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Hi,
I have a 10" Android tablet (a Viewsonic Gtab), but am thinking of getting a smaller tablet, for portability. I guess that, functionality-wise, I've been somewhat spoiled by the Gtablet, but the Archos 43 seems to come close, but with a smaller form factor.
So, I've been researching it.
I know that the screen is resistive and only 1 point touch, and that it has 256MB of RAM memory, and is available with either 8GB or 16GB, but had some questions:
- The Archos site says it comes with Froyo, but starting Nov 2010. I'm assuming that the current units are shipping with Froyo, but the Archos wiki site still lists 2.1, so I was wondering: What are the current (new) units shipping with? Is it Android 2.2? Or, are they still shipping with 2.1?
- On the Archosfan site, I've seen some threads about the size of the system part of the nonvolatile memory (/system ?), but it seems like there hasn't been any success in increasing that. Is that still the current case?
- What kind of debug-type, unbricking capability does it have? For example:
o Does it support ADB via the mini-USB port?
o Is there a recovery capability (e.g., power on + vol, to flash recovery)?
- I gather that it's possible to get Android market installed, but wanted to confirm that that's the case?
- Some general questions: How are the display (both viewing and touch responsiveness) and internal speakers, and is the Archos 43 reasonably fast (I know that that last one is a relative question)?
Sorry for all of the questions!
Thanks in advance,
Jim
jimcpl said:
I know that the screen is resistive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try it out before you buy -- you might hate it.
The Archos site says it comes with Froyo, but starting Nov 2010. I'm assuming that the current units are shipping with Froyo, but the Archos wiki site still lists 2.1, so I was wondering: What are the current (new) units shipping with? Is it Android 2.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They ship with 2.1, but will update to a highly-hacked version of 2.2 when you connect them to the Internet. Careful -- the custom 2.2 build uses an older kernel (2.6.29), and it seems that the JIT is disabled.
o Does it support ADB via the mini-USB port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
o Is there a recovery capability (e.g., power on + vol, to flash recovery)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
I gather that it's possible to get Android market installed, but wanted to confirm that that's the case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Some general questions: How are the display (both viewing and touch responsiveness)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For viewing, the display is pretty nice. The touchscreen is pretty horrible -- I find it's unusable with fingers, you need a so-called "stylus" (a match or the cap of a ball-point pen will do fine).
A few other caveats, which might or might not be relevant to you:
there's no GPS, which is a real shame for a device with such a nice, large screen;
the camera is pretty poor, it's really only useful as a webcam;
the MPEG-1/2 and AC3 codecs cost extra, and while it is possible to install a free software player, that won't allow you to play HD content;
there's no IPv6 support in the official kernel.
In short, I'm finding it's quite nice as a media player, but certainly not as a general-purpose Android device.
--jch
jch,
Thanks for the info.
Re. the Froyo and the older kernel: What is the impact of that? Does that mean that some (all? a lot?) of apps from market won't run on the 43?
Re. the screen. I have some older PPC/Windows Mobile PDAs (IPAQ 100, Dell Axim, etc.). How the touch sensitivity on the 43 compares to those?
I don't need IPV6 or GPS...
Thanks again,
Jim
Jim,
Have you considered a phone like the Droid X or the Evo? Screen size is nearly the same, but then you would always have it with you and you would probably be happier with it as a portable device.
BTW...once you go capacitive, resistive screens seem like ass ancient technology that you kinda hate. Its like sleeping in silk pajamas and then changing into polyester ones.
ExploreMN said:
Jim,
Have you considered a phone like the Droid X or the Evo? Screen size is nearly the same, but then you would always have it with you and you would probably be happier with it as a portable device.
BTW...once you go capacitive, resistive screens seem like ass ancient technology that you kinda hate. Its like sleeping in silk pajamas and then changing into polyester ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explore,
I mentioned that I have a G tablet, and that has a capacitive screen. I'm just looking for something smaller, kind of to use as an Android pda, not a phone, and esp. No monthly plan.
I've actually also been thinking of getting an LG Optimus V from Virginmobile, which is also Froyo, but Flash apparently is no-go on that because it uses an ARMV6 cpu.
Jim
jimcpl said:
Hi,I know that the screen is resistive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must try before you buy!!! I didn't know this when I bought my a43 and let me tell you, typing on this device is near impossible. In fact I find the resistive screen so bad I no longer bring my a43 to work with me and I have reverted to my iPod Touch since I can easily and quickly thumb type on it.
The a43 has been relegated to my desk at home strictly as a "learning about Android" device. I have paired it with an Apple BT keyboard and that makes it usable but not portable.
Hmmm - I kind of like my A43 IT. I find the resistive touch screen pretty good. It compares well with my now ancient Palm T|X and is almost as good as the capacitive multi-touch on my A101 IT.
After close to 20 years using a Palm, I am very used to small resistive touch screens. I am most comfortable with a stylus in my hand. I have fairly large hands and fingers, so it amazes me when I'm fingering my A43 and it gets it right most of the time. I actually have a sense that it knows what I'm thinking to get it so right. Again, 20 years of using Palm gestures with a stylus, as well as their tiny on-screen keyboard. I bought SwiftKey for both my A43 and A101. It's very intuitive (if software could be intuitive ). The few minutes I played with an iPad were no better to me.
Bye.
CrunchyDoodle said:
Hmmm - I kind of like my A43 IT. I find the resistive touch screen pretty good. It compares well with my now ancient Palm T|X and is almost as good as the capacitive multi-touch on my A101 IT.
After close to 20 years using a Palm, I am very used to small resistive touch screens. I am most comfortable with a stylus in my hand. I have fairly large hands and fingers, so it amazes me when I'm fingering my A43 and it gets it right most of the time. I actually have a sense that it knows what I'm thinking to get it so right. Again, 20 years of using Palm gestures with a stylus, as well as their tiny on-screen keyboard. I bought SwiftKey for both my A43 and A101. It's very intuitive (if software could be intuitive ). The few minutes I played with an iPad were no better to me.
Bye.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crunchy,
I have a couple of TC1100's, so for this use, I'd not prefer having to use a stylus, I just realized though, that I also have a Fuj U820, which also has a 5" resistive touchscreen. The 43 would be a bit smaller screen, but seems like it'd be comparable, but w Froyo instead of Windows 7, so I'm kind of leaning to trying the 43.
Thanks for all the feedback, everybody!
Jim
jimcpl said:
Explore,
I mentioned that I have a G tablet, and that has a capacitive screen. I'm just looking for something smaller, kind of to use as an Android pda, not a phone, and esp. No monthly plan.
