killer problem with Asus Iconia A500 tablet

bobcdy · 04-29-2011, 10:14 PM

Today I purchased the Iconia A500 tablet. Went through set-up and then tried epubs and pdf book files on it. The epubs worked great BUT the Google Books pdf files essentially crashed the app. Either the image pdfs would not show any text, or would only show very small text (scarcely readable), and even then would not consistently turn pages. Perhaps it's a memory problem - the Iconia has only 16 gig internal memory, and the two google pdfs files were 20 and 57 gigs.

It looks like I'll have to return the tablet tomorrow because the main reason I bought it was for pdf's. The wifi, etc. are nice extras but fundamentally it appears to be completely unsuited to my needs.

kleykenb · 04-30-2011, 02:43 PM

I absolutely know nothing about the Iconia A500 tablet (except that it's runs the Android OS) but I'm fairly sure that your PDFs are not 20 and 57 Gigabytes. 20 and 57 MegaBytes is a far more normal size for a PDF. Frankly, I don't think any device could handle a 20Gigabyte PDF. The 16Gig you talk about is not 'internal memory' but the 'hard drive' of the device. The Iconica has 1Gigabyte of internal memory.

But as for your problem ... you can be fairly sure that you do not have a hardware problem but a software problem.
I would do the following test (if possible) :
copy the PDF files back to a PC and try to open them there. This way you can check if maybe the files are corrupted somehow by attempting to open them on your PC.
However, far more likely would be that indeed the PDF software you got with the A500 can not handle the files... in that case I would go to the Android App Shop to see if you can find OTHER PDF reading software.
There's bound to be multiple choices and odds are one of the software is going to be able to read them ... providing they're not corrupted, of course.

bobcdy · 04-30-2011, 03:17 PM

kleykenb
You are correct, of course; the files are 20 mb and 57 mb. I did further tests - first I opened them with my computer (they were ok), then tried other google books files, and finally I extracted 10 pages from a pdf file and tried that small file but with the same result as with the entire file. Next I used a different app for the reading - the A500 came with 'LumiRead' - I downloaded and tried an app from the Android app store, 'ezPDF Reader'. The new reader worked ok, sort of. It produced very clear, beautiful pdf text, but the problem was that it needed to load separately each page and the loading took about 30 seconds to a minute to complete. I think it slowness is related to the 600 dpi resolution and size of each pdf image page of Google Books scans.

I'm not sure if I want to pursue this problem further; I could try reader after reader, perhaps one of them will work properly with the large Google Book images - the pdf readers are generally fairly costly, but perhaps the problem might be caused by the A500 firmware or insufficient memory.

It seems to me that the manufacturer should have insured that their 'LumiRead' worked properly.

kleykenb · 04-30-2011, 05:01 PM

It's pretty clear from all the reviews on the multitude of Honeycomb run Tablets that this new Android OS version was brought to market a tad early, so maybe that's what you are experiencing.
The iPad has a more stable OS but would advice against it for the simple reson that Apple has made it easy to get their own payable content on the device but a lot more cumbersome to get non-Apple content on it.
It's said that this is the year of the Tablet... it is the hype that everybody wants one but that demand from the market has only created a frenzy amongst manufacturers to get to market with their Tablet first. With predictable results.

I've heard that there will also be a Iconia W500 which is same hardware but with a 'regular' Windows OS. Maybe that's something to inquire into. Windows has a good PDF reader so it's bound to be a good tablet-fit for you. I think Asus and others also have tablets with Windows coming. Biggest disadvantage of these devices is ussually that they run out of battery sooner than iOs or Android OSes and that Windows is less User Friendly. That said, when push comes to shove it turns out that the Windows software does the job better than the iOs and Android software, no suprise for it's been around longer too.

bobcdy · 04-30-2011, 05:41 PM

kleykenb,
I returned the A500 to Bestbuy today. Rather than rush out to buy a replacement, I'll wait until more choices are available. I liked the A500 but you may indeed be right about getting a win7 tablet even though there are some disadvantages to it.

The odd thing is my Sony 950 handles the large Google Books pdf files perfectly, but unfortunately the the landscape mode has problems because such a small part of the page is visible.

HansTWN · 04-30-2011, 10:15 PM

+1 for Windows 7 tablets! You can do everything with them.

04-29-2011, 10:14 PM	#1
bobcdy Fanatic Posts: 527 Karma: 1048576 Join Date: May 2009 Device: bebook; prs-950; nook simple touch; HTC Jetstream tablet	killer problem with Acer Iconia A500 tablet Today I purchased the Iconia A500 tablet. Went through set-up and then tried epubs and pdf book files on it. The epubs worked great BUT the Google Books pdf files essentially crashed the app. Either the image pdfs would not show any text, or would only show very small text (scarcely readable), and even then would not consistently turn pages. Perhaps it's a memory problem - the Iconia has only 16 gig internal memory, and the two google pdfs files were 20 and 57 gigs. It looks like I'll have to return the tablet tomorrow because the main reason I bought it was for pdf's. The wifi, etc. are nice extras but fundamentally it appears to be completely unsuited to my needs. Last edited by bobcdy; 05-01-2011 at 04:01 PM.

