Unfortunately, this deal is no longer available
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Posted 31 August 2012
Ainol Novo 7 Fire Tablet 16gb - £124.99 @ Futeko.com
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About this deal
This deal is expired. Here are some options that might interest you:
Highly anticipated and finally stocked by Futeko.
This is a pre-order, as stock will be ready for dispatch on 6th September.
Ordering from Futeko.com gives you peace of mind.
First impressions video (English) here:
youtube.com/wat…xzU
The Novo 7 Fire is the latest tablet from the leading Chinese tablet brand, Ainol. It is the first Chinese branded tablet to feature a Google Nexus matching 1280x800 capacitive IPS display.
Key features:
Dual core CPU + dual-core GPU. Cortex A9 Amlogic 8726-M6 with dual Mali-400 GPU cores. Proven fast in the Aurora 2 and Elf 2.
1280x800 resolution. 216PPI 7" screen to match the Google Nexus 7.
IPS display. Enhanced brightness and 180 degree viewing angle. Capacitive touch for super sensitivity.
Micro-SD card slot. You can upgrade storage easily in 32GB chunks using micro-SD cards.
HDMI ouput. The Novo Fire can be used to play HD media content or HD games on a big screen TV.
Dual cameras. Both a 2MP front facing camera and a 5MP rear facing camera designed for taking high quality photos.
Bluetooth. A first for the Novo tablets.
Quality build. As with all Ainol tablets, the Fire is both robust and stylish.
This is a pre-order, as stock will be ready for dispatch on 6th September.
Ordering from Futeko.com gives you peace of mind.
First impressions video (English) here:
youtube.com/wat…xzU
The Novo 7 Fire is the latest tablet from the leading Chinese tablet brand, Ainol. It is the first Chinese branded tablet to feature a Google Nexus matching 1280x800 capacitive IPS display.
Key features:
Dual core CPU + dual-core GPU. Cortex A9 Amlogic 8726-M6 with dual Mali-400 GPU cores. Proven fast in the Aurora 2 and Elf 2.
1280x800 resolution. 216PPI 7" screen to match the Google Nexus 7.
IPS display. Enhanced brightness and 180 degree viewing angle. Capacitive touch for super sensitivity.
Micro-SD card slot. You can upgrade storage easily in 32GB chunks using micro-SD cards.
HDMI ouput. The Novo Fire can be used to play HD media content or HD games on a big screen TV.
Dual cameras. Both a 2MP front facing camera and a 5MP rear facing camera designed for taking high quality photos.
Bluetooth. A first for the Novo tablets.
Quality build. As with all Ainol tablets, the Fire is both robust and stylish.
More details from
Community Updates
212 Comments
sorted byThat is the old model. This deal is for the newly released Novo 7 Fire.
(edited)
Getting old mate.
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Maybe one of the designers was having a laugh.
Spec-wise, this is amazing, and at such a low price. But it might be worth investing in a case that covers up the logo
1. Popping speakers
2. Overheating, although people say this is a firmware issue, I'm not so sure, it just seems to be the battery that overheats, via charging or draining too fast. I dunno, it would be nice if it could be fixed though.
3. Bluetooth sound + video at the same time does not work, (unless it's youtube or audio alone, that works) but your own home movies or films, in vplayer, or the two default players, will just lag and sound not work at all, or crash if you have bluetooth enabled. fine without.
4. Touchscreen keypad does not work for entering wifi password, you have to use usb keyboard... (it works for everything else though, the touchscreen keyboard)
5. WPS for the wifi doesn't work either.
6. You can't keep performance mode on all the time, if you restart it reverts to normal, I wouldn't call that a fault, but something overlooked, it's too slow in anything lower than Performance mode... let me make an example, Powersaving = Htc Hero, Normal = overclocked HTC Hero. Performance = Samsung Galaxy Note.
