New Tablet uses less power - Coby Kyros MID7022
 

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1392141083

COBY - Kyros™ Internet 7" Capacitive Touchscreen Tablet

Got this Coby Kyros MID7022 at Toys R Us, as a learner tablet.
Coby MID7022 7 inch 4GB Tablet - Coby Electronics - Toys "R" Us
So far, it seems to be pretty nice. If I plugged in a Keyboard,
it would be very similar to a netbook PC..

One thing I don't like about holding it, it's a bit too wide for my hands.

Plays my Netflix pretty well, but the picture is not super, like a Mac Tablet.

I plan to use this to see if I have any incoming email etc (checking local weather & traffic),
so as to avoid turning on the desk top PC so frequently.
Or, coming in and waking up the PC after it has entered sleep mode..

Anyways, I'll post some more as I learn the ropes..

Cheers,
Rich

Coby Kyros 7-Inch Android 2.3 4 GB Internet Tablet with Capacitive Touchscreen - MID7022-4G (Black)

Still working!!
 

Here's a pic..

http://cobyusa.com/files/hi_res/MID7022_HR.jpg

The software needs work, when it goes to sleep, it wakes up in slow net-speed mode.. :(
Trying out apps to keep the radio wide awake..

For the network issues go to the list of all applications and open settings.

To save more power down load the app "battery booster" it also allows you to set what features you want to have turned off when sleeping and when you turn it back on with some other nice features. Two more apps I recommend are AppBrain (better to search for applications, and you can install from your PC) and "Advanced Task Killer"

Any more updates on how you like it? Would you recommend it over a netbook?

I got the sleepy radio thing fixed now, and the speed is 720p movie grade most of the time.

I've tested a few 'battery' minder type apps, but they were not too effective.

I use the tablet 2 or 3 times a day and recharge it about twice a week.
When I turn it on, it beeps and shows me which mail accounts have mail..
I'll check the headers and maybe read them and decide if I need to reply,
and if, I should turn on the old Dell or not.. :)

My wife likes a couple of the games, so that keeps her off the laptop..

I have a low powered FM transmitter coming soon. It will allow me to
http://fmtransmitter.blog.com/files/...ansmitter1.jpg
rebroadcast web radio around the house and yard.
Meaning I can use my Sony Walkman to listen to web radio.. :)
(Or use FM radios in other rooms)..

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...FL._SS500_.jpg

It's like a low powered netbook.. No way this thing could take the place of a netbook or laptop.

But early in the morning, when I just want to see the mailboxes and the local weather,
it's sitting right there beside my oatmeal bowl...
I've used it to scout netflix movies and when I find something good,
I'll make a note to watch it later on the big TV..

I don't use the touchscreen qwerty KB that much, so I might have been able
to get away with a smaller unit. I really like the looks of the new IPOD Touch.
But it was about $285 (w/ good ram)..

After looking at these I decided to get one too. The price seems right and the wife wants something she can take with her during the day. The 7" screen is small enough to fit in a large pocket or purse. There is enough wifi where she goes during the day that she doesn't think she'll need cell service.

I don't know if there is a phone app that works with it, but if you want to get the
"Market" and learn about some of the bugs and apps, check here.

Coby Generation 2

Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm new to the tablet/smart phone world myself. We looked at a smart phone for her before getting the tablet, but couldn't justify an extra $60/mo on the cell phone bill. So, we decided just go to with a small tablet.

If you have any suggestions on things to get or apps or anything, I'm all ears.

How did you get it to wake up properly? My wife has noticed that issue and its quite annoying.

Other than that one issue, she loves it. She has been using it like crazy.

I plugged it into the kill a watt last night and found it pulls a pretty constant 5W. Not bad considering that would be a 75W load if it were my desktop or 30W load if it were the laptop!

Waking up, isn't a problem with mine. Not that I've noticed anyways.
I'm using an App called 'Advanced WiFi Lock' (Free) from Opotech and set it so the
Wifi radio never shuts off.
Because, when it does shut off during sleep, the radio comes back up with a really poor Wifi connection.. Very slow..

Besides that, I get a bad boot once in a while and have to hit the rear reset button..

To fix the wake up issues go to the app list then settings depending on the OS the options to let the network sleep and other functions it will be under network or accesability if you cant find it just look through all menus in settings.

Alternatively get battery booster and you can customize all things that can be turned on and off.

If one could keep the radio from going to sleep using the built-in menus,
we would not have needed the 'Advanced WiFi Lock' app..