04-30-2011, 03:17 PM	#3
bobcdy Fanatic Posts: 527 Karma: 1048576 Join Date: May 2009 Device: bebook; prs-950; nook simple touch; HTC Jetstream tablet	kleykenb You are correct, of course; the files are 20 mb and 57 mb. I did further tests - first I opened them with my computer (they were ok), then tried other google books files, and finally I extracted 10 pages from a pdf file and tried that small file but with the same result as with the entire file. Next I used a different app for the reading - the A500 came with 'LumiRead' - I downloaded and tried an app from the Android app store, 'ezPDF Reader'. The new reader worked ok, sort of. It produced very clear, beautiful pdf text, but the problem was that it needed to load separately each page and the loading took about 30 seconds to a minute to complete. I think it slowness is related to the 600 dpi resolution and size of each pdf image page of Google Books scans. I'm not sure if I want to pursue this problem further; I could try reader after reader, perhaps one of them will work properly with the large Google Book images - the pdf readers are generally fairly costly, but perhaps the problem might be caused by the A500 firmware or insufficient memory. It seems to me that the manufacturer should have insured that their 'LumiRead' worked properly. Last edited by bobcdy; 04-30-2011 at 03:21 PM. Reason: corrections

04-30-2011, 05:01 PM	#4
kleykenb Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 99 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: DR1kS/Cy3	It's pretty clear from all the reviews on the multitude of Honeycomb run Tablets that this new Android OS version was brought to market a tad early, so maybe that's what you are experiencing. The iPad has a more stable OS but would advice against it for the simple reson that Apple has made it easy to get their own payable content on the device but a lot more cumbersome to get non-Apple content on it. It's said that this is the year of the Tablet... it is the hype that everybody wants one but that demand from the market has only created a frenzy amongst manufacturers to get to market with their Tablet first. With predictable results. I've heard that there will also be a Iconia W500 which is same hardware but with a 'regular' Windows OS. Maybe that's something to inquire into. Windows has a good PDF reader so it's bound to be a good tablet-fit for you. I think Asus and others also have tablets with Windows coming. Biggest disadvantage of these devices is ussually that they run out of battery sooner than iOs or Android OSes and that Windows is less User Friendly. That said, when push comes to shove it turns out that the Windows software does the job better than the iOs and Android software, no suprise for it's been around longer too. Last edited by kleykenb; 04-30-2011 at 05:10 PM.

04-30-2011, 05:41 PM	#5
bobcdy Fanatic Posts: 527 Karma: 1048576 Join Date: May 2009 Device: bebook; prs-950; nook simple touch; HTC Jetstream tablet	kleykenb, I returned the A500 to Bestbuy today. Rather than rush out to buy a replacement, I'll wait until more choices are available. I liked the A500 but you may indeed be right about getting a win7 tablet even though there are some disadvantages to it. The odd thing is my Sony 950 handles the large Google Books pdf files perfectly, but unfortunately the the landscape mode has problems because such a small part of the page is visible. Last edited by bobcdy; 04-30-2011 at 05:43 PM.

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04-30-2011, 02:43 PM	#2
kleykenb Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 99 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: DR1kS/Cy3	I absolutely know nothing about the Iconia A500 tablet (except that it's runs the Android OS) but I'm fairly sure that your PDFs are not 20 and 57 Gigabytes. 20 and 57 MegaBytes is a far more normal size for a PDF. Frankly, I don't think any device could handle a 20Gigabyte PDF. The 16Gig you talk about is not 'internal memory' but the 'hard drive' of the device. The Iconica has 1Gigabyte of internal memory. But as for your problem ... you can be fairly sure that you do not have a hardware problem but a software problem. I would do the following test (if possible) : copy the PDF files back to a PC and try to open them there. This way you can check if maybe the files are corrupted somehow by attempting to open them on your PC. However, far more likely would be that indeed the PDF software you got with the A500 can not handle the files... in that case I would go to the Android App Shop to see if you can find OTHER PDF reading software. There's bound to be multiple choices and odds are one of the software is going to be able to read them ... providing they're not corrupted, of course.

04-30-2011, 10:15 PM	#6
HansTWN Wizard Posts: 4,538 Karma: 264065402 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Taiwan Device: HP Touchpad, Sony Duo 13, Lumia 920, Kobo Aura HD	+1 for Windows 7 tablets! You can do everything with them.

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