For my birthday I received the Coby Kyros Android Tablet. This is a perfect device if you surf the web, connect with friends, family and business through social media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare), peruse YouTube, listen to music, view videos, access Appslib Apps, check and respond to emails, read e-Books via the Aldiko reader, access the web through WiFi connectivity and view videos in 1080p HD on your TV via HDMI cable. The Kyros Tablet has a 7” resistive screen and runs on Android 2.1. It’s a pretty decent device.

This device is a lot more than your average eBook reader. Many eBook readers, don’t have color, application support and don’t run on Android OS. This device does have the eReader functionality and more with Wifi connectivity. Its priced about the same as a good eReader and you can do a lot more. Its pretty light in your hands, has a good feel to it. The screen is a lot easier to view than an iPhone or small Android phone, and is good for reading and viewing videos while not having to squint. The ability to check your email, socialize, surf the web, listen to music and watch videos make this device a quality buy.

Most people nowadays enjoy surfing the web, socializing, watching YouTube clips and listening to music on their device of choice. The popularity of Android, iPhones and iPad device’s is due to peoples desire to connect socially in these ways. If your looking for a full blown computer non of these will meet your needs. A Netbook or a phone like the Atrix (which turn into a Mobile PC when you connect the Lapdock) may be what you need. Android and iPhone devices are for the casual social networker.

Having had a iPhone and now an Android Tablet, I don’t see the difference other than one is open source and the other is connected to iTunes software. I prefer open source and don’t like iTunes software to manager my .mp3 collection which I’ve had since mp3.com was free before it was closed down and changed. I don’t want to have to rename the way I’ve done things for years. I prefer to drag and drop files into my phone or device and not have to hassle with software and the conversion process necessary to switch to iTunes only world.

Some of the stock features are an alarm clock, calendar, calculator, gallery for viewing videos and photo’s, email account access, mobile YouTube browser, Aldiko eBook Reader, and AppsLib. The AppsLib is limited, you have some of your basic apps and games but not the who 180,000 Apps in the Google Marketplace for those who want the full access to Google Marketplace Rooting your device is the way to go.

Rooting Your Tablet

You can upgrade the OS and add Google Marketplace if you do a Google search for Rooting your tablet. This is key to having access to core Google apps and the Google Marketplace.

I used Android Tablets, XDA Developers and YouTube to figure out how to Root the device. I had been looking at a few other Android Tablets, including the Cruz Tablet among other. I decided on this one because I saw that once you rooted it you can access the entire Google marketplace and apps. I saw a few good reviews and decided I go with this device and root it.

Once you root your device and get Super User access you can load the Google marketplace and make changes to your device that the retailers of your device didn’t give you. This is a pretty easy process. If you run into issues both XDA Developers and Android Tablets have forums and helpful people who will gladly help you root your device.

Update: I received my Cover with Micro USB Keyboard and it works perfectly I plugged it in and it plays I have a full qwerty keyboard and it looks like a miniature laptop. Great for writing.

Essential Android App’s

Google Android Market has over 200,000 Apps, with a wide range of choices from free to paid. Over 57% of all Android App’s are free which is considerably more than Apple which only has 28% free and BlackBerry which has 26% free.

The world famous Twitter is a necessary app for all your micro-blogging and status update needs. I was using Twidroid until Twitter shut them out. So its back to the official Twitter app. “Twitter for Android is one of the fastest growing Twitter applications. Six months ago, it wasn’t among the top 10 most-used Twitter applications. However, in the last two months, usage has doubled, and now it’s among the top five – along with twitter.com, m.twitter.com (our mobile web site), Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Blackberry.”

Facebook is a fun and now famous way off connecting with friends and family on “The Social Network.” Start connecting with friends, family, fans and business contacts today with Facebook for Android.

Adobe Reader is wonderful for all your PDF reading needs. “Adobe Reader for Android offers multi-touch gestures, like pinch-and-zoom, as well as double-tap-zoom, flick-scrolling and panning. We’ve also added a “reflow” mode, which will take text-heavy documents with wide margins, and automatically wrap the content for easy viewing on smaller screens.”

Amazon Kindle eReader / eBook app. “Kindle for Android is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your Android–no Kindle required.”

Google Reader is a good RSS Reader. I wish that ViiGo was available for Android since that’s my favorite on Blackberry however I have to settle for Google Reader which is a good RSS Reader so that I can stay up with all the website that I follow via their RSS feed and not have to surf the web to find the news. The news I want when and where I want it.

Gmail is a useful email app for those with a Gmail account.

Documents To Go by DataViz. “Whether you’re an organization looking to mobilize your sales professionals or an individual looking to increase personal productivity, leaving your office or laptop behind does not have to mean leaving your crucial files and work behind.Now you can get your work done no matter where you are by using Documents To Go to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well as view Adobe PDF files on your Android-powered smartphone. And since it is full featured yet easy to use, Documents To Go is one mobile office suite that makes good business sense.”

YouTube for Android. “Watch and upload YouTube videos on your mobile phone”

WordPress for Android. “WordPress for Android is an Open Source app that empowers you to write new posts, edit content, and manage comments with built-in notifications.”

