Notion Ink Adam - First Take

NOTION INK ADAM

Notion Ink is a start-up Tablet device maker based in India. Notion Ink Adam is the first product to be launched by NI and is available through pre-order email invites only. NI has started their second round of Pre-orders for Adam in second week of Feb, 2011. Here is the link to NI blog site where you can register your email ID to get the pre-order invitation, http://notionink.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/next-round-of-order/

The first pre-order was done in Dec 2010 and has generated mixed reviews from users all over the world. The major challenges facing the first pre-order had been order processing(Banks canceling credit card payments due to Scam alter triggers), softwares update issues which bricked devices, battery life issues, etc.

The following blog on notioninkfan.com shows the steps to be followed in case your Adam was bricked by a software update,
http://www.notioninkfan.com/2011/01/warning-do-not-update-your-adam.html/ (This link has since been removed by notioninkfan.com)

Software update has since fixed lot of the bugs initially reported by early adopters. NI has responded well to the first pre-order delays and issues related to software bugs. There was a lot of bad press during the first few weeks of the device reaching the hands of customers. Overtime, most of these issues are dissipating and owners seem to be pretty happy with the device that they have paid good money for.

Battery Life

Many users have complained about the low battery life of Adam.
The "Battery Life" thread in notionaddicts.com site has been a useful link to obtain initial round of feedback on the expected battery life of Adam.
http://www.notionaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php/1437-Battery-life/

It should be noted that many Android devices(other than phones) seem to have Battery drain due to a service running on them. This service is known as "Cell Standby Service" and is useful only for Smart Phones. Even Nook Color eReader had suffered Battery drain due to this service being ON. XDA Developers offers a hack to get rid of this service on Nook Color. http://www.xda-developers.com/android/remove-cell-standby-service-from-nook-color/
The code given in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10097444&postcount=1 seems to rename two file Phone.apk and TelephonyProvider.apk. This seem to work on NookColor.

It seems turning this service OFF on Adam can improve its battery life as posted by one Adam user in notionaddicts site, http://www.notionaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php/1437-Battery-life?p=23731&viewfull=1#post23731

Hope Notion Ink and Google takes special note of this feature, which needs to be turned OFF for Android OS running on non-smart phone platforms.

On a side note, here is an interesting video I found about the Adam. The CEO of Notion Ink, Rohan Shravan, posted a very useful Youtube video about how to install the screen protector onto the Adam without creating any bubbles.