7-inch Tablet: IMO Tab X5 Unboxing

I have an iPad2. The wife has the New iPad(3rd Gen). But we hardly get to use it peacefully because my 2-year old daughter is so familiar with the iPad navigation that she uses it more than we do.

The wife decided to buy 7" tablet from Jakarta at less than SGD100. It is running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The CPU is a dual-core 1 Ghz Arm v7. The full specs can be found here.

The most important thing is, it has to run Youtube effectively and smoothly. This is for my daughter as she watches her kiddies videos on our iPad.

But so far, I am quite impressed with the speed of the device. It runs on wifi and there is also an ebook feature. Additional memory can be from the SD card slot. It is much smaller than the iPad, which means it is convenient for travels.

However, there a few downsides to this device. The battery life is quite bad. On a full charge, it lasts for about 1.5 to 2 hours. This is for a 7" tablet!!! So you can forget about bringing this device for trips.

The screen resolution can be better. There are some 'bleeding' images on certain screens.

The device uses the old Nokia type charging tip. Every device is moving towards micro-USB but not the IMO device.

I suspect the device is catered for a certain segment of the market where the iPad is out of their reach. If that is the case, it is truly commendable but at least fix the battery life!!!

But if you can, I would recommend an iPad or iPad mini. Apple iPad products has proven itself countless times. The usage, the apps and the battery life is truly an Apple experience.

My unboxing photos:

The specs of the tablet.

Runs on ICS 4.0

The paraphenelia.

 

 

 The product build is quite good.

There is a small speaker behind it.

The location of the SD card slot.

Other slots: Headphone, HDMI, USB and the power tip charger.

Volume and power switch.

A perspective on the size of the tablet.

According to Phil Schiller of Apple on the October 23rd 2012 Apple event, the Android tablet is just a glorified Android phone OS, stretched for the tablet requirement. Is it true?

Cisco Linksys RE1000 Wireless N Range Extender - Unboxing

One of my main worry about wifi at home is coverage. Although I bought the Cisco Linksys EA 4500 which has the highest coverage, I was worried it was not enough. 

So I bought the Linksys RE1000 Range Extender at the same shop in KL to support the EA 4500 router. It was slightly cheaper in KL at the time when I bought it.

The set-up was only one time and very easy. It was 'fire and forget' set-up.

Here are the unboxing photos.

As with the router EA 4500, the texture of this Extender is the same. 
It comes with 2 sets of interchangeable plugs. As I mentioned in my earlier posting for the EA 4500, 
this is commendable that Cisco did this. It shows that they give a thought to their customers.

It also comes with a Cat-5 cable.

The power cables allow the Extender to be a desktop device. 

So it can either be plugged directly into a power point or with the cable, 

it can be placed on the desktop or the floor. Again, Cisco provided 2 sets of plug.

There is a Cat-5 jack behind. So it can be connected to the modem or any other device.

The set-up was extremely easy. 

This is how it looks like plugged to the wall socket. 

The Cisco logo glows when it is powered up.

Overall, it is a very useful device. I find that the router EA4500 router has already provided quite a good coverage for my apartment but this range extender covers any blind spot.

Do check out my unboxing photos of the Cisco Linksys EA4500 router here and the Cisco Linksys WES610N: 4-Port Dual Band N Entertainment Bridge here. 

Cisco Linksys EA4500 Router - Unboxing

I have a D-Link DIR 615 which was given by Starhub when I signed up for Maxonline 4 years ago. That router has served me well. It was so good that I was convinced that D-Link had good, reliable products. I started to buy D-Link related products, like the Sharecenter Pulse DNS 320, the Mobile Router DIR 505 which I blogged about here.

My problem with the DIR 615 happened when 2 of its antennae broke. After which, my wifi reception dropped drastically. My devices could not sustain a solid connectivity with the router wireless. The signal dropped regularly. This happened for a few months.

Check out my unboxing of the Cisco Linksys RE1000 Wireless N Extender here.

The 2 antennae broke so I tried taping it together. It did not work. The signal was not strong enough.

I plan to keep the DIR 615 as a back-up or a bridging router.

I had to look for an alternate router. One requirement was that the new router must have a strong range signal. At first I looked at D-Link but its current range of routers could not meet my requirements.

So I moved to other brands, until I came across the Cisco Linksys series router. One particular model, the EA4500 had my attention. It claims to provide an extensive wireless coverage. 

In the September 2012 PC Show, the router was selling at SGD299. I bought this in Kuala Lumpur for MYR599, which is equivalent to around SGD240.

The router.

Additional items.

Underneath the sealed router, the set-up CD.

One thing that impresses me, is that Cisco provided 2 interchange plug for its power unit. Even the D-Link does not provide 2 sets of plug for its router. You can see this on the above picture.

Behind the router, there are 4 ports and a USB port. It also comes with an UTP cable.

Set-up was very easy.

I like the sleek design. The CISCO words glow.

For a detail review of the router, you can go Lester Chan's excellent blog here.

Don't forget to check out my unboxing of the Cisco Linksys RE1000 Wireless N Extender here.

And also, the Cisco Linsys Wireless Entertainment Bridge here.