New Le Pan owner

[ebtswtddtmommy]

Good evening,
After fiddling around trying to root several cheap 7" tablets and thinking that I hated the size of the screen, I decided to search for a larger screen size. The Le Pan popped up on Amazon and after reading the reviews, I was amazed by the glowing reviews. I purchased two for my kids and I'm IMPATIENTLY waiting for the first one to charge so I can play with it, load songs, books, and games on it tomorrow. I really hope it lives up to all the positive comments.

My name is Deirdre and I live in NC. I bought these for my two daughters, ages 8 & 7, mainly as e-readers and mp3 players. They'll play a few games and possibly do some homework on it when they get online assignments. So excited that we now have our forum as a quick research tool for me.

 

[LePan_Fan]

Welcome to the Le Pan forum Deidre, anxiously awaiting my TC970 also, should be here in a couple of days.

 

[Danny]

I have Rooted my Le Pan and have has no prob with it. It does everything I need, It plays angry Birds well all I have tried so for.

 

[LePan_Fan]

Well it looks like I spoke too soon...I just got an email from the person I bought the TC970 from on ebay. Seems that the tablet is dead, and they are refunding my PayPal account. So now the question is do I try to buy another TC970 or upgrade to the LePan II? Or wait for the LePan III?

 

[Danny]

When you buy off eBay you are taking a chance I would buy from amazon. The lepan I is a good table for most of us, If you like eye-candy then the lepan II or III would be for you . I have the Le pan I and I cant find anything I cant do yet going on 3 weeks now. I would stay with the Lepan I.
Hope this helped....

 

[Androidfonefan]

When you buy off eBay you are taking a chance I would buy from amazon.

I keep saying the same thing. I see so many posts about people getting rooked from eBay and Craig's List, and yet people keep going back?
99% of my online purchase are through Amazon and to data I am 100% satisfied.

 

[Androidfonefan]

Well it looks like I spoke too soon...I just got an email from the person I bought the TC970 from on ebay. Seems that the tablet is dead, and they are refunding my PayPal account. So now the question is do I try to buy another TC970 or upgrade to the LePan II? Or wait for the LePan III?

If you are the same LePan Fan from the androidforums I know how exited you were to be getting this and am sorry that your order fell through. However Amazon has them and they are or were taking preorders on the LP2. Check them out, they may have them yet.
I'm going to hold out for the 3. By the end of this year I should have as many tablets as I do phones LOL, hohum. crying..........
Can't help it though. I want one of the LP3, one of the new Vizio VTAB 3010s, a Asus Transformer Prime TF700T and just for kicks one of the 9 inch Novo tablets. Currently the most current Novo is the Novo7 Paladin running Android 4.0 ICS. But Ainovo the makers of the N7P says they will have 8 and 9 inch units out this year as well, so I'm holding out for the 9 inch screen model.
With any luck and some determination I will be able to talk my self out of all of these seeing that I don't need them, but I believe may chances are fairly slim. Most of the time I'm that proverbial kid in the candy store when it comes to things like this. Just can't help myself.

 

[LePan_Fan]

If you are the same LePan Fan from the androidforums I know how exited you were to be getting this and am sorry that your order fell through. However Amazon has them and they are or were taking preorders on the LP2. Check them out, they may have them yet.

Yup, thats me on the androidforums also, I was extremely excited about getting the tab...I already have the screen protector and the Targus Truss case should be here in a day or two...but now that the option to get the Le Pan II has come up I'm torn between the two.

 

[LePan_Fan]

I finally came to a decision and ordered the Le Pan II from the Wal Mart website, along with a 2 Year Drop Spill and Broken Screen Protection Plan which will replace the tablet if it isn't able to be fixed after 3 attempts. It should be here some time next week. As I'm writing this UPS just dropped of my Targus Truss case.

 

[Gino]

Congratulations on getting the new II. I hope it works out for you as well as my 970 has for me. I've had mine since November, and, couldn't be happier with my purchase. A buddy bought another brand at the same time and is on his third replacement. I'll just keep chugging along with my (NOW) dinosaur.LOL

ENJOY your purchase.

 

[Androidfonefan]

I finally came to a decision and ordered the Le Pan II from the Wal Mart website, along with a 2 Year Drop Spill and Broken Screen Protection Plan which will replace the tablet if it isn't able to be fixed after 3 attempts. It should be here some time next week. As I'm writing this UPS just dropped of my Targus Truss case.

Great. I have seen many reviews on the 970 but few if any on the LP2. Yah think you might be able to give us a review on the LP2 once you get it and have a little time to play?

 

[LePan_Fan]

Fed Ex delivered my Le Pan Ii yesterday. Charged it overnight and now playing around with it. So far I like it a lot! My first tablet so not really able to compare it to anything else. Seems like the perfect size for reading or surfing the internet...can't imagine what it would be like on a 7" screen.

