Cube i7 Book review: smart design paired with decent internals

Cube i7 Book review: smart design paired with decent internals - Windows 8 General

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Windows tablets have been gaining popularity since the release of Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro. Windows 10, which made its way to millions of PCs and tablets through free online upgrade last year, further enhanced the experiences of those two-in-one Windows devices.
Although Microsoft’s very own Surface and Surface Pro lines are still considered as the market-leading Windows tablets and also remain to be most popular, many other manufacturers, big and small, are trying to have a share in this fast-growing market of tablet & PC hybrids.
Cube, a Chinese brand mainly known for making budget Android tablets, has already released a bunch of Windows tablets since 2014. One of their most successful products was the Cube i7 Stylus, a Windows tablet which came with a Core M processor, 4GB RAM, a comfortable keyboard base and Wacom digitizer. Recently, Cube has released an upgraded version of the Cube i7 Stylus – the Cube i7 Book, which comes with many improvements such as an all new Skylake Core M3 processor, a USB Type-C port and a rotary keyboard base. The tablet itself is only priced at RMB2,199 ($329), even cheaper than the entry model of Microsoft Surface 3. You might need to spend more on the rotary keyboard base and a Wacom, but I am sure the added cost the two will be under $100.
Cube i7 Book Main Specs
OS: Windows 10 Home
Screen: 10.6-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
CPU: Intel Skylake Core-M 6Y30
CPU Frequency: 0.9GHz (Base clock) – 2.2GHZ (Turbo clock)
GPU: Intel HD 515
RAM / Storage: 4GB DDR3L / 64GB SSD
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1
WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
Battery: 9,000mAh
Ports: Micro SD Card Slot, Micro USB 3.0 Port, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, DC Charging Port
Size: 273*172*9.6mm, Weight: 710.5g, Color: Black front and blue rear
Retail Package
The Cube i7 Book has the same packaging used on other Windows tablets from Cube. Inside the box you will find a wall charger, an OTG adapter (Micro USB 3.0 to full USB 3.0), a warranty card and a user manual.
Design
The i7 Book looks like a triplet brother of the Cube i7 Stylus and Cube iWork 11 Stylus. The front is dominated by a 10.6-inch IPS display, with relatively big bezel around. We do love the small bezel design deployed on the Huawei Mate Book and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S. But when we use the slate as a standalone tablet, we do need the bezel to rest out fingers on.
The slate has an Aluminum rear side, which is coated in blue. I used to praise the use of blue color on Cube’s Windows tablets, as it reduces the industrial feel of the device. However, Cube seems to use this color combination in all of their Windows tablets, and it feels quite boring. Maybe it is just me who have this feeling because I have tested many of Cube’s tablets, first-time buyers may still appreciate the aesthetic.
Unlike the Huawei Matebook and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, both of which only come with a single USB Type-C port and a headphone jack, the i7 Book still offers a slew of ports and slots. On the left side you will find a headset jack, a Micro USB 3.0 port, a 3.5mm DC charging port and a Micro SD card slot which supports cards up to 128GB.
There is also a USB Type-C port which can be transformed into a full USB port or an HDMI port, or both if you have the right adapter. I used the type-C adapter for my Macbook and it works brilliantly with the i7 Book.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the slate, this time it is an 11 contact magnetic port, as opposed to the 5-contact port we have seen on other Cube’s Windows tablets. So the magnetic force which draws the tablet and the keyboard could be potentially stronger.
If the Huawei Mate Book and the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S represent the design of Windows tablets in 2016, the Cube i7 Book still feels like a product from early 2015. The slate itself measures 273*172*9.6mm, and weighs just 710g— light enough for one-handed use with a stylus. As the tablet has a metallic build, it feels very solid, and could survive some pressure or even occasional drops. With the keyboard base attached, the total weight comes to 1.1 kilograms, still on the lighter end of the convertible tablet range.
Display and sound
The Cube i7 Book sports a 10.6-inch full HD IPS display, manufactured by Samsung. Although not as exciting as the AMOLED panel on the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, it is still quite decent and offers a lot in terms of sharpness, colors and viewing angle. The brightness of the panel is towards the lower end of Windows tablets, but it is way more than enough for indoor use.
The sound quality of the side-facing speakers is in the same class of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and it is not a compliment. Although everything is clear and easy to make out, the bass is muddled, and there is not enough volume for you to listen to music or podcasts in a large bedroom. External audio systems such as a speaker or headphones are highly recommended.
Input mechanism
The Cube i7 Book came with five distinct input options. There’s the touchscreen, the optional Wacom Pen ($30), and the keyboard base, which in addition to its keys offers a touchpad, you can also connect the slate with a mouse.
Touchscreen
The touchscreen felt great in our tests. The surface was smooth and consistent, as you’d expect, and gestures were all correctly registered. Unfortunately, the screen is not made of Corning Gorilla scratch-resistant glass, but only a standard soda lime glass panel, a screen protector is necessary if you don’t want any marks on your screen after a long time of using the tablet.
Pen
If you want more precision than your greasy fingers can offer, the optional Wacom pen delivers. It makes stylus input quite natural, and works well with the Windows desktop thanks to its built-in buttons. Hover a bit above the screen and you’ll see a pointer, which makes it easy to avoid accidentally tapping a button or icon.
Drawing and taking notes with the pen is also quite easy, although it isn’t as comfortable as drawing on a paper due to the glossiness of the screen, the experiences are still quite similar. The Wacom pen supports 1,024 levels of pressure, so you can easily draw lines with different weight. This makes the i7 Book much more usable as a standalone tablet, as you can actually write things down on it and won’t always feel the need of a keyboard for input.
Rotary keyboard base
Keyboards for tablets are always somewhat uncomfortable to use. I have personally struggled to find my top typing pace with the Surface Type Cover and the stock Bluetooth keyboard for the Acer ICONIA W700. The keyboard bases for Cube i7 and i7 Stylus were actually more comfortable to type on than average tablet keyboards, but they were also very thick and heavy.
The i7 Book comes with an all new rotary keyboard base, which is, in my opinion, better designed than any other tablet keyboard. Not only can it instantly turn the tablet into a laptop, you can also use it as a stand to support the tablet in many different modes.
The screen can be adjusted from 0 to 120 degrees, limited, but still a huge improvement from the docking mechanism of the original i7 and i7 Stylus, which can only have a fixed angle.
Although the keyboard base still doesn’t quite measure up to the keyboard on an average laptop, it comes pretty close. The keys are well-spaced, and give enough feedback for touch typists to develop a flow. Of course, certain compromises had to be made to fit a full keyboard into such a small dock, so don’t expect the full laptop experience. The depth of each keystroke is noticeably shorter, which dampens the tactile experience. With that said, this is still one the closest things to a laptop keyboard available for any tablet, and is among the best tablet keyboards we’ve used.
The keyboard base also features a trackpad, which supports lots of gestures. There are also distinct left and right click zones to give you an experience which is similar to using a mouse.
You also get two additional full USB 2.0 ports with the keyboard base attached, one on the left, and one on the right. Which further enhances the usability of the device.
Windows 10
The Cube i7 Book ships with Windows 10 Home and a valid license. Thankfully, the tablet comes with no bloatware, and you don’t need to uninstall anything before using it.
You can install Office Mobile for free from Windows Store, but it is always a must to have the desktop version of Microsoft Office for more productivity, and the newer versions (Office 2013, Office 365 and Office 2016) all support touchscreen and stylus input very well.
There are a few other applications I strongly recommend for the i7 Book and all Windows tablets with stylus support. One Note for Windows, WRITEit, Squid, PAINT are all applications to make the best of your Wacom Pen.
Performance
The Cube i7 Book is powered by a Skylake Core M3-6Y30 processor, which isn’t as powerful as the i3, i5 or i7 processors used in high-end Windows tablets and ultrabooks, as it seeks to balance performance, efficiency and portability. There is also 4GB of RAM on board to take care of multi-tasking and 64GB of SSD for internal storage for apps and files.
Our Cinebench R10 scores show just how much this processor can do. The single core rating was 4,280, and the multi-core score was 8,424. The Cube i7 Book can keep up with most Windows 10 tablets on the market right now, and that includes the Surface Pro 4.
In the Cinebench R15 Open GL test, the i7 Book handily beat all the other tablets we compared it with, and in the CPU test, it also scored higher than the Huawei Matebook and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, although still behind the i5 Powered Surface Pro 3.
In the Fritz Chess Benchmark, the i7 Book was also returned a very decent score of 4,030.
In the PCMark 8 Home Accelerated test, the Cube i7 scored 2,785, which is better than the other Core M powered tablets we have tested, including the entry model of Surface Pro 4 (2,750) and the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet (2,675).
In the cross-platform Geekbench 3 test, the Cube i7 Book scored 2,404 in single-core and 4,682 in Multi-core, better than the i3 version of Surface Pro 3 (1,566 & 3,235), the ivy-bridge i5 powered Acer W700 (2,064 & 4,378) and the Core M powered model of Surface Pro 4 (2,339 & 4,429).
We also ran other Benchmark tests on the i7 Book, and were returned some pretty decent scores. From the numbers, we can tell that the Core M3 in the Cube i7 Book is on par with the Haswell Core i3 in the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and betters the ivy-bridge Core i5 in the Acer ICONIA W700, betters the Atom Cherry Trail processors in the Surface 3 and other budget Windows 2-in-1s, but not as powerful as the Haswell i5 and Skylake i5 used in the Surface Pro 3 and 4. Core M is built for efficiency but, in certain situations, it can perform very well.
The benchmark scores are reflected in day-to-day usage, the Cube i7 Book performs general productivity tasks easily. Performance was so good that we forgot this entire machine was crammed into a tablet form factor, thinking of it instead as a full-blown laptop. Browsing the web and writing were no problem, but neither were more processor intensive tasks such as unzipping a large compressed file. Atom based tablets, including the Surface 3 and ASUS T100HA, suffered a bit with this kind of tasks. But the Core M3 chip is competent, and the 4GB memory allows you to handle a decent amount of multi-tasking.
You shouldn’t really even consider running an intensive 3D game on the i7 Book, but it can chew through some basic 3D tasks, thanks to the improved Intel HD515 GPU.
As fast as the i7 Book could be in your everyday tasks, it is still a tablet, and can’t really replace a workstation desktop or laptop.
Storage
The Cube i7 Book offers a Foresee O1229B solid state drive, with 64GB of storage space. There is a Micro SD card slot to help expand the storage, but you can add no more than 128GB.
The Speed of the internal SSD is generally slower than the drives in other high-end Windows tablets, but much faster compared to the eMMc used in those Atom based Windows slates. Our AS SSD benchmark showed a read speed of 481.21 megabytes per second, and a write speed of 153.87MB/s. That’s significantly slower than the Surface Pro 4 (822.36mb/s & 347.34mb/s) and Surface Book (1,012.33mb/s and 498.74mb/s), but on par with and even betters most of the Windows tablets currently on sale.
Temperature
As with other Core M powered tablets, there are no fans in the Cube i7 Book, meaning you’ll never hear it no matter how hot it gets, and it will get hot occasionally.
After running a few benchmark tests, Ludashi reported a CPU temperature higher than 80 degrees centigrade, and the rear side of the tablet felt quite warm, and unpleasant for the my hands to hold.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
The Cube i7 Book features an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 chip to take care of internet connection, and it was pretty solid in our test. Even when there were two walls and 10 meters between the tablet and the router, it could still reach its top downloading and uploading speeds. Bluetooth 4.0 is also on board to establish easy connections to wireless speakers and input devices.
Battery life
The Cube i7 Book features an 8,600mAh battery, on par with the original i7 Stylus but slightly smaller than the battery inside the Huawei Matebook. I test battery life using a looped HD video, playing until the battery finally gives out. Here, the i7 Book performed slightly below average—still, at 6 hours, 50 minutes, it delivers pretty close to an all-work-day computing experience.
Cameras
There are two cameras on the Cube i7 Book, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera. The front camera naturally takes care of video chatting. I used to say that the rear-facing camera on tablets are not necessary, well, I was wrong. The Huawei Matebook doesn’t offer a rear camera, and once when I was chatting with a friends on Skype, and wanted to show him the things I was looking at, I needed to flip the tablet around and use the front-facing camera to do that, and I didn’t even know whether I framed what I needed to show because the screen is not facing towards me.
With that said, both cameras on the i7 Book are not good at all. Even when there is proper lighting, Photos can still have a lot of noises. Smartphones of even the lowest end could do a better job at taking pictures.
Verdict
The Cube i7 Book is not a perfect 2-in-1, but it is a very good one. It exceeds the Microsoft Surface 3 on almost every benchmark, and offers a much nicer keyboard. In some ways, the i7 Book even manages to compete with the entry level model of Surface Pro 4, with similar processing power and graphics capability. The display, while not perfect, is in line with the competition. And a unique docking system gives users the ability to use the tablet in many different modes, something very few competing Windows 10 tablet currently offers.
The Cube i7 Book offers all this, and is competitive on price. With a Core M processor and 4GB of RAM, it is priced at only $399, lower than the most basic version of Microsoft Surface 3, which sports a much weaker Atom Cherry Trail Z8700 processor and 2GB of RAM. Also, accessories of the i7 Book are much cheaper than those of the Surface. The Wacom Pen is only $39, and the keyboard base, which looks and feels much more premium than the Surface Type Cover, is also only priced at $59.
The main weaknesses of the i7 Book are the battery life and the temperature. The battery life is below average in the Windows tablets category, and the i7 Book can get unpleasantly hot during intense tasks. Also, it doesn’t look as modern as the Huawei Matebook and the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, I personally consider those two as the best looking two-in-one Windows devices currently available.
Still, the Cube i7 is a great alternative to the Surface 3, and betters the latter and most of the similarly priced tablets in almost every aspect. It could also give the awkward iPad Pro and Jide REMIX Ultra tablet a run for their money, using iOS and Android for work is simply a joke, Windows can still do everything much better when it comes to productivity tasks.

