Creative ZiiO 8 GB 7-Inch Android 2.1 Wireless Entertainment Tablet (White)

by Creative Labs

• Android 2.1 , ZMS-08
• 8 GB of memory
• 7-inch screen (480 x 800 pixels) offers a sharp color display
• WiFi 802.11 b/g, front facing camera
• 14.1 oz

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches ; 14.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B004DJTQEU
• Item model number: 70PZ033509HH1
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (150 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,968 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 23, 2010

Product Description

Size: 8 GB | Color: White

Amazon.com

REVIEW: Enjoy exceptional wireless audio playback for all your music, movies, and games with the ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet from Creative. The compact touch-screen tablet not only offers convenient mobile computing, but it also lets you stream lossless audio to Bluetooth-compatible wireless speaker systems or headphones. It features a vivid 7-inch color display as well as an HDMI-out for enjoying movies on a big-screen HDTV. It also offers 8 GB of memory and an SD expansion slot for storing all your favorite media content. The tablet runs on the Android operating system and features built-in Wi-Fi capability. It also includes Pure Android Audio for easy management of paired wireless audio devices.

Creative ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet

ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet At a Glance: Pure Android Audio for easy pairing with wireless audio devices Access to the largest selection of the most popular books with Kindle for Android -- pre-installed on ZiiO. X-Fi technology for loss-less audio and immersive surround sound Bluetooth 2.1 wireless technology with apt-X codec 7-inch screen (480 x 800 pixels) offers a sharp color display Built-in Wi-Fi for mobile emailing and Internet browsing Connect to HDTVs via HDMI for resolutions of up to 720p

Compact, portable tablet features X-Fi technology for enhanced audio playback. View larger

Pure Android Audio makes it easy to stream lossless audio to paired wireless speakers. View larger

Compact, lightweight, and portable, the ZiiO 7" tablet goes where you go

Pure Android Audio for Exceptional Wireless Playback

Ideal for streaming music, watching movies, and playing video games, the ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet lets you experience wireless audio playback with the help of Pure Android Audio. Simply touch the onscreen Pure Android Audio icon to manage paired audio devices and wireless-connectivity settings. The suite of applications makes it easy to choose a wireless speaker system or headphones and begin streaming lossless audio.

X-Fi Technology Restores Audio Detail

Pure Android Audio incorporates Creative's X-Fi technology, which enhances your digital audio content and brings games and movie soundtracks to life with immersive surround sound. X-Fi Crystalizer restores detail that is often lost in compressed audio files, such as MP3s. X-Fi Expand improves the depth of field for especially immersive audio when gaming or watching movies.

Like all Creative products, each ZiiO Tablet is subjected to a rigorous series of in-house critical-listening tests against high audio benchmarks.

Bluetooth Wireless Technology with apt-X Codec

Utilizing Bluetooth 2.1 wireless technology, the ZiiO Tablet offers seamless Bluetooth pairing, so you can stream high-fidelity stereo wirelessly to compatible stereo Bluetooth speakers and earphones. And, as the world's first apt-X-enabled touch-screen tablet, the ZiiO allows you to transmit your audio content to apt-X-enabled Bluetooth speakers and headphones.

Enjoy Movies, E-mail, Internet, Apps, and More

Besides delivering wireless audio, the ZiiO Tablet lets you connect to the Internet, send emails, watch movies, and more. It runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, enabling you to easily install any of thousands of applications from the Internet.

Access the largest selection of the most popular books with Kindle for Android and a paid app for free every day in the Amazon Appstore --- both pre-installed on ZiiO.

7-Inch Touch-Screen for Vivid Web-Browsing

The tablet's 7-inch color screen (480 x 800 pixels) offers a sharp display for viewing movies, video clips, and photos, as well as web-browsing. To see video on a larger screen, simply connect the tablet via the HDMI port for HD resolutions of up to 720p (HDMI cable sold separately).

Processing Power and Built-In Features

ZiiO tablets utilize Creative's in-house ZMS-08 processor, which is engineered to deliver the high-performance, media-rich processing required of next-generation devices.

