[General Topics] Catwiesel:
Hello there,

in september 2012 I bought my first tablet, a LC-Power MIRA-1. Shortly after, on the 19th I posted a [Q] post here because I had a few questions. In the following weeks, some replies back and forth, more quirks came to light.

In short, I was semi-happy with the MIRA-1 (everything was fine save a few situations where the single-core tablet speed could not really keep up, for example, starting firefox and the keyboard, it always froze 2-3 secs "firefox is not responding. close/wait?")

Still, I do believe, I learned some valuable lessons about android and others with the MIRA-1 or thinking about getting one were helped too.

Fade in today.

I recently bought the new LC-Power SINA-1. It cost me 200EUR (Germany). In comparison, the MIRA-2 (which is like the MIRA-1 with an extra camera and a smaller rechargeable battery) still costs 160 EUR

I found the new SINA-1 to be a very interesting product, especially considering the price.

I came here to write my own review. I am in no way affiliated with LC-Power and I do not get a dime for writing this.

My motive for writing this and yes, maybe even advertise, is very simple. First of all, xda-developer has helped me before and I'd like to give back. More importantly however, I believe in tablets that do not cost an arm and an leg as well as the android (modding) community. I would very much love to see the LC-Power tablets get the attention they deserve...

Thank you for keeping with me so far. Let us begin!

Technical specs for the new SINA-1 tablet:

CPU: ARM Cortex A9 Dual Core 1,5GHz

GPU: Mali 400 QuadCore 250MHz

RAM: 1GB DDR3

Memory: System 1GB + 16GB NAND Flash (+ MicroSD up to 32GB)

Display: 10.1" IPS 5 Point Touchscreen, 1280x800

Networking: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0

Cameras: 0.3MP front, 2MP back

Connectors: micro-HDMI out, micro-USB host, micro-USB connector, 3.5mm headphones jack

OS: Android 4.1

Want to know more? google it :)

As I mentioned before, the tablet costs 200 EUR (Onlineshop, Germany, Dec, 15th 2012)

Material and built quality:

The first impression is very good. The tablet feels solid, has a certain weight to it, but is not too heavy.

The front appears to be glas and if it is not, it must be a very hard plastic. The back is made out of aluminium. I have no doubt that both can be scratched, please forgive me for not doing the experimentation on that. However, in a few days of extensive (time) yet normal (application) use, I have yet to see any marks besides fingerprints.

Where the front and back meet I can not feel any sharp edge (MIRA-1 I could).

It is very thin (quite a bit thinner than the MIRA tablet and a bit higher as well)

Overall, I would give the material and quality very good marks. I dont doubt that it could be better in some regard, even if I can't name one right now.

Display (visual):

The 1280x800 resolution suits the tablet well. It is definately a neccesary step up from 1024x768 (MIRA). Even if I did not exactly see pixalation with the old ones, the picture is indeed better with the higher resolution. Webpages like reddit look sharp, the text in 100% zoom is not too small. Pictures look vivid and good. Videos are even better (given the source material is of sufficient resolution itself).

The viewing angles are what you would expect from an IPS panel. Frontal (no angle) is best, the more you move to the side and increase the angle, the more you lose contrast and brightness. I have seen worse and have yet to observe the "picture went negative", but viewing some content with 2-3 people should not be a problem when you dont mind sticking your heads together :)

The brightness (350cd/m²) is good, in fact, in a dark room you may want to lower it a bit. Even on the lowest setting it is not too dark.

The contrast is equally good, or should I say "normal". It did not attract attention, neither positive nor negative...

First tests with a bright (300W) lightsource led me to believe that the glossy display does not become a shaving mirror when you have a bright light behind you, but it is definately harder to see the picture. Especially noticeable with movies.

Due to it being winter without sun, I can not test the tablet with summer-sun-brightness outside. I fear the results will not be too good. You may want to keep that in mind if you live in africa and will be using the tablet in the sun - might be trouble. (Then again, I don't know any tablet that has a matte display)

The illumination (is that the right word?) - the background light source illuminating the display with the same brightness consistenly - is adequate. There are a few bright spots (tested with a black fullscreen per 1.0 eyeball), especially on the lower left corner/border).

It is not noticeable when looking at brightly coloured images, but it will be a nuisance when watching a movie which is very dark.

I felt that here, my old MIRA-1 did do better. There, I never noticed bright spots like this before.

Display (touch):

The 5-point-capacitive display does very well in accepting touches, even light ones. 2-point touch (zoom) works equally great and the short test with fruit ninja confirmes that 5 points can be tracked. I did not experience any noticeable lag with 1,2 or 5 points in normal operation.

If you take a paint app and draw with your finger, a slight lag can be observed, however, as I understand current technology, this is common and just the way it is.

