HISTORY OR STORY :
(Note: All those who are more interested in only the actual review of the epad can directly jump to THE REVIEW part)
Android... Android... Android... I have been feeling the android buzz all around me since last few years and in past few months the talk has grown several times. I know I wanted to try this new operating system out after years of sticking with my old sony ericsson mobile and then Windows based mobile phone with a deep knowledge of symbian OS too. To tell you the truth the only appealing thing in Android to me was the FLASH support. It has been frustating how I was unable to watch live telecasts of tennis matches online or my Farmville Farm withered because I had no access to my PC.
Windows mobile had Uzard Web browser which was good but very picky about the flash videos it wanted to play and sadly for me SKYFIRE stopped working for windows mobile pretty soon. So the only clear thing in my mind was I needed an android with atleast Froyo and 700 mhz processor (I thought that was minimum required for flash 10.1 at that time, but I was wrong).
Confusion was between a tab or a mobile but when I saw this ebay listing for 4099 Rs. epad Mid android 2.2 tablet with 800 mhz processor and flash 10.1 support I thought WHY NOT? Lets try this. I quickly applied the available coupon code for that week and got the price down to 3689.10 Rs.
Next day after placing the order I got the shipping details from the seller and then I realized this epad was going to be shipped directly from Hongkong to my home and the ebay seller was only acting as a link between two (and taking his profit for sure).
I kept waiting waiting and more waiting. One day I got a call from Mumbai and the lady on the other side explained that they received a parcel in my name from China coming through Hongkong. As Pafex courier doesn’t have a branch in Gwalior the parcel can not be delievered. She asked whether they can forward the parcel through registered post and I told them to use other reliable couriers like Blue Dart for the same. I called up the ebay seller regarding the same and he had no clue what to do?
Finally after 4 more days of waiting without any news of the parcel when I was about to give negative rating the Parcel arrived.
THE REVIEW :
PACKAGING & INITIAL THOUGHTS:- The Box got nothing fancy to write about. It had no stickers or logos just 7†ANDROID TABLET PC written in bold (See the pic). Box contents included the actual EPAD, Charger, the usb adapter and the user manual (in English). First thing I did was to Power on the Epad. The thing powered on with Green Android Logo in the middle and Android and kernel versions written on bottom right corner and then.......... NOTHING.
The thing stayed at the android logo without any progress. It was stuck. After charging it for some time I tried again and still nothing. It looked I was sent a DEAD EPAD. Here goes the 4k bucks was the first thing that came to my mind. For few hours I tried everything. Charging and more charging and typical indian style thoka peeti too
I read on the internet and many people were complaining of the same problem with chinese epads. I contacted the seller and he had no replies except no sir, yes sir, thank you sir, fine sir. The Epad atleast looked exactly the same as given in this ebay description image except it was not booting.
LETS GET DIRTY:- After about 10 hours of trying all sorts of thing I finally decided to take matters in my own hand. To hack with so called 6 month dealer warranty, there was no way I was going to ship this thing back to Hongkong now. Only good thing that I came around on the internet was this UBEROID OS. The hacked version of Android made to run well with tablets. The biggest problem was recognising my Android tablet. I am still not sure what’s the right version but at that time it looked closest to one of the WM8650 based tablet and after trial and error I got one of the versions of WM8650 1.3.0 Hybrid Honey Comb Mod to work and boot with my tablet.
BOOT TIMES, Desktop Screen & Externals:- Booting takes about 45 seconds and the mod I was using allowed you to select one of the two launchers. Actual Desktop looks pretty cool and you can configure the widgets you want to use (although I removed almost all useless stuff). Screen is vibrant and brightness is excellent. Auto rotate senser works fine and touch screen is okish with response. It supports multitouch (two touches only). A usb adapter is provided which supports two usb ports and ethernet port as well. Upper side of the epad contains dedicated buttons for menu, volume up and down and the microphone. Left side contains the power button while the right side is provided with twin speakers, memory card slot, usb adapter socket, power and earphones sockets. Its supposed to have 2GB flash memory (QSIP says something else) with 256 MB RAM and 800 mhz processor.
APPLICATIONS :-Most of the common android apps can be installed although a good number of them shows incompatibility through android market but if you install them through other means they will work. Camera takes photos in 640 X 480 resolution and quality isn’t anything to write about but Videos (640 X 480 resolution too) are shockingly good and even better than many costly mobile phones.
