Cube Mix Plus review: a regular upgrade to an already versatile convertible - Windows 8 General

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Cube has been making and marketing Windows tablet/PC convertibles for quite a while now, and the Mix Plus is the newest addition to their high-end Windows tablet line. With the latest Intel kabylake Core-M 7Y30 processor under the hood, this slate is designed to replace the Cube i7 Book.
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 Kabylake Core-M 7Y30
CPU Frequency: 1.61GHz (Base clock) – 2.6GHZ (Turbo clock)
GPU: Intel HD 615
RAM / Storage: 4GB LPDDR3L/ 128GB SSD
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
WiFi: dual band (2.4Ghz & 5Ghz), WiFi hotspot
Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
Battery: 7.4V, 4,300mAh
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: 686g, Color: white front and silver rear
Retail Package
The Cube Mix Plus 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
Cube didn’t bring anything new in the design of the Mix Plus. The front is dominated by a 10.6-inch IPS display, with relatively big bezel around. We all love the small bezel design of 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. Cube has changed the color of the front bezel to white, but unfortunately, this color choice doesn’t give the tablet a wanted premium look, instead it feels very plasticky and cheap.
The slate has an Aluminum rear side, which is now coated in silver. Unlike the anodic oxide coating we normally find on high-end smartphones and tablets, the coating on the Cube Mix Plus’ rear side doesn’t offer much resistance to scratches.
Many high-end Windows tablets released in the recent two years only come with a single USB Type-C port, but the Mix Plus 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 fine with the Mix Plus.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the slate, the docking mechanism is the same as what was found on previous Cube models such as the i10 Premium and i7 Book.
You can also find the stereo side-facing speakers on the right side of the tablet.
A power button and a volume rocker sit comfortably on the top side.
Unlike new generation Windows tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S2 and Huawei Matebook, the Mix plus still feels like a product from the past. Improvement in design from its predecessor is basically nowhere to be found. The slate itself measures 273*172*9.6mm, and weighs 686g— 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, not really much lighter than a regular ultrabook.
Display and sound
The Mix Plus sports a 10.6-inch full HD IPS display. 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.
At 350 nits, the brightness of the panel may be way more than enough for ordinary indoor use, but if you want to use the tablet in a park under direct sunlight, you will struggle. Personally, I do think that a 10.6-inch display is a little bit too small for a convertible if you want to harness some real productivity. A 12-inch display like the ones found on the Surface Pro 4 or Lenovo Miix 4 definitely makes more sense for office tasks.
The sound quality is a mixed bag. Although the Mix Plus has no problem driving headphones to an ear-splitting level, the built-in speakers simply do not deliver. Not only are they on the quiet side, the sound also lacks punch and layers.
I always need my Bluetooth speakers or headphones when I listen to music or watch movies.
Input mechanism
Like the i7 Stylus and i7 Book, the Cube Mix Plus comes 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 normal typing pace with the Surface Type Cover and the stock Bluetooth keyboard for the Acer ICONIA W700. However, the keyboard bases for Cube i7 and i7 Stylus were actually more comfortable to type on than average tablet keyboards, but they were also thick and heavy.
The rotary keyboard base designed for the Mix Plus is identical to the one for the i7 Book, the only difference I can find is the color. In my opinion, this keyboard base is extremely well designed. 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.
With the keyboard base connected, the screen can be adjusted from 0 to 120 degrees. 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 a small base, 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 mimic the experience of using a mouse. However, there’s simply too much resistance for your finger to move around the trackpad comfortably, and you will miss the speed and convenience of a real 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.
System and apps
The Mix Plus 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 find a healthy number of touchscreen compatible applications in the Windows Store, and if that’s not enough, there are millions of PC applications you can install on the Mix Plus. When it comes to productivity, the Mix Plus easily beats lots of pricier tablets such as the REMIX Pro and the iPad Pro. And the Wacom pen even allows you to use the tablet on more occasions.
Performance
The Cube Mix Plus is powered by the latest Kabylake Core M3-7Y30 processor, which is an upgrade of the Skylake 6Y30 processor found in the i7 Book, but is still not as powerful as the 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 a 128GB SSD as internal storage.
Our Cinebench R10 CPU scores show just how much horsepower this processor can generate. The single core rating was 5,013, and the multi-core score was 9,949. The Cube Mix Plus can keep up with most Windows 10 tablets on the market right now, and that includes the entry model of Surface Pro 4.
We also ran other Benchmark tests on the Mix Plus, and were returned with some predictable scores. From the numbers, we can tell that the Kabylake Core M3 processor used in the Mix Plus betters the Atom processors used in entry-level Windows tablets in terms of horsepower, but is no match for those Core i-series processors of the same generation.
The benchmark scores are reflected in day-to-day usage, the Mix Plus 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 the Lenovo Yoga Book, suffered a bit with this kind of tasks. But the Kabylake Core M3 chip is competent, and the 4GB memory allows you to handle a decent amount of multi-tasking.
As fast as the Cube Mix Plus could be in your everyday tasks, it is still a tablet, and can’t fully replace a workstation desktop or laptop. There will be lags or stutters while running big applications such as Lightroom or Corel Draw, or during graphic-intense 3D gaming. It is more suited for being used as a portable friend instead of your only personal computer.
Storage
The Mix Plus offers a FORESEE O1229B solid state drive, with 128GB of storage space. There is 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 on par with the drives in most other high-end Windows tablets, and much faster compared to the eMMc used in those Atom based Windows slates. Our AS SSD benchmark showed a read speed of 490.79MB/s, and a write speed of 197.15MB/s.
Temperature
As with other Core M powered tablets, there are no fans in the Cube Mix Plus, meaning you’ll never hear it no matter how hot it gets, and it will get quite 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.
Battery life
The Mix Plus features a 7.4V 4,300mAh battery, on par with the original i7 Book but is 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 Mix Plus performed slightly below average—still, at 6 hours, 41 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
Priced at $399.99, the Cube Mix Plus is a pretty good 2-in-1 tablet, but the improvements over its predecessor are quite limited. Besides the new processor and dual band Wi-Fi, there isn’t really much to talk about. Cube isn’t trying to make the Mix Plus more aesthetically appealing than its predecessor, or they are doing it in the wrong way. They are not trying to add more functionalities to the slate, either. Many Core-M powered tablets from other Chinese brands now feature 8GB RAM and 200GB+ SSD, which should be more future-proof, yet Cube still sticks with the amount they offered two years ago when they released the Cube i7, which was also known as the first Core-M powered tablet ever.
With that said, if you want an affordable Windows tablet which could offer more horsepower and speed than Atom-based slates such as the Surface 3 and the Lenovo Yogabook, the Cube Mix Plus is one of the choices you should consider.

Windows Button Customization
I have a cube too with this windows logo button.
I am running android on it and I want this windows button to run a command under su when pushing.
Is there an app or any tool or setting that might help me in customizing this button?? I looked around for quite some time now but could not find anything helpful.
Thanks!

peterl30 said:
I have a cube too with this windows logo button.
I am running android on it and I want this windows button to run a command under su when pushing.
Is there an app or any tool or setting that might help me in customizing this button?? I looked around for quite some time now but could not find anything helpful.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not worth to run android on mix plus, you will disable a considerable number of hardware components by putting android on a Cube Mix Plus

Virgo Sun said:
It is not worth to run android on mix plus, you will disable a considerable number of hardware components by putting android on a Cube Mix Plus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a cube i7 stylus. And I am so far quite happy with it. The only problem I have: If it turns into sleep mode (display turns dark) and I want to wake it up again by pressing any button my display will lose its touch feature and therefore stays dark. I have to connect external mouse or keyboard to make it work again. (and run: "rmmod i2c_hid && modprobe i2c_hid")
Thats why I weant to reconfigure this windows button. It would be wonderful to press this button to, run this command and voila - my display still got touch feature. Maybe some day ....

peterl30 said:
I have a cube i7 stylus. And I am so far quite happy with it. The only problem I have: If it turns into sleep mode (display turns dark) and I want to wake it up again by pressing any button my display will lose its touch feature and therefore stays dark. I have to connect external mouse or keyboard to make it work again. (and run: "rmmod i2c_hid && modprobe i2c_hid")
Thats why I weant to reconfigure this windows button. It would be wonderful to press this button to, run this command and voila - my display still got touch feature. Maybe some day ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cube I7 Stylus is very different architecture vs Cube Mix Plus
My only reason to buy Cube Mix Plus is the Stylus which works best in Windows application software

Virgo Sun said:
Cube I7 Stylus is very different architecture vs Cube Mix Plus
My only reason to buy Cube Mix Plus is the Stylus which works best in Windows application software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. But I asked everywhere in hope to find an answer. Is it really so difficult to make this windows button run a command after pushing? That would help a lot. Thanks!

Virgo Sun said:
Cube I7 Stylus is very different architecture vs Cube Mix Plus
My only reason to buy Cube Mix Plus is the Stylus which works best in Windows application software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My i7 Stylus has the same problem, but the Mix Plus works like a charm.

I'm quite happy with mine and I like that it is wireless AC. The color doesn't bother me much. Keyboard is way better than the Chuwi HiBook Pro that I returned. The only thing I really don't like is the speakers being on the right side only and that the battery should've been bigger. But for $309 + $50 keyboard, I am pretty happy with it. Ordered through gearbest on May 28th and received it on May 5th. Selected priority shipping and was free. Pretty quick considering it came from China.

Dock compatibility?
Hi guys,
I have been tweaking around my Cube i7 stylus up to the point that I short-circuited and fried one of the integrated circuits for charging and pretty much lost the possibility to get some juice in it again, this was some year and a bit ago and now I saw deal on GearBest for 230 Euro (about which I read on offertehitech .. cannot post link), so I was wondering if I buy Cube Mix plus, can I re-use my old keyboard dock?
It seems the same pogo pins on the photo, anyone tried / has both to try?
Thanks,
Mike

@MikeeCZ
Yes you can, I have bought the blue Cube i7 keyboard version for my Cube Mix Plus because I don't like the gray one.

Hello, I need your help. My Cube Mix Plus has stopped charging, after contacting the service found that the power circuit is faulty. For repair, I need circuit device . Please help
(здравствуйте, мне нужна ваша помощь. Мой Cube Mix Plus перестал заряжаться, после обращения в сервис установили, что неисправна цепь питания. Для ремонта мне нужна схема устройства . Пожалуйста помогите! )

change boot order
How can I change the boot order in order to set the USB drive as the first position in boot priorities?
Thank you in advance for your anwers!

