My Ainol Novo 7 Paladin

Posted by admin in Android on February 25, 2012 with 90 comments

On a recent trip to Hong Kong I bought myself an Ainol Novo 7 Paladin. This is no Ipad killer, but a great little Android tablet for $100. It came with Android ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) v4.01 installed and a bunch of useless (to me) Chinese language apps. In the state I bought it the browser was incredibly laggy, YouTube didn’t work, there were very few installed apps that I would use, etc. – it was near useless…

Here’s how I got my Paladin from a mess to ICS v4.03 with a fully installed and working suite of English Language Apps (see photos at end of post to see apps installed). This is being written from memory a couple of days after getting it sorted; please let me know if you spot any steps that I have missed (I don’t think I have!). Anyway, here goes:

I upgraded from ICS v4.01 to v4.03 following the instructions from Colonel Zap found at http://colonelzap.blogspot.com/2012/02/ainol-novo-7-paladin-ics-403-update.html

His instructions are:
a. Go to your settings and remember where to change the system language
b. Download the update.zip here
c. Copy the update.zip to the root of your sd-card DO NOT UNPACK
d. Tablet is off, sd-card is inserted. Press and hold Vol + and Power until update procedure starts.
e. Be patient, wait until update is complete and tablet reboots.
f. Go to settings and change the language from Chinese to whatever you like (if you didn’t skip step a…)
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Note that this is not an official update from Ainol and if you read around the web on various blogs you will find people describing all sorts of problems using non-official roms. Well, it worked perfectly for me, with no problems at all and everything working 100%. You, of course, upgrade at your own risk!
Next I installed ClockworkMod and used it to do a system backup (sensible steps to take before moving on to installing a custom ROM). I did this using the instructions found at http://androtab.info/mips/ingenic/clockworkmod/

That page is somewhat confusing. What you want to do is:
a. download recovery-signed.zip for your tablet (ClockworkMod Recovery 5 for ainol NOVO7 Paladin)
b. rename it to update.zip, then put it on root of SD card
c. install update.zip from recovery (this means turn the device off then reboot whilst holding the plus button in for a few seconds at the same time as the on button; then from the menu that appears choose to “install zip from SD card”; to make a selection use the Paladin’s volume + and – to navigate up and down; either the power or M button to select; the “previous” button to go back to previous menu)
Make a backup using ClockworkMod . To do this you simply need to reboot using ClockworkMod recovery (holding plus button again while turning on) and then choose the “backup and restore” then “backup” options from the menu. After the backup is competed it will then return you to the “reboot system now” menu item. Do this (just a regular reboot)
Install the Paladin Custom ROM made by pinkflozd (at v 0.7 when I installed this) found at
http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/novo-7-paladin/paladin-custom-rom-pinkflozd-600.html
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My version of his instructions (simplified!) are to:
a. First install ClockworkMod Recovery (you just did this in step 2, so ignore this step)
b. Make a backup of your system in ClockworkMod recovery (you just did this in step 3, so ignore this step)
c. Put the zip on sdcard (this zip: DOWNLOAD 0.7.20120214, or an updated version if this no longer works – see the link above).
d. Apply the Update in ClockworkMod Recovery AND clear your Dalvik Cache ( copy the downloaded zip file to the root of your sd-card; reboot using ClockworkMod recovery; choose “install zip from SD card; allow it to complete, then once back at the menu choose “advanced” then “Wipe Dalvik Cache”)
e. Reboot
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Note: If you follow all of the instructions above (including clearing the Dalvic cache before rebooting) everything should work fine, BUT I missed that step and still could not use YouTube from within the NineSky browser. Because of my mistake I had to use ClockworkMod to “wipe cache partition”, ”Wipe Dalvik Cache”, and “wipe data/factory reset”. This meant I had to then manually reinstall many apps, but everything works beautifully, eventually! Follow the forum thread above if you need further clarification (or confusion from contradictory posts!)
Adding More Apps. I added many through the market, but since many apps aren’t shown in the Market (due to the Paladin being a MIPS processor based device) other sources are needed. These will be sources where you download .apk files (sort of the Android equivalent of Windows .exe files). Before you go downloading these you must install Astro file manager via the market; you are going to need it to install the .apk files that you download from elsewhere (later when you have downloaded an .apk file you simply browse to it from within Astro, short press it, then choose Install from the menu – EASY!)
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So, having installed Astro it is time to go .apk hunting:
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One very good source is http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/novo-7-paladin/onesimus7-paladin-working-tested-apps-list-w-download-links-884.html. The files listed as “No Magic Code needed” can simply be downloaded and installed. For the others you must first download Magic Code 1.3 from the page link, install it, open it, then turn it “on”. It will then remain on permanently, even after reboots, unless you open it again and turn it “off”. With Magic Code on then you can go ahead and install the other apps from the page in the normal way.
Congratulations. You should now have a fully functioning system with the gmail app working properly, YouTube working great, etc. Welcome to the world of useful cheap tablets!

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Photos of the 4 screens of Apps that I have installed (they are photos rather than screenshots as I can’t find a screenshot app that works…)

Document Creation, Readers, Maps, File Storage

Main Page: Settings, File Management, Browsers, Frequently Accessed Apps

Games to keep my kids happy (and me of course!)

