Despite what Microsoft says,
Windows 8 devices aren't flying off the shelves right now, with the
tablet market proving to be a particularly tough nut to crack.
Enter
Acer and its newly-unveiled 8.1-inch Windows 8 microslab. Yes, this is
the smallest tablet to squeeze in the full Windows 8 experience, and it
doesn't do a bad job of it either considering that it's a fair bit more
power-intensive than its direct rivals - the iPad mini and Nexus 7 - and yet just about as portable
Design
To pack in that full PC experience, the slate comes
bundled with an easily-integrated Bluetooth keyboard. All you do is
simply slot the tablet into the dock's rubber hold and you're away. No
awkwardly missing dock connectors around here.
Turn the dock over
and the tablet can slot securely into the back, face down, turning the
keyboard into a convenient cover when carrying it around. Protection
sorted. Slips in nicelyAs
for the tablet itself, the smooth metallic back feels nice on the
hands, although we're not overly keen on the white border around the
front bezel.
There's obviously a lot more being packed in the Iconia W3 and the tablet is a fair bit heavier than both the iPad Mini and Nexus 7.
It's still usable in one hand, but you'll soon start to notice that
extra bulk which feels a little heavier than it perhaps needs to be.
Specs and performance
The
W3's Intel Atom Clover Trail 72760 chip has a dual-core processor with
2GB of RAM and a clock speed of 1.8GHz, meaning the tablet is zippy
enough to handle Windows 8 operations.
Only a couple of times did
we find things slowing down when switching between Office programs, but
we can see that the tablet might buckle a tiny bit more had we been
able to spend more time on running tasks.
32GB or 64GB storage
variants of the Iconia W3 will be available, both of which offer an
extra 32GB via microSD. Meanwhile, a micro HDMI output can be found on
the bottom of the tablet along with a pair of stereo speakers. The desktop experience - in one hand
Display
The
touchscreen display isn't as vivid as you might expect - it only packs a
1,200 x 800 resolution. When jumping around the screen, we noticed that
the colours often looked a bit on the dull side.
Front and rear
cameras are, as expected, present, though at 2MP each they feel like a
missed opportunity on a device that's veering into the
acceptable-camera-use territory. Say cheeseWe
found that using the small touchscreen on Office applications,
especially Excel, a tad on the fiddly side, but were still impressed by
having full-fat Windows in the palm of our hands.
And that's
another thing - Iconia W3 buyers will also get a copy of Microsoft
Office Home and Student 2013 for free as a nice added extra. Pocket powerHowever - and it is a big however - there are still two questions being begged here. First, do people want the desktop experience in a tablet? Or is throwing the whole thing in missing the point entiely?
And second, if Microsoft is in fact about to push out a 7-inch Windows 8 tablet of its own, will Acer's matter?
We
won't really know the answer to the first question until people start
picking up (or not picking up) the slate, but having played with the W3,
it feels like 8 inches is about a low as you'd want to go when using
full Windows. Therefore, Microsoft's offering might actually be one inch
cut too many.
So what about the price? The 32GB and 64GB will be
tagged €329 (about £280, $427, AUS $445) and €379 (about £325, $492, AUS
$512) respectively. For that price, we have to say that we expected a
little bit more, but we'll hold out on making a judgement call until our
full review.
Early Verdict
The Iconia W3 was always going
to impress on being a record-breaker alone, and having played with it,
we can see a lot of great benefits in having Windows 8 in the palm.
But
while this could give the OS the big kick it's been waiting for, it
currently feels like the price and ambition should have resulted in
something more, though we'd have to spend a lot more time with the
tablet to see if it could actually replace both desktop and tablet OS at
the same time.
Still, at least there isn't long to wait - the Iconia W3 will be launching this month, with pre-orders live now.
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is a super-light device designed to take on
the iPad with a quality screen and innovative features - but is the
price too high? But when it comes to tablets, the world of Android
is a funny old place.. There have been plenty of pretenders, but not
really one that stands out when it comes to market share in the way the
iPad does. And it's a wrong Sony is determined to put right with the
Xperia Tablet Z. Sony has tried before - the Xperia Tablet S,
Sony's most recent foray, was a decent if uninspiring effort. But as
with others, it failed to stand out in a world full of challengers. Time
for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z to improve on this.
