Showing posts with label megafeis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label megafeis. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 February 2014

M709 Native 3D apps integration

3 x pre-installed apps focussing on 3D
3DP View, a 3D photo viewer
3DV Player, a 3D video player
3DV Games Centre, a store front for free games that support the M709's 3D screen

3D, ver 1.3 a 3D photo viewer
Supports playback of locally stored MPO and JPS format 3D images.

Every time opening the app, we are first presented with a web hosted gallery of 3D images. I haven't figured out which sites they are specifically pointing to. The main menu to the left has English titled tabs, but the image sub categories have thumbnails with Chinese text. The resolution of the 3D sample images is quite variable, some are looking very low resolution at significantly less than 720p. Upon tapping on the desired thumbnails, files are downloaded from the internet into a temp directory, which I notice are in JPS format and commonly the vertical resolution is just 540 pixels (QHD), which is fine for lesser 3D screens, but is not enough to show of the M709 800p 3D to it's full potential. I don't know how often the web samples in this gallery will be updated, but in the 2 weeks I've spent with this app, the images have not changed. I doubt very much that I will be returning regularly to check for new images posted here. Nor can I find a way to post my own 3D pics to share with others via this app. I wish there were a way to hide away the web gallery tabs altogether. Last but by no means least, the "Local Image" tab lets you browse 3D photos stored locally. The "scan path" is easily customisable to point to the internal storage, a mounted micro SD card or an OTG mounted storage device. "Local Image" is easily the most useful part of the app and I wish it was configurable to be the default when starting the app. You are able to browse 2D thumbnails of the MPO an JPS files on your tablet, then load the file you want to see. The image will initially be displayed in 2D by default. A large bright blue label at the bottom center of the screen indicating the current display mode is "2D". Tap on it, or the soft menu key to switch view to "3D" engaging the parallax barrier. The superfluous 2D/3D indicator is thankfully automatically hidden after 3 seconds. I notice this app did not boost the brightness when switching to 3D mode so you may want to l do that in advance yourself as full brightness helps compensate for the activated parallax barier that blocks out some light. There are also < and > signs left and right on screen allowing for navigation to the next or previous image in the gallery sequence. A finger swipe across the screen in either direction performs the same operation. That's all there is to the UI no slideshow options to speak of. I updated to the latest version 1.32 from within the app (menu key>about>version info>update) but could not see any notable differences afterwards.

Observed that the Android black bar soft key menu at the bottom of the screen does not hide itself when viewing images. While this might be fine for 16x9 images (since the screen's native resolution gives enough space to accommodate, it is a criminal waste of vertical screen space when displaying 4x3 images.

3DV Player, a 3D video player
Supports playback of locally stored mp4 SBS half width 1080p 3D video

3DV Games Centre, a store front of free games that support the M709's 3D screen
Mostly casual games such as 3D Darts. Surprisingly, there is a licensed Disney Toy Story game called "Smash It".
Real Steel boxing is another title I'd heard of before. in both cases, I doubt the developers wrote code to specifically support 3Dscreens. Indeed, the same titles if downloaded from the Google PlayStore are missing the 3D display support. I am not so familiar with the numerous other titles on offer.
Nothing from big developers such as Electronic Arts nor Game Loft. Once installed, these 3D games launch with an added "3D" cog button at the top left of the screen. Tap it to extend a slider bar to set the desired 3D depth. From all the way left to turn off the parallax barrier (ie just plain 2D). Slide to the far right for the maximum 3D depth setting. It works well for the games they've chosen! A genuine sense if depth is seen for the rendered 3D polygons and screen elements such as health bars in Real Steel float as a layer separately from the background action. This is like LG's 3D app converter that came with their Optimus 3D phones, only with less options.








Megafeis M709 3D tablet, 3rd party app support

The following apps are available from the Google Play store.


YouTube: ver 5.3.32 A massive ever growing worldwide resource of 3D video content shared freely online. Indispensibly, users can upload and build their own personal repository of 3D videos that is then easily accessed by any bigger screened 3D smart connected TV. However, after installing the current version of the official app from the Play Store it became disappointingly clear that 3D videos simply would not trigger the M709's 3D screen, and instead played them in the plain SBS format.