Related

Asus Vivotab Note 8 (M80TA) Official thread

There isn't already an official thread about this wonderful little tablet Asus Vivotab Note 8 , so here i start one
I can't be the only one who bought it, i hope xD
Sent from my M80TA using Tapatalk
i have the 32gb version.
I bought it for the wacom digitizer and office student, in particular onenote, that together are my idealistic perfect tool for my student activities.
Straight out of the box i had a problem with the Windows Store, i couldn't install any app because every time i clicked on the install button the download didn't started and the app was going to Pending state.
After an afternoon on official Microsoft forum that suggested ton of fixes , and none of them worked, i solved the problem following this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2vnhcoKCeQ
Sent from my M80TA using Tapatalk
I got the 64GB version. Can't say I've had any issues. Put a 64GB micro SD in, and redirected most the libraries, Skydrive to point at it. I've got my steam games split between internal and the SD card.
I picked up one of the I-Blason Case and screen protectors off amazon. The case works nice, the top cover can fold over doesn't get in the way much at all.
Haven't had any issues with the MS store on mine, was able to purchase and install the plex app no problem as well as a e-reader app and a couple others.
The only thing I've noticed with mine is that the stylus isn't terribly accurate around the edges. It makes trying to grab some of the slider bars in IE and other programs a challenge. I've seen some of the calibration guides here and have been debating trying one of them to see if it would improve that.
Edit: I also tried Bluestack for getting some android apps running, but it's been pretty abysmal performance with it with some apps not launching at all, and others I can launch, but then they just don't work correctly. My high hopes for using it with this table have pretty much been trashed
Can you post a screen snip of Disk Management (from Win+X menu)? I'd like to see the storage layout.
Also, please post the Windows experience index. It's hidden in 8.x. Run 'winsat prepop' from CMD. Wait to finish, then run 'get-wmiobject -class win32_winsat' in PowerShell. Actually, just post the scores of all the components. TIA.
Note 8 was out in UK/EU a month ago, so info & reviews are already on Youtube. It improves upon DVP8 w/ good stylus support, but is also more expensive, now that DVP8 has hit $200 bargain bin. OTOH, by virtue of being first (and heavily discounted), DVP8 has garnered a decent-sized userbase.
Asus Note 8 + DVP8 + Lenovo ThinkPad 8 & Miix 2 8 + Acer W4 + Toshiba Encore round out the Win tab 8" crop. Here's my Cliff Notes comparison: DVP8 = cheap, Note 8 = stylus, W4/Encore = HDMI out, TP8 = 1080p res.
For me, stylus support is critical, not for note-taking, but for running desktop. But I'm also looking for more ports, and these don't have them. Cherry Trail is on tap for Computex, and should roll out in fall, so Bay Trail will slot into the low-end in a few months. Win 8.1 won't change, but hopefully the hardware will have better capability at lower price points. At $300'ish, they can't compete against iPad Mini, hence the $250 goal w/ cheaper Win license and 16GB SKU.
As they are I think it's a good first effort. If MS can swallow its pride and allow good desktop use--eg w/ integrated pointer in bezel or stylus--I think Win tabs can do well. Because Metro for now isn't enough to win (excuse the pun), and chubby fingers don't work for desktop.
Since MS' Surface line is intended to be hero devices, a good question is whether MS will come out with a Surface Mini to spearhead the mini-tab effort--and if it does, whether it'll sport the comatose RT (in hopes of a Hail Mary miracle), or with an Atom, competing directly against its OEM partners.
VivoTab Note 8 digitizer demo
ThinkPad 8 vs DVP8 vs VivoTab Note 8
Acer W4 review
Toshiba Encore review
lordgodgeneral said:
I got the 64GB version. Can't say I've had any issues. Put a 64GB micro SD in, and redirected most the libraries, Skydrive to point at it. I've got my steam games split between internal and the SD card.
I picked up one of the I-Blason Case and screen protectors off amazon. The case works nice, the top cover can fold over doesn't get in the way much at all.
Haven't had any issues with the MS store on mine, was able to purchase and install the plex app no problem as well as a e-reader app and a couple others.
The only thing I've noticed with mine is that the stylus isn't terribly accurate around the edges. It makes trying to grab some of the slider bars in IE and other programs a challenge. I've seen some of the calibration guides here and have been debating trying one of them to see if it would improve that.
Edit: I also tried Bluestack for getting some android apps running, but it's been pretty abysmal performance with it with some apps not launching at all, and others I can launch, but then they just don't work correctly. My high hopes for using it with this table have pretty much been trashed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you tell me how to get skydrive to point to the SD card only? Also what libraries were you successfully able to direct to SD? I attempted to re-direct temp files and app data but that ended catastrophically with all things in metro including system restore settings disappeared, and would not even come back after returning things to normal. Had to do a full system recovery with a keyboard plugged in to force it to restore mode.
Verry Good Thanks
ThomasBags said:
Could you tell me how to get skydrive to point to the SD card only? Also what libraries were you successfully able to direct to SD? I attempted to re-direct temp files and app data but that ended catastrophically with all things in metro including system restore settings disappeared, and would not even come back after returning things to normal. Had to do a full system recovery with a keyboard plugged in to force it to restore mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moving SkyDrive is pretty easy, just open explorer on the desktop right click and go to properties. There's a tab called location where you can set where its local files are stored.
The other thing I relocated were Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Downloads.
I haven't see too many people try to move the apps folder though, but symlinks would possibly be your best try, though I have no idea if that would work or not.
I've only had mine for a couple of weeks but I already enjoy it way more then any of the android tablets I have. The lack of apps is discouraging at times but I've always been able to find a desktop alternative and enjoy a better gaming experience playing my steam games.
I agree that all the current 8" tablets leave a little to be desired. To me it came down between this one and the TP8. The hdmi out and 1080 sounded nice, but I really didn't see myself using it very often, I have a htpc hooked up to the TV already as well as a laptop, and a the 1080 would work great over hdmi, but I figured it would actually hurt the desktop experience when using the 8" screen. The Wacom on the note 8 pretty much sealed it as this was mostly for on the go use.
The one item I would really wish for is a dedicated charging port and separate USB port so you can use USB and charge at the same time. I dont see that happening as I think Intel and the OEMs are purposefully neutering their designs specifically so they can't be used as a cheap desktop replacement via hdmi and a USB hub and possibly cut into the sales of their more expensive models.
>...a dedicated charging port and separate USB port...I think Intel and the OEMs are purposefully neutering their designs
A better explanation is that it was cheaper to go the single-port route, since getting to the $300 mark is the paramount consideration for Win tabs. Even so, they're still too expensive to be competitive, as evidenced by DVP8's drastic discounting. This won't change with $250 as the goal for upcoming gen. The next crop will be as barebone as the present one.
Vendors won't be motivated to invest much in their products, with no improvement in Win until next year. Low pricing will be key, and most vendors will be content to use Intel's reference design with little differentiation, as was for this gen. The good news is that we'll see $200 Win tabs by year end. If MS & vendors can get desktop to be functional (read: cheap stylus support), they'll have a compelling pitch against the sea of Androids.
Has anyone found a non magnetic case yet? Finally discovered the wonky stylus input was due to magnets, go figure. Waiting impatiently for poetic to do one of their productive cases for the tablet.
ThomasBags said:
Has anyone found a non magnetic case yet? Finally discovered the wonky stylus input was due to magnets, go figure. Waiting impatiently for poetic to do one of their productive cases for the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even with a non magnetic case, there are the two magnets of the speakers, so near the asus logo and front camera there will always be some distortion I believe.
ThomasBags said:
Has anyone found a non magnetic case yet? Finally discovered the wonky stylus input was due to magnets, go figure. Waiting impatiently for poetic to do one of their productive cases for the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got one of the i-Blason cases off amazon, it has magnet on the right side of the case, and one in the left most flap on the edge for folding over the cover (other i-Blason cases have up to 5 on them). I haven't really seen any issues using this case with the stylus. My experience has been that the accuracy drops some close to the edge of the screen, but this happens with and without the case, so I don't think i'm getting any distortion from the magnets on the case.
Let me know if your interested, I can get the exact model off amazon for you.
Hi Guys,
Maybe somebody can help. Got the Tablet a few days ago. Everything is Windows
Is it possible to hold Network and for example an audio stream when Tablet is in Standby (Energysave) whatever....screen off???
I can't find a way to do so....screen off....everything stops...hm. No further Options in Energyplan Menu....
Thanks in advance....
Open an elevated command prompt, and run 'powercfg /a' to see if Connected Standby is available as one of the sleep states (it should). Then, run 'powercfg /sleepstudy' to track battery drain. More info here,
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn495346(v=vs.85).aspx
If CS is available, then go into Device Manager | Network adapters, check Advanced tab to see if there's an option to keep connection alive during sleep (this should have been par for CS).
It could well be that drivers are still buggy, which would be kind of normal for these, being the first-run models. DVP8 had bunch of problems with CS.
Other powercfg options to check out,
powercfg /energy (report system energy use)
powercfg /batteryreport (history of battery usage)
Other cool things shown with /?.
Has anyone found a USB keyboard that works while booting? I'm specifically trying to go into safe mode so I can add hibernation to the power options, however when getting to the advanced boot section, none of my keyboards seem to recognize. They work fine in normal OS mode.
Think it may be a power issue or something similar?
Double tap to wake
I'm really liking this tablet. The screen size is just right and having full desktop experience when I need it is helpful.
The only thing that I'm missing is double tap to wake. I do not like the button placement for power/windows key and find it awkward and stiff to wake up...
keithhowe said:
I'm really liking this tablet. The screen size is just right and having full desktop experience when I need it is helpful.
The only thing that I'm missing is double tap to wake. I do not like the button placement for power/windows key and find it awkward and stiff to wake up...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Double tap to wake would be awesome... but i doubt we will see something like that on windows tablet
VivoTab note 8 virtualbox runing virtual machines
VivoTab note 8 virtualbox running virtual machines
so far its been really nice to run Linux even android on virtualbox has windows 8 touchscreen support and it makes it a little easier to use on windows 8 tablet and the full screen mode is cool if the Linux is lite it run really well makes it feel like is native install
Linux lite run like a baby
android also if config right many Linux distros run on this tab with virtualbox if config right just a tip
Stylus question
I just got my new AVTN8 yesterday and was hoping that the stylus would make it easier to use (I bought and returned the Toshiba Encore a few months ago) but I guess that I was spoiled by the Samsung S Pen.
Is there another compatible stylus out there that has some of that kind of functionality? I tend to take a lot of screenshots while researching various topics, so that would be my main usage.
Guys help please
Am confused between this and note 8.0
Im getting both for about the same price
Main thing im after's the stylus, samsung seems ahead here as i dont think the vivo has that many stylus based apps looking for input here my work s mostly writing , no fancy graphs or diagrams , just text
Again handling is a factor and it seems the vivos thinner and lighter
Im not familiar with the windows environment your input will be appreciated guys
I'm not after specs and notes and movies are all im gonna use it for
So guys help me out is it wise investing in the note or should i get the vivo? Hows the stylus front?
Doomrider said:
Am confused between this and note 8.0
Im getting both for about the same price
Main thing im after's the stylus, samsung seems ahead here as i dont think the vivo has that many stylus based apps looking for input here my work s mostly writing , no fancy graphs or diagrams , just text
Again handling is a factor and it seems the vivos thinner and lighter
Im not familiar with the windows environment your input will be appreciated guys
I'm not after specs and notes and movies are all im gonna use it for
So guys help me out is it wise investing in the note or should i get the vivo? Hows the stylus front?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beyond both being 8" tablets with a wacom digitiser (the fancy schmancy stylus, samsung call it an S-Pen but it is just rebranded wacom gear) the 2 are almost entirely different.
The samsung galaxy note uses a Samsung Enoxys processor with the ARM instruction set running android. The vivotab note 8 is using an intel atom baytrail processor which uses the x86 instruction set and runs *full* windows 8.
Most phones and tablets do use ARM processors. Nothing unusual on that front for the galaxy note.
x86 processors are what you would tend to find in your laptop or desktop computer. The vivotab note is more or less a low end laptop ripped apart and put inside a tablet casing. It is just a normal windows 8 computer which just happens to have an 8" touchscreen on the front.
I'd say of the 2, the vivotab is the more powerful device, but windows doesnt quite have the full touch ecosystem available yet. It will do everything you want though, onenote is meant to be excellent with a stylus and for media playback you can get VLC on the windows store as a full touchscreen app or simply use iTunes or the full blown version of VLC or whatever other media software you have preferred on windows on the desktop interface. It also comes with microsoft office preinstalled for free, not just a trial version.
pros for the samsung would be that android from day 1 has always been touch based so all the apps in the ecosystem are of course touch based usually. S-Pen integration is good. Handwriting accuracy wont be very different from the vivotab particularly but you do get samsungs very good S-Note application.
Alot of computing stores have surface pro demo models on display, this also has the wacom pen so usage wise the vivotab and surface pro will be very similar except for the pro having a more powerful processor (for your needs, baytrail is fine) and bigger screen, see how you like windows 8 on a touch screen and go from there. You may have to ask staff for access to the pen, or if you own a samsung S-Pen device already the pen from that *should* work.

