₦airaland Forum

This is bajugbajug. I don't know much about tab I only copy n pasted what an OP posted to assist newbies.


So far, I have reviewed quite a few Android tablets
and received overwhelming response. Choosing the
a tablet with the best price to performance ratio is
not an easy task even with detailed reviews at hand.
I have decided to write a guide that will help you to
choose the best Android tablet or phone.
without risk of over simplification, we can safely
assume that an Android tablet or phone has the
following critical subsystems
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
2. User Interface (Touch screen and buttons)
3. Memory (RAM, ROM, NAND, External Storage)
4. Communications (WiFi, Bluetooth, phone)
5. Ports and interface (USB, HDMI)
6. Sensors and location (Accelerometer, GPS)
7. Power (Battery, voltage control, charger interface)
8. Casing (the case that holds everything)
All of these systems need work together in harmony
to give you a great Android experience. Let us start
with the processor.
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
Android tablets and phones normally run on CPUâ
€™s based on ARM architecture and are SOC or
system on a chip. A SOC is an integrated circuit that
integrates all components of a computer or other
electronic systems into a single chip (from
Wikipedia). A typical SOC inside an Android tablet or
phone has
a. The CPU
b. The GPU (graphics processing unit)
c. The VPU (vector processing unit)
d. L1 and L2 cache
e. RAM Interface
f. Video coding and decoding engines
g. HDMI interface
Some SOCs like Qualcomm MSM7227T also
contain modem processor and cell phone network
connectivity modules.
What to look for in the CPU?
Ideally you should look for a SOC with the highest
clock speed. The CPU component of the SOC is used
to measure the clock speed. For example, if I am
asked to choose between two devices, one with 800
MHz CPU and another with a 1000 MHz CPU, I will
choose the higher one. But things get a bit
complicated with multi core CPU. If I have to choose
between a 1 GHz dual core CPU and a single core 1.5
GHz CPU, I will choose the 1 GHz dual core CPU.
By the way, there are NO CPU for tablets or phones
with 3 cores. So the advertisements you see for
Mercury mTAB or any other tablet that claims “3
core†CPU’s are false and misleading. These
companies are clubbing the CPU+GPU+VPU inside
the SOC to claim multi-core CPUs. Any CPU below
Cortex A9 is single core.
arm-processors
Here are some CPU you will find
1. Qualcomm MSM7XXX family (MSM7227T,
MSM7627T)
2. Telechip TCC family (TCC8803, TCC 8902)
3. Rockchip family (RK28XX, RK29XX)
4. Samsung (S5PV210, Exynos)
5. VIA Wondermedia family(WM86XX, WM85XX)
6. Amlogic family (AM8XXX)
7. Freescale family (iMX5xxx)
8. TI OMAP family
9. Nvidia Tegra family
10. Vimicro family (VCxxx)
11. Allwinner
12. Ingenic family (XBurst)
13. Renesas family
After extensive benchmarking with Quadrant,
Linpack, GL Benchmark the knowledgeable folks at
XDA, Slatedroid and few other forums have found
that the best CPU for
android-games
For 2D Games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210
2. AmLogic AML 8726
3. Tegra 2 and TI OMAP
For 3D games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210 and Tegra 2
2. Rockchip RK29XX
3. AM Logic AML-8726
For optimum battery life (by best scores)
1. Renesas EV2
2. Tegra 2
3. Samsung S5PV210 and RK29XX
**The benchmarks were run on tablets running
Android 2.3
From the ranking above it is clear that Samsung
S5PV210 is the best all round CPU available in the
market.
2. User Interface
touchscreen
The screen is the most interacted and visible part of
a tablet or phone. If the screen is not good, it does
not matter if the tablet or phone has the most
cutting edge fastest CPU on the planet, it will still
suck and you will be frustrated enough to pull some
crazy violent acts on it. In brief, having a high
quality , responsive screen is a must.
Touch screen
Tablets and phones come with two types of touch
screens
1. Resistive
2. Capacitive
The resistive screens are cheap and have single
point of touch. They are not very responsive and you
have to use a stylus to interact with it. In two
words , avoid it.
Capacitive also known as multi touch screen are the
ones where you can use multiple fingers to interact
with the device. They are smooth and responsive
and you can pinch and zoom and use your fingers to
swipe and do other cool things on the screen. Not all
capacitive screens are made equal, a lot depends
upon the LCD, the chipsets and sensors used to
make the panel. Capacitive screens can be divided
in to
1. 2 finger touch
2. 3 finger touch
4. 5 finger touch
5. 10 finger touch
Ideally you should go for tablets with screens that
support 3 finger touch or more. The screen and
onscreen graphics should move smoothly when you
swipe across them, photos should pinch and zoom
smoothly when you interact with them, if they do
not, I suggest you look for other tablets.
Resolution
The higher the better, a 7 inch screen with
1024×600 is better than a 7 inch screen with
800×480. But higher resolution also means tiny
icons, buttons and graphics. High resolution is good
when you have to read a lot of texts on web pages
and you like your texts to be ultra crisps. Higher
resolution also means slightly slower performance
and more memory consumption.
Look for 800×480, 800×600 and 1024×600
resolutions in 7 and 8 inch tabs. For 9 and 10 inch
tabs the minimum you should expect is 1024×600.
PPI
PPI stands for pixels per inch, the higher the better.
Do not settle for anything less than 144 PPI.
Buttons
The hardware buttons comes in two varieties
1. feather touch buttons
2. hard buttons.
If your tablet has hard buttons, make sure they are
sturdy. You have to touch them and press them a
few times to check the quality.
Viewing angle
The wider the viewing angle the better it is. If a
tablet’s screen has a narrow viewing angle, you
have to hold it straight in front of your eyes to watch
the content displayed on the screen, this can be
very uncomfortable when you are lying down.
3. Memory
micro-sd
You can not have enough of it. Run a lot of apps or
open too many tabs in the browser and pretty soon
you will run out of memory. But you can not have
unlimited amounts of it, so you have to hit for the
maximum you can get.
RAM
Like any computer, this is the primary memory for a
tablet. The more the merrier. High end tablets come
with 1 GB RAM. Tablets with 2 GB RAM is also
around the corner. Android tablets typically use NP
DDR SDRAM or LP DDR2 SDRAM. The LP DDR2
SDRAM is better, faster and has a higher throughput
and the cost difference is not much.
Do not buy tablets with less than 512 MB RAM.
The performance of tablets with RAM lower than 512
MB RAM is awful. It will be slow, you will often
encounter “insufficient memory†messages
and applications will close or hang quite frequently.
NAND / eMMC ROM
This is the memory that contains the actual Android
