R1,400 Gobii Android tablet from Kalahari

Don't want to necro the thread, but I'm posting this for the sake of completeness.

I've finally had some hands-on time with one of these tablets. First up, it does have access to Google Play. On the main screen is a shortcut that says "Free Apps". When you tap it, it gives you three options of markets to install with Google Play being the first. After you've installed and set it up, everything works as it normally does with Play. Why Kalahari doesn't state this on their adverts or on their website is pretty strange and a major marketing oversight, imho.

The tablet itself impressed me with a pretty high build-quality and how light yet sturdy it feels in hand. The screen is impressive as well given the price of the tablet. The touch response is good, the display is crisp and doesn't lag on transitions and animations.
In the short time I've had to play with it, the tablet reminded me a lot of my 2012 Google Nexus 7" in almost all respects.

The only thing that I found strange was that the volume controls are two separate buttons (not a rocker) and are located at the bottom of the screen if you hold the tablet in portrait orientation. However, once you rotate the tablet 90deg to the left and hold it in landscape, the volume controls fall right under your right thumb for easy control. This tablet was obviously designed to work mostly in landscape mode.

What I couldn't test was its video capabilities and battery life. Video shouldn't be a problem, but there is still a big question mark over the latter. I'll post an update on this in the future.

So my verdict is: Very good buy for the price. If you can get it on a special for R999 (like they had on December 2nd) it is a downright brilliant deal. After a quick look I'd say it is very similar to the previous gen Nexus 7. The big advantage of the Gobii is that it has an SD card slot and rear camera that the Nexus doesn't have. The Nexus, however, is assured of the newest Android versions within days of release. As a matter of fact, on the Gobii (currently running Android 4.1.1) I couldn't even find an option to check for OS updates.
 
Thanks for the update Mister 44.
Looks like a very good buy.
 
Mister 44 said:
Don't want to necro the thread, but I'm posting this for the sake of completeness.

I've finally had some hands-on time with one of these tablets. First up, it does have access to Google Play. On the main screen is a shortcut that says "Free Apps". When you tap it, it gives you three options of markets to install with Google Play being the first. After you've installed and set it up, everything works as it normally does with Play. Why Kalahari doesn't state this on their adverts or on their website is pretty strange and a major marketing oversight, imho.

The tablet itself impressed me with a pretty high build-quality and how light yet sturdy it feels in hand. The screen is impressive as well given the price of the tablet. The touch response is good, the display is crisp and doesn't lag on transitions and animations.
In the short time I've had to play with it, the tablet reminded me a lot of my 2012 Google Nexus 7" in almost all respects.

The only thing that I found strange was that the volume controls are two separate buttons (not a rocker) and are located at the bottom of the screen if you hold the tablet in portrait orientation. However, once you rotate the tablet 90deg to the left and hold it in landscape, the volume controls fall right under your right thumb for easy control. This tablet was obviously designed to work mostly in landscape mode.

What I couldn't test was its video capabilities and battery life. Video shouldn't be a problem, but there is still a big question mark over the latter. I'll post an update on this in the future.

So my verdict is: Very good buy for the price. If you can get it on a special for R999 (like they had on December 2nd) it is a downright brilliant deal. After a quick look I'd say it is very similar to the previous gen Nexus 7. The big advantage of the Gobii is that it has an SD card slot and rear camera that the Nexus doesn't have. The Nexus, however, is assured of the newest Android versions within days of release. As a matter of fact, on the Gobii (currently running Android 4.1.1) I couldn't even find an option to check for OS updates.
Click to expand...

Has your colleague mentioned anything regarding the WiFi? I am also in the market for cheap android tablet for my daughters and they will mainly use it for games and netflix so if the WiFi is a problem then this tablet won't work. Apparently to connect to WiFi you basically have to sit next to it?
 
weelzSA said:
Has your colleague mentioned anything regarding the WiFi? I am also in the market for cheap android tablet for my daughters and they will mainly use it for games and netflix so if the WiFi is a problem then this tablet won't work. Apparently to connect to WiFi you basically have to sit next to it?
Click to expand...

