[SymphonyX7]

This review is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

Most of the reviews by other members on this site tend to be lacking. No offense to them, but they just post a giant wall of text. Would it hurt to post pictures of the actual device and post some benchmarks?

Device reviewed: Onda Vi30W Ultimate
- The Onda Vi30/Vi30W is the latest 8" tablet from Onda as of this writing. The only difference between the Vi30 Ultimate and Vi30W Ultimate are the 16 GB internal memory and 2.0 MP rear camera on the Vi30 while the Vi30W only packs 8 GB and lacks the rear camera.

P.S. All pictures and videos in this review were taken by a Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i. So please bear if some of the pictures are not of the best quality. Click on the image thumbnail to view in full size.

The official specs of the Vi30W are as follows:

Quote

Onda Vi30W Ultimate Edition Specification
Reference Onda Vi30W Ultimate Edition
Operating System Android 4.0.3
CPU Allwinner A10 ARM Cortex A8
CPU Frequency 1.5 GHz
GPU Mail 400
RAM 1GB
RAM Type DDR3
Internal Memory 8GB
Card Reader microSD Card / TF Card 32GB Max.
Screen Size 8.0 inch
Screen Resolution 1024×768
Screen Type capacitive (5 Point Touch)
HD Video Support 2160P，3840×2160
Camera: Front 0.3MP
Video Formats H.263/H.264、VP8(.webm)、MPEG(.dat)/MPEG2(.vob)/MPEG4、WMV1/WMV2/VC-1(.WMV)、RM/RMVB、TS、TP、M2T/M2TS、PMP、MPG
Audio Formats MP3, WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC, OGG, AAC,MP1、MP2、MP3、WMA、OGG、APE、FLAC、WAV、AC3、AAC、AMR、DTS、RA、M4A
Image Formats JPG, BMP, PNG,MPEG(.dat)/MPEG2(.vob)/MPEG4
eBook Formats txt, fb2, pdb, pdf, epub, mobi
3D Support
Adobe Flash Support Yes
FLASH+HTML5 Support
WiFi Standard 802.11 b/g/n wireless protocol
3G External
G-Sensor Yes
Other Applications Office, Browser, Gallery, Clock, Calculator, Calendar, Taskiller, Gmail
Built-in Speakers
Working Time: 5-8 hours
Color White
OTG support
Language Multi Language

I/O Ports
1*TF Slot
1*Headphone Jack
1*USB2.0/OTG
1*HDMI

Dimension 215*158*10mm
Weight 490g
Onda Vi30W Ultimate Edition Package
1 x Onda Vi30W Ultimate Edition
1 x USB Cable
1 x User manual
1 x OTG
1 x Charger

Build quality: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This section is under construction. I will add more pictures and post more observations in a few days or so.

The tablet is made of aluminum but is not of unibody construction. The side trimmings and underside ports are enclosed by black plastic while the facade is covered by beautiful glass. It should be noted that the "gap" between the screen and the glass is almost non-existent. In practice, the screen does not seem recessed and general viewing is more pleasurable. No backlight bleeding or color shifting when viewed at an angle. Contrast does drop at angles since it is not an IPS or AFFS screen (screen the section [Viewing angles] below).

Size comparison:

Below are pictures of the Onda Vi30W Ultimate with the Vi40 Elite to its left, and the Ainol Novo 7 Aurora to its right.

-Vi40 Elite vs Vi30W Ultimate vs Ainol Novo 7 Aurora. Screen size-



-Vi40 Elite vs Vi30W Ultimate vs Ainol Novo 7 Aurora. Thinness-



-Vi40 Elite vs Vi30W Ultimate. Thinness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs Ainol Novo 7 Aurora. Thinness-



Viewing angles:

Below are pictures and a video that shows the viewing angles of the Vi30W Ultimate against a Super AMOLED Samsung Galaxy S i9000. It should be noted that the Vi30W is NOT IPS. However, the use of the glass screen helps aplenty with readability in low light to office lighting conditions. Medium (40%) brightness offers very good viewability in any condition except outdoor daytime or direct sunlight.

-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 100% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 50% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 50% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 50% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 50% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate vs SGS i9000. Both 50% brightness-



-Vi30W Ultimate. 100% brightness. Viewing angle test. Video-


Performance: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This section is under construction. I have not yet performed any performance benchmarks as I have not yet the time. I will update this post once I'm done.

