Chinese Tablets

_Kaiser_

Hey all,

So I recently bought a 7" Android Tablet from FocalPrice after being inspired by the recent Bargain Alerts thread on them - cost me €65 for a Dual Core 7" tablet with JB, HDMI out etc

EXCEPT...
- It took a month to arrive (ordered on the 28th Jan, arrived 28th Feb)
- Cost me €20 in Customs charges
- Has a nice deep crack right across the screen and is therefore unusable

So while I now see what my refund options are with FocalPrice, I'm looking for somewhere else to get one. The Ainol Hero II Quad Core with IPS and HDMI looks like it might fit the bill nicely.

Anyone any thoughts on where to get one at a good price, and without getting stung by customs?

Cheers

Jarren

Maybe something like this

http://www.ebuyer.com/432600-sumvision-cyclone-voyager-tablet-pc-cycvoy101bt?

robbie67

I had the same trouble with 7" tablet with focalprice tablet arrived cracked opened a RMA requests with them ,
i was told if Iwanted a replacement i would have to send it back to China I pay the postage and might take 2 months to get there so it would not be worth my while
In the end i got $24 credit I bought a 10"tablet of Amazon works great

jozi

I bought 2x Ainol novo crystals for myself and mam. Mams is flying a long no problems, mine had problems with the screen. Apart from the screen problem mine was fine to use, there seems to be a ok user base as well for them.

_Kaiser_

Just to update this...

I went with the Hero II in the end from that site - took just under 2 weeks to arrive (just in time for the long weekend )
No customs charges this time either using that site.

Having played with it a few days now I'm pretty impressed.

- Screen is excellent at any angle

- It's smooth/quick enough most of the time but there is a bit of lag here and there. Hopefully this will be sorted out in future updates

- I chose the English settings option so it came already set that way.

- Google Play is preinstalled and works fine. Some of the apps I use on my Galaxy Note 2 didn't show so I just copied the apk's over and installed that way (AdAway, Google Talk, Whatsapp)

- There is a fair bit of Chinese bloatware that you can't get rid of (using Link2SD in my case) but at least it can be frozen using that app and that does the same job really.

- Comes already rooted which is a plus

- There's some occasional creaking from the case but nothing I can't live with. General quality and feel of the tablet seems very good

- Battery life seems excellent (bout a day with medium use and JuiceDefender installed) but takes an age to fully charge - as in overnight. Doesn't charge from USB so using the supplied charger and UK/IE plug adapter

- Despite reports of WLAN strength problems, mine seems ok - not at max but no drop outs either

- Video playback seems a bit variable though - bit of lag with HD files. That said I've streamed it from my media server to the tablet or using streaming sites and hooking up to the TV with HDMI rather than local files on the tablet itself. Note it's a smaller size HDMI port on the tablet so you'll need the right cable to plug it in to the TV.
There are reports that the video chipset isn't up to much though so that might be part of the issue. I did try one or two games I have on the Note 2 and there was definite lagging.

- Chrome doesn't work on it properly (rendering issue I'm guessing as you get what looks like a black jagged triangle in the bottom of the window). Dolphin doesn't seem to work right with my streaming sources (does on the Note 2 though) but the default browser seems fine so that'll do.

All in all, for the price I paid I'm happy enough though. I bought it as a browser, emails, e/comic-reader, and using Tablet Talk (from the Play Store) I can even view and reply to my text messages from it. For the rest I have the Note 2 and a decent spec laptop

mailburner

am sick to death of my ipad
no flash is killing it for me
hate the thought of spending this much on a
tablet coming all the way from china
wondering if its any good or if anyone has one?

http://www.focalprice.com/CE0339X/Freelander_PD80_97_Android_411_Quad_Core_A31_16GHz_Tablet_PC_with.html#.UUeLRBeeOSo

_Kaiser_

mailburner wrote: »

am sick to death of my ipad
no flash is killing it for me
hate the thought of spending this much on a
tablet coming all the way from china
wondering if its any good or if anyone has one?

http://www.focalprice.com/CE0339X/Freelander_PD80_97_Android_411_Quad_Core_A31_16GHz_Tablet_PC_with.html#.UUeLRBeeOSo

Well whatever about the tablet itself, I'd be wary of ordering from FocalPrice again given my original order (and someone else's above) arrived with a cracked screen and wasn't worth the hassle/cost of return so effectively money down the drain. Plus you'll likely get stung for Customs charges as well.

The ainol-novo site/order was fine though and accepts PayPal too.

jozi

Don't use Pandawill either, horrible to deal with

Fiskar

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Well whatever about the tablet itself, I'd be wary of ordering from FocalPrice again given my original order (and someone else's above) arrived with a cracked screen and wasn't worth the hassle/cost of return so effectively money down the drain. Plus you'll likely get stung for Customs charges as well.

The ainol-novo site/order was fine though and accepts PayPal too.

Two questions,what amount extra did Customs charge and what delivery courier was used?

Thinking of getting Novo 7 Venus but woundering if a nexus 7 case would fit it?

_Kaiser_

Fiskar wrote: »

Two questions,what amount extra did Customs charge and what delivery courier was used?

