MID iRobot - an Android Tablet PC

MID iRobot - an Android Tablet PC

I wanted to buy a Tablet PC, I wasn’t looking for an iPad or even the “iPad killer” that these Chinese tablet PCs are often called (by local sales people).

I was looking for a light weight tablet PC that I could get emails and surf the web on via WiFi, so I would not have to haul around my laptop to client sites, and as typical in Asia out to dinner and/or drinks with the client.

I do not need a million apps or 3G service – I have an iPhone (for Hong Kong) and a Blackberry (for China) for those things. But I wanted to be able to read emails on a larger screen, type on a larger surface and be able to surf the web with multiple windows on a screen that is bigger than that of a smart phone.

So I headed to Shenzhen to check out the consumer electronics stores to see if I could find a reliable inexpensive alternative to the iPad. I did a little home work before I took the journey north.

What I bought: MID iRobot - an Android Tablet PC
It came with a 7 inch display touch screen, a few preinstalled apps (you can get numerous applications from Android Market), imedia, a camera for online video chat, and support for more than 30 languages (including English and Chinese). Some of the basic functions included: Email, Camera, Camcorder, Video & Music Player, Calendar, Calculator, Alarm Clock, Photo Browser, PDF Reader, and Google Maps.

The Negatives: It has a funky “transfer box” which is a device that is needed to use the Ethernet and USB functions, I found it to be not that user friendly and the touch screen isn’t super responsive but is still very workable.

The Positives: It is great for web browsing, email works well, it is easy to set up and operate, it’s easy to switch tasks & apps, its light weight and the price ($ 110).

I upgraded the email client and added a couple other apps from the Android Market.
Did I mention the price? I paid about $110 for it; compare that to the $500 for the base model of the iPad. I found that is also works pretty well from the sofa ha ha ha. Over all I am very happy with my purchase.

The Specifications:
CPU: RK2808a Chipset (ARM9 @ 600 MHz + DSP @ 550 MHz dual-core)
Operating System: Android 1.5
Display: 800×480, 7 inch LCD
Camera: 1.3 Mega pixels
Audio input: built-in microphone
Audio output: 3.5 mm jack, integrated speakers
Networking: 802.11 Wireless b/g
Peripheral Support: USB Host (mouse, keyboard, and they claim others)
Battery: 3000 mAH, it lasts about 2 hours
RAM: 128 MB
Hard Drive: 2 GB
Expansion Memory: microSD up to 16 GB
Supported Video Formats: MKV (H.264 HP)/RMVB/MPEG-4/FLV/MPEG-1/MPEG-2 up to 720p
Supported Audio Formats: MP3, WMA. FLAC, AAC, AC3, OGG, WAV
Supported Picture Formats: JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF
Weight: 332 g