Got this yesterday - this is my first tablet, although I have previously used an HTC Hero and Desire HD, so I'm familiar with Android.
First impressions are good. Build quality appears sturdy, nothing feels cheap or delicate.
The screen is pretty good. Unfortunately it is, of course, resistive. This is very noticable when you're used to something like a Desire HD, but once you get used to applying a bit more pressure, then it stops being much of an issue.
One flaw with the screen is that it looks great in landscape mode, but is much harder to look at in portrait mode. As such, I would not recommend using this in portrait mode for anything.
The speakers, as others have noted, are fairly dreadful. I haven't had problems with volume per se, but the overall sound quality is very bad indeed.
The unit is very nippy - everything zips along quite quickly. I have installed several games (both 2D and 3D, several recommended only for high end units) and everything has run beautifully. I have also run GBA, NES and Genesis emulators on it, and all games have run at full speed with sound.
I can only see free apps in the market - not sure why that is, and if anyone has any tips, please let me know.
Wireless reception is 'okay' but not too amazing.
Too early to tell about battery life. I use this mostly for reading comics using Perfect Viewer (which works really well).
So, 24 hours after buying this tablet, I have no problems with it at all - I think it was a great purchase, and should tide me over until we start to get fast, affordable capacitive tablets start to come on the market.
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Thanks for the review. I'm thinking of buying one primarily for reading comics, but your comment about portrait viewing has me worried. Could you elaborate on that?
Also, do you mind if I ask where you bought it and how long it took to ship?
It arrived around ten days later, which was pretty good.
The screen - like many LCDs - doesn't view particularly well in portrait mode. It's noticably harder to look at than when in landscape mode. I don't fully understand this, but I checked Wikipedia (Page orientation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), which says: "...due to the light polarization technology [of] an LCD monitor, the angle of image viewability will degrade when rotated." I assume it's related to this.
It's perfectly readable in portrait mode, it just doesn't look quite as good. It's hard to explain, but I suspect prolonged reading in portrait mode would result in a headache! I have found that rotating the tablet a few degrees clockwise (so that you're not looking at it dead-on) does make it more readable in portrait mode. Comics are more easily read in landscape anyway, because in portrait it's not quite wide enough to comfortably read small text.
Hope that helps a bit.
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Depends what you want to use it for.
If you want to use it for multimedia like Music/MP3 the flytouch is the best.
And you can easily download MP3 or MP4 files directly trough a downloader app.
It supports memory USB and Micro SD. And with the HDMI you can connect it to Any HDTV.
If you want to use it for Apps i still think a "jailbroken" iPad is better. Especially because you have to pay for most games which are free in Android. (and iOS just has some better game titles and they are better supported) FT3 still doesn't run all games.
Email and browsing is quite similar on both the devices. But if you like "freedom" android is currently the better choice. unless you would like to use iTunes to get everything on your device. So you still need a PC with it. My FT3 replaces my PC now. as video player, and for my email accounts.
Does anyone know what the wifi range is like on the Flytouch 3? I don't want to have to be within a few feet of the router....want to use this in other rooms of the house.
There appear to be a lot of complaints about the wifi range, drain, but apparently some of these issues can be remedied by tweaking your router's settings.
(I did indeed pick up a jailbroken iPad for $350 after reading too many (and depressingly varied) complaints about the FT3. I figure the extra $100 is worth the lack of headaches.)
Received my FT3 today and started to tinker with it right away. First of all, my shopping experience was pretty dismal with the seller "cnok" at dhgate.com. Not only did he ship the tablet a full 11 days after I ordered, he got my name and address wrong too . DHL couldn't deliver and I had to call and set things straight.
Now for the pros and cons. The unit is well built and the screen, though resistive, is much better than other resistive screens I have seen. The tablet is zippy and I was able to root it very quickly following the instructions in these forums. The iPad like button seems to work as the back button and the included hardware keyboard worked without any hassles. Video playback of the animated feature, Alpha and Omega, from my 8GB Class 4 Kingston microSD card was smooth.
As for cons, there are many:
1. The speakers are absolutely garbage. Can't believe they couldn't put something decent in this thing. I had to resort to using an earphone to hear much of any audio.