I've actually also been thinking of getting an LG Optimus V from Virginmobile, which is also Froyo, but Flash apparently is no-go on that because it uses an ARMV6 cpu.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I decided to go ahead and order a 16GB a43 from Amazon yesterday. Should be here tomorrow, or so I hope.
I'll let you know how it is... the a32's resistive screen is VERY responsive,probably one of the best that I've used, or at least as good as the old PDAs and MUCH better than either the WPDN or Augen GT78...
Heh. Didn't notice that about the kernel... although a larger disappointment to me was only 256MB of RAM... and the uSD lack of the a32 but I knew about that ahead of time, still odd for something that is more useful as a PMP than a general purpose device. (The 3.2" screen @ 400x240 is just too tiny to really use for web browsing or reading except in a pinch. Also would've preferred a uSD slot over the crap camera(640x480) might be useful for barcode scanning, works for QR codes...)
One additional comment, I've take to using a stylus with the a32 as some programs(and keyboard) are really kind of small and the stylus makes it less painful to select various things... fingernail gets by most of the time, but I've come to prefer a stylus for pro-longed use so I'll try to keep that in mind when I get the a43... probably won't have much meaningful to say until Friday though... unless it's really awful...
[EDIT]
Seriously?! You're running stock fw on the gtab?! Has it gotten good enough to use? (Which is the main reason that I started exploring custom fws in November...)
Which reminds me of another comment about something that I already know for certain from using the Nook Color & a32: do NOT expect a cortex-a8 tablet to be as fast and smooth as a tegra 2 tablet. They just aren't.
Also forgot to mention that it seems that Archos added a swapfile w/the froyo upgrade so a little more internal storage is lost to it. Not sure if it makes any difference as I upgraded the a32 as soon as it had fully charged which took me straight to the latest fw which is what I'm using on it. (Seemed kind of pointless to bother with anything else on it since I'm only using it for music playing and occasional video... played some over uPnP from my linux box the other day(mediatomb) which went well...)
[/EDIT]
[EDIT2]
...so I decided to pull out the a32 and check some things with the Android System Info app, and found this hilarity: (this is stock 2.1.8 fw)
Android ID: dead00beef
and yep,
o.s. version: 2.6.29-omap1
[/EDIT2]
Cutterjohn,
Yep. Still on stock w Gtab... not even w the enhancement pack. Maybe I'm not as discriminating as others, but it's been fine for me, and I use it a LOT.
Besides the screen on the A43, the things I'm hesitating about are the 256Mb /system, whuch seems kind of restrictive, and what the downside if the older kernel is.
Thanks for the comments, and post when you get yours!
Jim
jimcpl said:
Cutterjohn,
Yep. Still on stock w Gtab... not even w the enhancement pack. Maybe I'm not as discriminating as others, but it's been fine for me, and I use it a LOT.
Besides the screen on the A43, the things I'm hesitating about are the 256Mb /system, whuch seems kind of restrictive, and what the downside if the older kernel is.
Thanks for the comments, and post when you get yours!
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do. UPS finally got updated and they say that it's supposed to be delivered by end of day today...
One more comment that I can make wrt a32(hoping a43 will be similar as well) WiFi: the a32 seems to have about as good range as the gtab and NC which is pretty good for such a device. I'm just mentioning this because @ archosfans I'd read threads about poor WiFi. Maybe I just got lucky.
1st a32 was DOA BTW(probably deeply discharged batt), looked like a return unit as it wasn't sealed, a32 was out of it's shipping sleeve(missing) as were the USB & headphones also missing twist ties and packaging. So I exchanged it for a clearly new one. (I'm just mentioning this since I got mine from Sears and I remember someone mentioning that their gtab from Sears appeared to be a return unit... ) Actually I'm kind of surprised that Sears is still in business as most times that I stop by to look for something, e.g. USB card reader, it's nope we don't have any of those... Seems like they have next to no stock of anything, and alot of empty space in the elctronics section of the one that I went to...
[EDIT=c. 2p EDT]
OK it arrived not too long ago, but had to let it sit and warm up close to room temp before I wanted to start charging, which it's doing now. Just did the basic setup so far and started downloading 2.1.08, it came with 2.0.71 loaded on in(A32IT came with original Android 2.1)... will try to get in some usage time this afternoon/night. (Charging should go fairly quickly since I'm using the NC charger w/Archos cable 1A charger... used it last night on the A32IT and it charged it faster than by USB port on notebook and it seems OK...)
First evaluation: touch screen seems OK, but again I haven't done much besides the setup and look in the "about device" in settings...
...and yes this one apparently unlike the A32IT, actually did have a small plastic protector over the camera lens... I could just barely make out the tab to pull it off when held at a certain angle... double checked the A32IT again and it didn't have one... Screen protector is difficult to make out as well as the pull tab was pushed down and flush w/edge of case... best to remove it as it's only for shipping protection...
[/EDIT]
cutterjohn,
So how is it working so far? How bad/good is the touch vs. the Gtab? Also have you installed market, and tried apps from there?
Jim
jimcpl said:
cutterjohn,
So how is it working so far? How bad/good is the touch vs. the Gtab? Also have you installed market, and tried apps from there?
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just going to post my preliminary impressions this morning. (I see that stock gTab got a nice update... now if they'd only go for honeycomb...)
Anyways, back to Archos:
I used the A43IT primarily as an ereader(FBReaderJ) on Wednesday afternoon along with trying the camera(haven't gotten around to xferring the files to nb yet to check), added a bunch of apps from appslib and sideload(mostly DolphinHD & AndFTP for sftp). Otherwise I've got everything still bog OOB 2.1.08 stock fw.
OK, Wed. set it to "powersave" in Power management(under About device) as my battery level by meter seemed to be dropping pretty quickly. I didn't see where this made much of a difference though, presumably it limits the max CPU clock to something less than 800MHz(probably 600MHz) which was fine for me since I was reading which isn't exactly CPU intensive. Also had the brightness set to min in Settings->Display->Brightness, WiFi & bluetooth OFF, and killed most running apps with "System Monitor". (FBReader looked good, or as good as it ever does while I was never able to set it to my liking on the A32IT.)
I had about 70% battery left Thursday morning(probably ran 2.5-3.5h Wed mostly with WiFi, etc. off reading.) Used it in the morning browsing the web for about 2h, same low backlight setting, and was at c. 50% charge -> recharged via USB to computer cable attached to nb, took about 2.5h(!). (Optimal power setting.) I had a single hard freeze in DolphinHD, as in it wasn't responding to screen presses, power button, etc. Long pressed power button to shut it down, and restarted it. (It has been fine since.) I set the font size setting from "normal" to "large" as some non-mobile sites the font still was a little small to me, if there was a bold setting I probably could have gone with normal + bold, but... Browsing is MUCH nicer on the A43IT v. A32IT but NOT as nice as gTab.
