Novo 7 Paladin

[ggordon]

After using my new Novo 7 Paladin with Android 4.01 on it, it seems pretty nice, though new to Android, I am a long time Linux and Windows user. The installed Flash Player doesn't work, so forget getting on Youtube, Wimp, etc., hopefully a fix will come out for that. Contacted user BCK for English user manual, so that will help....went out and bought a stylus and 16 GB micro-SD card...seems to be working, although getting the card in and out is tricky...seems to stick a little, uninstalled all the games and chinese language software, so slowly getting it setup like I want it...paid $119 which part of that was shipping, so not too bad on price versus performance...so far. anyone else have comments?

Gary

 

[Androidfonefan]

When I first heard about the Paladin I really wanted one, but then heard about the up coming 8 and 9 inch models. I decided to hold off.
These units have MID based processors in them and it was believed that that would cause some incompatibility with apps in the US Android Market, Have you had any problems with common apps not working properly or at all?

 

[Androidfonefan]

Understand the size issue. For a long time I would not buy a laptop that was smaller than 15 inches because I wanted that screen real estate. Kinda the opposite to you.

However the thought that if the OS will run on the hardware the app should run on the OS is not totally correct. There are many OSs and many forms of hardware, however the OS specifically does not matter as the problem is OS universal.
Windows pick any version can run on a great many kinds of hardware given the correct drivers, but some hardware has more driver incompatibility issues than others based on chip design, why this is I have never fully understood, however I know for a fact this is true.
If the majority of tablets in the US are built with X and Y processors, and the OS/ROMs are written with those chips in mind, the apps will also be written with them in mind.
If tablets are built with X and Z processors it may be easy for them to adjust the OS/ROM to the hardware due to the open architecture of the Linux based Android OS, this gets Android working perfectly on the tablet, but because it was necessarily adjusted to accommodate X and Z processors it may or may not work properly or at all on tablets with X and Y processors.

This may in the end be why many of the cheap MIPs based tablets that come from overseas run so poorly. The OS/ROM is written for another hardware architecture than the MIPs based hardware it is loaded on.

The OS looks and runs the same on each tablet but the OS is not exactly the same because of the hardware. App Q from the Android Market is written with the XY/ROM in mind but is being loaded on the XZ/ROM and expected to work.
FroYo, Honeycomb and ICS are all specific design releases of the Android OS but not necessarily the same software depending on the hardware it is expected to run on.

Consider, Apple OS 20 years ago would have never run on todays hardware, and in the year that Apple made it's hardware change from the Power PC architecture to the Intel architecture the OSs looked and worked the same but could not run software from one to the other because the hardware was to different.
Without going in to long detail this Apple's transition to Intel processors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia will explain the change.
The OS looks and runs the same but is not the same.

This is the same for Android between the two hardware lines.

 

[ggordon]

So far, it's all good....all the default and installed apps have worked as expected...only letdowns are mentioned in my original post.

Gary

 

[BoltGnut]

Ive had mine for a little over day. It is disconcerting seeing flash heavy sites like ESPN with little ?s all over. Google maps and forums and most airchair browsing is working OK. I have been using an app called wifi analyzer to check my connection quality. For $110 I wont be afraid to root and rom when they are ready. I was always a little nervous to tweak a phone on contract.

 

[Androidfonefan]

Lets politely agree to disagree. I am an Apple person way back from the days of the Apple II. Let me tell you, my friends and I all ran various Apple OSs on hardware that they said it couldn't be done on. It wasn't that is couldn't be done. What is was is that Apple deliberately wrote things into the OS so that it would only run on the hardware that they wanted it to run on. I am sure you must know somebody who is running a Hackintosh. That is Mac OS X on a PC platform. And I am sure you know I can run Windows software on my Mac Pro Tower.

Fair enough, I unfortunately never knew anyone with a hackintosh, that would have been very interesting.But that in it self kind of makes my point, the OS had to be changed to make it run on the Intel platform from the Power PC platform. However small those changes may have been.
Changes to the OS for hardware compatibility can cause issues with the programs running unless they are also altered to fit the new host.

