Smartq V5

[jbrodack]

I'm talking about the device here which should be mostly the same thing as the recently released v7 and be a bit better for video and such than the q5 or q7.

I'm still pretty happy with the gp2x f200 as a portable gaming device and haven't gotten excited about any other devices out there. So being a tech geek, I've been looking at pretty much everything out there whether mainly aimed at gaming, internet browsing, or video and for some reason this really stood out to me.

I know some people think the smartq devices are crap but they look interesting and I like that they run a pretty full linux distribution. The V5 looks to be the most solidly made of the series and better than the v7 which looks exactly the like the q7 plus its cheaper and smaller. A lot of devices seem to be coming out with windows ce or android but this seems to be one of the few out recently with linux plus you get multi boot with android and windows ce so you have a lot of options for applications.

At $180 the v5 seems to be good and capable of doing a lot though I'm aware of many problems in the early firmware releases. I'm used to that with the gp2x and don't mind some rough patches and tinkering with the device. Also, whiles its touchscreen only and I usually like to have actual keys I've seen that some people were able to get wii remotes working with it so it could be usable with games if you want.

some things I like about it:

hdmi out: gives it some nice multimedia uses and could possibly replace a pmp or set top box
improved video playback: the previous smartq devices had some problems with video and this seems to work well
remote desktop: could use as thin client and use whatever applications don't work well natively
internet browsing: though doesn't do flash (no arm devices do currently) seems to render pages nicely
multi os boot: I like having options
works with bluetooth and usb otg: can use keyboards mouse or other peripherals if you want
cheap and small


So what do you guys think? I haven't used a smartq device and I'm just going based in forum posts and videos posted online. I'm not looking for comparisons to pandora but more based on other MID devices or netbooks and such in similar price range. Are the smartq devices good if you're willing to tinker with it a bit or are they so poorly made that they are unusable even for basic functions and fall apart easily?

 

[mali]

I was interested in its predecessor for a while, but didn't buy one. The main problem I see here is the relatively weak SoC(I suppose that the step up from the non V version is the same as on the V7, so same SoC. Correct me if I'm wrong). ARM11 isn't something I would consider buying anymore these days. For basic tasks like ebook reading it's ok, but even internet surfing is frustrating.

 

[jbrodack]

I was interested in its predecessor for a while, but didn't buy one. The main problem I see here is the relatively weak SoC(I suppose that the step up from the non V version is the same as on the V7, so same SoC. Correct me if I'm wrong). ARM11 isn't something I would consider buying anymore these days. For basic tasks like ebook reading it's ok, but even internet surfing is frustrating.

The V5 and V7 do share the same SOC with is different from the SOC on the Q5 and Q7. I haven't seen any other linux based devices that are small and inexpensive so this still seems very attractive to me despite having an older generation arm processor. Also, having multi boot with android and win ce as well is nice.

Do you know of any other devices like this under $300?

 

[mali]

Are you sure about the SoC being different? I doubt that it's built around a Cortex processor. The most advanced cheap device out there right now, is the Archos 5 Android internet tablet(check umpcportal.com or jkkmobile.com for infos). 800MHz Cortex A8 and the fastest ARM tablet out there at the moment. Unfortunately you can't replace the OS with a full Linux and Android is still buggy. The price is around 220€EUR, which should be around the same in $, I guess(usually 1:1 real-life conversion). Archos released an Angström developer edition firmware for its predecessor(600MHz Cortex A8) and devs are currently working on it to make it usable.

More ARM devices should pop up in 2010 and I think that the majority will have Cortex CPUs.
Just to make it more clear, I also find the V5 and V7 tempting for their price, features and openness, but I would rather wait some more, before buying a slightly spiced up N800, which I own. If you don't own any other MID, you might just go for it, fiddling with MIDs is fun, after all

Edit:
SoC info:
http://linmob.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-details-regarding-smart-devices.html

 

[icurafu]

And it has a Mali-200 GPU which it does 1080P on.

The whole device is 100% opensource except for the Mali bit which is under a license.

