Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Does anyone here have any Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
I see that they are selling for around $275 or so and seem rather interesting.

If anyone have actual experience with them;

a) How is the quality (feel, sturdiness, etc)?

b) How well does regular Ubuntu run on them?

c) How well does Android run on them?

d) How well does movies play back on them?

e) Battery life?

And finally, would you recommend them?


And, a related question..does ANYONE know when the Ramos W7 will be release....? ( http://winarco.com/ramos-mobile-inte...ce-android-w7/ )

Then there is also the A700...Linux tablet... http://www.skytone.net.cn/en/product...27&show_type=1

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Hi Tintin,

Yes, I bought a SmartQ7 because it was cheap (I'm wating for the Apple Tablet if ever or the eDge Dualscreen), and has a decent screen-size. I use it with a BT Apple Keyboard for writing articles (along my N810 wich I use for lyrical work) using a stable version of Abiword.

a) build quality is good, though plastic it doesn't feel that cheap
b) it runs well - I managed to do some firmwhere-updates and installe some programs. Actually, on discussion boards I read somewhere that it is the best so far - better then WinCE, Android or Mer.
c) no experience. Rumor has it that a descent android version for the SmartQ7 will arive soon (on the smartq5 it's there already but it gives a battery-life-drop)
d) I think you shouldn't buy it for that (no flash) - read the discussions
e) batterylife is very good, you can savely work a day on it without being afraid it will stop

I would recommend it because it is cheap, you can read excellent on it (with evince and fbreader), and if you have experience with the command-line structure of Linux/Ubuntu you can modify it aroudn (I can't ;-). I bought it as a inbetween-device and I'm very satisfied with it.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

The A700 looks interesting. Anyone know what flavor of Linux it'll have?

If it had more RAM, and a faster CPU, it might be worth really considering.

My main sites for tablets, right now, are on the Entourage eDGe e-reader. If I was going to go with a 7" device, the 3 I'd consider would be the nook, Alex, and the A680 (same site as the A700). In fact, I'd love to see the A680 in a 9" or 10" screen size ... with Maemo. Or the A700, for that matter.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

About d:

The ARM is not good enough to play full resolution screen, but the SoC includes a hardware decoder and a version of mplayer that can play 4Mbit/s 768x576 resolution divx/h264 files without skipping frames. We do not have source for this mplayer, so you can use it in the original firmware, or (with some hacks) in Mer. If you do not want to do this, or you have a file with encoding that is not supported by the hardware decoder, you are limited to using the 667MHz ARM11 core. We do have Xvideo driver for Q7, so at least scaling and colour space conversion are ofloaded from the CPU.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Thanks, great to get some first-hand replies.
With the battery lasting that long it's a rather tempting 'netbook alternative' with a bluetooth keyboard.

If you don't mind some follow-up questions:

a) how is the wifi? does it drop a lot? good strength?

b) can you use it for Skype calls?

c) i believe it has external speakers, if so how would you rate them compared to the N810, etc?

d) Are you still running the pre-installed Linux version or did you install 'regular' Ubuntu?

e) Is the screen bright? compared to say the NIT screens?

Thanks a LOT.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

is that not a gpl violation?

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

It is.
----

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Hi Tintin,

a) Wifi is ok, at home and in the cafe I usually work. Didn't notice any fall outs. Sometimes it takes two attempts to connect (just like my NIT)
b) I haven't tried it, but I guess so
c) Mono speaker, I guess headphone is stereo (didn't try yet)
d) I installed an unufficial update, wich runs much smoother and quicker (http://chronolytics.com/MID.html the 5.51)
e) the brightness of my N810 is better (adjusting itself at different light-surroundings), but as long you don't work outside in the sun there's no problem whatever

I use my N810 for the fun-part too: music, youtube and so on, the SmarQ7 I use only for typing and reading and surfing the web for information. Since it is rather hardcore Linux, that it uses typing commands I only (for now) dare to install updates and some apps. Notecase Manager works better than on the NIT and Abiword too. I installed the heavy Linux app Stellarium, but that runs too slow on a SmartQ.
With my NIT I'm not afraid of ruining things, with the SmartQ I am, however a bit less since I can easily re-install the firmware again if everything should go down.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

@RvG - Thanks for the additional info.
The larger tablet screen would be welcome and I may just plunk out the $225 I can get the SmartQ7 for.

I guess if I hate it I could sell it for close to that anyway.

Thanks again.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Good luck and fun!

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Thanks again - I bought a SmartQ7. Couldn't turn down the option to buy a new one for $215.

My impressions after having played with it a lot for three days now:
- Build quality is not stellar but it's better than I thought and no issue

- movies are a bit choppy but I'm hoping to switch over to Ubuntu soon and we'll see what player I can get working there

- battery life is indeed great!

