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NOVO 7 - Wicked New Processor

41K views 105 replies 27 participants last post by  tonyzoc 
#1 ·
Anyone know much about the new Ainol NOVO 7? I just ordered one from a new supplier to test out. It won't be here for like a month though because I opted for China Post Airmail for shipping (gotta save the $$ on sample orders
...).

Anyhow, I have been reading around about it and I can't find a whole lot that is substantial. There is a cool youtube video that shows the HDMI-out working flawlessly.

Among its rather "incredible" claims are:

-2160p (yes, double 1080p!) video playback (which I speculate might be just marketing speak but this means it should have flawless playback on the device for most anything you throw at it).

-1.5 Ghz Processor, Dual-Core, Cortex-A8 (once again, I feel this might be marketing speak. It has already been stated that the current firmware only runs at 1.0ghz and I have feeling that that "dual core" bit is just referring to a DSP or the GPU... I have never heard of a true "dual core" cortex-A8? has anyone else?)

-7.5 hours of battery life with wiFi ON! Boy that would be nice... It boasts about 3 different "power saving" technologies as a part of the chipset... I have never heard of any of them... One site said this:

" Battery is 4000mAh and Ainol says that novo7 standby time is up to 25 + days; music playback 25 + hours; high-definition video playback is up to 9 + hours; Web browsing is up to 7 + hours; Playing 3D high-definition games up to 6 + hours."

Yeah right...
is my though...

-Ridiculously high benchmark scores that outpace all other Cortex-A8's and most (all?) Current Cortex A9s??

-Mali-400 GPU - same GPU in all the new Samsung chips that are coming out and the same GPU in AmLogic Cortex-A9 chipset.

-----------------------------

Here is what I HAVE been able to confirm from video and reading translated chinese forums...

- Hi-Def video playback seems to be closer to 5 hours... at the absolute MAX

- The 800x480 screen is not very good quality (I will have to see for myself and compare it to my other 2 7" devices)

- HDMI Output does work and it appears to be flawless (see video below)

- Video Playback does seem to be as perfect as claimed

- Game playback is solid for the games that work with it. Some games have bugs though

- There are some initial bugs with the OS (graphical artifacts and things I think?)

- It does support Charging via the USB port (big plus)

- It has a VERY Short boot time... like 20 Seconds....

-----Still no "real" benchmarks yet other than what the manufacturer has shown and I can't figure out what they are comparing against because the image has stuff in chinese....

- Build quality is really top-notch. It is lightweight but really solid and very thin. I will judge this for myself when I get my device. Build Quality and Battery life (along with hopefully solid if not quite so "fantastic and incredible" performanc) are what have attracted me to this option.

- There is an Ainol NOVO 7 and a NOVO 7 "ADVANCED" - The NOVO 7 has the AmLogic processor - The "Advanced" has the Boxchip processor, the "regular" has the AmLogic Processor

Videos:



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHBTP6e5Fpg

That is what I have been able to dig up... Anyone else have any info?

Cheers,

Roman

http://topnotchtablets.com
 
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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had looked into the Novo7 too but decided not to wait for the release which came out about 1 to 2 weeks after ordering the Wopad i7. At that time I only had rumors to go on and no idea of release date.

ARM designed the Cortex A8 to be single core CPU only. You will never find any dual core A8s.

The Novo7 Advanced likely uses Cortex A8 CPU but unconfirmed. Could also be using single or dual core A9 but do not believe so. They say 1.5 GHz but actually clock the CPU @ 1.2 GHz from what I can tell. They refer to many cores because in addition to the CPU & GPU it has: UPU, DPU, SPU, APU, VEPU and AEPU. It should run very smooth and quick because of the many cores helping out.

Seems to have Mail-400 which is very good GPU. Should run games pretty good. Ainol also seems to have good or better quality so another plus. This tablet is definitely worth checking out.

Merimobiles is selling this tablet now for very good price and they also have a video of it in action with talking from the reviewer.
 
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#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had looked into the Novo7 too but decided not to wait for the release which came out about 1 to 2 weeks after ordering the Wopad i7. At that time I only had rumors to go on and no idea of release date.

