Database Users

Re:TyTN possibly knocked off its Throne!

A Device to Surpass the 8525?
Will there be one soon? within the next 2 or 3 months or so? I know when I got my 8125 the 8525 came like in 5 months or so after. I just sold my 8125 and I am currently using a Motorola RaZR for backup. B4 I go purchase the 8525, i want to know is there a sequel coming any time soon so I can save my money and wait? And Do people really think dishing out the cash they did to upgrade was a good choice? Thx alot for the responses and sorry if this was a repeat I didn't see anything of it yet.

I feel understand your hesitation.
I got myself the i-Mate K-JAM (HTC Wizard) late last year after a bit over a year with the i-Mate JAM. I thought I'd be using that new phone for at least year.
And then the HTC Hermes was released. I couldn't justify spending more money after recently upgrading my phone. But thankfully, my telco offered a deal I couldn't refuse for the Dopod 838 Pro, so I happily took it up.
Hopefully, there won't be any new releases that warrant a change!
But more than simply the release of new handsets, I wish HTC would stop changing the type of memory card that their phones accept. From SD to mini-SD, and no the micro-SD! It's a hassle having to go out and buy a new card AGAIN each time you get a new phone! hehe

I remember when i got my first phone and I'm not even sure how i even came to even own a PPC it all started with a T-Mobile MDA-II,SPV C500,SPV M500,T-Mobile MDA Pro and now T-Mobile MDA Vario II i could not even wait for the 8525 to come out so i got a MDA V II and most of the phones that came out were not even available here i always thrown the money for a new phone that came out never felt it was a waste just go for it

I remember reading during the summer that they were going to release after the Hermes a 128mb of ram Pocket PC.

thx all for the responses, i know the memory card is annoying but the companies making the memory cards are prolly paying HTC money for more sales on their new products by switching out the memory cards. I hate it wen companies do that kinda stuff.

most probably the "next" hermes will be the HTC Herald, have a look at the specs:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Herald

My vote is the Cavalier would be the next killer phone before the Herald.
Check out my comparison of the Hermes vs Excalibur
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=287684

pof said:
most probably the "next" hermes will be the HTC Herald, have a look at the specs:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Herald
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the herald is a follow up to the wizard. I am just basing that off of the cpu and the improved hardware buttons.
Later, Lew

The i-mate SP JAM Communicator looks like it could definitely trump the Hermes:
(it's the second phone discussed in this article)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/06/i-mate_roadmap/
Built-in GPS and A2DP, 256 MB flash, TV-out, and possibly a 532 MHz processor.
Sounds like we may see it soon, too (Feb 07).

Re:TyTN possibly knocked off its Throne!
Is it just me and a couple of other people, or does the spec of the upcoming Athena not sound closer to what we wanted out of the TyTN, bar size of course. I'm still in limbo presently, but if the 'updated specs' are true, I'm getting pretty exited about it.
Check the news thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=286884
And no, it is not the next HTC Universal, more like the first HTC PPC/UMPC or UMPPC.lol

good lord, how do you talk with that thing?! It'd be like holding a ghetto boombox up to your head.

specs are cool.. but i would have to stick to my hermes.. that thing looks like to much of a hassle... that device would make it totally impossible to text and drive.. i mean, not that i would do that, that would be unsafe

The specs sound fine but..but...but... I use a seven inch mini computer with full specs and 2.4 Ghz processor / CD/DVD RW etc etc and runs Windows XP/Vista. This mini computer, with all that, is only marginally bigger than the Athena!! Obviously Id rather have my mini computer cos it's got everything.
For travelling, casual use, fun and lets be honest the challenge and size I would have the Hermes not Athena.
So for me its
1. Full size 20 inch PC
2. Mini (but full spec) PC for travelling but still good 7 inch screen
3. TyTn Hermes small enough to be a phone but lots of other things besides - cos let's face it phones by themselves are just boring!
Mike

Re: WM5 UMPPC? Or Dual Boot Technology?
mikechannon said:
The specs sound fine but..but...but... I use a seven inch mini computer with full specs and 2.4 Ghz processor / CD/DVD RW etc etc and runs Windows XP/Vista. This mini computer, with all that, is only marginally bigger than the Athena!! Obviously Id rather have my mini computer cos it's got everything.
For travelling, casual use, fun and lets be honest the challenge and size I would have the Hermes not Athena.
So for me its
1. Full size 20 inch PC
2. Mini (but full spec) PC for travelling but still good 7 inch screen
3. TyTn Hermes small enough to be a phone but lots of other things besides - cos let's face it phones by themselves are just boring!
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't argue with you there Mike.
mackaby007 said:
I can't lie. I'm thoroughly confused as to which is the most ideal portable solution for my needs. One thing is for sure....I want only one device to carry around and it must pretty much do all things. I love the power and 'real configurabilty' of a WinXP/Vista UMPC, not to mention the 'real' and 'actual' 'processing capabilities' i.e. I can still video edit, download (at proper speeds) and actually get the true browsing experience as was intended by whichever website I venture to, not to mention play the occasional PC game in glorious DirectX 3D with high resolution and no need to encode video files to a suitable codec and resolution.
However, Coreplayer is improving in leaps and bounds and can already play my Ripped DVD's in native format, albeit the 400Mhz CPU struggles a little, so theoretically speaking, with a 624Mhz CPU (or more if overclocked), videoplayback shouldn't be an issue in the Athena. Games is really neither here nor there to me, as I rarely play them (I just like to have the choice), but there are some great titles already on WM5 and they are sure to improve as PPC CPUs' improve in power and performance.
Pocket IE and other mobile browser variants are acceptable for now, but still seriously lacking compared to their XP counterparts, but still doable, providing screen real estate is improved via a bigger screen in VGA mode (covered in the Athena).
Storage doesn't seem to be an issue with the Athena as it supposedly will ship with at least 8GB of HDD (battery drain problems), but this can be overcome with the larger iminently released 8GB+ SD Cards etc which can be used for Program installations and the in-built harddrive for storage capacity.
Then you can't ignore the communication advantages of mobile broadband/HSDPA, 3G Video conferencing and GSM, not to mention in-built GPS!! Damn....I think the confusion is lifting...I'm starting to sway towards the Athena or such like devices.
Then there's the Graphics accelerator. If they can get that ATI chip to be a little more versatile and possibly stick their top end mobile accelerator in the Athena, we'd be a lot closer to the UMPC format, which I prefer but without the bulk.
To be able to hook up an external hard drive via USB for 'true mass storage' would be a deal clencher for me. But every one has their own needs and desires in the devices they choose to buy, but for me, the Athena is getting pretty damn close if the specs thus far are genuine.
See here:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/21/htc-athena-x7500-a-umtshsdpa-quad-band-UMPC/
and here:
http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/articles/htc-athena-en.shtml
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So as you can see, there are reasons to go for the all in one solution, but as we all know, it comes down to personal preferances, however, it looks like some other interesting developments are on the horizon that incorporate both WM5 and Full XP/Vista software and PC hardware. Sort of Dual boot options, but no specs as yet.
See here:
http://www.4winmobile.com/viewtopic.php?t=4179

That thing looks huge... I keep my Hermes in my front pocket - I doubt I could do that with that phone!

