Ainol Novo 10 Hero 2 Quad-core Hands-on Review

[andropos]

Ainol's is upgrading their tablet models with a new Quad-core solution by Actions (ATM7029). There has been lots of confusion about the full specs of these new devices and how they preform against other Quad-core solutions, well i have just received a Hero 2 review sample and will try to bring some clarity to the topic. I will make a bunch of test and update this post with all the information. If there is any specifc tests you would like me to run let me know.






The sepcs

Ainol Novo 10 Hero II Quad Core Specifications
艾诺 NOVO10英雄四核

• Android 4.1
• 10.1-inch IPS 10 point touch
• Screen resolution: 1280*800
• CPU: Actions ATM7029 Quad-core 1.5GHz
• GPU: Vivante GC1000
• RAM: DDR3 1GB & 1GB ROM
• Flash: 16GB
• HDMI v1.4
• Battery capacity: 8000mAh
• Dimensions: 261 x 177 x 8.9mm
• Weight: 653g

Hardware

















Screen

Software



















Play and Gapps

[andropos]

Performance














Wifi

Battery life

Battery test 1

[dfranz]

My question is as always, how is app availabilty from playstore with this new chipset. I look forward also to your benchmark tests, but more to your impressions as to the actual speed in real time usage compared to your dual core, thanks

[PolloLoco]

GC1000 aaargh. What a disappointment. I hoped the rumors they went to a mali400 were true.

[dfranz]

GC1000 aaargh. What a disappointment. I hoped the rumors they went to a mali400 were true.

Hey PL, is there really that much of a difference that you have found between the 2 in actual use?

[PolloLoco]

Not personally, no. I've only used mali400 devices. But you'll find many gc1000 and gc2000 reviews that show they are going to be next to useless with graphic intensive apps like gaming. And I imagine thats a large part of the reason to buy a quad core device.

[max1001]

I gear its 4 core gc1000, is it true?

[scarytas]

Just found this on the Ainol website: Looks like first update of the firmware:
20130104-V1 firmware the Aino NOVO10 hero quad-core

Download Center - Aino electronic

[andropos]

I gear its 4 core gc1000, is it true?

Do you mean that the GPU would be 4-core?

Just found this on the Ainol website: Looks like first update of the firmware:
20130104-V1 firmware the Aino NOVO10 hero quad-core

I have already posted the firmware and the instructions here:

Ainol Novo 10 Hero II Firmware Downloads

[PolloLoco]

I just saw benchmarks on another site, though I won't repeat them here since andropos is more reliable and will repeat the benchmarks.

What I saw was as expected. Graphics intensive benchmarks rank the Hero ii just below the Galaxy S2. Antutu, however, emphasises the processor more and gives much better results.

It seems the quad core processor is compensating for the gpu, and while it should be excellent for videos and web browsing - I'm not expecting too much from gaming.