Hi Guys,
I've been searching for a while for a tablet that will check the bolded points below. What's not bolded is preffered, but not crucial.
-Cheap (Max $300, and this should include shipping to Romania)
-9+ Inch Screen, +FullHD IPS screen ("Retina" preferably, anything over 1920px is good, 2560px would be dreamy)
-Custom ROM support. Or at least rootable. Because let's face it, if Samsung and the other big guys can't make a great ROM from the beginning, what can we expect from a chinese company?
-Built-In GPS. Will be used with GMaps / GPS Navigators
-Quad-Core, 1.5Ghz minimum.
-Good battery life. Or if this is too much for the budget, then let's make it "not-crap-battery-life". 8000-10000mAh would be nice.
-MicroSD slot + OTG capabilities.
I was looking at the Ainol Novo 9 with its 2560px screen, but it doesn't have Custom Rom support(none that I know of) and neither GPS. Ainol Novo 10 Captain the same.
Any recommendations? The most important thing would be the screen as I would be using it mostly for showcasing my photography portfolio and watching videos.
Thanks,
B
Related
Back in July I bought the Augen Gentouch 7/8 from K-Mart and while I could see the promise of the Android tablet, the overall device was really nothing more than a toy. A fun toy to be sure, but I could tell there was nothing serious about it. On top of poor build quality (I have gone through 2 of these), the touch screen was awful, there is no factory/vendor support, and the lack of hardware features made it not much more than a very basic e-reader. My cell phone is also an Android, I got my HTC Incredible the first week they were out and have flashed and reflashed it.
So, this past weekend I picked up the Cruz e-Reader ($199 @ Best Buy), the Cruz Tablet ($299 @ Best Buy and the Huawei S7 ($299 @ Best Buy). Out of the box the Velocity Micro Devices seemed to have a very strong product, form, fit and design was solid and sexy, although I found them to be a little on the heavy side (The Cruz both weigh in at 1 lb, and the Huawei is 1.1 lbs.).
The eReader was just horrible. The Touch Screen was unresponsive and inaccurate, the software was way too much for the processor, and there was no market capability. Add to that the lack of a planned upgrade path for the OS and this device is dead on arrival. Buy a Nook or Kindle for $20 less and you will be much happier.
The Cruz Tablet is a much better device, the capacitive screen is responsive and light, and the device seemed pretty snappy. I was nervous at first because the two devices on the floor at Best Buy both seemed to have a glitch that made their unlock screens non-responsive, but mine seemed ok (at first). The lack of the Android Market was only slightly mitigated by Cruz Market, but this is going to be a big hole for people as more apps are released. Also, after much exploring I found a post by Blazing Wolf that finally identified the processor. Turns out it is a MIPS processor, which means Android is a port, something that is sure to make ROMs and other mods scarce. Again, in the end I was disappointed in the device. Yes, it has a capacitive screen, but no camera, no Bluetooth, no phone capability. And oh yeah, 3rd morning I had it when I turned it on the capacitive screen stopped responding completely, same as the two I saw in the store.
So that brings me to the Huawei S7-104. The resistive touch screen is the most responsive one I have ever used. No, it is not as nice as my HTC Incredible, but it is very easy and quick. TWO 2 Mp cameras, one front and one rear, again, not great cams, but that is what the 8 Mp in my phone is for, right? Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 3G wCDMA and GSM capable and GPS. Fully working Android Market via WiFi without activating the phone. All this for $299? Are you even kidding me? Right now it comes with Éclair 2.1 update 1, but since it has the 768 Snapdragon Processor I know it is only a short matter of time before a snappy Froyo ROM is cooked up for it. Finally, all of this for $200 less than the 3G version of the Samsung and $300 less than the Wifi version. Oh yeah, this little device rocks!
So I got one of the variations of this rather generic Chinese tablet and am very interested to get development on it going. Some folks over at Slatedroid (currently down for upgrades) started messing around with this tablet.
So far we have root via the normal su/superuser.apk method. There seems to be no NAND lock of any kind or no bootloader mischief going on, Either. The CPU is the same used in the Galaxy S and Tab from what I understand.
