Notion Ink Adam Eden 1.5 Review

     This is the review that I wanted to do when I first got my Adam. I was hoping that everyone was wrong and Eden was fantastic. I was proven very wrong, and had to write a bad review on a device that had a lot of potential. Four months have passed since then, and the tablet market has exploded since that time. Eden has improved a lot with this iteration. Is it enough? Find out after the break.

     A lot of emphasis has been put into managing tasks in this update. Everywhere you turn, there is an option to kill a process or clean something up. It may seem like overkill (get it?), but it really is useful. In the home button long press menu (HBLPM for short) you have a mini panel that shows how much RAM, CPU, memory, etc. you are using at the time. Also included in the HBLPM is the option to clear all panels or kill all processes.
     Let's talk about panels for a minute. They are finally worth using. There is very little lag in all of the animations and movements of the homescreen panels. There are a few more useful apps to utilize them now. They have made opening a full app or closing a panel much easier by putting both options at the top of each panel. Before those options were hidden in the menu key. Panels have been made much easier to manage as well. In the HBLPM you can scroll through all of your open panels and clear them as you please. If you so desire, you can also add apps into panel view from the HBLPM by dragging them from the bottom list of apps, or so I thought, as this action cause the process homescreen to force close nearly every time.

HBLPM

          In both of the app drawers (on the home screen and in the HBLPM) the apps the have an active process have a box around them to let you know that they are indeed working. Something that I found a little alarming is that the RAM meter you can see above is almost always full. This could be because it's limiting the amount of usable RAM, or it could be because Eden is a memory hog.
     Performance got a huge leap in this update. The quadrant score is about the same as before, but everything is so smooth now. It's amazing the amount of difference this makes in the user experience. There are also far less random crashes. They still occur, and since I've only been using this today, they could be more frequent than I know about. Still it's nice that I can actually do a little work on the tablet without fear of losing it all the next second.

   
     The browser is a little bit of a different story, but don't worry because it's a good one. What the browser gain in functionality, it lost in aesthetics. The side bar has been enlarged and given and odd blue and gray color scheme. It's almost like you are using some sort of accessibility magnification. The address bar has been moved to the bottom and much improved. It works like it should now. Tab switching doesn't cause the the browser to force close anymore (Thank Goodness!). I didn't have the chance to test flash, which is something I should point out. Flash was supposed to come bundled with this update, and it simply didn't.

          Chords is excellent (yes, that is proper grammar). There really isn't much more to say than that. I did have a not responding problem with it once, but a quick process kill took care of it. For some reason they left the stock android music app for you to gripe at. At least you can see how good you have it now.

     The alpha panel has received a few more options to control your Adam. Added is the new ToDO list app. With that they removed some space for the recent apps. The space is more than made for in the HBLPM. You know the HBLPM? It's practically like another home screen, or mission control if you prefer. A tap on the clock no longer show you a list of all of your apps, and unless I'm missing something, that option is gone entirely. A long press on the launcher button brings down the list of apps. Each app that has an active process is boxed here as well.

Wrap-up
      This is what the Adam should have been back in January. Is it perfect? No. It is still missing one crucial feature. The Android Market isn't there. It isn't Honeycomb. It is more of a place filler; a drink of water to calm the hunger pangs if you will. Is it better? Much. This is a vast improvement over the old broken Eden. Most importantly, it is now usable. It may be great, but it isn't enough to keep me away from other Honeycomb tablets. We'll have to see what the June 27th slated Honeycomb update brings.
 

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Honeycomb Alpha (v. 11)

     This is, without a doubt, the best ROM available. I don't need to tell you about Honeycomb. If you must see the details about Honeycomb, here is a guide. How well does it run on the Adam? Pretty darn good. What makes it so good? Find out after the break.

     This is a very stable build for being an alpha version. You still get the small amount of force closes that you would expect from anything running android, but nothing major has happened yet. This is to be expected since this is actually a fully baked build on Honeycomb ripped from the Asus Eeepad Transformer. The devs have done a nice job of pulling out all signs of Asus. What you are left with is completely stock Honeycomb, and all of its goodness.

     On any and all 2.2 based ROMs, the touch screen felt a little unresponsive, which generally ruined the user experience for me. It wasn't terrible, but it was certainly worse than the XOOM or iPad. It may be the beautification of the UI, the tablet specific sizes, or a complete placebo, but the user experience shot through the roof with this ROM. Everything is perfectly snappy. It isn't quite as snappy as the XOOM, with a little snag here and there. You won't be disappointed.