ARM designed the Cortex A8 to be single core CPU only. You will never find any dual core A8s.

The Novo7 Advanced likely uses Cortex A8 CPU but unconfirmed. Could also be using single or dual core A9 but do not believe so. They say 1.5 GHz but actually clock the CPU @ 1 GHz from what I can tell. They refer to many cores because in addition to the CPU & GPU it has: UPU, DPU, SPU, APU, VEPU and AEPU. It should run very smooth and quick because of the many cores helping out.

Seems to have Mail-400 which is very good GPU. Should run games pretty good. Ainol also seems to have good or better quality so another plus. This tablet is definitely worth checking out.

Merimobiles is selling this tablet now for very good price and they also have a video of it in action with talking from the reviewer.
I have seen a video of it running what appears to be "Asphalt 6" and it isn't running very smoothly
... It works, but it isn't great by any means I bet the GPU drivers are still crap...

I am sure it is "single-core" and I have read multiple places that the NOVO7 is only running at 1.0 Ghz. Perhaps new firmware will bump that speed up? I am hoping that the processor is truly capable of 1.5 Ghz.

-Roman
 
#4 ·
CPU is likely overclocked to speeds higher than 1 GHz. The Linux kernel allows overclocking of CPU. A8s & A9s were rated only for 1 GHz operation. That is why you see most @ 1 GHz & only a couple (overclocked) to 1.2 GHz.

Even newer OMAP dual core A9 is still 1 GHz & will go to 1.2 & 1.5 GHz later on. Likely with die shrink. If the big name brands are still running @ 1 GHz then how can the Chinese be selling faster speed tablets? =)

CPU is either 1 or 1.2 GHz. Merimobiles shows the Novo7 box which says 1.2 GHz on the outside but do not use any program (like Elixir 2) to verify if this is true. Since the box says 1.2 GHz I expect the CPU to run at that speed. =)
 
#5 ·
The few places I have seen comments from folks that have had hands-on, they have said 1.0 ghz. We will see. Considering the lackluster 3D performance, I am really hoping it is only at 1.0 ghz right now lol


-Roman
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Merimobiles had it on sale as part of their deal of the day for 139(also note that this is the novo 7 advanced) so I bit the bullet and bought one. I was more interested in the M12 and N19 as well as the Visture V1 but if I'm gonna spend 275-300 dollars I might as well cough up another 50-75 and get an Asus eee transformer. Anyway for the price 139 i couldn't go wrong I paid more for my disappointing ZT-180 when it first came out and it didnt even have a camera. The 2 camera's 5 point multi-touch hdmi and mali GPU make this a real good value for the price. I will follow up as soon as I receive the tablet and have played around with it for a bit.

Also to note the processor in the novo 7 offered on merimobiles is supposed to be the following:

Which would make sense given what they advertise.

Allwinner technology A10 tablet solution, 2160P
September 12, 2011 linmin Leave a comment Go to comments

After the Android Tablet SOC Solution of AMLogic AML8726-M and Rockchip RK2918, in recent, nation's Android market appears the newest tablet chip (A10). Unlike ARM A10 chip, this Allwinner A10 is just under the architecture of ARM Cortex-A8. Based on the previous chip, A10 has added many their own technology, such as many core, DVFS, etc. The new Mail-400 MP (GPU) could extend to Gainestown and boot performance obviously. What's the new feature is that it supports 2160P Video Decoder, 1.5GHz, adopts Google Android 2.3, supports 3D games, supports DDR3, Smart PMU and CPU+GPU+VPU+DPU+VE(Many Core). As for the 2160P, it says the resolution of 3840×2160 which is four times than 1080P. It is enough for videos of 1080P and 720P.
 
