Zt280h

[Mulligascos]

Hi All,

Recently bought a pad from china, no identifying marks, however the model number starts with ZT280h, this leads me to believe it is a Zenithink ZT280 pad.

At first impression everything is fine, however the wifi is hopeless, it drops out constantly, it wont allow me to connect to App Market unless its in a perfect spot. Even if I try and connect via ethernet cable it still takes a long time to sort out the connection, and this still drops in and out randomly.

I have had the pad for about 10 days, and also find that when the battery discharges completely it resets the system time and date. I powered it down last night to conserve the battery and found that when i turned it back on it had factory reset. These are just a couple of the frustrations.

Is there any way of improving the firmware?
How do I go about it?
What are the risks with ROM updates?
Where do I find the best firmware?

Hope you can help.

 

[criver]

I have a C91 and the wi-fi isn't really nice, but you should really see what is your tablet.
What's its CPU, RAM, internal storage, screen size, resolution, screen type (resistive/capactive).
You should really know what is your tablet before flashing - if you know what your tablet is you could find the right firmware.

 

[Mulligascos]

My tablet is a C91.

Stats from the seller....


Model: C91
Operation system: Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread
CPU: Arm cortex a9 AMLogic 8726-M 800Mhz+200Mhz DSP+300Mhz GPU
GPU: Embedded Mali-400GPU
RAM / Storage: 512MB DDRII +8GB Nandflash ( can up to 16G by T- Flash)
Screen: 10 inch TFT LCD( Touch Panel) 1024*600(16:9) Capacitive screen
WIFI: Support WIFI 802.11b/g
I/O: USB OTG*1,USB 2.0 * 1, Headphone *1, MIC*1, DC JACK*1, TF cardreader *1,HDMI *1,External Rj45 * 1
Camera: 1.3Mp
G-sensor: Yes
Speaker: Built in speaker
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
HDMI out: Yes
Audio:support MP3,WMA,WAV,AAC and so on.
Video:support MP4,AVI,ASF,WMV,RM, and achievable full screen play 1080P


I have found that the file system is very difficult to manage as it won't allow me to use the nand drive for application storage. It seems weird that I can't simply change the storage option from nand to SD and leave the internal storage for system use. Is there a setting in the firmware that I can change to accomplish this?

The time seems to reset at random intervals.

The screen timeout is useless as I have it set for 1 minute and it turns off after 5 seconds sometimes.

The ethernet only seems to work after i have disabled the wireless.

Are these all normal functions on this tablet?

It's not the most enjoyable computer experience I have had so far....

 

[criver]

1) If it is a C91 - there is a newer firmware - ICS - go to zenithink's page.
2) I'm really happy with my C91 - of course it has some drawbacks - as you mentioned the wireless is not really great - but I think it supports not only WiFI b/g but also n (so you could try with a better router - maybe with a stronger range - though I don't think it will really help ). In fact when I'm installing something from the market on my C91 I'm either sitting next to the router or I'm working in ethernet (though I can be lying in my room when reading manga from some site or browsing the web - the WiFi is not so bad).
3) "I have found that the file system is very difficult to manage as it won't allow me to use the nand drive for application storage. It seems weird that I can't simply change the storage option from nand to SD and leave the internal storage for system use. Is there a setting in the firmware that I can change to accomplish this?" - some apps can be moved to the micro SD card (I think it was settings -> apps - there are also apps that can accomplish this - app2sd or sth like this - search the market). Also I think that only 700Mb of the internal storage is used for the system - you can write whatever you want on the remaining space. Btw, I recommend using ES file manager for your file explorer.
4) "The time seems to reset at random intervals." - check the date/time settings (there's an option of auto updating time from the net you should disable it).
5) "The screen timeout is useless as I have it set for 1 minute and it turns off after 5 seconds sometimes." - I set it to 30 minutes and when I want it to sleep I just gently click on the power button.
6) "The ethernet only seems to work after i have disabled the wireless." - there's no sense in both the wireless and ethernet working.
7) "Are these all normal functions on this tablet? It's not the most enjoyable computer experience I have had so far...." - well, you get what you pay for - you can't expect to compare a tablet for 200$ with one for 500$. I'm quite happy with what I got for my money - I've got a 10'' screen with 1024x600 res, which is great for watching movies or reading manga, I can play all my music on the tablet, I can even plug in an external HDD (which means pretty much unlimited space - 1TB). The CPU and RAM are not so bad - the only really annoying flaw for me is in android, which keeps rerunning android.process.media, which uses 100% of my CPU - but I just kill it. The screen's capactive - so it's really easy to operate with this tablet. I don't think flashing your tablet will really help you, but you could try it (later you can flash back to Gingerbread if you want).

Here's some nice apps I'd recommend you:

BusyBox (for root users)
Titanium Backup
DropBox
ES File Explorer (a must)
MX Video Player (it really is a must)
MoboPlayer (though MX Video Player's better)
Drive Mount (if you intend to use an external HDD or usb flash)
AL mass storage (if you intend to use an external HDD or usb flash - I think drive mount is better though)
MangaWhat (if you're a manga fan)
Android System Info
AutoKiller
Maxthon Browser (that is my preffered browser, but there are plenty other browsers out there)
Android assistant
AdFree

 

[gcanali]

Hi there, I cannot buy any app from Android Market. I'm connected to the web, however when I hit the BUY button, the tablet says "NOT CONNECTED". Any ideas?

 

[androidfc]

How is ICS on the C71? Is it better than Android 2.3? Trying to decide to upgrade, but I dont want it to slow down the tablet..