New 2019 Walmart 8 inch Android 9.0 Tablet

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by FulciLives

I actually have progressive bifocals but I hate them (I'm 47 and this is my first pair). I feel like I have tunnel vision when using the bottoms and I have to hold stuff too far away to hit the focus point, which I guess was my fault, because when I got tested for them they said, "hold a book like you are reading it" and I guess they adjust for that. I obviously held too far away.

Good news is I've had them long enough that it is time for a new pair. I think I will go with two pairs, one being dedicated reading glasses, hopefully, better tuned for distance.

Yeah, I tried progressives and hated them. With mine the starting point was right in the middle so when I looked straight ahead things were just a bit blurry. I took them back and got the old fashioned bifocals that have a line; they seemed to think I should be concerned about it being visible to someone looking at me but I felt that it was time to stop pretending I was a potential male model.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by FulciLives

I think I will go with two pairs, one being dedicated reading glasses, hopefully, better tuned for distance.

12 inches is about the right distance for me for books. Twice that for the computer. But I know what you're saying when they want you to try it; it's hard to remember where I hold a book. The other thing is I make a separate visit/appointment for picking the frames from the eye exam. For the eye exam mine always use the drops that dilate my pupils and then everything is a mess.

[FulciLives]

Well, I ended up returning the Tablet last night.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Yeah, I tried progressives and hated them. With mine the starting point was right in the middle so when I looked straight ahead things were just a bit blurry. I took them back and got the old fashioned bifocals that have a line; they seemed to think I should be concerned about it being visible to someone looking at me but I felt that it was time to stop pretending I was a potential male model.

I have progressives and and a pair of single vision. If I’m going to be reading awhile, or working at the computer awhile, I’ll put the single vision glasses on

[shalym]

Originally Posted by FulciLives

Well, I ended up returning the Tablet last night.

May I ask why?

Shari

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by FulciLives

Just heard about this and apparently, the news only broke a couple of days ago. So far I could only find one review video on YouTube. Early days still I guess.

It looks interesting and it's damn cheap. $64 US Dollars. According to the first YouTube video, this is basically the same hardware as the Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet but of course, you are getting Android 9.0 instead of Amazon's OS.

Walmart Link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Onn-Andro...et-8/767511102

YouTube Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Oh1_U7t30

It's not going to pull me away from my Surface. But all things being equal, I definitely prefer Android 9 (i'm using it on my Pixel 3) to the Amazon version of Android.

Sideloaded Play Store or no, Fire OS just is a subpar Android to me.

[leebase]

I am having difficulty with self control. I want to buy the Walmart tablet. I have 3 equivalent Fire HD 8's in my house already. And I just got my new iPad mini with so much storage I don’t need to carry the Kindles any,ore on trips to have movies on the go.

For reading and watching video...these tablets are fine. For web surfing they are not fast enough for my taste and I grab my iPad.

I KNOW the battery life will suck on the Walmart tablet too. But I want it anyway.

[FulciLives]

Originally Posted by shalym

May I ask why?

Shari

The main reason: lack of resolution.

Text was not smooth looking. You could see stair-stepping along with fuzziness. Small detailed images, like YouTube thumbnails for instance, also looked absolutely horror due to lack of resolution.

Also, the rear camera was absolutely worthless. My bank has an app where you can take a picture of a check and deposit it using that image. All without having to go to the bank with the check. I couldn't get a clear detailed image of a check with the camera no matter how many times I tried.

Android 9 seemed fine. The Tablet seemed to run smoothly enough. But a lot of good that does when the screen looks fugly.

[fjtorres]

Here's a youtube video from a generally reliable tech review channel.
It is mostly positive for the 8in model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D5bCgZEZg

And he does warn about the battery life.

Four points to consider:

1- the interface adds a Walmart button to the left of the three standard Android buttons.
2- the button takes you to a set of custom apps: Walmart, Sams, Vudu, and eBooks. (presumably a Kobo-managed site).
3- The hardware specs are identical for both except the 10in model has dual speakers. The screens are both IPS so they shouldn't be terrible.
4- Both are quite competent at surfing, video, and gaming.

Basically, anybody looking to do ebook reading on these should test out the 8in model. If it's not acceptable, the 10in will not be an improvement.



.

[ottdmk]

I will definitely consider this as an update to my obsolete Playbook for on-the-go PDF reading. I wish they were revealing the specific SoC though.

For those wondering about storage... I have an older Lenovo tablet with a 32GB Samsung A1 card as adopted storage. App performance is, I would say, acceptable. (The tablet is on Android 6.0.)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Here's a youtube video from a generally reliable tech review channel.
It is mostly positive for the 8in model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D5bCgZEZg

And he does warn about the battery life.

Basically, anybody looking to do ebook reading on these should test out the 8in model. If it's not acceptable, the 10in will not be an improvement.

It's a shame the 10" tablet has the same resolution as the 8". I wonder if they wouldn't have been better off using a higher resolution screen like the Lenovo tabs that have 1920X1200 and just selling the tablets for more. Maybe that wasn't feasible.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Four points to consider:

1. the interface adds a Walmart button to the left of the three standard Android buttons.
2. the button takes you to a set of custom apps: Walmart, Sams, Vudu, and eBooks. (presumably a Kobo-managed site).

If this is untouched Android 9 (and it appears to be so) you can just install Google Now Launcher from the Play Store and drop the Walmart button.

The custom apps may be uninstallable. Not sure about that.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

If this is untouched Android 9 (and it appears to be so) you can just install Google Now Launcher from the Play Store and drop the Walmart button.

The custom apps may be uninstallable. Not sure about that.

I favor the Microsoft launcher on my phone. Clean and fast.

The review said the Walmart button shows up everywhere, even in apps, not just the launcher. Makes it sound like its more "slightly groped" Android than untouched.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I favor the Microsoft launcher on my phone. Clean and fast.

The review said the Walmart button shows up everywhere, even in apps, not just the launcher. Makes it sound like its more "slightly groped" Android than untouched.

It displays to the left of the other Android navigation buttons (back, home, show running apps). Considering Walmart has to be subsidizing these tablets like Amazon must...it's not THAT bad. Certainly a lot less distracting than the full screen ads on the Fire Tablet.

Everything else is vanilla Android Pie. Pretty nice. And of course, you can install different launchers. This is not at all like the experience of the heavily skinned Fire or Nook tablets.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The review said the Walmart button shows up everywhere, even in apps, not just the launcher. Makes it sound like its more "slightly groped" Android than untouched.

I think you're reading too much into that. If all those apps are opened using the default launcher, then the Walmart button would of course appear.

Those bottom of the screen buttons are part of the launcher, not the app. If you change the launcher, the buttons will change. Meaning if you install the Google Now launcher or whatever, the Walmart button will go away.

If anyone that actually has one of these tablets could change the launcher and confirm whether or not the Walmart button persists, please post here with the results.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I favor the Microsoft launcher on my phone. Clean and fast.

The Microsoft launcher on Android? Isn't that the one that when it realizes it's on Android it sneakily makes everything get slower and slower? (j/k).