7. The colours are a little washed out, nothing at all like my cheapo korean IPS panels, which look more like my samsung note super amoled hd. This could be resolved, with a simple colour changer, which you see in samsung phones, lets your adjust the colours to "dynamic" "movie" "standard". Again not really a fault, but a missing feature.
I also have some suggestions, the hardkey homescreen button should be on the left side where the power button is, or on the rightside near the end If you're holding it left hand you can't really reach it, because your hand is near the bottom to support the weight, and if you're holding it right hand, you deffinately can't reach it, which makes it annoying. As you have to use two hands really. In fact, even if it was where the power button was unless you have XXL size hands, you'd still not reach it, not without adjusting your holding position. It really needs to be on the side of the device at the top in the regions of the power socket area.
Oh, if you're planning on installing gameloft games, don't just yet, format the intenal sd from your PC to 64k. Otherwise you'll end up wasting a great deal of time... Don't say I didn't warn you.
After 6 hours of installing / tweaking, I installed Nova 3, when I restarted, I had a continuous "searching for errors" for the internal SD, it lasted hours and never went away, some people say it will go within 15 mins or so, but not for me, I had to erase everything from recovery menu... But the formatting to 64k before, seems to fix this problem.
Also someone should make the tight fitting gel cases, you find for all the other devices except Ainol...
ebay.co.uk/itm…a66
Like the above link, because the plastic shell on the device is soft like butter, I just scraped it on a "soft bubble wallpaper" it ripped a chunk of the plastic off the tablet, the wallpaper came off as the winner, got to be the cheapest softest plastic I've ever seen.
I know people say the build quality is good, they're wrong, sure it's better than the Chinese tablets you used to get, but I don't really enjoy hearing creaking sounds when holding the device, the screen is loose to the housing... It's no Samsung or Asus. But it's too be expected for a cheapo device. I'm not really bothered, I'm annoyed about the lack of cases... I've dropped my note a dozen times, it looks brand new, saved by a simple £1 gel case, one drop of this, and I can kiss the tablet goodbye. I don't know why anyone would want the giant book cover type cases they offer, which usually don't offer good side edge anyway, I want a tight fitting gel/rubber one.
As for the battery life, haha, upto 8 hours? More like 2-3 hours, if you want an "enjoyable experience"
Anything other than "performance mode" is too laggy, even low def videos go out of sync,
As for brightness anything below 100% is not very visable with lights on, especailly for movies. In a dark room while looking at websites, you can get away with about 50-60% brightness, but not for movies, even 100% is pretty dark and dull compared to any other IPS screen, I'd say its more equal to a cheapo tft screen. Also HD videos don't look very HD on this device, I'd probably put that down to poor quality video player softwares, although you tube looks great. But the "video player" "movie player" "vplayer" are not very good really.
But all the complaints, it's still a great tablet, for £115 (£125) if you didn't get the £10 refund, you're not going to find better in this price range. I have it plugged in most of the time, so battery isn't a problem. (I used it in bed mostly) Usually for bluetooth music to sleep with, or listening to debates on podcasts or youtube to relax to before sleep (Yes debates relax me, I'm weird).
Also it's good for news reading while on the thunderbox.
Games, it's a bit of a struggle for the device, I'd say they look about 16-20FPS slightly choppy, you perhaps wouldn't notice if you don't have a better device to compare with. I tried Fifa 12, Nova 3, Asphalt 7, that being said, it's perfectly good enough to play them.
My advice is. If your budget is £125 get this device, don't get a playbook,
But if you have £200 get the Nexus 7 16gb, as 8gb cheaper version isn't enough, assuming you can live without micro sd, no hdmi out, no flash support.
Many of the problems I mentioned will be fixed in later firmware updates, and I'm sure if I keep pestering the gel case manufacturer they'll make some Ainol ones...
Lol, and they put warranty stickers on the casing, which have mostly "rubbed" off by normal use already, so probably voids the warranty, even though it's not tampered with. Another reason I want a gel case (Not sure how that will work out with the overheating issue though). If anyone finds one, be sure to let me know.
