Worth getting ? {or Metro News app on the Engage.}

[davesch]

My son is considering this model.

He's a bit unsure after seeing the video sync problems I have with my android 3.2 Excel 7", but I believe it is okay on this model running 4.0, is that the case ?

He's also asking about access to Google Play, does it have limitations because it's not seen as a phone, or is that fixed in 4.0 ?

Any other comments about speed, battery life, reliability etc welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

[Trashcooky]

My son is considering this model.

He's a bit unsure after seeing the video sync problems I have with my android 3.2 Excel 7", but I believe it is okay on this model running 4.0, is that the case ?

He's also asking about access to Google Play, does it have limitations because it's not seen as a phone, or is that fixed in 4.0 ?

Any other comments about speed, battery life, reliability etc welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

Any Scroll running android 4 ICS will outperform gingerbread 2.3 ( I assume you meant 2.3 and not 3.2 as you stated ? ) and most reports on the Scroll Engage 8" tablet running ICS 4.0.3 that I have seen (there are some on Aamzon you can read) reckon this is a pretty good tablet.

The problems you experience on your 1st gen Scroll Excel running gingerbread 2.3.4 are not unique, as many tablets from a myriad of makers (usually all from Chinese boxmakers) most complained about lipsync issues.
I have not heard of this problem occurring on the Engage but I do not have one so we need a comment from someone who does.... and regarding your own problems with your first generation Excel, these can be cured by getting under the bonnet (so to speak) of your Excel and updating the OS to ICS. If you have no idea what I am talking about then have a look at these pages here: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2757 as a starter.

I have not heard any complaints about the battery life. Storage Options state 4200 mAh rechargeable battery on the Engage, which is acceptable but not overly impressive. You can proabaly expect about 4 hours or so of mixed use before you may need to think about putting it on charge.

Regarding Google Play store, so long as your son has a Google/Gmail account he should be able to access the Play store. If he has problems there is lots of help about this on the Forum.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day with a Scroll tablet, you pays your money and takes your chances, most are OK but some have to be returned.

Hope this is of some help.

[davesch]

One of the apps he wants to run is The Metro newspaper at http://www.metro.co.uk. it wont' let me install it on my 2.3 Excel. Would someone be prepared to try on the Engage?

[Trashcooky]

One of the apps he wants to run is The Metro newspaper at http://www.metro.co.uk. it wont' let me install it on my 2.3 Excel. Would someone be prepared to try on the Engage?

When you say it won't install on your Excel, do you mean you can download it from Google play but it won't install https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... blet&hl=en or that you can't see it on Google play using your Excel?
The link in your post only appears to show ipod and Windows versions of the app so if you tried to install from there they won't work.

I don't believe there are many Engage users on the forum yet but I hope someone can/will try it for you.
The Metro app does not have a very good user rating on Google Play, with an average of only 2 stars out of 82 votes and 46 of those only being a one star vote.

[davesch]

There is actually a link on the site I gave for Android users, but the result is the same whether clicking that or the link you gave either on Excel or PC - when it comes to choosing which device to send to, it gives me the option "unknown scoll excel", doesn't let me select it, "this item is not compatible with your device" and the install button produces no response.

I'm surprised by the ratings as the iPhone App works well.

[Trashcooky]

There is actually a link on the site I gave for Android users, but the result is the same whether clicking that or the link you gave either on Excel or PC - when it comes to choosing which device to send to, it gives me the option "unknown scoll excel", doesn't let me select it, "this item is not compatible with your device" and the install button produces no response.

I'm surprised by the ratings as the iPhone App works well.

I had another look using your link but the only way I can see of getting this app for android appears to be solely Gooogle play-store. There is a lot of information about iPad and iPod versions but these won't work on android. If you can use the android link I can't find you refer to on the Metro page then the chances are good that if it will allow you to download Metro for android to a PC or another mobile device that you can sideload it to your tablet/s and it will work OK.

I can't comment about the poor ratings as I have never used "Metro fror tablets" before, however I have been able to download the Metro free app from Google play store to try it myself and it installed OK on my Excel running a customised ICS rom but I could not satisfactorily interact with the app as it kept force-closing.

I noticed a few things though that may be relevant to why I can't make it work on my Excel. Once installed the first thing the app did was to download a 63 Mb file which turned out to be the current edition of the Newspaper.
This is a sizeable file as I already have quite a lot of apps installed so it may be because of that it would not function properly on my Excel.

