RCA Tablet - Troubles Part One

Notice that I titled this part one, as I expect I may be kept busy with this one.

Karen (my good wife) and myself have had iPads for years with no troubles and I attribute that to the quality and consistency of the hardware, and that Apple do all the legwork in keeping their operating system, OAS, stable by regular over the air (OTT) updates.

I have found that Android devices, particularly the budget variety, are never as supported, if at all, by their respective, sometimes invisible, manufacturers and my next blog was going to address that, however, something happened yesterday morning with the one month old RCA Voyager tablet, so the original Android discussion will be bumped by this report.

I bought the RCA Voyager on the 28th December, and yesterday was the 28th January, and there really had been no problems at all, granted I felt that the digitizer was a little off, but I had written that off to a sort of parallax error with my fat sossidge fingers.

Sossidge is my way of spelling it, it's my blog and I can ignore the spell checker when I wish.

I had charged the RCA overnight and was going to check my notifications and switched it on and noticed something rather odd. The visible screen was about 1/8" slimmer and the aspect ratio had changed to a noticeable degree with what looked like a visible, taped edge of the LCD showing. What was really odd is that the screen did not appear to have shifted so I thought that I may have overlooked this for the month I had been using it.

I'm old, but I'm not that old.

I carefully removed the two retaining screws and popped the case open with a spudger, I was expecting to see that the LCD had shifted, but that was not apparent as the metal surround was held by clips on all four sides and further disassembly to check if the LCD had shifted within the surround would have been risky as there were several of the small ZIF ribbon type connectors attached to the little motherboard and I've not had the best of times with those in the past.

I noticed how physically small the battery was, almost cell phone size at around 85mm  x 55mm x 3mm thick with a capacity of 2000 mAh, 7.4 Wh. and of course it was another reason not to delve further into the innards of the tablet, especially as I did not want the thing to have a meltdown when I accidentally shorted the battery.

It was time to back away from the device and not cut the blue wire...

After a reset, I packaged it all back in the box, I said to Karen that we should go to Walmart as their returns would probably be 30 days (technically, we were at 31) and off we went. It was a bit of a shock when we arrived at the tech department and the actual number was 14 days.

They had an 8GB Voyager II on display and it looked fine, full width screen. In typical fashion they had none of the 16GB units in stock and there was concern that sending us to another Walmart across town would not work out either, in fact the guys on the section had some doubts that there could be an exchange at all, mainly as the (single) in-stock Voyager II had a different SKU.

I was fine with a swap of an almost identical $72 Voyager II for my $48 Voyager, and the memory thing really wasn't a big thing for me, so after some happy discussion with customer service, the exchange was done.

I joked that if the 8GB unit went faulty, would they let me swap it for a 4GB model next time...

Oh how we all laughed...

Q-Box - The Review

Specifications, this particular variant of the Q-Box has the 64 Bit Amlogic S905 Quad core CPU coupled with a Penta-core ARM Mali-450MP GPU. I chose the 2GB RAM version with 16GB of eMMC which is probably NAND flash memory.  The communications options are impressive, with dual band wifi, gigabit ethernet and bluetooth 4.0 which probably all reside in a single chip.

Back in the old days of the OTG (OldTechGeezer) a computer like my original 386 (Intel 80386) would have 275,000 transistors in the CPU and the math coprocessor was a separate entity at that stage. Then further to that, communications usually 10/100 LAN were via separate cards or chips and control circuitry, the serial bus system for disk access and keyboard and mouse input, then the graphics plane, so that we could add a video card to see what we were doing. All of that and a lot more, assembled on the great big piece of real estate called the motherboard.

The Q-Box has what they call a SoC, which is System on a Chip, an integrated circuit (IC) that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. This means that the SoC can be mass produced at very low cost and assembled onto very small motherboards that in reality, just attach the connections to the outside world.

The connections on the outside of the Q-Box include the gigabit LAN RJ45, a pair of USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI, AV plug, optical SPDIF, a multi card reader and a power connector. It also sports an infrared input for the included remote control and the built in dual band wifi and bluetooth can also be classed as connections to the SoC.

I'm a kind reviewer and I could tell you all the things I do not like about generic Android TV boxes or tablets in general, but I'll save that for another day. The one thing I will say is that this "Q-Box" is sold by many different manufacturers, and unlike say, a Roku, there will be subtle variations in both hardware and software between those suppliers. This can, and probably will result in issues a little down the line for both experienced and novice users.

But that's another story.

There are plenty of performance reviews online for the Amlogic S905 and my review only addresses if this Q-Box does what I expect it to as a TV box. I still see the Android operating system as a phone/tablet proposition, so I'll not even consider it as a gaming device, so the question at the forefront of my mind is if the Q-Box delivers.