You can get the git here.

http://gitorious.org/mer-smartq

http://www.jiongtang.com/shop/smartv5-1080p-otg-wifi-android-wince-ubuntu-2gb-p-87.html

I've got a V7 which has been great. Not so fun for games, as it seems to be incompatible with most things at the moment, and there is no 3D or 2D acceleration.

I also have a WITSTech A81, which is a tablet similar to the V7 but with Cortex. It comes with WinCE which isn't really fun.

http://www.jiongtang.com/shop/ti-omap3-cortex-a8-a81-7-wifi-bluetooth-wince-gps-p-181.html

 

[mali]

So there's still no 3D driver? I didn't follow the recent mer discussion, because I lost interest in the Q5. The last thing I remember is, that someone from the mer team wanted to write a driver based on the graphics hardware documentation. Mali GPU sounds good, but without driver it's still the same. How many years did it take for N8x0 to get a driver? It's still in very rough beta state, but at least something is happening behind the scenes.

 

[jbrodack]

I went ahead and ordered a V5 from Jiontang.

I think I've set my expectations realistically so I shouldn't be disappointed with the device. I've wanted some kind of mobile linux device and this seems to fit the bill nicely. The specs aren't the most impressive but since I don't have any other mid or remotely similar device that doesn't matter too much to me. What matters is that there is a lot I could possibly do with it especially across 3 operating systems. Most other MIDs limit what you can do which make this very open device appeal to me.

 

[shany]

I bought a smartQ V5 from techbonzer last week.i have got it today.it is geart product.the delivery time is only 5 days.the website is www.techbonzer.com

 

[jbrodack]

I received my smartq V5 and thought I would post an early review of it noting my experience buying it online , first impressions, and its strengths and weaknesses.

First off, I bought my unit as jiontang.com because they had the cheapest overall price at the time and seemed reputable among those who have bought smartq products. Electroworld was my other choice but because they had an added fee for paypal and their main payment method of western union also had its own fee I opted for JT which kept the total price at $205. Dealextreme now I think has a cheaper total price but they can be very slow with their shipping. JT took a little longer than I'd like but were still fairly quick for overseas ordering. They packed the hell out of it so it stayed safe and even threw in a free carrying case for my order. Unfortunately I originally thought an hdmi cable was included however an USB otg cable was included instead.

My first impressions were quite poor. Practically nothing worked out of the box for the 3 included operating system. I could only connect to the internet in Win CE not in linux or android. Also, much of it was in chinese and many of the apps especially in android are chinese and stay chinese despite whatever language setting you put. However, on the good side the VLC player in linux worked quite well for videos. What really had me worried was that I couldn't update my firmware. I tried by holding the "move" button (middle button) while powering up yet that just made it so I couldn't even turn on the device for a while. After a while I figured to try the + button while powering on and that worked.

After some time with the device things improved and I found out some cool things I could do with it. Also, I noted that its a pretty well built machine and I love that there are 3 hard buttons in addition to the power button. This is my first all touchscreen device so this made things easier for me. I upgraded to 5.3 linux which luckily had wifi working, though the vlc player didn't seem to work quite as well as it did previously. Unless you find armel .deb packages you're going to have to do at least one command line installation like "sudo apt-get install synaptic" to get a package manager. With that manager or using the command line there are a fair amount of programs. gnome-games seemed to work quite well and almost all have fullscreen modes. The built in fbreader was among my first experience with ebooks and works real well. The built in game for android robo defense is real cool and works well for the most part. With the full english version Win ce works fast and fairly well. It gives you another option if you are having trouble with something (like say a video or website) in linux. The browser in linux works very well and renders pages beautifully. Remote desktop (rdesktop) works well in linux. I kinda got my wiimote working with linux which at least lets me play the gnome snake game correctly. The thing is so open ended that there are tons of options for doing things and the more time you spend with it the more you can do. Even the relatively useless in its current build android is still something you can mess around with and install apps with the apk program.

