Ainol Novo 7 Aurora II - Short Review

RCuber

The Mighty Unkel!!!
Staff member
Hey Guys,
I recently purchased a Ainol Novo 7 Aurora II Tablet as a gift for my dad and here is a quick review.

Sorry for Mr. Blurry Cam.. My camera was not with me at the time of writing .. also I promised to post this review by Sunday i.e., today :)

Price: Varies from site to site.. I bought it from MP4Nation at $149 (Rs. 8583.78) through sale. It came with free FexEx 2 day shipping. But currently MP4Nation had removed the sale and now its priced at $169. there are other sites which offer at $150 range..

Specs picked from MP4 Nation.
Google Android 4.03
Processor: Amlogic 8726-M6, 1.5GHz, Cortex-A9 dual core; GPU: Mali-400
RAM: 1GB DDR3
Internal storage: 16GB
Expansion: MicroSD expansion
7-Inch IPS LCD display (16 million colors)
1024 x 600 screen resolution (16:9 wide screen aspect ratio)
Capacitive multitouch touchpanel
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
1080p HD video playback capable
Mini HDMI out
G-sensor
Built-in microphone
2MP front facing camera
3700mAh battery(average w/ WiFi on is 5hrs)
3.5mm headphone jack

Box content.
Tablet
Travel Adapter (UK Pin)
Quick Start Guide
Warranty Card
Mini USB Cable (not shown in picture)
Standard Earphones
*i.imgur.com/0vdlQ.jpg

Build Quality and feel:
Completely plastic. but doesn't feel cheap at all. Buttons are fine too. The body is a finger print magnet. The edged and corners are rounded and smooth so its comfortable to hold. I feel its a little heavy.
*i.imgur.com/MpAmi.jpg

Hardware:
Screen: What interested me in this tablet was the screen resolution. it was better than other tablets which I was shortlisting. It used a 7" 1024x600 LG IPS screen.
The text looks crisp and graphics looks quite good. The video quality is also crisp, I was very surprised with the screen and happy too. The viewing angle is excellent, previously when our family used to see some photographs on our laptop we always had to adjust the LCD screen. this is not the case in this tablet. Downside is that I am feeling it has a touch issue not major but it is annoying sometime , I suspect the screen protector which was pre applied, I will get a new screen protector and try..

Storage:
This has 1GB ROM(?) , 1GM RAM, 16GB internal memory (shows 13.2 GB on system) , also there is a slot to insert a MicroSD card up to 32GB.
Android differentiates these storage memory as Internal SD Card and External SD Card.

Processor & GFX:
The tablet feels smooth and very responsive(except for some touch issues as mentioned above). apps load fast; no hiccups ,browsers render pages just fine. Games - well I haven't played any large games (shooters etc), but regular low footprint games play fine.


OS/Software
Out of box the Aurora II comes installed with Android ICS 4.0.3, Flash is present and works on browsers. the first thing you need to do when you buy this tab is to change the firmware.. There are many issues when it comes to Playstore. you wont be able to download much apps. IMDB for example didn't even allow me to download. I found one Firmware thanks to aniket.cain, and it worked perfectly. Play store works and what ever app I tried to install for installed and worked too. some Indian Apps kept crashing which I think is a issue with their own code and not of Aurora's.

Battery Life
I tested it on day two and it gave me 6 Hrs with WIFI on.. mixed usage.. like Browsing, watching videos, games, etc ..

Camera:
No comments.. its there just for the sake of it. 2Mp..

Issues Faced
Touch issues: some times touch doesn't register.. im not sure if its a software problem or a hardware problem or the problem of the screen protector. Touch works perfectly fine is some apps , but some apps its just a annoying.
WIFI: there is known wifi issue where the tablet doesn't pickup the signal at certain distance, there is a Hardware mod/fix for this but I am not gonna do it atleast for some time as two of my WIFI routers cover my house very well..
Software: on Stock firmware many apps say its incompatible with the device and wont even get downloaded from Play store. installing a custom ROM will fix these issue.
Heating issue: People have complained about heating issue on the left side of the tablet.. yes it does have heating issue, but its not uncomfortable. A future software update should fix it.

