Disgo Tablet 7"

nuttybabe

Hiya

After having an android phone I thought it would be a good idea to buy my daughter an andriod tablet for her birthday so I could get my phone back. We opted for the Archos from Tesco but that had old android on it and had to get apps from applib (i think that was it) which meant she couldnt have angry birds and a few others. So it went back.

She now has a Disgo 7000. It has android 2.3 on and has to use Getjar to download apps. BUT very few of the apps she wants are downloadable. I cant even get an e book reader on it. Other than that it seems to be alot better than the archos one and was thinking of getting myself one if I could get stuff to download!

I am not very techie, i have been on andriod forums and dont understand what they saying about rooting and stuff. I just dont understand why i cant get an e reader, facebook (for me, not her) and draw something on it. About the only thing we could do was put angry birds on!

Any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks x

neilwoods

Root is like on windows, your the administrator and have all the access, but when someone else uses it, they have limited access (like your disgo tablet), rooting is to bypass all that, so would allow you to access the official market or google play as it is now called.

But rooting can damage if not done right.

had a quick look on disgo, saw the facebook app and an e-book reader

nuttybabe

Hi

Thanks, probably best not done by me then!!! :rotfl:

it wont use google play it will only down load through GetJar. It does say it has the e-reader and facebook but when you go into GetJar to download the apps they wont download. Apparently only the approved GetJar apps will download but all the apps show so its hit or miss if you get one that works. And sadly some of the ones i want dont.

Will have a look on Disgo website again and see if I missed anything (have already emailed them).

Lifeforms

Unfortunately you are now experiencing the "shiny cheap tablet" syndrome.

That android phone, prolly cost a reasonable amount, either through contract and a small payment upfront, or through outright buy.
By doing that you're not only bought good hardware that can play most things, but also bought into a company that has rights to use Google Play (was Market Place) on their products (not limited to the version of Android being too old)

There is a reason why high end tablets are high end and cost a lot, because they just work. They have access to things like that, including on going support, updates and no real need to have to Flash Rom's as well as do things like Root *

Cheaper, off the main market tablets are very limited. Both in what actually works nicely, as well as access to things like Google Play. Unfortunately people don't realise that Android is an Open OS, and it's not like iOS where the App store is always going to be on it, nor is it like Windows where you'll always get IE, or WML for a random example.

You have two options. Buy a more up market tablet that you can use for what you want out of the box without having to do anything, but will have full access to Google Play.
(If rooting alone does it, then that is a much easier process usually)
Second option is to flash the Rom of your current tablet. Flashing can be quite easy to do, I did it with my Orange SF, and made a superb android fully working phone for under £100 (Wildfire was basically over £150+ Equiv at that point)
But flashing can also be problematic, and most people fail, brick phones/devices because they just don't read or comprehend the instructions fully. Most forums that offer these Roms usually have a newbie guide though, and most Roms being produced are usually being worked on and improved as is so support can be there. But ultimately you are responsible for your own device, and if you brick it, you might find it hard to send it back under warranty.
Most Roms are unstable releases too, so you need to be sure to get a Stable rom, as well as making sure it all works, some roms have problems with some bits not working, or not working quite right.

Obviously I don't want to put you completely off with flashing and rooting and such, but be aware some are fine with it, some mess up and can't fix it, and some have near escapes of being able to revert back to an original rom after having issues.

Also things like Angry Birds may just not work on your tablet, because it doesnt have the right hardware. If you find a Rom you like the look of, I would enquire first if it actually works, as in runs, but is also playable before putting it on.

*N.B the need is not there, as they do just work BUT I do not discount those who like to fiddle anyway, and put custom roms on to improve the out of box experience. (I made my Xoom wifi a GED and then got American ICS on it, but could've easily lived with current Honeycomb)

flashg67

My partner has an Archos tablet and I have used this website to get some apps - http://www.apktops.com/

Either download direct to the tablet, browse to file and 'install', or download to PC, transfer via USB cable to the tablet and install

nuttybabe

Thanks Lifeform. I do now understand why some are cheap and if i had the money i would go for a dearer one. I think because my wildfire phone is android i just thought all android would be the same. i am quite happy with the tablet's screen etc and i really would like one but i wanted it instead of a kindle and still having problems with the e-reader. but it does say it has an e-reader so i suppose i just have to keep trying to download them until 1 works. i dont want to brick the tablet so i think i will just try to find stuff for my daughter.

Flash - thank you, i will check out that website.

I have downloaded a apk file for draw something. if i copy that from my laptop to my tablet will it brick it or cause problems. i dont mind trying and it not working but i dont want to make things worse.

Thanks

neilwoods

You say you will keep downloading the e-reader until 1 works. Do you have e-books then i take, where did you buy them from. Not all e-books are the same, they have different format's. Just because the e-reader you have downloaded does not see your book's, does not mean it doesn't work.

If you have got them from amazon, then they will be mobi format. Need the kindle or there specific app to read them.

nuttybabe

Sorry, I didnt make myself clear. i cant download the ebook reader, thats the problem. i have now tried to download every ebook reader on GetJar and the only one that will download is Chinese or Japanese.I will have to look at that later and see if it accepts any books in english and then try to get them if it does. I do have ebooks in epub format but i havent even got to the stage of trying them yet. i was going to get the reader and go from there but i cant even do that.

Lifeforms

If you can find an ebook reader to download and install, don't worry about the formats of your ebooks. Probably you can get those converted (unless they have inbuilt protection/rights/dunno, one site I use for that is http://ebook.online-convert.com/, and there are many more out there. That one usually works well however, and doesn't seem to mess with much.

Lifeforms

And to throw in a double post, also try see if you can get a PDF app to work on it, because you can also view books in pdf format by converting.

Facebook, if no app works, just use it on the browser like you would on the computer.

nuttybabe

Thanks for the link Lifeforms. So if I can get a pdf app I wont need the e book reader so i can stop driving myself mad by looking for one??? Excellent, thank you.

Will try facebook, i did with the archos one but everything was just so small you couldnt read it so not tried on this one. but i will now. thanks.