The first thing we noticed when we took the Sony Xperia Tablet Z out
of its box was how beautiful it was. We don't want to sound gushing, but
as gadget lovers, we have unboxed a lot of devices. Yet it's on only a
few occasions that we've taken something out of its box and instantly
been smitten with it. We're thinking of the way we felt with the first iPhone (and the iPhone 4), the Nexus One, the iPad 2
and the HTC One. Certain devices just have the power to evoke a strong
reaction that makes you feel instantly transfixed. The Sony Xperia
Tablet Z definitely comes under that category.
And the accessories (like the official case/stand, for example, if
you have more money than sense) won't be available until-mid June.
Unsurprisingly, Sony says this is its most pre-ordered tablet yet. But
it won't come cheap. The 16GB Wi-Fi-only model will set you back
£399/US$499.99/AU$539, the 32GB Wi-Fi version costs
£449/US$599.99/AU$649 and the 16GB LTE/4G model is priced at £499/AU$679
(US price not currently available). That's exactly the same as the equivalent iPad 4, and roughly what you'll pay for a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
Make no mistake, Sony is making a statement here: "Our products are
just as good as Apple's, so don't expect them to be cheaper."
Features There are several reasons why we became instant fans. Firstly, looks:
the Sony Xperia Tablet Z doesn't try too hard. There are no uber fancy
bells and whistles here. To all intents, it's a simple black rectangle.
But what a rectangle it is. Highly glossy glass on the front made from
toughened, scratch-resistant glass. t looks (intentionally) like a larger version of Sony's already stonking Xperia Z
phone with one minor difference - the back of the tablet isn't glass
like the phone, but a more matt-style polycarbonate makeup. And aside
from the standby and power buttons on the side, there are no others. As
per Google's direction, all navigation is done via the screen's software
buttons. Then there's the thickness. Or, rather, the lack of.
This is currently the thinnest tablet on the market - and it really
shows. If you think the iPad 4 is respectable at 9.4mm (0.37 inches),
then you'll really be blown away at the Sony Xperia Tablet Z's 6.9mm
(0.27 inches). In
terms of overall footprint, it's slightly different, clocking in at
266mm x 172mm (10.5 x 6.8 inches) compared to the Apple offering's
241.2mm x 185.7mm (9.5 x 7.3 inches). But the other thing you'll notice
is just how light it is. Weight is one of the tricky ones, with
frequent complaints that tablets such as the iPad become too heavy to
hold for long periods of time. The iPad 4 tips the scales at 662g
(1.46lbs) and even the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is no feather at 600g
(1.32lbs). The Sony Xperia Tablet Z trumps them both at 495g (1.09lbs). This really is one of those devices you have to experience to appreciate. Pictures and YouTube videos just don't do it justice.
Added to that is the fact that the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, like the Sony Xperia Z phone, is water and dust resistant. This
is a tablet you can comfortably take into the bath and not worry about.
It's slightly disconcerting doing so, since every fibre of your being
is telling you not to dunk it in the water, but provided you make sure
the waterproof plugs are in the sockets, you'll be fine. In fact,
the only way this doesn't work is when trying to swipe underwater. The
screen registers all kinds of movements, so you have to take it out and
dry the screen to really get it to register screen taps. Mind you, if
you're likely to be playing Fruit Ninja underwater, you probably need to
have a word with a doctor. For watching movies in the bath or at the
bus stop in the rain, you'll be fine. If you try and run water on
the display, get ready for a panic, as it registers a million taps and
opens every app under the sun, making you worry that the tablet has a
plug open and water is getting inside. It's not, stay cool. However,
we do wonder if waterproofing this tablet is anything more than a
gimmick. Yes, you can use it in the bath without worrying, or get egg on
it while cooking. It makes it feel more rugged, indeed. But do
you need a tablet to do that? Without the covers it might feel like a
more slick product, and that's something we would love to see. It could
possibly do away with the angular corners too, which is a real design problem in our eyes. We're
not totally sold on the dust resistance either. Yes, it means that dust
won't get in beneath the screen, which used to be one of our main
bugbears on devices of old. But the Sony Xperia Tablet Z does have a
ridge all the way around the edge that seems to attract lint. You can
clear it with a blow or a blast from a vacuum but it'll just come back.