hrmmm,,,,
maybe notebook manufacturers will need to develop a bag/case with a shoulder strap for this upcoming device.
I think too much convergance in technology can be a bad thing. it is better to have a device specific to your needs and does the job transparently (as in my case) than an all in one device that is "clumsy" and you spend most of your time on debugging the technology, not using the technology to become more efficient in your work.
my 3 cents....
My devices (what is in my office at the same time):
* Work PC desktop with 20" LCD (no screen alignment issue there...lol) - used for word processing and email/browsing.
* Sun Microsystems Ultra workstation running Solaris - namely used for integrated circuit design and intensive simulations of complex telecommunications scenarios
* Rohde and Schwarz - Vector Signal Generator (gsm/umts test vector generation for ASIC hardware testing)
* R&S - spectrum analyzer
* R&S - baseband signal analyzer
* Asus S6F 11.1" notebook - mainly used at home and when travelling (camel leather casing, sweet)
* Imate JASJAM - used 40% of the time for email when out of the office and liasing with industry, and 40% for voice, 20% mucking around
*lava lamp (so retro i know)
It will be nice to have all of the above in one nice device, i just need someone to carry it around for me....lol

Did I mention my Wimshurst Machine (so 19th Century) but great for that moment when the battery goes flat.
Oh and my new project is to find a way to greatly extend battery life so the old Wimshurst Machine becomes obsolete on my travels. As you will see below I can manage to charge myself up ok, just can't quite mange a slow voltage controlled release into Hermes tends to disappear in a blue flash when I shake hands with anyone (perhaps a large capacitor is the answer.) (Courtesy of Hermes vs Van De Graaff productions 2006)
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Mike

mikechannon said:
Did I mention my Wimshurst Machine (so 19th Century) but great for that moment when the battery goes flat.
Oh and my new project is to find a way to greatly extend battery life so the old Wimshurst Machine becomes obsolete on my travels. As you will see below I can manage to charge myself up ok, just can't quite mange a slow voltage controlled release into Hermes tends to disappear in a blue flash when I shake hands with anyone (perhaps a large capacitor is the answer.) (Courtesy of Hermes vs Van De Graaff productions 2006)
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice vandegraff mike,
the problem is, it creates thousands of volts, but merely any amperes. it would take for ever to charge the 1350mah battery.
You should maybe try a jacobs ladder. we just finished building one. you cab place the hermes in between the spark of the two electrodes.
the hermes will receive one hell of a 'shocking' charge.

Listen after 3 hours on the Van De Graaff you don't really care about anything anymore!!
And.... so... er......you don't think it'll work then??
Mike

ok mike,
this is what you need to do.
fly to melbourne and visit science works (http://scienceworks.museum.vic.gov.au/about_us/lightroom.asp)
our university has a high voltage theatre there
ask the exhibition operator to place your hermes in the path of the lightning strike (2 million volts).
If it survives, then you have atleast 3 years usage without recharge.

So unfair.

This is just so unfair.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAbsmHMAhrQ&feature=player_embedded

Uhhhmm... Why?

what is so unfair?
it works and does the same as the phone version, just bigger

Maybe he meant unfair because we cant get a decent FW for our phones because Samsung is focusing on the tablet.
It is really a strange feeling. Besides the size difference, I caught myself with envy that my phone could do the same thing, just being smaller.
But in fact it can't, because we never get the software.
Paulo

so what.. remember it has drawbacks too..
1. propriatary adapter instead of true hd socket.
2. no removeable replaceable battery..i like having spare batteries ready.
3. strange resolutin 1024x600
4. no super oled screen. .supposedly bad viewing angle support.
5. expensive.. will see price when carriers pick it up

there's a bigger chance i'll pick up one of these
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44673
instead of the Tab, just because of price/size matters
it might not be as good as the Tab, and not even close to our phone, but it's great for size and compatibility to runt he same apps we run on our phones at a larger screen
I think of it as a really good backup of my stuff on the SGS phone, in case crap happens and i need to restore all the info back quickly
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Operating System: Google Android 2.1
Processor: Telechips TCC8902
CPU Frequency: 720MHz ARM11
Ram: 256M DDR2 RAM
Flash: 2GB
External memory: Support micro SD/TF card up to 32GB
Display: 7" TFT LCD with resistance screen touch
Resolution: WVGA 800*480-pixel resolution
Touch Control: Full size touch operation, sliding menu, functional icon dragging
Orientation Sensors: With accelerometer, automatic steering display screen
Network: IEEE802.11b/g Wi-Fi network connection
Camera: Built-in 300K Pixels camera
Microphone: Built-in
Speaker: Built-in 1 speaker
Slots: 1 * TF card (support up to 32G)
1 * 3.5mm earphone
1 * Mini USB
1 * HDMI Out (support 1080P HDMI TV out)
1 * Power supply
Support Video Formats: MPEG1/MPEG2/WMV9/MPEG4-SP/ASF/DIVX/H.263/H.264/RMVB/MOV/MKV/TS/FLV
Support Audio Formats: WMA/MP3/WAV/OOG/AAC/EAAC
Support Picture Formats: JPG/GIF/BMP/PNG
Language: Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Battery: Built-in 3000mAh Lithium battery (manufacturer rated)
Input/Output Adapter: Input: 100-240V (EU plug)
Accessories: 1 * AC power adapter
1 * Stylus
1 * USB host cable
1 * English user manual
Manufacturer's Warranty: - 12 Months excluding physical damages (see specifications for terms and details)
Specifications
Dimensions: 7.17 in x 4.53 in x 0.59 in (18.2 cm x 11.5 cm x 1.5 cm)
Weight: 12.03 oz (341 g)

ppeccin said:
Maybe he meant unfair because we cant get a decent FW for our phones because Samsung is focusing on the tablet.
It is really a strange feeling. Besides the size difference, I caught myself with envy that my phone could do the same thing, just being smaller.
But in fact it can't, because we never get the software.
Paulo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alot of companies do this type of tatic of focuing all materials and personale on a new product development. i dont believe samsung does this and tries to allocate its resources equally....

These pure tablet PC's are the most overrated technology ever anyway..
Hybrids such as the Lenovo Ideapad U1 make more sense, because touchscreens don't provide good enough feedback for typing. I understand that pure touchscreen-exclusive tablets seem cool, but they are actually a step back in productivity, and ergonomics. And only a company which makes a puck mouse seem cool (and in reality, focuses on irrelevant design issues rather than real ones) could bring these into fashion..
Don't waste money on them, until they can at least modify the shape of the touch screen panel to provide proper tactile feedback (ie, surface changes or lumps).
Instead, just get a netbook or a convertible tablet...

the problem with Laptops/Tablets is the weight and poor battery life compared to the tablets
i have a laptop, and it sits at home 90% of the time because of that
instead my SGS has almost replace my laptop entirely, just missing a mouse and keyboard, then i'll be set
looking forward to Froyo, which already confirmed support for BT mouse+keyboards, yay!

I'm sorry, Allgamer, but I have to ask, why are you pushing the SGS so hard?
1) 2 weeks ago, you were claiming that you were a power user, who had to swap your mobile phone batteries once a day, you have a BT headset, which you probably need to charge once a day, and now, a bluetooth keyboard you'll need to charge every 2 or 3 days too? You have a problem with Hybrid battery life (of 5 to 8 hours), but no problems shutting down your mobile to swap batteries constantly?
2) We both know the SGS is awkward to hold (and hurts your wrist after a while), and you can't really lay it down on the table.
3) You complain about the weight, but, the U1 tablet weighs 700gm and the entire hybrid weighs 1.7kg. My CCNA book weighs 1.6 KG as reference. You are in your 20's I thought, and you are already having trouble carrying a book?
4) Power users need productivity, and the SGS is TOTALLY inefficient. One problem is screen size, which makes it difficult to perform many tasks efficiently.
Sorry, but your comments are certainly starting to raise red-flags. By the sounds of things, you either aren't being honest to yourself, are exaggerating your use as a power user, or are trying to make things difficult for yourself.
Tablets don't entirely make sense, but they do as convertible hybrids.. Smartphones make sense for some things, but I have serious trouble believing that "power users" are best suited to using a mobile.