There are still definite negatives to the device. In order to use linux on the device you'd really need at least some linux experience or understanding of basic linux file structure. Linux runs fairly slow in general. Wince doesn't include much and android currently at least for me doesn't work with wifi severely limiting its usefulness. You're generally going to need to use the stylus unless you're using android. There is bits of chinese in the latest linux and wince firmware though its not too bad, however the android firmware is filled with chinese apps. You really need to put a fair amount of effort to enjoy the device. If you expect it to "just work" you're going to be severely disappointed. Despite being billed as an "HD mobile internet device" it doesn't include an hdmi cable so I couldn't see how well hdmi output works. Thats kinda odd as without hdmi output you aren't viewing anything on the device in HD thanks to its resolution. Aslo, though I got my wiimote working I couldn't find any kind of gui to configure it so I'm stuck with the basic default commands.

Overall I quite like the device despite its limitations and slow processor. Its kinda like the gp2x in that it has its quirks and firmware updates both fix and break things though luckily the firmware updates are much more good than bad and I look forward to future update. Its a great travel companion and should be able to play most videos you throw at it. Its very small and fits nicely in your pocket which makes it very convenient. Its very nice for web browsing and ebook reading as well as a lot of other tasks. Its extremely flexible and among the only devices this small that run a pretty full linux distribution. I love to mess around with devices and have no restrictions in what I can do so this device is great for me. There is a bit of a community around the device too at smartqmid.com. If you want something open and flexible that fits in your pocket this is for you. If you want something that will work perfect out the box and work fast an ipod or archos 5 is probably more for you.

(Sorry if I messed up grammar and such in this I wrote it quickly while getting ready for a work trip and so didn't have time to look things over)

 

[second exodous]

It's too bad no one has ported a full Linux distro onto it, you still need to use their Linux on it. Lately I've been getting into reading comics again and I'm debating buying one of these or waiting a year or so for a colored e-reader. For the computing side I have my Pandora coming so I'm leaning towards just waiting for a colored e-reader. Jbrodack's review looked promising though.

 

[jbrodack]

It's too bad no one has ported a full Linux distro onto it, you still need to use their Linux on it. Lately I've been getting into reading comics again and I'm debating buying one of these or waiting a year or so for a colored e-reader. For the computing side I have my Pandora coming so I'm leaning towards just waiting for a colored e-reader. Jbrodack's review looked promising though.

Maybe I poorly worded some parts but this does have a full Linux distro on it. It basically runs an ARM port of ubuntu with some tweaks afaik. Which means you can install applications from arm ubuntu repositories. You aren't stuck with only programs specifically designed for the device. There are ubuntu programs that don't work right in ARM or some programs that have incompatibilities or just don't work right on the smartq v5 but many will at least run. I don't know of any other mobile device running such a full version of linux which was a big selling point for me.

Feel free to ask any other questions or ask for any other clarifications. Its a cool device and great travel companion. Plus its cool to be among the first to own it.

 

[PolloLoco]

It's too bad no one has ported a full Linux distro onto it, you still need to use their Linux on it. Lately I've been getting into reading comics again and I'm debating buying one of these or waiting a year or so for a colored e-reader. For the computing side I have my Pandora coming so I'm leaning towards just waiting for a colored e-reader. Jbrodack's review looked promising though.

Maybe I poorly worded some parts but this does have a full Linux distro on it. It basically runs an ARM port of ubuntu with some tweaks afaik. Which means you can install applications from arm ubuntu repositories. You aren't stuck with only programs specifically designed for the device. There are ubuntu programs that don't work right in ARM or some programs that have incompatibilities or just don't work right on the smartq v5 but many will at least run. I don't know of any other mobile device running such a full version of linux which was a big selling point for me.

Feel free to ask any other questions or ask for any other clarifications. Its a cool device and great travel companion. Plus its cool to be among the first to own it.

I know it's currently slow without access to GPU acceleration - but have you tried installing any ubuntu emulators, like MAME?

 

[kingoddball]

Smart Q is slow and not very good. You can get many other devices that are just as good if not better and cheaper on eBay.

