Alright, so I don't really own this.. I bought it as a gift, but wanted to test it out before I sent it to the person. I also wanted to install Android Marketplace and a few apps. I've never used Android before, so I learned in the process and can give this other person a crash course as well.
As of writing this, PC Richard has them on sale for $89.99 + $4.99 shipping:
Coby Kyros 7.0" 4GB Tablet featuring Android 2.3 | P. C. Richard & Son
I picked mine up in store. Beware, though, their receipt says they do not have a return policy on these items! Double check that, but I'm pretty sure I read that on my receipt.. so maybe paying $10 more from a Walgreens is a better option.
- Slow starting up, but not that bad. A minute or so. My desktop computer at home boots up in about 22 seconds flat. Think of this Android if you had a computer that's a few years old. In fact one of my computers at work boots up slower than this thing!
- Started the unit up for the first time and set the time and date.
- On the unit there's 4 buttons to the right of the screen. The top one is a search button. The next one down will bring up settings. This is where you can change your Wallpaper. There's some nice ones that are animated.. such as moving fish in a pond. The next button down is a back button, and last button is home.
- Could not for the life of me figure out how to connect it to my computer via USB. I also didn't read the manual, so if it's in there who knows. I'll save you trouble. Have the unit off. Plug both ends of USB in. Turn unit on and it will ask if you want to Turn On USB Storage or something. It will then show up as a drive letter in My Computer under Windows and you can copy files over to it.
- Unit will not work with my Netgear WNR2000V3 router. I tried a crapload of settings and am asking for help on their forums. I do not believe this a problem with this tablet, as it works instantly when I took it to the library free wifi. I read on the forums here about Netgear problems and people switching to Linksys having no issues. So, if the unit won't connect for you at first try it elsewhere. Unit may not be defective after all.
- Built in YouTube isn't that bad. It's one of the main reasons I wanted it and web browsing. So my Mom's Husband can show videos, or websites from anywhere in the house. He can pull up videos or recipes in the kitchen for my Mom or guests.
- I installed Marketplace just fine. Works great. Off the Marketplace I've got Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, an Amazon Kindle app, Facebook app, and a few others. So far things seem to be running smooth. The recipient of this gift can install additional things if they want. Angry Birds is a bit slow loading, but once it loads it seems to work fine.
- To save battery life turn off discovery of new wireless networks, and lower the screen brightness. I'm guessing animated wallpaper eats more battery, but what the heck it looks damn sexy.
If the above sounds pretty good to you, then you do not need to root the device. Rooting is a way you can delete unnecessary junk that comes installed, or you can overclock the unit. The risk is you can brick the unit. I say if you're fine with the above, just install Android Marketplace. No risk there.
Do you want to know what I did to get the Android Marketplace? Sure there's tutorials, but here's how I did in one easy post with help from the lovely people on this forum. It couldn't have been simpler:
- Copy and paste this into Google "gapps-hdpi-20101114-signed.zip" without quotes. Download that file and unzip it.
- Connect your device to your computer like I mentioned earlier and copy the following files over to your MID7012:
GoogleServicesFramework.apk
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
Gmail.apk (you may be prompted to install the update possibly)
NetworkLocation.apk
Vending.apk (this is the market)
MarketUpdater.apk
I installed those files because the tutorial said to.
- Disconnect the device safely from your computer.
- Go register yourself a Gmail account. I made one specifically for this device such as mid7012android@gmail.com.. whatever floats your boat.
- Boot up the MID7012 and go to the desktop. You will see a button with 16 little dots to the right I believe. Hit that and go into APK Installer. Install the first 5 apps listed above.
- Go back to where you found the APK Installer. You will see a Gmail app. Use it to connect to that email account and password you setup earlier.
- Now go install vending and market update.
Bam! Done. Worked for me. You need that Gmail account in order to use marketplace and you also need wifi on. Originally the Android Marketplace closed instantly for me.. know why? It's because the wifi doesn't work at home for me. As soon as I went to the library bam worked.
