[bumpychef]

I've been trying to figure out what tablet to buy before the years end to use as a laptop replacement for when I don't want to lug the thing around. I mainly want to use it to surf the web, youtube, maybe a few small java games and hook a keyboard up to it (usb/bluetooth) to take notes in class. I've been looking at the newer tablets coming out and they seem like they are putting in every feature under the sun including 3g which i will never use and i'm assuming will bump the cost up to the 400's. I'm trying to figure out why this tablet is not talked about more, since it seems to have many great features to it for a great price. Are there major flaws that I'm missing?Thanks for your help

 

[coriolis]

The overall device is in its early stages. Pretty much the device was sold when development of the OS was barely started, when the original A81-E came out with Android 2.1, it had very little features and alot of bugs, like the increased audio speed, lack of screen brightness/on-off functions, just to name a few. However, with all the recent development, there has been alot of nice things, especially 2.2, as well as many normal features being re-added.Overall, the unit is solid, I can't wait til more development comes by.However, my unit seems to have a faulty mini-usb port, hmmm...

 

[bumpychef]

that sounds great, sounds like once blue tooth is working on the android platform this will be a steal for the price if nothing new and flashy comes in the next month or 2 to compete with it. Wish more tablets would use a removable battery, to be able to double the battery life for an extra 10 dollar battery is pretty impressive.

 

[lawman]

I seriously considered this one, but I think the tech is still too nascent to put that much money into it. I got 2 pdns for the price of one of these. I keep saying, and people keep ignoring, that none of these devices are anything more than big phones running android. I'm waiting for a true tablet. Then I'm heaving money at it.

 

[spzjulien]

because the screen is too small

7" .... we want 10"

 

[cutterjohn]

Me too. I've started seriously skipping to this now given the ZT-180 incident, especially since they already have an Android 2.2 beta(looked snappy in the one video), appears to have a real Cortex-A8 albeit at 600MHz(anyone tried setCPU?), GPS, and best of all an EASILY user replaceable battery! Plus even best of all it's available at a reasonable price!So I'm back to waffling again after I had briefly been down only to the GT78... unfortunately can't afford both ATM, but could work either w/o having to sell my poor Newton... I should write to Witstech and ask them if they'll be releasing the source code... and a way to update any binary only drivers if there are any used...That OMAP A8(3530?) comes with an integrated PowerVR SGX which has programmable shaders... also according to the TI datasheet it supports Jezelle which according to what I was reading was a feature added to ARM to allow direct java bytecode execution in hw, although OTOH I also read some about the Dalvik VM used in Android which is register based v. stack based(normal Java VM) so not sure if it's an actually useful feature or not...

 

[Dalkor]

[quote name='lawman;28663]I seriously considered this one' date=' but I think the tech is still too nascent to put that much money into it. I got 2 pdns for the price of one of these. I keep saying, and people keep ignoring, that none of these devices are anything more than big phones running android. I'm waiting for a true tablet. Then I'm heaving money at it.[/QUOTE'] Could you specify what is a "pdn" and what is a "true tablet"?

 

[lawman]

PDN = pandigital noveltrue tablet = a device with hardware, software, form factor etc designed not based on a phone, but on creating a device for the purpose of tablet computing. The iphone OS comes from the touch, then the iphone, into the ipad. It's a phone os on what pretends to be a tablet. Even the button is in the same place as the iphone. Android is a phone os put on a tablet. The ipad and all android devices out right now are big cell phones, mostly without cell. When we get to android - whatever, 3.x - and it's designed specifically for 7 to 10 inch pads with the intended purpose of connecting peripherals and doing office work, etc. I will pay a fat pile of loot. Maybe.

 

[dsf767]

I too have come to looking at this tablet again with the 2.2 release and a TRUE cortex A8. It also has a nice battery (can anyone speak to battery life?)Also has anyone tried RotateD for an rotate app the APK can be found here on XDA developersxda-developers - View Single Post - [Official] Augen Gentouch78 Rooting and Development [Working Android Market!]

 

[H.P.]

Witstech needs to get some distribution outside of China. The Augen Gentech is being sold hand-over-fist in the US despite being a crappad, the Wits can hardly do worse.I'd imagine the Kmart buyer right now is scouring his suppliers to expand on Kmart tablet selection, given the giant buzz the Gentech is getting. Heck, the PR value of getting on all the major news sites (for free!) was alone with the money. Wits needs to find some English salespeeps and pound the pavement for distribution deals.It would be nice to see it in a Walmart, but it wouldn't be bad to be able to buy it from major online merchants like Amazon or Newegg.Before that, though, Wits needs to stabilize the firmware and make it production-worthy, unless it wants a load of returns on its hands.

 

[xaueious]

This product is at a higher price point than the Ekens and Apads. Specifically, Ekens are selling as low as 500RMB, and Apads as low as 800 RMB. This is retailing at 1300 RMB. The price difference is huge.

