The recorded videos from our live, open review with the SmartQ T last night are available and shown below. Ustream have put a pre-roll and ads on them but I guess they have to pay for 2 hours of 500kbps streaming somehow.

More info, videos, links for the SmartQ T7 in our tracking page.

Remember that this is a preview device and isn’t fitted with final firmware although it’s close and SmartDevices are constantly working on firmware upgrades. We have some issues we’ll take back to the reseller, HOTMID, so that they can talk to SmartDevices in China. Those issues include: (See UPDATE below)

• Adobe Reader very slow. Almost unusable.
• Unable to reset the device to remove private data and Google account
• Will the Market and Google apps be distributed?
• Stream audio fails on Last.fm and XiiaLive.
• USB OTG not working.
• Market only able to download one app. Further downloads fail to start.
• Video playback only works with H.264, will there be accelerated WMV, MPEG2 and Xvid support?
• 3G software unable to work with PIN-locked SIM cards.
• In high brightness settings with lots of colour on the screen, a slight flicker is seen in the backlight or LCD refresh
• Will there be a model with GPS?
• Cell Standby uses a lot of power when 3G is supposed to be of.

Update: From HOTMID.com we’ve just recieved this quick reply to feedback from our live testing: New firmware will be released before August 31st and will ‘solve’  Market and Google apps, USB OTG, Video playback, Cell Standby

On the positive side, we see good build quality for the price, a usable 600-wide portrait mode, excellent value 3G version, loud and clear speaker, good quality controls and a battery life in the 5hrs+ region. Actually we suspect there’s some improvement that could be made to the battery life as we’re seeing the 3G using battery while its supposed to be off.

Highlights on the applications we tested:

• Kindle (works very well – used in 30 minute bedtime test!)
• Opera Mini (not shown in video – produces significant browsing speed improvements)
• 720p H.264 playback worked
• NewsRob as offline Google Reader
• Acast as podcatcher.
• Google Maps and search for local information.
• 4-way auto ratate working.

Target audience:

Those looking for a very low-cost handheld 3G 7” internet tablet (the SmartQ T7 is unique in the sub $300 bracket) a flexible and cheap ereader with internet and multitasking, holiday device (location-based services work through Google’s location services – if available on final firmware) a low-cost SD card reader for photographers. (TX files, edit and share very quickly.) Standard browsing is very slow but Opera Mini works well to improve basic browsing speeds. Works well as a social networking tablet. Works well as a bedside companion. Taxi drivers and truckers should check this out too!

The resistive touchscreen is going to put some people off for sure but for the price and target audience, we think you’ll get used to the resistive screen without any major issues.

It’s starting to happen. Those promised Tegra2 tablets of 2009 and 2010 are starting to appear. We’ve seen the Interpad and the AC100 as firm launches and now it’s Pioneer Computers turn. They’ve just emailed information about their Dreambook ePad N7 which appears to be based on the Compal tablet we’ve seen around trade-shows this year.

With a capacitive screen it’s not going to trip itself up like the Huawei S7 although it remains to be seen if this is blessed with Google licensed software. Without Market, Maps, Gmail and sync it’s a no-go for many. Sideloading of applications helps but isn’t the ideal scenario.

$499 $AU seems to be a good price but it must be noted that this isn’t with 3G (a $AU99 extra) which, if the lack of GPS is also true, combines with the lack of webcam and [correction: webcam is a free option] potential lack of Google Android apps to make a serious list of issues.

We’ve got an email out to Pioneer about the Google applications, Android 2.2, GPS and the docking station but I guess we’ll have to wait for those Aussie’s to wake up on Friday morning to get the information. In the meantime we’ve added what we can into the product database and will be updating it as we get new information. Let us know what you think in the comments here or on the product page.

Pioneer Computers Dreambook ePad N7 product page.

Dreambook N7 product page (Carrypad)

BIG thanks to @memerangslaut. Although you made me jealous by tweeting that you are reviewing a Huawei S7, you prompted me to do a quick search for reviews. Bingo! A short one just popped-up at Austria’s derStandard.

Austrias mobile operator A1 has the S7 up for only 29 Euro per month (99 Euros down) inclusive of 5GB internet package which isn’t a bad deal. (Total cost 795 over 2 years inclusive 5GB internet per month) It’s not known when it will be available but as this review has just gone out, one can expect it soon.