I do have some observations regarding the performance. General UI performance is very snappy using Nova Launcher. Browser performance is a mixed bag. Tested with both Dolphin HD and the stock ICS browser. Scrolling is fast even for media heavy pages like Engadget. Despite the smooth scrolling performance, there is the occasional "image buffering" of sorts. By this, I mean that when you scroll up or down, text and other media blur into a low-res mess and take about 1 to 2 seconds to finish loading. It's terrible for media heavy pages but highly serviceable for everything else. Pinch-to-zoom performance is surprisingly snappy with either the Dolphin HD or stock ICS browser. The old speed king of browsers, Opera Mobile, is dreadfully slow on Cortex A8 + ICS devices. The Vi30W Ultimate is no exception. As for games, the only games I've tested so far are Modern Combat 3 (playable, but FPS dips a lot), Frontline Commando (very smooth).

There is ONE VERY BAD thing with regards to performance. The tablet occasionally stalls during every other action! What the hell Onda?! What the hell?! Every few actions or so (loading a page, switching a tab, loading an app, swiping through the UI), the thing hangs! It stalls anywhere from 5-15 seconds. Afterwards, I get this:

Quote

<Application name> is not responding. Would you like to close it? Wait or OK.

It's ridiculous and affects the usability big time. It would've been very, very usable if it were not for this stability issue. Since this product is relatively new, there are NO other firmwares yet. I will post an update if they've fixed this stability issue in a firmware update.

Update 1: I have discovered that the stock ICS browser is causing the "<Application name> is not responding" problem. I have ensured that the stock browser never opens or runs in the background. Doing that has enabled me to have a lag-free experience with the Vi30W Ultimate. I replaced the stock browser with Opera Mobile 11.5.3 (11.5.4 and higher are slow on ICS + Cortex A8 devices) and everything is spectacular. Given the 1 GB RAM on this tablet (about 600 MB of which is usually free), having even 5 or more tabs on Opera Mobile continues to a deliver a lag-free experience, even with media-heavy pages like Engadget. This definitely comes close to that PC/desktop browsing experience many people are looking for in a tablet.

Battery life: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This section is under construction. I have not yet performed any objective battery benchmarks yet.

My current verdict on battery life is this: abysmal. Again, I forgive them for the meantime due to being a first batch unit without any other firmware. The Onda Vi40 Elite used to have terrible battery life during its launch. With newer firmware, battery life more than doubled and standby time was much, much longer. The Onda Vi40 Elite now lasts over 6 hours of browsing on wifi at 30% screen brightness.

Here are my observations on the battery meter:
Loses about 10 to 15% every 30 minutes of non-intensive use. Medium brightness (50%).
Loses about 5% every 2 hours on sleep mode. Battery suddenly drops anywhere from 5 to 10% within 10 minutes of use from sleep mode.

Update 1: Standby battery life has improved after several days of use and 3 discharge/no-break charging + calibration sessions. Now loses about 5% in about half a day and battery doesn't suddenly drop as steep anymore. However, 5% for about 12 hours of standby is still terrible and even older Allwinner A10 devices like the Ainol Novo 7 Advanced can pull off a loss of just 5% on standby for two whole days.

The above numbers are simply terrible. Alas, it was the same with the Vi40 Elite when it was still new, I have hope that battery life will increase like it did with the Vi40 Elite in the coming week or so and when newer firmware arrives.

I have also tried several CPU governors in addition to the default 'fantasy' governor. I used AnTuTu CPU Master for this. All of them have the same impact on battery life while the 'ondemand' governor's step up time is awfully long. The 'interactive' governor's step up/step down time is very, very fast.

I have already done battery calibration twice. For the calibration, I've drained it until it's almost dead and charged it until it was full while it was turned off. The charger is 5V/2A and the Vi30W Ultimate's battery is 4400 MAh, so charging time when turned off would be around 2 1/2 hours. I charged mine for 3 hours.

Application support: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This section is under construction. I have only installed a small number of apps on my device at the moment.