And don't get us started on fingerprints - this is a magnet for them. And
the screen is another area you'll want to know about. We weren't bowled
over by the displays on more recent devices such as the Samsung Galaxy
Note 10.1 or Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 because of their resolutions. The
trouble is once you've experienced a sharpness like Apple's Retina
displays, nothing else can really live up to your expectations. We used
an iPad mini
recently and it felt almost third world that we were able to spot
pixels on websites and ebooks, even if it was less of an issue with
photos and videos. The same could be said of Sony's Xperia Tablet S. But
there are no such issues here. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z sports a Full
HD display - 1200 x 1920 pixels spread over its 10.1-inch screen, giving
a pixel density of 224ppi. It's not the sharpest out there - that honour is held by the Google Nexus 10 and its staggering 299ppi - but with the Nexus 7's
more than respectable 216ppi at one end of the scale and the iPad 4's
264ppi at the other, you get the impression of where the Sony Xperia
Tablet Z sits. We spot pixels for fun and can categorically say
that this is a super sharp display that we were more than impressed
with. And surprisingly in side by side comparisons, it bested the Google
Nexus 10 and was every inch the equal of the iPad 4 - beating the
latter when it comes to movie watching simply because it has a more
widescreen ratio. On top of that, Sony's equipped the Xperia Tablet Z with its Mobile
Bravia Engine. A lot of the time this is all smoke and mirrors, using
fancy new titles that add little to the experience. Not so much here,
though. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z looks absolutely phenomenal, with
photos and videos popping out of the screen brilliantly. Even on
just normal tasks, like web browsing, the colour is spot-on. It's not
too bland but also not overly colourful, which is a criticism sometimes
levelled at Samsung. Whites look warm on the Sony Xperia Tablet Z,
rather than yellow. There is little here we can criticise, other
than the fact that the screen is sometimes too bright. We had the Sony
Xperia Tablet Z set to auto-brightness, but found ourselves often having
to manually turn it right down to the lowest possible setting. Maybe
Sony thinks we're all half blind, but sometimes less is more. One other observation we must point out here is how much better the
screen viewing angles are on the Sony Xperia Tablet Z compared to the
smartphone equivalent. On the tablet, it's an LED-backlit LCD panel,
while the Xperia Z phone ships with a TFT display. The phone
screen is sharp and bright, but look at it anything other than dead-on
and it looks more washed out than an old pair of jeans. You won't find
this on the Tablet Z, where the viewing angles are much better, although
the iPad does have a superior contrast ratio based on general usage. It's
good to see, since this could have been a massive Achilles' heel,
especially because you'd be more likely to share content with friends on
a larger screen, watching movies together and so on. If you're a
fan of movies, a microSD card slot is another big bonus here. Sony has
stuck two fingers up at Google and its move to cloud-based alternatives,
forcing people into 32GB or less of onboard storage. It means that you can buy a 16GB model and easily bump your storage
up by an extra 64GB without breaking the bank. It's a big issue. Google
assumes people are happy to stream from the cloud, but bearing in mind
the space an OS and bloatware can take up and the fact that you have to
install apps onto the internal memory, by the time you've added a few
big ones like the GTA games, a couple of HD movies and a few songs, your
allowance is shot. And if you're on a plane or a train and want
to stream from your collection of 30,000 tunes, you're out of luck
unless you've previously decided which ones to download to the device.
That's why we remain fans of SD card slots, even if you disagree in some
of the comments sections. Powering this beast - and making sure
your movies all play without lag or stutter - is a Qualcomm Snapdragon
processor with a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait CPU. Add to that 2GB RAM and
you're on fire. Some early reports have claimed there is a slight lag on certain
tasks such as swiping from screen to screen, though the same posters
have added that installing another launcher such as Nova or Apex fixes
the issue. We didn't notice much lag on our unit, and we really
rinsed the Sony Xperia Tablet Z as much as we could. Occasionally it
would take a couple of taps of the home button to go back to the main
screen, but it wasn't often and it tended to be during CPU-intensive
tasks. Either way, if those reports are true for some, it's to do with
Sony's launcher rather than a hardware issue, so Sony will be able to
fix this with an update. We did notice that the screen isn't as
responsive as we'd have liked. When browsing the web in portrait mode it
bounced all over the place at times, and we want something amazing -
really amazing - in a tablet that costs this much, Powering the
Sony Xperia Tablet Z you'll find a 6,000mAh power pack. While huge, it's
not the biggest out there, bearing in mind the iPad 4's is nearly
double the size at 11,560mAh and the Galaxy Note 10.1 offers up
7,000mAh. We'll go into how it performed in the Battery section of our
review. Charging is done via a micro USB connection, which means you can use
any other chargers you have lying around the house too, though you have
to have a wall socket, since it won't charge off a laptop. Hard luck. We
won't lie, the act of charging is a pain. For one thing, you have to
take the waterproof cover out each time (this is the downside of having a
waterproof tablet) - unless you're using the pricey official dock with
charging contacts - and although high quality and secure, we can't help
but wonder how long they will last. Add to that, this is not a
quick charging device. Where you can plug an iPad in for a 10 minute
power blast and be confident you'll gain a bit of juice for a quick
jaunt, the Sony Xperia Tablet Z takes forever to charge up. We found
it's definitely an all-night job. Slow doesn't come close to describing
it.
While smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are pushing 4G into the hands of more and more people, there's a segment of the market that simply can't afford these premium 4G handsets.
LG
is doing its best to cater to this market, launching its Optimus F5
handset to provide the prepaid market an affordable 4G-enabled device.
At AUD$299 outright (roughly $US285, £185), the handset certainly ticks
the affordable check box.
A quick perusal of the spec sheet also
promises plenty of features you'd expect from a higher-class of phone. A
4.3-inch IPS display, 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 8GB of
internal storage expandable via MicroSD would all be appropriate for
devices costing significantly more.
While it only comes with the 4.1 version of Jelly Bean
running the show, the benefit of affordability over most up to date
software should be enough to keep the budget-conscious happy.
Design
Can
you say iClone? Of course you can. But that's almost exactly what the
handset looks like front on. The screen proportions, the bezel, and even
the front camera and earpiece look like they were magically transported
directly from Jonny Ive's brain. Of
course, there are differences too. There's no hard home button, for a
start. Instead, the standard Android trio of touch sensitive soft
buttons line up below the F5's screen.
The IPS display is vibrant and colourful, with great viewing angles and a decent resolution at 960 x 550 pixels at 256ppi. The
bottom of the device houses a MicroUSB port, while the left of the
phone is home to the volume rocker and the power button lives on the
right hand side.
The removable plastic back is a glossy white with
a fancy diamond pattern, which surrounds the phone's 5-megapixel
camera. Take it off, and you can see the removable 2150mAh battery, SIM
card slot and MicroSD port. The
plastic backing the phone is a little bit slippery. That diamond
pattern isn't actually textured onto the case, unfortunately, and the
slippery plastic feel does make its way onto the sides of the phones as
well.
The overall feeling is that the phone could slip from your
grip at any second. Mind you, phones like the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5
have the same sort of feel, so it's hardly a deal-breaker. The
F5 is also much chunkier than you'd expect. At 9.3mm thick, it's hardly
what we'd call fat, but it does feel significantly wider than the
premium phones of today.
It's also feels heavier than it looks, coming in at 134 grams.
Power and the passion
While
power users will hate the lack of the most recent version of Jelly
Bean, there's no denying that the 4.1 version, coupled with the
dual-core Snapdragon processor, actually makes the F5 sing.
Animations are smooth, transitions are fast and the integrated features are nice too.
LG has stuffed its QSlide functionality, previously seen on the Optimus G,
into the F5. It lets you multitask, adding different apps on top of
your current screen and adjusting the transparency so you can keep doing
what your doing.
There are QSlide apps for video, memos, internet, calendar and calculator, and two can be used at a time. The QSlide apps work pretty well. We saw a video of the Family Guy playing back in a transparent window while the main phone switched between apps and took notes.
LG
has also bundled in its Quick Memo function, which lets you take a note
on F5's and can stay on the screen until you're ready to clear it away.
Useful for taking down a phone number then calling that number. One
other nifty feature is the ability to customise pretty much any botton
on the home page, making icons bigger or smaller for convenience, as
well as changing the icon image.
This includes the ability to
take photos and use the subsequent image as an app icon. Which is kind
of neat, really, when you think about it.
Early Verdict
This handset isn't meant to compete with the likes of the Galaxy S4 or Xperia Z. It's a mid-range handset aimed at converting prepaid customers to 4G.
But
given its snappy performance and bargain price point, there's a lot to
like about the F5, in a way that sees it competing with phones double
its price. The handset itself seems well-made, and while it's not going to win any beauty pageants, it certainly doesn't look ugly.
There
are question marks over the 5MP camera, and we haven't tested to see
how well the processor performs under duress, but overall, this looks
like a really promising handset for affordable 4G access.
Making a 'special edition' of an older, middle-ranking product
between the annual product refresh is rather an unusual move in the
world of tablets; but in the case of the Toshiba AT300SE, it makes a lot
of sense.
Compared to its Toshiba AT300
ancestor, the Toshiba AT300SE sees the same Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core
mobile processor and features a 5th battery-saver core, but uses the
latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.
It also receives a £30 discount, taking the price down to £299 in the
UK and US$349.99 in the US, where it's called the Excite 10 SE.
