Following on from an earlier thread where these were discussed:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/eken-7-android-tablet-anyone-using-one

I wont have an Apple product in the house (prejudice and stubborness, bite me) I like the tablet concept and also love Android as an OS and open source concept that doesnt require an IT MSc to use unlike Linux.

Ive had the Apad for a little over a week now.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260634296093&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I BINd with an offer of £130.

Research suggested that the Rockchip driven unit was a much better bet than the Eken one.

In the (very crappy) box is a two pin charger with a small three pin UK adaptor and a pair of cheap headphones.
The charger is a rather obscure looking 0.8mm/2.4mm centre positive pin, 5v. Very skinny and I havent found a direct UK plugged replacement yet.

The unit itself is light, reasonably well made considering. The screen is a cheap touch screen (not like the new capacitive, AMOLED screens you can get) this is one of the main areas of cost saving. It has a satin feel and is soft to press, not hard like glass. It takes a bit more of a Fat Fingers aproach to get it to be responsive rather than the more subtle multi touch capacitive screens. Brightness is fine indoors, struggles a bit outdoors and dont even bother with it in direct bright sunlight.

The 1.5 (cupcake) version of Android on this tablet is fairly stable but Ive found there's a good deal of apps that are very unstable on it (instantaneous or action specific force closes) as its not a heavily tested piece of hardware. I've listed below some of the apps I use and why, especially the monitoring ones.

WiFi radio signal is pretty weak but is pretty reliable. Recovery from waking can be a bit flaky, easy to remedy with a reacquired connection though.

Micro usb connection with a female adaptor allows USB hosting, as well as being hosted. Micro SD slot works fine out of the box.

Camera is rubbish, front facing. Murky and slow. But there really isnt much need on such a tablet IMO.

As you can see from the pics Ive modded the body a bit to make it more robust to being hurled around (orange corners) and also to make it easier to hold one-handed as an eBook reader (green cross) as well as for typing (blue lines). I have used http://sugru.com/ which is utterly brilliant stuff but deserves it's own review.

Overall the chip speed is adequate but use Advanced Task Killer to keep on top of memory usage. The secondary video (hardware decoding) chip means video playback is pretty good. (Be aware that Flash and hence streaming is NOT supported on pre 2.x Froyo Android)

I wont go much into apps as this is just a review of the hardware.

Overall, over the last week or so getting it set up just as I want, the Apad has proven itself useful, especially for browsing in front of the box, as well as a great book reader and MP3 player. Battery life is surprisingly good at about 4-5 hours with WiFi on.

I tether the Apad to an unlocked Mifi dongle (Note USB 3G Dongles are not supportable on this unit) and it works brilliantly as a browser out and about.

Having proved it a useful concept, at the end of the year I will probably look for a better produced version around £300 – preferrably with a Snapdragon 1Gz chip and a capacitive AMOLED screen and Android 2.x+ which is what my HTC legend has got and is much more stable and a better experience.

I will definitely get my £130 out of this one though on the weekely train journey into london as well as evenings browsing in front of the box.

Apps.
These are some of the best apps Im using regularly on the aPad (as well as on the phone too)

Aldiko – eBook reader with great interface for free book downloads (out of copyright classics etc)
BeyondPod – sync and play podcasts (I follow a loads of BBC R4 ones)
MixZing – best mp3 player
Wifi Manager – by kmansoft – very good wifi status widget
TV Guide (Jersey Productions, UK) – brilliant TV guide app and schedule alarm
Advanced App Killer – good app and widget to handle any sluggishness from multiple apps in memory
Agenda Widget – running calendar/appointments widget on home screen
Calculator – by Brian Overspill – proper scientific calculator in the genre of the Casio fx series.
Color note – post it notes. great for memos.

Im using the stock browser at the moment having had some force close problems with Dolphin Browser which is my preferred app on the Legend. I have also had mixed success with Skyfire for showing video content – it turns flash video into something you can use on 1.5 Android.

Thanks to link for that Sugru been looking for something like that 😀

aPad sounds cheap and nasty, Sugru looks like useful stuff

Just got given an iPad by work. Lovely if a little pointless piece of hardware. Nice for sofa browsing and reading but its definitely not an essential piece of kit. 🙂

from the other reviews online it seems very slow and not particularly great..the only good thing is the micro usbs..

funny attitude to have re: apple stoner. i mean in the scheme of things..