Point, YellowDog Linux, written for the power PC platform, will not run on Intel hardware. the potential for app problems is here, or Debian apps as opposed to RPM or Slackware based OSs.
All Linux and all run on Intel, but because of the differences in the software be they hardware by design or just different software structures will prevent apps/programs from being compatible.
ie a debian app will not run on a slackware system without adjustment or a RPM app will not run on a debian system without adjustment.
So an adjusted OS for hardware A will run fine but the app for hardware written for hardware/OS B may not be so lucky.
But yes we can agree to disagree.

 

[snicolaou]

Can anyone send to my address an english version of the chinese manual of Novo Paladin?

 

[ggordon]

After searching around the net and other web sites, I came across a file called MIPS.zip....one of the files inside the zip is an older Youtube.apk and with that, I can now watch videos on Youtube on my new Novo7 Paladin, so it's all good now.....

 

[almulder]

Pls can you place the link where you found the mips.zip file?

 

[wiro67]

for the novo7paladin and novo7basic
look on this site Android Tablets Forum
also has a faster dl to the latest official 4.03 ics rom
look at the right side of the page ;-)

 

[ggordon]

MipsApps.zip


Link from XDA Developers web site

 

[jabby]

Thanks for the links.

I got my Paladin yesterday and updated to 4.0.3 as soon as I saw it was working. This may have been a mistake. After I disposed of all the bloatware, I downloaded MIPS.zip and installed YouTube. That version (2.2.16) installed but didn't work on v4.0.3. I went to my APK folder, where I keep every APK file I ever got my hands on, and found a version (2.1.6) that worked. So far, so good.

Finding an ereader is a problem. None of the three DRM epub reading apps I have will install (Nook, Aldiko and Mantano). CoolReader, my favorite, won't install - not good! I did downloaded FBReader and it is working well. I got it from fbreader.org (V1.3.3) and there is a beta version (v2.0) that is well along and almost ready for general use. The Amazon Kindle app works OK.

Not all my luck was bad. I had bought a copy of "Enhanced Email" from the market and I ws able to download another copy and install it. I works well.

A couple of things I want to try. I have four versions of flash, one of which, I hope will work. Only time will tell. I also want to try to find a decent browser and maybe give Netflix a whirl.

Now for the good news. That thing must have a car battery inside. Unless the battery meter is messed up it looks like I will be able to do some serious reading between gas ups.

One thing that really bugs me is that the usb port settings defaults to debugging "on". So everytime I want to side an aoo ti test, I have to first go to settings and turn it "off" - what a pain.

In general, this is a nice tablet and will only get better as the firmware and software mature. I'll let you know if I find out anything interesting - failure or sucessess.

Regards - John

Oh yeah - I weighed it on my trusty digital scales and it weighed in at 325g - less than 11.5oz.

 

[BoltGnut]

After googling android 4.0.3 for MIPS it appears that an update fron Ainovo.com should be available this month.
Edit I asked this on the support area on their website. Well see if I get a prompt reply.

 

[kiwi_steve]

Well, my Paladin showed up at lunchtime today - and I've been playing with it since then (don't tell the boss). Compared to the @#$ing useless Flytouch 5 I have, this thing is a dream speed-wise - but as reported by someone above I can't get Aldiko to install either... or a handful of other apps, like Clouds and Sheep (my daughters game-of-the-moment)... I've also noticed the scrolling in Angry Birds is a bit jerky - anyone else noticed that?

All-in-all, for the price I am very happy with it so far.

Steve

 

[UncleMike]

Hi, guys. Hate to be the newbie (who doesn't)....but my only exposure to android has been my Samsung Galaxy Q which I've owned for about a month.......and done virtually nothing with except receive and send calls. I just picked up my Paladin at the post office yesterday.
Can someone please tell me how to 1. Delete all the unnecessary Chinese stuff, 2. Advise which essential ENGLISH programs should be REinstalled immediately (I notice even the Market comes up with Chinese results/content), and finally, 3. Is replacing the OS with and English/updated version of ICS any trickier than installing any other app?
Please include a basic overview on how to GET the new apps (including the OS) and how to get them from the source......to my computer.......to the tablet. (Told you I'm a total newb......sorry!...........and MUCH appreciative of any gurus who have a few minutes to help! THANKS)