operating system, drivers, system apps, settings
etc. Actually the ROM (Read only memory) is a
misnomer, since you can read from and write to this
memory. The more space you have the better it is.
Do not settle for anything less than 4GB. I have
encountered tablets where they use micro SD cards
as internal memory.
External Storage
Most tablets support external storage cards of up to
32 GB. However there are some tablets, that can
only support external cards of up to 16 GB. I would
suggest you to go for tablets that support the
highest capacity.
4. Communications
communications-antenna
A tablet can have multiple mediums to
communicate with other devices and networks.
WiFi
A tablet should support at least 802.11 b/g
standards. Those are the most common WiFi
standards in use and will be so for the near future.
The quality of the WiFi connection and signal
depends on the hardware and the firmware. Some
custom ROM’s or even factory ROM’s are
buggy and will drop connections or give lesser
speeds. More often than not it is fixable by updating
the firmware. Check the WiFi connectivity of a tablet
thoroughly, before buying.
Phone
Not all tablets come with phone capabilities. If you
do not want to use 3G USB dongles and still want to
access the internet not in range of any WiFi
connection, you need to have a tablet that supports
SIM cards and
a.GPRS (2G)
b.EDGE (2G)
c.HSUPA, HSDPA (3G)
d.UMTS / WCDMA (3G)
Almost all high end tablets support them. But you
will be hard pressed to find a budget tablet that
supports all of the above standards.
Bluetooth
This is not an essential feature but it is required if
you want to transfer files among tablets, phones
and other devices running different operating
systems without resorting to setting up web servers
to do transfers. It can also be used to control other
devices that support Bluetooth enabled remotes or
to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to your
tablet.
If a tablet has phone connectivity, it is better to
have Bluetooth too. This will enable you to connect
Bluetooth headphones and use them while
answering or making calls. You really do not want to
pick up and talk in to a 7 inch or 10 inch slate while
holding it up to your ear. It not only looks ridiculous
but will also tire your arms pretty quick.
5. Ports and Interfaces
android-tablet-ports
Try to avoid tablets with proprietary ports and stick
to tablets with USB or Mini USB ports. Sadly, many
high end tablets like Samsung Galaxy Tab use
proprietary ports for charging, data transfer and
video output. If you are buying a budget tab, I
suggest you steer clear of proprietary ports.
USB Ports
Look for tablets that support USB 2.0 or above ports,
USB OTG, Mini USB ports. That way you do not have
to spend on buying port converters or docks. USB
OTG / HOSTÂ enables you to connect your tablet to
your computer and copy data to it just like you
would on a thumb drive. USB OTG/HOSTÂ ports are
also needed when you want to connect 3G USB
dongles, external wired keyboards, mouse, thumb
drives and external hard disks to your tablet.
Audio Socket
A tablet will also have a 3.5 mm audio socket to
connect head phones and mic, this is a very
common feature. But you should check the build
quality of the socket. Quality of sound is also an
important factor, play audio files and video files to
get a feel of the sound output quality.
HDMI Port
Some tablets come with an inbuilt mini HDMI port,
you can use this to view videos, games and other
content from your tablet on an external screen such
as an LCD TV. This is not an essential feature, but it
is nice to have it.
6. Sensors and Location
android-sensor
Have you seen how the content on the tablet’s
LCD screen changes orientation when you rotate the
device. This feat is achieved by using
accelerometers. If the accelerometers also called G-
Sensors are not calibrated properly you will have
hard time playing games that use tilt based controls
or changing orientation of the screen.
Compass
Some high end tablets have digital compass in
them. A digital compass shows your position in
reference to the four cardinal directions. This can
than be used to plot a route using the inbuilt GPS.
Budget tablets will not have them.
Proximity
It detects the presence of objects near the screen.
For example , if you are talking on the phone by
holding it to your ear, the screen will shut off to
avoid accidental press of on screen buttons and the
subsequent disruption of the on going call. It can
also be used to dim or put the device and screen on
standby when not in use or nobody is near it. You
will not find these in budget tablets and even in
many high end tablets.
Barometer
A barometer helps the GPS of your tablet to get a
better and faster fix on your location by finding the
height of your current location. If you are serious
about using your tablet for navigation purpose, you
should want this in your tablet. You will not find this
in budget tablets and even in many high end
tablets.
Light
The ambient light sensor in a tablet helps it to
conserve battery by dimming or enhancing the
brightness of the screen depending upon the
surrounding light. This is not a common feature in
budget tabs and not essential.
GPS
This helps your tablet to find your present location
and use it as a navigation tool. If you want to use
your tablet as a map or want to use Google Maps or
any other map and navigation software, the tablet
must have GPS in it.
7. Power
android-power
Capacity of batteries in mobile phones and tablets is
measured in mAh, the more mAh you have the
better it is. Do not go for tablets with less than 3000
mAh batteries. For 10 inch tablets the minimum
should be 4000 mAh. Higher mAh means more
battery life between charges. Apart from the mAh ,
the running and charging voltage is critical in
getting the most battery life.
A 3000 mAh battery discharging at 3.7v will last
longer than a 4500 mAh battery discharging at 7.5v.
Most budget tablets run at 7.5, so the batteries run
out faster. In brief, go for the highest mAh and the
lowest voltage. For a 7 inch go for 3500 mAh or
more running at 3.7v and for 10 inch go for 4500
mAh or more running at 3.7v.
8. Casing
Always go for sturdy casing, the build quality should
not be cheap. The casing should feel sold. Ideally, a
tablet with aluminum casing is the best. But they
tend to be costlier. Handle the tablet, turn it around
in your hands, press it, feel it, shake it and you will
have a pretty good idea about it’s build quality.
Conclusion.
I left out cameras, since they are not a critical factor
while choosing a tablet, I may be wrong and
individual preferences vary, if there are many
requests to include camera types, I will put them in
this guide.
You can use this as guide a general guideline while
you are at the electronics shop or you are reading
through the specification list of tablets or phones. I
hope this guide helps you to make an informed
decision on buying android tablets.

