Showing posts with label eken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eken. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Eking S700 tablet/e-notebook - a review and a blog post

Eking S700 tablet/e-notebook:
"Guangxuntong spent more than two years to research and develop its proprietary handwriting technology. Older handwriting technology requires transforming information into standard font to save. The input speed for this method is slow. Guangxuntong’s original handwriting technology can record writers’ calligraphy completely, support original handwritings and original handwriting storage, and it can help people to write smoothly and record in their original handwriting style. The EKING e-notepad unifies original handwriting technology, computer technology and wireless Internet technology; it has widespread applications in mobile officing fields, including meeting minutes, original handwriting signature, outdoor officing, long-distance document approval, hand-written mails, free hand sketches and so on."
Above is a key excerpt from a detailed review of the new tablet. This is an innovative tablet that, while too expensive for me, is something I'm going to keep a close eye on. This tablet is designed, from the ground up--hardware and software, to do real work and do it efficiently. Hopefully it will embarrass the other tablet makers into giving us products that can be used for something other than the consumption of media.

Below: a blog post. Durrr. I love me iPad.

EKING S700 e-notepad - SlipperyBrick.com:
"The device features resistance touch control and electromagnetic induction touch control, along with 3G connectivity. You get a 7-inch display and Wi-Fi as well. Even a 3-megapixel automatic focus camera. Yeah, I think I’ll go with the iPad just the same, thanks."

Sometimes the shallowness of much of the tech blogging out there gets to me. Of course 99% of my posts resemble the last example. Oh well. No glass houses on the internets.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Eken unveils new 8" M005 Android tablet

Eken unveils new Android tablet - SlipperyBrick.com:
"Another day, another tablet. This new Android tablet comes from Chinese-based company Eken and it is called the M005. The device sports an 8-inch 800 x 600 touchscreen TFT LCD display, 533MHz VIA MW8505 processor and 128MB RAM."

eken-m005-1
Some may consider it underpowered but at the expected $100 price point it may be a great occasional-use plaything. We'll see what the N. American price is very soon.

Shanzai.com has a decent review with some cool pictures. Big screen and low price may make it worth buying desping the slow (600MHz) processor and resistive screen. Android 1.6 but hopefully upgradeable (or completely replaced with something better down the road)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Augen The Book e-Reader Video Review, First Impressions | The eBook Reader Blog

Augen The Book e-Reader Video Review, First Impressions | The eBook Reader Blog

A good video review of the "Augen The Book" e-Reader. It covers pretty much everything except wi-fi web browsing; the reviewer had messed up the wi-fi password when he was ready to do the review but had it working and confirmed that it worked OK.

I was underwhelmed by the overall speed of device, but for the (K-Mart) price it would certainly be a viable choice as a first time Android device. If I had to choose between the Augen and the Eken M001 I'd probably take this one.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

calibre 0.7.5 now available – now supports Dell Streak, Eken M001 | The Digital Reader

calibre 0.7.5 now available – now supports Dell Streak, Eken M001 | The Digital Reader

A bunch of new features and bug fixes as well as support for new devices, including the bargain tablet the Eken M001 ($102 Cdn). I still haven't put all my eggs in the Calibre basket because it doesn;t support my ebookwise e-reader, but I will definitely base my next hardware purchase on how well it is supported by Calibre.

Click on to The Digital Reader for a bullet list of changes or go straight to the Calibre site.

Friday, June 11, 2010

How low can they go? Eken M001 7inch Android WIFI Tablet for $102

Eken M001 7inch Android WIFI Tablet

They've been lowering the price on this model every few weeks. At $102 Canadian there's no great loss if it doesn't do everything you want. I suspect it will go respectably into double-digits sometime this summer to clear the way for the waves of cheap tablets that will flood the market for the X-mas season.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Eken M003 - 8-inch Android tablet - $150 Cdn.

My original post about the Eken M003 listed the price as $230 US. While I still think its not the sexiest-looking tablet on the market I find myself a little more tempted, especially now that I can get one for $150 Cdn at merimobiles.com.

I also stated that the tablet runs Android 1.5. Apparently it runs 1.6 (Donut). Given the wide variety of phones and tablets out there running 1.6 there should be a few years of open source software support for this platform--even if there is no access to google market.

If your are looking for a semi-mobile internet device (SMID?) with a big screen this is the cheapest solution. I'm not crazy about using this as an e-reader; mostly because of the poor battery life, but also because of its unwieldy size and form-factor.

My biggest concern is that the battery life is pretty poor: Standby Time: 5 hours, Working Time: 3 hours.

P.S. The Eken M001 is now down to $115 Cdn (from $125 in April)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Eken M003 - 8-inch Android tablet - $230


For some reason the most popular blog post so far has been my note about the Eken M001 Android WIFI Tablet. It though its profile was close to what I was looking for in my next e-book reader. Unfortunately the battery life was a real problem. The price ($125 Cdn.), however, made it really tempting.


The Eken M003, the follow-up to the M001, solves one problem: at $236 US it is no longer tempting. It still has Android, but runs version 1.5 (Cupcake). This is not a good sign. I'm not sure if the bigger 8-inch touchscreen is a plus if I want to be able to read without having to hold it with two hands.

Its also butt-ugly.

If you are brave you can get one at ChinaGrabber.com. Let me know how it works out.


Android MID shocker! Eken M003 gets 8-inch display, $230 price tag (video) -- Engadget:

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Eken M001 Android WIFI Tablet

This looks really good. Its a 7" tablet with wifi running Android 1.6. It is also cheap enough to use as a simple e-reader.

Apparently it has a very responsive and accurate touchscreen (although I don't know if it is multi-touch), an accelerometer, and a nice set of built-in features and installed apps (including e-reader software). One review said that is also has a built-in 1.3Mp camera, and will also support an external hard drive of up to 16 GB (through device-specific docking port?). Even without the camera it is a bargain.

The big downside mentioned in most reviews is that it has a poor battery life. Another question is how easy it will be to upgrade to Android 2.1.

  • 600 MHz WonderMedia PRIZM MW8505
  • 2 GB internal NAND flash storage, 128 MB of DDR2 RAM
  • audio port, an SD card reader (of up to 32 GB), USB port
  • 7", 800 x 480 TFT screen.

The Eken M001 TP701 Android WIFI Tablet is available in Canada from Merimobiles.com for $125 right now.



Shanzai.com: Video: EKEN M001 Android tablet for USD100
tomshardware.com: Eken's 7'' Android Tablet Starts @ $100
Shenit.com: Eken M001 7” Google Android 1.6 iPad Tablet Slate PC UMPC MID Netbook