Factory settings tablet ainol novo 9 spark. Autonomous operation, ergonomics and Internet connection

In front of you detailed step-by-step instruction on how to flash Ainol Novo 9 FireWire tablet. Our editors have chosen the most suitable method for flashing this Ainol model. If this instruction will not give results try flashing using another method: TWRP Recovery, ROM Manager, Fastboot or classic OTA.

Warning! After flashing the device, all your data from internal memory- will be erased, so to save your contacts, settings and applications, first save all data from your tablet.

System installation CWM method Recovery 1. Charge the flashed tablet at least 80%. 2. We save all data that cannot be lost from a flash drive, SIM card and tablet memory. The SIM card (if any) can be removed. 3. We place necessary firmware to the tablet's memory. The firmware file must be in archive format zip. You can select and download the firmware. 4. All Ainol tablets have Recovery from the manufacturer, so we change it to ClockWorkMod Recovery. We do this according to the following instructions: Install the application on your tablet from Google Play. Launch it and provide Root rights . If there are no root rights on the tablet, we get them using . In the list of options, select “CWM Recovery”. Then the application will show a list of available Recovery. In the example, Rashr showed 2 options: ClockworkMod with support for taps on the screen and the classic version (controlled by the volume and power buttons). You will be prompted to download. Click Yes. Then the CWM Recovery image for the tablet will begin downloading. A notification will appear that the firmware was successful and you now have a modified recovery installed. We immediately go into it, to do this, click “Yes”. 5. Ready. If you have already installed ClockworkMod Recovery, then simply enter it by pressing for 3-5 seconds any of the combinations: - Volume up + power button - Volume down + power button - Volume up/down + power button + "Home" - Volume up + volume down + power button Movement in the Recovery menu is carried out using the volume buttons, and confirmation of the choice with the power button. Before installing the firmware, you must first do a factory reset. Therefore, select the item in the menu.
6. wipe data/factory reset Yes – Wipe all user data.
7. Now in the main menu of Recovery select install zip.
8. After that select Choose zip from /sdcard.
9. Navigate to the folder where you saved zip file firmware and select it.
10. A confirmation message will appear. Select Yes – Install....
11. The firmware installation process will begin and at the end the message will appear Install from sdcard complete. The firmware is finished. We return to the main menu of CWM Recovery and reboot the tablet. For this we choose reboot system now.
12. Ready. The tablet will start loading from the already installed firmware. Other materials

In the first issue we told you about the iconBIT NetTAB Space III tablet with a Retina screen (2048×1536). Today we will look at another budget device, even more attractive in terms of characteristics and at the same time - with a lower price: Ainol Novo 9 Spark ( alternative name- Ainol Novo 9 FireWire). True, it is not officially sold in Russia; it is a “purebred Chinese”. But for those who don’t like to overpay for a brand, this may seem like a very interesting option.

Although Ainol is not one of the most famous Chinese manufacturers, some Russian online stores sold models from this brand. And, judging by user reviews, for good reason. In addition, many buyers (especially IT enthusiasts) ordered Ainol tablets directly from China. It would be wrong to say that Ainol products are unknown to Russian users.

Like most other Chinese manufacturers (from the largest, such as Huawei, to outright “noname”), Ainol does not rely on original design or any individual features, but on advanced specifications combined with low cost.

Let's see how the Ainol Novo 9 Spark stacks up against such powerful competitors with Full HD screens as the third generation iPad and Google Nexus 10. We also included in our table iconBIT NetTAB Space III - the first mid-budget Android device with a Retina screen to appear on official sale in Russia.