Linda File Manager formerly Android File Manager. “Install apk file from SD Card directly, open files (video, audio, pics, text, etc… The Best File Explorer/App/Zip/Task Manager.”

Terminal Emulator which is essential for Rooting your device. “This application lets you access your Android’s built-in Linux command line shell. It emulates a Digital Equipment Corporation VT-100 terminal. You can use this application to run utility programs on your device.”

appsInstaller to install Apps from your SD card.

ColorNote “Color Note is a simple notepad app. It give you a quick and simple notepad editing experience when you write note, email, message, shopping lists and todo lists. Color Note makes taking a note easier than any other notepad apps.”

iReader “iReader is a offline ebook reading application on Android platform. It supports TXT, CHM, PDB(EReader, Mobipocket), UMD(popular Chinese ebook format), HTML and Image files.”

Opera Mobile Mini Web Browser. “Get the fastest mobile browser with Opera Mini. By compressing pages with Opera’s servers, Opera Mini not only loads webpages faster, but it saves on data charges since it uses about a tenth of the data of normal browsers.”

Personal Favorite App’s for Android

Adobe Photoshop Express. This is a perfect app if you have a photoshop.com account to display your graphic art and artwork. “Edit and share photos virtually anywhere. Touch to crop, rotate, adjust color, and add artistic effects. Access all your photos and videos directly from your free Photoshop.com account. Quickly share with family and friends.”

Flixster Movies. In my opinion this is the best app for finding movies near you. “Movies by Flixster. The #1 app for movie reviews, trailers and showtimes., Get showtimes for the top box office movies, View local theaters, Browse 65,000 DVDs, Watch 15,000 trailers, Read reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, Add and manage your Netflix queue”

Dropbox. “Sync your files between your computers and your mobile device. Now you can browse the files in your Dropbox folder from anywhere! Share links to files, save photos and video from your camera to your computers, and open files using your favorite Android apps.”

OliveTree Bible Reader This is by far my favorite Bible Reader app. “Mobilize your Bible Study — Mobile software designed from the ground up for reading and studying the Bible on Android.* New – Greek and Hebrew – study and perform advanced searches in the original biblical languages* Over 700 Resources Available – download hundreds of free and premium resources* Verse Chooser – navigate quickly to any verse in the Bible* Offline Access – Bibles are stored on your Android phone, not dependant on a network connection* Advanced Search – look up every occurrence of a word in every book of the Bible* Versified Commentaries – switch to the commentary of your choice linked directly to any verse you are studying* Full customization – change the fonts and colors to best work for you”

Mapquest gives the best driving direction. I prefer this over Google maps. “FREE voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation app for AndroidFEATURES:• Absolutely FREE – There’s no trial period, subscription, or upgrade necessary.  You get all these capabilities absolutely free!• Voice-Guided/Turn-by-Turn Navigation – Your phone speaks to you, telling you when to make a turn.• Voice Search – Speak your destination or your search, for hands-free input.”

DrumKit is a fun drum app for those who like to play around with the drum pads.

Google Sky Map is a cool app for those who look at the stars at night and want to be able to find the constellations they see as well as name them. “Google Sky Map turns your Android-powered mobile phone into a window on the night sky.”

Amazon MP3 for those who use Amazon for their MP3 needs. “Find, buy, and play the music you love, wherever you are, with the Amazon MP3 app for Android. Search or browse the millions of songs available, or download the Free Song of the Day and Daily Deal. Whatever you choose, you can always start listening to your purchases right away, right from your phone.”

What Come In The Box

You get the Tablet, course, it also comes with a pleather case, stylus, usb cable, usb host cable, earphones and a power adapter. The nicest things is the faux leather case which you normally have to buy separate. Its also nice to have a stylus to be able to select items on the capacitive screen. You can use your finger tips as well. One item that doesn’t come in the case that I ordered separate is a external keyboard and a mini-USB connector so that you can type faster. I’ve heard people who advocate touch screen typing. In this Twitter/Facebook Status update and texting world I can see how touch screen typing came be useful. If you use your tablet to socialize, surf the web, watch YouTube clips, listen to music and text then touch screen if the way to go. If you, like me, are a serious writer your used to a full QWERTY keyboard then you will want to get an external plug in keyboard so you can type and write. It make better use of the time. There are a few keyboard apps if you want larger keys on the screen.

Specs Overview

Comes with a 800 MHz CPU and built in 4GB storage. Supports up to 32 GB micro-SD card. Features a 7” Resistive Touch Screen Display with a 800 X 400 Resolution. Supports 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks. Includes a headphone out, built in speaker and video output that supports 1080P and 720P. With micro-USB host support for keyboard and mouse.

Overview

The device is good for those of you who want to surf the web, socialize, watch YouTube, listen to music, read books and enjoy entertainment at your fingertips utilizing WiFi connectivity. As device go its pretty good. I like it better than the iPhone and it gets the job done. If you’re a writer like me you will want to get a keyboard.

Please feel free to leave comments and feedback on this product review.

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