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8 Best Android tablets

2011 is a memorable year of Android tablets since Google released their Honeycomb Android OS.

1. Amazon Kindle Fire (199 USD)

Kindle Fire has multi-touch IPS technology screen (1024x600) which can display 16m colors. It is covered by Gorilla Glass. The best thing of this tablet is its low price. However, Kindle Fire doesn’t have 3G and cameras which are available on most of tablets.

2. Acer Iconia Tab A100 (329 USD - 8GB and 349 USD - 16GB)

This 7” tablet can run well with more than 200000 apps and is powered by Android 3.2 Honeycomb. It has awesome hardware specification: NVIDIA Tegra dual-core 1GH CPU, 5MP camera with auto focus and flash, Bluetooth 2.1.

3. Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (499 USD - 32GB; 599 USD - 64GB)

This is the first tablet powered by NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core CPU. It may be the best Android tablet that you can find.

4. Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet (249 USD - 16GB)

Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet is a good tablet for reading books and magazines but not good for entertainment. It has 1024x600 wide angle 7” screen, OMAP4 1GHz CPU, and 1GB RAM.

5. Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 (399 USD - 16GB and 499 USD  - 32GB)

The most wonderful feature of this tablet is its keyboard. It is the tablet of the year.

6. Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 (499,99 USD - 32GB)

This tablet provides you good experience with Android Honeycomb OS and awesome interface.

7. Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus (~$600)

It is the upgraded version of Galaxy Tab 7 with slimmer design and stronger hardware. Now this tablet can be used as a mobile phone.

8. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (~$600 - 16GB)

This tablet is very thin and light. However, this model doesn’t contain many apps designed for tablets.

 

10 worst Android tablets

1. Pandigital SuperNova

This tablet is light and easy to hold. However, it has a bad screen with narrow view angle. It cannot access to Android Market and is covered by cheap plastic. It looks like a kid toy!

2. Velocity Micro Cruz T301

This tablet runs Android 2.2 and has 7” screen. The screen and design are not good and it doesn’t have many apps. This tablet is only good for checking mail, surfing web but not for reading e-books and playing games because the battery life is short.

3. ViewSonic ViewPad 10

This tablet can run Windows 7 and Android (2.2). It cannot access to Android Market. It has several interface and connection problems.

4. Archos 80 G9

It can capture video 1080p.  However, it is bulky and not easy to hold. The design is bad and the locations of buttons are not good. The quality of camera is also very bad.

5. Coby Kyros

This low-cost tablet runs Android 2.2, supports HDME, and has microSD slot. However, the quality of camera and touch screen is not good. This tablet is ugly, has short battery life, and doesn’t support Adobe Flash and Google apps.

6. Maylong M-150

Maylong M-150 is one of the cheapest tablets on market. However, it’s not good at all. It has bad screen, weak battery, and low performance. You will feel regret if you buy it.

7. Fusion Garage Grid10

Fusion Garage Grid10 has rather good design and light weight. It has only one interface and weak battery.

8. ViewSonic G Tablet

It is the only one 10” low-cost tablet. It doesn’t have Google apps and Android Market. Other apps are not good either.

9. Archos 101 G9 (8GB)

It’s very bulky. The quality of its camera is bad and the buttons are located in bad places.

10. Velocity Micro Cruz T408 and T410

Before Kindle Fire, it is one of the best Android tablet for 200$. Now, it’s not worth to buy it anymore.

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Now you can upgrade your Nook Tablet to the latest version 1.41. After upgrading, you will lost root. Without rooting, you can only download apps from B&N store. If you don’t consider about rooting, just go ahead to 1.41. Otherwise, you can stay at 1.40.

