Yikes I need major help with my cmp738b

[Lissa]

I just bought this from Rite Aid today. Craig Touch Screen Tablet Android 2.2 CMP738B.

I thought I knew everything about computers. What the heck is this tablet thing? Haha.....

Okay, so I played around with it, I'm able to browse, but, 1- I can't log in to my Yahoo email at all, and 2- Why is it when I visit Facebook, I can't see my apps and games that I play and such? It just looks way different than windows.

I keep seeing stuff about rooting and marketing. I've tried to make sense of it but I don't understand ANY of it. Please help me as if I'm in 1st grade because I want to make sure this thing is worth my while in keeping it or not.

What do I do first?

 

[Jahziel]

Okay, first off:
DO NOT TRY TO ROOT YOUR TABLET. As of the time I am writing this there is no known root for the 738b. Trying to root with a 738a image will result in "bricking" your tablet, leaving it totally unusable and unrecoverable.

As to yahoo mail, are you trying to configure the built in email application or are you logging in using the web browser interface? If the former, what is the error message you are getting? If the latter, what is the web page telling you and are you able to log in using the web interface on your computer.

As for games, the only facebook game I have ever really played was farmville, and not for very long. I just tried accessing it on my tablet and it did access (farmville express) the game. It was listed on the column on the left as text only with no image.

When a root kit does eventually come out for the craig 738b, make sure you read user reviews of it completely before rooting the device as rooting will void your warranty. It may also not be reversible depending on various factors and available packages.

You may wish to get a hold of SmartKeyboard as it is a faster keyboard then the stock keyboard software. Also, get yourself a copy of LauncherPro (free or pay for deluxe version, I use free version) as it is faster and will speed up your tablet.

 

[vallejo1227]

I need help I just got craig cmp738b for my kids christmas gifts. I can not connect with wifi no matter what i have tried. the internet company says its the tablets plz plz help

 

[micbronto]

I just bought this from Rite Aid today. Craig Touch Screen Tablet Android 2.2 CMP738B.

I thought I knew everything about computers. What the heck is this tablet thing? Haha.....

Okay, so I played around with it, I'm able to browse, but, 1- I can't log in to my Yahoo email at all, and 2- Why is it when I visit Facebook, I can't see my apps and games that I play and such? It just looks way different than windows.

I keep seeing stuff about rooting and marketing. I've tried to make sense of it but I don't understand ANY of it. Please help me as if I'm in 1st grade because I want to make sure this thing is worth my while in keeping it or not.

What do I do first?

also waiting on ROOT for this.. the stock version is pretty lame, and I KNOW root will make it a lil more responsive, althought the resistive touch is the less desirable option for a screen.. software upgrades will make it better to own..

 

[nicabod]

Has anybody tried/had success with the files in the thread "CMP738b Is there a clean dump of this?"? They do look promising, though. I don't dare; still need to find out how to update firmware via Linux.

 

[nicabod]

You get what you pay for; I took a chance, and until I call Craig Tech Support, I have strong doubts that I'll be able to connect via WiFi; don't know how to make a wired, Ethernet-style connection, either.

[Embedded post script, in the pre-computer sense, here:] I have serious concerns about whether a novice to computers would be likely to have success with this tablet. I'm beginning to think that somebody is very greedy, considering that tablets are looking like a good part of the future, but that same person won't let loose the funding to make it a successful product. Shame, because there's lots that's good, but... I dearly hope I'm wrong. It could become the :Cue :Cat of tablets -- nice to have after being hacked, nearly worthless otherwise. Fwiw, I was a midnight hacker in 1960, quite away from computers '62 to '81, and been with them almost all the time since. Total newbie to tablets, though.
[Furthermore, I followed an ad right on this page ("Android Tablet Big Sale"), and it seems that there are quite a few of them, some priced even lower that the Craigs, apparently wholesale, but some, minimum quantity one. One ad even had a prominent splash that said "yeni ürün" --Turkish(!!) for "new product" (Thanks to Google translate). One really wonders...]]

(Earlier thoughts -- ) Nice OS, decent hardware (afaik). Apparently, though, lack of system integration (as nearly as I can think of an accurate term) is almost show-stopper category. The user manual is better than useless, but woefully incomplete. For the average dude or dudette (OK term? not meant io offend), it's borderline hopeless unless one is very intelligent and lucky, as it seems to me.

Android OS, itself, and the hardware seem quite good. If you delve deeply (such as details of security "permissions" for each app, under a Security heading), you'll see evidence of competent developers; this peek (among a few isolated others) at Android's innards is encouraging. The screen's resolution is a wonder (it's about 135 pixels/inch on one axis, and perhaps 145? on the other; system info. that says 25.4 pixels/inch (both axes) is utter nonsense). Pixels are not quite square, as you'll see when a round icon such as Settings looks fine in landscape mode, but squashed some in Portrait. I really, truly, like the high-res screen, and hope for bigger ones someday with that sort of resolution. As it is, it's almost miraculous that such as these can be mass-produced. It's still older-style, not yet in-plane switching (IPS, iirc), so typical oddball things happen at extreme viewing angles. (Btw , if you turn it upside down, it inverts the display for you. Do wait for it; might take more than a second.)

The screen font (for titles and text) looks very good, quite readable; the high resolution helps considerably. Icon labels are small, and not wonderful.
In general, screen appearance seems very decent, imho.

I'm still learning how to drag a screen or body of text; it seems that one has to be rather speedy. "Attaching" a finger or stylus seems to be somewhat a matter of luck. It's one finger only, folks! Apparently, Apple has the patents sewed up tightly for multiple-touch screens*. Technology is resistive. I'm a newbie to touch screens, for the most part, and it seems OK. *P.S. At least one of those advertised (iirc the one with the Turkish) has multi-touch; can you imagine Customs intercepting them?

