Seems a good deal since it comes with Office 365 Personal 1 Year Subscription.
Stay connected with the Unisurf 7" Windows 16GB Tablet, offering a 7" touch screen, 16GB, 1GB RAM and Windows 8.1 operating system, with access to the Windows Store.
Free store pick up or Australia wide delivery, delivery seems cheap I got a quote for $6.95
No idea how this tablet performs, don't suppose it will be that quick with 1gb ram
$78 before Cashback $53 after Cashback
sorry, forgot it was this thread. So I've empirically confirmed that the switch is needed on this particular hardware.
open it up & wire in a separate power connector
How? Cannot use the USB 5V with OTG. And there are no unused solder pads inside for the purpose.
I suppose you could wire a ˜4V supply through resistor direct to the battery. (or fancier external li-ion charge circuit, but no real need.)
My next mission is to battle the UEFI to try to install Linux.
Nice investigation.
Will be interested in Linux install success.
There will be a way to connect external supply for charging, while adding USB device.
Probably not worth the effort to save $10. Most would be concerned about potential damage, & buy the cable. But exploring is fun.
Reading further: its no so much hardware as the BIOS or Windows USB driver. Some tablets will do it with a resistor rather than short on the otg sense pin.
It varies a lot, according to my short search.
There are simple designs for a charging OTG using a few cables & a powered hub (uses micro-USB cable to attach to tablet, wires from cable are taken to micro-USB for 2 charging connections, with only data cables sent to powered hub - which delivers power to connected devices), but some questioned the need for resistors to make it work in different brands.
Simple enough if you have the parts & a soldering iron. My unit has separate micro-USB & charging so can't test.
would a Vodafone usb stick modem work on this
with a OTG cable….yes
For those that bought online and opted for instore pickup, how long did you have to wait before receiving a notification that its ready for pickup?
~2 hours.
Thanks, I ordered yesterday but still haven't received any confirmation so I called them and they said it was ready.
I've installed TeamViewer so I can remote desktop into the tablet (RDP doesnt come with the version of Windows installed).
Does anyone know how to turn the screen off without putting the device to sleep? When it is in sleep mode, TeamViewer sees the device as offline.
I check the power settings etc but there is no option for screen off.
In advanced settings there's a display setting "Turn off display after", for battery or plugged in mode.
Have you confirmed this method for Windows 8.1 tablets with connected standby?
I got one of the 8inch Unisurf tablets today. Seems to be pretty good for the money. The power cable, however, does not seem to fit the device. When I sent an email to Unisurf helpdesk, the reply seemed to have come via the pendo.com.au domain. MMMMM. Wonder if this is just a rebadged Pendo pad.
Was disappointed with 4 in 1 usb otg hub
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-in-1-Micro-USB-OTG-Charge-HUB-C…,
it can only trickle charge at ~500ma max!!! and thats only if your tablet is idling, It drops lower than that down to 0 if you are watching videos etc. If you use the charging brick with just the charging cable it has a much better charging rate according to http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/battery_information_view.html .
Going to have a punt at http://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-OTG-Charger-HUB-with-4-us…, fingers crossed if it can deliver 2A it claims to be able to do compared to the others.
Hi, could someone help me understand please….. in order to claim the $25 Cash Back, what would the screenshot or photo need to show please.
The Microsoft site mentions "Please upload a screenshot or photo of your Office 365 activation in office.com/myaccount". But whoever already with an existing Office 365 can show such a screen without actually having activated the new activation code?
Do I need to show a screenshot when the activation is in action please. If yes, …. I had not taken such screenshot….
Thanks
No you don't need to take the screen shot when the activation process in action.
Please follow the below steps.
1- Open www.office.com
2- Click on sign in on the top right corner
3- Sign in with your Microsoft account
4-Once you signed in. Click My Account again on the top right corner of the screen
5- Now take the screenshot of this windows. You will see below details on this page If you have already activated & installed Office 365 and used your Microsoft account details during activation
Install PC/Mac/Tablet installs used:1
Install Office on 1 PC or Mac, 1 tablet, and 1 smartphone.
Manage account
Annual auto-renew on Thursday, June 9, 2016
Manage payment, renewal, and cancellation.
6-Upload the screenshot of My Account in Office Cashback page.
Thats it….
Many thanks mady123 :-)
if we have purchased multiple tablets, can we just use the one account to activate them all, or do they need to be under different accounts? I bought a few for famaily so not sure if i need to set it up under their accounts or if I can just use mine..is the license tied to the account that needs to be logged in on the tablet? Might make more sense if I make them an account and put it on the tablet? But then would the claims be valid if they're under a different name to the cash back claim?
thanks
Could you please someone help!
