Pros and cons of cheap noname tablets

Hello everyone, I think everyone from the IT community would be happy to purchase as a fresh Ipad-2, Iphone-4 and other delights from the world of mobile computers, but not everyone unfortunately can afford to pamper so, someone has a family, children and t .P. Here we recall the “works of art” from our
Asian comrades in the form of an army of apple-like devices, a super sony experiment, and other noname devices costing a third (sometimes less) of the cost of their prototype.
In this article I will try to describe the nuances that should be paid attention to when buying this miracle, operating, repairing and perhaps try to dissuade you from it :)


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First, a few facts:

1. Five out of ten tablets of “black” batches are defective.
2. The stated characteristics do not correspond to reality in more than 70% of cases.
3. By itself, you can not count on support, new firmware, warranty and other goodies that make up up to 30% of the price of “white” devices.
4. It is better to buy either ideally from familiar people, or on auction sites from sellers
with enough to lull your vigilance the number of positive reviews.

Next, we'll talk a little more about the smaller pros and cons of the purchase.

My history

Once on a cloudy morning of 2010, I took an order to develop an application for Android 1.5 ~ rightly judging that money is not superfluous, exactly like knowledge that can certainly be learned during the development process.
In the past, I had development experience under WinMobile - so there was no doubt, but since there is a project development process - there must be a process for debugging and testing it.
Of course, you could just use the SDK so generously provided by Google, but amicably did not work out for us, on my Core2Duo 2.4 hellish virtual machine mercilessly did everything to make it
rather, they shut down — in particular, they slowed down, went off into a reboot, and sprinkled other problems of this type.
So, since I wouldn’t say about myself that I live my best, I had to urgently relocate to the local radio market where I reckoned for the amount of ~ 1 tgrn (~ 4.5 tr.) To get that same Android, only with the Chinese "brick" in the load.
To be honest, I didn’t see much of it, the second scan I watched was enough.
The next morning I already had the experience of the enlightened ones and I can say for sure - if
You buy a Chinese tablet, it is highly desirable:

1 . Verify on site the technical characteristics of the device with the stated seller.
2 Check the availability of Android Market on the device (believe me, it's worth it)
3 Try to gently compress the tablet so checking the build quality of the case
4 The smaller “whistles” in the device, like “super eight cameras” or “mega g-sensor” - the more likely it is that you will live with you for at least a year.
5 Check the felt boot for overheating, if after 5 minutes of use the back wall of the tablet is warmer than 40 degrees - you will surely be a frequent customer
service centers of your city on the subject of heating the board and other rituals characteristic of voodoo magic.
6 Take the seller CHECKS and discuss the terms of the test and the possible return - everyone talks about it, everyone knows: and still some people do not take it, remember - the check is actually the only proof of purchase except for two living witnesses of course.

On the morning of the next day, my dear little animal, at first, squeaking, stopped loading, and then went out completely, because of overheating, a wonderful arm processor went to the Chinese forefathers.
Having decided that “I myself was a fool,” I didn’t carry it back and swear, I don’t like to hurt it - it was much more interesting to open the patient and look at it with just one eye “how everything is arranged there.”
Of course, I assumed different things and was morally ready for everything, but it plunged me into a stupor for a few minutes:

(I took the picture from here: habrahabr.ru/blogs/android/103592
because photos of the process of dismantling have already sunk into oblivion.)

On one piece of PCB they contain everything, no quick replacement of acb, no modular system.
Having added the application somehow to android sdk and received the due payment - I decided to repeat my heinous experience while choosing and testing the device much more carefully.
By the way, all the “black” Chinese are called roughly the same “Apad, Irobot” despite the fact that every third person is distinguished by fine details, the second time I took myself a 7-inch
Apad for ~ 700 UAH (~ 3t.r.) And began the actual development.
Despite the fact that at the moment the device has been repaired twice due to overheating, it is still alive and serves as an e-book reader.

We derive an axiom:

We can buy Chinese tablet PCs, if necessary, in a cheap "reader", development for this platform, full confidence in its efficiency or the urgent need to throw out money.

It would not be desirable - better save up and take something “white” like the Galaxy Tab, etc.

Quite a few times I tried to use the device in its main quality - as a computer, but the characteristics of the device affected it: 600 mhz / 128 mb rab - not enough for one pretty
games, Internet applications, yes, oh my God - even for the OS itself, this is not enough judging by the speed of the “work”. The firmware itself did not involve either Market (which made it difficult to install these
applications) nor any OS update.
Even at that time, 40% of applications that were interesting to me required Android 2.2

If you already bought a device - resort to these simple procedures:

1. A small radiator on the processor will significantly prolong the life of your little animal, ideally suited from the processor of the old 286 sx12.
2. Take the charger to the trash can without forgetting to solder the wires with the plug before it and buy a normal stable b / n 9v / 1a
3. As rarely as possible, use the interface connector in the device, on all the animals of which I have seen this one of the weakest points.
4. Order or purchase a cable for flashing, also useful.
5. The capacity of the battery to replace the same would not hurt.

We deduce the pros and cons of animals:

+ Relatively low cost
+ Modern enough platform Android 1.9 - 2.2
+ Good features for the cost, the presence of rj-45, usb-host, wi-fi and other buns
+ On the front side, you can decompose food without interrupting the viewing of your favorite series.
+ A great way to "test" the platform without investing significant funds.

- Disgusting build quality / materials / modules. (I think it’s possible to count the “screen blinding in the sun”)
- Obviously insufficient power to ensure comfortable use of a computer (web surfing, video, im, games)
- Lack of any ability to properly flash. (Some amateurs posting firmware roms on china-iphone.ru - you can try)
- Software is clearly ported to the knee from the communicator, as The tablet calls itself a phone and constantly plaintively asks to insert a sim, which is sometimes annoying.
- The cooling system and protection against external influence on the device are not thought out at all.
- The banal lie in the characteristics of the written is valid even on the box in which the device is supplied.
- Complicated and not justifying in most cases repair itself.

In general, I think the article will be useful for reading to those who are just thinking about buying a Chinese.

If you have any questions regarding the animals, getting root-rights, hardware and software - write, I will help you with advice.