The
tablet's cheaper price is achieved by using a slightly thicker (10.5mm
vs 8.9mm), heavier (625g vs 589g) chassis, a less able camera (3MP rear,
1.2MP front vs 5MP and 2MP) and a less comprehensive array of ins and
outs.
However, with the Toshiba AT300 suffering from a lack of
speed, the Toshiba AT300SE is all about that processor, and it ought to
lift it ahead of some rivals.
Core specs-wise this 16GB, Wi-Fi-only tablet is placed to complete very aggressively on price with the equivalent iPad 4 and other high-end Android tablets such as the Google Nexus 10 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. In its peer group, however, it's slightly pricier than the Asus Iconia A210 and Sony Tablet S.
However, the probable reason for the Toshiba AT300SE's reappearance as a slightly lower-spec tablet is to challenge the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which sells for the same as the Toshiba AT300's initial price.
Measuring 261 x 180 x 10.5mm (10.3 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches) and weighing
625g (22oz), the Toshiba AT300SE has a 10.1-inch IPS LCD 10-finger touch
display and an aspect ratio of 16:10. It feels solid, and we had no
qualms about putting it in hand luggage for a flight without a cover.
Its
mottled grey back panel makes it stay in place when holding it, though
the Toshiba AT300SE's back panel is noticeably more bulky than the
Toshiba AT300, with a much more pronounced curve than both its older
sister and the iPad 3, while the bezel around the screen stretches to 18mm (0.7 inches) behind the glass. That's exactly the same as an iPad.
Compared to a Toshiba AT300, the Toshiba AT300SE lacks a metallic
strip along the top to house camera and flash, and completely lacks a
flash. This incarnation uses a printed Toshiba logo instead of an
engraved version, too.
Note here that although the Toshiba AT300
has an LED-backlit display and the Toshiba AT300SE does not; in practice
there was no noticeable difference in viewing angles, colour richness
or contrast in our side-by-side test. The brightness does reduce when
the screen is tipped, but it's the same on both tablets.
The resolution is an HD-capable 1280 x 800 pixels - no change there -
though that's vastly fewer than the iPad's 1536 x 2048 on a smaller
screen - and the pixel structure is visible if you're looking for it.
Whether that 149ppi troubles you will depend on what you want a tablet
for - but it's a sticking point for us.
Though there's no 3G
option, the Toshiba AT300SE's connectivity has been expanded and
streamlined since the original Toshiba AT300. Gone is the bulky,
proprietary charger that plugged into the tablet's longer side, replaced
by a micro USB port. It's less to carry around if nothing else. The
left side - if using the tablet in landscape orientation - features a
headphones slot, volume rockers, that micro USB slot, and a microSD card
slot for expanding beyond the 16GB solid state drive. Nice. Speakers
are down-facing on the undercarriage, while the standby button is on the
top.
'Proper' keyboard and wireless headphones fans (if there are any), will appreciate the Toshiba AT300SE's Bluetooth 3.0 brains. The
Toshiba AT300SE runs on an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor running
at 1.3GHz, with 1GB of RAM, though Toshiba's impressive Resolution+
video improvement circuitry has been sacrificed.
Button placing
makes sense in both orientations, and we love the new micro USB cable
and bundled wall charger, but what about HDMI out? It seems that the
price saving achieved with the Toshiba AT300SE has come at the cost of
that, as well as slimness and a lower-spec screen.
The Gametel was originally designed for
Android. The packaging doesn't mention iOS, and omits the micro-USB lead
for charging because the assumption is that you already have one.
Fortunately, the controller is actually iCade-compatible and is easily paired with an iOS device over Bluetooth.
Uniquely
for the devices on test, it can house a device in landscape in an
extendable clip, although this also means it's uglier than the 8-Bitty
and SteelSeries Free.
The Gametel
D-pad had almost the opposite problem to the 8-Bitty: diagonals weren't
hard to find, they were too easy to slip into. The D-pad felt good, but
we found it too often lacked precision, causing errors in games that
demand tight all-round controls.
For titles such as Gridrunner and Forget-Me-Not, we were often frustrated; with more forgiving games such as Ice Rage,
the sloppiness was fine; and for platform games where you merely need
left, right and action buttons, the Gametel is a potentially decent bet,
with action buttons that are responsive enough.
Sadly,
the Gametel falls down in terms of button mapping. Identical to the
8-Bitty, too many titles map important actions to the tiny centre
start/select buttons or the shoulder buttons, which rest on the middle
of your fingers.
The latest creation rolling off the production line at Asus is the
Asus FonePad: a 7-inch Android tablet that can make and receive phone
calls.