Please watch our video review here: https://youtu.be/RW2wPfMsdhE

jupiter2012 said:
Please watch our video review here: https://youtu.be/RW2wPfMsdhE
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How hot does it get exactly, how much higher than 80C?

Is this tablet compatible with all Wacom stylus models or only specific ones? I've also heard some Samsung Galaxy Note Stylus's work too?

Hello, thank you for the review
I ordered mine on Sunday on aliexpress and I shall have to receive the tablet (with keyboard&stylus) in 3 weeks
About the problem of temp, there is mods to decrease it (you have to open the tablet).

I'd also like to know about the compatibility with other wacom stylus'
I found the answers to the other two questions at techtablet.com - http://techtablets.com/2016/07/cube...ck-first-impressions-hands-first-impressions/
The other question is regarding charging - can you charge the tablet through either of the USB port (micro 3.0 or Type C)? Yes, it can charge through this port
Is the storage an M2 SSD that is removable? I've been burned by EMMC on tablets that have died so want to transfer my storage to a new device in the event of a failure. Yes, this is an internal M2 SSD

Thirtybird said:
I'd also like to know about the compatibility with other wacom stylus'
I found the answers to the other two questions at techtablet.com - http://techtablets.com/2016/07/cube...ck-first-impressions-hands-first-impressions/
The other question is regarding charging - can you charge the tablet through either of the USB port (micro 3.0 or Type C)? Yes, it can charge through this port
Is the storage an M2 SSD that is removable? I've been burned by EMMC on tablets that have died so want to transfer my storage to a new device in the event of a failure. Yes, this is an internal M2 SSD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to Chris @tech Tablet's video review other Wacom stylus will work including Samsung Note stylus.
Also he confirms the SSD is replaceable as well.

