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Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

arstechnica.com

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Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#61

Post by lukeschlather »

pyre wrote: post #52
lukeschlather wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally more. And they don't come with integrated WiFi or enough CPU to display anything on their own. I'm trying to figure out if one of these would be useful as a wireless display for data that updates once every 5 minutes or so. I live at a retreat center in the Cascade mountains, and we've got all sorts of diagnostic data about our hydroelectric generator and furnaces that would be useful to show.

I'm interested in info on this retreat. Is there anything available online? Does the retreat have a name?

http://www.holdenvillage.org/

I'm presently the IT Coordinator, which is an odd mix of Windows Systems Administration, Network Administration, and Website maintenance. (Sooner or later maybe some web development.)

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#63

Post by dfghjkhgbfd »

arethuza wrote: post #27
marknutter wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing Microsoft to the guys who made this tablet? Yikes..

There was a veritable Cambrian explosion of different personal computer designs in the late 70s early 80s before the PC came along that existed contemporaneously with the Apple II. Pretty much all of these were evolutionary dead ends.

Yes and in 1995 one of them made an OS with pretty pictures and clicky mousey thing that looked very much like someones elses pretty pictures and clickey mousey thing.

Except theirs cost $99 or free with your costco computer - while the other guys meant you had to spend $1500+

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#65

Post by falcolas »

alanh wrote: post #59

> The lag is slow and inconsistent, forcing you to always wonder if you need to hit something again or whether the M-150 is just trying to figure out if you hit S, A, or D. I almost missed this journalistic easter egg! Also… did you see the thumbnail they are using to link to this story? They photoshopped in some, er, brown froyo. http://static.arstechnica.net/assets/2010/11/m-150-list-thum... I still can’t get over…

Sometime in the last year, ArsTechnica picked up a really good artist for their article art. There are times I'll read articles there just to see the images this person creates. I get a laugh out of them pretty frequently.

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#66

Post by angusgr »

sedachv wrote: post #62

I'm surprised no one has asked this yet: How easy is this thing to hack? At $99 for a small ARM system with a 7" screen and battery, this is a damn good deal compared to getting a similar setup with a BeagleBoard.

How easy is this thing to hack?

Easy-ish. It's a Wondermedia WM8505-based tablet, so there are a bunch of other relatives (same Android port, AFAIK) like the Eken M001.

Here are some resources:

* Teardown/serial console: http://projectgus.com/2010/06/eken-m001-teardown-serial-cons... (disclaimer: that's my blog.)

* Debian port (forum is offline atm, though): http://www.slatedroid.com/eken-m001-debian/

* Open source kernel from scratch (work in progress): http://groups.google.com/group/vt8500-wm8505-linux-kernel http://gitorious.org/linux-on-via-vt8500

* Kernel released by Wondermedia (dog's breakfast): http://github.com/projectgus/kernel_wm8505 (That last one is a link to my github copy of their tarball release, with a couple of tweaks.)

similar setup with a BeagleBoard

It's worth pointing out that similar ain't really similar. The CPU technology is two generations older (ARM9), connectivity is more limited, open source availability is more limited, and hardware quality is significantly worse.

It is a good bit cheaper, though. :D

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#67

Post by angusgr »

These devices really are cheap and nasty. I have an Eken M001 and an M003, which are the same WM8505 chipset and (AFAIK) the exact same Android port.

However, if you're stuck with one then it's worth loading one of the alternative firmwares from http://www.slatedroid.com/ on it. People have done quite a lot with the closed source Android port to make it more usable.

They also make for good tinkering/reverse-engineering on a budget. I'm actually just winding up a (very hacky) early stage Android 2.2 port to this chipset. although it isn't showing signs of being very good to use, it's been fun to hack together.

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#68

Post by danudey »

falcolas wrote: post #65
alanh wrote: post #59

> The lag is slow and inconsistent, forcing you to always wonder if you need to hit something again or whether the M-150 is just trying to figure out if you hit S, A, or D. I almost missed this journalistic easter egg! Also… did you see the thumbnail they are using to link to this story? They photoshopped in some, er, brown froyo. http://static.arstechnica.net/assets/2010/11/m-150-list-thum... I still can’t get over…

Sometime in the last year, ArsTechnica picked up a really good artist for their article art. There are times I'll read articles there just to see the images this person creates. I get a laugh out of them pretty frequently.

My personal favourite is the image and caption used at the start of this article: http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/03/blockbuster-gets-d...

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#69

Post by angusgr »

dpcan wrote: post #45
aberkowitz wrote: post #16

If Google were smart, they'd come out with their own Android tablet. That way people would stop being enticed by this absolute crap.

Nexus One? It's a larger screen than most devices, but still not a "tablet" I guess. Maybe this was their test run.

If it was their test run, evidence seems to be that they've gotten back out of the make-your-own hardware game.

Re: Worst gadget ever? Ars reviews a $99 Android tablet

#70

Post by cheald »

aberkowitz wrote: post #16

If Google were smart, they'd come out with their own Android tablet. That way people would stop being enticed by this absolute crap.

There have been rumorings that Google is working on a tablet. I'm really hoping so - the Nexus One was an excellent reference phone, and really kickstarted the current generation of Android phones. If they could do similar with a tablet, I'd be really happy.
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