I'm going to get a bunch of Ainol fanboys attack me now, without reading what I have to say, I'm just giving my experience, I still recommend the device, it's still great value for money, but some issues I'd like to be worked out, but now to eat some yogurt, because I have Ainol Fire... :-)
I'm well aware that there are other international sites selling this product at a cheaper price with free delivery.
Futeko.com is well respected on this site, and is based in the UK. Returns are simple and easy.
PLUS, the sheer amount of emoticons ':)' on that site is creeping me out, and makes me simply want to cross it away!
(edited)
Easily, my Elf 2 (similar if not identical cpu/gpu) is running GTA etc... with no performance issues. Unless you want the rear camera and Bluetooth, I would look into an Elf 2 or Aurora 2.
My Elf 2 lasts around 7 hours playing movies, browsing Internet etc... gaming is more like 4-5 hours.
In standby mine is still going after a week (reviews seem to indicate 200-300 hours)
HTH
(edited)
No one's going to snigger at Annoi though are they, no euphemism there. They might well snigger at Ainol though.
I actually had a Nexus 7 for a week and had the lifting screen problem.
I was contemplating this or the BlackBerry Playbook.
I chose this as I'm an adventurous ****.
well just for starters, you get 3 tablets for the price of one :o)
that's right, cos the first two Nexus' you get, you'll have to return and get replaced, because the damn things are so shoddily put together. see, 3 for the price of one
Not sure why you'd want to save £7.50, to end up having to wait 2-3 weeks to receive it from China with the chance it gets lost, also risking maybe £15-25 customs charges depending on how much the seller values the item.
And God forbid it's faulty, you'll have to pay like £30-40 to return it.
This post is for a UK seller...
e.g how long it lasts in use, and how long it lasts in standby
How do you know his age?
BTW, spent last week playing with the sister-in-law's Elf 2. It was a very impressive bit of kit. Definitely an Ainol fanboy now!
(edited)
im also thinking of buying the nexus but saw this one and can't decide which one to buy, this one has better specs.. aaaahhh can't decide!
as i said above, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the build quality of Ainol tablets
try googling Nexus build quality issues on the other hand...
I'm curious as to what features make the Nexus 7 worth paying the extra £35/75. The Nexus 7 falls down on a few key features, as mentioned above (no SD slot, no HDMI and no flash support). I'm not saying you're wrong but I'd be interested to hear your reasons for recommending a more expensive tab with pretty much similar specs (but with less functionality) over this one.
If people don't want to shell out £124 then the Elf II is a good option (as stated by many in this thread). It's currently selling on Amazon for £82.99, although perhaps the price will come down once the Novo 7 Fire is released. It's got really good reviews anyway.
Elf II (Amazon)
(edited)
A benchmark test of the Elf II (Click Here) shows that the Elf II has Neon included so I imagine the Novo 7 Fire will too (otherwise it will be a bit of a downgrade). From numerous reviews I've read the Elf II is more than capable of running 720p MKV video and people are saying what a great multimedia device it is.
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its a stunning tablet, if you seriously think the playbook is a better deal then you know nothing about tablets at all.
I spent some time with a playbook, other than it crashing continually and finding virtually nothing to do with it, I was utterly bemused by its supposed "appeal".
The fact that Ainol released source for their quadcore tablets this week also adds very heavily in its favour.
My Elf II scores higher in benchmarks than my Galaxy note, build quality is superb, it blows my old tegra 2 hannspad out of the water in every way, if it had BT build in then I'd say it was better device than the nexus 7.
Hey if you're concerned about Ainol on the front, then don't be surprised if people comment about you RIMming with your "playbook"
I think I'm likely to get one of the Fire for "my tablet" and use the ELF 2 as my hacking/development one, that the kids and my other half can use.
definitely worth every penny.
