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Review your TC970

I bought 3 of them for my kids and set them up with email and apps so I wouldnt have to jack with it Christmas day......... they were easy to set up, just need to see about maybe new update if one exist and find the case thats used in their pic from their website thats similar to the one for iPads.
 
I got one for my wife from Walmart a few days ago. I installed the update 4431 without any problem. All the apps are removed when the tablet is updated so I just made sure it was working before the update. I installed the Multitouch Visualizer 2 app and discovered the tablet has full 5 finger multi touch - surprise. The 2 GB internal flash is only used for app storage as I can tell and was still 85% free after 54 apps had been installed. The external Micro SD card provides all the app data storage for documents and books. I say this to explain that the 2 GB of internal flash is not a limitation but the external SD card size is. It comes with a 2 GB Micro SD installed with apps on it. Micro SD cards are available for as low as $1 per GB. The 512 MB RAM is also adequate for for the 2.x OS. At least 200 MB is normally free. The screen is incredible, with as good a viewing angle as an IPS screen and may be IPS. It's not TFT. All the apps look very good and properly fill the screen. I knew about the Le Pan 970 II with the somewhat faster processor and larger RAM which is required I understand it for the 3.x and 4.x Android OS. I could see no reason to be part of debugging these new OSs and apps. I am sure all the apps we will want will be available for 2.2. The new tablet has the same physical characteristics and sensors as this one, just a new mother board. I am very familiar with 2.2 and 2.3 from my smart phone so that was a plus to me. My only reservation is the Le Pan company is an unknown for support if needed. Being available from Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon is a positive and it seems to be of a very high quality. The company actually making the tablet is not new. I am considering getting a two year warranty. I can only find those which include screen breakage (likely one shot) so they run $50 to $60 from Square Deal or Walmart. If you buy from Amazon they are a little less. So far I'm very pleased as my wife is too.

I posted this in the original Le Pan forum today so I have added it here. Staples has the Targus Truss Folio iPad case (SKU 403973 regularly $49.99) on sale for $9.99 for a few more days. This is the iPad version not the iPad 2 or the iPad 1 and 2 version. I bought one this morning in AZ. You can press on the the upper right hand case tablet holder which covers the power button to turn the tablet on and off. All the ports and switches on the tablet are accessible with the case closed and the four touch switches are not covered when the case is open like they are in most iPad cases. There was no online stock but the stores had the case in stock (my store's computer said 15 and there were several on the shelves. It's a little heavy but is made of leather, will be very protective and definitely shows the Targus quality.
 
I just bought one from HSN it came with 13 apps. Initially I had an issue just navigating it to install - but it has worked great. The one disappointment is only the front facing camera. Been able to download and install apps fairly easily. I bought this as a cheap, portable alternative to a laptop. So far so good. Price is WAY CHEAPER than an IPAD.
 
I REALLY wanted to love my Le Pan TC 970. When I saw it was the Amazon.ca deal of the week at the amazing price of $179.00 CAD I leaped at the chance to grab one. What a great price! But, wait... why so cheap? My spider sense should have warned me that if a deal is too good to be true, it usually is.

I received the Le Pan unit a few days later. It looked sleek! Nice and shiny with metal adorning it, it was also around the same size as the iPad, but seemed a bit sleeker than the original iPad model. I turned it on, eager to get started. Charged it up, then sat back to connect with my home wifi and download some apps.

That's where I ran into a major problem. The wifi would not stay "on". It kept switching off, and wouldn't scan for available wifi connections. I walked through every possible technique I knew to get this happening, including rebooting the little beast several times. Still no joy.

Then I started reading up about upgrading the OS and the ROM. Okay, I could live with Android 2.2 but I had to have workable wifi to get anything done.

By the middle of the weekend I had found a workable ROM update file, copied the three upgrade files to the root directory of the 2 gig flash card on my Le Pan unit, then followed the reboot and upgrade instructions in the FAQ. So far so good! Everything updated properly and I felt, for the first time, that I was making so some of progress.

But no luck. No wifi success. Not even with the update. I soon came to realize that the wifi was super-wonky, probably a bad component. Reading through the forum postings it seems my problem is a bit of an epidemic situation with the Le Pan. Either the units just stop working altogether or if they do turn on, you cannot connect to a wifi network you've had absolutely 100% success with when using any other device.

In my case, i've connected several iPads, a TouchPad, an Asus Transformer, Apple TV, iPhones, MacBooks, various laptops, Kindles, Kobo, etc, etc etc. NONE of them ever failed to find the network or connect up to it. I had even made my wifi an open signal temporarily, thinking, after reading some of the advice here, that it might help. No joy.

I tried once more this morning to get the wifi working by dropping in to my local McDonalds and buying a coffee and a muffin so I could sit there and test out their open wifi. No luck there either.

Sad to say, the unit was shipped back to Amazon this afternoon. Luckily Amazon has an excellent return policy (One of the reasons I purchase items from them) and I didn't get an argument from them about the return. It is winging its way back to them now.

Goodbye Le Pan TC 970. I really did try to have a relationship with you. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

My advice (after going through 4 days of wasted effort)? Avoid this product. It may treat you right temporarily, but ultimately it will abandon you. Or, like my case, it will refuse to accept your overtures of love from the outset.

On to my next bit of research in my quest to find a reliable, affordable Android tablet...
 
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