There’s two ways of looking at this. Either you think about the issues of the Toshiba AC100 (no Google Apps, Market, Browser issues, crashes, standby battery life issues) and you think OMG – This is a fail from the word go, or you hope that the 2.2 upgrade and a touchscreen are going to fix it. Certainly if you take away the keyboard you won’t be tempted to try anything silly like writing a document so that at least solves one problem but I fear that the Market is still going to be missing.
There’s no way Google will licence Market for a device that is simply not supported by Android. Developers have no way at all to write screen-efficient apps for this screen size and the apps that do exist look annaemic on a 1024×600 screen.
I don’t want to be too negative but its difficult when you’ve tested three potentially great bits of hardware that were spoiled by having only half of an Android-based OS product.
I like the idea of Tegra 2 (with Android 2.2 it will, seriously, blow everything else out of the water in terms of Android benchmarks – i’ve seen it today) and the tablet form-factor at least ‘fits’ Android a little better but without the Google licensed apps, its only half of what it could be.
If I’m wrong about Google Market then great, we’ve got progress but i’m not holding my breath because I think only Android 3 can fix that.
The recorded videos from our live, open review with the SmartQ T last night are available and shown below. Ustream have put a pre-roll and ads on them but I guess they have to pay for 2 hours of 500kbps streaming somehow.
Remember that this is a preview device and isn’t fitted with final firmware although it’s close and SmartDevices are constantly working on firmware upgrades. We have some issues we’ll take back to the reseller, HOTMID, so that they can talk to SmartDevices in China. Those issues include: (See UPDATE below)
Adobe Reader very slow. Almost unusable.
Unable to reset the device to remove private data and Google account
Will the Market and Google apps be distributed?
Stream audio fails on Last.fm and XiiaLive.
USB OTG not working.
Market only able to download one app. Further downloads fail to start.
Video playback only works with H.264, will there be accelerated WMV, MPEG2 and Xvid support?
3G software unable to work with PIN-locked SIM cards.
In high brightness settings with lots of colour on the screen, a slight flicker is seen in the backlight or LCD refresh
Will there be a model with GPS?
Cell Standby uses a lot of power when 3G is supposed to be of.
Update: From HOTMID.com we’ve just recieved this quick reply to feedback from our live testing: New firmware will be released before August 31st and will ‘solve’ Market and Google apps, USB OTG, Video playback, Cell Standby
On the positive side, we see good build quality for the price, a usable 600-wide portrait mode, excellent value 3G version, loud and clear speaker, good quality controls and a battery life in the 5hrs+ region. Actually we suspect there’s some improvement that could be made to the battery life as we’re seeing the 3G using battery while its supposed to be off.
Highlights on the applications we tested:
Kindle (works very well used in 30 minute bedtime test!)
Opera Mini (not shown in video produces significant browsing speed improvements)
720p H.264 playback worked
NewsRob as offline Google Reader
Acast as podcatcher.
Google Maps and search for local information.
4-way auto ratate working.
Target audience:
Those looking for a very low-cost handheld 3G 7 inch internet tablet (the SmartQ T7 is unique in the sub $300 bracket) a flexible and cheap ereader with internet and multitasking, holiday device (location-based services work through Google’s location services if available on final firmware) a low-cost SD card reader for photographers. (TX files, edit and share very quickly.) Standard browsing is very slow but Opera Mini works well to improve basic browsing speeds. Works well as a social networking tablet. Works well as a bedside companion. Taxi drivers and truckers should check this out too!
The resistive touchscreen is going to put some people off for sure but for the price and target audience, we think you’ll get used to the resistive screen without any major issues.
Just in! The SmartQ T7 3G from Smartdevices (and sent for testing by HOTMID.com, formerly Eletroworld.cn – changeover happening this week.) is a 7 inch touchscreen tablet running Android 2.1 and offering an 800×600 resolution, Wifi, 3G/BT option, SDHC Card slot, USB OTG in a sub 500gm package. It’s not the highest spec device out there but when you consider the price – $249 (exclusive shipping and possible import taxes) or with CDMA/EVDO (no BT) just $289, you’ve got yourself quite the bargain. We’re testing a WCDMA (UMTS/HSDPA) version here which could be a big seller considering pay-as-you-go 3G in Europe is easy and cheap to get hold of.
We’ve unboxed, turned it on and taken a look around and we’re quite impressed. GPS is something we would pay another $20 for if available (turning this into a great Google Navigation device) but overall, the 3G version is turning out to be quite the bargain. Well built, light, matt (resistive) screen and a suite of applications that, on this buid, include the Google suite. Yes, Market is there. The device also appears to be rooted so beware, this could be a late development version of the firmware. If the final version doesn’t include the Google suite you’ll be looking at alternative app stores and sideloading as your route to apps like Kindle (600-wide screen is going to work well for that) Acast,Listen, Last.FM (excellent quality mono speaker) and your favorite twitter application. We’re testing out some video apps to see how it copes too. We expect to see a few issues (browser speed is certainly one to flag straight away) as we continue testing so stay tuned for more review and testing articles over the next weeks. (Note, due to IFA and IDF commitments and a Toshiba AC100 that was despatched to us today, time is very very tight right now. We’re going to do our best to get the important info out to you ASAP)
It makes a lot of sense for MSI to wait for the incoming ultra mobile PC platform from Intel rather than launch early with the relatively old Menlow platform and that’s exactly what they’ve gone public about today.
