Nextbook 8

@Arthur, thanks for a good mini review, even if the thread is in the wrong forum ;0) Was wondering if a anti-glare screen protector won't make a big difference, certainly did on my Lumias.
 
Went to have a look at the Nextbook at Makro.

Was ultra impressed by the build quality - both 8 and 10.1".

I own an Asus T100 transformer Win8 tablet and am very used to low price point spec limitations.

Will replace my son's Android tab (poor quality for the R2,000 I spent on it) with the 8" Nextbook.

Slight problem. Makro consultant seems to be thoroughly convinced that Nextbook is built by Microsoft. Does anybody have details of the nature of the relationship between the two companies. Consultant feels Nextbook is part of Microsoft Devices division.
 
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McCrazieGoalz said:
Went to have a look at the Nextbook at Makro.

Was ultra impressed by the build quality - both 8 and 10.1".

I own an Asus T100 transformer Win8 tablet and am very used to low price point spec limitations.

Will replace my son's Android tab (poor quality for the R2,000 I spent on it) with the 8" Nextbook.

Slight problem. Makro consultant seems to be thoroughly convinced that Nextbook is built by Microsoft. Does anybody have details of the nature of the relationship between the two companies. Consultant feels Nextbook is part of Microsoft Devices division.
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Microsoft were a big part of the launch here in SA together with makro. Look for the MyBB article on the launch.

The devices are not made by microsoft, but by a company called E Fun.
 
The manufacturer is ShenZhen YiFang Digital Technology, a company in China. It has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft other than having an OEM agreement for Windows 8.1 With Bing, which is royalty-free, hence the low price point. Dozens of others have the same, and we can expect a flood of this class of devices over the next few months. It most emphatically has nothing to do with Microsoft's Devices Division run be Elop.
 
I Two questions if I may...

1. I am looking to use this for work. I was considering an Android tab but the problem is loading proprietary windows applications. This will be possible with those tablet? Presumably only disk space is an issue. Can apps be installed on an installed SD?

2. Is the screen really appalling or does it just appear so to those coming from 300+ppi devices? I may want to show clients documents on screen. And hopefully sign documents online. I know this is possible on Android.
 
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This is a content-browsing device, so don't expect apps that are memory- or CPU-intensive to be zippy.

1. Yes. If your app installer supports drive selection. Remember, Dropbox cannot be installed on removable media.

2. It's fine for indoors. Requires direct-on viewing because viewing angle is lousy.
 
Thanks, apps should not be too resource intense but I'll check system requirements for each.

Sadly content browsing alone would be a better experience in a Tab S. The appeal of the Nextbook is the ability to run Windows apps.
 
Dubes said:
I Two questions if I may...

1. I am looking to use this for work. I was considering an Android tab but the problem is loading proprietary windows applications. This will be possible with those tablet? Presumably only disk space is an issue. Can apps be installed on an installed SD?

2. Is the screen really appalling or does it just appear so to those coming from 300+ppi devices? I may want to show clients documents on screen. And hopefully sign documents online. I know this is possible on Android.
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I have the Asus Transformer T100, which isn't that far ahead in specs as this (the 1GB RAM on the Nextbook is probably the biggest performance limitation) and yes you can install apps on the SDCard .

I must say if it's running Windows 8.1 , the options are endless, if you can do it on your Desktop, you can do it on a Windows 8 tablet (barring the RAM/CPU limitations)., BUT and this is something to ponder: I'm not sure what the USB port on this device is like. The Asus have a micro-USB on the tablet and a full sized USB on the detachable keyboard which implies you can plug in a mouse / portable external HD / Flash Disk into either of those ports.

Above also means, you can plug in a USB monitor or USB projector or even stream your screen via WIFI to another PC , since it's all windows and drivers for these devices are pretty much common place on windows, regardless of the device it is on.

So coming from an iPad and Android tablets , it does take getting use to the idea that a Windows tablet can run/plug in/install anything that you can do on your windows desktop (assuming you got the ports). So even that Bluetooth , if you can install drivers for a bluetooth keyboard and mouse on your desktop, you can do it on this device.


Another little trick for the gamers out there, Steam has this feature called "Stream-In-House" , which means if you got a PC on the same Wifi network as your windows tablet and both got steam install, you can stream any game to your tablet and play it on there...i am using it alot more than i thought...
 
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Thanks. That RAM limitation is certainly the thing concerning me most. Some apps I use call for a minimum spec of 2GB RAM.
 
Dubes said:
Sadly content browsing alone would be a better experience in a Tab S. The appeal of the Nextbook is the ability to run Windows apps.
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I don't think it is appropriate to compare a Tab S to a Nextbook. The price differences are quite huge and the Nextbook is marketed at entry level and it does that job brilliantly.

Dubes said:
Thanks. That RAM limitation is certainly the thing concerning me most. Some apps I use call for a minimum spec of 2GB RAM.
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Maybe you should look at the Dell Venue 8.0 Pro which also comes with Windows 8 but has 2GB ram and a 64GB Hdd. I recall seeing this on the Dion Wired website for R4000.
This has the full Windows 8 OS and not the Windows 8 + Bing.

Also Kalahari has a Proline 8.9" Windows 8 tablet with keyboard for R2900. This comes with 2GB ram and a 32Gb Hdd.

