP? If not then more may not necessarily be better. Let me explain - if one of them has a dual channel memory controller, pick that even if it has lower memory. The reason is that in case of dual channel memory controller the arbitration overhead is lower so memory fetch latency is lower for all components.
If they both have a single channel memory controller, pick the one with the 1GB RAM. Hopefully answers your questions.
As far as how the memory feeds the GPU - usually it is the other way round. It is the GPU that fetches the data from memory. The implementation is very different from GPU to GPU and therefore from AP to AP.

Allwinner has bigger community and 1GB is better!

Cube Talk 9x still the best tablet you can buy under $160!

I just got my Cube talk 9x. I really like it. I know it is old about two years but for me it is new. I have been wanting an octa core tablet just because I am a nerd and just to experience it on a tablet. I do not like Samsung Tablets and certainly did not want to spend that kind of money. I already have an Nvidia K1 and I really like it for a lot of reasons but I wanted a bigger screen and an Octa core processor with longer battery life than my Nvidia. I love the Nvidia but the battery life leaves a lot to be desired.
I did not want to spend a lot of money, $200 being my limit. As you can imagine that does not buy much in larger format tablets. First I started with the cheap amazon octa cores with the Allwiner a83t and the likes of Dragon Touch. Thank God for Amazon prime returns! Those devices were just awful and the Allwinner A83t was not a good processor. I was very wary of buying a tablet direct from China. Heard some horror stories but I took a risk anyway.
Had a bad experience with Gearbest.com but had the Cube talk 9x enough to know it was a good device even though the first one was defective. Dealing with Gear best turned into a PayPal claim.
I tried Geekbuying and had a much better experience.
So now I have my Cube and I received new March 17th update. Of course I was hoping for Lollipop but no. Still on KitKat but I have to say it is very smooth. Very stable build of Android. Ram usage seems very well optimized.
So what makes this tablet special? Well for the cost only one other tablet in this size range has the same amount of ram which is the Lenovo tab2 a10. The Lenovo is nice with a 64 bit quad core cortex a53 media tek processor clocked at 1.7, full HD screen. However the Cube has a 32 bit octa core cortex a7 clocked at 1.7 and a retina screen. The Cube is made from a solid Aluminum body while the Lenovo is plastic. The Cube also has gorilla glass 2 while the Lenovo just has glass. Acer has a new 10.1" tab with a mediatek 8151 cortex a53 octa core processor and 1 GB ram and a 1280 x 800 screen. Unfortunately the low res screen and 1 GB of ram really hurt the user experience. The acer also feels cheap and is full of pre loaded apps. I bought the Acer only to return it because of the glitchy or defective WiFi and other things I mentioned.
Of course you could spend a lot more and have a super experience but I just can't justify $500 or more on a tablet. My computer costs about that much.
The Cube seems really well made. The updates after 2 years since it's release from a no name company is impressive as some of the brands I have had above barely udate their tablets. I still think Cube should release Lollipop but KitKat works well.
This tablet has the 1.7 GHz octa core processor, 2 gigs of ram, retina screen, 3g, 16 gig ROM, stereo speakers at the bottom of the tablet, 10,000 mah battery. Pretty impressive specs even for an older device. The limitations of the of the device are the 32 bit a7 cores used are better for power efficiency than performance. The newer mediatek 8151 which has the newer cortex 64 bit a53 cores perform much better while still being rather power efficient. For example the Acer with only 1gb or ram scored over 37,000 points on Anutu while the talk 9x with double the ram scored only 28,000 points roughly. Acer did a very good job of optimizing the ROM on their tablet. The Cube T9 has the newer octa core processor but it was over my price range.
However this tablet stock unrooted performs really well. There was not a lot of junk apps installed and most apps give you an option to install to SD card. Really the only drawback to this tablet is the partitioning. Seems like a common practice on the tablets from China. Not sure why. A horrible practice. You can root the device and try to repartition it but you could also brick the device in the process. The mediatek tools at not the easiest for me to use so I am not going to go there. Specially when the tablet runs great .
So I highly recommend this tablet with a couple of caveats. It is at the end of its life so it is really cheap but if you think it will be updated to Marshmallow or N you can forget it. Lollipop could happn but I would not hold my breath. The 2 gig app limit really sucks and there is no easy way to solve the problem.
So if you are looking for an amazing device for a good price I do not know of a better deal anywhere. Is the Octacore hype. Personally I don't think so. Sure there is marketing hype but the Octacore really feels snappy while the huge battery makes it last!
There are not a lot of these devices left. Seems Cube is now focused on dual boot tablets with Intel processors. I wish they would come out with a new octacore processor android tablet like the Nvidia x1 or the newer cortex a53 octa core from mediated. The t9 if you can find it would perform even better but the build quality and aluminum frame just really make this an enjoyable experience. If you want one I would act now.

Thanks for the first details of the tablet. Have you had a chance to test battery life yet?

I haven't let it run down yet. The lowest I got was to 79%. The charger and cable that come with the device are pretty much useless. Using a Lenovo 2amp tablet charger seems to charge pretty quickly. It does not have fast charge but so far it seems to charge up pretty fast and last pretty long. I will try and see if I can run down the battery to give a better approximation of the run time.

Bootloading a fake s21ultra

So if anyone has dealt with ordering phones from ali-baba express..you know its like wish. So I took a gamble for ****s and giggles and ordered what I was sure of was a fake s21+ultra. Its a 6.4 inch screen a quad core arm processer. I downloaded cpu-z to it to verify what processor and how much ram and storage it has. I learned its running android 6.0 and not 10. I learned that its a quad core processor with mali gpu. It does have 512gigs of storage! And the camera is half decent. But I want to see about running android 10 or 11 on it. Any suggestions with that hardware .. as to what rom and boot loader to mess with? I have never done this before but I am down to experience.