Arriving with an extremely friendly £179.99 price tag when
it launches on April 26, the FonePad is here to compete with the likes
of the Google Nexus 7 (also developed by Asus), the Kindle Fire HD and the all-conquering iPad mini for your affections.
Interestingly,
the Asus FonePad is notable for coming armed with an Intel processor
rather than the Nvidia Tegra chips favoured by the majority of Android
devices. The Intel Atom Z2420 on board clocks in at a speed of 1.2GHz
and has a separate PowerVR SGX540 GPU for backup.
There's 16GB of storage space as well as the unbridled benefit of Android Jelly Bean arriving out of the box. But it's the smartphone aspect of the device that Asus is hoping will entice you. The
Taiwanese company believes the device is "ideal for people who value
both the voice communication features of a smartphone and the
entertainment opportunities afforded by a tablet".
It's not exactly wrong either. Once the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4S was considered sufficient, but the sales of devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the recently revealed Samsung Galaxy Mega suggests we're getting happy with bigger screens. That
doesn't necessarily mean you're happy to walk around with a 7-inch
slate clasped to your ear - but that's missing the point of the FonePad.
You can use a headset when walking down the street, or prop it on a
stand at your desk and use the speakerphone.
It's an attempt to answer the age-old dilemma of one general device or multiple specific devices. We're going to go out on a limb and suggest the FonePad probably won't replace the Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z or HTC One you carry in your pocket every day.
But
Asus has tucked plenty of tech into the device and kept the price low
enough that it certainly stands as a respectable tablet in its own
right. When
tablets first started arriving back in 2010, it was the lesser known
manufacturers that turned in cheaper options - usually by cutting every
conceivable corner when it came to features and design. Now though, the
big boys of the tech world have become very good at keeping those
aspects alive at wallet-friendly prices.
The Asus FonePad features the accepted 7-inch screen and, from the front at least, looks the conventional Android tablet. Jelly
Bean's soft-touch navigation keys mean the face of the FonePad is
devoid of physical buttons, leaving simply the black bezel with the Asus
logo and camera lens on the top.
The rear of the tablet has more in common with Apple's iPad mini than the Asus-produced Google Nexus 7
thanks to a smooth metallic finish. Available in either "titanium grey"
or "champaign gold", the metal adds an undeniably premium feel even if
the grip isn't as good as the dimpled rear surface of the Nexus 7. Asus
has located the power button and the volume rocker on the left edge
near the top of the tablet. The edge of the device is tapered and the
buttons are set fairly close to the chassis, so hitting them in a hurry
isn't always easy. Similarly, given the smoothness of the back, it can
be a bit tricky adjusting volume with your thumb if you're holding the
tablet one-handed with your left mitt.
The FonePad's 16:9 aspect
ratio means its easy to grip around the back for anyone with small or
medium sized hands. You'll be able to curl your fingers around the edge
and hold it comfortably, rather than having to resort to holding it by
one corner and obscuring part of the screen. Naturally
though, the tablet works best when gripped with both hands in a
landscape mode. If you're gaming or watching the latest Game of Thrones, chances are you'll be holding it this way and the FonePad sits very nicely in a two-handed grip.
We
mentioned that tablet manufacturers cut corners in the early days and
some of that still survives - cost is cost, after all. The FonePad
doesn't feature a rear-facing camera, so the back of the chassis is
completely clean. By way of markings, you'll find an embossed Asus logo
and the familiar Intel Inside mark at the bottom of the tablet. If
there's one thing as bad as holding a tablet up to make a phone call,
it's holding a tablet up to take a picture. We feel fairly safe in
saying here that the omission of a rear-facing camera is no great loss.
If you're absolutely desperate for one, pick up the US version of the
FonePad - that's got a 3MP rear-facing camera built in.
The only
two ports on the device are the micro USB port and the 3.5mm headphone
jack. These are both found on the bottom of the tablet with the
headphone jack to the left of the charging port. Weighing
in at 340g, the FonePad is slightly heavier than Apple's 308g iPad mini
- but in day-to-day terms this slight extra bulk is barely noticeable.
Part of the attraction of 7-inch tablets is undeniably the lighter load
and you'll have no trouble holding this tablet one-handed while watching
videos, or indeed, making a call.
If Asus does want to best
Apple's effort, it can point to screen resolution as one way of doing
that. The 1,280 x 800 resolution panel on the FonePad display benefits
from an LED backlight with IPS technology and is exceptionally clear. It
won't usurp the 10-inch tablets for screen clarity but the contrast
ratio and colour balance certainly looked all right to us and is more
than serviceable for enjoying a movie or game on the move.