Media Players, News Gatherers

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If you have any apps installed that you think I should check out then please leave a comment and share with me!

There are 90 comments

Posted by Rob on February 26, 2012 @ 12:12 pm

Thanks for taking the time – nice guide!

Posted by Yang on May 28, 2012 @ 9:48 am

I was curious if you ever thhuogt of changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?

Posted by Terry Swanson on February 26, 2012 @ 11:48 pm

Jim, thanks very much. I bought one from Pandawill and am a total tablet neophyte (sp?). When I try to download applications such as groove ip from Amazon it says that the app is not compatible with the app. I called google and they said it was not certified but this ebay listing says it is

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ainol-NOVO-7-Paladin-Android-4-0-Ice-Cream-Sandwich-7-Inch-Tablet-PC-XBurst-1GHz-/250960373887#vi-desc

Can you comment?

BTW, I have not followed your nice procedure yet.

Thank you, Terry Swanson tswanson@alumni.stanford.edu

Posted by kevinpugh on February 27, 2012 @ 3:12 am

Hi Terry,

I am not claiming to be an expert here. My blog post is really just to put together the information that I gathered from many sources and used. It was a bit of a struggle, hence wanting to help others avoid it…
I believe it is not an approved device, and this is at least partly because it has a MIPS processor which is not compatible with all standard apps. For the money though, it still does a lot – a lot more than a similarly priced Kindle!

Posted by Terry Swanson on February 27, 2012 @ 3:36 am

Thanks very much. I just installed the updated version of ICS. No problem. Now I need to do the backup and then install the custom ROM. Can you tell me briefly what the custom ROM does? Sorry to be so ignorant! Terry

Posted by ALD3 on February 28, 2012 @ 11:34 pm

Thank you.for your work! I followed all your simple directions to the letter 3 times and all you have done worked flawlessly all 3 times! Never could get the custom rom to work. Half did and half didn’t. Had internet and browser worked well but many apps would NOT even start. Market app and gmail would not even open, tried installing another maket app but same thing. I’m now back thanks to nandroid to your 4.0.3. Thanks

Posted by ALD3 on March 1, 2012 @ 1:43 am

My problem Solved…here is what I did
1 Factory wipe/RESTORE from settings/security
2 Powered off/removed sd card
3 Boot to recovery/hold volume+ while powering on
4.Wipe factory/reset 4 times
5 wipe cache 4 times
6 wipe dalvik cache 4 times
7 power off/install sd card/boot to recovery
8 install custom rom/ wipe cache/wipe dalvik cache
9 reboot device
It did boot up in Chinese language ,so had to change to English. Market working and other apps that wouldn’t before

Posted by Joan Wolfe on April 18, 2012 @ 5:16 am

I reset mine and everything is now in Chinese. Have you any solution to getting back the Chinese/English version of everything?

Posted by BigRon on April 18, 2012 @ 7:14 am

I had been warned to make a note of WHERE to change the language back to UK English from Chinese…. So I did. “Settings” can be found (even on a Chinese screen) down in the bottom right hand corner of the screen: the icon is a series of parallel horizontal lines with “sliders”. The Icon for “Language” is simply the letter “A”. tap on it, within settings, and scroll down the list until you reach “English”.Tap “English”, and Bob’s your Uncle.

Posted by mansoromar on June 4, 2012 @ 11:39 am

to ALD3, Pls simplify to step by step basis cos I’m new to this your comments on ” My problem solved….here is what I did” Thanks

Posted by Chris on February 29, 2012 @ 3:37 am

Hi,
Everything seems to be working EXCEPT for the Android Market, Each time i click on it nothing opens???? Any Solutions???
Thanks!

Posted by kevinpugh on February 29, 2012 @ 5:53 am

Sorry Chris, I think you’ll need to get Googling that issue. The market worked fine for me and for others who have followed these instructions. As I said, I am no expert… just putting what worked for me all together in one place.

Posted by Qybix on February 29, 2012 @ 7:57 am

I have the same problem as above.. Everything works except the android market… Which is annoying…

qybixxx@gmail.com

Posted by Matt on March 2, 2012 @ 7:12 am

I bought one of this tablet recently and did the update from your procedure. I wanted to use it as an additional monitor for gaming but when I tried to buy the app “Air Display” off the Market, it gave me an error that it was not compatible.. Any fix on that? I’ve googled everywhere and check their website but but nothing around, help

Posted by allen klesh on March 3, 2012 @ 8:22 pm

Just got one, which already has
Android 4.0.3
kernel 3.0.8
build 43 iml74k 651

Should I do any of the updates?

Posted by Matt on March 6, 2012 @ 5:05 am

I was able to upgrade my firmware to 4.0.3 but still trying to make it compatible with the ‘Air Display’ app from the Android Market… I will keep trying

Posted by Heinz on March 9, 2012 @ 3:45 am

Android Market has been replaced with https://play.google.com/apps. The market app on my Novo Paladin tablet was removed when I downloaded new applications from “play”.

Posted by Heinz on March 9, 2012 @ 3:46 am

Question though: Anyone able to get Skype to work?

Posted by Mick on March 9, 2012 @ 6:45 am

there is now an official update.

http://115.com/file/belfb8me&usg=ALkJrhi2TxOHd_O1TjgvYv3hl-pxvsCKuA

this is the official link, boot time is significantlly increased after the update.

click the grey button for the people that do not know chinese

Posted by dave on March 10, 2012 @ 2:37 pm

How do i install magic code?