Too big for my pocket. And if I can take that with me, I also can take my netbook.
It's not much bigger...
For gaming+TV it would rock. There is no TV-tuner built in?
Also I need possibilities to run openoffice on it, so I can use it for presentations...

rdenis said:
Finally someone called out this moron for his load of BS he keeps spewing - I'm guessing he's about 14 and gets beat up a lot..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't say that..
But it's the same effect I saw when selling Apple equipment. People become so involved with their devices, that they begin to take an unrealistic look at how good they REALLY are. Apple Mac Pro's are the perfect example.
* In general, the video cards being sold with the Mac Pro's are generations behind those available on PC's. But people love them.
* Some people also LOVED the Apple might mouse, despite the right button being near-impossible to click successfully, because they didn't realise the competition allowed scrolling left and right too.
* Over time, all OSX users seemed to have convinced themselves that Windows crashed every day (even if iPhoto was crashing right in front of them).
*It's the same effect which has convinced Linux users that UAC is more intrusive than PolicyKit (it's actually the opposite).
Either way, the tablet seems targeted at the gimmicky crowd. Their main benefit is casual browsing, and watching movies. But lets face it, touchscreens are still HORRIBLE for typing, and most of us would like to be able to chat to someone whilst watching a movie.
But that's just my thoughts.. Time will tell, but you can't fix the ergonomics issues with tablets, until they are at least bendable, the pixels on the screen can displace themselves forward or backwards (or simply change smooth to rough) or have a perfectly polished neural interface (but neural interfaces are still under heavy development)

Speaking of which... what happened to the flexible display I read about a prototype a year or two ago?
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App

1- i still do and i always carry a spare battery with me when i go out, that's how often i use the SGS phone, and i keep an extra spare in the car, for when the one i have runs out, and i need another spare to keep with me.
the BT headset doesn't get charge every day, battery life is quite good, only gets charge once every week or two depending on usage, i use the phone for online activities not for yapping
BT keyboard is just a convenient for typing faster, they are foldable, it shrinks down to a pda size, still fits in a pocket, they existed since the Palm times, what's what made the BT keyboard popular, battery life depend on how much you type on it. you won't be charging a BT keyboard as often as you would charge a BT headset.
2- no idea how you are holding it, but it works just the same, for typing with the on screen keyboard it's pretty natural, i even do it one handed when i'm busy with a drink on the other hand, it's not as quick as when you type with both thumbs, but it's doable for SMS and IM, definitely you wont want to type a long email with a single thumb
holding the phone for voice call will just be natural as well, like using any other phone, the only thing that bugs me is the proximity sensor, as it takes a split second to go back to the dialing pad screen, before you can switch to another application to look up for information meanwhile chatting with the customer
3- yes because i don't like to travel with bags, it has nothing to do with lifting weight it's just ruins the look of your shirt, it shifts the shirt to a side with the weight and it doesn't look good, you don't want to hang out with a lady or partying with buddies carrying a laptop/ipad/tablet around is just trouble (it can get beer in it, it can get stolen if you leave it on the side of the restaurant/bar/anyplace, you might forget it if the meeting is going so well and having too much fun, ladies will look at you like a geek, some nicer restaurant will throw you a bad eye for pulling out a laptop on the table, you go to a cinema with a laptop and pull it out they'll automatically think you are going to capture the movie, been there done that, not fun, it was totally stupid if you ask me, since when you can get a decent recording out of a laptop webcam? LOL )
all of that aside, when you pull out an iphone or the SGS, no one will complain to you, instead people would say WOW! can i see that, can i do this, can i play that, can i... you get the idea, it's totally 2 side of the spectrum
That's what Apple is selling, and that's what people like, non geeky devices that works, and Samsung is just riding the same wave.
Personally i don't care, i just want a device that is better than Windows crapile, and the combination of Samsung hardware + Android OS have done that for me.
If PalmOS was still around on a phone similar to SGS i'd have gone the PalmOS way instead, as the OS is much more polished, still buggy, but there are tons of Apps for it... too bad the company went under bought by HP, and trashed to the pages of history.
4- for me productivity means being able to get online and log on to servers anywhere i'm in, for documents we got ThinkFreeOffice which is sufficient for me, and i was able to convert my old Palm Doc To Go office to the Android version of Doc To Go. with the SGS i can hookup to all my different companies accounts (15+), and they will all each keep their own separate contact list, in Wincrap mobile it would have been a major mess, you can't have both personal and work accounts together, now that's efficiency for me.
same goes with IM, i can be online with all my email accounts and people can contact me all over, it's so easy, in Wincrap i had to use those jabber IMs to do the same and it was always disconnecting because it goes through jabber and it's not stable enough to make IM conversation a good experience as people always said i was offline when i was not.
Since i switched to SGS using the stock push email & IM, i've not had any problem, all my customers are happy, and when customers are happy, i'm happy.
Typing is decent with SGS, it can be better with a BT keyboard, too bad i can't use it yet until Froyo is out.
Browsing speed is amazing, i can look up stuff instantly, this is a great topic when having a coffe with friends and customers, i'm a forgetful person i depend on a reliable PDA for my work, so it's amazing for people when they see i can jump back and forth between apps in the phone to look up about the stuff i forget during our conversations and then continue with the meeting.
It is just so natural this phone, compared to all previous ones. the best thing is, it's small, it can go anywhere, even under water if you put it on one of those waterproof bags for PDAs available on DX
If being able to do everything you need to do at anywhere and at anytime is not efficient for you, then i don't know what is, but for me that is exactly the type of device i need to do my work, and hobby, and entertainment, and picture, and recording, and specially the GPS as i use it every day while i drive, my Speedo in the car is broken.
was trying to install some custom mods to the car and screwed up the speedo needle fuel tank needle is dead as well, good think it lights up when it runs low in gas.
All in all you don't need to believe me, but that is truly how magnificent this phone works for people that knows how to use it.
I give free lesson and consulting on how to use it and get the most out of it and people love it, as usual I'll extend my hand for anyone that needs help with the phone in the GTA area, just PM me to book for an appointment.
i carry the XDA App anyways, i use it all the time to check my PMs and forum topics when i'm idle
andrewluecke said:
I'm sorry, Allgamer, but I have to ask, why are you pushing the SGS so hard?
1) 2 weeks ago, you were claiming that you were a power user, who had to swap your mobile phone batteries once a day, you have a BT headset, which you probably need to charge once a day, and now, a bluetooth keyboard you'll need to charge every 2 or 3 days too? You have a problem with Hybrid battery life (of 5 to 8 hours), but no problems shutting down your mobile to swap batteries constantly?
2) We both know the SGS is awkward to hold (and hurts your wrist after a while), and you can't really lay it down on the table.
3) You complain about the weight, but, the U1 tablet weighs 700gm and the entire hybrid weighs 1.7kg. My CCNA book weighs 1.6 KG as reference. You are in your 20's I thought, and you are already having trouble carrying a book?
4) Power users need productivity, and the SGS is TOTALLY inefficient. One problem is screen size, which makes it difficult to perform many tasks efficiently.
Sorry, but your comments are certainly starting to raise red-flags. By the sounds of things, you either aren't being honest to yourself, are exaggerating your use as a power user, or are trying to make things difficult for yourself.
Tablets don't entirely make sense, but they do as convertible hybrids.. Smartphones make sense for some things, but I have serious trouble believing that "power users" are best suited to using a mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

i have spare batteries too.. one i leave at work in case i forget.. i also use the external wall chargers.. the onese that go from purple to blue when charged... i have a couple of the g9 batteries i got from the samsung website and find they work even better than the g7 batteries..

