Review: W1060 7-inch MID by WireLession

[Dalkor]

Soon I'll make a video of unboxing or even a review of A81E. It's actually just a mile away from my job, but I can't get it because of problems at the post office.

If you have any requests concerning the contents of the video, feel free to write me.

[Dalkor]

Soon I'll make a video of unboxing or even a review of A81E. It's actually just a mile away from my job, but I can't get it because of problems at the post office.

If you have any requests concerning the contents of the video, feel free to write me.

[Spatulator]

I recieved my a81e in the mail from merimobiles yesterday. It came preloaded with android 2.1 and it runs very smoothly. The browser is quick and it is definitely a nice web device. The sound does not work, or is very low as some people have said but I cant hear it at all. The GPS is not functioning in Android as far as I can tell. One big annoyance is the screen does not time out and I cant figure how to put the device in suspend, hopefully they get this issue fixed soon in a firmware update.

I am going to load winCE tonight so I can test the GPS function and check out the functionality of that OS, there is no dual boot, the device just supports both OS's. I really want to be able to create a backup image of android and CE with all applications installed so that I can more easily use both OS's, anyone know how to do that? It would be great if wits could come up with an dual boot image for us to use making this a true dual boot system. Satisfied so far, merimobiles was helpful with my order and responded to my emails with surprising speed and knowledge.

[bassman3401]

how it's possible to run both android and ce together??There is no way to choose somewhere what os to boot?maybe i misunderstood the previous post...or maybe the screen is half with android and half with wince?

[Spatulator]

Dual boot implys that there is a OS selection screen that comes up when you power the device up so you can choose to use either OS. My home PC supports both windows and linux, but its not dual boot because I can only boot into windows. Get it?

[bassman3401]

not so much...

so you have 2 os but you can only access into one? that sounds a little bit silly

[pphilipp]

The fastest web browser yet...
UCWeb!

I've had the Chinese version running for some time... but now have English running. Problem is, it seems to go through a Chinese server and automatically blocks-out certain sites, such as Facebook and any social site. (Mobileread comes through fine.)

Overall, it's quite fast (very much) and has smooth finger-pressure scrolling. If 'blocked sites' could be accessed, it would be best browser of all for Wince.

____________________________________

FOOTNOTE:
Dang! Someone explained why this is so much faster than anything else... it only goes to a Chinese 'proxy server'. It's not really going-out to the entire internet, just to one server where things are stored.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted (my delusion, that is).

[Eddycur]

Originally Posted by Spatulator

Dual boot implys that there is a OS selection screen that comes up when you power the device up so you can choose to use either OS. My home PC supports both windows and linux, but its not dual boot because I can only boot into windows. Get it?

Hi all,
Spatulator, did you succeed with test of GPS under WinCE?
Can you provide us with detailed instructions of how you installed WinCE and GPS s/w (versions of both) and how it works?
Thanks!

[Spatulator]

I got wince working, sound, bluetooth, and gps all functioning. I used the guide and firmware posted on jtshop forum. Had to buy a mini sd card reader though, could not get the device to show up as a usb drive with android. I am looking to find a fullscreen keyboard that i can use in wince, the default keyboard is too small.

[mcinnocent]

Originally Posted by Spatulator

I am going to load winCE tonight so I can test the GPS function and check out the functionality of that OS, there is no dual boot, the device just supports both OS's. I really want to be able to create a backup image of android and CE with all applications installed so that I can more easily use both OS's, anyone know how to do that? It would be great if wits could come up with an dual boot image for us to use making this a true dual boot system.

Maybe in the next firmware-update it will be possible to boot from SD, so you could have a dual boot system, one os stored in the A81 and one on SD.
That would be great!

Could you explain (or a link) how you installed WinCE?

[Houndx]

I'm trying to flash Android on to my old A81 and nothing works. I can flash WinCe on it all day long but trying to flash Android gives me two results, depending on which SD card I use. With my 8gb card it just won't power on and with my 2gb card it just boots up into CE. I get the same results regardless of the Android version I'm trying to flash.

Any ideas?

[bodhikhalid]

Finally, I got my A81 from WITS through TNT. Thanks Kathy.

But I soon find out that I'm totally unfamiliar with the WinCE system. Can anyone point me to a website or any documents that can give me a WinCE 101 course?

These are problems I have,
1. Is it I just need to copy the apps to the SD card in order to run the apps? no install needed?
2. Do I need (or suggested to be) copy any apps into the A81 so it can run smoothly? For example, should I copy the iphonetoday into the A81 so that it can run (and how can I exit from the iphonetoday?)
3. Where should put the apps in A81, can I just create a folder and drop it?
4. How can I make a link on the desktop?
5. Is there any file manager available?

After you read my question, I think most of you realized you met a WinCE idiot.

Thanks for your help.....