Cube iWork 8 Windows 8 Tablet Review - Cheapeast Windows Tablet Ever

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Once considered a novelty, 8-inch Windows tablets are now everywhere: Lenovo has two; Acer has two, Dell has one, so does Toshiba. Not to be left out, Some Chinese manufacturers recently started shipping their own 8-inch Windows tablet.
For
Good battery life
Nice display
Solid design and build quality
Full desktop functionalities
HDMI support
MicroSD card support
Sensible price
Against
Slightly sluggish performance with heavier applications
Poor cameras
Small internal storage
BOTTOM LINE
The Acube iWork 8 may not stand out in any one area, but it is a small Windows tablet with a solid design, a pleasant display and long battery life.
Key Features
8-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen of 1280 x 800 px resolution;
1.8GHZ Intel Atom Bay-Trail-T Z3735E Quad-core Processor, Intel HD Graphic (Gen7) GPU
1GB of LPDDR3 RAM
Windows 8.1
16GB of SSD built-in Storage
2MP front-facing camera/2MP rear-facing camera
Back-mounted stereo speakers
Wi-Fi 802.11
Bluetooth v4.0
USB 2.0 host (dongle required)
Micro SD card slot
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
HDMI V1.4
5,000mAh Li-Po battery
What is the Cube iWork 8?​
The Cube iWork 8 an 8-inch, Windows 8.1 tablet joining the not so great but insanely priced Ramos i8pro and the more impressive Dell Venue Pro 8 as a place where you can get all the benefits of a full Windows PC like access to Microsoft Office and the ability to download desktop applications all in a much smaller, compact body.
As a member of the second generation of 8-inch Windows 8 tablet line, it is definitely thinner and lighter, yet still dogged by some minor performance issues.
Design
Looks aren't everything. But to the extent that good design and build quality matter (especially on budget devices like these), Cube is off to a fine start. Unlike most of its rivals, the iWork 8 is more designed for horizontal use, you could tell that from its boot screen and also the logo placement on its back. It makes sense because most of the applications are made for landscape mode. But whenever you want to use it in portrait, the small bezel really helps you to have a solid hold.
You'll be hard-pressed to find an 8-inch tablet that isn't thin, light and easy to hold in one hand. Nonetheless, all that's true of the Cube iWork 8: measuring at 206*126*10mm, it immediately makes a good case for choosing an 8-inch tablet over a 10- or 11-inch one. The small bezel makes it look even more compact than the Dell Venue 8 pro and the Acer Iconia W4. Weighing at only 340g, it is even lighter than my first 7-inch Galaxy Tab.
One thing that makes the iWork 8 a bit strange to use at first: It appears to be missing a Start button. More precisely, it has one; it's just not where you'd expect it to be. Instead of a touch-sensitive Start button built into one of the bezels, the tablet has a physical Start key located on the top horizontal edge of the device, right next to the volume rocker. I'll be honest, it took me quite a little while to stop tapping the bezels and go straight for the physical button. That said, now that I've gotten the hang of it, I have to give Cube credit for at least choosing the button location carefully. Since the key sits on the top edge, over toward the left, it's easy to hit when you're using the tablet in landscape mode, and also when you flip it over into portrait, at which point the button is within reach of your right thumb. Still, a capacitive key would've been even easier.
The power/standby key and all the ports and slots are hosted on the left edge, you will find the 2.5mm DC port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a MicroSD card slot which you will surely need to compensate the small 16GB internal storage, as well as a Mini HDMI port. I am so glad that Cube includes the HDMI output for the iWork 8, which neither Lenovo Miix 2 8 nor Dell Venue 8 Pro has.
Display and Sound​
Given that the same series of Bay Trail processors power all these 8-inch Windows tablets, there aren't many opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves: It's design, display quality and maybe camera performance. Fortunately, Cube didn't skimp on the screen -- the 1,280 x 800 IPS panel here is just lovely. Although it lacks the exceptional clarity you’d expect on small tablets like the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX 7 or the iPad Mini, colors are punchy, without being too saturated, and the screen is easy to view from various angles. Even at only 30% brightness level, the IPS panel can be bright enough for indoor use, so it is quite possible to enjoy the vibrant screen while still getting long battery life.
The speakers are also great, loud and clear enough for watching movies in a quiet room, but you would want to plug in a headphone to get more refined sound for music.
System & software​
In retrospect, it's not surprising that Microsoft decided to showcase Windows 8.1 on 8-inch tablets: Many of the improvements to the OS make it especially easy to use on smaller-screened devices. For example, new keyboard shortcuts allow you to swipe the space bar to cycle through spelling suggestions, and to swipe various letters to expose the punctuation symbols that would otherwise be hidden. Also, you get more options for Live Tile sizes, including an extra small one that seems especially well-suited to smaller displays like this.
Additionally, all of the other headline features in Windows 8.1 can be found here, including an always-visible Start button in the lower-left corner of the desktop, expanded split-screen options and the ability to take photos from the lock screen (an especially handy feature on a smaller device like this). Also, as you've no doubt heard by now, Windows 8.1 ushers in a slew of new first-party apps, including Reading List (an alternative to Pocket), Bing Food & Drink, Bing Health & Fitness, a calculator, an alarms app and a sound recorder. Meanwhile, other built-in programs have received meaningful updates, with Xbox Radio and a new set of photo-editing tools, to name just two examples.
And what of third-party apps? I am happy to report the selection is steadily growing, even if there are still some holes. Flipboard and Whatsapp arrived on the Windows Store recently, so did TED, which launched as I was writing this review. Even before that, we had apps like Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, QQ, Line, Foursquare, Pandora, Rhapsody, Slacker Radio, Amazon Kindle, Nook, Zinio, Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fitbit, Mint.com, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Hulu Plus, Netflix, ESPN, ABC Family, ABC News, NBC News, CBS, CBS Sports, CNN, MTV and the AP.
At this point, the "Windows doesn't have enough apps" argument simply doesn't carry as much weight: The Windows Store catalog is growing, and it's growing fast. That said, if you buy the Cube iWork 8 (or any other Windows tablet), you still won't find every program you're searching for, at least not on the day you buy it. Some notable omissions? Instagram, Tumblr, HBO Go, Pocket and a first-party NPR player, to name just a few. Some major bank and airline apps would be nice, too. Again, though, given how many heavy-hitters eventually made their way onto the platform, we have faith that most of these holdouts will join the fold at some point or another.
However, the strength of the Win8 system is its accessibility to all desktop Windows applications, which means unlimited productivity. I admit it is not always easy to do everything on an 8-inch screen, but the HDMI port makes sure you are always able to connect to a bigger display.
Running office 365 on the iWork 8 is simply just amazing, never ever had I expected that I can do everything to my PPTs and excel sheets on such a small device. During my 2-day business trip to Guangzhou, I brought both my 15-inch HP laptop and my iWork 8, and I am pleasantly surprised that very seldom did I need to really use my heavy and chunky laptop, the iWork 8 does everything from sending out meeting invitations in Outlook to revising some PPT slides quite well. But if your work does require a lot of text input in Word documents or running some very complicated calculations in Excel, I would suggest you pair the iWork 8 with Bluetooth keyboard.
Performance​
As I already discovered when I reviewed the Cube iWork 10, Intel's new Bay Trail processors are powerful enough to handle not just Windows Store apps, but also lightweight desktop programs like Photoshop, Icon Creator and SAP. That's true here as well: The iWork 8 is fit to run all the above programs, along with Microsoft Office 365 and even some games, as we'll describe in a moment. On the Metro Modern UI side, the iWork 8 flies through animations and transitions, and opens apps quickly. It's worth noting that the iWork 8 has only 1GB of RAM, whenever the tasks pile up, the performance could be crippled.
It takes 25 seconds to boot up -- about twice the time it takes Acer Iconia W700 to fully load. That said, it is still much faster than most of the PC which uses traditional SATA disk.
The iWork 8’s biggest talent might actually be web browsing: Pages load quickly and jumping between tabs is a breeze, even with many tabs open, it still remains quite responsive, definitely a much smoother experience than given by the iPad or Android tablets.
If benchmarks mean anything to you, it notched a score of 498ms in the SunSpider JavaScript test. Remember, too, that lower numbers are better, so this actually surpasses the Nexus 7 2013 edition (1141.9ms), Surface RT (968.2ms) as well as the Cube Talk 97 (972.8ms), closely behind the iPad Air (384.0) and the Cube iWork 10 (420.2ms).
The more graphically intense Peacekeeper test returned a score of 624, which again put it way ahead of the Surface RT (329) and the Google Nexus 7 2013 (589), but still falls behind the iPad Air (1132) and the iWork 10 (420.2ms)
As for gaming, the iWork 8’s Bay Trail processor is able to run most of the games you can find in the Windows store. Even so, don't expect it to replace your gaming rig as traditional 3D PC games would struggle due to the insufficient RAM.
I have experienced no struggle in video playback, as the Xunlei Kankan Player I installed on the iWork 8 easily breezed through all the videos I threw at it.
Cameras​
The Cube iWork 8 has dual cameras. The 2MP front-facing camera works well with Skype video calls in abundant lighting environment, but I would never use it for selfies given the low quality.
The rear-facing camera is also 2MP, and has auto-focus support, but the photos it takes don’t even have enough quality for Facebook or Instagram updates.
Battery Life​
The iWork 8 packs a 5,000mAh Li-Po battery, which Cube specifically claims that it could give the iWork 8 eight hours of battery life. Perhaps with light usage, you can get the tablet to last that long, but in my video-looping test, the iWork managed a more modest seven hours and 11 minutes. With more applications running at the same time, the battery life could even be even shorter, so 6-7 hours of average battery life is what you should expect from the iWork 8.
The annoying issue actually comes with the charging. It takes unnecessarily long time (4-5 hours) to finish a full charge, pretty strange given the tablet only has a 5,000mAh battery.
Wrap-up​
Priced at RMB799 (USD129), The Cube iWork 8 certainly makes a much better sense than Ramos’ attempt at an 8-inch Windows 8 tablet – the RMB1499 (USD241) Ramos i8 Pro. While I personally prefer the look of the Acer Iconia W4, the iWork 8’s a still a well-built tablet with a slightly slimmer and lighter body. The screen might not be class-leading, but it is on par with its higher-priced rivals, it has the capacity to keep you working throughout the day.
While it is running on a full version of Windows 8.1, it doesn’t mean it’s capable of the same performance as a conventional desktop or laptop. The power on board is sufficient for typical tablet tasks, but if you attempt anything more intensive, the chinks in the armour begin to show. The 1GB RAM makes sense for tablet tasks, but is certainly insufficient for many of the heavy-weight desktop applications.
To get the best out of Office, you’d need to invest in a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and mouse, although the HDMI support does mean you can hook it up to a larger display to make working with it more manageable.
If we had to pick a Windows tablet to use as a tablet, The Cube iWork 8 might be a decent choice, but if you need more desktop functionalities, then you’d better go for the bigger iWork 10.
Probably wil cost 180usd for the rest buying outside china. At that price better go with dell venue 8 which can be had for 199 usd during sale
yusoffb01 said:
Probably wil cost 180usd for the rest buying outside china. At that price better go with dell venue 8 which can be had for 199 usd during sale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where can i buy dell venue 8 for 199 dollars?
amazon during holidays. If it doesnt deliver to you country, then use forwarder like hopshopgo, probably for 20usd more
Wow, that was a really impressive review. Nicely done. Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
I'd also make a counterpoint to one thing you said, though: video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery. Truly typical tablet uses like web browsing and ebook reading, with some video but not non-stop for 7+ hours, could easily reach the 8 hours mentioned. Some of that will depend on how much the WiFi radio is being used, though. It would have been interesting to see what the battery life is if you just disable sleep mode and have it sit there with a web page that auto-refreshes (over WiFi) every thirty seconds, for example.
Also, it would have been nice if you'd mentioned location sensors like GPS (or more likely, lack thereof) up at the top.
>video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery.
It depends on the SoC; some are optimized for video decoding, and battery will actually last longer on vid-loop test than a more representative test. Engadget's batt test is vid-loop.
>Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
It's an entry model; cams are considered a perk on this. I'd be thankful if it has a decent IPS screen and reasonable battery life.
Ignoring the so-called review for the nonce (since IMO it smells like a "sponsored post"), this is the tail-end of the 8" Win tab crop with 1GB RAM & 16GB flash that we'll see this year. Median price should be around $150. One step up would be same setup w/ 2GB and 32GB flash, for probably $200. I'm glad to see that even for the bottom rung, this has both HDMI-out and dedicated charging port. That was a big headache for last year's crop.
Speaking of improvements, I'm also glad to see both MS and Google following Apple's footstep in moving to "squarer" aspect ratios. SP3 is 3:2, and the aborted Surface Mini is rumored to be 4:3. As well, rumored Nexus 9 is said to be 4:3. Wide-screen sucks for portrait use, and sucks for most uses other than watching videos. Most of this year's crop will be wide-screen, but am hoping more will follow the platform vendors' lead for next year.
Add: On the downside, freebie Office is now rental-ware. While it was never a compelling selling point for small Win devices, it's a decent perk. Now, I would consider it a net negative, for the space it takes up on these limited-storage devices. You can't free up the space, since it's undoubtedly baked into the WIMBoot blob.
One solution is a clean install. With basic optimization, a 32-bit 8.1u1 install takes up 7GB incl swap (in binary, 16GB = roughly 15GB binary, so 8GB remaining). That would also speed up disk I/O, since WIMBoot is no longer in play.
e.mote said:
>video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery.
It depends on the SoC; some are optimized for video decoding, and battery will actually last longer on vid-loop test than a more representative test. Engadget's batt test is vid-loop.
>Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
It's an entry model; cams are considered a perk on this. I'd be thankful if it has a decent IPS screen and reasonable battery life.
Ignoring the so-called review for the nonce (since IMO it smells like a "sponsored post"), this is the tail-end of the 8" Win tab crop with 1GB RAM & 16GB flash that we'll see this year. Median price should be around $150. One step up would be same setup w/ 2GB and 32GB flash, for probably $200. I'm glad to see that even for the bottom rung, this has both HDMI-out and dedicated charging port. That was a big headache for last year's crop.
Speaking of improvements, I'm also glad to see both MS and Google following Apple's footstep in moving to "squarer" aspect ratios. SP3 is 3:2, and the aborted Surface Mini is rumored to be 4:3. As well, rumored Nexus 9 is said to be 4:3. Wide-screen sucks for portrait use, and sucks for most uses other than watching videos. Most of this year's crop will be wide-screen, but am hoping more will follow the platform vendors' lead for next year.
Add: On the downside, freebie Office is now rental-ware. While it was never a compelling selling point for small Win devices, it's a decent perk. Now, I would consider it a net negative, for the space it takes up on these limited-storage devices. You can't free up the space, since it's undoubtedly baked into the WIMBoot blob.
One solution is a clean install. With basic optimization, a 32-bit 8.1u1 install takes up 7GB incl swap (in binary, 16GB = roughly 15GB binary, so 8GB remaining). That would also speed up disk I/O, since WIMBoot is no longer in play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they sent me free models to test, but it is not sponsored. everything i wrote down was true.
Non-widescreen ratios were normal for years until the more recent trend for 16:9, nothing that Apple are "leading" on. The nice thing about Android and Windows is choice. It's good that there are some non-widescreen devices appearing for those who prefer it, but I'd hate for most of them to switch to that.
Personally I prefer widescreen on a tablet: good for video (one of the most useful things about a tablet, there's a reason they were called "media players" for most of the 2000s); it's better for e-reading (portrait mode is more like a book); and it fits easier in a pocket or a bag. For other purposes, like software, games, I don't think either works out better overall.
It's on desktop monitors I disliked the trend towards widescreen, as it's not like one gains anything by reducing the vertical height.
>Non-widescreen ratios were normal for years until the more recent trend for 16:9, nothing that Apple are "leading" on.
Sorry, Apple iPad leads the way on 4:3 tablets. Yep, 4:3 CRTs existed way back when (I had plenty of them), but wide-screen now dominates computing displays, including tablets. There were a few 4:3 Android tabs, but they're most Shenzhen, and mostly iPad clones.
>The nice thing about Android and Windows is choice
Not for screen ratio. Most Android tabs are 16:10. Win tabs are mostly 16:9 at 10+" sizes, and 16:10 at 8". There is no practical choice unless you want to get a China tab, or some outdated model (Lenovo had some 4:3 ones). But as said, SP3 is 3:2, as is the aborted Surface Mini, and at least some coming Nexus toys are rumored to have a squarer aspect. So perhaps there will be more choice, but not as of yet.
>Personally I prefer widescreen on a tablet: good for video
Yes, video is the primary use-case for CONSUMPTION, which widescreen is good for. It's bad for most everything else. If MS wants to harp on the PRODUCTIVITY angle, then widescreen is a poor choice.
>it's better for e-reading (portrait mode is more like a book)
No, portrait use is awkward with widescreen tablets (unless for a small size like a phone, where one-handed use trumps other consideration). It's a recurring complaint with 16:9 Windows tablets, frequently cited in reviews.
>and it fits easier in a pocket or a bag
Pocketability doesn't apply to tablets. Not too many peeps stick 7" into their back pockets, and Win tabs don't go that small anyway.
>It's on desktop monitors I disliked the trend towards widescreen, as it's not like one gains anything by reducing the vertical height.
The same problem--limited vertical space--applies to widescreen tablets in landscape mode.
I actually rather like widescreen desktop displays - in landscape mode they allow more windows or documents side-by-side (for doing code reviews with reference materials close at hand, this is huge) and in portrait mode they provide an excellent format for a long-but-not-too-wide text column (think about the aspect ratio of the readable portion of each side of a typical paperback book's page); I usually use that orientation for things like email and chat logs, but it can be used for lots of other things.
None of that has much to do with Windows tablets, though. I have good enough vision I can set the DPI scaling to 100% on Surface 2 / Pro / Pro 2 and still have readable text, which lets me snap windows side-by-side the way I do on my work machine, but apparently that's weird?
>in landscape mode [widescreens] allow more windows or documents side-by-side...and in portrait mode they provide an excellent format for a long-but-not-too-wide text column
Side-by-side doc viewing is applicable for desktop-sized (20+") displays, not tablets. Tab displays are already sized-constrained for even single-doc view; SxS-view isn't practical.
Portrait mode for widescreen is likewise constrained. It works for docs with reflowable text, but not for PDFs with mixed graphics/text (ie non-reflowable text) or comics; display width would be lacking for full page views.
I agree that the majority prefer widescreen, mostly because video-watching is by far the prevalent use on mobile devices. I don't agree that widescreen lends itself to productivity in portrait, for the simple fact that Windows hybrids (and Windows 8.1 itself) aren't designed for portrait use. For one, portrait mode means forfeitting use of the keyboard dock for all 2n1s, include Surfaces.
>I have good enough vision I can set the DPI scaling to 100% on Surface 2 / Pro / Pro 2 and still have readable text, which lets me snap windows side-by-side the way I do on my work machine, but apparently that's weird?
Not weird, but an outlier. People normally can't discern text at such dense resolution (assuming default font size), particularly older people. Regardless, for those who prefer it, SxS view work just as well if not better on a squarer display. Split SP3's 3:2 screen in half and you have two 4:3 displays.
Is office included?
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
amospfef said:
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, it doesn't, u need to purchase the office 365, but there is a one month free trail use.
Any idea if this can boot other operating systems - i'm thinking Xubuntu?
I have an HP Omni 10 and am very disappointed by the fact that it's tied into the pre-installed Windows 8.1 with no way to boot or install any other operating system.
Thanks.
Martin.
does it have gps?
Does the Cube iWork8 (2/32GB) have GPS? thanks
I dun think cube work8 is the cheapest one.
The PIPO W2 is same price but with the latest Baytrail Quad-core, 2gb RAM and 32gb memory. Got one from ebay.co.uk at £139.98. Much cheaper than other brand with same spec.
---------- Post added at 04:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 AM ----------
amospfef said:
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The PIPO w2 preinstallled win8.1 and full version Office365:good:
For reading pdf files and 'some' books I also prefer 4:3 format, for anything else wide screen seems the better solution.
Unless when the screen is big with high dpi, then more space in all directions prevails. But those are relatively expensive.
But for computing on the same dpi I would take an wide screen over 4:3 anytime. Though I do rotate my screen from time.
For tablet 7" or 8" wide is just more convenient in the hand and to put away in a pocket. You just can't do that with an 4:3.
@SuperSuperFrank: isn't the office version a one year for free subscription?
Buggster said:
For reading pdf files and 'some' books I also prefer 4:3 format, for anything else wide screen seems the better solution.
Unless when the screen is big with high dpi, then more space in all directions prevails. But those are relatively expensive.
But for computing on the same dpi I would take an wide screen over 4:3 anytime. Though I do rotate my screen from time.
For tablet 7" or 8" wide is just more convenient in the hand and to put away in a pocket. You just can't do that with an 4:3.
@SuperSuperFrank: isn't the office version a one year for free subscription?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, sorry for the misleading. It's 1 year subscription office365
iWork 8 with 2GB/32GB now is on sale at jd.com with RMB699.
Sent from Tapatalk with my Tab 4 (SM-T235Y)
---------- Post added at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 PM ----------
beholder21 said:
Does the Cube iWork8 (2/32GB) have GPS? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No GPS
Sent from Tapatalk with my Tab 4 (SM-T235Y)
im looking at voyo a1 8" 114€
and saw the cube iwrok 8" for 110€
both same specs, and look the same also. i mean the butons/ports are on the same place. so i guess they are the same. for the same factory just a different name
any one know any difference?
http://www.dx.com/p/cube-iwork8-8-i...rom-wi-fi-bluetooth-black-338475#.VIX63jGG-UI
http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_75299.html