Oaktrail isn’t expected until 2011 but it represents quite an important redesign for Intels lowest power windows-compatable computing platform. In summary you can expect about 20% performance increase along with about 20% in-use battery life increase. Standby / screen-off battery life should increase by a larger margin. The platform also supports SATA drives and faster memory. More details on Oaktrail here.
It’s starting to happen. Those promised Tegra2 tablets of 2009 and 2010 are starting to appear. We’ve seen the Interpad and the AC100 as firm launches and now it’s Pioneer Computers turn. They’ve just emailed information about their Dreambook ePad N7 which appears to be based on the Compal tablet we’ve seen around trade-shows this year.
With a capacitive screen it’s not going to trip itself up like the Huawei S7 although it remains to be seen if this is blessed with Google licensed software. Without Market, Maps, Gmail and sync it’s a no-go for many. Sideloading of applications helps but isn’t the ideal scenario.
$499 $AU seems to be a good price but it must be noted that this isn’t with 3G (a $AU99 extra) which, if the lack of GPS is also true, combines with the lack of webcam and [correction: webcam is a free option] potential lack of Google Android apps to make a serious list of issues.
We’ve got an email out to Pioneer about the Google applications, Android 2.2, GPS and the docking station but I guess we’ll have to wait for those Aussie’s to wake up on Friday morning to get the information. In the meantime we’ve added what we can into the product database and will be updating it as we get new information. Let us know what you think in the comments here or on the product page.
Downloadsquad have had a tip-off that a Google Chrome OS tablet is coming. Finally we’ll be able to see if it’s just a dumb browser or whether Google have finalised the Chrome Web Store they were promising. It will be interesting to see what platform they’ge chosen too. Could this be the first Moorestown tablet?
Apparently HTC are building it but price and details are unknown at this stage. We’ll put it in the database as soon as we have info.
MSI showed us the WindPad 100 back at Computex and early hands on weren’t great but MSI have had plenty time to resolve those prototype niggles and have distributed press images of the production model with its dock.
The WindPad 100 comes sporting an Intel Atom Z530 CPU running at 1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, 32GB SSD, WiFi, HDMI and 2 USB ports on board with the dock adding additional connectors in the form of 2 USB ports, audio jacks, LAN, VGA, HDMI and the usual DC socket for charging.
Its a sleek design and with the dock may make a compelling package for anyone wanting the full desktop operating system experience of Windows 7. MSI will also package their own ‘Wind Touch’ overlay to help you work the 10.1 inch, multi touch capacitive display. An optional 3G model has been speculated and last we heard the device itself would set you back $499 USD.
There are still a lot of questions about Window 7’s ability at being touch friendly and many have already discounted it as a viable tablet operating system, however with the right optimisations Microsoft and MSI could pull off a tablet which appeals to the masses.
BIG thanks to @memerangslaut. Although you made me jealous by tweeting that you are reviewing a Huawei S7, you prompted me to do a quick search for reviews. Bingo! A short one just popped-up at Austria’s derStandard.
Austrias mobile operator A1 has the S7 up for only 29 Euro per month (99 Euros down) inclusive of 5GB internet package which isn’t a bad deal. (Total cost 795 over 2 years inclusive 5GB internet per month) It’s not known when it will be available but as this review has just gone out, one can expect it soon.
‘Huawei S7 disappoints in test’ says the title and it all revolves round that resistive touchscreen that almost everyone has highlighted as a possible point of failure. However good it is (When I tested it in Taiwan that I thought it was a capacitive screen!) it still won’t be up to the standards required of todays consumer tablets. “The screen feels cheap and is not very precise. inch Oh dear.
Other lowlights we’re picking up from the review.
Camera isn’t good enough for photography and crashed a few times.
Applications switching appears to be slow.
The screen feels cheap
“With intensive use Wi-Fi and GPS-enabled, the operation was significantly below the promised eight hours inch
With Android 2.1 and the 768Mhz Snapdragon CPU the device should perform well enough for home duties but this screen issue is going to cause many to step away.
We’ve still got our S7 on order but we’re going to analyse the next review (probably from @memerangslaut) and wait until we see the Samsung Galaxy Tab pricing/hands-on before we commit to the 350+ Euros that could go towards something better!
There’s two ways of looking at this. Either you think about the issues of the Toshiba AC100 (no Google Apps, Market, Browser issues, crashes, standby battery life issues) and you think OMG – This is a fail from the word go, or you hope that the 2.2 upgrade and a touchscreen are going to fix it. Certainly if you take away the keyboard you won’t be tempted to try anything silly like writing a document so that at least solves one problem but I fear that the Market is still going to be missing.
