Notion Ink Adam Review

Rating: (8/10).

This review is courtesy of Martyn Ranyard, long term uber geek and Android power user.

Review: In the beginning

So, I’ve had the pseudo-mythical Notion Ink Adam for over a week now, and what do I think? Well, I’m not the average consumer, but I have been following the development of this particular tablet ever since I first heard of it, probably more than a year ago now.

Aside for the multiple delays and occassional silences from Notion Ink, and promised dates that come and go, it was a pre-order of a small-run* tablet, so logistics aside I have to say, I’m pretty happy with it now it has arrived.

Being the android power user that I am, it only actually lasted about 3 hours unrooted and 2 hours of that was after unboxing I left it alone because I had prior commitments the day it arrived! The “Eden” shell (much like HTC and Samsung’s whizzy bits that take the devices in different directions from vanilla android) that it comes with shows promise, but I feel that hardware developers should stick to the hardware, and let others do the touchy-feely ui stuff.

Within 72 hours of recieving the device, I’d had it running a linux kernel and a few hours over that window, I had a full text-mode install of natty narwhal running, complete with wifi access and ssh server! My next task is to build on the work that some of the other hackers out there are doing and get a full ubuntu install with Unity working.

Features, Design

So, killer features are obvious – a decent processor (NVidia Tegra2 dual core 1Ghz beast) – fair amount of ram (1GB) and 8Gb of storage prior to having an sd card (up to 32gb) on all the Adam models. Of course I went the whole hog and bought the PixelQi screen and 3g+Wifi model for myself. Physical build quality is important to me and that is one area that the Adam does not dissapoint. The tablet is substantial – weighing in at less than most netbooks but not by much and probably a fair bit heavier than most of it’s competition, but unlike some android tablets, it doesn’t flex or give when roughly handled.

PixelQI display

The PixelQi screen, unlike earlier models is full colour even with the backlight off, and in bright sunlight is amazing to look at. Of course, it’s contrast ratio is not the same level as e-ink and you couldn’t exactly read a book by candlelight on it, but neither can you watch video or play games on an e-ink screen. Again, comparing it to Amoled screens, you don’t get the same quality in backlit mode, but it certainly is very usable.

Pricing

The price tag on the non-pixelqi versions to me seems not worth the spend (although the host-mode USB ports (meaning you can plug in a mouse and keyboard) and HDMI output is rare even on current best of breed tablets. Rather than splash out the price details for UK readers, please see this link for an actual cost.

The bad

So, what’s wrong with the tablet?

* Camera, big disappointment here, it is not even good enough quality to scan QR codes.
* Stock software – shows great promise but has glaring problems

* You can hide the notification bar (neat idea) but clicks don’t pass through to the underlying app.
* The menu for apps is a single line accross the tablet and if you have the number I do, you scroll forever.
* The browser is customised, and I just don’t like some of the “tweaks” they have done
* Oddly, subdomains don’t work right either – http://sub.domain.com/ does nothing but without the http it goes and puts the http in for you… very odd.
* GPS bugs, no fix possible
* No market, no honeycomb (unlikely for a long time, thanks google!)

Gloss screen – in the early days, it was promised a matt screen, instead it comes with a matt screen protector, and my history with screen protectors is not good, so I’ve stuck with the fingerprint-attracting gloss.

Now, this all sounds very negative, but don’t be fooled, if you’re happy with flashing a device (simply copy a .zip to the sd card and reboot!), this is a lovely device, and there are no alternatives if you want an android tablet that is viewable outdoors on a sunny day. If NVidia get their finger out, the latest Ubuntu release will be a simple replacement OS too.

Wrap Up

I really do love my device, and am carrying it round with me everywhere. I just wish I had more time to play with it, especially to get a full linux distro on it and get some real fun stuff going – even running basic windows games may be possible under wine with qemu!

Oh yeah, and angry birds runs nicely on it, so what more reason do you need to get one – 10.1″ angry birds!