Ainol NOVO 7 Aurora II and Mars are two different Android 4.0 tablet models
April 18, 2012, San Jose, CA, USA: Ainol is going to release a new model of Android 4 tablet , called Mars, in addition to the new generation of ELF and Aurora . Mars is a different model from the replacement of NOVO 7 ELF and Aurora , aka ELF II and Aurora II, which will be released by beginning of May, 2012.
Ainol’s NOVO 7 ELF and NOVO 7 Aurora tablets became very hot after NOVO 7 tablet won the 2nd place of “Best Tablet Award” on CES in January this year. However, in March 2012 Ainol has to stop the production of Aurora and ELF due to short supply of IPS screen on Aurora and high definition screen on ELF.
According to Chevy Wu, Ainol’s GM of International Business, “Ainol is working on a new model Mars, but that is a different model than the new the new generation of Aurora and ELF”. “The new models of Aurora and ELF, aka Aurora II and ELF II will be released by beginning of May”, although the exact release date is not finalized yet, Wu said, “We have changed the IPS screen supplier with a better quality and also upgraded the CPU to AmLogic ’s due-core CPU on Aurora ( Aurora II )”. Ainol’s ELF was found having dead pixel and a strip line problem. “The upgraded model of ELF ( ELF II ) will have a better quality high definition screen, and the CPU is also upgraded to a due-core CPU from AmLogic ”.
According to Wu, the prices for those upgraded model of Aurora and ELF are not finalized yet, but most likely it will be a little bit more expensive than the current ELF and Aurora. Ainol was not directly working with the IPS screen suppliers and other component supplier in their first generation of Aurora and ELF, that’s part of the reason the quality was not in a good control. They have fixed that problem in the new generation of Aurora and ELF. The IPS screen on the Aurora II is provided by a Korea manufacturer, instead of the the Japanese manufacturer for the 1st generation of Aurora. Regarding to the spec of Mars, Wu did not disclose the details.
As Ainol’s oversea distributor , uPlay Tablet , is taking pre-orders on the upgraded version of ELF and Aurora. For customer who purchased Aurora from us but not shipped, we offer two options: 1). keep the order, get free upgrade to the new Aurora II and ELF II when they are released. 2). Cancel the order and get full refund. If you want to cancel your order, you can use the form in “Contact Us” to inform us your decision.
For customer who want to pre-order the new ELF and Aurora, you can do it at the current ELF and Aurora product page. We will honor the current price for all pre-orders. We will ship our Aurora II and ELF II strictly according to the order we received. The supply of Aurora II and ELF II at the beginning will be limited; therefore, we recommend our customers to place the pre-order now in order to secure their priority.