Hope I Made a Good Choice

[Sue7M3]

I just ordered a Kyros 7015-G. I've done a ton of research and read a ton of reviews. (The ones on HSN seem to have been made by extremely ignorant and impatient people) It seems like those expecting it to be a $149 iPad are upset but the more realistic folks are happy with it. I'm computer savvy and plan to root it and add market. I'm not expecting an iPad like experience, just a good sub-$200 or so tablet for websurfing, email, keeping tabs on my blog and website, reading, and Facebook/Twitter. Not real interested in music or videos (I have an iPod Touch and ultraportable notebook for those). Games would be nice, but not critical or anything. Did I make a good choice?

 

[Joey1320]

I'm sorry to bust your bubble but I dont think you will be happy with the end results of the Kyros. For the past couple of days, after the novelty passed, I've been nothing but frustrated at the Kyros, to the point that I'll rather use my iphone-3g to do what I bought the Kyros for. No, never did I expect the Kyros to be in the same league as the iPad, but this thing is just extremely frustrating to use and navigate.

I'm waiting to see if Coby is able to update/fix some of the problems with it and if not, its going up for sale...

 

[l_n]

I'm happy with mine. The only issue I have is there is not enough space in /data for what I'm doing. I'm in the process of trying to make a custom boot.img to fix that, though.

 

[dyoung111]

I'm happy with my Kyros- it is exceeding my (limited) expectations.My kids are starting to prefer it to their itouches.....

 

[Joey1320]

Let me be a bit more clear, because in reality, if Coby can fix the small issues with the Kyros via updates, then the tablet is more than worth its price...

Thing to be aware of:
1) the screen sensitivity is insanely high, to the point that is very difficult to navigate through a site without "clicking" away at different links you didn't want. This is extremely frustrating.

2) on my unit, there's no volume control while watching a YouTube bid. If you want to adjust the volume, you have to exit the video and go on the main page, there you can raise/lower the volume. This is just stupid...

3) when opening a type box, there's no "done" button like on an apple device, only a "next" button. If you are typing in multiple boxes, it goes from one to the next, without giving the needed input info. You hit the "back" button on the front of the tablet, and in most cases it will act as a "done" input, but I have come across a couple of sites where it doesn't and instead acts like a back page input, taking you off the page completely.

4) trying to log into this site last note was impossible. My password info was not coming up on the type box and whenever I pressed the third number on my password it would take that as a "next" input and of course it would say incorrect password. Why?

5) the app store is pretty much ****. Yes you can root it and ad google/android market, but off the box the apps availability is horrendous. Hopefully more 3rd party developers will work with Archos on this.

6) the video quality of YouTube vids is less than average. I can't seem to be able to choose "hq" for them. That could be all me, I'll have to look into it.

7) the Facebook app for the tablet is crap. Way too complicated and difficult to use. I'm still using my phone's app for that. Maybe there will be an update for that too...


As a whole the tablet is not bad, just needs to be better. I'm hoping Coby decides to put some effort into it. As a movie player and ebook reader is great. So for less than the price of a nook and DVD player combined, you also get some websurfing capabilities and hopefully Coby or the android community can work out the kinks.

 

[jair2k4]

Joey1320: I'm sorry to say this, but at least half of your issues stem from a lack of available resources/knowledge at the present for this device. The app store is indeed limited, but thats what sideloading is for. your issues with typing/youtube/screen sensitivity have nothing to do with the device itself, but the way you are using it. There are screen sensitivity settings on the device. Youtube will automatically run HQ mode if one is available and your connection is fast enough to support it. As for the typing... the text boxes come in the order they are set on a website. If a user name and password are required, the browser assumes that you need to just move on to the next field. Use dolphin with an alternate soft keyboard, like.. Smart keyboard pro. That's what I use. I mean no offense, but i honestly do not think you have put as much effort into tweaking the device to your needs as you ought.

To answer the original question... I love mine. Video playback is awesome, starbooks runs flawlessly. Hell, even angry birds runs somewhat... once you get past a few issues, it is actually playable, unlike on a lot of other tablets. Battery lasts several hours on a charge, depending on wifi/brightness settings. It handles pretty much anything you can throw at it. It really is in your best interest to root and throw the market on there. The processor is pretty snappy once you have tweaked speeds with setcpu.

Now, i'm not going to say it is without faults. The latest update fixed a lot of issues. My big problem is that wake on sleep is still sketchy.. I bring it out of sleep around 15-20 times a day, whether i let it go to sleep or put it to sleep when my break at work is done. I find that I have to reset it usually once for that many times. Annoying, but not hindering. The only other gripe i have with it is that the re-draw when you change orientation is not as quick as i'd like it to be.

Just my 2 cents.

I started with an Augen Gentouch and returned it in favor of the Kyros. Best move i've made and I have no regrets.

 

[dyoung111]

Jaor,

I'm not familiar with the screen sensitivity settings that you refer to- can you elaborate?

 

[Joey1320]

Jair2k4 -- I'm sorry but if you could tell me where to find the screen options that would be great.

As for the YouTube video quality, I'm not sure what my problem is then, because I have yet been able to play an hq video on it. I have a really good wireless setup at my house and I can see hq video on my iPhone, my wife's iPhone, her itouch, my younger brother's iPhone, his mac, my ps3 and my brother in laws Viewsonic tablet, but not on the Kyros. And I'm talking about the same video.

As for the rest of my issues, im patiently waiting for Coby and the Android community to support the tablet. The potential is there, just not a great product out of the box.

I do plan on rooting my device, adding the markets and learning/tweaking it more, and I hope to finish with a better user experience.

 

[Sue7M3]

Thank you so much for your input everyone! I really appreciate it and I think I will be very happy with my Kyros.

 

[rheassi]

My husband bought me my Kyros for Christmas.. So far I have enjoyed using it.. I do not like Appslib and a little disappointed I can not use my Netflix and I would have liked Android 2.2 but overall for the price I think its a solid tablet.

Iam still learning to use it and do hope to see Coby activitly updating it. I use it for Youtube, web surfing and facebook (no fb games work that I know of)

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