Based on our experience with the original zenPad -- one that we wouldn't wish upon our worst enemy's enemies -- we had a feeling that Enso's latest crop of wares wouldn't exactly be teeming with high quality components. One kindhearted tipster of ours managed to ignore our advice and order up a $199 zenPad 4, which is just another iPad KIRF for all intents and purposes. Loaded with Android 2.1 and doused in mediocrity, this 10.2-inch tablet actually ships in a knockoff iPad box... one that proudly sports a perfectly random Internet Explorer icon on the front. Trust us, the laughs don't end there. It was also said to be about half as responsive to key presses as the iPad, and when pressing down on the bezel, it actually leaves momentary indentations that require a tick to flatten back out. Classy. Head on past the break for a purely comedic video unboxing and preview -- if you've had a rough one, you owe it to yourself.
There's been lots of drama surrounding this tablet, the biggest one being that the processor they advertised is fake and (possibly) can't be upgraded to Android 2.2.
Other tiny problems include a broken/weak WiFi connection and china scammers posing as forum users and saying that the tablet works fine.
The tablet goes by many names: ZT-180, WiiPad, ePad, Orphan M16 to name a few
@benedictx Here's an excerpt I got from a forum site I'm a member of:
The Zenithink tablet was originally advertised as a 10" tablet with an A8 Cortex CPU. The A8 Cortex CPU would have allowed for Adobe Flash playback if the device was ever upgraded to Android 2.2. Previous CPU versions are not only incapable of using Adobe Flash, they are also 30-40% slower and less efficient overall. It was revealed that the CPU specification was in fact faked, and the CPU is the older and slower ARM11 variant.
What we have done here is uncovered faked specifications and an attempt to cover up the situation, both evidenced by the firmware implementation to artificially boost benchmark scores (which inherently leads to instability), and by the manufacturer's passive stance on the false specifications being spread
@CaptainFabulous The specs on this tablet could be better, but they're darn good for the price. 1ghz ARM11 processor, 256mb of ram. I'm guessing that there might not be a DSP, but I'm not sure...some less expensive junk tablets have DSP for video. As we've seen with other tablets, the initial software load of Android is buggy, but once the community gets a hold of it the performance could be greatly improved.
Also, this guy acts like he's never seen a resistive screen before...
On the screen where the firmware version is listed, it has an entry that says, "About Phone." I wonder if they simply copied someone's smartphone build? That could explain some of the problems, if it's not optimized for the hardware it's running on.
Half the things this guy spoke about were pretty subjective. I can see that the ZenPad sucked, but come on. Pretty obvious that this guy reviewing the unit is a dumbass. He had stated many times that he was a user of almost anything Apple. Any product he'd come across are tokens in his view doomed to fail. This cheaply made android product sucks we all know it would at $199 and nothing optimized for the larger screen (didn't even have Froyo), but the reviewer simply made up his mind that he wanted to show how superior the Ipad is to that garbage. When was the last time you heard of the $200 Ipad. So there you go Apple fanboys. Displaying an inferior product so that you can all feel good about yourselves. Let's see what happens when a premiere manufacturer puts together something at the same price point. Yeah, that'll be something to rag on.
@dabbo1 umad? This is an Android tablet. All these months of mock up, rumors and finally we have an actual production Android tablet. What an awesome product!
Eugh. Slow as hell, wont play videos apparently, browsing support is lacklustre, downright frustrating to use. It may be cheaper than an iPad but who would shell out money for this hunk 'o junk!? It would be in the bin in pieces after 10 mins use if somebody even gave me one. I popped over to the Enso site for its price, I laughed out loud when I saw it for sale at $199. I wouldn't even waste $1.99 on it.
Oh, forgot to mention - they claim its got an ARM11 chip running at 1Ghz. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the iPad have a 1Ghz ARM chip which apple lovingly rejigged into the A4!? So why is it so painfuly slow!?
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@eagrimm Probably not. Resistive screens have to be calibrated at least once for good precision.
I saw that lol I made my comment after I saw that he said he was an Apple man.
why dont companies launch quality things and sell it at a resonable price
There's been lots of drama surrounding this tablet, the biggest one being that the processor they advertised is fake and (possibly) can't be upgraded to Android 2.2.
Other tiny problems include a broken/weak WiFi connection and china scammers posing as forum users and saying that the tablet works fine.