Thanks for the nice write-up.
Can you please advise how bad is the sound quality and volume on this tablet? I know it's probably hard to describe and it's always subjective but from what I noticed all reviews mention this so it has to be quite bad. I know the sound is thin, lacks bass and is not very loud but is it possible to watch a movie during the day (with some background noise) without headphones or external speakers?
Also did you have a chance to test USB speed on this one? Tech Tablets mentioned it's only limited to USB 2.0 speed. Cheers.

Did anybody find a powerbank that allowed you to charge the tablet via the USB C port? From my own attempts and what I've read online it seems that even though quick charge should deliver the necessary 12V, I tried a Tronsmart powerbank and wasn't able to make it work either from the Quickcharge port or the USB C port. Other people seem to have similar experiences, so any hints to those that work would be welcome!

czajunia said:
Thanks for the nice write-up.
Can you please advise how bad is the sound quality and volume on this tablet? I know it's probably hard to describe and it's always subjective but from what I noticed all reviews mention this so it has to be quite bad. I know the sound is thin, lacks bass and is not very loud but is it possible to watch a movie during the day (with some background noise) without headphones or external speakers?
Also did you have a chance to test USB speed on this one? Tech Tablets mentioned it's only limited to USB 2.0 speed. Cheers.
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i just got my tablet and the speakers are terrible... But they work, i dont find them to quiet, they are loud enough to watch a movie. But the sound quality will make your ears bleed if you watch a full movie

heatfire said:
i just got my tablet and the speakers are terrible... But they work, i dont find them to quiet, they are loud enough to watch a movie. But the sound quality will make your ears bleed if you watch a full movie
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Thanks for the confirmation. I decided to go for Cube iWork10. I guess I am gonna get comparable sound quality

IS it worth upgrading from i7 stylus to i7 book???! performance and gaming ??

Hi, can we install androidt to this tablet?

Regarding updating, it depends, as always. If you need the better WiFi card or the transformer style keyboard dock or the USB c port, or if you're after the last drop of performance, maybe. I haven't got the older model, but I think the performance difference is supposedly around 30%. I guess for me that wouldn't justify an upgrade, but if the other changes are appealing/important enough, it might be worth it.
As for android, you can definitely run remixOS on it and I suspect also other varieties of Android-x86. But notice that they are all running on kernel 4.4 or so, which doesn't make good use of the power saving of the skylake cpu, so it's running full power most of the time, which reduces battery life of course. Hopefully, there'll be a way to get a newer kernel (4.6 upwards) soon, that should help with that issue. Apart from that remix seems to be working OK, although I haven't tried a whole lot yet.

Windows 8.1 camera drivers
Does anyone have Windows 8.1 image/iso with full working drivers? Maybe mirror from official Cube baidu images?
Or just drivers themselves?
Can't find working drivers for both cameras. Please, help. Windows 8.1 x64.

Are there driver for the keyboard. More specifically the touchpad? Under settings there are no touchpad settings. I want to disable the win10 gestures. I am getting sick of the task view always popping up.

Regarding the touchpad, I think they mentioned some registry hack you need to do to disable touchpad gestures on techtablets.com, so maybe have a look there (I haven't been using windows enough to care about disabling it, although I also find it quite annoying when I'm on windows).
On a different note, since there was a question about Android above and I just mentioned remix os, there is a different project porting android to the x86 framework which is working relatively well. It's called Bliss-x86 and can be found here on xda (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3534657).
I've got a post there describing how it worked on the cube i7 book a month ago or so. Some things are still not ideal, there still seems to be some process forcing the CPU to run circles even when idle, so it probably wasn't just the kernel on remix as I suspected above. But overall quite worth trying out.

franzli said:
Regarding the touchpad, I think they mentioned some registry hack you need to do to disable touchpad gestures on techtablets.com, so maybe have a look there (I haven't been using windows enough to care about disabling it, although I also find it quite annoying when I'm on windows).
On a different note, since there was a question about Android above and I just mentioned remix os, there is a different project porting android to the x86 framework which is working relatively well. It's called Bliss-x86 and can be found here on xda (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3534657).
I've got a post there describing how it worked on the cube i7 book a month ago or so. Some things are still not ideal, there still seems to be some process forcing the CPU to run circles even when idle, so it probably wasn't just the kernel on remix as I suspected above. But overall quite worth trying out.
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Thanks! I tried asking this over there but I am unable to post. Not only that, but I cannot even send an email using the "Contact Us" link. I will try searching over there again.

Related

Windows 8 Tablets Clover Trail Vs ARM

I know it's a little too early for this thread but it's going to be an interesting topics which will be debated endlessly in the next couple months. Lets face it, CES did little to convince us either options will be superior.
Background information:
Windows 8 seems to be designed for not only tablets in mind, but how the OS is intended to be used. In order to make this possible Mircosoft is designing a version of the OS to be used on ARM processors. ARM processors, found in today's tablets and smartphones, are designed for high preformance with low power consumption.
At the same time Intel has invested a lot of money and research to develop the Clover Trial Atom processor. The atom processors are the processors found in yesterdays notebooks but this new design is also intended for low power consumption.
Known Characteristics of Each:
ARM:
HTML 5 apps only
Possibly Metro UI Only
Low heat
Clover Trail:
x86 architecture. Legacy apps will be compatible as well as HTML 5 apps
Lower preformace than sandy bridge processors
Looking at the above list it seems easy to pick the clover trail but the arm processors are likely to offer better battery life.
Heat issues are also a historic known issue on x86 processors, will continue with clover trail? If a tablet requires a fan width becomes an issue.
I will continue to update the characteristic lists as updates come out so everyone can make the best informed decision possible.
-writing this from my iPad 2 which I can't wait to ditch for something in the Windows 8 flavor

Even on a tablet, I hate the win8 look. I just want my win7 desktop on my iPad 2 also.

I don't think W8 will be as innovative as they say. Windows-8 will either be a hit or a big miss.

I see at least one error in your description, however: Windows 8 on ARM will not be limited to only the HTML5+Javascript apps. They've already demonstrated applications compiled for ARM specifically (including MS Office), so it's safe to conclude we'll see both.
Personally, I LOVE the Metro UI. I think it's the most brilliant shift in UI design in the last 30 years.
For me, I'll be going Windows 8 on ARM and tossing my iPad to the side (probably sell it) as soon as it's available. I'll keep my Windows 7 desktop as-is for the sake of x86/x64 applications in a traditional interface, but Windows 8 is where the market's going. In spite of the naysayers, the odds of it failing are very, very small.
Even Windows Vista, which was a fairly awful product at launch, sold very well (not as well as XP or now 7, but still, well over 200 million units), so it's not remotely a stretch to think that Windows 8, which is slim, light and mind numbingly fast, will also sell well.

Intel's Medfield Atom has proven to be a better performer than the ARM A9 core while offering similar/better power consumption on paper. Personally I don't care for either. I'd rather get ULV Ivy Bridge and live with 4-5 hours of batterylife and probably 8-10 with a keyboard dock, if available.
A ULV Broadwell in 2014 will make all of this moot anyway, x86 chips are more powerful and has major productivity software on lock because of it. Intel is now taking heat/power consumption very seriously and Metro apps for the most part are cross platform so it's Intel's to lose, don't forget that.

dont bet against Intel.... their upcoming tri-gate and finfet tech are gonna put them right in the same league as ARM as far as power consumption is concerned..
if I were a betting man, I'd bet that ARM Windows will be a niche player, while x86 windows will continue to be the dominant flavor, even for tablets, because of Intel's ability to bring down power consumption and price.
That, plus the standardization of x86, and ability for users to install legacy apps + mess around with their OS in an easy way will sway the market far in x86's favor...