Today I just collect 2 at Malaga branch wa but unfortunately both of them are second hand and full of scratch in front and back plus I have to enter the password for windows which previous owner set it up!!!!
Wondering to ask what am I supposed to do ? As they sold me the used items instead of brand new ,am I able to request to compensation or something like that.
I do appreciate for your help.
Definitely take them back and get a refund/replacement. If you get a replacement open them before you head home to make sure they're as described.
If they refuse a refund for some reason, ask for the manager and if the manager refuses you can still bring it up with Fair Trade.
Thanks for your advice. I asked management to replace it but no more stocks left so he upgrade it to 8" android DGTEC DUAL CORE 3G tablet for sane price. But I don't know if its any good.
well its android, so no cashback but its 3g…depends what you need it for. If you wanted it for the windows interface then it's not a good swap.
If anyone in NSW (Baulkham Hills) wants to split the buy 2 deal let me know.
If anyone in Melbourne (Essendon area) want one for $45 send me pm.
Decided to buy at $28.
Combined with Trend Micro Mobile Security for Android 12Mth + 8GB Micro Memory Card $0 (after $20 Cashback) & $25 welcome credit.
Local store has plenty of tablets but only 3 Trends. Some other stores may be the reverse. So topped up order with some coffee I like to total $150.95.
Less cash backs & discount
$25 welcome discount
$25 on 365 registration
$60 on 3 Trend registration
So $40.95 for
$28 tablet
$12.95 Lavazza Divinamente Coffee Capsules (rarely on special, for my $6 machine)
& 3 free 8GB cards
I can live with that.
But tablet & 4 free 8GB cards for $28 would have been better.
well played.
tried buying 4 trends and got this message "The maximum quantity allowed for purchase is 3."
Yes, $28 is about what I would be willing to pay for this tablet. That's $1 more than I paid for my Android 7". Of course there was a crappy free Android 7" from DS.
Store had so many in stock of tablet & Trend. So was limitation on sale item. Still waiting for email.
finally got it today… god the screen is horrible! is it a mirror or a screen? the annoying glare and constantly trying to til to the right angle to view pictures….
dropped the resolution is a must… if you want to actually read text on it… but once i dropped it down to 1024 and tried to open up app store… it says This app cannot open "the screen resolution is too low for this app to run"… wtf???
if you kept it at 1280 res and increase the font size to 125% helps too…
The minimum resolution for Metro apps is 1024x768. So you have a choice between them not running, or being almost illegible.
At $53, you knew there was a catch :-)
true true … cant complain… it's actually quite a capable machine at this price… a good in car entertainment for the kids too. after playing around with it, i cant stand stretched 1280 res so back to 1024. The text still look much much sharper in 1024. Overall im satisfied!
So does 8.1 - its just the dumb Metro apps that refuse. But you can live without them, no?
You can quickly switch between resolutions with a tiny freeware called 'Fast Resolution Switcher', pin the shortcut you create for it to your taskbar and only use 1280 when you need to use Apps (unfortunately, alot of the time)
Windows 10 will work better with 1024x600 as it is designed to work with a wider range of devices.
Yeah I really hope so. The screen is very average (as expected). Anyone upgraded to the preview version?
Will it fit? Very little RAM is available as it is. I will try taking out the Restore partition.
For a $28 tablet, it's worth a try. Off to pick mine up.
http://liliputing.com/2015/03/microsoft-shrunk-the-windows-1…
should do…the resolution/screen on this is shocking…hope it improves with windows 10.
does anyone know how to make it mirror full size on a tv..if i try to mirror it only uses the centre of the TV with huge black borders all around.
@poop:
Only allows full screen on TV if you turn (tablet) screen 1 off, click screen 2 as screen to normally use. That way when you plug in the external screen, it automatically goes to full full screen. But using the tablet for input is difficult then. External keyboard & mouse are very handy.
See earlier resolution change discussion (but ignore my comments in general as I was using a different tablet). A handy YouTube link there, discussing setup as desktop computer.
Poop, that article says:
"Windows 10 will automatically analyze your computer to determine whether it can handle compression and it will only be used on devices that have enough RAM and fast enough processors."
While the Atom CPU may be OK, windows is still bloated enough that 1GB RAM will not allow sufficient caching. You'd think that rather than disabling compression, they'd just switch to a faster algorithm, but no mention of that.
