Pipo M8 Pro General discussion

[eljuggy]

Hi,

just to let you know I added a tutorial to add multi user to the PIPO M8 Pro on another board, (I post a link to it since the board also link to here) :

http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/63938-pipo-max-m8-pro/page__view__findpost__p__869889

there is a little bug (error message displayed sometimes related to bluetooth, but bluetooth works fine for the firs user only though), but it's very minor...

I did'nt tested the procedure on RileyROM 1.5 (I don't want to erase my tablet data anymore in a FW flash - can a rom be flashed without wipe ?) but it really should work.

Maybe rrileypm you may give a look to it especially to the Provision.apk renaming if you use it, and even make the multi user feature optional in your next rom.

[dcr33p]

One thing I wanted to share with you: Especially, guys like Vikidroid who want to order a Pipo device.
I just used my headphones on the 3.5mm jack to listen to some stuff, usually I stream my content to a XBMC raspberry pi, connected to my speakers. So I used the 3.5mm jack for the first time and the sound quality is absolutely terrible. Never in my life, I have owned a device with such crappy audio output, I think back in the walkman days, the sound was better
So my resumee after one weak of "very day usage" is following:

- Case & build quality: 6/10 Points. Why? Case does not fit everywhere, after one weak it started to make some noises on various locations at the back casing. The device looks good definetely, but guys, who are we kidding? Here at work I have 3 Android tablet with a price ange from 75€ to 120€, bought at a local store from "noname" brands here in Germany. Pipos build quality sucks even compared to those. It is not bad at all, BUT....IMHO nearly every non-china device is better at this point, regardless of price
- Performance: 8/10 Points. Why? If some major performance issues, like laggy keyboard, casually MEGA-LAGS would not be present, it would be a 10/10 :-)
- Battery: 8/10 Points: Quite good, actually. Depends on devices mood, sometimes it drains a lot of faster without any reason I know. I track things with "battery mix" and "os monitor".
- The thing with the micro USB connector: WTF? 0/10 Points regarding "smart device design" awards
- Charging plug: WTF? Very rare ~2mm connector.

So, after a week of daily use: NO-GO device IMHO. Basically, because it is STILL just to expensive. In Germany, for the same money I can get a Nexus 7 with 16GB or 32GB. I know, you cannot expand the memory with micro SD cards. It depends on personal user preferences. I am one of many guys with some sort of central storage via NAS or whatever, so it is not important for me.
Also I am comparing 7" vs. 9.4" but at same resolution. RK3188 is also a lot faster, theoretically, BUT: Nexus 7 runs faster with everything I tried on it. It JUST works perfect, nothing else So performance-wise it is a clear win for nexus device. Then there is the thing with sound quality on headphones. Sorry, but after one week of daily usage and errors/flaws I explained above, I dont get it why this device should be the chinese non-plus-ultra?
I will use it, this is sure. I like it. But if you try to be reasonable, it is not that cheap regarding cost/performance ratio...

I know people write a lot that build qualitiy and performance is very good. Maybe, comparing to chinese-stuff from 2 years ago, but comparing to EVERYTHING else I can buy in Germany, it is just average. Funny thing is that it is even too expensive because of avergae or below design and poor performance. The best SOC is nothing, without proper FW and I doubt it that Pipo and every other company is going to implement high-speed wings to RK3188.

just my 2 cents, BUT again: I DO LIKE the device and I will continue using it!

EDIT: Compared to EVERY Wlan Device we have floating around here and there in our company, it the M8 Pro has the worst WLAN signal strength. It is working, no discussion. Cant complain about not delivering Wlan functionality, still it is the worst comparing other devices. I dont know why people are writing WLAN is "very good" or something like that. I guess, it all comes down to personal usage and claim.