 

[icurafu]

i tried a few eums and they all ran like crap. there are some awful driver problems when it comes to 2d.

otoh, android is getting better and faster. might be able to run the android emus if you had the time and effort.

 

[PolloLoco]

i tried a few eums and they all ran like crap. there are some awful driver problems when it comes to 2d.

otoh, android is getting better and faster. might be able to run the android emus if you had the time and effort.

You haven't had the chance to run any of the android emu's?

Oh, and to kingoddball's point What other ebay MID devices have a decent operating system and are capable of 1080P output? I've seen one 7" device at about $600-700, but that's not even pocketable.

 

[icurafu]

I'm not really to enthusiastic about emus on this, when I have a gp2x f200. V7/V5 is not a capacitive screen, so you cannot press two buttons as once. Maybe ok for RPGs?

Anyway, someone at Smartqmid.com has got the mali200 working for Ubuntu. (need to replace the kernel) Android is using OpenMAX on the latest firmware. this is using the Mali hardware, but no access to opengles yet.

 

[PolloLoco]

I'm not really to enthusiastic about emus on this, when I have a gp2x f200. V7/V5 is not a capacitive screen, so you cannot press two buttons as once. Maybe ok for RPGs?

Anyway, someone at Smartqmid.com has got the mali200 working for Ubuntu. (need to replace the kernel) Android is using OpenMAX on the latest firmware. this is using the Mali hardware, but no access to opengles yet.

Understood - but I was hoping I might be able to use the USB port for a keyboard or joystick and play emus. I'd also heard that the latest firmware update allowed for full TV Out - as opposed to just videos. So using a wireless joystick for emu gaming would, in theory, be sweet.

I have been reading that thread on using Mali acceleration, and I'm waiting for actual results. I was just hoping to get a sense of emu status right now.

 

[icurafu]

that was my original intention. wiimote + XBMC + HD Movies + SAN + XBMC Emulator plugin + TV-out. Out of those, WiiMote and HD Movies work wonderfully. I've played a few games with the wiimote.

The TV out works, but it still keeps the same fb which is 800x480. So you if use 1920x1080, it is only a small frame in the entire window. 1024x720 looks a little better, but still very annoying. Interlace is just weird.

I thought 480P might work, but I would never get my tv to do that.

Anyway, I tried a few emus. They all seemed to crash with only the popular nes one working. Games were a bit slow and sound was clicky. Chinese forums has the neogeo emu working, but I never tried that. Anyway, maybe it will all change once 3D starts working.

 

[PolloLoco]

that was my original intention. wiimote + XBMC + HD Movies + SAN + XBMC Emulator plugin + TV-out. Out of those, WiiMote and HD Movies work wonderfully. I've played a few games with the wiimote.

The TV out works, but it still keeps the same fb which is 800x480. So you if use 1920x1080, it is only a small frame in the entire window. 1024x720 looks a little better, but still very annoying. Interlace is just weird.

I thought 480P might work, but I would never get my tv to do that.

Anyway, I tried a few emus. They all seemed to crash with only the popular nes one working. Games were a bit slow and sound was clicky. Chinese forums has the neogeo emu working, but I never tried that. Anyway, maybe it will all change once 3D starts working.

Sweet - thanks for the update. The TV Out is disappointing. I'd read a thread on the updated firmware - that stated full screen problems were supposed to be fixed.

I have one question on the HD 1080P playback - that I asked about on MP4nation with no response. Most 1080P files are over 4gb, but the SD cards are limited to FAT32 - or 4gb top. Is there a way to format a memory card that allows bigger files, and yet is compatible with the Smartq V5?

I'm very tempted to pick up a V5 - but these minor issues annoy me right now.

 

[lulzfish]

I don't think you're going to be playing 1080p on any current ARM handheld system, regardless of file size.
Or have I missed something? The Pandora / Beagleboard are working decently at 480p and progressing (lul) towards 720p, right?

The Smartthing probably doesn't have the GPU to decode that much video, even if you could fit it on an SD card.