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Okay, so I'm thinking of taking the proverbial 'plunge' and buying a tablet, and the Advent Vega is looking like a good candidate because of its price and decent spec. But I could use a bit of advice.
Firstly, I should say I'm familiar with Android and flashing ROMs etc - I have a HTC desire that I've rooted, SIM unlocked, and re-flashed many times, so the concept of flashing new ROMS is not new to me. I'm really looking for a tablet that can run Honeycomb respectably, but the Motorola Xoom and Asus Transformer are just a bit too pricey for me.
So here's what I want a tablet for. I'd be really, really grateful if someone could advice me whether the Vega will do the job.
- Web browsing and blogging - I need something I can carry around easily and type on fairly easily; I'm pretty good with onscreen keyboards so long as the hardware can keep up with my fingers.
- Gaming. I want to be able to play some of the high-end Android titles - the latest offerings from Gameloft, etc - in decent quality, ideally on Honeycomb. Can the Vega do this (with modified stock OS or VegaComb)?
- TV / Movies - I want to be able to carry films around and use the HDMI output to watch them on a big screen, without the content stuttering and jerking around.
So that's pretty much all I'm after. Will the Vega be capable of this, do you think? Or would I be better off sticking with something a little more well-known like the Samsung Galaxy Tab (which was my original intent).
Thanks for any advice you can give.
I can tell you this..
The screen isn't something to brag about, but the tablet has serious power.
Gaming (like dungeon defender or riptide gp) and browsing is usually fast and fluent. Honeycomb is still in beta for the advent, but works quite well. I havent really used the tv-out Yet, but i've heard that it can only do 720p, which is fine with me.
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
Just as an update: I got my Vega.
And I LOVE it.
Currently using Fuji VEGA ROM, as VegaComb is a bit too choppy for me, but really pleased with how well the tablet performs. Thanks for the help, peeps.
Vegacomb gets better with time, its a brilliant tablet !
You wont regret it.. I got one 5 days ago, and dont know why you would want to pay almost double for some of the other tabs...
I know some people have some gripes (viewing angles and screen being the main ones...), but weigh this up against the cost and its a no brainer IMO
Specs do state 1080p playback is possible, but Ive not tried it yet so cant comment, but not too fussed about this.. I bought it so I can watch SD video when travelling... I did read somewhere it depends on the filetype, i.e., mp4 rather than mkv...
Best £200 Ive spent in a long time!
The Verge: 7.5/10
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560084/kindle-fire-review
If you're thinking about getting the Fire, you have to decide not just whether you want a tablet, but what kind of tablet you want. This isn't an iPad-killer. It has the potential to do lots of things, but there are many things I have yet to see it do, and I wonder if it will get there given the lean software support. It's my impression that Amazon believes that the Fire will be so popular that developers will choose to work on its platform rather than on Google's main trunk of Android, but that's just a theory right now.
Still, there's no question that the Fire is a really terrific tablet for its price. The amount of content you have access to — and the ease of getting to that content — is notable to say the least. The device is decently designed, and the software — while lacking some polish — is still excellent compared to pretty much anything in this range (and that includes the Nook Color). It's a well thought out tablet that can only get better as the company refines the software. It's not perfect, but it's a great start, and at $200, that may be all Amazon needs this holiday shopping season.
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Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/amazon-kindle-fire-review/
The Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200. It's a perfectly usable tablet that feels good in the hand and has a respectably good looking display up front. Yes, power users will find themselves a little frustrated with what they can and can't do on the thing without access to the Android Market but, in these carefree days of cloud-based apps ruling the world, increasingly all you need is a good browser. That the Fire has.
When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can't compete. Its performance is a occasionally sluggish, its interface often clunky, its storage too slight, its functionality a bit restricted and its 7-inch screen too limiting if you were hoping to convert all your paper magazine subscriptions into the digital ones. Other, bigger tablets do it better -- usually at two or three times the cost.
Kindle Fire unveiled
Is a 10-inch Kindle Fire coming? Amazon says 'stay tuned'
Amazon focusing on 'lifetime' Kindle revenue, anticipating record device sales for Q4
So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen. Instead of having a standalone shopping app the entire tablet is a store -- a 7-inch window sold at a cut-rate price through which users can look onto a sea of premium content. It isn't a perfect experience, but if nothing else it's a promising look into the future of retail commerce.
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Gizmondo: 4/5
http://gizmodo.com/5858779/kindle-fire-review-the-ipad-finally-has-serious-competition
If you like what Amazon Prime has going on in the kitchen, the Fire is a terrific seat. It's not as powerful or capable as an iPad, but it's also a sliver of the price—and that $200 will let you jack into the Prime catalog (and the rest of your media collection) easily and comfortably. Simply, the Fire is a wonderful IRL compliment to Amazon's digital abundance. It's a terrific, compact little friend, and—is this even saying anything?—the best Android tablet to date.