Posted by BigRon on March 28, 2012 @ 3:00 am

Download it (the APK file)… copy it from your PC’s hard drive to a MicroSD Card, and insert it into your Novo 7. My Novo 7 came with “ES File Explorer” pre-installed;.I opened ES File Explorer, told it to look at the SD card, clicked on the APK file, and it offered to install the program for me. Does that for ANY APK files… not just Magic Code!

Posted by Brian on March 12, 2012 @ 9:07 am

Hi Jim,

Thank you so much for this – it almost worked PERFECTLY, however I am having a major issue – my wifi will NOT turn on now. Any ideas??

-Brian

Posted by android on March 17, 2012 @ 2:55 am

Did you remove the battery? this solution sometimes works

Posted by Jennifer Gotfredson (@jenngotfredson) on March 17, 2012 @ 3:11 am

Thanks for the instructions. They worked perfectly. However, I’m still trying to find out how to get non-compatible apps from the market to work for me. I’ll check other places, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate your work.

Posted by Kristine on March 22, 2012 @ 4:40 am

Hey, thank you for the detailed steps you have provided. However, after all the steps, youtube is not working but everything loooks awesome! Thanks again!

Posted by Kristine on March 22, 2012 @ 5:45 am

Hey I would like to ask too, which site did you get the google play app /android market app? I can’t seem to install one in my tablet.

Posted by BigRon on March 28, 2012 @ 2:48 am

Great piece; one reason why people might think that they’ve not got Android Market available is…. that Google cunningly changed what it’s called! If you’re looking for “Market” and keep finding an App called “Google Play”… Stop looking!! It’s the NEW NAME for “Market”.

Posted by BigRon on April 18, 2012 @ 7:24 am

I note from comments on by Ainol on their (neither very helpful,nor very informative) Facebook page that the Paladin has been taken out of production, and it looks like their brief experiment with MIPS has been confined to the dustbin (They’re hawking the last 5,000 units around any distributor wholl pay for them). Which strikes me as a pity,,,, The Novo 7 represented AMAZING value for money, and the loss of a marginal amount of compatability was more than compensated by the excellent battery life, Looks like, if you’re planning to recomment this tablet to friends, you’d better add the corollary that if they don’t buy one immediately,then they won’t get another chance!

Posted by joze on April 19, 2012 @ 7:21 am

Hola Anoche intente Instalar dicha rom pero ahora no pasa de la imagen ainol novo paladin 7 y hay se queda

Posted by Lyle on May 8, 2012 @ 10:12 am

Hi Jim, Nice to see someone trying to inform others, you’d think Ainol would do a better job of it themselves. First off, I enjoy my tablet. Bought it from Pandawill. No real support there. Two apps that are really handy are “Market Unlocker” This is a proxy app that will allow you to trick the tablet as to who your ISP is. I am in Canada but indicate that I am on Sprint so I can run a NASCAR app. The other good app to have is “Tablet Market”. You still run into apps that won’t work on the Paladin but at least you are directed to those that run better on the screen type of the tablet. “App 2 SD Free” is also good for that additional space you are going to want. Makes good use of transferring installed or newly downloaded apps to your SD card. Android Assistant is also good for quick system cache clearing as well as other tools.

This is a good forum to help with good apps: http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/paladin-apps-games/onesimus7-paladin-working-tested-apps-list-w-download-links-884.html

The only issue that I am having is that it doesn’t seem to recognize the keyboard case that I bought with it. I thought that it may have been defective so I bought another from Amazon with the same result. I did buy a gender bender OTG USB to Mini-USB. Didn’t work. I was wondering if you have any pointers that may help. Maybe there is a MIPS USB driver ?

Cheers

Posted by BigRon on May 8, 2012 @ 5:39 pm

I too bought an external keyboard case, and a selection of Female USB to male mini-USB adaptors… a local friend bought another 7″ tablet at about the same time, and a keyboard as well… he reports (about a DIFFERENTtablet!) that not all adaptors are wired up the same way: some don’t have al the pins soldered. (It required the construction of a test rig to find this out) His background is more in hardware than mine (which is in software) I found that the keyboard + adaptor didn’t work, I tested the keyboard with my ZT180 tablet (and it worked – the ZT180 has a standard USB socket) I looked around at people from whom I;d previously purchased small parts, and found a review on DealExtreme.com of a flexible USB to USB mini connector, where a customer was using it to connect a keyboard to a tablet, and was pleased that it worked. So… I ordered one. Sadly, Deal Extreme are famous for how LONG their “free delivery” takes to get to you from China. I’ve been waiting several weeks. What surprises me is how “hit and miss” the OTG USB standard seems to be, External gadgets and gizmos might – or might not – work with your gadget, even if they ARE “fully wired up”. Bottom line, root cause of your/my/our problem is 99% probably “because we unwittingly bought the wrong type of gender bender”. I’m hopefull that my purchase from DX will solve the problem – only cost me $2.50… You might consider the same gadget.

Posted by Lyle on May 8, 2012 @ 9:01 pm

Hi BigRon. Thank you for your quick reply. I shall wait to hear how flexible connector works out for you. Please post once you receive and try it. Snail mail can be so frustrating..