It looks about as cheap and nasty as I thought it would – which is pretty gash tbh.

sound terrible! Think i'd rather pay a bit extra and get an ipod touch.

funny attitude to have re: apple stoner

Not really.

I just dont like Apple products. I dont like the OSs, I dont like Quicktime or iTunes. I dont like the hardware. I dont like the pricing. There's other brands too I dont like. Like Bose. And Santa Cruz. But it's just my point of view. Hardly a "funny attitude" not being a brand fanboi.

Yes this el cheapo apad is cheap and nasty. Thats the point. They're chinese concept knock offs. Im more interested in seeing if the tablet concept is useful rather than if the hardware is any good particularly – afterall getting good hardware is usually just a matter of £s, and Im expecting that by the end of the year the market will be awash with superior quality and better developed branded stuff from the likes of Samsung, Dell, Huwawei and HTC and that's where I will go having got some comfort that I think it's a handy bit of kit.

So to sum up, it's cheap, nasty and acts like a second rate product.

No thanks.

Stoner – great review, thanks for it.

All appears as expected, and definitely worth the cash for the use you have for it.
I'm almost tempted myself, but the Huawei one which expansys is supposed to be selling from today, although is now delayed, is looking attractive too, even at £300.

Decisions, decisions.

PS Drove through Furnace / Borth yesterday, bug the weather was too bad yo warrant a jaunt onto the beach 🙂

cheers geoff.

I think some people in here don't quite get the point of trying out this technology with a budget unit 🙄

If you have the pocket money I reckon the huawei is a good bet. do review it if you get one.

I think some people in here don't quite get the point of trying out this technology with a budget unit

No, I think it is more curiosity as to why someone would dismiss a whole brand's output.

Well why shouldn't he? If he disagrees with their principles etc.

Plenty folk boycott Nestle, not because their products are inferior.

I'm sure you could think of other examples…

I just tend to avoid cheap nasty knock-offs myself, and not just because they're inferior 🙂

I think some people in here don't quite get the point of trying out this technology with a budget unit

I do but not cheap crap as what can happen is straight away you consider changing it, a bit like yourself.

The Huawei looks interesting.

The Huawei looks interesting.

Hooray!

I do but not cheap crap as what can happen is straight away you consider changing it, a bit like yourself.

I wouldn't call it cheap crap and anyway, It's more about trying out the concept than investing in something which you will use for the next 5 years. As stoner has said in previous threads, he'll be able to punt it on for 80% of what he has paid for it when he choses to upgrade to an iPad Huwaie if the concept works for him. Or he could just read a few online reviews and let others tell him what to buy!

I am a fully paid up Apple fanboi , but the Android tablets are making much more sense than the iPads at the moment. I just wish the Huwaei hadn't been delayed 👿

Definetly cheap crap looks nasty sounds nasty. If you want to punt fir ut fine but I'd rather spend more to twin more.

Drac I fully intended to upgrade even before I bought this apad. Wht I wantd to do cheaply ais determine whether a tablet would be f use to me.

The only other android contenders out there are 300-500 GBP

Kind of makes sense I suppose.

Stoner, there is a 10" pad 'pad' on ebay for similar money running Android 2.1, is there any reason you didn't get that instead? Also there are a few comments about these sPars not having access tonthe Android Market, do u have any issues? Thx

I wont have an Apple product in the house (prejudice and stubborness, bite me)

This makes me doubt your objectivity, so the value of the review went down.

My 2 cents.

Looks like an interesting bit of kit. Still not convinced by the tablet format tbh, but we'll see.
I'll be sticking with my eeePC for the time being. OK it doesn't have the touch screen, but it does have a fold-out keyboard with proper keys, SD, proper USB ports that take 3G dongles, WiFi that works, and takes a gazillion more apps than iPad without the need to go thru a store 😉

andy – TBH I prefer to use the apad over my netbook now for just browsing or media. But yes a proper keyboard is better for other stuff. Im typing this on my netbook, not the apad.

This makes me doubt your objectivity, so the value of the review went down.

