Velocity Micro T301 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black)

• Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet 7-inch Touchscreen Android 2.0 Tablet General Features: Black color
• 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display 800 x 600 resolution
• Google Android 2.0 (Froyo) pre-installed Dual core processor 256 MB RAM 2 GB internal storage
• SD/SDHC memory card slot Mini-USB 2.0 interface Integrated IEEE 802.11n Wireless LAN
• Built-in speakers

I bought this in February 2011 but wasn't terribly impressed. I was unsure if the touchpad wasn't very sensitive or if the OS was part of the problem. It often required 2 or more taps to activate a button/selection and browsing the web was klunky and slow. I installed Amazon Kindle and it worked well enough but often crashed and on restart returned to the starting location from before the crash, often making reading irksome. The 7 inch screen is large enough to be useful in most situations and makes the unit very portable. The graphics display is quite nice in most applications (Kindle books look great) although the Solitaire game that comes with the tablet/O.S. looks like something on my old Motorola Razr and a Mah Jongg game I downloaded looks downright crappy. Since games aren't important these shortcomings aren't important to me.

Yesterday I came across information about upgrading from Android 2.0 to 2.2 and decided to give it a try. What a difference! First, the home screen just looks better. The pad is much more responsive than before -I'll have to get accustomed to tapping once and waiting before tapping the screen again. So far web browsing is easier, Kindle seems to be more stable (although I haven't used it long enough to really judge), and even battery life, which was good before, seems to have improved as well.

If you're looking to get your feet wet with a tablet but don't want to spend a lot of $$ the T301 might be a good start IF you upgrade to Android 2.2 (which you can do after you register the T301 at the velocitymicro.com site). Of course I haven't recently checked other tablet features/prices so you should probably do that!

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Received it with the new Froyo 2.2 OS installed right out of the box, its 2.2.1-rc7 to be exact. The capacitive screen behaves better than I thought, and I am not sure why people have such a huge issue with it, it works great and really is very responsive. The multi-touch does work, and yes, it does have some delay if you scroll around, say on a webpage or even to look around through your installed apps, its definitely not the same speed as you'd expect from an iPad, but its not bad at all either, I mean come on, this is a $150 product ! The more I use it, the more I like it, its definitely not as horrible as others have commented on some other reviews.

Tried to install Angry Birds, nope, didn't install at all, none of the different Angry Birds did. Guns and Glory though runs pretty slowly, again, the processor on the T301 is only a bit more than 500mhz, so I am not surprised. Some other games work fine, such as Robot Defense, which runs a very playable speed. Adobe Flash Player didn't install at all, so no direct Flash support as stated in the Cruz manual. However, Youtube app does work fine, as well as some other apps that play online videos, which use the youtube app as a playback engine. Haven't tried anything 3D'ish, my assumption is that either it wouldn't install or wouldn't run.

As an eReader, it works flawlessly ! Amazon Kindle came pre-installed, and works great, iReader runs great, I have yet to put more, but I know that the Kobo reader app will run just fine and is available for download at the Cruz Market. Speaking of market, there's no way to put Android Market on this thing, but there are other app stores that can do the trick for you, such as AppBrain, SlideMe, and some others. It took me a while to find an internet radio app to install and run on the T301, Resco Radio 1.3, and must be 1.3, all other versions failed to install. Its awesome to have music going while I am reading !!

z4root didn't install, so forget about simple rooting. None of the searches I found on Google tells a solid rooting routine for the T301, but so far, I don't see why one needs to root it. App2SD does work and works wonderfully.

A couple of CON's I need to give the T301. There is no way to locate the T301's MAC address, since my router is set to use MAC address filtering for connecting to the web, I had to have its MAC address. You would expect to find it in the Settings>About... But no, its not there, this is not the first Android tablet I've owned, I know where it is normally, but on the T301, its just not shown ! I had no choice but to disable my router's MAC address filter but to have it wide open. Got the T301 connected, and loaded up the router's settings, and voila ! There's the T301's Mac address listed on the router's admin page !

Another CON is that the box says there's 2gb of storage space, but I only found 650megs !? I am not sure how and where I can get to the other 1.4gb of storage... If someone's reading this and knows what to do to claim space back, please help ! But then again, I have an external 4gb SD card inserted, its still good after all.

Like many other reviewers mentioned, the T301 is indeed quite heavy, at least heavier than my other tablets.

I have not tried loading movies on it, so I have no comment about it. Otherwise, if you have patience to look up apps that you need and that they DO install and work fine on the T301, then its really a great tablet for the price, but just don't expect it a gaming machine !

UPDATE 08-08-2011:

So it turns out that there IS a way to put Android Market on the Cruz T301. I did it by following what the below link suggested, and thank goodness, it DOES work !!!! The only thing I had to do prior to perform this little procedure was that I had to update my T301 with the firmware released some time in May on the Velocity Micro website, I had to make sure the Android OS is 2.2.1, but NOT 2.2.1rc7 or anything rc's. It took only about 3 to 5 minutes to update the firmware, and I got myself a fully working T301 with OS 2.2.1.

Putting the Anrdroid Market on it was also pretty easy, just follow what the folks said on the page. I have been downloading apps from the genuine Market like a kid in a free candy store ! Also Aldiko Premium 1.2.9 DOES work on the T301, install it for more of your reading needs !

Here is the link:

Read Best Reviews of Velocity Micro T301 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black) Here

Bought as a color, touchscreen Kindle. It's that and more!! Hooked up to WiFi fast and flawless. Great capacitive screen. Got live wallpaper. YouTube works great. Email works great. Needed get incoming/outgoing info from Centurylink, though. Must understand what you're buying. I have an iPad. This isn't one. Nor is it a full-fledged Android tablet. You're not getting that for $150!!! It IS, however, cheaper than a Nook Color with a Kindle selection. Some Android Apps work. Some don't. Try and see. Downloaded a video to 8GB SD card. Can't get it to play though. This is Android 2.2 out of the box. Didn't come with SD card. Not too important. They're cheap. No flash player. Skyfire Browser gives that though. I like this device. I like the 7inch screen. My kids steal my iPad and I needed a back up color, touchscreen reader/web browser with benefits for cheap. This is it!!!

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You can't actually use it, the apps all crash, you can't install anything because the Amazon and Android market place are not pre-installed and the browser keeps crashing so you can't get to the Amazon or Android Market places. I've reset factory defaults and tried over and over like a blind pig running into the broad side of a barn over and over again. I give up. I'm returning it.

It actually came with Android 2.2.1 pre-installed.

I did not do any research before ordering this product, my assumption was that since it ran Android it would be able to connect to the Google android market and download anything that would run on my two year old Droid cell phone. I was mistaken. Even though it is June 2012 this piece of Junk will not do 1/4 of what my 2010 Droid phone will.

I purchased this so that my 5 year old daughter would have a tablet to play with instead of using my smart phone. What I am now stuck with is a $100 paper weight that I cannot return for a refund even though I only had it out of the box for an hour. Thanks TigerDirect.com you just lost a customer for life.

If you want to download any type of game or app from the Google android market DO NOT BUY THIS cheap tablet.