	Ainol Novo 9 Spark	iconBIT NetTAB Space III	Google Nexus 10	iPad third generations
Screen		9.7″, IPS, 2048×1536 (264 ppi)	10.05″, PLS, 2560×1600 (300 ppi)	9.7″, IPS, 2048×1536 (264 ppi)
SoC (processor)	Allwinner A31 @1 GHz (4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7)	Rockchip RK3066 @1.6 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)	Samsung Exynos 5250 @1.7 GHz (2 ARM Cortex-A15 cores)	Apple A5X @1 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)
GPU	PowerVR SGX544 MP2	Mali-400 MP4	Mali T604	PowerVR SGX543MP4
Flash memory	16 GB	16 GB	16 or 32 GB	from 16 to 64 GB
Connectors	Micro-USB (with OTG support), Mini-HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack	Micro-USB (with OTG support), 3.5mm headphone jack	dock connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack, Micro-USB (no OTG support), Micro-HDMI	30-pin dock connector, 3.5mm headphone jack
Memory card support	microSD (up to 32 GB)	microSD (up to 32 GB)	No	No
RAM	2 GB	1 GB	2 GB	1 GB
Cameras	front (2 MP) and rear (5 MP)	front (2 MP) and rear (2 MP)	rear (5 MP, 1080p video shooting) and front (1.9 MP)	rear (5 MP; video shooting - 1920×1080) and front (photo 0.3 MP)
Internet	WiFi	WiFi	WiFi	Wi-Fi (optional - 3G, as well as 4G LTE without support for Russian networks)
operating system	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.2	Apple iOS 5.0 (upgrade to 6.0 available)
Dimensions* (mm)	241×186×10.6	243×189×9.2	264×178×8.9	241×186×9.4
Weight (g)	650	650	603	652
Price**	$227	10,500 rubles	$399	18,080 rubles

* - according to the manufacturer.
** - For the third generation iPad, the average cost in Moscow at the time of writing is indicated for the version without 3G and with 16 GB of flash memory; for Ainol and Google tablets, the price stated on the manufacturer’s official website does not include delivery.

As you can see, Ainol Novo 9 outperforms iconBIT Space III in almost all respects: the Chinese device is equipped with a more powerful and new SoC, two gigabytes of RAM, a Mini-HDMI connector and a rear camera with a resolution of 5 MP (instead of 2 MP). The comparison with the other two competitors is not so clear, but there is no doubt that Ainol offers more open device. And of course, significantly cheaper.

But is there a catch here? How does the device turn out to be so cheap (besides, of course, the cheap labor of Chinese workers)? Let's move on to testing the Ainol Novo 9 Spark and try to answer these questions. But first - full list known technical characteristics of Ainol Novo 9 Spark.

• Allwinner A31 @1 GHz (4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7)
• GPU PowerVR SGX544 MP2
• RAM 2 GB
• Flash memory 16 GB
• Cards microSD memory(from 4 to 32 GB)
• operating room Android system 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Touch display IPS, 9.7″, 2048×1536 (264 ppi), capacitive, multi-touch
• Cameras rear (5 MP, video recording 720p) and front (2 MP)
• WiFi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz)
• Cellular: no
• Bluetooth: none
• 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro-USB (with OTG support), Mini-HDMI
• Lithium polymer battery 10000 mAh
• Accelerometer
• GPS: none
• Gyroscope
• Dimensions 241×186×10.6 mm
• Weight 650 g

Equipment

The tablet comes in a nondescript box, which, moreover, arrived to us from China not without minor damage.

Inside, in addition to the tablet itself, there is Charger(with American plug), adapter from American to Euro plug, USB-Micro-USB cable and a warranty card.

A very poor package, in which they saved on everything, except perhaps the adapter plug.

Design

We tested a dark-colored tablet, and here it is not only the black frame around the screen that is dark, but also the metal body. There is also a white/light version. The shape of the device clearly resembles the first Apple iPad, so there is no need to talk about any original design here.

In making this judgment, we reproach Ainol (as well as many other Chinese manufacturers) not for making a rectangular device (all modern tablets are rectangular), but for not trying to put the slightest effort into inventing their design while making another iPad clone and not at all ashamed of it. However, if you forget for a while about the existence of “Apple” products, the Ainol Novo 9 Spark looks very attractive in appearance; the dark gray back looks great with a black screen.

Moreover, as with Apple tablet, the Ainol body is made of aluminum. True, this is not a solid piece of metal. On the edges you can see a thin gap separating two parts of the case: the back and the one in which the screen is located. In this case, the gap does not pass between the screen and the case, but between two parts of the case.

And this gap, unfortunately, is uneven. In some places you can stick a fingernail between the two parts of the case, and when you press on the screen in the area of ​​​​these cracks, you can hear a creaking sound. This, of course, indicates that the assembly is not of the highest quality. It is clear that other copies may not have such defects, but the very existence of our copy indicates problems with the manufacturer’s assembly and warns potential buyers. In this sense, ordering a tablet directly from China is a much more interesting option when preparing a review, because a hypothetical local representative office of Ainol (or local trading companies simply selling these products), of course, would never provide a copy of a device with such shortcomings for testing.

Another disadvantage of the design: the hardware buttons are not very well placed. Ainol designers repeat a common mistake - they make them identical and closely spaced Home buttons and Power (Home is on the left side next to the volume rocker, and Power is on the top side). As a result, it is very difficult (at least at first) to get used to which button is which.