Posted by BigRon on May 8, 2012 @ 11:21 pm

Wouldn’t you know it… just after I posted the above the postman arrived at my door, and amongst what he delivered were… two more “Gender benders” from China. And gues what else?! NEITHER of them works with my Paladin – that includes the one from Deal Extreme which another customer suggested would.

This takes me back to the days when I worked as a “tech support” techie for a large UK mobile phone company. I found the job fascinating… which REALLY pissed-off my bosses, because it meant that I kept “finding problems”. One such “problem” was “Picture messaging”. We all knew about text messaging – aka “SMS” and about “PIcture messaging” – aka MMS. Except…. it turned out that we’d carelessly got it WRONG. There was, for years, an UNIMPLEMENTED facility within texxting to incoroporate simple line drawings. THIS is “Picture Messaging”. MMS is PHOTO messaging – which is something quite different, Bottom line,Just because an internationally agreed standard suggests that something CAN be done doesn’t mean that the way it’s actually IMPLEMENTED will make it possible. Many of the Chinese retailers seem to sell keyboard/cases for 7″ tablets… but if they’re anything like their customer-facing colleagues in Beijing or Shanghai,they seem not to actually KNOW much about the product they’re selling. It might display the Android logo when booting, but on the case you’ll usually find the Apple logo prominently displayed, and they’ll insist that “it’s an iPad”. I remain unconvinced that the implemtation by Ainol of OTG USB will ALLOW the use of either “USB flash memory sticks” or an external keyboard. Not an atheist you understand…. more of a deeply cynical agnostic.

Has ANYONE seen a Paladin working with either a USB “Pen Drive” or a hardware keyboard? Or are we just assuming that they WILL work, if we get the right adaptor?

Posted by BigRon on May 20, 2012 @ 6:10 am

I queried with Merimobiles the use of USB -> mini USB adaptors to allow the Paladin to be used with either keyboards or standard USB “Pen Drives”…. and their reply was basically “Oh, we didn’t actually plug one in to see if it worked… we just assumed that it would. If we were wrong, could you advise us, and we’ll delete the keyboard from our catalogue”

Posted by mansoromar on May 16, 2012 @ 7:22 am

I have done step 1,2,3,4.custom rom working, I can watch youtube and everything seems to be working accept google play and gmail. please help, anyone?

Posted by Lyle on May 16, 2012 @ 9:08 am

Have you tried using your browser to go to http://www.android.comapps ?

or https://play.google.com/store ? at the top right corner you can sign in with your gmail account. The click on the flower to open your account page. Then click on the “device” tab and add your tablet.

Cheers

Posted by finch127 on May 19, 2012 @ 11:09 pm

Great guide, thanks for puttin it together, simplifying it

Posted by marco on May 24, 2012 @ 7:30 pm

I recently bought a tablet for my son AINOL NOVO 7 PALADIN the problem that is 8 years old and no longer remembers his google account to enter. is there a way to reset it to factory settings or do I throw? thank you thank you thank you

Posted by Lyle on May 24, 2012 @ 8:55 pm

There is a pinhole between the volume and usb port. Use a push pin or the wire portion of a twist tie. Press in the hole while unit is turned on. System will reboot to factory settings. As for forgetting the “Google Account”, it’s just his gmail account. If he forgot what his gmail is then simply create a new one. Go to the Android Market and let it know what your tablet is. The market will scan your tablet and all should be good. Cheers.

Posted by Mart Lau (@m1nstral) on June 1, 2012 @ 4:06 pm

Hi Kevin,

I’m heading to HK and was thinking of picking up the Ainol Novo Aurora II. Can you share with me where abouts in HK you found these tablets and where you ultimately purchased yours?

Was it one of the computer malls in wan chai, mongkok, or shum shu po?

And from your guide, I take it they weren’t selling any English tabs?

Thanks!!

Posted by BigRon on June 1, 2012 @ 7:02 pm

There are occaisionally questions that reveal that the person asking them just doesn’t GET it. These are ANDROID TABLETS. That essentially means “International”. As it’s Android 4 we’re talking about… just press the clock in the bottom right corner of the home screen, and look (on what pops up) for an icon that looks like a graphic equaliser. click THAT, From the menu that pops up, pick the icon on the LEFT hand side (you’ll need to scroll down a little) until you see an icon that’s essentially a letter “A”. Click THAT, And what pops up is a “So, what language do you WANT?” menu. Pick whichever language that you DO want. And lo, a “Chinese” tablet turns – as if by magic – into an English one.. or a French one or……

Posted by Mart Lau (@m1nstral) on June 1, 2012 @ 10:52 pm

BigRon,

I haven’t had the luxury of seeing or using an android tablet myself so don’t have the luxury of your hindsight. So what you’re saying with a simple language change of the OS the apps will change language too?

From what I’ve read, others have tablets where provided apps are in Chinese or some other language. Yes, you can download them again in English but what’s the point if you can get a tab that’s supplied with English apps?