Used it again as a reader later that afternoon/evening, but left the power setting at Optimal, and started using Aldiko(render italicized text, etc. while FBReader doesn't plus the font looks better).
Compared Aldiko on A32IT v. A43IT, and I can actually get Aldiko to display decently on the A32IT, but it's still a bit small to hold(to me). I also noticed that the touch screen is MUCH better on the A32IT v. A43IT.
A43IT touchscreen so far to me is a bit better than either the Augen GT48 or Pandigital Novel(white), but obviously not as nice to use with fingers as a capacitive screen device, e.g. gTab. Working best for me by using fingernail or stylus(especially scrolling web pages). In reader apps finger presses are fine. There might be a bit of residue from the shipped screen protector as immediately after removing it, the screen felt rough to the finger/nail in some spots and still does after a few cleanings. (The A32IT initially did as well, but now after more than a week feels smooth.)
Build quality: A43IT just doesn't "feel" (or look) as sturdy to me as the A32IT. There is a small but obvious gap where the two halves of the case meet, especially on the side with the uSD & mini-HDMI port. Volume keys are loose, but they are on the A32IT as well, which doesn't really bother me. The power button is a bit small ovoid shape and IS more difficult to operate than the more exposed rectangular buttons on the A32IT & gTab, but not a big problem IMO.
Screen: hmmm... probably a bit better than the gTab as far as viewing angles go, but not as "bright". It looks a bit washed out to me v. gTab or A32IT. I still haven't played video on it yet(or even games) so I'll have to check on that later. (None are as nice as the IPS screen on the Nook Color.)
uSD slot: PITA period. Exposed finger side is UP as you look at the screen and it's a PITA to pop a card out. They left no finger depression, so unless you've got some nails you're going to need something to push the card in and then hope that it pops out enough to grab...
uUSB: I wish that they'd've got miniUSB as these uUSB ports do NOT feel very robust on the A43IT, A32IT, or Nook Color.
Sunny/bright LCD display: A32IT washes out, but it's been overcast here since I received the A43IT and I haven't been anywhere with it that's been extraordinarily bright... ?
hw Buttons: Just power & vol rocker. Home, Menu, Back, and Search are displayed as part of the screen and I'm guessing that they've modified the OS such that they ALWAYs appear at bottom portrait orientation, or right landscape which would explain the odd resolution of 480x854 v. 480x800. The 54 pixels are probably permanently reserved for those button rather than having touch screen(non-display part)/hw buttons like on the gTab or A32IT. These buttons work OK, just a matter of calibrating which I recommend using a stylus to do. (learned this from the A32 as finger calibrating led to Vol +/- hits sometimes v. home, menu, etc. (A32 has physical vol keys PLUS resitive touch +/- vol keys.)).
Games: as mentioned, dunno yet. I haven't tried any and the ones that I'd like to (emulators) would really work better with a bluetooth controller(e.g. wiimote) which I don't have. (I haven't really played any on the gTab either though...)
Physical Overall Size: Still a bit smaller than I'd like, and I'd've preferred a 4:3 screen for it, as it does look really narrow when held in portrait mode, i.e. when used as a reader. It's quite a bit thicker than the A32, and a little thinner than the gTab. (Probably and inch shorter than a paperback and maybe .75" less wide at a guess...)
Weight: MUCH lighter than the gTab, and noticeably heavier than the A32. Probably about the same weight as 2-3 paperback books.
TV Out: dunno. I haven't gottent around to buying/ordering any HDMI cables yet as I really haven't had a need for them... and/or a desire to hook anything up to the TV until now. (Emulators would probably be more fun played on the TV...) I haven't tried the A32 TV out either as I don't have the composite cable and haven't ordered one for it either, and also don't have the dock for the gTab so along with no cables, no HDMI out for it.
Android: pretty well stock Android. As to v. TapnTap dunno, but since I'll be wanting to go to TnT lite 5.0.0 soon, I'll probably be loading TapnTap 3991 today and might try using it for a bit as it's apparently a MAJOR update(2400 quadrant, 40+ fps Nenamark) so the A43IT isn't likely to get much use today unless I decide to try video later tonight.
USB hostmode: No cable for the A32 or A43 and just never bothered on the gTab since it has uSD slot. I'll eventually want a host cable though at least for the A32 since that's the ONLY means of expanding storage via host cable to flahs or other kind of drive... again probably not likely to ever update this here soon as this is yet another cable I haven't ordered/don't have.
bluetooth: actually haven't tested this on any of my tablets yet. I'll try to connect them to my nb over the next few days, but it should just work and beyond that will be do the various tablets have the necessary drivers to support whatever devices...
WiFi: range seems to be a fraction worse than either the A32, Nook Color, or gTab, but better than the Pandigital Novel(white). I'm able to get a 1-2 bar connection outside at what I guess to be about 50' from the router(DLink DIR-615 rev B2, G mode, WEP (have legacy devices that only do B and WEP that I use)) plus misc. (7-8) other neighboring routers that I can see go up and down at various times.
builtin speakers: They're there. They work. They're not as nice as the ones on the gTab or they don't sound as good to me, but thats fine since you can always use headphones(3.5mm jack or bluetooth) if you'd like better. I'd wish that they'd've squeezed in at least one speaker for the A32... (of course I'd've like uSD as well...)
Market: I haven't done that yet, not sure if I will since sleep works rather well right now on both my A32IT & A43IT w/o Google apps installed, which tends to break sleep on some of the other tablets that I have, e.g. I ALWAYS shutdown my gTab v. sleeping it, and do the same with the Pandigital Novel(white)... I have sideloaded some apps that I've downloaded on the gTab from the market to it and it worked, so mostly everything not requiring GPS/phone service should work. That said I have no idea how much of the market they can see as you know every market fix that I've seen so far, some apps show up on one, but not on others AND even then there are apps that just never show up... (tied to various carriers or something I think... not really sure how the market identifies which apps to display for which device...) The market install is supposed to be easy, so I might get around to trying it eventually, but I was really think of leaving it stock and just pulling apps from elsewhere, i.e. gTab -> Titanium backup -> dropbox(or nb, etc.) -> A32/A43
So that's where I'm at. It's decent. Not as snappy as the gTab, but I already knew that this was going to be the case though. The touchscreen is not nearly as nice as the A32IT's, but better than some others. I'm still not sure about the touchscreen and will have to use it some more before deciding on that.