I love this device and want one for myself. I think it works perfectly for what I want. I can't comment on battery life, because I haven't used it long enough since I'm sending it to someone as a gift.
As of writing this, PC Richard has them on sale for $89.99 + $4.99 shipping:
Coby Kyros 7.0" 4GB Tablet featuring Android 2.3 | P. C. Richard & Son
I picked mine up in store. Beware, though, their receipt says they do not have a return policy on these items! Double check that, but I'm pretty sure I read that on my receipt.. so maybe paying $10 more from a Walgreens is a better option.
- Slow starting up, but not that bad. A minute or so. My desktop computer at home boots up in about 22 seconds flat. Think of this Android if you had a computer that's a few years old. In fact one of my computers at work boots up slower than this thing!
- Started the unit up for the first time and set the time and date.
- On the unit there's 4 buttons to the right of the screen. The top one is a search button. The next one down will bring up settings. This is where you can change your Wallpaper. There's some nice ones that are animated.. such as moving fish in a pond. The next button down is a back button, and last button is home.
- Could not for the life of me figure out how to connect it to my computer via USB. I also didn't read the manual, so if it's in there who knows. I'll save you trouble. Have the unit off. Plug both ends of USB in. Turn unit on and it will ask if you want to Turn On USB Storage or something. It will then show up as a drive letter in My Computer under Windows and you can copy files over to it.
- Unit will not work with my Netgear WNR2000V3 router. I tried a crapload of settings and am asking for help on their forums. I do not believe this a problem with this tablet, as it works instantly when I took it to the library free wifi. I read on the forums here about Netgear problems and people switching to Linksys having no issues. So, if the unit won't connect for you at first try it elsewhere. Unit may not be defective after all.
- Built in YouTube isn't that bad. It's one of the main reasons I wanted it and web browsing. So my Mom's Husband can show videos, or websites from anywhere in the house. He can pull up videos or recipes in the kitchen for my Mom or guests.
- I installed Marketplace just fine. Works great. Off the Marketplace I've got Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, an Amazon Kindle app, Facebook app, and a few others. So far things seem to be running smooth. The recipient of this gift can install additional things if they want. Angry Birds is a bit slow loading, but once it loads it seems to work fine.
- To save battery life turn off discovery of new wireless networks, and lower the screen brightness. I'm guessing animated wallpaper eats more battery, but what the heck it looks damn sexy.
If the above sounds pretty good to you, then you do not need to root the device. Rooting is a way you can delete unnecessary junk that comes installed, or you can overclock the unit. The risk is you can brick the unit. I say if you're fine with the above, just install Android Marketplace. No risk there.
Do you want to know what I did to get the Android Marketplace? Sure there's tutorials, but here's how I did in one easy post with help from the lovely people on this forum. It couldn't have been simpler:
- Copy and paste this into Google "gapps-hdpi-20101114-signed.zip" without quotes. Download that file and unzip it.
- Connect your device to your computer like I mentioned earlier and copy the following files over to your MID7012:
GoogleServicesFramework.apk
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
Gmail.apk (you may be prompted to install the update possibly)
NetworkLocation.apk
Vending.apk (this is the market)
MarketUpdater.apk
I installed those files because the tutorial said to.
- Disconnect the device safely from your computer.
- Go register yourself a Gmail account. I made one specifically for this device such as mid7012android@gmail.com.. whatever floats your boat.
- Boot up the MID7012 and go to the desktop. You will see a button with 16 little dots to the right I believe. Hit that and go into APK Installer. Install the first 5 apps listed above.
- Go back to where you found the APK Installer. You will see a Gmail app. Use it to connect to that email account and password you setup earlier.
- Now go install vending and market update.
Bam! Done. Worked for me. You need that Gmail account in order to use marketplace and you also need wifi on. Originally the Android Marketplace closed instantly for me.. know why? It's because the wifi doesn't work at home for me. As soon as I went to the library bam worked.
I love this device and want one for myself. I think it works perfectly for what I want. I can't comment on battery life, because I haven't used it long enough since I'm sending it to someone as a gift.
