- Jul 9, 2010
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I am a ROM cook for the Apad iRobot, with contacts to Shenzhen. I also know how to read Chinese. This is how I uncovered the story.
In case you don't want to read 20 pages (which is filled with spam posts from scammers, by the way), here's the summary:
What happened
The Zenithink tablet was originally advertised as a 10" tablet with an A8 Cortex CPU. The A8 Cortex CPU would have allowed for Adobe Flash playback if the device was ever upgraded to Android 2.2. Previous CPU versions are not only incapable of using Adobe Flash, they are also 30-40% slower and less efficient overall. It was revealed that the CPU specification was in fact faked, and the CPU is the older and slower ARM11 variant.
What we have done here is uncovered faked specifications and an attempt to cover up the situation, both evidenced by the firmware implementation to artificially boost benchmark scores (which inherently leads to instability), and by the manufacturer's passive stance on the false specifications being spread.
What's the big deal
Online retailers were selling the device for as much as $300US, which would have been a fair price provided that the device had a real A8 Cortex CPU. However, since this is an ARM11 device, $300US is a rip off pricing. A good reference for a device with similar specifications is the Augen Gentouch, which is around $150, but with a 7" screen and warranty support. The device retails for the equivalent of $155US (1050RMB/Yuan) in China. Assuming $50 shipping, you should be paying no more than $200 for the device to be shipped.
* * *
Technical Details Below
Part 1
It has been confirmed in China that the Zenithink ZT180 / Wiipad does NOT have ARMv7 A8 Cortex CPUs. Also Flatpad, Orphan M16 are all the same thing.
append: Even though Zenithink claims that they never made any official statements about the tablet being A8 Cortex, their silence on the topic when their product was being misrepresented internationally is no better than an active role in false advertising.
There's no way resellers didn't have a clue about this with their sample products. I find it hard to believe that they didn't suspect anything. Instead, they jacked their prices to obscene numbers, cashing in on the false advertising and misleading customers.
In addition to hardware quality control issues, the CPU has been suspected to be an ARM 11 variant, with the Android OS running with the highly unstable JIT Dalvik engine (stable only in Android 2.2).
This also means this device is NOT flash capable.
Original source:
Unofficial User Discussion Forums, Refund
Mirror:
1 - Fullscreen
This is a large retailer of Shanzhai products announcing on the Zenithink forums, declaring a full refund for all Zenithink ZT180 products. Hardware issues include allegations of CPU specification faking, system instability, wifi module failures, software incompatibilities.
I did some digging for myself and found benchmarks of the ZT180:
JT's Digital World » Zenithink 10 inches Cortex-A8 Ipad Clone ZT180
Linpack:
Also, Softweg CPU info
The combination of the CPU benchmark and the Linpack score means one thing: it is an ARM 11 (ARM v6) CPU with JIT enabled.
* * *
Part 2
Here's more info if you guys aren't going to do more digging for yourself.
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Google translate really sucks, so I'll just translate bits of it.
This is an 11 page thread on imp3.net of China buyers of the Flatpad/ZT180/Wiipad asking for full refunds on this scam.
Zenithink is a Shanzhai laptop company with a focus on the Anyka AK88 chipset. From2009, then started selling Windows CE microtablets for 3xx Yuan, and reaped good profits. Since they wanted to enter the higher-end MID (mobile internet device) product sector, but did not have chipset manufacturing capabilities, they resorted to Remark chips, purchasing Shanghai Tsinghuaic IX2X0 series CPUs, and proceeded to stamp their own logos on the CPUs to be shipped. However, these chips, did not contain A8 Cortex, but ARM11 with a coreclock of 800MHz and supporting 1080p hardware decoding. Right now the chipset only supports MP4 1080p hardware decoding, and does not actually support any other formats! Since ARM Cortex A8 processors process data at an efficiency of double of ARM11, this is clearly an act of trickery and deception in advertising.
* * *
Part 3
For any shops who are sneaking in here to dispute the fact that their tablets have fake specifications:
JIT ARTIFICALLY INFLATES BENCHMARK SCORES.
