Synrgic Dreambook W7

[pjpeter]

Hi all,

It's great to have this forum to do some research - it'd be awesome for this tab to have it's own dedicated forum, but even this thread is good . I saw this tablet on eBay yesterday after looking around for a good pocketable tablet with all the features I'd like and this looked the best of the bunch. I'm really glad I found this thread too because I thought there were no "cheaper versions" out there - I thought if I ordered from anyone it would be genuine - it's good to know this is not the case, I will have to be much more careful now.

Basically I want a tablet I can use as a phone in a pinch, has Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, Data, Multi Touch and a 7" screen (right at the edge of what I can put in my pocket, but big enough to see a good sized page of text from a book, for example). This tablet looks to be just about perfect on all fronts .

The only question I have really is - do you think this will be upgradable to Honeycomb (Android 3) at some point in the (nearish) future?

I know someone mentioned they were looking forward to droid 3 to fully unlock this tab's potential earlier in the thread - I have read up on it and it seems to be much more tablet friendly than the 2.2 version this comes with. I know some have said there were minimum processor requirements, but this is not the case. Of course I would be unfortunate if it ran slowly, but having the option to try - I guess that would be enough for me - and hopefully it would be up for the challenge.

Thanks very much,
Peter

P.S. Talk about confused - Merimobiles says multiple times in the comments that the W7 is actually 9.7" and that the 7" numbers were errors - but I'm 99% sure that the length dimension of 7.6" is correct and they had wrong data before - right?

 

[pjpeter]

I guess I do have more questions - anyone who has this - how do you find it in terms of buttons? Looking at the manual there is a grand total of 4 buttons for the entire device - I was looking into remapping some of those buttons for pocket control, for play/pause rewind/ffwrd and vol up/down - but there aren't actually enough (since I don't want to remap my power button of course). I would probably be using my bluetooth remote over AVRCP most of the time, but there would be times I might use it direct... Am I the only one thinking this way - are there any other things to keep in mind before purchase? Besides that (and it only being Droid 2.2 and the fact it is only Wireless G rather than N), I can't really find anything else at all 'wrong' with this product.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[emmert_m]

I measured mine for you in inches and it's 7 11/16 inches and 4 5/8 inches wide. I looked tirelessly for a really nice case and settled on one from a company called innovative inception in the UK it appears as it shipped from London. I found it on ebay. I did have to cut away parts of the inside to display all of the screen, but it was the only one that i could find with a pocket, as well as holes to let the device get some air. (the Dreambook can get pretty warm after using it for awhile.) I'm curious to see what others turn up for cases.

As for buttons, I have no complaints of any of them except for the back/menu button is a little touchy. It seems to be a double rocker type. The "back" side always seems to work, but the "menu" side seems a little sticky. When browsing, "menu" pops up things like "favorites" etc. Since I prefer the skyfire browser, this issue became irrelevant to me because the browser has easy to locate buttons on the sreen to navigate.

Remote Control? I did download the android app for dish network remote access to watch content on the device and/or control your receiver. It turns the whole screen into an image of a remote control with all the appropriate buttons and it worked flawlessly over wifi. i have not been able to test it over 3g.

Who knows about future upgradeability, but for years and years i've noticed the next big thing/release/feature is always just around the corner. This is the nicest phone i've had so far.

I was going to update to v20 today but the synergic site says "bandwidth exceeded". i was wanting to review the instructions before i update. its a good thing that synrgic is getting that much traffic, i just hope the site is back up before long.

 

[pjpeter]

Thanks for your reply . I saw that the site said bandwidth exceeded too - it's true it's nice to see that they are popular, but also inconvenient for us in the here and now - but I was able to download the doc from the site preview on the Google Cache and save into my Google docs. Some other sites are mirroring it too such as: here and they also have a guide here. Can't vouch for them of course, I downloaded v20 just incase but I have no tab to test with .

Sounds though like you're happy which is cool - the only thing that made me think it might be best to check first is that the new version has so many 'tablet' specific features. But it seems if it is popular enough, then they'll be support from the community - like for my Xperia X1 I'm running WM6.5.3 on it quite happily - if we have enough people out there with this great tab we can get a hacked version one way or another, and I'm good with that .

Do you have a link to the case you picked up or a pic btw? I'm really curious about it now to see it Thanks for the measurements - do you ever find it is uncomfortable holding the tab in your pocket? Some of the pics of Galaxys in people's pants pockets make me think hernia .

About the remote control, I was thinking bluetooth remote - so you have the tablet in your pocket or bag and can control the music/call through the headset. It uses the AVCRP (sp) protocol to allow you to control the volume, rewind/ffwd, play/pause, etc... so kind of the opposite. Actually on that topic though, I used to use Novii Remote on my A696 and it worked quite well over IR for my TV and also to control my IR keyboard... till I burnt it out with a 4A 5V USB adapter in my car a few weeks ago - ya that was my USB coffee cup warmer adapter

But ya - if only we can find some way to run the gmail voice/video app on Firefox on Android - or through some other app - while they still have the North America free calling - now that would be perfection lol

Thanks,
Peter

 

[myzter]

is the AC/DC power adapter plug unique to the W7 ? I was thinking of plugging this into the car jack.. but I guess with W7 only accepting AC I will need also an small 12V inverter ??
Has anyone used bluetooth for calls yet ? I think V21 enables it again.. although not perfect..
Google Translate

 

[pjpeter]

Hope this won't orphan my previous questions (please reply if you can to my last post) but I'll reply to myzter.

