I finally received my eLocity A7 tablet last night around 730pm (BTW, **** you, UPS, for making me literally sit around all day waiting, refusing to give any sort of time. Couldn’t even sit on the back deck for more than a few minutes, in case I missed them. ALWAYS use Fedex), and, after a short time playing with it, I love it. I’ve been using an iPhone for years and years, and, sure, there are a whole lot more apps, and the learning curve is lower for the iPhone, but, after a short time, I’m starting to really love Android. Might still upgrade to a newer iPhone, but, for a tablet, Android is the way to go.
For one thing, it was a hell of a lot less expensive. I paid $299 plus shipping. It has 4gb internal memory, and can take a 32gb card and a 64mb thumb drive. The least expensive iPad is around $420, for the gen 1 with 16gb.
eLocity has flash. Said flash doesn’t work on the Firefox for Android browser (which can be sync’d to your laptop Firefox, great for bookmarks), but, did I mention that, besides the stock browser (which has Flash), I also installed Opera and Miren Browser (I like Miren the best so far. Can’t copy text in Firefox, sadly)?
My point in getting this was to have something to mess around with while chilling on the couch or back deck, rather than hold laptop in lap. More often, I tend to lean forward with laptop from couch, which tends to annoy my back. And, I had some money to burn, but, didn’t want to spend that much for a tablet.
So, the Pro’s
- Android 2.2 (Froyo)
- Flash
- Unbelievably fast processor. The A7 has been given high marks by users and reviewers alike. It is an NVIDIA® Tegraâ„¢ II Tâ€20, 1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, with 512 MB DDR2 RAM. They say it is super duper awesome for graphics and gaming. Only played Majong so far, so, we’ll see. Works awesome for cruising the web.
- HDMI output
- USB input (thumb drive only)
- Docking port (probably NEVER use it, though)
- The speakers are actually not bad
- Front facing 1.3mp camera, for those very few occasions where I video chat with a friend, or Mom. Could care less about back camera, wouldn’t use it that way
- True multi-tasking
- Capacitive screen (though, really, the only Android tablet or phone that comes close to Apple is the Motorola Xoom. Damned sure not paying that much.)
- Battery seems to be lasting quite well so far
- Feels solid (though, a bit heavy compared to Kindle, but, I will almost never use it to read books)
- Pinch and zoom worked well, as did tapping (except with Opera, to some degree)
- Screen resolution is fantastic. Played Avatar on it (small size vid), looked great.
- Have had no problem with apps, either from Market or Amazon. Slowly building up the ones I want
Cons
- Bluetooth will only connect to stereo headsets, so, can’t tether to a mobile phone
- The SIM card reader mentioned in the Amazon page is a bunch of hooey. It’s there, but, not active, and, supposedly doesn’t have the hardware behind it
- Because it has no phone capability, doesn’t come “Google Certified.” So, none of the main Google stuff, like the Gmail app, Google Calendar, and others, along with the Android Market, do not come with. That’s OK. Rooted it almost immediately.
- The fixed buttons aren’t backlit so at first it’s difficult to use in the dark. You quickly figure out where they are and it’s not that big a deal
- Not as many apps as iPhone (that’s an Android knock, not an eLocity knock)
- Proprietary charger, meaning have to travel with yet another one. Should have allowed charging through USB port, or used USB2.0 or micro, eLocity!
- Can’t hook directly to PC. Have to use thumb drive or microSD.
So far, the Pro’s well outweigh the cons, especially for the way I plan on using it. 7 inch screen is big enough for my purposes, bought some Galaxy screen protecters, cut them a bit, though, a bit thick, which makes scrolling a little more difficult. Can pop news, sports, weather, Twitter, email, Internet, etc, in a heartbeat. So far, loving it. Will give it 4 out of 5 stars (mostly, the sim thing pisses me off). 4 1/2 stars once rooted. I compared it to many others, and, while I could have gotten one with a true sim port, slower processor or much more expensive.
