NEW IMPROVED 8Gb Fineslate T01E 7″ MULTITOUCH tablet, with Capacitive screen, ANDROID 4.0 (‘Ice-cream Sandwich’), NOW WITH 1.5Ghz Processor with Gmail, Facebook, iPlayer new Google Play Market (UK App Market) – LOWEST PRICE 8Gb CAPACITIVE SCREEN ANDROID 4 Tablet on AMAZON
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Great little tablet but needs polishing to be perfect., 8 Jun 2012
This review is from: NEW IMPROVED 8Gb Fineslate T01E 7″ MULTITOUCH tablet, with Capacitive screen, ANDROID 4.0 (‘Ice-cream Sandwich’), NOW WITH 1.5Ghz Processor with Gmail, Facebook, iPlayer new Google Play Market (UK App Market) – LOWEST PRICE 8Gb CAPACITIVE SCREEN ANDROID 4 Tablet on AMAZON (Accessory)
After having a bit of a play I’m liking it and have no grumbles at the price I paid. I’d buy it again at the current price.
Only things I’d like from the hardware would be more battery life and the camera to be more central. The Camera is ‘straight’ which means if you hold the screen facing horizontally then your image is lower left. Its better if vertically but makes it awkward if for example trying to do video calls.
Turned it on, had it connected to the internet in seconds and watching video. Had 76% battery life already so was able to play straight away. It gets better Wi-Fi than my phone, using the same Wi-Fi analyser side by side and the tablet picked up 7 SSID’s, the phone picked up 1 with a few others flickering in and out, at best it managed 4.
Language needed changing from US to UK. Browser mode (under SettingsDebugBrowser mode) was set to Ipad which caused pages to detect it as an Ipad and forever offer an Ipad app!
The BBC’s Iplayer installed and worked, facebook (through side-loading) worked. Flash just worked ™ as did the ‘Play’ store. Note that I’ve now installed the latest firmware and facebook now installs from the Play store without needing side-loading.
I benchmarked both it and my phone (Samsung Galaxy S) using Quadrant, my phone scored 1213, the T01A initially 1574 (after the firmware update it scored 1673). This surprises me slightly as a couple of times it felt laggy whereas the phone (mostly) doesn’t. Initially looking at the scores and the memory and 2D speed was significantly faster on the phone, after the firmware update however the T01A prods serious buttock. The I.O. speed as can be seen is stonking although seemed to drop slightly after the update.
Sorry about the format of this table, where’s a monospaced font when you need it?
I’ve had a play with improving the settings and have a few suggestions.
1) Install the latest firmware.
2) Turn off ‘data'(Settings->Data Usage->Mobile Data->OFF), this is purely ‘mobile’ data and the T01A doesn’t ‘do’ mobile data! I think this prevents it from sleeping properly.
3) Turn wifi to off when sleeping (Settings->Wifi->Advanced [select the 3 dots in the top right corner and then advanced]->Keep Wi-Fi on during Sleep->Only when plugged in). Again when on this prevents it from sleeping.
4) A bit more advanced this one, move TelephonyProvider.apk, Contacts.apk and Phone.apk out of /system/app (I created /system/savedapp and moved them there) and reboot, you can just remove them but I prefer to keep them just in case… This causes Settings->About Tablet->Status to crash but the tablet seems *much* less laggy and IMO noticeably snappier. I have a theory that when with them in place its laggy as it’s trying to do ‘phone’ things that it doesn’t need.
After those changes I used 5% battery in about 10-15 minutes of video (internet streamed) and a total of 16 hours on. At that rate the battery would last ‘sleeping’ for about 2 weeks.
For those that like to ‘play’ its worth noting that it’s rooted as stock.
I do however have two actual issues with it.
1) The edge of the screen is badly calibrated, about the last 8mm or so will consistently stick the ‘finger centre’ towards the outside of the screen (Its an option under the dev tools to stick crosshairs on so I can actually see it). This makes it tricky to select anything with any accuracy around the edge. The rest of the screen is nice, responsive and accurate so this really is a disappointment. At the price and for how much use I’ve had already I’ll live with it but I’d love it to be fixed (if possible) in later firmware.
2) The Mini-USB lead supplied doesn’t work, I think it’s actually the socket rather than the lead although another lead works. Doesn’t charge enough from a laptop USB port to actually charge in use (but does charge enough to increase life). I’d presume a full power USB port would charge it although I have yet to check. If you have the same issue worth trying another lead.
