Uniden Android Tablet

[DaveIN]

You should be able to install an apk if you have the allow installation of non-market apps checked in settings and the device is rooted (and has superuser access for firmware updates). The Uniden UTAB430 already is rooted and has the allow installation of non-market apps checked. I suspect this because of the various app stores and possible updates in the support page they make available (except the Play store).

By the way, there is no reason to do the firmware update under Updates (unless you need to start from scratch) as it is the same version installed.

 

[DaveIN]

The Big Lots web site now says the Uniden tablet is sold out at many stores, so unless Big Lots is holding out for the Black Friday sale, you may want to jump on it.

It appears that it may be available on-line soon via the Southern Telecom online store soon, but there is no way to know for sure. The Polaroid store has the same version as $79 on-line.

 

[duhh33]

Dave, thanks for the feedback. That binary was apparently underwater from the hurricane when I got my tablet. I eventually got a copy of it and it server my utab430 well. I also bought a visual land 10" tab for the kids from bbuy as the result of a coupon + sale. The binary you linked to is just magic. The utab and the visual land both have access to the google play store.Thanks dave!

For anyone else thinking about this tablet, there are only 2 cons I can come up with. Heavy use puts the life at 2-3.5 hours and netflix doesn't work. My kid wanted an mp3 player that cost $50, for $60 I basically got a full fledged (albeit tiny) tablet. As Dave mentioned, big lots is selling these like hotcakes. Mine only has 1 left and I am considering buying it.

 

[DaveIN]

Glad you have it figured out. I suspect there will be additional tablets and MP3 players with the Uniden logo soon. It would be great to see them for Black Friday and Christmas sales this year.

 

[mikemazza1985]

UTAB430 Versatility

I recently went to buy an Android MID/Tablet and decided the best choice for availability at Big Lots was the Uniden UTAB430. My first impression was to return the product due to Android Market/Play Store incompatibility. I decided to apply some of my Android techniques I picked up while tinkering with Android on my EEEPC netbook and now I'm thrilled I have bought such an amazing gadget.

Pros:
1. Great for gaming
2. Great price
3. Flash Player 11 compatible
4. Built-in microphone for many uses. (i.e. VOIP phone calls, voice searching. text to speech, etc.)
5. The stock Uniden firmware is rooted for easy access to system and manual installation of APK's
6. Capacitive touch screen for multi-touch capabilities
7. Graphics are superb for a 4" screen in web surfing/videos/games
8, MicroSD for external Storage
9. Built-in camera for video conferencing and/or taking snapshots OTG
10. Built-in Accelerometer for gaming/apps and screen orientation rotation
11. Great size for children and adult hands alike (IMO)

Cons:
1. No Play Store/Google Market
2. No GPS/3G
3. It can be a bit laggy/sluggish if too many services/applications are running simultaneously
4. Camera does not have auto-focus or flash/led lighting
5. No bluetooth
6. Built-in wifi has the ability to turn into an AP (Access-point) as a mobile hotspot but unsure how this feature can be useful considering the device exclusively connects to the internet via the wifi. But it may be useful for some superusers out there.
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Hint:I used my eeepc (using Android) to be middleman for accessing the Play Store to get the apps I desired and then used Android Assistant to backup my installed apps in APK format and then transferred them to a SD/MicroSD. I then inserted the MicroSD with APK's comprised within and used the stock "file manager" app to gain access to the folder with the APK's and manually installed the apps individually one by one.
----
P.S. You can also use other Stores/App Repositories (google search Android Play Store alternatives if interested) or you can take the more risky approach and search for the apps through google (i.e. in the search field "someapp APK download" (replacing the someapp with the desired android app of choice)) and hope for a legitimate/up-to-date result.
----
P.S.S. Angry Birds is the one of the main reasons I went looking to buy a device like this. Angry Birds Seasons/Angry Birds Rio/Angry Birds Space are compatible but the newest one, Angry Birds Star Wars is not yet compatible and may not gain compatibility for this device, but I'm hopeful I can work my magic somehow.