Posted by BigRon on June 2, 2012 @ 8:35 am

“So what you’re saying with a simple language change of the OS the apps will change language too?” No, that’s NOT what I said. My knowlege of Chinese is limited to the ability to read a handfull of words, and speak just a few more. When I upgraded my own Ainol Novo 7 from ICS 4.0.1 to 4.0.3, when the machine rebooted, EVERYTHING had switched from English to Chinese. I followed the directions I’ve provided above, and THE OPERATING SYSTEM changed back to English. The selection of pre-loaded Chinese games and utils remained Chinese, when I switched languages, and were thus effectively incomprehensible (and thus of no use or interest to me, so got deleted) I bought my own first tablet (a 10″ ZT180) in Mainland China – Shanghai, back in October of 2010. Interesting to note that low-cost, high-quality Android tablets are increasingly popular within the Chinese *domestic* market, where there’s a MUCH wider range on offer than we see in the UK – take a look at sites like Merimobiles, Ipadaternative, or one of their many rivals to see just HOW wide the range of choices IS in China.

It’s improbable that an “English” tablet will be Anglicized other than Android itself: menus settings and the like. Any included software will almost certainly be Chinese – aside from things like Angry Birds, and the Gameloft software that Ainol was proubly showing off as “MIPS compatible”. HOWEVER,,, there’s something of a solution, in the form of APK files: these are 1 (or maybe two!) click installation files, that can be rapidly installed from a spare, small capacity MicroSD card or USB Pendrive. Google the programs that you want (add the “APK” extension) and you should find a wide range of sources from which to download them. When you’ve established your collection, keep ‘em on hand to re-install in the event of disaster, (or getting a newer tablet or phone.)

Posted by marcio on June 3, 2012 @ 6:46 am

With this update 4.0.3 and possibly put the Portuguese language?

Posted by BigRon on June 3, 2012 @ 11:25 pm

Looking at my 4.0.3 Paladin, under settings, I’ve just checked out what langauages ARE available… sadly, Portuguese isn’t one of them. (Although French, Spanish and Italian are)

Posted by jlsholiday on June 9, 2012 @ 1:28 am

Re: converting paladin to 4.0.3
What is the root directory I need to copy the zip file to? Please send reply to holidaybox@cs.com. Thanks.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 9, 2012 @ 5:25 am

Does anyone have the Clockwork Mod for the Paladin or the Custom ROM by pinkflozd? The link to the Clockwork Mod goes to an “Object not found” page and the ROM by pinkflozd has been removed from mirrorcreator dot com. I was able to get the update zip from Colonel Zap so I just need the 2 files mentioned above. Thanks in advance

Posted by Cecilia on June 13, 2012 @ 12:22 pm

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge. I made the purchase without researching if The One app I wanted was compatible….and of course it is not! Has anyone been able to figure out how to miraculously download Sketchbook? Keeping my fingers crossed for good news!

Posted by BigRon on June 13, 2012 @ 7:26 pm

My first thought is “Google “Sketchbook.apk download”, which ought to provide you with hatloads of links from which you can obtain the APK file. Copy it to your MicroSD card, or a USB Thumb drive (connected using an OTG adaptor cable, with Female USB one end, male mini USB the other.) Open up your file browser, and double click the APK file. Your tablet will attempt to install the software, and you’ve circumvented the need to use Google Play (aka “The App Store”) Hoe that helps you….. (And it should work for pretty much ANY Android software, not just Sketchbook)

Posted by Cecilia on June 14, 2012 @ 1:12 am

Thank you so much!

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 14, 2012 @ 12:22 pm

Hey BigRon, is there any chance you could email the Clockwork Mod for the Paladin or the Custom ROM by pinkflozd to me or maybe upload it somewhere for one day so I can get them and try your instructions? The original files are missing from their respective sites and every result from google just leads back to the original links you have above. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Posted by BigRon on June 14, 2012 @ 1:55 pm

It would be easier if, like JSHOLIDAY, you’d included an email address in your post… but I’m willing, in principle. Feels like I’m taking over this page….! Or, then again….try THIS link: https://rapidshare.com/files/1370308762/Paladin_ROM_0.7.20120214.zip

Posted by BigRon on June 14, 2012 @ 2:23 pm

Stop Press!!! At the FIFTH attempt, thanks to a friend, I managed to get hold of a working OTG adaptor cable – a couple of inches of clable, with a female USB socket on one end, and a male Mini USB plug on the other. This allowed me to try the Paladin with a USB keyboard and with USB pen drives. Previous purchases from CHina of what purported to be OTG cables had all failed to work, leaving me wondering if perhaps Ainol hadn’t included one for a reason. The price of memory seems to be in freefall right now – My tablet is fitted with a 32 Gigabyte Transflash (aka “MicroSD”) card that cost me just £12, and thanks to my new cable, can access one of several 32 Gigabyte thumb drives (which cost about the same) I’m amazed by the contrast with my first PC – which cost eight times as much, had far worse graphics and sound, and NO mass storage devices. I spent another £150 on a hard drive that was a mere 1,204th as big. Bottom line, YES your Paladin WILL work with external devices (keyboard, mouse, storage) IF you manage to get hold of the right cable.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 12:39 am

My apologies for not including my email addy. I was thinking it would be viewable to you but then I remembered I signed in with my facebook account instead of with my email. I appreciate you uploading the file for me.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 12:42 am

I ordered the USB mini adapter with my Paladin and keyboard from Amazon as a set. Little did I know all 3 were from different sellers with the adapter coming all the way from China. As stated by others this adapter did not work so I checked around and found this one on ebay and it works perfectly for the keyboard. http://www.ebay.com/itm/170681169373 It only took 4 days to receive it compared to 2 weeks for the one from China.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 12:44 am

The reason the one sold by Amazon doesn’t work is because it is a “B” adapter and the one I purchased from ebay is an “A”.