I'll probably stick to my SGS and HP Elitebook 2730 tablet for when I need a larger display. With the extra battery slice on the latter I can easily rival the IPad's battery life yet do a heck of a lot more. It is heavier but I don't mind.
Given that Google says Froyo isn't designed for tablet use I'll probably hold off on the Tab either way though.
____________
Any typos or other oddities in this post are brought to you by the letters G & T, the number 9000, and Swype.

funkeh said:
I've been browsing this forum for a little while now and found AllGamers threads very helpful indeed and it hasn't cost me a penny.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's usually a major thing i keep in mind, like to stick with FREE stuff, because i'm poor... well not exactly true, i just spend money like there's no tomorrow, buying whatever i feel like on the spot if it tickles my fancy.
so FREE helps a lot, LOL
99% of the apps i suggest from android market are free, as i try to save were i can, so that i can spend it else when when i go out drinking

Any further posts in this thread, by any member, that are not directly related to the thread topic (i.e. the relative merits of the Galaxy Tab vs. the regular SGS variants) will met with immediate disciplinary action.

Android looks relatively Vanilla on the Tab. Can someone use the tab firmware to cook a similar ROM for the Galaxy S?

Intratech said:
Android looks relatively Vanilla on the Tab. Can someone use the tab firmware to cook a similar ROM for the Galaxy S?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure once we (some one from XDA) can get their hands on a working unit, that might actually be possible
as the Tab shares so much in common with the SGS, except for the screen size
we might need to edit the Aspect Ratio / resolution on the Tabs ROM and we might be able to use on our phones
i like the Gmail app version running on the Tab, you can split the screen, we can't do it yet with our current version when in landscape mode
Outlook lovers will love that feature

Just bought a Acer Iconia A100 free $50 gift card...

I just bought an Acer Iconia A100 tablet this morning from my local Walmart. It included a $50 gift card. I checked all the local Walmarts a few weeks ago and they said that they had two on order per store.
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So far the A100 is running circles around my Archos 70s, that is currently on it's way back to CompUSA. Both theA100 and my Motorola Photon are now a replacement for my Alienware M11x on road trips. Even the gaming on the two is workable. I have the dock for my Photon, to use it with the full Firefox browser on a TV.
I am using a Griffin Passport Nook case, until some cases come out for the A100. It fits the tablet fine and gives it a rigid lcd protection. It does block the rear camera.

just an fyi since you just bought it. I know this week best buy is offering a 100 gift card with a purchase of the Acer tablet. You can see it on ther website on the tablet page. Maybe Walmart will match it? Edit sorry that's for the a500 not 100

A500
Walmart also has a $100 gift card on the A500.

Did you have to ask for the gift card or was it in the box?? I went to Wally Worlds site and didn't see any mention of a gift card.
thanks

Gift card...
They had a small black and white piece of paper, with the gift card details. The paper was actually covering the price of the A100. He had to open the case to see the price tag.
The sales person rang up the gift card at the register.

Just picked one up with the same deal from Walmart and I am loving this thing.
It rocks.. I have played around with quite a few tablets and I own a Nook Color with I converted to CM7, nothing I have messed with compares to this, at least for me..
I love this thing so far, size is perfect, 10" tablets are just too bulky for my liking.
Still figuring this thing out but it's a winner so far, no I need to figure out how to root it and if there are any roms for it.
Funny thing is, I like the interface so much stock, I am not in that much of a rush to change it. That's pretty unusual for me.

cellfreak said:
So far the A100 is running circles around my Archos 70s, that is currently on it's way back to CompUSA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a fellow Archos 70s user, I have a couple questions.
1) How does the battery life compare to your A70?
2) Are the charging connectors the same? In the picture they look similar. I was very disappointed that the Archos didn't support charging over USB and it looks like this is the same way. I picked up a nice 2amp USB AC adaptor and a USB to 3.5mm cable so I don't have to carry the Archos brick when travelling. It would be awesome if it would also work with the A100.

Acer Iconia A100 - Walmart and reply Re Battery Life
1. Our local Walmart has 6 - the staff didn't know they had them or what they were and had them locked up - wow big shock
2. Battery life - we once had the Archos A70 and returned it for very poor battery life - 3 hours doing nothing till zero but that said, we have heard of people getting 8 hours (partly by doing things like turning off WiFi when not needed)
3. The best I have read the Iconia A100 getting is around 5 hours which is kind of crappy but hey for a 1GB, dual core Honeycomb 3.2 at $278 - I am scooping one up and hopefully replacing Galaxy Tab 7" WiFi (which I love) but is slow and Samsung is not bringing- as far as Samsung knows - Gingerbread to the GTab WiFi

matthew2582 said:
1. Our local Walmert has 6 - the staff didn't know they had them or what they were and had them locked up - wow big shock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet they know who on the staff is sleeping with who and who's spouse is cheating. The things the plebs are knowledgeable on is laughable at best.

Walmart details
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3202793

Grabbed one this morning. Thanks to cellfreak for starting this post. I had a 16gb on preorder at Amazon, but couldn't pass up this deal. I haven't had time to do too much with it but I do like it so far.

Acer
Lord Bodak said:
As a fellow Archos 70s user, I have a couple questions.
1) How does the battery life compare to your A70?
2) Are the charging connectors the same? In the picture they look similar. I was very disappointed that the Archos didn't support charging over USB and it looks like this is the same way. I picked up a nice 2amp USB AC adaptor and a USB to 3.5mm cable so I don't have to carry the Archos brick when travelling. It would be awesome if it would also work with the A100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I'm getting around five hours of battery life. With on/off wi-fi and GPS use.
2. The chargers are different the 70 needs 5 volts and 2 amps.
The A100 need 12 volts at 1.5amps.
I bought a small GPS case that I use for the various bricks I have.
Cellfreak...

Galaxy Tab
matthew2582 said:
1. Our local Walmart has 6 - the staff didn't know they had them or what they were and had them locked up - wow big shock
2. Battery life - we once had the Archos A70 and returned it for very poor battery life - 3 hours doing nothing till zero but that said, we have heard of people getting 8 hours (partly by doing things like turning off WiFi when not needed)
3. The best I have read the Iconia A100 getting is around 5 hours which is kind of crappy but hey for a 1GB, dual core Honeycomb 3.2 at $278 - I am scooping one up and hopefully replacing Galaxy Tab 7" WiFi (which I love) but is slow and Samsung is not bringing- as far as Samsung knows - Gingerbread to the GTab WiFi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3. I sold my Galaxy Tab a while back. It was nice when it came out, but you will like the A100 much better.

fonewiz said:
Still figuring this thing out but it's a winner so far, no I need to figure out how to root it and if there are any roms for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is your way to root it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16658048&postcount=22

If ayone has problems connecting to ad-hocwifi networks such as hotspots, the fix is the same as for the A500. Search the forum for instructions on replacing the wpa_supplicant file .

cellfreak said:
The A100 need 12 volts at 1.5amps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
12V really? Wow, that's crazy in this day and age. I wish companies would stop playing these games and just let us charge over USB.

Lord Bodak said:
12V really? Wow, that's crazy in this day and age. I wish companies would stop playing these games and just let us charge over USB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really... tablets are very power hungry and its much easier, smaller and cheaper to do 12v @1.2A than 5V at 2.5A.
A standard USB cable can only carry 5v @ 0.5A. not even enough to provide power while the tablet is running.