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Bummer that all these lackluster reviews are all coming out one day too late for me to cancel my preorder. C'est la vie! Lesson learned. On the positive side, the flood of returns Amazon is likely to see may lead to an even cheaper refurbished option much sooner than expected.
The Engadget review, when read in its entirety (and not just the feel-good wrap-up), is more of a "meh" tablet whose sole saving grace is that it's cheap.
Wired also had a review, it was meh as well.
Personally, I found The Verge to be the most unbiased of the bunch.
I feel people are expecting to much from this device. For what it is I am hoping it will be a good device. First and foremost it is a Kindle NOT a tablet. Look at their page for the Kindle Fire. I did a search for tablet and the first mention of tablet was in the user comments, nothing at all from what Amazon has called it. Yes it uses Android but I think Amazon knows that this devices in NOT a tablet, it is a Kindle device that can do other activities such as stream music, watch videos and such.
Comparing this to full blown tablets I think is a bit much but it is what everyone is going to do because it runs Android so in must be a tablet.
For me I purchased this device because I wanted something a little larger than my Evo for reading books such. I didn't want to spend $400-500 for an eReader and the fact that I can also stream music and videos as well will be great I hope. I don't need something with all the bells and whistles and I expect that the vast majority of the public will use the device for what it was designed to do. Read books, magazines, watch some videos and listen to music. The people that are "power" users are less than 1% of the people that are going to buy this device is my guess.
For those power users I am sure someone will root this device soon enough and then you will be able to run probably whatever flavor of Android you want on it. I will reserve my "judgement" on this device until Wednesday when I get mine and have a chance to actually mess around with it. Worse case scenario is that I don't like it and I return it and maybe get something different, but at $200 if I can read books on it well enough, (better than on my Evo) then I will be happy and everything else is icing on the cake for me.
-Eric
>I feel people are expecting to much from this device.
The Engadget review mentions functions the KF has but didn't do well, eg the bad video streaming, the klunky navigation for comic (no pinch-zoom) and text reading, the fiddly home interface, the laggy sideloaded apps, the paltry storage, etc. These are all judging the KF on its own merit, not against a higher-end tablet.
e.mote said:
>I feel people are expecting to much from this device.
The Engadget review mentions functions the KF has but didn't do well, eg the bad video streaming, the klunky navigation for comic (no pinch-zoom) and text reading, the fiddly home interface, the laggy sideloaded apps, the paltry storage, etc. These are all judging the KF on its own merit, not against a higher-end tablet.
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It will have those bugs ironed out before the years out I bet.
Even with that said, all the reviews claim that it is not an iPad killer, which shouldn't need to be said. It never claimed to be, and at less than half the price of the iPad, it should be a decent tablet for those who can't pay the fee to be in Apple's walled garden. Whether it is a fire or the Nook Tablet, the first thing I am doing to it is finding a vanilla rom to flash. I am buying for the hardware, not the skin.
>Even with that said, all the reviews claim that it is not an iPad killer, which shouldn't need to be said. It never claimed to be
That's more in response to the many pundits' predictions that the KF will be indeed that (sales-wise, at least). I think that if the KF had performed well within its limited feature set, then that may've been a reasonable assumption.
>and at less than half the price of the iPad, it should be a decent tablet for those who can't pay the fee to be in Apple's walled garden.
It's a wash. For the lower entry price, the KF is Amazon's (considerably smaller) walled garden. Most people won't root or use custom ROM.
>Whether it is a fire or the Nook Tablet, the first thing I am doing to it is finding a vanilla rom to flash. I am buying for the hardware, not the skin.
What surprised me are all the reports of laggy operations. For an OMAP 4430 running 2.3! It tells me that the Amazon custom layer is major bloatware. I do expect both the KF and NT to get CM9 support when that happens. But with custom ROM, many of the KF amenities will likely disappear, eg Amazon cloud access.
BTW, looks like ICS src is now available.
http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/browse_thread/thread/4f85d9242667a85f?pli=1
EABonney said:
I feel people are expecting to much from this device. For what it is I am hoping it will be a good device. First and foremost it is a Kindle NOT a tablet. Look at their page for the Kindle Fire. I did a search for tablet and the first mention of tablet was in the user comments, nothing at all from what Amazon has called it. Yes it uses Android but I think Amazon knows that this devices in NOT a tablet, it is a Kindle device that can do other activities such as stream music, watch videos and such.