Posted by BigRon on June 15, 2012 @ 1:35 am

I bought some from Ebay, and some from DealExtreme… not a one of them worked. Then (while visiting a friend with a case/keyboard combo that had a Mini-USB connector) I tried it with my Paladin, and (to my slight surprise) it worked. A friend (who has a lifetime’s experience in the world of practical electronics) found similar problems with a different brand of tablet. I’d begun to wonder if maybe MY particular type of tablet wouldn’t talk to external gadgets. I asked around, and nobody semed able to give me a straight yes or no reply. Note that “A” and “B” USB plugs are a different shape! From memory, “A” is the usual flat rectangle, and “B” looks like a kid’s drawing of a little house (and is commonly used for conecting to printers, and sometimes to external 3.5″ hard drive enclosures) My “electronics pal” bought a bunch of them, and kindly gave me a couple of his spares. I won’t be using them with a keyboard/case (because it looks absurd) but the ability to carry around 32 Gig of additional video files, on a pen drive and to replenish my supply as I go….that IS handy.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 12:51 am

Sorry, please disregard my last reply about the A and B adapters. I typed that before I read a full description of the 2 I bought. To be honest I really can’t tell the difference between the 2 other than the one from ebay works and the one from amazon doesn’t.

Posted by BigRon on June 15, 2012 @ 1:42 am

The adaptor advertised on the EBay auction you posted has a MICRO USB male plug – great for (for example) my HTC “Desire” phone, but completely wrong for our AInol Paladins, which have MINI USB sockets.I seem to recall that USB sockets are USB, or “Mini” or Micro” or the REALLY tiny “Ultra Micro”. The kind WE need is “USB A Female” to “Mini USB Male”.But, beware, some are designed only to provide power, and (although they look perfectly normal) don’t have all of the pins wired up.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 2:21 am

I’ve looked at both closely and see no visible difference. This is one I bought from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016RNX2I/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 This is the keyboard I bought http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OB0EBQ/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00 The ebay adapter works perfectly with this particular keyboard.

Posted by Greg Woodall on June 15, 2012 @ 4:16 am

I followed the instructions to the letter and I finally have youtube! Everything else worked fine out of the box but youtube eluded me even after I first updated to 4.0.3. Thanks for the detailed info above and special thanks to BigRon for the custom mod!

Posted by Dutz on June 27, 2012 @ 9:03 am

It seems that my luck just left me, I tried to install the update but no success, and now my Ainol is stuck at the Ainol Tab Novo7 Paladin screen, any 1 has any idea of what to do?

Posted by BigRon on July 4, 2012 @ 8:15 am

The obvious answers to that question are… download the upgrade file again, copy it to the root of a different MicroSD card, and just try upgrading again. It’s far from unusual to dscover that after diasaster, repeating the process a couple of times will fix the problem. Ki’s Mum might try doing the same thing, in the hope that the new software will include the UK (or at least English langauge) version of Google Play.

Posted by Anna on June 27, 2012 @ 9:58 am

Thanks for posting this and to Big Ron! Being a new tablet user, I was taking a real gamble! Needed a way to set up my Ainol Novo 7 Paladin. You guys got me up and running with videos, YouTube and Google Play which were my two main goals!!! Thank you! Thank you!

Posted by Kil's Mum on July 3, 2012 @ 5:58 pm

Hi, got one of these for my son’s birthday and it seems to be working perfectly fine for what he wants to do – so far. The one problem being that the app store is in chinese, have tried the obvious steps of changing the language to English but it hasn’t changed the app store – any thoughts??

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Posted by BigRon on July 24, 2012 @ 8:23 am

My phone just ran out of contract… I renewed, got a “free” upgrade (I picked the undervalued -and so underpriced – Sony Ericsson “Xperia Arc S”) and promptly put my “old” HTC Desire on Ebay It sold for £100 in two hours flat, and I immediately re-invested the money in an Ainol Novo7 Aurora2. It’ll need software upgrades, but it looks like it’ll be even better value than the Paladin.

Posted by BigRon on August 19, 2012 @ 1:12 am

My new Aurora 2 arrived (late) from Merimobiles.com, just two days before I left for a two week cruise of “the far north” (Iceland etc.,) We went on a ship that actually had a built-in Apple shop, complete with iPads at tax free prices. My diminuitive new tablet attracted a certain amount of attention, and positive remarks from fellow passengers, The 7″ screen is quite big enough for most purposes… while being small enough to be convenient, rather than a damned nuisance to lug around. Screen quality is absolutely SUPERB, with an amazing viewing angle. I’d been attracted to the Paladin by its excellent battery life (whereas with a laptop, you’re lucky if you get more than two or three hours before needing to recharge; with a tablet, you can double that, and with the Paladin, you can more than triple it.) It seemed to me to be worth trading some small degree of compatibility for getting around 12-15 hours of use. With the Aurora, there’s an arrangement like the gears on a bicycle – “first gear” runs the CPU (Central Processor) at 800Mhz, “2nd gear” runs it at 1000Mhz, and “3rd” runs it at 1500Mhz. For gaming, you’d probably prefer to use 3rd (and lose some battery life as a result) but when run in “1st”, the battery lasts pretty much as long as it does in the Paladin; as the tablet has built-in hardware rendering of movies, I saw very little need to run it in any other gear than “1st”. The REAL surprise came when people asked “Can I ask how much you paid for it?” and expected me to name a sum close to the price of an iPad.When I said “about a quarter of the price of an iPad”, they started asking for the URL of the seller.