Both these are 3G models
 
Bull1012 said:
I don't think it is appropriate to compare a Tab S to a Nextbook. The price differences are quite huge and the Nextbook is marketed at entry level and it does that job brilliantly.
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Certainly when based on total cost but the Tab S can be acquired at R229pm including data.

Maybe you should look at the Dell Venue 8.0 Pro which also comes with Windows 8 but has 2GB ram and a 64GB Hdd. I recall seeing this on the Dion Wired website for R4000.
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Thanks, I'll certainly take a look at this.



Interestingly I've often found though that contracts offer better value. In many instances you end up paying much the same as the cash price over the two years when subtracting the cost of the data supplied on contract over the period.
 
I am clueless as to Windows 8 or Windows Phone.I am using Windows 7 and Android.Do you load the same apps on a Windows 8 tablet as you would load on a Windows phone?

Does this tablet handle photo files the same way as Windows 7?What I mean is can you arrange photos by name and size in addition to date?
 
jacques is hier said:
I am clueless as to Windows 8 or Windows Phone.I am using Windows 7 and Android.Do you load the same apps on a Windows 8 tablet as you would load on a Windows phone?

Does this tablet handle photo files the same way as Windows 7?What I mean is can you arrange photos by name and size in addition to date?
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No it's not the same as windows phone, totally different. Windows 8 is like 7 but faster.
 
jacques is hier said:
Do you load the same apps on a Windows 8 tablet as you would load on a Windows phone?
Click to expand...


The idea is to have one store with what Microsoft has deemed "universal apps". Buy once, use everywhere sort of thing. However, only a small number of apps have been coded as universal app as we speak and there are still two stores. With Windows 10, it wont be Windows Store, Windows Phone store. Just Windows Store and hopefully most apps would have migrated to being universal.
 
SammyD said:
The idea is to have one store with what Microsoft has deemed "universal apps". Buy once, use everywhere sort of thing. However, only a small number of apps have been coded as universal app as we speak and there are still two stores. With Windows 10, it wont be Windows Store, Windows Phone store. Just Windows Store and hopefully most apps would have migrated to being universal.
Click to expand...

I personally can't wait :)
 
jacques is hier said:
I am clueless as to Windows 8 or Windows Phone.I am using Windows 7 and Android.Do you load the same apps on a Windows 8 tablet as you would load on a Windows phone?

Does this tablet handle photo files the same way as Windows 7?What I mean is can you arrange photos by name and size in addition to date?
Click to expand...

Windows Phone/Mobile is nothing like Windows 8 . Some of the earlier tablets came out with an OS called "Windows 8 RT" , do not go for a tablet with this on, skip it, it's a dud , Microsoft has moved on and now puts the full blown Windows 8 on their devices . Make sure it is running Windows 8 or 8.1 (without the RT).

Windows Phone is comparable to Android/IOS , it is all app based with all the limitations you get on those kinds of software, plus Windows Phone has far less apps than Android/IOS .

Now Windows 8 or 8.1 on a tablet is the full blown Windows 8 you get on a desktop/laptop. So you really can't compare it to any mobile system. Again, it's like comparing Windows 8 on your laptop to Android , you can't.

Now that said, Windows 8 has this new "App Interface" they call Metro. It's very annoying on a desktop, it's the whole tiles and charms (the stuff that slides out from the sides) and the missing start bar (they returned the start icon in Windows 8.1, but it's still not really back).

So you get apps aka "metro apps" that specifically run in this tiled interface in Windows 8 and then there is the traditional desktop apps that works like in Windows 7. On a tablet, Metro apps works quite nice, and you will start looking for a Facebook App / Twitter App / Maps App (which you get from the app store) etc that runs in the Metro/Tile section of Windows 8 as opposed to having it run on the traditional desktop inside your browser (like you would do when on your laptop in windows). And if you don't find the app in the AppStore then you just get a desktop app and run it there.

So in the end, a tablet with Windows 8 on is amazing if you ask me. Also look into the Asus Transformer , i saw them going for R4k-R5k at HiFi/Takealot , especially since the Asus comes with a keyboard.

Also despite the experience you may have had on a laptop with windows 8 , somehow on a tablet it can start up in like 5 seconds, full windows 8 just as fast as IOS/Android tablets....
 
I had a good couple of days of leaning after I got my NextBook Win8.1 tablet.

In short, I deleted the recovery partition, managed to get Win10 Build 9926 on it but lack of finding drivers, I loaded my own Win8.1 Pro on it and was stuck with the same problem but made some progress with some drivers but still far off.
Found someone on XDA forums that provided a backup of his recovery partition of restoring the original nextbook win8.1 with bing. All works again.
Also actually managed to get Kali Linux booted from USB btw. Didn't explorer much but I'll do so now that I know how.

Link to the Forum on XDA and my posts are from #20
You can find the link to the recovery image from XDA member @Sloogle_Flugelmann
The forum was about someone wanting Android on the Win8.1 tablet (why I don't know since its a better full pc than an Android tablet in my opinion) but that lead to the recovery image link and so on.
 
Will the Nextbook 8" tablet update to Windows 10 come end July or must I wait before I buy?
 
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