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Old 11-22-2011, 10:11 AM   #1
Jabby
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Quick look at the Arnova 8 G2

Received my Arnova 8 G2 last Thursday afternoon and have been putting it thru its paces. Here are a couple of early thoughts.

The first thing I want to mention is the lack of accurate specs on the online selling sites. I was never sure what I was going to get. Here is a link to accurate specs that match the actual Arnova 8 G2:

http://arnovatech.com/products/g2/arn_8 ... us&lang=en

When they say "speaker" there is only one. When they say 490g that is exactly what it weighed out to be.

It feels nice and solid not at all cheap. It is shiny black front and back but not slippery. It has a two touch capacitive screen (pinch to zoom works well) that is as responsive as my Thrive. The screen is not nearly as bad as my Thrive to show fingerprints. Not to shabby. The viewing angle is not to good but every thing is nice and crisp. I give a big thumbs up on the screen.

It looks like I am going to get more than 8 hours of battery life in average use and more than 10 hours reading with the wifi off. I ran thru the set up wizard and then gave it a full charge (I think - 99%). After 4 hours of loading and testing apps, surfing the web and seeing how it handled video I still had 61% remaining.

Rockchip claims that their RK2918 processor has a better performance than the Samsung Hummingbird in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7. They made a believer out of me. For a 1 Ghz single core processor this thing zips right along.

Video is where this thing really shines! It did a great job with YouTube and using MX Video Player played videos in every format I have - no exceptions. AVI (DIVX and XVID), FLV, MPEG-4, MP4, and WMV all played with no problems. I played a couple of 720p movies and they rendered beautifully, no burps or hiccups. I give another big thumps up on the video.

The WiFi is strong - I can see my neighbors routers and as such allowed pretty decent surfing. I was using the built in browser but plan on trying others to see what happens.

The single speaker is about as good as you are going to get with a tablet, but earbuds give good quality sound albeit not enough volume to hurt the ears.

As far as setting up a host port for thumb drives etc, it worked differntly than any other I have encountered. After receiving a usb/host adapter cable, I plugged in a thumb drive and a SD card reader into the Arnova and was notified that the "Mass Storage Device" was disabled. I was then able to tranfer files and play videos directly from the usb device. I couldn't find any way to unmount the device so I just unplugged it; it complained but continued to work normally. There are no settings that need to be made nor are there any that I could find. Anybody want an adapter cable let me know and I will post a link.

Playing games is not my forte but I gave a couple a whirl and they seemed to work well. Angry Birds, the games exception, zoomed and played as smooth as silk.

My first impression is that this is a winner and will suit my needs very well. The screen size is a good compromise for watching videos, surfing, emailing and reading. For you ereaders; both CoolReader and Mantano work as expected. I will install the Kindle and Nook readers later but I don't expect any problems. Aldiko came pre-installed but I haven't tried it. Now is a good time to mention that It came with a minimum of bloat-ware.

The only down side, for me, is the weight. It weighs 17.3 ounces about three ounces more than the Fire. I'm getting used to it and it feels like a light weight next to the Thrive.

This may be one of the best buy out there! (176 USD incl ship)

Anybody have any question just let me know.

Regards - John

P.S. I forgot to mention that the 8G2 has 6 real control buttons on the face: Home, Search, Vol+, Vol-, Menu and Back. They click when pressed.

Last edited by Jabby; 11-22-2011 at 10:18 AM. Reason: Added P.S.
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Old 01-19-2012, 11:02 AM   #2
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Hi can you please let me have the link for an adapter cable.
Thanks
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Old 01-19-2012, 09:29 PM   #3
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@sortpot

Here are two links. The first for the host OTG adapter and the second to a forum with a download to root and add the "Market" to the Arnova 8G2, in case you have't already found it.

http://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-USB-Ca...7025030&sr=8-6

http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=87&t=59520

The new ROM is really nice.

Regards - John
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Old 01-27-2012, 12:18 PM   #4
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Hi
Thanks for your previous help.I haven't got tha Sony connector yet but have been given a 'gender' changer connector which basically links 2 male connections. I have tried to use this by connecting the Arnova charger into one side and the memory stick in to the other but device shows USB unmounted.Will this connector not work (someone on the net said they used it with Archos 7 home tablet). Also your blog says you connected the thumb drive and sd card reader to the Arnova-probably being dense but where do you connect the card reader. I have already loaded a micro sd card in to the unit and it works fine.
Thanks.
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Old 01-27-2012, 12:27 PM   #5
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Hi I ment haven't got the Samsung host cable yet in my previous reply-senior moment!
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Old 01-27-2012, 09:47 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sortpot View Post
Hi I ment haven't got the Samsung host cable yet in my previous reply-senior moment!
I am quite familiar with "senior moments", we are good friends.

You will have to wait for the host cable. A host cable is a crossover cable as well as a micro to full sized usb adapter. (The transmit and receive leads are crossed)

Once you have that cable you will be able to connect such devices as a keyboard, mouse, thumb drive, a usb card reader or most devices that you could connect to your PC usb ports.

