Re: Like an Ipad

[Mark J Cox <mark@xxxxxxx>]

>
> I played with an Ipad the other day and have to say I really liked it,
and
> wouldn't mind one if it didn't contravene one of my ten commandments
>

I bought an Archos 101 (10 inch android tablet) specifically for home
automation and although it's great for the money (got it for 230 at Dixons
travel on release day) I've been a little disappointed overall.

Pros:
- Cheap, Fast, Android 2.2, (no Apple or MSFT in sight), all connectors on
left side, capacitive touchscreen
- My quick home automation front end works just great, (so I don't care
about any third party apps).

Cons:
- Screen angles are bad, 20degrees from top left and right, 60degrees from
bottom.  In order to mount this on a wall (as I intend) you need to mount
it
upside down if you want it at a reasonable height (like 5 foot or less from
the floor).  Android doesn't mind being upside down, but then you have to
cover the "Archos" text on the bezel.  It's a standard LCD
connector used by
many laptops so one day it might be worth replacing with a better quality
panel (although will then also need a new touchscreen overlay so might as
well have bought a better tablet to start with)

- Touchscreen requires the lightest of touches or doesn't work. Within a
week the touchscreen stopped responding at all.  I fixed this myself by
bypassing the touchscreen connector (ribbon cable usb) and running some
wires direct from some handy breakout pins on the main board to the
touchscreen board.

- Build quality isn't great.  The back panel has a in-built stand which
means the back panel isn't a complete piece of metal or plastic, so it
flexes alarmingly.  Inside it's full of sticky tape.

- Hard to mount to a wall due to that in-built stand -- I've modified a
www.thepadtab.com by cutting it up and using two of the mounts across the
back panel.

- Android 2.2 isn't quite up to providing an amazing tablet experience.
Also you need to side-load google market and google apps and the Archos 3rd
party 'market' is terrible. I suspect a whole load of people will buy these
thinking they are 'cheap ipads' and come away with a unwarranted negative
impression of Android.

Mark


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