DigitalMD said:
A standard USB cable can only carry 5v @ 0.5A. not even enough to provide power while the tablet is running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. A standard USB port can carry 5V @ 0.5A. Cell phones routinely come with 1A+ chargers. I have a 2A USB charger that I use for most of my devices.

Key word there is "charger" the charger can supply it, but a standard USB port does not supply more than 0.5 A or 500 ma. A common usb cable will neither carry nor charge more than that. Special USB power cables can in some cases because they use extra pins and wires that are not in a standard USB data cable to carry the extra current, and the companion device knows when the special cable is plugged in because the extra pins are active..

DigitalMD said:
Key word there is "charger" the charger can supply it, but a standard USB port does not supply more than 0.5 A or 500 ma. A common usb cable will neither carry nor charge more than that. Special USB power cables can in some cases because they use extra pins and wires that are not in a standard USB data cable to carry the extra current, and the companion device knows when the special cable is plugged in because the extra pins are active..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, exactly.

Acer Iconia W3 Tablet

Has anyone had the chance to use\test this tablet? On a scale from 0 to 10 what would you rate it? What are the pros and cons? Any feed back would be appriciated. Thanks.
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http://www.microcenter.com/product/414898/Iconia_W3_Tablet_PC_(W3-810-1600)_-_Silver

sinister1 said:
Has anyone had the chance to use\test this tablet? On a scale from 0 to 10 what would you rate it? What are the pros and cons? Any feed back would be appriciated. Thanks.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/414898/Iconia_W3_Tablet_PC_(W3-810-1600)_-_Silver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very pleased with my one week old one. 9 out of 10. It fulfils my needs for full windows on a tablet and makes similar sized android tablets look a bit silly, at least in respect of what you can do. But if your need is just for multimedia (and gaming I suspect) look elsewhere.
Pros:
Low price for a full Win 8 machine, and you get Office Home (for small screens) thrown in.
Very quick, hardly any lag or waiting whatever you're doing.
Battery life like the best android tabs (this was the biggest surprise). 8 to 9 hours light use. Only uses about 5% battery overnight on standby and wakes immediately.
Nicely put together hardware; feels solid (within the limitations of a cheap product). All sockets work nicely and should last.
Full USB2 host, although you have to use a (provided) adapter cable. Even seems to power a portable hard drive. YMMV.
Cons:
Screen not stunning. It's only TFT and optimised for portrait use, so in landscape, as you would tend to use Windows, left-right viewing angles are pretty poor. For work it's fine, for multimedia less so, difficult for 2 people to watch at once. Which is a shame, as the hardware acceleration seems to cope with any movie you throw at it, and smoothly. Brightness and contrast are OK though, as is resolution. I wouldn't want to use it for photo viewing.
Wifi is a bit erratic, mainly because the antenna is somewhere under where yout left hand sits when using landscape mode. In portrait mode it would be fine.
Automatic light sensor in the wrong place for landscape use - you tend to cover it with your left hand. Best to disable it.
The 32GB model only has about 10GB available to the user. It does support 32GB microSD though.
Finally, for anyone wanting to actually carry it around out and about, quite possible as it's small and light enough, there are issues. Even when it's powered right off, a short (rather than long) press on the power button turns it back on. And, when it's put on standby, even though there's a swipe operated standby screen, the timeout of this screen seems to be the same as the standard timeout. So if you've set 10mins before standby, this lock screen also takes 10mins to turn off. Doh!
Don't hesitate to ask anything I might be able to answer

Pete_S said:
I'm very pleased with my one week old one. 9 out of 10. It fulfils my needs for full windows on a tablet and makes similar sized android tablets look a bit silly, at least in respect of what you can do. But if your need is just for multimedia (and gaming I suspect) look elsewhere.
Pros:
Low price for a full Win 8 machine, and you get Office Home (for small screens) thrown in.
Very quick, hardly any lag or waiting whatever you're doing.
Battery life like the best android tabs (this was the biggest surprise). 8 to 9 hours light use. Only uses about 5% battery overnight on standby and wakes immediately.
Nicely put together hardware; feels solid (within the limitations of a cheap product). All sockets work nicely and should last.
Full USB2 host, although you have to use a (provided) adapter cable. Even seems to power a portable hard drive. YMMV.
Cons:
Screen not stunning. It's only TFT and optimised for portrait use, so in landscape, as you would tend to use Windows, left-right viewing angles are pretty poor. For work it's fine, for multimedia less so, difficult for 2 people to watch at once. Which is a shame, as the hardware acceleration seems to cope with any movie you throw at it, and smoothly. Brightness and contrast are OK though, as is resolution. I wouldn't want to use it for photo viewing.
Wifi is a bit erratic, mainly because the antenna is somewhere under where yout left hand sits when using landscape mode. In portrait mode it would be fine.
Automatic light sensor in the wrong place for landscape use - you tend to cover it with your left hand. Best to disable it.
The 32GB model only has about 10GB available to the user. It does support 32GB microSD though.
Finally, for anyone wanting to actually carry it around out and about, quite possible as it's small and light enough, there are issues. Even when it's powered right off, a short (rather than long) press on the power button turns it back on. And, when it's put on standby, even though there's a swipe operated standby screen, the timeout of this screen seems to be the same as the standard timeout. So if you've set 10mins before standby, this lock screen also takes 10mins to turn off. Doh!
Don't hesitate to ask anything I might be able to answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiFi should penetrate through your left hand without issue, I doubt that is the issue. Human flesh is near transparent as far as WiFi is concerned, bone may well be a factor though. But regardless, the antenna in these devices should not be so short that your hand can completely cover it. Only other thing I can think of is polarization, most wifi routers are polarized and as such most wifi devices have antenna with bends and kinks etc etc so that they can pick up multiple polarisations regardless of orientation, I highly doubt polarisation is the issue, I highly doubt the antenna is short enough for your hand to effect it when I can hold my phone with both hands entirely engulfing the device and still stream data from wifi while outside in the garden a fair old distance from the router.
It actually supports the entire SDXC spec supposedly so should take a 64gb card and when they are release 128 (the spec actually accounts for card capacities upto 2tb however we dont have the technology to manufacture 2tb nand flash within an SD package obviously).
That 32gb is partially consumed by the recovery (about half of it). If you follow the many guides online for creating a USB recovery drive, then test the drive to confirm that it both a) works and b) you know how to use it (common problem) then you can safely remove the recovery partition built into the device and free up a huge chunk of space.
What adaptor is required for the USB host? Is it just a standard microUSB male to USB A female as used on many android devices or is it something proprietary?

