Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[Important note on June 18, 2012] My original review below was mainly about how the Polaroid PMID701i compares to the older 701C. It appears that Amazon vendors are now shipping a newer model, the 702C, even though the product picture still shows the 701i. Here's to help you distinguish between those three models: - All three tablets have 7-inch capacitive screen, 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 4GB flash, microSDHC slot, etc. - Earlier 701C came with Android 2.3, but later units are converted to 4.0. The 701i and 702C come with 4.0 only. - Earlier 701C and 701i have a video output port, but some later units left it out. 702C added a front-facing 640x480 camera, but no video-output port. - 701C and 701i have navigation buttons (Back/Options/Home) on the side but no volume control buttons. 702C has volume control but no navigation buttons (except for the Home button in front). - Casings of the 701C and 701i feel more 'blocky' (not a bad thing). The 702C is curved on the back to make it appear thinner. Based on my hands-on experience with all three models, I will say the old 701C is the best value, followed by the 702C. The 701i is a bad deal because its WiFi reception is really poor. ======== Original review follows: ======== The product offered here ("Polaroid 7" Internet Tablet Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS") is the PMID701i. I have already purchased an earlier model, the PMID701C four weeks ago. I liked the unit very much and gave it a 5-star Amazon review. But like most people, I assumed that the latest operating system must be better. That's why I went to my local discount store (name ends with "Lots") and bought the PMID701i today. I figure that if the new tablet works better, I can still return the old model within the 30-day period. Long story short: One of them is going back - the NEW tablet. According to product spec, the only difference between those two Polaroid 7" tablets is the operating system: The PMID701C is running an older Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") while 701i is running the latest Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich"). They are otherwise supposed to be identical in terms of hardware. However, this is NOT the case according to my own observation. [Display Brightness] The first thing I noticed is that the display for the new 701i is dimmer and less contrast compared to my old 701C. In fact, I have to crank the new tablet's screen brightness setting to 100%, while the old one is typically left at 50%. See my uploaded picture in the 'Customer Images' section for a side-by-side comparison. The dimmer display could be by design (to prolong battery life), or it could be that Polaroid switched to a cheaper LED backlight module. [Wireless Reception] I installed the free Wi-Fi Analyzer on both tablets. The old tablet can typically detect 6-8 WiFi networks in my neighborhood, while the new one can only detect 3-4. Worse yet, the signal strength on the new tablet is about 10dB lower (meaning that the RF signal received is only one-tenth the power) compared to that on the old one. Again, see my uploaded customer image for illustration. It sounds suspiciously like Polaroid has switched to a cheaper RF module. The poor WiFi reception is most annoying when surfing the Internet and downloading Apps. For example, so far I already tried five times to download "Where's My Water?" from Amazon Apps Store, but they all aborted with time-out. [Touch Screen Response] The touch screen of my old 701C is responsive and fast. For example, while looking at the list of 'My Apps' in Amazon App Store, I can swipe my finger and see all the apps flying through the screen at top speed. It only takes me 2-3 swipes to pass through all 140 of my apps. On the new 701i the screen is slightly sluggish and feels 'heavy'. It takes 6-7 swipes to pass through the same 140 apps. This could be due to the fact that Android 4.0 is more bloated, so it is stressing the CPU or graphic processor. [Android 4.0 interface] In general, I found Ice Cream Sandwich to be easy to use. But then again, I'm already experienced with Android 3.0 using my VIZIO Tablet VTAB1008, so there's hardly any learning curve. When compared to the old Android 2.3, the new interface looks flashier with more animation. Each screen or pop-up window is jam packed with more information. The down-side is that the default system font ('Large') is too small for the 7" display, making it difficult to read for older people like myself. I have to increase the system font to 'huge' for some texts to be readable. The bottom part of the screen is permanently reserved for system functions (Back, Home, Options, Volume +/-, etc). This is somewhat useful since the Polaroid tablet has no hardware volume buttons. On the flip side, the screen area is now 8% smaller in landscape mode, and it is easy to accidentally exit the game while playing Angry Birds. [Bottom Line] The old PMID701C is a much better value. The new 701i may seem like an upgrade, but its hardware performance is a big disappointment. In my opinion, the difference in interface between 'Ice Cream Sandwich' and 'Gingerbread' is definitively not worth paying extra for this 'upgrade'. [Update on April 26, 2012] In terms of software compatibility with existing apps, staying with Gingerbread is better - at least for now. Case in point: today's Amazon Free App Of The Day, Audubon Birds, is compatible with 701C but not with the 701i. Same for Cut the Rope.