Windows 8 has one silver lining left, and that's the Office suite. Android still has no good alternative, and Apple as a killer office app, but not THE Office app.
As long as Microsoft has the mouse behave like a finger, with swiping etc.... Then they'll stand a chance. I wouldn't bet on MS though... for the consumer segment, they need strong solid partnerships, and so far they only have Nokia.

coolqf said:
Windows 8 has one silver lining left, and that's the Office suite. Android still has no good alternative, and Apple as a killer office app, but not THE Office app.
As long as Microsoft has the mouse behave like a finger, with swiping etc.... Then they'll stand a chance. I wouldn't bet on MS though... for the consumer segment, they need strong solid partnerships, and so far they only have Nokia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you talking about? They have everyone for Windows 8. Android tablets aren't selling like their phone counterparts, are OEMs are waiting impatiently to jump on board with Windows 8. Windows still has many major productivity software for 3D rendering, design (pick any type), video, etc. Android has ICS's movie make and super gimped up Adobe touch apps. Android tablets are nothing more than giant mobile phones. Windows 8 tablets will be Metro touch apps that equal Android mobile apps plus all the desktop software we professionals use.

x86 is miles ahead of arm. as soon as dev's make arm ports of x86 apps i dont know if i will bother with windows 8 on arm until then

2 questions/thoughts... call it what you will.
1. ARM ver of Win8 will (or not?) be way more closed than current (traditional Windows approach) - sort of like Windows Phone is now. Meaning if you want an app you have to get it of the store (ONLY) not from any website like today with Windows. True or False?
If true... imho this is a very bad news for ARM ver of software.
Let say you live in Europe and you want/need program that is specific for US store only. What will you do in such case? Even iOS (bad, closed system, controlled by BIG, BAD APPLE) is more frindly about this tnah Android or Windows Phone.
2. Is it possible (for current ARM SOC's) to emulate x86 (in order to get older soft to work)? I dont think so.
On the other hand x86 should be more than capable to "pretend" it is ARM device . In such case having x86 W8 onboard means we cen als use ARM software if we want to need to (unless both x86 and ARM W8 will be lock tight - but than why would anyone jump of Win7????).

fact is we have no idea what RT will bring to the table or what the software will or will not be able to do, but if we look at the hardware we see a few notable differences
ARM, ultra low watt consumption (potentially good battery life), High performance BUT less grunt so to speak, cheaper price point
x86, higher power consumption(potentially a shorter battery life compared to ARM), High performance but more bang per buck, more expensive price point.
there is a distinct difference between the two models, a difference which I think will be very important. Most every day folk will not need more than ARM, for everyone else including many business users, x86 is there
Being able to run x86 code is my primary concern, im not talking heavy work, the programs are small and light, but x86 is essential for the time being for it to be flexible.
However provided RT isn't completely tied down like WP is AND is at a reasonable price point, I think it will make great inroads in the Low/Mid range tablet market.

I started looking into tablets after September last fall. I wanted something that would give me the most bang for the buck, or at least the minimum compromise. Things broke out in 3 general sections as mentioned previously: ARM, Atom/AMDCxx and X86/AMD (higher end iCore style).
As Windows 8 goes, there will be no real difference between Atom and X86. The instruction sets are the same. Both will support Metro and Windows Legacy apps.
ARM will only support Metro.
Price seems to break along those lines, but I found an exception.
I expect the ARM versions to run in the neighborhood of $400 and less; the Atom class to be in the $400 to $800; and the full X86 to be $600 and up. Of course equipment will also impact this price.
Probably, the most significant piece of equipment will be the screen. While pricing current machines for ARM and Atom (as well as X86), the 1366x1024 resolution was rare and it is required for a split screen feature of the Metro interface.
In the end, I picked a Dell Duo with a dual core hyperthreading Atom processor because it had the required resolution and the price was down as low as anything I could find. I also got a keyboard, but suffered the weight and short battery life.
Performance has been good in most situations, though tinkering with Unity 3d seems like a bad idea on the Atom with Windows 8 (but it's not a release OS yet). And performance lags a little in Unity 3d game execution, too.
Metro looks good to me so far.
So, for an iPad style consumption usage I think the ARM is probably going to work great. Dual core if you can get it.
For a little heavier usage and legacy aps, you'll want an Atom type systyem. I'd say dual core minimum.
And if you want superior performance with no compromise, as always, expect to put the green on the table.

Something on the subject:
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2173...V3&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Twitterfeed

Lurk said:
In the end, I picked a Dell Duo with a dual core hyperthreading Atom processor because it had the required resolution and the price was down as low as anything I could find. I also got a keyboard, but suffered the weight and short battery life.
Performance has been good in most situations, though tinkering with Unity 3d seems like a bad idea on the Atom with Windows 8 (but it's not a release OS yet). And performance lags a little in Unity 3d game execution, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does internet video work for you on Win 8? What Atom is in your Duo?
I couldn't get netflix or hulu working well on an N280.
I am running 8 on an e-350 (Acer w500), and video works great, but the touch screen is poor around the edges like a number of other Windows 7 tablets where they were designed for accuracy in center, instead of across the board.
---------- Post added at 11:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 PM ----------
dazza9075 said:
There is a distinct difference between the two models, a difference which I think will be very important. Most every day folk will not need more than ARM, for everyone else including many business users, x86 is there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually expect a number of our business users on RT. We won't push them to it, but the option will probably be given.
Today they use:
Web based tools.
A few silverlight sites.
Office
We're likely to port our silverlight apps to METRO, first one took a little under a day. At that point, if they wanted an iPad like device, with the new news about sideloading: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstor...deploying-metro-style-apps-to-businesses.aspx
It is a pretty good fit.
Obviously designers, ops, etc are not going to find RT sufficient, but I expect a subset will. We have some that only use iPads today anyway.

michiganenginerd said:
How does internet video work for you on Win 8? What Atom is in your Duo?
I couldn't get netflix or hulu working well on an N280.
I am running 8 on an e-350 (Acer w500), and video works great, but the touch screen is poor around the edges like a number of other Windows 7 tablets where they were designed for accuracy in center, instead of across the board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same question.
I had Asus 1201N (but it had dual core Atom 330 onboard + Nvidia ION card) - no problems with any video but it was HOT, VERY HOT and very noisy.
I kept Samsung NC10 (same atom chip as in 1201N but single core only and no ION). Watching any video on it is a nightmare :-(. Even YT is not working well.

How does internet video work for you on Win 8?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internet video seems to be very good. Currently, things run fairly smoothly. The connection speed is a bigger impact than the processor speed.
Odd item. I just tested real quick and I can now play YouTube videos in the Metro browser. I guess they have the HTML 5 delivery working.
HD on Netflix is a little choppy right now and stutters in the desktop browser. It could be the connection.
What Atom is in your Duo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
N570 @1.67ghz
I couldn't get netflix or hulu working well on an N280
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I worried about performkance. That's why I went for a dual core at a minimum. The earlier Duo had an N560(?) at 1.5ghz. I don't think it would be enough. Again, it might be the connection, but @ HD right now, it's borderline.
Of course. sometimes it comes down to the video card/processor, too.
I am running 8 on an e-350 (Acer w500), and video works great, but the touch screen is poor around the edges like a number of other Windows 7 tablets where they were designed for accuracy in center, instead of across the board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't experienced any issues around the edges ... or any where on the screen. I am pleased overall with the unit and was a bit disappointed when they stopped producing them in December. But, it was largely a test unit.

Thanks for the info Lurk.

Clover Trail pics
I found this article while browsing on tabletpcreview forum.
An online writer Padmx Max, got access to Clover Trails and took some pics of the board and the processor: here is the link
http://www.padmx.com/portal.php?mod=view&aid=1707
The processor is actually stacked under the memory so you can't really see it.
But it is an interesting idea.
Not sure it is Intel Z2580 or z2760 tho.