INTERNET:- You can connect using WIFI, Ethernet or 3G. Yes 3G is supported although you will need a USB Data Stick to make it work (I haven’t tried it yet). WIFI reception is pretty weak and works about 70% of other normal wifi devices. Stock browser is pretty good and it supports Flash 10.1 (sorry no 10.3 yet)) Many of the flash sites work alright ( bit sluggish) but I couldn’t get farmville to work, it loads ok but then seems to hang for no apparent reason. I couldn’t get skyfire from the market but it works flawlessly after separate installation and supports almost all my favorite flash video sites so I am not complaining at all. 7†screen ensures that you have much better internet access than your mobile phones. There is separate youtube app which plays videos fine and you can even download videos using other apps.
ENTERTAINMENT:- 480P VIDEOS worked excellent, 720p were sluggish and anything above were absolute no go. Supported formats are all those which are supported on android. Music playback through speakers is pretty weak but using the earphones volume is pretty loud and you have to keep it at about medium level to be fine with your ears. Memory isnt really a problem for me since I always keep my external HDD and pendrive with me and they are detected just fine with this epad. Although the ebay listing said this epad got 2GB internal flash memory but I am not sure if its true. Quick system info pro says Internal storage total 512mb with 400mb being free and system storage total 512mb with 362 mb free. If anybody got good android app suggestion to properly display the memory then I will really be thankful. USB Mouse and keyboard also tested working fine.
Games were a huge disappointment
Angry Birds worked kinda alright but Fruit Ninja was tooo slow and 3D games like Cricket Fever din’t even start. May be that requires another trick but I kinda gave in after trying 2-3 games only. 2D gaming was ok though and I assume there is no dedicated GPU here so all the processing is being done by the processor alone.
CONCLUSION:- For the price that I paid this is definitely a steal but you may have to think twice before buying it at current price of 5400 Rs.
PROS-
1. Price.
2. Good Display.
3. Good connectivity support including 3G.
4. Decent processor.
5. Highly customizable.
CONS-1. Slow in games.
2. Average touch screen response.
3. Weak Wifi range.
4. Many market apps are incompatible.
5. Weak Speakers.
Purchase source:-
</title><meta name="description" content="Find 7" Google Android 2.2 Flash 10.1 3G MID EPad Tablet PC in the Laptops Computer Peripherals , iPads, Tablets eBook Readers , Other Brands category on eBay India."><meta name="keywords" content="7" Google
END OF FIRST REVIEW- Good? Bad? Like?Dislike? Questions.. Everything welcome.. I may be editing this later to add pics and more data. And yes if the response is good, Galaxy Pro review is next.
(Note: All those who are more interested in only the actual review of the epad can directly jump to THE REVIEW part)
Android... Android... Android... I have been feeling the android buzz all around me since last few years and in past few months the talk has grown several times. I know I wanted to try this new operating system out after years of sticking with my old sony ericsson mobile and then Windows based mobile phone with a deep knowledge of symbian OS too. To tell you the truth the only appealing thing in Android to me was the FLASH support. It has been frustating how I was unable to watch live telecasts of tennis matches online or my Farmville Farm withered because I had no access to my PC.
Windows mobile had Uzard Web browser which was good but very picky about the flash videos it wanted to play and sadly for me SKYFIRE stopped working for windows mobile pretty soon. So the only clear thing in my mind was I needed an android with atleast Froyo and 700 mhz processor (I thought that was minimum required for flash 10.1 at that time, but I was wrong).
Confusion was between a tab or a mobile but when I saw this ebay listing for 4099 Rs. epad Mid android 2.2 tablet with 800 mhz processor and flash 10.1 support I thought WHY NOT? Lets try this. I quickly applied the available coupon code for that week and got the price down to 3689.10 Rs.
Next day after placing the order I got the shipping details from the seller and then I realized this epad was going to be shipped directly from Hongkong to my home and the ebay seller was only acting as a link between two (and taking his profit for sure).
I kept waiting waiting and more waiting. One day I got a call from Mumbai and the lady on the other side explained that they received a parcel in my name from China coming through Hongkong. As Pafex courier doesn’t have a branch in Gwalior the parcel can not be delievered. She asked whether they can forward the parcel through registered post and I told them to use other reliable couriers like Blue Dart for the same. I called up the ebay seller regarding the same and he had no clue what to do?
Finally after 4 more days of waiting without any news of the parcel when I was about to give negative rating the Parcel arrived.
THE REVIEW :
PACKAGING & INITIAL THOUGHTS:- The Box got nothing fancy to write about. It had no stickers or logos just 7†ANDROID TABLET PC written in bold (See the pic). Box contents included the actual EPAD, Charger, the usb adapter and the user manual (in English). First thing I did was to Power on the Epad. The thing powered on with Green Android Logo in the middle and Android and kernel versions written on bottom right corner and then.......... NOTHING.
