[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] olivialee:
Android tablet pc is popular not only for cheap price but also a variety of choices. When you walk into a store or browse an electronic online store to buy a tablet, your thoughts may be in a mess facing so many models. In this post, I’d like to introduce the basic but significant elements of Android tablet pc to help you out.

SOC (System on a Chip)

Nowadays most of the Android tablet pc manufacturers are from small factories, Shenzhen, China. Before a tablet comes out, several steps need to be processed, during which the design of SOC is the key to decide the quality of a tablet. Here are some common SOC in the market.

1. VIA8650 is designed by VIA Technologies, Inc, who provides a stable and mature turekey solution. It has the hardware and software both debugged. Manufacturers can directly produce tablets based on the design without any change. Its highlight is its super cheap price, and so is the tablet produced.

EKEN M009S and Gpad M009B both VIA8650.

2. AML8726 (Amlogic 8726) is one of the quite mature SOCs that can support Android 2.3 in China. It has Cortex A9, 65nm LP and 800MHz CPU Clock Speed. Mali400 GPU (Graphic Process Unit) is applied on it so large 3D games can run on it smoothly. Another advantage is that it supports HTML5, which can play online videos. Apple products only support HTML5 instead of FLASH, so AML8726 gives you iPad experience.

Z280-R10 and Q7 both AML8726

3. RK2918 (RockChip 2918)

RK2918 has updated to SDK 2.0 (Software Development Kit), which can copy the interface of Android 3.0. Cortex A8, 1GHz CPU contributes to better and stable performance on graphic processing than A9. There is no problem to play 1080P videos on it.

Wopad i7

Below are the results of RK2918′s performance in two tests: Neocore test and Nbench, higher is better.

Other good SOCs: Samsung PV210 that has good performance and support many games but TF card ROM decreases its life and stability; Renesas EV2 uses Dual-core A9 which consumes less power but large games don’t run well on it.

RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read-Only Memory)

RAM is a form of computer data storage, which can be both read and written, the larger the faster. The smallest one is only 256MB, like VIA8650. Common Android tablet pcs have 512MB RAM, and at least DDR (Double Data Rate), usually DDR2 and DDR3.

ROM usually reaches 2GB, 4GB, 8GB or higher. Another element is the Extend Card. Maybe the ROM of a tablet is only 2GB, but it supports TF card that can extend to 32GB. It’s also great, is it?

Touch Screen

Next comes to the touch screens. Normally VIA8650 uses the resistive screen. But the resistive screen gives uncomfortable touch feelings. As a result, more and more tablets now use the capacitive screen instead of resistive screen, although the former is much more expensive than the latter. Besides, it comes to TFT screen. There are diverse sizes, 7 inch, 8 inch, 9.7 inch and 10.1 inch. You can choose the corresponding according to your purpose. More advanced screen is IPS screen which can give better experiences.

All the basic elements above can be read on the package of an Android tablet pc or in the description page of an online product. Keep all of them in mind when you choose your android tablet pc. It’s our pleasure to give you detailed guidance to wise shopping, especially electronic gadgets, like tablets and android cell phones. To be continued.