Only allows full screen on TV if you turn (tablet) screen 1 off
Or you can have 2 screens -extended mode.
Problem seems to be the Intel drivers. Even if you change the screen to lower-res, it still outputs the native res of the monitor, just using the centre. Maybe some Intel utility would fix that?
Better would be to set the touchscreen res to match, e.g. scale down from 1920x1080 instead of 1280. Must be possible, but not in the Windows GUI.
Will the be a free upgrade with this tablet? This has Windows 8.1 "Bing" version.
Yes, 'Bing' ver will be getting W10 Home Ed.
I'm having some major wifi problems here. Tablet was working fine but after a reboot (updates installed), the wifi goes bad.
Will only see some hotspots. Turn wifi off and on, it sees my router, full bars, but will not connect. Other times it connects, but shows limited connectivity (got DHCP though.)
I remember why I hated Windows now - so many useless error messages. Hard to diagnose. Google it, and just find other people with same problem but no answer.
The first time this happened, I ended up doing a factory reset. Cannot keep doing that though. Anyone else experienced this?
I might have to bury it in the drawer until Win-10 is available.
I have experienced this and thought some problem with my router, but later realised its something to do with the tablet. I haven't tested extensively / found a solution, but sometimes it works just fine.
I have notebook that has win8.1 on it and i do get heaps of wifi problem too… looked into power saving issue but at the end still the same. randomly wifi connection gets cut off for no reason… even clicked on auto connect on wifi when dropped out but i still need to click connect manually when it happens.
Thanks for the replies. It has come good again. Before the factory reset it was much worse.
Also, I tried a USB ethernet adapter, and that works OK as a backup.
From googling, it looks like there are serious long-standing bugs in the Windows 8.1 wireless networking.
Similar issues here with WiFi. Usually after waking up the device it says there is limited connection. If you try do much else with the WiFi it just seems to stop responding (no routers visible, won't attempt to connect). Haven't been able to trigger it as easy while actually using it, its always happening when I look away.
Haven't googled it yet. Haven't done any factory resets either. A reboot always fixes it for a while.
It only appears to be happen to ONE of my tablets (got 2). The bad one might always have a WiFi issue, I've noticed poor WiFi speeds (transferring between devices) and just tried using teamspeak (online chat) and the ping was 500ms with dropouts -> the other tablet 50ms and no dropouts.
Haven't made any changes that would affect WiFi, been installing the same thing on both of them the whole time.
Have noticed there is a WiFi Driver update if you run windows update but with one tablet working and one having issues using (exactly?) the same software I doubt it would fix it -i wouldn't trust it even if it did. (both haven't installed any updates)
Will do a factory reset and see if it improves otherwise I'll try take it back.
Thanks, let us know how you go. If it still looks like a hardware issue, I might try exchanging it.
Especially if it happens under win-10.
Updated the WiFi drivers, might be a light improvement in speed and reliability but can still lose connection like before. The other tablet is always faster. When using teamspeak the packet loss was x2.5-3 higher and still seems to be.
Haven't activated office yet or claimed the cashback, should be fine to do all that after the factory reset?
@kaBargain:
Always handy to have more than 1 device to compare. It's almost impossible to work out these issues with just 1.
I see manic says online reports of similar problems but no answer :-(
In reviewing complex tec, I'd always get 2 products - if both fail, they're a crap product, if both are great, great, but if 1 fails I'd swap the failed one for a 3rd unit & see. Maybe worth trying.
I feel this screen is designed to be used as landscape view… I cant even pose this tablet in a good viewing angle when placed in portrait. All the pics seem to have glare to them even in 1024 res.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Micro-USB-Male-To-USB-Female-Host…
Anyone know if this one can charge and OTG at same time?
Plug in a wireless unifying receiver for Keyboard and Mouse and the end male USB connects to a wall charger.
well that was not a good idea..tried to update to 10, seemed like all was well then it gave me restoring previous verson of windows screen and has been looping like that ever since..cant get past it. if i remove the USB stick it gives me a "insert drive d" error and wont let me turn off the tabelt til i do.
Tried holding power and volume keys (got some fast boot screen but then it just loops the error again.
Any ideas or have I totally bricked this?
I really poop'd it up :(
There must be a way to boot to UEFI. I think power+volume is just for Surface. Something with the reset button maybe?
You tried booting with a keyboard connected?
Tried the reset button with a pin - just reboots and loop conitues..tried power+volume same thing…havent tried keyboard but will give it a go when i find a wired keyboard.
thanks for the reply!
