Uniglo reviews the Apad!

My 10 day experience with aPad/iRobot « on: May 31, 2010, 11:32:30 PM » Just found this forum, and it seems the only English based forum discussing about this tablet. After using it for about 10 days, below are my impression about it, I don't think it's a review, as writing a review needs to be more professional, I don't.... :p Screen: - The tablet is having a resisitive touchscreen, it's less sensitive comparing with any smartphone you're using now. - Since Android OS doesn't has a side scroll bar, it makes the menu scrolling a bit difficult, need some time to adapt. - A strange brightness settings it had, when you're in a room with light, or under natural lighting, 100% brightness seems to be a must, otherwise it may be hard to view the screen. And it is more strange that, 99% brightness level is much much dimmer than 100%, I guess it is 30-40% dimmer. Sound: - The loudspeaker is too small, the voice is too little, whenever there is TV, radio, or even my cat meows, I'm unable to hear - Plus, the tiny loudspeaker is located at the back, if you hold it with your hand, or place it on the table, cusion, the loudspeaker will be covered - Maybe it's my problem, even I replace the very low-end earphone with my senheiser earphone, the sound is quite small, I usually need to set the level to 85% or above to hear it in a quiet room. Input: - It should have no problem for western users, but, for me, a Chinese from Hong Kong, nearly no handwriting software can work on this tablet. Internet Usage: - Facebook for Android can be installed and used, a good feedback, however, I prefer mobile version, which I can open a website in the same app, I will use m.facebook.com via the browser - MSN is ok, I'm using one from the Android Market - Browsing: Using the native browser provides a fair user experience, if you need flash (or some video), you will need skyfire, some people said Dolphin Browser is good, however, I encounter a problem that, whenever I download something, the Dolphin Browser prompts me not enough space, I'm sure my settings are correct with a 8GB card installed. - My experience on native browser (and other browser using the same core), whenever you browse for a while, maybe 30 minutes, and when the cache are around 5-6MB, it will crash and force close, I will got to clear the cache once I finish reading 1 or 2 websites. And such problem may due to 3rd party input software - Another solution will be Opera Mini 5, it got less force close problem than the native one, however, comparing with other Opera Mini experience on Samsung/Nokia smartphones, it is slower and less responsive, I guess it is due to the RAM available. - USing Skyfire is ok, it can load flash videos, however it is not a instant load, may need to download for a while, and it is not 100% working gurantee, and sometimes, if the page got many video clips, it may crash. - Gmail: Using the built-in Gmail App, good and handy Apps: - Google Maps: No GPS, unable to locate. Unable to locate using Wi-Fi (I can use Wi-Fi to locate by my smartphone and PC), I think it's the problem from the OS. - Google Maps: Got Street View option, but unable to load - Youtube: No built-in, download and install from the web, unable to play full screen, the menu bar's orientation is wrongly place on the right hand side - Not sure you got it or not. My MicroSD card comes with several apps, including Doc-to-Go, which by clicking another add-on app, it lets me register, and I really got reg.email from Dataviz. Pretty amazing... (Not sure if it's legal or not though.) - There are some other Chinese apps, such as Big-Cow Reader and QQ I didn't use at all. - Android Market built-in, but it's 1.5 version, that means no screenshots, only text descriptions - After installing many apps, I've found that, the menu orientation is strange, many apps got its menu bar showing on the right hand side (like potrait mode), and the content is in landscape mode. - Due to the same problem, some apps are unable to use, and some are even unable to run, and force close cases are common - Many games installed are unable to run, and some which can be run are neither in potrait mode, or sat on the left hand side. - Due to the above problem, lack of a hardware BACK button will be pretty troublesome, sometimes, an app depends on the back button to go back to the main screen, without the button, you have to go to home > task manager > kill the app and re-start the app. - Since the aPad/iRobot I bought is so-called version 2, it comes with a camera, it's funny that the camera app is very very simple, only 1 shutter icon, and nothing else, what make it even funnier is, the image you see on the screen is somehow magnified (i guess 1 - 2x), and you will never know how the photo will look like until it captured. - For the same reason, no matter which 3rd party camera app I installed, the same problem appears, and don't mention many of them are unable to run. - What make it even worse is, there is a video recording function, however, the microphone is not working at all. (There's a mic hole on the device, but, I'm not sure if there is a microphone inside) - I've installed a voice reocrding app, and after pressing the REC. there is no voice recorded. - There is an ebook app, which supports CHM, PDB and other formats, but, I didn't try it. Video & Photo Playback: - I didn't try many formats on it, I've put some clips downloaded from the web, it plays well, but, I've a bit disappointed, as it claims rockchip can play 720p HD video well, but, when I play a James Bond movie trailer downloaded from Apple (720p), the voice and the video is not sync. And 1280p is even worse. - Photo playback: the built-in Android Photo Viewer is simple but OK. Zoom in/out a picture is reasonably fast, however, bear in mind that, no multi touch like your iPhone/Android phone. Hardware craftsmenship: - Very made-in-china quality, but too bad I must admit, like other no brand MP3, PMP players. - No hardware back and search keys is quite inconvenience - Screen got no dead dots by now, but, I've found 1 tiny dust inside the screen, not sure whether the dust goes in during manufacturing or my usage. - Pretty scary: the AC adapter got some sound during plugin and the charging time is quite long (make it even scary as the AC adapter needs to plugin for quite long) - Earphone is pretty cheap quality - No user guide or any documentation --------------------------- I got this device from Chinese auction website taobao, and not sure whether you'll got the same packing/content as I did.