Thursday, November 10, 2011

WM8650 ROM Upload "Fails All the Time" Says eBay Seller

In the hopes that I could upgrade the operating system (also known as ROM or OS) to Uberoid on my Wondermedia WM8650 tablet I had written a message to the eBay seller:

Okay, I will try to work with you and solve this problem. If you can give me the product's exact model number and a download link to create a bootable SD card for reinstalling the operating system then it might work. Yes I have gone to the Market but it is fake, I need the real one. The whole operating system is fake I will probably have to upgrade the operating system eventually to Uberoid or Rudroid to get the real Market, if you can give me a link to upgrade that would be excellent.

In a nutshell, I could solve the problem myself if only this eBay seller would tell me the model number of the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet that he had sold to me (or Superpad, Flytouch, ePad, or whatever else he wanted to call it). Here is the response that I got from the seller:

Thanks for you. We are trying to upload it because it is so large it fails all the time but we are trying to do all the time. Do not worry.

So basically the seller was telling me to continue waiting. I was surprised that he or the manufacturer did not already have an active download link that they could just refer me to. Meanwhile I continued my own tinkering with the tablet’s software, and in the middle something happened which started to make the touchscreen act bizarre (I thought it was phantom clicking or perhaps a virus or online invasion, but now I realize most likely it was a problem with the script in the OS that does not match with the type of touchscreen chip code that these tablets have). Eventually the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet got totally bricked and the screen would not come on. I told the eBay seller about this and tried giving him some options to resolve issues in my next message.

<-- Previous post: Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have
Next post -->: Getting Refund from eBay Seller for WM8650 Tablet

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have

While waiting for the eBay seller to contact the manufacturer and write back to me I began doing my own research on the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet which some sellers also try to sell as Flytouch, Superpad or ePad. Turns out that there are a whole bunch of different tablets being sold with the Via or WonderMedia WM8650 processor. Calling a tablet a “WM8650” is like calling a laptop a “Pentium” (while the information is accurate it is hardly specific). Here are all the different tablet model numbers I found that use the WM8650 processor:

E16 5cun1603, M009s, WinPad-C07, EPAD GW-70, MIDV7, M010s, TomTec, M009D, E18 7cun1603, MID V7, Maylong M-250, Intertoys NL, Fview, MID-703, MID-710, ILC PC Tab701, KLD-MID701, ViaPad M7, M010s, Via WM8650, M768A, Leader V70, M70007T, EPAD GW-707, MID-E18, ATF3416-7, BLY-706v1, APEX, WMS8125B Eken M009s, W0702 V80 KD EPAD, CEM8650702, MID-721, BLY-706v3, M009D, Xiron, IMITO Im7, Bart Smith, M003s, Innovatek MID, M012s, BLY-806, M80003W, PC-802, MID M806S, ED99 8cum1603, ED99 8cun8900, Ricatech RATAB, and M013S.

Phew, what a long list! Now if you are trying to find out which WM8650 tablet you have, here is a “chart” that has different WonderMedia WM8650 tablet model names arranged by features such as screen size (7”, 8”, 9.7” and 10.1”), power LED color (green or blue), Vibration capability, and 2-point touch capability.

5-INCH MODELS:

E16 5cun1603 – 5” screen (pretty much only model in market with that screen size).

7-INCH MODELS:

M009s, WinPad-C07, EPAD GW-70, MIDV7 (w/ blue LED) – 7” screen, blue or green LED, not vibrate, no 2-point touch. Also if it has green headphone port it is probably one of these models since the others only have black audio ports (these models can have green OR black).
M010s – 7” screen, blue LED, does not vibrate or have 2-point touch.
Tomtec (new version), M009D – 7” screen, green LED, vibrates but no 2-point touch.
E18 7cum1603 – 7” screen, blue LED, vibrates and has 2-point touch.
M009s, MID V7 (w/ green LED), Maylong M-250, Intertoys NL, Fview, Tomtec (old version), MID-703, MID-710, ILC PC Tab701, KLD-MID701, ViaPad M7, M010s, Via WM8650, M768A, Leader V70, M70007T, EPAD GW-707, MID-E18, ATF3416-7, CEM8650702, MID-721, BLY-706v3, Xiron, IMITO Im7, Bart Smith, TomTec – All of these have 7” screen, Green LED, and they vibrate as well as are 2-point touch capable.
BLY-706v1, APEX, WMS8125B Eken M009s, W0702 V80 KT EPAD – These all have 7” screen and green LED and are 2-point touch capable but do NOT vibrate.

