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I collected a G Pad earlier on. It's the first time I've bought a tablet having never actually seen one in the silicon.
I had a Nexus 7 2013 which I was really happy with, but its mobo failed and went off for a three week repair. It came back in a worse-looking state than it went so I got a refund on it. While it was being fixed I used my old 10" Xoom, and I realised how much nicer a bigger screen is. And then I saw a review of the G Pad...
So I wasn't too unhappy when the Nexus was refunded, and based on the balance of reviews and comments here I took the plunge. So far - and I've only had it an hour - I really like it. The Nexus has a brilliant screen and I thought the lower-PPI count would show on the G, but it seems not to. It seems to go bright enough, but I've not tested it in sunlight outdoors. It's not quite Nexus-retina-searing levels but seems to be not far off.
The extra inch of screen makes a surprising difference in its actual size. It's a nice plus.
No sign yet of a blue line either. The speakers are louder than I'd expected having read things on here.
A couple of things that I need to test out though: battery life and SD card compatibility. As long as I get Nexus-ish battery life I'll be happy, but I need to see if apps like Google Music can store to the SD card (well I know it can, but can it without being rooted?) And BBC iPlayer too, some of those videos come in at one gig+ so I hope they can get off on to the card too. Otherwise 16GB is going to disappear pretty quickly, and that will make the tablet useless for that purpose.
I might try a custom ROM but CM 10.2 on my S3 isn't as finished as they'd have you think: for instance, the phone has for some reason stopped ringing aloud in the past few days. Maybe CM 11 is better, I don't know. But the stock ROM doesn't seem that bad at the moment (but anyone on here likes to tinker, so let's see how long that lasts.)
My bigger concern is community support. I really appreciate what the devs are doing, but for products like the G Pad which don't seem to have sold by the million, long-term support is surely not going to be as promising as it is for the Nexus or Samsung devices.
And actually, I'll end by asking what the hell LG are playing at. So far, this looks like a great tablet but there are NONE to be found in electrical stores here in the UK. That's why I had to buy it sight unseen. If they can't get it into stores, how are they going to shift any in reasonable numbers? Especially when this looks like it should deserve to. Equally, they seem to have failed to hit their stride in terms of getting it into the hands of reviewers.
Anyway, I'm off to have a play. From what I've seen, hopefully I can persuade myself to keep it!
Welcome to the club. I love mine too. There are ways to move files and apps to your SD card, but if your like me, my Google Music takes up a ton of space and just moving it to the SD card clears up a lot of space on the internal storage. Google Music has a setting to pick your storage location so just choose your SD card. From my understanding, this may be limited to KitKat only though. If you'reconsidering flashing a ROM, I highly suggest Mahdi. You'll lose your LG apps because it's based on AOSP, but you'll pick up a ton of customization in a buttery smooth ROM.
Thanks clemson77on.
I do like it but I am probably going to return it. It turns out that BBC iPlayer doesn't support downloads to the G Pad, and I doubt it ever will - they only spend time certifying devices that hit the mainstream. I hate to say it but I don't think the G Pad ever will.
I put Mahdi's ROM on and it is far superior to stock. I certainly mean no disrespect to him or any other devs - who are capable of doing far more than me - but I think the Nexus 7 will have a longer support life from the community. I would be very happy to be proved wrong on this in months to come.
Silly little things play on my mind with this tablet, such as the non-standard soft buttons in the stock ROM. Yes you have a selection, but where's the choice for the Android standard? Device manufacturers drive me crazy sometimes. I would actually like to remain unrooted because there are various apps I use that require that; at least with the N7 I will get no bloat and can keep it unrooted.
I really like the knock-on feature, I don't know why some reviews said it was a gimmick.
But ultimately, 16GB doesn't seem to cut it. I have moved what I can to SD but there's only about 2GB free.
Having said all that... on the other hand, the screen size is a significant plus, and having haptic feedback is really nice in a tablet.
I know that's a random selection of thoughts. I am going to have to make my mind up!
astromark said:
Thanks clemson77on.
I do like it but I am probably going to return it. It turns out that BBC iPlayer doesn't support downloads to the G Pad, and I doubt it ever will - they only spend time certifying devices that hit the mainstream. I hate to say it but I don't think the G Pad ever will.
I put Mahdi's ROM on and it is far superior to stock. I certainly mean no disrespect to him or any other devs - who are capable of doing far more than me - but I think the Nexus 7 will have a longer support life from the community. I would be very happy to be proved wrong on this in months to come.
Silly little things play on my mind with this tablet, such as the non-standard soft buttons in the stock ROM. Yes you have a selection, but where's the choice for the Android standard? Device manufacturers drive me crazy sometimes. I would actually like to remain unrooted because there are various apps I use that require that; at least with the N7 I will get no bloat and can keep it unrooted.
I really like the knock-on feature, I don't know why some reviews said it was a gimmick.
But ultimately, 16GB doesn't seem to cut it. I have moved what I can to SD but there's only about 2GB free.
Having said all that... on the other hand, the screen size is a significant plus, and having haptic feedback is really nice in a tablet.
I know that's a random selection of thoughts. I am going to have to make my mind up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the development support will be quite good for this device, maybe not on par with the Nexus 7, but very good especially with there being a Google Developer Edition model now.
I know nothing about BBC iPlayer, but it looks like it won't download to the device because of being out of the UK. I did notice that there's an app in the play store called Unblock BBC iPlayer that may help you out - I have no idea.
If you need to be rooted for some of your apps to work, there are apps that can hide your root such as Root Cloak.
Also, you can even move your apps to your SD card if you want to. Link2SD works great for that.
As for soft buttons, I changed mine to look like those on my HTC One and made the longpresses the same so it would be more uniform.
Hope that helps.
clemson77on said:
I believe the development support will be quite good for this device, maybe not on par with the Nexus 7, but very good especially with there being a Google Developer Edition model now.
I know nothing about BBC iPlayer, but it looks like it won't download to the device because of being out of the UK. I did notice that there's an app in the play store called Unblock BBC iPlayer that may help you out - I have no idea.
If you need to be rooted for some of your apps to work, there are apps that can hide your root such as Root Cloak.
Also, you can even move your apps to your SD card if you want to. Link2SD works great for that.
As for soft buttons, I changed mine to look like those on my HTC One and made the longpresses the same so it would be more uniform.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the reply. I have in fact decided to keep it. The larger screen won out in the end, and the other positives outweighed the negatives. It only cost £230, which is £10 cheaper than the N7 was, but yes that had twice the storage (but no SD slot). The build and overall shape of this tablet is really nice, possibly the best out there for Android.
The battery life seems a bit so so, but I'm getting 5.5 to 6 hours of screen time. I can live with that - I'm never far from power!
More to the point, I keep these things for a year or so before getting a new one and I can happily live with this for a year (til maybe G Pad 2...)
To return to my points, with iPlayer it's not a location thing. It's whether the BBC dev team can get round to supporting this. Understandably they will prioritise better-selling devices - they'll spend their time where the demand is. I would therefore say that anyone in the UK who has one, install iPlayer and use it. Get this tablet onto their stats. They won't even consider it if they don't see it being used.
Root Cloak, good idea. I've tried OTA Rootkeeper which has certainly unrooted it, I just can't use it to root it again!
Haven't tried Link2SD but will give that a blast later.