In conclusion, the display visually is adequate. Are there better displays out there? Yes, definately. Do you get them for 200 EUR? Definately not! Do you need a better display? Well, I can not answer that for you. In my opinion, the illumination is the only real and still overlookable drawback, everything else is fine. 8/10

The touchscreen part of the display is as it should be. I can not really imagine some way to improve it. 10/10

Together 9/10

Actual Performance:

The performance is quite good and right were it should be. There are faster tablets and phones out there and if we were talking about speed in my workstation or gaming rig, I would be right there with the "FASTER!!!!"-crowd. But since I don't plan on playing skyrim or bf3, rendering 3d images or encoding hd-videos on the tablet, I dont need huge speed reserves, I want a tablet that performs well with the usual tasks like webpage browsing, playing media files and so on.

As mentioned before, this is one of the main problems I had with the old MIRA tablet. 2-3sec freezes, applications (mainly the browser) that did not react and had to be waited for. With the SINA-1 they are gone. The OS works like a charm, switching applications goes instantly, browsing webpages is fun and the waiting in the browser now is for the reason it should be - networking speed! (browsing with firefox+adblock+hackers keyboard)

Since the old MIRA did perform well with movies and the games that I tested, it is no wonder that the SINA-1 does perform equally good. HD videos work well, jumping around in them works fast, even over HDMI with 1920x1080.

And I have yet to find a game that does not run perfectly on the SINA-1. I have tested the occasional gamer games like Angry Birds, some RPGs and even some 3D shooters.

It is hard to give points for the performance. On the one hand, I am fully satisfied (10/10), on the other hand are tablets and phones being sold with much much more power, at least on paper.

Button/Connector placement:

There are only two buttons, power and volume up/down. Both are placed on the right higher side, where I would have placed them myself. They feel high-quality (they dont dangle/wiggle) and have a distinct pressure point that needs some force. This helps you in knowing when you actually pressed the button and not press buttons by accident.

The connectors are on top (right side). One exception would be the headphone jack which is on the right side above the buttons.

The USB host (where you can plug in normal usb devices) is no longer a common USB port (like MIRA had), but a micro-USB. A short adapter cable came with the tablet.

The normal USB host (where you connect your tablet with the pc to access the memory/sdcard from the pc) is also micro-USB. A longer cable came with the tablet.

I would have liked the normal USB port to stay.

Also, these two distinct different USB ports look the same. Some attention must be payed to not confuse them.

HDMI is mini-HDMI. Adapter did NOT come with the tablet. (Which would have been nice!)

Power In is 5V at 2.5A. Adapter came with the tablet (duh!) - the cable is a bit short for my taste. About the same as with the MIRA before.

Note: the tablets rechargeable battery can no longer be loaded over USB

The connectors are close together, but not too close. you should be able to connect all 3/4 with power at the same time.

The microSD slot is on the right side, almost on the back.

Speaker: The speaker(s?) is on the backside. I feel like the device is not as loud as the MIRA tablets, but still works well for watching movies or listening to music in a normal room when you are alone.

Software:

Android 4.1 is working great.

Some might argue there are a few needless apps preinstalled. For example Google Maps and Navigation on a device which has no GPS and no mobile internet built in.

But there is no real crapware either.

Google Play:

Google Play is installed and working fine. The device gets shown as "Rockchip SINA-1"

I did run into some trouble with my old MIRA-1 and some apps. A few were apparently not compatible (although I did not understand why), others that were compatible did refuse to install (I can not and will not exclude a layer 8 problem here)

All those apps work now with the SINA-1. Install is fast and there is no trouble. The 16GB memory will suffice for a lot of apps.

Battery:

The rechargeable battery is a bit less powerfull than the one in the MIRA-1 and a bit more powerfull than the one in the MIRA-2.

Still, with the higher speed and I would assume, higher resolution, more power is needed. Hence with usage, the charging level does indeed go down. Quite a bit faster than with the MIRA-1. I will have to correct my earlier estimate from 5-6hrs down to 4-5hrs.

In fact, bring your loader if you are gonna go out all day and will be using the tablet much.

Support:

LC-Power is usually quick in answering normal support emails, but they will not exactly fall over each other trying to resolve any exotic issue that might come up. Maybe if you speak mandarin and mail them directly at tech and dev headquarters in probably china you might have some luck, but I doubt that the LC-Power people in Germany, USA or UK or ... had much to say about developing the device and customizing the android (except of course, maybe some translation)

Also, do not expect regular android updates or any long time support and new android versions. 2-3 months ago I was promised 4.1 for the MIRA-1, still hasn't been released.

Connectivety:

Wireless LAN b/g/n is working as intended. I feel however, that the signal strength is weaker than with the MIRA-1 tablet.

Bluetooth: What can I say. Its Bluetooth. Its there, it can be used, it works...

Mobile internet: Only per additional USB dongle (or tether your mobile phone...)

Ethernet: Apparently there are USB dongles for Ethernet LAN out there. Havent seen one yet, but I havent looked hard either.