Comparing this to full blown tablets I think is a bit much but it is what everyone is going to do because it runs Android so in must be a tablet.
For me I purchased this device because I wanted something a little larger than my Evo for reading books such. I didn't want to spend $400-500 for an eReader and the fact that I can also stream music and videos as well will be great I hope. I don't need something with all the bells and whistles and I expect that the vast majority of the public will use the device for what it was designed to do. Read books, magazines, watch some videos and listen to music. The people that are "power" users are less than 1% of the people that are going to buy this device is my guess.
For those power users I am sure someone will root this device soon enough and then you will be able to run probably whatever flavor of Android you want on it. I will reserve my "judgement" on this device until Wednesday when I get mine and have a chance to actually mess around with it. Worse case scenario is that I don't like it and I return it and maybe get something different, but at $200 if I can read books on it well enough, (better than on my Evo) then I will be happy and everything else is icing on the cake for me.
-Eric
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Kindle Fire: #1 selling TABLET on Amazon.com
There's another review here :
http://jpae.squarespace.com/food-fo...kindle-fire-wont-kill-the-ipad-2-however.html
dont' think i've ever had a device so locked down that wasn't a total dog with this little talk going on. Bravo amazon... you broke XDA
Someone had to say it
I keep telling myself not to regret this purchase yet....just wait a little longer, but the lack of talk going on in the HDX forum is quite depressing and far from reassuring
Am I the only one who likes the tablet as-is without any modifications? The app selection leaves a bit to be desired but all the major media apps are represented (Spotify, Rdio, Hulu, Netflix, etc...) and there are plenty of games available. The only thing that irks me is not being able to play content I already purchased on Google Play, but it's not enough to kill the device for me.
I used to feel myself regretful until I have discovered 1mobile market. Now, beside I cannot change wallpaper, I have decent launcher and a market that is comparable to the Google play. Ok root and custom rooms would be nice, also do I enjoy using HDX. Even, I could choice one more time, I would still (wait ) take HDX because it's specs and weight.
Before buying the HDX I've tried high end Asus and Samsung devices, which were really of poor quality and performance (user experience, not synthesized benchmarks).
I don't think this is over yet....
I do not think it's impossible to root Amazon Kindle HDX, as long as there is developers who keeps this project alive, there is still hope! Why is it so hard to root the last update! Wouldn't it be good to discuss this at a thread in the forum? How far have you come? Where in the process is it impossible to reach further? Then we could help each other! Will Amazon really emerge victorious out of this battle? I think not!
raptir said:
Am I the only one who likes the tablet as-is without any modifications? The app selection leaves a bit to be desired but all the major media apps are represented (Spotify, Rdio, Hulu, Netflix, etc...) and there are plenty of games available. The only thing that irks me is not being able to play content I already purchased on Google Play, but it's not enough to kill the device for me.
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Had I done more proper research, I would have gone with the Nexus 7 to be honest. I'm not a fan of this device in it's default form. I know I made the mistake of jumping in based on specs and a sale that was going on at the time, but I wish it were more Android through and through. I'm not a fan of the Amazon Fire OS GUI, and not being able to get Gapps by default was a serious oversight on my part....that's my main regret. The device performs just fine and the specs don't disappoint. I simply should have done more research on the rooting and unlocking bootloader side
dimi5 said:
I used to feel myself regretful until I have discovered 1mobile market. Now, beside I cannot change wallpaper, I have decent launcher and a market that is comparable to the Google play. Ok root and custom rooms would be nice, also do I enjoy using HDX. Even, I could choice one more time, I would still (wait ) take HDX because it's specs and weight.
Before buying the HDX I've tried high end Asus and Samsung devices, which were really of poor quality and performance (user experience, not synthesized benchmarks).
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Atise said:
I do not think it's impossible to root Amazon Kindle HDX, as long as there is developers who keeps this project alive, there is still hope! Why is it so hard to root the last update! Wouldn't it be good to discuss this at a thread in the forum? How far have you come? Where in the process is it impossible to reach further? Then we could help each other! Will Amazon really emerge victorious out of this battle? I think not!