An ARM11 CPU with JIT results in scores 2-3 times higher in Dalvik based benchmarks. The i5700, an ARM11 800MHz CPU, reaches up to 8MFLOPs on Linpack with JIT enabled. With the CPU at 1GHz, it falls right into the range of 9-10 MFLOPs seen in every Zenithink benchmark.
This makes it very likely that it is an ARM 11 based CPU
Typical clock-per-clock benchmarks for A8Cortex are at least 20-30% higher compared to ARM11 cores, for both OMAP 3430 and Snapdragon CPUs. THe Samsung Galaxy S CPU, the most efficient A8Cortex on the market, has a Linpack of 8.5 MFLOPs. A benchmark score at 1GHz at 9-10 MFLOPs without JIT enabled is IMPOSSIBLE for an A8Cortex CPU or any CPU on the market today. The Nexus One scores a maximum of 7 MFLOPs at 1 GHz without JIT on Android 2.1. 9MFLOPs would indicate that the CPU has to be at least 20-30% more efficient (impossible for the same architecture), or has a clockspeed faster by that same percentage.
From this it is obvious that it is NOT A8 Cortex.
* * *
Part 4
Update 9amET, Aug 2
On the same thread where a poster has issued an official update for Android 2.1 on Zenithink tablets, the same poster, who claims to be a representative from Zenithink, claims that the ZT180 was never listed as an A8 Cortex processor.
Clearly playing games here.
This is not a verified poster, but we'll continue to get more information on this.
* * *
Part 5
On the Orphan M16, I have yet to see what is inside it, but I have no reason to believe in them or Chinagrabber whatsoever.
I can ask my Shanzhai contacts about Orphan, but from what I've seen of these guys I wouldn't trust them at all.
* * *
Part 6
Update Aug 2 5pm ET
I was reading xda developers and stumbled upon more specifications:
Zenithink ZT-180 1GHz 10" tablet - Page 2 - Android Forums
* * *Specs update.
CPU - IMAPX200 r5 (over 1000 bogoMIPS) But this is odd, because it is identified as ARMv6TEJ - This may be closely related to the Shouying PID1110. I'm confused by this as it would indicate that we have an ARM11 and not a CortexA8 as described. Can anyone confirm the CortexA8 is there?
GPU - Vivante GC600:: Vivante Corporation I Products/Mobile Visual Reality ::
Current driver is OpenGL 1.1 so that's why some OpenGL apps are failing.
Frame buffer and crossbar combiner is not supported, but DOT3 and cube maps are there.
Confirmed 256MB RAM, but only about 90MB is available after boot.
uses a zenithink 2 axis accelerometer.
Part 7
* * *
Update Aug 2 5pm ET
I was reading xda developers and stumbled upon more specifications:
Zenithink ZT-180 1GHz 10" tablet - Page 2 - Android Forums
* * *Specs update.
CPU - IMAPX200 r5 (over 1000 bogoMIPS) But this is odd, because it is identified as ARMv6TEJ - This may be closely related to the Shouying PID1110. I'm confused by this as it would indicate that we have an ARM11 and not a CortexA8 as described. Can anyone confirm the CortexA8 is there?
GPU - Vivante GC600
Current driver is OpenGL 1.1 so that's why some OpenGL apps are failing.
Frame buffer and crossbar combiner is not supported, but DOT3 and cube maps are there.
Confirmed 256MB RAM, but only about 90MB is available after boot.
uses a zenithink 2 axis accelerometer.
Update Aug3, 8am
I have received a system dump and a kernel log (dmesg) for the device.
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...ions-faking-not-armv7-a8-cortex.html#post1909
Continued discussion on unofficial Zenithink user forums have indicated that Zenithink is now standing by their position that they never said that their device was A8 Cortex. As I have stated earlier, they did not give any statements on the false information in the Shanzhaiben article despite knowing that there was misinformation spreading.
If there was any question that this was not a switch-and-bait scheme, there is none now.
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