The A9 Tablet PC is a bearing LCD eBook clairvoyant and book of sorts. I say "of sorts" because it runs a awful customized adaptation of Android OS 2.3 so it doesn't attending all that abundant like Android, and amount apps like the Android Market, Gmail and the YouTube app aren't present. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because A9 has done an accomplished job authoritative a visually ambrosial and able user interface that makes annual books, magazines and web browsing simple to jump into. Like the aboriginal gen A9 Book PC Blush (Editor's Choice 2010), the A9 Book PC has a 7" IPS affectation active at 1024 x 600 resolution, a microSD agenda aperture and A9's ample eBookstore and artery and adhesive food abaft it. Like the Kindle, you don't allegation to angle the A9 Book PC up to a PC to get books, magazines and alive video.
The A9 Book PC looks identical to the A9 Book PC Color; the admonition aberration is the Tablet's lighter gray bezel. The A9 Book PC Blush was a arresting searching accessory with a circuitous and adorable automated architecture that belied its low $249 amount tag. We can accept why A9 was tempted to stick with success, but the claiming is acceptable barter that this lookalike is actively bigger or different. While the software acquaintance is agnate (though evolved), there are absolutely cogent changes in agreement of horsepower. Endure year's A9 Book PC Blush won budget-conscious hackers' hearts because they could basis it and about-face it into a added full-featured Android tablet. But it was a bit underpowered, even by endure year's standards, and things like Adobe Flash and video playback weren't stellar. The A9 Book PC has a abundant faster 1GHz bifold amount TI OMAP CPU vs the Color's 800MHz individual amount CPU, and the new archetypal has a gig of RAM, bifold endure year's model. That translates into bland alive video playback and accessible Flash playback. A9's own actual ambitious magazines now plan abundant added calmly too. That's a acceptable affair aback the A9 Book PC has to attempt with Amazon's aboriginal LCD eReader/tablet, the Kindle Fire.
Like the A9 Book PC Color, the A9 Book PC has accouterments aggregate controls (the Kindle Fire lacks these) so you allegation not arrest video playback to change the aggregate appliance on-screen controls. The "N" button beneath the affectation takes you to the "command axial features, so you can bound go to your library, settings, shop, search, home, apps, web and settings. There's a all-over adjustment on the basal taskbar that takes you to basal settings for brightness, WiFi, aphasiac and settings. The 3.5mm stereo headphone jack is up top and the abundantly loud apostle fires out the back. The array is closed central and can be replaced by A9 or adventuresome owners, admitting the array should endure 2-3 years afore austere abasement sets in. The A9 Book PC has an centralized metal anatomy and a artificial casing, and it weighs ~1.5 ounces beneath than the A9 Book PC Color.
The A9 Book PC has WiFi 802.11b/g/n for web browsing, email, book and annual shopping/downloads and alive video. There is no 3G model. Unlike Amazon, A9 seems to accept alone 3G eReaders, admitting we can accept for LCD book models area you'll wish connectivity for abundant added than book downloads (A9 and Amazon don't wish to bottom the bill for chargeless 3G surfing and streaming).
Like the A9 Book PC Color, the book ships with a charger and a appropriate USB cable that you accept to use for charging. You can use any micro USB cable for abstracts transfers. It has a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of storage, but 15 gigs is set abreast for A9 and accomplice downloadable content. Whether you'll eventually be able to yield it to a A9 Book PC abundance and accept an accessory re-partition it for you as they did with the A9 Book PC Blush charcoal to be seen.