#8 ·
Hey guys I am new to this forum. I'm actually gonna buy this tablet tomorrow and from the conversation which I had with Merimobiles online-SUPPORT they told me that this is the best among Herotab c8,c8m and c9 and so other 7inch Tablets they have for sell, Now my question is That Does this Tab really have wifi b/g/n ? also ARE they right about The Battery life? Is it really very good in performance and web browsing and specially does it have Mali-400 Gpu as the other samsung tabs have? If somebody ask me this when my Beloved smile at me, I definitely say "YES IT IS GREAT TAB" cuz that time I'm not on the earth but in the sky and there everything looks cool but Speaking wisely the reality comes true when this tab comes to me and see if those features they put on Merimobiles are true.
Me Hope so.
Thanks everyone
 
#10 ·
Yes I had seen that... but I feel those numbers are not very useful... and certainly not very encouraging. His video tests are on "lowest brightness" and the "speakers are muted"... Pointless. Anyhow, I appreciate you bringing it up though. Any and all info on the device is appreciated. I am hoping to get mine soon
. In 3 weeks at least. It shipped via China Post from Shenzen today I think.

If it gets decent battery life and PLEASE it is STABLE
I will be happy. It will make a nice addition to my site and perhaps a replacement for the Wopad 2... Which is currently my best seller.

I really hope they get the 3D performance figured out. I just don't understand how these devices can have a Mali-400 and have such bad graphics performance?? They are on par with the Vivante GC800 (which is good but not great) and not as good as say the PowerVR 540. I really think it is driver issues for both of these chipsets (especially the Mali 400). The PowerVR 540 is widely used... the Vivante GC800 is not... Hopefully the Mali-400 will get better though with time.

Cheers,

Roman

http://topnotchtablets.com

Cheers all!
 
#12 ·
It says the processor is the called the A10 and runs at 1.5 GHz as discussed here: Ainol A10.
To avoid confusing others. A10 name is misleading and misinforming since the processor will be Cortex A8. ARM only makes Cortex A5, A8, A9 & A15. No such thing as Cortex A10 CPU. They gave the chip this "nickname" to trick buyers into thinking it uses a Cortex A10 CPU which is not the case.
http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/index.php
Also, they state 1.5 GHz but seem to only run the CPU at 1 GHz from what I have heard.

Still, very nice looking tablet, should run very well compared to other A8 (& single core A9?) tablets and is selling for a great price. Anyone looking for 7" should check it out.
 
#14 ·
I've bit the bullet and now have one of these on its way from Hong Kong. I have been thinking about the wopad i7 and the rena3 for a while, but I decided to go for this one as it was slightly cheaper, has 2.3 out of the box and has a good GPU. I also don't really like the ipad-ness of the rear of the wopad.
 
#15 ·
The i7 is a nice device all around except for the build quality. It "feels" cheap and it gets banged up easily.

The RENA3 is a great device all around and the price on it is always coming down. Performance is fairly solid, build quality is decent and battery life is phenomenal.

This device, I don't know yet because mine is still on its way from China and it is going to take forever because I opted for Hong Kong Post Airmail as it is a sample order and I am trying to keep costs down. Hopefully battery life is decent and it is stable.

I started looking into the Zenithink C71 this evening. But apparently battery life is not very good on that device. Anyhow, I am trying to "flood" my product line with low cost alternatives to the new Kindle Fire (which retails for $199). Unfortunatley I am fairly certain Amazon is selling those at a loss because there is nothing remotely comparable as far as specs go in that price range.

I did start looking at the Ramos W3HD as well. I had been considering the Teclast T760 for quite some time but the high price put me off. The Ramos has a nice hi-def 7" screen though and build quality looks nice. Price is significantly lower than the T760 but would still be slightly higher than the Kindle Fire at retail (like $220ish).

Cheers,

Roman

http://topnotchtablets.com
 
#16 ·
The screen quality of the Novo 7 is reportedly (don't know where I read it though) not so good, while the WoPad i7 screen is supposed to be very nice.

There is another cheap 7" with the A10 chipset, the Onda VX610W (new one with capacitive).

Plus there is the upcoming WoPad A10, which basically is an i7 with this A10 chipset. I'll wait and see how much that will cost.
 
#38 · (Edited by Moderator)
Just got my NOVO7... All I have to say is that this is now THE NICEST 7" DEVICE I HAVE EVER OWNED OR USED IN A STORE...