[pphilipp]

Originally Posted by bodhikhalid

These are problems I have,
1. Is it I just need to copy the apps to the SD card in order to run the apps? no install needed?
2. Do I need (or suggested to be) copy any apps into the A81 so it can run smoothly? For example, should I copy the iphonetoday into the A81 so that it can run (and how can I exit from the iphonetoday?)
3. Where should put the apps in A81, can I just create a folder and drop it?
4. How can I make a link on the desktop?
5. Is there any file manager available?
Thanks for your help.....

Wince is actually fairly easy to use if you have experience with Windows... especially the older Windows 98 era. I was a Mac user before becoming a Windows user as well, and so when I started using Wince back in 1999, I too had a learning curve. Now I can get-around wince faster than with any other OS... sometimes it takes me 10 seconds to do something on Android which I can do on Wince in just a couple seconds. It's all a matter of getting familiar with it and it's implementation.

You can easily run the majority of apps from the SD card. I have a folder on the card named 'apps' and it contains many sub folders which break apps down into categories (Games, graphics, utilities, etc). Most apps can just be run without any type of installation, though a very few actually require an actual installation from a cab file. Of the 150 apps on my A81, only about half a dozen had to be loaded from the cab. ((A very few apps require a specific system 'dll' file which our device did not come with. If you know what that dll is, it can simply be put in with the app itself. This is info that many folks don't realize... that's one reason so many folks haven't been able to run Wince apps and have complained that "there's nothing out there." --Wrong!))

One good practice is to create 'shortcuts'. I open two screens... one with the original apps (on SD card) and the other with the destination... a subfolder within the 'Windows' folder which is named programs. Both the windows and the programs folders are already on your device, just use 'windows explorer' (or 'My Device' from the desktop) to search for them. Note: make it a standard practice to USE YOUR TASKBAR... it allows you to move almost instantaneously between open windows and apps and speeds things up with the whole copy and paste routine! Go to your apps folder; select the desired app; go to top of the screen and select 'copy'... now go to the windows/programs folder and select 'paste shortcut'. You now have an easy means of accessing that app anytime you go to the 'Start' menu in the lower left of your screen (located on the ever present taskbar).

The same procedure for creating shortcuts can also be easily done to add items to the desktop. This time, go to the 'windows' folder and look for the 'desktop' subfolder. Now when you paste the shortcuts here, they show-up on the desktop. ((One note... when pasting shortcuts, they always have the words 'shortcut to' in the title. I always remove that info so the shortcuts simply reflect the name of the app.))

I run iphonetoday completely from the SD card... it runs superbly! I created an icon which instantly takes me back to the standard Wince Desktop when needed. Also, if you leave your stylus pressed down on the iphonetoday screen (called a 'right click') a menu pops-up which allows you to exit.

Since I have only given a very brief abbreviated version, I'm sharing with you several great links which contain a wealth of information on Wince... especially Wince as it's implemented on large screen devices like ours. Go to these sites and learn, you'll be glad you did....

http://www.hpc.net/

http://www.hpcfactor.com/ (Somewhere on this site is a person who had compiled 100s of working apps into one file. I can't remember exactly, but it seems like it's in a forum discussion on Windows CE 6... our OS.)

http://www.yetanotherhomepage.com/j7xx/ (This person has compiled an amazing amount of info about many, many working apps.)

http://passions.mettavant.fr/pdalogiciels.htm

http://mymobilepro.net/

Plus, many, many more...
Google search for 'HPC' and you'll find many older (but good) apps which run accurately.
((Note... HPC 'computer alternatives' were Wince devices which in a sense were quite ahead of their time, but due to incredibly high prices; ignorance by salespeople; misunderstandings by IT people; hardware and software limitations; and short-sightedness on Microsoft's part to know how to accurately promote the Wince devices, they more-or-less died-off without fanfare. The average consumer DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY EXISTED!!! In 1999, when I operated my Hitachi Wince in public places, the device would draw so much attention, I would end-up spending much of my time answering people's various questions... and most of the folks were quite impressed by it! The A81/W1060 is VERY similar to the older HPC devices... but much better hardware of course.))

[68guns]

Tell me if i have this right...the web browser in android 2.1 works great on this device but the video does not? The video on WinCE works well on this device but the browser is slow? 2 essential items but not working together on the same os?

[pphilipp]

Originally Posted by 68guns

Tell me if i have this right...the web browser in android 2.1 works great on this device but the video does not? The video on WinCE works well on this device but the browser is slow? 2 essential items but not working together on the same os?

Uh, yeah. That pretty well sums it up. But, there's also a whole plethora of 'give and take' issues between the two OSs. There's no definite winner.
Overall, at this point in time, Wince is by far the less buggy of the two on the A81, and the closest to imitating a computer experience. Android offers the most unfulfilled potential.