As for the placement of connectors and slots, they are all huddled on the right side. These are Mini-HDMI, Micro-USB, microSD card slot, microphone hole and 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the same side we see two speaker slots, and the outermost connector is the input for the power adapter, so you can recharge the tablet without taking up USB port, which is very important, given the latest support for OTG (that is, USB mice, keyboards, drives, etc.). The sound from the speakers is mediocre, but to be honest, we can hardly recommend using tablets at all for sound reproduction without headphones (even with better speakers).

The overall impression of the design of the Ainol Novo 9 Spark can be described in one phrase: the typical design of a budget Chinese tablet, with a pleasant nuance - the color matching of the metal body and the frame around the screen. And everything would be fine (about the features appearance could be judged from the photographs), but the build quality, of course, is depressing. This is the main disappointment.

Screen

The main feature of the new product, as you might guess, is the screen, identical in characteristics to the display of the iPad of the third and fourth generations. But dot density is not the only important screen parameter. We decided to find out how identical the Ainol Novo 9 screen is iPad screen.

The display of Ainol Novo 9 Spark is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, does not have an anti-glare filter. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen. The effectiveness of this coating on this screen is very low, but still fingerprints do not appear as quickly as in the case of regular glass, and are removed a little easier.

When manually controlling the brightness, its maximum value was only 160 cd/m², the minimum was 24 cd/m². As a result, even at maximum brightness in bright daylight it will hardly be possible to see anything on the screen, but indoors at any reasonable level of lighting the tablet can be used without much difficulty. The minimum brightness will allow you to comfortably work with the tablet even in complete darkness. There is no automatic brightness adjustment. There is no backlight flickering at low brightness.

This tablet uses a matrix IPS type. Here is a microphotograph of the matrix of this tablet:

It shows that an IPS matrix is ​​used, in which the subpixels are divided into two domains. However, the brightness of the domains decreases synchronously, but such separation can affect viewing angles. Dark areas, eating up the area of ​​four subpixels, are evenly distributed across the entire screen - perhaps they are part of the capacitive touch sensor integrated into the matrix. The screen has very good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shifts, even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen. When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened slightly and, depending on the direction of the deviation, acquires a purple tint or remains almost neutral gray. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average, since in several places close to the edge there are local areas with increased black brightness. The contrast is not the lowest - about 840:1 (well, just like the third generation iPad). The response time for the black-white-black transition is 16 ms (9 ms on + 7 ms off). The transition between halftones 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 27 ms. The gamma curve constructed using 32 points did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.12, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. The real gamma curve deviates little from the power law:

Color gamut is sRGB:

Apparently, the matrix filters mix the components with each other to a moderate extent. The spectra confirm this:

As a result, the colors of images (drawings, photographs and films) oriented to the sRGB space (and these are the vast majority) have natural saturation. The color temperature is slightly higher than the standard 6500 K. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (delta E) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, both parameters change little over the entire significant part of the gray scale, so we have no complaints about the color rendition of shades of gray. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize, let's say that this screen has two significant drawbacks that reinforce each other: the lack of an anti-glare filter and low maximum brightness. Apparently, this is due to the manufacturer’s desire to save on screen coverage and on the battery, since with limited brightness the user is inevitably forced to always work in economy mode, and the low capacity of the energy source is no longer so noticeable. But in other respects, the screen is no worse than the screen of the famous flagship among tablets.

Platform

The tablet runs on the Allwinner A31 single-chip system. We have already met with a tablet based on it, and in performance tests that tablet performed very well. Which is not surprising: the characteristics of the A31 look truly top-end: it has a quad-core CPU and an eight-thread GPU.

In addition to this, the device is equipped with 2 GB of RAM, which is still a rarity for budget devices (although the Matrix Ultra had a similar amount of RAM). But it should be noted that 4 processor cores operate in the Allwinner A31 at a frequency that is noticeably lower than that of competing solutions (1.2 GHz nominal, and our tablet maximum frequency cores was limited to 1 GHz). In terms of processor architecture, Cortex-A7 cores do not have noticeable advantages over Cortex-A9 cores (on which the bulk of modern SoCs are built), and in general this solution was created by ARM primarily with an eye to energy-efficient operation (including as a “ junior" kernels in the big.LITTLE bundle). Likewise, the 8-thread GPU (SGX544 MP2) in the Allwinner A31 runs at 355 MHz, which is noticeably lower than competing solutions (for example, the 4-thread Mali-400 MP runs at 533 MHz, and the 12-thread ULP GeForce in the Tegra3 - at 416-520 MHz). We will not make far-reaching conclusions that the Allwinner A31 is installed in devices in order to put pressure on the psyche of unprepared buyers with the number of cores - we will simply state that this is not a top-end 4-core system in its pure form, but rather a kind of “half-assisted” 2-core system. nuclear. Let's see how the Ainol Novo 9 Spark ultimately performs in benchmarks.