2. Market was hosed out of the box, but using the tweaks learnt here (unmounting sd card) I was able to get it working.
3. YouTube shuts down right away so I got the vimeo version to see the videos. It's not that great, but satisfactory.
4. Battery, even though rated at almost 7000 mAh, drained very quickly while idle with the screen turned off. Maybe because the keyboard was hooked up could have something to do with it.
5. Flash in the stock browser works, but it's very laggy and stutters quite a bit almost rendering it useless. I haven't downloaded Dolhin HD yet, but will let you know how that goes.
6. WiFi range is poorer than my EVO, but FT3 maintained the connection.
Conclusion: You get what you pay for. For around $200, you get a decent tablet, but the cons might be too much for many people to try this Apad.
Thanks. Now I need to decide between the FT3 or trying to pick up a used ipad for $350.
The Flytouch 3 is an excellent Tablet PC and superior to the ipad in certain respects. Flytouch 3 can display High Defiition for one thing. And one can log in at market.android.com/applications and download any of 70,000 applications available there. .
I bought one of these units for 145GBP. Very dissappointed. The screen response, wi-fi performance, internet speed and general speed of operation are all poor. Flash does not work properly and the Android 2.2 Op System appears to be unable to work effectively on this type of device. If I had bought this in a shop rather than off e-bay I would have taken it back and bought Apple or MS based products instead.
Caveat Emptor I suppose. Can't think of anything good to say about the FT3- Angry birds is free if that counts.
I have tried to upgrade FT 3 firmware but it did not work (perhaps the wrong version). Where can I get this firmware from please (Tims 3 a-c rom)?
Tims various versions of rom are to be found in this thread Hybrid ROM (rooted) . There is also a lot of discussion relating to the various roms. There is also a more recent rom, 3d.
Yeah...I think the Flytouch 3 is disappointing overall....but at least Tim's firmware helped.(once I got the version with the 576 Screen resolution). I had the horrid Chinese version with the Cube 3D effect...Nothing worked. Now at least I got most types of browser. Dolphin actually played msnbc video's perfect and smooth with synced sound(when I bent over to the speaker to hear it ) The stock browser plays video with everyone having Blue heads...very nice. Still can't get angry birds to install. Did the remove the SD Card thing...didn't help. Can't get Quick office to download.
I think my 8" APad was a way better Tablet...great video quality and speed out of the box. Hate the 1 30 pin plug and no seperate USB or HDMI.
Does anyone know why Ram is not reporting memory correctly? It is a Ibex Flytouch 3 with 512mb RAM 1GHz, bought from ************, but RAM is only 256
MB (checked form application Control .apk software).
Where is the 512mb RAM????????
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Hi, can anyone comment the gps? The signal strength, the programs - IGO, Garmin? How is it working? I red some were that IGO skin 800x480 is working, but don't cower the whole screen? Thanks in advance
Hi, can anyone comment the gps? The signal strength, the programs - IGO, Garmin? How is it working? I red some were that IGO skin 800x480 is working, but don't cower the whole screen? Thanks in advance
The GPS isn't the best, it uses a HopeRF XN203 gps chipset and an active external antenna. Some people have problems getting the gps to lock on and are stuck in Shanghai. The external antenna can be a pain but then again it means it can be placed on a car roof to improve reception..
igo8.4 will run on this device but, as you say, the highest resolution available at the moment is 800x480.
I don't think Garmin XT runs on Android, but NDrive,CoPilot, Sygic Aura and Google Maps all work full screen.
My favorite of those is CoPilot Live....available for download with, I believe, global map coverage
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My GPS was stuck in Shanghai for the first day. It seemed like nothing I did helped. I didn't shut off my FT3 and the batteries drained completely. After charging, it seemed to go to my location just fine. I don't know if it was the batteries or I did something different. I didn't use it for actual navigation so I just used google maps.
My GPS was stuck in Shanghai for the first day. It seemed like nothing I did helped. I didn't shut off my FT3 and the batteries drained completely. After charging, it seemed to go to my location just fine. I don't know if it was the batteries or I did something different. I didn't use it for actual navigation so I just used google maps.
