New iPad Mini? (look at the state of that desk)
No. Don’t be misled by the covert photography and shambolic testing environment. What we’ve got here is 7 inches of Chinese glory running Android on a RK2808 Chipset. Officially titled the 7″ 2GB Rockchip 2808 Dual Core Android Tablet PC with HD video playback and Wi-Fi, or something. It looks surprisingly not unlike an iPad. Only smaller, cheaper and with slots.
Specs:
- Google Android OS 1.5
- CPU: RK2808 Chipset (ARM9 @ 600 MHz + DSP @ 550 MHz dual-core)
- 7 inch resistive touch screen TFT LCD Display, 800 x 400 pixels
- Supports 720p HD playback (AVIs performed better than HD MP4 files)
- 2GB Built in Flash Drive
- 128MB RAM
- Front facing Camera (amazingly terrible video recording power)
- Stereo speakers (not bad)
- SD card expansion slot
- Microphone and Headphone jack
- WIFI 802.11 Wireless G
- Bundled app support for MSN, Skype, G-Talk, Youtube
- Support for Word, Excel, Power Point, PDF, Gmail service and Android Games
- Audio: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, AC3, WAV
- Video: MP4, AVI, Flash, 3GP.
- Picture: JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF
- Slots include: 1 SD, 2 USB, Stereo Audio out
- Li ion battery 3-5 hours playing time.
Accessories:
- 1 Mini USB to USB Cable
- Charger and speculative UK adapter
- Earphones (crappy)
- some kind of screen protector filament that needs a trim
- A dearth of warranty or documentation
Top 2 best features – portability and watchin’ movies. The size and weight seem just about right for actual human operation and I reckon this is the magic size that will prove a winner – as soon to be confirmed by the predicted runaway success of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Video playback is fine but an HD Mp4 clip struggled noticeably. With no AV out you might as well stick to smaller 720 AVIs.
All aluminum chassis
Everyone and their dad will confirm that you get what you pay for. We didn’t pay that much (£130.00) and it shows with the frustratingly clunky resistive touch screen. This single feature lets the air out of the whole inflatable party. If you’ve got big fingers forget it. Hitting your target screen destination is an exercise in randomness. Even after multiple calibration attempts mashing ones fingernails with ape-like force on the screen seems to be the only way to get anything to happen. I would have to assume that playing any sort of game is out of the question. It’s also worth mentioning that the included dodgy power adapter looked like it had been glued together by an arts and crafts class for the hasty. Replacing that before charging the battery may prevent a trip to A&E.
We’ll be attempting an upgrade of the OS and monkeying around with some custom built apps over the month. Check back for future reports on how the little fella gets on or get your own and go wild. Why not?