Unfortunately,
the problem with premium metallic finishes and beautiful TFT-coated
screens is the susceptibility to dust and scratches. It's no different
here and the FonePad is certain to come off worse against keys and loose
change if you leave it unprotected in your backpack. Our advice? Invest
in a case.
There's 16GB of storage space as well as the unbridled benefit of Android Jelly Bean arriving out of the box. But it's the smartphone aspect of the device that Asus is hoping will entice you. The
Taiwanese company believes the device is "ideal for people who value
both the voice communication features of a smartphone and the
entertainment opportunities afforded by a tablet".
It's not exactly wrong either. Once the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4S was considered sufficient, but the sales of devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the recently revealed Samsung Galaxy Mega suggests we're getting happy with bigger screens. That
doesn't necessarily mean you're happy to walk around with a 7-inch
slate clasped to your ear - but that's missing the point of the FonePad.
You can use a headset when walking down the street, or prop it on a
stand at your desk and use the speakerphone.
It's an attempt to answer the age-old dilemma of one general device or multiple specific devices. We're going to go out on a limb and suggest the FonePad probably won't replace the Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z or HTC One you carry in your pocket every day.
But
Asus has tucked plenty of tech into the device and kept the price low
enough that it certainly stands as a respectable tablet in its own
right. When
tablets first started arriving back in 2010, it was the lesser known
manufacturers that turned in cheaper options - usually by cutting every
conceivable corner when it came to features and design. Now though, the
big boys of the tech world have become very good at keeping those
aspects alive at wallet-friendly prices.
The Asus FonePad features the accepted 7-inch screen and, from the front at least, looks the conventional Android tablet. Jelly
Bean's soft-touch navigation keys mean the face of the FonePad is
devoid of physical buttons, leaving simply the black bezel with the Asus
logo and camera lens on the top.
The rear of the tablet has more in common with Apple's iPad mini than the Asus-produced Google Nexus 7
thanks to a smooth metallic finish. Available in either "titanium grey"
or "champaign gold", the metal adds an undeniably premium feel even if
the grip isn't as good as the dimpled rear surface of the Nexus 7. Asus
has located the power button and the volume rocker on the left edge
near the top of the tablet. The edge of the device is tapered and the
buttons are set fairly close to the chassis, so hitting them in a hurry
isn't always easy. Similarly, given the smoothness of the back, it can
be a bit tricky adjusting volume with your thumb if you're holding the
tablet one-handed with your left mitt.
The FonePad's 16:9 aspect
ratio means its easy to grip around the back for anyone with small or
medium sized hands. You'll be able to curl your fingers around the edge
and hold it comfortably, rather than having to resort to holding it by
one corner and obscuring part of the screen. Naturally
though, the tablet works best when gripped with both hands in a
landscape mode. If you're gaming or watching the latest Game of Thrones, chances are you'll be holding it this way and the FonePad sits very nicely in a two-handed grip.
We
mentioned that tablet manufacturers cut corners in the early days and
some of that still survives - cost is cost, after all. The FonePad
doesn't feature a rear-facing camera, so the back of the chassis is
completely clean. By way of markings, you'll find an embossed Asus logo
and the familiar Intel Inside mark at the bottom of the tablet. If
there's one thing as bad as holding a tablet up to make a phone call,
it's holding a tablet up to take a picture. We feel fairly safe in
saying here that the omission of a rear-facing camera is no great loss.
If you're absolutely desperate for one, pick up the US version of the
FonePad - that's got a 3MP rear-facing camera built in.
The only
two ports on the device are the micro USB port and the 3.5mm headphone
jack. These are both found on the bottom of the tablet with the
headphone jack to the left of the charging port. Weighing
in at 340g, the FonePad is slightly heavier than Apple's 308g iPad mini
- but in day-to-day terms this slight extra bulk is barely noticeable.
Part of the attraction of 7-inch tablets is undeniably the lighter load
and you'll have no trouble holding this tablet one-handed while watching
videos, or indeed, making a call.
If Asus does want to best
Apple's effort, it can point to screen resolution as one way of doing
that. The 1,280 x 800 resolution panel on the FonePad display benefits
from an LED backlight with IPS technology and is exceptionally clear. It
won't usurp the 10-inch tablets for screen clarity but the contrast
ratio and colour balance certainly looked all right to us and is more
than serviceable for enjoying a movie or game on the move.