 

[cutterjohn]

[quote name='xaueious;29249]This product is at a higher price point than the Ekens and Apads. Specifically' date=' Ekens are selling as low as 500RMB, and Apads as low as 800 RMB. This is retailing at 1300 RMB. The price difference is huge.[/QUOTE']The difference being that this is like worth $200 given that they appear to be ACTIVELY updating(well I hope that they end up with a stable Android OS some day), and all other reports indicate that as claimed on the company website that build quality is fairly important to them.The Ekens aren't even worth that $73, nor the Apad $120... they've already been left mostly in the dustbin by newer devices, so lowballing didn't pay off this time around...I'm REALLY thinking about ordering one of these if Augen doesn't cough up more GTs soonish.[EDIT]The only reason that I really ignored them earlier was because this one only sported a 600MHz Cortex while the ZT-180s were all claiming 1GHz Cortex before they got caught out... well that and their OS update plans seemed a bit sketchy a few weeks ago...I've been looking at their(witstech) chinese forum with machine translation(seems to be working pretty well there MOST of the time until we get some of those funkiness like dragon wing somethings or others... and stuff like that...)(I kind of of did this because I was still thinking about the A81 E and know that Chinese can be pretty nasty if they've been sold a PoS... plus the important(tech) boards seemed to be pretty active..)[/EDIT]

 

[xaueious]

They aren't updating, Google isThe device has the same CPU has the Motorola Droid. So porting changes is not as much work.

 

[droptopjim]

The only reason that I really ignored them earlier was because this one only sported a 600MHz Cortex while the ZT-180s were all claiming 1GHz Cortex before they got caught out... well that and their OS update plans seemed a bit sketchy a few weeks ago...I've been looking at their(witstech) chinese forum with machine translation(seems to be working pretty well there MOST of the time until we get some of those funkiness like dragon wing somethings or others... and stuff like that...)(I kind of of did this because I was still thinking about the A81 E and know that Chinese can be pretty nasty if they've been sold a PoS... plus the important(tech) boards seemed to be pretty active..)[/EDIT]

dont even consider the augen it is a pos. for the 60 or so bucks more i think this is the way to go

 

[cutterjohn]

[quote name='droptopjim;29598]dont even consider the augen it is a pos. for the 60 or so bucks more i think this is the way to go[/QUOTE]depends upon what I can get... sure I'd like this' date=' but the lure of getting it in my greedy little hand RIGHT NOW is hard to ignore...IF I do order one of these, any suggestions on the best shipping options? (I abhor UPS for their lackadaisical shipping policies since they became a publicly traded company... USPS make them look like laggards..)[EDIT']...and UPS always had a crappy rep for mishandling packages... i.e. beating the evr-loving-sh!t out of them on general principles apparently...[/EDIT][EDIT2]And which of JTtech(?), merrimobiles, and the aliexpress vendors are the most reliable, helpful, and supportive? (I get queasy ordering stuff from overseas when I know if something goes wrong I may end up paying as much in shipping as the hw cost...)[/EDIT2][EDIT3]...and now that I think of it, I thought that I had read earlier this morning that the wirelession had the buttons on the front, but not the witstech, but every video I watched today about the witstech had the buttons on the front... although I noticed every single video mentioned how solid the build quality was which was GREATLY reassuring...[/EDIT3]

 

[Dalkor]

[quote name='xaueious;29269]They aren't updating' date=' Google isThe device has the same CPU has the Motorola Droid. So porting changes is not as much work.[/QUOTE'] As far as I know, A81 has OMAP3530, not 3430. That's why Witstech use Beagleboard/EVM builds.

 

[dataslut]

And which of JTtech(?), merrimobiles, and the aliexpress vendors are the most reliable, helpful, and supportive? (I get queasy ordering stuff from overseas when I know if something goes wrong I may end up paying as much in shipping as the hw cost...)[/EDIT2]

I ordered mine at JT yesterday, got a order confirmation right away. Later I found an e-mail in my inbox regarding the question I asked regarding the comment I placed with my order. Also had quick responses on other questions I asked through email today. I'm pretty happy with the service as of now.Is it really a OMAP3530? Why is it only running @ 600MHz then? Found this on Wikipedia: 720 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX530 GPU + 520 MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)

 

[cutterjohn]

should be the OMAP3530... wikipedia page might be wrong or for a newer revision of the 3530... you can find the TI datasheets here... I'm glancing over them again as I could've sworn the other day I read that it listed the 3530 as 600MHz...OMAP? Application Processor - OMAP35x Processor - OMAP3530 - TI.comYep, they DO sell a 720MHz part, but the footnote says:"OPP6 frequency range is only supported on high-speed grade OMAP3530/25 devices."

 

[xaueious]

I guess I was wrong. But still they are getting a ton of help, which is promising for this device.SorryBut the beagleboard itself is $150. This might not be so bad as a learning device.

 

[mingnon]

have run system apk on the w1060, can drag out details (will need to write them out as cant work out how to get screen dump off it) was interested to see in the CPU section

Frequency range: 125.0 -> 800.0mhZFrequency Stats (time):800.0 MHz 99.86% (6957)550.0 MHZ 0.0%500 MHZ ).14% (10)​

does this sound okay (please dont laugh to much am new and trying to work some stuff out)