‘Huawei S7 disappoints in test’ says the title and it all revolves round that resistive touchscreen that almost everyone has highlighted as a possible point of failure. However good it is (When I tested it in Taiwan that I thought it was a capacitive screen!) it still won’t be up to the standards required of todays consumer tablets. “The screen feels cheap and is not very precise.” Oh dear.

Other lowlights we’re picking up from the review.

• Camera isn’t good enough for photography and crashed a few times.
• Applications switching appears to be slow.
• The screen feels cheap
• “With intensive use Wi-Fi and GPS-enabled, the operation was significantly below the promised eight hours”

With Android 2.1 and the 768Mhz Snapdragon CPU the device should perform well enough for home duties but this screen issue is going to cause many to step away.

We’ve still got our S7 on order but we’re going to analyse the next review (probably from @memerangslaut) and wait until we see the Samsung Galaxy Tab pricing/hands-on before we commit to the 350+ Euros that could go towards something better!

derStandard – Huawei S7 Review (trans.)

Huawei S7 product tracking page – Carrypad.

We’ve been following this one carefully.  Our review late last year indicated potential but it wasn’t just the Cortex A8 core that got us excited, it was the promised Android build too. We waited a long time but it looks like its finally arrived. Shanzai.com have the WiTS A81E [product information- Wits A81]  in their hands and are starting a three-part review.

The feedback so far is that it’s “one of the best, if not the best Shanzai tablet.” Shanzai means ‘imitation’ or ‘copy’ but this one has been around so long that it really stands on its own two feet. Check out the Part-1 video below and stay tuned to Shanzai.com for parts two and three. Google Apps and Marketplace is a possibility but I’m guessing you’ll have to hack that on. Despite that, it looks like a bargain for around $200-$250

Shanzai.com – First look at A81 with Android 2.1

Is this going to be a competitor to the Huawei S7? There’s no 3G or GPS but for the price, it looks like it should be considered.

In our experience, Expansys delivery dates have never been the most reliable indicators of when a device is actually going to turn up so we’re not surprised that the Huawei S7 [specs, info] is now available at the end of July. At least it gives us time to assess the device through the reviews that are starting to come in from around the world. We’re looking for showstoppers at this stage and apart from the disappointment that the S7 has a resistive touchscreen like the Archos 5, we haven’t found much to worry about just yet.

(Long) slide (on a resistive screen) to unlock!

We’ve got a Chinese review from Zol.com.cn and a Russian-language review out of Belarus from Onliner.by to go on and we’ve picked out the followig (my comments in blue.)

• Restive touchscreen not so pleasant. No surprise
• UI not optimised for 7” screen. (E.g. swipe to accept a call requires a full-screen swipe on the resistive screen)
• In general, voice quality good.
• Battery life in unused, connected state – about 12 hours [onliner.by]
• Battery life in used state – approx 1% per minute.  [onliner.by]  Sounds poor. Am expecting more
• Strong, good build quality
• Speakers good in landscape mode. Perfect podcatcher! Shame there’s no FM receiver.
• Stylus included. Confirms resistive screen.
• Video calling should be possible on final retail versions
• 720p playback possible. I suspect H.264 only.

The two review’s aren’t what we would call in-depth and are probably based on samples so it goes without saying that we’re going to have to wait for retail-package reviews before making a final assessment. We’re still looking forward to it but as time slips by, we’ve got one eye on Archos and their promised summer collection.

Outstanding questions -

• Docking station?
• Processor speed. (1 Ghz or 768Mhz?)

Got any more info/questions?

That Rockchip CPU has been turning up in a lot of devices recently. It’s a Chinese manufactured CPU based on the ARM9 design [We’re checking on that due to varying information] and clearly it’s cheap because all the devices I’ve seen with it recently have been around the $200 mark. The Archos 7 Home Tablet is one and we’re expecting to get the first reports of that soon but in the meantime, here’s a look at a device with a familiar industrial design. Its the Moonse E7001 and its running Android 1.5 (on an 800×480 screen?)

Full specs are available here and you might notice that it matches the Archos 7 Home Tablet almost spec for spec. Will there be any need to buy this from China when it can be had locally for much the same price (U.S. and EU markets, post and import taxes included.)

Stay tuned to Shanzai for their reports as they continue their testing.