 

[searingxheretic]

As per the first post, install the gapps package and you'll have the play store.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[GaryCline]

Uniden UTAB430 Tablet

I just purchased one of these tablets and do not have much experience with devices running the Android OS. When I connect this tablet to my PC for the purpose of sharing the Internet connection, the Windows Vista OS on my PC looks for a DRIVER, but cannot find one. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to find a DRIVER, or resolve this problem? Thanks.

 

[DaveIN]

Welcome to Radioreference.com Gary.

You won't really get an internet connection using the USB interface. Do you use wireless internet connection via WIFI at home or at your local book shop, coffee shop, or library? If so, then you can use the tablet to connect to the internet, if you know the wireless internet connection name (SSID) and the password.

As for a driver, to transfer files, you should let Windows Vista find it via the internet search when it attempts to connect and install the driver for the device.

You can use the tablet without an internet connection, but this really defeats the purpose of a tablet computer.

 

[trido]

Dave ad I just got minutes ago says it is 7 inch screen for 59.88 I may go get several

Welcome to Radioreference.com Gary.

You won't really get an internet connection using the USB interface. Do you use wireless internet connection via WIFI at home or at your local book shop, coffee shop, or library? If so, then you can use the tablet to connect to the internet, if you know the wireless internet connection name (SSID) and the password.

As for a driver, to transfer files, you should let Windows Vista find it via the internet search when it attempts to connect and install the driver for the device.

You can use the tablet without an internet connection, but this really defeats the purpose of a tablet computer.

 

[DaveIN]

Hi Jeff,

Yep, check out my other thread.

 

[05bed]

Big Lots 4.3" Tablet

Purchased for $44.88 Black Friday. So far I'm lov'n it. For under $45, an expandable SD Card slot and WiFi - Hotspot compatible, what more can I say? Face is small? Keyboard small? Get a stylus, u'll lov it 2. Jus say'n....

 

[DaveIN]

For you "old school" SNES players out there, the SuperGNES app works great on the 4.3" UTAB430. I'd say it's on of the best emulators I've seen.

 

[searingxheretic]

I can't speak for the uniden tab, but on my tenderloin I use nesoid and snesoid for NES and SNES. Those two emulators work with wiimotecontroller which pairs my wiimote using Bluetooth to play the rooms using the wiimote dpad and ab buttons. Simply marvelous.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[DaveIN]

Hint:I used my eeepc (using Android) to be middleman for accessing the Play Store to get the apps I desired and then used Android Assistant to backup my installed apps in APK format and then transferred them to a SD/MicroSD. I then inserted the MicroSD with APK's comprised within and used the stock "file manager" app to gain access to the folder with the APK's and manually installed the apps individually one by one.
----
P.S. You can also use other Stores/App Repositories (google search Android Play Store alternatives if interested) or you can take the more risky approach and search for the apps through google (i.e. in the search field "someapp APK download" (replacing the someapp with the desired android app of choice)) and hope for a legitimate/up-to-date result.
----
P.S.S. Angry Birds is the one of the main reasons I went looking to buy a device like this. Angry Birds Seasons/Angry Birds Rio/Angry Birds Space are compatible but the newest one, Angry Birds Star Wars is not yet compatible and may not gain compatibility for this device, but I'm hopeful I can work my magic somehow.

No need to "side load" the apps. You can install the Play store and load direct or use the Play store from your PC web browser (once Play is installed and the device is recognized in Google Play Online). I've been able to load many apps with the is method. You just need to select the "Unknown UTAB43 device" when sending the app for remote install.

I've been able to install the Star Wars Angry Birds on both the 4.3 and 7" UTAB's with both working.

For those who want to get apps from Amazon, I've found that you can use the regular blue icon shopping cart app to download apps, because the Amazon App doesn't yet work with the UTAB's. And there are many other app stores available for download.

 

[lotech]

Problem running Angry Birds

I've been able to install the Star Wars Angry Birds on both the 4.3 and 7" UTAB's with both working.