Modding:

So far, there has yet to establish a big LC-Power community with modders, mods and custom roms. I really really hope it will happen some time. But dont hold your breath, you are on your own. Spread the word of the LC-Power devices, lets get a high enough market share an the chances of a active modding community will rise dramatically. Or do it yourself...

So...

if you dont care about mods and custom roms, the SINA-1 is ok for you.

If you want to play around, learn android, program aps, make mods, maybe even a custom rom, feel free to give the SINA-1 a try.

If you want to download the newest custom ROM, install it per 10 step manual and prag in school about your mad hacking and modding skills, look someplace else...

Rooting:

The device does not come pre-rooted. (MIRA did)

I welcome that change to some degree. I honestly believe in not giving the run-of-the-mill users the ability to break something beyond their own (or even some specialist) capability to repair it.

Then again, I also am not fond of the tricks one has to employ to actually root a device IF someone knows what he is doing and wants to use a device to its full potential.

That being said, it was relatively easy to root the SINA-1. Instructions at the end of my review :)

One last sentence about the stock ROM. It is not available for download (at least I could not find it). I know of no way to reflash it or recover a bricked device. You wont find extensive help, manuals and tipps to that end. Make sure to have an appropriate backup and/or tread carefully.

I myself will investigate, if you have any insight into that topic, feel free to contact me...

Summary/Conclusion

I really like this tablet. A lot. I found it superior to the MIRA-1 in almost all aspects (especially speed, compatability, screen resolution and build quality). It has however its week points (battery run time, uneven lightning of the display).

Since it is a 10" tablet without mobile internet, it obviously was made for home usage. Browsing webpages from the couch, watching a movie while your in a room without a TV, or listening to music without bringing your stereo, add a game now and then when you are bored. This is where this tablet shines. I could imagine it being used in a work environment / office as well. And when the batterie gets low, you hook it up.

The occasional traveler should be happy as well. Get a dongle or tether it to your phone and you can surf the web in the bus/train. Hook up your headphones and watch a movie (just hope the sun doesnt shine too much). Also, dont expect the tablet to last a flight around the world without loading up...

All in all, a very decent device with a very attractive price.

So should you get it? Well, it depends...

If you have a MIRA-1 or 2 and you are really happy with them, you dont care about waiting 1-2sec for some apps. Then dont get the SINA-1

If you have ANY other single core tablet that is not up to its tasks, makes you wait for apps, annoys you in some way, yes, give the SINA-1 a try - and sell the old one for some cash...

If you are thinking about getting the MIRA-1 or 2 (or another similar single-core device), try really hard to look for the other 40 EUR and get the SINA-1. Or get the MIRA used for like half its retail (~80 EUR), but be warned about the possibility of the tablet being to slow now and then

If you have another dual-core (or more) high-end tablet, probably with a big name on it like some fruit or samsung or nexus.. Sure, buy it. whats another 200 EUR. Or dont, I dont think it will be an upgrade. Just another tablet, even if it is a decent one

the get it or dont get it reasons in the modding subsection still apply :)

I myself regret nothing. I watch movies in bed, I surf the web on the couch. If I am really lazy I even open up teamviewer to do 2-3 clicks on my PC without getting up. I take the tablet with me on train rides and watch a movie or surf the web with my phone tethered. And I recently started to use it at work for presentations (put my notes on it). And when I am bored, I do play a game now and then.

Mind you, I did/could have done all that with the old tablet as well. But it sure makes more fun now :)

End of the review---

I certainly hope that this rewritten and formated review is more informative and better on the eyes.

I think I got most of my english mistakes as well.

I hope this helps some folk decide

If you have questions, feel free to ask them here. I will try to look back now and then and answer those questions.

good day

Catwiesel, Germany

Addendum:

How to root the SINA-1

Disclaimer: no guarantee, you break it, not my fault bla bla...

First, it was not difficult. It was done by the "root with restore by bin4ry method"

step 1: enable usb-debugging and allow installing of "foreign apk's" (or whats it called in english)

step 2: get a usb driver for windows (7 x64 in my case)

step 2b: since you probably wont find a driver, modify the google drivers from the android development sdk. add the line to the google.ntx86 and ntamd64 block:

step 3: add the file adb_usb.ini at /users/[username]/.android directory with the following line:

(i had to do this in my user account and in the administrator account*)

step 4: connect the tablet with your pc, make sure all drivers were installed and usb debugging is on

step 5: google, find and download the zip archive with the batch file, scripts and tools needed

(root_with_restore_by_bin4ry_v17.zip did it for me)

step 6: extract the archive, best to some easily found directory like c:\rootit

step 7: start a command line (cmd.exe) (as administrator?)

note: the actual rooting only worked for me when i started the command line as administrator

step 8: start runme.bat from c:\rootit, ch

step 9: choose method 1, wait for it to finish

(all this information was googled and very little trial and error. did not take me more than 30mins with no clue before hand whatsover)