My Coby Kyros MID7015 Tablet Review Part One
Bought the Coby Kyros MID7015 tablet at the SM Appliance Center as a gift for a dear Aunt, after she asked for one after getting addicted playing with my iPad. I tried the other China-tablets, they were cheaper, but in terms of software and support, they are a bit haphazard, at best.
'Physical Attributes'
The Kyros is about 1.5 thicker than the iPad 2, but because of its smaller screen size, it is about 3/4 as heavy. It is pretty light, thanks to its small size and plastic contruction, though the unit didn't feel "plasticky" at all to me.
The set comes with a charger, USB cable, manuals (pretty good ones, also) and a plastic wrap-around case. The one button on the lower middle part of the screen is not a "Home" button, it is a "Back" button. What should be the ringer doesn't function like one, instead one side is the "Home" button, while the other side is another "Back" button.
Volume adjustment is instead done on the Notification Bar, where the Volume plus and minus signs are shown.
Technical details can be found on the official website of the unit: COBY - Kyros Internet Touchscreen Tablet. To summarize the technical details, it has a 800 Mhz processor, 4GB internal memory but with Micro SD card support expandable up to 16GB maximum; A 7", 800 x 480 pixel screen, and runs on Android 2.1.
The OS and other stuff takes up about 2.5GB of the internal memory, leaving you with only about 1.5GB of memory for other stuff.
'Display and Touchscreen'
The unit's touchscreen of course is a far cry from an iPad's touchscreen, but surprisingly it is pretty decent. For example, it is much better in terms of response compared to the resistive touchscreen of my Nokia 5800.
With an iPad, a soft touch of the screen and swipe and the screen goes, seemingly attached to your fingertip at the slightest connection. With this unit, you have to learn a firmer, slower response time. You have to be a bit more patient, as in press for about half a second, then drag up, down, or sideways.
As for the screen's brightness and picture quality, it is a far cry from that of the iPads. However, I feel it is comparable to your typical celphone, like that of my SE X10 Mini, for example.
'General Performance'
The unit performed generally well, no hassle in terms of operation. Wifi connection, for example, was fast, and easy. Out of the box, it only has Android's AppLib, which has only about 3,000 apps and games (compared to the Android Market's 100,000+), but I was still able to find some decent games to install and play with.
I downloaded "Hangman", "Solitaire" and "Glow Hockey". In these games, the touchscreen performance was good enough. However, I did notice that on "Glow Hockey", even with the setting at "Easy", there was a slowdown of the puck and handles as I played with it. That's the 800Mhz processor showing a bit of its limitations.
'Poor Battery and Return'
There was one major issue, though, that forced me to return the unit and ask for a replacement, and that is the battery. When I charged it, I was surprised that the battery went full after only about thirty minutes. However, when I removed the charger, the battery immediately drained to about 20% after only a minute or so.
So I returned the unit immediately, and they promised that a new one will be available by the evening of Monday, June 13, 2011.
'First Impressions'
Although my experience with the unit was cut, I felt that it was a pretty decent tablet. The box and manuals showed a lot of polish, not the ones you would find with the China-iPad clones.
The resistive touchscreen was pretty serviceable, and I could play some of the games like drag and drop Solitaire pretty decently. I was surprised with the 7" display, it does seem to be just enough for you to enjoy the games. And its smaller size gives it better portability than any iPad. I think its a mistake if Samsung is, indeed, phasing out its 7" Galaxy Tabs in favor of larger screens. I think 7" is an ideal size for tablets.
Everything worked very well, except for the battery. The unit sort of reminded me of my Android celphones, but with a larger screen. That 800Mhz processor is faster than the 600Mhz processor on my SE X10, but it seems to have done a passable job with the Kyros. I feel that as long as I stay away from complex, sophisticated 3D games which require a lot of processing power, I think the unit should be okay.
We will know more once I get a better unit, which I plan to root, and install the Android Market on.