In Quadrant Standard, the tablet scored 3090 points. This is a good result for a budget device, but it lags far behind the performance of top-end SoCs (their value is more than 5000). Note that iconBIT NetTAB Matrix Ultra, also equipped with Allwinner A31, had a Quadrant result of 3177 - a little more, but not critical.

In the SunSpider 0.9.1 browser test, the tablet showed a mediocre result - 2183.2 seconds. In principle, this is not so bad, but we also expected more.

The tablet passed the Super Pi processor test in 488.194 seconds, which is also rather weak. In addition to this, SuperPi for some reason sees only three of the four CPU cores (and the Matrix Ultra only saw two). From which we are inclined to conclude that the test does not work quite correctly on this SoC and its results should not be trusted yet.

We observe similar results and oddities in the case of the multi-platform GeekBench, which measures CPU and RAM performance. This benchmark saw only 1.49 GB of RAM (as was the case with the iconBIT NetTAB Matrix Ultra, from which we conclude that this is not a problem with a specific instance). And the result was not even average, but downright bad - 672 points.

We tested graphics performance in Epic Citadel and GLBenchmark. Used on budget devices We decided not to launch NenaMark 2 this time for one simple reason: the scene from this benchmark is already frankly outdated, and for modern SoCs it is not indicative - they all gain significantly more than 30 fps. Epic Citadel is much more interesting because it contains a game scene based on the Unreal engine. This means that the result shown by this benchmark will indicate the device’s performance in real games- such as Dark Meadow, Horn and others.

So, Ainol Novo 9 Spark scored 45.4 fps in Epic Citadel. This means that games on the Unreal engine will be comfortable to play.

Compared to the competition, this result also looks very respectable. For comparison, the table includes the results of ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (on this moment- Samsung's most powerful tablet).

As for GLBenchmark, here we are interested, first of all, in the results of the Egypt HD scene, which is available in benchmark versions 2.5.1 and 2.7.0. The latest GLBenchmark 2.7.0 has an even more modern T-Rex HD scene, but there are simply no games of this level yet, so for now the results of Egypt HD, which corresponds to the top level of games from the second half of 2012 - early 2013, are more relevant. Here are the results.

Here you can already clearly see that the Allwinner A31 results are inferior to other top SoCs. And even the third generation iPad is significantly ahead of the Ainol Novo 9. However, we emphasize that this scene is still more complex than most modern games, so drawing conclusions about the impossibility of playing modern gaming hits based on GLBenchmark results is not entirely correct.

The tablet demonstrates good compatibility with games. It runs all the major hits - such as Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, Asphalt 7: Heat, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Dead Trigger, Shadowgun, N.O.V.A. 3 and others. But due to the screen aspect ratio, which is atypical for Android tablets, the geometry may be distorted in some games (for example, the sight will not be round, but oval).

However, we still cannot recommend the Ainol Novo 9 Spark as a gaming tablet - and not so much because of geometry distortions (although this is unpleasant), but because developers of new games are unlikely to primarily focus on Allwinner, so It is possible that Ainol users will have to wait quite a long time for game projects to be optimized for their device.

Operating system and applications

The device is running the penultimate version of the operating system Google systems Android - 4.1.1 Jelly Bean (we tested a copy with build number novo9-Spark-20130201-v1; communication module firmware - v1.31). The OS itself is practically unmodified, except that something spied on Samsung button taking a screenshot on the bottom panel.

However, given the Chinese origin of the tablet, you need to be prepared for a large number pre-installed Chinese applications.

The saddest thing is that regular means They cannot be completely removed - only hidden (this operation is done through Settings → Application management). However, due to the fact that the tablet is initially rooted, you can install from Google Play Store applications, with which you can remove programs you no longer need.

It is curious that most applications of this kind still do not provide the option of uninstallation, but rather offer to “disable” the program. For example, this is how the popular Root App Delete behaves.

But here Uninstaller Pro allows you to truly remove unnecessary applications.