Sneak peek of Win8 tablets for Fall 2013

Below is the Acer W3 tablet that had an Amazon listing for USD$380 before it was pulled. Acer Finland now has posted the specs & pics: 8.1" display (reportedly 1280x800), Clover Trail Z2760, 2GB RAM, 64GB flash, micro-USB/SD/HDMI, 8hr (3.5Ah) battery.
http://www.acer.fi/ac/fi/FI/content/model/NT.L1JED.002
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This isn't a "real" launch, but a dry run for the Bay Trail models in Q4. The first giveaway is the $380 price (sans dock), which is even more than the iPad Mini, and is a guaranteed retail DOA. The second is that it doesn't have 8.1 update, and its 1280 res has this footnote at the bottom of the page: "The integrated display resolution of this system is below the threshold for snapping apps...This feature may be enabled by attaching an external display which supports a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 or higher."
Still we can glean some features from this as indicators of the upcoming Win8.1 "small tablet" crop. This particular tab has 16:10 aspect, which is a departure from the default 16:9 on all Win tabs (and most laptops/monitors) to date. IMO it's a big improvement, as it allows the devices to be more functional in portrait, and less awkward to hold in one hand.
Speaking of portrait, note that this tab is designed to be used in portrait mode by placement of the front cam and the Windows button. Another positive step.
Power efficiency looks good. The 3.5Ah batt is smaller than the typical 7" Android's 4Ah, and Mini's 4.49Ah, yet can still claim to 8hr usage. Hopefully Bay Trail can maintain this efficiency while boosting performance.
Office Home & Student 2013 is bundled. This corroborates an earlier rumor of lowered licensing cost for the Win+Office bundle for x86. The flip side is that this kills RT's main sales pitch. I don't expect any new RT product for this gen, except perhaps a refresh for Surface RT.
As with RT, I'm doubtful of the appeal of Office on mobile devices, since this version is still mainly for desktop and not touch. Functionality will be substantially reduced on a 8" display, and pretty useless w/o an external keyboard (as how most of these 8" tabs will be sold). Given MS' emphasis on services, I'm also surprised that it didn't instead bundle Office 365 with, say, 2-yr free sub. That would give O365 adoption a big jump-start.
Which brings us to the oversized dock. Its size means that "productivity" is limited to home use, as you won't be carrying this around with you. This highlights the perplexity of Windows-on-tablet: As of now, Windows is still very much a desktop, keyboard/mouse-driven OS, the nascent Metro makeover notwithstanding. The "desktop" is why people buy x86 over RT, but it was never designed for small mobile devices, and is an awkward fit at best.
Last, comes price. From this and Asus CEO's comments, my SWAG is low-300-ish for these 8" x86 tabs, and the dock will be $75-100 extra. I don't think they'll fare well against the $200-and-under Androids, many of which will be from the same vendors who make Win tabs. In other words, 3rd-party marketing support will be wanting.

I am really excited about this, and i think certain OEMs will prefer the windows echosystem in tablets over android as they already know it and have a very respected position and value unlike android (Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP, MSI . . ) Win8 is there chance to enter the Mobile market, may be ASUS is the only vendor that can compete in the Android ecosystem but not for so long i think
- I think Acer will re-adjust the price and even at 380$ i think its a better value than the iPad or the Note 8 because you get much more flexibility, in this form factor you can think of the desktop mode as a complement to metro, whatever is lacking in metro you can use desktop mode for it but metro will be where you spend most of your time (web, video, chat . . .)
- The snap mode issue i think will be fixed with 8.1, right now i believe there is a hack to enable it
- This is definitely better than RT in every way, I think RT main purpose is to keep the possibilities on the ARM architecture open in the future and i think that Microsoft should really be merging windows phone and windows RT together in the coming years
- A sub 200 android tablet will be no where near the performance or the flexibility of a x86 tablet even RT tablets Have better SOCs already and will be priced very closely
I really think if Microsoft can pull the right price model + some UI tweaks in desktop they will own the tablet space in less than 2 years

Yes, $380 is early adopter pricing. Asus CEO has said 8" Bay Trail will be around $300, although the more conservative would peg it at low-$300. Either way, price will be bumped to ~$400 w/ keyboard dock, which is needed for "full" Windows rather than just Metro.
This and other Taiwan models should show up at Computex on June 4. We should also see the new 8" Surface at Build on June 26. I think Acer's oversized-keyboard solution is awkward and not portable, and am looking forward to see what Asus/Lenovo and MS have to offer. Some sort of fold-out keyboard cover would be a better option, although it still isn't as optimal as the clamshell form factor.
IMO the best solution is for MS to adjust the desktop UI to better accomodate touch, similar to what was done for Office 2013 UI. Per 8.1, that won't happen (although display scaling should be fixed). Hence the UX for naked tabs will be limited to Metro, which at this point is still primitive and nascent. I see this as another transition rev, and am already looking to Win9 for more substantive improvements.
With the Surface 8", we'll also get guidance on whether the Surface line is a serious foray, or as "reference" models for vendors to follow. Ballmer has said Surface is a "real business," so I'd expect aggressive pricing & wide distribution to compete with iPads, as opposed to the present overpriced RT & Pro models that doomed them to irrelevance. The flip side is that a lowballed Surface will further antagonize OEMs, and cooperation will worsen. Exacerbating factors include the continuing commoditization of tablets, where even iPads are under pressure from Android. MS & Co will have to play ball with near-zero margin hardware, which means a big thumbs-up for consumers.
On the positive news (for MS), the long tail of Win7 along with MS' other rev streams will afford it a few more profitable quarters, regardless of the reception to the 8.1 crop. MS will get at least one more mulligan before the gravy train pops a gasket.

That's the beauty of windows 8, Vendors focus on the hardware and different form factors while Microsoft is focusing on the software, But then again the early adoption is very important in the mobile market, Imagine Microsoft started with WP7.5 instead of WP7 i know it would have been very different now, I hope they don't do the same mistake with windows 8
I really like the way Acer is going, New ideas and brilliant hardware (A full sized, non touch keyboard is a must for productivity)

>A full sized, non touch keyboard is a must for productivity
That's the crux, isn't it? Productivity on a smaller form factor.
The elephant in the room is that the keyboard as presently constituted can't be downsized, and it has defeated every attempt to shrink productive mobile computing beyond 10" size. The QWERTY/AZERTY layout (and sizing) has been with us since time immemorial, and there's been no real attempt to innovate it directly because of the high learning curve involved. Instead, present efforts at progress all work around it, eg touch screen, voice rec, gestures, etc. But none has the granularity, simplicity, and versatility of a tactile keyboard. That's why productivity is predicated upon it.
The present mobile computing paradigm has yet to come up with a solution to reconcile productivity with mobile. MS in its chase toward mobile has no real answers, either. Its attempt to push hybrids (read: mobile w/ keyboard) has gotten no traction. Neither have its Surface devices, based on a "flattened" keyboard that doubles as cover. The success or failure of Metro is actually irrelevant, because even if Metro succeeds as a touch UI, it still can't solve the productivity conundrum to make "desktop mode" disappear. And if Metro can't become a superset of "desktop," then we'll be stuck with a franken-OS for quite a while longer.
Somebody (probably not MS) need to innovate the keyboard.

The QWERTY/AZERTY layout (and sizing) has been with us since time immemorial, and there's been no real attempt to innovate it directly because of the high learning curve involved. Instead, present efforts at progress all work around it, eg touch screen, voice rec, gestures, etc. But none has the granularity, simplicity, and versatility of a tactile keyboard. That's why productivity is predicated upon it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on the innovation side, I think that if there is enough demand for it you will find all kinds of ideas coming along but sadly demand has to come first
The success or failure of Metro is actually irrelevant, because even if Metro succeeds as a touch UI, it still can't solve the productivity conundrum to make "desktop mode" disappear. And if Metro can't become a superset of "desktop," then we'll be stuck with a franken-OS for quite a while longer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Metro isn't the start screen or the apps that runs in it, it is the design philosophy that focuses on content (fonts, icons, typography . . .), apply that to desktop and you get a metro desktop, hopefully microsoft is focusing on that
Desktop is what differentiate windows from any mobile os, it shouldn't be killed (taking away decades of apps) but should be more metro and more touch friendly with full multi touch/gesture/pen/voice support if microsoft can do that then i don't see any reason for going to any other mobile os
I have a samsung ativ smart and i use it almost 99% of the time instead of my pc, that couldn't have been possible without win 8 and i hope it keeps getting better

AMD Temash is looking very good in terms of power consumption...
The A4-1200 tops at 3.9W TDP... in other words, iPad form factor territory :good:

go0gle said:
AMD Temash is looking very good in terms of power consumption...
The A4-1200 tops at 3.9W TDP... in other words, iPad form factor territory :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPU wise its way better than clover trail but in RAW CPU power its lacking, Bay trail is not far off so we have to wait and see

Acer is really is really innovating this year

DynamicRam said:
GPU wise its way better than clover trail but in RAW CPU power its lacking, Bay trail is not far off so we have to wait and see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even the quad core version ? That is a bit disappointing considering that clover trail is really old..
I think the AMDs also support more/faster RAM than clover trail.. the quad core paired with 6gb RAM should be fine.
Silvermont is at least 6 month away as far as I know.