My thing with the soft buttons is a more general Android annoyance. Different ways for different manufacturers. And even then they just can't stop themselves. Some of the LG mods were quite good - but they kept on adding more and more. They're not alone but feature creep tends not to lead to a better overall experience.
astromark said:
To return to my points, with iPlayer it's not a location thing. It's whether the BBC dev team can get round to supporting this. Understandably they will prioritise better-selling devices - they'll spend their time where the demand is. I would therefore say that anyone in the UK who has one, install iPlayer and use it. Get this tablet onto their stats. They won't even consider it if they don't see it being used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My G Pad is running the stock LG ROM, is rooted and with the aid of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amphoras.hidemyroot&hl=en_GB I am able to install and watch material using iPlayer and the BBC Media Player software.
tdodd said:
My G Pad is running the stock LG ROM, is rooted and with the aid of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amphoras.hidemyroot&hl=en_GB I am able to install and watch material using iPlayer and the BBC Media Player software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does iPlayer check for root? What is disabled on iPlayer if it does detect that you have root?
tdodd said:
My G Pad is running the stock LG ROM, is rooted and with the aid of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amphoras.hidemyroot&hl=en_GB I am able to install and watch material using iPlayer and the BBC Media Player software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not have been clear enough. I can also watch iplayer. I cannot download for offline viewing.
astromark said:
I collected a G Pad earlier on. It's the first time I've bought a tablet having never actually seen one in the silicon.
I had a Nexus 7 2013 which I was really happy with, but its mobo failed and went off for a three week repair. It came back in a worse-looking state than it went so I got a refund on it. While it was being fixed I used my old 10" Xoom, and I realised how much nicer a bigger screen is. And then I saw a review of the G Pad...
So I wasn't too unhappy when the Nexus was refunded, and based on the balance of reviews and comments here I took the plunge. So far - and I've only had it an hour - I really like it. The Nexus has a brilliant screen and I thought the lower-PPI count would show on the G, but it seems not to. It seems to go bright enough, but I've not tested it in sunlight outdoors. It's not quite Nexus-retina-searing levels but seems to be not far off.
The extra inch of screen makes a surprising difference in its actual size. It's a nice plus.
No sign yet of a blue line either. The speakers are louder than I'd expected having read things on here.
A couple of things that I need to test out though: battery life and SD card compatibility. As long as I get Nexus-ish battery life I'll be happy, but I need to see if apps like Google Music can store to the SD card (well I know it can, but can it without being rooted?) And BBC iPlayer too, some of those videos come in at one gig+ so I hope they can get off on to the card too. Otherwise 16GB is going to disappear pretty quickly, and that will make the tablet useless for that purpose.
I might try a custom ROM but CM 10.2 on my S3 isn't as finished as they'd have you think: for instance, the phone has for some reason stopped ringing aloud in the past few days. Maybe CM 11 is better, I don't know. But the stock ROM doesn't seem that bad at the moment (but anyone on here likes to tinker, so let's see how long that lasts.)
My bigger concern is community support. I really appreciate what the devs are doing, but for products like the G Pad which don't seem to have sold by the million, long-term support is surely not going to be as promising as it is for the Nexus or Samsung devices.
And actually, I'll end by asking what the hell LG are playing at. So far, this looks like a great tablet but there are NONE to be found in electrical stores here in the UK. That's why I had to buy it sight unseen. If they can't get it into stores, how are they going to shift any in reasonable numbers? Especially when this looks like it should deserve to. Equally, they seem to have failed to hit their stride in terms of getting it into the hands of reviewers.
Anyway, I'm off to have a play. From what I've seen, hopefully I can persuade myself to keep it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a Nexus 7 (2013) for a few months before I decided to buy a G Pad. I very much agree with you the extra inch makes a big difference. At first if you install a custom rom like CM11 and put it side by side with the G Pad at maximum brightness next to the nexus 7 at max brightness there is definetly a difference in the max brightness with the G Pad falling down on that factor.
Also on the note of it not being found in electrical stores in your country, it is hard to find this device anywhere outside of JB Hifi in Australia unless you buy it online - which I did because even though it can be found at JB Hifi here, it is only available in white and I wanted black.
With the lack of developer community, it was hard coming from the Nexus 7 community which is insanely large however this device seems to be pretty good as it is after you flash a AOSP rom. It does lack a large amount of custom kernel's which the Nexus 7 had the upper hand on - especially with devs like Franco who made the battery life increase by a lot.
astromark said:
I may not have been clear enough. I can also watch iplayer. I cannot download for offline viewing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Maybe I misunderstood. Now I get it. Yes, the G Pad is not on the download compatibility list. Quite why the Beeb needs such a thing is beyond me.
tdodd said:
OK. Maybe I misunderstood. Now I get it. Yes, the G Pad is not on the download compatibility list. Quite why the Beeb needs such a thing is beyond me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a shame isn't it. Presumably it has to do with compatibility testing, user experience checking or more likely rights agreements. Rights rule the roost.
It is clearly technically capable of doing it, it's the iplayer bods having to put the work in to confirm that. And as I say. they'll prioritise by usage. Low usage = low priority = low chance of getting downloads approved.
astromark said:
It's a shame isn't it. Presumably it has to do with compatibility testing, user experience checking or more likely rights agreements. Rights rule the roost.
It is clearly technically capable of doing it, it's the iplayer bods having to put the work in to confirm that. And as I say. they'll prioritise by usage. Low usage = low priority = low chance of getting downloads approved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure that DRM is the issue. Probably, the Beeb thinks if you have root, you might find some way to get around their DRM and distribute the downloaded programs. Not a big deal for me, because I generally stream rather than download.
astromark said:
It's a shame isn't it. Presumably it has to do with compatibility testing, user experience checking or more likely rights agreements. Rights rule the roost.
It is clearly technically capable of doing it, it's the iplayer bods having to put the work in to confirm that. And as I say. they'll prioritise by usage. Low usage = low priority = low chance of getting downloads approved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about that old prop editing? Finding a phone or tablet device that has approval from BBC and then just jot that in it's model numbers into the build.prop on the V500? Perhaps the BBC player will then check up against that and allow the downloads? Then just unroot again after? :d I always say this, but it's worth a try, isn't it? Unless it's been done before of course.
woody1 said:
I'm pretty sure that DRM is the issue. Probably, the Beeb thinks if you have root, you might find some way to get around their DRM and distribute the downloaded programs. Not a big deal for me, because I generally stream rather than download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always found iPlayer works regardless of root state. Just tried it on my rooted S3 and it's fine, and it works on my Xoom which was rooted on day 1! I find it handy to have downloads to watch in the gym. Passes the time...
CuraeL said:
How about that old prop editing?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea - haven't thought about it before now. Never tried anything quite that involved. Flashing ROMs and then unbricking is as far as I've gone! I might look into this tomorrow. I assume it's not too tricky. Is it something in the prop that specifies the device?
astromark said:
Good idea - haven't thought about it before now. Never tried anything quite that involved. Flashing ROMs and then unbricking is as far as I've gone! I might look into this tomorrow. I assume it's not too tricky. Is it something in the prop that specifies the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't remember the exact entries in the build.prop. But aquire root, download rom tool box and edit the build prop. Go to your iPlayer enabled device and look for all entries with something like "model" and any variable set ro device number and such. Then just insert them into the V500. After root, it's strictly typing required. And finding the right entries of course. I'm in Denmark and I don't believe I qualify for BBC Player, but I dunno otherwise I'd try it myself. Go with Nexus 5 or Galaxy S4 build.prop or something. It must be around here, somewhere..
Would be a nice fix if that's how the app checks. Some apps does this, yes, by the way.
CuraeL said:
Well, I don't remember the exact entries in the build.prop. But aquire root, download rom tool box and edit the build prop. Go to your iPlayer enabled device and look for all entries with something like "model" and any variable set ro device number and such. Then just insert them into the V500.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works - changing
ro.product.model=LG-V500
to:
ro.product.model=Nexus 7
brings it on. Excellent idea, thanks.
Now I need to read up about how to treat a directory on the external SD card like one on the internal-SD as iplayer has no support for external storage.
astromark said:
It works - changing
ro.product.model=LG-V500
to:
ro.product.model=Nexus 7
brings it on. Excellent idea, thanks.
Now I need to read up about how to treat a directory on the external SD card like one on the internal-SD as iplayer has no support for external storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good news.