     Eden notifications leave a lot to be desired with that tiny exclamation point up in the corner. The status bar hiding trick that Notion Ink employed worked to make status bar visible in all apps, but it is still out of the way. Notifications are on the right of the always present status/navbar. A click on the clock brings up quick settings and your notifications. On a side note, the dark glow that accompanies the clock pop-up is offset two inches to the left. Aside from the small glitch, it is really handy.

     Two shining features of Honeycomb over the Eden UI are the keyboard and the browser. The browser feels like you are using a small version of Chrome. Zooming and scrolling are both smooth. Bookmarks sync without worry. The only complaint I have (a common complaint across the web) is the rendering of webpages to the mobile versions. I'm not using a smartphone, and I don't wanted to be treated as such. Luckily you can just go into the debug setting to change the user agent string to desktop, or iPad, or whatever the heck you want.

     The Notion Ink keyboard is great isn't? I'm never going back to it after using the 3.0 offering. It's just better.

    This is now the ROM, and it will stay that way until Notion Ink gets their hands on some source code. With Honeycomb, the Adam can actually complete with other tablets. I finally like Adam over the iPad. Honeycomb bridges the gap between glossy, functional, and open. The best of all three, and it's now available for your enjoyment on the Notion Ink Adam.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Cyanogen Mod 7 (Beta1)

     Cyanogen Mod is probably the most popular Android ROM of all time, and it is now making its way to the Adam. Also included is the Honeycomb mimicking Tablet Tweaks plugin (also beta). I say making its way because it is still in beta. I had a minimal amount of problems with stability, but I recommend waiting as this won't be your daily donut. Find out how the popular ROM runs on a not-so-standard tablet.

     If you hate everything about Eden, even the apps, then this is definitely the ROM for you. All traces of Notion Ink have been wiped clean. This could be a good thing for some users, but not this guy. Couldn't they at least give us the NI keyboard? The purpose of CM7 is to give a vanilla Gingerbread experience, but oddly the stock Android launcher is MIA, instead giving you ADW and VTL to pick from.

     As with a few other ROMs, you are given toggles for things like switching the SD cards or turning off cell standby. To do so, you are given the horrible  not very intuitive Adam toggles app. All the app is is a screen with four buttons for the four toggles. No visual indication that the toggle worked, no prompting to restart, just four buttons.

     Tablet Tweaks was suppose to give a Honeycomb-like feel to the overall experience. It doesn't. All you really get is a fat status bar with three navigation buttons that hardly ever goes away. Oh, and you can move it to the bottom of the screen if so desired. It's a nice idea, but it doesn't really add anything to the user experience.

     There you have it. A brief review of a very popular ROM that almost doesn't need a review. For a complete list of features that CM will give you, go to their website. Right now, it isn't ready for the Adam. One major problem I had was the lack of a lockscreen which would probably be fixed by a simple data wipe. This ROM gets a 3/10 in its current form. The reason? A complete lack of anything Notion Ink.

Engadget Reviews Notion Ink Adam

     All I can say is finally! We (or I at least) have been waiting for a professional review of the Adam since it came out. Since all orders were shipped a while back, it's hard to tell what took them so long. They had some interesting things to say about the tablet. Most of them were bad, but they were also true. They main target of the negativity was, of course, the software and the screen. What else did they say? Read on.

     The Adam only did good enough to deserve a lousy 3 out of 10 rating from the big shots. The software was called upon repeatedly for being slow and buggy. They even went as far as calling it "beta at best". Not a goos sign. They seemed particularly proud of their discovery of a way to make the browser crash on command (multiple taps on the tab wheel). The panels got a nice little overview as to how they worked and such. A small item they touched on was the lack of responsiveness from the capacitive digitizer. It was blamed on the screen protector, but as I found out the screen protector has nothing to do with the lack of touch sensitivity, it is just another one of the tablet's quirks. Oddly, no mention was made about the low wifi signal.

     Engadget did have a couple of good thing to say about Notion Ink's baby. The ports... lots and lots of ports to fill your nerdy heart with joy. It use a "unique" design and an awesome sun-readable display. That was about it on the good side.

     Like everyone that has an Adam knows, the viewing angles are awful, the camera is funky at best, and the software is just bad out of the box. Engadget just reaffirmed what we already knew, but it's nice to hear from the pros. You know Notion Ink didn't do terribly great with their first product when Engadget calls it a prototype running beta software. Get the full review here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/27/notion-ink-adam-review/

VTL.Launcher Review - A Launcher For Tablets

     Most Adam owners like their home screen replacement apps. Whether it be Launcher Pro, ADW, or Helix, we all have our favorites. VTL.Launcher is different in that it is made for the big screen. Currently in beta, VTL is strongly based off of ADW source code, and is designed for main use in landscape mode. While it does have the ability to go into portrait mode, it doesn't do it very well. Full thoughts after the break.