The tablet goes by many names: ZT-180, WiiPad, ePad, Orphan M16 to name a few
@benedictx
Here's an excerpt I got from a forum site I'm a member of:
The Zenithink tablet was originally advertised as a 10" tablet with an A8 Cortex CPU. The A8 Cortex CPU would have allowed for Adobe Flash playback if the device was ever upgraded to Android 2.2. Previous CPU versions are not only incapable of using Adobe Flash, they are also 30-40% slower and less efficient overall. It was revealed that the CPU specification was in fact faked, and the CPU is the older and slower ARM11 variant.
What we have done here is uncovered faked specifications and an attempt to cover up the situation, both evidenced by the firmware implementation to artificially boost benchmark scores (which inherently leads to instability), and by the manufacturer's passive stance on the false specifications being spread
Can we get someone who's not a self-attested Apple fanboy and actually knows the Android OS to give us a tour of one of these?
@proppat You took the words right out of my mouth.
@CaptainFabulous The specs on this tablet could be better, but they're darn good for the price. 1ghz ARM11 processor, 256mb of ram. I'm guessing that there might not be a DSP, but I'm not sure...some less expensive junk tablets have DSP for video. As we've seen with other tablets, the initial software load of Android is buggy, but once the community gets a hold of it the performance could be greatly improved.
Also, this guy acts like he's never seen a resistive screen before...
This dude was the worst person to do this video. Looks like he lost the coin toss.
On the screen where the firmware version is listed, it has an entry that says, "About Phone." I wonder if they simply copied someone's smartphone build? That could explain some of the problems, if it's not optimized for the hardware it's running on.
That's not 2.1 It's 1.5. You can tell by the search widget. That's been different since 1.6.
@matthew2 You can still get the old 1.5 search widget on 2.1 if you want.
absolutely loving the internet explorer e
Internet Explorer 3 logo ftw :D
Is that Jeff GoldBlum doing an unboxing? Jeff? You Geek!
Half the things this guy spoke about were pretty subjective. I can see that the ZenPad sucked, but come on. Pretty obvious that this guy reviewing the unit is a dumbass. He had stated many times that he was a user of almost anything Apple. Any product he'd come across are tokens in his view doomed to fail. This cheaply made android product sucks we all know it would at $199 and nothing optimized for the larger screen (didn't even have Froyo), but the reviewer simply made up his mind that he wanted to show how superior the Ipad is to that garbage. When was the last time you heard of the $200 Ipad. So there you go Apple fanboys. Displaying an inferior product so that you can all feel good about yourselves. Let's see what happens when a premiere manufacturer puts together something at the same price point. Yeah, that'll be something to rag on.
@dabbo1 umad?
This is an Android tablet.
All these months of mock up, rumors and finally we have an actual production Android tablet.
What an awesome product!
HTC need to get in on this game and stop these douchepads :( The only reason they get any attention is because they are the only thing around atm
The Samsung/Acer kit will be worth a look too - and if Notion Ink can pull it together.....maybe.
I think the reviewer should have read up on Skyfire.
Yay, finally an iPad killer!
Did you see how awesome Android is on a tablet?!
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...
...
After playing with the Augen Tablet PC and having a 64GB/3G iPad...
If your are thinking of one of these. They are only basically a stretch PMP... Save up your money and get the iPad... Better way to spend your money.
Not exactly what I had in mind. Got anything in a green?
I'm pretty sure he's filming this with an iPhone. Look a little after 2:10.
That bottom left corner...is that part of the bezel 'artwork', an 'artsy' antennafail bandaid, or did someone try to set this thing on fire??
It's probably a good product for kids, I know my niece would love it..
I really hate people who use "In Theory" too much, especially in a sarcastic way.
Did anyone else notice how many times this guy said "in theory", geez i lost count.
whats is the TOUCAN WINDOWS 7 DEVICE?
the date on the thing right out of the box on the screen says:
"1/1/1970"
LOL WTF!?
Eugh. Slow as hell, wont play videos apparently, browsing support is lacklustre, downright frustrating to use. It may be cheaper than an iPad but who would shell out money for this hunk 'o junk!?
It would be in the bin in pieces after 10 mins use if somebody even gave me one.
I popped over to the Enso site for its price, I laughed out loud when I saw it for sale at $199. I wouldn't even waste $1.99 on it.
Oh, forgot to mention - they claim its got an ARM11 chip running at 1Ghz. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the iPad have a 1Ghz ARM chip which apple lovingly rejigged into the A4!?
So why is it so painfuly slow!?
the youtube performance is his fault-he didn't click the play icon
not very good, but i would take it over the iPhone KIRF from yesterday anytime :)