I believe theres apps for fixing external saving instead. There's some threads on it given the trouble with SD cards compatability and stuff. Go read up on those. App2SD and such I think, link2SD or something. Kinda like linking a harddrive path over to another harddrive, still keeping the app believing that it saves to in this case the internal storage, when it's really not. I'm not too sure, cause I've had no need or issues with this myself. But good luck and awesome that we fixed one of your troubles.
astromark said:
It works - changing
ro.product.model=LG-V500
to:
ro.product.model=Nexus 7
brings it on. Excellent idea, thanks.
Now I need to read up about how to treat a directory on the external SD card like one on the internal-SD as iplayer has no support for external storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the free FolderMount app, available in the Play Store.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the latest models of Android AIO's?
Personally I'm falling in love with the ideer of having a huge android on the angled table in front of me.
Many of them also doubles as an external touch screen for a pc with easy switching between function modes.
The one I look to buy is an acer DA223hql from amazon.de.
It's a bit pricey, and only has one gig of ram, but the size seems good for my reach and I like the 1080p resolution.
No argument that higher resolution is better like the acer TA272HUL's 2K or Lenovo ThinkVision 28's 4K, but those are both out of my price range and to big for for comfortable use.
The DA223hql seems to be the best compromise so far.
In my searches I stumbled upon a maintenance manual on Lenovos website which shows how to disassemble and replace the ram and hard drive on the Lenovo N308, and the components look like regular pc parts which makes me druel of the thought of a cheap Tegra 4 device backed by 4 gigs of ram and 1 - 1.5 TB of built in storage.
But the N308 is a 1600x900 TN panel with IR dual touch, and rumor has it that third party file explorers can't access the hard drive.
So I'm not sure i could live with those limitations.
I've not yet been able to find any reviews on the DA223hql and it seems to only be on sale in Germany so far, but several times my fingers have clicked the "add to cart" button.
I've just not been able to click "proceed to checkout" yet.
Please, someone give me some insight into these AIO's.
I trust android to be right for me in this category.
I trust that 18-22 inches is a good size if placed correctly.
I don't have much trouble living with android 4.1 or 4.2
I can manage to live with one gig of ram, though more would definitely be nicer.
lindarne said:
Does anyone have any thoughts on the latest models of Android AIO's?
Personally I'm falling in love with the ideer of having a huge android on the angled table in front of me.
Many of them also doubles as an external touch screen for a pc with easy switching between function modes.
The one I look to buy is an acer DA223hql from amazon.de.
It's a bit pricey, and only has one gig of ram, but the size seems good for my reach and I like the 1080p resolution.
No argument that higher resolution is better like the acer TA272HUL's 2K or Lenovo ThinkVision 28's 4K, but those are both out of my price range and to big for for comfortable use.
The DA223hql seems to be the best compromise so far.
In my searches I stumbled upon a maintenance manual on Lenovos website which shows how to disassemble and replace the ram and hard drive on the Lenovo N308, and the components look like regular pc parts which makes me druel of the thought of a cheap Tegra 4 device backed by 4 gigs of ram and 1 - 1.5 TB of built in storage.
But the N308 is a 1600x900 TN panel with IR dual touch, and rumor has it that third party file explorers can't access the hard drive.
So I'm not sure i could live with those limitations.
I've not yet been able to find any reviews on the DA223hql and it seems to only be on sale in Germany so far, but several times my fingers have clicked the "add to cart" button.
I've just not been able to click "proceed to checkout" yet.
Please, someone give me some insight into these AIO's.
I trust android to be right for me in this category.
I trust that 18-22 inches is a good size if placed correctly.
I don't have much trouble living with android 4.1 or 4.2
I can manage to live with one gig of ram, though more would definitely be nicer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't have much input, but they are tempting me too. I may be wrong but I think android is currently maxed out at 2gb of ram and cannot handle any more. If you get one lemme know what you think, I am hoping it would be better than a chromebook experience.
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app
Just ordered an acer DA223hql
As far as I know android is based off of a 32 bit Linux system and is able to address up to 4gb ram.
probably 5.0 will be 64 bit which should allow ram in the terabyte range, not that I think anyone would need more than 2-3 gigs for a long time.
My Note 3 has 3 gigs, the LG G3 comes in a model with 2 gigs, and one with 3 gigs.
The Acer I've ordered has only one gig, which in my experience means I'll need to manage how much I'll have open at once.
A bit annoying but what's a guy to do.
With a little luck the ram will be replaceable.
Apart from that, the snapdragon 600 should be plenty fine for running a mostly stock android.
Unless of course the software is poorly optimized.
Not much hardware in the world can save you from poor software.
That's the scary part of being an early adopter.
At least it's not Acer's first attempt at this, so they have a little experience.
lindarne said:
Just ordered an acer DA223hql
As far as I know android is based off of a 32 bit Linux system and is able to address up to 4gb ram.
probably 5.0 will be 64 bit which should allow ram in the terabyte range, not that I think anyone would need more than 2-3 gigs for a long time.
My Note 3 has 3 gigs, the LG G3 comes in a model with 2 gigs, and one with 3 gigs.
The Acer I've ordered has only one gig, which in my experience means I'll need to manage how much I'll have open at once.
A bit annoying but what's a guy to do.
With a little luck the ram will be replaceable.
Apart from that, the snapdragon 600 should be plenty fine for running a mostly stock android.
Unless of course the software is poorly optimized.
Not much hardware in the world can save you from poor software.
That's the scary part of being an early adopter.
At least it's not Acer's first attempt at this, so they have a little experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4 gb would make sense since it is just a 32 bit linux after all. Not sure where, but I read the 2gb thing somewhere previously. I had heard that most of those aios also used standard ddr3 so my guess is that it should not hurt to try. With the extra hdd thing, I'm sure the problem could be solved via software. Most apps on a stock kit kat build cannot write to the ext sdcard, might be the same problem you heard about regarding the added hdd.
Anyway lemme know when it comes in, if you have root and an unlocked bootloader I will most likely order one too.
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app
It'll unfortunately take a few weeks to get here.
I'm Danish but live in Cyprus.
Sadly Amazon.de wouldn't ship it to me down here, so I had to order it to my dad's address in Denmark and then when it arrives there he'll forward it here.
Sucky way but at least I'll get the one I want.
As for the limited access to the hard drive in the Lenovo model, I have no idea.
It runs 4.2 JB so it can't be the kitkat thing.
Did you get it?
I was thinking about doing similar but ended up getting tab pro 12.2.
Got it, yes
And have been playing around with it for a few days.
Here's the quick and dirty of it.
First of all the screen, as nothing about it is as prevalent when dealing with a 22 inch tablet.
It's bright and with excellent viewing angles.
Resolution is a bit on the low side considering I watch it from about a foot and a half away.
The snapdragon 600 happily chugs along on a nearly vanilla built of Android.
There is a tiny bit of lag here and there, but I chug that up more to the single gig of ram.
An interesting little side note is that the screen Wakes up when touched, so no need to fumble the side for the on-off button.
The 16 gigs of built in storage fills up quickly so an SD card is definitely a must.
As the port is a full size SD you have the opportunity for cheap and really fast cards.
I have my eyes on a 128 gig, so I can get my 64 gig micro back in my phone.
Another way to do it is to mount a USB drive, but that option is better as a secondary.
It easily reads both exFat and ntfs, so no problems with my old 750 gig USB drive.
Another side note: a big USB drive will be good for videos.
Remember that I said that I sit close to the screen?
Well the negative side of that is that ANY lack of quality in my movies show up like sitting a few yards from a nuke.
I'll need to upgrade much of my media to 1080 versions with a good bit rate. Wich incidentally means I'll need more storage.
The problems of the developing world, right?
But playing a high quality movie right in my face is awesome though.
The speakers are OK, and more than enough at my distance.
For acting as a music system I have it connected to a Phillips Bluetooth speaker, which works fine.
The biggest problem with audio is watching movies with 5.1 on stereo speakers.