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I guess I should add that I am still one of the lucky ones. I do have root still and as long as I keep playing it safe, I don't see me ever losing root. With that said, I guess my depressed and non-reassuring comment is a bit more selfish and on the getting an unlocked bootloader side of things. Of course, I definitely don't see that happening until a new root is found to get everyone back at the same place with root access.
icedtrip said:
Had I done more proper research, I would have gone with the Nexus 7 to be honest. I'm not a fan of this device in it's default form. I know I made the mistake of jumping in based on specs and a sale that was going on at the time, but I wish it were more Android through and through. I'm not a fan of the Amazon Fire OS GUI, and not being able to get Gapps by default was a serious oversight on my part....that's my main regret. The device performs just fine and the specs don't disappoint. I simply should have done more research on the rooting and unlocking bootloader side
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I have a first-gen Nexus 7 and was considering the 2013 model but decided on the Kindle Fire HDX even knowing that it couldn't be rooted. My usage of the Nexus 7 was mostly reading (through the Kindle app) and watching videos (Hulu, Netflix). I played a few games on it but I'm fine with Amazon's selection. I went with the Kindle HDX because I could get 64GB of storage for only slightly more than the 32GB Nexus 7 and also gain support for Prime Instant Video.
Edit: I will say, I like being able to tinker with my Nexus 5 but I feel that the enhancements that come with custom ROMs are more important to me on a phone rather than a tablet. With a tablet I typically open a single app and use that for a prolonged period of time so I don't see much of the interface.
Yep. I agree with raptir. It was fun while it lasted but I notice now, I don't even need custom ROM. As long as I have my prime and xbmc, life is good.
Sent from my LG-D800 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I am doing the exact same thing I did with my 16GB Nook Tablet noneHD version when I had it for 2 years. I upgraded to the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 for the larger screen and newer hardware for movie playback across the network via DLNA. I also use it for reading and have finished several books on it and the Nook alike. Nook was running CM 10 but I felt like I could have just kept the basic B&N OS around for what I did with it. I still feel the same way about the Kindle Fire HDX. Stock handles everything I throw at it and I can keep my apps updated thanks to 1mobile. Things like Skifta and MX player along with Cool Reader for epub and mobi formatted books that I have had forever and did not get through amazon. For me the kindle/nook are Media consumption devices and they fill that roll pretty nicely with stock. The kindle more so becuase of the updated OS and larger screen along with newer hardware that is capible of 1080p playback via network unlike the nook where it would struggle with 720p playback for me.
IMHO, it's a fine MEDIA device, but not so much a regular tablet.
kschang said:
IMHO, it's a fine MEDIA device, but not so much a regular tablet.
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Pay attention. The Tech Geeks have decreed that this tablet must die. It must fail simply because Amazon has decided to be douchy about it. It must no be rooted and it must not be recommend. Amazon worked very hard to get this. I for one am going to do all I can to give them what they want. Kindle needs to go the way of the Nook which actually was better than kindle but not as popular imho lol. Regardless, Death to the kindle line.
kschang said:
IMHO, it's a fine MEDIA device, but not so much a regular tablet.
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i agree... however if i didnt' have amazon instant i wouldnt' even like it for that. my feedly crashes constantly, and i get way too many random reboots on this thing.
HOWEVER its become my treadmill partner thanks to the ability to download amazon instant
Pay attention. This thing is hard to hack, therefore it must die.
Listen to yourself saying that, 100 times.
kschang said:
IMHO, it's a fine MEDIA device, but not so much a regular tablet.
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I guess that's where my opinion may differ from others'. To me, a tablet is primarily a media device. Movies, TV shows, books, games, news, etc... which all work great on the Fire. Productivity is the one place that it really falls short, but even with my Nexus 7 I still prefer my laptop for productivity.
just keep it offline for the next few months...an exploit is going to be found and published, it's happened with the previous firmware versions...
raptir said:
I guess that's where my opinion may differ from others'. To me, a tablet is primarily a media device. Movies, TV shows, books, games, news, etc... which all work great on the Fire. Productivity is the one place that it really falls short, but even with my Nexus 7 I still prefer my laptop for productivity.
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Depends on the media content. You can mostly work.around the YouTube issues with Google services, but that is a disadvantage other tablets don't have. I watch a lot of flash content on streaming movie sites and have found some ways to work around nuisances on most sites as well but without a good rooted pop-up blocker it is a disadvantage . It streams Amazon content fairly well but I learned how to do that long ago on a regular tablet. The screen is very nice and smooth though.
To the other guy. It isnt that the tablet must die because it's hard to hack. The tablet must die to teach corporations that they either give the public what they want or they lose. Simple pleasures I enjoy every day on normal tablets are either un attainable on the hdx or difficult at best, even if the build quality is excellent, and the hardware is outstanding Amazon needs an attitude adjustment.
FireOS is NOT Android. Never claimed to be. The current result is quite workable dual-use. I can use Unbeloved Host and/or AdAway and/or Chrome to block most ads. Amazon never designed an Android tablet. Amazon designed an AMAZON tablet (which happens to run an Android Fork).