- good wifi connection and really good browsing

All in all I like it a lot. The screen feels huge after switching from the N810 to it.

I was looking at getting either a netbook or a larger tablet for my coffee-shop-visits and I'm really happy I got this one. The price was right as well.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

um why don't you look into the newer smartv7 for a little more

http://www.jiongtang.com/shop/smartd...-c-41_2_5.html (if you really want it, its a better price than you found)

http://www.jiongtang.com/shop/smartd...c-41_2_25.html


for more pics and a review
http://www.jiongtang.com/blog/


edit: blast i missed that you already bought one... oh well i guess for those that come accross this thread the infos there

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

the new SmartQ V7 (with better CPU and HDMI output) just get released by DealExtreme for 275 US$.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

The V7 is so close, yet comes up a little bit short in every category.

• 7" screen instead of 9" or 10"
• 800x480 instead of 1024x600 (or the 1280x720 it can output on the HDMI port)
• .25GB RAM instead of .5 or 1GB of RAM
• 1 USB host/otg slot ... instead of 2 or 3, and while it mentions mouse support, no mention of keyboard support.
• No dpad (nor even a trackball)
• Proprietary charger, instead of a mini-USB client charge/sync port

I hope they put out a 9" or 10" model that fills in those gaps (and maybe has a faster CPU).
I also wonder if there's any way to order it without the Windows CE partition (hopefully nothing requires it, like for activation, firmware upgrades, etc.). Being able to reclaim that for expanding the Android or Ubuntu partitions would be nice.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Your complaints are valid, especially the part about the screen. However you can't deny that this is probably the cheapest device of its kind. I'd say it doesn't have a direct competition at all.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Right this minute? Probably true.

The several other 7" Android Tablets about to be released will probably change that...

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Could you link to them? I'm in the market for such a device.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Here's one to be going on with
http://www.camangi-webstation.com/
http://www.camangimarket.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzkOD...layer_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqXP...layer_embedded
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/25/c...orders-do-not/

Probably a bit underpowered though it has 3G and capacitive screen and should come with Android 2.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

i am not sure how much the cpu is improved, mostly it seems they have gotten a SOC with HD decoding on chip or something to handle the HDMI connector.

still waiting for a non-phone cortex device...

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

You just made me realize that I was a bit misled to believe that the V7 is powered by Cortex-A8. It isn't, it's a Telechips TCC8900 SoC, ARM11-based with some hardware HD video decoding and encoding. Should be quite good anyway.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Does it say what the graphics acceleration hw is?

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

nowhere that i recall reading, so i suspect its powered by binary only drivers that will not be made available to users outside of the firmware files (iirc, they pulled something similar with mplayer in the earlier products).

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

The http://www.malideveloper.com/platfor...t-platform.php page mentions it is Mali200 gpu core licenced from ARM - http://www.arm.com/products/multimed..._hardware.html Never heard before, I wonder how it compares to SGX.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

7" Android Tablets:

• Someone already pointed out the Camangi Webstation
• The Vega Internet Tablet is supposed to come in 7", 11", and 15" variants.
• The Skytone Alpha 680 is a 7" convertible tablet. It's design will probably make it a bit bulkier than pure tablets, though.
• China Mobile is working on a 7" tablet (looks interesting, but haven't heard anything about it since August).
• Creative is supposed to do a 7"-ish e-reader as part of their Zii platform. (the image there is just a mockup -- it's a kindle with a zii logo)
• Boeye MID 700 will be a 7" Android MID
• The Eston N97 is a 7" Android MID ... no relation, other than the name, to the Nokia N97
• The Wits A81 is supposed to have an Android version

5" Android Tablets:

If you're flexible about 5" vs 7", there's the Dell Streak, the eviGroup Wallet, the RAmos W7, the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, a 5" version of the Boeye, and I think the Inbrics Android MID is a 5" screen.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

and most seems to be using arm11 rather then cortex :(

and i do wonder how many of them will have bluetooth...

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Proprietary? Funny that, when I got my Q7 I was surprised to see the dc plug was one of the standard size dc plugs. I have tons of them around the house from buying multiplug dc adapters to replace dead ones for routers, switches, powertool chargers, etc.. :-) It's usually colourcoded yellow across manufacturer's (and the charger that was included had yellow colourcoded plug too)..

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Ok, fine "it doesn't charge via USB client", therefore, it's a minus.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

Didn't know about the SmartV7 when I bought my SmartQ7 but all in all I'm happy with the Q7. If the V7 is an improvement over the Q7 I would recommend it to anyone who want a tablet with 'enough' screen real-estate (everyone is different, but for me 7 inches is the perfect size balancing portability and functionality) at a very reasonable price.

Re: Moses SmartQ 7 experience?
 

I bought a smartQ 7 from from Techbonzer last moth.the price is only $198 USD dollars.the delivery time is 5 days.it is very cool.