Are the cheap Android 4 tablets OK or junk?

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#680948 3-Sep-2012 16:35

Yep pretty much boils down to hit and miss some are good others are lemons it's all about whether or not you want to take the risk on it or not. Of course that doesn't mean that spending mega bucks on top branded products are going to make things run smoothly as they too are going to occasionally allow a lemon through the cracks. It's just a lot easier to get things corrected if you get one.

kiwijunglist

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#680950 3-Sep-2012 16:37

mobicity is drop ship with nz support/warranty center, company based in australia.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

lokhor

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#680966 3-Sep-2012 17:05

The Ainol Novo 7 Flame is looking pretty good right now:
http://www.gadgetgreats.com/ainol-novo-7-fire-flame-7-0-ips-android-4-0-tablet-pc-amlogic-a9-dual-core-1-5ghz-16gb.html

That works out to be ~$200 NZD and shipping is potentially free

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Jaxson

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#681161 4-Sep-2012 09:06

Anybody seen these:

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Vigo-7-Inch-Android-4.0-Tablet-4GB?SKU=1642886

Supposedly have an IPS screen according to the advertising mailer.

richms

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#681197 4-Sep-2012 10:04

Preinstalled facebook herald and stuff apps so rooting is a necessity.

Wonder if it really has 802.11a therefore dual band wifi or not... Ends today so I cant get one anyway since I am still stinging from the last rates bill.

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urban

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Ultimate Geek
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#682934 7-Sep-2012 20:31

lokhor: The Ainol Novo 7 Flame is looking pretty good right now:
http://www.gadgetgreats.com/ainol-novo-7-fire-flame-7-0-ips-android-4-0-tablet-pc-amlogic-a9-dual-core-1-5ghz-16gb.html

That works out to be ~$200 NZD and shipping is potentially free

I have the Fire, and I would advise one to wait awhile longer before buying one as mine has quite a few issues in regards to heat and strange whiny sounds.

Ainol will also be releasing the Flame(English version) for the rest or the world at some point.

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lokhor

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#682957 7-Sep-2012 22:09

urban:
lokhor: The Ainol Novo 7 Flame is looking pretty good right now:
http://www.gadgetgreats.com/ainol-novo-7-fire-flame-7-0-ips-android-4-0-tablet-pc-amlogic-a9-dual-core-1-5ghz-16gb.html

That works out to be ~$200 NZD and shipping is potentially free

I have the Fire, and I would advise one to wait awhile longer before buying one as mine has quite a few issues in regards to heat and strange whiny sounds.

Ainol will also be releasing the Flame(English version) for the rest or the world at some point.

I've seen custom roms around that fix the heat issue, apparently there's a bug that locks it at 1.5GHZ instead of scaling

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

PANiCnz

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#683055 8-Sep-2012 11:59

Anyone seen the latest Bond and Bond mailer? Looks like they are reselling Chinese tablets. The 9.7" looks suspiciously like a YuanDao N90.

urban

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Ultimate Geek
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#683308 9-Sep-2012 09:26

lokhor:
urban:
lokhor: The Ainol Novo 7 Flame is looking pretty good right now:
http://www.gadgetgreats.com/ainol-novo-7-fire-flame-7-0-ips-android-4-0-tablet-pc-amlogic-a9-dual-core-1-5ghz-16gb.html

That works out to be ~$200 NZD and shipping is potentially free

I have the Fire, and I would advise one to wait awhile longer before buying one as mine has quite a few issues in regards to heat and strange whiny sounds.

Ainol will also be releasing the Flame(English version) for the rest or the world at some point.

I've seen custom roms around that fix the heat issue, apparently there's a bug that locks it at 1.5GHZ instead of scaling

I have since installed the 827 rom, but it still runs much warmer than my Aurora ii. The CPU is scaling fine and is currently locked at max 1.2GHZ.

And I got around the whiny sound coming from the sdcard slot issue by raising the screen brightness level up.

The Fire's overall build quality is quite good despite some software(hopefully not hardware) quirks, compared with my Aurora ii.

robocat

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#683616 9-Sep-2012 22:42

lokhor: The Ainol Novo 7 Flame is looking pretty good right now:
http://www.gadgetgreats.com/ainol-novo-7-fire-flame-7-0-ips-android-4-0-tablet-pc-amlogic-a9-dual-core-1-5ghz-16gb.html

That works out to be ~$200 NZD and shipping is potentially free

The fire has great specs for the price, but you might be on the bleeding edge, buyer beware: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/38064-big-setback-lost-touchscreen-input/page__pid__417893#entry417893

Currently looks like the Aurora 2 is most popular on slatedroid, which means better after market support: http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/341-ainol-amlogic-cpu-devices/

urban

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#683641 10-Sep-2012 00:55

robocat: The fire has great specs for the price, but you might be on the bleeding edge, buyer beware: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/38064-big-setback-lost-touchscreen-input/page__pid__417893#entry417893

Currently looks like the Aurora 2 is most popular on slatedroid, which means better after market support: http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/341-ainol-amlogic-cpu-devices/

My Fire has just started displaying the dead touch screen issues, it will not resume from Sleep at all.. only a reboot will fix it.

It is RMA o'clock methinks.

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dannywii

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#684113 10-Sep-2012 21:18

junks
the most important thing in smartphone and tablet is future update
manufacture for those device r way too small and usually lack the ability to provide future update

honestly just get a nexus 7 on ebay

kiwijunglist

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#684171 10-Sep-2012 23:25

honestly just get a nexus 7 on ebay

Yeah for $320 NZ incl P&P on ebay for Nexus 7 it's probably a better deal to pay that bit more, for a faster tablet with higher build quality and more likely to have a larger community of developers pushing out updates.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

NZtechfreak

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#684172 10-Sep-2012 23:45

While we're talking cheap Android tablets, I will point out again that the Huawei MediaPad is one to think about at some of the prices you can grab one for at the moment (keep an eye on Trademe, or better yet set up a Google alert for something like this "Huawei Mediapad site:trademe.co.nz"). I just updated mine to Jelly Bean today (CM10) and it seems basically perfect, despite the Alpha tag. It inspired me to finally finish my review for it:
http://www.androidnz.net/2012/09/rapid-review-huawei-mediapadt-mobile.html

For any present owners too scared to try out a flash that involves Fastboot I'll have a guide up in a few days :)

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Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

MurrayM

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#685016 12-Sep-2012 15:40

Jaxson: Anybody seen these:

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Vigo-7-Inch-Android-4.0-Tablet-4GB?SKU=1642886

Supposedly have an IPS screen according to the advertising mailer.

A friend has just bought one of these and I helped her set it up as she doesn't know anything about Android.

After an hours play it seems not too bad. Running Android 4.0.4. Ports: OTG USB, HDMI, Host USB, microphone, earphone, micro SD card, power. It even included an OTF USB cable, which surprised me a bit. No GPS.

4GB built-in storage, 512MB RAM, micro SD up to 32GB.

They claim a battery life of 3 - 4 hours running, or 8 hours standby. Not sure how this compares to the likes of the Nexus 7.

A few times it didn't appear to register my screen taps and I had to tap twice.

The Warehouse have a deal on this week where you get the tablet, case and a 16GB micro SD card for $249.

I probably wouldn't have picked it for me but for my friend's use (play a few games, watch movies, read e-books) it should be ok.

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