Thinking of getting Novo 7 Venus but woundering if a nexus 7 case would fit it?

Customs charged me an extra €20 and it was sent via local post rather than courier and took a month to arrive.

Your money but I wouldn't buy from them (FocalPrice) again myself. For me it was €85 down the drain.

jozi

Fiskar wrote: »

Two questions,what amount extra did Customs charge and what delivery courier was used?

Thinking of getting Novo 7 Venus but woundering if a nexus 7 case would fit it?

You would have to check the measurements but I doubt they are the same.

I just took delivery of one of these: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-Freeshipping-Original-Cheese-Ainol-Novo-7-VENUS-Dual-Core-case/779209818.html

My tablet is awaiting a new screen to arive so I've not used the case yet.

The Mulk

I bought one of these tablets following on from the thread in Bargain Alerts (now closed).
Bided my time and went for a 3000 mAh battery, using it for a while and realised the battery life was crap, compared to my HP Touchpad which has a 6300 mAh, approx. 2 hours on wifi or playing a movie from SD card. I openend it up and seen it was a 1400 mAh battery inside.:mad:
So I've fitted a 1000 mAh battery from an old sony erricsson phone, in parallel with the existing battery, to try and boost it up a bit.
Battery life was the only bad thing with these, as far as I'm concerned, hopefully this works and I may buy a bigger battery in a while.
I'll post results and pics later

The Mulk

Got approx an extra hour from the added battery, maybe longer when browsing or using as an e-reader.
I'll keep an eye out for a larger capacity battery that will fit, it was fairly handy to open up.
The black battery is the original and the silver one is the new one.

loi09

Could someone please tell me about the goopad mini only 89 euro http://www.orientdeal.com/pre-sales-...ybean-ios.html is it worth and is it a good general tablet for browsing and video watching and battery life all information is greatly welcomed .

Overheal

loi09 wrote: »

Could someone please tell me about the goopad mini only 89 euro http://www.orientdeal.com/pre-sales-...ybean-ios.html is it worth and is it a good general tablet for browsing and video watching and battery life all information is greatly welcomed .

If you want to buy cheap off-brand products, you're going to have a cheap off-brand experience. Just saying.

arrianalexander

very tempted but then i saw this but its not a known brand

http://www.ainol-novo.com/ainol-novo-10-hero-ii-10-1-inch-quad-core-tablet-pc-dual-camera-wifi-hdmi-bluetooth-gps-16gb.html

jozi

I've got a 7" Ainol, while I had some problems with mine, my mothers has been flawless. There seems to be decent on-line forum support for them also.

arrianalexander

jozi wrote: »

I've got a 7" Ainol, while I had some problems with mine, my mothers has been flawless. There seems to be decent on-line forum support for them also.

what problems had you ?

jozi

Screen broke pretty much out of the box. Bit of a pain dealing with the seller to come to a resolution, sending it back would have been the cost of the tablet or more, apparently you can't courier things with batteries either. In the end I got a few quid out of them which was just enough to buy a new screen, it's been working fine ever since!

strongback

I kind of think it's better saving up a bit for something like the Nexus 7 at £200 which is one hell of a device. Every bit as good if not better than an iPad mini.

eddhorse

jozi wrote: »

Screen broke pretty much out of the box. Bit of a pain dealing with the seller to come to a resolution, sending it back would have been the cost of the tablet or more, apparently you can't courier things with batteries either. In the end I got a few quid out of them which was just enough to buy a new screen, it's been working fine ever since!

Any problems with Netflix??
I got the Ainol Novo Captain 10. Netflix is
deinterlacing !

eddhorse

Got the Ainol Novo 10 Captain working with latest firmware 20130812 (12th August 2013) from here :

http://www.ainol-novo.com/news/ainol-novo-10-captain-quad-core-201300812-firmware/

Also got netflix working, you need to install the black version 1.81.

Also when you are upgrading the firmware dont include the apk file that comes with the firmware as that is what installs all the chinese apps.

Ed

Casey78

Sorry for hijacking thread but didn't want to start a new one.
I recently bought a tablet from china and it is pretty decent in fairness.
Only problem is it was factory rooted and I am unable to unroot it.
I want to play Sky Go on it but can't because it it rooted!

I have tried the steps to unroot that work on most phones/tablets but none work.
I have contacted the manufacturer but as of yet haven't gotten a response.

Anyone any idea how to unroot a factory rooted chinese tablet?

loi09

could anybody give me info on the goopad and tell me if there good or scrap ?

Torlac

i bought an asus from dino-direct. shocking to deal with took 1 month to arrive, had to pay nearly 40 to customs and it won't even charge. buy local and pay the extra wedge cause it's not worth it, only buy if you afford to burn the money!!

kalel76

Hi, I'm looking to buy a tablet in around the 80 euro mark for my daughter. Can anyone make any suggestions?

doubie

I have had bad experience with buying from the chinese market as well. I prefer to pay for the high-end tablets now.

kc66

I bought what looked like quite a high spec tablet for $110. Pile of crap. Ended up sending it back when the charger port stopped working.