 

[Androidfonefan]

7 inch screens are good for e Reader's and cell phone games look good on them but surfing the net is still a bit cramped. Not quite like on a phone but definitely not as nice as 8 or 9 inches. The LP2 has what, a 9.7 inch screen.

 

[ffred]

First Impressions of the Le Pan II Tablet
No one has posted a review of the Le Pan II. so I guess I'll provide one.
If you've been using the original Le Pan TC970 you'll probably notice the speedier processor. I thought the old one was fast, but this is noticeably faster. The screen quality is equally good. The volume buttons seem to operate more smoothly and easily (or else I'm more familiar now with the layout) and there are fewer hang-ups requiring a re-boot (none, in fact, after a week of use). Other improvements are probably due to the new operating system. I haven't tried HDMI linking to the TV, and someone reported somewhere that the option in the menu disappeared with the upgrade to 3.2.1 (I think that's what it was). The upgrade went very smoothly. I thought it might be ICS a month or two early, but don't get too excited - it isn't. I have ordered a bluetooth keyboard and I'll report on that after I've tried it. I never attempted keyboarding with the old model.
The tablet seems to be a very responsive platform for the apps you choose. The real utility of the thing is how transparent it is when running an app, and I don't find the tablet getting in the way at all.
Someone over at XDA hacked Hulu plus so that it will run on most androids. You still have to pay - it's not illegal. I don't know if they're pleased. It won't update, and I'm afraid to uninstall it to make it update-able before I know that they (Hulu) have a version that runs.
That said, if you are hesitant to upgrade for budget reasons, the old model is still a great value and performs well.
What else?
If you've hesitated about the Posrus screen protector, don't. It fits perfectly and is very effective. No harder to install than most (that is, quite hard). The
Crazy on Digital leather folio case is elegant, but won't hold the tablet upright on its own. The Acase is very vinyl, but holds the tablet upright very well. There's a 16-gig SD card at Amazon for under $10.
I am still thrilled with the vibrant display of both models, and I don't regret either purchase (though since I can't justify two nearly identical tablets, I guess I'll be selling the older one).
I'll post more as I recognize more things to report.
Ffred

Here is my review of the TC970, posted a moth ago on mobileread.com/forums:

First Impressions of Matsunichi Le Pan 9.7" Tablet

---

I have just spent the afternoon familiarizing myself with this recently introduced sub-$200 Android tablet. I am impressed.
While boasting only a 1Ghz. processor and 512 MB of RAM, the tablet is astoundingly fast, even compared to my Nook Color (which I have overclocked to 900 Mhz. and runs Cyanogen Mod7). The capacitive-touch screen is very responsive. Netflix is preinstalled, as well as a few other apps which almost everyone uses. I spent an hour or so installing Amazon Apps (Android App Store was pre-installed) and listening to Pandora through the nice-but-not-great speakers.
I was pretty bummed out that I couldn't score an Asus Transformer in the wild cyber Monday sales, but I don't think I'd be any happier with the Transformer even had I managed to obtain one. My sole disappointment is that 2.2 does not support Bluetooth input devices, for I had planned to team the Transformer with a keyboard dock had I obtained one..
The gadget is very nicely finished with a rigid aluminum frame and looks and feels very smart. It has an unusual 20-pin connector that feeds into a male-end USB through a five-foot or so tether, so communicating with a PC is no problem, but there is no specific USB port on the device. Nor is there an HDMI port, both disappointing.
The display is crisp, clear and vivid.
This model runs only Froyo, I'm told (I'd like to port my Nook cyanogen Mod7 to it, but I fear the hooks and handles wouldn't fit correctly). The newer model, running Ice Cream Sandwich (or at least Honeycomb) is now being pre-ordered at Amazon.Ca for CDN$259. Amazon US doesn't have anything yet on this model.
The larger screen size is very friendly to my aged eyes, and I have Nook, Kindle, Aldiko and Adobe Reader installed now. Not designed specifically as an e-reader, it handles the job effortlessly.
I highly recommend this tablet.
ffred

 

[Androidfonefan]

I was pretty bummed out that I couldn't score an Asus Transformer in the wild cyber Monday sales, but I don't think I'd be any happier with the Transformer even had I managed to obtain one. My sole disappointment is that 2.2 does not support Bluetooth input devices, for I had planned to team the Transformer with a keyboard dock had I obtained one..
The gadget is very nicely finished with a rigid aluminum frame and looks and feels very smart. It has an unusual 20-pin connector that feeds into a male-end USB through a five-foot or so tether, so communicating with a PC is no problem, but there is no specific USB port on the device. Nor is there an HDMI port, both disappointing.
The display is crisp, clear and vivid.

ffred

Ffred. I was wondering, does the LePan2 still have this 20 pin and dongle set up or did they put a USB and HDMI port in?
I am interested in the LP3 but this multi pin port and dongle??? My brother bought a cheap pad last year with one of these and the pad was a POS. While the LePan tablets are getting great reviews, it concerns me that they are using such archaic hardware.