New Windows-powered tablet-notebook hybrids now in SA

konfab said:
Ram is only a problem if you are planning to run some complex application. For watching films, doing light office work and playing older games it is more than adequate.

Memory is/was a problem for me, I have ordered a 64Gb SD card to sort it out.
Click to expand...

64GB SD cards are quite expensive, how much did you pay and where did you buy?
 
Has anyone installed Linux on one of these yet?
 
Need MOAR feedback guys. Don't be shy :D

Seriously considering the 8". Really want a windows tablet but still have no idea why [yet]. This would be ideal so need something conclusive to convince myself :o
 
Is Makro the only store selling the Nextbook tablet?
 
DearHeart said:
64GB SD cards are quite expensive, how much did you pay and where did you buy?
Click to expand...

Takalot- R451


MartyMarts said:
Need MOAR feedback guys. Don't be shy :D

Seriously considering the 8". Really want a windows tablet but still have no idea why [yet]. This would be ideal so need something conclusive to convince myself :o
Click to expand...

Ok so I have had mine for a couple of days now.

Gaming:
If you are looking for something to play tablet games on, move along. The windows store is quite sparse on touchscreen games. That said, this thing is a full windows laptop so there theoretically is a much higher amount of games you can run on it if you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (USB OTG would be too much like hard work). I have played a couple of games of Warcraft 3 on it so it definitely is capable of gaming, at least in the traditional sense.

Internet Browsing
For me this was the most surprising thing: Internet Explorer on a tablet is one of the most enjoyable app experiences I have had. It pretty much replaces the need to have dedicated apps to access web functions. For example: I used to post to MyBB using the tapatalk app on my phone. Now I just open it on the browser on my tablet and it renders perfectly. Speedtest, Facebook, Twitter, 4chan are now accessed though the browser instead of apps. For me this alone would be worth recommending the tablet. Just as nice way to troll the net in bed.

Video playback:
Overall, does exactly what you would expect a modern tablet to do. The default media player can't access network files, so you have to locate them with windows explorer,then open them. To test playback, I streamed a blu-ray rip of Wall-E without any issues (something to consider, the video file I played was larger than the amount of free space I have on my machine). So again, if you are looking for a cheap device to watch videos, look no further. The other great thing is since it runs a proper operating system, you can always load vlc or mpc and never run into problems with subtitles etc.

Work:
So far we have a tablet that is nice to browse the internet and watch videos on. However this tablet comes into it's own when you want to start getting things done. For a start, the keyboard on the device is again the best I have used on a tablet. It comes with a split layout that you can use to tap with your thumbs. This layout is useful if you have to type something whilst holding the device. It also comes with a ctrl key that works as it does on a PC, so you can press ctrl-z to undo. It also has a tab key for the handy auto-complete in the command line.

As for what I had to type, I decided to spice things up for a presentation by running my code on the little tablet. Once I had loaded python and my code on the device, I had found that there was a bug on the display portion of my code. Simple, all I had to do was open notepad++ ,edit the code on the device and save.

The ideal use for this device would be for someone who knows how to code, needs a mobile solution (lets say simple data capturing and processing) and doesn't know how to/want to code a full mobile or web app. Since it runs full windows, all you have to do is write the program on your PC (or use a keyboard), copy it on, and it will work perfectly. I can think of quite a few scenarios that fit this template.

Battery life:
I have not had the chance to run though any heavy cycles so I cannot really give numbers on the how long it lasts, but with casual usage, running the occasional program, browsing the net. I reckon you should be able to get about a day out of it. Obviously it will suffer if you play games or watch videos.

Conclusion
Based off the price that this thing cost, I really cannot fault it. It does everything I thought it would and more. I would recommend it to everyone who is looking for a basic tablet for media consumption. Writing your own apps or scripts for the thing definitely has some application to business.

For people who already have one, I have a couple of tips:
1) Enlarge everything in the display settings in desktop mode. I have increased the size of all the fonts and windows by 150% and it makes working the desktop much frustrating
2) Stick to modern-UI apps as much as possible. That means use IE instead of Chrome and Firefox.
3) Don't bother with social networking apps and others that connect to the net, just use the browser and make a bookmark to your start screen.
4) Split screen functionality is really useful for multitasking and is a charm to use.
 
Last edited:
Awesome write up Konfab. Might look at one of these for me later on. for the Kids I will look at the new MTN Steppa android tablet as it is quad core and not bad for a 7" for R999.
 
i got my 8inch version! i type this post from it! its a pretty cool device.

so far typing is harder than on an ipad for me.
device is really snappy.
i find the screen brightness harsh when no other lights are on!
 
konfab said:
Takalot- R451




Ok so I have had mine for a couple of days now.

Gaming:
If you are looking for something to play tablet games on, move along. The windows store is quite sparse on touchscreen games. That said, this thing is a full windows laptop so there theoretically is a much higher amount of games you can run on it if you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (USB OTG would be too much like hard work). I have played a couple of games of Warcraft 3 on it so it definitely is capable of gaming, at least in the traditional sense.