Overall I’d buy it again, it’s no Galaxy Tab but it’s a decent amount of the functionality for a fraction of the price.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: NEW IMPROVED 8Gb Fineslate T01E 7″ MULTITOUCH tablet, with Capacitive screen, ANDROID 4.0 (‘Ice-cream Sandwich’), NOW WITH 1.5Ghz Processor with Gmail, Facebook, iPlayer new Google Play Market (UK App Market) – LOWEST PRICE 8Gb CAPACITIVE SCREEN ANDROID 4 Tablet on AMAZON (Accessory)
I am very experienced at using PCs, laptops and handle all Microsoft programmes and networking media regularly, but here I am a bit out of my depth. I found it really frustrating not to have any instructions or indication of where to find them online, even about what to do about charging the battery (I still don’t know, I plugged it in overnight just in case). The feedback contributions here almost helped, but were beyond my knowledge to understand when they were providing instructions (mostly). The tablet itself or the packaging doesn’t even have a brand label or name to search for, no brand website, you only have the Amazon page to show for the “fineslate” name and if you search you just get to a website that tells you not to attempt the instructions they give unless you are an expert. I found a Youtube clip that showed a similar tablet (with a completely different name) that was useful because it explained what all the buttons and plugs were for and how to use the touch screen, but it was minimal. It is proving to be hard work at the same time as delightful, and I am hoping to get there in the end. You can’t complain about the price and the convenience, and I can see that it is promising so it give it a 4 star so I don’t put people off that are a bit better at touch screens and android than me. I have downloaded android instructions and bought a case with a keyboard, which helps a lot.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: NEW IMPROVED 8Gb Fineslate T01E 7″ MULTITOUCH tablet, with Capacitive screen, ANDROID 4.0 (‘Ice-cream Sandwich’), NOW WITH 1.5Ghz Processor with Gmail, Facebook, iPlayer new Google Play Market (UK App Market) – LOWEST PRICE 8Gb CAPACITIVE SCREEN ANDROID 4 Tablet on AMAZON (Accessory)
Very pleased, with my Fineslate.
I was looking for something to replace my Laptop when sat on the sofa as it just got too hot for comfort.
Gmail, ebay and Facebook the main things I wanted and this does them all. The notifications are great and it’s nice to switch between apps instantly, when you need to check some fact.
The speech recognition works surprisingly well it’s great being able to ask google to find something for you, shame it can’t make tea!
My main issues have been with learning to use Android, if you are newbie I strongly recommend reading the manual. It can be found in the top directory of the File manage app – scroll to the bottom to find it.
Finding new apps in google Play is great fun, the reviews are useful and there’s plenty of free stuff!
I use the bbc news and sky news apps each day and Jango is great if you want music without idiot DJs talking nonsense.
It’s become my gadget of choice around the house, top product, great price.
My only niggle is the charger lead is too short. Having a combined euro plug and uk adaptor actually a plus when travelling so that is okay for me.
All in all very good value. Bryan
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Great little tablet but needs polishing to be perfect.,
After having a bit of a play I’m liking it and have no grumbles at the price I paid. I’d buy it again at the current price.
Only things I’d like from the hardware would be more battery life and the camera to be more central. The Camera is ‘straight’ which means if you hold the screen facing horizontally then your image is lower left. Its better if vertically but makes it awkward if for example trying to do video calls.
Turned it on, had it connected to the internet in seconds and watching video. Had 76% battery life already so was able to play straight away. It gets better Wi-Fi than my phone, using the same Wi-Fi analyser side by side and the tablet picked up 7 SSID’s, the phone picked up 1 with a few others flickering in and out, at best it managed 4.
Language needed changing from US to UK.
Browser mode (under SettingsDebugBrowser mode) was set to Ipad which caused pages to detect it as an Ipad and forever offer an Ipad app!
The BBC’s Iplayer installed and worked, facebook (through side-loading) worked. Flash just worked ™ as did the ‘Play’ store. Note that I’ve now installed the latest firmware and facebook now installs from the Play store without needing side-loading.
I benchmarked both it and my phone (Samsung Galaxy S) using Quadrant, my phone scored 1213, the T01A initially 1574 (after the firmware update it scored 1673). This surprises me slightly as a couple of times it felt laggy whereas the phone (mostly) doesn’t. Initially looking at the scores and the memory and 2D speed was significantly faster on the phone, after the firmware update however the T01A prods serious buttock. The I.O. speed as can be seen is stonking although seemed to drop slightly after the update.