You turn up the audio to hear what they are saying, only to wake up the whole house as soon as any action starts.
Maybe someone can suggest a cheap and compact surround soundbar? I don't have room for a full speaker system.
Or would a small 5.1 amp with just the 3 front speakers connected be enough?
Mostly I just need the center channel so I can hear the dialog.
Unless it gets updated to "L" it's options for audio out is pretty much limited to a mini jack.
That's as much as I have time for now.
Later I hope to get into the issues of multi tasking like floating apps and the likes.
Bonus: towelroot worked flawlessly on this one. Full root privileges, but don't forget to install superuser yourself.
towelroot
Hi
I got mind yesterday too and I agree with your statement.
It is a valid device...but when you say
lindarne said:
Bonus: towelroot worked flawlessly on this one. Full root privileges, but don't forget to install superuser yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to agree too, but for me towelroot does not work.
Can you help? I rooted many devices so far but I can not came up with this one....
Thanks in advance
silvio76
silvio76 said:
Hi
I got mind yesterday too and I agree with your statement.
It is a valid device...but when you say
I would like to agree too, but for me towelroot does not work.
Can you help? I rooted many devices so far but I can not came up with this one....
Thanks in advance
silvio76
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should not be complicated. I hope...
I installed this apk: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2h75gcp8y1r6us/TowelRoot.apk
Ran it once.
It rebooted my system.
I installed supersu, and updated the binary.
And it was done.
Have not posted a link here before, so if there is any problems pm me and I'll mail you the link or file.
I'm not next to my acer right now, so if you need to know it's firmware version I'll have to check it later.
But start with the towelroot I used.
Hope it helps.
Regards, Arne
hi
I will give it a try thanks.
Be advised 128 GB SD card is not supported....
Keep in touch
Silvio76
EDIT it works with towelroot v1, I was using v3.....
Thanks again....
No problem.
Did you try a 128 card?
Often when they write the card size limit is to avoid customers calling them and asking the where to get a "1 terabyte card" that the written specs say would work.
But it is a micro SD-XC port and unless Acer screwed something up or set a deliberate limit, the SD-XC standard reaches all the way to 4 TB, though I doubt that we'd find such any time soon.
Hi
Yes
tried a brand new Kingston 128 gb , no luck ,
formatted with a Windows pc , no luck,
partioned at 64 GB, then formatted and it works...
May be it is my card....but is strange....
Scary news.
Did you try to format it from an Android device?
When I first bought a 64 card for my original Note I had to format it in the phone before it would read it.
But I also saw a guy Frankenstein'ing his Note 2 to run a 256 GB card, and that one is rated for 64 gig max...
Of course to connect a full sized SD to a phone you need a special adapter.
Hi
I tried from the Acer Da223hql at first but formatting was an endless process....it took about 20 minutes before I surrended...and switched to Win8 for the format operation. But then the card was not readable for the Acer....so I went for the partitioning.
I suspect that 64gb is the maximum allowed on this machine...
If you want more details here I am...
Silvio76
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 PM ----------
I also use this device as an external touchscreen monitor for a win8 laptop and it is great...
works without a glitch....
On the Android side I installed Floating apps and Floating Browser, so I take advantage of the large screen...
Try it
And the hits just keep on coming.
Dared to take it apart today (pretty scary), and it turned out that the ram is not replaceable.
Live with the gig you have.
Ah well, it was a good dream though, 4 gigs...
Have mounted a 3tb USB drive though, with no trouble what so ever.
And I connected my laptop to the hdmi for the first time.
It works but has some weird behavior.
The picture shrunken but the touch sensor works correctly, so the further from the center I touch the more offset it registres.
Both my acer and my laptop run at 1080p, and I set it to mirroring.
The laptop days it's sending 1080p at 60 hz and the Acer says the received signal is 1080/60 so I don't see the problem.
The Acers settings screen does have a section marked by a square with arrows going out. But it ain't selectable.
Haven't seen manual resizing since crt and analog monitors anyway.
Any ideas?
Hi
you are very brave trying to open it!
As far as I know these devices (based on Qualcomm Snapdragon) have integrated/soldered RAM, so I never thought to check it by myself.
By the way 1Gb is plenty in my opinion, then it depends what kind of application you have in mind (photo editing and such can be memory killer)
As external touch monitor it worked fine for me. I have a 2in1 Asus Transformer Book Win8 based and I use the extended desktop mode.
The Acer was immediately recognized as a monitor and touch input device. No issue with screen resolution and/or its alignement.
Would you like to try that setup and see if works well? If no may be is your Acer that does not work properly.
I did not touch any setting on the OSD menu.
Furthermore I installed Xposed frameworks+XHalo floating windows manager and now I have a Windows-like multitasking.....check it, it's worth the test. Several windows at the same time (Chrome, terminal emulator, Youtube) and no lag.....unbelivable.
Looking for your comments
silvio76
Thanks on the bravery comment
Just sad it was fruitless.
I feel limits when moving my big files around in the background , and think more ram would have eliminated that.
But I'll live with it.
My laptop is an Asus u38n (the ultrabook with an AMD instead of Intel).
It connects fine to our TV without the weird scaling.
I guess I'll try sending Acer a mail and see if they have some advice.
I've only just started experimenting with the multi window funktions.
Juggling 50 hour work week with being a husband and father sometimes means that things move slower than I'd like.
But even without multi window I am pretty happy with it.
I knew from my wife's old gPad that the snapdragon 600 is no slouch.
Do you know a popup client for hangouts that works the way chatheads for Facebook messenger works?
I don't use Facebook much but love that concept.
Just haven't found a hangouts client that does it that elegant.
Hi
Being an husband and a father myself I fully understand
Concerning labour hours, my yesterday working day ended after 14 hours, so......I'm done! But we are lucky to have a job nowadays.
Back on topic I'm not a Facebook user, neither my wife, therefore the only app I can suggest, which can have similar functionality, is Lilypad Hd.
You can find it on Playstore. Hope it will suit your need!
Cheers
Silvio76
Interesting little tid bit.
I needed to empty out my 64GB micro SD and chose to format it in my note 3 (running stock).
After formatting the acer told me that it was faulty and offered to format it.
I chose yes and like yours it just stood there for half an hour with no result.
So I put it in my laptop and formatted it from there ending up with the same "faulty" message.
So finally I put used my original gNote (running CM11) now there is no problems.
somehow, somewhere, there is a difference in the way different devices do it
lindarne said:
Interesting little tid bit.
I needed to empty out my 64GB micro SD and chose to format it in my note 3 (running stock).
After formatting the acer told me that it was faulty and offered to format it.
I chose yes and like yours it just stood there for half an hour with no result.
So I put it in my laptop and formatted it from there ending up with the same "faulty" message.
So finally I put used my original gNote (running CM11) now there is no problems.
somehow, somewhere, there is a difference in the way different devices do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi in my experience Samsung Android devices have "bad" attitude in respect of vanilla Android.
They probably have some changes in the code which are not limited to the interface (TouchWiz), resulting in incompatibilities.
This is the Android fragmentation people often blame.
However when I formatted the SD card in my laptop, the Acer accepted it without assle.
I would try again formatting the SD with the PC and see if this happen again....sometimes magic happens
silvio79
This might help people eyeing the Z4 Tablet, but are unsure of what positives and negatives there are. Of course, this is highly subjective, but this is my list. It's influenced by my personal competing choices which were the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 and the Google Pixel C. I'm happy I chose the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet.
Pros:
Fast SoC (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)
This is Qualcomm's 2015 flagship SoC and from what I've experienced it's really fast. Android flies. It also runs 64-bit, which it should anyway, but for example Samsung's Tab S2 doesn't. I don't know about the graphical performance as I don't really play games.
'Compatible' SoC (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)
This opens up the way for optimized-for-specific-SoC apps (like RSBrowser, which is Snapdragon-optimized and significantly faster than stock Chrome/Chromium) and CyanogenMod support, that need documentation/drivers. For example, Samsung's (faster) Exynos SoC's are a black box for developers, which makes things like this very hard and has the result of devs abandoning it.