Autonomous operation, ergonomics and Internet connection

The tablet has average battery life. Thus, playing a YouTube video with screen brightness set to 100 cd/m² was possible for 6 hours and 15 minutes. In this case, we used the official YouTube application from the Google Play Store. For comparison, for the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity tablet, equipped with a screen with a resolution of 1920x1080, this figure (under identical testing conditions) is 8 hours 20 minutes.

In the GLBenchmark 2.5 battery test, the tablet lasted about four hours; the third-generation iPad and ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity had a similar result. But here we should not forget that in this test the brightness is automatically set to maximum, and the maximum screen brightness of Apple and ASUS tablets is much higher than the maximum screen brightness of the Ainol Novo 9 Spark. So in the end we can say that Ainol lost.

Some of our readers who use Ainol Novo 9 Spark complained that the tablet is very unstable Wi-Fi signal. During testing of our copy, we did not note any critical problems in this area. Yes, the speed is not very high, which is quite common for budget tablets With aluminum body. But we cannot call it marriage. Tests also confirm this. In the Speedtest browser test, the tablet showed a speed of 7.43 Mbit/s (access point - Wi-Fi standard 802.11g, maximum provider speed - 30 Mbit, router in the next room, in the far corner, behind a load-bearing wall and two closed doors). For such conditions, this result is quite normal.

Unfortunately, Ainol Novo 9 Spark does not have Bluetooth and GPS modules.

Play video and connect to an external screen

As already mentioned, the tablet is equipped with a Mini-HDMI output. To test the HDMI interface, we used an LG IPS237L monitor and a simple adapter cable from the Mini-HDMI connector to regular HDMI. Output mode - only 1080p at 50 fps without selection. At portrait orientation On the tablet screen, everything that can be displayed in landscape orientation is displayed, and only if the image cannot be rotated to landscape orientation, it is displayed on the tablet screen in portrait orientation, and on the monitor screen - rotated 90 degrees form. In landscape orientation, the image on the monitor is displayed in full screen, but vertically it is compressed due to the discrepancy between the proportions of the tablet screen and the proportions of the monitor screen (and the proportions of the 1080p video signal).

Sound is output via HDMI (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and has a very good quality. The volume is not adjusted using the buttons on the tablet body, but the sound is turned off at the minimum position of the volume slider.

The standard player similarly displays the image of video files on the connected monitor in a vertically compressed form. But the second pre-installed player - “4k” - has a format adjustment setting, which allows you to output video almost without distortion - the picture is compressed just enough to fit a strip with on-screen buttons at the bottom of the screen. These buttons are muted to a faint dot, but not removed at all. In general, this tablet cannot output video to an external monitor in a normal way. Nevertheless, we continued checking the quality of the output. To begin with, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the tablet itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). The results of this (block entitled " Screen") and the following test are tabulated:

File	Uniformity	Passes
Screen
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Great	No
HDMI (monitor)
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Great	No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes“green” ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. "Red" marks mark possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

Formally, the playback quality of the test files is very good; visual artifacts will either not be noticeable, or they will only occur in certain types of scenes - for example, in slow panoramas. However, in any case, uniform alternation of frames is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct alternation of intervals between frames and to frame skipping. The brightness range displayed on the screen slightly does not correspond to the standard video range (16-235) - in the shadows, about 4-5 shades are indistinguishable in brightness from black, but in the highlights all gradations are displayed. The image of video files in the “4k” player can be scaled to fit the width of the screen, that is, in the case of 16:9 files, the image is inscribed in width and has the correct proportions, as a result of which black fields are displayed at the top and bottom. Note that the “4k” player installed in the tablet by default can play video files with 4K resolution - albeit with some video slowdown, but it can.

When playing a video with a standard player on a connected HDMI monitor e image of video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels is displayed inscribed in width into the monitor display area, but the image is slightly compressed in height, there are narrow black stripes at the top and bottom, so the horizontal resolution is 1920 pixels, and the vertical resolution is less than 1080. This happens due to the tablet's screen aspect ratio not being 16:9. The 4k player has a button that changes the output format, but it is covered by the back button, so it is not possible to configure 1:1 output for 1080p video files. We hope this error will be fixed in future firmware or player versions. The video file image is displayed only on the connected monitor. The brightness range displayed on the monitor exactly corresponds to the standard one - all shades of the “video” range are displayed in shadows and highlights.

