Kano lets kids build their own Windows 10 laptop

NEWS – The new Kano PC isn’t just a kid-friendly laptop with a colorful orange keyboard. It’s a laptop that kids can build themselves with easy to assemble modules and cables that require no previous knowledge of electronics or soldering.

Kano is the same company who makes the Computer Kit Touch tablet that I reviewed last fall. The Kano PC is a similarly designed kit that comes with easy to understand step-by-step instructions for kids ages 6 and up. Partnering with Microsoft, Kano is offering a fun way for kids (and adults too – I won’t tell!) to build their own Intel Atom based touch screen Windows 10 computer with a detachable keyboard. Kids can then use the Kano PC to learn how to program.

The Kano PC is priced at $299.99 and will be available at the end of October. For more info head over to kano.me for all the details and to pre-order.

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Kano lets kids build their own Windows 10 laptop originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 22, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Huawei MateBook X Pro could actually replace my MacBook

ARTICLE – I have been using iMacs and MacBooks to do my Gadgeteer work for the past 13 years. I love the simplicity of macOS and although I use a Windows 10 laptop all day long at my day job, I’m always happy to go home and use my 12-inch MacBook. However, a few weeks ago my MB had to be admitted into the “hospital” to fix the keyboard and I was without it for 2 whole weeks. During that time I used a Windows notebook and I survived the experience quite well. So well in fact that it made me start thinking about my next notebook computer and if it will be a Windows notebook instead of another MacBook. One such Windows notebook to catch my eye lately as a potential replacement is the Huawei MateBook X Pro which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive.

I will let you know right away that if you came here to read a full review of the MateBook X Pro, that you’re going to be disappointed because this article is not a review. At least not in the traditional sense. You can read a bazillion reviews on other tech sites if that is what you’re looking for because talking about the ins and outs of hardware specs makes my eyes glaze over and might do the same for you. Nope, this article is going to be my general impressions after using this notebook for a few days to do the type of tasks that I do with my MacBook.

First of all, the Huawei MateBook X Pro is a gorgeous piece of hardware that looks and feels like a premium device. The brushed metal housing comes in either Mystic Silver or Space Gray. Hey, can they really call it that? 😉 I was sent the Space Gray version and it’s a looker. It looks like it has a blue or even purple tint to it in some light conditions. Regardless, it looks nice.

Then you open the display and wow. Super thin bezels and a gorgeous bright, vivid, crisp picture with 178-degree viewing angles. It’s a touchscreen too which I always forget about. There’s something about notebooks with touchscreens, I just can’t make myself touch the display. I guess it comes from years of knowing that doing so would leave smudges and could even harm the screens that keep me from wanting to use that feature.

This display blows my 12-inch MacBook away as far as resolution (3000 x 2000) which is a silly statement given the MateBook X Pro is 13.9-inches and my little MacBook is only 12-inches. Using the Huawei made me feel like I could easily do away with an external monitor, not that I really want to ditch my BenQ PD2710QC DesignView 27-inch Designer Monitor which I’ve been enjoying the last few months.

Besides macOS, what I love most about MacBooks are the keyboard (well at least until mine died!) and even more, the trackpad. I’ve tried several other Windows laptops over the years and the main thing that I hate about them is the trackpad. So I wasn’t expecting to like the Hauwei’s but I was pleasantly surprised by how roomy, smooth, tactile, and responsive it was. If trackpads were the main reason I’ve not switched back to a Windows computer, that excuse died when I started using the MateBook X Pro.

The backlit keyboard is also roomy and comfortable to type on. Another bonus is that it is spill proof. I wonder if that means that it is also dust proof… I’m looking at you Apple. The keys look very much like my MacBook’s keys as far as shape, color, etc. But the larger sized keys really make this keyboard a joy to type on if you’re a touch typist like I am. My fingers can absolutely fly on this notebook.

There are also two surprises hidden in the keyboard if you include the power button as part of the keyboard. The power button has a built-in fingerprint reader so you can turn on the notebook and sign in to the homescreen all with just one press.

The other surprise is hidden in the center function key above the 7 key. Press this key and a little camera pops up out of the keyboard. Nifty, but the only problem is that it’s not best angle if you have a double chin since the camera is pointing up at a very unflattering angle instead of straight at you.

Another plus is that even though the MateBook X Pro is thin and relatively lightweight at 2.93 pounds. It doesn’t skimp on ports either as there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port on the left side of the notebook.

And on the right side is a USB 3.0 type A port for all of your legacy devices like flash drives, etc. The only thing missing is a card reader and another thing to consider is that the MateBook X Pro doesn’t have a fanless design. While using it, the fan did kick on a few times which reminded me just how much I hate fan noise. So that’s something to consider.

I have really enjoyed using the MateBook X Pro and I’m a little sad to send it back to Huawei. The battery life has been stellar, the display is killer, the Dolby Atmos speaker system is top notch, and the overall build quality is excellent.

