I received an M003 8 inch table today. It is not what I ordered, as I paid for an iRobot APad. It is not worth returning this due to the expense involved, so I am stuck with keeping it and filing a complaint.The question I have is that this unit is an M003 but not labeled Eken. When I go to Eken's website their units are clearly branded on the back of the unit. Are these M003 clones exact copies of Eken's units? I suspect not as the user manual mentions a charging indicator, which my unit doesn't have. Below are pics of the unit I received. Any insight into this would be helpful.
M003 but not labeled Eken - Can I flash it?
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You can definitely flash it, per the instructions located throughout this forum. I always assumed that the APad and M003 were identical units. My M003 doesn't have any Eken branding on it at all. There is a charging indicator built into the M003, but for some reason the manufacturer chose not to expose it so it could be easily seen. But if you plug your unit in for charging then look closely (preferably in a dark room), you'll see a faint red glow on the back of the device, along the edge with the power buttons and rocker switch. That's your charging indicator. :-/
[quote name='ratthing;19419]You can definitely flash it' date=' per the instructions located throughout this forum. I always assumed that the APad and M003 were identical units. My M003 doesn't have any Eken branding on it at all. There is a charging indicator built into the M003, but for some reason the manufacturer chose not to expose it so it could be easily seen. But if you plug your unit in for charging then look closely (preferably in a dark room), you'll see a faint red glow on the back of the device, along the edge with the power buttons and rocker switch. That's your charging indicator. :-/[/QUOTE'] I turned off all the lights and I cannot see any faint red light where you indicated, or anywhere else on the unit. When the device is on the battery indicator shows charging but I have no led anywhere on the device to indicate charging when the unit is turned off.The APad is made by iRobot and Moonse and is a Rockchip processor powered device. I paid extra to specifically order the Rockchip and confirmed it with the seller before he shipped it. Then I get this cheaper device instead. To return it will cost me too much money as the seller won't pay return shipping. He admits his mistake but is unwilling to pay the expenses involved due to his mistake. I also paid customs duties, so I would have to pay that again on a new unit. I would be paying another 50% of the unit's value to return it and get a new one.
It looks identical to the one Deal Extreme sold. If you go to Eken's website their units are clearly labeled Eken on the back. This one does not have that. Here is a photo of the back.[quote name='ratthing;19435]Wow' date=' that sucks. Not sure why you can't see the light, unless indeed your unit is some variant of the M003.[/QUOTE']
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Agree with with Jackbox. a clone M003. The unofficial slatedroid should work just fine. d/l both that ROM and the Official Rom just in case.An official M003 Ecotox should be available soon.I have a clone M003 and have flashed it with the slatedroid Rom available ihere http://rapidshare.com/files/403142661/unofficial-m003-slatedroid-1.3.zip.html
Did the Slatedroid ROM improve performance noticeably. Also, do you know if it added Thai fonts to the system/fonts directory? What will I lose anything I would have wanted to keep? Your answer will help to decide whether to flash it or not.
mogrith;19599 said:
Ok, I went ahead and flashed it with the Slatedroid firmware. Before flashing I used 7-Zip to replace the font files with the Droidsans ones to be able to read Thai on the device. It worked flawlessly. New firmware is faster and my M003 displays Thai characters now.
HelloInstall Hebrew Reading Language + Hebrew Keyboard for Eken M001 M002 M003 (Androide)התקנת השפה העברית+מקלדת לאייפד סיניEKEN M001 / EKEN M002 / EKEN M003לפרטים[email protected]
Hi everyone. Sorry for sounding so stupid, but I'm new to all of this. I have the same m003 clone. When you say you can "flash it" what does that mean? It came with 1.7.4. Will the slatedroid firmware upgrade improve the performance, and if so, in what way? I did download the utube.apk and it's working. I also added the Kindle.apk which is awesome since using it as an ereader was the main reason I bought it. Any improvements or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.
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[quote name='molly1;40410]Hi everyone. Sorry for sounding so stupid' date=' but I'm new to all of this. I have the same m003 clone. When you say you can "flash it" what does that mean? It came with 1.7.4. Will the slatedroid firmware upgrade improve the performance, and if so, in what way? I did download the utube.apk and it's working. I also added the Kindle.apk which is awesome since using it as an ereader was the main reason I bought it. Any improvements or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.[/QUOTE'] No problem welcome.Flashing ROM for newbies.(also 1st draft of wiki guide to do it)Flashing a custom Rom is a process that replaces some the system programs, fonts and default apps all at once. First of all ROM is not really ROM. (Read Only Memory)it's read all the time but under special cases you can write to memory. It is used where ROM was used in the past. Besides RATTBUSCYCWTM is to long and hard to say. SO Flashing a ROM is the process of Writing to the ROM.Normally they are a kind of 'Remix' of what is in the standard ROM. Some things are removed , some are changed and New things added.Different ROMs are different mixes for different tastes. Some Strip out a lot of stuff but what is left is faster. Others take out some stuff and replace other parts with fancier versions and so on.Most of the ROMs here remove Chinese only apps. most replace the normal launcher/Desktop with a different one. Some add/replace the google market app with one that doesn't crash as soon as you open it. (need more to make it fully work)Another thing a lot of ROM is give 'root' access and add root level features. this can be done with out flashing the rom but is complicated and needs special software on your pc and a way to connect it to the slate. Having it done as part of the flash is easier.root is giving you access to protected parts of the system that can really mess up your device. But with root you can do thing s like add memory managers and swap files to make your system faster.All that sounds complicated and a little scary (will it kill my device?). But the whole idea of Flashing a ROM is to hide all the complicated stuff behind a simple process. It's also pretested to work so it's pretty safe.It's kind of like booting off a CD drive on a pc.Download the ROM you want to a PC and extract it from the zip or rar file. all the stuff it needs is in a /script folder. Copy that /script folder with all it's contents to your sdcard.Power off your device. make sure sdcard is in it.Turn it on.When it sees the /script folder and files in it. It will do a special boot. Most start with a countdown so if you don't want to do it you have time to hold down the power button and stop it.after the count down it starts erasing old stuff and adding in new.This takes a while and prints a lot of stuff a developer needs to know,but most of us don't care.It finally tells you to remove the sdcard.When you do it reboots.The first time it comes up can take a long time. leave it alone for a while.Your new system is now running. that was it. Your screen may look very different now a new launcher icons moved around , widgets preinstalled, etcJust like leaving that boot cd in the pc leaving the /script folder on the sdcard is a bad idea. put the sdcard back in and delete the /script folder. You still have a copy on your PC anyway.Comments? (like I said I will polish this up a bit add screen shots and photos and add it to the Wiki)
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Flash ROM - Wikiis now up.let me know if I can improve the Guide.
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