Aesthetically its OK but there’s a hint that the UI isn’t that smooth in the video. I’m not surprised and I won’t be surprised if the Archos 7 Home Tablet performs in a very similar way.

More info at Shanzai.com

While Shanzai.com seem to be fairly upbeat about this 7” touchscreen (resistive it appears) tablet, I’m not so sure. I had the same reservations about the Camangi Webstation (which turned out to be less than exciting) and I have the same reservations about the Archos 7 tablet. I’ve experienced it with the SmartQ7 tablet too. The reason is that we’re looking at an Android device built on a processing architecture that pre-dates even the first Android phones.

Via’s WonderMedia platform might be cheap, but with its ARM9 architecture core it’s going to be less than exciting when it comes to web browsing and many other CPU-intensive applications.

Come on Asia. Get some ARMv7/Cortex cores in those tablets instead of aiming for the lowest possible price. $100 might be cheap but if it’s good for nothing, what’s the point?

Source: Shanzai.

Eken website.

After one of my regular browsing sessions at Geizhals.at this evening I found two retailers offering the Archos 7 Home Tablet that was announced at CeBIT earlier in the month and one of them is stating a delivery time of ‘1 Week.’

Detailed Archos 7 Home Tablet information in the database.

It looks like Archos will perform a common trick by feeding-in the high-end version, with 8GB, first and follow-up with the low-cost version at a later date but that’s just based on the advertising seen so far. I haven’t checked extensively in other markets but in Germany I’m seeing offers right now for the 8GB Home Tablet from Amazon.de and Redcoon.de. (Here’s the product page at Geizhals.at) Redcoon are stating a 7-day delivery time although we should point out that many retailers do this just for attention. Amazon are indicating availability ‘soon.’ Both entered the channels on the 26th March.

With the Archos 5 at 199 Euros now it’s a difficult choice between the two. The easier-to-read screen, usb port and stereo speakers on the Archos 7 Home Tablet need to be weighed up against the much faster processor on the Archos 5. Of course, you could wait until summer when Archos will be releasing a new range of tablets on high-end processors but these are likely to cost a tad more than 149 Euros.  Still, I bet they’ll be a lot cheaper than the iPad that is launching this week.

Interested in seeing a full review of the Archos 7 Home Tablet? We’re pondering over the thought of buying one but we’ll see if we can get a loaner out of Archos first.

News about the Camangi Webstation has been around for a while and it’s been interesting to watch the company ramp up their marketing from a fuzzy introduction in October to a smart-looking website today. The product looks quite slick too but is it going to work? I have a few reservations and am suspicious that this the Webstations is more marketing than product.

We’ve seen 7” resistive touchscreen devices many times before. The Samsung Q1 Ultra was a good example. The current Viliv X70 too but these were using (by necessity) a Windows desktop environment. They work well for people wanting a full mobile desktop experience with full driver support, high-end browser and desktop application capability but for the casual consumer of web and media, they are a bit OTT. The user interface isn’t fun and battery life issues mean you have to keep them turned off if you want to preserve battery life. They just aren’t set-up for the average internet snacker. The Camangi Webstation appears to offer a much more consumer-focused solution. The weight, price, style and operating system are all tuned towards coffee-table, sofa and casual, mainly home or holiday-based, internet activities.

Full gallery at UMPCPortal Also at Camangi website.

390grams is a good one-handed weight (anything over 500gm can feel awkward after 20 minutes) and the price, which is rumored to be $399, is far more palatable than the $600-$800 that you pay for a Windows-based UMPC but it’s the Android operating system that really tilts the device towards the consumer. It’s touchscreen-friendly, tailored towards the casual user rather than the productive professional and is infinitely customizable with icons, widgets and applications.

So how is this baby going to perform? The speed of the browser, quality of media playback, ability for applications to run concurrently and the battery life are going to be critical.

Taking a look at the battery specifications and using a lot of experience I’ve had with testing devices (and interpreting marketing figures) tells me that we’re looking at a device that will allow you to browse the web for under 4 hours over Wifi. The large screen backlight will be taking a lot of juice and web-sites can be very heavy-weight CPU consumers. The nice thing about using a low-power ARM platform is that if you close all the apps, the device will sit around for a day or two and be ready to jump into action within seconds. Screen-off activities like music playback will also run into the 10+ hours range making it a nice addition for the home hifi.