Garigamisin

Kindly post d perspective view or full side view and also d engine pix. Tanks

Pls drop ur No

indrija: All these tablets are already flooding the market.let's start thinking of more lucreative stuffs to import.I bet there are a million and one other things to import

av u done any research to backup ur claim? What is d population of tablet users in Nigeria? What per of d pop are willing to buy tab? Do u no dat large per of members of a particular cooperative are requesting for over ................. Tab? Though I buy ur idea of diversification. I rest my case.

lat4real: People like me that are not in Lagos, how can i get my goods at my door step?

pls don't be lazy

?

Nice job u r doing. Will see u soon as I promised earlier

2004

Stil available

ChukChinCol: Seniorman abeg dat range much. Can u pls re-clue us again.

So far, I have reviewed quite a few Android tablets
and received overwhelming response. Choosing the
a tablet with the best price to performance ratio is
not an easy task even with detailed reviews at hand.
I have decided to write a guide that will help you to
choose the best Android tablet or phone.
without risk of over simplification, we can safely
assume that an Android tablet or phone has the
following critical subsystems
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
2. User Interface (Touch screen and buttons)
3. Memory (RAM, ROM, NAND, External Storage)
4. Communications (WiFi, Bluetooth, phone)
5. Ports and interface (USB, HDMI)
6. Sensors and location (Accelerometer, GPS)
7. Power (Battery, voltage control, charger interface)
8. Casing (the case that holds everything)
All of these systems need work together in harmony
to give you a great Android experience. Let us start
with the processor.
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
Android tablets and phones normally run on CPUâ
€™s based on ARM architecture and are SOC or
system on a chip. A SOC is an integrated circuit that
integrates all components of a computer or other
electronic systems into a single chip (from
Wikipedia). A typical SOC inside an Android tablet or
phone has
a. The CPU
b. The GPU (graphics processing unit)
c. The VPU (vector processing unit)
d. L1 and L2 cache
e. RAM Interface
f. Video coding and decoding engines
g. HDMI interface
Some SOCs like Qualcomm MSM7227T also
contain modem processor and cell phone network
connectivity modules.
What to look for in the CPU?
Ideally you should look for a SOC with the highest
clock speed. The CPU component of the SOC is used
to measure the clock speed. For example, if I am
asked to choose between two devices, one with 800
MHz CPU and another with a 1000 MHz CPU, I will
choose the higher one. But things get a bit
complicated with multi core CPU. If I have to choose
between a 1 GHz dual core CPU and a single core 1.5
GHz CPU, I will choose the 1 GHz dual core CPU.
By the way, there are NO CPU for tablets or phones
with 3 cores. So the advertisements you see for
Mercury mTAB or any other tablet that claims “3
core†CPU’s are false and misleading. These
companies are clubbing the CPU+GPU+VPU inside
the SOC to claim multi-core CPUs. Any CPU below
Cortex A9 is single core.
arm-processors
Here are some CPU you will find
1. Qualcomm MSM7XXX family (MSM7227T,
MSM7627T)
2. Telechip TCC family (TCC8803, TCC 8902)
3. Rockchip family (RK28XX, RK29XX)
4. Samsung (S5PV210, Exynos)
5. VIA Wondermedia family(WM86XX, WM85XX)
6. Amlogic family (AM8XXX)
7. Freescale family (iMX5xxx)
8. TI OMAP family
9. Nvidia Tegra family
10. Vimicro family (VCxxx)
11. Allwinner
12. Ingenic family (XBurst)
13. Renesas family
After extensive benchmarking with Quadrant,
Linpack, GL Benchmark the knowledgeable folks at
XDA, Slatedroid and few other forums have found
that the best CPU for
android-games
For 2D Games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210
2. AmLogic AML 8726
3. Tegra 2 and TI OMAP
For 3D games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210 and Tegra 2
2. Rockchip RK29XX
3. AM Logic AML-8726
For optimum battery life (by best scores)
1. Renesas EV2
2. Tegra 2
3. Samsung S5PV210 and RK29XX
**The benchmarks were run on tablets running
Android 2.3
From the ranking above it is clear that Samsung
S5PV210 is the best all round CPU available in the
market.
2. User Interface
touchscreen
The screen is the most interacted and visible part of
a tablet or phone. If the screen is not good, it does
not matter if the tablet or phone has the most
cutting edge fastest CPU on the planet, it will still
suck and you will be frustrated enough to pull some
crazy violent acts on it. In brief, having a high
quality , responsive screen is a must.
Touch screen
Tablets and phones come with two types of touch
screens
1. Resistive
2. Capacitive
The resistive screens are cheap and have single
point of touch. They are not very responsive and you