The quad core will definitely be better but i don't think it will match the clover trail 10+ hours of battery life
Remember that clover trail has a TDP around 1.7

And a clock speed of 1.8ghz whereas the amd chips are 1.0 or 1.4. However 1 clock signal does not result in 1 processor cycle and different cpu instructions take a differing number of cycles to complete so who knows how they really compare (as I doubt the clocks>cycles>instructions relationship is the same for clovertrail and amd, hell, clovertrail and bay trail aren't even the same in that regard).

Re: AMD - Specs notwithstanding, it'll be tough for AMD to get design wins. Intel has always been ahead on power efficiency, and it's now closing the gap between Atom and Core where AMD is trying to target. Bay Trail is getting more (50%+) perf, and Haswell more battery life. Intel is also dropping price to compete against ARM, with $300'ish ASP for Bay Trail vs $500 for Clover.
The larger question is how well x86 tabs can sell, since Win8x still requires keyboard/mouse, and a keyboard dock will add to the price and bulk. The lower overall pricing should help, but the competition isn't standing still. There'll be iOS7 iPads, and Walmart is selling $99 7" Androids now.
I'm not a fan of the Acer W3 setup, ie with oversized keyboard dock. Aside from being fugly, it defeats the purpose of having a smaller tablet, and you might as well buy a 10". Credit to Acer for trying new things, but all of its weird designs have never caught on with the public. Anyway, this issue has already been solved a couple of decades ago, with the foldable PDA keyboard.
After the keyboard, you need a *precise* pointer (read: not your finger). The FlipStart UMPC below had both a track pointer and a mini-trackpad. These aren't as functional as a mouse, but they should suffice along with touch screen input.
Next up, what makes a Win device useful, aside from keyboard/mouse, are its USB ports and it-just-works USB connectivity. The Acer W3 and most mini-tabs will likely have only a single micro-USB port, which isn't enough. I'd like to see a battery-powered USB 3.0 hub w/ 3-4 ports.
Lastly, I want to see Microsoft take the lead in standardizing connector/form factor specs for these separate accessories so 3rd-party products can interoperate. This will help build a thriving ecosystem and drive down prices for accessories. But realistically, I expect MS to continue its Apple-wannabe ways with its own proprietary toys and ludicrous prices. It's why I'm looking beyond MS for my next transition. The world doesn't need another Apple.
BTW, looks like the first shoe on "software as services" has dropped on XB1, and we can kiss selling used games goodbye. MS: 1, gamer: 0.

I doubt we will see standardisation.
Hell, Asus skipped a beat in my opinion for not reusing the transformer docking connector (width of keyboard wouldn't have lined up but it would have maintained compatibility with their standalone dock, ethernet and usb adaptors).
I think the keyboards and trackpads for convertibles are currently HID devices on an i2c bus though, so if not compatible with the physical connector they may at least be electrically compatible if provided the correct adaptor cable. With i2c several devices can even daisy chain although a keyboard, mouse and accelerometer might already be occupying a fair portion of bandwidth, doubt you could double up on that.

No need to jerryrig connectors. Theoretically you can hang all your periphs off the micro-USB port w/ powered hub. It'll look a bit ghetto with the cables vs a snap-in dock, but you don't have to buy a separate (proprietary) dock for each toy. That, or go the BT route, but this last excludes high-bandwidth uses like with a HDD.
Bifold keyboards have sadly gone the way of the PDA, and battery-powered hubs are rare. Tabs are still new, and use cases are still limited to mostly streaming online stuff. Plugging periphs to a tab is still a geek's game. Maybe Win tabs can add new uses to the mix with a "productivity" OS onboard. Here's to hoping that bifold KBs make a comeback, along with them yummy red Thinkpad nipples.
The new Surface 8 (probably a Bay Trail) should come out at Build. I'm hoping MS can at least do a portable, self-powered dock and not just a shrunken keyboard cover. But my optimism for MS is at low ebb, so am expecting exactly the latter.

e.mote said:
The new Surface 8 (probably a Bay Trail) should come out at Build. I'm hoping MS can at least do a portable, self-powered dock and not just a shrunken keyboard cover. But my optimism for MS is at low ebb, so am expecting exactly the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean announced at Build.. I thought Silvermont is not shipping until q4/2013 - q1/2015
DynamicRam said:
The quad core will definitely be better but i don't think it will match the clover trail 10+ hours of battery life
Remember that clover trail has a TDP around 1.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.7 .. wow, I did not know that. It explains the amazing battery life those machines get. I wonder if Intel would manage to keep that TDP with BayTrail... it might be hard to do considering the bump in performance.

From Anandtech
Form factors should be no thicker than Clovertrail based designs, although it will be possible to go thinner with Baytrail/Silvermont should an OEM decide to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In terms of absolute performance, Silvermont’s peak single threaded performance is 2x that of Saltwell. This 2x gain includes IPC and clock frequency gains (only 50% is from IPC, the rest is due to IDI, system agent and frequency). Given that Saltwell is competitive with existing architectures from ARM and Qualcomm (except for the Cortex A15), a 2x increase in single threaded performance should put Silvermont in a leadership position when it arrives later this year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The next set of bars is just as important. At the same power levels (Intel didn’t disclose specifically at what power), Silvermont delivers 2x the performance of Saltwell. Finally, at the same performance level, Silvermont uses 4.7x lower power. Given that Saltwell wasn’t terrible on power to begin with, this is very impressive. Without knowing the specific power and performance levels however, I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions based on this data though.
The multithreaded advantages are obviously even greater as Silvermont will be featured in quad-core configurations while Saltwell topped out at dual-core (4 threads) in tablets.
In the next two slides, Intel did some competitive analysis with Silvermont vs. the ARM based competition. The benchmarks are the same, but now we have specifics about power usage. In the first test Intel is comparing to three competitors all with quad-core designs. Intel claims to have estimated performance gains based on what is expected to be in the market by the end of this year. Intel’s performance modeling group is very good at what it does, but as with any estimate you always have to exercise some caution in buying the data until we have physical hardware in hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The final performance comparison slide increases max core power to 1.5W and compares quad-core Silvermont to the quad-core competition. You’ll note the arrival of a new competitor here. One of the bars is a dual-core SoC with its performance scaled to four cores. I’m less confident about that particular estimation simply because it assumes Apple won’t significantly update architectures in its next generation of iPads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That’s the end of the Intel data, but I have some thoughts to add. First of all, based on what I’ve seen and heard from third parties working on Baytrail designs - the performance claims of being 2x the speed of Clovertrail are valid. Compared to the two Cortex A15 designs I’ve tested (Exynos 5250, dual-core A15 @ 1.7GHz and Exynos 5410 quad-core A15 @ 1.6GHz), quad-core Silvermont also comes out way ahead. Intel’s claims of a 60% performance advantage, at minimum, compared to the quad-core competition seems spot on based on the numbers I’ve seen. Power is the only area that I can’t validate based on what I’ve seen already (no one has given me a Baytrail tablet to measure power on). Given what we know about Silvermont’s architecture and the gains offered by Intel’s 22nm process, I do expect this core to do better on power than what we’ve seen thus far from ARM’s Cortex A15.
There is something we aren’t taking into account though. As of now, the only Cortex A15 based SoCs that we’ve seen have been very leaky designs optimized for high frequency. Should an SoC vendor choose to optimize for power consumption instead, we could see a narrower gap between the power consumption of Cortex A15 and Silvermont. Obviously you give up performance when you do that, so it may not ultimately change anything - but the power story might be less of a blowout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The Haswell Review: Intel Core i7-4770K & i5-4560K Tested
Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics Review: Core i7-4950HQ Tested
Intel launches Haswell processors: here's what you need to know

Below is Engadget's hands-on of the Acer W3 at Computex. Official pricing will apparently be 329 for 32GB (same as iPad Mini) and 379 for 64GB, in both USD and Euro. Keyboard dock is said to be €69, which should also be same in dollars.
The keyboard dock is battery-powered (2xAAs), and has no physical connector with the tab, so apparently it's a BT keyboard. The dock slot looks to accommodate only a single fixed angle. Also, no trackpad or trackpoint.
I'd be very surprised if Acer actually put this model on retail sale.

