Aldiko is a good book reader

The Kindle app is free, too.

oh yes. Forgot that. TBH I dont use a reader yet, but might do on the 7″, as I have too many Books Ver1.0 to read first 😉

Any news Stoner?
Has the Ainol turned up?
Any chance of a review?
I’m after a 7″ tablet for my son to be able to Skype/ play games on and this looks to be the ticket but it seems to be on pre-order everywhere with no actual stock showing so I’m keen to find out what it’s like in the real world.
The other tablets I like are the Bmorn v99 and Onda Vi40 (though I know they are 10″) – has anyone got thier hands on one yet?

shipping has been delayed until this week I think due to some manufacturing problems. But theyre going to throw in some goodies when they do ship.

Will post as soon as I have my paws on it.

lots of review stuff here http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/280-ainol-novo-7-aurora/

Cheers for that Stoner,
As you seem to know your tablets, do you have any recomendations for tablets available now?
I need one by the end of feb and the two that seem universally recommended (the Ainol aurora and the Onda Vi40) aren’t yet out.

those two have the IPS screen. Dont underestimate what a bonus that is. (FFwd to 2:45)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=spW2WYdLgYU[/video]

I dont think you can skype on the playbook, so maybe the Lenovo A1 might work for you.

Screen looks good but…not as responsive as an iPad…

true, although apprently gingerbread 2.3.5 flies on it, and until Ainol nail their ICS firmware that may be the way to go.

TBH I think that’s the killer for me, if I have a table I have to be able to type on it, cheap android phones have caught up with apple products, but it seems tablets are a way off still.

I use swiftkey on my gingerbread phone and it works brilliantly – cant see why it wouldnt work well on the tablet.

TBH Im guessing that ICS is a) not too laggy anyway, and b) Ainol are very good at improving their firmware way beyond launch date.

Soz…WTF is ICS?

Ice Cream Sandwich = Android 4.0.n

Specifically designed for tablets as opposed to phones. But both will run on a tablet.

It’s sweet:
http://www.android.com/about/ice-cream-sandwich/

I hear there’s a special version 4.1a for Scotland – Deep-fried-ice-cream pizza-bab?

That sounds like some serious bloatware….

It does clog up pathways

magowen – just had another update email – dispatch delayed until next week. Ainol have a back log due to a manufacturing issue and arent taking any more preorders until that has cleared. Seems theres a LOT of interest in them

Ainol, has had a delay in manufacturing the Ainol Novo 7 Aurora’s, this was due to a case fault that occurred in the first original run on a mass production scale. This has now been addressed and we can confirm mass production has started and the devices are starting to leave the factory early this week. Please note this has effected all retailers worldwide in pushing back pre-order dates.

the seller says they still have some Elf and Advanced II 7″ tablets in stock, but I reckon the IPS screen is worth holding out for.

Thanks for the update Stoner.
I’ll keep an eye out for your thoughts when it arrives.

After reading this thread and taking a look around I’ve bought one of the Cube U9gt2’s from the ipadalternative website, I hope it turns out well, if I don’t get on with it then I’m sure I’ll be able to turn it back around on somewhere like Ebay or here 🙂

I just couldn’t stomach paying for £400 for the majority of the ipadalikes out there and figured this at less than half the price could be a good punt, I reckon most of the hardware inside will be standard issue so here goes…

Archos G9 8″ & 10″ new spec 1.5Ghz CPU 1GB RAM ICS Android 4.0 from £219.99 Pre-Order @ Amazon

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/archos-g9-8-10-new-spec-1-5ghz-cpu-1gb-ram-ics-android-4-0-from-219-99-pre-order-1144034#comments

Ooh and

HTC Flyer 16GB £189.95 +£7.95pnp @ IBOOD

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/htc-flyer-16gb-189-95-7-95pnp-ibood-1144325#comments

That Archos G9 10″ looks like it could be just what I’m after…..

Caution ; no android market

iPad 1 16gB wifi £249!

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

The Cube I’ve bought has Android market, It was one of the things I needed as I’m not that geeky!

magowen – just received an email (1am) saying that gadgetfreakz have just received a limited stock of 16Gb Auroras (Id pre-ordered a 8Gb one) and offered a discounted upgrade for pre-order customers on a first come first served basis for £+14. Thanks to early child alarm this fine sunday morning, Im hopefully one of those first customers. And they say they will start shipping tomorrow.

So I will have paid £130 + £14 for it which looks like a pretty good price.

Hopefully I will have it in my hands mid week.