 

How to down to 1.40 if you already upgraded to 1.41

1. Turn Nook Tablet off and remove the microSD card

2. Download file  acclaim_update.zip, unzip and copy it to microSD

3. Insert this microSD to Nook Tablet and turn your Nook Tablet on

4. Your device will automatically install 1.40

 

How to lock the automatic update function

1. Install Root Explorer and SQLite Editor (you can find from Market)

2. Run Root Explorer and browse to file devicemanager.db in folder “/data/data/com.bn.devicemanager/databases/devicemanager.db”

3. Open file with SQLite Editor

4. Choose “registry” and find the line “com.bn.device.fota.mode”

5. Find “value” column. Now the value is “auto”

6. Press and hold to the “auto” to display the context menu, then choose “Actions”

7. Choose “Edit Field” and choose “manual”

8. Choose Save

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Root is an important step to access your Android devices deeply. However, we need different ways to root different devices. In this post, we introduce how to root some important and new devices, such as Galaxy Nexus, Kindle Fire, HTC Raider (Vivid), SS Galaxy S2 LTE/LTE HD, …

Before starting

- The methods listed here have been tested on Windows.

- Download necessary softs:

Android SDK (run it to have drivers for your devices).
Super One Click (SOC) latest version v2.31.

 

1) Root Google Galaxy Nexus

- Download 3 files usb_driver.zip, SamsungDriver.exe and Superboot

- Install SamsungDriver.exe (still install even your computer already had this driver)

* Unlock bootloader for Galaxy Nexus

- Turn on USB Debugging (Settings > Developer options). Reboot your device into Download Mode (press and hold 3 buttons, Power, Volume Up and Volume Down at the same time)

- Plug your device to computer (“Bootloader:Locked” text should appear now)

- Unzip file “Superboot” to a folder. Access to this folder and press “Shit+right click” on empty space > “Open command window here”

- In Command Prompt window, input “fastboot oem unlock” and Enter.

- Wait about 5 seconds

- Next, run file “install-superboot-windows.bat” in Superboot folder.

- Wait Nexus reboots.

- Done!

 

2) Root Kindle Fire

- Download SOE file (link above)

- On Kindle Fire, go to  Settings > Device and turn ON “Allow Installation Of Applications”

- Plug Kindle Fire to computer. The device will activate USB Connection Mode, choose Disconnect to turn it off.

- Install driver for Kindle using Device Manager (use the Driver folder in SOC v2.31)

- Copy folder ADB to some a folder, such as C:\ADB

- Open Command Prompt (Windows + R > cmd > Enter). Chang to ADB folder by command “cd \adb”

- Input command “adb kill-server” > Enter. Next “adb devices” > Enter

- Run Super One Click soft and choose Root

- Wait your Device reboots

- Done!

 

3) Root HTC Raider LTE 4G

- Download Vivid_CWM_Root.zip , copy it into the root folder of internal storage of HTC Raider

- Turn on USB Debugging mode (Setting > Development)

- Go to htcdev.com to unlock Bootloader (remember install HTC Sync to have driver)

- Boot to H-Boot mode by press and hold Volume down and Power buttons

- Download Raider.zip and unzip into C:\Raider

- Run Command Prompt and change to Raider folder (cd \raider)

- Input “adb kill-server” > Enter. Next “adb devices” > Enter

- Input command “Fastboot flash recovery root_recovery.img” > Enter

- Go to H-Boot mode again

- Choose Recovery > Select install zip from sdcard > “Vivid_CMW_Root.zip” > Enter

- Done!

 

4) Root Galaxy S2 LTE/LTE HD

- Turn on USB Debugging mode (Setting > Development). If you can’t find, you can continue anyway

- Reboot to Download Mode (press and hold 3 buttons Home + Power + Volume down)

- Plug your device to computer and Windows will install driver for it

- Run Super One Click > Root > OK

- Done!

 

5) Root Galaxy Note (N7000)

- Download N7000 Note.zip and unzip

- Turn on USB Debugging mode and plug the device to computer

- Run “runme.bat” in N7000 Note folder

- Wait 5 minutes

- Done!

 

6) Root HTC Sensation XL and XE

- Go to htvdev.com to unlock Bootloader

- Turn on USB Debugging and plug to computer

- Download Sensation XL.zip (can be used for XE) and unzip

- Go to the unzipped folder, run “runme.bat”

- Done!

 

(vn version: tinhte.vn)

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Since Nook Tablet is used to access contents of Barnes & Noble Store, its Android OS has limited functions. By rooting this device, you can install and use other apps.

I. Root Nook Tablet using Windows

You can follow steps presented in the following video. The original source Full root for Nook Tablet on XDA.