379$ including Office is not bad at all & you can attach any keyboard/mouse, I hope that they ship with a better display though
---------- Post added at 10:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 AM ----------
ASUS launches VivoMouse, a wireless optical mouse with a multi-touch trackpad

Kingsing W8 (cheapest Windows tablet- 100$)

Did anyone bought Kingsing W8? I got it few days ago.
This is seams to be cheapest Windows 8.1 tablet.
Basic info:
CPU Intel Baytrail-T Quad Core 1.8GHz
GPU Intel HD Graphic(Gen7)
System Windows 8.1
RAM 1GB DDR3L
Capacity 16GB
Screen 8 inch IPS Capacitive Touch Screen
Resolution 1280*800
It has great hardware for that price. Some would say that 1Gb is not enough but I have this tablet and I can say it is. Tablet is a fast, fluid. 1Gb ram on this optimized OS is enough for a tablet. Google Chrome and Internet Explorer can without any problem show all sites, games can also run smoothly. (Despicable me is working great)
All sites tell that this CPU can run on 1.8ghz but Intel Atom processor Z3735G for me works at 1.33 GHz. Is there any way to enable "turbo" or what?
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=f3BMy2DrLEY
This is my first Windows tablet and it is even faster than Android which I bought for same price- 116$.
I am glad that Windows tablet are becoming cheaper and cheaper and Kingsing W8 is working great for me.
Are there any more users here?

ag008 said:
Did anyone bought Kingsing W8? I got it few days ago.
This is seams to be cheapest Windows 8.1 tablet.
Basic info:
CPU Intel Baytrail-T Quad Core 1.8GHz
GPU Intel HD Graphic(Gen7)
System Windows 8.1
RAM 1GB DDR3L
Capacity 16GB
Screen 8 inch IPS Capacitive Touch Screen
Resolution 1280*800
It has great hardware for that price. Some would say that 1Gb is not enough but I have this tablet and I can say it is. Tablet is a fast, fluid. 1Gb ram on this optimized OS is enough for a tablet. Google Chrome and Internet Explorer can without any problem show all sites, games can also run smoothly. (Despicable me is working great)
All sites tell that this CPU can run on 1.8ghz but Intel Atom processor Z3735G for me works at 1.33 GHz. Is there any way to enable "turbo" or what?
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=f3BMy2DrLEY
This is my first Windows tablet and it is even faster than Android which I bought for same price- 116$.
I am glad that Windows tablet are becoming cheaper and cheaper and Kingsing W8 is working great for me.
Are there any more users here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, i see gizchina has reported that this is the cheapest windows 8.1 quad core smartphone at $100, i guess it's official price, not for reseller, and also know good news that Kingsing s2 and Kingsing W8 has a giveaway activity from 1949deal. See here: h ttp://goo.gl/RttCym , i guess it has no ram 2gb version now. Maybe in the near future.

This looks like a better deal, not sure if it is a scam, though. At least it is from aliexpress, so you should get your money back.
http://m.aliexpress.com/item/204241...042418613&tracelog=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app

433Mhz said:
This looks like a better deal, not sure if it is a scam, though. At least it is from aliexpress, so you should get your money back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the lastest Onda model, I already have one.
Onda V975W thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/windows-8-rt/general/onda-v975w-9-7-qhd-intel-z3735d-quad-t2892998

I got one 2GB RAM and 32GB storage from China with US$115.
Sent from Tapatalk with my Tab 4 (SM-T235Y)

please help me. I need drivers for this tablet. you can make a backup of windows 8.1 or backup drivers ?
and write the link to download...

Just ordered one of these out of curiosity, will let you guys know what I think of it once it arrives in about 18 days!
Sent from my BNTV600 using XDA Free mobile app

Best, cheap 8-inch Windows Tablet's the TW801. Hands down.
I picked up the TW801 from MicroCenter open Box for $118. Best $118 I ever spent. It's got a reliable HDMI-out, a Full-sized USB 3.0, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a miniUSB for charging (and you can also use it for data, I tried).
I run Fedora 17 (I'm in a Linux 101 course at my community college) using VMware while running Chrome and Amazon Kindle all at the same time while taking notes in Chrome--and I use a Motorola Lapdock for a second screen. This thing runs absolutely brilliantly. Only downside is the pathetic battery life. But for about $120, it blows the Dell Venue 8 Pro, Lenovo Miix2 8-inch and the rest of the 8-inch tablets (for me) way out of the water. I've been able to play 1080p videos on a 60hz TV with minimal stutter at the beginning and smooth sailing from then on (using YouTube). I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem watching anything else, either. If the Venue 8 Pro can handle games, this one probably can too, though the only thing I tried on it was Second Life, haha, and that ran decent.
If you're in the market for a cheap 8-inch with HDMI AND a full-sized USB 3.0 slot, nothing quite touches this little guy. Here's some specs.
CPU Baytrail-TZ3735D, 1.33GHz Normal (1.8 GHz Turbo Mode)
Microsoft Windows 8.1
Storage
EMMC (it's soldered on, sadly) 32GB, and a MicroSD card slot up to either 64GB of 128GB (the advertising is misleading in store and on the website, and on Amazon... I haven't tested it myself)
RAM
2GB DDR3
Display
8" IPS LCD, 1280x800, 16:10 Widescreen
5-Point Multi-Touch
Cameras
Front (2MP) Back (2MP)
Stereo speakers on one side on the back
They're actually... pretty decent.
Msc
Integrated Microphone, 3.5mm Microphone Jack
No GPS
WiFi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0,
I/O
1 x Micro USB 2.0
1 x USB 3.0
1 x SD (SDHC/SDXC)
1 x Micro HDMI
1 x 3.5mm Audio Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
Battery
POWER
Battery
1 Cell Lithium Polymer Battery
AC Adapter
10W 5V 2A 100-250V/50-60Hz

My sad Kingsing W8
I've bought this tablet since 2 weeks ago and it was great... But now it won’t turn on anymore. I guess it happened after some auto updates installed. Do you have any idea....? Thanks.