Some brave soul (username Asure on Slatedroid) also found an older kernel source for it, as well as source for some of the drivers. We've seen a couple of firmware updates going so far in the last two months or so.
These are the general tech specs for this device, and its similarly named and equipped friends (Dropad A8, Haipad M7, etc):
Dimensions: 196.5*125*14.5mm
Weight: 0.510g
LCD: Capacitive Multi-touch 2-point 7" @ 800x480
CPU: Samsung S5PV210 (ARM v7 Cortex A8) @ 1.0GHz
RAM: 512MB DDR2 RAM
Wifi: 802.11 b/g/n support
NAND: 2/4GB NAND Flash (On most models, some have no NAND or as little as 256MB)
Camera: Front Camera, 1.3MP
Battery: Dual 2250mAh batteries (also seems to change per device 'brand')
Others: USB2.0 support both normal and host mode, HDMI 1.3 output
Runs a rather generic Froyo on it. Ask me for any more info, I hope we can get more support for this going. I'd probably be willing to donate a bit to get interested (and experienced) developers going.
Is there a different thread going on about this device? Search didn't show anything.
Haven't found anything similar in XDA about it or the variants.
I'm thinking of getting it, too. Was hoping I can find more support for this device in here. Gingerbread, plausible?
This device is pretty good, but no xda support yet.
This device is basically a Galaxy Tab Wifi 4GB, as the hardware is the same.
I did a CM7 port for it. See SD for more details, XDA topic is dead
Can't believe there are no more people on XDA who have a Dropad / Haipad / Herotab. Good hardware en cheap! I hope there is a dev who can make a custom recovery for this tablet, that would make it next to perfect!
better buy a branded tablet
That herotab c8 is my second tablet that I bought it from aliexpress, yeah i know it is a lousy place but the price was much cheaper than merimobiles.
I sold back the first cheap tablet which is bloody slow and specs are very low which is under $100.
The second tablet that i bought was C8/herotab/whatever they call it. (yeah I made a mistake twice.)
Before I bought this, I read a bunch of reviews by c8 owners on youtube, including some videos posted on merimobiles. And I convinced myself that 1GHz cpu powered tablet would be great. yeah I was partially right.
Running applications + watching videos are simply awesome. avi, mkv, 1080 play flawlessly, I watch only 720p because of the file size, so watching movie on it was awesome.
cons
Unresponsive compare to Galaxy tab(i think you are going to talk about the price tag)
Compare to the crowd working on branded phone/tablet, Very few people are working on the customised rom.
And bloody heavy, yeah as a tablet half a Kg is pretty heavy.
What else.
I even planned to sell it back but now my daughter plays angry bird, watches nursery rhymes videos on it. So I leave it with her.
The worst thing is no developers at xda are interested to work on it
yes. very good machine. I just know it is generic one with many other name like Haipad M7, Dropad a8, Apad 7009. all of them have an issue in common:
either skype or fring does work on them. I am keen to know if someone has video call working on it. thanks for your input
i managed to initiate a qik videocall via wifi but it took me many calls to get a connection that didnt broke after a vew seconds.
i have installed asure's cm7 beta 0.4 + launcher pro plus with honeycomb theme and layout. works great in everyday use. after deleting the unnecessary phone related apk's the battery lasts for at least a whole at heavy use and up to 2.5 days with much standby time. im loving it. it's not perfect but it's more than you'd expect from such a lowprice device.
Hey if you want ROMS and firmware updates for this device, I think this is THE page you need
http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/139-herotab-c8dropad-a8/
Hey all,
I'm trying to look for the ideal tablet to fit my needs and price range, so here we go:
- I'll most likely be installing a custom rom on it, so I care more about internal specs than stock rom
- screen is a big factor, since I'll be using the tablet mostly for movies, occasional/light gaming, and reading
- screen size between 8 to 10 inches
- don't really care about front facing speakers (i always use headphones)
- priced below $500
I've narrowed my choices down to the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and NVidia Shield Tablet, but here's what's keeping me from making a final decision:
- Tab S has a gorgeous screen, but I don't like physical home buttons
- Not sure if CM11 or any soon-to-be-stable roms for the Tab S allow for fingerprint scanning, in which case the above is null
- Shield tablet's screen isn't as good (IPS vs super AMOLED, hd vs quadhd)
- Shield's internal specs are top-notch, but I don't game very often nor heavily, so in terms of regular day-to-day use, performance for Shield vs Tab S on CM11 probably won't have many differences (not sure about this though, can someone comment on this?)