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It's difficult to choose a tablet among many Android tablets on market. If you can, buy high-class tablets so that you can enjoy all features of Android OS.

Acer Iconia A500

Iconia A500 runs Honeycomb 3.3 and has good design and color. It is powered by dual-core Tegra 2 1GHz processor, 2 cameras (2MP and 5MP), 10.1” LCD (1280x800) with wide angle.  It is rather thin (13.3mm) and light (765g). It has long life battery, USB, mini HDMI, audio jack 3.5mm, and micro USB. You also can choose a smaller tablet 7” A100.

Score: 7,5/10.

Asus Eee Pad Slider

There are 2 models: Slider and Transformer. You can input text easily with Slider. The main feature of this tablet is its full QWERTY keyboard.

Score: 8/10.

Transformer contains an awesome LCD IPS (1280x800) and a separate keyboard. It is powered by Honeycomb OS which is optimized for tablets. It is one of the lightest 10.1” tablets (675g).

Score: 8.5/10.

HTC Flyer

Flyer has 7” screen (1024x600). One of disappointed features is its Gingerbread OS which is not designed for tablets. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255T 1,5GHz, 1GB RAM, and aluminum cover. It is lighter than iPad 2 200g. You can touch by fingers or HTC Scribe touching pen. It doesn’t have HDMI or microUSB ports. You need to buy a cable to use its ExtMicro port.

Score: 7/10.

Lenovo ThinkPad

Since Lenovo ThinkPad has been developed for businessmen, it provides several useful features for processing your data. It contains several physical buttons. The app package of ThinkPad includes virtual keyboard swipe Flex T9, Documents To Go, and Citrix Receiver.

Score: 7.5/10.

LG Optimus Pad

It has 8.9” (1280x800) screen. Although you can capture 3D videos with two 5MP cameras, its screen cannot display 3D contents. The only good feature of this tablet is 3D tech.

Score: 4.5/10.

Motorola Xoom

It is a high-level tablet. You can watch videos in 8h with this tablet. The Motoblur interface is very beautiful.

Score: 8/10.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

One of the best Android tablets so far. It has a very good Swype keyboard but doesn’t have SD slot. You can owe Polaris Office and other apps when buying this tablet.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 is light (565g) and slim (8.5mm). It has 7000mAh battery. However, it doesn’t have HDMI port and port for charging battery.

Score 8.5/10.

Sony Tablet S

Sony Tablet S has 9.5” (1280x800) screen. This tablet is very good for entertainment.

Using plastic, this tablet is light (598g). You can also use it as a remove controller for TV, …

Score: 8,5/10.

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This post shows how to activate the panorama function for iOS5 devices (iPhone 4 or newer, or iPad 2).

For jailbroken devices

Step 1: It’s rather simple. First, go to “cydia/manage/sources/edit/add” and input “apt.thebigboss.org/repofiles/cydia/”. You can skip this step if your device already had.

Step 2: go to search tab, find and install “Firebreak”. Now panorama is ready to use.

 

For unjailbroken devices

Step 1: you need a computer (Mac or Windows) that can connect with your device (iPhone or iPad 2).

Step 2: Download iBackupBot (for Mac or Win).

Step 3: Run iTunes and backup so that we can use iBackupBot to read and change the backup file from iTunes later. You can use previous backup file.

Step 4: Run iBackupBot and browse to the backup file as shown in the following figure:

Step 5: find and open “Library/Preferences/com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist”

Step 6: Input a new code chunk: <key>EnableFirebreak</key><string>YES</string> as shown in the following figure.

Step 7: choose Save button to save  and close the window. In iBackupBot window, choose “restore backup file” and choose “yes” to finish.

 

Good luck and enjoy.

(ref: 9To5Mac and tinhte.vn)

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After Amazon introduced Kindle Fire in last September, Barnes & Noble also introduced their new Nook Tablet. Both tablets has similar features. The main hardware differences are RAM (1GB in Nook Tablet vs 512MB in Kindle) and storage (16GB in Nook Tablet + SD card expansion vs 8GB in Kindle Fire). With a higher specification, Nook Tablet costs more than Kindle Fire 50$.

