What Do You Think About Your Onda Tablet?

vel2000

Member
Aug 18, 2013
2
0
I have a V972 and I think, it'just crap.

When I bought it, it came with the 1.0.2 Firmware...absolutely unusable
I updated it, made some custom roms and ported the "Archos Platinum97" firmware to the Onda.
(The only firmware until today, which allows to use XBMC with full hardware-acceleration)

But the tablet got always damn hot and had a ridiculously battery life.
Now, with SDK 3.2 firmwares, Onda started cheating Antutu benchmarks.
The score jumped from realistic 11.000 points to 19-20.000 with the new firmwares. :p

So, since it is unusable for outdoor-use, because of high weight and low battery life, I decided to use it as a media player, running XBMC.
But the missing, separate charger socket, prevented me to use the tablet with USB-OTG whilst charging. (I overlooked that, when I bought it)
Than I tried to sell it 2nd hand for ~110€, but no chance.

After several weeks acting as a dust-collector, I thought it would the right time, to bring it back to life, somehow.
I decided to open the tablet and check if I could solder a separate charging socket somehow.
That was what I found, after removing the back case:

$IMG_0702.JPG$IMG_0704.JPG

Tablet is 5 months old, but only used for ~3 months.
You get what you paid for, but even 200€ (new) is far too much for this piece of junk.
Never again.
If you don't like to waste money and want something, which works out of the box, go for a Samsung, Asus, Nexus, whatever.
I did.
 

edap

Senior Member
Dec 12, 2012
1,120
106
I have a V972 and I think, it'just crap.

When I bought it, it came with the 1.0.2 Firmware...absolutely unusable
I updated it, made some custom roms and ported the "Archos Platinum97" firmware to the Onda.
(The only firmware until today, which allows to use XBMC with full hardware-acceleration)

But the tablet got always damn hot and had a ridiculously battery life.
Now, with SDK 3.2 firmwares, Onda started cheating Antutu benchmarks.
The score jumped from realistic 11.000 points to 19-20.000 with the new firmwares. :p

So, since it is unusable for outdoor-use, because of high weight and low battery life, I decided to use it as a media player, running XBMC.
But the missing, separate charger socket, prevented me to use the tablet with USB-OTG whilst charging. (I overlooked that, when I bought it)
Than I tried to sell it 2nd hand for ~110€, but no chance.

After several weeks acting as a dust-collector, I thought it would the right time, to bring it back to life, somehow.
I decided to open the tablet and check if I could solder a separate charging socket somehow.
That was what I found, after removing the back case:

View attachment 11373View attachment 11374

Tablet is 5 months old, but only used for ~3 months.
You get what you paid for, but even 200€ (new) is far too much for this piece of junk.
Never again.
If you don't like to waste money and want something, which works out of the box, go for a Samsung, Asus, Nexus, whatever.
I did.

Hi, vel2000.

Welcome to the Forum.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. It was an expensive lesson to learn. Thank you for sharing it with us. Hopefully others will profit from it - and I'm not referring to the crooks.

Ed
 

probbiethe1

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jun 30, 2010
1,838
139
I have a V972 and I think, it'just crap.

When I bought it, it came with the 1.0.2 Firmware...absolutely unusable
I updated it, made some custom roms and ported the "Archos Platinum97" firmware to the Onda.
(The only firmware until today, which allows to use XBMC with full hardware-acceleration)

But the tablet got always damn hot and had a ridiculously battery life.
Now, with SDK 3.2 firmwares, Onda started cheating Antutu benchmarks.
The score jumped from realistic 11.000 points to 19-20.000 with the new firmwares. :p

So, since it is unusable for outdoor-use, because of high weight and low battery life, I decided to use it as a media player, running XBMC.
But the missing, separate charger socket, prevented me to use the tablet with USB-OTG whilst charging. (I overlooked that, when I bought it)
Than I tried to sell it 2nd hand for ~110€, but no chance.

After several weeks acting as a dust-collector, I thought it would the right time, to bring it back to life, somehow.
I decided to open the tablet and check if I could solder a separate charging socket somehow.
That was what I found, after removing the back case:


Tablet is 5 months old, but only used for ~3 months.
You get what you paid for, but even 200€ (new) is far too much for this piece of junk.
Never again.
If you don't like to waste money and want something, which works out of the box, go for a Samsung, Asus, Nexus, whatever.
I did.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I was wondering how did you make a custom rom for it?
 

Red7

Member
Dec 26, 2012
32
3
The good:
I've had my v711 since Christmas and I'm very happy with it. I right away updated to the new firmware and rooted it. It is really nice and smooth, very responsive and a good screen. I use it primarily as a book reader (aldiko app) but also surf the web, watch YouTube, Netflix and the occasional game of hill climb racing. Does it all pretty great.

The bad:
The worst part of every Onda tab is the crappy battery. I was getting maybe 3 hours of life playing video. Next is the screen brightness isn't enough to really use outdoors. The stock speaker sucks pretty bad. WiFi signal is just ok. Also does not play amazon prime movies, but guess you need a kindle for that.

The remedy:
I swapped the battery. Check my older posts, all the details are there, but for about $10 my battery now lasts more than 6 hours of video. I use headphones or a powered external speaker for movies and Pandora radio. I also added a WiFi repeater on my house so I can get a good signal in the back yard.

Done. Very happy with my dual-core Onda tab. If you can live with a 3 hour battery or are willing to crack it open for a battery swap (not without risks!) then an Onda tablet is a great choice.
 

DanLaw001

Member
Sep 2, 2013
5
0
I have a V973 and I'm somewhat frustrated. Even with the latest 4.2.2 build it can be unstable. They seem to improve things with every build but it seems to get in a state where apps go all sluggish and you get a wait message. As I'm sat 5 meters from a good router and it has moments where it's very fast and responsive I don't think it's a wifi issue. Disabling the Chinese apps in my perception has improved things.

They also put the connectors too deep into the casing so most cables don't work. Kind of amateur that.

On the other hand , when it's running well it's lovely and the screen is great.

You get what you pay for. It's a good cheap tablet but it's a long way from fantastic.

I picked up one of the 8 inches when I was at a shop in Shenzhen. Very good iPad Mini clone from construction. I didn't play with it though.

Like any other Android device, you really need to tune them up to make them perform well. If you are not willing to do so, simply walk into a Apple Store and your iPad mini is waiting for you...
 

Riouel

Member
Sep 8, 2013
5
1
i just baught a 972 and i upgrade to 4.2.2 from kasty and wow
now i can put some app on google play something i was not able with 4.1.1
faster to reboot
lot less lag when rotating page
over all a good tablet
 
Sep 20, 2013
2
0
I'm thinking of getting a V973. I'm buying directly from China, and they are offering a root version as well as the regular version. Now, I'm a newbie with Android (this is going to be my first Android device), so can someone tell me if the root version is usable to a non-techie? I'm not keen on the regular version because I don't need all the chinese apps, and frankly, I'm not too comfortable with the reliability of chinese software, even if it's only a skin.

They are also selling the newer V975, but that one seems to have only 1GB of ram instead of the 2GB that the V973 has. The other specs are almost the same, so I'm leaning towards the older V973.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
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