[vikidroid]

hmmm.... don't know what to say...

i do not purchased it (yet), but as i saw their "older" models, s2, m1/2 and m9, i supposed that there is no built mistakes. all of them looks good, no crackly sounds, all edges are "sitting" as they supposed to be. so, that was my last concern. and when i saw m8, i said that is what i want for every day usage for family. it look ok, it is "powerful" and it is priced well (of course, from china).

but this little bit worried me...

earphones jack is last point of interest. for me. i really never use that port. hdmi and usb are interesting me. if they are not working, than i have problem. but in every case it is good to know that information. i just hope that other users will wrote their letter or two and do some comparison to yours device/experiences.

micro usb connector is just victim of that slim design. it would be ugly to see normal sized usb port. IMHO.

but, one thing i cant' agree with you is comparison with nexus 7. NEITHER chinese device can be compared with nexus 7. different producer, producer with "name", good user service... no need to count all good things about nexus/asus.
and about speed - pipo (and co.) just upgrading their SoCs, new processors, adding memory ram and flash just to look good on paper. but there is no tweakings and customizing OS to be supported by (strong) hardware. so, that is why theoretically slower tegra3 works better than theoretically faster 3188. and that is not something that surprising me. there is a hundreds of tablets, 3066, a10, a13, processors which should be working better and faster than they running out of the box. just because nobody spend some time and do a customization/adjustment of OS to that particularly hardware.

in every case, thank you for this honest review. and, as i wrote earlier, hope that other users will wrote some words about this.

BUT, if i may, hope that will not offend you - is there any possibility that only trouble (3.5mm jack, flickering, bad casing) is in your, MAYBE, faulty, device? there is multi production, somewhere simply must be some bad produced items. so, you just didn't have luck with purchase?

aside this, forgive me if i missed or i forgot, did you bought it in germany or from china? that does not change nothing, but, just from curiosity.


and, finally, here in croatia, according to general offer of tablets, there is no tablet in range as this pipo is, or i need to pay as twice as pipo m8 costs to buy something good. devices with smaller screens are not interesting me at this moment, so, i must buy 9, 9.4, 9.7, 10" device. and if i want big screen and powerfull Soc, than i do not have many options - pipo and not to cry when it brokes, or 400€ and more for decent device.

many thanks once more and i hope you'll wrote some more impressions in future. or pipo do some "ironing" of software and few glitches will be lost in future.

viki

[pr0xZen]

I've read earlier about pretty lousy audio quality on the M8 Pro, atleast from the 3.5mm minijack output. Does anyone know something that might indicate wether this is a hardware or firmware issue? How about HDMI audio - any difference? What audio hardware is there in the M8 Pro, and is it part of the SoC ?

If its a firmware issue, this really needs to be rushed up the pipe to PiPO ASAP. They seem to be working hard on the firmware upgrades these days - so if we could get this info across to them, we could hope for a fix...

[dcr33p]

Maybe I can test HDMI in the evening. Regarding sound: It is by FAR the most crappy output I ever listened to
Not in the way that it is "broken" or something, just sh**
I have tested an i.mx6 eval board, lying around at work. We determined a few weeks ago that the sound chip is of bad quality. But sound is at least 10x nicer then on M8.

[rrileypm]

Re: Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.5

Hey guys...thanks for the discussion.

Sent from my M8 pro

[pr0xZen]

Maybe I can test HDMI in the evening. Regarding sound: It is by FAR the most crappy output I ever listened to
Not in the way that it is "broken" or something, just sh**
I have tested an i.mx6 eval board, lying around at work. We determined a few weeks ago that the sound chip is of bad quality. But sound is at least 10x nicer then on M8.

Would be great if you could do this - it would be quite useful information for others.

Could anyone else that actually has got a M8 Pro at this point, try out their audio on a decent headset and report their experience? If the audio on "all" of them are as bad as you're indicating - I would have thought this was something PiPO would have picked up on quite early. After having seen the PiPO HQ walkthrough, they come across as a company serious about their products.

[vikidroid]

just one question about sound. it will not solve nothing, probably, but, that "crappy" sound - how it does manifest? as low, as cracking, as metal...?

for example, in linux that is common thing, esspecially with skype. and there is just needed to change one value for audio output and then is everythig ok. and there is metal and cracking sound.
so, maybe here is also some way to change output... maybe to compare settings with m9 settings...

[dcr33p]

Hey guys, just got home. Will test HDMI and audio again. I will write, soon.

[rrileypm]

To be honest, I never even plugged in a set of headphones to this tablet since I've had it.

The other day, my son got a new pair of Beat's headphones, so I grabbed them away from him for a few minutes to test.

Now as far as "sound quality" goes, I do not hear distortion and all the frequencies seem appropriate. What I've noticed is that the tracks/channels seem to be off somehow...sort of scrambled. I played back an mp4 movie and the background music overpowers the actor's voices. I'm not sure this is a hardware issue, but I don't know how to describe what's wrong. I don't know enough about the sound drivers to tell if there are separate drivers for headphones and speakers.