Your "boycott" of Kindle HDX line is not going to have ANY effect on Amazon except deprive yourself, but then, you already own one. At best it's a mixed message. And you show a distinct lack of faith on ingenuity of the XDA Developer Community.
I have both Google Play services running fine along side Amazon services. I Chromecasted a bunch of cat videos to my TV today (there are two cats in the house). I download from both app stores, sometimes simultaneously. I am rooted and Xposed and Safestrapped and so on and so forth.
In other words, it's basically what you're willing to live with. Your have a different tolerance point than I do. The difference is you want Amazon to go against its nature and give you what you want, whereas I decided that the current HDX (well, technically last year's HDX) is quite usable as is with a few hacks.
Just because people aren't talking doesn't mean they aren't trying to work on it. Things come to those that are patient.
kschang said:
FireOS is NOT Android. Never claimed to be. The current result is quite workable dual-use. I can use Unbeloved Host and/or AdAway and/or Chrome to block most ads. Amazon never designed an Android tablet. Amazon designed an AMAZON tablet (which happens to run an Android Fork).
Your "boycott" of Kindle HDX line is not going to have ANY effect on Amazon except deprive yourself, but then, you already own one. At best it's a mixed message. And you show a distinct lack of faith on ingenuity of the XDA Developer Community.
I have both Google Play services running fine along side Amazon services. I Chromecasted a bunch of cat videos to my TV today (there are two cats in the house). I download from both app stores, sometimes simultaneously. I am rooted and Xposed and Safestrapped and so on and so forth.
In other words, it's basically what you're willing to live with. Your have a different tolerance point than I do. The difference is you want Amazon to go against its nature and give you what you want, whereas I decided that the current HDX (well, technically last year's HDX) is quite usable as is with a few hacks.
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I'm not depriving myself in any way. I own literally dozens of tablets. I never claimed kindle as an android tablet. I claim it as an inferior product because it's OS holds it back since it is limited in many aspects that both Apple and Android have excelled in. Your argument is fragmented and invalid. You had to root in order to achieve your results. Asking for simple things such as a keyboard that half works or some control over turning off double space to period, simple things like widgets, well if that is against Amazon's nature then yes I am quite against Amazon tablets lol.
It's been a little more than 14 months since the Ouya was released last year on June 25th, 2014, which is a decent amount of time to let the device mature.
I bought the device with XBMC in mind, with a chance of a little game development if I ever had the time (I haven't had the time, unfortunately). Today, I still use my Ouya almost daily, but it's almost exclusively for XBMC.
As an XBMC box, I am fairly happy with it, although the streaming and overall UI performance of the overall device could be better. I was into emulation early on when I first bought the Ouya, and it played some retro games sufficiently although it wasn't spectacular with performance and bug issues in the emulators. The controller lag on my Ouya has been unbearable at times, but I had a few controllers replaced by Ouya Inc, which alleviates some of the issues.
As far as installing custom firmware and tweaks, I haven't had too much time to research into an effective combination to improve my experience with the device. In fact, I haven't had a chance to research into the cool things I can do with this little box yet.
All in all, I am fairly happy with my Ouya, and I don't regret the purchase at all, but I am curious what the community thinks of the Ouya after being out in the wild for a year.
Do you still use your Ouya? How so? What apps and programs are you running on it? What games do you play on it? What custom firmware do you run on it?
For xbmc it is OK, I upgraded to a chromebox for my main unit. Kids like playing with it. Emulators work decent. It is now in my kids playroom and they mainly watch cartoons on it. Some Mario and king of monsters. No custom software. I wouldn't say I regret it but I probably should of read up more before buying
nice paperweight
When I first got my ouya I tried some games from the Discover section. They were alright but overall I felt I was just paying too much for android games just because this was boasted as a console. I had hoped for controller support for apps like Minecraft PE or Terraria but neither ever came. It sat in my room for several months as a paperweight and a reminder to not be so quick to back things on Kickstarter. Finally I went to update it and then flash a custom rom onto it and the microusb port was shot. I had to get it replaced so they gave me a refurbished Ouya... not a new one, not even an old one with my KS case back, just a plain case. I updated it and honestly haven't done much with it since. I tried setting it up as a chromecast but it didn't work so it's back to being a paperweight and still works to this day when it comes to keeping me from binge-funding on Kickstarter.
