Odeon Tablet Review

       After some events last year, it became clear - there will be a lot of tablets in the very near future, for every taste and color. This was confirmed by more than 80 tablets presented at CES 2011 ... but so far all this abundance has not reached our cold lands, I offer you an overview of one cross-platform tablet.

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       To begin with, I come across the Odeon manufacturer for the first time, although a primitive query on Google made it clear that the manufacturer is "famous" not only for the tablet. But on this journey on Google pages is not over - pretty soon I found information that almost a complete copy (with a slower processor and half the SSD volume) of this device is the tablet Viewpad 10 from ViewSonic. Further more! It turned out that all these stickers and engravings are pasted onto the CZC P10T device from the Chinese company China Standard Software , which presented this tablet as the first Intel Atom device running the MeeGo OS. Then I remembered that exactly such a device I saw a couple of times at Intel presentations ... so of the good news - there should be cross-platform.

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    Technical specifications Odeon TPC-10


    Case material : metal + plastic
    Processor : Intel Atom N470 (single core, 1.83 GHz, 512 KB L2, 45 nm, TDP 6.5 W)
    Chipset : Intel NM10
    Graphics : Intel HD Graphics
    RAM : 1024 MB, DDR3 (667 MHz, 1 slot)
    Data storage : 32 GB SSD
    operating system : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
    Display : 10.1 ", 1024x600, glossy, touch, with multi-touch support
    Connectors : 2xUSB (2.0), miniVGA, headphone jack,
    Wireless Interfaces : Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 802.11b / g / n, 3G (optional)
    Card reader : microSD (microSDHC)
    Optional : 1.3 megapixel camera, G-sensor
    Battery : Li-Ion (3200mAh)
    Dimensions : 274x172x14.5 mm
    Weight : 870 g

    Price : from 24,000 rubles

    The name TPC-10 is an abbreviation for Tablet PC, and “10”, apparently, means the diagonal of the screen of the device. A little predictable ... so it happened .

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       The box is slightly larger than other similar devices; and in this case there is a 10-inch screen, that is, as in netbooks. But there wasn’t so much inside - the tablet itself, the adapter and the network cable, a neoprene case, a VGA-miniVGA cord, a user manual and a device certificate. The case is very useful, since finding a suitable case for such a device would not be so easy.

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    Appearance


    The front side of the tablet is not solid, but consists of two parts: a large glass screen with rounded corners and a black frame; and an opaque “island” of plastic, on which there are three buttons (power, home, _spring_secret_).

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       You can add, perhaps, about an inconspicuous front camera and three LEDs. The screen is quite easily soiled, but due to the lack of embossed sides it is easy to wipe it even with a sleeve.

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       The reverse side of the tablet is completely metal, as evidenced by the pleasant coolness of the brushed metal texture. The only thing I want to do right away is to tear off 4 stickers, which in 2011 seem to me like some kind of “scoop”)

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    Behind the small cutouts in the bottom are the speakers typical of devices of this class.

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       The ends are made of plastic. All the connectors are on the left side: power, memory card slot (microSD), miniVGA, two USB 2.0 (with a large distance between each other, bravo), 3.5mm Jack Sparrow for headphones and a microphone “point”. Actually, this abundance of interfaces ends - there is nothing at all on the right, and ventilation holes are located above and below.

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    On the one hand, there is a SIM card slot closed by a plug - a version of the tablet with a 3G module should appear in March.

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       The “solidity” is not so good - the deformation like “twisting” the tablet can withstand very well, but in some places (for example, at the joints of plastic and metal - the case is not solid) small crunches appear. I think that over time (with active use), everything will only get worse.

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       For comparison, there was only the Apple iPad at hand - they were almost the same in size, only the Odeon was more oblong. The thickness is also identical, just the iPad has virtually no right angles.

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    Let me remind you that initially the iPad also has a glossy screen - in the photo it is with a matte film and with a protective sticker on the back.

    Inclusion and work


    By and large, this is the same netbook - the filling is the same, respectively, and the possibilities are exactly the same. In the same way, you need to cool the filling, which means that the hum from the cooler has not gone away. The hum is insignificant and will not be particularly distracting, but practice has shown that without it it would have been much more comfortable;) As well as it would have been more comfortable without heating the device’s body in load mode, which is also the case.

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       The boot time does not stand out against the background of other devices, so there are two options - either turn on the tablet every time, or send it with the corresponding button to sleep mode; it was exactly the same in the ASUS EeePC Keyboard. I used only the second method, since it more quickly brought the tablet to life ... but even with this approach, it felt like the battery charge was slowly eating up. It is much more unpleasant to accidentally press the power button during operation - in such a pause you can go make coffee. No less surprising is another button on the front panel that ... disables all wireless interfaces. That is, you can make fun of the owner of such a device in different ways)

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    What can I do here? Well, maybe just wait. Or cling to an external keyboard.
    In the process of loading, the “house” performs the functions of the “down” and “up” buttons (pressing - “down”, holding - “up”). "Return" at boot time works like Enter.