8-INCH MODELS:

M003s, Innovatek MID 8, M012s 8”, Via WM8650 8”, BLY-806 8” – 8” screen, blue LED, does not vibrate or have 2-point touch.
M80003W, PC-802 – 8” screen, green LED, 2-point touch but no vibration.
MID M806S – 8” screen, green LED, has 2-point touch and can vibrate.

There are some other 8” screen models that have discrepancies in features, such as ED99 8cun1603 and ED99 8cun8900.

9.7-INCH MODELS:

M008S – Pretty much the only model with that screen size using the WonderMedia WM8650 chip unless newer models have come out. This model has blue LED, 2-point touch but does not vibrate.

10-INCH MODELS:

These deviate in features but include the Ricatech RATAB and largest-sized TomTec.

10.1-INCH MODELS:

M013S – This model has blue LED, 2-point touch but does not vibrate.

Furthermore, some other blogs and forums have instructions and download links for installing a new operating system on it called Uberoid (in mobile technology the operating system or OS is also sometimes called the ROM). Uberoid is basically a fake hybrid version of Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 3 (Honeycomb). Also if you have an Android tablet that has features common with many other tablets this may not be such a big problem because the ROMs for them are often common too (ie. you may be able to use the same ROM on all of them). Perhaps this was the solution to my problem? Maybe I could upgrade my WM8650 tablet to the Uberoid operating system, which would hopefully be better than the Chinese preinstalled ROM? I continued my research and in the meantime also got the next message from the eBay seller.

<-- Previous post: Fixing Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
Next post -->: WM8650 ROM Upload “Fails All the Time” says eBay Seller

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Fixing Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

The seller was under the incorrect impression that the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet (aka Flytouch, Superpad, ePad) had the real Android Market. In truth this was a Chinese apps market and in my view calling it an Android Market was an act of piracy and misleading the buyer. I wrote to the eBay seller trying to explain what he was selling and wondered if he had a solution:

Hi,

Well, this is a fake/pirated product. It does not have the REAL Android 2.2 lots of things are missing (original operating system is missing). Also the Android Market is FAKE it does not have apps I want that are in the REAL Android Market. If I say I will give you a Seiko watch, then give you a fake watch even if I write on it it is Seiko, how will you feel? Same way you said you will give me Android Tablet PC, it is not that, and you saying it is doesn't make it the real thing.

For the time being if you can give me the exact model name of this product I can try to fix it (it does not seem to be the model names you put in the item title). If you have a way I can COMPLETELY ERASE/FORMAT the product operating system and data and then put a better compatible ROM or operating system, then I can try to make it work, although still this product is not what you described. Now it has lots of bugs so I will have to reinstall operating system from total blank. Please send specific links for downloads/instructions if you can tell how to do this, otherwise I will have to dispute further. Thank you.


Once again I immediately got the “Seller is out of office” auto response on eBay messages page. When the seller replied later on his response was somewhat a general customer service type response with no clear steps that I could follow to solve this problem:

Hi friend,

Please do not worry we will solve this for you asap and we have asked the manufacturer to upload the software to the website so we will give you the link asap.

The android market surely you can upload a lot of things so have you enter into it?


The good news was that the eBay seller was going to contact the manufacturer on my behalf, so there was a chance that the manufacturer would understand my problem. The bad news was that the seller was still trying to justify the preinstalled Chinese apps market as being a legitimate version or suitable alternate to the genuine Android Market! So in my next email I showed some patience and told the seller that I will try to work with him, hoping that the manufacturer could help me out.

<-- Previous post: Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
Next post -->: Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

The first thing I realized about the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet was that the Android Market was fake (this tablet is also sometimes falsely sold as Flytouch, Superpad and/or ePad). It had very few apps (in fact I don’t recall being able to find any of the ones that I wanted such as Gmail, Skype, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger). I was also suspicious about the 2-point touch screen since all the apps that I initially used did not allow me to pinch zoom (later I found the hardware does allow 2-point touch but is not compatible with many apps). So here is what I wrote to the seller expressing my dismay:

Hi. This item is not as described because of the following reasons:

- It does not have the REAL Android Market and does not allow me to link a Google account to the device. I need some way of installing many new software on it, NOT your FAKE Android Market because it does not have the programs that I want.