As already noted, when playing a “4k” video player on a monitor connected via HDMI, the image of video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels is displayed inscribed in width in the monitor display area, but the image is slightly compressed in height, so the horizontal resolution is equal to 1920 pixels, and vertically it is less than 1080. The image of the video file itself is displayed only on the connected monitor. The brightness range displayed on the monitor exactly corresponds to the standard one - all shades of the “video” range are displayed in shadows and highlights. The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the “HDMI (monitor)” block. It can be seen that all video files up to 1080p at 60 fps are played back with a uniform or more or less uniform alternation of intervals between frames. Frame skipping occurs only in the case of files with 60 fps, which, firstly, is expected, since the output mode is 50 fps, and, secondly, is not very noticeable for such high frequency frames. The photo of the monitor screen below shows evidence of a uniform alternation of frames without skipping, as well as a slight distortion of the proportions (the circle in the center is slightly tucked vertically) and non-retractable button shadows at the bottom of the screen:

In general, despite a slight decrease in image clarity of video files due to slight vertical image compression, an HDMI connection can be used for watching movies (if you get used to the “buttons” at the bottom). As for the rest - play and work - the question is more complicated, since the proportions of the image are greatly distorted.

Cameras

The tablet is traditionally equipped with two cameras. The front one (2 MP) is intended for video communication, while the rear one is for photo and video shooting. Please note: in the new tablet, the rear camera is covered with a barely noticeable protective film, which must be removed, otherwise the quality of the pictures will be terrible.

However, even without film the camera is not ideal. And it's not even a matter of permission. Here is a 100% fragment of a photo taken on a sunny day.

It can be seen that there are still a lot of artifacts, but not enough clarity. Below is the full version of this photo (reduced version). The tablet could not cope with the bright sun, the building turned out white.

The tablet passed our traditional test for shooting text, but conditionally. Firstly, two out of four pictures taken were of poor quality - the tablet was unable to focus correctly. Secondly, even in those pictures where the text is visible quite clearly, some graphic objects turned out to be blurry.

Thus, you can use this tablet for photography only when absolutely necessary, although it still has a higher level than most budget tablets sold in Russia. But the video (maximum resolution - 720p) turned out no better than that of “domestic” inexpensive mobile devices. An example (30 seconds, 5.1 MB) can be downloaded. The video shows that the camera has serious problems with focusing when shooting video and, in addition to this, a very low bitrate.

conclusions

The Chinese tablet Ainol Novo 9 Spark has advanced technical characteristics and, in general, is suitable for all those purposes for which a tablet is usually bought. However, you won’t get the same pleasure from working with the device that we are used to on the iPad and even on the Nexus 10 (if you take Android tablets). This manifests itself in the little things, but it’s the little things that determine the user experience. Firstly, the interface does not work as smoothly and responsively as on the above devices. And it’s not even about performance as such, but about software optimization. Secondly, the stability of operation is still lower than desired: during testing there were freezes, short-term image freezes and similar problems. Thirdly, in terms of battery life, Ainol Novo 9 is significantly inferior to the iPad. Fourthly, although the screen has the same characteristics as an iPad screen, it does not have an anti-glare coating and the brightness is much lower - it will be impossible to use the tablet outdoors during the day. Finally, we were disappointed with the build quality of our sample and the overall design. It’s surprising that Chinese manufacturers have enough capabilities to equip a tablet with advanced components, but making a high-quality and at least slightly original case is an impossible task for them (and is it even possible?).

Of course, readers who are looking at Chinese Android tablets can, in response to all these complaints against Ainol, remember the price: the iPad 3 is at least two and a half times more expensive (even if you add delivery to Russia to the cost of the Ainol Novo 9 Spark)! And we have nothing to answer to this argument. Ainol Novo 9 will really cost you almost a third iPad prices, and, in addition to this, the Apple product has a number of limitations that are unacceptable to advocates of various computer freedoms.

However, it all comes down to needs. specific user. For some it is more important that everything works perfectly smoothly, predictably, and that the device evokes positive emotions every time you pick it up, while for others it is more important that the low price and the ability to experiment with the device as you please.

The tablet was selected for a girl for “home” use. That is, the key was the screen and performance. Things like 3G and GPS played absolutely no role. The battery, by and large, too. After viewing reviews and products in Chinese stores, it was decided to go with the Ainol Nova 9 model. No sooner said than done, we ordered a set with a case.

The order was made on March 26th. April 9 import from Hong Kong, April 27 import in Orenburg and May 6 delivery. As you can see, someone died in the forest, and the package flew by in a little more than a month. Those sent before her were never imported.