Phereo: ver 1.8 a very useful app for 3D photo sharing for free! Again users can build their own personal repository of 3D photos and review them from any web browser with user selectable anaglyph, wiggle, free view or plain 2D. Crucially, it supports many glasses free Android devices with parallax barrier screens. Disappointingly, with the M709, when attempting to change the 3D view mode from within the Phereo settings to "native 3D", we are presented with a pop-up exclaiming "you device does not support this mode."

3D Steroid and 3D SteroidPro: ver 3.04 browse and uniquely to re-edit locally stored 3D photos with support for many glasses free Android devices equipped with parallax barrier screens. Not the M709 though...

Tobidale 3D: ver 4.1.1 browse and uniquely zoom into locally stored 3D photos with support for many glasses free Android devices equipped with parallax barrier screens. Not the M709.

Stereoscope: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.stereoscopie.stereoscope

browse locally stored 3D photos and a selection of 3D Web galleries with support for many glasses free Android devices equipped with parallax barrier screens. The M709 could display 3D images if the barrier is stuck in 3D mode. I managed this by playing a 3D video with 3DV Player and switching apps. Set the Stereoscopic mode to vertically interlaced. A clumsy kludge for sure and I count this as a fail too.

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Friday, 31 January 2014

Megafeis continued

Megafeis M709
http://store.megafeis.com/tablet-pc/megafeis-m709-3d-tablet-pc.html

Far as I can tell, the following 7 " glasses free tablets are the same as the WiFi Megafeis I have here. I conclude this having examined the very similar hardware specs and that they seem to share the same silver earpiece at the front (if the images can be trusted). Note that some distributors (such as Marvel Digital) also offer a version with an additional internal sim slot for 3G voice and data. Otherwise its the same tablet as the WiFi only unit.

Potsworld M08
http://dx.com/p/portworld-m08-7-dual-core-android4-2-3d-display-3g-tablet-pc-w-1gb-ram-8gb-rom-tf-otg-white-244665#.Ut_AlnqwrqA

Kings ASIN:B00H1X9NI4
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00H1X9NI4/ref=mw_dp_mpd?pd=1

Marvel Digital T3D07-AD01
http://www.marveldigital.com/glasses-free-3d-tablet/

An Allwinner A20, a dual core Coretex A7 at 1.2GHz, 1GB DDR3 SDRAM memory and a Mali-400 MP graphics chip. This means very little to me. All I really care about is the resulting functionality. Ideally it would be using part of the graphics chip for more energy efficient hardware video decoding rather than a battery draining software codec with just the main processor. So how well can it playback 1080p SBS half width 3D video files without dropped frames. Fortunately with the included 3DV Player, it manages just fine. The reference file is downloaded from YouTube via TubeMate. A 1080p SBS half width 3D video in MP4 format at MB lasting 1min so MB/S. How about playback of 3D video that you may have recorded yourself? Can it playback W3's uniquely formatted 3D video recordings. Note that if it can't, this counts as only a minor fault since to date, neither can any other 3D screened tablet.
How about the more standard video formats output when recording from a Panasonic 3D1, a Sony Bloggie 3D, both at 1080p SBS half width MP4. And how  about 3D video from a sharp SH12-c, an LG Thrill, AKA the Optimus 3D phones, and the HTC Evo 3D all at 720p SBS half width MP4.
Need a table to show the fps, bitrate, file format and resolutions.

The 5 point capacitive touchscreen was proven to work with the pre-installed Fruit Ninja.
The screen, In 2D mode there is nothing to tell it apart from any other "normal" 2D tablet. It looks fine to me. Visibility, colors, contrast and brightness are quite consistent when I tilt the screen at a wide range of angles. One tell tail sign that this is a glasses free screen is the noticeable 2mm or so air space between the glass front and the surface LCD display itself. I personally like that many modern 2D smartphone displays glue the LCD, the touch panel layer and glass front into a single combined unit. However this tablet's screen is not built like that. To be fair, it is of a similar construction to all the other switchable parallax barrier screens I have encountered so far (including the Truly and Marvel Digital 10" 1920x1200 3D tablets). Perhaps such an assembly is required for current switchable parallax barriers to work their 3D magic... Who knows? Let me have your insights if you have any.

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Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Megafeis M709 7" glasses free 3D screen tablet M709 8G review

Started 29th Jan 2014

This post is a work in progress and will be updated often...