As far as performance goes, this is where I have my reservations. The CPU in this device is not exactly leading-edge and with about 1/2 the processing power of top-end smartphones (estimated 1/5th of the processing power of a netbook) , browsing speeds could be somewhat laggy. Media playback performance could be limited too. Granted, the need for speed isn’t as great when you’re lying back in a comfy chair but in my opinion, the performance isn’t going to match the marketing that we’re seeing and there could be disappointment.  I’ve tested a very similar device, the SmartQ7, and I can’t honestly say that it was a thrilling experience. Regardless of operating system if YouTube doesn’t work or programs hang for too long, it’s frustrating.

Full specifications.

You can find more information and marketing materials on the Camangi website.

Size and weight

• Height: 4.72 inches (120mm)
• Width: 7.87 inches (200mm)
• Dipth: 0.57 inches (14.5mm)
• Weight:13.75 ounces
  (around 390 grams)

System

• Google Android 1.5
• CPU: Marvell PXA303 624MHz
• System memory: 128MB Mobile DDR
• Flash memory: 265MB NAND (system)
• Input: Software keyboard; USB keyboard support

Display

• 7-inch TFT LCD, 16M True Color
• Single Resistive touch panel with hard glass
• High-resolution screen, 800-by-480 pixels
• G-sensor

Power and battery

• Built-in rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery (3.7V 4000mAh)
• Standby time: up to 4 days(without GPS & Wi-Fi connection); Internet and media use: up to 4-5 hours
• Power charging: 5V 3A DC in

Communication

• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
• USB dongle to 3G connectivity*
• GPS module

*Note: Only applicable for some type of 3G dongle devices

Connectors and input/ output

• Built-in speaker (80hm 2x 1W)
• 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• AC Adaptor, 4mm DC in
• Built-in omni-directional microphone
• Micro SD card slot, supports 1G~16G
• Type A & mini-B USB port

Summary.

Camangi are moving in the right direction. The style, choice of operating system and pricing are positive points but I’m a little worried that the limited CPU, RAM and the resistive touchscreen will disappoint customers. Upgrade to the latest CPU platform and drop 256MB of RAM in there and it would stand a better chance. Camangi also need to watch their competitors too. A 5” Archos 5 with Android with an 800Mhz ARM Cortex CPU (the latest and greatest) already provides a smooth experience at a lower price and if you’re looking for a 7” device, the Wirelession W1060 offers a similar high-end performance at just $250.

We’re going to hold off from putting this into the database until we can confirm that it’s not just a pretty face.

Awareness of mobile computing devices has risen dramatically in the last year and many people are now considering which device would be suitable for their given tasks. For users that plan on using their device to read books or comics, it seems that the 5″ to 7″ inch MIDs are becoming quite popular.  In the summer, the SmartQ7 hit the eBook reading crowd with quite a splash.  The device gave readers some power to surf the internet, play games, listen to music, and most importantly, read books and comics on a screen size that was comfortable but could still be carried around quite easily.  All of that, and the ability to run Linux, WinCE, or Android on a multi-boot partitiion.  The unit was less expensive than many UMPC and MID devices in the same form factor, at about $230 shipped.

Hot on the heels of the SmartQ7 we have the W1060 by WireLession.  Some of you may remember the posts a few weeks ago about the A81 MID, a 7″ MID with the ARM Cortex 8 processor.  Since then, the unit’s popularity has been growing, and as you can see, it is listed on UMPCPortal and CarryPad as one of the most anticipated devices.  The WireLession W1060 is the branded name of the A81 MID.   With the ARM Cortex A8 (the same processor in the iPhone), users have access to a device that can surf the internet quickly, listen to music, watch video, and read books on a very comfortable 7″ screen.  The device should certainly outperform the SmartQ7 (and possibly even the new SmartV7), and if what the supplier says is true, the build quality is quite a bit better as well.   Information so far is that it has a metal chassis and is quite solid.  It can play flash movies and supports AVI, MPEG4, MPEG2, WMV, H.264 and other video formats.  Due to the fast processor, it should also be extremely fast when loading comics and turning pages.

I have a unit on the way right now.  After some serious hardware and software testing, I’ll post a detailed review of the device.  For now, check out this video and browse the details of the W1060 on WireLession.