Market comes preinstalled on the device and automatically upgrades to Google Play when you run it over wifi. Google Play app compatibility isn't the best and you'll find a lot of missing apps like Facebook and YouTube. I have tried the Google Play fix here: http://www.slatedroi...s-missing-apps/, but it does not seem to fix the Google Play issue. Many apps are still missing, though compatibility of the missing apps seem to be fine. Apps like Facebook and YouTube, which I sideloaded via APK install, work flawlessly despite being hidden/missing on Google Play.

Conclusion: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This section is under construction. I have not yet come up with a concrete verdict of this device.

This post has been edited by SymphonyX7: 09 June 2012 - 07:36 AM

[SymphonyX7]

Reserved for future use.

[ipehipeh]

this is the first review I saw for this tab after searching for 2 days!
on the first week of May i'll be having this tab so please finish this review=) thanks!

[gabecnc]

HellO!

thank you very much for your review. It's one of the few about this product.
I would like to buy a cheap tablet. And i found this onda vi30 ultimate to be not too bad.
I mean, i am lookinfo for a size 8" because it's not small and not too big.
I thought this model would be quite "up to date" and with good specs.

It's a 1024x768, and i thought that it's a good resolution on a 8". Is it fine?
is it fast enough? and the capacitive screen smooth enough?
Do you think it worth buying?

What do you think after one more week of use?

Have you fixed the problem of the applications that are closing?
Have you fixed the google play missing app problem?

where have you bought it?

One question... how do you consider the resolution of the screen?

[NuNetizen]

gabecnc, on 04 June 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

HellO!

thank you very much for your review. It's one of the few about this product.
I would like to buy a cheap tablet. And i found this onda vi30 ultimate to be not too bad.
I mean, i am lookinfo for a size 8" because it's not small and not too big.
I thought this model would be quite "up to date" and with good specs.

It's a 1024x768, and i thought that it's a good resolution on a 8". Is it fine?
is it fast enough? and the capacitive screen smooth enough?
Do you think it worth buying?

What do you think after one more week of use?

Have you fixed the problem of the applications that are closing?
Have you fixed the google play missing app problem?

where have you bought it?

One question... how do you consider the resolution of the screen?

I've had this tablet for about 2 weeks. Everything works fine for me so far. But bare in mind, that I use it mostly for reading graphic novels, gmail, facebook, surfing web. And for that purpose it's perfect. I'm not going to watch movies or play games on it.

Google Play market works fine. Facebook wasn't there, but I could download the apk file from 1Mobile, and it installed fine without any errors. I haven't had any other errors. I don't think I'll be messing around to fix any apps missing from Google Play if I can get them elswhere on the web, like 1Mobile. The screen is responsive and it looks good.

The battery is the only downside. I installed a Task Manager to kill anything that I see is running that I'm not using, and I adjust the brightness lower and set the tablet to Airplane mode to conserve battery. It lasts a bit longer now. Will try and get an app to manage battery for me. I charged it Friday night when it was completely rundown, it took four hours, switched it on Saturday morning, and now when I just checked Tuesday, it's on 55%, but I didn't use it much in that time though, just read a few comics. But I can see how it can run down quickly with heavy usage.

I also bought a 16GB microsd card (make: Patriot), which works fine in the tablet. My 8GB Samsung microsd card also works fine it.

I paid $152 + $20 shipping for the Vi30 Ultimate 16GB model and I think it was a good buy.

[gabecnc]

NuNetizen, on 05 June 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

I've had this tablet for about 2 weeks. Everything works fine for me so far. But bare in mind, that I use it mostly for reading graphic novels, gmail, facebook, surfing web. And for that purpose it's perfect. I'm not going to watch movies or play games on it.

Google Play market works fine. Facebook wasn't there, but I could download the apk file from 1Mobile, and it installed fine without any errors. I haven't had any other errors. I don't think I'll be messing around to fix any apps missing from Google Play if I can get them elswhere on the web, like 1Mobile. The screen is responsive and it looks good.

The battery is the only downside. I installed a Task Manager to kill anything that I see is running that I'm not using, and I adjust the brightness lower and set the tablet to Airplane mode to conserve battery. It lasts a bit longer now. Will try and get an app to manage battery for me. I charged it Friday night when it was completely rundown, it took four hours, switched it on Saturday morning, and now when I just checked Tuesday, it's on 55%, but I didn't use it much in that time though, just read a few comics. But I can see how it can run down quickly with heavy usage.