have to use a stylus to interact with it. In two
words , avoid it.
Capacitive also known as multi touch screen are the
ones where you can use multiple fingers to interact
with the device. They are smooth and responsive
and you can pinch and zoom and use your fingers to
swipe and do other cool things on the screen. Not all
capacitive screens are made equal, a lot depends
upon the LCD, the chipsets and sensors used to
make the panel. Capacitive screens can be divided
in to
1. 2 finger touch
2. 3 finger touch
4. 5 finger touch
5. 10 finger touch
Ideally you should go for tablets with screens that
support 3 finger touch or more. The screen and
onscreen graphics should move smoothly when you
swipe across them, photos should pinch and zoom
smoothly when you interact with them, if they do
not, I suggest you look for other tablets.
Resolution
The higher the better, a 7 inch screen with
1024×600 is better than a 7 inch screen with
800×480. But higher resolution also means tiny
icons, buttons and graphics. High resolution is good
when you have to read a lot of texts on web pages
and you like your texts to be ultra crisps. Higher
resolution also means slightly slower performance
and more memory consumption.
Look for 800×480, 800×600 and 1024×600
resolutions in 7 and 8 inch tabs. For 9 and 10 inch
tabs the minimum you should expect is 1024×600.
PPI
PPI stands for pixels per inch, the higher the better.
Do not settle for anything less than 144 PPI.
Buttons
The hardware buttons comes in two varieties
1. feather touch buttons
2. hard buttons.
If your tablet has hard buttons, make sure they are
sturdy. You have to touch them and press them a
few times to check the quality.
Viewing angle
The wider the viewing angle the better it is. If a
tablet’s screen has a narrow viewing angle, you
have to hold it straight in front of your eyes to watch
the content displayed on the screen, this can be
very uncomfortable when you are lying down.
3. Memory
micro-sd
You can not have enough of it. Run a lot of apps or
open too many tabs in the browser and pretty soon
you will run out of memory. But you can not have
unlimited amounts of it, so you have to hit for the
maximum you can get.
RAM
Like any computer, this is the primary memory for a
tablet. The more the merrier. High end tablets come
with 1 GB RAM. Tablets with 2 GB RAM is also
around the corner. Android tablets typically use NP
DDR SDRAM or LP DDR2 SDRAM. The LP DDR2
SDRAM is better, faster and has a higher throughput
and the cost difference is not much.
Do not buy tablets with less than 512 MB RAM.
The performance of tablets with RAM lower than 512
MB RAM is awful. It will be slow, you will often
encounter “insufficient memory†messages
and applications will close or hang quite frequently.
NAND / eMMC ROM
This is the memory that contains the actual Android
operating system, drivers, system apps, settings
etc. Actually the ROM (Read only memory) is a
misnomer, since you can read from and write to this
memory. The more space you have the better it is.
Do not settle for anything less than 4GB. I have
encountered tablets where they use micro SD cards
as internal memory.
External Storage
Most tablets support external storage cards of up to
32 GB. However there are some tablets, that can
only support external cards of up to 16 GB. I would
suggest you to go for tablets that support the
highest capacity.
4. Communications
communications-antenna
A tablet can have multiple mediums to
communicate with other devices and networks.
WiFi
A tablet should support at least 802.11 b/g
standards. Those are the most common WiFi
standards in use and will be so for the near future.
The quality of the WiFi connection and signal
depends on the hardware and the firmware. Some
custom ROM’s or even factory ROM’s are
buggy and will drop connections or give lesser
speeds. More often than not it is fixable by updating
the firmware. Check the WiFi connectivity of a tablet
thoroughly, before buying.
Phone
Not all tablets come with phone capabilities. If you
do not want to use 3G USB dongles and still want to
access the internet not in range of any WiFi
connection, you need to have a tablet that supports
SIM cards and
a.GPRS (2G)
b.EDGE (2G)
c.HSUPA, HSDPA (3G)
d.UMTS / WCDMA (3G)
Almost all high end tablets support them. But you
will be hard pressed to find a budget tablet that
supports all of the above standards.
Bluetooth
This is not an essential feature but it is required if
you want to transfer files among tablets, phones
and other devices running different operating
systems without resorting to setting up web servers
to do transfers. It can also be used to control other
devices that support Bluetooth enabled remotes or
to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to your
tablet.
If a tablet has phone connectivity, it is better to
have Bluetooth too. This will enable you to connect
Bluetooth headphones and use them while