Think you should change the 'd' in your username to a 't'
Best case is: I get the tabby on time, and get to play with it, I get £10 off, and firmware is released and fixed problem.
Worst case is: It turns out to be a hardware fault, and I'll sell it on eBay for £100, some people just use it for surfing, so a speaker issue or overheating when gaming won't be a problem, and buy a Nexus 7 and never buy a Chinese Tablet again.
Or if it's a real problem I'll just return it under the 7 days DSR...
I think they're hoping for a firmware update in a few days, so might be able to get the update before the 7 days, and then we'll know for sure.
Don't really want a nexus 7 though £170 (inc postage) for 8gb model, to match the ainol 16GB £210 That's almost double the price, might as well keep my Note, The reason I wanted a Ainol, was because I was selling the note for £300, get tablet for £125 and got a cheapo Nokia for £30 = £145 in my pocket, and no dead phone when I go out, cause the Nokia has 1000 hours Standby (Who really needs a smart phone while on the move? a phone is most important, so battery is important).
The no mSD is really bad move by Google and no rear cam, if they had it, they'd probably get 50% more sales...
But I suppose it's some sort of sales tactic for the long term, if they put no mSD and rear cam in this model, next years model, they will have them, and tell everyone that's the "big update" and they'll not have to spend much money on updating the CPU / GPU / RAM, they'll use the same.
I just hope they send my Ainol Saturday Special delivery, I was hoping to get it on Friday.
But it was good of them to be honest and test it. I like this Futeko company. (They reply to emails fast too).
I like the brightness of the screen but it is more reflective then I would have liked. The Fire has an IPS screen though when Elf2 doesn't. Don't notice any faint lines and it doesn't seem to get too hot. I have played an 720p movie for an hour and then Riptide GP for 10 minutes and it is only a bit warm. I did hear the popping noises 2 or 3 times. Pretty happy with it so far. Going to flash the Flambe rom now.
(edited)
youtube.com/wat…d=1
Another pretty ignorant comment without any clarification given why. Except for some apps that are still missing from the playbook ecosystem, the playbook would be 1000 times better in everything (hardware, build quality, screen quality, battery life, performance, quality of media play, handling demanding HD games, multitasking ability and so on...) than this crap. I'd suggest that you use one for at least couple of weeks to put some credibility to your expert comments.
If someone is interested in an android tablet, I see no reason for even considering this piece of sh*te for £125. Better quality tablets with better quality software are available from reputable manufacturers at marginally higher cost (samsung galaxy tab 2 with the current money back, nexus 7, kindle fire/fireHD, upcoming iconia tab, or even xoom 2 ME that goes on sale at £149 regularly at CPW). Spending another 30 quids or so more would bring happiness and satisfaction much longer than the frustration and agony of wasting £125
However I didn't linger with the supplied firmware as it's known to have quite a few bugs so loaded version 3 of the "Flambe" firmware made by Pat Moss on the SlateDroid forums. The speaker popping is still there; I have to wonder if this is a hardware problem caused by the speaker amp being switched in and out of a standby mode?
It was used for maybe 5 hours last night by me, my wife and my 7 year old daughter for web browsing, office apps and plenty of games. There was no significant overheating apparent, though it gets a fairly warm when playing games. WiFi range seems very good, and I've had no drop outs. Scrolling, pinching etc. is not quite up to iPad standards, but is generally smooth and very useable. The battery was still showing about 1/4 remaining last night when I went to bed so 6 hours should be easily achievable.
Overall I'm happy with it, it's a perfectly useable device which has met or exceeded my expectations.
Your comments about playbook is obviously based on specification sheets without any hands-on experience. My advice is don't rely on specifications as that hardly tells the real truth. I have the playbook and also one of the better android tablets (Samsung Galaxy tab 7.7) , and I am comfortable using both systems without any prejudice or preference, they compliment each other rather than conflicting.