SixSixSevenSeven said:
WiFi should penetrate through your left hand without issue, I doubt that is the issue. Human flesh is near transparent as far as WiFi is concerned, bone may well be a factor though. But regardless, the antenna in these devices should not be so short that your hand can completely cover it. Only other thing I can think of is polarization, most wifi routers are polarized and as such most wifi devices have antenna with bends and kinks etc etc so that they can pick up multiple polarisations regardless of orientation, I highly doubt polarisation is the issue, I highly doubt the antenna is short enough for your hand to effect it when I can hold my phone with both hands entirely engulfing the device and still stream data from wifi while outside in the garden a fair old distance from the router.
It actually supports the entire SDXC spec supposedly so should take a 64gb card and when they are release 128 (the spec actually accounts for card capacities upto 2tb however we dont have the technology to manufacture 2tb nand flash within an SD package obviously).
That 32gb is partially consumed by the recovery (about half of it). If you follow the many guides online for creating a USB recovery drive, then test the drive to confirm that it both a) works and b) you know how to use it (common problem) then you can safely remove the recovery partition built into the device and free up a huge chunk of space.
What adaptor is required for the USB host? Is it just a standard microUSB male to USB A female as used on many android devices or is it something proprietary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regardless of the supposed penetrative capability through hands of 2.4ghz signals, I can say for sure that the hand holding the tablet at bottom left when in landscape mode causes a 4-5 bar signal (in a room directly above the wifi location) go down to 2 bars at best, sometimes 1 bar. It's quite repeatable. It might be the reason the W3 gets poor reviews in respect of wifi performance? It's a very poor internal antenna location for, what should be, a landscape device.
My phone, incidentally, prefers to be held at the bottom for best wifi performance, or at the top for best 3G!
It's good to hear higher capacity cards are supported as I didn't see a mention of SDXC, though I guess that's a function of windows rather than the hardware.
As regards drive space, I believe the 32GB model doesn't have a recovery partition, instead getting a recovery DVD, whereas the 64GB model has the recovery partition and no DVD. This is what I've read, anyway. Checking with windows disk management tools shows a couple of extra partitions of 500MB and 100MB at the "start" of the disk which appear to be unused. I don't think you could fit recovery files in that sort of space. I don't know what they're for.
The 18GB or so which you can't use simply seems to be windows, with page and hibernation files, plus the preinstalled stuff. I'm certain you could reclaim some of it. My main use is at home with a network drive, so I'm quite happy with what's left.
The adapter appears to be a standard off-the-shelf item, as you say microUSB to standard USB female.

Disabling hibernate will also free some space (by default, the hiberfile is the same size as your RAM, so it can be pretty significant). While hibernate on a mobile device is usually really nice, on a tablet I don't see the need. Any use case that involves putting it on the shelf unplugged for longer than you'd want to leave it in sleep mode should be fine with powering it off instead.
The main uses I have for hibernate are either:
A) Full-disk encryption (BitLocker) where sleep mode is less secure (because the decryption key can be recovered from the still-active RAM)
B) Emergency power-down for critical battery level (without losing any work).
Although these use cases are significant, for most people A is irrelevant and B isn't vital. Sleep mode at 10% battery remaining would still last you all day.
EDIT: To disable Hibernate, do the following:
Run an elevated CMD prompt (you can do it by right-clicking on the Start button, or selecting Command Prompt in the Start screen and choosing Run as Administrator from the app bar).
Run the following command (without the quotes) in the elevated prompt: "powercfg -H OFF"
You may want to then adjust your power profiles, if they were doing things like entering hibernate when the battery got low, so they do something else instead.

Yeah I got one too. Found it at staples for $269. I also have a Lenovo yoga, and while the Acer is obviously slower, its fine for something so small and cheap. I'm pretty happy with it. I do have one issue, and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing it. Sometimes when plugged in it gets REALLY hot on the back. When it gets this hot, it seems to stop charging. Anyone else experiencing this?

vinscuzzy said:
Yeah I got one too. Found it at staples for $269. I also have a Lenovo yoga, and while the Acer is obviously slower, its fine for something so small and cheap. I'm pretty happy with it. I do have one issue, and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing it. Sometimes when plugged in it gets REALLY hot on the back. When it gets this hot, it seems to stop charging. Anyone else experiencing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own the device so I can't have experienced this is course but I do have a fair bit of electronics knowledge. Most chargers are a higher voltage than the battery. Usually you use a switch mode regulator to drop 5v to 4.5v or so in a phone efficiently, but that's not a clean 4v signal and its still too high, you then use a capacitor to try to clean up electrical noise on the 4.5v signal and then feed it into a low dropout linear regulator to drop it to just over 3.7v for the batter, this will be a clean signal unlike the switchmode regulator however linear regulators do get very warm (can actually harm yourself on them). Often there is a polyfuss thrown into the mix aswell, essentially a self resetting fuse which is triggered with heat. I have seen in some Chinese devices to save cost they just use a linear regulator to go straight from 5v to 3.7ish, way way hotter, sometimes enough to trip the polyfuse effectively disconnecting the charger. It is possible Acer have also used a cheaper circuit or poorly located polyfuse which is tripped under normal charging conditions or your device may genuinely be faulty. A bit of heat when charging is normal though, heat in the charging signal is one if the reasons your supposed to turn your device off when charging, reduces the current draw which then reduces heat produced by any regulators on board the device.
A short could also be causing the problem

vinscuzzy said:
Yeah I got one too. Found it at staples for $269. I also have a Lenovo yoga, and while the Acer is obviously slower, its fine for something so small and cheap. I'm pretty happy with it. I do have one issue, and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing it. Sometimes when plugged in it gets REALLY hot on the back. When it gets this hot, it seems to stop charging. Anyone else experiencing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gets warm underneath the rear camera about where the Acer logo is. This happens under normal use or when just charging it, but It gets even warmer in the same location when charging whilst using it. I've not had it actually stop charging yet.
Might be best to not use it whilst charging and also place it screen down to help the heat escape. I often do this with phones and tablets because heat shortens the life of Lithium cells.
I've not witnessed *really* hot, but certainly uncomfortable for my left hand hot.

about the display
Pete_S said:
Screen not stunning. It's only TFT and optimised for portrait use, so in landscape, as you would tend to use Windows, left-right viewing angles are pretty poor. For work it's fine, for multimedia less so, difficult for 2 people to watch at once. Which is a shame, as the hardware acceleration seems to cope with any movie you throw at it, and smoothly. Brightness and contrast are OK though, as is resolution. I wouldn't want to use it for photo viewing.
Don't hesitate to ask anything I might be able to answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a question about the display. I previously used a surface rt bought from Curry's for £279 I thought the price was very low and I would be able to live without installing win32 apps but that was a huge mistake however I was able to sell my rt for £220 and saw one iconia w3 on eBay for £260 as I want a full windows tablet but also on a tight budget would it be worth buying iconia for £260 because I saw lots of review they all said the display is terrible. Is it that bad?

The display isn't the best but I have no problems reading with the Kindle app, watching movies or playing games. I love using my W3, I even sold my Note 8.0. I have a Surface Pro and this is the perfect companion device. I don't have to make any compromises or find similar programs to use.
I am a Marine and we live in the Windows world and use our ID's (combined access cards) to log into the network and various DOD websites. Using my W3 and a USB cac reader I am able to do my work on the go. The only thing it is missing is the digitizer that my Surface Pro has. If it had that I would be 110% satisfied. Hopefully someone comes out with an 8in Windows 8 device with a digitizer. I would never have to carry pen and paper again.
I have the 64 gig version, first thing I did was disable hibernate and remove the recorvery partition. I also installed a 64 gig SD. I have 18 gig free on the hard drive and 16 free on the SD. I keep media on the SD card and use the hard drive for games and programs. Also being able to just plug things in without rooting it or resorting to other tricks makes it worth it. I can just plug in an external and read it. The Nexus 7 and Note 8.0 could to but I had to download an app and root them to be able to do that.
If you want Windows in an 8 in form factor get the W3. Also it is rumored that Acer will be releasing a refresh to the W3 with a better screen since that seems to be the largest complaint people have against the device. I am unaware of anyone else releasing an 8 in Windows device, there are rumblings that Microsoft could be in the works for a 8 in Surface. Who knows but right now the Acer W3 is the only one out there and it works very well.

