JXD Jump On The Android Bandwagon

JXD S7100

The first is the JXD S7100 which surfaced online a few weeks ago. At the time I was too unimpressed to bother posting anything about it, but I’ll bundle it into this thread for those few that haven’t already seen it elsewhere. I’m assuming that JXD modelled this thing on what the Nintendo WiiU controller is supposed to look like, because otherwise I cannot fathom a reason for making a handheld so big and bizarre looking. It’s pretty much an 800×480 7″ Android 2.2 tablet with some rudimentary gaming buttons slapped onto the front. Spec lists report it as running on an ARM Cortex A9 clocked at 1Ghz (don’t hold me to it) coupled with ARM’s Mali-400 3D GPU, which is also widely used in smartphones and budget tablets. Read on for pics and videos…

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Window N50 Review (Tl;Dr, it’s pretty good).

Before we get started I think it’d be worthwhile identifying the purpose of a 5 inch tablet. A lot of you with high end smart phones might wonder why anyone would need one of these, and I agree that there is a huge overlap between smartphones and these 5 inch Android tabs. But aside from the uncontrollable gadget lust that forces me to part with my cash every once in a while, it does have its niche to fill.
When I was a kid I always wanted a PMP. I remember ogling over various Archos, Creative and RCA players on ebay – 10 years later I still wanted one, despite owning a smartphone. I can’t speak for all current or previous generation phones out there but in the case of my HTC Desire (and some current generation smartphones that my friends own) it is useless as a PMP. The sound quality through speaker is abysmal, through headphones it’s dull and flat. Its video capabilities are lack lustre at best and even if they weren’t then the battery would probably let me down before a movie had finished anyway. Phones have a long way to go before they can call themselves competitive MP3 or video players.

So this is where the niche lies. A large screened but pocketable device with good sound quality, almost limitless video capabilities and a battery that isn’t going to roll over and die half way through a film. Can it be done? And more importantly can it be done well? Read on for a brick wall of text…

read postWindow N50 Review (Tl;Dr, it’s pretty good).

OpenDingux Released For The Dingoo A320.

Bit late to the party here since the release became available on the 5th of September. Better late than never I suppose. The long awaited OpenDingux has finally reached a stage that the developers deem stable enough for use by the general public. Dingoonity forum members Ayla and mth (Paul Cercueil and Maarten ter Huurne) …

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A New Wave Of Pocketable Android PMPs Is About To Break…

Not strictly on topic, this, but as it fits the criteria of being both obscure and handheld and capable of playing games (if you can stand the lack of physical controls) then I’m going to crow bar it into this blog anyway. So there.

Chinese Android tablets are nothing new, but a Chinese Android ‘tablet’ that fits in your pocket with ease and is able to comfortably run the demands of Android 2.3 is thus far unheard of. Step in RockChip. Their RK2918 SoC is based on a Cortex A8 CPU running at 1.0 – 1.2 Ghz (This might be another marketing fib whereby the clock speed is added to the GPU clock speed, but who knows right?). It’s been implemented, coupled with up to 512MB of DDR3 RAM in a few 7″+ tablets in the past month or so and looks to be the first RockChip that can really run Android at an acceptable pace. RockChip have always had a decent implementation of Android available for their SoCs but  lacklustre processors were always a bit of a hindrance. Until now…

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Gemei X760+ Now On Sale.

Whilst it’s been available on some native Chinese stores like taobao for a while, today it just cropped up on Lightake for $83.99 with free shipping. If you’re thinking about it, then it’s perhaps worth reading this thread first as it outlines some of the good and bad sides of the thing. In short, it’s a …

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Ingenic Launch Their New SoC, The JZ4770. With 3D GFX Acceleration.

Ingenic have been hard at work by the looks of it, their website shows details of a new SoC released on Jun 4th – the JZ4770. This is at least 3 generations from the JZ4740 found in our beloved Dingoo A320, and this time promises OpenGL ES1.0 and 2.0 3D acceleration, coupled with an Xburst 1Ghz CPU, support for DDR2 memory and a bunch of other stuff that makes not a jot of sense to me. Read on to see what they have to say about it:

read postIngenic Launch Their New SoC, The JZ4770. With 3D GFX Acceleration.