The Cube iWork 7 hands-on review – the smallest Windows tablet to date

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2014 is the year of Windows tablets, as we have seen all sizes of Windows 8 tablets taking over the market that has been dominated by Android and iOS for years. While people are still debating whether 8-inch tablets are too small for running Windows 8, certain manufacturers try to push things even further. That is exactly what has happened here, the Cube iWork 7 is the very first 7-inch Windows 8 tablets on the market.
Key Features
7 inch IPS display at 1280*800 pixels
Weighs 280g, 190.8*111*8.8mm in size.
Intel Atom Bay-trail Z3735G Quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM
Windows 8.1
Office 365 with one year free subscription
16GB of built-in-storage, expandable by TF card
2MP front-facing camera & 2MP rear-facing camera
AAC speaker
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
USB host
Micro SD card slot
3500mAh Li-Po rechargeable battery, 4-5 hours battery life
Design and Build
The iWork 7 is not going to win any beauty contests. It is very much the plane Jane of small tablets. There is nothing on this tablet that you wouldn’t have seen before; a plastic rear, black front bezel, and rounded corners. But it feels reasonably well-made., at only 8.8mm it is slimmer than most Windows tablets on the market, and at 280g it’s as light as any 7-inch Android tablet.
The iWork 7 is designed for portrait use. The front is dominated by a 7-inch IPS display at 1280*800px. The bezel on the left and right side of the display is quite small, making the tablet easy to be held in one hand. The relatively bigger bezel up and down makes sure that you have a place to rest your fingers while using the tablet in horizontal mode.
Along the side you will find all the physical controls, ports and slots. There are a 3.5mm audio jack, a Micro SD card slot, a Micro USB port for both data transmission and charging, a Mini HDMI port, and a Power/standby Key on the left side, a volume rocker and a Windows Home button on the top side.
The front-facing camera sits above the display, while the 2MP rear-facing camera sits in the upper left corner of the rear side.
Display
The iWork 7's display is certainly not going to set the world alight. It has a 1,280*800-pixel resolution, which is pretty standard for an inexpensive Windows tablet and enough for the Windows Desktop and for web browsing.
Everything looks perfectly fine if you stay in the Windows 8 interface and the applications installed from the Windows store. If you enter into the traditional Windows desktop, icons, letters, and even dialogs sometimes look too small.
Usability
7-inches, 280 grams, 8.8mm thick is, with respect to Windows PCs, very impressive. In terms of consumer tablets it’s average though and the obvious comparison is the iPad Mini2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, both of which are slimmer than 7mm. Still, it’s good enough for a long-term reading session and absolutely fine as a sofa companion and with 7-inches of screen you get much more usability in landscape mode as a mini PC with a Bluetooth keyboard.
One thing that does expose itself more than on any other recent Windows 8 PC is the presence of the desktop. Regular reboots to install patches are awkward. Pop-ups from security software and the occasional feeling that you might have left something running on the desktop constantly remind you that this isn’t a simple tablet. Also obvious is the immature Store. You can find almost everything you need, but the quality is poor. YouTube takes so long to start streaming for example. Some apps just seem to re-start occasionally and there’s poor use of screen space in many cases. This will surely improve over time with more Windows tablets sold day by day, but for now, it is no match for the Apple app store or Google Play.
Portrait mode use is best for thumb-typing and auto-correct in Windows 8 applications is very good. There doesn’t seem to be a way to turn on haptics when typing, if that’s something you like.
As the tablet runs the full version of Windows, you have the luxury of choosing from tablet-specific apps from the Store, or using any traditional Windows application that takes your fancy. This means that, for example, you could forget about Office 365 and use MPS Office, or use the full version of Xunlei Kankan instead of the more limited tablet-specific version.
Because none of the applications above are designed for a touchscreen, they can be fiddly to use. You have to be careful with your prodding to make sure you hit the option you need.
If you do wish to use it as a PC, plugging in a keyboard or mouse should be the right first move, yet it is also tricky as the tablet has no full-size USB port, so you have to make do with Bluetooth peripherals designed for tablets or connect the slate to an OTG adapter. If you feel that the 7-inch display is too small for mouse operations, you can always take advantage of the HDMI port and view things on a bigger Screen. With everything said, unlike the Surface Pro or Acer Iconia W700, the iWork 7 isn’t the tablet that can replace your laptop.
Performance
Inside the Cube iWork 7 is a quad-core "Bay Trail" Intel Atom processor, coupled with 1GB RAM. This is a powerful mobile processor, as shown by its score of 19 in peacekeeper benchmark test - as much as we see from some laptops. The iWork 7 has no problem running Windows 8.1 smoothly and dealing with complicated web pages, or playing HD video from the BBC iPlayer website.
There is no problem in video playback, either, as all sorts of decoders can be installed to make sure that 1080P videos flow smoothly.
The tablet's small 1GB RAM could prove to be a sticking point, however. Office 365, for example - a free 1-year subscription comes with the tablet - was occasionally laggy, if easy to use with the touchscreen. And with several bigger applications running at the same time you will constantly receive the notification of insufficient RAM.
Cameras
The iWork 7 has dual cameras. The front-facing 2MP camera can be used for Skype video-chatting, and the rear-facing 2MP camera can take photos for Instagram updates, but don’t expect any quality here as even daylight snaps can be quite noisy.
Battery Life​
The iWork 7 only has a 3,500mAh Li-Po battery, which is small even by Android standards. Battery life is covered in detail below but worth mentioning is that screen-on time is disappointing. 4hrs 30m is the average so far over two weeks, and that can be considered poor compared to the 6-7 hours the iWork 8 was able to offer.
Verdict​
The new, cheaper Windows license has helped Chinese manufacturers bring Windows 8.1 tablets to the market for very affordable prices. The lack of USB ports limits the usefulness of having the full version of Windows, so if you're after a tablet mainly for surfing the web and sending emails we'd still recommend an Android model such as the Google Nexus 7, or its cheaper Chinese counterparts. If for whatever reason you'd like a tablet with access to the full range of Windows applications, the iWork 7 is impressive value, but we prefer the Cube iWork 8, which is around $33 more expensive, but has twice the RAM and storage and better battery life.
wifi and bluetooth driver
i bought cube iwork 7 today, and wifi is not working, so i checked the driver, its drive shows a yellow triangle, i think the driver is missing
where can i find the driver?
chhoung said:
i bought cube iwork 7 today, and wifi is not working, so i checked the driver, its drive shows a yellow triangle, i think the driver is missing
where can i find the driver?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that is tricky...I don't know the answer to this question, but let me ask around for you.
jupiter2012 said:
Oh, that is tricky...I don't know the answer to this question, but let me ask around for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have installed the driver but it is still not working:crying:
jupiter2012 said:
Oh, that is tricky...I don't know the answer to this question, but let me ask around for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello,, could you back up your wifi driver and bluetooth driver? could you send me the driver?
realtek rtl8723bs wireless lan 802.11n sdio network adapter
realtek blurtooth UART bus driver
chhoung said:
hello,, could you back up your wifi driver and bluetooth driver? could you send me the driver?
realtek rtl8723bs wireless lan 802.11n sdio network adapter
realtek blurtooth UART bus driver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already returned my unit after the review.
Hello, I found Cube iwork7 with 32GB disk and 2GB ram for 126 USD, what you mean 2gigs will help this tablet because I know 1gig of ram is not enough. But what you mean it will be better, and is it good buy or not???
And sorry for my bad english