 

The default configuration is having not one, but three docks all swallowing you into a window framed by apps. Also default is to have a shadowy black dock background. This configuration is not for the claustrophobic. Thankfully, you can change the docks around to suit you needs any way you prefer. I may never find a use for all of that dock space. 

A long press on an app brings up a little menu to remove, edit, get info, or show in Market. Unlike ADW there isn't an option to uninstall the app from this menu. Even though VTL is made for the large screen, the menu still fills the width of the screen just to give it an unfinished look. General scrolling speed throughout felt a little rough. It may be due to the beta tag, but it is fairly unpleasant considering the dual-core guts of the Adam. One downfall of VTL is the the poor transition it makes when in portrait mode. The widgets all look smashed. The dock on the bottom doesn't re-size, but rather the apps just get shoved off screen.  I would like to see some more customization options such as home screen transition effects. Overall the experience is great and very well suited for the Adam. The Adam was made for landscape, so why not have a home screen to match. 

Top Three Web Browser For Your Notion Ink Adam

     The Eden Browser is one of the many sore points that hinders that overall experience. The zooming and scrolling are incredibly slow to use. There isn't an easy way to search. There are a lot of alternative browsers readily available on the Android Market, so what's the problem? They're all made for phones. Below I will give you a rundown of browsers that will suit your tablet browsing experience.

Stock Android Browser (on Beast ROM)

 1. Opera Mobile 11
      This gets the top of the list for the simple reason that it is designed for use on tablets. All the controls line the top  to make everything in easy access. Flash works great. Tab switching looks nice, but it's a little slower than having your tabs always visible at the top. The settings, bookmarks, etc. all appear in a window instead of time wasting full screen. You have the option to hide the status bar if your prefer, but on Eden, the status bar is always hidden. This seems to mess with Opera making a white space appear above where the status bar should be.

2. Dolphin Browser HD
     While it is still made for a phone, it has a set of features that make it awesome for use on tablets. The interface is fairly barren on visible controls. Without hitting the menu kay you only have home, URL bar, and tabs visible. The tabs are fantastic for the large screen. Instead of having always present navigation button like Opera, Dolphin Browser has them hidden under the menu button.

     The Dolphin Browser has one feature that makes it perfectly suited for tablet use. You can change the user agent to have webpages view your device differently. As you can see in the picture below, the internet views the Adam as an iPad to make the webpages perfect for the screen size. Gmail's specialized iPad view is unlocked. Also available are the option to change the user agent to iPhone or default Android. Coming soon is the Dolphin Browser Pad that should combine custom user agents with a tablet suited UI.

3. Skyfire
     The key selling point of Skyfire is the ability to convert flash videos to HTML5 for easy mobile view-ability. This feature is all together unnecessary since the Adam has flash. Converting to HTML5 may be beneficial if you want to conserve bandwidth (or so it tells me). The UI doen't look terrible on the big screen, but it doesn't look good either.

     A lot of the buttons that are always visible are rarely used. The fifth button on the top is a quick switch for toggling between mobile and desktop view. While not as full-featured as the Dolphin Browser user agent equivalent, it is handier. Tab switching is another story. Hitting the tab switcher toggle brings up the tabs that blocks out the entire screen. Otherwise, the browsing experience isn't all that bad.

Skyfire Tab Switching

4. Firefox
     Firefox deserves a mention because it is a very good browser... on phones. On a tablet screen it just doesn't work. It looks as good blown up as the stock android browser. One advantage you would have is the ability to sync bookmarks with the desktop version.

5. Wrap-up
     What it all boils down to is the wait for Honeycomb on the Adam. Until the Eden browser improves or Honeycomb becomes available we'll just have to suffer or find alternatives.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: The Beast (Update: Rant)

     Isn't it amazing how many ROM's are available for product that is seemingly unpopular? Could it be because the stock software is just that bad, or is it due to the lack of the Android Market? Maybe Adam owners are just born modders. Whatever the reason is, developers have created some brilliant ROM's to hold us over until Honeycomb gets released from Google's mighty grip. Is The Beast another shining star in the galaxy of ROM's, or is it another flop? So many questions. Find the answers after the break.