- Initial Impressions - Fricken AWESOME build quality

- THINNESS - Significantly thinner than my i7... like a mm or so...

- THIN BEZEL - So nice that the device is mostly screen. The I7 has a very big/wide bezel around it. This device is significantly smaller and it still has the same size screen.

-BLAZINGLY FAST PROCESSOR - ANd I can speak on this account. Forget every other Cortex A8 processor you have ever used including the Samsung S5PV110/210. This thing is ridiculous... It is easily on par with my Dual Core NEC A9 if not quite a bit faster. I am downloading and installing multiple apps (like 6 at a time) and the device only slows down a little. This is the THE smoothest android experience I HAVE EVER HAD.

-SCREEN - No problems here - the quality looks really good to me compared to the I7 and the RENA3. Text is really crisp, screen is pretty bright and I don't notice any of the distortion others have mentioned

-Haptic Feedback - The RENA3 has "haptic feedback" but I hate it because it feels cheap. This device's haptic feedback feels really really nice. I was very very surprised. AWESOME

- NO GOOGLE APPS / NO MARKET OUT OF THE BOX - Go here to fix that (thanks Tasselhoff)http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/20789-root-mid816r2-tasselhof-root-script-tools/
- His tool worked like a charm!! I was really impressed

- Did I mention ridiculously good build quality?

- Did I also mention VERY FAST BOOT TIME - Like under 30 seconds easily...

- Wireless - Found my router and connected extremely fast (like under 5 seconds)

- No APP crashes yet...

- OH - STORAGE MOUNTING!!! Finally, this is the first device I have used that I have plugged into my computer and it was very very quickly recognized. Furthermore, clicking the usb storage enable button on the device when it was plugged in, DIDN'T CRASH anything! Wow... And it works really quick! Like under 2 seconds to connect and disconnect. No waiting around for 45 seconds while it thinks about it. I plugged a LOADED 8 Gb MicroSD card into and it immediately mounted the thing and it worked. It is little CRAP like this that makes a HUGE difference in day-to-day operations...

- USB CHARGING - IT WORKS!

- Both Cameras WORK and work fairly well!

- SOUND - EXCELLENT - I think it is a single speaker but it sounds really really good. Dare I say even some BASS reproduction. I think they set it ups so that the speaker used the whole back of the device to enhance the sound. I have the sound MAXXED and I am playing Jet Car Stunts (try it and you will see what I mean) which has deep engine rumble and SHRILL menu animation sounds. It is very loud and not distorting, I am going to hookup my google music account and try some different music. Then I will report on this later.
---- YEP - Sounds ROCKS! - I just setup Google Music (I am beta testing their Music Cloud Service... it is cool) Anyhow, the Google Music App runs great! And sound quality is awesome! On par and perhaps better than my Meiying Phantom M11 - MAX VOLUME AND NO DISTORTION - So Awesome... Vocals sounds great on songs - I am also playing a bit of Bonethugs - Not much bass but MAX volume and NO distortion! Pretty awesome and I am very surprised...

- SLEEP - Wow what a surprise here as well! And a pleasant one at that. The thing goes to sleep very quickly, which is fine by me because it WAKES UP very quickly. But here was the BIG surprise... I laid down the tablet to talk about the sound in my game (Jet Car Stunts... the game was still running... The device went to sleep because I wasn't messing with it... I thought great... when I try to wake it up it will lock-up... NOPE... It brought the game RIGhT BACK UP (like 2 seconds) and it didn't crash or freeze or anything... Like I said, it is the little things!

- NOOK - I use the B&N nook app for all of my reading - Once again... very impressed - It downloaded like 6 books in under 30 seconds - For those of you who are familiar with the app I click on the download button under each one very quickly and it just went through each download quite speedily. The only thing that took a little time was the Popular Science Magazine... Like 60 seconds... OH and browsing the magazine is super fast. Better than any other device that I own - pages load really really quickly. I am wondering if part of the performance increase is the fact that the internal drive is "NAND Flash HD Storage" Instead of whatever is normally used... Is this correct? There is still a little lag with "article view" but less than any other device I have used NOOK on. I am really thrilled.