answering or making calls. You really do not want to
pick up and talk in to a 7 inch or 10 inch slate while
holding it up to your ear. It not only looks ridiculous
but will also tire your arms pretty quick.
5. Ports and Interfaces
android-tablet-ports
Try to avoid tablets with proprietary ports and stick
to tablets with USB or Mini USB ports. Sadly, many
high end tablets like Samsung Galaxy Tab use
proprietary ports for charging, data transfer and
video output. If you are buying a budget tab, I
suggest you steer clear of proprietary ports.
USB Ports
Look for tablets that support USB 2.0 or above ports,
USB OTG, Mini USB ports. That way you do not have
to spend on buying port converters or docks. USB
OTG / HOSTÂ enables you to connect your tablet to
your computer and copy data to it just like you
would on a thumb drive. USB OTG/HOSTÂ ports are
also needed when you want to connect 3G USB
dongles, external wired keyboards, mouse, thumb
drives and external hard disks to your tablet.
Audio Socket
A tablet will also have a 3.5 mm audio socket to
connect head phones and mic, this is a very
common feature. But you should check the build
quality of the socket. Quality of sound is also an
important factor, play audio files and video files to
get a feel of the sound output quality.
HDMI Port
Some tablets come with an inbuilt mini HDMI port,
you can use this to view videos, games and other
content from your tablet on an external screen such
as an LCD TV. This is not an essential feature, but it
is nice to have it.
6. Sensors and Location
android-sensor
Have you seen how the content on the tablet’s
LCD screen changes orientation when you rotate the
device. This feat is achieved by using
accelerometers. If the accelerometers also called G-
Sensors are not calibrated properly you will have
hard time playing games that use tilt based controls
or changing orientation of the screen.
Compass
Some high end tablets have digital compass in
them. A digital compass shows your position in
reference to the four cardinal directions. This can
than be used to plot a route using the inbuilt GPS.
Budget tablets will not have them.
Proximity
It detects the presence of objects near the screen.
For example , if you are talking on the phone by
holding it to your ear, the screen will shut off to
avoid accidental press of on screen buttons and the
subsequent disruption of the on going call. It can
also be used to dim or put the device and screen on
standby when not in use or nobody is near it. You
will not find these in budget tablets and even in
many high end tablets.
Barometer
A barometer helps the GPS of your tablet to get a
better and faster fix on your location by finding the
height of your current location. If you are serious
about using your tablet for navigation purpose, you
should want this in your tablet. You will not find this
in budget tablets and even in many high end
tablets.
Light
The ambient light sensor in a tablet helps it to
conserve battery by dimming or enhancing the
brightness of the screen depending upon the
surrounding light. This is not a common feature in
budget tabs and not essential.
GPS
This helps your tablet to find your present location
and use it as a navigation tool. If you want to use
your tablet as a map or want to use Google Maps or
any other map and navigation software, the tablet
must have GPS in it.
7. Power
android-power
Capacity of batteries in mobile phones and tablets is
measured in mAh, the more mAh you have the
better it is. Do not go for tablets with less than 3000
mAh batteries. For 10 inch tablets the minimum
should be 4000 mAh. Higher mAh means more
battery life between charges. Apart from the mAh ,
the running and charging voltage is critical in
getting the most battery life.
A 3000 mAh battery discharging at 3.7v will last
longer than a 4500 mAh battery discharging at 7.5v.
Most budget tablets run at 7.5, so the batteries run
out faster. In brief, go for the highest mAh and the
lowest voltage. For a 7 inch go for 3500 mAh or
more running at 3.7v and for 10 inch go for 4500
mAh or more running at 3.7v.
8. Casing
Always go for sturdy casing, the build quality should
not be cheap. The casing should feel sold. Ideally, a
tablet with aluminum casing is the best. But they
tend to be costlier. Handle the tablet, turn it around
in your hands, press it, feel it, shake it and you will
have a pretty good idea about it’s build quality.
Conclusion.
I left out cameras, since they are not a critical factor
while choosing a tablet, I may be wrong and
individual preferences vary, if there are many
requests to include camera types, I will put them in
this guide.
You can use this as guide a general guideline while
you are at the electronics shop or you are reading
through the specification list of tablets or phones. I
hope this guide helps you to make an informed
decision on buying android tablets.