     The Beast is a vanilla Android ROM for the Adam based off of Utopia, but built for speed. While it is a Froyo build, many elements such as the keyboard and animations from Gingerbread can be found within. Many apps from Notion Ink are pre-installed as well, including the keyboard, Mail'd (removed in latest version of Beast), Sniffer, etc. Being vanilla Android, Eden is nowhere to be found, but who used it anyway? It comes pre-loaded with ADW and Launcher Pro, but the stock Android launcher is oddly missing.

     The Beast is one of the most stable ROM's I have tried on the Adam. On the forums they claim a Quadrant score of ~2900. I got a maximum score in the ballpark of 2400. That isn't to say it isn't fast. The speed improvement isn't extremely noticeable when compared to the stock. Josh4Trunks posted a handy guide for the various toggles available so you can do things like change the mapping of the physical button or swap the SD cards.

      Music was a bit of a pain. All of my music is on my SD card, otherwise known as SDcard2. In the stock ROM, the media finder app is written to detect media on the SDcard (internal memory) and the SDcard2 (actual SD card). One of the toggles provided is to swap the number on the SD cards so that your removable card becomes the default. It gets confusing in Sniffer when the tablet memory is actually your SD card.

     All and all it is a fantastic ROM. Until something amazing happens in Eden, this will be my ROM. If you are looking for a vanilla build of Android for your Adam look no further.

(Update) In the most recent update (2.1.4) the developer has decided to remove Mail'd in favor of the stock email app. Why? Mail'd, Sniffer, and Canvas are the best Notion Ink apps to have, and you removed one? Mail'd's replacement app isn't even tablet ready. It is a blown up phone app that has no business being on a tablet or replacing Mail'd. Thank you for your time.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: VEGAn-Tab (Update)

     We have seen ROM's for the Gtab that are based on Eden, and now it's time to turn the tables. Yes, the VEGAn-Tab is a Gtablet based ROM for the Adam. It is a particularly wierd idea since the UI from Viewsonic isn't exactly something people look for in a tablet. If you are looking for something different, this is most likely the ROM for you. Full thoughts after the break.

     The UI enhancements of this ROM don't go very far beyond what vanilla android will bring you. A few elements,such as the status bar, are enlarged for better accuracy. In the status bar, you will find the three navigation buttons as if Viewsonic is trying to ape Honeycomb. The biggest UI enhancements to be found are the fantastic animations all around. They may be useless, but they make it look a lot better. For apps, it comes bundles with the NI apps you would expect except one. The NI keyboard is MIA here. In it's place, you have the Gingerbread keyboard and the Tap n' Tap Western keyboard to choose from. I almost prefer the Tap n' Tap keyboard over the NI keyboard for its split and thumb oriented layout.

     I will warn you that this is a beta build. I had quite a few instances of force close happening to me. A re-install of the particular usually resolves the issue at hand, but that gets old fast. A large problem I found, and the reason I'm not keeping this ROM, is a problem with the way it handles the SD card. Sniffer acts like the card isn't even there have of the time. The standard music app and tunewiki refuse to find any music most liely because they aren't seeing the card. I need my music. With this ROM the sleep/wake bug reappears.

    If you don't want Eden, but you want something a little better looking than vanilla froyo/gingerbread, this is the ROM for you. If you are looking for a speed demon, look elsewhere. The speed is equivalent to that of Edenx with a Quadrant score of ~1900. I will recommend that you wait until it comes out of beta. I'll give it a 3/5 rating, but your tastes will vary.

(Update) It has been called to my attention that this ROM is based off of the Advent Vega, not the Viewsonic G-Tablet. Please ignore all references to the G-Tablet above.

Notion Ink Adam ROM Review: Edenx

     It's truly amazing how many ROMs are available for the Adam considering how few of them there are in the wild. While only Notion Ink knows the actual number of Adam's there are, we can assume the numbers are only in the tens of thousands. All of your the Adam ROMs can be found at NotionInkHacks.com. The ROM I will be reviewing today is called Edenx, and was compiled by Roebeet.

      Edenx is a very stocked based ROM unlike the Utopia and Beast ROMs that are vanilla Android based. Its simplicity is its beauty. What it adds is root access, the market, various Google apps, a home switcher, and a few other tweaks. The home switcher is nice since Eden isn't customizable at all as a home screen. Edenx is what stock Eden should have been other than the root access. Small apps like Google Voice Search and Live Wallpapers complete the Android experience. The Android Market is also a plus.