Jide REMIX Ultra Tablet Hands-on: Android at its best

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The predominant tablet trend nowadays maybe towards being lighter, slimmer, squarer and smaller. That’s why we’ve seen lots of compact tablets such as the iPad mini, the Google Nexus 9, the Nokia N1 tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 being released. However, Jide, a technology company based in Beijing, is going the opposite direction. It recently released an 11.6-inch tablet called the REMIX Ultra, which is also the tablet we’re reviewing today.
If you haven’t heard of Jide Technology, it is a software company founded by three ex-Google engineers with a mission to unlock the potential of Android in order to accelerate a new age of computing. According to Jide, their vision is to make Android a more productive operating system that may someday be introduced to our PCs, and REMIX OS is the key to that vision.
After testing the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet, it’s easy to conclude that it is the closest thing available to replace both your tablet and your ultrabook. That said, the relatively high price could be a sore spot for many users on the fence deciding between it and a notebook — the suggested price for the 64GB version of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is $439 (with keyboard included).
Jide REMIX Ultra Tablet Specs
OS: REMIX OS 1.5 (on top of Android 5.0.2)
Display: 11.6-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
Processor: Nvidia Tegra 4 (1.8GHZ quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, plus a 2nd Generation Battery Saver Core, GeForce GPU with 72 custom cores)
RAM / Storage: 2GB / 64GB
Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, OTG
WiFi: 2.4G/5G dual band, 802.11 b/g/n
Camera: 5MP back camera, 5MP front camera
Battery: 8,100mAh
Extend Port: Micro SD card slot, Micro USB port, 3.5mm headphone Jack, 4-contact charging port, 6-contact keyboard connector
Weight & Size: 860g / 189 x 295 x 9.5 mm
Retail Package
The REMIX Ultra tablet is shipped with a very well-designed box, inside you will find a tablet, a keyboard, a charger, an OTG adapter, a screen protector, a user manual and a warranty card.
There is also a poster saying “For those revolutionaries that will shape tomorrow”, which demonstrates the vision of Jide and their products.
Design and build
The front is dominated by an 11.6-inch screen, with relatively big bezel to rest your fingers on, whether you hold the tablet in portrait or landscape. Above the display is a 5MP front-facing camera capable of 720P video recording, below the display you will find a home button.
The power/standby key is located on the top side of the tablet, while the volume rocker is hosted on the left side. The silver frame around makes it easier for users to distinguish the buttons.
The right side plays host to a Micro USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a charging indicator, a 4 contact magnetic charging port.
The AAC speakers are hosted on the left and right side, which helps to output stereo sound.
A 6 contact magnetic docking for connecting with the keyboard is located on the bottom side.
The rear side of the tablet is made of high-quality aluminum alloy, coated in red or silver so it has a fashionable appeal to it, instead of looking like another piece of cold, black technology.
Like the Microsoft Surface series, the REMIX Ultra has a kickstand, which helps the tablet to stand on your table or lap. The kickstand can open to two different angles, the first setting (40 degrees) is ideal for typing and productivity work when the tablet is on a table, the second (80 degrees) is better for watching videos while the tablet is sitting on your lap.
There is a Micro SD card slot on the back of the tablet, right under the kickstand. Which means you can have 128GB external storage on top of the 16GB/64GB internal storage.
Measured at 189 x 295 x 9.5 mm, and weighs 860g, the REMIX Ultra tablet is big, heavy and thick by today’s tablet standards. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which is also a big tablet, measures 6.6mm thick and weighs only 465g. And the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2, with a larger display, is a lot slimmer and lighter (204 x 295.6 x 7.95 mm, 740g). Even when compared to business-ready Windows tablets such as the Surface Pro 3 (201.4 x 292.1 x 9.1mm, 800g) and the Cube i7 (297*180*9.1mm, 840g), the REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an edge in portability.
While the design of the Jide REMIX Ultra isn’t the most eye-catching or attractive, it’s functional with easy to hold sides and a decent amount of grip. Manufactured by Foxconn, the build quality of the slate is extremely good, too. No matter how much you twist or squeeze the tablet’s chassis, there’s barely any flex to be found.
Keyboard
A keyboard is included in the retail package of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet. Once attached magnetically to the REMIX Ultra, the keyboard instantly turns the tablet into an ultrabook. The REMIX Ultra keyboard itself looks very much like the Surface Type Cover, it is both a tablet cover and a keyboard. It is very nicely designed, with ideal space between the keys (19.02mm). The keyboard also offers decent key travel (1.2mm), which gives you tactile feedback when you type.
The keyboard also has a small touchpad in its front, but unfortunately the left and right mouse buttons aren’t integrated into the touchpad, so it fails to offer the real mousing experience which many users would prefer.
In actual use, the REMIX Ultra keyboard feels much more comfortable than the Surface Touch Cover and the Bluetooth keyboard cover for the Acer ICONIA W700, on par with the Surface Type Cover. It won’t take long for you to reach your top typing speed. With that said, I still prefer the keyboard base for the Cube i7 REMIX because it looks and feels more like a traditional keyboard.
Display and sound
The 11.6-inch screen on this big tablet from Jide is an IPS panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, providing a pixel density of 189 PPI.
This is nowhere near the highest pixel density we have seen on top Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro and Tab S, but still comes close to the point where it is almost impossible to single out individual pixels at a glance.
Quality of the REMIX Ultra’s display is extremely good. Viewing angles are wide, colors accurate, and although it isn’t the brightest display we’ve seen on a tablet, it still has decent outdoor visibility.
While most tablets, especially those from Chinese brands, produce dull, tinny sound from their built-in speakers, the REMIX Ultra tablet offers an above-average performance in the audio department. Not only is the sound more audible, it also has more texture to it. Playing Toni Braxton’s “Spanish Guitar”, I could hear a lot of detail with instrument separation. However, it is still no match for the Galaxy tab Pro 8.4 or iPad Air in terms of volume and bass.
When we plugged in a Monster Inspiration on-ear headphone, the REMIX Ultra was able to drive it at an ear-splitting level. Generally, the built-in speakers are okay for watching YouTube feeds in a quiet room, but headphones are recommended for music and movies.
System and UI
How do you fit 11.6 inches of Android tablet into your daily life? That’s a question Jide and its partners must have pondered at some point during designing the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet, a device that stretches the upper limits of what we usually call a tablet. But the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is no ordinary Android slate, it offers the users an experience that’s utterly different from what your average android tablets could bring to the table.
The Jide REMIX Ultra ships with REMIX OS, a heavily customized skin on top of Android OS. We often say that we prefer the stock Android UI because most of customized skins have abundant animations and unnecessary features which slow down the overall performance. But with the REMIX OS, it is a different matter.
REMIX OS transforms the ordinary Android experience from head to toe. It feels more like a combination of iOS, Android, Chrome OS and Windows 8. The current version of REMIX OS (REMIX OS 1.5) is built on Android 5.0 with a planned update to 5.1. The REMIX homescreens look very much like iOS, all the applications appear on the homescreen, and there is no widget support. For many of us who are used to checking the weather, the calendar and the latest news in widgets, this can be slightly disappointing.
The Android navigation bar has become a Windows-like taskbar with pinnable apps, an application drawer, a back button and a home button on the left, as well as a multi-purpose Jide button on the right. You can sort the apps in the application drawers by alphabetic, date updated or usage, you can also search for the app you want to open.
The multi-purpose Jide button can be used to switch between full screen and phone size (for multitasking), and can also be used to clear the memory.
Swiping down from proportion of the display opens the semi-transparent screen which includes the most common settings and notifications. Swiping up then this screen will be swiped off the display.
Jide has also added some right-click menus to the REMIX OS for better mouse support. This greatly enhances the usability and productivity of the tablet.
Icons for the apps currently running will show up in the taskbar. You can switch between running apps by tapping the icons.
If you’re using a full-screen app, the taskbar will hide itself to enhance the real full-screen experience. But whenever you need it, you can bring it up by simply double tapping the screen or swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Most apps in phone mode are resized to look like they’re running on a smartphone screen. You can fit 2 or 3 apps side-by-side in landscape mode (4 or 5 is also possible if you don’t mind the overlapping).
The windows for the active apps are not resizable by default, but you can enable the “resize window” function to make them resizable by dragging the bottom right hand corner.
When an app is running in phone mode, you can tap the “stick to front” icon to prevent other apps from overlapping it, you can also tap the “minimize” icon to make the app window disappear into the background.
Closing a running application is also extremely easy on the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet. You can drag its icon out of the taskbar, or tap the “x” icon at the top of the app window (in phone mode), or hit the multi-purpose button to bring up a menu with a “Quit App” option.
It is also possible to have an app running in a phone mode in front of an app in full-screen mode. I often stick a social networking app running in phone mode while playing a video underneath in full-screen.
The Jide REMIX Ultra is marketed as a business tablet, and some applications are indeed customized to offer more productivity than ordinary Android tablets. The mail app is designed to work like the email system on Windows 8, with a pop-up writing box. You can even copy text from other mails or other applications on top and then paste it into the writing box.
The file manager also makes interacting with files much easier than with the stock Android file app.
The screen shot function lets you choose the area you want to capture as an image.
The preinstalled WPS office suite is very useful for reading and some simple editing, but if you want to compare it to the fully-featured Microsoft Office for Windows, you will certainly be disappointed.
You could also install Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel for Android from Google Play, but they may be even less useful than WPS when it comes to productivity.
As a whole, REMIX OS is a huge step forward for Android OS. It lets you do just about anything you could do with a normal Android tablet, but it adds support for Windows-like multitasking, right-click menus and also other customized features to enhance productivity. Personally, I would say that I have never been a fan of any customized Android skin before, but now I am a huge fan of REMIX OS.
Performance
The Jide REMIX Ultra is powered by a 1.8GHZ Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and 2GB RAM. The Tegra 4 processor harnesses four mighty ARM Cortex-A15 CPU cores, plus a second-generation battery-saver core, to deliver both performance and battery life. The reason why Jide has chosen a more dated version of Tegra processor over the latest Tegra K1 may be to keep the tablet from getting over-heated. As the Tegra K1 powered tablets such as the Xiaomi Mi Pad and the Nexus 9 are both reported to get extremely hot handling heavy tasks.
General performance of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is strong, if nothing especially impressive. Navigating through the home screens is smooth, opening applications is fast, browsing pics in the gallery app is also extremely snappy, every picture slides in and appears instantaneously or close to it. Videos look good, too, and, like photos, playback begins just as you tap the play button. Graphics-intensive websites load fast, almost on par with the Apple iPad Air2. Working on an office program while playing an HD video in the foreground, the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet still remains perfectly responsive.
If benchmarks are more convincing to you, we’ve listed the benchmark scores of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet above, along with the scores of other tablets for comparison. It is clear that the Jide REMIX Ultra fares pretty well against other high-end Android tablets.
I do have detected some stutters and pauses when there are several big applications running in the foreground in phone mode, but it can be expected as tablets and smartphones with even the most cutting-edge specs also struggle with heavy multi-tasking.
Connectivity
The Jide REMIX Ultra tablet offers lots of connectivity options. It features Wi-Fi a/b/g/n support, with 2.4GHz and 5GHz band compatibility. Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA support are also available. Bluetooth 4.0 is on board to take care of local data transfer.
There is a micro SD card slot as well, on top of the 64GB of internal storage. The micro USB port on the side supports USB on the go, and can host all kinds of input and storage devices, including my 500GB mobile hard drive.
Unfortunately, the Jide REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an HDMI port, nor does it support MHL, which is quite a disappointment.
Battery life
The REMIX Ultra packs an 8,100mAh Lithium polymer battery, which isn’t really big for a tablet this size. Even with the help of the efficient power management of the Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, the battery life of the REMIX Ultra is underwhelming.
In our standard cngadget battery rundown test, we loop a 1080P video on the REMIX Ultra with 50% of screen brightness and 50% of volume through the built-in speakers, the tablet lasted 7 hours and 37 minutes until automatic shutdown. This is no match for the 12 hours and 11 hours we got respectively from the iPad Air and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, and puts the Jide REMIX Ultra in the middle of our rankings.
In the real world use, the Jide REMIX Ultra didn’t live up to our expectations, either, especially as we tended to do more multi-tasking on the REMIX Ultra than we did with average Android tablet. With some Youtube feeds, some social internet, some typing with the keyboard attached, some gaming and internet browsing, we were constantly left with 30% – 40% of battery life at the end of the day. So for moderate to heavy users, charging on a daily basis is needed.
Cameras
Like all tablets nowadays, the REMIX Ultra has dual cameras, a 5MP front-facing camera and a 5MP main camera on the back. While the front-facing camera is nice enough for video-chatting on Skype and Wechat, you won’t want to use it for selfies. The rear-facing camera can take Okay photos when there is decent lighting, but who would use such a gigantic device to take pictures?
Photo taken by the front-facing camera
Photos taken by the rear-facing camera
Conclusion
Just when we begin to lose interest in Android OS on tablets, the Jide REMIX Ultra arrives with flying colors. It’s amazing that Jide has managed to build such a premium looking and wonderfully versatile tablet out of the REMIX Ultra, we have never seen an Android tablet more solid, more productive, or more laptop-like. This is truly hands-down one of the best tablets out there.
However, Like many products that try to be two things at once, the REMIX Ultra does neither as well as those designed for one function, and we really have a hard time trying to figure out what kind of users the device is marketing towards. It may have surpassed most of the Android tablets and iPads in terms of performance and productivity, but it is still nowhere near what high-end Windows tablets when it comes to handling business tasks. It does have access to all the applications in Google Play, but its size and weight become a real burden when we try to use it as a media-consuming device.
The REMIX OS is not perfect, either. Running several applications in windows is indeed very cool, but whenever you want to switch a running application from phone mode to full screen, or the other way around, the app has to go through being closed and then reopened, instead of just zooming in and out like it is accomplished on the LG Optimus UI.
Besides their very own REMIX Ultra tablet, Jide has also been releasing REMIX OS ROMs for popular tablets such as the Nexus 10, Nexus 9 and Xiaomi Mi Pad. They are also working closely with major Chinese tablet brands like Cube and Onda to release tablets shipped with REMIX OS.
Final verdict
The Jide REMIX Ultra is nicely designed, well-built and provides users with arguably the best Android experience on a tablet, it could easily replace your chrome book, iPad or Galaxy Tab. However, if you want it to offer as much productivity as the ultrabooks and tablets with full Windows system, you will be disappointed.
Also, at $439, the REMIX Ultra tablet is certainly priced much higher than average Android tablets from China: the Cube i7 REMIX, which runs the same REMIX OS, is priced at $225 with a keyboard base included; the Teclast T98 4G, which features a beefier processor and 4G support, is also priced at only $225. Even compared to some Core-M powered Windows tablets such as the Cube i7 Stylus ($338) and the ONDA V919 3G Core M ($322), the REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an edge in the price department.
Even if Jide fails to sell the REMIX Ultra tablet, REMIX OS is here to stay. With Jide furthering its partnership with other tablet manufacturers, we will certainly see more tablets running this amazing Android skin in the coming months.
This tablet looks like the don! I will definitely look to invest in this!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk
f0xy said:
This tablet looks like the don! I will definitely look to invest in this!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for reading it!
up up up...?, one of the best tablets ever made.
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
f0xy said:
This tablet looks like the don! I will definitely look to invest in this!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can buy this on Kickstarter for $359 + $40 delivery with the Remix Mini (basically an android computer in a small box with hdmi output/etc)
Has already been funded, but can still make pledges for the next 50 hours and it turns out to be about the same price as buying the Ultra Tablet on its own but with the added benefit of a complete computer replacement
Definitely worth it, I bought one.
They start shipping in October.
Here's a link if anyone is interested.
Actually I found this link due to an XDA News article about current kickstarter campaigns.. So thanks XDA! AGAIN!
Stevles said:
You can buy this on Kickstarter for $359 + $40 delivery with the Remix Mini (basically an android computer in a small box with hdmi output/etc)
Has already been funded, but can still make pledges for the next 50 hours and it turns out to be about the same price as buying the Ultra Tablet on its own but with the added benefit of a complete computer replacement
Definitely worth it, I bought one.
They start shipping in October.
Here's a link if anyone is interested.
Actually I found this link due to an XDA News article about current kickstarter campaigns.. So thanks XDA! AGAIN!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i bought one as well
Sent from my LG-F460K using XDA Free mobile app
jupiter2012 said:
i bought one as well
Sent from my LG-F460K using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear, it's fantastic value. Even with the USD to AUD conversion it's $560 (ish) which isn't even enough for a single base model iPad
Probably is enough for a terrible and cheap android tablet.. But who wants that?
Stevles said:
Good to hear, it's fantastic value. Even with the USD to AUD conversion it's $560 (ish) which isn't even enough for a single base model iPad [emoji14]
Probably is enough for a terrible and cheap android tablet.. But who wants that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean, I ordered the REMIX mini.
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
Okay then.
Sent from my SM-G920I using XDA Free mobile app
up up up, haha
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
Hope that more people could read this review, it really took me a lot of effort in writing it.
this is a great review, but i didn't see a section pertaining to how games run on it? with only 2 GB of ram can it keep up even with background tasks?
Hey @jupiter2012 your images are broken. Can you fix them, please?
I just bought a used one recently, because I got aatracted by the hype. Long story short, it has its niche for me, but it's definitely just a very, very mediocre device. I desperately hate remix os except for the taskbar and heavily modified it with apex launcher. This will probably my first and last device from Jide. Also the hacking opportunities here or elsewhere are almost non-existent. So to me, it's rather a disappointment, but I am looking forward making the best out of it.
Your review
Very much enjoyed your:good::good: review. I recently bought mine after 5 years of Transformers. It is an incredible device and now on v 2.0 it is even better. Thanks/
QUOTE=jupiter2012;62373591]
The predominant tablet trend nowadays maybe towards being lighter, slimmer, squarer and smaller. That’s why we’ve seen lots of compact tablets such as the iPad mini, the Google Nexus 9, the Nokia N1 tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 being released. However, Jide, a technology company based in Beijing, is going the opposite direction. It recently released an 11.6-inch tablet called the REMIX Ultra, which is also the tablet we’re reviewing today.
If you haven’t heard of Jide Technology, it is a software company founded by three ex-Google engineers with a mission to unlock the potential of Android in order to accelerate a new age of computing. According to Jide, their vision is to make Android a more productive operating system that may someday be introduced to our PCs, and REMIX OS is the key to that vision.
After testing the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet, it’s easy to conclude that it is the closest thing available to replace both your tablet and your ultrabook. That said, the relatively high price could be a sore spot for many users on the fence deciding between it and a notebook — the suggested price for the 64GB version of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is $439 (with keyboard included).
Jide REMIX Ultra Tablet Specs
OS: REMIX OS 1.5 (on top of Android 5.0.2)
Display: 11.6-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
Processor: Nvidia Tegra 4 (1.8GHZ quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, plus a 2nd Generation Battery Saver Core, GeForce GPU with 72 custom cores)
RAM / Storage: 2GB / 64GB
Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, OTG
WiFi: 2.4G/5G dual band, 802.11 b/g/n
Camera: 5MP back camera, 5MP front camera
Battery: 8,100mAh
Extend Port: Micro SD card slot, Micro USB port, 3.5mm headphone Jack, 4-contact charging port, 6-contact keyboard connector
Weight & Size: 860g / 189 x 295 x 9.5 mm
Retail Package
The REMIX Ultra tablet is shipped with a very well-designed box, inside you will find a tablet, a keyboard, a charger, an OTG adapter, a screen protector, a user manual and a warranty card.
There is also a poster saying “For those revolutionaries that will shape tomorrow”, which demonstrates the vision of Jide and their products.
Design and build
The front is dominated by an 11.6-inch screen, with relatively big bezel to rest your fingers on, whether you hold the tablet in portrait or landscape. Above the display is a 5MP front-facing camera capable of 720P video recording, below the display you will find a home button.
The power/standby key is located on the top side of the tablet, while the volume rocker is hosted on the left side. The silver frame around makes it easier for users to distinguish the buttons.
The right side plays host to a Micro USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a charging indicator, a 4 contact magnetic charging port.
The AAC speakers are hosted on the left and right side, which helps to output stereo sound.
A 6 contact magnetic docking for connecting with the keyboard is located on the bottom side.
The rear side of the tablet is made of high-quality aluminum alloy, coated in red or silver so it has a fashionable appeal to it, instead of looking like another piece of cold, black technology.
Like the Microsoft Surface series, the REMIX Ultra has a kickstand, which helps the tablet to stand on your table or lap. The kickstand can open to two different angles, the first setting (40 degrees) is ideal for typing and productivity work when the tablet is on a table, the second (80 degrees) is better for watching videos while the tablet is sitting on your lap.
There is a Micro SD card slot on the back of the tablet, right under the kickstand. Which means you can have 128GB external storage on top of the 16GB/64GB internal storage.
Measured at 189 x 295 x 9.5 mm, and weighs 860g, the REMIX Ultra tablet is big, heavy and thick by today’s tablet standards. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which is also a big tablet, measures 6.6mm thick and weighs only 465g. And the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2, with a larger display, is a lot slimmer and lighter (204 x 295.6 x 7.95 mm, 740g). Even when compared to business-ready Windows tablets such as the Surface Pro 3 (201.4 x 292.1 x 9.1mm, 800g) and the Cube i7 (297*180*9.1mm, 840g), the REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an edge in portability.
While the design of the Jide REMIX Ultra isn’t the most eye-catching or attractive, it’s functional with easy to hold sides and a decent amount of grip. Manufactured by Foxconn, the build quality of the slate is extremely good, too. No matter how much you twist or squeeze the tablet’s chassis, there’s barely any flex to be found.
Keyboard
A keyboard is included in the retail package of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet. Once attached magnetically to the REMIX Ultra, the keyboard instantly turns the tablet into an ultrabook. The REMIX Ultra keyboard itself looks very much like the Surface Type Cover, it is both a tablet cover and a keyboard. It is very nicely designed, with ideal space between the keys (19.02mm). The keyboard also offers decent key travel (1.2mm), which gives you tactile feedback when you type.
The keyboard also has a small touchpad in its front, but unfortunately the left and right mouse buttons aren’t integrated into the touchpad, so it fails to offer the real mousing experience which many users would prefer.
In actual use, the REMIX Ultra keyboard feels much more comfortable than the Surface Touch Cover and the Bluetooth keyboard cover for the Acer ICONIA W700, on par with the Surface Type Cover. It won’t take long for you to reach your top typing speed. With that said, I still prefer the keyboard base for the Cube i7 REMIX because it looks and feels more like a traditional keyboard.
Display and sound
The 11.6-inch screen on this big tablet from Jide is an IPS panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, providing a pixel density of 189 PPI.
This is nowhere near the highest pixel density we have seen on top Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro and Tab S, but still comes close to the point where it is almost impossible to single out individual pixels at a glance.
Quality of the REMIX Ultra’s display is extremely good. Viewing angles are wide, colors accurate, and although it isn’t the brightest display we’ve seen on a tablet, it still has decent outdoor visibility.
While most tablets, especially those from Chinese brands, produce dull, tinny sound from their built-in speakers, the REMIX Ultra tablet offers an above-average performance in the audio department. Not only is the sound more audible, it also has more texture to it. Playing Toni Braxton’s “Spanish Guitar”, I could hear a lot of detail with instrument separation. However, it is still no match for the Galaxy tab Pro 8.4 or iPad Air in terms of volume and bass.
When we plugged in a Monster Inspiration on-ear headphone, the REMIX Ultra was able to drive it at an ear-splitting level. Generally, the built-in speakers are okay for watching YouTube feeds in a quiet room, but headphones are recommended for music and movies.
System and UI
How do you fit 11.6 inches of Android tablet into your daily life? That’s a question Jide and its partners must have pondered at some point during designing the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet, a device that stretches the upper limits of what we usually call a tablet. But the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is no ordinary Android slate, it offers the users an experience that’s utterly different from what your average android tablets could bring to the table.
The Jide REMIX Ultra ships with REMIX OS, a heavily customized skin on top of Android OS. We often say that we prefer the stock Android UI because most of customized skins have abundant animations and unnecessary features which slow down the overall performance. But with the REMIX OS, it is a different matter.
REMIX OS transforms the ordinary Android experience from head to toe. It feels more like a combination of iOS, Android, Chrome OS and Windows 8. The current version of REMIX OS (REMIX OS 1.5) is built on Android 5.0 with a planned update to 5.1. The REMIX homescreens look very much like iOS, all the applications appear on the homescreen, and there is no widget support. For many of us who are used to checking the weather, the calendar and the latest news in widgets, this can be slightly disappointing.
The Android navigation bar has become a Windows-like taskbar with pinnable apps, an application drawer, a back button and a home button on the left, as well as a multi-purpose Jide button on the right. You can sort the apps in the application drawers by alphabetic, date updated or usage, you can also search for the app you want to open.
The multi-purpose Jide button can be used to switch between full screen and phone size (for multitasking), and can also be used to clear the memory.
Swiping down from proportion of the display opens the semi-transparent screen which includes the most common settings and notifications. Swiping up then this screen will be swiped off the display.
Jide has also added some right-click menus to the REMIX OS for better mouse support. This greatly enhances the usability and productivity of the tablet.
Icons for the apps currently running will show up in the taskbar. You can switch between running apps by tapping the icons.
If you’re using a full-screen app, the taskbar will hide itself to enhance the real full-screen experience. But whenever you need it, you can bring it up by simply double tapping the screen or swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Most apps in phone mode are resized to look like they’re running on a smartphone screen. You can fit 2 or 3 apps side-by-side in landscape mode (4 or 5 is also possible if you don’t mind the overlapping).
The windows for the active apps are not resizable by default, but you can enable the “resize window” function to make them resizable by dragging the bottom right hand corner.
When an app is running in phone mode, you can tap the “stick to front” icon to prevent other apps from overlapping it, you can also tap the “minimize” icon to make the app window disappear into the background.
Closing a running application is also extremely easy on the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet. You can drag its icon out of the taskbar, or tap the “x” icon at the top of the app window (in phone mode), or hit the multi-purpose button to bring up a menu with a “Quit App” option.
It is also possible to have an app running in a phone mode in front of an app in full-screen mode. I often stick a social networking app running in phone mode while playing a video underneath in full-screen.
The Jide REMIX Ultra is marketed as a business tablet, and some applications are indeed customized to offer more productivity than ordinary Android tablets. The mail app is designed to work like the email system on Windows 8, with a pop-up writing box. You can even copy text from other mails or other applications on top and then paste it into the writing box.
The file manager also makes interacting with files much easier than with the stock Android file app.
The screen shot function lets you choose the area you want to capture as an image.
The preinstalled WPS office suite is very useful for reading and some simple editing, but if you want to compare it to the fully-featured Microsoft Office for Windows, you will certainly be disappointed.
You could also install Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel for Android from Google Play, but they may be even less useful than WPS when it comes to productivity.
As a whole, REMIX OS is a huge step forward for Android OS. It lets you do just about anything you could do with a normal Android tablet, but it adds support for Windows-like multitasking, right-click menus and also other customized features to enhance productivity. Personally, I would say that I have never been a fan of any customized Android skin before, but now I am a huge fan of REMIX OS.
Performance
The Jide REMIX Ultra is powered by a 1.8GHZ Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and 2GB RAM. The Tegra 4 processor harnesses four mighty ARM Cortex-A15 CPU cores, plus a second-generation battery-saver core, to deliver both performance and battery life. The reason why Jide has chosen a more dated version of Tegra processor over the latest Tegra K1 may be to keep the tablet from getting over-heated. As the Tegra K1 powered tablets such as the Xiaomi Mi Pad and the Nexus 9 are both reported to get extremely hot handling heavy tasks.
General performance of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet is strong, if nothing especially impressive. Navigating through the home screens is smooth, opening applications is fast, browsing pics in the gallery app is also extremely snappy, every picture slides in and appears instantaneously or close to it. Videos look good, too, and, like photos, playback begins just as you tap the play button. Graphics-intensive websites load fast, almost on par with the Apple iPad Air2. Working on an office program while playing an HD video in the foreground, the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet still remains perfectly responsive.
If benchmarks are more convincing to you, we’ve listed the benchmark scores of the Jide REMIX Ultra tablet above, along with the scores of other tablets for comparison. It is clear that the Jide REMIX Ultra fares pretty well against other high-end Android tablets.
I do have detected some stutters and pauses when there are several big applications running in the foreground in phone mode, but it can be expected as tablets and smartphones with even the most cutting-edge specs also struggle with heavy multi-tasking.
Connectivity
The Jide REMIX Ultra tablet offers lots of connectivity options. It features Wi-Fi a/b/g/n support, with 2.4GHz and 5GHz band compatibility. Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA support are also available. Bluetooth 4.0 is on board to take care of local data transfer.
There is a micro SD card slot as well, on top of the 64GB of internal storage. The micro USB port on the side supports USB on the go, and can host all kinds of input and storage devices, including my 500GB mobile hard drive.
Unfortunately, the Jide REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an HDMI port, nor does it support MHL, which is quite a disappointment.
Battery life
The REMIX Ultra packs an 8,100mAh Lithium polymer battery, which isn’t really big for a tablet this size. Even with the help of the efficient power management of the Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, the battery life of the REMIX Ultra is underwhelming.
In our standard cngadget battery rundown test, we loop a 1080P video on the REMIX Ultra with 50% of screen brightness and 50% of volume through the built-in speakers, the tablet lasted 7 hours and 37 minutes until automatic shutdown. This is no match for the 12 hours and 11 hours we got respectively from the iPad Air and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, and puts the Jide REMIX Ultra in the middle of our rankings.
In the real world use, the Jide REMIX Ultra didn’t live up to our expectations, either, especially as we tended to do more multi-tasking on the REMIX Ultra than we did with average Android tablet. With some Youtube feeds, some social internet, some typing with the keyboard attached, some gaming and internet browsing, we were constantly left with 30% – 40% of battery life at the end of the day. So for moderate to heavy users, charging on a daily basis is needed.
Cameras
Like all tablets nowadays, the REMIX Ultra has dual cameras, a 5MP front-facing camera and a 5MP main camera on the back. While the front-facing camera is nice enough for video-chatting on Skype and Wechat, you won’t want to use it for selfies. The rear-facing camera can take Okay photos when there is decent lighting, but who would use such a gigantic device to take pictures?
Photo taken by the front-facing camera
Photos taken by the rear-facing camera
Conclusion
Just when we begin to lose interest in Android OS on tablets, the Jide REMIX Ultra arrives with flying colors. It’s amazing that Jide has managed to build such a premium looking and wonderfully versatile tablet out of the REMIX Ultra, we have never seen an Android tablet more solid, more productive, or more laptop-like. This is truly hands-down one of the best tablets out there.
However, Like many products that try to be two things at once, the REMIX Ultra does neither as well as those designed for one function, and we really have a hard time trying to figure out what kind of users the device is marketing towards. It may have surpassed most of the Android tablets and iPads in terms of performance and productivity, but it is still nowhere near what high-end Windows tablets when it comes to handling business tasks. It does have access to all the applications in Google Play, but its size and weight become a real burden when we try to use it as a media-consuming device.
The REMIX OS is not perfect, either. Running several applications in windows is indeed very cool, but whenever you want to switch a running application from phone mode to full screen, or the other way around, the app has to go through being closed and then reopened, instead of just zooming in and out like it is accomplished on the LG Optimus UI.
Besides their very own REMIX Ultra tablet, Jide has also been releasing REMIX OS ROMs for popular tablets such as the Nexus 10, Nexus 9 and Xiaomi Mi Pad. They are also working closely with major Chinese tablet brands like Cube and Onda to release tablets shipped with REMIX OS.
Final verdict
The Jide REMIX Ultra is nicely designed, well-built and provides users with arguably the best Android experience on a tablet, it could easily replace your chrome book, iPad or Galaxy Tab. However, if you want it to offer as much productivity as the ultrabooks and tablets with full Windows system, you will be disappointed.
Also, at $439, the REMIX Ultra tablet is certainly priced much higher than average Android tablets from China: the Cube i7 REMIX, which runs the same REMIX OS, is priced at $225 with a keyboard base included; the Teclast T98 4G, which features a beefier processor and 4G support, is also priced at only $225. Even compared to some Core-M powered Windows tablets such as the Cube i7 Stylus ($338) and the ONDA V919 3G Core M ($322), the REMIX Ultra doesn’t have an edge in the price department.
Even if Jide fails to sell the REMIX Ultra tablet, REMIX OS is here to stay. With Jide furthering its partnership with other tablet manufacturers, we will certainly see more tablets running this amazing Android skin in the coming months.[/QUOTE]
jupiter2012 said:
Hope that more people could read this review, it really took me a lot of effort in writing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read it that is y i ordered one it has been a bumpy road to get it here but looks like its moving along might have it next week
Counter view
A company that refuses to support its products.
A company that has to beg for money to try to make another late to market product.
A company that could have made a difference.
A failure.
Jide, I once loved at what you do. But now, since you don't care in supporting the Ultra Tablet (even though it is capable of supporting the Latest version of Remix OS,) all I got to say is that your marketing tactics are pure garbage. So why don't you do us a favor and go stick it where the light don't shine.

