Polaroid T7 Internet Tablet (7 inch Tablet)

I recently purchased a Polaroid T7 Internet Tablet.  This was My second attempt at purchasing a cheap Android powered tablet.  Luckily, I am very pleased with this purchase, finally. 

(Quick Background:)
The main thing that I am losing is the multimedia aspect of a tablet.  I had originally purchased a Pandigital Planet with only 256MB of internal RAM and because it was so severely limited in the internal memory aspect I could never take advantage of the Front or Rear Cameras or the Micro HDMI out. 

Even after resolving to just use the Planet for email and surfing the web, I still found that it lacked the ability to run apps at speed. 

Wanting a cheap Android Android Tablet that actually worked, I returned the Planet and picked-up a Polaroid T7 Internet Tablet from Kohl's.

Polaroid T7 Internet Tablet (PTAB7200) 1st Impressions:
The Polaroid name is apparently licensed, as the tablet is actually supported by Southern Telecom.

The Specs:

• High Res 7" Touch Screen
• Android OS 2.3.1
• 1 GHZ RockChip RK2918/ARM CORTEX-A8 w/Neon 512KB L2 Cache
• RAM: 512MB DDR3
• 4GB Internal Memory (Expandable with Micro SD card)
• 802.11 b/g/n wi-fi network capable
• USB Host feature allows the ability to connect a Flash Drive
• Rechargeable LI-ion battery (lasts 5-6 hours with wi-fi on in normal use)

The T7 Package Includes:

• The PTAB7200 7" Tablet
• Mini USB to USB Cable
• Adapter Cable for USB Memory Stick (Flash Jump Drive)
• AC Power Adapter/Recharger Cable Unit
• PTAB7200 User Manual

This item is advertised right on the box with HD Digital Video 1080P but I cannot see how in the world they could get real 1080P HD Digital Video into that tiny 7" screen when the resolution is reported to be only 800 x 480 pixels.  HD aspect ratio, yes, but HD it is not.  What the hell has happened to truth in advertising, folks?  And no, there is no HDMI output to make this HD capable in any respect.  But, I didn't know they were advertising HD 1080P until after I bought it and knew I was getting an 800x480 screen with no HDMI.  C'mon Man!

Despite the false advertising, the thing has so far proven to run like a champ.  I did have to poke the reset hole with a paper clip after leaving the unit on standby for over a day, once.  But it runs surpisingly fast for only a 1 GHZ processor.

I left the protective cling-plastic screen protector on it, the touch screen works well and does a better job than my planet did, but is not near as good as my DroidX.  But as this is a cheap tablet, I am quite happy.  My son would like a better touch screen to play his games, and therefore still prefers my DroidX for games.  But otherwise games run fine.  Angry birds and Greedy Spiders all seem to be doing quite well without any problems.

I cannot log into NetFlix, but I couldn't on my Planet and I can't on my DroidX, either.  I think my login email address is too long for the mobile platform.  Netflix works great on my PC, Laptop, Wii, PS3 & Blu-ray players.  Video is clear and crisp, even at 50% brightness, though.  The audio could be a bit louder, sometimes (usually when people screw up the audio levels while recording).  Video also streams well with a good signal.

I am still looking for my ear buds to try out the headphone jack.  The speaker sounds OK, but needs to be all the way up to hear alarms as it is not real loud.

A word on the Wi-Fi: OK.  That's all, just OK.  Not as good as My PC, Laptop, Wii, DroidX, My son's iPad & PS3, etc... but definitely a little better than that old peice of crap Pandigital Planet, making this new T7 internet tablet usable downstairs (where the Planet wasn't even able to connect).

The printed user manual unfolds like a map and walks you through loading Amazon AppStore which works well.  I have apps I have licensed through Google Market that I miss, but I don't want to be running BOTH the Amazon AppStore licensing system and the Google Market licensing system when My apps check to see if they are legal.  So right now I am doing without Kuffs Password Safe or Unified Remote, etc., which is a big loss that I do feel daily.  So I have to deal with that.

Although 6 sensors are reported, it doesn't seem to support Bubble Level.  There is no GPS, and I have set it to use network locals, but Google still can't tell where I am.

No Bluetooth, although I want to try my USB Bluetooth adapter and haven't, just yet.

I haven't found if it can be rooted, yet.

I am especially happy with the battery life.  The Planet was done in a couple hours.  I don't think I've had to worry for around 5 or 6 hours with the Polaroid T7.

I love that it comes with some extra cables.  Not just a USB cable to connect the device to your computer, but also an adapter cable to plug in a USB Flash Jump Drive (Memory Stick).  This makes transferring files manually an easier option from friends computers (especially when they don't want to set you up with their Wi-Fi settings and install something on their computer to exchange files with).