- So far - as far as day to day stuff goes - This tablet is pretty much perfect... I am really thrilled.

- Asphalt 6 and N.O.V.A. Games are giving me the "your device is not compatible" crap... I am going to attempt to modify the build.prop file to see if I can test these games and if 3D performance is any good. I have high hopes based on other performance thus far...

--- Let me just say it again, thus far, this tablet is the "nicest" I have ever USED. That includes playing with all the nice new pretty 7" devices at best buy...

--- The Amazon Kindle doesn't stand a chance against this thing considering the fact that it lacks tons of features... I did a quick feature comparison chart of it vs. another tablet I plan on selling in the near future... Take a look here: http://topnotchtablets.com/node/108

--- All of this is also dependent upon the device battery life. If the battery life sucks then all of the above is a moot point unfortunately (for me at least, battery life is a hill that I die on
...)

--- What is the deal with the 6! yes 6! volume controls??? Really... Physical rocker on top of device... Soft buttons in Android 2.3.. AND THEN capacitive buttons on the front??? Why??? It doesn't hurt anything lol, it is just odd...

--- HDMI out works well and quickly... however I need to get a new cable as my cable is distorting everything I plug it into. I used to think my devices were not working correctly but the fact that EVERY device I plug it into distorts the picture... and if I wiggle the cable the picture changes... I am going to have to break down and buy and expensive hdmi cable to test this... There goes another $30


--- I7 Screen Color reproduction still looks better - I think the i7 produces deeper blacks which helps a lot. However, the screen on my NOVO7 looks "sharper" by a hair. Text is clearer, etc...

--- OKAY - The market did just whig out on me a bit... I was trying to install 2 more apps at the same time while using NOOK... and then I let the device go to sleep while I typed... One of the application installs froze up. I killed the Market Task using Advanced Task Killer, started the market again and both apps installed without issue.

This is the happiest and most pleasantly surprised I have been with a device since I got my Meiying Phantom M11 (quality standards are close on the two devices!). I will report after a couple days on what kind of battery life I am getting and if I am able to get some of the more advanced graphics heavy games to work! At this point it looks like I will be selling this model by the end of the week!

Cheers!

Roman

http://topnotchtablets.com

EDIT: Quadrant Standard gave my device a 1411; NEOCORE gives me 53.9 FPS; Linpack Single Thread gives me 16.014 MFLOPS, 5.24 Seconds, Norm Res: 5.68, and Precision: 2.22044xxxx; Multithread gives me 15.12 MFLOPS; 11.16 seconds; 3.24 Norm Res. and 2.22044xxx precision

EDIT: I installed a bunch of stuff and dropped a big loaded 8 Gb microSD card in the slot... boot time is now taking taking well... it is still going. I also modified my build.prop file and am a bit worried I screwed up the device because the android metal graphic just keeps cycling...
...
 
#18 ·
OK, Just received mine today and just found this forum - I was looking for an a10 section and then found it by Googling the tablet and slateddroid, then saw it's under the a8 section - read the info as to what it really is and does make sense that it should be a8 (advanced). Bought for a friend for when I head back over xmas. I'm relatively a newbie at this sort of stuff, but if there's something people want me to test then let me know. I got it from merimob's too, as the offer was too good to turn down (the person it's for should hopefully be very pleased!)and I know Taselhoff has added it to his vids and a possible update to root and add market (via his mid816r2 root script programme). I'm hoping that it can work that way as it would help me to add the market on.

Let me know what you want me to try while you wait for yours!
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
Let me know what you want me to try while you wait for yours!
I would really like to see Linpack, NeoCore & Quadrant Advanced scores for this tablet. I was able to find the Quadrant Advanced for Wopad A7 (with A10 chip).

