gTab HDMI / LAN DOCK REVIEW

it2steve

Member
Feb 16, 2011
54
8
[OFFICIAL MALATA ZPAD DOCK REVIEW]

[EDIT 3/25] INVENTORY IS LOW BUT SHIPMENTS ALREADY ON THE WAY (EXPECTED MON / TUE)... BLACK CLIPS, DOCKS, m1's ALREADY IN ROUTE
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11/31 - I finally got received my ‘official’ Malata ZPAD Dock today and wanted to post for all to see. PLEASE BARE WITH ME on my review, the pics aren’t that great and I didn’t run a bunch of tests but I have most of the basic info that everyone is going to want to know. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to run additional tests for you.

DOCK - HDMI Out, USB, LAN and power (no additional ac adapter supplied) – The quality is nice. The bottom of the dock has a rubber insert as to not scratch a table if moved around and as you may see from the pic there is a rubber insert where the tablet itself sits to protect it. The tab just drops on; pretty simple. With the ac adapter plugged in the tab does show that it’s charging. It sits at a rather upright angle (not straight up and down) so I would think that it’s something that you would NOT want to try type on without a keyboard on a regular basis, but it does seem pretty steady on there.

USB – As you can tell from the pic it did recognize an 8 GB USB thumb drive that I had plugged into it. I did not get to test a USB keyboard and mouse as the ones that I have available didn’t work natively with the tablet so I didn’t even try with the dock (yet).

LAN – Also in a pic, once plugged in the connection lights on the back started lighting up immediately. I turned off my WiFi and enabled the Ethernet in setting and it quickly got an IP and as you can see there is no longer an ‘x’ on the tablet LAN icon. I DID test the internet and all worked just fine.

HDMI – plugged the HDMI in and hooked it up to a 32” and it popped right up. NOW the quality was grainy and I’m sure there may be a way to fix that but I just wanted to get you pics to show whether it worked or not. In the pics you can see my screen duplicated and I started a movie (which I will say the quality was much better in the movie that it replicating my home screens)

All in all… I am extremely pleased and can’t wait to put it to use. The only KNOWN issue is that you have to have the gTab OFF when you put in on the dock to get the LAN to work (something about it obtaining DNS settings that the Dev's haven't worked through as of yet)

Let me know what you think!

$dock6.JPG $dock4.jpg $dock2.JPG $dock3.jpg $dock1.JPG
 
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it2steve

Member
Feb 16, 2011
54
8
So I work in IT doing networking, do you know or has anyone testing this connected via USB to a cisco switch?

I personally have not but I may get to look into it. Are you talking about tab to dock to switch or just tab to switch?
 

CaliDreamer

Member
Mar 28, 2011
1
0
Can anyone tell me if there is a way to set default settings when the tablet is connected to the dock? For example, can I set it so that anytime I place it on the dock it automatically goes into "Digital Frame Mode" or something of the sort? Or even if it could be programed to go to an alarm clock mode or something like that. I'd just love to plop it on the dock as I go to bed and have it function as a alarm/morning info station. Just a thought.
 

it2steve

Member
Feb 16, 2011
54
8
Can anyone tell me if there is a way to set default settings when the tablet is connected to the dock? For example, can I set it so that anytime I place it on the dock it automatically goes into "Digital Frame Mode" or something of the sort? Or even if it could be programed to go to an alarm clock mode or something like that. I'd just love to plop it on the dock as I go to bed and have it function as a alarm/morning info station. Just a thought.

I have an app I use called PhotoFrame I got from the market. I allows you to select which directory you'd like and when the tab is plugged in and starts charging, it goes into photo viewer mode. I use the hell out of it at work and just adds another usefulness from the tab. In the morning when I get to work I plug it in and the photo show begins. When I need to use it I just hit home and go about my business then have a shortcut to put it back in photo frame mode.

Hope that helps!
 

Fuganater

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 8, 2011
728
93
I have an app I use called PhotoFrame I got from the market. I allows you to select which directory you'd like and when the tab is plugged in and starts charging, it goes into photo viewer mode. I use the hell out of it at work and just adds another usefulness from the tab. In the morning when I get to work I plug it in and the photo show begins. When I need to use it I just hit home and go about my business then have a shortcut to put it back in photo frame mode.

Hope that helps!

Awesome app!
 

onnig

Member
Apr 28, 2011
2
0
What ROM are you using? I'm using TNT 4.2.4 and don't see an ethernet option in settings.
 

nigebj

Member
Apr 22, 2011
5
1
Received this in great time from Steve (electroniccrap.com). This is a very nicely built dock - small, solid, nicely finished - very unlike so many tablet and phone accessories out of China.

Hold tablet at a great angle (for me, YMMV) and looks great.

Haven't found a good solution to the ethernet port enabling issues - must start/reboot on dock, with wireless disabled - which then means DNS isn't picked up from DHCP ... still working on that one. Using with latest Vegan ROM BTW.

Tip: For those who receive this and are less familiar with Android networking, your going to want to use 'netcfg' to see what's going on with the ethernet interfaces - ifconfig will return with no error unless given an interface as an argument.

Overall great product, great price - great service from Steve.
 

it2steve

Member
Feb 16, 2011
54
8
Just wanted to pdate you guys that there is now a straight hdmi cable out now. I have tested it and it works! People are getting a little pissed because I havent had time for a full review but I'm working on it (as I write this at 1130pm) :)

...sent from my android tablet
 
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