Cube iWork 11 Stylus review: a versatile convertible tablet

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It would be fair to say that Cube was one of the pioneers in the convertible Windows tablet lineup in China. At the very beginning of last year, they created the iWork Line with the introduction of the Cube iWork 10, which comes with an Intel Atom Bay-trail Z3740D processor, a 10.1-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1280*800, and a foldable keyboard cover. And then since the beginning of 2015, they went a little bit further by introducing the Cube i7 series, an enhanced lineup of ultrabook & tablet hybrids powered by the much beefier Core-M 5Y10c processor. Although the Cube i7, the Cube i7-CM and the Cube i7 Stylus received positive feedback from their users, their price tags can be a little uninviting for customers with a tighter budget. And the relatively shorter battery life of those Core-M powered systems (compared to tablets running on Atom SoC) is also proven to be unacceptable for some.
Here comes the all new Intel Cherry-trail SoC lineup, Intel's very first Atom chips built on the 14nm process. With a stronger CPU setup and an upgraded Intel Graphics HD Gen8 GPU, they are promised to boost the performance by up to 50% compared to the Bay-trail series SoCs with even less power consumption.
We reviewed the Cube i7 Stylus (Core-M 5Y10c, HD Graphics 5300) a few weeks ago -- now all we have left is its 10.6-inch sister model, the Cube iWork 11 Stylus. Both devices are complete Windows tablets, and each can be paired up with an optional keyboard dock and an optional Wacom pen. Externally, the two devices look the same. But when it comes to their technological inner workings, there are a few big differences: the i7 Stylus runs on a Core-M processor, whereas the iWork 11 Stylus is equipped with an Atom processor. The i7 Stylus has a Solid State Drive, whereas the iWork 11 Stylus comes with eMMC storage. Also, the iWork 11 Stylus runs the 32-bit version of Windows 10 instead of the 64bit we’ve seen on the i7 Stylus.
Cube iWork 11 Stylus Specs
OS: Windows 10 (32-bit)
Screen: 10.6-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
CPU: Intel Atom Cherry-trail X5-Z8300
CPU Frequency: 1.44GHz (Base clock) – 1.8GHZ (Turbo clock)
GPU: Intel Graphics HD Gen8
RAM / Storage: 4GB DDR3L / 64GB eMMc Storage
Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB Host, HDMI
WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi direct
Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
Battery: 3.7V - 8,600mAh
Ports: Micro SD Card Slot, Micro USB 3.0 Port, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, DC Charging Port, Mini HDMI Port
Size: 273.77*172.03*10.5mm, Weight: 673g
Color: Black front and blue rear
Design and build
If you’ve seen the Cube i7 Stylus in the flesh, the iWork 11 Stylus looks exactly the same. It has a sturdy but sleek metal body, gently curved corners and wide black bezel, and a subtle Windows logo on the front. It consistently feels great in hand, and shrugs off smudges well. With the proper screen protection, it could easily survive the day-to-day rigors of a traveling professional, and even the occasional drop.
Like always, the front is dominated by a 10.6-inch IPS display, and you can find a front-facing camera above and a Windows Home key under that display.
There are two physical buttons on board, a power/standby key and a volume rocker, both sitting on the top side of the tablet.
All the ports and slots are hosted on the left side. You can find a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Micro USB 3.0 port, a mini HDMI port, a Micro SD card slot and a DC charging port on board.
There is a 5-contact magnetic port on the bottom side, and it is designed to connect with the keyboard base.
The rear side of the tablet is coated in blue, which makes the tablet look more interesting than just another piece of cold, black technology. Unfortunately, the blue coating proves to be easy to scratch. As a matter of fact, the Cube i7 series tablets also have the same issue, maybe it’s time Cube should find another approach to coat the metallic back of their tablets.
Build quality of the tablet is nice and solid, but still not altogether as epic as the Surface 3, which includes a flexible kickstand and a full USB 3.0 port.
The iWork 11 Stylus weighs 673 grams and measures 10.5mm thick, a little heavier and thicker than the Microsoft Surface 3. But it still ranks as one of the more compact convertible Windows tablets in the market. And you could hold it in your hands for a relatively long time before actually feeling the burden.
Display and sound
The Cube iWork 11 Stylus has a 10.6-inch IPS display, with a 1920 x 1080 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. In terms of pixel density, the iWork 11 Stylus has about 208 pixels per inch. It definitely pales in comparison with those high-end Android tablets and flagship smartphones, but is still one of the front-runners in the laptop or convertible Windows tablet category.
As can be expected from a Full HD IPS panel, the iWork 11 Stylus’ screen looks stunning. Viewing angles are wide, colors accurate, and it shrugs off glare quite well, definitely much better than the TN panels on average laptops.
If there is a complaint, it’s that things can feel a bit tinnier on the desktop side compared to bigger convertibles such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, owing to the slightly smaller screen. Though it supports touch, users will likely turn to a mouse, touchpad, or pen for navigation here, as the desktop requires a good amount of precision.
The speakers are very well placed on the right side of the tablet. The sound is flat, but it’s balanced well enough with little to no distortion, and the volume is acceptable for watching videos in a quiet room. If you plug in a pair of high-end headphones or nice speakers, you will notice that the iWork 11 Stylus actually beats most of the Android tablets and smartphones in terms of sound quality.
Pen and touchscreen
The stylus is a big point of differentiation from ordinary Windows 8 tablets. The good news is that the pen paired with the Cube iWork Stylus is based on Wacom technology, which means it is snappy and super responsive, and a genuine pleasure to use on the tablet’s high-resolution screen, the bad news is that you won’t find it in the retail package of the iWork 11 Stylus because the pen is sold separately for $32.
Unlike the tiny pen hidden in the back of the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro, the pen that’s paired with the i7 Stylus is the size of a normal ink pen, with an eraser button on one end and a large button placed comfortably on the side. Click it and you have a right-mouse button with a beautifully positive action.
Writing with the pen in applications such as OneNote, Microsoft Office programs or in the handwriting recognition panel of the on-screen keyboard is smooth and accurate.
Certain applications can even make use of the pen’s 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. For example, it makes the pen very much of a joy for working in Photoshop or in natural media painting tools such as ArtRage or Fresh Paint.
The pen is also very accurate for selecting small icons in a complex interface such as Photoshop, or opening a link on an heavily loaded web page (much easier than the small touchpad on the Keyboard base, or your finger on the screen).
The combination of pen and touchscreen makes i7 Stylus extraordinarily versatile for drawing, sketching, painting, image editing and note taking.
The keyboard base designed for the i7 Stylus and iWork 11 Stylus features a slot for the Wacom pen, so when you are not using it, you can just push it into the keyboard. But in an ideal world, we’d prefer to have a permanent place to keep the pen on the tablet itself, instead of on the keyboard base. As we do often use the i7 Stylus as a standalone tablet, and only need to connect it to the keyboard base when we need to do a lot of typing.
Keyboard base
The keyboard base can easily be attached to the iWork 11 Stylus via the 5-contact magnetic connectors, instantly turning the tablet into a full notebook computer. Sadly, the keyboard base can only make the iWork 11 Stylus stand with a fixed angle, which can be uncomfortable to use sometimes.
Here, the keys aren’t as squished as the ones on the Microsoft Surface Type Cover. The keyboard for the iWork 11 Stylus is more expansive, with no shrunken or undersized keys. It didn’t take me long before I was typing at my usual brisk pace.
The keys offer decent travel, with every keystroke, I make a loud “clack,” letting anyone around me know I’m getting stuff done. It isn’t my favorite keyboard, but I do feel comfortable enough. Also, the Cube keyboard base is not as flimsy as the Surface Type Cover, Instead it is as sturdy and comfortable as most laptop keyboards.
The Cube keyboard base brings a touchpad as well, and that’s a good thing, because the latest Windows 10 update made the OS much more mouse-and-keyboard friendly. Even though the touchpad is pretty precise and responsive, it’s still many steps behind the sort of glass touchpad you’d find on the MacBook Air. It sometimes takes multiple tries to get two-finger scrolling to work. Ditto for clicking and dragging windows and other objects around the screen. Other times, I accidentally navigated backward out of a web page when I was really trying to do some other sort of gesture. If you intend the iWork 11 Stylus to be your daily driver, you are better off with a mouse.
The Keyboard base also features 2 Full USB 2.0 ports, making it easier for the tablet to connect to a mouse or external storage devices.
Software and interface
The iWork 11 Stylus runs licensed Windows 10 Home Edition (32-bit) out of the box. Like the convertible tablet, the Windows 10 itself is also something of a hybrid, with both desktop and the Windows Store apps, touch and keyboard, the control panel and the finger-friendly PC Settings app.
On the iWork 11 Stylus, as long as you’re comfortable with gestures such as swiping to open the charms bar, switching apps and closing an app you don’t want, the two fit together almost seamlessly.
Below are major improvements we found in Windows 10:
1. Customized placement of the start menu.
Microsoft brought back the dearly missed Start Menu, and it is stronger and more inclusive than ever.
2. Enhanced screen split function.
Not only can users have more Windows store apps running in split screen mode, they can even run those titles like traditional PC programs on desktop.
3. Virtual desktop.
The highly appreciated virtual desktop has also been brought to Windows 10.
4. Cortana
Cortana brings plenty of notable features to Windows 10. While setting it up, you can choose to have Cortana always listening to your commands (enabled by saying “Hey Cortana!”). You can ask her about basic things like the current weather or what’s on your schedule, or you could have her search the web using Bing. Cortana can answer some queries without even launching a web browser. If you’re not a fan of voice commands, you can also type in queries into the Cortana search box on the taskbar, and you can choose to have her only activate voice commands when you hit a button.
5. Edge
Edge may be the most elegant piece of software to come from Microsoft. Its interface is simple: tabs on the top; back, forward and refresh buttons below; and an address bar. The latter is smarter than other browsers as it also features Cortana (without the voice commands). You can type in questions and often get them answered right within Edge’s location bar — no need to hit Enter to complete your search. That’s something Google has been dabbling with in Chrome, but Edge takes it to another level.
You can manage your Favorites, Reading List entries (articles you save to read later), History and Downloads from Edge’s Hub, which mostly stays out of the way until you need it. Microsoft also gave Edge annotating capabilities: You can highlight and mark up web pages any way you like (the Surface’s stylus comes in handy for this) and send them off to Evernote with just a few clicks. Those marked-up pages also retain your notes when you visit them again.
Unfortunately, the iWork 11 Stylus comes with only Office Mobile, which can be used to do some basic editing to the Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets.
If you need the more productive desktop version of Microsoft Office, the most important productive tools for any device that runs Windows OS, you will need to pony up.
Performance
