It is done..

[cpd2009]

I got my new tablet today. I won't reveal it until later tonight, but it's a discount tablet that comes with Google Play preinstalled. That may be on the sketchy side, but hey, Google Play is there.

I now present the AnTuTu benchmark scores from said tablet.


RAM - 357
CPU Integer - 560
CPU Float Point - 141
2d Graphics - 294
3D Graphics - 913
Database IO - 210
SD card write - 18 (1.8mb/s)
SD card read - 66 (6.6mb/s
CPU Frequency - 1008mhz

Total Score - 2559

[cpd2009]

What tablet did I buy today?


Digix Tab-730 7'' Tablet PC by cpd2005, on Flickr


Google Play Information by cpd2005, on Flickr

Yes, I went for the Digix 7'' tablet that was available at RadioShack. Though the online flyer for my store stated it was on sale for $79, they couldn't honor it until Black Friday, so I had to get it at full price $99. It's only a $20 difference, but fully expecting the sale price, I was somewhat upset. I got over it though and just bought it.

I could list all the specifications of this tablet, but here is the link to Digix listing the specs:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.digixmedia.com/en/Products/product_13.html">http://www.digixmedia.com/en/Products/product_13.html</a><!-- m -->

In short, this tablet meets my two ground rules.. it has a very good capacitive touch screen with 800x480 resolution and 4gb internal storage that isn't partitioned in a idiotic way. The LCD screen is, by far, very brilliant for a no-name tablet. I was also surprised by the build quality. The tablet may be a no-name brand, but the construction is definitely not shanzai quality. The tablet has a great weight to it, feels extremely sturdy, and the back has a rubberized coating.

I laid a couple more ground rules in the Spam Thread. In order for this tablet to become an official part of my world, it needs to have decent battery life for the price (5 to 7 hours or so), a stable Android OS, and great app compatibility. It even has Google Play preinstalled, and you usually don't see Google Play on no-name tablets. This tablet may not actually be Google certified, but the Google Play application detected my tablet just fine and I was able to set up Google Wallet and start repurchasing my old Amazon Apps. Though GP's app compatibility needs some work. Bejeweled 2 on GP does not show up because they think it's incompatible, yet with the Amazon AppStore (also preinstalled), I was able to download the same game and it plays great.

So far, I have found the Android OS (4.0.3 ICS) to be very stable. The app compatibility has been well above my expectations. All my Angry Birds apps work again with very little lag and relatively smooth framerates, Fruit Ninja is excellent, and my BabyFirst Apps also run well.

I am still testing the battery life. So far, with default brightness level and and WiFi on, I got four and a half hours. That may not seem like much, and it's nowhere near as much life as the Samsung GT2, but I was steadily using it browsing the web, getting content off Google Play, and playing games. I played various games totaling about an hour, and the battery held up far better than my cheapo Android ICS tablet. That tablet's crap battery would have been half gone with one hour of steady gaming. On the Digix, it barely made a dent in overall battery life. My next test is lowering the screen brightness and playing with WiFi off, but already, battery life is looking good.

Regarding performance, compare the AnTuTu score with the ones from my Tablet Performance Showdown thread. In short, the Digix is even slightly more powerful than my old Polaroid. The Allwinner A10's Mali-400 MP GPU really helps out here. My games play well, and the UI is noticeably more smoother than the cheapo Android ICS tablet.

To stress test the Digix though, I went ahead and downloaded the MLP:FIM game from Google Play. For some reason it didn't play the intro video, but it got to the game. The mini games play fine, and the overworld map also works fine, but framerates start to drop when animated menus pop up, and when that happens, the audio kind of stutters a bit as well. Overall, it's very playable if you don't mind a little lag, and I may continue playing it a bit, but I may eventually stop once I hit either a paywall or if I have to find a Facebook friend to complete a quest.

General speed of the tablet is excellent in relation to the $99 price. Apps have reasonable opening times and response when switching windows and screens in games is great. You just need to remember not to run any sort of intensive background tasks or you will start seeing performance issues.

Overall, first impressions are looking swell. Using a capacitive touch screen is so much better than the resistive screens I was using before. I will never get another tablet that has a resistive screen again.

[cpd2009]

More photos for you:


Contents of Box by cpd2005, on Flickr


Digix Tab-730: Stock Desktop by cpd2005, on Flickr


Digix Tab-730: Google Play 2 by cpd2005, on Flickr


Digix Tab-730: MLPGameScreen by cpd2005, on Flickr


Digix Tab-730: DesktopFinal by cpd2005, on Flickr

[huckleberrypie]

Seems legit so far. Is the tablet factory-rooted as with your previous tabs?

[cpd2009]

Seems legit so far. Is the tablet factory-rooted as with your previous tabs?

I haven't got that far yet. A program called 'Smart System Info' will tell me that.

One more thing... this tablet uses a rare type of USB connector... USB Mini A. All of the other discount tablets and MP4 players I have bought before used USB Mini B. At least it's nothing proprietary, but I now have to find a USB mini A-to-USB Female adapter for USB sticks. Or just get a 32gb microSD card.

[cpd2009]

An3DBench Scores:

Fillrate ST/MT: 11.08/11.07MP/sec
High Object Count: 26.16 fps
Multiple Lights: 59.71 fps
High Polygon Count: 59.51 fps
Keyframe animation: 59.77fps
Game Level: 59.38 fps

Total Score: 7088

As for being pre-rooted.... nope. That's no problem for me though.

[huckleberrypie]

Yeah, it ain't something a little SuperOneClick or flashing can't fix. In my case, though.

[cpd2009]

Yeah, it ain't something a little SuperOneClick or flashing can't fix. In my case, though.

Noted, but as it is, I don't really need to root the Digix since I am a casual tablet user. I am going to use my old tablets to experiment with rooting just for fun however....

and I just realized that makes no sense. Those tabs are already rooted.

[RAMChYLD]

but I may eventually stop once I hit either a paywall or if I have to find a Facebook friend to complete a quest.

Well, if you need friends to proceed in a quest (which will invariably happen- A FEW TIMES!), go ahead and send me a request on Facebook, or create a GameLoft Live ID and post it on the Spam Thread.

But if you want to add me using GameLoft Live instead, my accounts are RAMChYLD and Moogle82 (I bet no one have ever thought that I'm going to use this handle ever again :3 ) respectively -I need two accounts to be able to run the game on two iPads.

[cpd2009]

Got back from my Black Friday adventure, and the new tablet lasted all throughout the trip with about 15% left over to spare. Left town about 8am and got back about 8pm.

This means that battery life is acceptable for this device.

I now shall attach a name to it. Soon.