Hi All - Some friends of mine (yes I do have some friends ) are looking for a 7" Android based tablet. Primary use will be for; listening to music, playing games and downloading ebooks.
They actually bought a Creative ZiiO 7" which was the right price (around $220.00aud) and had everything they wanted but we could not get it to connect to the existing wi-fi network in their home. It would recognise the correct SSID okay and report signal strength as excellent but whenever we hit the connect button it would then say it was out of range....we were about 6 feet from the source. We tried everything, including updating the firmware and installing latest Android system (2.3). I even brought it home to my place and tried to connect to my wi-fi here but experienced exact same issues. Yes, security keys were input correctly, everything was by the book but no joy. In the end they returned it to the store for a refund.
Anyway, I digress. The Creative ZiiO 7" would have been perfect except for the fact that it just would not connect to the internet via existing wi-fi network. So anything similar with good battery life and not too expensive would do just nicely.
Any advice please??
TIA.....Jim
Hey Nightowl - Thanks for responding mate....much appreciated.
Yes, I had a look at the Samsung Galaxy 7", it gets terrific reviews but it is a little out of my friend's price range. The cheapest I could find was around $600.00aud.
Makes it difficult when looking for something under or around $300.00.
Cheers.....Jim
Hi Jim:
The Samsung was the first one I could think of, wasn't sure of the price. I know there are other 7" tablets available in the price range you are looking for. I seem to recall that Asus and Acer have something in that area, however they aren't rated very well. Can't think of any other off hand, so actually I'm not much help at all
Gene
[quote:17um82u2]doesn't the Creative ZiiO 7" have some sort of official support that could help with the connection issue?[/quote:17um82u2]
Not a lame question at all FD. Yes, we contacted support via email. They replied pretty quickly too, but we had already tried everything they suggested.
After Googling the error and a brief search around the net, I discovered plenty of very similar reports of the same issue. Not necessarily concerning the ZiiO, but all concerning Android v2 series (2.1, 2.2 & 2.3). So I am assuming it must be an OS bug of some sort, probably only noticeable under a particular set of circumstances or with specific hardware.
Cheers...Jim
[quote:1h1dwrvm]If that proves to be the case, wouldn't an update solve the problem? [/quote:1h1dwrvm]
We already tried that FD. The ZiiO came with an older version of Android; we updated to v2.3 which is the latest version so couldn't update any further than that. This from my original post: [i:1h1dwrvm]"We tried everything, including updating the firmware and installing latest Android system (2.3)"[/i:1h1dwrvm]
Trust me; I tried every known fix to try and get the rotten thing to work properly, and some that were not so well known.
Hey Jim, I'm not much up on the tablet scene, but I have heard of a device called the aPad -- which is pretty much an iPad running Android from what I hear. Don't know much more than that as I heard it mentioned by a friend once.
[url=http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=apad#q=apad&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivnsr&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=DtYCTverFLK20AHVuYWNDA&ved=0CE4QrQQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=693a8bbd47301b9e&biw=1290&bih=966:1gzxmbsh]Apad[/url:1gzxmbsh] - via Google Shopping
As for your other device - I wonder if it was a mismatch in expected wifi signals? (A v G v B v N?) Hardly seems to matter now as it's no longer in your life.
Hey Zig - Been waiting for you to respond bro.
[quote:1dcr9pay]I wonder if it was a mismatch in expected wifi signals? (A v G v B v N?)[/quote:1dcr9pay]
Yes. I did think of that mate: ZiiO uses 802.11 b/g - router uses 802.11g. So should have been compatible.
Had a look at the Apad here locally mate and it seems to fit the bill perfectly. Ranges in price from $100 to $200, depending on specs....all sounds good.
Thanks mate, that's the way I'll recommend they go.
One more question: While hunting around I've seen lots of reports that the new Android 3 is due to be released very soon. Do you think it would be better for them to wait until the latest Android is available or just go with Android 2 now??
Cheers mate.....Jim
[quote="ozbloke":3lvmdc18]Hey Zig - Been waiting for you to respond bro.
[/quote:3lvmdc18]
Heh. I had an article to finish.
I've been eyeing the apad too, but can't talk myself into buying something I don't have a planned use for.
I wouldn't wait for Android 3 for the simple reason there is nothing to indicate that they plan to put Android 3 on the apad. Chances are very good that the tablets running Android 3 are going to be more expensive (like the Xoom). And, if you really want Android 3, no reason you can't root the apad and install it later.
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