Pipo P7 question

[sawbones999]

Disclaimer in case you see it there, I posted a similar question in a thread on arctablet

I have never had a decent Android tab until recently when I bought an RCA Viking Pro 10 (mt8127 quad core a7, 1GB/32GB), then I started looking around at other tablets and I think I would much prefer something with RK3288 and 2GB of ram.

I already have much experience with the platform and it will easily outperform the MTK tablet. The problem is cost. I had only seen pipo tablets in the $200-300 range until I found the pipo p7. The p7 has the same resolution screen as the RCA, more USB ports, 4k HDMI output, metal case instead of plastic, glass screen instead of plastic, but the price is almost exactly the same!

The only downside is that the p7 doesn't have a detachable keyboard the way the RCA does (not that big of a deal bc the case/stand can easily be with keyboard).

The biggest reason why I want to move away from the RCA is locked bootloader, inability to use custom recovery or ROM, etc.

I am still within the 30 day period where I can return the RCA.

My questions about this are, first, are there any kernels available which allow the 1.8GHz CPU speed?

Second, will there soon be a fully functional lollipop release for the p7 (or even a test release with VPU capabilities)?

Third does everyone agree that this is the best tablet available in the ~$150 price range? Are there any other candidates which anyone would suggest I consider?

Thanks and cheers!
-SB

[rrileypm]

1. No, there aren't currently overclocked kernels for the RK3288 tablets. Reason being that the kernels are compressed by the factory, and can't be tweaked like we did with the RK3188 tablets.

2. I'm not sure where Pipo is with upgrading their firmware. My gut says that they don't plan on releasing any more firmware updates for the P7. However, the P7 is actually the Pipo release of a tablet they produced for Archos which has some more options. Maybe Archos will support the firmware for their version longer than Pipo has.

3. This is the only RK3288 tablet in the $150 price range that I know of. All of the other factories have switched to MTK or AllWinner processors. Pipo was the last to produce Rockchip tablets.

Just be aware of what you are facing with the P7. This is the RK3288 version of the M8 Pro tablet...with a 9.4" screen....is isn't a true 10.1" screen like the M8HD. I have an M8 Pro and an M8HD...and there is a huge difference in the screen resolution between the two. I also have an unreleased version of a P7HD tablet...which is pretty much an M8HD with an RK3288 processor in it. I have not seen any for sale anywhere, though....and I have no idea what the price point would be for it. I received it as a test tablet for a commercial custom ROM I've been developing...so I don't know whether Pipo has plans on ever selling it. Again, I believe that Archos has an HD version of the P7 available...but with a premium price tag because it has a huge amount of onboard memory.

I hope that helps. Right now, I can't give you a better alternative to the P7.

[sawbones999]

I understand about the 9.4in screen. I'm not sure that it's a large enough difference to bother me.

Banggood has the pipo M9S for about $20 more. The primary difference that I see is the 10.1in screen. Still 1280x800 resolution.

Do you think that this platform would be a better choice for any reason? More likely to receive fw update?

How about community lollipop builds for p7? Other than the screen resolution are there other significant hardware changes which would prevent modifying a ROM from a similar pipo rk3288 product with a different screen resolution and running that ROM on the p7? Would the kernel already support the 1280x800 resolution and would just have to repack the res files or something? I've never attempted something like that but am willing to try/learn.

If the kernel won't support it, then the compressed kernel format may prevent this.

No way to unpack the dtb files and edit the resolution or something to that effect?

Are there no tools which would allow to unpack the compressed kernel, patch, and then recompress? Maybe a checksum that would be invalidated or something prevents this?

I don't know obviously you are much more plugged into this community than I. The MTK RCA tab I got has lollipop on it, and it's the only mt8127 lollipop tablet I've seen seen so far, except for 2 other RCA branded models which are truly manufactured by a company in Hong Kong. It also has some pretty strict security enforcement and yucky locked bootloader.

I can see why the Chinese manufacturers have primarily switched to Allwinner and MTK devices from a cost standpoint, but it seems to me that there are significant trade offs in doing so. Either in single threaded performance, overall performance, 3D acceleration, or video decoding (or some combination of the above) when compared to rk3288. Then again a lot of the MTK devices have integrated gsm/cdma/lte. That isn't so important to me, though. I usually have my phone and can tether LTE at the touch of a button.

I was looking at octa core MTK tabs when I stumbled across the p7 and I think that the p7 is still the better performer in most ways. Please let me know if you have a different opinion or would recommend another tablet.

I can't afford to spend much more than that atm but I don't mind getting my hands dirty trying to hack software if there is precedent.

All the buzz over in RK3288 tv device forum is that pipo is getting lollipop, it's disappointing to find out that possibly only select RK3288 tablets may be supported.

