Is the Superpad3/Flytouch X220 sold on Amazon a good buy?

[EvilEd209]

Dear Android Tablet Experts,

So I am in the market to buy my very first tablet! I reside in the United States (PA) and my first dive into this really deep pool of Android based Tablets was to the local Radio Shack/Best Buy which all push the iPad like they are going out of style. And as much as I want an iPad I could easily buy a good laptop for that price with much better functionality.

So here is what I am looking for. I am in the market for an good Android tablet, preferably Android OS 2.1 or higher, preferably compatible with Flash 10.1, 512 RAM would be nice, and one that I can basically read my personal PDF files, eBooks via the Kindle App, do some light browsing, checking and sending email via WiFi, and maybe watch a NetFlix movie or two on (Not required). Oh, and running a cool app or two would be nice, I am not so much looking to game with it aside from a Chess app, but that Google StarMap app looked really fun! My hope was to spend around $200.

So in my searches I have found a ton of these SuperPad/Flytouch ePads. Some seem like pure junk to me. Clones of a much better model with older, outdated OS, loaded with errors and malfunctioning apps and functions, little to no storage, poor battery life and bad reviews. Some, however I have read awesome reviews of, some amazing stories of what these things are capable of doing after they are Rooted (that is going to be a question at some point) for such a low, low price. So which is it?

Also, I have seen that you can buy these from other places too, a lot of China wholesalers like Chinagrapper.com and **************, but that scares the RAM out of me. Most of these overseas dealers do not use PayPal and if I send them my money I am going to bet that they are going to send me a knock off that does not work half as well as they advertise and I will be out $200! So if I buy from Amazon, at least I can pay via PayPal and fight them to get my money back if I get a turd!

So, in the end I would like to know if I buy this thing from Amazon if I am making a mistake? Is this a quality ePad/tablet or not. I know it will not out perform a Playbook or a Galaxy but that is not what i want, I just do not want to get ripped off and not be able to do with it what i want. Here is the link to what I am looking at. Can someone here tell me if this is an Android Tablet you would buy/recommend for someone looking to do what I want to do with it?

Amazon.com: New 10.2" epad Superpad3/Flytouch X220 Pad 8GB Hard Drive 512 ram 1GHz Android 2.2 Tablet PC Froyo GPS, WIFI , Supports External 3G Modem , HDMI,RJ45, Touch Screen Flash 10.1 With BONUS KRYBOARD STYLUS PEN AND LEATHER CASE From USA SELLER

Also, if this really is a pile of crap and I would be flushing my money down the toilet by buying, can you recommend one?

Thanks Android Experts, looking forward to your advice!

Ed,
Noobie

 

[bwims]

I got one from Amazon.co.uk sold by A1CS through them. Check the listing to see if it is the same. Yours was a lot cheaper than mine though, especially as you got the case and keyboard worth £21. If I'd bought that, I would be out around £190 (£303).

1. Wifi is crap with my Linksys ADSL router. It just doesn't like connecting - maybe it doesn't handle the PSK encryption well. If I make my HTC Desire into an open hotspot it connects to that with no problem. It may work ok with another router. It does work with an ethernet cable, but who wants that? I have ordered a USB wifi dongle to see if that improves things. Not costly so worth a try. Will report back if I remember.

2. It is slow displaying heavily layered pdf files. Seems ok with books, but not glossy magazines.

3. no GSM/CDMA, except with a dongle

4. GPS doesn't seem pick up satellites easily, even with included GPS antenna, though I haven't tried much. Ditto compass - don't even know if it has one.

5. Movies seem smooth. I'm not quite sure how to try a full 1080p movie, because 4gb will not fit on a fat formatted device will it?

My main aim was to get something more affordable and functional than a Kindle DX, and it fills the bill for that, so I will keep it.

Thanks for the idea to try the google starmap. I may report back if I remember!

Good luck.

 

[EvilEd209]

@bwims


First I want to thank you for your response! I realize that I am new to the forum and that someone may have already asked questions about this tablet, but I could not find what I was looking for so any advice at all is helpful.


1) I will be ordering mine over the weekend and with any luck I will be able to give a full review of the WiFi capabilities once it arrives.

2) Most of the stuff I have is multi-layered so that is a bit disappointing to hear but if I have to wait a few seconds to see a page turn up that is ok. It is only a $200 tablet after all. As long as it is not un-bearable. I saw a video review of this tablet on YouTube last night and the guy showed that the Kindle app ran a bit slow on it as well. Here is the link:



Again, I plan to post a full review once I get it.

3) No GSM/CDMA if alright with me. Again, I plan to be a light user and if I do not have a WiFi connection then I mostly will use it to listen to mp3s, read pdf/eBooks, or play a chess game or three. So this is fine with me.

4) GPS not being the best is also alright with me as well. It does make me wonder how Google Sky (the star map thing I mentioned before) is going to run without a gps connection that is not a cord, but again these would be nice perks but not required.

5) This is great to hear, as maybe I'll put a movie on it just in case. That is why I am getting the 8GB version with plans to pick up a 32GB miniSD card to make it a total of 40GB of storage. A lot of my pdf files are HUGE! Do all of the miniSD card have to be formatted in Fat32???

Again, once I get this thing I'll post pics of the un-boxing and a step by step of the apps I play with and the rooting process.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[bwims]

Hi Evil Ed,

so did you get it? What did you think?

Correction ( I think) to my earlier comments - it seems that if you have the ethernet connection enabled, it stops the wifi from picking up an IP address. I found that if I remembered to turn that off, wi-fi worked ok.

Still cannot make the GPS work, and there is no compass, so no google skymap