- It does not let me pinch zoom. You said it is 2-Point touch screen but this does not seem to be true.

Please tell me SOON how to fix these 2 problems. Otherwise I will have to give a very negative eBay feedback because item is not as you have described. I hope we can solve these problems.

Thank you.


After sending the eBay message I immediately got a few auto responses saying that the seller is out of office. They read:

“Dear customers:

This is an auto reply, I received your email. As we will be day off at weekends, your message will probably be replied on next week. I will deal with your problem when come back for work, please check your message box later. Thanks for your understanding. Have a nice weekend!

ps: in order to provide you better customer service we set this automatic message to tell you what happened and we will give you solution for your problem when we are back.”

“Oh boy,” I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” I did receive a response the very next day though. Seeing the message in my eBay Inbox I was temporarily relieved, although the joy lasted only a few seconds and you can understand why after reading what the seller wrote:

Hello friend,

When you enter the Android market you should create an account and must do again and again. So when you use it you can enter into and download the software.

About the two point, when you take photos you surely can use your two fingers to make it large or small we have a test before we send out.

So could you tell me more about it then I can feedback the points to the manufacture is this ok? Do not worry we surely solve for your problems.


I realized that perhaps the seller did not even realize that he was selling a fake/pirated product, and this was going to be a big problem. Rather than the seller educating the buyer, I would have to do the reverse! Read what happened next as I attempted to do this.

<-- Previous post: Real Deal Behind Fake Android Tablet on eBay
Next post --> Fixing Android Market on WM8650

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Real Deal Behind Fake Android Tablet on eBay

The title of the eBay item was “7" Google Android 2.2 Tablet PC WM8650 800MHZ HDD 4GB WiFi Flytouch 3 SuperPad ePad G-Sensor Flash10.1 C1212.” As you will learn, this title really does not tell you much about what is being sold since a variety of products are being sold with these brand names and attributes linked to them. Here are the specifications that were mentioned on the item page for what I paid approximately $72 for on eBay with notes describing what I really got:

Operation System: Google Android 2.2 – Although when you power on the tablet it does say Android 2.2 (Froyo) and a build number at the start-up screen, the operating system is not the real genuine Android. It is in fact some other very poor operating system being sold under the name of Android, making it a pirated OS.

LCD: high-definition WVGA wide-screen, 800*480 (16:9) – The screen quality and resolution was actually not that bad, but I don’t think it was high-definition. I’m confused because the description says high-definition but also says WVGA which I think is a lower resolution.

CPU: WonderMedia WM8650, high-performance 800MHZ CPU +400MHZ DSP, supports Flash10.1 – I don’t know whether this information is correct or not. I don’t see why they’d lie because a WM8650 processor is nothing to boast about. The tablet did support Flash video although it was a trial version of Flash.

Memory: 256MB DDRII – Information is unverified.

Storage Device: 4GB internal, support external TF card, maximum capacity of 32GB – The tablet did have 4GB internal memory and the micro-SD card slot did work. The maximum capacity I used was 4GB for the micro-SD but it may well support higher capacities.

G-sensor: 4-dimensional gravity sensing – I rotated the screen 360 degrees and the display adjusted after showing an upward arrow sign showing which side the sensor is detecting as the top side. Did not test out the G-sensor with games.

3G: TD-CDMA: TD368; WCDMA: Huawei E220/E230/E160X/E169G/E1750, Alcatel X060S/X200; CDMA2000: Bora 9380/AWIT-U8 – Information unverified since these features were not important to me at the time.

Screen: 7" LCD widescreen – The screen does measure 7” diagonally. However since it is a wide-screen aspect ratio you get less viewable area (it is a thin and long rectangular display).

High-sensitive 2 points resistive touch-screen – The 2-points touch-screen works with some photos for pinch zooming but does not seem to work with all apps.

WiFi and Internet: WIFI: IEEE802.11b/g/n wireless network; Cable Internet: 10/100M connector – I did not have a problem staying connected with a decent signal. I have a D-Link wireless 300N router.