Posted by hafis on August 5, 2012 @ 5:53 am

Excly I gt a prblem wth my android market..I already installed bt aftr I tried to open it..n autmaticly its close..is thre a fault of systm or I need to upgrde the sftware?

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Posted by ferdinand on August 17, 2012 @ 8:48 pm

what happen if i upgrade it to 4.0.3 ???

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Posted by Marie Phelan on September 19, 2012 @ 11:59 pm

My 10 year old recently got the Ainol 7 for his birthday and is trying to get Minecraft installed on it but it keeps saying that it is incompatible. You are so knowledgeable about this tablet that I am hoping you will have a suggestion as to how I can get it to work for him!
Thanks in advance!
Marie

Posted by BigRon on September 20, 2012 @ 9:39 am

Marie, sorry to tell you so, but you’ve just commited the ultimate tech-support sin. That is…Not providing enough information!!!.

Ainol stopped manufacturing their experimental “Paladin” model quite a while back (The Paladin was powered by a “MIPS” processor) and returned to making tablets powered by ARM chips. (ARM chips are distant descendants of what powered many British home computers back in the 1980′s – the BBC Micro, the Acorn Archimedes etc.,) You tell us that your son has a “Novo 7″…. but ALL Ainol tablets are called “Novo7″, regardless of what actual MODEL they are. The Paladin traded-off great battery life (for the time) against incompatibility with quite a few programs. There’s a downloadable utility which helps with MIPS/ARM compatibility… but which is totally irrelevant if your son has ANOTHER model of tablet, like an Elf or an Aurora. If (as is quite common whith Chinese tab’s) his tablet has a “hacked” Google Play/Android Store,then it’s been hacked to conmvince the store that what’s talking to the store isn’t a Novo7 Elf (of whatever flavour he actually has) but instead that it’s a mobile phone, such as a “Samsing Galaxy III”.It could be that the problem is simply that the device that his tablet is claiming to be isn’t compatible with the game. It is (apparently!) fairly easy to “change your story” and have your tablet claiming to be some OTHER gadget than the one it’s currently claiming to be. The forum at SlateDroid would be a good place to find out how (Google is your friend!) On the other hand… it’s hard to diagnose problems with what could be a Hummer, a Fiat CInquecento, or even a Prius,

Posted by BigRon on September 20, 2012 @ 5:11 pm

Not exactly a REPLY as such, but at least it’s semi-relevant to the thread (which you might remember, from the heading, is about what brilliant value a cheap (sub $100) tablet was!). A friend just drew my attention to a tablet offered for sale on AliExpress, for $62 including a keyboard/case AND (slow) delivery to the UK (by my calculation, that’s just GBP £38.58) They’ve changed the wording of the advert, but previously, it claimed to be an OEM versionof Ainol’s Novo7 “Elf” tablet – it certainly has a similar specifcation – making it even BETTER value than the (No longer made or sold) Novo7 “Paladin”.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Android-4-0-Ice-Cream-Sandwich-Tablet-PC-7-inch-Capacitive-512MB-4GB-or-8GB-Utra/529487175.html

Posted by Marie Phelan on September 20, 2012 @ 11:04 pm

Ooops, sorry about that – and thanks for such a quick response! The info I have on his tablet is: Novo 7 Paladin, android version 4.0.3, kernel version 3.0.8, build number 4.0.3.IML74K651. Is it possible do you know to make this type compatible with Minecraft? Glad of any advice you can give, if you can’t help I’ll have a look at slatedroid to see if there is a solution there. Only problem is I can only understand the tech jargon up to a point – after that it just goes over my head!! My 10 year old might be able to manage it ………..

Posted by BigRon on September 21, 2012 @ 12:34 am

I’m slightly surprised to find that he’s got a Paladin…. but not surprised to learn that there are compatibility problems. If anything is going to fix the problem, it’s a small program caled “Magic Code”. Here are two links which ought to help: one gives links to the latest firmware and the latest version of Magic Code ( http://www.techknow.t0xic.nl/forum/index.php?topic=2868.0 ) the other gives a ton of (fairly comprehensible) information about Magic Code and what it does ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1411879 ) Both sites are a useful source of technical support for the Paladin (and all the other Ainol Tablets released since.)

Tech support info is like wet fish – it has a VERY short shelf life. “Buy an Ainol Paladin” was excellent advice, a year ago; finding one on sale now would be fairly hard, and anyway, why would you be looking? Ainol have moved on quite a way since the Paladin and their new models are better (faster, more powerful, and with better screens) for the same price or even less.

Posted by Marie Phelan on September 21, 2012 @ 1:22 am

…. and while I’m here…..I can’t seem to get netflix to work on it. It keeps asking for an activation code to activate the device – but I can’t figure out where I’m supposed to find this code! On Netflix it says to check the device for the code but I’m none the wiser. Any advice?