big_b0sss said:
I have a question about the display. I previously used a surface rt bought from Curry's for £279 I thought the price was very low and I would be able to live without installing win32 apps but that was a huge mistake however I was able to sell my rt for £220 and saw one iconia w3 on eBay for £260 as I want a full windows tablet but also on a tight budget would it be worth buying iconia for £260 because I saw lots of review they all said the display is terrible. Is it that bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The display isn't terrible. 2-3 years ago it would have been great, it's just that everything nowadays seems to come with a wide viewing angle screen, making the W3's seem old fashioned. In other respects (brightness, contrast) it's a nice screen. The difficulty comes when you're watching a movie side by side. To the left it goes quite dark, to the right it's bright and rather washed out. If you are watching it head on, it's no problem at all. In day to day use you forget any shortcomings. The reviews always pick on something and exaggerate it.
I agree with sactownbwoy; I love my new W3; it does everything and is an absolute bargain for the price. My poor Asus android tabbie spends it's time in the cupboard now

sactownbwoy said:
I have the 64 gig version, first thing I did was disable hibernate and remove the recorvery partition. I also installed a 64 gig SD. I have 18 gig free on the hard drive and 16 free on the SD. I keep media on the SD card and use the hard drive for games and programs. Also being able to just plug things in without rooting it or resorting to other tricks makes it worth it. I can just plug in an external and read it. The Nexus 7 and Note 8.0 could to but I had to download an app and root them to be able to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. Thanks for the quick reply. Would you please tell us how did u remove hibernate and recovery partition. I have just ordered a 16gig model from eBay I know it will have about 8gb of free space but its OK I will OK with it. Would be so nice if I can free up another gig
Sent from my GT-I9505G using xda premium

Please search before posting. Disabling hibernate and removing the recovery partition were discussed *ON THIS VERY FORUM* less than a week ago!

sactownbwoy said:
I am a Marine and we live in the Windows world and use our ID's (combined access cards) to log into the network and various DOD websites. Using my W3 and a USB cac reader I am able to do my work on the go. The only thing it is missing is the digitizer that my Surface Pro has. If it had that I would be 110% satisfied. Hopefully someone comes out with an 8in Windows 8 device with a digitizer. I would never have to carry pen and paper again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The smaller Windows 8 devices that have been shown are more in the realm of competing with cheapo Android devices and the poorly specced iPad mini. They're almost throwaway devices. I can only see a decent 7/8" tablet coming from Lenovo, Sony or Samsung, unless MS decides to make a Surface that small, but I doubt they would put a digitiser on it, because again, MS is looking at those devices as being budget tablets.

sinister1 said:
Has anyone had the chance to use\test this tablet? On a scale from 0 to 10 what would you rate it? What are the pros and cons? Any feed back would be appriciated. Thanks.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/414898/Iconia_W3_Tablet_PC_(W3-810-1600)_-_Silver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I have very mixed feelings about the tablet. I have two of them now. On the first one, the lower half of the screen was black and as the unit warmed up, the screen would start flashing then eventually work. I sent it back to Acer (I got it from them at a conference) for repair. They replaced some stuff, shipped it back and the result was a unit with a cracked LCD screen due to poor packaging. I'm expecting the repaired (2x) unit today so we'll see how that unit fairs.
The second unit seems ok so far. I haven't done much with it other than charge it up. The keyboard stand is nice but it would have been better if the keyboard had come with a mouse pad. Still, I ordered a Bluetooth mouse for it and we'll see.
So far I prefer my Surface Pro.

I have the 64gb unit - give it a 7/10 so far.
I'd be keen to know how far people have got dual booting the device, or inded instaling a different operating system such as Android x86 or Linux/Plasma Active..
I've found the boot selector/bios but so far it wont boot from any of my devices. Although I will try a SSD tonight I have laying around.
./P

phazey said:
I have the 64gb unit - give it a 7/10 so far.
I'd be keen to know how far people have got dual booting the device, or inded instaling a different operating system such as Android x86 or Linux/Plasma Active..
I've found the boot selector/bios but so far it wont boot from any of my devices. Although I will try a SSD tonight I have laying around.
./P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clovertrail processors are locked in their UEFI firmware to windows 8.

I would definitely recommend seeing one in person before buying, I bought and took it back within an hour, the screen is terrible and Wi-Fi only worked with in about 10 ft of my router
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I have the 64 gig model and I'm very happy with it. Even though it doesn't have an active digitizer for working with Wacom pens, the screen is the best I've ever used with a capacitive stylus. Could the display be sharper? Yes, but it's no worse than my 17" laptop. I've been impressed with the development of the Atom processor. I think Intel needs to rename them because the mere mention of an Atom processor might turn away some buyers. If you're serious about picking up one of these tablets, wipe any reviews you've read and interact with it first. Some of the posts here look as if someone read the spec sheet and dismissed it as a "throwaway" tablet without even touching it. Be your own reviewer.

Looneytoon98 said:
I have the 64 gig model and I'm very happy with it. Even though it doesn't have an active digitizer for working with Wacom pens, the screen is the best I've ever used with a capacitive stylus. Could the display be sharper? Yes, but it's no worse than my 17" laptop. I've been impressed with the development of the Atom processor. I think Intel needs to rename them because the mere mention of an Atom processor might turn away some buyers. If you're serious about picking up one of these tablets, wipe any reviews you've read and interact with it first. Some of the posts here look as if someone read the spec sheet and dismissed it as a "throwaway" tablet without even touching it. Be your own reviewer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do agree with you on the atoms they perform very well including the one in this tablet if not for the problems I mentioned above I would have kept it but I picked up a 10 inch w510 for now and I'm going to buy the 8 inch Toshiba windows tablet when it launches in a couple months. The display is hard to explain it almost looked like it was wet the entire time I was trying to use it.
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Onda V975W (aka my cheap surface alternative) Experiences