I'm an OTG and we're still running on 720P here in the homestead, so this box, which boasts 4K capability, but I suspect is maxed out at 1080P, is not really pushed in our environment. I connect via the LAN socket, so I cannot attest to the wifi strength, and I am not a fan of general use bluetooth, so my control is via a Logitech USB unified wireless solution. That defines the limitations of my judgement on this TV box and any others that I may review in the near future.

This Q-Box came with Kodi 16.1 preinstalled, with the usual bunch of questionable add ons. The stock Android launcher was not really to my taste, so I added Nova launcher from the Google App store (which worked right out of the box) and I use a Logitech wireless mouse to get around, rather than the awkward remote control.

TV viewing is good, and I've not had any issues with it over the last few weeks, Kodi runs as well as it does on my Intel NUC i3 and streaming has been flawless. I've attached my 64GB flash drive to one of those USB ports and streamed video with no issues. This box will stream media.

It does (for me) what I expect it to do and the only caveat I will add is alluded to a few paragraphs back, mainly because in general I have healthy suspicions about Android devices.

I will discuss those in future posts.

Susay Android TV Box - The Q-Box

Susay is another of the myriad manufacturers of this sort of stuff, based in Hong Kong with a factory in Shenzhen in China and selling through Amazon Canada. I like to buy through Amazon for a couple or reasons, my experiences through the Asian portals, such as Alibaba, were mixed, long shipping times and returns nigh impossible, but Amazon is a very different story.

The Q-Box packs a lot of tech in a little box, but the rate of price attrition on these devices is so rapid that I have fear that if I check on Amazon what the going rate is, I will feel as though I was robbed, even though it's only been three weeks.

It was $80 way back then, and checking today it's surprisingly holding it's price, so, my fears of losing a few dollars aside, let me consider this enough of an introduction and finish this post with a photo and then I'll get on with a little review of the new toy.

I Want My MTV - Redux

A reboot of one of my blog entries from September 23rd, 2004 in light of recent history :

<start quote>

"Certainly Sir, would you like the last 24 hours downloaded to your Memory Wafer?...."

If you've followed the media lately you're probably aware that very soon the media will be following you around. Cash, Videos, Game Software and Music in your wallet!

Imagine. 24 hours of high definition TV held in a piece of silicon that is embedded in a card no bigger than your credit card. Of course, the same card WILL be your credit card, identity card, drivers licence, debit card, library card etc...

Well, stop imagining because the future is here, almost....

Smart cards promise to revolutionize the way people make financial transactions, or for that matter, any type of transaction. Want cash?, Insert the Wafer into the modified ATM and actually download it into your card. Money is debited from your account and the smart card is credited. Making a purchase is the reverse, the smart card will be debited until its balance is zero, or a predetermined negative balance based on your credit rating.

Why stop there. Take a trip down to your local Video store, provided you have the Smart Terrabyte Wafer then you can download, from the data bank, any movie, in any format, in any language. It will be loaded into the credit card sized computer and will be encrypted so that you can view (on a suitable player) the film multiple times in a 48 hour period. Starting with the first viewing. So, if by some chance you can't watch it that particular night, don't sweat. If you wish to own the film (a collector of bytes) then they'll certainly subtract more money from your card for the encryption key. Hey, wasn't that the DIVX concept from Circuit City!

Take a stroll down to the local music store. Download that latest CD. Did I use the word "CD" there, sorry that concept will fade into history, probably along with the Video and Music "offline" stores.

Just plug the card into the terminal and download it. Pay your money (by the Smart card) and take your encrypted bytes away with you.

In all of the above I missed out the obvious, soon, through mega-bandwidth cable services, everything will be available, 24/7, at a terminal close to your sofa, or set-top box, or slipper warmer. No need to even move out of the house, everything will beat a path to your door. Video on demand (VOD), money on demand (MOD) and of course, games on demand.

<end quote>

Goodbye old USB and hello Deals

If any of you have a reasonable memory (no pun intended) you will recall the USB flash drives that appeared at the beginning of the millenium. In terms of capacity, it was a very proud moment for any of us to be walking around the house with a gigabyte on the end of our lanyard.

Yes, they used to come with lanyards.

In a drawer upstairs, still reliably being used for backup of spreadsheet files by the missus, is a sturdy 1GB Kingston DataTraveler Elite, and my memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe I paid close to $100 before tax for it back in 2005.

Above, the original, complete with the supplied quick release lanyard and with a DYI addition of a fishing lure attachment to retain the cap. I recall sourcing the stainless steel spinner swivel from Canadian Tire and in addition, there was a happy purchase of a micro drill set from Princess Auto that has also been used many times over the years.

At the time I referred to my old chestnut story that in 1992 I paid $97 per megabyte for memory on my 386 computer, which I am sure I will continue to use in the future on this blog. The USB stick had a thousand times the capacity, which filled me with wonderment and I just had to have one.

Moore's Law again.