My verdict at this point is not bad. Trifle small yet, and touch screen is not a responsive as I had hoped yet not completely awful. It's the only thing in the just about the right size category for tablets, so not much choice...
[EDIT]
Couple of adds:
offtopic: I see now that the gtab stock 3991 fw isn't OTAing everywhere, roebeet just discovered by checking their ftp site...
benchmarking: no quadrant on the A43IT yet, but my a32IT was getting around 1350(read others get 1300-1600 about 1400 or so average) or so, so I'd expect the A43IT with the overdrive power management option to be a bit higher, but certainly not the 2400+ that we get on the gtab. (I believe that the overdrive option keeps the CPU @ 1GHz, so it should make up for having to push more pixels around on the A43IT's larger display...)
[/EDIT]
Yep, wonder of wonders it unexpectedly got to be actually sunny yesterday afternoon, so I ran out to check the display. Lowest setting is entirely readable, whilst max brightness is barely legible as was to be expected...
Back to touch screen, when I say "difficulties" in browsing what I really meant was how with EVERY resistive touch screen Android device that I've used when attempting to scroll a web page it's either sluggish, "bounces back"(difficult to describe, like when you want to do a small or delicate move and the screen adjusts but removing your finger it jumps back to about where it had been), or wildly scrolls(these are the worst since it is more readily controllable with capacitive screens, but with resistive it seems to be a bit slower to register touches which makes stopping this more difficult).
But as I mentioned in other applications, touching for turn pages or swiping it seems to work better than many, and I've had no problems using the default keyboard. On the A32IT it was more of a matter of size than anything else, i.e. portrait mode the keyboard is nearly useless w/o a fingernail or stylus, and landscape is big enough that if your careful fingers will do but sylus still gives best performance.
Cutterjohn,
Thanks for the great info! Much more than I would've ever expected .
My situation is that I'm still "on the fence". In the past I've "collected" a few tablets, and I guess I'm a bit of a packrat... never got rid of any of them, but I'm trying be more discriminating nowadays, lest my wife starts trying to get me to dump some of them.
The A43 sounds pretty good, and you've covered a lot, which I greatly appreciate. I think I'm a little comfortable w the screen situation, but I'm concerned about the "longevity", esp. the small /system partition, which apparently hasn't been cracked.
I'll keep watching, and maybe if I can find a deal, may just try it if it's too tempting .
Thanks again!
Jim
jimcpl said:
Cutterjohn,
Thanks for the great info! Much more than I would've ever expected .
My situation is that I'm still "on the fence". In the past I've "collected" a few tablets, and I guess I'm a bit of a packrat... never got rid of any of them, but I'm trying be more discriminating nowadays, lest my wife starts trying to get me to dump some of them.
The A43 sounds pretty good, and you've covered a lot, which I greatly appreciate. I think I'm a little comfortable w the screen situation, but I'm concerned about the "longevity", esp. the small /system partition, which apparently hasn't been cracked.
I'll keep watching, and maybe if I can find a deal, may just try it if it's too tempting .
Thanks again!
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
np. I'm hoping that the screen is just a matter of getting used to using a resistive screen with a finger.
I've got an old pocketpc case which is fits into. It's perfect heightwise, but the A43 is MUCH thinner and narrower than the old pocketpcs were, but it also has a little pocket which I stick a stylus into and enough extra space to put some earbuds in with it as well and not damage the screen... so I'll always have the stylus around with it.
As a side note about the screen a user in a thread on archosfans suggested people download an app called DrawNoteK(simple drawing app), which I did and it seemed to track my finger pretty well and the stylus/fingernail better of course. I'm pretty much of the opinion that resistive screen problems are just a matter of them reading more contact area(multiple locations) when using a finger v. a fingernail/stylus which has a much smaller point of contact. After all all of the old PDAs used to come default with a stylus...
app storage: yep, still stuck at I guess where they had it originally. I think that it MIGHT be possible to manually change it but I haven't looked into it too much. I've hardly use any app storage space on any of my tablets so far. [EDIT2] Another problem with increasing storage in stock fw is that devices like my A32IT and the A28IT have no other memory expansion options, other than USB host. My A32IT IIRC w/stock fw 2.1.08 had a little over 6GB available for media, and I've already used half of that or more... Iwouldn't mind giving up another 300MB for apps, but not the 2GB that many people wanted who had 43, 70, or 101s. [/EDIT2]
longevity: well, Archos'll probably have their gen9 this fall with a cortex-a9 and maybe more memory. (So I'm kind of on the fence about keeping the A43, but I still have a few weeks to return it to Amazon... just want try it some more and see if any of my quibbles end up as deal killers with lengthier usage... I'm just still not entirely sure about the touch screen.)
[EDIT]
...and I played some video streamed from my notebook last night uPnP(mediatomb) which worked OK and looked pretty good on the A43IT's display. The kickstand seems to be kind of a useless "feature" on this though, and feels pretty flimsy(semi-rigid plastic). Likely the stand will be one of the first things to get broken accidentally, but I'll probably never use it again...
[/EDIT]
[EDIT3]
Forgot to mention this above, and I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Archos have an additional fw available which is a version of the Angstrom linux distro... voids the warranty though, so I won't be trying it unless I decide to keep it in the end, and then I'll wait a year for the warranty to expire...
[/EDIT3]
minor update:
I've started to get some FCs with various apps, nothing horrible/continuous like I got with early versions of stock gtab fw, but worrisome.
Got one yesterday after running the camera app, and had one the day before but I didn't really pay attention to what it was as it didn't re-appear but since getting one from the camera app will be paying more attention. I suppose that it could possibly be a low memory condition sine Archos chose a subpar 256MB RAM spec... and yes I usually use system monitor to kill just about everything periodically... Limited memory is just another reason to NOT install Google apps & market as many of those seem to want to be permanently in RAM...
I suppose that I need to look into this some more, and additionally use the A32 more often to see if it starts occuring there as well, since they're basically the same hw... also need to do some research as I quite like the A43 form factor(little wider would've been nice) and there's nothing comparable ATM... (nor will there be apparently, as I have no doubt that Samsung will continue their egregious pricing practices with their player... you'd think that they had Apple, Motorola, or Sony quality & support levels with their pricing!)
gTab stock 3588 fw wasn't too bad, MUCH snappier and stable than the earlier ones... installed this on my way to TnT lite 5.0.0...
Hi,
I've been reading the stuff about the Samsung Player also. The 5" is the one I'd be interested, but I want to see how locked down it is/will be.