Keyboard and f7 did the trick! get a menu up with UEFI, boot manager and enter set up. no idea what to do from here though but thanks..seems like progress!
Anyone know what I have you do from here? I'm stuck! :(
@poop:
I use ESC or DEL on bootup (usb kb) to get the BIOS. Then you can set the boot device to a USB recovery drive. You did make a recovery drive before attempting win10?
BTW, don't even think about trying to install the 64-bit win10 on a 1GB/16GB tablet!
@manic: it did create a back up USB but its not working…can't select USB..how do I use the recovery parition? Thanks!
@poop:
You need to get into the bios and boot settings. your usb device with efi will be on the list. What sort of backup do you have? Does it have efi?
@manic: I have no idea..its the one it created during the windows 10 installation process. I see uefi when I hit f7 on boot..no usb inserted. Which is probably the problem. If the backup is no good is there any way to acesss the partition with the backup?
Have you tried making a bootable USB Windows install from ISO & doing a clean install that way?
@grab_ur_freebies: no I haven't…will I need the serial for windows for that? Woudo you have any insutrcutons on how to go about this? Really appreciate your help!
@poop:
Was there a W8 licence sticker in the box or on the device?
If not, alternatively just DL the latest available 'W10 build 10130' & follow the instructions on making a bootable install from the link above. The ISO DL page includes the serial, but just in-case it's {6P99N-YF42M-TPGBG-9VMJP-YKHCF}.
This may also help: Create a USB recovery drive.
That win-10 build does not work for me, as below. Nor does the recovery drive (it boots but does not recover.)
Original product ID is: 00266-82264-26256-AAOEM
Are there any tricks to improve the screen?
Not the fuzz but the annoying strange viewing angle/contrast/darkness stuff.
e.g. Remove all protective screens, change Gamma in Windows??
Does this vary from one Unisurf to another? I spent some time with the display model in H.N. and it was not as bad and not present on the 8" IPS model (that was a lot dearer but with the same internals).
Is a Unisurf 7 "fit for the purpose"? It is maybe more annoying than the screen on a free Pendo pad, no one in the family wants, that we scored at a conference.
Mine is best viewed slightly off-centre and is dark straight on. Clarity is improved at the native 1024x600 (Win 10) res and the contrast is slightly better but it is still not great. My Huawei 550 has a more pleasant screen.
The image is detailed with correct colour and tone at 1920x1080 on a Dell IPS monitor I have but I have so many adapters on the cable that I get interference lines across the monitor screen (or is that the Unisurf?). The Dell does not have an hdmi port but a few usb ports that could enable the Unisurf to run it from a drawer with a better display port to micro hdmi cable.
Ozbargains sure provides lots of problems to solve and also lots of claim back hoops to jump through that make returning crappy stuff difficult.
Nothing that hasn't already been covered. Use hdmi or remote desktop from your phone :)
Failing that, landscape only, fixed res.
Found a link which should assist in improving the 16GB of storage. http://www.howtogeek.com/188072/how-to-make-the-most-of-a-wi…
Your first comment & someone beat you to it ;-) posted 4 days ago
Still a handy link by the looks of it. So keep posting.
Suggests method of removing Restore Partition to memory card to increase available space. Plus other ideas.
I followed that to create a recovery USB drive, but the option to delete the recovery partition was missing.
In the disk management tool, there is no option to delete the recovery partition, or do anything else.
The EFI and C: have greyed-out delete options, but recovery not even that.
So I tried DISKPART (fdisk replacement) but it tells me the recovery partition is in use.
I'm going to see if EaseUS partition manager can modify the recovery later. It actions in-use drive modification on the next startup.
Thanks manic. That saved us the effort ;-)
Does anyone else have the problem of: If you are using the tablet, it charges extremely slow or not at all? Even with the 1.5 amp charger that it came with I think I'm getting 1% charge up every 30min to 1hr when the screen is on (just browsing internet or watching youtube)
My factory screen protector also came with a piece of lint under the INNER protector, after I took off the top layer there was still a bubble under the screen protector.
Yes, the charging is software controlled. A reboot/reset should fix it.
Wait what? How does that work? Why does it charge slower? Is there no way to make it automatically charge faster?
I have a 'Gamestick' and Dock from kickstarter. The dock has a power supply connection plus 2A charger, internal OTG connection, 2 USB ports and an SD card slot. I opened up the dock and connected the OTG connection to the tablet. The USB ports and Ethernet worked immediately. Videos played perfectly off a USB stick and internet worked perfectly over Ethernet (with Wi-Fi off). I did not try the SD card slot. ONE PROBLEM- The dock would not charge the tablet at the same time.