Specs highlights:
7" 1280x800 switchable parallax barrier screen
334g (weighed by my own digital scales, the Magafeis site incorrectly indicated 309g)
3000mah internal battery
WiFi b,g and n flavours (n works fine in my house)
Android 4.2.2
8G internal memory (16G option available)
Empty MicroSD slot (works fine with my 32G class 10)
Micro USB socket for data transfer with a PC, support for OTG (tested fine with USB card reader) and charging (tested fine)
Mini HDMI out socket (Magafeis site does not mention this port!)
Headphone socket 3.5mm
Dedicated 2.5mm DC charging socket for the supplied 2 pin wall charger 100-240v 50-60Hz 5v at 2A (works fine)
Bluetooth 3
0.3 mp front camera and a 2.0 mp rear facing camera (both work but are not neither are great performers)
Physical buttons for power and volume up / down

Interesting to me mostly for it NOT merely being an 8" Gadmei 3D direct re-brand. Something "newer" perhaps? With more up to date hardware?
Purchased this device without really knowing anything about it as there were zero related product reviews to be found on the web at the time. All I could find were some very similar 7" glasses free 3D tablets with different branding. However, I was willing to take a leap of faith, given they offered me a no questions asked return policy within a month. Additional was the 12 month guarantee... which is certainly comforting, even if I would need to pay for the return shipping out of my own pocket. They told me in advance they ship from Shenzhen, mainland China, which isn't too far from Honkers, so would not cost me an arm and a leg to return it if need be. Note I am not at all sponsored by Megafeis for this review... I am a 1st time buyer at their site. Ordering direct from the Megafeis on-line store pagewas remarkably quick and easy, it arrived by courier to my door in a little less than a week. Just in time before the Lunar New Year holidays.
Considering the original price of 199.95USD, I'd caught it on discount and paid a much more reasonable 150USD via PayPal with their worldwide free shipping option. To put this in perspective... A Gadmei 8" e8-3D tablet at the same resolution costs 236USD with standard shipping. So the M709 presents itself as a bit of a bargain right?

Packaging
The tablet travelled well protected in a cardboard carton with foam sheets and further corrugated packing inside.
Within was nestled a sturdy, if generic white box with large Megafeis logo printings and fresh sticker on one side with text indicating the contents which were:
1 x tablet
1 x travel wall socket tablet charger (not USB type)
1 x micro USB to full size USB data cable
1 user manual

Physical build, fit and finish:
Fairly well put together. Not too creaky. No sharp edges. No gaps in the seams between the outer case and the outer bezzel rim and the glass front. I've held much worse tablets in hand. Nothing to write home about it's design looks. Not the ugliest tablet I've set eyes on either. Feels noticeably lighter in a good way vs the Gadmei 8" 3D tablet, but the screen is smaller by an inch and the battery is smaller too. As per most tablets, there's no screws in the casing so I've no idea how to open one of these up to replace the battery myself should I ever need to.

Glass fronted with a black bezel
Small strip of metalic grill for a front "earpiece". There is a small front facing microphone hole in the glass and the bezel rim too. Placement appropriate for the sibling model that has a sim slot and built-in 3G radio so it can double as an oversized cleverphone for making voice calls and data. Just hold the tablet to your face to talk. I have confirmed, the front earpiece on my WiFi only model is not enabled for voice only WiFi Skype type calls... Tested at the same time, plugging in an iPhone wired headset with in-line mic, it was only able to relay the sound to the ear buds but Skype still used the tablet's own built-in mic. Results are similar for the included dedicated sound recording app.
White plastic back with semi-gloss pearl finish (not rubberised)
Perforations on the back at one corner for the speaker
Rear web camoffset on one corner
All ports and buttons are clearly labeled with unambiguous black text/icons
Black plastic power and volume +- buttons on the side near one corner

Out of the box:
A fully charged tablet!
The Android 4.2.2 OS was in Chinese language by default but I managed to switch to English within a few minutes.
WiFi was hooked upwithin a couple more minutes.
Had Google Play Store app pre-installed! (Despite their website stating otherwise)
3 x pre-installed apps focussing on 3D
3DP View, a 3D photo viewer
3DV Player, a 3D video player
3D Games Converter

Note that the image of the wall socket charger is taken by the M709's 2mp rear facing camera in daytime indoors.
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