The fundamental difference between the iWork 11 Stylus and the i7 Stylus is the internal setup. The iWork 11 Stylus runs on an Intel Atom X5-Z8300 processor and 4GB RAM. This Cherry-trail generation CPU is outfitted with four cores and has a clock frequency from 1.44 GHz – 1.8GHz. With a more entry-level Atom processor and a slower eMMc drive, it is easy for us to expect a significant drop in performance with the iWork 11 Stylus compared to its pricier sister tablet. But fortunately, that’s not often the case.
As you could expect, when compared to the i7 Stylus, it takes a few seconds longer for the iWork 11 Stylus to boot into Windows 10 and approximately half a second more to resume from hibernation.
In the ATTO Disk Benchmark, the iWork 11 Stylus got relatively good score for a device with eMMc drive, although still no match for those high-end systems with SSD storage
You could also notice the slowdown in starting heavy desktop applications and rendering multiple image-heavy web pages. But for the basic office tasks, it is difficult to tell the difference in speed.
Compared to those earlier Bay-trail powered Windows tablets, the iWork 11 Stylus is indeed a lot faster. Thanks both to the upgraded SoC and more RAM. The system always runs sturdily and fluidly, and there is obviously less struggle in handling several desktop programs at the same time. I can edit some of my excel sheets with some video playback on top, and several social networking applications in the background, and still the system remains pretty responsive.
Benchmarks also tell the story, as you can see that the iWork 11 Stylus handily beats the Bay-trail powered ASUS T100A tablet in all benchmark tests, especially in the more graphics-focused tests.
Temperature
The iWork 11 Stylus did not warm up excessively in our tests. During our stress test, the internal temperature barely crossed the 60 °C line (from readings of the Ludashi benchmark), and I never feel too much heat on its case. For a fanless system, it is pretty amazing.
Connectivity
Besides the tailor-made keyboard base and the Wacom pen, the Cube iWork 11 Stylus offers a lot of other connectivity options. The Wi-Fi 802.11n/b/g takes good care of internet surfing, while the Bluetooth 4.0 makes it possible for the iWork 11 Stylus to connect with external input devices and audio systems without occupying the ports. The Micro USB 3.0, when connected to a mobile drive with a standard OTG cable, can still manage high-speed data transfer.
You can add a Micro SD card (up to 128GB) on top of the 64GB internal storage.
The Mini HDMI port makes it possible to connect to larger displays such as monitors, HDTVs and projectors. Every time I came back from a business trip, I would like to connect my laptop to the 24-inch desktop monitor in my bedroom, and that’s when the HDMI port could come in handy.
Battery life
The iWork 11 Stylus packs an 8,600mAh Li-Po battery under its hood, which is the same amount of battery capacity used in the i7 Stylus. With a less power-hungry SoC, we were definitely expecting an outstanding battery life from this tablet.
Fortunately, in idle mode, the energy consumption rate is very low -- as per usual with devices outfitted with Atom CPUs. Under load as well, the convertible's energy use is also reasonable. In our standard cngadget battery rundown test, where we set the display brightness at a fixed 50%, and loops a 1080P video with Wi-Fi on, the iWork 11 Stylus lasted 7 hours and 17 minutes, which is 2 hours longer than the result the Cube i7 Stylus scored in the same test.
In the real world use, the iWork 11 Stylus’ battery performance is equally impressive. Working on office documents, and streaming YouTube videos for 3 to 4 hours on a daily basis, I will only have to charge the tablet every 2 days. During my business trip, where I had to use the iWork 11 Stylus checking emails, signing papers with the Wacom pen, and working on some business documents and presentations. I can leave the tablet unplugged for an entire day.
Cameras
Like other Windows tablets we’ve tested before, the iWork 11 Stylus doesn’t have impressive cameras. The nice thing is, the front-facing camera, actually the only useful camera, is decent enough for video-chatting when there is nice lighting. The rear camera is merely just there for the sake of being there, I don’t think you would want to use it for Instagram and Facebook updates, while even the cheapest smartphone could do the job a million times better.
Verdict
Fundamentally, the Cube iWork 11 Stylus makes a reasonably good impression. At a price of about $219, the buyer gets a complete Windows tablet. And for $63 more, they can get a connectable keyboard and a Wacom Pen to enhance the productivity. The keyboard is absolutely sufficient for practical, everyday use. We have typed on lots of considerably worse tablet keyboards, including the newest Surface Type Cover. Alongside two USB 2.0 ports, the keyboard dock also has a touchpad. The tablet is outfitted with a stunning Full HD IPS panel and a pressure-sensitive touchscreen which is compatible with the Wacom pen. Although only powered by an Atom processor, the tablet's performance is absolutely sufficient for all the everyday tasks it was created for, and the 4GB working memory even enables it to take care of some serious multitasking. The 9,000mAh non-removable battery under the hood can keep the system working for an entire day, unplugged.
There are some minor cons - the 64GB eMMc drive is much slower than the SSD used in the i7 series tablets, and the blue coating of the tablet’s rear side is very easy to scratch. But none of them really matters when you take the price into consideration. The iWork 11 Stylus won’t fully replace your desktop PC or high-end laptop for demanding 3D gaming and heavy productivity work, but it serves very well as a travelling companion which helps you take care of your daily office tasks, web-browsing and social networking.
Thank you for the review. Seems pretty fine
Have you seen same micro limitations as it seems Teclast has do it with the X98 Plus?
Enviado desde mi C6603 mediante Tapatalk
Hi, Nice paid review. You forgot to mention the 4GB ram is not fully useable, 2.9GB only since Cube used a 32bit uefi and os instead of 64bit (Big mistake) And the temps? barely over 60 degrees on your unit? Did you work the tablet hard gaming and benchmarking for a few hours? 81 degrees on my unit I brought.
It's in my video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYS_pm49wVM
Hendrickson said:
Hi, Nice paid review. You forgot to mention the 4GB ram is not fully useable, 2.9GB only since Cube used a 32bit uefi and os instead of 64bit (Big mistake) And the temps? barely over 60 degrees on your unit? Did you work the tablet hard gaming and benchmarking for a few hours? 81 degrees on my unit I brought.
It's in my video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYS_pm49wVM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is software which can help you take full advantage of the 4GB RAM, please use Google in case you didn't know. And the temperature reading i got is by using a stress test in a Chinese app called 鲁大师, of course you didn't know 'coz you don't understand any other languages, that is too unfortunate, isn't it?
Since you guys don't have a full-time job and putting up ads and posting reviews of tablets gifted by the manufacturers on the techtablets site is the only way of making money, should I reasonably assume that all reviews on your site are paid? Correct me if I am wrong, please!
It doesn't have the Micro SD card limitations which you have with the Teclast tablets.
Hello guys,
I've been trying to download the stock firmware from this tablet but I can't find it anywhere. I have a Cube i7 with Remix OS, and it has a very similar hardware to the iWork 11, I'd like to try flash the Windows on my tablet, but I'm not able to find the image.
Any idea?
Thanks
jupiter2012 said:
There is software which can help you take full advantage of the 4GB RAM, please use Google in case you didn't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you mean this tool? ( http://www.mediafire.com/download/3xko6f25gsbwa5u/Pae-mod.rar )
btw, is there any way to install win 10 x64 on this tablet?
topfreitas said:
Hello guys,
I've been trying to download the stock firmware from this tablet but I can't find it anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try here:
http://www.cube-tablet.com/download/
Leez_Gooz said:
Did you mean this tool? ( http://www.mediafire.com/download/3xko6f25gsbwa5u/Pae-mod.rar )
btw, is there any way to install win 10 x64 on this tablet?
Try here:
http://www.cube-tablet.com/download/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think it is, but not sure if you can activate the system or find the right drivers.
来自我的 LG-F460L 上的 Tapatalk
topfreitas said:
Hello guys,
I've been trying to download the stock firmware from this tablet but I can't find it anywhere. I have a Cube i7 with Remix OS, and it has a very similar hardware to the iWork 11, I'd like to try flash the Windows on my tablet, but I'm not able to find the image.
Any idea?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Official Windows firmware for i7 Remix isn't available, and I doubt that Cube would ever really release it.
来自我的 LG-F460L 上的 Tapatalk
Install Linux
Does anyone tried to install ubuntu or other linux distros?
I was able to get into the bios, but I didn't manage to boot from USB. Any ideas?
Does anyone work with photoshop with this tablet? If you make a video working with it, you should have a lot of more visit in youtube, there's no anyone that made it with these type of tablets. XD
And for last, I don't find any tutorial to install a diferent UEFI that make it work with windows x64... it's a little freak in 2016 no?
iwork11 usb controllers problem
hello guys,
From device manager,my iwork11 have three item in usb controllers:
1. intel(R) USB 3.0 extensible Host Controller 1.0(microsoft)
2. unknown usb device(device descriptor request failed).......... that my problem.
3. USB Root Hub (xHCI)
I've been trying to update the driver from online but there is no replacement. Someone have this tablet may should look for me what the the harware for no 2.
thank you for help
or
Any idea?
Thank you for the review Jupiter2012!
I have a question though, do you think it's possible to use this tablet as a media player connected to the tv and minimum 6x2Tb external hard drive connected to it? Can it handle it?
Thank you for the answers in advance!
Nice day
Hello:
I'm interested in this tablet:
- 100$ cheaper than the i7 stylus one
- Does not have the temperature issues
- Better battery thanks to the Atom processor
Has anyone tried to open the tablet? I can't seem to find the photos of this model.
I have the idea of soldering a little SSD USB 3.0 drive inside, or trying to replace the eMMC. Even a very cheap USB 3.0 pen seems to be a lot faster than the eMMC. I think that if we can get this working, this tablet will be amazing.
The other remaining thing would be to get working a 64 bit UEFI.
Sorry for the engrish
Do NOT run the PAE (Physical Address Extension) patch on this tablet in order to utilize more than 3GB of RAM. It wrecked my Windows install and now I can't boot. Trying to recover it now, but it's proving to be a pain. I also am not able to boot a 64-bit Windows 10 install. It would be really nice if Cube made the Windows 10 image for this tablet available to download from a reliable source. I tried getting it from Baidu and it took all day only to be a corrupt file. Half the time when you go to the Baidu page it's hosted at, it says the file is not found. If anyone has a link to it, I would greatly appreciate it.
It seems sleep mode doesn't working properly. Battery draining in this mode is awful. It has been discharged in 2 days from full charge to empty. Any ideas?
dmitry1972 said:
It seems sleep mode doesn't working properly. Battery draining in this mode is awful. It has been discharged in 2 days from full charge to empty. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try setting up Hibernate (Suspend to Disk)
Solved Standby for me
regards
Mr.Lee
Mr99Lee said:
Try setting up Hibernate (Suspend to Disk)
Solved Standby for me
regards
Mr.Lee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, but this is a half of problem solution. Battery draining has been stopped, but the waking up process is so slow.
Depends on what you expect..it´s a desktop / notebook OS
Mine comes from hibernate within 5-10 secs.
Hi all,
I encountered my first Problem...did anyone had luck using a Bluetooth Mouse?
I´m able to pair but after Driver Installation there is no mouse cursor and no mouse functionality.
Under Devices it shows up as HID but not as mouse...
during installation of the driver the mouse works fine.
seems an interference with the WACOM-Device...
Any ideas?
regards
Mr.Lee

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