Yes playbook screen resolution is lower but it more than makes up for it with much much better colour, contrast, brightness and viewing angle. Just a mention of IPS in a crap tablet doesn't make the screen better. I'd suggest that you visit your nearest CPW or Curry's and compare the Playbook against Nexus 7 (supposedly better screen than the Ainol novo) screen. First put both of them under auto brighness and also check under maximum brightness. See them from different angles and take them closer to the daylight then come back and tell me which has better screen
64gb playbook is selling for £129. If you tell me that 64Gb is not enough and lack of SD slot is a drawback then I'd ask what extra memory can you accomodate in the Novo? Simple, 16gb onboard + 32gb max SD, that makes it better storage option isn't it?? (also ignoring the fact that onboard memory is better than external SD storage for downloading apps, performance, and corruption issues)
Higher clock speed in a lower quality chip? Again, if you are looking at the spec sheets look a bit deeper than superficially. Playbook uses a dual-channel memory giving it twice the bandwidth compared to Nexus-7 with sigle channel memory (I can't find the memory configuration for Novo but guess it can't be better than the Nexus 7). This matters more in real life performance compared to on-paper clock speed. Moreover, as I use both BBOS and Android every day I know which OS is smoother and more efficient in operation. If you didn't know, BBOS is based on QNX the OS used in your car and running nuclear power plants (yes you can guess how robust the OS needs to be). Also QNX is more efficient in multitasking due to its distributive computing capabilities (lacking in Android and iOS, only may be Windows 8 would be comparable).
Only thing going for Android is apps (which lacks in playbook, but not everyone is looking for millions of apps), that's why I have an android tablet as well. If you want android that's your choice rather than suggesting 'don't buy playbook'. Playbook has apps and plenty of games that might serve the purpose of many. It's a much better media player (better video handling, better audio controller, better speakers, full HD video recording and playback) and the browser fully supports flash and HTML5 (arguably the best browser of all tablet OS right now). This might be good enough for the requirements of many that don't need thousands of 'fart' apps. But Yes if some apps are priority (like Netflix, Skype etc.) obviously playbook shouldn't be a choice then.
As far as bargain (more expensive than Novo but better value for money considering better hardware and software integration, better built, reputable manufacturer) Android tabs are concerned I already mentioned them in my previous post.
If SD card support is essential:
Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (Can't see why the Novo is better than this) hotukdeals.com/dea…933
Acer iconia tab A110 (coming out soon at a price cheaper or at least comparable to Nexus-7 with better spec)
without SD card support:
Amazon Kindle fire (£129) or Kindle fire HD (£159) and the Amazon one paid app free daily is much better than crappy free apps in play store IMHO, in the future free Amazon instant video is bound to come to Prime customers.
Motorola Xoom 2 ME (great lightweight tablet with 8.2 screen size ideal to carry around) Right now £185 at CPW, but was £149 a week ago and regularly goes back to that promotional price
All of them have the popping sound which is not that bad especially after flashing Flambe v03. If you need more information check the Slatedroid forum here
cheers for that link waiting to pre-order now
Cannot describe any better than this guy did. You get used to it though and it doesn't bother me that much
"It usually pops when the audio is initiated after a while...almost like a jolt that you get when a train starts or stops.
This usually happens when I play an audio file or a video or a text to speech in a e-reader , that's when I hear it initially. Then stop it and minimize to home, I can hear the little pop then at times. Same when a video is stopped, minimized or started again. Sometimes it happens when clicking on buttons, usually when a playing sound gets stopped. It's like it happens when the connection to the speaker is stopped and it discharges or something. Again this is noticeable when you wear the headphones. "
This is terrible news and says how much Ainol cares about customer satisfaction. Not only that they were not able to release firmware to fix the problems they have but they continue to manufacture and sell them knowing that these issues cannot be fixed. Lesson learned. Never buy Ainol again and never buy anything directly from a chinese trader. All my respect to Futeko who seem to really care about their customers.