[Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking] up4sd:
OK. So I caved and brought the Rena A9 Tablet on Monday(deal page is here） after getting some expert tips on how to sell the Aishuo A816 My A816 is still not sold yet but I'm pretty confident that eventually I should be close to breaking even on that purchase.

Anyway, I got my RENA A9 TABLET and here's a quick comparison against the A816. Keep in mind that all of this is subjective and each person is going to have their own opinions.

Pros:

I got this tablet for the battery life. And I have to say the battery life does feel longer. I've been using it with wifi on and it seems to be handling itself much better than the A816. But my perception could vary after a week or two with it.

I also like the file structure much better on RENA A9 TABLET. It actually separates internal drive under NAND instead of the A816's SDCard. I think this makes it easier for beginning user to figure out whats going on.

The screen size is AWESOME.At first I was ADAMANT that I would not purchase a screen size smaller than 8". I really liked the A816 for reading ebooks, manga on perfect viewer etc. But after receiving the 7", I can say that when I purchase my "branded" tablet w/ replaceable battery, I'm choosing a 7"! It's a hell alot more portable and much lighter than the A816. Reading manga + ebooks weren't overly straining. It is slightly smaller than the A816 but even w/o perfect vision, I had no problem reading it.

Screen brightness and clarity seems a little better to me on the A9 TABLET. But this is pretty subjective. I just feel I'm seeing things a little more clearer on the A9 TABLET.

Cons:

Bootup is not on par with the A816. When I start up the A9 TABLET, it boots into the Home Screen pretty quick. The problem is after it boots into the home screen, it takes much longer to load the widgets and apps. The system is reading the nand, microsd and doing some thumbnail thingee and then looking for media. All this takes much longer than my A816. In addition, when you are in App2SD, the A816 would literally build the app list quickly and let you know which apps are in the movable vs SD vs phone. I never even realize it was doing that on the A816. BUT, when I'm on the RENA A9 TABLET, i can literally see it building that list and waiting for a minute before I can start moving apps.

Software on the Rena A9 TABLET is definitely not as good as A816. Things just move smoothly and fast with no lag or hang time. I can't tell if it's because its an Android 2.2 vs 2.3 issue or whether the A816 had much better firmware . For example, I run LauncherPro + Fancy Widget + Extended Control widgets on my home screen. I'm in App2SD and decide to hit home button. The tablet will literally just hang and take a few seconds to load up home screen. There were also 2 instances where it just totally crashed and I had to reset.

I've read that WiFi strength isn't very good and I definitely agree that it sux compared to the A816. With the A816, I can be in a large room and get full bar service. With the A9 TABLET, wifi strength seems to fluctuate quite a lot. At times, I'm 20FT away from the router and still in the same room. The RENA A9 TABLET will have 1 bar then increase to full bar and then drop back down to 2 bar for no apparent reason. Whereas my A816, would always had full strength.

Lack of full USB port on the A9 TABLET is a downer. I went in knowing that they don't have it but I still would have prefer if it was built into the RENA A9 TABLET. It's so much more convenient for me to plug my usb flash drive to the tablet and transfer files over. I know there's the cable that allows you to connect to USB drive. But that's an extra cable to carry when I'm away.

Neutral:

Screen Type - I know Capacitive is suppose to be better. BUT, I'm really not used to it. I find myself constantly jabbing and scrolling with nails. And it's not because I'm used to the A816, but rather because I've never had a capacitive. I'm trying to get used to it by playing alot of fruit ninja. Which I guess is helping a little. But at the end of the day I absolutely prefer my A816 screen (for now). Maybe my tunes will change 2-3 weeks down the road after I get used to it.

Body - I liked the A816 body a bit. It feels like if I happen to drop it, it won't break whereas the RENA A9 TABLET, I've been a bit more careful with. ALTHOUGH, the dull plastic on A816 does look a bit uglier then nice and shiny RENA A9 TABLET...

Overall, neither the A816 or the Rena A9 TABLET is THE perfect tablet. Both of them does what it's designed to do with some not so optimal experiences for a LOW price. There's no easy answer as to if you should jump on the RENA A9 TABLET if you have the A816. You just need to take into consideration your likely usage and then decide if the cons really affect you that much. For example, I do very light web browsing. Mainly used it for reading and playing some games. So for me, even though I hate the lesser wifi strength, I can live with it as the battery far outweighs it and the game does run smoothly.

Ps:I don't know where i should put this review,if it is in the wrong forum,please just move that. thanks.