Coby Kyros Android Tablet Review

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My sister was so envious of my Cherry Pad Advance when she saw me playing with it and having lots of things (useful things) and fun things installed on it made her more wanting to buy an android tablet so she bought the Coby Kyros MID7048. You can't imagine the happiness she felt when she told me the news of their new tablets (their because she and her boyfriend bought at the same time) and asked for my help in installing all necessary programs. She will be needing it if she ever goes to Singapore and look for a job - I do pray for her job search success.

Back to their newly acquired tablet. I checked the outside appearance, touched it and tried to get a feeling of jealousy. It look elegant at first glance but the feeling of the plastic used on the tablet doesn't feel that elegant, in fact it feels cheap, of course what would you expect for a cheap android tablet right? Well, Cherry Pad Advance feels elegant. Okay, I was probably judging the book by its cover so the next thing was inspecting the software. Here are the specs for everyone's curiosity:

• 7.0 Inch LCD Capacitive Multi-touchscreen 16:9 (WVGA 800 x 480)
• High-speed 1 GHz processor
• 1GB of RAM for seamless multi-tasking
• Browse the web, watch Youtube®videos, check e-mail, and much more with AndroidTM 4.0
• Connect to the Internet wirelessly with high-speed networking support (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n)
• Plays popular video, music, and photo formats
• Application marketplace to download and enjoy popular games and apps
• E-book reader - download and read thousands of books (ePub standard)
• Expandable memory to 32GB with optional microSDHC card
• View pages in portrait or landscape with automatic orientation sensor
• Rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

In spite of the disappointments I've seen, the camera was quite better than of Cherry Pad Advance. The only problem which is also critical to the tablet was the application installer or the vending application which is the Google Play. It is using a vending app called GetJar (which sounds like Java Apps - dunno! but it sucks). Google Play isn't per-installed on the tablet. When she asked the seller if Google Play is supported they said Yes. So they went hope happily only to be disappointed. I tried installing Google Play and was successful at it but the application didn't work at all. Even Gmail application was installed successfully but it didn't work too. I tried looking at the internet for a solution to their problem but didn't find an easy answer. It seems the solution is to root the application or manually install the Google Play which is quite technical or very advance for them, even for me. 

Smart devices were supposedly for dumb people, that's why they were invented in the first place but it was as dumb as hell. So imagine a dumb person using a dumb device. I'm not saying people who use smart devices are dumb (cause I own one, two actually) but what i am trying to say is that smart devices were invented so people don't have to pay attention to the details and just use the device easily and make their life easy. 

While I tried to fix the issue, I voiced out my disappointment not knowing the doubled disappointment of my sister. To ease those feelings, I just told her that we can return the device and just hope for a replacement. Anyways, the saleslady did say it can use Google Play which is a lie or just their plain ignorance so I guess it is one ground to return the device and get their money back or replace it with a better one. One more thing I discovered is that the product was already discontinued, check it here.

So what's with Google Play anyways? Well, most of the applications can be found at Google Play. It is a great vending application which is also great in tracking updates for your installed application. GetJar also serve as a vending application but it sucks excellent and the text is very hard to read because of the small fonts.

So overall, it sucks. Please beware in buying this particular model. Before you buy any Coby, I suggest you research for faults you can find on the internet.