Jim
jimcpl said:
Hi,
I've been reading the stuff about the Samsung Player also. The 5" is the one I'd be interested, but I want to see how locked down it is/will be.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad that you have excessive amounts of cash to spend on low quality korean junk... (face it, they're not worth their asking price, if they halved it maybe...)
anyways Archos is now being frog junk, incapable of connecting via ssh/scp/sftp w/o FCing likely the dimwitted decision to go with a "whopping" 256MB of RAM... an excessively moronically low amount of RAM given how relatively "cheap" it is nowadays, but go figure out frogs...
buh-bye archos junk... (sad but these POS are going out with the trash like they are...)
F--- for frog crap Archos
[EDIT]
OK, at least for the A32 a reboot -> I now can xfer stuff again momentarily, but my gods what a POS hack job on android with such monumental memory leaks that cause it to fail after running for a while... what sort of monumental midget intellects decided to try to phail hack Android?! i.e. Archos Android == memory leaking POS...
@Jim better off spending $400 on another good gTab rather than an overpriced toy regardless of form factor... hell, even the Nook Color does better for almost half the price although it's 7"... just wonder when B&N are going to get off the pot and cough up their updates sine ATM they've seemed to've managed to pissoff all their attracted devs for apps for their mythical appstore... (they missed ALL update targets for Q1 2011 so far and only a couple of weeks left to make up for it... but maybe they can now publish a book about how NOT to start an app store for everyone else...)
[/EDIT]
I didn't realize, until doing further searching, how much the Samsung Player was estimated to be priced . They haven't announced pricing yet, but it sounds like th $400 range (shock!).
More waiting ...
Jim
P.S. Sorry about you problem w A43, but thx for posting that info.
Hi guys. I just bought the Acer Iconia and wanted to give a few of my initial thoughts.
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
I went into Staples to compare it to the Galaxy Tab and Xoom, and I see why Iconia is priced $100 less.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Thanks!
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
With 14 posts, maybe you shouldn't comment. And I can't imagine a troll would actually take the time to write up a full post. What a waste of time that'd be.
I genuinely want to know. Perhaps there's something I'm missing. I want to love it because for $299 (after the Staples $100 off tablets coupon) it might not be a bad deal even with my complaints. But for those who actually spent the full $400, what do you actually like about it?
If you wanna go to staples n pay $300 (not $100!) For extra bulk and a non functioning micro SD, or for a device that doesnt even have a micro sd, USB, or HDMI, go for it. If you feel like a thin piece of plastic is a better investment than stainless steel, that's your money. But don't polute our forums with a "grass is greener" thread. You dont like the Iconia cuz it has the same battery as every other device (the only difference is some companies lie more in their specs- I've tested them all, they are all about the same) or cuz you can see pixels on a white screen, go somewhere else.
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt if people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
allen099 said:
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant find your first post. You posted 224 messages. I klap my hands.
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I obviously misinterpreted a conversation stater by the looks of it!
I beg pardon and stand aside.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Torisen said:
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My slight trolling aside, I agree with Torisen. The screen is better than most devices, albeit topped by the Galaxy. I find the extra ports and functionality a major deal breaker for me, as well as the price difference vs what you get with the galaxy (to me the xoom was never even a question, there is a reason google views it as a flop.) Also, I'm personally a fan of.the stainless chassis, both in appearance and functionality. As for the lag, a real world test of the galaxy provided similar results due to the bloated Samsung ui. Another key advantage is the near stock system, free of bloatware. After weighing all of my options, I am very happy with my iconia true, their whole update process was screwy, but they seemed to have cleared it up a little (for instance at least most everyone got the 4.010.13 update at the same time!) In yhe end, if youre not happy with it, it is a ffree market, get a different one.
strider_mt2k said:
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
internetpilot said:
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I agree. It did come across as an insult to the device, not any form of question. Don't like it? Complain to staples or wherever you bought it and get a different device
The battery stand 8 hours if
- you do not use 3D Games constantly
- Brigthness arround 50%
I use about 12 hours straight my tablet, wifi constantly open, reading ebook, playing games (a little), going internet....
but I charge my tablet every 1.5 day or 2 days sometimes... no I do not use my tablet every 2 minutes
so far with GPS, full brightness, Sygic navigator... about 5hrs++ wich is nice... since I do not drive that long, and I don't need the navigator 5 hours in a row.
playing games 3D . 6hrs ++
playing normal games (angry bird) 8hrs...
Charge the tablet until 100% do not overnight, let the battery drain until 5% oftenly. that's how I use my tablet.
I do not use OVERCLOCK or else. when I make those feedback
Go get an iPad 2 then and stop whining. Oh wait... the display still sucks on an iPad. At least you get a great range of connectivity with the Iconia.
i work at staples, i have had the time to play with all the tablets, i personally recommend the Acer over all of them, even to my customers
the 100 dollar coupons kill our stores sale figures, but i used one and bought the Acer.
i do not regret it one bit, i love my acer. you shouldnt have your face that close to the screen to see the pixels, if you do need to, you need to get glasses
allen099 said:
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have such issues, maybe you've got a defect one?
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, how much do you really expect it to last when playing games? If you're claiming it's "crummy" then obviously you think some other tablet does a lot better, but.. well, so far I ain't seeing one. They all last more-or-less the same.
Besides... I don't play games on my tablet, but it's on for 3rd day in the row at the moment. I have WIFI on 24/7, I do some web browsing, reading comics etc. and it still has over 50% battery left. That ain't something I personally would call "crummy."
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't pixels! You're seeing the grid used for touch-input. You're mixing the two concepts!
As for the grid: yes, it is sometimes visible. I personally don't get bothered by it since it isn't as clearly visible as you make it out to be. But I can understand if some others are bothered by it. It is even mentioned in all the better reviews that the grid can be seen easier than on other tablets. If the grid bothers you that much then go and get another tablet. But bear in mind that even iPads have the grid and atleast I can see it on those, too.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it is great hardware for a great price.
I've had mine for 48 hours, and I have to say I'm loving it. I did take into consideration the $100 off, and getting this device for $299. You can argue positives and negatives on devices of equal price, but for $299, the A500 is a bargain.
The two issues mentioned- display: yes, the transformer's display is brighter. BUT...I've read many, many posts over at the ASUS threads about light bleading. Further, about how the Transformer can "bend" a little due to plastic construction, and this in turn causes further problems. Still, I liked the TF...I was torn over between the two, so don't think I'm hating on ASUS here. But the display is about a 7.5-8/10 for me compared to the BEST displays I've seen. But its a 10/10 for $299.
Battery: I have only good things to say about battery life so far on mine. No, I don't play 3D games constantly, but compared to the many android phones I have had, I realize I'm not always thinking about having this plugged in just in case I'll need the battery power later.
