Coby Kyros 4 GB 7-Inch Tablet with Touchscreen and Android 2.2, MID7024-4G (Black)

This review is from: Coby Kyros 4 GB 7-Inch Tablet with Touchscreen and Android 2.2, MID7024-4G (Black) (Personal Computers)

I just got mine yesterday. I really have to say I am totally impressed with it. I've played with iPad and it is definitely cool; I also owned two Kindles (one regular, one DX). My prior experience with "tablets", as such, other than the Kindle, was a cheap Chinese knock-off called "ePad", bought from a seller on Amazon maybe 9 months ago and returned promptly. This was with an older version of Android (1.6 I believe). It's worth recounting a few of the highlights of that unit's performance for contrast with this Kyros, in 2011, in the <$200 segment. It had a resistive touch screen (ok). The screen's plastic was wavy and bowed in random, odd places all around. The case for the unit was made of cheap plastic and the silver paint was chipped or just peeling off around the edges. The battery, after charging for a full 24h, lasted for 10 minutes. The battery life on subsequent charges decreased precipitously until a full charge only lasted about 2 minutes (not joking, not exaggerating). No apps could be installed whatsoever. Flash Player could not be installed. No firmware updates available. It would not recognize an SD card. There was no way to organize MP3s other than in one big long single directory. It was, in short, absolute useless garbage, and I believe I paid about $40 more for that than I did for the Coby Kyros. That thing was a proper cheap Chinese knock-off, and was an abysmal failure of the marketplace to provide any kind of meaningful competition to the far more expensive iPad.

Buy It : $149.72 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping

Now enter: Coby Kyros MID7024. Just on a lark I checked on tablets last week and saw this one, just released, for the right price - a cool toy. I thought I'd take another swing at the cheap tablets, did a little reading, and this one (more specifically, its predecessor, the MID7015) sounded like a solid buy. I received it, opened it up, and wow - it is COOL! The screen is flat; the frame is high-quality and solid. Everything is very precisely engineered. The little backlights behind the buttons and on the "Home" button are very slick. It has standard mini-USB, headphone jack, micro-SD, mini-HDMI. I started it... and it WORKED. Perfectly. With about 1 hour charge it lasted around 5 hours on wifi last night. Within a few minutes of turning it on, I had it connected to the home network, downloaded a free ePub book from Gutenberg Project and opened it with the pre-installed eBook reader. In a few more minutes I had configured it to check my email in 2 accounts. This morning, in a couple more minutes, I installed Amazon App Marketplace and downloaded the Kindle Reader. It plays flash movies in the web browser. Auto-rotate works very smoothly. Overall, everything seems to "just work", exactly as you'd expect it to.

To be clear, this isn't a PC, nor do I expect it to be. It does load up both mobile and 'full' websites and looks just fine in both; so you can browse pretty comfortably. On a regular basis I'll carry it around the house, check email, read e-books, and potentially, load up MP3s and listen to them in the car or at work. Everything else it can do is gravy.

Note that despite the misleading product label "MID7024-4G" here on Amazon, this unit is a "MID7024", and 4G stands for 4GB (internal drive space), not 4G cellular wireless. It has no 4G modem. It also does not have a GPS receiver and no straightforward way to connect an external antenna. That is one thing I would have really liked it to do. So far I have not been able to get the webcam to connect to any video chat client but I only spent a few minutes working at it with Google Chat. Out of the box, all the webcam does is stares back at you, and the photo/video quality isn't the best. I'm pretty confident that can be remedied with some kind of app, either on the web or in one of the app stores. It does not have bluetooth. Many options exist in the slightly-more-expensive $250 to $350 range that do include these features; so if you'll use them (as I suspect many folks will), this isn't going to meet your needs. But, just to have a fun around-the-house or around-the-office e-reader, email checker, multimedia player, and basic web surfer, this is absolutely right on the money. And, obviously, it's leaps and bounds better-made (both the hardware and the software) than the stupid "ePad" I bought last year.

Product Description

Connect to the world through the touch of a fingertip. The Kyros MID7024 Tablet is a powerful and flexible Internet and Entertainment solution that features a generous 7 inch touch screen with intuitive controls powered by the Android 2.2 operating system. Browse the web wirelessly or enjoy media on a sleek and stylish media device. Enjoy 1080P HD videos, photos, music, and more in the comfort of your living room when connected to your TV via HDMI. The Kyros has 4GB of built-in internal memory and features a microSD card slot for upgrading the capacity to up to 32GB. It comes equipped with a built-in front-facing camera and microphone for capturing those special moments. It also allows you to wirelessly access the Internet through a hi-speed networking support and includes more than a dozen built-in applications, each one identified by an icon. Among the included apps are an alarm clock, browser for surfing the web, calculator, email, gallery for viewing and playing videos, music and video player for launching the mobile YouTube browser page to watch Internet videos and more! In addition, the Kyros offers two unique apps, the Aldiko E-Book, for downloading and reading thousands of e-books (which supports the ePub standard) and AppsLib, to browse, download and install apps from the AppsLib marketplace for a complete mobile Internet solution. Browse the web, watch videos on Youtube, check e-mail, all on a generous 7.0 inch LCD screen. Intuitive touchscreen controls powered by Android OS 2.2. High-speed 1 GHz processor, connect to the Internet wirelessly with high-speed networking support (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g). Download apps and games from the AppsLib marketplace. Plays popular video, music, and photo formats. Connect and enjoy 1080p HD video on your HDTV via HDMI. Download and read thousands of books with the included Aldiko E-book reader application. View pages in portrait or landscape with automatic orientation detection.

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

Browse the web, watch videos on Youtube, check e-mail, and more on a generous 7.0 inch LCD screen
Intuitive touchscreen controls powered by Android OS 2.2
High-speed 1 GHz processor
Connect to the Internet wirelessly with high-speed networking support (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g)
Download and enjoy popular apps and games from the AppsLib marketplace
Connect and enjoy 1080p HD video on your HDTV via HDMI
Download and read thousands of books with the included Aldiko E-book reader application
Plays popular video, music, and photo formats

Processor, Memory, and Motherboard

Hardware Platform: PC
Processor: 1 GHz

Ports and Connectivity

Modem: None

Cases and Expandability

Size (LWH): 7.68 inches, 4.75 inches, 0.53 inches
Weight: 13.92 ounces

Power

Battery Type: Nonstandard Battery

Warranty and Support

Amazon.com Returns Policies: You may return any new computer purchased from Amazon.com that is "dead on arrival," arrives in damaged condition, or is still in unopened boxes, for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Amazon.com reserves the right to test "dead on arrival" returns and impose a customer fee equal to 15 percent of the product sales price if the customer misrepresents the condition of the product. Any returned computer that is damaged through customer misuse, is missing parts, or is in unsellable condition due to customer tampering will result in the customer being charged a higher restocking fee based on the condition of the product. Amazon.com will not accept returns of any desktop or notebook computer more than 30 days after you receive the shipment. New, used, and refurbished products purchased from Marketplace vendors are subject to the returns policy of the individual vendor.