Fast forward to the now and I was looking for a solid state external drive for an Android TV box, which I will discuss soon, and it became apparent that "old" flash drives with USB 2.0 are rapidly being replaced by 3.0 and prices on the old stock have dropped dramatically.

The Android TV box only has USB 2.0 capability, like most computers a year or so old.

Now, the price I am about to say may have been beaten in the week or so since purchase, and this blog will deride large laughs in a decade when terabytes are the norm, but I was in Walmart ten days ago and purchased a clearance 64GB Lexar S70 Jumpdrive at the amazing price of $16.88

I could not resist, I've just gone online to see and they're selling them for $14.98 today...

...no lanyard though.

RCA Voyager Tablet

So, what do you get for $48 in good old Canadian plastic nowadays?

Well, a bunch of outdated tech components in a cheap plastic case for sure, and to expect more would be naive, but is the group of oldish stuff capable of anything useful, and in relation to the cutting edge, or even the mediocre middle, is the money well spent?

It's a Google certified tablet, has Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and what they term a HD screen, although 1024 x 600 is hardly what I would call high definition, yet, I am reminded about the price point and I will say, the screen is fine.

5 point Multitouch touchscreen, 0.61 pounds, wifi 802,11 b/g/n and bluetooth 4.0, 1GB RAM and 16GB memory (I would not recommend any less memory in a tablet) and it has an acceptable resolution single front facing camera for Skype sessions or annoying cheeky selfies.

Antutu tells me my budget tablet is RCA, model RCT6873W42M with a 32 bit quad core MT8127 CPU with cores clocked at 13000 MHz and an ARM Mali-450 GPU. This MediaTek MT8127 is a cheap ARM SoC and was announced in 2014, Antutu goes on to tell me that the v5 benchmark is at 22387 which is around where it should be.

This mini review though is not about making a big list, because as I said in the beginning, this is a collection of older components, and two years is a long time in this industry. The list I should make is what this tablet can do, and that actually is quite a big list, because I would say that this little thing can do about 86.5% of what a basic iPad can do, and the last time I looked, even though their build quality is far superior, the cheapest iPads were selling for over six times this money.

I checked the Bluetooth, it connected well with my Logitech receiver, the Wifi seems solid enough and I've only had to reboot the tablet once in a week, there have been no forced stops yet, but I suppose we'll expect those as I add more and obscure apps. The Google suite of software that comes with the tablet run well, the play store works, Angry birds does it's thing and I can play my beloved Sudoku for hours on end.

The capacitive touchscreen is nothing to write home about, but it does it's job and overall the tablet, although completely plastic, is sturdy and has a reasonable feel to it. I added a 16GB microSD card and some music and video, everything I threw at it worked. The internet has been stable, video streaming from Youtube solid, music streaming excellent and as we're on the subject, headphone sound quality, with my good earbuds, rather good.

It works well with my Roku too.

As for battery life, I've been achieving about four hours or so, and that would drop with heavy video useage, but it is what it is, and that is what I consider acceptable at this price point. In fact, that could be the overall TOTG rating for this gizmo.

If I compare this with the tablets that I was playing with four or five years ago, it is amazing, so inexpensive and rather stable to boot, it would make a great first time tablet for any age group, and if you give it to a young child, it might get thrown out of the stroller and broken, but it will certainly not break the bank.

Downward Trends

I am sure that there will be more of these type of posts as time goes on, because as an old geezer with some skin in the game I am constantly amused and amazed at the deals out there and how the application of Moores law drives the cost of tech down.

I was buying terrible Android tablets seven or so years ago, they were flakey, they were unreliable, they had a limited shelf life because the chances of the operating systems going wonky were very high, and the chances of recovering from a crash very low, but they were fun and exciting, mainly because the concept was so darn new and taming the unpredictable nature of the beasts was a good indicator that if you could keep them going you were indeed a "tech" geezer.

The names of the Android 2.0 devices that come to mind are the Z-Pad, the ZenPad, I could go back further as around the end of the millenium I owned an Apple Newton, but that was really just a PDA along with my other Pocket PC devices of the time.

I just popped onto eBay to do a search for Witstech Tablet and it produced zero results, perhaps that particular one was a dream sequence....

Ok, I found a Youtube video from July 2011, so I feel my sanity is slipping back into place.

The downward trend I am referring to is price point, and perhaps quality and reliability. I think perhaps in the Witstech, Z-Pad, ZenPad days I was paying a few hundred bucks for an Android tablet of dubious quality, but I think after dabbling with them, I managed to release them back into the eBay wild kingdom with little loss in my valuable tech funding.

As usual, times have changed and prices have dropped.

A few days ago, I bought one of these at Walmart for $48 (Canadian Dollars) which I considered to be quite a small amount of money to be shelling out for a tablet.

I will review this budget offering in the next post.