I have never written a review before, so please let me know if I am missing anything or if you have any questions...
Pipo Smart S1
Build quality - The S1 build quality is quite good. Everything "fits", no gaps between parts, no misfitting buttons, etc. The screen came with a screen protector applied but there were enough bubbles in it that I removed it. Without the screen protector it looks really good. There are only three buttons (power, vol up, and vol down). They feel a bit stiff but provide good feedback to know that they were pressed.
Screen - The screen is only 800 x 480 which is on the low end. However, the screen is pretty amazing. I had to double check the specs because the screen looks much better than other similar devices I have used (Ainol Tornado). Apart from the resolution, there is really nothing to complain about. It is bright and has a pretty wide viewing angle. The touch response is excellent.
Ports - The device has a headphone jack, micro USB, micro HDMI, charging port and a micro SD slot. It comes with an adapter from micro USB to standard USB. I connected a few flash drives with no problems. I don't have a supported USB modem to test. The device does not charge via micro USB. Rather it comes with another cable with USB on one end and a small round plug on the other. It does not come with a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable. I had one on hand and connected the tablet to my 23 inch monitor. It was immediately recognized and worked very well. The microSD slot is well placed and it is easy to get cards in and out.
OS - The device ships with Jelly Bean (4.1.1) and includes all of the standard apps one would expect (gmail, Play Store, etc.). I don't know if it is the chipset or Jelly Bean or most likely a combination of both, but it is very responsive. In addition to the new Chrome browser, they have included the "old" browser which still supports Flash. There was minimal "junk" installed and all but one weather app (in Chinese) was able to be removed in the standard way. The device does not come rooted (but it can be rooted (see hackability).
Camera - It is there. Nothing great but adequate.
Speaker - The speaker isn't very strong and is located on the back of the tablet.
Wifi - Performance is good and signal strength is pretty good as well. Much better than the Ainol Tornado.
Battery - It has been hard to get a good feel for this. For the project I am involved with battery life is important. So far, we have found that the OS doesn't accurately report battery charge. However, it charges in a reasonble amount of time and would probably last for four hours of constant use with wifi on and screen brightness at full.
Hackability - I was able to root the tablet using the ZhuoDaShi-2.2.0 tool. Once rooted I was able to install superuser and busybox. I was also able to install CWM 5.5.0 on the device using the instructions for another tablet with the same chipset. Getting the device working with ADB has been a challenge but I have been able to get around the problem. I hope to document all of this soon and will post to the forum.
Summary - I am really impressed with this tablet. The responsiveness is great. The hackability is great. The build quality is very good. I really don't have anything bad to say about it. (Understanding that I knowingly purchased a tablet with a 480 x 800 display). If I could increase the resolution and have it charge via the Micro USB, it would be near perfect (again for an inexpensive tablet). I still prefer larger screens but for the money, the Pipo Smart S1 is worth the dough.
Questions? Comments/Corrections?
Pipo Smart S1
Build quality - The S1 build quality is quite good. Everything "fits", no gaps between parts, no misfitting buttons, etc. The screen came with a screen protector applied but there were enough bubbles in it that I removed it. Without the screen protector it looks really good. There are only three buttons (power, vol up, and vol down). They feel a bit stiff but provide good feedback to know that they were pressed.
Screen - The screen is only 800 x 480 which is on the low end. However, the screen is pretty amazing. I had to double check the specs because the screen looks much better than other similar devices I have used (Ainol Tornado). Apart from the resolution, there is really nothing to complain about. It is bright and has a pretty wide viewing angle. The touch response is excellent.
Ports - The device has a headphone jack, micro USB, micro HDMI, charging port and a micro SD slot. It comes with an adapter from micro USB to standard USB. I connected a few flash drives with no problems. I don't have a supported USB modem to test. The device does not charge via micro USB. Rather it comes with another cable with USB on one end and a small round plug on the other. It does not come with a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable. I had one on hand and connected the tablet to my 23 inch monitor. It was immediately recognized and worked very well. The microSD slot is well placed and it is easy to get cards in and out.
OS - The device ships with Jelly Bean (4.1.1) and includes all of the standard apps one would expect (gmail, Play Store, etc.). I don't know if it is the chipset or Jelly Bean or most likely a combination of both, but it is very responsive. In addition to the new Chrome browser, they have included the "old" browser which still supports Flash. There was minimal "junk" installed and all but one weather app (in Chinese) was able to be removed in the standard way. The device does not come rooted (but it can be rooted (see hackability).
Camera - It is there. Nothing great but adequate.
Speaker - The speaker isn't very strong and is located on the back of the tablet.
Wifi - Performance is good and signal strength is pretty good as well. Much better than the Ainol Tornado.
Battery - It has been hard to get a good feel for this. For the project I am involved with battery life is important. So far, we have found that the OS doesn't accurately report battery charge. However, it charges in a reasonble amount of time and would probably last for four hours of constant use with wifi on and screen brightness at full.
Hackability - I was able to root the tablet using the ZhuoDaShi-2.2.0 tool. Once rooted I was able to install superuser and busybox. I was also able to install CWM 5.5.0 on the device using the instructions for another tablet with the same chipset. Getting the device working with ADB has been a challenge but I have been able to get around the problem. I hope to document all of this soon and will post to the forum.
Summary - I am really impressed with this tablet. The responsiveness is great. The hackability is great. The build quality is very good. I really don't have anything bad to say about it. (Understanding that I knowingly purchased a tablet with a 480 x 800 display). If I could increase the resolution and have it charge via the Micro USB, it would be near perfect (again for an inexpensive tablet). I still prefer larger screens but for the money, the Pipo Smart S1 is worth the dough.
Questions? Comments/Corrections?