The advantage of Kindle Fire is the support from Amazon digital store (e-reader, apps, music, games, videos…) and Amazon cloud service. However, Barnes & Noble provides Prime as an alternative.

The following table shows a comparison between 2 tablets:

	Amazon Kindle Fire	B&N Nook Tablet
Size	7,5 x 4,7 x 0,45 inch	8,1 x 5 x 0,48 inch
Weight	415 gram	400 gram
OS	Android	Android 2.3.x
CPU	Dual-core TI OMAP 4 1 GHz	Dual-core TI OMAP 4 1 GHz
RAM	512 MB	1 GB
Built-in storage	8 GB	16 GB
Camera	No	No
Battery (no Wi-Fi)	8h	11,5h for reading, 9h for watching video
Charge battery	Micro-USB, PC	Micro-USB, adaptor
3G	No	No
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n	802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	Unknown	No
Screen	7 inch (IPS)	7 inch VividView IPS
PPI	169 dpi	169 dpi
Resolution	600 x 1024 pixel	600 x 1024 pixel
Book store	Amazon	Barnes & Noble
App store	Amazon	Barnes & Noble
Book format	Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, MOBI ,PRC, DOC, DOCX, Audible.	EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, DOCM, DOCX
Don’t support	EPUB, LIT, LRZ / LRX (Sony)	LIT, AMZ, LRZ / LRX (Sony)
Video format	MP4, Adobe Flash	MP4, Adobe Flash
Music format	Non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV	Non-DRM AAC, MP3, MP4, AMR, OGG, WAV
Image format	JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP	JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
microSD	No	Yes
Adobe Flash	Yes	Yes
Price	199 USD	149 USD

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Amazon Kindle Fire is a cheap Android tablet while Apple iPad 2 is an awesome device and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is powered by an amazing Honeycomb OS. It’s rather difficult to choose a tablet among them.

The following table shows the comparison between Kindle Fire, iPad 2, and Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Hope this information is helpful for you to buy a tablet.

	Amazon Kindle Fire	Apple iPad 2	Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Size & weight	190 x 120 x 11,4 mm, 413 gram	241,2 x 185,7 x 8,8 mm, 610 gram	193,65 x 122,37 x 9,96 mm, 345 gram
Screen & resolution	IPS LCD, 1.024 x 600 pixel	IPS LCD, 1.024 x 768 pixel	PLS LCD, 1.024 x 600 pixel
CPU	Dual-core 1 GHz	Dual-core 900 MHz	Dual-core 1,2 GHz
Battery	8h	10h	4.000 mAh
OS	Android 2.1 (customized)	iOS 5.x	Android 3.2 Honeycomb
Camera	No	VGA in front, the camera in the back can capture HD video	2 MP (in front), 3 MP in the back can capture HD video
RAM	512 MB	512 MB	1 GB
Storage	8 GB	16/32/64 GB	16/32 GB
Connection	Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G (optional), GPS	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G (optional), GPS
Price	199 USD	499 USD (16 GB)	399 USD (16 GB)

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As usual, after introducing a new OS (Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich introduction), Google supports a new SDK for developing apps. Now you can download Android 4.0 SDK and try Ice Cream Sandwich OS on the virtual machine.

Step by step

1. Download the latest Android SDK at http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html for Windows, MacOS, or Linux. After downloading, unzip the downloaded fie. For Windows, we need to run the .exe file. There are 3 folders in unzipped android-sdk-xxx folder: Platforms, Add-ons and Tools.

2. In Tools folder, double click on file “android” to activate Android SDK Manager.

3. In the list, stick on “Android 4.0 (API 14)” to install.

4. After installing, choose Tools > Manager AVDs. Click on New and set up the android virtual machine as in the figure below.

5. Finally, go to the virtual machine and click Start.

Some more images:

Read more >> Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich introduction

(ref: tinhte.vn)

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It rather fun to take photos with your Android devices. Why don’t you add some special effects to your photos to make them more beautiful? You can add some common effects (black/white, vignette, vintage, …) to your photos easily  with photo editing apps (5 best photo editing apps for Android tablets). Herein, we introduce a special effect that can convert your color photos into grayscale ones with some remaining color regions. With this effect, the remaining color objects will stand out from other image regions.

