By Back in August 2009, we were shown a mobile internet device that – at least externally – impressed the hair off our heads. The device was officially shown the next month and it looked even better than before. Around December (this was when Eclair was first being talked about), we learned that the device would be shipping with Android 1.5.
Fast forward to now and the RAmos W7 is finally shipping for about $150 (999 yuan which comes out to about $146). The specs remain the same across the board ( 4.8-inch touchscreen, 128-megs of RAM, a 600mhz Rockchip processor, 8-gigs of internal storage, etc) and that includes the software: this tablet *still* sports Android 1.5. Pocketables is also reporting that it’s not guaranteed that this thing would be seeing any upgrades in the future.
Regardless, the device is out there now and available for purchase. It does support Flash Lite and comes with WiFi for connectivity. There’s also a healthy selection of video and audio formats to choose from. Unfortunately, we can’t confirm that this device will have access to the Android market. Yay? Nay?
Android 1.5????? Pass…
Is it really that difficult to get a tablet that is on an up to date platform? At the rate of android updates, I’d be surprised to ever find a tablet that is up to date. A really big out off in my opinion.
looks great I’ll give it that, but 1.5…. hell no…
This is unfortunately the downside to have a series of Tech that is updating at an extreme rate. Android is adapting so rapidly that most of the hardware devs cant keep up. I dont blame the hardware companies, and i dont blame Google, the only real people to blame here is the users who are constantly pushing android to be the latest and greatest. And thats why I love android.
What, why oy why 1.5, I’m trying to get 2.1 and hoping for 2.2, if I waqnted 1.5 I’d get a DeLorean and travel back 2 years to when I first got my G1!
Given I have my Samsung Galaxy stuck on 1.5 would not want another device left in the same place. Companies are going to have to learn people will expect the software to go through at least several release versions, not be stuck on a very old release. The picture looks very nice as well, the price sounds great but not on 1.5.
I will not buy an android tablet til theres one big enough with 2.2
@AntonioMendoza3, that was probably the greatest comment i’ve ever read. thank you.
As Google has commented already – they’re not going to slow down. The competition and the pace will weed out weak ‘me-too’ hardware vendors (like this one above). Slowing down for ‘partner ecosystem’ killed Windows Mobile progress.
So, while it’s harsh, I’d rather see android moving forward. Even if it means there will be a flood of crappy devices like this on the market – noone forces you to buy one, right? But for $150 I’m comfortable e.g. putting it on the wall as a home-automation touch-screen controller :)
@Antonio NICE!
@phandroid(you guys should think about adding a up vote and down vote comment thingy)
As for the tablet much agreed, I’ll have to pass 1.5 is to little to late… but i sure does look clean =P
The killer for me isn’t really 1.5, not for what I’d use it for anyway (basic net browsing, etc). The killer is the screen size. Why would I want a tablet that is only 1″ or so larger than my phone? I would like a device that is large enough to spend several hours at a coffee shop with, without having a migraine trying to read what’s on the screen.
Totally agree with Paul T, too small. Be nice if there was something between the size of this and the iPad, with 2.2 running on it, of course.
So no one wants to actually compete with the iPad yet I see. well, when a “I will not buy an android tablet til theres one big enough with 2.2” comes out then it should be murderous. And imagine lets say, a Droid Pad commercial. SOLD!
I’m not going to get a tablet that is running a version of Android under 2.2. not because i think all tablets need to be up to date. but because at 600mhz its not really that fast but with 2.2 that 600mhz could feel like 1.2ghz because of JIT. i have the Samsung Moment with an 800mhz CPU and I don’t want a tablet that is slower then my phone….
Getting the latest Android OS version on a tablet is easy.
just make one without any SENSE UI and ship it with a Nexus One ROM on it, so that any future updates that come out, can be easily flashed to the Tablet.
Given that it’s by no means certain that all the 2.1 phones will be upgradeable to 2.2 (and beyond – who’s to say that the Desire will be able to run 2.3), with Google describing them (to say nothing of 1.5/1.6) as legacy, it would be crazy for anyone to buy one other than in a really cheap `bargain bin` situation. These devices might even qualify as such – perhaps it would cost an extra $50-100 to give them the hardware required to support later versions. I’d be interested in seeing a list of exactly what is required for each version of Android.
I am no programmer, however I would really like someone to explain what is it what hinders many companies to just slap the latest OS on their hardware? What exactly is the hold up? I just want to understand where the work is involved…
Screen isn’t much bigger than an Evo with a lesser processor, older OS, and smaller memory allocation.
is it not possible for a reugalr joe to download 2.2 and put it on? or is it really that hard to port this stuff?
I would seriously consider buying this if it ran a newer version of Android. Why are there no good tablets available?
What’s with Android and open source and still all these limitations
Has anyone managed to put a different os on these yet? if someone was able to get 2.1 on it, id buy one right now.
you can buy it here
http://www.allpmp.com/goods.php?u=19287&id=220
can order from website: http://www.yes-unique.com