     Is there anything I don't like about Edenx? I wish there were an option in the settings to get rid of the panel switcher in favor of the stock android app switcher. Other than that, Roebeet did a fantastic job.

Eden Panels: A Review

     Good Ole' panels. They are the lifeblood and soul of the Eden UI. The Eden UI is what makes the Adam different from the slough of other tablets that were and are coming to the market. Eden is the attempt to bring a smartphone OS up to tablet standards while adding pizazz in the process, but do they work? Find out after the cut.

     On paper they looked fantastic, but in practice they leave something to be desired. It's a refreshing change to see somebody tackling real multitasking on a tablet. Having three apps open at once is great for the occasional need to do so. That is where the problem starts. I don't want to do this sort of multitasking very often, and Notion Ink thinks I should. The panels replace the home screen. You have the option to "lower" the panels to reveal what Notion Ink calls the normal Android home screen. It isn't. It's single screen list of apps that are aligned perfectly in a grid that is completely non-customizable. If you don't like where the app is placed on the screen, too bad.

     The actual use of the panels provides a different story. They are handy and nice to use. Having multiple apps open to scroll through saves quite a bit of time. Only NI has the apps that utilize the panel system to get the real multitasking action. They plan on releasing the Genesis store and SDK so developers can create "panelized" apps, but that won't likely happen until Honeycomb. The panel system is weird in it's current state too. Let's say you are browsing Notioninkfan.com in the browser panel, and you want to go full screen with the app. You can't. The menu button brings the option to launch the full application, but when you do it's like you are opening a completely different app. What happens in a panel, stays in a panel. Very little translates to the full app or vice-versa.

     Ironically, panels make normal multitasking a step harder. NI has gone to the unnecessary trouble of replacing the normal multitasking switcher with a panel switcher. Since there are very few apps that use panels, this is pointless. The alpha panel that holds the time, music, email, and facebook also holds the recent apps. This is an extra step, but at least they have addressed the issue.

     Time for a nit pick. Eden has an altered status bar that serves no real purpose other than because they can. They have the bar set up in a way that you can hide it by tapping on the battery in the corner. The natural state of the bar is to be hidden, which means that it blocks anything in it's way when it's open. The battery that resides in the corner for the hidden status bar can get in the way of some apps as well. When the Adam is booted the status bar is in the open position. Many new users have complained that the status bar is blocking everything because they don't know it has a hide feature.

     Panels are nice, but they have their quirks. It's all a matter of choice whether you like them or not. If you don't like them, you can always get a home screen replacer like Launcher Pro for free. There is no telling where panels will go when Honeycomb comes. For my thoughts on where they should go see here and here.

Notion Ink Adam Full Review

     This is a going to be a sad story. I have been following the Notion Ink scene for a year now, and this is all I have to show for it. The Adam has the makings of a great tablet, but it was just pushed out to soon with an inexperienced company. Find out everything good and bad after the break.

The Hardware

     The Hardware is excellent. The tablet is a bit on the thick side with a nice curve on the top to give it excellent grip. The back is entirely plastic, but that doesn't cause any problems. Around the edges it has two USB ports, on mini USB, the volume rocker, the power switch, a micro SD/SIM slot, a full size HDMI port, the headphone jack, the power port, and an odd back button. The Speakers are absolutely fantastic. The have great sound with and awesome stereo effect. The microphone isn't quite as good, but it is still supreme. The swivel camera on top feels a little loose, but not to the point that it will be a problem. My biggest gripe with the camera isn't the low quality, which I will get to later, it's the fact that it doesn't swivel the full 185 degrees like is stated in the tech specs. When locked in the forward position, it is perfectly parallel to the screen. 

The Screen

     The screen is definitely not the best feature of the device. It may be the worst feature of the device aside from the software. It is a 16:9, 10.1", 1024x600 screen. It was made for landscape mode, and in portrait mode it looks a little stretched out. The viewing angles aren't great either. You can get a better viewing angle by tilting it in portrait mode, but you are rarely in portrait mode. 

The Camera

     It has a 3.2MP auto-focus camera mounted in that special little swivel. The pictures are grainy and underwhelming. They are about what you would expect from a camera of that resolution, but a little worse. It is labeled as auto-focus, but it just cycles in and out of focus all of the time like it's in an endless loop. You just have to take the picture at the exact moment when the object is in focus. The video is the same way. Throughout an entire video it just cycles in and out of focus. You can't make a decent video unless you are in a video call.