Sorry about the format of this table, where’s a monospaced font when you need it?
Device: Phone T01A T01A (new fw)
Overall: 1213 1574 1673
CPU: 1362 1389 1329
Mem: 1818 1273 1364
I.O.: 750 3482 3132
2D: 265 163 990
3D: 1871 1561 1550
I’ve had a play with improving the settings and have a few suggestions.
1) Install the latest firmware.
2) Turn off ‘data'(Settings->Data Usage->Mobile Data->OFF), this is purely ‘mobile’ data and the T01A doesn’t ‘do’ mobile data! I think this prevents it from sleeping properly.
3) Turn wifi to off when sleeping (Settings->Wifi->Advanced [select the 3 dots in the top right corner and then advanced]->Keep Wi-Fi on during Sleep->Only when plugged in). Again when on this prevents it from sleeping.
4) A bit more advanced this one, move TelephonyProvider.apk, Contacts.apk and Phone.apk out of
/system/app (I created /system/savedapp and moved them there) and reboot, you can just remove them but I prefer to keep them just in case… This causes Settings->About Tablet->Status to crash but the tablet seems *much* less laggy and IMO noticeably snappier. I have a theory that when with them in place its laggy as it’s trying to do ‘phone’ things that it doesn’t need.
After those changes I used 5% battery in about 10-15 minutes of video (internet streamed) and a total of 16 hours on. At that rate the battery would last ‘sleeping’ for about 2 weeks.
For those that like to ‘play’ its worth noting that it’s rooted as stock.
I do however have two actual issues with it.
1) The edge of the screen is badly calibrated, about the last 8mm or so will consistently stick the ‘finger centre’ towards the outside of the screen (Its an option under the dev tools to stick crosshairs on so I can actually see it). This makes it tricky to select anything with any accuracy around the edge. The rest of the screen is nice, responsive and accurate so this really is a disappointment. At the price and for how much use I’ve had already I’ll live with it but I’d love it to be fixed (if possible) in later firmware.
2) The Mini-USB lead supplied doesn’t work, I think it’s actually the socket rather than the lead although another lead works. Doesn’t charge enough from a laptop USB port to actually charge in use (but does charge enough to increase life). I’d presume a full power USB port would charge it although I have yet to check. If you have the same issue worth trying another lead.
Overall I’d buy it again, it’s no Galaxy Tab but it’s a decent amount of the functionality for a fraction of the price.
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|Lack of manual seems to detract from what looks like a very good product.,
I am very experienced at using PCs, laptops and handle all Microsoft programmes and networking media regularly, but here I am a bit out of my depth. I found it really frustrating not to have any instructions or indication of where to find them online, even about what to do about charging the battery (I still don’t know, I plugged it in overnight just in case). The feedback contributions here almost helped, but were beyond my knowledge to understand when they were providing instructions (mostly). The tablet itself or the packaging doesn’t even have a brand label or name to search for, no brand website, you only have the Amazon page to show for the “fineslate” name and if you search you just get to a website that tells you not to attempt the instructions they give unless you are an expert. I found a Youtube clip that showed a similar tablet (with a completely different name) that was useful because it explained what all the buttons and plugs were for and how to use the touch screen, but it was minimal. It is proving to be hard work at the same time as delightful, and I am hoping to get there in the end. You can’t complain about the price and the convenience, and I can see that it is promising so it give it a 4 star so I don’t put people off that are a bit better at touch screens and android than me. I have downloaded android instructions and bought a case with a keyboard, which helps a lot.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Ice cream sandwich cools my nuts,
Very pleased, with my Fineslate.
I was looking for something to replace my Laptop when sat on the sofa as it just got too hot for comfort.
Gmail, ebay and Facebook the main things I wanted and this does them all. The notifications are great and it’s nice to switch between apps instantly, when you need to check some fact.
The speech recognition works surprisingly well it’s great being able to ask google to find something for you, shame it can’t make tea!
My main issues have been with learning to use Android, if you are newbie I strongly recommend reading the manual.
It can be found in the top directory of the File manage app – scroll to the bottom to find it.
Finding new apps in google Play is great fun, the reviews are useful and there’s plenty of free stuff!
I use the bbc news and sky news apps each day and Jango is great if you want music without idiot DJs talking nonsense.
It’s become my gadget of choice around the house, top product, great price.
My only niggle is the charger lead is too short. Having a combined euro plug and uk adaptor actually a plus when travelling so that is okay for me.
All in all very good value.
Bryan
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|