Posted by BigRon on September 21, 2012 @ 4:48 am

My guess would be that when you signed up, they asked for an email adress (which is what usually happens!) and they send an activation code in the form of an email. Just a guess.. but a guess educated by a couple of decades of experience.

Posted by BigRon on September 22, 2012 @ 7:37 pm

Strikes me that my “wet fish” comment is worryingly close-to-the-bone. Readers of this blog should be aware that the Paladin WAS “an amazing tablet for the money” when it was released. But just as one might reflect that “the Morris Minior was a good little car in its day”, it needs to be stressed that “it’s day” is NOT TODAY. So, for heavens’s sake don’t go searching for where you can buy an Ainol Novo7 Paladin: they don’t make them any more, and haven’t done so for quite a while (a year?) AInol (1) seems to continually tinker with the design of its products, improving them all the time and (2) at any given time seems to have two (possibly three) models that are actually in production; a “top-of-the range model” and a cheaper “bargain basement model”.(Originally called “Basic” and “Advanced”) Right now theose roles are ocupied by the “Ainol Novo7 Fire” and the “AInol Novo7 Tornedos”, but by the time you’re reading this… they’ll probably have released two more models.In the year since they released the Paladin, there have been the Mars, the Elf, the Aurora (two models each of those last two!) and they’re talking about the next model being the “Crystal”. Note that there’s usually some confusion about what the next model is going to be called – the current leader has been variously referred to as “the Fire”, “the Flame” and “the Burning”… but they’re ALL the same model.

SO, to repeat and sum up….the Paladin WAS an excllent tablet for the money when it was released. Since then, it was in production for a few months then withdrawn and replaced by another model… then another one… and so on. A couple of months back I bought myself an “Ainol Novo7 Aurora 2″, which was incomparably better than the Paladin, yet cost almost exactly the same as my Paladin had. And shortly after I’d bought the Aurora 2… Ainol infuriatingly released the “Fire”, which is even better. Hence my surprise that Marie’s son has “recently” acquired a Paladin.

Posted by Marie Phelan on September 22, 2012 @ 7:59 pm

It was ‘recently’ acquired! We got it in September and it was purchased on Ebay from someone who felt it wasn’t sufficient for their needs. I thought it would be fine for my ten year old but didn’t anticipate the fact that it would not be compatible with Minecraft and Netflix – the 2 things that he borrows my laptop for!

Posted by BigRon on September 25, 2012 @ 12:00 am

Just goes to show… for something to be true, it doesn’t have to be probable, nor even plausible!

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Posted by alan killeen on November 27, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

Hi BigRon,
Just wondering if this software is still compatable with Novo 7 Paladin, just after buying it for kids xmas present and have all the same problems as listed above, one of my mates bought the same one and his is the same, so if I can fix mine I’ll get the job of fixing his
thanks

Posted by bigronw on November 27, 2012 @ 11:22 pm

That would depend rather on what you mean by “This Software”. And WHY oh WHY did you buy a Paladin, when I’ve been saying for months that it WAS an amazing gadget for the money IN ITS DAY… but that day has PASSED, and Ainol are now producing MUCH better tablets for about the same price?

I’ll take a punt that “This software” is the “Magic Code” program I gave links to several months back. In which case, I can’t think of ANY reason why it wouldn’t still work.

I’ve just bought a new tablet, as an Xmas Present for my (85 year old!) mother, Not, I might add, an Ainol product, but a cheap generic one based around the AllWinner A10 chip. I pondered getting one based around the (slightly more expensive) A13 chip, or Rockchip’s RK3066 chip. Within reason, ANY tablet based around one of these three is going to be pretty good. Note the date on this post, and remember that “I.T. Advice is like wet fish.” When it’s fresh, it’s great… but after a period of time has elapsed, it can stink. LIke the owner of this blog (which some will be surprised to find is NOT me!) I bought a tablet in China (Shanghai, rather than Hong Kong) then, subsequently, an Ainol Paladin – and I thought it was superb. But then, thirty years ago, I thought Clive SInclair’s newfangled ZX81 was brilliant.. Note that I’m NOT suggesting that anyone buys a ZX 81 now!

Posted by paula on December 2, 2012 @ 4:20 pm

hi i need your help im a working mom and this is kinda new to me my son keeps on buggimg me to install new games aprt from his angry birds, fruit ninja.. and I tried it unfortunately everytime i installed it using astro its unsuccessful.. pls help me

Posted by bigronw on December 3, 2012 @ 2:19 am

Paula, the Ainol Novo7 Paladin was a somewhat unusual machine, in that it uses a completely different procesor to most other tablets. It uses a chip made by MIPS instead of the (rather more commonly found) ARM chip. For many programs this isn’t a problem – they don’t (for example) make use of “undocumented calls” to the processor. Many programs alas were written using unofficial shorcuts, and which don’t work properly on the Paladin. The “Magic Code” program works with some programs…. but not all of them. From memory, ALL of the games produced by a company named “GameLoft” worked. A quick dabble on Google will find you at least one site that’s attempted to make a list of which programs DO work on the Paladin, and which ones DON’T. I Googled on the three words “Google compatible games” and got hits from a number of well-respected forums. I suggest that you repeat what I did!

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My Ainol Novo 7 Paladin