Don't tell anybody, but I did open it up once it looked hopeless (see following). The screen subassembly is amazingly heavy (and unexpectedly thick, as well). This comprises about half, maybe a tad more, of the weight of the entire tablet! Modern electronics (such as my desk phone) is sometimes so light in weight that ballast plates are included to keep breezes from blowing them away (kidding, mostly). Giving the complete tablet a twist/warp shows no effects on the screen, no doubt thanks to the thick plate in the screen subass'y.

In landscape mode, physical buttons to the right, the Li battery occupies about 60% of the left side; the main circuit board, most of the rest. While active, the right underside does warm up (but only comfortably so). It's heat on the left that you need to really worry about.

Being a newbie to modern touch screens (and not having much total experience other than ATMs and swipe-reader terminals), I'm glad that the screen surface seems quite scratch-resistant, although I'm quite careful. The stylus is short and thin; very nice for moving a cursor to just where you want it to make a text correction, for instance. All too easy to lose, though, and replacements? Huh? (Maybe they have them! I'm not pushing my luck; routinely, am using a very-low-cost promo ball pen (from Amnesty Int'l.) with a nice, smooth metal pushbutton that works very well.)

I'd welcome a recessed lanyard attachment point. It doesn't come with a protective case, either. I find it distressingly easy to accidentally knock a tablet out of the way; my current one survived a nasty fall, face down, with only fine scratches on the bezel which polished out with a manicure final polisher (although not as glossy as the original). I was running it with the AC adapter (switchmode; nice) plugged in, and its barely-adequate-length cable snagged on my foot. Argh. (Charge percentage shows in the mostly-wallpaper "standby" screen with large time-numerals and a few other things.)

After exploring, but without connecting to the 'Net, I decided to try the unlock pattern, instead of a password. Typically, there were no instructions on how to enter the pattern in the thin manual, nor within the machine. I tried something simple, but fumbled while finishing, and failed to note the pattern which displayed briefly. It required confirming the pattern, and had me imprisoned hopelessly until it was satisfied. I might have tried letting the battery discharge until cutoff, but I don't like to push my luck with lithium chemistry. (The electric model-helo people have safety bags for recharging removable packs, just in case!). When I powered down, it accepted whatever was there without confirmation. Early on, I tried the RESET switch. It seemed to be working, but the firmware was apparently written to avoid clearing the password. ARGH!

I tried all sorts of sequences, button combinations, etc., but apparently there are none. Reached Tech. Support after the past (Black Friday) weekend's busy period calmed down, and the fellow said that if the Reset switch didn't clear the password, only thing was to exchange. Returned to Rite Aid for a swap. The recessed RESET switch (look at the labels on the underside!) seems to have worked, but did not clear the stored unlock-pattern data. I tried various combinations -- RESET before power up, after power up, while holding a button or two, etc. No luck.

If you like puzzles, this unlock scheme can be rather fun to analyze. Keep in mind that you can move like a knight* in chess -- skip a row or column. Quite a lot of patterns can be made. Keeping in mind how I'd started my pattern, I tried every variant I could think of, waiting for 30-second delays to time out and accumulating five tries when they did. No bloomin' luck. *iirc!

I didn't try WiFi until getting relatively well acquainted with the machine. I do hope that with my tower running Linux (Mint 11) and (more importantly) a Verizon (FiOS) and Actiontec MI424 router that I'll be able to connect. I had the router config. tabs open for quite a while, trying to find a setup that the Craig would be happy with. At best, it was looking for an IP, but without success; my regular connection is with DHCP, and it seemed to be trying to get its own lease (wild guess), finally giving up and re-trying after a while. More often, it was scanning most of the time, and "Not in range" appeared often. (Absurd; once, I saw "excellent" signal strength; router and its antenna is only a yard/meter away, just now.)

I'll try to find out:
Security: Can it work with WPA2, or just WPA, or do I need to trust my luck with WEP? (I refuse to connect unsecured for any length of time.)
Can it work with MAC address authentication? (I surely hope so; I'm somewhat paranoid.)
Do I need to specify a channel number, or trust the scanning?
Can I use SSID auth.?

I don't know how to do a wired connection; Android has configurable Ethernet provisions (hardly surprising, but they should have been commented out before compiling -- definitely not a good sign!). No Ethernet hardware, though, apparently. (Anybody remember thick Ethernet?)

I get the feeling that this product is severely under-budgeted, although the hardware looks quite OK to me, and the little peeks at Android surely don't look bad, either. How I'd love to say better! (Just maybe, in a few days/weeks/months, I can.)

Advice: Be sure to buy one only if you can return it, if it won't connect. Whatever, good luck to you!

Would be a sick joke if a product advertised as Wireless can't connect.

 

[dryce]

Has anybody tried/had success with the files in the thread "CMP738b Is there a clean dump of this?"? They do look promising, though. I don't dare; still need to find out how to update firmware via Linux.

Flush's 2.2.1 works great on the CMP738B. Not sure about the others.

 

[tkdmom]

I just bought one of these at Rite Aid & haven't taken it out of the box yet. I have a 9 year old who loves to use my Nook Color & husbands iPod to play games, listen to music & wants to download simple books. We do have WiFi in our home. Is this tablet going to work for this kind of use (yes...angry birds is a must! )...given we do not have any connection or touch screen issues? Want to give it to him for xmas...so if it is going to suck, want to know ASAP to return & get something different. Thanks all!!