Thing is.....leaving the tablet on until it switches itself off wont 'flatten the batteries'. these tablets are fitted with Lipo batteries, they require careful charging and discharging regimes, the internal charging software will shut the tablet down well before the cells are dead flat, this is why when you try to switch the tablet back on without re-charging the cells it just vibrates but wont switch on....the cells are not 'dead flat'. I wonder....did you leave the gps antenna connected during the cell discharge? maybe it just needed the extra time to get its fix?
Anyway.....glad your GPS is working now.
I noticed on mine the other day when I fired up google maps it thought I was back in Shanghai!!!... still trying to work that one out!!
Does anyone know why Ram is not reporting memory correctly? It is a Ibex Flytouch 3 with 512mb RAM 1GHz, bought from ************, but RAM is only 256
MB (checked form application Control .apk software).
Where is the 512mb RAM????????
I purchased the same from ******.com and 512MB ram shows up as 372.85Mbytes, 106.78 Mbytes free, 266.07Mbytes used after running Z-Device Test
Does anyone know why Ram is not reporting memory correctly? It is a Ibex Flytouch 3 with 512mb RAM 1GHz, bought from ************, but RAM is only 256
MB (checked form application Control .apk software).
Where is the 512mb RAM????????
I downloaded the application control.apk and couldn't see where it displayed the RAM in my system..?...however, I think you will find that most utilities will show the ram as 372MB, with around 200MB free..or less if you have apps running. This kinda means hat you have more than 256MB installed!.. my guess would be 128MB of the 512MB installed RAM is reserved for the video hardware leaving 384MB for the operating system
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I would like to know if anyone has a go pro video camera and if they do how quickly can you view lets say 150 pics when connected to the flytouch 3. i need it for the simplest function of quickly showing pics to a customer over a 3-5 min window of time. is this possoble or not? thanks
I have just ordered a FT3 from ************ after browsing this forum for a while. I just hope that I don't have some of the problems that others have had, but think that most problems can be overcome with the information on here.
I am considering buying a tablet for the first time and am looking at an 'Android 2.2 10.2" Superpad 3 8gb Epad/Apad.
Can anyone please advise as to what browsers can be used on this tablet?
I presently use Firefox on my home PC and am wondering if I can use it on this tablet.
Any other thoughts on the quality/usability of this tablet would also be appreciated.
@bobbyfisher
Many thanks for your comments.
I am in the UK and looking to buy on Ebay over here.
On checking the battery specs on the 10 or so Flytouch I have on my Ebay watch list only one shows as 8000mah and all the others show between 3800-6400 and thus would appear to be clones.
As you say I should do more homework on this before taking the plunge.
Again many thanks for the info.
Device(s): 2 x San Francisco 64GB (ZTE Blade), 1 x Galaxy Sii, 1 x Galaxy Tab 10, 1 x Galaxy Note,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hayhoe
@bobbyfisher
Many thanks for your comments.
I am in the UK and looking to buy on Ebay over here.
On checking the battery specs on the 10 or so Flytouch I have on my Ebay watch list only one shows as 8000mah and all the others show between 3800-6400 and thus would appear to be clones.
As you say I should do more homework on this before taking the plunge.
Again many thanks for the info.
Device(s): 2 x San Francisco 64GB (ZTE Blade), 1 x Galaxy Sii, 1 x Galaxy Tab 10, 1 x Galaxy Note,
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Hmm - that link when I click on it does not match the items I found in my search.
I found 8 items that matched my search, if you want me to list all the items individually - let me know.
imo - I would go for an 8gb to start with, if you need a bigger internal sd card then purchase a bigger faster sd card yourself and with a bit of diy you can easily put a 32gb class 10 inside for way cheaper than the one they ship with (usual a class II or sometimes a class 6), and you will get a slight performance boost, and the reading & writing to the card of copying data to it is much much faster.
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Device(s): 2 x San Francisco 64GB (ZTE Blade), 1 x Galaxy Sii, 1 x Galaxy Tab 10, 1 x Galaxy Note,
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And there have been many people who have bought from ebay UK who have got a FT3 as described, and it not being dropshipped, and it being despatched within 24 hours and arriving next day, which is always my preferred way of doing things. We have tough trading standard laws here in the UK who I would rather trust over any overseas falsely marked gift items that may arrive faulty and having to be shipped back at your own expense.