Some games I have enjoyed on it are Amazing Frog, Final Fantasy III (even though it's the same graphics as the Nintendo DS... which I have), and a handful of emulators. I would've bought Towerfall if it wasn't the same price as the PC version. Nothing justifies paying $15 for an android app imo
I bought my Ouya a year ago and I never regret it. I use it every day with XBMC. But these days I tried to play some retro games on emulator SFC NES etc. Super Metroid is fun. Honestly,Ouya platform lacks amazing games. Townfall is great but will you pay almost $15 for it? The only app I bought on Ouya is a sleep app that can emulate sounds of sea waves and stream. The steam machine would replace my Ouya in the future. I'd rather pay money for PC games because of the quality and game experience.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
eluong said:
It's been a little more than 14 months since the Ouya was released last year on June 25th, 2014, which is a decent amount of time to let the device mature.
I bought the device with XBMC in mind, with a chance of a little game development if I ever had the time (I haven't had the time, unfortunately). Today, I still use my Ouya almost daily, but it's almost exclusively for XBMC.
As an XBMC box, I am fairly happy with it, although the streaming and overall UI performance of the overall device could be better. I was into emulation early on when I first bought the Ouya, and it played some retro games sufficiently although it wasn't spectacular with performance and bug issues in the emulators. The controller lag on my Ouya has been unbearable at times, but I had a few controllers replaced by Ouya Inc, which alleviates some of the issues.
As far as installing custom firmware and tweaks, I haven't had too much time to research into an effective combination to improve my experience with the device. In fact, I haven't had a chance to research into the cool things I can do with this little box yet.
All in all, I am fairly happy with my Ouya, and I don't regret the purchase at all, but I am curious what the community thinks of the Ouya after being out in the wild for a year.
Do you still use your Ouya? How so? What apps and programs are you running on it? What games do you play on it? What custom firmware do you run on it?
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I painted mine like rubix cube
So yeah its got XBMC on it ... but i dont know maybe throw KK on it if i can try to use it to play some emulators
Buh-bye Ouya...got an Amazon FireTV and never looked back. Dammit, I even paid 20$ to get a Noctua silent fan (the original was driving me nuts). Any takers?
One year later I'm still using my Ouya regularly.
I’ve had my Ouya for over a year and have had a great experience with it. The system was ‘as advertised’ where you get a base system and with research, effort, a “do it yourself attitude”, a little know how, and patience can get something good out of it. It was designed for the casual gamer, designers, and modders. A selective audience, so I wasn’t expecting the instant gratification of a 5 star product with all the bells and whistles or components that weren’t yet released. In the end, the system is as good as YOU make it.
Currently I’m using it as a media center as well as a gaming platform with CM11 being the primary OS with the Ouya Everywhere framework on top (it works!). When I’m not using a hub for keyboard and mouse I keep a micro 64GB Drive for additional storage in the USB port.
Additional Apks for performance and operation tweaking such as Folder Mount, Screen Rotation, RamExpander, Ouya Mod Collection, ES File Explorer, Clean Master, Air Droid, Shutdown Menu 2.1, Tincore Keymapper, and QuickShortcutMaker.
Media includes: XBMC, Crackle, Viewster, CW, Fox Now, CBS, NBC, History, PBS Kids, Watch Disney, UVideos, WatchESPN, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, FilmOn, Giniko TV, SPB TV, Twitch, AllCast Reciever
Games include (Note: no “tweaking” needed to be done. Just install and enjoy.): SoulCalibur (Android Version), Asphalt 8, Shadowgun, Dead Trigger 2, Dream League Soccer, Skiing Fred, Sonic CD(Amazon), Sonic 4ep I & II, Cordy 2, Tiny Little Racing 2, N.O.V.A.3, EDGE Extended(Amazon), Riptide GP2, ,Zen Pinball, PPSSPP, Neon Shadow(Ouya Store), Tetris Battle Fusion(Ouya Store), Other Emulators(Ouya Store)
Now there were some setbacks where there were some Google/Amazon games that have controller support but I have not yet been able to get to work on Ouya even with CM11. (Respawnables, Shadow Fight 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, ShadowGun: DeadZone)
Are there better things out there now? Yes. With effort, can this product still be useful for video and gaming? Yes.
Not a gamer, well exceded my expectations for video/server
Very happy with it, played with games a bit but was underwhelmed. To be fair I get bored with current gen consoles too.
I've got CM11 with Kodi (XBMC 14), Netflix, google music, and assorted A/V apps.
Also have sickbeard, nbzget, transmission, and a few other Linux untils installed via optware.
I bought to replace a pogoplug running Arch linux and an older wd frontend device.
Works phenomenally, even plays 10bit mkv without major issue.
To be fair any decent current android stick/STB could likely handle what I need. When bought is was the best performance per dollar.
If buying now I'd get a http://www.solid-run.com/ cubox-1 eSata, 2 usb, gigabit lan.
Probably still run android on the top, linux userland on the bottom.