I still have the tablet with me so I installed Wifi Analyser and tested it side-by-side with my Nexus 7. I'm sitting about 15m from the closest wifi AP in an open plan office. At my desk the Nexus is bouncing between -58dBm and -62dBm while the Gobii is sitting very still at -68dBm. Moving to a direct line of sight, still about 15m away, the Nexus jumps to -44dBm and the Gobii to -60dBm. From the server room behind a rather thick wall and about 20m from the AP, the Gobii bites the dust. It loses connection entirely while the Nexus drops to -80dBm.
Also the Nexus picks up 4 of the 5 APs in our building while the Gobii only manages two.

So the Gobii is much weaker than the Nexus, but it's definitely not useless.

Something I noticed while doing these test (and I don't know how to interpret this) is that the needle on wifi analyser on the Nexus responds almost instantly as I moved around. The Gobii on the other hand took quite a few seconds before it moved in accordance to the new location.
 
Mister 44 said:
I still have the tablet with me so I installed Wifi Analyser and tested it side-by-side with my Nexus 7. I'm sitting about 15m from the closest wifi AP in an open plan office. At my desk the Nexus is bouncing between -58dBm and -62dBm while the Gobii is sitting very still at -68dBm. Moving to a direct line of sight, still about 15m away, the Nexus jumps to -44dBm and the Gobii to -60dBm. From the server room behind a rather thick wall and about 20m from the AP, the Gobii bites the dust. It loses connection entirely while the Nexus drops to -80dBm.
Also the Nexus picks up 4 of the 5 APs in our building while the Gobii only manages two.

So the Gobii is much weaker than the Nexus, but it's definitely not useless.

Something I noticed while doing these test (and I don't know how to interpret this) is that the needle on wifi analyser on the Nexus responds almost instantly as I moved around. The Gobii on the other hand took quite a few seconds before it moved in accordance to the new location.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... See that worries me a little. My router is about 10-15 meters from where my kids will mainly be using there tablets with a thick wall directly between the lounge and there room (probably about 7 meters if you draw a direct line from router through wall to their room) and the last thing I want is for the signal to be almost non existent as it will then be pointless in even getting them.

Need to look more into this.
 
OK, final update of my hands-on.

I loaded a 720p video (H264 in mkv wrapper, AC3 audio, 1.7GB file size) on the tablet and let it run for 30 minutes. I didn't expect any issues and didn't encounter any either. Video played smooth and stutter free.

I left the screen brightness at about 50% and left the wifi on during playback. When I started the 30 minute playback, the battery was at 77% and when it was done it was at 65% power.
Not very scientific, but it's the best I could do within the time available.

My final verdict: It does have it's faults (the sound is terrible if you don't use headphones or external speakers of some sort) and I won't trade my Nexus for it but for the price it's a very good tablet. So good, in fact, that I've already ordered one for my daughter.
 
weelzSA said:
Hmmm... See that worries me a little. My router is about 10-15 meters from where my kids will mainly be using there tablets with a thick wall directly between the lounge and there room (probably about 7 meters if you draw a direct line from router through wall to their room) and the last thing I want is for the signal to be almost non existent as it will then be pointless in even getting them.

Need to look more into this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, ideally you should try and borrow one somewhere and test it in your home before you buy.
 
Mister 44 said:
Yeah, ideally you should try and borrow one somewhere and test it in your home before you buy.
Click to expand...

About to purchase 2 of these - any final updates from after the weekend if you maybe had another play with it? More concerned with regards to WiFi but then I thought could I not run a LAN cable from my Router to my daughters room and setup a router there as well and then there won't be any problems - like a WiFi extender? My kids room is about 10-13 meters from my router with a wall between so doubt it should cause too much of a problem?
 
weelzSA said:
About to purchase 2 of these - any final updates from after the weekend if you maybe had another play with it? More concerned with regards to WiFi but then I thought could I not run a LAN cable from my Router to my daughters room and setup a router there as well and then there won't be any problems - like a WiFi extender? My kids room is about 10-13 meters from my router with a wall between so doubt it should cause too much of a problem?
Click to expand...

Some wireless routers have an "repeater" mode so that you can add a wireless AP and extend the current wireless range without having to set up two separate wireless networks.
This means you can retain a single SSID, authentication mechanism and subnet.
 
Paul_S said:
Some wireless routers have an "repeater" mode so that you can add a wireless AP and extend the current wireless range without having to set up two separate wireless networks.
This means you can retain a single SSID, authentication mechanism and subnet.
Click to expand...