Big internal storage (32GB)
32GB is plenty of storage for apps and a reasonable amount of media. But that can be stored on the microSD.
microSD capability (up to 128GB)
This is a major benefit for a media consumption device like this, which many devices don't have.
Good multitasking
I could have mentioned 3GB RAM, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Multitasking on the Z4 is pretty darn good. It swtiches quickly and is generally very snappy. My Samsung Galaxy S6 with 3GB RAM has pretty bad RAM management in comparison. I'm still trying to find a custom kernel for it that keeps the phone snappy after 2 days.
Huge screen solution, high ppi on a big screen
2560x1600, 299ppi. On a big 10.1 inch screen. This is wonderful.
16:10 aspect ratio screen
Which is good for widescreen content like movies and dSLR photo's. 16:10 also beats 16:9 for me because of the added screen height.
Screen has natural, accurate colors
Very subjective, but compared to several other screens I've found this one to be superior.
Front facing stereo speakers
A rare thing among Android devices. Good design choice.
Lightweight (~390gr), thin
It's pleasantly light to hold.
NFC, notification LED, GPS, vibration motor
These features are often overlooked, but are important to me. I use NFC for LastPass, the (multicolor!) LED with LightFlow to see what exactly is asking my attention when in standby, vibration to still be notified when I want the tablet to be silent and GPS for the occasional navigation need or social app check-in.
Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0
Another nice bonus, which isn't mentioned much. Quick Charge makes a major difference to charging speed. Needs a compatible charger though.
Big battery (6000mAh)
Can't yet say battery life is amazing, because I'm using it a lot and crank the screen brightness up quite high so don't know what to expect. Reviewers seem to agree it's great though.
Bootloader can be unlocked (so the road is open for rooting)
No waiting for an exploit if you're OK with going this route. Just follow Sony's instructions and you'll have root in no time.
Marshmallow announced
Should come January '16 I heard, but these things always get delayed :| At least it's coming.
AOSP commitment by Sony
Sony's Open Device Program is nice and all, but their sources are a bit troublesome and don't seem to produce functional ROMs. Still, Sony's stance on it might bode well for future things.
Water-/dustproof
I don't care much myself, but it's a nice bonus. At least it takes some worries away (dropping liquids on it, no fear for dust particles between the screen and the glass).
Keyboard dock option
Nice for when you want to use a physical keyboard that is fully compatible and is also attachable. I use a 3rd party BT keyboard, but I'm constantly fighting with fixing incompatible button mapping stuff.
Important root-specific things that work
These things are not guaranteed to work or be available on any rooted device, and are pretty major in adding possibilities, so I consider them pros to be working on the Z4T:
Xposed Framework
For most people anyway (Some are having issues). This is a thing to be happy about, because if it didn't, chances are it wouldn't be fixed anytime soon because of the small user/dev base. Xposed opens up many possibilities which really enhance a device. To me it's a selling point.
Native KCAL support
Another Qualcomm exclusive. I believe this is actually fully present on the stock ROM, but not fully controllable (limited to RGB in the Settings menu). KCAL support enables you to tweak various image parameters, like RGB, saturation and contrast with a tool like Color Control or Kernel Adiutor. It's pretty great and you don't see it often.
Cons:
SoC might overheat in extreme circumstances
Haven't had any problems myself, and I stress the tablet pretty hard, but I've read some reports about issues. At least of a guy bringing the tablet to the beach. It's mostly just people saying it's fine, even with heavy usage.
Speakers are lacking in bass
No surprise, but it's still a letdown.
Bad low-light camera performance, no flash
Picture quality in low light is disturbingly bad. Having no flash makes this unusable in those situations. Not a big deal for me personally, I don't take pics with a tablet.
Screen isn't that bright
Compared to several others, the screen isn't that bright and needs to be cranked up pretty much, even indoors. Outdoors, this is a problem. The big screen reflectiveness doesn't help either. Indoors it fine, it just that the needed high brightness level eats battery.
Screen lacks deep blacks
This is compared to (S)AMOLED, specifically. Those screen blacks are amazing and darker colors are also good for battery on those screens. IPS screens just don't have that. Using dark themes won't help battery life on the Z4T, it may even be worse with them.
Stock charger isn't Quick Charge 2.0
Come on, Sony.
No hardware navigation buttons
This is a real PITA for me because this requires Android's soft keys / navigation bar which take up valuable screen space. This is especially problematic in landscape mode on this 16:10 ratio in which you'll want every screen height you can get. Fortunately, this can be overcome by tools like GMD Full Screen Immersive Mode (with full screen keyboard typing restrictions so you'll have to switch back to type :S) combined with All in One Gestures, both of which don't reqquire root. Better yet is a build.prop edit that declares to Android the tablet has hardware buttons, removing the soft keys entirely, while keeping the ability to type anywhere. I navigate using All in One Gestures, because GMD GestureControl sometimes stops working. Which isn't very nice when you don't have navigation keys
No user-land root exploit (yet)
Because of this, you'll need to unlock the bootloader to gain root access. Which will destroy your TA partition, which will in turn remove Sony-proprietary functions. Which I personally don't use and don't see much use for anyway. Also, unlocked bootloader can't be undone without Sony noticing, so as a non-EU citizen you'll possibly have warranty issues.
Small user/dev community
Not many people own a Z4 Tablet (bad availability in the US and it's expensive) and because of this, there's next to no development for it. Luckily, we have @AndroPlus who's made a custom kernel and ported TWRP (which unfortunately has a bug that keeps us from restoring the system partition from a backup). @DHGE worked on root, which made it possible in the end I think. Still, custom ROMs would be nice. Also, if you run into device-specific problems, there's not many others that can help, because you're either the only one or one of very few who have that problem.
It's expensive
The price is very high and a bit hard to justify.
What I miss:
Wireless charging
This is sooo convenient. It also spares the precious MicroUSB port, which is used for charging, data-transfer, USB-OTG and adb/fastboot. If it breaks, you're done.
Removable battery
Batteries do not have eternal life, so eventually it will be completely dead. Which will render the tablet dead as well.
Any thoughts, questions, additions or critique is welcome.
jelbo said:
[*]Small user/dev community
Not many people own a Z4 Tablet (bad availability in the US and it's expensive) and because of this, there's next to no development for it. Luckily, we have @AndroPlus who's made a custom kernel and ported TWRP (which unfortunately had a bug that keeps us from restoring the system partition from a backup). @DHGE worked on root, which made it possible in the end I think. Still, custom ROMs would be nice. Also, if you run into device-specific problems, there's not many others that can help, because you're either the only one or one of very few that have that problem.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello jelbo. Let's discuss about it. First of all, our tablet is not alone with some sort of problem. z3+ and z5 devices are the same story. I don't really understand how can we have aosp sources but not to have its rom. So what the problem, some building problem, or is it true that aosp roms works without working sensors? People give different feedback. Did you try some aosp rom? I just want to cook aosp rom in ubuntu.
alex009988 said:
Hello jelbo. Let's discuss about it. First of all, our tablet is not alone with some sort of problem. z3+ and z5 devices are the same story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they're similar. Which actually makes me think about a positive point as development for those devices can also benefit Z4T owners. For example @[NUT]'s efforts may eventually reach us, or when an Xperia user-land exploit is found, it will likely be shared among different devices.
I don't really understand how can we have aosp sources but not to have its rom. So what the problem, some building problem, or is it true that aosp roms works without working sensors? People give different feedback. Did you try some aosp rom? I just want to cook aosp rom in ubuntu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not too sure about the reasons, but what I've seen is that 1) the Sony sources are/have been a bit buggy/messy 2) not many people compile ROMs from it (I've only seen 2 XDA users and the FXP Team).