From McBub blog - "Wopad A10 5 Points Touch 2160P Decoding Prototype Hands-On Review":
Quadrant: 1537
CPU: 4471, Mem: 1495, I/O: 688, 2D: 232, 3D: 798

The CPU score looks very high. Has to be from co-processors helping out. The 2D & 3D scores are also very strong but PowerVR 540 is still somewhat further ahead. Still need NeoCore to be somewhat sure about 3D score. The I/O is low and disappointing. Maybe low end SD card? Or I/O system not built well? Or Quadrant test inaccurate? This is the only flaw I can see with Wopad A10 when using Quadrant bench.

Compare this to my Wopad i7:
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/21022-tablet-performance-comparison/

Quadrant: 1333
CPU: 2921, Mem: 954, I/O: 1971, 2D: 117, 3D: 700

Edit: make sure to give single & multi-threaded tests for Linpack.
Edit2: seems that Slatedroid automatically changes "McBub dot com" URL to "worse-site-ever.com" so I removed the URL since it will not work and added in the Quadrant #s instead.
 
#20 ·
Kindle Fire aren't the only one. There's also the US$199 Lenovo Lepad (China version of Ideapad) A1. To my knowledge it's the same as the US$229 (increased from US$199) US version, but it doesn't comes with market. You'll need to root it to install market. It's 2GB storage but it comes with GPS which I feel is a plus.

I'd just ordered the Novo 7 adavanced 2 days back and now waiting. Can't really go wrong with the price. Would had gotten the Wopad i7 if I'd known Pandawill is going to dropped their price to US$155.99 a day later >.< Would be interesting to see Wopad A10 pricing
 
#23 ·
Just for better google results, actually the new WoPad with the A10 chipset which uses a Cortex A8 seems to be called WoPad A7.
Ok, thanks for info.

I updated my previous post and included the Quadrant results for the Wopad A7.
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)


I found this youtube video about this. I have been looking at this tablet for the past few days and think it looks promising. Also with MrTasselhof being a member on Slatedroid I thought it was appropriate to at least have some members be able to see his opinion on the tablet. Supposedly he has a way to root the tablet and add market to it. Enjoy!


PS: He has a bunch of links on his youtube page.
 
#25 ·
Merimobiles has the Novo7 Advanced on sale until Oct 20 (China date?). After that date I expect the price to go up by $20 or maybe $30 more. Anyone interested in buying from Merimobiles should try to get it while on sale.
 
#26 ·
#32 · (Edited by Moderator)
OK so you're going to have to forgive me for being a simpleton with these things. I've ran quadrant standard test (my first time) and it came up as 1225 (3rd on the list, Moto Droid X 2.2+ at 1250 and Nexus one 2.2+ at 1300 (roughly) only being ahead of it).

Please let me know how to do Linpack and NeoCore testing / app to use and where to get it from (issues with market - I come to this below).

Some things worth mentioning:

1) I struggled to find a driver to allow device manager to find the item to enable me to use XP. I luckily have a Chinese technician here who found a Chinese programme that allowed it (but I have NO idea what any of it said). This enabled me to run Taselhoff's script which allowed it to be rooted and also allowed vpns / phone apk / mms / other stuff to be turned off (and tuned on again if you wish). However, the Quadrant score was done with these things running - not sure if they make a difference if they're disabled too.

2)This script also added the market (build number 3.1.5), but all I see is 1 item available under 'top free' and when I select editors choice and click on anything (even Angry Birds) it just says 'your device is not compatible with this item'. I've tried searching for pretty much anything and non of it comes up (elixir, mobo player , quick settings).I know Taselhoff mentioned it is a limited market, but I'm not sure if this lack of apps is due to me being in China (and the Market is already technically blocked - you can't buy any apps, only free ones are available when you log in here)or what Taselhoff has mentioned (that it's a limited market apk). I will try to run a VPN programme later this evening to see if it makes a difference and will also install market enabler to see if that helps for more apps to be viewable / downloadable.

3) Skype video cam: The audio works fine but it does not show either the person who I'm talking to or me at all. The box comes up but both are just black screens. If I have Skype on , then the stock camera app force closes and does not run when you try to use it at the same time, as soon as I log out of Skype both front and back camera kick in fine. Again, this may be because Skype is not freely available on the Android market here, so I had to use an APK I downloaded form the net, which may be the issue as opposed to the tablet / cameras).