Slow WiFi Coby Kyros 7022

Coby MID7022-4G keeps waking up?

etc..


I did try a few 'battery booster' apps and none of them helped with the low-speed-after-sleeping problem..

The tablet failed and was replaced ( ToysRus insurance) with a Kindle Fire.
So far, it's a much better unit. My wife uses it a few hours every day.

Doh, what went wrong?

Mine is working just fine. In fact I recently cleaned a bunch of junk off it and its runnig as good as ever.

How do you like the Fire vs the Kyros?

The Coby had a problem with the display. The glass on top wasn't evenly glued down.
The bottom edge was popping up a bit. When it did, touch sensitivity dropped off.
Sometimes, you couldn't log in. Had to hit the re-set with a toothpick..

We think the quality and function of the Fire is much much better than the Coby..
No mods or add-on SD card needed. It runs on the standard software just fine..
My wife runs the battery down once a day at least.. She loves it..

How is it app wise? A friend of ours has one (dunno WHY though as he has no internet at home) and it seemed like it was more limited than the Coby since it is just running the android OS.

The stuff that I wanted was free in the Amazon store, and my wife is finding all the free games she wants to try.
You can get a lot more stuff in the "Market", but I found that a lot of those apps were made to run on phones, and didn't work very well on the Coby.

The email, facebook etc work okay, and we really haven't looked for much of anything else.

The Fire is a reader, and you can go anywhere there is free wifi and download books..
Even free books, if you don't mind them being very old.. :)

I used my Coby to link into my CAI controller board, via an old WiFi router (stand-alone).
I was thinking of using a tablet as my I/O console for the CAI, but I will likely
just use one of my old desk top PCs downstairs.

Have you thought about unlocking it? As a tablet user myself I couldn't imagine using something as handicapped as the fire.

My wife is the 'User'. She uses it to do the same stuff she would normally use her notebook PC for.
The Fire just allows her to leave the notebook off most of the time.

Being retired, we don't need any work apps.

When she needs to type up a long email or send something to the laser printer,
she fires up the old notebook.

If she wants to do some quick hi-speed web-surfing, she uses my desktop PC.
(Gamer machine).. :)

This tablet has been superceded by the MID7065. It now sports a 16 x 9 display, android 4, bluetooth, gabba gabba yadda yadda etc. Works just like a Google Nexus but costs 1/3 the price.

These tablets actually scored well for a sub-$100 device. They beat Hisense, acer, and nextway in their bracket.

I've been keeping my 'Fire' charged up and apps up to date..
I'm still thinking of using it for a display and control unit
for my CAI board running down in the basement.
I have read some books with it. (Some free books from Amazon Prime).

When I really want to 'tablet', I steal my wife's mini-iPod.. It's nice!

Install Cyanogenmod on it. (Use the stable release for a "daily driver".)

I'm just going to be using the web browser to watch my controller and to make any inputs I need to do..
It should work fine as it is..

I use "old" smartphones. Meaning, last year's model or two years ago's model. They run much longer on a battery when you don't use the phone. Motorola or HTC are my favorites. Iphones are cool, but you have to break them to get free apps.

I use my hand-me-down iPhone 4 on WiFi and just use the standard free Apple store apps. This thing is the best radio and youtube viewer I own.. All for free.. :)

The ancient way: hand me downs

The new way: freecycle or craigslist

Why mess with something that works?

To help save battery life I have been using Scripts | 10/03/2013 | Team Kernelizers | Operation Killjoy™ | RC7 | Insanity - xda-developers it helps speed up some functions and makes it sleep better so it uses less battery when not in use but the device is still on. You have to have a recovery manager installed to use it though, so you might as well root it at the same time.

Lux brightness is another great app that manages screen brightness and allows you to set it based on ambient light how you want it and not just at factory settings. The great thing is that you can use the camera to adjust it if there is not a light sensor. Also it can dynamically change it or just when you turn the screen on.

That would be really nice. My phone has an 'auto' mode but its still always way too bright. I normally keep it on the darkest setting and bump it up when needed. But a user settable auto-brightness control sounds great.

Cyanogenmod now has an auto brightness mode that actually lets you change the adjustment curve. MXplayer also has an option to bump up the brightness for good video viewing and automatically return it afterwards.

I don't believe I can change my OS. I have republic wireless ($20/mo unlimited everything) which uses wifi and cell calling, and some software to determine when to use which.