- Tab S is more expensive ($50-70 more expensive on amazon)
Also, I took a look at a few other alternatives, such as the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4/10.1, which are one step down from the Tab S but according to a few videos on Youtube seem to be running buttery smooth on CM11 and are priced MUCH lower (around $230 on amazon).
I'm sure many people would benefit from a thread like this because I tried searching for recent tablet-choosing threads and nothing came out of it. Responses and advice would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: reposted to correct section. mods please remove this
Hey all,
I'm trying to look for the ideal tablet to fit my needs and price range, so here we go:
- I'll most likely be installing a custom rom on it, so I care more about internal specs than stock rom
- screen is a big factor, since I'll be using the tablet mostly for movies, occasional/light gaming, and reading
- screen size between 8 to 10 inches
- don't really care about front facing speakers (i always use headphones)
- priced below $500
I've narrowed my choices down to the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and NVidia Shield Tablet, but here's what's keeping me from making a final decision:
- Tab S has a gorgeous screen, but I don't like physical home buttons
- Not sure if CM11 or any soon-to-be-stable roms for the Tab S allow for fingerprint scanning, in which case the above is null
- Shield tablet's screen isn't as good (IPS vs super AMOLED, hd vs quadhd)
- Shield's internal specs are top-notch, but I don't game very often nor heavily, so in terms of regular day-to-day use, performance for Shield vs Tab S on CM11 probably won't have many differences (not sure about this though, can someone comment on this?)
- Tab S is more expensive ($50-70 more expensive on amazon)
Also, I took a look at a few other alternatives, such as the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4/10.1, which are one step down from the Tab S but according to a few videos on Youtube seem to be running buttery smooth on CM11 and are priced MUCH lower (around $230 on amazon).
I'm sure many people would benefit from a thread like this because I tried searching for recent tablet-choosing threads and nothing came out of it. Responses and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi all,
I have an Android tablet at the moment (Asus Memopad HD 7) and it has been a great little tablet however I'm on the lookout for a new, slightly bigger tablet. The reason being, I read a lot of medical books on it and the aspect ratio is not the most ideal. It gets the job done, but once I saw the 4:3 tablets by chance on Google Images, it was love at first sight.
I'm a fan of the Chinese tablets (Aoson, Hisense, Teclast, Chuwi, Pipo, etc) and am seriously considering importing one as I've bought a Chinese mini-PC (Vensmile IPC002) before and it's a pure joy to use (transformed my entertainment center).
Anyways, I digress. Here are the specs I would like (but will consider others, I know there's no such thing as a "perfect match"):
7.9" screen 4:3 aspect ratio (iPad mini style, etc)
2GB / 4 GB RAM
32GB RAM ( or more but no less) including a microSD card slot
Windows 10 (or 8.1) dual boot with Android (but a single Windows OS is fine too)
Cherry trail processor (again, will settle for Bay Trail but as a last resort)
GPS (highly preferred)
3G (not a must, but welcome)
Everything else is a bonus and not a deal-breaker.
The iPad Mini is absolutely wonderful but I cannot stand iOS. I'm well aware of the Samsung Tab S2 however not only is the price more than what I'm willing to spend, Android-only for that price is not a decent deal in my opinion, especially with the much cheaper dual-OS similar-spec (some even better) tablets out there.
I welcome all suggestions and/or recommendations.
Thank you in advance for any replies.
Edit: I meant to post this in the Q & A section! Can a mod please move it! Truly sorry!
You may take a look on Acer Iconia or take a look on here
http://www.cnet.com/topics/tablets/products/small-7-to-7-9-inches/