Thanks for the quick response!
Cheers!
-SB

[rrileypm]

Don't get me wrong. The P7 appears to be a solid tablet. I really enjoyed my M8 Pro with the same screen...and my daughter still does. If the other internal parts are the same, my P7HD hints that the P7 is a nice tablet, too. Unfortunately, though...the P7HD firmware has some issues that either Pipo or Rockchip have no incentive to fix (except for my client who bought 600 of them for his business).

[sawbones999]

My question wasn't necessarily about an official pipo Android 5 release for the p7. I was thinking more along the lines of an eventual release from crewrktablets, which I'm sure you would know more about.

Even then, I don't necessarily have to have lollipop. In fact I'm not all that impressed with it on my ADT-1 (it shipped with the Android L developer preview and had gone official at this point). That may have more to do with my own personal beef with the shortcomings in the leanback launcher than anything else.

Kit Kat is still pretty decent, and fairly stable (aside from idiosyncrasies and issues with the RK3288 and it's SDK).

The M9S seems to be even less supported on arctablet than the P7 (at least there are less threads and ROMs regarding M9S).

Which would you buy if you had a tight budget?
Cheers,
-SB

[sawbones999]

P7 @$149.99
M9S @164.99
P9 @$193.99
P1 @$199.99
P9 3G @$210.99
FnF ifive air @204.99

[rrileypm]

Like you, I've only just learned of the M9S. My guess would be to think about the long term. With a newer model, there is greater chance of further support on the M9S.

It is basically a redo of the P9 with a cheaper screen. I'm very happy with my P9. It is the most reliable RK3288 tablet I have.

Whether Lollipop is possible...I have no idea.

[sawbones999]

Yes, I just did some looking around and it looks as though the M9S was not announced until Jan 2015.

For some reason antutu scores look a bit higher than the P7.

Only one review on geekbuying.... I'm somewhat worried about custom ROM support, Linux support, etc. What I was really hoping was in the pipeline is KVM host capabilities in kernel for RK3288 devices. It's being implemented in the new 4.0 Linux kernel but I don't see that coming down the pipeline anytime soon. Even on lollipop.

I guess if the pipo kernel compression isn't figured out by then, then I'll just look forward to it on my R89.

Maybe I'll give it a shot. I'll think about it for a couple of days.

Thanks!
-SB

[sawbones999]

I noticed that you have a ROM out for M9S. Do you have the device, or just modified the stock ROM?

Cheers and thanks!
-SB

[sawbones999]

So I'm looking at prices for M9S and quite a few sites are selling them with a SIM pin (like to pop open a SIM tray, similar to iPhone). Some sites are saying that it supports fm radio and wcdma 3G. Is this correct? I see no mention of either feature on the pipo website.

I do know that wcdma is available as an option on the P7. Are these true M9S, or will something else likely arrive if I ordered one?

Thanks again!
-SB

[sawbones999]

There is actually very little info from pipo on the m9s. Pipo.com doesn't even list it as a product. Pipo.cn lists it and has pictures, but the specifications page is blank. The model title does indicate RK3288.

On pipo.cn the P7 is listed as "New", while the M9S is not.

Merimobiles has the p4 at around the same price as the p7, but it looks like the p8 and p4 have lpDDR2 RAM compared to the P9 (and probably the M9S judging from antutu scores I've seen) having LPDDR3 RAM. I've seen P7 antutu scores which were lower than P9, M9S, and others which are the same. Some specs for P7 indicate LPDDR3. On pipo website both p7 and p9 are listed as "DDR" while p4 and p8 are listed as LPDDR2.

I think the P7 specs I've seen indicate that it has LPDDR3, but screenshots I've seen show lower antutu scores.

Since there are no specs on the M9S, it's possible that there is a 3G version. I know that the RK3188 version of that has a 3G option(from specs on pipo website). I'm sort of afraid that if I order from a sketchy Chinese site I'll end up with the RK3188 version and have to fight with them through PayPal to get it returned, lol.

So I guess I'm still doing research and trying to decide...

[sawbones999]

I just recently searched **** for RK3288 tablet and one caught my attention called the Aishon "A17" (though I can't find any other references online to a model A17, the specs on the auction seem to actually match the model A18).

Anyway, the reason it caught my attention is, the specs match the pipo p1 Wi-Fi in almost every regard (5mp back camera instead of 8mp is the biggest difference I see).

Can you tell me anything about this? Is it a rebadged p1? Will p1 firmware work with it?

I'm interested if it is in fact made by pipo. The price is less than the p1 and it's listed in the US (no shipping from China would be great!)

Cheers and thanks!

-SB

[BamaPanda]

I still have my Pipo M8 Pro as an extra tablet (main tab a Cube T9), and it still works even though there is no sound and I damaged the nand flash.

That said, I have always loved the design, so I am seriously thinking of the Pipo P7 as a second viable tablet to use.

The OP mentioned a glass screen. That would surprise me, as Pipo usually uses plastic here. Hope it is so, tbough! 😁