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Old 08-07-2010, 01:57 AM   #16
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Battery life

I'm calling it quits for the night, but after reading for four solid hours, the battery level is at 42%. Looks like the 6-7 hour projection is correct.

Oops. Looks like I spoke too soon. While I was typing this, the Gentouch made a noise at me and shut off. It seems that four hours is the limit. I have it on the charger again.

Bummer.
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Old 08-08-2010, 01:48 AM   #17
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Just got my Gentouch today. After a lot of updating and modifications, I've just about got it where I want it.

jgray's assessment of the hardware is pretty much spot on. The resistive touch screen can be finicky, but it's much better after loading the calibration update and doing a calibration (use the stylus for this). The microSD slot is painful. You have to be very careful about insertion (the metal connectors on the card face the screen, and don't accidentally slip it into the body of the case!), and removing the card at least for me requires a pair of tweezers.

I was able to update the device on Win7 64-bit after installing the Android SDK. Windows couldn't find drivers when the device was running, but when you follow the flash instructions (hold the back button, press the reset button, keep holding the back button until Windows connects and the device remains on a black screen) it was able to connect in "fastboot" mode. I don't know if it worked because I had the SDK installed or not, but if you can't get it to connect in fastboot mode for flashing try installing the SDK (search for it, it's easy to find with lots of guides on slatedroid's wiki, etc).

I've rooted my device, changed the launcher (default launcher doesn't change orientation when you rotate), got the market working, added "Button Shortcuts" to setup a long-press of search as "rotate screen", installed "Auto Memory Manager", etc. I haven't tried changing the MAC address yet, but as of right now I only have the one device so no network collisions to worry about. Once the community or Augen have fixed the MAC address I'll take that update as well.

Hopefully 64-bit drivers will be available soon. In the meantime, I've forced the device to use the SDK drivers for ADB access. This means I don't get access to the SD card over USB for now except through ADB (Android SDK debug tool), so loading books from Calibre requires unmounting the SD card, pulling it out with tweezers (see above), putting it in the SD card adapter, connecting it to a PC, and publishing from Calibre to the /ebooks/import folder so Aldiko can see the books. That's a lot of steps but at least it works for now.

Overall, It's pretty much what I'd expect from a $150 chinese device. It has its problems and it's certainly no iPad, but it's not terrible and has a lot of promise. If Augen keeps up with support and/or the hacking community continues to poke at it, this will be a pretty sweet little tablet in the very near future. Too bad nothing can be done about the terrible resistive touch screen.
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Old 08-17-2010, 04:38 PM   #18
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I'll correct this slightly to say this is the way the older versions of Android worked. I don't recall exactly when it stopped, but I think it already wasn't working that way when I had 2.0.

I agree it's annoying and I realize you have a tablet so updates to later versions of Android are unlikely. My solution was to get a micro-sd usb adapter and use that to copy files to/from the card.

I don't know if that would be more annoying than mounting/unmounting with buggy drivers.
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:59 AM   #19
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That's what I'm doing, unmounting my SD card and swapping back and forth between PC and tablet. It works, though it's cumbersome.

After having using the Augen for ~2 weeks, I'm really liking it. My current gripe is that screen brightness is an all-or-nothing affair. Well, that's not strictly true. There's a tiny little range somewhere near the bottom of the brightness scale where you can get maybe 10 different levels of brightness out of the device, but the range is so small that it's very easy to overshoot and go to full off. It seems like a mapping issue with the display driver on the device and the screen's capabilities, since the screen is fully capable of multiple dimming levels.

Perhaps there's a hack available to widen the range of brightness values.
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Old 08-18-2010, 07:43 AM   #20
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I posted this in the other GT thread, but I'll repost it here:

I've had one of these since Saturday, Augen calibrate update, rooted, Clockwork, setcpu(min 126MHz/max 600MHz left on OnDemand), marketfixed and clockwork update.zip fix(perma fixes market, redoes root, and adss nexus one startup anim. (Raincheck from 7/29) MUCH snappier than the base fw w/above. (We're pretty sure that it's a Dawa D7 or cost-reduced variant.)

It's not bad, I seem to get about 3h or so of WiFi operation after doing all the mods/hacks to it. Probably 4.5 - 6ish hours w/no WiFi. (These are rough as I've never run it dry since modding/hacking but it's NOTICEABLY better than the default shipped fw.)

It DOES run a bit warm, as in it does eventually get to feel warm on the battery side once you've been going through several web pages.

Brightness controls don't work properly, only slightly modified brightness i.e. not the range that you would expect.

No hw volume control, or any virtual vol. control buttons yet.

Only have really tried iReader as a reader app on it so far as I've been reading text files and most of the other apps mainly seem to support EPUB, FB2, etc. but not text.