I also bought a 16GB microsd card (make: Patriot), which works fine in the tablet. My 8GB Samsung microsd card also works fine it.

I paid $152 + $20 shipping for the Vi30 Ultimate 16GB model and I think it was a good buy.

thank you so much for your comments.
what can you tell me about the screen? i read on some reviews that it's not the best from the angles. Of course it's not a IPS screen... i know... but do you think it's ok on normal usage?

[NuNetizen]

gabecnc, on 05 June 2012 - 03:15 PM, said:

thank you so much for your comments.
what can you tell me about the screen? i read on some reviews that it's not the best from the angles. Of course it's not a IPS screen... i know... but do you think it's ok on normal usage?

The screen resolution is just fine. I have no problem with it. A colleague of mine have an Ainol Aurora with IPS screen, and he said that the screen resolution on this tablet was good. You will need to hold it at an extreme angle in order not to see anything on it.
Also, the tablet feels really well built. It doesn't feel flimsy.

[SymphonyX7]

gabecnc, on 05 June 2012 - 03:15 PM, said:

thank you so much for your comments.
what can you tell me about the screen? i read on some reviews that it's not the best from the angles. Of course it's not a IPS screen... i know... but do you think it's ok on normal usage?

The screen is very sharp and clear. The only downside are the viewing angles. But in practice, it does not hamper usability at all. It's actually much sharper looking than my iPad 2. I'm out of town for a while. When I'm back, I'll take a picture of the Vi30W Ultimate's screen next to an iPad 2's screen.

I agree with NuNetizen. The battery life is still abysmal even after all the calibration and battery saving methods I've done.

Still, I have hope that it will be fixed with a new firmware from Onda. I'm still waiting for that firmware though.

Oh yeah. Biggest surprise is that this actually feels thinner than an iPad 2! I didn't have my iPad 2 at the time I did a comparo with the Vi40 Elite and Ainol Aurora. And I felt using a Galaxy S i9000 (which has one of the BEST screens around) is a good contrast/comparison to the Vi30W Ultimate's screen.

P.S. The review update will take some time. I haven't been using my Vi30W Ultimate very much as that "<Application name> is not responding." is pissing me the hell off to the point that I DON'T WANT TO USE IT. It's like a hiccup! I cannot, for the life of me, understand how the Ainol Aurora feels flawless in comparison to this. Alas, I really prefer 4:3 over 16:9/16:10. Onda! WHERE'S THE FIRMWARE UPDATE?!

This post has been edited by SymphonyX7: 08 June 2012 - 06:22 AM

[asik1]

Hi, I set my eyes on Vi30 Elite, I see that it doesn't charge via the USB but has a small round plug.
Can you please place a picture of the character voltage? is it 5V or "crazy" non standard one ?

I'm also interested in this 8" tablet for PDF reading and some WEB use.

- It will be my first android .
Tnx,

[SymphonyX7]

At last! I have finally found the culprit that causes the "<Application name> is not responding" error. It's the stock ICS browser that's causing ALL the commotion. I've prevented the stock ICS browser from ever running and having any background processes. All is well now and I never get that ridiculous error. I am now using Opera Mobile 11.5.3 as 11.5.4 and higher is oddly slower on ICS + Cortex A8 devices. Opera Mobile is an absolute blast and given the 1 GB RAM on this Vi30W Ultimate, I can open 5 or more tabs without any problems or lag! I get the desktop browsing �experience on this now. Quite amazing how removing that tiny "hiccup" made the Vi30W Ultimate experience a whole lot better. This has totally changed my outlook on this device. Now, all that needs fixing is the battery life.

Sent from my Onda Vi30W Ultimate

This post has been edited by SymphonyX7: 09 June 2012 - 12:21 AM

[Dennis 05]

I have bought this one but haven't had time to use it properly yet. Very well build indeed but it has a annoying issues wich hopefully will be corrected in the next firmware. One of the worst problems I'm facing is the G-sensor. The device tends to enter in portrait mode all even if I hold it in thee opposite direction. Any idea on how to fix this?