The other points that were in the A500's favor were the aluminum as stated, full USB port (not a feature you should discount), mini usb port, etc. I can't imagine ONLY being able to transfer files via miniSD. That would be a pain.
Most of the other gripes I have are about Honeycomb...it's not up to competing directly yet with iPad, just a few bugs that keep it from going head to head right now. But that has nothing to do with the unit.
I got two A500's now by the way, and both seem to be working as advertised, they were better than I expected when I made the decision to buy them.
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
The Odom Project said:
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
WereCatf said:
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe yeah lol.now I just need to re pierce my lips lol. . . Damn here we go again with the OT lol
I love this baby... and I'm not new to my portable devices... with auto brightness and auto use i get all day battery... and that includes using it's USB port to charge my Moto Atrix when it needs it! I must admit tho mine was a bit laggy with te stock kernel, but that was an easy fix!
Does anyone have one?
I can't see any new info on it on the net. I have preordered one, but this really seems fishy. I won't be getting one until mid November though so if there's something wrong at least I'll have plenty of time to cancel my order.
I noticed it's actively cooled, anyone know how loud those fans are?
I'm surprised with the total lack of reviews or information about this tablet. To me it looks like one of the best Windows 8 tablets currently available, specially for the price.
Yeah. I wondered why too
The prices is great!. They are selling it at what other OEM charging for the atom processors.
Even the battery life is good, about double of the surface pro. Heck. They didn't even try to cheat you on purchasing overpriced keyboard dock.
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app
This device doesn't have a keyboard dock, only an optional cradle. It extends battery life and works great while working at a desk/table, but not so well while sitting up in bed, on a sofa, or anywhere else a laptop comes in handy. Maybe not an issue for some, but that's unfortunately a deal-breaker for me. The whole point in considering a hybrid to begin with. Not sure why they don't have one like the W510. Great device otherwise.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
I"m using the Toshiba U920t, which converts from a tablet to a laptop. It is a bit thicker, and the battery is only good for about 5 hours, but it works well, and is only a couple hundred more than the W700 with 128 GB SSD.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c...model=U920t&lid=CFAMsatellite_SeriesLinkU920t
I have been using a w700 for a month
I love this tablet. I have the i3 with the Intel HD4000 graphic card. I have many tablets, but here's a quick rundown:
Pros
1) runs full win8 which is pretty seemless with touch
2) Beautiful full HD screen
3) Fast SSD, boots in 7 seconds
4) Dock, keyboard and case included in 700 price
5) I run Photoshop with huge images from my Sony a65 24.3 mp camera. It runs almost as fast on i3/4gb as my Sandybridge i7 with 16gb of RAM. I use full MS Office Pro Plus, have a bunch of Metro apps and use Bluestacks for stuff like Google Books (which works great)
6) Bat life is 8-9 hours!
7) The Win store is criticized for lack of content, but some of the games are unreal. Toy Soldiers, Reckless Racing 2, Etc. they blow away the best games for my Asus Infinity/Ipad 3.
8) It's full windows with a beautiful screen and small form factor, what can I say?
Cons
1) SSD is small, 64gb in my case, going to replace it with a 256gb msata
2) No SD slot
3) One usb on device (3 on dock)
4) a little heavy for kindle/ereader usage
After getting this thing, I am going to sell my 2 Asus Transformers and my Ipad and just keep my Nexus 7 for reading.
This thing is amazing, close to full pc/tablet convergence.
I have an Acer W700 tablet as well but with tge i5 processor and the 128GB SSD.
Pros
- The price. The best tablet under 1000€ and it even beats a few of the tablets above 1000€ as well.
- The hardware is fantastic. No lagg or anything! ( this is NOT a gaming tablet but it plays smaller games without problems)
- The touch works great the only problems I've encountered arecaused by the softwares.
- The battery life is amazing beats my vaio every time.
Cons
- No SD card slot ( Being compensated by a 500GB 2.5" external USB 3.0 HDD)
- No 3G modem ( a pro for me since I don't gave to pay for a subscription)
This tablet is one of the best tablets on the market for the price.
I wrote a rather extended review on this Tab on my blog. I will be writing more on both Windows 8 and W700 in the new future.
Link to the review: Can't post a external link here, just go to my blog and click on "Devices" on the right side, should be the one on the top.
I saw pics online of a keyboard case for this tablet similar to the surface style. Should be coming soon.. too bad i couldn't wait..
Nicaragüense said:
I saw pics online of a keyboard case for this tablet similar to the surface style. Should be coming soon.. too bad i couldn't wait..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I feel the same.. The cover is made by Acer so I think that they will release it for us who have already bought the tablet. Otherwise, ebay for a first / third party afterwards that it has been released. Swedish E-tailers do already have the tablet in their stores but are still waiting for delivery from acer.
-- edit --
The delivery is estimated to the 14th of february
I really love this tablet! I have the I3 version (Ivy bridge) and it is extremely fast. Wonderful screen (comparable to the retina from Apple). Im very impressed so far!
jonthe838 said:
The delivery is estimated to the 14th of february
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Net-On-Net has i3 Sandy version in stock, I ordered my on 2012-01-02, had it in my hands on 2012-01-04.
Has anyone seen any update regarding the keyboard case? I've searched everywhere and could not find any information regarding it's release in USA.
People are having download speed problem away from router on Acer own forum
http://community.acer.com/t5/Acer-Tablets/Acer-Iconia-W700-Wi-Fi-problem/td-p/631/page/32
For those who have intention to buy, it would be wise to check the link before you make final decision so that you won't have
buying regret.
I got mine on January 14th from Futureshop in canada with the keyboard case...the case is very nice.
Only one issue...some times (mostly starts in google chrome but keeps on after closing it and resolves by screen off and on) my touch screen goes crazy and clicks by it self, I have not tried calibrating or other solutions yet and I am thinking of returning, but getting new one will be more trouble...any idea guys?
It seems like that the so far keyboard case is only available in Canada
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
i bought one W700 i5 3371U version, a bit heavy but i really love it
im still looking for file explorer replacement, specially for touch optimised, cause it's so small
any suggestion ?