Although the buttons are in different placements (back, menu & home buttons), I like the setup very much because it works out as logical when I have to hold the thing upside down in portrait display position because of the omnidirectional wi-fi which has a stronger signal through the bottom end, and it makes sense in any landscape position, as well.

When held, the T7 feels very solid (the Planet squeaked all the time).  It doesn't feel cheap.  I like it so far.  I like it a great deal better than the Planet.  But I still hope to one day be able to grab a Toshiba Thrive.

Pandigital Planet - 7" Android Tablet

Hi All...

I just grabbed a Pandigital Planet from Kohl's.  They have it on sale for $189.00 this weekend (you can find it cheaper online, about 170 to 175).  I grabbed it at the sale price with a 20% off coupon they sent Me by email and my wife gave Me $90.00 Kohl's cash.  So I only paid 84.79 with the tax and everything and I'll actually get another 15% off with my employee discount. 

I wanted to wait for the Nova, but we don't have that one in the store yet, and the Kohl's cash we had was only good until today.  They may well have the Nova when I go in for work tonight, though.  Oh well.

So far I can see that with only 2GB I have to get a big microSD card and be very conservative with the applications I install.  On My DroidX I have a 5GB memory bank for apps and I have lots of cool looking apps that act crappy and like to stay in memory and run absolutely all the time.  That's just not a possibility with a 2GB Planet.

What's there:
7" 800x600 resistive TFT LCD touchscreen tablet device with...
MiniUSB port (not MicroUSB like on a Droid X, but MiniUSB like most cameras).
HDMI port (accomodates DTV as well as 720p & 1080p HDTV playback to TV/device).
microSD Card SLOT (no card included) will accomodate up to 32GB cards.
Wi-Fi (The 802.11 B/G/N is very cheap and doesn't have much range).
Mini Stereo Headphone Jack.
Microphone.
Forward and rear facing cameras.  NOTE: NO Flash.
Power button.
Volume Up/Down buttons.
Android buttons.
Dedicated DC port (a dedicated power adapter port that doesn't use the miniUSB port).
Uses a rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery.
AC wall outlet power adapter (for recharging).
MiniUSB to PC USB cable.
Tablet miniUSB connection is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and MacOS X computers.  Although not stated, it should be compatible with properly configured Linux computers as well since android is Linux based.

The 7" Planet uses a proprietary market place.  When searching at Google's App Market from the device, Google won't even acknowledge that you are on an android device. Apparently there is a hack for this, but you need to be careful with piling on some of the less memory friendly apps that never shut down from most developers out there (android has a big problem with this no matter the device, perhaps this may be pandigital's attempt to stop crappy apps from infecting everything with constant memory loss and consistent device reboots?).

After getting it and playing with it a bit there was a firmware update.  After the firmware update, parts of certain screens, such as the drag-down notification window and menu shrank in parts to a phone-sized screen.  Very unusual looking, but the thing still works just fine.

The 800x600 display is a little different from My Droid X in that it uses a 5 x 5 icon layout, as opposed to the 4 x 4 icon layout.  The Droid X has 3 additional screens on either side of home, where the Planet only has 2 extra screens to the left or right of home.

That said, I really like the bigger display.  I can read the 800x600 pretty well without My reading glasses, as opposed to the tiny screen on My Droid X device. 

Touch seems responsive until trashing or otherwise moving icons around.  Then, it just plain bites because I am not a real patient guy.  You have to pause quite a while once you select the icon and it grows, before you can move it somewhere else.  I am told that there is an issue with how the wi-fi antenna is positioned.  Moving it to a side location apparently helps touchscreen sensitivity.  Someone also says that using aluminum tape to do so has increased the wi-fi signal on theirs.

I really like that they switched the Home and Menu buttons around, and that they are physical buttons (when compared to My Droid X button positions or the lack of real buttons on My friend's Droid Incredible). 

I have downloaded an app, Nimbuzz, to use it for skype, but it seems that they only support skype on a phone?  Curious that these guys aren't supporting tablets, yet.  Maybe I'll find one that will.

I understand that the Planet can be rooted, now.  I'm surprised.  Glad, but surprised, as it hasn't been out long, has it?  I'm going to have to do that once I grab a microSD Card so that I can back it all up for reinstalling it all. 

The 7" Nova will have more memory (4GB), so some might want that one, instead.  As mentioned, we don't have it just yet in our store, but I might grab a Nova, or maybe wait for Pandigital's flagship tablet due out in September.