[SymphonyX7]

Dennis 05, on 09 June 2012 - 06:24 AM, said:

I have bought this one but haven't had time to use it properly yet. Very well build indeed but it has a annoying issues wich hopefully will be corrected in the next firmware. One of the worst problems I'm facing is the G-sensor. The device tends to enter in portrait mode all even if I hold it in thee opposite direction. Any idea on how to fix this?

Have you seen that sliding button on the top right portion of the tablet? It's supposed to lock the orientation of the screen (i.e for reading an ebook while lying down on a bed). However, it's currently not working with this firmware and "locking" it will cause the orientation changes to go haywire.

[Dennis 05]

I also notice that the baterry life may not be so bad after all. The baterry indicator is badly calibrated and even a battery widget won't show an accurate value. When the battery was at 17% I put a 2 hours movie and when the second movie began to play the battery widget showed 4% but the thing is that the second movie is almost at the end but the device isn't dead yet! Playing the movie at 50% brightness and also 50% volume. Maybe a movie won't consume so much as a game for example. I fell that I really don't know what is the best way to test battery life. Nevertheless is clear that the baterry indicator isn't well calibrated.

This post has been edited by Dennis 05: 09 June 2012 - 05:11 PM

[SymphonyX7]

Dennis 05, on 09 June 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

I also notice that the baterry life may not be so bad after all. The baterry indicator is badly calibrated and even a battery widget won't show an accurate value. When the battery was at 17% I put a 2 hours movie and when the second movie began to play the battery widget showed 4% but the thing is that the second movie is almost at the end but the device isn't dead yet! Playing the movie at 50% brightness and also 50% volume. Maybe a movie won't consume so much as a game for example. I fell that I really don't know what is the best way to test battery life. Nevertheless is clear that the baterry indicator isn't well calibrated.

It appears you do have a point. I do have more battery life than my battery meter suggests. Even when prompted at 15% to shut off the device, I kept on using it for browsing with Opera Mobile and YouTube and it took about another 3 hours for it to die. Wifi was turned on and brightness was at lowest. This is a bit disconcerting. How does one calibrate this to reflect ACTUAL remaining battery life? Frustrating.

[Dennis 05]

I really don't know and by this time a firmware should have been released already this just shows that Onda is not a very trustful brand like Ainol and Cube for example.

[bong]

I'm using opera 12 on onda vi10 elite, asides from being faster than the native browser, it doesn't have the annoying temporary blurry text when moving or zooming a page that the other browsers have.
I can open up to 10 tabs.

[Doods]

Can I suggest an app called Battery Monitor Widget. My Vi40 has strange battery characteristics, but I now understand it a lot better using this app. The graphs can show %, mA and mV amongst other things, and I find the mV one best indicates the battery state. You'll need to run the battery from fully charged right down to when it turns itself off a few times to get an overall picture.

[Dennis 05]

I wonder if some Onda Vi40 elite firmware would work

[Dennis 05]

Here is the Onda Vi30 Ultimate firmware http://file2.mydrive.../Vi30Q_v1.1.rar

[gabecnc]

SymphonyX7, on 09 June 2012 - 12:15 AM, said:

At last! I have finally found the culprit that causes the "<Application name> is not responding" error. It's the stock ICS browser that's causing ALL the commotion. I've prevented the stock ICS browser from ever running and having any background processes. All is well now and I never get that ridiculous error. I am now using Opera Mobile 11.5.3 as 11.5.4 and higher is oddly slower on ICS + Cortex A8 devices. Opera Mobile is an absolute blast and given the 1 GB RAM on this Vi30W Ultimate, I can open 5 or more tabs without any problems or lag! I get the desktop browsing �experience on this now. Quite amazing how removing that tiny "hiccup" made the Vi30W Ultimate experience a whole lot better. This has totally changed my outlook on this device. Now, all that needs fixing is the battery life.

Sent from my Onda Vi30W Ultimate

Hello! I get this same error. Could you be so kind to explain me in a simple way (i'm not so used to this android OS!) how to disable the "browser" and prevent it from running?
I tried to delete this app, but it's not possibile.
What is the procedure to disable and prevent from running?

Which opera are you running? I tried this opera mobile, but i have a problem, it shows the pages "as if for mobile device"... you know... is there a way to avoid this and show pages normally as you would do from a computer and not the "mobile version" of the websites?

Please help. Thank you!