Final Thoughts
For being the first tablet that I have had a chance to really spend some time with I am pleased with it. I really like the size and design. The 9.7-inch screen size seems pretty much perfect for a tablet. It makes viewing media, reading books, and just browsing the internet very enjoyable. This size makes it very easy to hold and use, but also to carry around with you. The all aluminum design not only protects the tablet, but looks and feels great as well.
This is also the first Android device that I have had the chance to explore in depth. I am an iPhone guy so I am used to the Apple ecosystem, all of the awesome apps etc. The Android operating system is very easy to use and get accustomed to. Many of my favorite iPhone apps are available on Android and work just the same. I also found some other great Android only apps that I love.
The 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM get the job done very well. I really did not experience any lag or slow down issues, even when having a lot of apps open at once. I also played movies and music on the tablet and everything ran smoothly. One thing that I was really impressed with were the speakers. They are loud enough to watch a movie with a group of people.
The only issue I really had was the Skype call quality. This was because the microphone on the tablet is located on the top of the tablet and if you are talking to someone it is hard to pick up your voice. Also this tablet is running Android OS 2.2 (Froyo), not the newer Android 3.0, which select tablets have. I don’t see Le Pan changing this either because of the hardware inside of the TC970.
All in all Le Pan has put out a great Android tablet, it performs great and I would definitely recommend it. Right now you can pick it up on Amazon for $299.99, which is a great price considering all that you can do with this device. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Le Pan TC970 9.7-inch Android Tablet a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!
Pros:
– Aluminum design
– Runs everything perfectly
– Smooth and fluid operation
– Speakers are pretty loud
– Beautiful screen
Cons:
– Microphone performance not that great
For those of you that are not aware, the manual is located in the HELP section of the tablet
Externally the Le Pan looks nice but I technical support is no existing and difficult to contact.
Do yourself a favor, do not buy the old version of the LePan Tablet. I had one and would freeze quite often. Spend the extra $70 and get a LePan II. Much more powerful and enjoyable. You will not regret it.
amazon.ca:
Le Pan original: 48 one or two star reviews out of 272 total reviews or 17.6%
Le Pan II: 11one or two star reviews out of 36 total reviews, which is 30.6%
I’d say that both are pretty unreliable, but according to the numbers, the original actually seems more reliable than the newer version.
Le Pan: http://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B004PGMFG2/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Le Pan newer version: http://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B0067XX3AI/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
However, as amazon has great customer service and refund/exchange policies, this may not be that much of an issue.
Update on my purchase of the LePan 2 Tablet. After having used the LePan 2 Tablet for about a week, I decided to return it for a full refund. In order to make this tablet to download videos from various TV channels, ABC, CBS, CBC, NBC, MSNBC, you need to have a very strong wifi system at home. While the Tablet performed very good when I had it at work, since the workplace is very much super wired for wifi, and had no problem downloading various TV shows from different TV stations, the same was not true when I was trying to do the same at my place. I have wifi at home at about 3 to 6 mbps, and yet it was not powerful enough to download various videos. I think, I will stick to my laptops. I have 3 of them at home and never had any problem downloading anything. No more Tablets for me.