ChukChinCol: Seniorman abeg dat range much. Can u pls re-clue us again.

So far, I have reviewed quite a few Android tablets
and received overwhelming response. Choosing the
a tablet with the best price to performance ratio is
not an easy task even with detailed reviews at hand.
I have decided to write a guide that will help you to
choose the best Android tablet or phone.
without risk of over simplification, we can safely
assume that an Android tablet or phone has the
following critical subsystems
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
2. User Interface (Touch screen and buttons)
3. Memory (RAM, ROM, NAND, External Storage)
4. Communications (WiFi, Bluetooth, phone)
5. Ports and interface (USB, HDMI)
6. Sensors and location (Accelerometer, GPS)
7. Power (Battery, voltage control, charger interface)
8. Casing (the case that holds everything)
All of these systems need work together in harmony
to give you a great Android experience. Let us start
with the processor.
1. Processors (CPU + GPU)
Android tablets and phones normally run on CPUâ
€™s based on ARM architecture and are SOC or
system on a chip. A SOC is an integrated circuit that
integrates all components of a computer or other
electronic systems into a single chip (from
Wikipedia). A typical SOC inside an Android tablet or
phone has
a. The CPU
b. The GPU (graphics processing unit)
c. The VPU (vector processing unit)
d. L1 and L2 cache
e. RAM Interface
f. Video coding and decoding engines
g. HDMI interface
Some SOCs like Qualcomm MSM7227T also
contain modem processor and cell phone network
connectivity modules.
What to look for in the CPU?
Ideally you should look for a SOC with the highest
clock speed. The CPU component of the SOC is used
to measure the clock speed. For example, if I am
asked to choose between two devices, one with 800
MHz CPU and another with a 1000 MHz CPU, I will
choose the higher one. But things get a bit
complicated with multi core CPU. If I have to choose
between a 1 GHz dual core CPU and a single core 1.5
GHz CPU, I will choose the 1 GHz dual core CPU.
By the way, there are NO CPU for tablets or phones
with 3 cores. So the advertisements you see for
Mercury mTAB or any other tablet that claims “3
core†CPU’s are false and misleading. These
companies are clubbing the CPU+GPU+VPU inside
the SOC to claim multi-core CPUs. Any CPU below
Cortex A9 is single core.
arm-processors
Here are some CPU you will find
1. Qualcomm MSM7XXX family (MSM7227T,
MSM7627T)
2. Telechip TCC family (TCC8803, TCC 8902)
3. Rockchip family (RK28XX, RK29XX)
4. Samsung (S5PV210, Exynos)
5. VIA Wondermedia family(WM86XX, WM85XX)
6. Amlogic family (AM8XXX)
7. Freescale family (iMX5xxx)
8. TI OMAP family
9. Nvidia Tegra family
10. Vimicro family (VCxxx)
11. Allwinner
12. Ingenic family (XBurst)
13. Renesas family
After extensive benchmarking with Quadrant,
Linpack, GL Benchmark the knowledgeable folks at
XDA, Slatedroid and few other forums have found
that the best CPU for
android-games
For 2D Games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210
2. AmLogic AML 8726
3. Tegra 2 and TI OMAP
For 3D games and graphics (by best scores)
1. Samsung S5pv210 and Tegra 2
2. Rockchip RK29XX
3. AM Logic AML-8726
For optimum battery life (by best scores)
1. Renesas EV2
2. Tegra 2
3. Samsung S5PV210 and RK29XX
**The benchmarks were run on tablets running
Android 2.3
From the ranking above it is clear that Samsung
S5PV210 is the best all round CPU available in the
market.
2. User Interface
touchscreen
The screen is the most interacted and visible part of
a tablet or phone. If the screen is not good, it does
not matter if the tablet or phone has the most
cutting edge fastest CPU on the planet, it will still
suck and you will be frustrated enough to pull some
crazy violent acts on it. In brief, having a high
quality , responsive screen is a must.
Touch screen
Tablets and phones come with two types of touch
screens
1. Resistive
2. Capacitive
The resistive screens are cheap and have single
point of touch. They are not very responsive and you
have to use a stylus to interact with it. In two
words , avoid it.
Capacitive also known as multi touch screen are the
ones where you can use multiple fingers to interact
with the device. They are smooth and responsive
and you can pinch and zoom and use your fingers to
swipe and do other cool things on the screen. Not all
capacitive screens are made equal, a lot depends
upon the LCD, the chipsets and sensors used to
make the panel. Capacitive screens can be divided
in to
1. 2 finger touch
2. 3 finger touch
4. 5 finger touch
5. 10 finger touch
Ideally you should go for tablets with screens that
support 3 finger touch or more. The screen and
onscreen graphics should move smoothly when you
swipe across them, photos should pinch and zoom
smoothly when you interact with them, if they do
not, I suggest you look for other tablets.
Resolution
The higher the better, a 7 inch screen with
1024×600 is better than a 7 inch screen with
800×480. But higher resolution also means tiny
icons, buttons and graphics. High resolution is good
when you have to read a lot of texts on web pages
and you like your texts to be ultra crisps. Higher
resolution also means slightly slower performance
and more memory consumption.
Look for 800×480, 800×600 and 1024×600
resolutions in 7 and 8 inch tabs. For 9 and 10 inch
tabs the minimum you should expect is 1024×600.
PPI
PPI stands for pixels per inch, the higher the better.
Do not settle for anything less than 144 PPI.
Buttons
The hardware buttons comes in two varieties
1. feather touch buttons
2. hard buttons.
If your tablet has hard buttons, make sure they are
sturdy. You have to touch them and press them a
few times to check the quality.
Viewing angle
The wider the viewing angle the better it is. If a
tablet’s screen has a narrow viewing angle, you
have to hold it straight in front of your eyes to watch
the content displayed on the screen, this can be
very uncomfortable when you are lying down.
3. Memory
micro-sd
You can not have enough of it. Run a lot of apps or
open too many tabs in the browser and pretty soon
you will run out of memory. But you can not have
unlimited amounts of it, so you have to hit for the
maximum you can get.
RAM
Like any computer, this is the primary memory for a
tablet. The more the merrier. High end tablets come
with 1 GB RAM. Tablets with 2 GB RAM is also
around the corner. Android tablets typically use NP
DDR SDRAM or LP DDR2 SDRAM. The LP DDR2
SDRAM is better, faster and has a higher throughput
and the cost difference is not much.
Do not buy tablets with less than 512 MB RAM.
The performance of tablets with RAM lower than 512
MB RAM is awful. It will be slow, you will often
encounter “insufficient memory†messages
and applications will close or hang quite frequently.
NAND / eMMC ROM
This is the memory that contains the actual Android
operating system, drivers, system apps, settings
