Just before the onslaught of tablets announced at CES this year, Coby released its Kyros line. The Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet ($199 list) is an Android 2.1-based device with a 7-inch screen.
Not only is it using a version of Android not intended for tablets, but its resistive touch screen isn't a multi-touch display like the Apple iPad's, so there's no pinching and expanding for quick zooming. The MID7015 performs adequately at best. It's not as graceful as the Samsung Galaxy Tab (starts at $399, 3 stars), not quite as useful as the also sub-par Dell Streak 7 ($199.99, 2.5 stars), and not even in the same ballpark as the much-more-expensive ($499-$829) iPad. If you can wait, the tablet-focused Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) should usher in a better era for tablets in the coming months.
Design
Measuring 7.5 by 0.5 by 4.8 inches with a 7-inch, 800-by-400-pixel resistive touch screen, the MID7015 is a mid-size tablet—decidedly smaller than the iPad and on a size par with the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Coby announced more Kyros tablets at CES, most with multi-touch screens instead of the less-desirable resistive touch featured on the MID7015, but they're not yet available. The black, plastic MID7015 comes with a case that doubles as a stand—a nice add-on considering the price and that the iPad's case, which is essential, is an extra accessory. The MID7015 also comes with earphones, unlike the iPad, along with a power adapter, a screen-cleaning cloth, and a mini-USB sync cable.
A stylus is tucked into the corner of the upper right panel; it isn't necessary to operate the screen, but can be helpful when trying to select small text on a Web page—a scenario that, unfortunately, comes up often. A Home/Menu switch rests below the stylus on the right panel, and the bottom panel houses a mini-USB connection, HDMI out, a microSD slot, power adapter input, and an oddly placed Power button—awkward because it's very close to a strap on the case, which occasionally pressed the button by accident. Also, during my testing, the Power button jammed on occasion, making turning the device on or off difficult. The button below the screen is not a Home button (as is traditionally the case), but a backwards navigation button, which isn't intuitive.
Performance
As stated earlier, the touch screen is not as sensitive as it could be, but for a resistive touch display, it offers better-than-average performance. The real issues come into play when trying to select smaller links or stories in the Web browser. And you can't pinch or expand your fingers to zoom in or out on images or Web pages, so it's either reach for the stylus or use the edge of a fingernail. The browser experience is typical Android 2.1—there's no Flash support, so most Web videos won't play, and many of the Web sites you hit will load as mobile versions. Because the tablet only supports 802.11b/g, the may be slower than you may be accustomed to if you're surfing on an 802.11n network. I had issues loading even the mobile version of the New York Times, which the MID7015 defaults to when www.nyt.com is entered. At first, the browser said it could not find the page, but it eventually loaded after about thirty seconds. On the Samsung Galaxy Tab, meanwhile, the same URL pressed at the same time (and using the same network) loaded the full New York Times page in under eight seconds. This isn't exactly the Internet in your hands.
While the Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak 7 have full access to the Android Market, which has well-developed apps from recognizable names like American Express and Chase, along with games like Angry Birds, the MID7015 adopts the AppsLib, a market developed and licensed by Archos. AppsLib has always felt like an unfiltered jumble of user-generated, decent-at-best apps. Finding quality apps isn't easy, and it's a huge downside of Archos tablets and the MID7015.
Apps that come loaded on the tablet are of the typical Android variety: a YouTube Video player, Aldiko (an ebook reader), E-mail, Gallery, Music player, Browser, Calculator, Alarm Clock, and the aforementioned AppsLib. The music and video apps are typical of the Android 2.1 experience—they get the job done, but don't expect anything flashy like you see on, say, the iPad.
Loading content on the tablet using Android 2.1 is not as automatic as it is with an iPad or even a cheap MP3 player. Connecting via USB doesn't prompt the tablet to ask whether you want to charge it only, or if you want to mount its hard drive and load content—you have to use a pull-down menu at the top of the home screen and select these options yourself. While this isn't a huge knock, it is yet another example of how Android 2.1 is not ideal for a tablet. (Even Android 2.2, which also isn't tablet-optimized, doesn't suffer from this.) Another irksome quality: after you disconnect the tablet from your PC, there is a significant lag time if you want to immediately play the audio or video files you just synced. The MID7015 even froze a few times trying to play files immediately after syncing them. Tapping the Home button generally fixed the problem, but it's not exactly a graceful process.
Photos and videos are confusingly lumped together in the Gallery menu, while the Video Player is actually a YouTube app. Video and photos look pleasantly crisp on the display, but despite the tablet's support for HD video, it cannot play it back at full resolution on the 800-by-400 screen. There is an HDMI-out connection so you can watch 1080p content on your television—an increasingly popular feature, and one that the iPad lacks. (The iPad can stream content to a TV using AirPlay, but not at full 1080p.)
Coby was unable to confirm a full file support list for the MID7015, but we were able to load a typical array, so consider this an informal guide to what file types are supported. For audio: AAC, MP3, OGG, WMA, WMA Lossless (all non-DRM); for video: MPEG4, WMV, DVIX and AVI; for photo: JPG BMP, PNG, and GIF. The company doesn't publish battery life estimates, but our labs battery tests are underway, and results will be posted here soon.
The MID7015 may be just $200, but unlike the iPad, it is easy to find it for well below its list price—you can find it online for about $150. To its credit, it tested better than the much more expensive Viewsonic Viewpad 7 ($599, 2.5 stars) and the similarly priced Cherrypal Cherrypad ($188, 2 stars). Up against the identically-priced Dell Streak 7, however, it is a far lesser machine. That is a damning fact, as the Streak 7 have plenty of issues of its own. If you don't need a tablet right now, I recommend waiting a few months until Coby—and many of its competitors—unleash a wave of higher performance tablets armed with Honeycomb, the first version of the Android OS (3.0) specifically designed for tablets. If you can't wait, the Streak 7 is better—but not much—and the Galaxy Tab is much better, but more expensive.
Source : www.pcmag.com by Tim Gideon.
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