i haven't got a camera at the moment but I will update this review with pictures as soon as I can.
I received my tablet yesterday and have spent the past two days using it pretty much constantly so I think I have a great grasp of weather it is any good or not
build quality.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone or a recent Samsung tablet then this has pretty much the same build quality, that is its plastic but to me it still feels premium and I think if it was made out of another material it would add to the weight
I was very surprised by the weight of the thing. Its heavier than an ipad 2/3/4 but it also has a much bigger screen so the weight feels just right.
I have to say when I first took it out of the box I was surprised by how big it really is. Its an 11.6 inch screen with borders that are about an inch all the way round the screen. I don't have a ruler handy so I cant tell you just how big it is but it is a fair size bigger than my Acer 1420p which also has an 11.6 inch screen.
It comes with a digitzer pen and which is contained in a holder on the bottom right. From what I have read online people are finding it a bit touch to get the pen out but I haven't had any kind of issue.
The digitizer is small but it is very usable. I do admit it does feel cheap and plasticy but I can live with that
I cant comment on the keyboard because the model I got doesn't come with one (the retailer lied to me) but I have one on the way.
All the various ports are covered by plastic tabs which I know will be the first things to break with use.
There is one usb 2 port, a mini hdmi, and a micro SD slot
The buttons on the device are a power button, volume buttons and a auto rotate toggle.
The screen is great. ok its not full HD but it is nice and bright and the viewing angles are fantastic (although anything is an improvement from my Acer 1420p)
Performance and Usability
First thing I have to mention is that the tablet has hard locked on me 3 times while browsing the internet. I am not sure if this is a windows problem or a chrome problem of a hardware problem. From what I have read on the internet from other people it has been fixed with a firmware update but I cant downlad it yet because Im getting server errors.
Anyways onto the good stuff. I have been using windows 8 since the first developer preview and I have avoided the modern UI as much as possible because it doesn't feel that great to me. For a few days I started using it with my old laptop/tablet hybrid and its defiantly grown on me. In fact apart from installing a few things and messing around with files and settings I have bearly used the desktop at all.
The first thing I did when I got the tablet was to refresh it. There is too much bloatware on it such as norton (I honestly didnt even realized they were around any more)
There is a built in samsung program on the desktop which replicates the old start menu which is nice.
I have been running it like a windows machine as much as I can browsing sites I used to avoid on my HP touchpad or my old ipad 2.
Its great being able to run all the programs I can on my main machine (minus the games that is)
It feels so much better and more productive to be able to use what ever programs I want and not to rely on the app store which although has a great selection is a little limited at the moment (no natwest app for example which I use on my iphone all the time)
I haven't noticed any sluggishness apart from on facebook chat but that is sluggish on my i7 920 desktop so Im not counting it as a minus
The built in keyboard is great. its nicely layed out and there are 4 modes
1. is a basic keyboard
2 is a split keyboard which is ok and I can see the appeal but its not for me
3. Is handwriting recognition which works really well. I have really rubbish handwriting and it picks up most of it. I can go into the control panel and teach it if that makes sense. It does take a second to convert but it is great.
4. Is a full QWERTY keyboard with all the buttons you need. The buttons are quite close together and its very jarring going from the default keyboard with its bigger buttons to the small keyboard with more buttons but it works.
The touch screen is extreamly responsive but I wish they had a palm rejection toggle built in like they had in windows 7. I am not sure why they got rid of it.
The S note app is great for taking notes and there is a toggle button built in to turn on palm rejection and it works really well. There is zero lag at all from the pen
There is also a desktop mini S note which as the mane implies runs on the desktop. For some reason there is a little lag when writing which is bizarre.
I am downloading office 2013 preview so I can test that out but from everything I have used there is no keyboard lag that I have experienced on my old Ipad and Hp touch pad.
I love the connected standby feature of the intel processor. It makes weird because I can just press the power button and it behaves like a tablet and not a full windows machine.
The battery life is amazing. I don't have exact numbers but im only loosing a few percent an hour rather than the 30 percent or so that I am used to while browsing the net with my old laptop\tablet
Another thing that is different is the modern UI version of IE 10 feels faster and better than Google chrome but I am still using chrome simply because I have all my favorite websites and settings in chrome and I cant be bothered to start from scratch on IE. Chrome does run in modern UI but apart from scrolling it doesn't have any great touch features. I just wish they would develop it properly for the modern UI because touch is just tacked on.
Im not sure what else to say. I should have been at least £150 cheaper in my opinion.
One of my friends told me I should have gotten an ipad and a netbook and I would have had a bit of change left over. He has a point but I bought this to replace both. I have a lightweight tablet to browse and read with on the couch and when I get the keyboard next week I will have a netbook that I can do some real work on.