etc. Actually the ROM (Read only memory) is a
misnomer, since you can read from and write to this
memory. The more space you have the better it is.
Do not settle for anything less than 4GB. I have
encountered tablets where they use micro SD cards
as internal memory.
External Storage
Most tablets support external storage cards of up to
32 GB. However there are some tablets, that can
only support external cards of up to 16 GB. I would
suggest you to go for tablets that support the
highest capacity.
4. Communications
communications-antenna
A tablet can have multiple mediums to
communicate with other devices and networks.
WiFi
A tablet should support at least 802.11 b/g
standards. Those are the most common WiFi
standards in use and will be so for the near future.
The quality of the WiFi connection and signal
depends on the hardware and the firmware. Some
custom ROM’s or even factory ROM’s are
buggy and will drop connections or give lesser
speeds. More often than not it is fixable by updating
the firmware. Check the WiFi connectivity of a tablet
thoroughly, before buying.
Phone
Not all tablets come with phone capabilities. If you
do not want to use 3G USB dongles and still want to
access the internet not in range of any WiFi
connection, you need to have a tablet that supports
SIM cards and
a.GPRS (2G)
b.EDGE (2G)
c.HSUPA, HSDPA (3G)
d.UMTS / WCDMA (3G)
Almost all high end tablets support them. But you
will be hard pressed to find a budget tablet that
supports all of the above standards.
Bluetooth
This is not an essential feature but it is required if
you want to transfer files among tablets, phones
and other devices running different operating
systems without resorting to setting up web servers
to do transfers. It can also be used to control other
devices that support Bluetooth enabled remotes or
to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to your
tablet.
If a tablet has phone connectivity, it is better to
have Bluetooth too. This will enable you to connect
Bluetooth headphones and use them while
answering or making calls. You really do not want to
pick up and talk in to a 7 inch or 10 inch slate while
holding it up to your ear. It not only looks ridiculous
but will also tire your arms pretty quick.
5. Ports and Interfaces
android-tablet-ports
Try to avoid tablets with proprietary ports and stick
to tablets with USB or Mini USB ports. Sadly, many
high end tablets like Samsung Galaxy Tab use
proprietary ports for charging, data transfer and
video output. If you are buying a budget tab, I
suggest you steer clear of proprietary ports.
USB Ports
Look for tablets that support USB 2.0 or above ports,
USB OTG, Mini USB ports. That way you do not have
to spend on buying port converters or docks. USB
OTG / HOSTÂ enables you to connect your tablet to
your computer and copy data to it just like you
would on a thumb drive. USB OTG/HOSTÂ ports are
also needed when you want to connect 3G USB
dongles, external wired keyboards, mouse, thumb
drives and external hard disks to your tablet.
Audio Socket
A tablet will also have a 3.5 mm audio socket to
connect head phones and mic, this is a very
common feature. But you should check the build
quality of the socket. Quality of sound is also an
important factor, play audio files and video files to
get a feel of the sound output quality.
HDMI Port
Some tablets come with an inbuilt mini HDMI port,
you can use this to view videos, games and other
content from your tablet on an external screen such
as an LCD TV. This is not an essential feature, but it
is nice to have it.
6. Sensors and Location
android-sensor
Have you seen how the content on the tablet’s
LCD screen changes orientation when you rotate the
device. This feat is achieved by using
accelerometers. If the accelerometers also called G-
Sensors are not calibrated properly you will have
hard time playing games that use tilt based controls
or changing orientation of the screen.
Compass
Some high end tablets have digital compass in
them. A digital compass shows your position in
reference to the four cardinal directions. This can
than be used to plot a route using the inbuilt GPS.
Budget tablets will not have them.
Proximity
It detects the presence of objects near the screen.
For example , if you are talking on the phone by
holding it to your ear, the screen will shut off to
avoid accidental press of on screen buttons and the
subsequent disruption of the on going call. It can
also be used to dim or put the device and screen on
standby when not in use or nobody is near it. You
will not find these in budget tablets and even in
many high end tablets.
Barometer
A barometer helps the GPS of your tablet to get a
better and faster fix on your location by finding the
height of your current location. If you are serious
about using your tablet for navigation purpose, you
should want this in your tablet. You will not find this
in budget tablets and even in many high end
tablets.
Light
The ambient light sensor in a tablet helps it to
conserve battery by dimming or enhancing the
brightness of the screen depending upon the
surrounding light. This is not a common feature in
budget tabs and not essential.
GPS
This helps your tablet to find your present location
and use it as a navigation tool. If you want to use
your tablet as a map or want to use Google Maps or
any other map and navigation software, the tablet
must have GPS in it.
7. Power
android-power
Capacity of batteries in mobile phones and tablets is
measured in mAh, the more mAh you have the
better it is. Do not go for tablets with less than 3000
mAh batteries. For 10 inch tablets the minimum
should be 4000 mAh. Higher mAh means more
battery life between charges. Apart from the mAh ,
the running and charging voltage is critical in
getting the most battery life.
A 3000 mAh battery discharging at 3.7v will last
longer than a 4500 mAh battery discharging at 7.5v.
Most budget tablets run at 7.5, so the batteries run
out faster. In brief, go for the highest mAh and the
lowest voltage. For a 7 inch go for 3500 mAh or
more running at 3.7v and for 10 inch go for 4500
mAh or more running at 3.7v.
8. Casing
Always go for sturdy casing, the build quality should
not be cheap. The casing should feel sold. Ideally, a
tablet with aluminum casing is the best. But they
tend to be costlier. Handle the tablet, turn it around
in your hands, press it, feel it, shake it and you will
have a pretty good idea about it’s build quality.
Conclusion.
I left out cameras, since they are not a critical factor
while choosing a tablet, I may be wrong and
individual preferences vary, if there are many
requests to include camera types, I will put them in
this guide.
You can use this as guide a general guideline while
you are at the electronics shop or you are reading
through the specification list of tablets or phones. I
hope this guide helps you to make an informed
decision on buying android tablets.