Bought the Coby Kyros MID7015 tablet at the SM Appliance Center as a gift for a dear Aunt, after she asked for one after getting addicted playing with my iPad. I tried the other China-tablets, they were cheaper, but in terms of software and support, they are a bit haphazard, at best.
'Physical Attributes'
The Kyros is about 1.5 thicker than the iPad 2, but because of its smaller screen size, it is about 3/4 as heavy. It is pretty light, thanks to its small size and plastic contruction, though the unit didn't feel "plasticky" at all to me.
The set comes with a charger, USB cable, manuals (pretty good ones, also) and a plastic wrap-around case. The one button on the lower middle part of the screen is not a "Home" button, it is a "Back" button. What should be the ringer doesn't function like one, instead one side is the "Home" button, while the other side is another "Back" button.
Volume adjustment is instead done on the Notification Bar, where the Volume plus and minus signs are shown.
Technical details can be found on the official website of the unit: COBY - Kyros Internet Touchscreen Tablet. To summarize the technical details, it has a 800 Mhz processor, 4GB internal memory but with Micro SD card support expandable up to 16GB maximum; A 7", 800 x 480 pixel screen, and runs on Android 2.1.
The OS and other stuff takes up about 2.5GB of the internal memory, leaving you with only about 1.5GB of memory for other stuff.
'Display and Touchscreen'
The unit's touchscreen of course is a far cry from an iPad's touchscreen, but surprisingly it is pretty decent. For example, it is much better in terms of response compared to the resistive touchscreen of my Nokia 5800.
With an iPad, a soft touch of the screen and swipe and the screen goes, seemingly attached to your fingertip at the slightest connection. With this unit, you have to learn a firmer, slower response time. You have to be a bit more patient, as in press for about half a second, then drag up, down, or sideways.
As for the screen's brightness and picture quality, it is a far cry from that of the iPads. However, I feel it is comparable to your typical celphone, like that of my SE X10 Mini, for example.
'General Performance'
The unit performed generally well, no hassle in terms of operation. Wifi connection, for example, was fast, and easy. Out of the box, it only has Android's AppLib, which has only about 3,000 apps and games (compared to the Android Market's 100,000+), but I was still able to find some decent games to install and play with.
I downloaded "Hangman", "Solitaire" and "Glow Hockey". In these games, the touchscreen performance was good enough. However, I did notice that on "Glow Hockey", even with the setting at "Easy", there was a slowdown of the puck and handles as I played with it. That's the 800Mhz processor showing a bit of its limitations.
'Poor Battery and Return'
There was one major issue, though, that forced me to return the unit and ask for a replacement, and that is the battery. When I charged it, I was surprised that the battery went full after only about thirty minutes. However, when I removed the charger, the battery immediately drained to about 20% after only a minute or so.
So I returned the unit immediately, and they promised that a new one will be available by the evening of Monday, June 13, 2011.
'First Impressions'
Although my experience with the unit was cut, I felt that it was a pretty decent tablet. The box and manuals showed a lot of polish, not the ones you would find with the China-iPad clones.
The resistive touchscreen was pretty serviceable, and I could play some of the games like drag and drop Solitaire pretty decently. I was surprised with the 7" display, it does seem to be just enough for you to enjoy the games. And its smaller size gives it better portability than any iPad. I think its a mistake if Samsung is, indeed, phasing out its 7" Galaxy Tabs in favor of larger screens. I think 7" is an ideal size for tablets.
Everything worked very well, except for the battery. The unit sort of reminded me of my Android celphones, but with a larger screen. That 800Mhz processor is faster than the 600Mhz processor on my SE X10, but it seems to have done a passable job with the Kyros. I feel that as long as I stay away from complex, sophisticated 3D games which require a lot of processing power, I think the unit should be okay.
We will know more once I get a better unit, which I plan to root, and install the Android Market on.
, android is more open)