Played a few videos w/the YouTube app. They actually play better than on my nb w/a 4850 mobility! (at least under Ubuntu 10.04, might be close v. Windows, but I'd still give the edge to the Gentouch)

Doesn't seem to truly suspend either, so I have it power down when not using it for a while. Boots fairly quickly, but I've never timed it exactly. Definitely WAY faster to useable than my Sony PRS-505 is from a cold start, but not as fast as my nb booting either Vista or Ubuntu 10.04.

CPU clock speed is still stuck @ 600MHz. This requires a new kernel compile to "fix".

Touchscreen is MUCH better after the calibrate update and then running the calibration app.

Battery seems to be soldered(by leads) direct to mb, bad IMNHO as I GREATLY prefer easily user-replaceable batteries and look in askance at companies who do not design for this.

Accelerometer ("g sensor") does NOT function, but various Android system info apps DO list it as present.

OpenGL ES is apparently being reported as 0.0 instead of 2.0 as the datasheet indicates that the TCC8902n + mali(GPU) can support.

Nook, Kindle, FBreader, Aldiko, etc. all work.

Browsing with the builtin in browser is decent, but I'm having a hard time going back to the window oriented approach v. tabs like I have on my desktop although I guess it's understandable for a machine with limited resources.

Skyfire and Dolphin browsers also are reported to work, but I haven't tried them myself yet.

Android market works, but google maps won't update ATM. (Apparently a problem that crops up from time to time with various Android devices and releases...)

User reported a problem with last.fm caching, haven't verified this myself yet. Another reported Pandora radio working, apparently good enough for his wife.

Apparently all units have the same MAC address assigned to the wireless card. Reports of a second batch(box w/o Android Market support claim) apparently have a different MAC address. Not sure if they're all unique now or just different from the earlier batch. (Mine must be the original batch as the box still mentions Android market support... and well.. I made it be supported... )

Note on batt runtime: Apparently some of the units have been shipped w/2100mAh batts while others came w/1500mAh batts. Not sure which is in mine as I may still end up returning it IF Augen is not able to provide better support(we're still waiting on a more complete fw update and so far they have pushed it back once, now scheduled for 8/20, likely with no accelerometer fix or CPU max frequency unlocking).

i.e. it's not bad, but w/o better Augen(Dawa?) support and/or source code so that we can fix things ourselves I can't really recommend it for most users. (Probably could pry the kernel patches out of Telechips(and hope that the Dawa changes are close enough) and then try to build a generic android build would be OK but alot of work/debugging. Already seems to be pretty much base Android 2.1-update1 anyways given what i see in the emulator(SDK) and what the base GT fw looked like minus extra apps are very close.

Didn't use the extra apps as shipped with base fw much and forgot to manually back them up before doing the market update(you blow away all the extra apps as part of that), but I have a clockwork nandroid backup from right after I rooted and added clockwork to the base fw so I still have the apps in an .img file. Just need to figure out how to unpack it, and see if any of the apps were really worth having as extras.

(I've been mainly using the default browser, iReader, and xda-developers app, plus toying around with maps...)

If it goes back I expect to order a Witstech A81-E w/GPS or variant either from mp4nation or merrimobiles or most likely JTshop(free extra battery w/them) as their Android 2.2(froyo) is looking to be shaping up well(flash is alpha, but youtube plays well, other things slow -- from videos), GPS support in the 8/9 ROM, and they're working on adding bluetooth drivers. (This device has no camera(GT doesn't either) or accelerometer(non-functional on GT)).

So, I suppose if you don't mind hacking and can find one you MIGHT want to try it, after all you can always return it, if it doesn't suit your needs. (My receipt states that I have until 11/12 to return mine, but I'm sure that w/in a week I'll have made a final decision.)

slatedroid forums would be the best place for info on this, but xda-developers forums also has a GT78 dev thread.. 80 some pages with all the hacks, and IIRC a pointer to the wiki with them all collected into one place.... hopefully slatedroid will be back up soon as that's the best GT general discussion forum that I've seen... sadly it also appears to be for the A81-E as well, unless mp4nation takes that over... a possibility since they will be shipping their own re-branded A81-E starting 8/23...

<snip> nm I see that in the end you got about 4h which is closer to what I'm experiencing after applying all current hack/mods... now to try to pry loose the kernel source patch from Telechips...

[EDIT]
brightness control: I believe that it will likely require a new kernel compile, and let's just hope that that's the case rather than a hw bug...

BTW when he mentions that "small" range, I never even noticed it until I was using the GT outside one night and decided to see if I really couldn't do something about the brightness and noticed that it change a TINY bit... during the day I couldn't even tell if it did anything when I tried...