I haven't yet dared to flash any AOSP build because I've been too busy on getting stock rooted to my liking and troubleshooting my Xposed issues and I don't want to interrupt that. It seems to be quite easy to flash ROMs though, it's either a TWRP flashable .zip, Flashtool flashable .tft or fastboot flashable .bin files.
I'm also curious about the mixed reports about 'sensor stuff not working' and 'everything works fine' on Sony-sourced AOSP builds, but so far no-one has answered my or your questions about it. Seems we'll have too find out ourselves at some point Best leave that part of questions and discussion in their respective threads to keep things organized.
Nice summary, thanks for the effort; its clear and concise.
jelbo said:
it's either a TWRP flashable .zip,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think free xperia team jeer at us cause twrp has a serious bug and it can't flash any roms for the time being whereas we can see exactly .zips at their site.
Interesting, had they even tested themselves what they uploaded
jelbo said:
Yes, they're similar. Which actually makes me think about a positive point as development for those devices can also benefit Z4T owners. For example @[NUT]'s efforts may eventually reach us, or when an Xperia user-land exploit is found, it will likely be shared among different devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've put XZDualRecovery on 'feature freeze' for 2.8 well over a year ago, because it needs some work to keep it working on the ever changing Android eco-system. As a consequence, I also stopped adding devices to the supported devices list. For XZDR 2.9 things will change and I will start adding devices again, remember that I am just on my own, from time to time I have a helper but they generally drop out after a while and I'm on my own again after that... I have a busy real life and a very busy job, which consumes most of my energy, leaving only little amounts of it for use on the XZDR development unfortunately... and I have big plans with it which I'd rather deploy sooner then later.
As security features increase, so do the difficulties to keep XZDR working properly... For the Z3+/Z4/Z5/M4 Aqua it is dm-verity, which throws a tantrum once the system partition is modified, which in turn causes a reboot (and with that a bootloop). This behavior has hampered the Stock Based custom ROM development and made it generally impossible to root the device...
A backup-ta with a built-in root exploit (similar to the XZDR installer) to allow a backup of the TA partition would kick-start the development for these models. People don't mind unlocking their devices but do mind losing their warranty on a 500-700 euro device... so most of them wait for the possibility to backup their TA partition.
Oh, and to actually participate in this topic:
I have to say the Z4 tablet takes my fancy and tics just about all the boxes of things I like about tablets... I own a Xperia Tablet Z, well, the misses has it now and I can 'occasionally' touch it :silly: and I have been looking for a new tablet to actually use myself
I don't have the funds to purchase a TabZ4, but I would really like to have one with the keyboard dock
[NUT] said:
Oh, and to actually participate in this topic:
I have to say the Z4 tablet takes my fancy and tics just about all the boxes of things I like about tablets... I own a Xperia Tablet Z, well, the misses has it now and I can 'occasionally' touch it :silly: and I have been looking for a new tablet to actually use myself
I don't have the funds to purchase a TabZ4, but I would really like to have one with the keyboard dock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello. Thanks for participating our thread. Tab Z4 is a great device with cool hardware, but it is less developed in comparison with Samsung to my regret. All we want for this moment are a fix of bug for twrp, problem with mounting the system, and some customs roms. And the very big dream is cyanogenmod of course
@jelbo, where in NL do you live? Did you root your TabZ4 yet?
---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------
alex009988 said:
Hello. Thanks for participating our thread. Tab Z4 is a great device with cool hardware, but it is less developed in comparison with Samsung to my regret. All we want for this moment are a fix of bug for twrp, problem with mounting the system, and some customs roms. And the very big dream is cyanogenmod of course
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I am assuming that custom ROM's will come as soon as there is a viable way to flash them
I wonder why @AndroPlus wasn't able to fix the TWRP mount issues yet...
alex009988 said:
Hello. Thanks for participating our thread. Tab Z4 is a great device with cool hardware, but it is less developed in comparison with Samsung to my regret. All we want for this moment are a fix of bug for twrp, problem with mounting the system, and some customs roms. And the very big dream is cyanogenmod of course
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty confident CM will support the 'karin' at some point. Many other Sony phones/tablets are officially supported.
[NUT] said:
@jelbo, where in NL do you live? Did you root your TabZ4 yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll tell you in a PM Yeah, I've unlocked my bootloader and rooted it. I couldn't restrain myself anymore It's so much better now. Just some littles gripes left that'll be fixed sooner or later.
Well, I am assuming that custom ROM's will come as soon as there is a viable way to flash them
I wonder why @AndroPlus wasn't able to fix the TWRP mount issues yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Time restraints, who knows? He did post a v11 version of the kernel some days ago though @dl12345 who greatly helped him getting TWRP to work, may be able to fix it, but he hasn't been around. You can follow some technical details about it in the AndroPlusKernel thread.
It's just /system/ that cannot be restored though. Which is bad, but you can get out of a bad situation pretty quickly with restoring /data/ and using Helium/Titanium Backup, I think. Unless you really fried the ROM and need your /system/ back, then you can only go the flashtool route now
jelbo said:
I'm pretty confident CM will support the 'karin' at some point. Many other Sony phones/tablets are officially supported.
I'll tell you in a PM Yeah, I've unlocked my bootloader and rooted it. I couldn't restrain myself anymore It's so much better now. Just some littles gripes left that'll be fixed sooner or later.
Time restraints, who knows? He did post a v11 version of the kernel some days ago though @dl12345 who greatly helped him getting TWRP to work, may be able to fix it, but he hasn't been around. You can follow some technical details about it in the AndroPlusKernel thread.
It's just /system/ that cannot be restored though. Which is bad, but you can get out of a bad situation pretty quickly with restoring /data/ and using Helium/Titanium Backup, I think. Unless you really fried the ROM and need your /system/ back, then you can only go the flashtool route now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
* [NUT] pokes @AndroPlus to join this conversation.
Due to lack of time on my side to read the entire topic, what exactly fails when restoring system?
@jelbo, do you have his kernel installed (a.k.a. have you unlocked your bootloader)?
[NUT] said:
* [NUT] pokes @AndroPlus to join this conversation.
Due to lack of time on my side to read the entire topic, what exactly fails when restoring system?
@jelbo, do you have his kernel installed (a.k.a. have you unlocked your bootloader)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. Basically anyone here who's rooted their tablet is running AndoPlusKernel and have manually unlocked their bootloader.
jelbo said:
Yes and yes. Basically anyone here who's rooted their tablet is running AndoPlusKernel and have manually unlocked their bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, that un-complicates testing a lot
Gotta say... amazing tablet all together and the first device that i havent seen the mighty snapdragon handwarmer throttle from heat in. I kept roasting it for about 3 hours with simpleplanes and PC minecraft (boardwalk app) and it didnt lose any performance just got a bit hot on the back middle. I find the battery life to be good enough for a day of being on and off watching youtube and occasional gaming but i do keep screen brightness on auto at all times and features such as BT NFC and GPS off. Also a app that i think the tablet should have from factory: OGYoutube, you can have floating resizeable youtube above other apps or play in background or with screen off and download in mp4 or mp3.
I'd picked up a Z4T about 4 months ago to replace two different devices, my aging and finally dead cell phone (I hung on to my old Samsung S3 for way too long), and my laptop, which is a still functional but extraordinarily heavy beast of a 17" macbook - about 6 years old on its own as well. What can I say, they were still working so why buy new?
I have to say I'm very glad I made the purchase. I picked up a SBH52 handset to make phone calls more convenient, and splurged on the sony docking kb for the added ruggedness of using it as a "case" - which it does like a champ. Calls are nice and clear, and I've had pretty much no troubles - aside from some occasional static when using the handset (which I owe to the handset itself being a bit flaky). Even with an unlocked BL, remote play on my PS4 still works, only the Bravia screen mirroring to my TV is kaput. It serves very well as a laptop for those like me that need something lightweight for overnight trips, let with a big enough screen to be able to remote desktop troubleshoot back to the main office.
