The Smartq 5 From Gbax.com

[Spadoof]

Dear Readers,

I was recently browsing www.gbax.com and ran across there SmartQ 5 Hand-held. I looks like a nifty piece of hardware that would be great for on the go. I was even reading that it was ubuntu linux compatible. But I was wonder if I could get some questions answered from someone who has one, before buying one.

1) Does it come standard with ubuntu on it or can you just install ubuntu MID? I can't seem to find that out anywhere on the Internet.
2) In your opinion is it a stable working handheld device or just another cheap pmp? I'm still having nightmares about the JXD 301 I bought a couple of years ago.
3) If you have ubuntu on it, is it relatively fast and stable. From the pics on this sight it just looks amazing! (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartdevices.com.cn%2Finformation%2Fnews%2F200903%2F13-199.html&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&history_state0=)

Thanks for your insight,
Spadoof

 

[klikklak]

there's stuff under other consoles about this. I think it looks promising, I'm leaning more towards the q7 since I want to read on it. Anyway, you might want to head over to talk.maemo.org and read about Mer, the maemo community edition that they're preparing for q5 and q7. It's still too early, so if you buy now you'd have to use the stock ubuntu on it, which has it's problems for sure, but in the future it could be a good device.

 

[torpor]

I have a Q7 (bigger version of Q5) and .. well .. its a piece of junk. Freezes a lot, and the OS is absolutely rubbish.

There is a lesson to be learned here: no matter what the hardware capabilities are, the *distribution of Linux onboard must be refined to enhance the user experience*. I'm really hoping that the Pandora is not going to experience the same problems as the Q5/Q7 and Freerunner (smartphone) projects .. that is, namely, total fracture on the distribution side of things.

Its *very* important, when we finally all have hardware in our hands, that the distribution of Linux we end up using gets refined to the point of making the hardware much, much more usable. The Smart Q5/Q7 projects are hindered in this effort due to the fact that the manufacturer is not releasing the kernel for the machines, and this makes it very difficult to refine the onboard OS standardly.

Get a Q5/Q7 only if you plan on putting some other OS on it. The factory OS is rubbish. Please, dev-team, be ready to focus the efforts of OS development once Pandora hits the scene, and don't just "leave it up to the community to decide" .. at least participate in a manner which allows things to be driven forward for all, not just for a few ego-distro builders ..

 

[Spadoof]

Thanks for the advice, initially it looked cool from the pictures, but I think im gonna pass.

 

[fishybawb]

What happened to Craig's review of it?

 

[danielliu88888]

What happened to Craig's review of it?

it's coming. in two months.

 

[craigix]

The Pandora taxes situation has to come first.

Plus they only JUST arrived!

 

[carlgeorge]

I made an impulse buy on the 24 April for a SmartQ5 from GBAX not realising that it wasn't actually in stock. I did realise the day after and asked when it was expected to be in stock -- they said a few weeks. I waited and waited, and had flashbacks of my Zodiac order that never ever came into stock either. I cancelled my order last weekend.

I'm not bothered that it has just arrived (I'm actually surprised) because it appears very sluggish just interacting with the UI on all youtube videos I could find.