The Software

     Inside you will find a dual-core Tegra II processor powering the beast. Coupled with that you get 1GB RAM and 8GB of flash memory. The problem with all of this is that you would never know it by using it. The Eden UI is slow. The apps are slow. The launcher is slow. Scrolling is far from smooth. The whole thing acts like the speed of a mid-range smartphone. It should be almost as fast as the Xoom, and it just isn't. The problem all lies with the software. 

     The problem isn't just speed, it's also the extreme amount of bugs that Notion Ink has yet to work out. I can't be productive on it because it is only a matter of time before something force closes on me and all of my work is gone. The apps are fantastic, but still slower than they should be. For a look into the good side of the software click here. I had several problems with the tablet rebooting spontaneously. One time it even went into a spontaneous reboot cycle. For a full list of the bad click here. 

    One of the biggest (it would be the biggest problem if the software was worth a dime) problems with the device is the Android Market or lack thereof. I understand that the Adam is not a phone, and that the Market is made for phones. Honeycomb still has access to the same phone apps that the Adam would. Rohan has stated back in December that the market would come with the update to Honeycomb which they are currently working on. Notion Ink is slated to release their own Genesis store in a short amount of time, but with the Adam's user base, it can't have a significant amount of apps in it. Just like the iPad, it's the apps that make it and without those apps it is not made. They need to give us a stable Honeycomb update that includes Eden and the Market. 

    

Wrap-up

     With amazing apps like Mail'd and Sniffer, and amazing guts like the Tegra II processor, the Adam has the potential to go far. Right now I can't recommend it to the average user. The user experience was suffering so much that I rooted mine to get the market and ad-hoc (and now Edenx) until Notion Ink pushes out an update that fixes the bugs. When Notion Ink pushes out a stable build of Honeycomb with the market, the Adam will shine, but until that happens we will just have to keep faith in the hands of Notion Ink.

Adam Initial Impressions

     I have had my Adam for a day now and what do I think about it? It's a mixture of good and bad so far. Be warned though, because this post will consist mostly of the bad. Read after the break for Impressions.

     I'll start off on a good not by discussing the hardware. It is fantastic. I may not be as svelte as an iPad, but it is still great in the hands. That curve combined with the large amount of bezel creates an amazing grip. The back button on the side serves little purpose for me. I think the power switch would be better if it has an actual button instead of the slide switch that it is. The camera is a tad wobbly, and I can guarantee that it only swivels 180 degrees. I can get 185 degrees out of it by shoving it down, but it locks at 180. The silk screen on the back has a typo directly under where it says,"Created with love by Notion Ink Design Labs". The mistake reads,"This may device must accept any interference received...". The hardware buttons definitely need to have a backlight. I don't know what's wrong with the wifi radio. It has terrible signal strength. I mean TERRIBLE.

     On to the software. It needs work. I don't mean work like pulling an all-nighter at the office; I mean work like building a house in a week with only two people. I may be exaggerating a little, but the software does need some serious tweaking. I like the Eden UI, but the experience is suffering. With its Tegra guts, it should be capable of buttery smooth animations and seemless transitions. I liken the speed right now to that of the original Motorola Droid (You know. The one with a 500mhz processor.). Angry Birds ran like butter, so it has to be the UI that holds the slow problem. I like the hidden notification bar if I can get it open. I have to tap on that little battery in the corner several times to get the dumb thing open. I can't believe how unresponsive it is, and the launcher is the same way but not quite as bad.

   I would put up with all of that and give it a stellar rating if it weren't for the biggest problem with the device. It doesn't have the Android Market. I didn't think it was going to be that big of a problem, but having to side load all of your apps only to find out that have of them won't install, crash, etc. is the biggest pain of the entire device. Rohan said in an interview back in December that the Honeycomb update would also bring the Market to the device. I hope he hasn't changed his mind. Genesis is a good idea, but the user base is way too small to have a good quantity of apps. I haven't found an apk of flash that works yet. So far, they have all caused the browser to crash.

    You may ask if I hate my Adam. The answer is no, because I love my Adam and I have faith in Notion Ink. Faith is what got me to this point. I have confidence that they will bring out software updates that with fix these problems (the terrible wifi signal strength worries me due to the fact that it is a hardware problem) and eventually update it to Honeycomb with the market. In case you are wondering, I have the LCD + WiFi variant. If you are thinking about ordering one I am going to say go for it!

     

Adam Used With a Stylus

 The viewers have requested a demonstration of a capacitive stylus on the Adam, and here it is. I can already tell you that it isn't pretty, but your results may vary with different styluses. I'm using the Pogo Stylus for iPhone.