Internet Browsing
For me this was the most surprising thing: Internet Explorer on a tablet is one of the most enjoyable app experiences I have had. It pretty much replaces the need to have dedicated apps to access web functions. For example: I used to post to MyBB using the tapatalk app on my phone. Now I just open it on the browser on my tablet and it renders perfectly. Speedtest, Facebook, Twitter, 4chan are now accessed though the browser instead of apps. For me this alone would be worth recommending the tablet. Just as nice way to troll the net in bed.

Video playback:
Overall, does exactly what you would expect a modern tablet to do. The default media player can't access network files, so you have to locate them with windows explorer,then open them. To test playback, I streamed a blu-ray rip of Wall-E without any issues (something to consider, the video file I played was larger than the amount of free space I have on my machine). So again, if you are looking for a cheap device to watch videos, look no further. The other great thing is since it runs a proper operating system, you can always load vlc or mpc and never run into problems with subtitles etc.

Work:
So far we have a tablet that is nice to browse the internet and watch videos on. However this tablet comes into it's own when you want to start getting things done. For a start, the keyboard on the device is again the best I have used on a tablet. It comes with a split layout that you can use to tap with your thumbs. This layout is useful if you have to type something whilst holding the device. It also comes with a ctrl key that works as it does on a PC, so you can press ctrl-z to undo. It also has a tab key for the handy auto-complete in the command line.

As for what I had to type, I decided to spice things up for a presentation by running my code on the little tablet. Once I had loaded python and my code on the device, I had found that there was a bug on the display portion of my code. Simple, all I had to do was open notepad++ ,edit the code on the device and save.

The ideal use for this device would be for someone who knows how to code, needs a mobile solution (lets say simple data capturing and processing) and doesn't know how to/want to code a full mobile or web app. Since it runs full windows, all you have to do is write the program on your PC (or use a keyboard), copy it on, and it will work perfectly. I can think of quite a few scenarios that fit this template.

Battery life:
I have not had the chance to run though any heavy cycles so I cannot really give numbers on the how long it lasts, but with casual usage, running the occasional program, browsing the net. I reckon you should be able to get about a day out of it. Obviously it will suffer if you play games or watch videos.

Conclusion
Based off the price that this thing cost, I really cannot fault it. It does everything I thought it would and more. I would recommend it to everyone who is looking for a basic tablet for media consumption. Writing your own apps or scripts for the thing definitely has some application to business.

For people who already have one, I have a couple of tips:
1) Enlarge everything in the display settings in desktop mode. I have increased the size of all the fonts and windows by 150% and it makes working the desktop much frustrating
2) Stick to modern-UI apps as much as possible. That means use IE instead of Chrome and Firefox.
3) Don't bother with social networking apps and others that connect to the net, just use the browser and make a bookmark to your start screen.
4) Split screen functionality is really useful for multitasking and is a charm to use.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review
 
I got one of these today. Pretty awesome little devices. I was in the market for a media player but nothing was ticking all the boxes. For the same price, this little sucker competes with the best.

As a basic setup, I have xbmc running and its the smoothest experience i have had. I was running on a HP micro server before, and i cant tell a difference.

Only issue i have is that the USB OTG port is the same port used for charging. Has anyone been able to get the device to charge WHILE the port is being used as a USB Host? Idealy i want to run a few devices on a hub, and leave the device on charge at all times.

Going to splice open a cable and inject 5v to see what happens, but would love to know if anyone has got this right. I see quite a bit of talk about OTG charging while in host mode on android tablets.

Thanks
Mark
 
mrudling said:
I got one of these today. Pretty awesome little devices. I was in the market for a media player but nothing was ticking all the boxes. For the same price, this little sucker competes with the best.

As a basic setup, I have xbmc running and its the smoothest experience i have had. I was running on a HP micro server before, and i cant tell a difference.

Only issue i have is that the USB OTG port is the same port used for charging. Has anyone been able to get the device to charge WHILE the port is being used as a USB Host? Idealy i want to run a few devices on a hub, and leave the device on charge at all times.

Going to splice open a cable and inject 5v to see what happens, but would love to know if anyone has got this right. I see quite a bit of talk about OTG charging while in host mode on android tablets.

Thanks
Mark
Click to expand...

I haven't done it, but it appears possible:
http://www.instructables.com/id/External-Sensors-Charging-w-Android-USB-aka-Micro-/

https://sites.google.com/site/sonicboomworld/my-projects/otg-diagrams

A resistor of about 100k is needed on the sensing pin to tell the phone to charge.
 
Last edited:
RichardG said:
How many of you bought the tablet? Anyone experiencing any issues with dead pixels
Click to expand...

You will need a poll to accurately answer that.

As for the dead pixel issue, none for me :o. Someone did have an issue though, either on the Disqus comments or here.
 
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