The packaging quality is average. The Chinese friend wrapped the bubble wrap conscientiously, but attached the box with the power supply from the end. As a result, she suffered the most on the way.

Package

Having opened and made our way through several layers of the bubble wrap, we find the contents in the form of:
1. tablet
2. OTG cable
3. USB-microUSB cable
4. The case is averagely lousy and shaped to fit an iPad.
5. protective film
6. power supply with adapter
7. instructions and warranty in native Chinese

Equipment

As you can see, there are no headphones included in the kit :) So the amount of garbage is slightly reduced, essentially nothing superfluous. I was even surprised that they included an OTG cable.

The appearance is quite standard. Dark gray rectangle. Back cover Apparently it's plastic. Its edges are beveled in the latest fashion, but all the connectors are in the flat part of the end and there is no problem inherent in Cubes. I can’t check the material by opening it, because I have to give the tablet back, and I don’t want to break the seals.


On the back there is only the camera window, the manufacturer's logo, power settings and serial number.

Photos of the ends

There is one power button on the top.


On the right is the sound rocker and the “Nome” button


Bottom connectors and speakers


On the left are the fillings

The plastic is pleasant to the touch and does not slip. There are no gaps or gaps.

The stated technical characteristics are quite interesting

OS - Android 4.1.1
Screen - 9.7 inch IPS Retina capacitive touchscreen
Resolution - 2048x1536 pixels
CPU - Allwinner A31 quad core
GPU - PowerVR SGX544MP2
RAM - 2GB DDR3
Storage - 16GB
Webcams - front 2.0 megapixel, rear 5.0 megapixel with autofocus
Wireless - Wifi 802.11b/g/n
GPS - absent
Battery - 10000mAh
Operating time - up to 5 hours
Dimensions - 240x185x11.5 mm
Weight - 655 g
Ports - 1 x Micro USB, 1 x DC power, 1 x microSD, 1 x HDMI, 1 x audio jack

And here is what was actually received

What immediately catches your eye when you turn it on is the screen. He's truly great. And colors, and viewing angles, and resolution. Pixels are almost impossible to see.


The brightness reserve is sufficient for working under the sun. The factory protective film is applied well, no bubbles or unevenness. The kit includes a normal protective film, but I decided not to glue it yet.
It's hard to say whether it's plastic or glass. I don’t want to poke with a needle for the reasons stated above, but the sound and tactile sensation is very similar to gorillaglass on my old acer a501.

Now the tests. I’ll say right away that it’s difficult to use the tablet on native firmware. Chinese software, launcher slows down, slow response. Therefore, I immediately uploaded the custom Spark mod-v2.5 from iron1971. All tests were already done on this firmware

Antutu

Nenamark2

3D Mark
On the last test, Mark consistently hung on the same frame. More precisely, it was a test. The tablet and even Mark himself were quite alive and showed the results after canceling the test. I don’t know what this is connected with; no other problems were noted in games or other tests.

Wifi. Distance approximately 7 meters from the access point and 2 obstacle walls (plaster and reinforced concrete)

Multitouch. 5 points

I didn’t see any point in launching and actively testing on games, because... The owner will not use heavy games. I checked GTA and NFS Shift. There wasn't the slightest problem.

A software problem was noticed on 2GIS. It's downright slow. But after searching for this problem, I discovered that it seems to occur on all high-resolution tablets and lies in the software itself.

Battery testing was carried out by playing FullHD movies launched via WiFi from a NAS. The schedule speaks for itself. Under normal conditions, I think it will last one and a half times longer. However, when the battery capacity decreases to 10%, the video starts to slow down. It looks like built-in energy saving, I haven’t found how to disable it yet.

Cameras are frankly a weak point of this tablet. The front one is enough for Skype as usual, the back one... and it’s better to forget about the back one altogether. There really is autofocus, but 5 megapixels are purely virtual. The quality of the pictures is poor, so I don’t even see the point of posting them.

The sound in the headphones pleased me. I'm not an audiophile, but the Plantronics 380 sounds nice. Watching movies without headphones is somewhat uncomfortable, because... both speakers are located on the same side. Why they made two of them, placing them on the small side, is clear only to the Chinese.