Equipped with 8 GB of RAM, the ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet also contains a number of built-in features, including a front-facing camera, a microphone, a stereo speaker, an accelerometer, high-definition video out, Wi-Fi capability, and a microSD card slot for up to 32 GB of additional memory.

The tablet is compatible with PCs that run Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Compact, Lightweight, and Portable

The ZiiO measures a compact 8.2 by 5.2 by 0.5 inches (H x W x D) and weighs 14.1 ounces, so it easily slips inside a bag or briefcase. It offers 25 hours of audio playtime and five hours of video playtime on a single charge.

The ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet comes with a stylus, USB cable, and universal power adapter, and is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty.

Protect Your Tablet with Optional Accessories

Also available from Creative is the ZiiO 7-Inch Tablet Screen Protector (sold separately), which helps keep the tablet's screen free of dust and fingerprints while preventing glare. Additionally, the black ZiiO 7-Inch Leather Protective Case (sold separately) provides easy access to all interfaces and buttons, and also doubles as a desktop stand.

What's in the Box

ZiiO 7-Inch Wireless Entertainment Tablet, universal power adapter, stylus, USB cable, and bundled software (includes ZiiMusic player, ZiiVideo player, ZiiPhoto viewer, ZiiExplorer, and Pure Android Audio application with status control bar).

Product Description

The ZiiO Wireless Entertainment Tablet comes with Pure Android Audio, a comprehensive easy-to-use integrated suite of applications for the purest wireless audio experience for use with your music, movies and games when used with wireless speakers. Pure Android Audio also incorporates X-Fi technology that restores your digital audio to crystal clear quality and bring your movie soundtracks to life with immersive surround sound. The ZiiO tablet aslo comes with the apt-X high performance low latency codec that allows you to transmit your audio content to apt-X enabled Bluetooth speakers and headphones in high quality. In addition to giving you the purest wireless audio experience on an Android device, the ZiiO also lets you do what other Android tablets do - connect to the Internet, send emails and even shop for downloadable applications. Download content from the Internet and ZiiStore. This versatile touch screen device runs the Android operating system, enabling you to easily install more applications from thousands of cool choices on the Web. Technical Specifications: 7 Inch TFT (480x800) display with resistive touch, Zii Labs ZMS-08 Processor, Android 2.1 Operating System, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR with APTX and A2DP, WiFi 802.11 b/g wireless network compatibility, X-Fi Audio Enhancements (Crystallizer, Expand), Audio Compatibility: MP3, AAC, WMA9, FLAC, OGG, ADPCM, MIDI, WAV, Audible Format 4, Video Compatibility: H.264, MPEG4, WMV9, MJPEG, MOV, AVI, MKV, includes HD Video Out, Photo Compatibility: JPG, BMP, PNG. Includes built in front camera, mono microphone and stereo speaker. Approximate playtime: 25 hours with audio use and 5 hours with video use. Memory expansion using microSD up to 32 GB. Connectors: mini USB, 3.5mm stereo jack, HD Video Out. Dimensions: 8.17 in x 5.23 in x .54 in and .88 lbs.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

209 of 211 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Perfect, But Really Good. December 27, 2010

By Lindsey

Color Name:White|Size Name:8 GB

I've been playing around with the Zii O for a couple of days by now. It's not a perfect device, but it's really good for the amount i paid.

First up - I've been looking for a tablet to watch my movies without bringing my Macbook along. I'm a real TV/Movie buff, and i have tonnes to catch up on. That's a huge reason why i didn't want to get the iPad; It's expensive, required tiresome video conversion, and i thought it was too heavy after playing with it in the stores.

The Good:
- Supported movie formats are more than what i need: Most of mine are in the usual .avi formats, and i used to spend about 6 minutes on each episode using Mac's iSquint to convert them into accepted .mp4 formats. With this tablet, all i need to do is to just drag and drop it. Everything just works and plays great.