We have two apps that can add this effect to your photos: Color Pop and Little Photo.

1. How to use Color Pop

This app can convert your color image into grayscale one. You can restore color for some image regions by drawing on your images. After running this app, open an image by capturing a new photo or opening a photo in Gallery. On the top of the interface, there are 3 main buttons: Move, Pop, and Unpop.

- Move: move the color brush.

- Pop: restore color for the image region.

- Unpop: remove color.

First, using Move button to move to the region that you want to restore color. Using Pop to restore color for this region. You can change the size of the brush by touching on the arrow icon at the bottom of the interface.

2. How to use Little Photo

- Open a photo that you want to add this effect. Touch on the screen to display menu and choose Effect-(2) > Color shade.

- Touch on “Tune” button on the left.  A scrollbar will display at the center of the screen.

- Using the scrollbar to choose which color tone you want to retain.

- Finally, choose Options > Save to save your photo.

Enjoy your results.

Read more >> 5 best photo editing apps for Android tablets

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Finally, we now can install Android on our HP TouchPad tablet. However, this CyanogenMod version is a testing version and not very stable. You may have some errors if you install this version on your tablet. Try it if you only want to test!

Important!

- Backup all you music, movies, and documents. After installing, all data except data of webOS will be gone.

- Read the instructions carefully.

- Copy files to TouchPad: boot via CM7 and copy. If you copy via webOS, all data will be lost after booting with CM7.

Preparing

- HP TouchPad with at least 2Gb free.

- Cable USB.

- PC/Mac or Linux computer.

- novocom (available in SDK):  linux, PC, Mac.

- ACME Installer: download at http://goo-inside.me/roms/cmtouchpad/alpha1/ACMEInstaller.zip

- In the first time of installing, you will need moboot (dualboot) and update-cm-7.1-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip (CM7 installer).

- Clockwork Recovery: Recovery mode, using when we have some problems with the booting process or perform updates later.

- Google Apps (optional): http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip

Step by step

- Connect TouchPad with computer, choose USB Mode.

- Create a folder name “cminstall” in TouchPad and then copy 4 files *.zip: update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip, update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip, moboot_0.3.3.zip, gapps(-gb-20110828-signed.zip into this folder.

- After copying, choose Safe Remove > Eject TouchPad (do not unplug cable).

- Reboot TouchPad, press and hold Lock and Volume Up buttons until the screen displays as follow:

- On PC: Start > Run > cmd.

- Input cd C(the disk that you installed SDK):\Program Files\Palm\sdk\bin

- Copy file ACMEInstaller to above folder.

- Input: novacom boot mem:// <ACMEInstaller

- In Mac and Linux, go to Terminal and input: $ novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller ($ is the name of the folder containing ACMEInstaller).

- Wait until the process is complete.

- After installing, choose boot CyanogenMod and enjoy Android on HP TouchPad !

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Some errors we may have

- After Standby, wifi doesn’t work well.

- All data are deleted after installing.

- The speaker works even though you plug the headphone.

You may see other errors. Hope we will have the stable version soon.

 

More information can be found at: http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?4011-Discussion-CyanogenMod-team-Touchpad-port

and http://ausdroid.net/2011/10/13/cyanogen-mod-on-hp-touchpad-how-to-in-english/

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Let's see some wonderful designs for future Android smartphones and tablets that may satisfy all fans of Android devices. Hope these designs will come true in the near future.

 

Transparent Android smartphone

The main concept of CTP 002 Android smartphone is its screen will be made from the sapphire glass and its 2 edges will be covered by titan.

 

Samsung Galaxy Heaven

This phone is a dream smartphone. It's slim and integrated with HD video camera and projector. It also can be used as a watch.

 

HTC Aurora

The design is similar to that of iPad but the screen is bigger (10.1"). This tablet has 5MP camera and is powered by Android 3.0 and 4G technology.

This tablet has 4:3 screen, which is different from other Android tablets.

 

Google Nexus 3rd generation