       If you can hold other tablets as you wish and in any hand, then everything is pretty clear - from the location of the buttons and the lack of connectors to the right, ending with a webcam and the orientation of the labels on the stickers. Moreover - if everywhere the image and all the contents on the screen rotate independently, then here this function, although it is, does not work so well; in portrait orientation, such a screen looks rather ridiculous, while all the icons on the desktop change their location. So there is no desire to twist-twist the device - you just put it in front of you like a book and start working.

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       Did I say work? Well, yes, in principle, you can do some good work here as well - the stand will be of great help (I used the universal LUXA2 Mobile Holder H4 mount , about whichрассказывал), мышка и клавиатура :) Для чего такой набор? Ну, опять же – если просто тыкать в значки на рабочем столе, то вполне хватит и грубого пальца с грязным неподстриженным ногтем… но для эффективной работы в ворде или фотошопе без чутких прикосновений элегантного курсора (под управлением мыши) не обойтись.

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       То же самое и с клавиатурой – я честно пытался освоить набор текста на экране данного устройства, но это занятие не из лёгких; особенно тяжело давалось переключение между языками. Так что наличие двух разъемов USB в данном случае ОЧЕНЬ уместно; и я без сарказма – помимо мышки и клавиатуры, туда можно подключить всё, что угодно – начиная от флешки и жесткого диска, заканчивая USB-видеокартой и фотоаппаратом. Умеет ли так iPad и GalxyTab? Нет.

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       Speaking of the on-screen keyboard, it is slightly different from the one that comes with the standard Windows delivery. I don’t know, maybe these are obvious things, but I’ll tell you anyway. Firstly, she has a slightly different appearance; secondly, the function of switching the language and switching to handwriting; and thirdly, it appears mainly only when you click on some text field - a keyboard icon appears near it, after which you can enter text. The rest of the time, the keyboard icon is located on the right side of the screen - so that it can always be pulled out "to work."

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       Handwriting is, but initially it is not as good as we would like.

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       The “learning” function of character input methods may come to the rescue ... but even if you spend time on it, handwriting will not overtake a regular keyboard in speed and convenience.

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    And even if you ask yourself the search for alternative solutions, you can still type faster only on a full-fledged hardware keyboard - this statement is also true for other tablets. Here.

       What else to say? Yes, nothing more. The single-core Intel Atom N470 processor, the integrated Intel HD Graphics core, a gigabyte of DDR3 memory and an SSD drive in conjunction form a good mobile tandem for solving many entry-level tasks - ICQ, mail, the Internet, office, and primitive toys. HD movies go quite well, but the sound from the built-in speakers is very average, quiet - it will be much better to use headphones. Due to the presence of a front-facing webcam, you can fully use Skype, moreover, like other devices, including stationary ones, do not know how.

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    By the way, here are the speed indicators of the installed SanDisk SSD:

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       In general, why am I all this. The device works, the device is not bad ... but the operating system was not chosen in the best way. More precisely, on the computer "seven" you can only rejoice, but here it is by no means ready to conquer the tablet market. Therefore, a more or less convenient option will work out only if you are surrounded by alternative (more convenient) input devices, which in turn reduces mobility. Well, or try to get used to what is - I think, together we can easily make a list of alternative software that can be used on Win-tablets.

       And the last one. The screen here is quite good - bright and with multi-touch support ... but autonomously all this beauty lasts no more than 4.5 hours (at minimum backlight), which, in my opinion, is not enough.

    Control weighing Pros and cons


         +Partially metal case.
         +Bright screen with multi-touch support.
         +Good performance, support for HD-video, SSD-drive
         +2 USB, miniVGA, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi, webcam, card reader.
         +Ability to roll almost any OS (in including MeeGo and Android should work)
         -The case sometimes creaks
         -In the load, a cooler hum is heard, while the device still warms up
         -Windows 7 is not very convenient for managing fingers
         -Modest battery life
         -Quiet speakers
         -High price

    Another article on this tablet

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    The end


       I honestly admit that I didn’t expect miracles from this device - I was mentally prepared for the stuff that was pretty typical for netbooks and was running the usual Windows 7. For the most part, I was only interested in the form factor itself and how the operating system was “ fulfills. " Well, I can’t say anything bad - if I didn’t have the usual iPad, then I would quickly get used to this tablet too - it can find a thousand and one uses, and not just admire tsatskas; case, management, performance - everything here is at a good level, but everywhere they could do better if they wanted to. But not everything is equal with the iPad - one of the advantages of the Odeon tablet is just the preinstalled Windows 7, for which there is any software, even the most exotic. Well, many would like the opportunity to experiment with various OSs. Another question is that this pleasure is not cheap ... it seems that half the netbook (keyboard) is not there, but it costs more anyway. So either wait until competitors appear and the price falls, or ... decide for yourself.

       It is quite difficult to make a truly successful product in the emerging market ... and the point here is not so much in hardware (x86 architecture allows you to fit all the stuffing into a compact package), but in the software component. And if he said his opinion about Windows 7, then it would be very interesting to look at the MeeGo and Android 3.0 operating systems optimized for tablets. In the meantime ... personally, I would wait - after CES 2011, the tablets will appear like mushrooms after the rain.

    Good luck!

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