Controller is hopeless though. Hausbell h7 is good and only $15, just a minor twaek to the .kl file and great
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9996LA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
How much?
Ipse_Tase said:
Buh-bye Ouya...got an Amazon FireTV and never looked back. Dammit, I even paid 20$ to get a Noctua silent fan (the original was driving me nuts). Any takers?
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Wouldn't mind another ouya for my camp. How much ya want?
dougunder said:
Wouldn't mind another ouya for my camp. How much ya want?
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Would be too much trouble to ship to US...I am in Canada.
New to OUYA and loving it !
Goal:
To have media center and information KIOSK in Smart Electric Vehicle.
The OUYA is 12 volt and I am using Insignia HDTV also 12 volt.
Next step is to check power quality of DC to DC (12v) converter in car.
OUYA rumored to be at risk on noisy power in ICE vehicle.
Samsung Tab 2 on Verizon will be HOT Spot with Beagle Bone Black as Web Server.
Also installed XDA One with limited use due to navigation hassles.
I'm considering buying one soon
Was fun to tinker with, but gets no use now
The ouya was a cool idea that never really paid out. I bought mine last xmas, downloaded xbmc, rooted it and played a few ps1 games on an emulator and never used it again. It never receieved the support it deserved and was forgotten mostly because of that. I still check in on these forums time to time just to check if anyone has completed any useful custom roms, but no luck yet(still waiting on that Android TV port). I have a chromecast, netflix and a macbook so XBMC feels pretty bad to me tbh. Everytime I want to use XBMC it has to update all the addons, then half the time the primewire app doesn't even work, and I'll have to try project free TV(which only works about half the time as well). So netflix or streaming off my macbook via chromecast is almost always the better option. I would like to see some more life in my ouya again, but just about all my other devices function better. An Android gaming system is a very cool concept, it sucks that the execution was so poor/supporting apps are so few.
Disappointed...
The device has potential but or the lack of software or the fact that are cheap Android Sticks out there that can do almost the same makes me feel disappointed...
Have one and i only use it for XBMC/Kodi, but my Raspberry Pi is able to handle that too so...
Bought it like many others as the best hardware for the price at the time. Primarily for XBMC with the potential for Android Apks to unleash further potential
Probably wish I had gone with Amazon Fire TV in hindsight.
It now sits gathering dust - Chromecast is used for all the kids stuff - cartoons etc
And I have an AMlogic Minix X8H for XBMC/SPMC - which I like and may look to install alternative ROMs etc.
It's nice. I can't say I love it, but I don't hate it, either. I had some fun with three or four games, and I sometimes emulate something on it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I don't regret buying it.
The Ouya is a good dust-collector now.
The fan is too loud for using it as TV Multimedia player. The lags are too big for using it as SNES-Emulator. There is still no easy-to-install Linux port, since the community wasn't interested in the Ouya.
So all in all it is a big fail. But the controllers are good, I use them when I emulate SNES in Windows now (where it works fine and without lags).
Pkmns said:
It's nice. I can't say I love it, but I don't hate it, either. I had some fun with three or four games, and I sometimes emulate something on it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I don't regret buying it.
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Nicely said. Never understood why they did not include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon? This made it so I had to shut off my Ouya and use another box for these apps or sideload them (much cleaner on Fire or android tv anyway). The lack of leadership in the public eye has really hurt them?Have heard next to nothing from Julie in a good while? Then there is the outdated chipset to me putting the old model back in stock would not be a good business move for Ouya just my opinion. I have had issues with there forum very poor additude!
Hi,
I currently have a Roku, firetv and raspberry pi for Kodi and emulation and I would like something which I like one device to rule them all - Kodi, prime video, Plex and Netflix all in one. Shield can do that - which is great!
However, I'm struggling to justify the cost. Aside from the 2019 rehashed version putting the price up a bit, I'm starting to feel Nvidia may give up on this platform in a couple of years with stadia and other providers taking the streaming gaming market. £200 is a lot to waste if they dump it in a couple of years.
So my current setup is I use Roku daily, and Kodi for some films at weekends, and I have a second SD card for emulation. Why would I spend £199 on this when I could replace my Roku and RPI with newer 4k models for a cheaper price?
There are also alternatives although I'm struggling to find a similarly CPU powered unit for this money. On the emulation front I would really like to get to GameCube and 1080p N64, let alone Dreamcast. Annoyingly, all this can be emulated on my powerful android phone! But I don't want a phone or a switch like dock - I want something wired in.
So alternatives here are like odroid or other RPI like cards which provide the grunt and power, but more these would be a Kodi box replacement rather than the one device to rule them all. HTPCs are out of the question afaik as they would be too expensive, but is this still the case?