I ended up ripping out all of the telephony stuff again last night -> broken youtube(requires Phone.apk & TelephonyProvider.apk to work) as I noticed it was eating batt again w/WiFi off...
[/EDIT]

Last edited by cutterjohn42; 08-18-2010 at 07:50 AM.
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Old 08-18-2010, 08:38 PM   #21
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Ok, guys, I've written a comprehensive review of the gentouch. At the end of my review, I've listed some 15 or so problems and fixes. While I listed the fixes, I kept in mind to keep them user friendly for those who are technical illiterate. In other words, You don't have to root or do any other hacking to get the device to work right.

Email me if you have other issues or suggestions. I think the gentouch has a lot of potential at a good price so I want to figure out all the fixes that are legit and so easy to execute that even a caveman could do it.

http://livingenzyme.webs.com/augengentouch78tablet.htm
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:48 PM   #22
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I'll add another note here since this thread is at the top... thermal management is AWFUL with this tablet... even with almost everything shut down and just using it to read a text document tonight in iReader the side oppo of the button was becoming "malleable", and local temps are probably at best c. 70F...

Hate to see what it would've been like when we were in the 90Fs and still mid-high 80sF at the same time...

(batt loc was, of course, the hottest.. they need to add vents if they're not going to spring for metal alloy cases! MY nb has vent back/side/bottom! Only screen protection is aluminum!)

[EDIT]
*cough*
I've only owned mine since Saturday evening...
[/EDIT]

side oppo hw buttons in portrait mode was getting to be quite malleable... lotsa flexing... not good...
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Old 08-18-2010, 11:16 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cutterjohn42 View Post
I'll add another note here since this thread is at the top... thermal management is AWFUL with this tablet... even with almost everything shut down and just using it to read a text document tonight in iReader the side oppo of the button was becoming "malleable", and local temps are probably at best c. 70F...

Hate to see what it would've been like when we were in the 90Fs and still mid-high 80sF at the same time...

(batt loc was, of course, the hottest.. they need to add vents if they're not going to spring for metal alloy cases! MY nb has vent back/side/bottom! Only screen protection is aluminum!)

[EDIT]
*cough*
I've only owned mine since Saturday evening...
[/EDIT]

side oppo hw buttons in portrait mode was getting to be quite malleable... lotsa flexing... not good...
I highly recommend you read my review at the link. I found a solution for your heating issue. You need to download and apply advanced task killer from my website. Even though it appears that nothing is running, you actually have a dozen different things running, which drains the battery and heats up your device. ATK will kill all those tasks. Your battery life will be a lot better and the device will be much cooler. Trust me on this.
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Old 08-19-2010, 12:44 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by livingenzyme View Post
I highly recommend you read my review at the link. I found a solution for your heating issue. You need to download and apply advanced task killer from my website. Even though it appears that nothing is running, you actually have a dozen different things running, which drains the battery and heats up your device. ATK will kill all those tasks. Your battery life will be a lot better and the device will be much cooler. Trust me on this.
Ah, no, I need some ventilation holes in my casing... as I've already trimmed running processes to near nil...

As a matter of fact this evening reading again with temps in the low 70sF here, the side oppo of the the hw buttons in "portrait" orientation became somehwta "malleable" while the GT was only being used as a reader(iReader)...

These guys need to start thinking about thermal management more than "styling"... hate to think what it would do if the SoC was running flat out # rated 800Mhz... probably a puddle of organics & metals... w/fireworks for fun(exploding battery undoubtedly)...

anyways, just to clue you in:
rooted, market hack, clockwork, update.zip, setcpu plus a bunch of other modifications using inbuilt system settings ATM...

Last edited by cutterjohn42; 08-19-2010 at 12:47 AM.
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Old 08-19-2010, 01:22 AM   #25
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Are you sure you effectively shut down all the tasks? I know that right at start-up there are already half a dozen tasks running, mostly just preloaded google apps. Just install a task manager to see this for yourself.

When you don't see anything running, there are actually a dozen different things running.

I've tested my theory on 2 different gentouches. After advanced task kill killing off all those silent but deadly running tasks, the device was considerably cooler than before. Yes, it's still warm, but not hot. And battery life was way up.

Quote:
anyways, just to clue you in:
rooted, market hack, clockwork, update.zip, setcpu plus a bunch of other modifications using inbuilt system settings ATM...
I guess your gentouch is different than mine, then. I was using it outside today in 82 degree sunny sky today and it never felt unbearably hot. Yeah, it heats up like every other tablet-like device that size. The ipad's been having heating issue, too, you know.

Added by edit.

I wonder... is there anything wrong with adding a few holes of our own? It's just plastic casing.

Last edited by jblitereader; 08-19-2010 at 01:55 AM.
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