So let me sum it up

Pros:
1. Assembly and materials
2. High speed
3. Gorgeous screen
4. Battery

Minuses
1. Camera
2. There is no 3G and GPS (I don’t consider this a minus, but I’ll preface the requests in the comments)
3. Some software is slow, apparently due to the lack of adaptation to high screen resolutions
4. Suspicious behavior of 3D Mark
5. Raw native firmware. You need to immediately go to custom

The last three points of minuses could be combined into one :) Overall, the tablet left a very favorable impression.

With a 7” screen, I remember, I even managed to see this tablet live when Zhenya Vildyaev took it for review. Then my first reaction was disbelief - just six months ago I sincerely believed that except for a couple of small companies in China (Meizu, Xiaomi) and giants like Foxconn and BBK, almost no one makes high-quality electronics. However, even a short acquaintance with the Ainol Novo 7 Fire was enough to appreciate at least the build quality and materials of this tablet, and I must admit that it was the high quality of these components, coupled with the low price (then it was 4,500 rubles) that pleasantly surprised.

And so Zhenya wrote to me that he took the new Ainol Novo 9 Spark for review. A tablet with a 10” high-resolution screen, a quad-core platform, 2 GB of RAM and other features of 2013 electronics. I had to urgently pick up the tablet and run, in order to then personally evaluate how far Ainol had come during this time, and simply evaluate in my own skin the level of one of the well-known companies among Chinese tablet manufacturers.

Contents of delivery

The tablet comes in a black box made of hard cardboard, wrapped in a dust jacket (that's what this thing is called in relation to books, it seems). Everything is simple and tasteful, there’s nothing to complain about. Inside there is a tablet wrapped in a bag, a USB-microUSB cable, charging block And brief instructions in Chinese. Here I note that I had the Chinese version in my hands, and in Russia the tablet will be sold from European supplies, and, accordingly, the inscriptions will be in English.

Design

At first glance at the new Ainol Novo 9 Spark, healthy associations are born with the design of another tablet - Apple iPad 2 or iPad 3.

Ainol Novo 9 Spark

At this point, I propose to consider the question of the similarity of the design of these tablets as closed; after all, any patent trolling by Apple and statements about other companies copying their designs have long been given a variety of examples to the contrary.

The tablet already has root rights, so there shouldn’t be any difficulties.

Conclusion

I used the Ainol Novo 9 Spark for a week, and during this time the tablet never froze, did not reboot, and generally worked stably. I wrote above about slowdowns and delays in drawing the interface; if this is fixed in the final versions or even with one of the future firmwares, the tablet will lose its only objective shortcoming.

The tablet plays videos perfectly high quality, works without problems with flash drives via an adapter, you can play the most hardware-demanding games on it Android games, as well as reading, going online and doing all the other things. At the same time, the highlight of the Ainol Novo 9 Spark is its gorgeous display, and the cost of the tablet is around 11,000-12,000 rubles, which, you see, is more than adequate for a device with almost no flaws.

Of the competitors that I found in Yandex.Market, I can name a similar-screen tablet, Beholder BeTAB 1042, for 11,000 rubles, but with a dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM. In addition, there is a moment of trust in the company, Ainol in this sense already has a greater credit of trust among users than many other brands, because Ainol produces its devices itself, it is not a company with stickers on Chinese tablets. There are also nine-inch ones Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 and Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ with screens slightly larger than FullHD, but this is a slightly different class of devices; in my opinion, they are technically weaker at a price comparable to the Ainol Novo 9 Spark.

If you need a tablet with a 9”-10” screen and a high-resolution display on which you can play games, watch high-quality videos and do everything else, you should consider the Ainol Novo 9 Spark among the main contenders for purchase. For 11,000 - 12,000 rubles you will get simply excellent build quality, materials, high performance in games and video playback, and most importantly - an excellent display.

Description:

• Class: tablet
• Case materials: aluminum, glass
• Operating system: Android 4.1
• Processor: quad-core, 1 GHz, Allwinner A31 platform
• Graphics subsystem (GPU): PowerVR SGX544 MP2
• RAM: 2 GB
• Memory for data storage: 16 GB + microSD slot
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), microUSB connector (USB 2.0, USB-OTG support, 3G modem connection possible) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm headset jack, HDMI output
• Screen: capacitive (10 touches), IPS, 9.7” diagonal, resolution 2048x1536 pixels, 264 ppi, automatic backlight level adjustment
• Camera: 5 MP with autofocus, video recorded in 720p, front 0.3 MP
• Navigation: no
• Additionally: accelerometer, light sensor
• Battery: non-removable, capacity 10000 mAh
• Dimensions: 241 x 185.6 x 10.6 mm
• Weight: 642 grams

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