The thing stayed at the android logo without any progress. It was stuck. After charging it for some time I tried again and still nothing. It looked I was sent a DEAD EPAD. Here goes the 4k bucks was the first thing that came to my mind. For few hours I tried everything. Charging and more charging and typical indian style thoka peeti too
I read on the internet and many people were complaining of the same problem with chinese epads. I contacted the seller and he had no replies except no sir, yes sir, thank you sir, fine sir. The Epad atleast looked exactly the same as given in this ebay description image except it was not booting.LETS GET DIRTY:- After about 10 hours of trying all sorts of thing I finally decided to take matters in my own hand. To hack with so called 6 month dealer warranty, there was no way I was going to ship this thing back to Hongkong now. Only good thing that I came around on the internet was this UBEROID OS. The hacked version of Android made to run well with tablets. The biggest problem was recognising my Android tablet. I am still not sure what’s the right version but at that time it looked closest to one of the WM8650 based tablet and after trial and error I got one of the versions of WM8650 1.3.0 Hybrid Honey Comb Mod to work and boot with my tablet.
BOOT TIMES, Desktop Screen & Externals:- Booting takes about 45 seconds and the mod I was using allowed you to select one of the two launchers. Actual Desktop looks pretty cool and you can configure the widgets you want to use (although I removed almost all useless stuff). Screen is vibrant and brightness is excellent. Auto rotate senser works fine and touch screen is okish with response. It supports multitouch (two touches only). A usb adapter is provided which supports two usb ports and ethernet port as well. Upper side of the epad contains dedicated buttons for menu, volume up and down and the microphone. Left side contains the power button while the right side is provided with twin speakers, memory card slot, usb adapter socket, power and earphones sockets. Its supposed to have 2GB flash memory (QSIP says something else) with 256 MB RAM and 800 mhz processor.
APPLICATIONS :-Most of the common android apps can be installed although a good number of them shows incompatibility through android market but if you install them through other means they will work. Camera takes photos in 640 X 480 resolution and quality isn’t anything to write about but Videos (640 X 480 resolution too) are shockingly good and even better than many costly mobile phones.
INTERNET:- You can connect using WIFI, Ethernet or 3G. Yes 3G is supported although you will need a USB Data Stick to make it work (I haven’t tried it yet). WIFI reception is pretty weak and works about 70% of other normal wifi devices. Stock browser is pretty good and it supports Flash 10.1 (sorry no 10.3 yet)) Many of the flash sites work alright ( bit sluggish) but I couldn’t get farmville to work, it loads ok but then seems to hang for no apparent reason. I couldn’t get skyfire from the market but it works flawlessly after separate installation and supports almost all my favorite flash video sites so I am not complaining at all. 7†screen ensures that you have much better internet access than your mobile phones. There is separate youtube app which plays videos fine and you can even download videos using other apps.
ENTERTAINMENT:- 480P VIDEOS worked excellent, 720p were sluggish and anything above were absolute no go. Supported formats are all those which are supported on android. Music playback through speakers is pretty weak but using the earphones volume is pretty loud and you have to keep it at about medium level to be fine with your ears. Memory isnt really a problem for me since I always keep my external HDD and pendrive with me and they are detected just fine with this epad. Although the ebay listing said this epad got 2GB internal flash memory but I am not sure if its true. Quick system info pro says Internal storage total 512mb with 400mb being free and system storage total 512mb with 362 mb free. If anybody got good android app suggestion to properly display the memory then I will really be thankful. USB Mouse and keyboard also tested working fine.
Games were a huge disappointment
Angry Birds worked kinda alright but Fruit Ninja was tooo slow and 3D games like Cricket Fever din’t even start. May be that requires another trick but I kinda gave in after trying 2-3 games only. 2D gaming was ok though and I assume there is no dedicated GPU here so all the processing is being done by the processor alone.CONCLUSION:- For the price that I paid this is definitely a steal but you may have to think twice before buying it at current price of 5400 Rs.
PROS-
1. Price.
2. Good Display.
3. Good connectivity support including 3G.
4. Decent processor.
5. Highly customizable.
CONS-1. Slow in games.
2. Average touch screen response.
3. Weak Wifi range.
4. Many market apps are incompatible.
5. Weak Speakers.
Purchase source:-
</title><meta name="description" content="Find 7" Google Android 2.2 Flash 10.1 3G MID EPad Tablet PC in the Laptops Computer Peripherals , iPads, Tablets eBook Readers , Other Brands category on eBay India."><meta name="keywords" content="7" Google
END OF FIRST REVIEW- Good? Bad? Like?Dislike? Questions.. Everything welcome.. I may be editing this later to add pics and more data. And yes if the response is good, Galaxy Pro review is next.