Regarding the blackberry playbook its not just a tablet. You need a blackberry handheld which bridges to the playbook. It’s a glorified dumb terminal but the new OS and newer playbooks realised later this year will be better. Many have predicted it’s death though as the ipad3 will be realised later this year also.

I am working on a mobile data project i have evaluated the galaxy tab 10.1, playbook and ipad2. The galaxy tab wins it for me as a personal device its really easy to work with. Business wise citrix works a treat on the ipad and tab. The playbook has potenial infact i would prefer a playbook corporate wise so i can manage it from the BES but RIM have failed to deliver so far. I was at RIMs hq in slough there is a lot more to come from them but can’t help think they are some what lagging, falling behind.

The samsung galaxy tab is well worth looking at, should be some in pc wally world available to demo handson.

Video of typing please stoner.

when it lands, al, when it lands…

magowen – woohoo dispatch email in, on its way!

Stoner – I’ll look forward to the write up when you’ve had a play with it. 🙂
I’ve ordered the Onda Vi40 Elite 16gb from GF so I’ll review that when it gets here (hopefully next week).
Cheers!

Stoner – Member
Caution ; no android market

On the G9? Archos site says it has

With Adobe® Flash® 10.3 support for the true web experience and the constantly growing number of apps in Android Market™, as well as Google’s suite of Mobile applications your ARCHOS 101 G9 is your versatile tool for your connected life.

sorry druidh – quite right, Archos has the AM, its The “Archos” budget brand “Arnova” that doesnt.

I’ve ordered the Onda Vi40 Elite 16gb from GF so I’ll review that when it gets here (hopefully next week).

that’d be interesting too, magowen.

I have a tracking shipment number but I imagine the Aurora has only just been picked up from GF. Hopefully arrive tomorrow, but maybe weds.

Your order from Gadget Freakz Ltd is out for delivery today by Andy your Interlink Express driver and is due to be delivered between 09:43-10:43.

*jiggles*

ohhh, has it turned up then stoner?

mine arrived this morning exactly same spec as stoners, first tablet iv’e used & dont have a smart phone, first impression very swish & various extra apps put on by vendor (gadgetfreakz),just needs blue tooth sorting!! overall for the money bargain!!

*pulls up a chair*

*waits for the reviews…*

mine arrived this morning, but I had to go out and lay some concrete for dad 🙄

Ive had a play now and these are first findings:

Nice weight and solid feel. Robust.
Will charge over USB as long as it’s not sitting at the end of an overcrowded hub
Mounts and hosts easily
ICS (Android 4.0.x) is OK, but not IMO an amazing jump from gingerbread.
There’s still a bit of bloat installed from Gadgetfreak which needs taking off
It comes with 4.0.3 on it
Rockplayer lite works fine and mp4 plays beautifully. Unfortunately windows DVR-MS files are a little sluggish, but just means I have to do the extra Handbrake conversion of my TV recordings – but Ive been doing that for my phone for a while anyway
typing is very good. keyboard easy to hit and responds well, even without using a special ap, but I shall be trying Swiftkey in a bit
Doesnt seem to support google calendar sync in this build, but working on it.
Android market works out of the box, as does gmail sync and google talk
The native browser is awful. But I use opera which seems fine.

Overall the tablet is good. I think it would be excellent with rolled back to a gingerbread build which is what I shall do later this evening I think as an experiment. Ive got a copy of the 4.0.3 firmware I can reflash later if I want to…will see how it goes.

For the money, it’s a really good bit of kit. Bit of lag using the novolauncher, but Im just about to fiddle with that.

Mrs S is screaming to be fed, so I have to go away, but I’ll post up a bit more later.

been playing more on it and ICS is actually growing on me. As long as you dont use the native browser its actually fine.

Still a problem with google calendar sync not working in this firmware so will need to flash a fixed version at some point if it’s a problem (which TBH it isnt as my phone has my calendar on anyway)

party trick of the night though: have got it to serve media from my PC over wifi to my TV via HDMI cable. Bit buffery, but the wifi connection near the TV is poor until I fit some homeplugs I have on the way.

The more I use it the more Im liking it, and Im finding not much to complain about. Just need to find a way of launching opera bookmarks from the desktop so as to bypass the native browser and I’ll be happy. then its on to readers and magazine viewers. back later

Stoner – Member
then its on to readers and wives magazine viewers. back later

FTFY

Cheers for the reiview Stoner – out of interest does it work with Skype?
I’m thinking of trying to get hold of one for travelling with but the deal breaker would be skype functionality.