(Please note, this thread is intentionally blunt to drive out conversation)
even if nvidia dumps it in a few years itll still b the best you can buy.. i also have all those devices and none of them even get close to the shield for years running..
heck, the 2017 model still holds its own against the 2019 model..
also i think the game streaming argument is not even an argument lol.. i can almost guarantee any device google or anyone else will put out will still not come close to the shield.. not to mention if its a streaming service.. nvidia is officially supporting android tv os so dont be surprised if the services become available on the shield down the road..
to top it off, nvidia has been streaming games just fine for years now so they definitely have a leg up already in that aspect also..
i alsi think the price argument is not valid.. you get what you pay for lol.. im sure if u went with a shield to start you wouldnt have wasted money on shotty rokus or pis.. the amount of $$$ you already spent on sub par devices probably amounts to more than you wouldve paid for a shield
It depends on what you want to do with it.
For pure movie watching the Shield's PQ is just not very good. I highly recommend picking up a cheap Amlogic based Android box and installing CoreELEC on it. For the money they can't be beat, and the PQ is leaps and bounds ahead of the Shields. I have a $30 S912 generic box with CoreELEC on it and it looks amazing compared to my $200 Shield.
Hi
Wagmans said:
It depends on what you want to do with it.
For pure movie watching the Shield's PQ is just not very good. I highly recommend picking up a cheap Amlogic based Android box and installing CoreELEC on it. For the money they can't be beat, and the PQ is leaps and bounds ahead of the Shields. I have a $30 S912 generic box with CoreELEC on it and it looks amazing compared to my $200 Shield.
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I've not noticed any picture quality differences between Amlogic and Nvidia Shield, besides given it's all digital and decoding is easy and just mathematics, why should the picture quality be different? Something else may be going on with the setup perhaps?
I've really wanted to love Amlogic, but what I have found with Amlogic is bugs, I've not found a box yet that will play video back without some issue (frame's being drop, strange artefacts, issues with HDMI frame rates, or no support for streaming services due to not having the necessary DRM etc), now this isn't so much the fault of Amlogic but the rubbish support of the cheap Chinese manufacturers that don't test or update their software, and third party firmware not having access to the latest codecs and drivers to improve the situation. The S905x2, I tried 2 different boxes and countless different ROMs and couldn't stop it from having issues with decoding certain videos, videos that played without issue everywhere else, including the Amlogic S905 non x2, but that had other issues! In the end I bought an Nvidia Shield and have had no problems at all.
Regards
Phil
PhilipL said:
Hi
I've not noticed any picture quality differences between Amlogic and Nvidia Shield, besides given it's all digital and decoding is easy and just mathematics, why should the picture quality be different? Something else may be going on with the setup perhaps?
I've really wanted to love Amlogic, but what I have found with Amlogic is bugs, I've not found a box yet that will play video back without some issue (frame's being drop, strange artefacts, issues with HDMI frame rates, or no support for streaming services due to not having the necessary DRM etc), now this isn't so much the fault of Amlogic but the rubbish support of the cheap Chinese manufacturers that don't test or update their software, and third party firmware not having access to the latest codecs and drivers to improve the situation. The S905x2, I tried 2 different boxes and countless different ROMs and couldn't stop it from having issues with decoding certain videos, videos that played without issue everywhere else, including the Amlogic S905 non x2, but that had other issues! In the end I bought an Nvidia Shield and have had no problems at all.
Regards
Phil
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Click to collapse
The note about HDMI quality - so a couple of things. Believe it or not, a decent cable can make a difference in visual quality, in particular the colour in which with a decent cable you can get much richer and warmer colour along with better looking bitrate image. Hard to believe I know as it's only digital - but if the cable does not deliver a consistent bit rate then you see degradation on the image - particularly on large 4k screens.
However, the thing that makes the most difference is the source. If you have a quality source, then you get quality output. I've heard the shield suffers from bland colourisation, along with some screen tearing. For £200 I would expect it to match the quality of my 4k Blu-ray, which from what I'm hearing it doesn't.
I wasn't quite thinking of the armlogic route but it is something of consideration as they are indeed cheap. The question here - is a £200 device that much better image and does it have that many features to warrant the £200. I'm not sure it does, but it would be good to obtain some objective feedback.
On a side note, if I wanted the most powerful emulation device for the same money, is the Nvidia the answer? Ideally I would like to run GameCube games (as getting out the old box and games is a bit annoying), but I hear dolphin emulation struggles on the Nvidia (mainly down to poor optimization, the hardware should be capable). Is there such a device and ideally one that can run Kodi also.