Everything sounds great through the speakers...which is why I never plugged in a set of headphones until now.

dcr33p is that what you are hearing? What did you use to test the headphone quality? Mp3, Mp4, AVI or what?

[dcr33p]

OK. First of all, forget everything I said about sound. Just remember following:
Headphones with MIC and therefore "deeper" pluggs are the problem! I tested my Philips
in-ear pluggs when I was at work today. Those pluggs are some kind of Android compatible special edition blahblah... version with a microphone built in. You cant put them in completely inside the Pipo (OMG..sounds..funny). If you do so you have 1# mono on both ears and 2# bad sound. Pipos 3.5mm port
is just not compatible with those longer headset pluggs. You can pull it out ~1mm and hope it stays that way, then sound is OK. Tested on my KOSS headphones with NORMAL 3.5mm plug and it sounds good.
Sorry for the confusion, I forgot that this is not a smartphone, hence there is no need for a MIC and therefore no need for that kind of 3.5mm port

OK, I just wanted to write that doen first. I've tested HDMI, it works great. I will post some pics in a few minutes. This will be some kind of "proof" that HDMI IN FACT is working

[dcr33p]

OK, I took some shots just for proof
Picture quality is good. I've played ~10 minutes with it. Playing sound works out of the box via HMDI. No Problem at all. I also connected my wireless mouse as you can see on the picture Could be a nice "backup PC" solution if you carry the OTG cable around. Many people have some HDMI-like Monitor @home and at least one USB mouse/keyboard set

EDIT:

micro usb connector is just victim of that slim design. it would be ugly to see normal sized usb port. IMHO.

I meant that a normal micro usb-cable wont fit in. It looks like a normal micro-usb port on the tablet, but it is deeper inside the device.

[vikidroid]

I meant that a normal micro usb-cable wont fit in. It looks like a normal micro-usb port on the tablet, but it is deeper inside the device.

OK, i understand wrong. but about "deeper" usb, yes, that is not new. for some reason they make deper "male" and longer "female" plugs. there is just simple way to make from "normal" to "long" mcro usb. just cut off 1-2mm of rubber arround male side. works as is.

and about earphones. if i understand and read well (it is too late, i'm awake from 5:30 today, and now i see all in double), until today you tryed with phones-mic combo plug, and there was trouble. but with normal stereo 3,5mm is all ok?

to be clear, this is normal stereo plug:


and this is phones&mic combo plug:


so, first one - good, second one - not good?

ok, problem solved, hdmi solved.

now what? how to deal with wifi w/o disassembling it and what about bad casing?

[pr0xZen]

Playing sound works out of the box via HMDI. No Problem at all.

Great news, both on minijack and hdmi front A few questions though:
1. If you have a DTS-capable reciever or similar - could you try playing a video with DTS soundtrack, and see if the tablet sends DTS audio over HDMI?

2. About the 3.5mm minijack issue. Some headsets with mic are designed to be "fully compatible" - the layout of the plug differs. Is the plug of your troubled "android compatible" set really longer than a traditional plug, or does it just have more than 3 connector poles on it? A standard minijack has 3 poles - one for each chnnel and common ground. Sets with mic and/or remote has 4 or more poles (poles are separated by a small plastic ring).

The headset for my girlfriends Chinese Samsung note rippoff has an extra long plug, wich is not compatible with anything else in the house.

What I've noticed is that the tracks/channels seem to be off somehow...sort of scrambled. I played back an mp4 movie and the background music overpowers the actor's voices. I'm not sure this is a hardware issue, but I don't know how to describe what's wrong.

What you're describing here, to me - sounds like a bad equalizer setting, or a very poorly coded downmixing of surround -> Stereo. Can you check if the video file has a multichannel (typically 5.1 or more) soundtrack? Any settings for downmixing audio in your video player?

And, have you tried with an mp3, a stereo radio channel, High quality youtube music video etc (something you know for sure is a stereo source, and does not play back in the same media player as the previously tested mp4 file)? Do you experience the same sensation with any of these?

[rrileypm]

I broke out the ear buds that actually came with the tablet...you know, the ones that you take and put in a drawer somewhere....

I plugged them into my M8 Pro, and the sound is listenable. I need to tweak the equalizer settings a little.