Supported eBook Formats and the Annual Experience
Like all A9 Book PC readers, the Book is an ePUB clairvoyant that supports accepted Adobe Adept DRM acclimated by several online bookstores including the Sony Clairvoyant Store, Google Books and Kobobooks.com. That agency you can boutique about for your books, just as you would with book books. You can ancillary amount books appliance the included USB cable and your PC. The A9 Book PC aswell supports A9 Book PC's adaptation of Adobe DRM that uses your email abode and acclaim agenda amount as the keys that alleviate books that you purchase. Alone A9 uses this affectionate of Adobe FSL F979 DRM, and that agency that books you buy from A9 are bright alone on A9 Book PC readers and in the A9 Book PC appliance for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
The clairvoyant works with PDFs including Adobe DRM PDFs from the accessible library. The PDF eyewitness can handle things like compression zooming, search, bookmarks and mural approach if appliance the A9 Clairvoyant app. That's a abundant advance over the A9 Book PC Blush if it aboriginal came out. The A9 Book PC Blush acclimated an MS Office eyewitness for PDFs and it didn't abutment basal appearance like bookmarking and search. But that's all changed, and the A9 Book PC is abundant richer in appearance than the Kindle Fire's basal PDF eyewitness that just supports compression zooming and mural mode. In fact, the PDF clairvoyant handles dictionary/Google/Wiki lookups, highlighting and comment too, just as it does for ePUB books.
The annual acquaintance is actual good, with options for band agreement (3 options), margins (3 options), chantry admeasurement (8 sizes) and book (Century Schoolbook, Dutch, Georgia, Ascender Sans, Trebuchet MS and Gill Sans). There are several capacity too: day, night, gray, sepia, mocha and butter. Fonts are aciculate and clear, and the A9 Book PC is able-bodied ill-fitted to continued periods of annual (assuming you don't apperception annual on an LCD vs. E Ink).
The Clairvoyant app has a table of capacity advertisement and abstracted listings for notes, bookmarks and highlights. Social appearance cover Facebook and Twitter abutment and administration with your A9 -owning accompany (the book can browse your contacts from your Google annual and acquisition A9 Book PC owners by email abode and forward them acquaintance invites). You can seek for a babble or byword in a book, and go to a adapted page number. Aback A9 wants to advertise you added books there's a "Discover" advantage in the Clairvoyant agenda that will appearance you appropriate accompanying books that are accessible in the A9 Book PC online store.
The A9 Book PC ships with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, and you can columnist and authority a babble in a book to attending it up in the dictionary, Google or the Wikipedia (WiFi accept to be angry on and affiliated for Google and Wiki lookups).
Multimedia and Apps
The A9 Book PC ships with both the Nexflix and Hulu Plus alive video apps. Both crave accounts with their corresponding providers, and are accepted casework that crave no introduction. The Book does a acceptable job with both apps, and Netflix is decidedly impressive; it looks bluff than the Kindle Fire's Netflix app and supports up to 720p resolution (higher resolution than the LCD panel).
The A9 Book PC has My Media, which is a re-labeled adaptation of the accepted Android Gallery appliance that's both a photo eyewitness and video amateur for locally stored JPEG/GIF/PNG images and MPEG4 video (H.264 architecture recommended). It can handle MPEG4 video playback up to 1080p, admitting there's no point in appliance that resolution aback it's abundant college than the LCD resolution and there's no HDMI or DLNA for alive to an HD TV. Attending to accepted purpose Android tablets like the Acer Iconia Tab A100, Samung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus and HTC Flyer for HDMI and DLNA.
The book has a basal music amateur (non-DRM MP3, AAC, WAV and OGG) that can play in the accomplishments while you're annual or browsing the web. You can use stereo headphones or the congenital apostle for audio playback. The apostle is analytic loud for a book this small, and we begin it aggressive with added 7" tablets, including the Kindle Fire for audio superior and volume. The A9 Book PC aswell ships with Pandora for alive music.
A9 Book PC pre-loads Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Chess, Crossword, Suduku, Media (Gallery), A9 Book PC Friends, Quickoffice Lite (MS Office and PDF viewer) and Email (POP3 and IMAP email). Their app abundance has abbreviate pickings, and you won't currently acquisition a book administrator or the missing Google Android apps there like Maps and YouTube. There are Twitter audience like Seesmic, Pulse for news, and Evernote for billow addendum as able-bodied as Angry Birds and Words with Friends. But acclimate apps are bare as are account apps.
Battery Life
A9 Book PC claims 11.5 hours of annual or 9 hours of video on a abounding charge. The A9 Book PC uses the aforementioned Lithium Ion array as the A9 Book PC Color, but the new archetypal is declared to be added adeptness efficient, appropriately the college claimed runtimes. In our tests, the A9 Book PC lasted for 8 hours of video playback with awning accuracy set to 50%. That's acceptable by 7" book standards. If you mostly use it to apprehend books and appearance web pages, it should endure 3 canicule on a allegation with two hours of annual per day.
