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My eMatic Twig 4.3″ Android PDA is Unreviewable

Yesterday afternoon I picked up a cute little handheld at Walmart, and tomorrow it is going back.

The eMatic Twig first caught my eye a couple months back. I’d been wanting to find a cheap small Android tablet to carry around as a pocket media device. So long as it could play music and read an ebook format, I would have been happy.

But the one I bought can’t do anything because it came with a truly futzed touchscreen. It worked for maybe 10 minutes, and in that time I managed to install Aldiko and set up the Wifi. Since then it has been only erratically responsive. Most of the time I cannot even get the screen unlocked.

I also briefly got Aldiko open. It crashed, and that was what made me decide to pass on reviewing this tablet. Even if I get a replacement that has a functioning touchscreen, I’m betting that the Twig will still have problems installing apps.

But before it went back in the box I did note a few details.It has a tiny speaker on the back, and on the one edge it has a microSD card slot, USB port,  headphone jack, and a jack for TV out – but no cable is supplied. There’s a stylus in the box, along with a screen cloth and a short user manual.

I also took some photos, which are at the end of the post.

And I opened the case. I can tell you that this tablet is running on an Ingenic JZ4760B CPU. According to the info I found online, this is a MIPS based CPU, which means that I probably have a device similar to the one that Brad Linder reviewed over at Liliputing.

That model was sold by Skytex as the Pocket Primer, but it is very likely a close cousin of the eMatic Twig. The screen size and CPU suggest that they are related. Feel free to read his review. He had any number of issues with apps that would not install, and that is a problem that I would expect to see on any replacement Twig.

He’ll talk you out of buying one. As for me, I’ve already seen enough.

Specs

  • Ingenic JZ4760B CPU
  • 4.3? LCD (800×480 resolution)
  • Android 2.2 OS
  • Wifi (g)
  • 4GB Flash storage
  • microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
  • g-sensor
  • Supports Media Formats: MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, WAV, MP4, AVI, FLV and more
  • Picture viewer in JPEG, BMP formats
  • Dimensions: 4.5? x 3.0 x 0.5

 

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Comments


fjtorres December 13, 2011 um 6:40 am

Too bad. The Android world could use a (reasonably-priced) competitor to the iPod Touch.


Mike Cane December 13, 2011 um 7:31 am

Hey, the Samsungs aren’t priced *that* outrageously compared to the iPod Touch, In fact, with their better cameras, I’d say they’re competitive. You don’t get the Retina Display, but the viewing angles of the Touch’s screen really, really suck and the camera is just an outright insult. Apple must have a huge margin on that Touch, seeing how they haven’t updated it in over a year while component prices must have plummeted for it.


Luqman December 13, 2011 um 8:11 am

The viewing angles on the Samsung Galaxy Players are awesome, actually. The last I checked, Bestbuy had them on sale: $199 for the 4 inch and $209 for the 5 inch.

fjtorres December 13, 2011 um 10:21 am

I’ll keep an eye out for when the 5in shows up on sale closer to the $129 mark. Some time next spring-summer.


Ematic Twig Shows up at Walmart – 4.3″, Android v2.2, $79 – The Digital Reader December 19, 2011 um 8:36 am

[…] Update: I’ve gotten my hands on the Twig. Verdict: It’s junk. […]


In Pursuit of the sub-$100 Android media player: Elsse 4.3 – The Digital Reader December 25, 2011 um 7:25 pm

[…] then considered the Ematic Twig, but the unit I bought had a defective touchscreen and it also had issues with installing apps. And it looked to be the […]


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