I did the factory reset and didn't install chrome and problem is solved...no screen issue anymore...and I love the tablet
specialex said:
i bought one W700 i5 3371U version, a bit heavy but i really love it
im still looking for file explorer replacement, specially for touch optimised, cause it's so small
any suggestion ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
metro commander. Works great for me!
anduios said:
People are having download speed problem away from router on Acer own forum
http://community.acer.com/t5/Acer-Tablets/Acer-Iconia-W700-Wi-Fi-problem/td-p/631/page/32
For those who have intention to buy, it would be wise to check the link before you make final decision so that you won't have
buying regret.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, almost all W700's have WIFI issue as delivered, but easilly fixable with a driver update. Mine suffered from constantly disconnecting/re-connecting, installed new driver from Acer site, works perfect now. (Make sure to follow instructions about removing old driver, restarting, installing new driver)
---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------
ajamils said:
It seems like that the so far keyboard case is only available in Canada
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got mine from Amazon.ca, has the keyboard case, but the identical item on Amazon.com also came with the keyboard case. Was $50.00 cheaper on Amazon.ca, & only had to pay gst, versus ND state tax, plus GST and PST if would have ordered on Amazon.com. (Info for any other Canadians who live close enough to be able to shop both sides of the border.)
For christmas, I got an asus zenbook touch. Best ultrabook I've ever owned. For 1100 dollars, you get an i5, 128gb ssd, touch screen, and intel 4000 graphics. It is a little steep for those specs but the build quality and touch screen completely make up for it in my opinion. It actually comes with a bunch of accessories too, a folio case, VGA adapter, micro usb cable, and an ethernet adapter. I can write up a full review if anyone wants.
I can answer any questions about it, too
Available here
I was eyeing that exact model at my local Best Buy earlier this week. I'm really torn between this Zenbook and Lenovo's Yoga.
Couple of questions:
How's the Battery Life with casual use?
Wifi issues?
SSD speeds? Did you get the Adata SSD or Sandisk SSD (should say on the box)?
Light bleeding in the screen? This was a major issue with the previous non-touch UX31As.
Is the paint chipping off by any chance?
My main worry with this Asus is that it only has 4GB of RAM and it cannot be upgraded. I'm just not sure if it'll be enough, how does it perform with this amount of RAM? Any hiccups when multiple web pages are up?
I believe that's about it for my questions lol. Thanks if you reply, I haven't logged into XDA for like a year and luckily I happened to find this thread. I really am digging this ultrabook, I need something durable, quick, and light for school that'll last me a good 3 years minimum while retaining its functionality as it was on day 1. Damn you Lenovo and your upgradable RAM, this would've been an easier decision if the Yoga didn't have upgrade options lol.
atticusmas said:
For christmas, I got an asus zenbook touch. Best ultrabook I've ever owned. For 1100 dollars, you get an i5, 128gb ssd, touch screen, and intel 4000 graphics. It is a little steep for those specs but the build quality and touch screen completely make up for it in my opinion. It actually comes with a bunch of accessories too, a folio case, VGA adapter, micro usb cable, and an ethernet adapter. I can write up a full review if anyone wants.
I can answer any questions about it, too
Available here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm enjoying my Toshiba T925u. It has about the same specs, but an 11.5 inch screen (not as high in resolution). It has a slide out keyboard for typing, or can be used as a tablet. A bit more expensive at around 1100. Toshiba is expecting them in stock in mid January; they seem to be out of stock everywhere.
Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using xda premium
stellar said:
I was eyeing that exact model at my local Best Buy earlier this week. I'm really torn between this Zenbook and Lenovo's Yoga.
Couple of questions:
How's the Battery Life with casual use?
Wifi issues?
SSD speeds? Did you get the Adata SSD or Sandisk SSD (should say on the box)?
Light bleeding in the screen? This was a major issue with the previous non-touch UX31As.
Is the paint chipping off by any chance?
My main worry with this Asus is that it only has 4GB of RAM and it cannot be upgraded. I'm just not sure if it'll be enough, how does it perform with this amount of RAM? Any hiccups when multiple web pages are up?
I believe that's about it for my questions lol. Thanks if you reply, I haven't logged into XDA for like a year and luckily I happened to find this thread. I really am digging this ultrabook, I need something durable, quick, and light for school that'll last me a good 3 years minimum while retaining its functionality as it was on day 1. Damn you Lenovo and your upgradable RAM, this would've been an easier decision if the Yoga didn't have upgrade options lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get the yoga, there's a plethora of problems with it. Light bleed is present but not a big deal for me at all. SSD speed is lightning fast, boot time is like 3 seconds. 3 seconds for a cold boot. No paint chipping. Battery life is around 6 hours with causal use. I actually have no idea what ssd it is.
atticusmas said:
Don't get the yoga, there's a plethora of problems with it. Light bleed is present but not a big deal for me at all. SSD speed is lightning fast, boot time is like 3 seconds. 3 seconds for a cold boot. No paint chipping. Battery life is around 6 hours with causal use. I actually have no idea what ssd it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Toshiba also boots in about 3 sec.
Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using xda premium
If only US Bestbuy shipped internationally
Does anyone else know of any vendors for this besides ExcaliberPC (it's on backorder/preorder - confusing status)
Hey buddy will you able to put some pictures up for it?
Reason I ask is because I am an international buyer and wanted to see how the all black really looks over the weekend press shots, thanks
atticusmas said:
For christmas, I got an asus zenbook touch. Best ultrabook I've ever owned. For 1100 dollars, you get an i5, 128gb ssd, touch screen, and intel 4000 graphics. It is a little steep for those specs but the build quality and touch screen completely make up for it in my opinion. It actually comes with a bunch of accessories too, a folio case, VGA adapter, micro usb cable, and an ethernet adapter. I can write up a full review if anyone wants.
I can answer any questions about it, too
Available here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vishs87 said:
Reason I ask is because I am an international buyer and wanted to see how the all black really looks over the weekend press shots, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure I will soon enough
Thanks, if you get time would be nice if you could email me one or two as I'm looking to order it from my friend who is out on holiday in the states right now and back to the UK on the 12th, my email is [email protected] thanks a lot
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
i'll post them here in 10
Edit: Attachments.
atticusmas said:
Don't get the yoga, there's a plethora of problems with it. Light bleed is present but not a big deal for me at all. SSD speed is lightning fast, boot time is like 3 seconds. 3 seconds for a cold boot. No paint chipping. Battery life is around 6 hours with causal use. I actually have no idea what ssd it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My sister and I just picked up two Yoga 13's last week. We both love them. The only issue we had was the wacky SSD partition scheme they had on them, but there was a fix available, and easily found, on the product support page. I'm loving mine. It replaced a 2 year old HP DM3 laptop.
I am looking into this model. Very much like the design and specs.
Wanna ask you whether the Windows 8 installation files are located in the SSD? If so... Can I remove them and save the installation files in a USB stick to install the OS later? From what I gather.... The ultra book does not come with installation files...
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
guntherfurlong said:
I am looking into this model. Very much like the design and specs.
Wanna ask you whether the Windows 8 installation files are located in the SSD? If so... Can I remove them and save the installation files in a USB stick to install the OS later? From what I gather.... The ultra book does not come with installation files...
