CherryPad America

I got my CherryPad America toward the end of October.  It’s a low-end tablet, comparable to the ones you can now find at WalMart and KMart.  I bought mine primarily to function as an e-reader, and quickly found that it had impressive video codec support and could do more than I was expecting out of such a cheap device.  (When I bought it, it was one of the cheapest on the market.)

I was order number 58, so some things are probably different now.  I believe the factory language is now English instead of Chinese for instance.

Some initial thoughts:

  • Good codec support (Too bad the Android video player doesn’t support internal mkv subtitles.  You need third party software from the market for that.)
  • Root access!
  • Android Market is a pain to get (and keep) working.
  • Resistive Screen takes some getting used to
  • Speakers are less than impressive, but sounds pretty decent with headphones or externally attached speakers.
  • Fits in one hand, good for reading.
  • Gah, why is JavaScript not on by default?
  • I like the aluminum case.
  • Uses my iPod’s docking cable.
  • A little slow sometimes, depends on the task.

Getting the Android Marketplace to function well has been an uphill battle, and honestly, the biggest problem I’ve run into.  It will work for a bit and then stop working entirely.  Actually, hasn’t worked for a week for me now. *sigh* I think I’ll email and ask about that.

If you’re looking for a simple music-playing, video-playing tablet, that you can use for reading and browsing the Internet.  It’s perfectly capable of all that.  I even use it to order parts off NewEgg and such.  Once you get it set up to your liking and get used to the resistive screen, it’s nice, if a little slow.  Verdict is that I like it, but am hesitant to recommend buying it because of the issues I’ve had with the Android Market.