4) Not sure if this is common or not, but there is no option to sync an account under 'settings'. Once the market was installed I added my account then and it registered fine, but took me by surprise as both the Rena 3 and the T9 had these as options under settings.

Overall the tablet has many plus points. You can charge it via USB, it is responsive, has hardly any bloatware and the battery life seems good so far (although I haven't really managed much gaming / web stuff as I was at work and trying to place in Taselhoffs stuff all day) and when I get online it loads pages quickly and has no lag when scrolling up and down. I'm going to try the video formats this evening to see how it goes, but looking at Tas's video we can clearly see that it does a good job in that area.

Overall if these issues can be sorted then this is an ABSOLUTE STEAL of a tablet at the $140 price paid. I really do apologise for the limited technical stuff, but I'm more than willing to do these things if people have the patience to tell me the app to try (and preferably a link to a d/load for it as the market will most likely not allow it) as I obviously have all evening and all the days till xmas, so please feel free to guide me towards apks to download to allow me to test stuff for you guys while you wait / any more info.
 
#34 ·
Overall if these issues can be sorted then this is an ABSOLUTE STEAL of a tablet at the $140 price paid. I really do apologise for the limited technical stuff, but I'm more than willing to do these things if people have the patience to tell me the app to try (and preferably a link to a d/load for it as the market will most likely not allow it) as I obviously have all evening and all the days till xmas, so please feel free to guide me towards apks to download to allow me to test stuff for you guys while you wait / any more info.
I'm waiting for my Novo7 to be shipped by merimobiles, but from what I gather 1.6T update might solved some of problems. Well that is if you haven't already updated the firmware.
Here's a guide to the 1.6T update
http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/ainol-novo7/ainol-novo7-advanced-firmware-upgrade-guide-131.html

For Skype, only certain phone and tablet models can do video. I recall RK2918 tablets can, but I doubt A10 tablet could at the moment.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.skype.raider

Someone mentioned that 1.5.1 firmware has better battery life than 1.6T. It could be due to 3G dongle support that comes with 1.6T.
 
#33 · (Edited by Moderator)
So I found this link to add the latest market. Do people think that this is possible to also do on the Ainol, or is there something glaringly obvious which means it won't work?

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-news/24211-ics-version-android-market-version-3-2-0-available-download.html

Also, I know on a previous tablet Merimobiles had commented on doing the Witstech Android Market fix - does anyone know if this is still possible on later builds of the Android market to help open it up? Obviously the video is older than the 3.1.5 build version I have installed via Taselhoffs script.

 
#35 · (Edited by Moderator)
For Skype, only certain phone and tablet models can do video. I recall RK2918 tablets can, but I doubt A10 tablet could at the moment.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.skype.raider

Hmm, that's interesting, because Skype works fine on video with my T9 3g, which is also on an A8 platform. Maybe I just got lucky! If it can work on the Ainol it would be great, seeing as it has a front and back cam. I haven't tried to update to the latest build either, as I didn't know it existed - there's no firmware tab on Merimobiles to check. Apparently Taselhoff has the same issues with the Market, so I guess it's not just because I'm in China. Shame, hopefully it can be fixed (maybe by the links I posted above?) and then things will start to get REALLY interesting with this little tablet.
 
#37 ·
I've ran quadrant standard test (my first time) and it came up as 1225 (3rd on the list, Moto Droid X 2.2+ at 1250 and Nexus one 2.2+ at 1300 (roughly) only being ahead of it).
Ok, Quadrant standard gives very little info that's why Advanced is better. From this score I can tell that there are issues but not sure where. My Wopad i7 gets 1333 and Wopad A7 (A10 chip) gets 1537. The Novo7 should score in 1500s too. Advanced is pay program and only available off SlideMe though you can always find the apk off some other site to download also. I like checking Quadrant Advanced scores since that is what many other reviewers seem to use. Using same benchmarks allows fair comparison between tablets.