For the pictures in high resolution and a nicer format of the article, check out the original post:
http://klonom.com/onda-v975w-aka-my-cheap-surface-alternative-experiences/
And here go my first impressions of my new Onda V975W Tablet. It has Windows 8.1 (fully, no RT cr*p) preinstalled, 2 GB RAM, Bay Trail quadcore processor (each up to 1.8 GHz) and a Retina Display.
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I bought the tablet out of two main reasons. First of all my old Lenovo S10 netbook is dying slowly, so I need a replacement. Secondly I was interested in the Surface tablets, but their prices are way to high in my opinion. Obviously you get a lot for its price, but I do not really need an i7 processor in my tablet. My tablet should be powerful, but does not need to be too much, since for main tasks I still use my bigger main computer. Then my focus got on the Onda V975W tablet. I bought it at eFox for roughly 195€ with sending (slow registered air mail) und customs insurance. Although I chose slow sending, the parcel already arrived two and a half weeks later. Let’s start with the specs:
Specifications:
-Windows 8.1 (no RT)
-9.7 Zoll Display
-2048×1536 Resolution
-2 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM
-5 MP backcamera, 2 MP fontcamera (according eFox)
-MicroHDMI Output
-MicroUSB Input
-MicroSD slot
– 7800mAh Akku (according eFox)
-Intel Z3735D processor
Items delivered:
The tablet was delivered in a worthy looking box with chinese texts on it. Additionally to the tablet itself, not much was given beside. Just a short chinese manual and a charger (5V, 2.5A according to the label). There was no Windows 8.1 or Windows 365 license card put in beside, which was reported to be the case in other boards. On a request the shop answered that this would be simply not part of the product. Since I already have an unused Windows 8 license, this is not a big downside for me, but for people without this could become a hurdle when they want to reinstall Windows.
First impressions:
After the unboxing I was very surprised of the worthy look of the tablet. It is really a look-a-like of the iPad Air (so much, that even iPad Air cases can be used mostly, more on that later). The front has a camera in the top middle inside the white border. I did not try the back- or the front camera yet, I will update this later.
The back is made from brushed aluminium. It feels nicely cool when touched. On the bottom there are stereo speakers. Above them, there are product details lasered in, pretty much like at the iPad. At the top side the HW buttons are placed: Power and the volume rocker. Both seem worthy and have a nice pressure point.
At the top side the ports are placed: MicroSD, MicroHDMI, MicroUSB and headphone jack. Additionally a microphone.
First use:
I already prepared myself, that the tablet arrives in chinese language. At least that was reported for most of the V975W of the latter generations. But my Windows was already changed to english (at least most parts) and an user account called “as” was set up. And wow, the resolution looks amazing! No pixels can be determined at all on the Retina display. A few tweaks later also the last parts of remained chinese language were gone. Also the newest BIOS and drivers were installed. So I started and installed some programs like Thunderbird and Firefox and was happy, since everything ran smoothly. The CPU usage while Idle is at about 0-3%, while about 40-45% of the RAM is used. The latter one can be still optimised, for the case that no applications which heavily use the GPU are used. That’s the case, since the GPU splits up 500 MB of RAM by default. It is said that this can be reduced to 256 MB without problems, but I haven’t tried it yet. A small downside is the small internal memory, since with Windows installed there are just about 11 GB free by default. That’s why I installed most of the programms on my 64 GB microSD card.
Usage:
The touch display responds quick and after a bit getting used to, Windows 8 can be nicely navigated by touch. Just the typing I do not really like on the display. That is why I wanted to have a kind of “Type Cover” from the Surface for my V975W. Good point here, that the V975W is so close to the iPad Air, that even many cases fit. Anyhow, my first try failed. I ordered a keyboard case from Anker for the iPad Air (“Slim Folio Bluetooth Keyboard Case”). With a bit force it fitted, but not really nicely. But the second try worked out. For about 22€ I bought this case with bluetooth keyboard and it sits perfect! Just the ports can not be perfectly reached, so I cutted a small hole for the microUSB (see last picture). Also the backcamera does not sit perfectly over the hole, but this does not bother me, since I never really understood the sense of backcameras for tablets .
The keyboard can be removed (holds via magnets) and the top cover can be moved to the back, very nice for using while sitting.
The keyboard can nicely be used for typing. In fact, I am writing this article on this keyboard. After a few seconds of not using it, it goes into sleep mode and the first keyboard hit is ignored while waking up, but all in all it has a nice respond.
Battery:
The battery I can not really rate yet. According to the shop it has a capacity of 7.8 Ah. The charging takes many hours, also with the delivered charger. At normal usage the battery holds for about 6-7h. Obviously it has to be considered, that the display has a very high resolution and it has a full Windows. I will still make some tests for the battery and will update this part later.
First conclusion:
I do not want to give a final conclusion yet, since this Windows 8 tablet has so many aspects which I did not test yet and might still change my opinion. Untill now I am fully satisfied with my decision. I could not find any other tablet with preinstalled Windows and such a high resolution for this price. As an alternative for a cheap “china-Surface” it pretty much fits my needs (except the internal memory).

It does look nice! But yeah, that 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (those are OK stats for a smartphone, but kind of crap otherwise; my first-gen RT tablet has more) is a deal-killer for me. Thanks for the review though! You may want to mention the MicroSD slot in the feature list at top (better than an iPad in that way!)

Thanks for the microSD card thing, totally forgot to mention it there . Untill now everything works smooth for me, will see if it stays like that.

Ive had my v975w for just over a month now and i love it. its more than met my expectations.
its fast, well designed and battery life is very good for a windows device.
My only compliant is the micro usb is used for charging so you cant use micro usb and charge at the same time but am thats fairly common across a lot of tablets.
i now look at my desktop pc and think "should i pack that away" as i dont see the need for it anymore. (i ditched pc gaming years ago) but i feel cruel abandoning my trusty old pc like ive betrayed it, even though its just a machine, lol am weird i know

Tonian1878 said:
Ive had my v975w for just over a month now and i love it. its more than met my expectations.
its fast, well designed and battery life is very good for a windows device.
My only compliant is the micro usb is used for charging so you cant use micro usb and charge at the same time but am thats fairly common across a lot of tablets.
i now look at my desktop pc and think "should i pack that away" as i dont see the need for it anymore. (i ditched pc gaming years ago) but i feel cruel abandoning my trusty old pc like ive betrayed it, even though its just a machine, lol am weird i know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some cables which are actually capable of charging and data connection at the same time. Other users of the Onda V975W report this one as working:
http://www.pabbos.com/36884493084.shtml
Really close to get one too .

Yeah ive ordered a otg+charge cable but from what ive read, its abit hit or miss which devices actually support them.
find out when it arrives

Tonian1878 said:
Yeah ive ordered a otg+charge cable but from what ive read, its abit hit or miss which devices actually support them.
find out when it arrives
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one which I posted is reported by other Onda V975W users to work with this specific tablet.

KloNom said:
The one which I posted is reported by other Onda V975W users to work with this specific tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the one ive ordered is different. that is a USB hub within the OTG cable. ive ordered a OTG thats split, female micro USB for charge and normal female USB for OTG.
was only £1.50 so not much lost if it doesnt work. fingers crossed
any luck with cases?
Ive ordered a bluetooth Keyboard cover that is meant for the ipad air. not arrived yet but hoping it fits ok with the design being identical to the ipad air

Tonian1878 said:
the one ive ordered is different. that is a USB hub within the OTG cable. ive ordered a OTG thats split, female micro USB for charge and normal female USB for OTG.
was only £1.50 so not much lost if it doesnt work. fingers crossed
any luck with cases?
Ive ordered a bluetooth Keyboard cover that is meant for the ipad air. not arrived yet but hoping it fits ok with the design being identical to the ipad air
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can see my case in the pictures, it is also for the iPad Air. It was really cheap, around 22€ and untill now working fine. I ordered a not fitting one for the first time, but the second was a hit .

KloNom said:
You can see my case in the pictures, it is also for the iPad Air. It was really cheap, around 22€ and untill now working fine. I ordered a not fitting one for the first time, but the second was a hit .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh yeah lol. my cover arrived
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IHQ1WQU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
made up with it. fits perfectly and the design is a perfect match for the Onda v975w. nice spacing between keys as well considering its a small keyboard

Tonian1878 said:
oh yeah lol. my cover arrived
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IHQ1WQU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
made up with it. fits perfectly and the design is a perfect match for the Onda v975w. nice spacing between keys as well considering its a small keyboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks really cool! Do the keys touch the display?

KloNom said:
That looks really cool! Do the keys touch the display?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
assume you mean when its closed. no it doesnt seem to but the is also a little on/off switch on the keyboard so you can just turn it off when your closing it.
only complaint is: the is a backspace button but no delete button, so you cant press ctrl+alt+del to access the task manager but luckily windows 8 has made is easier to access the task manager without pushing ctrl+alt+del.

Tonian1878 said:
assume you mean when its closed. no it doesnt seem to but the is also a little on/off switch on the keyboard so you can just turn it off when your closing it.
only complaint is: the is a backspace button but no delete button, so you cant press ctrl+alt+del to access the task manager but luckily windows 8 has made is easier to access the task manager without pushing ctrl+alt+del.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have the same problem with the Task Manager . Still want to make an alternative shortcut for it, but for now I am just using a shortcut on the desktop.