Unfortunately,
the problem with premium metallic finishes and beautiful TFT-coated
screens is the susceptibility to dust and scratches. It's no different
here and the FonePad is certain to come off worse against keys and loose
change if you leave it unprotected in your backpack. Our advice? Invest
in a case.
There's 16GB of storage space as well as the unbridled benefit of Android Jelly Bean arriving out of the box. But it's the smartphone aspect of the device that Asus is hoping will entice you. The
Taiwanese company believes the device is "ideal for people who value
both the voice communication features of a smartphone and the
entertainment opportunities afforded by a tablet".
It's not exactly wrong either. Once the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4S was considered sufficient, but the sales of devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the recently revealed Samsung Galaxy Mega suggests we're getting happy with bigger screens. That
doesn't necessarily mean you're happy to walk around with a 7-inch
slate clasped to your ear - but that's missing the point of the FonePad.
You can use a headset when walking down the street, or prop it on a
stand at your desk and use the speakerphone.
It's an attempt to answer the age-old dilemma of one general device or multiple specific devices. We're going to go out on a limb and suggest the FonePad probably won't replace the Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z or HTC One you carry in your pocket every day.
But
Asus has tucked plenty of tech into the device and kept the price low
enough that it certainly stands as a respectable tablet in its own
right. When
tablets first started arriving back in 2010, it was the lesser known
manufacturers that turned in cheaper options - usually by cutting every
conceivable corner when it came to features and design. Now though, the
big boys of the tech world have become very good at keeping those
aspects alive at wallet-friendly prices.
The Asus FonePad features the accepted 7-inch screen and, from the front at least, looks the conventional Android tablet. Jelly
Bean's soft-touch navigation keys mean the face of the FonePad is
devoid of physical buttons, leaving simply the black bezel with the Asus
logo and camera lens on the top.
The rear of the tablet has more in common with Apple's iPad mini than the Asus-produced Google Nexus 7
thanks to a smooth metallic finish. Available in either "titanium grey"
or "champaign gold", the metal adds an undeniably premium feel even if
the grip isn't as good as the dimpled rear surface of the Nexus 7. Asus
has located the power button and the volume rocker on the left edge
near the top of the tablet. The edge of the device is tapered and the
buttons are set fairly close to the chassis, so hitting them in a hurry
isn't always easy. Similarly, given the smoothness of the back, it can
be a bit tricky adjusting volume with your thumb if you're holding the
tablet one-handed with your left mitt.
The FonePad's 16:9 aspect
ratio means its easy to grip around the back for anyone with small or
medium sized hands. You'll be able to curl your fingers around the edge
and hold it comfortably, rather than having to resort to holding it by
one corner and obscuring part of the screen. Naturally
though, the tablet works best when gripped with both hands in a
landscape mode. If you're gaming or watching the latest Game of Thrones, chances are you'll be holding it this way and the FonePad sits very nicely in a two-handed grip.
We
mentioned that tablet manufacturers cut corners in the early days and
some of that still survives - cost is cost, after all. The FonePad
doesn't feature a rear-facing camera, so the back of the chassis is
completely clean. By way of markings, you'll find an embossed Asus logo
and the familiar Intel Inside mark at the bottom of the tablet. If
there's one thing as bad as holding a tablet up to make a phone call,
it's holding a tablet up to take a picture. We feel fairly safe in
saying here that the omission of a rear-facing camera is no great loss.
If you're absolutely desperate for one, pick up the US version of the
FonePad - that's got a 3MP rear-facing camera built in.
The only
two ports on the device are the micro USB port and the 3.5mm headphone
jack. These are both found on the bottom of the tablet with the
headphone jack to the left of the charging port. Weighing
in at 340g, the FonePad is slightly heavier than Apple's 308g iPad mini
- but in day-to-day terms this slight extra bulk is barely noticeable.
Part of the attraction of 7-inch tablets is undeniably the lighter load
and you'll have no trouble holding this tablet one-handed while watching
videos, or indeed, making a call.
If Asus does want to best
Apple's effort, it can point to screen resolution as one way of doing
that. The 1,280 x 800 resolution panel on the FonePad display benefits
from an LED backlight with IPS technology and is exceptionally clear. It
won't usurp the 10-inch tablets for screen clarity but the contrast
ratio and colour balance certainly looked all right to us and is more
than serviceable for enjoying a movie or game on the move.
Unfortunately,
the problem with premium metallic finishes and beautiful TFT-coated
screens is the susceptibility to dust and scratches. It's no different
here and the FonePad is certain to come off worse against keys and loose
change if you leave it unprotected in your backpack. Our advice? Invest
in a case.