Running a tablet without market is not fun. Your first goal should be to get Market installed and working on the Novo7. Maybe market needs few minutes to sync up? Maybe you have to clear the cache & data for Market & Google Framework?

Neocore & Linpack are free and available from Google Market. You can also use web browser on your tablet and get them from the website:
market.android.com
but easier to download and install them once you have Market working on the Novo7.

PS, the hardware sounds really good but I would guess firmware bugs have to be worked out still. Missing Market, lower than expected Quadrant score point me to this.
 
#39 ·
Well... happy days... I guess I am going to get to try out the Ainol Novo7 Firmware Upgrade process/tool/ as my build.prop modification has made it so my device won't boot. Unless someone knows a way to access the system files without booting the device? lol

I hope the 1.6t firmware is the same as or better than the firmware my device shipped with because it seems like it was running pretty well... Darn...

I will tell you all how the upgrade process goes


Cheers,

Roman
 
#42 ·
Well... believe it or not I do actually like to enjoy my new devices so I am going to not screw with the build.prop file for a while and see if I can't just play with the darn thing as is. Perhaps someone else can take a crack at it. I think I have restored my device like 3 times now lol...
 
#44 ·
Hi Roman - glad to see you've got yours as I can't do any way NEAR the stuff you do. However, I wanted to know how you got on with the market. I've also got mine added via the Taselhoff script, however, I can't seem to see a lot or a lot of apps say 'device not compatible'. 1 simple example is Angry Birds Rio - could you see if it's downloadable on your market? Also, type in mobo player and see if it comes up? I added a couple of possible Market fix links previously, do you think either of those will work or is there something really obvious which says they wont?
 
#46 · (Edited by Moderator)
I think now that I have the build.prop file changed the market will be much more open. I will search both of those things in a bit. Right now NOVA2 is downloading its 400 Mb! of additional content lol so my device is a bit tied up...

Cheers!

Roman

EDIT: Angry Birds RIO downloaded and installed and MOBO player shows up in my market. I was able to do this WHILE NOVA2 is still downloading its content! I can't try RIO yet but I have a feeling it will work without a hitch.
Will try in a bit!

EDIT: Angry Birds RIO plays flawlessly

EDIT: Might I recommend if you are going to let a game download and it has a LOT of content that you set the screen timeout to 30 minutes! My device kills everything shortly after the screen goes to sleep. I set the screen timeout to 30 minutes though so now no problem...

EDIT: It took 25 Minutes to download 400Mb worth of extra content...
 
#45 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ya' know... performance is great and all... But boy I have started to have a real appreciation for build quality. This is my 4th Android Tablet from China and boy do I like it so much more than the cheaper feeling ones...

It's kinda like when you are young and you just want a street car and you don't care how it looks or feels you just want to go fast. Then you get old, and start having more of an appreciation for the Mercedes and BMW's that have lots of power under the hood but smooth sharp comfortable ride. This tablet is a BMW (aside from the lower res screen which I still feel is quite nice).

woot! I just got my build.prop changed enough to where NOVA2 is at least going to let me try!
I will tell you all if the game actually works!

I am excited! This means I can also try asphalt 6 now as well. That WILL probably run as I was able to get it to run on my i7. I will make the build.prop file available here eventually so others can benefit as well!

Cheers!

Roman
 
#47 ·
I am a little upset as my supplier failed to send me the Remote Control with the device... I am going to ask them about it tonight. Just to confirm though... this device is SUPPOSED to come with a remote correct?

-Roman
 
#50 ·
Yes, I did receive a remote too. Not sure if it's part of the special offer or not. They made out like it's an 'extra' for free, so not sure why you don't have it. Also, as for the market, I cannot even get to download Angry Birds Rio, it says 'Your device does not support this' on top of the App image on the market. It even does this when I use Market enabler and a VPN, making me think it's more an issue with the market itself. I know you ran Tas's script to enable it, did you do anything extra? The only sure fire way to know whether it's China would be to fly out to HK, seems a bit extreme though! Nikos mentioned about clearing cache, which I'll try, if that faisl I may have to try to reflash the market again and see.
 
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