Hello - ZTE X500 and DOPO MD-702

[Anteater]

Hello.

I'm a new forum user. I have recently purchased an android powered ZTE X500 prepaid phone and Double Power (DOPO) MD-702 7" android 2.3 tablet. I also own a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0.

I love the Samsung Galaxy Player. I have no need or want to do anything other than run stock applications on it. I'm happy with it... although it is expensive and I would not recommend one because of the price.

I have yet to receive the ZTE X500 or DOPO MD-702. I have very low expectations of both. I bought them as toys to tinker with.

The ZTE X500 has a 320x480 3.5" capacitive screen, 600MHz processor, wireless b/g, Bluetooth, a 3.2MP camera, runs Android 2.3.4 and is under $50 brand new and without contract. I thought it would be a good device to root and play around with. Being a phone to begin with, I thought that it would make a good VOIP WiFi phone that would also have (thanks to the fact that it's a cell phone) 911 service. If it can run a few android apps then that's even better. The questions I have and will try to answer are can it be rooted and cleaned of bloatware, is the screen big enough and responsive enough to use, can the 600MHz processor keep up with popular/useful apps, and does it make a good VOIP WiFi phone.

The Double Power (DOPO) MD-702 has a 800x400 7" capacitive screen, 1GHz processor, runs Android 2.3 and is under $140 including tax and shipping. I have low expectations from this tablet and plan to share my experience with using it as soon as I am able. The selling points were the 1GHz processor, capacitive screen and low price. I'm hoping that it will be able to load and run popular kid games while not being so expensive that I'm afraid to let my kids use it unattended. I know very well that you get what you pay for and I am merely hoping for a functional tablet that doesn't die in its first month of use.

If anyone has any experience with the ZTE X500 or DOPO MD-702 then I'd love to hear about them... like common pitfalls, problems and procedures to remedy said problems. Otherwise I'll report back over the coming weeks and let you know what I find out about them as I use them.

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[pbrauer]

Looking forward to your reports on those tablets! In the meantime, welcome to the forum, glad to have you here!

Cheers,
Peter

[Spider]

Hello Anteater, congratulations on the new toys and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here as a member of Android Tablets.

[virgeofsane]

I would be interested to know as well. I bought 2 of these tablets as well., and would really like to see about setting up android market on it. Would prefer not to link it to link it to my amazon account since the tablets will be used by my children. I just recieved them, and so far they seem to be okay, haven't used them much other than to launch them and see if they can stream video with out lag. So far so good.

[Spider]

Hello to you as well virgeofsane, Nice to have you as a member of the forum. Glad you decided to join us here at Android Tablets.

[Anteater]

Hello virgeofsane!

I do not have my tablet, yet. I should have it on Saturday the 24th and my cell phone (ZTE X500) some time after Christmas. I'm glad to hear that yours at least streams video. That's a good sign!

I noted that the tablet comes pre-installed with the Amazon market and would like to install the Google market as well.

I'll post again after I get my tablet and have a chance to play around with it.

[Anteater]

Just wanted to post a quick update...

I've had the DOPO MD 702 for a couple days now and am pretty happy with it so far. I have not had a lot of time to play around with it because my kids have been busy playing games but will give a brief review of what I have found so far.

The power button needs to be held down for about 5 seconds to turn the unit on. This isn't a defect. I just thought that I'd mention it because it threw me off at first. I hit the power button expecting the unit to start and got nothing. Did it two more times and nada. Held it down longer, still nothing. I was starting to think that I had received a dud. I held the button down even longer thinking maybe it got stuck powering down and holding the button down would force it to shut off... and that's when it started up for me.

The factory installed screen protector (the temporary cover put in place to protect the screen during packaging and shipping) left a sticky film on the screen. I had to clean the screen 3 or 4 times before my finger would glide across the screen.

The screen is bright and clear when looking straight on but has poor visibility from an angle. The unit is also fairly responsive to touch requiring only a light touch (as you'd expect from a capacitive screen) for input with only a slight delay. It's good enough to play Fruit Ninja but not nearly as responsive as my Samsung. It's fairly accurate and I don't have any trouble using the on screen keyboard, either.

The Amazon app store comes preloaded. Angry Birds, Words With Friends, Fruit Ninja, some audio books and NetFlix install and run without any problems. One caveat here; All of the apps and YouTube videos look good on this tablet except for NetFlix. NetFlix appears to be streaming a lower resolution video and scaling it up to fill the screen which leaves it pixelated. (This is not a network issue. I'm guessing the NetFlix app is failing to detect the screen resolution and there are no options to change this in the app itself.)

The case has a textured rubber feel to it. It feels solid and fairly well built. No complaints here.

The battery life is pretty good. I haven't set out to get an exact run time, yet.. but I'd say it gets about 5 or 6 hours of constant use on a single charge with wireless enabled and no battery saving options/apps enabled.

The sound quality from its single speaker is poor. This would not be a good device to use to listen to music from unless you used headphones/external speakers.

The front facing (user facing, screen side) camera takes low quality pictures.

I haven't used the USB, microSD or HDMI ports, yet. I've been using AirDroid to transfer files over wireless.

The wireless reception is great. I always get a strong signal and have not had any connectivity problems at all. Its wireless reception is even better than my Samsung's (although this is the only place where this tablet beats the Samsung.. still love that thing).

The back of the manual has warranty contact information on it... but I'm treating this device as if it has no warranty or support at all despite its One Year Parts and 90 Days Labor warranty. I'll post it here just in case someone else has trouble finding the contact information and needs it:

SERVICE CENTER
1845 S. Vineyard Ave, Ste. 4
Ontario, CA 91761
(909)974-2859
(800)838-3315
8:30AM - 5:00PM PST
Email: TechSupport (at) doublepowertech (dot) com


I'll post again when I've had more time to play with it.


My ZTE X500 is apparently back ordered. It is still at least a week out.

[cohart]

Hello Anteater,

I was considering getting one of these and look forward to your
comments (and have found your comments thus far very useful).

A couple of questions:
I assume the USB is mini (not micro) USB based on photos, true?
Is the hdmi mini or micro or full size?
Does the MicroSD slot support MicroSDHC?
Does the table charge off the USB slot or just via a charger?

Thanks

[Anteater]

The USB slot is mini, not micro.
The HDMI slot is a mini slot as well.
The tablet's manual claims that the tablet can use both MicroSD and MicroSDHC but I have not tried one, yet.
The tablet did not charge off of the USB connection for me. I didn't install drivers for it, so maybe it will if I install drivers.. but it does not charge while connected as USB storage despite the fact that the tablet's charger uses the USB slot.

[Spider]

Hello cohart, welcome to Android Tablets. Nice to have you join us as a member of the forum.