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can, just press "windows key + R" and type recoverydrive.exe, the window will guide you through the rest!
I've got the australian model (silver) but it does seem to come with torx screws on the bottom, dont feel like unscrewing them but is everyone sure you cant upgrade the ram on the touch model? I thought the porblem with the prime models was that you couldnt detach the bottom at all..? (but you seem to be able to with this model... 10GB ram would be nice )
10gb of ram would also be a bad idea in general.
In a laptop you only get 2 slots. Usually each slot will have a max capacity of either 4 or 8gb. To get 10gb across both slots, well, they don't make 5gb sticks so you would have to go with an 8gb and a 2gb. However you get access issues with unmatched sticks, its computer building 101, wherever possible use matched sticks (capacity, access speed, timings, everything, for all intents and purposes just use 2 of the same model). You could do 8gb or 16gb easily enough.
I personally live fine on 4gb. I seriously don't see why the majority of people need more. Although a few of my games have occasionally pushed me past 4gb used so I am considering upgrading to 8.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
10gb of ram would also be a bad idea in general.
In a laptop you only get 2 slots. Usually each slot will have a max capacity of either 4 or 8gb. To get 10gb across both slots, well, they don't make 5gb sticks so you would have to go with an 8gb and a 2gb. However you get access issues with unmatched sticks, its computer building 101, wherever possible use matched sticks (capacity, access speed, timings, everything, for all intents and purposes just use 2 of the same model). You could do 8gb or 16gb easily enough.
I personally live fine on 4gb. I seriously don't see why the majority of people need more. Although a few of my games have occasionally pushed me past 4gb used so I am considering upgrading to 8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, but with as with the UX32VD I assume that if the ram would be replacable (which it probably still isn't) it would be only one slot, the other dimm is soldered on. So unmatched sticks (2 + 4 or 2 + 8) would be the only way to go. Just googled a little bit and it seems that the normal UX31A was also openable (i thought it wasnt) but only the battery and the SSD is exposed then, so probably no luck for the touch model after all.
cuberob said:
I know, but with as with the UX32VD I assume that if the ram would be replacable (which it probably still isn't) it would be only one slot, the other dimm is soldered on. So unmatched sticks (2 + 4 or 2 + 8) would be the only way to go. Just googled a little bit and it seems that the normal UX31A was also openable (i thought it wasnt) but only the battery and the SSD is exposed then, so probably no luck for the touch model after all.
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Can't really speak for the UX, but on my Yoga, there is only ONE dimm, and there is not another one soldered on it. It's either single channel 4GB or single channel 8GB (8GB is the max for the motherboard and dimm).
Finally got the ultrabook. Enjoying it.
Just wondering whether is there any reason I should keep the ASUS apps that came with the ultrabook? Are they considered bloatware?
Any major consequences if I uninstall them?
Just an update.
I'm running Mint Linux on this ultrabook now.
Quite like it.
There's no need for Windows.
Like the title says, who's getting a surface pro. While the idea of the i5 with fans makes me nervous after having a Samsung series 7 slate upgraded to win 8, simply the Surface Pro is too sexy to pass up. Just wondering who was ponying up the dough this weekend.
Spectredroid said:
Like the title says, who's getting a surface pro. While the idea of the i5 with fans makes me nervous after having a Samsung series 7 slate upgraded to win 8, simply the Surface Pro is too sexy to pass up. Just wondering who was ponying up the dough this weekend.
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Got mine reserved at MS store- 128gb. Also looking at the Dell 29 in widescreen monitor for extra display. Been a long time coming.
When it was originally announced, I was planning to get it on release day but since I got Acer W700, I have no interest in it anymore. Also, the somewhat remaining interest vanished after I read the initial review from Gizmodo, Engadget and others. This thing has HORRIBLE battery life. I get 7 hours plus on W700 easily and it has similar configuration as Surface Pro.
Why would anyone want a portable device with such bad battery life. Doesn't sound very "portable".....
Would love to get a Surface Pro with lower price, even if it meant an i3 or the like.
Macmee said:
Why would anyone want a portable device with such bad battery life. Doesn't sound very "portable".....
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Well, since this is a role call for people buying on Saturday and not for people who are not...
Mine is reserved for Saturday, after a lot of weighing options, playing with demo units and comparing other products. Also taken into consideration is timing and what lies ahead. This is just one purchase along the way in a life that is filled with them, especially technology and devices.
Everything is a compromise. Admittedly, longer battery life would be nice, but not if it increases the size / weight or reduces other functions.
For me the portability is just fine (as a Tablet) - I never have meetings that go longer than a couple of hours and then I'm back at my desk. I'm never on the couch / in bed reading for more than a couple of hours, and then I can plug it in.
The other functions I need the "portability" for (as a PC) are fine using the Surface plugged in. In fact, plugged in is preferable since I'll want full-power. I need to be working at a physically different location. The key here is working, so plugged in and powered up and crunching hard.
This device is right for me at this time, I'm sure in a year or two I'll be replacing it.
tbh im probably going to wait for the asus transformer book! Would love a Surface pro with a bigger storage space and dock with a battery at least.
Macmee said:
Why would anyone want a portable device with such bad battery life. Doesn't sound very "portable".....
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On a different note I would really love to see the battery performance of Surface pro after disabling Turbo boost
My i7 laptop gives 3+ hours of battery life using the same method. It can barely last two hours with TB on
I dont find any lags or slowdown except while converting videos. But then you can switch Turbo on with just on click
I am picking one up tomorrow. I primarily look forward to being able to use some of the Silverlight based apps that we have going on around at work as well as that great pen interface with OneNote. Styluses on almost every tablet that doesn't use a WACOM based stylus has left me wanting. My wallet will be feeling the burn but this is what I wanted in the first place.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
marvelprash said:
On a different note I would really love to see the battery performance of Surface pro after disabling Turbo boost
My i7 laptop gives 3+ hours of battery life using the same method. It can barely last two hours with TB on
I dont find any lags or slowdown except while converting videos. But then you can switch Turbo on with just on click
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Can you tell us how do you disable turbo boost? Thanks a lot.
Go to Control Panel > Power Options
Create a new Power Plan. Name it acc to your choice
Then select this new plan > Change Plan settings > change advanced plan settings > Processor power management
Change MAXIMUM Processor state (not minimum) according to your need (explained below)
Changing to 99% disables Turbo boost
Changing to lower percentage like 90 or 80 lowers CPU frequency as well as voltage.
You can choose to keep 100% when plugged in and 90% on battery Then vary it according to your needs.
This method undervolts and underclocks your processor. It uses Intel Enhanced SpeedStep technology to do so