Your first budget Android tablet

Hello. I will tell you about a Chinese tablet, which has been the owner of already about three months. The name of the manufacturer, as well as the name of the model differ in the Chinese online stores where this device is sold. We can see it under such names as Dropad A8, Herotab C8, or for Russian users like the RoverPad Air S70.


This topic is intended primarily for those who are only going to get acquainted with devices running the Android OS. Why this particular tablet? Therefore, as I myself am the owner of the 5th Android tablet. All those that came before him did not suit by any criteria. Whether it is a resistive screen, a weak battery, a weak processor or the inability to upgrade. This device satisfies all my needs. It is strange that there has not been a review about it so far, while it is being actively discussed on the net. So let's get started.
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Appearance.

The body of the tablet is made of metal, which gives it a rather tangible weight - about 500 grams. Materials quality, any backlash absent. On the front side - only the camera and the Home button. Above we have three buttons, the power button, the Menu and Back. On the right - jacks and a toggle switch for a complete power cut On \ Off. Saved once from hang.



In the photo we see two miniUSBs, but only one can be used to connect devices (Mini USB 2), since Mini USB 1, also known as OTG, is intended for debugging. After acquiring a tablet, a problem immediately arises - you need a miniUSB B to USB A adapter. In Moscow, finding it is problematic, I was ready to buy even Chip and Dipe for 300 rubles, but on the day of my arrival I bought the last one. Saves us as always eBay, you can purchase different lengths, I took one . Delivery from China by regular mail can reach up to 2 months. A month has passed, I did not wait and soldered the adapter myself.

Specifications.

Processor: Samsung S5PV210 with a clock frequency of 1 Ghz
RAM: 512 Mb
ROM: 2 Gb
Screen: 7 "inches, capacitive, multitouch
Screen resolution: 800x480
WiFi: b / g
3G: No
GPS: No
Accelerometer: Yes
Camera: VGA
miniHDMI: Yes
Battery Capacity: 4500 mAh

The processor is quite smart, in games it helps 3D accelerator. Inside the SD card is installed on 2 gigabytes, free of which for applications 1 gigabyte. Someone comes across tablets with an installed 4 Gb card. If you disassemble the tablet, you can see that the card is removable. Immediately comes to mind the idea to change it to a larger card. At one of the forums I read about a person’s attempt to perform this operation, it was not successful with him, 1 gigabyte still remained in free access. Most likely he did this by cloning partitions, forgetting to increase the size of the partition. At the very hands have not reached. Display brightness is enough to see the image on a sunny day. WiFi signal quality is good. What about 3G? The device supports the following 3G modems: Huawei E220, E1750, E156G as well as ZTE MF637U. It was not possible to test yet, because again coming from China. There are ideas about trying to stuff the 3G modem inside the tablet itself. I will not say anything about the camera, because use it nowhere. The current version of Skype for Android does not support video calls, Qik failed to start. The speakers are loud, the microphone sensitivity is good.

With intensive work, when WiFi is turned on, the screen brightness is at its maximum, a 3D game is running - the battery lasts for 4 hours. If you turn off WiFi and use the tablet as a reader, it lasts for 6 hours. mail, charging lasts for 2 days.

What about HDMI - this is the first tablet of those that was, which allows you to display on the TV image of the OS itself. Those that were before, allowed to display only a picture from the video player.
As a result, by connecting a TV to the tablet, a keyboard with a mouse, we get something like a nettop on Android. You can play games, watch videos, surf the Internet.

Software.

Not so long ago, I randomly turned on the tablet at the same time as the Menu button. Then again the Menu button. And the internal SD card was formatted. After I got out of a short stupor, I went to look for firmware for a miracle device. Very soon, the firmware was found, apparently from the very RoverPad Air S70, because now when you turn off the menu says "RoverPad will be turned off." Android version - 2.2. Immediately I will say that a stable firmware 2.3 should appear soon.

The tablet supports almost all available programs. Just list the list of what is installed and works without problems:
Games - Angry Birds (all seasons), Skies Of Glory, Trial X, Fruit Slice, Illusia, Prehistorik, YooNinja, Robo Defense, Return Zero, and of course Kosynka. People run more serious games, I'm just not a gamer.
Software - Dropbox, ConnectBot, Citrix (on Habré there is a very useful article on how to cram the security certificate in Android), Skype, ICQ, TuneIn Radio, Shazam, and other trivia. All Google services are supported.

Total.

This tablet is the most interesting offer for today from the Chinese at a reasonable price - $ 200. You will laugh, but the same device, only under the RoverPad brand, costs about 12,000 rubles . I am very pleased with the tablet, and I am unlikely to change it to something else in the near future.

Here and here small video reviews in English.
If you have any questions, ask, because quite possibly forgot to tell something.
Write to the mail, if anyone is interested in which stores you can buy a device.