- MicroSD Card Slot: I have a 32GB MicroSD to go along with the 8GB Zii O. It's really convenient because 32GB can hold alot of videos and music, and the tablet allows direct playback from the microSD. You don't need to copy it to the on-board memory in order for it to work.

- Apps: Here's a key point - You'll need to go into Settings > Apps to allow installation for non-Android Market Applications. It wasn't enabled by default. Once you enable this, just google around for Android installation files (.apk) and you'll be able to install stuff smoothly. So far, i've installed Evernote and Kindle; Everything syncs and works perfectly.

Some of you may have concerns about there not being support for the Android Marketplace. It wasn't that big of a deal for me because a friend pointed me to getjar.com, and there was a whole lot of .apk files to download. Just use the Zii O browser to access the site, download, and they'll prompt you for installation. No need to use your computer at all. (If getjar prompts you to select your device, just select any mobile device. It'll work fine.)

- This may be controversial, but i like the resistive screen. It's not fancy like those capacitive touch, but it works with my gloves on, and even better with the provided stylus, so i'm happy about it.

- Other stuff i like: Audio quality is really good. HDMI TV-Out to my 42-inch screen works, though the video looks a little pixelated, something to blame on my original source file.

Things Which Can Be Improved:

- No Android Marketplace integration. (A small issue, but solvable through my above-mentioned point)

- A little stingy on the package contents; I appreciate the stylus, but would have been nice to include a pair of earphones, or even the TV Out cable.

- There are 4 touch-buttons at the bottom for easy access to "Home", "Back" etc buttons. They should be backlit so that i can see more clearly in the dark.

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I hope i've provided everyone with an objective pro/cons list. Personally, i like it, and i think it's great for anyone who's looking for a low-cost tablet which just works.

82 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly surprised! December 25, 2010

By John Clu

Color Name:White|Size Name:8 GB

Got this as a gift and spent a few days with it. I do own an iPad.
Pros
- My media files do not need to be processed by iTunes, I can just drag and drop to the ZiiO after it was recognized by my PC as a USB drive.
- I can play all the video files I loaded to it, even up to 1080p trailers, play it back on the HDMI on my large LCD TV and it looks great.
- The player is much lighter than the iPad.
- The micro SD card slot is very convenient, after loading it with media from my PC, pop it in and had no problem browsing through the files.

Cons
- Resistive touch. I got used to it, it was not that bad.
- Display is not as good as iPad. But then given that the unit is about half of what an iPad sells for, it is very usable.
- Android 2.1 only, I expect they will offer an upgrade to Android 2.2 in the future.

Ran the Quadrant benchmark and got a score of 2037! That is more than the Moto Droid X 2.2+.
I was able to run Kindle and download books on it. No problem with Maps and Street View either.

I am a happy camper!
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Updated: April 8, 2011

I upgraded my ZiiO to the latest firmware release(Froyo) and I am still a happy camper as it supports Flash now. I hope they will release an accelerated Flash plug in soon then it will be awesome for the value of this tablet!
Oh, I just bought an iPAD2, still frustrated that there is no Flash support. Probably will return it or put in on eBay as it is not such a big improvement over the first gen iPAD.

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Updated: Sept 22, 2011

Looks like Creative finally posted a new firmware (2.00.14) and the accelerated Flash Player to go with it. I upgraded it and it works fine.

51 of 55 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I like it ! December 28, 2010

By Squonk

Color Name:White|Size Name:8 GB

I bought this as a Christmas present for my wife but, while it was in transit, she told me she wanted a kindle instead! I intended to send it back to Creative but I opened it up and have been playing with it for the past few days. It's great. The browsing experience is excellent, I just sit on my sofa and browse away. There's a pile of apps available, more than I could ever use. I love the BBC, Time and NY Times apps so far. The resistive touch screen is absolutely fine, very responsive...I don't see what all the fuss is about. The buttons on the bottom should be backlit, especially as I change orientation of the screen I tend to lose track of those buttons. The ebook reader is nice but I can't read text too long on backlit screens (I have a kindle for that). All in all, very nice.