Would this replace every computer I own? Obviously not. I still own a high end desktop for videos, games, and intense word processing (the sony kb is just a bit small if you were attempting to write a novel for example); and my PS4 for console games; but for light end use and for traveling, it's almost the perfect laptop replacement. And as a combo cellphone laptop? I couldn't ask for better. My overall data usage has also dropped, because I'm using far more wireless on this device (I want to make sure it's connected for the stability if nothing else), but I can always drop out to a cell connection if no wireless is available - or if I don't feel like paying the stupid prices at the hotel the convention is being held at.
Now for the Cons:
I've really only got two, one of which was mentioned here. The damn thing is not cheap. Since I live in the states, the LTE version is not available directly. You need to pick up an international version from amazon or another reputable source. Hence the reason I have a kb with extra non-english symbols on it. Not that I mind, but it confuses some people when they look at it. When I picked mine up, the tablet kb and handset ran about $900 US all together. so not something you want to accidentally brick, or drop, or leave behind in a restaurant....
The second one is convenience. Given that it is a tablet - and a fairly large one, most people aren't going to go the phone replacement route like I did. You can't exactly just slip it into your pants pocket. And since the handset is BT, you can't exactly leave the tablet in the car and just use the handset inside most restaurants either (unless you park really close to the building). I'll often leave mine at home if all I do is run to the store for a dozen eggs or something, just because it's easier not to pack it up. But then half an hour of being unconnected and out of touch doesn't bother me - it might bother some though.
So there you have it, a much less technical review, from yet another satisfied user.
begalund said:
I'd picked up a Z4T about 4 months ago to replace two different devices, my aging and finally dead cell phone (I hung on to my old Samsung S3 for way too long), and my laptop, which is a still functional but extraordinarily heavy beast of a 17" macbook - about 6 years old on its own as well. What can I say, they were still working so why buy new?
I have to say I'm very glad I made the purchase. I picked up a SBH52 handset to make phone calls more convenient, and splurged on the sony docking kb for the added ruggedness of using it as a "case" - which it does like a champ. Calls are nice and clear, and I've had pretty much no troubles - aside from some occasional static when using the handset (which I owe to the handset itself being a bit flaky). Even with an unlocked BL, remote play on my PS4 still works, only the Bravia screen mirroring to my TV is kaput. It serves very well as a laptop for those like me that need something lightweight for overnight trips, let with a big enough screen to be able to remote desktop troubleshoot back to the main office.
Would this replace every computer I own? Obviously not. I still own a high end desktop for videos, games, and intense word processing (the sony kb is just a bit small if you were attempting to write a novel for example); and my PS4 for console games; but for light end use and for traveling, it's almost the perfect laptop replacement. And as a combo cellphone laptop? I couldn't ask for better. My overall data usage has also dropped, because I'm using far more wireless on this device (I want to make sure it's connected for the stability if nothing else), but I can always drop out to a cell connection if no wireless is available - or if I don't feel like paying the stupid prices at the hotel the convention is being held at.
Now for the Cons:
I've really only got two, one of which was mentioned here. The damn thing is not cheap. Since I live in the states, the LTE version is not available directly. You need to pick up an international version from amazon or another reputable source. Hence the reason I have a kb with extra non-english symbols on it. Not that I mind, but it confuses some people when they look at it. When I picked mine up, the tablet kb and handset ran about $900 US all together. so not something you want to accidentally brick, or drop, or leave behind in a restaurant....
The second one is convenience. Given that it is a tablet - and a fairly large one, most people aren't going to go the phone replacement route like I did. You can't exactly just slip it into your pants pocket. And since the handset is BT, you can't exactly leave the tablet in the car and just use the handset inside most restaurants either (unless you park really close to the building). I'll often leave mine at home if all I do is run to the store for a dozen eggs or something, just because it's easier not to pack it up. But then half an hour of being unconnected and out of touch doesn't bother me - it might bother some though.
So there you have it, a much less technical review, from yet another satisfied user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing
So I am coming to this device from the Nvidia Shield Tablet and I love the device thus far for all of the positive reasons mentioned. Also with respect to screen brightness listed as a con my own experience is that it is much better than what I was coming from.
The battery life is truly great with this device and my needs are small when it comes to the development area. I simply need it to be rooted because I prefer to remove all of googles garbage that I don't use and rooting and bootloader unlock was very simple.
All in all I am really liking this device, had it about 10 days now. I have the LTE version but only because I may use it at some point.
Overall very pleased with the device so far.
ThePhoneGeek said:
So I am coming to this device from the Nvidia Shield Tablet and I love the device thus far for all of the positive reasons mentioned. Also with respect to screen brightness listed as a con my own experience is that it is much better than what I was coming from.
The battery life is truly great with this device and my needs are small when it comes to the development area. I simply need it to be rooted because I prefer to remove all of googles garbage that I don't use and rooting and bootloader unlock was very simple.
All in all I am really liking this device, had it about 10 days now. I have the LTE version but only because I may use it at some point.
Overall very pleased with the device so far.
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Click to collapse
I was seriously considering the Shield because of the dev scene and the price. What made you switch?
jelbo said:
I was seriously considering the Shield because of the dev scene and the price. What made you switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device itself just isn't very efficient on battery and I needed something with a slightly larger screen. It does ok but it's really designed more as a gaming device IMO which wasn't what I needed. Also the specs are a bit outdated now.
I noticed in the op that he said being a non eu customer when unlocking bootloader they will notice. Im an eu user, does this mean that they wont notice if I try claim warranty after bootloader unlock? I havent unlocked yet but I was getting slow WiFi and disconnections. I really want root but im not sure about this WiFi issue I set the WiFi to turn off at sleep and it seems better also the issues are caused less im concerned what would you guys do? ive sent it off to Sony once already they said nothing was wrong with wifi. Can someone help me decide? Much appreciated, many thanks.
Hello guys and thanks for your amazing support and development... I have a question.. I am planning to get LG G PAD 7.0 the WiFi edition (v400).. I guess it's the best in its price in my country.. and I heard that if it came with Lollipop I am no longer able to install TWRP and Flash custom ROMs??? because this is a very important thing for me.. and in general terms.. is it good in performance and everything? thanks a lot in advance
Can someone please answer me?
Kindly press thanks if I helped
Buy the V400?
Hi
I have had the LG G Pad 7.0 for a few months now and can say that it works well. As I no longer root and do all this developer stuff I can't say much when it comes to custom ROMs, though this forum seems awfully quite.
In terms of day to day usage it works well, it has mid range specs so don't expect superb multitasking and performance, for daily activities it works great. By this I mean web browsing, viewing mail, Youtube etc... It has a dual window feature which is very nice even though its limited to stock apps like Chrome, Youtube, File Manager etc... The battery life is superb, although I only use it when I need to and I probably charge it around once a week.
I would advise you to look at other tabs as well because this released in 2014 and I don't think it will get marshmallow, if you want something fast and snappy then avoid this otherwise for light day to day use this is fine. One more thing the 8GB storage gets used up pretty quickly.
Feel free to ask if you have any other concerns.
ShinOrochiX said:
Hi
I have had the LG G Pad 7.0 for a few months now and can say that it works well. As I no longer root and do all this developer stuff I can't say much when it comes to custom ROMs, though this forum seems awfully quite.
In terms of day to day usage it works well, it has mid range specs so don't expect superb multitasking and performance, for daily activities it works great. By this I mean web browsing, viewing mail, Youtube etc... It has a dual window feature which is very nice even though its limited to stock apps like Chrome, Youtube, File Manager etc... The battery life is superb, although I only use it when I need to and I probably charge it around once a week.
I would advise you to look at other tabs as well because this released in 2014 and I don't think it will get marshmallow, if you want something fast and snappy then avoid this otherwise for light day to day use this is fine. One more thing the 8GB storage gets used up pretty quickly.
Feel free to ask if you have any other concerns.