Ryou_Concord said:
I picked up the TW801 from MicroCenter open Box for $118. Best $118 I ever spent. It's got a reliable HDMI-out, a Full-sized USB 3.0, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a miniUSB for charging (and you can also use it for data, I tried).
I run Fedora 17 (I'm in a Linux 101 course at my community college) using VMware while running Chrome and Amazon Kindle all at the same time while taking notes in Chrome--and I use a Motorola Lapdock for a second screen. This thing runs absolutely brilliantly. Only downside is the pathetic battery life. But for about $120, it blows the Dell Venue 8 Pro, Lenovo Miix2 8-inch and the rest of the 8-inch tablets (for me) way out of the water. I've been able to play 1080p videos on a 60hz TV with minimal stutter at the beginning and smooth sailing from then on (using YouTube). I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem watching anything else, either. If the Venue 8 Pro can handle games, this one probably can too, though the only thing I tried on it was Second Life, haha, and that ran decent.
If you're in the market for a cheap 8-inch with HDMI AND a full-sized USB 3.0 slot, nothing quite touches this little guy. Here's some specs.
CPU Baytrail-TZ3735D, 1.33GHz Normal (1.8 GHz Turbo Mode)
Microsoft Windows 8.1
Storage
EMMC (it's soldered on, sadly) 32GB, and a MicroSD card slot up to either 64GB of 128GB (the advertising is misleading in store and on the website, and on Amazon... I haven't tested it myself)
RAM
2GB DDR3
Display
8" IPS LCD, 1280x800, 16:10 Widescreen
5-Point Multi-Touch
Cameras
Front (2MP) Back (2MP)
Stereo speakers on one side on the back
They're actually... pretty decent.
Msc
Integrated Microphone, 3.5mm Microphone Jack
No GPS
WiFi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0,
I/O
1 x Micro USB 2.0
1 x USB 3.0
1 x SD (SDHC/SDXC)
1 x Micro HDMI
1 x 3.5mm Audio Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
Battery
POWER
Battery
1 Cell Lithium Polymer Battery
AC Adapter
10W 5V 2A 100-250V/50-60Hz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you. In europe you can't buy that tablet i found it on internet. And was like woow i want. But imposible to buy here. Yes for like 220euro way to overpriced.
But yeah realy nice tablet for that price witg full usb 3.0

The 5-Point Multi-Touch is a weak point of this tablet.

Well after an interminable wait, largely due to US customs sitting on it for 8 days, the W8 finally arrived last week. After 6 days of using it I am more than impressed. Very responsive, and certainly fast enough for the sort of things you do on tablets. The cameras aren't too impressive but that isn't a priority for me. Using a full windows desktop on an 8" widescreen is a bit of an interesting experience but you can do it. I think I'll pick up stylus as my fingers ain't all that dainty! Battery life isn't stellar but it is no worse than my nook HD+, and the display is a whole lot better than the nook's. Overall worth the $116 and quite pleased with my purchase.

W8 Windows version?
Does anyone know the exact Windows version that these tablets use?
I have one that has a standard Win 8 install but the touch is not operational.
The touch is working as it operates when I did the recovery process, so I am assuming that it just doesnt have the correct version installed
Any ideas?

Cube i10 Dual Boot hands-on: the most cost-efficient dual boot tablet

Hey thanks for the review. I ordered one myself after reading ur review. wanna know how long it takes to fully charge the tablet from 0?

gxthelord said:
Hey thanks for the review. I ordered one myself after reading ur review. wanna know how long it takes to fully charge the tablet from 0?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally 4-5 hours
Sent from my SM-T325 using Tapatalk

jupiter2012 said:
Normally 4-5 hours
Sent from my SM-T325 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh is the tablet still with you? I ordered my should be arriving soon. Did u got the keyboard by now?

gxthelord said:
Oh is the tablet still with you? I ordered my should be arriving soon. Did u got the keyboard by now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is still with me, but i havent got the keyboard yet.
Sent from my SM-T325 using Tapatalk

jupiter2012 said:
it is still with me, but i havent got the keyboard yet.
Sent from my SM-T325 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were u able to root it on the Android side?

gxthelord said:
Were u able to root it on the Android side?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it can be connected to a PC as a slave, so it can be rooted one way or another.

jupiter2012 said:
it can be connected to a PC as a slave, so it can be rooted one way or another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to know that xD. Btw bro do u get the dcin charger when u buy the tablet? Mine come with a 5V 2A charger for microusb. Not the one for its DC in.

Aside of that my cube I10 doesn't comes with an office 365. Audio is also on the quiet side. Even on max I could barely hear it if my windows are open. Compared to my 8 inch Pipo w2. I can let go all of those but what annoys me most is it comes with Windows 8.1 bing that I couldn't display English system locale and its stucked on Chinese. T.T hope u can guide me a little bro.

gxthelord said:
Aside of that my cube I10 doesn't comes with an office 365. Audio is also on the quiet side. Even on max I could barely hear it if my windows are open. Compared to my 8 inch Pipo w2. I can let go all of those but what annoys me most is it comes with Windows 8.1 bing that I couldn't display English system locale and its stucked on Chinese. T.T hope u can guide me a little bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cant you even download and install the english language pack?
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk

jupiter2012 said:
cant you even download and install the english language pack?
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes I am unable to Install the language pack at all. I can type in English but when trying to set it to display it says This Version of windows can only display one language. I even tried removing the Chinese language. Still the same.

gxthelord said:
yes I am unable to Install the language pack at all. I can type in English but when trying to set it to display it says This Version of windows can only display one language. I even tried removing the Chinese language. Still the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my unit has been sent to repair because i dropped it, i will contact cube and ask them for a solution to your issue.
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk

Sure thanks a lot. I also have contacted cube. Waiting their reply.

for Chuwi vi10 corrected a bug with a dim font in the Android! When at us it is made?

Is this the same thing only with Windows 10?
http://www.dealsmachine.com/best_263611.html

Legioner007 said:
for Chuwi vi10 corrected a bug with a dim font in the Android! When at us it is made?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are there really people buying Chuwi tablets? Never trust their after sale service.
Sent from my LG-F460K using XDA Free mobile app

gxthelord said:
Sure thanks a lot. I also have contacted cube. Waiting their reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed the REMIX rom for i10, now it is more useful.
Sent from my LG-F460K using XDA Free mobile app

can u share the link to the rom? By the way are u able to keep the dual boot after flashing the remix?

gxthelord said:
can u share the link to the rom? By the way are u able to keep the dual boot after flashing the remix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After lookin it so long here is the link for the Cube Remix Rom. Would have appreciated it is TS share it earlier.
Remix OS: http://www.51cube.com/ch/DownShow.asp?ID=365
Stock Windows and Android Dual boot Firmware: http://www.51cube.com/ch/DownShow.asp?ID=350
PS. I'm not sure why but when flashing the stock firmwares, I lost my licensing for WIndows.

Dear all
i accidently uninstall insyde application for switching os to android
what should i do to access the android side of my cube i10?
thx a lot

doubt in Windows version

can you create powerpoint on lenovo yoga book just like you do in a normal laptop/pc

technically, yes you can. however, you should consider this two point. first, it has atom processor. if you want to create ppt including high resolution picture or high definition movie, it should be slow(but i think it's not a big deal). second, it's input device(halo keyboard and track pad) is naughty. you are going to mad if you don't have external keyboard and mouse. conclusion. it possible but for your mental fitness, you need bt keyboard and bt mouse or etc.

all office suite working great if you don't mind the performance of the processor. I've been using my YB for light office work, including editing ppt, and it has been nice to me.

The android version is also capable of producing powerpoint presentations. I chose the android version due to the processor and ram available. For android, the 4 gigs of ram plus the atom x5 processor is very snappy. For windows, the same specs are decidedly underpowered. Along with the 64gb storage, it makes for a low end windows 2in1, but a premium android device.
For the same price, amazon has an acer laptop with a 15.6 inch screen, 8 gigs of ram, discrete graphics, 256gb ssd and an i5. I don't see a major advantage of the windows yoga book in this price range.

uuang said:
The android version is also capable of producing powerpoint presentations. I chose the android version due to the processor and ram available. For android, the 4 gigs of ram plus the atom x5 processor is very snappy. For windows, the same specs are decidedly underpowered. Along with the 64gb storage, it makes for a low end windows 2in1, but a premium android device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was my reasoning also.
To be honest, I probably favor Windows over Android, but I really wanted this particular device, and for Windows I don't think the specs are up to speed. It'll do pretty much everything, but you'll be waiting a lot.

For ppt on android, which app did you guys use? I'm new to android tablet and I'm loving it, but I'm wondering how I can work on ppt, excel, and a few other windsows app on yogabook android.

Database Users

welcome