All you have to do is connect your device to the host cable then connect the cable to the Arnova. If you have connected a thumb drive or a card reader you will see a message in the notification area at the top that says some thing like "turn off mass storage device". Once you see this message you will be able to access the file using any file manager you might have.

When you want to remove the the cable, go to your home screen and pull down the notification bar and tap "turn off mass storage" (equivalent to ejecting or unmounting on a PC) . Your will be notified that it is safe to remove the device.

Regards - John

Last edited by Jabby; 01-27-2012 at 09:54 PM.
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Old 03-14-2012, 07:14 AM   #7
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Arnova 8

Hi John
You have helped me previously so wonder if you can help with these problems with my Arnova 8? Can I use Kindle books on this device, if so how do I get them on to my sd card? I am unable to download the Kindle app as google play keeps looking for a phone and don't really want to try adding the custom rom as I don't really know what I am doing and only really need the extra indle app from marketplace.I can convert some books via calibre but not the free kindle books.
Also I now have the usb connector and have recorded some tv programs from the tv on to a usb stick but the device won't recognise these when I plug it in (fat 32 as far as I know) ,do I somehow have to convert these programs to a different format, if so any ideas how I do this?
thanks
Linda
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Old 03-14-2012, 01:32 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sortpot View Post
Hi John
You have helped me previously so wonder if you can help with these problems with my Arnova 8? Can I use Kindle books on this device, if so how do I get them on to my sd card? I am unable to download the Kindle app as google play keeps looking for a phone and don't really want to try adding the custom rom as I don't really know what I am doing and only really need the extra indle app from marketplace.I can convert some books via calibre but not the free kindle books.
Also I now have the usb connector and have recorded some tv programs from the tv on to a usb stick but the device won't recognise these when I plug it in (fat 32 as far as I know) ,do I somehow have to convert these programs to a different format, if so any ideas how I do this?
thanks
Linda
Hi Linda-
Below are a couple of links where you can down load android apps to your PC. Once you have the apps on your PC you can drag and drop them to your Arnova.

I find it handy to have a "APK" and "Books" folder on my micro sdcard. And then I connect my Arnova usb port to my PC and put my apk files in the APK folder.

To install an app tap the "Files" icon then tap SD Card followed by a tap on the app you wnt to install. Follow instruction and it will install. Once you have the Amazon AppStore installed you can use it to get the Kindle reader and other apps.

I'm not sure what you mean when you talk about the TV shows. Do you mean that the usb stick is not recognized or that the TV shows wont play. If it's the later try the MX Video Player (link below - not on Amazon). If that doesn't work you will probably have to find a suitable conversion program for you PC. BTW, what is the file type of the TV shows.

I have included links to the Astro File Manager and to FreeWareLovers.com (a good place to et free apps)

One app you might want to consider is Mantano Reader that you can find on the Amazon AppStore. This is an epub reader that also handles B&N ebooks.

Regards - John

Amazon App Store
www.amazon.com/amazonappstoreapp

MX Video Player
http://sites.google.com/site/mxvpen/download

Astro File Manager
http://www.freewarelovers.com/androi...o-file-manager

Android Freeware Lovers
http://www.freewarelovers.com/android
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Old 03-18-2012, 12:11 PM   #9
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Hi I have managed to get the Amazon Appstore but still can't load the kindle app or I have since found,access my email account on virgin meda, as both need cookies enabled and Java. So far I have been unable to find out how to enable the cookies and to find which version of Java I need to download?
With regard to the tv programs,I can record from my tv on to a memory stick The device recognses the stick but when I try to open a file prgram it tries to load up html the yellow line then stops half way along and then freezes so I have to power down.I have tried converting a file and this does play but is a longwinded way of watching a tv program. My old Archos plays the programs fine via a dvr converter.
Linda
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Old 03-18-2012, 02:07 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sortpot View Post
Hi I have managed to get the Amazon Appstore but still can't load the kindle app or I have since found,access my email account on virgin meda, as both need cookies enabled and Java.
No hurry on the Kindle app. I installed it on my Arnova 8 G2 and found that there is a bug that hides the top line of the text under the notification bar.

I called Amazon customer Service and they acknowledged the problem and said they are working the problem with the Arnova folks.

They had no date for a fix or who would supply the fix.

Regards - John
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Old 03-18-2012, 06:38 PM   #11
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I have managed to convert some of the kindle books I have by using calibre but still can't access my email account. Do you know how to enable cookies or install Java on the device?
Thanks
Linda
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Old 03-19-2012, 04:21 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sortpot View Post
I have managed to convert some of the kindle books I have by using calibre but still can't access my email account. Do you know how to enable cookies or install Java on the device?
Thanks
Linda
Sorry. I have no idea. I use Gmail and the Gmail app..

Regards - John
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