I had another play, tried Windows 10 preview. No luck.
Attempting an upgrade (run setup from win 10 usb drive) produced the reboot loop mentioned above.
F7 on boot to get boot menu, boot off install drive and do a clean install (upgrades are always a gamble), formatting the C: drive.
Install completes (i think) but now it fails early on boot (at various stages). It gets to a point where it still seems to be running (clock updating) but no response to any input.
Touchscreen, usb kb & mouse, even the power button do nothing. Needs a paperclip reset. It lasted long enough sometimes to do basic configuration including setting a password. Once I actually saw the desktop.
Now the bad bit: The recovery drive (created earlier from inside win 8.1) does not work. You get a few language choices: "US", various Arabic and Armenian - just the first page, cannot scroll or move to more.
Then get 3 icons, no text. They are: continue, use a device, or turn off. (as found in this image: https://kickthatcomputer.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/wp_0023… )
No recovery, no troubleshoot, no advanced options. Nothing useful. What next?
Try download a generic win8.1 recovery image from the net?
The original recovery partition is still on the device. How can I boot into that? UEFI commands? Or does windows need to be booted from external media to access that?
…will I need the serial for windows for that?
Maybe for activation. Worry about that later if you ever get that far!
Are you seeing the AMI BIOS "press ESC or DEL for settings" message on bootup? I may have changed a setting to expose that.
Thank you so much for trying this and for your help! Nope I don't see the "esc or del" message on boot. I was hoping there would be a command to punch into the UEFI console and it would just reinstall from the recover partition (thought that was the whole point of having a recovery partition?!). Have tried f1-f12 at boot and none give me that option.
Hope we're not stuck with a paperweight! :(
poop,
as before , the F7 on boot will give you a boot menu. First go into settings and add a small boot delay.
If your USB drive contains a valid uefi bootable system, it will show on the boot menu. Its sounds like your 'backup' usb drive is not a bootable recovery drive.
will give it a try tonight, thanks. If you had any progress please let me know.
What are your plans if you can't get it to work? Do you think Unisurf will provide any technical help?
@poop:
Spoke to Unisurf's Asian call centre.
- the wifi problem is known, and the only fix they have is a system reset. They don't think it is a hardware issue. Affects many Win 8.1 devices.
- you cannot (as far as she knows) boot into the recovery partition. It is only useful if Windows still runs.
- I explained I can get BIOS, but windows not booting, and the only solution offered was refund or replacement.
Given the wifi problems, and inability to charge while using USB, I'll get a refund. Its been kind of fun, and I have a device on the way from China to replace it.
With separate charger and USB, you can at least use USB ethernet, or an external wifi dongle.
You could attempt to download and install a generic Win 8.1 media, if you are keen.
I suggest people consider something like the 8"version instead, which has separate charge port, and 1280x800 display.
@manic: how do u go about getting a refund? do they just give you an authorisation number and you take it back to HN? What did you tell them the issue was?
Thanks very much!
I'll get a refund. Its been kind of fun
Typical, when I finally arrive at the party, the fun is over & everyone is leaving ;-)
wifi is pretty bad, i might try to return it to HN
Just picked up… got home.. and its used…
user id : chadstone1
and dont know the password
Also noticed a rectangular discoloration on the back where the battery was (near the micro sd card reader) probably from the heat
got a refund….
Here is some info on booting to the uefi BIOS and recovery options for Windows 8.1 tablets. May or may not be helpful? http://www.7tutorials.com/how-boot-uefi-bios-any-windows-81-…
Not helpful, sorry. Just press F7 on boot to get a menu. And none of that helps if your tablet will not boot to a working Windows.
Try inserting a 32bit uefi into a 64bit version of ubuntu or other flavour of linux and see if that intalls.
Is it possible to install Android OS to this tablet making it dual boot?
Possible. Do you have a budget to hire the engineer? Maybe outsource to India.
The open it up & wire in a separate power connector is my usual option.
This issue was discussed earlier.
That's why there was a suggestion to buy the dearer better spec 8", with separate power connector.
It does mean carrying the specialised 5V charger, or tracking down a suitable adapter cable to a USB charger.
A hub with the charge/otg switch is $10 delivered from eBay (link in that discussion). This tablet's processor chip only supports 1 USB2, so a hub would be handy.
You'll be breeding these soon ;-)