I bought three of these for my kids for Christmas this year. The price was too good to pass up and it was a way to keep them off mine and the wife's laptops. These are our first foray into any kind of tablet and so far we've been pretty pleased, but could use a little help from anyone that might have advice. Followed the instructions for loading the Android Market. However I'm having an issue with one of the three tablets that it won't launch Angry Birds. I installed this, in addition to other apps, on all three tablets and only one seems to have any problem. I uninstalled Angry Birds and reinstalled it hoping that would correct the problem. I also tried installing Angry Birds Seasons but same result.

When I attempt to launch the app it goes to a blank screen just like on the other tablets before the game logo splashes onto the screen. It remains here with just a black screen. The return and home buttons are active but the tablet is completely unresponsive to these. I'm able to switch to another app if there is one running but I'm unable to force the Angry Birds app to close without completely powering down the device.

Has anyone run into this before? We've only had them out of the box for 2 days so I'm not opposed to taking it back to Big Lots for exchange but I don't know if they still have any in stock. Are there any other tips or tricks to getting this to work? I'm worried this might be just the first sign of bigger problem with this one tablet.

thanks!

 

[DaveIN]

I bought three of these for my kids for Christmas this year. The price was too good to pass up and it was a way to keep them off mine and the wife's laptops. These are our first foray into any kind of tablet and so far we've been pretty pleased, but could use a little help from anyone that might have advice. Followed the instructions for loading the Android Market. However I'm having an issue with one of the three tablets that it won't launch Angry Birds. I installed this, in addition to other apps, on all three tablets and only one seems to have any problem. I uninstalled Angry Birds and reinstalled it hoping that would correct the problem. I also tried installing Angry Birds Seasons but same result.

When I attempt to launch the app it goes to a blank screen just like on the other tablets before the game logo splashes onto the screen. It remains here with just a black screen. The return and home buttons are active but the tablet is completely unresponsive to these. I'm able to switch to another app if there is one running but I'm unable to force the Angry Birds app to close without completely powering down the device.

Has anyone run into this before? We've only had them out of the box for 2 days so I'm not opposed to taking it back to Big Lots for exchange but I don't know if they still have any in stock. Are there any other tips or tricks to getting this to work? I'm worried this might be just the first sign of bigger problem with this one tablet.

thanks!

What you're describing is not a tablet hardware problem, but a software version problem. If you already have Play installed, I would also install Google Play services, a free install that manages Google services updates. Also look at the versions of android in the about section for your tablet to be sure they are the same as the working tablets. Finally, go to the Play store and look at your apps and make sure they are all updated.

 

[lotech]

What you're describing is not a tablet hardware problem, but a software version problem. If you already have Play installed, I would also install Google Play services, a free install that manages Google services updates. Also look at the versions of android in the about section for your tablet to be sure they are the same as the working tablets. Finally, go to the Play store and look at your apps and make sure they are all updated.

The Android version is the same for all the tablets - 4.0.4
I'm not sure what you mean when you say, if you already have "Play" installed. I did a search for Google Play and there are several different Google Play apps for music, movies, books, etc. I do not have any of the Google Play apps installed. I installed the Android Market and this is where I've been accessing the apps that I've installed to these devices. I know Google owns the Android OS so is this the same thing?

 

[lotech]

Success!

What you're describing is not a tablet hardware problem, but a software version problem. If you already have Play installed, I would also install Google Play services, a free install that manages Google services updates. Also look at the versions of android in the about section for your tablet to be sure they are the same as the working tablets. Finally, go to the Play store and look at your apps and make sure they are all updated.

Thanks Dave. I did Wikipedia search and discovered that Android Market = Google Play.

I installed the Google Play Services app. This didn't help since the Angry Birds apps were already the latest version. I found that the issue was not just with Angry Birds. The Home key was no longer sending the device to the Home screen. Other comments on the Digital Reader site showed other users with the same issue and some had suggested various resolutions.

I tried uninstalling the gapps utilities, but this did not resolve the issue with the Home key.

I ended up resetting the device to the original factory settings and started over installing the gapps and everything is now working as it's supposed to.

 

[DaveIN]

Glad to hear you found a solution lotech! The Android market is technically Google Play, but Android Market was the previous version of the Google app store.