2016-01-26

Manta MID721QC

Very cheap 7" tablet distributed probably under dozen different brands:
  • Allwinner A33, quad-core A7 running at 1.2GHz with Mali400 graphics
  • 7" 800x480 display with poor viewing angles (I can say that just viewing it in vertical position can give strange impression as left and right eye see slightly different images) and capacitive multitouch
  • WiFi
  • VGA front camera
  • accelerometer
  • Android 4.4.2
  • 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Flash
  • microphone and (poor) speaker
  • micro SD slot
  • roughly 4 hours on battery (WiFi, internet), up to 6 hours (WiFi disabled, minimum brightness, PDF reader)
 I believe this tablet had factory installed trojan - at least I don't think I could infect it just in an hour and such "accidents" are not rare. This must have pretty fresh mutations as VirusTotal says that file was first scanned on 2015-12-12 (https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/401a320b23213932b222cc0afb8c69acb12efb9cbeb1884f0873a581d0192f96/analysis/)
Trojan was embedded in GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk (system application) and required rooting to remove. I believe it was responsible for opening fishy "antivirus" site once or twice and it also tried to install "WiFi Booster" (another malware?).
Case is easy to open with bare hands.
PCB markings: AL-Ax3-Q8-V1.1 2015-01-21
Serial number from sticker vanished just after few hours of light use; nice trick to void varranty
2200mAh cell (still lot of spare space), main board
357090 (3.5mm x 70mm x 90mm) 2200mAh protected cell. It looks like 3575100 (3000-3500mAh) should fit also.
unpopulated: vibration motor?

ESP8089 WiFi (close cousin of ESP8266); FBNL83A51K3BAAWP 32Gb NAND from Spectek

2x K4B2G0846 2Gb DDR3

LPA4890CM audio amplifier; up to 350 mW output power in this configuration, in reality probably 50 mW, might be worth tweaking

'7660 voltage converter (backlight power supply?)

AXP223 power manager



miniature camera (VGA)

8 ohm speaker with no markings
It looks like this tablet has now included in Linux mainline: http://linux-sunxi.org/AL-AX3-Q8

8 comments:

  1. Hi
    thanks for the article
    i really need the firmware of this tablet, i have long time looking for it !

    thanks again for any help !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps someone from http://www.manta.info.pl/forum/ogolnie-o-tabletach/ could help, although I see only MID721 (dual, not quad core and with other flash type) firmware at the moment there. Unfortunately I have no experience with preparing images and it would probably require to clean/restore my tablet first, so it's some hassle.

      Delete
    2. My tablet is Dual and A23 CPU the same PCB markings:
      AL-Ax3-Q8-V1.1 2015-01-21
      this is the picture :
      http://store1.up-00.com/2015-09/1441960162021.jpg
      Unfortunately, the forum that you gave to me is Polish language !
      thanks for your help

      Delete
  2. i have seen dozen threads in many forums people looking for this but no chance, no one managed to get it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is FW for MID721 (dual core)
      http://www.manta.info.pl/forum/ogolnie-o-tabletach/(mid721)(firmware)(rom)-factory-rom-img-flash-tool/

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  3. i checked this thread but the file has been deleted
    "Podany plik został usunięty"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. no, the site doesn't accept out from Poland
      i used proxy to download it !

      Delete