There is an option in the Metro app settings to allow it to automatically download the latest (Newspaper) edition which suggests the app will be running whenever the tablet is on (a bit like the Facebook app which automatically alerts you to status updates) this will undoubtedly affect the speed of anything else you want to run at the same time. Also of course it means the tablet must always be in range of a wifi service or a 3/4g mobile account if you intend to use a compatible mobile data dongle.

I have no doubt that (as you say) the iPod version work Flawlessly on an iPod but I am not so sure about the android version being stable on an Engage with ICS, particularly taking into account the many poor reviews about it in Google Play. The iPod and the Engage have completely different qualities, abilities and specifications and with the best will in the world it is quite unrealistic to comapre the two in this way.

Sorry this is about the best I can do as no one else seems to be interacting with this thread at the moment but hopefully another Engage user will get involved.

[davesch]

Thanks for your help Trashcooky, one last question

How did you mange to install it yourself, from the Tablet or by sideloading ? I've never done any sideloading before, but I can't see a link on Google Play to download to a PC, only an install option that tells me my device is not compatible.

[Trashcooky]

Thanks for your help Trashcooky, one last question

How did you mange to install it yourself, from the Tablet or by sideloading ? I've never done any sideloading before, but I can't see a link on Google Play to download to a PC, only an install option that tells me my device is not compatible.

When I installed my custom rom it also changed the thumbprint of my tablet. When you log into Google Play it interrogates your device to see if it is a model type that is licensed with and recognised by Google ( tested by them). If it is not, then your access will be be restricted and there will be many apps that will work on your tablet that won't be available to you because the last thing that Google wants is for you to blame them for an app that won't work, so they only allow you to download apps they know work across a wide range of generic android devices.

As you already found out on your Google acount, your device is seen as as "Unknown Scroll Excel" because that is the thumbprint built into a file on your tablet called the build-prop. My Excel used to be the same when I was running Gingerbread 2.3.4 but when I flashed Suggsy89's ICS 4.0.3 rom and then updated with Suggsy89's ICS 4.0.4 update.zip this not only changed my operating system but also embedded a false thumbprint which you can see on the top right of this page along with with my details.

This is what allowed my device to download the Metro app as Google now see my device as a Samsung GT-i9100 - however as I said, I could not make the Metro app work properly on my Excel and it may be because it truly is incompatible, I don't know for sure.
(The Engage has better memory specs so it might work on the Engage but this would be a suck it and see situation.) I had screen size problems with it and I could not read all the page/s which would not scroll even when I tried setting different screen settings and when I chose an article to read I got repeated Forced closures. I have now completely uninstalled the app as in my case, it is a lost cause.

To be able to sideload an app from a PC using the usb lead that came with your Excel you first need to find a copy of the app somewhere other than Google play (which doesn't allow PC downloading of android apps -yet.) If you are lucky, a forum member may host the file for you or you may find it available on one of the alternative download sites.
(Storage Options provide a choice of alternative app download sites when you buy the Engage)
Once you can get a copy on your PC (or another mobile device) you can drag and drop it onto your Scroll's external SD card and install it from there.

Hope that answers your questions, but feel free to come back if you need more information.

We both seem to have committed the cardinal sin of moving way off the topic title of this thread so to bring it back full circle, Is it worth buying a Scroll Engage? I for one would say yes - but remember, it's horses for courses.

[davesch]

Very comphrehensive reply, thanks for taking the time to explain.

[Forsh]

One of the apps he wants to run is The Metro newspaper at http://www.metro.co.uk. it wont' let me install it on my 2.3 Excel. Would someone be prepared to try on the Engage?

just installed it from Play Store and runs fine!

I've had to exchange mine but I wouldn't want to change it for a different model
People say the Nexus 7 is the one to have but with no SD card slot then you'd have to go for the 16gb one at £200 which is a whole different ball game - yes Nexus has slightly better resolution but the Engage has better res than the Ipad2 (same res but 8" compared to 9.7" so better Pixels per inch on the engage)
Also I like the 4:3 aspect of the engage in landscape for web use, much better than a 7" for web pages IMHO
The Engage also has the ability to output HDMI too which works well on a big screen

Cant be beaten on spec per buck - and it's down to £112 at Scan now!