UK also has tight distance selling laws which protect UK users far more than anything shipped from overseas as well, refunds and returns (no matter what it says in the item description on ebay) are much more easily settled when dealing with a UK ebay member to a UK purchaser than when dealing with any overseas company who don't even answer customer emails.
As long as you do your homework prior to purchase, checking feedback, sending PMs to ebay sellers to see if they answer, I would always, always suggest buying from within the UK at any opportunity over sending my hard earned money overseas to an unknown and ungoverned business.
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The truth is, that you can order from a known real Flytouch 3 site and they can declare it as a gift and mark a low value of $25 so import taxes will not be a problem.
This is absolutely NOT TRUE. The customs declaration made by the Chinese exporter is the legal responsibility of the IMPORTER.. i.e. YOU. It is a commercial transaction.. it is NOT a gift. If the declaration is deemed as false you could by in very deep do-do with customs & excise....whatever your country.
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The truth is, that you can order from a known real Flytouch 3 site and they can declare it as a gift and mark a low value of $25 so import taxes will not be a problem.
With probably the largest drop shipping company being ************ who pushes the Ibex brand as "real" or "original". So then this logic would suggest you are likely not to get what is described from resellers using them because they the "drop shippers" .
Also take into account that the list of official reseller are sockpuppet web pages of CG an not independent sellers, all with a no refund at any time policy you are indeed rolling the dice with any of them. While you odds are slightly better than with some on a perfect unit, it remains a gamble non the less.
In the case of E-bay you have the ebay protection along side of paypal (if that is your payment method of choice). You also have the option of choosing a reseller based on rep and their return policies.Does the reseller supply or provide a return shipping receipt if there is an issue? A good reseller will give 7 to 14 days return for refund. Official Ibex reseller give 3 days, why? Because it is rare the pads arrive DOA and any other issues that may require a refund will pop up after 3 days.
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Yes.. its a clone. They are all clones. What model number is it? What model number do you want?
Do yourself a favour, go look at the new zenithink zt-280 z102. It is a single supplier, single point of support replacement for the FT3.
Cortex A9 processor
speakers that work
multipoint piezoelectric touchscreen (which is still resistive but very sensitive)
gps works inside without the external antenna (or so it is reported as!)
I'm pretty sure I read that skype video calls work too.
That is worth the extra over something that might, or might not be the model you want.
Does anyone know if I can use any usb card reader with google android 2.2 to transfer photos from a camera to a usb memory stick if I have a transfer box, or are the card readers only compatible with windows/OS ect.?
I'm going on a trip and want to use my tablet only as a transfer point to keep my camera memory free, instead of taking a chunky laptop.
Does anyone know if I can use any usb card reader with google android 2.2 to transfer photos from a camera to a usb memory stick if I have a transfer box, or are the card readers only compatible with windows/OS ect.?
I'm going on a trip and want to use my tablet only as a transfer point to keep my camera memory free, instead of taking a chunky laptop.
Cheers,
The FT3 USB ports are standard USB. It will recognise any USB memory card adapter, providing the tongue is long enough to reach the contacts!! (go on....ask me how i know!!)
If you want to be able to use Tim6a or FunnyComb custom roms for the Flytouch3 you need to buy a Disco10 based model. It seems as if iBex Flytouch 3 is the only one with Disco10 anymore. The others are P041 Superpad III which is not compatible with those roms.
Also, does anyone know what this is? I'm guessing an ft3 or newer due to the single tf slot....I'm not 100% sure if it's updateable in the rom section or if the internal card is replaceable either....anybody got opinions on it? Zenithink ZT280 Z102 Flytouch 5 Android 2.3 4GB
-Mike.
Last edited by SuperPad; November 29th, 2011 at 04:42 PM.
Also, does anyone know what this is? I'm guessing an ft3 or newer due to the single tf slot....I'm not 100% sure if it's updateable in the rom section or if the internal card is replaceable either....anybody got opinions on it? Zenithink ZT280 Z102 Flytouch 5 Android 2.3 4GB
-Mike.