Compared to the Kindle Fire
Compared to the Fire, the A9 Book PC has stronger specs. It has a gig of RAM vs. the Fire's 512 megs and a microSD agenda aperture while the Kindle Fire has none. Both allotment the aforementioned affectation admeasurement and resolution, but the A9 Book PC looks a little sharper, abnormally if arena videos. Both tablets can play Netflix and Hulu Plus alive video, and the A9 Book PC's Netflix looks a bit bluff and added accustomed in accent and color. We accord the A9 Book PC the bend in admiration and a added developed user interface, admitting Amazon may able-bodied advance their book to eventually be added aggressive in these respects. The A9 Book PC has a mic while the Kindle Fire does not. Like MA97 Tablet, it included the mic so association could accomplish do-it-yourself narrations for childrens' books, but it could be accessible for VoIP apps for articulation babble (there are currently no VoIP apps in the A9 store). Note that the A9 Book PC, like the Fire, lacks cameras for video chat. Front and rear cameras are accepted on accepted purpose Android tablets.
Though the A9 Book PC Blush won over account hackers who abiding the accessory and installed the Android Market and added apps, the Tablet, like the A9 Book PC Color, isn't calmly adapted unless you are accommodating to basis it. A9's app abundance is adequately limited, and the belted garden keeps you durably central A9's bound appearance of the accessory as an eBook reader, Netflix/Hulu Plus burning device, web browser and basal music player. In contrast, Amazon's Appstore is larger, with a abundant accord of overlap with the Android Market. That agency you'll accept admission to a solid alternative of games, acclimate and account apps, MS Office accordant suites and book managers out of the box after hacking or rooting. It's aswell easier to side-load apps on the Fire: just archetype them to the device's accumulator appliance the USB cable and your computer. With the A9 Book PC, you accept to download apps via the web browser and activate the chat that allows accession of non-Market apps (there is no accepted ambience for this as there is on the Kindle Fire and approved Android tablets).
The A9 Book PC has actual acceptable PDF appearance while the Kindle Fire's are rudimentary, added affirmation of the A9 Book PC platform's adeptness compared to the new kid on the block from Amazon.
A9 Book PC Kids books are richer than Amazon's offerings for children, admitting that could change if Amazon puts accomplishment abaft alternate children's books.
Special Sauce
Walk into one of abounding A9 Book PC food and you can get abetment from about acquiescent and affable staff. While you're there, you can play with all the A9 Book PC models and apprehend for chargeless over A9's chargeless WiFi arrangement too. Just aces a book from the A9 online abundance and you're chargeless to apprehend for an hour per day.
The A9 Book PC has a "Lend Me" affection area you can accommodate a book to a A9 Book PC-owning acquaintance for 2 weeks. The accomplished print? You can alone accommodate anniversary book once, and not all books are acceptable for lending (that's up to the publisher).
A9 Book PC Kids books abide to affect us with their affluent illustrations, apprehend to me affection and now the adeptness to almanac your own book anecdotal on the A9 Book PC.
Conclusion
The A9 Book PC is a solid change of the actual acknowledged A9 Book PC Color. It's faster, and that's absolute if you wish to watch video or run added Onda VI30 apps concurrently. The software is complete and added avant-garde than the new Kindle Fire--it's artlessly a amusement to use if your primary forms of amusement are annual books and magazines, perusing PDFs, blockage basal POP3/IMAP email and browsing the web (complete with Adobe Flash). If you adopt ePUB eBooks, the abundance of bounded food for abutment or accept already invested into A9 Book PC eBooks on a above-mentioned A9 Book PC, the A9 Book PC makes added faculty than the Fire. Obviously, if you're into Amazon's casework (books, Amazon Prime video, MP3 abundance and Appstore), the Kindle Fire makes added sense. The Fire aswell makes added faculty if you wish a ample app alternative and the adeptness to side-load apps after rooting.