Since it wasnt a comparative review, objectivity is moot.

But yes a proper keyboard is better for other stuff. Im typing this on my netbook, not the apad.

But the question is, would you have typed it on the apad if it had a decent touch-screen and nicer on-screen keyboard (i.e. like an iPad or a better made Android tablet)?

Or is it just not suitable for typing on at all?

From your review I got the impression the apad was total rubbish but had the redeeming feature that it was not made by Apple.

I'd be more interested in hearing what it did just as well or better. I had a Newton way back so I'm sceptical about the utility of tablets.

graham – if I go for a 1GHz+ snapdragon and a capacitive screen, then 7" would be OK for typing – especially if it came with the HTC predictive text feature which is incredible. You can mash the keyboard on my phone like a fat fingered fanny fingerer and it still knows what you mean.

Resistive screens are just not very good at typing on.

Im sure the ipad has an excellent keypad. Im also sure the quality apad manaufacturers will be much the same, espec if my Legend 3.5" screen is anything to go by.

epic – the apad is not total rubbish. I do like it and use it every day. The hardware could be much better, but that isnt a problem as I will get a better hardware specced unit at the end of the year when I have a better idea of what I want – i.e. 7" or 10" screen (or even 5.5"), integrated 3G card or not etc etc. That is the purpose of the test unit.

Thanks Stoner.

I don't mind typing on my phone (which is a glass capacitive screen) but that has the benefit of being small enough to hold in one hand and type with the other.

But I'm not sure how easy it would be to type a similar amount of text on a tablet, given the extra weight and ungainliness of holding it in one hand.

I'd almost want a strap on the back to put my hand through or something.

As you can see from my sugru modding, Ive tried two handed typing by thumbs whilst holding the tablet with both hands (fingers) latching on the blue strips. This is about the same typing speed as holding the apad with one hand (using fingers in the green cross for grip) and tap typing using 3 fingers of right hand.

You would not be able to type with one thumb very easily even on the 7" in portrait orientation as the reach to the far side of the keyboard is just too far.

Perfectly understandable to avoid Apple products when they won't include forms of expansion or swappable batteries for when you can't recharge. The salesman will tell you you can charge it from your PC or your car cigarette lighter etc, but there are plenty of times I'm away from these for long enough to run out of 'puff', don't get their reluctence to include extenal slots, USB or SD, whatever or swappable batteries?

I'd always go for products where I have more choice!

My Sugru should hopefully turn up tomorrow 🙂

don't get their reluctence to include extenal slots, USB or SD, whatever or swappable batteries?

1) very few people carry spare charged batteries around for their laptops and they seem to manage okay. The iPad battery offers considerably longer than most laptops (10 hours of video playback / 140 hours audio / 1 month on standby). I suspect a quality 'droid tablet would do likewise.

2) Properly supporting USB means supplying suitable USB drivers for the millions of possible USB devices – which leads to bugs, driver conflicts, things not working and all the usual hell of a modern computer. The aim of devices like the iPad is to move away from all that to utility devices that "just work". When you understand that aim then you kind of see why they do it.

Why hate Apple but like Google? It's not as if the latter are collating huge amounts of data on anyone that uses their myriad sites.

I have to say i have been most impressed with the ipad thus far. Grahams may remember I am not the biggest fan of iPhones or apple in general but i have to say my experience with the iPad has turned me slightly.

Yes it is a luxury not an essential like a phone or "proper" computer.
Yes it has limitations but for in-between web browsing and general media its lovely. Its small enough not to be a pain to have on your knee as a laptop would all evening but it's bigger than a smart phone so the viewing experience is superior.

Based of these findings i can actually see where the device fits into things now, i have no doubt the high end android pads will be awesome once they appear.

Would it be any use for reading digital subs on?

I signed up for the digital subs for that very reason, plus all the back issues.

So anyway, inspired by all the discussion, I just bought an iPad.

No idea what to do with it at the moment, but some vague idea of using it as a fancy eBook reader. (I have loads of documentation I carry around on a Sony). I like the clear screen.

I haven't had much use out of it because my daughter has claimed it. She thinks it's awesome and I may not get it back…

Me I'm still a bit sceptical. I suspect it'll just be another expensive toy for the family.