Yes I know you can do work on an ipad but to me it just doesn't feel as productive as a netbook or laptop but that's my opinion
If anyone has any questions ask away and I will answer the best I can
I received my tablet yesterday and have spent the past two days using it pretty much constantly so I think I have a great grasp of weather it is any good or not
build quality.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone or a recent Samsung tablet then this has pretty much the same build quality, that is its plastic but to me it still feels premium and I think if it was made out of another material it would add to the weight
I was very surprised by the weight of the thing. Its heavier than an ipad 2/3/4 but it also has a much bigger screen so the weight feels just right.
I have to say when I first took it out of the box I was surprised by how big it really is. Its an 11.6 inch screen with borders that are about an inch all the way round the screen. I don't have a ruler handy so I cant tell you just how big it is but it is a fair size bigger than my Acer 1420p which also has an 11.6 inch screen.
It comes with a digitzer pen and which is contained in a holder on the bottom right. From what I have read online people are finding it a bit touch to get the pen out but I haven't had any kind of issue.
The digitizer is small but it is very usable. I do admit it does feel cheap and plasticy but I can live with that
I cant comment on the keyboard because the model I got doesn't come with one (the retailer lied to me) but I have one on the way.
All the various ports are covered by plastic tabs which I know will be the first things to break with use.
There is one usb 2 port, a mini hdmi, and a micro SD slot
The buttons on the device are a power button, volume buttons and a auto rotate toggle.
The screen is great. ok its not full HD but it is nice and bright and the viewing angles are fantastic (although anything is an improvement from my Acer 1420p)
Performance and Usability
First thing I have to mention is that the tablet has hard locked on me 3 times while browsing the internet. I am not sure if this is a windows problem or a chrome problem of a hardware problem. From what I have read on the internet from other people it has been fixed with a firmware update but I cant downlad it yet because Im getting server errors.
Anyways onto the good stuff. I have been using windows 8 since the first developer preview and I have avoided the modern UI as much as possible because it doesn't feel that great to me. For a few days I started using it with my old laptop/tablet hybrid and its defiantly grown on me. In fact apart from installing a few things and messing around with files and settings I have bearly used the desktop at all.
The first thing I did when I got the tablet was to refresh it. There is too much bloatware on it such as norton (I honestly didnt even realized they were around any more)
There is a built in samsung program on the desktop which replicates the old start menu which is nice.
I have been running it like a windows machine as much as I can browsing sites I used to avoid on my HP touchpad or my old ipad 2.
Its great being able to run all the programs I can on my main machine (minus the games that is)
It feels so much better and more productive to be able to use what ever programs I want and not to rely on the app store which although has a great selection is a little limited at the moment (no natwest app for example which I use on my iphone all the time)
I haven't noticed any sluggishness apart from on facebook chat but that is sluggish on my i7 920 desktop so Im not counting it as a minus
The built in keyboard is great. its nicely layed out and there are 4 modes
1. is a basic keyboard
2 is a split keyboard which is ok and I can see the appeal but its not for me
3. Is handwriting recognition which works really well. I have really rubbish handwriting and it picks up most of it. I can go into the control panel and teach it if that makes sense. It does take a second to convert but it is great.
4. Is a full QWERTY keyboard with all the buttons you need. The buttons are quite close together and its very jarring going from the default keyboard with its bigger buttons to the small keyboard with more buttons but it works.
The touch screen is extreamly responsive but I wish they had a palm rejection toggle built in like they had in windows 7. I am not sure why they got rid of it.
The S note app is great for taking notes and there is a toggle button built in to turn on palm rejection and it works really well. There is zero lag at all from the pen
There is also a desktop mini S note which as the mane implies runs on the desktop. For some reason there is a little lag when writing which is bizarre.
I am downloading office 2013 preview so I can test that out but from everything I have used there is no keyboard lag that I have experienced on my old Ipad and Hp touch pad.
I love the connected standby feature of the intel processor. It makes weird because I can just press the power button and it behaves like a tablet and not a full windows machine.
The battery life is amazing. I don't have exact numbers but im only loosing a few percent an hour rather than the 30 percent or so that I am used to while browsing the net with my old laptop\tablet
Another thing that is different is the modern UI version of IE 10 feels faster and better than Google chrome but I am still using chrome simply because I have all my favorite websites and settings in chrome and I cant be bothered to start from scratch on IE. Chrome does run in modern UI but apart from scrolling it doesn't have any great touch features. I just wish they would develop it properly for the modern UI because touch is just tacked on.
Im not sure what else to say. I should have been at least £150 cheaper in my opinion.
One of my friends told me I should have gotten an ipad and a netbook and I would have had a bit of change left over. He has a point but I bought this to replace both. I have a lightweight tablet to browse and read with on the couch and when I get the keyboard next week I will have a netbook that I can do some real work on.
Yes I know you can do work on an ipad but to me it just doesn't feel as productive as a netbook or laptop but that's my opinion
If anyone has any questions ask away and I will answer the best I can