IMHO
The Disco10 tablet is not such a good deal as it has been removed!!!
The Zenithink Z102 is a much better tablet than the FT3... for a start you wont have the multiple model problems and it has the A9 Cortex CPU which is streets ahead of the x220. It is more expensive (of course!) but well worth it.
Sorry, it worked perfectly when I posted it, it was listed at $169 buy it now with free s/h. Flytouch 3 Android 2.2 4GB
Thanks for redirecting me to the seller's most frequented site, this'll help in communication. I was just trying to get a heads up before dumping more money down the drain like I did on that crappy superpad3 a few months back. It cost me $229 and wasn't returnable. I was about to jump the gun on that zenithink but just wanted to know what anyone thought first.
Thanks again, Mike.
Last edited by SuperPad; November 30th, 2011 at 09:14 PM.
I just bought a Flytouch III on 10/21, came in a box marked SuperPad III. Bought it on a website (umibuy.com) and it shipped directly from Hong Kong. Was $159, shipping free to the USA (Texas). Took 11 days from order to delivery. Arrived in GREAT shape. They took Paypal, which I used and recommend when dealing with Asian website purchases.
In the SETTINGS->ABOUT DEVICE, it states that it is a Model Number DISCO10.
Android version 2.2-20110803
Kernel version 2.6.32.9, Build number FRF85B
I am very happy with it. The speakers are horrible, but with a headset- all is well.
It plays every movie file that I have thrown at it. Very nice quality. No lag- no audio sync problems. Plays all of my music library also.
The GPS started off in Shanghai, until I attached the (included) external GPS antenna. It took about 10 minutes (indoors) to locate me correctly (and accurately) on the included MAPS application. The device (after all) has to locate a half dozen satellites to "fix" your position.
I purchased a 16GB MicroSD card (at a local retailer) to hold several seasons of TV programs that I watched on a LONG 16 hour flight to London->Dubai->Afghanistan. Worked flawlessly (recharged the battery in between layovers).
The tablet will also play movies/audio files from USB sticks with no problem (something that an Apple iPad cannot do!).
The battery life with GPS and WiFi off is about 5 hours from "fully charged" when just watching movies. Switch on the WiFi and you (may) get an hour of internet browsing. Switch on the GPS and a half hour later the tablet is drained.
The screensaver plastic that comes with the FT3 quickly peeled at the corners and I had to tape it down. I am searching for adequate and better quality ones that will cover the space and stay put (any suggestions)?
I downloaded a few apps from the web (not the marketplace) and they appear to run properly. The Dolphin Browser is almost a requirement. The included browser stutters on some sites. The Dolphin Browser is clean, crisp, and precise.
For the price, I really like my FT3. I bought it for less than half the price of an Apple iPad. My primary purposes are for reading e-books, watching movies, listen to MP3s, and for the GPS capabilities (in case I get lost). All are fulfilled by this device. I highly recommend.
I have used the tablet to access email, surf the web, take pictures (webcam is adequate for low quality pictures), fix a few GPS locations, read a few e-books (in PDF format), and generally impress my co-workers who now want to get one.
Hey guys I have a quick question about this Tablet.... When it comes to WiFi if im in my car or other social places will the internet work without me paying for it?....or do i have to buy internet service in order to use the internet in public areas other then my home?! Thank you guys
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Internet works the same as with any wifi-connected device.
You'll want to open Settings > Wireless and Networks > Wifi Settings to select the network. Then, for free wifi networks, you might need to open your browser after connecting - lots of free networks want you to login using their custom login page in the browser (it comes up automatically when you try to access some page like Google on the Internet.)
I agree with you, that is a good review, fair and without sales blurb. The company you link also claims to have the disco10 model....and i thought the disco10 was only available from iBex.... well found!
Last edited by Slug; January 9th, 2012 at 11:02 AM.
Reason: Removed advertising link
Flytouch 3 quick review
. DHL couldn't deliver and I had to call and set things straight.
) The stock browser plays video with everyone having Blue heads...very nice. Still can't get angry birds to install. Did the remove the SD Card thing...didn't help. Can't get Quick office to download. 
inaccurate RAM reading
