Our Review of the Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet (T103)

xaueious

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
3,483
436
Nice review you did there. Performance looks to be right between the VIA WM8505 and the Rockchip RK2808. That's really bad.
 

jlaubin

Member
Oct 24, 2010
40
0
excellent review..I differ with your ending results.. the zenpad is not sold in the USA from brick and Mortar stores..but shipped from china, with chinese support..I do miss the 3d graphics but thats all.. with other imported tablets running 4 hr battery life, some 3-4...the Cruz's replaceable battery is a hugh plus..
1....how did you get the built in speakers to play???
2....Mini USB keyboards wont play either...no usb supprt
 

TabletConnect

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2010
130
9
excellent review..I differ with your ending results.. the zenpad is not sold in the USA from brick and Mortar stores..but shipped from china, with chinese support..I do miss the 3d graphics but thats all.. with other imported tablets running 4 hr battery life, some 3-4...the Cruz's replaceable battery is a hugh plus..
1....how did you get the built in speakers to play???
2....Mini USB keyboards wont play either...no usb supprt

That is true regarding the ZenPad which is actually no longer sold in single units. FlatComputing sells the Zenithink ZT-180 for under $200 although they have had some issues with their products and customer service. In addition, one can find a US seller on eBay. Any how, you are right regarding the battery life. That is the greatest strength of the Cruz Tablet. As for your question on the speakers, not sure what you mean. they just work. The volume could be louder. Yes, full USB would have been nice.

@xaueious: Thank you.
 

TabletConnect

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2010
130
9
Nice review you did there. Performance looks to be right between the VIA WM8505 and the Rockchip RK2808. That's really bad.

Xaueious: Would you know why the Cruz Tablet scored so high on the BenchmarkPi test? My understanding is that this MIPS processor is dual core. I do not know if this BenchmarkPi is a multi-thread test which may explain the high score.
 

xaueious

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
3,483
436
I'm actually not that technical. It might be just a difference in CPU architectures. Not sure if it is dual core, but I doubt it. Ingenic has always been a low end CPU manufacturer. The fact that the Cruz is being marketed where it is at now is a joke. I actually heard it's either a 90 or 130 nm chip. They are way behind, so they are selling really cheap.
 

min10-2008

Senior Member
Dec 21, 2010
39
0
Don't know all the techy stuff you are talking about but after 2 attempts contacting micro velocity they basically said 'bad luck your not in the US', so I'm glad I have been doing additional research before & after joining the forum. Needless to say this is 1 tablet I don't have to look @ any more.:mad:
 
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geekgirl70

Member
Dec 28, 2010
12
0
In your review, you mentioned a 'hack' for the Android Market for the Tablet. So far, I've not seen such a creature, only a hack for the READER. Is there such a thing? If so, where do I get it?

I also know that there is a 'hack' to increase the processor speed on the Reader from (I think it's around 533Mhz?) to 800Mhz. Anything like that for the Tablet? Or is it unnecessary?
 

orlandotek

Member
Jan 11, 2011
11
2
So I have had my T103 for less than a day now and I have made good strides with it.

FIRST - UPDATE your device. Goto the official website for Cruz and in the support section there is an update. It GREATLY improves the functionality of the screen and speed of the unit.
My Cruz now works likes my EVO as far as screen and such.

Also, install the Skyfire 3.1 browser. make it your default. Don't look back.

I am still testing the unit. Pandora works great on it. I will post more later. Enjoy!
 

radioman52

Member
Nov 28, 2010
26
1
Nice review you did there. Performance looks to be right between the VIA WM8505 and the Rockchip RK2808. That's really bad.

Stop picking on the VIA WM8505.
My M001 running Ecotox runs cicles around this Cruz "Tablet" and this may be the reason that BB and VC where unloading them for $99.99 last week played with one but the Proc is inferior if only they put the Cap screen on the Cruz Reader.
Its back to BB, my trusty M001 except for the battery life is still King of the low cost (<$99 )slates.

NOW the Cruz Reader is another story.
For a BB$ 99.95 (Samsung ARM 800 MHz Chip) the Cruz "reader" with the simple addition of the JGM rooted and de-bloated FW which includes App2sd which makes this one FLY.

I still use my M001 for applications that need a microphone, with the Ecotox Fw and some specialty software it makes a fantastic remote Radio operations system if only we can get better batteries to fit without major plastic work.
 
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