I have a Belkin N500 (the model from 1-2 years ago). Trying to see if I have this feature in admin mode but can't find it - any idea if this model supports that feature?
 
weelzSA said:
I have a Belkin N500 (the model from 1-2 years ago). Trying to see if I have this feature in admin mode but can't find it - any idea if this model supports that feature?
Click to expand...

It doesn't need to be a supported feature.

Just connect the second router to the first and switch off dhcp on the second router and have dhcp on on the first router. Keep all the details like SSID and password the same on both routers.
 
weelzSA said:
About to purchase 2 of these - any final updates from after the weekend if you maybe had another play with it? More concerned with regards to WiFi but then I thought could I not run a LAN cable from my Router to my daughters room and setup a router there as well and then there won't be any problems - like a WiFi extender? My kids room is about 10-13 meters from my router with a wall between so doubt it should cause too much of a problem?
Click to expand...

Haven't had a chance to play with it again, sorry.

That should work fine. Just remember to setup the second routers channels so they don't overlap with your primary router.
It is very similar to my set-up, except I have some of these instead of running the cable.

http://www.dbg.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=1_55_73&products_id=801

Just do some reading if you decide to go the ethernet-over-power route. In my house it works great but there are situations where they aren't suitable.

Paul_S said:
Some wireless routers have an "repeater" mode so that you can add a wireless AP and extend the current wireless range without having to set up two separate wireless networks.
This means you can retain a single SSID, authentication mechanism and subnet.
Click to expand...

This is another option, but I've heard (and this is hear-say only since I've never used a router as a repeater myself) that the wifi speed takes a serious dip on the repeater. It's fine for anything internet related because your bottleneck will still be the ADSL line, but if you want to stream video locally it may cause issues.
 
Chevron said:
It doesn't need to be a supported feature.

Just connect the second router to the first and switch off dhcp on the second router and have dhcp on on the first router. Keep all the details like SSID and password the same on both routers.
Click to expand...

Ahhh I am with you. So I don't need to run a LAN cable from my router in the lounge to my childrens room and connect the cable to the router - can I just setup the router in their room and change the settings?
 
weelzSA said:
Ahhh I am with you. So I don't need to run a LAN cable from my router in the lounge to my childrens room and connect the cable to the router - can I just setup the router in their room and change the settings?
Click to expand...

You need a cable connecting the two routers. How else will the second router get access to the internet? Unless you're gonna have two adsl lines?
 
Chevron said:
You need a cable connecting the two routers. How else will the second router get access to the internet? Unless you're gonna have two adsl lines?
Click to expand...

As I pressed send I thought about the stupidity in my question. So the easiest then is to run the cable from main router to second router? It is about 10-13 meters of cable maybe.
 
Mister 44 said:
Haven't had a chance to play with it again, sorry.

That should work fine. Just remember to setup the second routers channels so they don't overlap with your primary router.
It is very similar to my set-up, except I have some of these instead of running the cable.

http://www.dbg.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=1_55_73&products_id=801

Just do some reading if you decide to go the ethernet-over-power route. In my house it works great but there are situations where they aren't suitable.



This is another option, but I've heard (and this is hear-say only since I've never used a router as a repeater myself) that the wifi speed takes a serious dip on the repeater. It's fine for anything internet related because your bottleneck will still be the ADSL line, but if you want to stream video locally it may cause issues.
Click to expand...

I won't be streaming anything locally to the new tablets but will still be for my Plex server streaming to my Roku. My plex server is connected directly to my main router so you think it will cause problems?

Hopefully none of this will be needed and the wifi range will be strong enough when I get the tablets but good to be prepared.
 
weelzSA said:
I won't be streaming anything locally to the new tablets but will still be for my Plex server streaming to my Roku. My plex server is connected directly to my main router so you think it will cause problems?

Hopefully none of this will be needed and the wifi range will be strong enough when I get the tablets but good to be prepared.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you'll find the wifi to be good enough, so don't worry too much.

I'm not too familiar Plex. Doesn't it download the stuff you want to watch to the your server and then dish it out on demand? Or is that an add-on? I know Compton_Effect uses Plex, so maybe he can enlighten us. Just remember if you run a wire (or use the ethernet-over-power) the wifi speed dip is not an issue. It is only if you use a repeater that connects to your router wirelessly.
 
So just ordered two of them. One should arrive tomorrow and the second by Friday. Once I receive the one tomorrow, will set it up and let you all know how they perform and especially with regards to WiFi.

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
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