Things I need to test.
1. Charging time.
2. Video Chat
3. Heave graphics games.
4. HDMI test - I dont have a HDMI based TV :p

Overall Verdict: A very good buy. I am happy with the purchase. the USP of this tab is Dual Core CPU and the Screen.

I have written this review in a hurry, so please feel free to tell me what other information I need to include.

Special thanks to aniket.cain for helping me which choosing this tablet.. :)

Site reference
SlateDroid- this includes all the info regarding ROM's and fixes.. this site really helped me a lot.


Benchmarks
Quadrant
*i.imgur.com/46C2j.png

Antutu
*i.imgur.com/Qp200.png

Nena Mark 2
*i.imgur.com/LRjEK.png
 
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SunE

Professional Newbie
Seems like a nice tab. Got a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for my dad this week myself. Now thinking may be should've gone for this? Can you please post some gaming reviews for it? Start with temple run please.
 
OP
RCuber

RCuber

The Mighty Unkel!!!
Staff member
Congrats buddy. Nice tab.. yesa it has known touch issues. try to install custom Jellybean onto it
Will install it once a stable release comes out..
Antutu and quadrant.
will do that on 15th ..
Sorry but I don't think a "tablet" should EVER overheat. Maybe it's just me.
it doesn't overheat.. just a little warm..even my phone used to run hot before a patch fixed it :p, AFAIK its a software issue that is causing the heating issue.
 

paradisevikas

Jack of all Trades.
me too purchased aurora ii from mp4nation @ 142 $. my unit is with 717 firmware. no touch issues till day, got in hands this saturday only. battery backup is also gud.
wht i would like to ask is i dont have ne otg cable. is this otg cable same of s2/note.
where to purchase this otg cable and mini hdmi cable
thnx in advance
 

pankaj.

Broken In
Hi Rcuber and paradisevikas,

Can you guys try to use any rdp software to remote connect with windows xp or windows 7.

Thank you in advance.
 

ankit.kumar010203

Journeyman
Seems like a nice tab. Got a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for my dad this week myself. Now thinking may be should've gone for this? Can you please post some gaming reviews for it? Start with temple run please.

Why Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is not good.I am going to buy that.Please tell me.

@RCuber Thanks For This Short Review.I have copied this content to my blog.

@RCuber Thanks For This Short Review.I have copied this content to my blog.See Here- *technologyworm.blogspot.in/2012/08/ainol-novo-7-aurora-ii-short-review.html
 

6Diablo9

How to change user title?
Hey is Aurora 2 Amlogic 8726-M6 1.5GHz processor better than Elf 2 Amlogic AML8726-MX 1.5Ghz processor? I have ordered a Elf 2, specs are almost the same except the IPS panel.
 

techlover

In the zone
Good short review :D thanks and keep up the good work :)

As asked above please post the benchmark results of Quadrant and Antutu ...also post the result of Nena Mark 2 ..it will be helpful for us to know what does the tablet score in benchmarks :)
 
OP
RCuber

RCuber

The Mighty Unkel!!!
Staff member
Updated benchmarks.. CPU set in Performance mode.

@SunE, I bought this tablet just as a first Tablet.. its not necessary that it is the best. My real purchase would be a iPad or a Asus/SAmsung Tablet :)

@pankaj : I forgot to test the RDP.. give me some time.. I hardly get time to use the tablet as its with my dad. will try to get it ASAP.
 

daemon

Broken In
I was also about to buy Elf 2 , but once I had a look at Google nexus 7 tablet , I couldn't resist myself to purchase it. It has awesome hardware specs with only one negative point that you it doesn't have expandable memory slot. Other than that it beats any tablet in display, processing etc on market : Overclocked Google Nexus 7 scores high on Quadrant Benchmark
 
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OP
RCuber

RCuber

The Mighty Unkel!!!
Staff member
^^^ yes.. Nexus 7 as really awesome specs.. may be couple of months later they will release another version with a rear cam and expandable memory.

BTW.. the ROM I have installed masks my tablet as a Nexus 7, this is done so that Market apps (most) can be installed without issue.
 
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