Camera: 0.3 megapixel camera – Camera worked but I’ve heard it doesn’t work for streaming (mobile video chatting on Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, etc.).

Audio Support: MP2, MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA – Ran into problems before I could test this out although the audio streamed from the Internet worked fine.

Video Support: [MPEG1/2/4,MJPG,H263](1280×720) resolution, H264 (720× 480) resolution – Did not watch any internal videos on it.

Picture Support: JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG – I viewed some images on the Internet and those were displaying fine.

Language: English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Norwegian, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Greek, etc. – I only used US English.

Certificate: FCC CE RoHS WiFi – This certification is engraved at the back of the tablet.

Softwares: Browser, Email, Image-Viewer, My video, My Music, Camera, YouTube, Wi-Fi setting, App Market, etc. – This was a major problem since most of the apps are fake/pirated. I was able to install Opera Mini by transferring the .APK file through the micro-SD card and that worked very well. If you buy one of these fake Android tablets on eBay that are usually shipped from China I suggest you install another Internet browser on it because the preinstalled one is of very poor quality. The preinstalled browser and pirated YouTube apps lagged in playing flash videos but they played very well through Opera Mini.

Speaker/MIC: 3.5mm headphone jack, High-quality stereo loud speakers, Built-in microphone – These were all there but when you hold the tablet horizontally to watch videos both of the speakers are on one side which I didn’t like since then there is no left and right speaker.

Battery: Li-Polymer, 1800mAh; Last time above 10 hours; Video play lasts 4 hours – Perhaps last a little less but it is a manageable situation as long as the life of the battery does not deteriorate with usage over time.

Next post -->: Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Rediscovering Old Home Movies

Share Your Memories Over The Internet!


Making home movies has become one the most common hobbies nowadays, but just a few years earlier it was considered a luxury to have your own video camera. Compared to today’s nifty flash drive video recorders and DVD handy-cams, these early predecessors were heavy and bulky devices that recorded poorly on VHS cassettes. However, my fascination with video cameras has always remained ceaseless because they allow me to capture the most precious moments of my life.

Being a true home video enthusiast, I have been constantly learning and adapting as technology has gradually evolved in the home movies industry. I do enjoy using the new and improved cameras, but recently I have developed a new facet of my hobby. I had realized that my old home movies were becoming obsolete because I hardly watched VHS tapes anymore, so I decided to get a TV card installed on my computer. The TV card allows me to connect my old camera to my computer and digitally record from VHS tapes. As a result, I now take delight in managing my personal project of transferring my memorable videos on old VHS tapes onto my computer’s hard disk drive. It has taken me a while to learn this process of converting movies to digital format, but upgrading my old home videos is a fun extra-curricular activity that allows me to relive the good times from my past while availing the conveniences of modern technology.

Converting my VHS tape recordings to digital format has benefited me in many ways. Apart from being able to access my old home movies conveniently through my computer, I can now also share age-old memorabilia with friends and family using video-sharing sites such as YouTube. It is so much fun to have a laugh with friends over the internet and read comments on the videos I made with them during our childhood. I have a large collection of home movies that still need to be converted so these days you’ll always find me tweaking with my old VHS camera and computer settings during my spare time.

Friday, July 2, 2010

"Show Me The Money!"

Getting Paid More Increases Motivation.


Money has been recognized as one of the many factors that affect our motivation. Finance and Psychology are usually treated as two very separate fields of study, but they frequently intermingle in everyday life because money affects a large portion of our behavior and mentality.

Money is a very significant part of modern living. Although the value of money varies for different people, it is generally valued as an object of prestige and survival that can be applied for uses of leisure as well as necessity. Hence it is something that most people either desperately need or wish to possess. The fact that most people switch jobs because of better pay statistically demonstrates just how much money affects a person's choice of work.

In conclusion, it is reasonable to say that money is an effective motivator at work. Money is a means to fulfill our need for survival as well as our want for leisure. Whereas most people wish to also enjoy their work, money acts as a primary stimulus in terms of making people feel rewarded for their services. If your priority in life is to live the way you want then finding a job that gives you financial independence has got to be your first step towards freedom. Of course, nothing beats making money doing something that you love and I'm glad that I am able to use writing as a decent source of income.