Surveycash

?

Avail

Still available

An uncle of mine has this for sale. Fabric seat, price: 950k. Tanks

An uncle has dis for sale Its a 2005 model with fabrics interior. Asking Price is 950k. Tanks

@ surveycash. Morning dis is ur good frnd. Lasu, camry ladipo. Guess u got d code? Dats my username. I support u opening d season 2 of this thread. Hope to see u soon. Tanks

No pix?

stev1e: Nice topic and wonderful posts, bajugbajug u can activate the mtn Bis on your Pc by Sending BBC to 21600 although I would advice you to use it with a personal Vpn...

personal vpn? Hw? Cos av just tried it by removing my Mtn card from my BB, inserted it into a modem then connected to my pc though it shows connected bt page refused to load. Can someone take me tru d step by step on hw to go about it. Tanks

maxibrainz: configure mtn on what device

on PC

?

Still available

Now available

Pls hw do I configure mtn?

Thanks to everybody that have contributed immensely to this thread from the beginning till now.[/quote]Best of luck bro.

Toyota camry indeed!!!

Pix to bajulaiyegbolahan@gmail.com. Tanks

surveycash:
You wasted so much space yet your spec was incomplete without the price. We have seen the spec. So?

$160

pls help me check out this pc tablet specification
Specification

Model


Visture i7S

Operation System


Google Android 4.0

Screen


7" TFT screen

Resolution


800 *480 pixels

CPU


MTK 6577 Dual Core Cortex A9 / 1.2 GHz

GPU


Quad-Core Mali400

RAM


512M DDR3

Nand Flash


4G

Webcam


2.0M Back camera AF/0.3mp front camera FF

Wireless


Wifi 802.11 b/g/n

GPS


Built in high sensitive GPS module

3G


Built in HSDPA/WCDMA 2100/900; GSM 900/1800; phone call, internet

Bluetooth


Built in Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

G-sensor


Support

Power

Battery


Rechargeable 3000mAh 3.7V battery.

Working Time


5~7 hours

Power Device


AC Adapter Input 100/240V

Device Specification

Color


Front black, Back white

Dimensions


9.5mm×198mm×122mm

Net Weight


390g

Software Support

Office


Support MS Office Word, PPT, Excel

Email


Gmail, POP3/SMTP/IMAP4

Others




Multi-Media

Video


AVI, MP4, FLV, 3GP, MKV, WMV etc.

Audio


MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, WAV FLAC etc.

Picture


JPG/BMP/PNG/GIF.

E-Book


PDF, TXT etc.






Ports


1 x Micro USB




1 x 3G SIM card slot




1 x TF Card Slot




1 x 3.5mm audio jack

What's in the box


1 x Tablet PC




1 x USB Cable (For Charge with PC, and PC data transfer)




1 x Earphone with Built in Mic




1 x USB Charger (Optional)