I hear v21 is very slow - but it'd be nice if bluetooth calling worked properly - it's that they can't start calls from the bluetooth device?

My understanding is that the Dreambook W7 uses MicroUSB as its power plug - which is not as widespread as MiniUSB yet, but it's the new standard (to make sure I didn't get it wrong, i double checked the manual here: user manual - it is MicroUSB).

So get a MicroUSB 12V Car adapter and you should be fine. I actually have a bunch of tips for one that I picked up at the dollar store a few months ago when MicroUSB was announced as the new standard. There are also Mini-to-MicroUSB adapters, I have a couple of those two, but they're not as good (unless you have a MiniUSB car adapter, in which case they may be just about perfect.

Just make sure you get a 12V -> 5V MicroUSB adapter with some oomph - 1A might be enough, but I'd check the output specs on the included AC adapter to see what's right - I'm guessing you'll want a 2A one to power a device of this size.

Hope that answers your q,
Peter

P.S. From what I've read the Mini USB on the Dreambook is USB Host (so you can plug devices into it for the tablet to use/access)

 

[ErikJanVens]

The link of the v20 if someone needs it :http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11839213/V20.rar

Thanks. I accidently threw away the V20 files after installing V21. Now I can revert again.

 

[pjpeter]

Hmm, reading up on Honeycomb here:
Difference Between Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) for Tablets | Difference Between | Android 2.2 (Froyo) vs Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) for Tablets
Really makes me hope the support for Android 3 will be there for this tablet...

"Refined multitasking, System Bar, Action Bar, Connect full keyboard over USB or Bluetooth, video chat using Google Talk, etc..." - Really sounds like there is a lot of stuff that Droid 3 will add - really hope this'll have support somehow

Peter

 

[myzter]

I really dont think it will happen. Droid 2.3 if anything... look at the big companies coming out with 3.0 tablets.. all have software issues is some way.. eee pad is same price and you know it will get huge support

 

[pjpeter]

Ya if only eeePad had "Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, Data, Multi Touch and a 7" screen" and all the other goodies this has - this one has all that and more - hmm it'd be 100% I'd get this right away if people like it and there's a good chance it'll have Honeycomb support eventually. If not - I'll have to consider more...

Ya the ASUS Eee Pad MeMo is very close but doesn't have all this has and is 2x the price easy... hmmm...

 

[myzter]

I did want a 7" device for pocketability... BUT eeepad has similar features but way better for only $20 more..
W7: only two point multitouch, 720p video, A-GPS, Light Sensor, 2mp rear camera, 512 memory, Wifi b/g, 1024x600 screen - Support is fading already.
eee: 10 point touch, 1080p video, G-Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, E-Compass, GPS, 1.2mp front - 5mp rear cameras, 1GB memory, WiFi b/g/n, 9.5 hour battery, 1280x800 Screen - HUGE SUPPORT

 

[pjpeter]

Interesting - hmm - which eeePad are you referring to btw? Transformer?

I own 4 ASUS netbooks/laptops and a bunch more motherboards and had a ASUS PDA before - they're a good brand and I like it certainly. If I did go 10" though I'd probably get one of the Windows 7 tablets at that size and use it for free gmail voice calling lol. Still quite like the 7" form factor - if it can't fit in my pocket, then I might as well use my ASUS N10J 10.1" netbook anyway with full Win7 Support...

 

[myzter]

yep.. everyone is waiting right now for pre-sales to come online.. if you have military connections.. you can pick up the transformer right now... just waiting too see.. how fast they sell out and when the next batch will be in stock...
hhmmmm interesting is right!!

 

[pjpeter]

You're quick - replied before I finished my edit

I own 4 ASUS netbooks/laptops and a bunch more motherboards and had a ASUS PDA before - they're a good brand and I like it certainly. If I did go 10" though I'd probably get one of the Windows 7 tablets at that size and use it for free gmail voice calling lol. Still quite like the 7" form factor - if it can't fit in my pocket, then I might as well use my ASUS N10J 10.1" netbook anyway with full Win7 Support...

But you're referring to the Transformer right - looking up the EP90 and others now - I had no idea there were so many eeePads out there... It is certainly something to research a lot more than I have that's for sure

lol and just liked Synrgic - the ASUS.com website also seems to be down - Interesting on the ASUS Canada page the Transformer is listed, but if you click it, it just takes you back to the main page - ah if only it was a bit smaller..

 

[pjpeter]

Oh awesome the Memo even comes with an even better remote than what I've got:
ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on (video) -- Engadget

Translucent LCD, lets you control music, make calls, etc.. and since it'd be an accessory included with the device, it would enjoy full support.

Thanks for pointing all this out to me! Definitely got to read up - though the Dreambook isn't out of the picture, there's lots more for me to look into - thank you