Conclusion
Pros
- Very cheap
- Good battery life
- Good high resolution screen
- Great build quality and nice design
- Good connectivity options
- Great for e-books and comic books
- Linux and Android dual boot
- Great wifi reception
- Loads of free apps to install
Cons
- Not very fast
- No gyroscope
- Not all Linux apps are optimized for the 800×480 touchscreen
- Screen is hard to read in direct sunlight
- No English manual included
Final conclusion
The SmartQ V3 is basically the same als the SmartQ V5 but with a much lower price tag. The omission of the crappy Windows CE operating system is basically an improvement, because it frees up more memory for the other operating systems and the lack of Bluetooth isn’t really worth the extra $40. And if you really want to use Bluetooth, you can always connect a dongle using the USB OTG port.
Personally, I still think Linux is the most unique feature of the device. There simply aren’t any other cheap and small devices that run Linux this well. Android is also much better than before and finally in a very useable state. The lack of a capacitive touchscreen and gyroscopes limit it’s functionality, but it’s still very impressive and you won’t find any other small Android device with such a high resolution for this price.
There are still some quirks, but overall there’s it’s still a very attractive device for geeks and gadget freaks. Priced at $109.99/€78.39, it offers a whole lot of bang for the buck.
If you still have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
- Introduction
- Hardware and design
- Linux and software
- Android
- Conclusion
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Nice review (although some times there are mistakes from copy&paste i guess).
By the way, in the CONS you mention there is no USB on Linux?? I am using the USB on Linux perfectly even to connect to the internet with my 3G modem.
Thank you for pointing it out, I accidently uploaded an older version of the article (and I took some portions of the V5 review, because the devices are about 90% the same). USB OTG works fine in Linux.
Inorfmation is power and now I’m a !@#$ing dictator.
very hard to find china tablets reviews. nice!
Thank you for you nice review and a great site!
A simple question on V3 — do you find its viewing angles ok for e-reading? Some screens do change contrast even at very small angles, when you just slightly move you head. F.e. my archos 7ht has such bad vertical angles that it’s even hardly possible to read in portrait — the contrast in left & right eyes is different
So when you angle V5 a little, say within 5-7°, are there any contrast/color shifts?
Thank you! Sorry for my late reply, but to answer your question: the viewing angles of the V3 are very good! Like any display, there is *some* discoloration when tilting the device, but it was much less than on any other Chinese device I tested. No inverted colors or whatsoever and you really have to tilt it quite far.
nice site for getting info on chinese made gadgets, i hope you review more products from China. i found this site while reserching on the smartq V5. thanks & more power!
Interesting review!
As I am mainly interested in watching videos (possibly with external .srt subtitles) on this device, I am slightly concerned by what you wrote in the linux section, “The interface of VLC isn’t very touchscreen friendly, so you’re better off using Android for media playback.” whereas in the android section you say, “subtitles aren’t supported at the moment”. So what would be your suggestion about using this device mainly for video playback? Thank you.
I like this product. Thank you for your article.
Good review I’v seen. Thank you. And I foung http://www.geminideal.com also have the similar ones.
It always amazes me how cheaply these type of gadgets can be made. It just goes to show the ridiculous profits the likes of Apple must be making and people are subsidising just because there is a brand name on it.
Nice review