You may have noticed that Dixons have reduced the price of the Advent Vega to £199. If not they have and here is the link. I bought one recently and I thought I would share my initial thoughts about the device to try and help potential buyers make up there minds.
Dixons are selling the non flash models at £199. This sounds like a problem but it is not. www.myadventvega.co.uk has an official firmware update which updates the device and includes a flash player. Once you have sorted this out the Vega can play flash video from websites. You can copy music and videos to it, which playback well, you can also use the hdmi connector to connect the Vega to your tv. App wise the Vega barely comes with any. Just basic email, file management, web browser and a few tools. You can install an alternatve market like Appslib or Appbrain but they are not the best.
A major problem with the stock software is the small amount of space to install apps on, it is not as bad as some devices like the Htc Desire but you still don’t get much space. Another problem is the screen, from certain angles and orientations you can struggle to see what is on the screen. In sunlight you struggle to see the screen properly. The screen is a major fingerprint magnet. Lastly the accelerometer is not sensitive enough to play the latest driving games.
With a little bit of reading and preparation you can easily install a Modaco Custom Rom, this installs various performance tweaks, all of the mising Google apps, the Google Market and a handy program called Link2sd. This allows you to bypass the internal memory and move most of your games and apps from the market across to your memory card. I have created a 2GB partition for installing things onto which should last me a while.
Below are some shots of the homescreen, the app drawer and info on the memory usage.
After installing the Modaco Custom Rom the device is rooted, it feels more stable, it feels faster and the screen is more responsive. There is a great community behind the device already creating custom kernels and roms, even Cyanogenmod 7 has been ported to the device. As regards further official updates Advent have not yet announced whether or not the device will get Honeycomb. But for the money it is a great device, for web browsing, or playing games, watching videos. As long as you have time to spend installing custom roms etc.
So if you have any questions please ask away and I will try and do my best to answer.
First answer is as follows. The screenshots show ADW EX, Colorize Widgets, Folder Organizer, Extended Controls & Audio Manager Pro.
Had a look at one instore and the poor screen was a deal breaker.
Hi with it having a usb port can you hook up an external dvd rewriter so that you can copy music/films to the vager thanks
With the custom rom the usb port can be used for usb sticks. But not for dvd rewriters.
Can Facebook games, such as Farmville, Cafe World etc be played on it? Does it need rooting to allow this, and can the rooting be done for free? I ask the last question in particular as I have only seen the Modaco rom, which costs £10. I have no problem with rooting, as I have rooted several Android phones, and have come up against few problems doing this.
Modaco Roms are free, you only need to pay for an ad free susscription if you want to use the kitchen- that is, make your own customised roms.
It’s a cracking device. Use mine daily as my general surfing/email device
Yes the screen is the biggest let down but i find i can get on with it. If it had a screen at the same level as the ipad then the chances are it would cost a lot more so for the price you can’t argue.
also the touch screen is very good…unless you have it plugged into the mains, then it gets a bit twitchy.
you get what you pay for but i like it and will be keeping it for a good while yet.
It’s good to see there are other more affordable alternatives to the iPad and I think graeme is right you get what you pay for.
For £200 on paper it sounds like a great piece of kit, especially seeing as you can get CM7 onto it.
Would the screen benefit from one of those matt finished screen protectors?
I think it’a brilliant alternative to the iPad. I’ve had mine 3 months now and not had any issues. All it needs is the official market
Vincent’s little sister?
😀
I’m still not sold on tablets. They’re just not powerful enough for my needs. They are a fun toy though and £199 isn’t too bad a price to pay for a new gadget.
Bought mine last night and put the Modaco rom on. Its really great! The screen is defiantly improved and the speed is more than adequate!
I’m working on getting my O2 dongle to work on it at the moment….. Stay tuned!
Of course space is not a matter.. Proper screen is enough for this..
I think they sound great, I’m working toward getting my free one at playbookforfree.co.uk instead of getting an ipad2 or playbook I’ve decided the vega would be a great free gift.
All you do is sign up and do an offer and get other people to do the same.