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Click to collapse
Thank you so much for replying
I have some questions.. Feel free to answer them whenever you want
1 - Some low price tablets have something called "Ghost touch" which means that sometimes (and in some cases many times) the screen touches by itself and it may become so annoying.. Have you ever faced this issue?
2 - do you prefer having 4.4.2 or 5.0 on this tablet? Have you tried both? And in general how is the software experience?
3 - I am a medical student and my main use if the tablet would be reading PDFs and viewing videos.. I think any tablet can handle that (I actually care about the price more than anything else for now ) .. But my biggest concern is the screen.. how is the screen in general.. Is it bright enough?
4 - you mentioned "no longer root" have you ever tried rooting it and installing a custom ROM?
Again thanks a lot.. It's very nice to finally have someone to talk to about the tablet in this forum
Kindly press thanks if I helped
Dr.TheMaster said:
Thank you so much for replying
I have some questions.. Feel free to answer them whenever you want
1 - Some low price tablets have something called "Ghost touch" which means that sometimes (and in some cases many times) the screen touches by itself and it may become so annoying.. Have you ever faced this issue?
2 - do you prefer having 4.4.2 or 5.0 on this tablet? Have you tried both? And in general how is the software experience?
3 - I am a medical student and my main use if the tablet would be reading PDFs and viewing videos.. I think any tablet can handle that (I actually care about the price more than anything else for now ) .. But my biggest concern is the screen.. how is the screen in general.. Is it bright enough?
4 - you mentioned "no longer root" have you ever tried rooting it and installing a custom ROM?
Again thanks a lot.. It's very nice to finally have someone to talk to about the tablet in this forum
Kindly press thanks if I helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I have never experienced such an issue with this tablet, the screen is responsive-even with a glass screen protector.
2) I (very) briefly tried KitKat and it was more or less the same, just a slightly different themed UI. Lollipop is better, performance wise it felt the same but the material design looks nice. Again I repeat I very briefly used KK.
3) Lol I am a pharmacy student and use the tablet exactly for what you have listed, I view pdf/ebooks on there (incl the large medical physiology & chemistry ones) and also watch videos on YouTube. For the large books there is some lag e.g. when browsing to certain chapters/pages, but it can handle it just about-I use a pdf compressor to compress the pdf books to 'lighten' them. The screen is nice, good viewing angles, fairly bright (I use it on 50%), and colours are fine. This is my first tablet so I have nothing to compare it against.
4) I used to root/install roms, mods, xposed etc... back when I used Sony Xperia devices (the development was super :good, but after that I got an LG phone which had poor development and since then I sort of gave up on it as it took up a lot of time (all that flashing :silly
So if your really into development this tab will probably let you down. Plus side is that it has little features like the display can stay on when your looking at the screen (e.g. when reading), dual window, double tap to wake, clip tray (makes copy and pasting a LOT easier), QuickMemo (useful for note taking-not that I use it, pen and paper all the way :victory and so on...
My advice is that if you can get it cheap then do so otherwise if possible pay a little extra and get a more powerful tab. Down to you in the end...
Thank you very very much.. I now know everything I need about it
Kindly press thanks if I helped
Hi guys! anyone playing Vainglory using this tablet? how's the experience. I'm planning to buy this tablet for gaming purpose specially on Vainglory game. Can this tablet handle HD/Intensive games?
No, I wouldn't recommend this tablet for gaming, especially high end games. It is a mid range tab, I have never tried any intensive games but can say that it just about runs temple run, crossy road etc... Anything more would be laggy. It is a great tab for everyday usage but not for heavy gaming. Also I suggest you go for something newer, as this is likely reached end of life.
Dr.TheMaster said:
Can someone please answer me?
Kindly press thanks if I helped
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Click to collapse
I have the v410, but i know that theres a v400 tool to downgrade the firmware to the original 4.4.2 so that you can boot bump'd images (Such as TWRP Recovery...) I'll give you the links ... h t t p://aiomobilestuff.com/lg-g-pad-7-v400-stock-firmware-flashing/ (delete the spaces in http)
xmidnight_rain said:
I have the v410, but i know that theres a v400 tool to downgrade the firmware to the original 4.4.2 so that you can boot bump'd images (Such as TWRP Recovery...) I'll give you the links ... h t t p://aiomobilestuff.com/lg-g-pad-7-v400-stock-firmware-flashing/ (delete the spaces in http)
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Click to collapse
You're basically on about LG Flash Tool 2014 don't you? It's not for V400 only, it's for most LG Devices.
LG G3
Adam Myczkowski said:
You're basically on about LG Flash Tool 2014 don't you? It's not for V400 only, it's for most LG Devices.
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Click to collapse
Yea... i used it with my g3
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Hank_Rearden said:
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck and welcome to the community!
locuturus said:
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Good luck and welcome to the community!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I am glad I am not the only one who feels that way about the Samsung tablets. I ALMOST bought an S4, then I ALMOST bought an S5E, but just don't like the way they do Android. I checked my tracking and the tablet comes today! So I think what I will do is just upgrade to the most recent official, leave the device lock off for now as I don't plan on going anywhere with the C, and see how it goes. I have dabbled in ROMS in the past for a lot of phones I have had through the years, so I assume this is not too far different as far as the process. The Lineage ROM seems to be a little better for the C from reading some of the known issues, but I will take a look at them after I assess the performance of the C. I really don't want to have the unit hit 70% then completely crap the bed on the performance side....
The Bluetooth range is sad to hear considering i JUST ordered the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. They will be here either Friday or Saturday. If i need to hear something beyond the range of it sitting close to me I'll just use my phone.
I'll report how things are going once I receive it, and thanks again for the detailed response. It has put me at ease!
Cheers
Hank
It came and was exactly as described. Did the update and now it's charging. Updated some apps and it's moving pretty well. We shall see what happens when I get more stuff loaded on there, but I will say it's better than I expected. Such beautiful hardware.....
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought an used Pixel C with its keyboard and a pouch and its screen seems still fine. A Youtube video pointed the issue for its cable in the middle behind the screen panel being pressed so I thought keyboard&pouch may have prevented it.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was on stock 8..1 and now is LineageOS 17 based on Android 10. Stock 8.1 seemed to work fine. I preferred some Android 10's swiping features such as swiping from left or right to go back and swiping up to go to homescreen or other running apps to buttons and black bottom bar previous versions. Netflix HD still works.
On the other hand, unlocking bootloader caused additional 30 seconds to boot with caution message and weird beep noise in boot sequence. As you might know, even when locked in setting, in recovery mode, someone could physically connect your device to another and steal files in the device. Some error messages with security warning pops up in notification so the rom might not fully support Android security features. (I have little knowledge on this.)
When its brightness set close to lowest level, screen seemed to be turned off or brightness seems a bit unstable. (Being able to set close to the mininum is still good.) BTW some of gamepad buttons mapped incorrectly (not sure it was due to LineageOS).
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's display ratio is better than 16:10 from other android tablets for e-books, pdf files, comics. Someone wrote its ratio fits for two pages side by side. Among Android tablets as far as I know, there are not many with 3:2 or 4:3. Nexus 9's screen could be great but it has only 2GB ram and other flaws. Xiaomi MiPad doesn't support Netflix HD. iPads would match the need but it seems you didn't want one. What I looked for was an Android tablet which is not Samsung or Huawei and supports Netflix HD. Of course, newer APs have advantages in power consumption, better game support, weight etc. Galaxy Tab S6 lite supports S-pen which is good for pdf notetaking. I tried to write in pdf files with Xodo PDF app and Bamboo Tip stylus and it wasn't so successful. Still, I like mine.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its PCB is on the left side so it gets hot when running intensive apps or charging. (The bottom of the display turned a bit yellowish. Because of keyboard attached?)
USB PD laptop chargers works but the left side feels hotter compared to charging with 5V 3A chargers.
With its keyboard is good to use on lap or as a stand but it would be pricey to buy a new one.