As I’ve said many times in my other gadget diary posts, I do about 90% of my work in a web browser (my current favorite is Chrome) and the rest of my work is done in Photoshop and a few other apps like AirDroid, FileZilla, DayOne, ToDoist, etc. I’m not a gamer and don’t need to edit video all that often. So it all honesty, I can do the bulk of my Gadgeteer work in Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, or even Linux. So for me, when it comes to choosing hardware, it comes down to things like the keyboard, the trackpad, the display, available ports, size, weight, etc. Other than the built-in fan and that it runs Windows OS, I really like this notebook. A lot.

It would be nice if Huawei notebooks were available for people to see in person here in the US in stores like Best Buy because I bet they’d sell a lot more of them if people could touch and feel them. It can be scary to spend over $1000 on a computer without actually seeing one in person, but from the short time that I’ve spent with the Huawei MateBook X Pro, I am smitten with it. It’s a premium notebook that is on my short list of options when the time comes for me to upgrade.

When it comes to price, the MateBook X Pro starts at $1,199.99 which gets you the Intel Core i5 8th gen 1.60GHz CPU, 256GB SSD, and 8GB of memory. If you want to fully load it with an Intel Core i7 8th gen 1.80GHz CPU, 256GB SSD and 16GB of memory, that will set you back $1,499.99. Either configuration is less expensive than a 13-inch MacBook so if Windows OS is your preference, this notebook offers a great value and a real bang for your buck and should be considered if you’re needing to upgrade, buy a laptop for a kid going off to college, etc.

You can read all the specs and info about the Huawei MateBook X Pro on Huawei’s site and you can buy one from Newegg or Microsoft.com

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Huawei MateBook X Pro could actually replace my MacBook originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 10, 2018 at 4:10 pm.

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Nextbook Flexx 11a 11.6″ Convertible Touchscreen Tablet PC review

I’ve been using a Mac as my main computer at home for quite a few years now. I started with an iMac, went to a 15″ MacBook Pro, then to a 13″ MacBook Pro, next was a MacBook Air, and now I’m currently using a 12″ MacBook.  I keep downsizing because I prefer a lightweight laptop that won’t break my shoulder when I travel but is still large enough to work on. The 12″ MacBook is almost perfect. But, I recently had an itch to switch to a Windows laptop and was shopping around for an ultralight machine and started thinking about 2-in-1 laptop/tablet devices. As luck would have it, the folks at Nextbook asked if I would like to review their budget-priced Nextbook Flexx 11a 1.6″ Convertible Touchscreen Tablet PC. I was happy to accept their offer and decided to make the Nextbook my travel companion for my yearly vacation to Florida. Read on to find out what I think of the Nextbook after using it exclusively for a full week.

What is it?

The Nextbook Flexx 11a is a laptop with an 11.6″ touchscreen that can be used as a laptop or detached from the keyboard and used as a tablet PC.

Hardware specs

1.84GHz Intel Atom CherryTrail Z8300 quad-core processor
2GB DDR3L of system memory
64GB of internal memory
Genuine Microsoft Windows 10 OS
11.6″ touchscreen 1366×768 resolution (IPS)
Back 2MP webcam and front 2MP webcam with microphone
USB 2.0 port, micro USB 2.0 port, micro HDMI port, headphone jack
Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth v4.0
Dimensions (L x W x H) 11.36 x 0.39 x 7.65 Inches
Weight 3.02 lbs

Design and features

My first look and feel of the Nextbook didn’t cause me to say words like “wow” or “oh my”. This is a budget computer, so the Nextbook isn’t flashy which is fine by me.

The case is made of plastic and it feels like plastic right down to the creaking and cracking noises that it makes when you lift the lid and perform the Gadgeteer squeeze test.

The back side of the display has a dark gray matte finish on the top, with Nextbook and Intel logos, and a back facing 2MP camera.

You’ll also find the power button and a volume button bar on the top edge of the back side of the display.

On the right side of the keyboard, you’ll find a full-sized USB connector that can be used for a wired mouse, flash drive, etc.

On the opposite side of the Nextbook is a 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, power port, micro USB, micro HDMI, micro SD card slot, and a status LED for charging status.

The Nextbook display opens up to reveal a a silver and black plastic QWERTY keyboard with a touchpad below it. Click the image above if you would like to see a larger view of the keyboard.

Although the Flexx 11a is a small laptop, the keyboard is roomy enough for a touch typist like myself. The keyboard is a little spongy feeling, but I didn’t have any problems with the layout.

The touchpad is adequate, but nowhere nearly as responsive as the touchpad of every MacBook that I’ve ever used. I’m kind of a touchpad snob and compare every one that I try to the ones on a MacBook because they are that good.

During my week using the Nextbook, I had a lot of issues selecting multiple lines of text using the touchpad. Sometimes I’d highlight a whole section and as soon as I’d try to copy it with a CTRL-C, the selection would change to just the first word or two. This became very frustrating and I found myself relying on a wireless mouse when I wanted to do extended writing and text editing.

Display

The Nextbook Flexx 11a’s display is about the same size as my 12″ MacBook, so I had no problems with the size. For a sub $200 laptop, I was impressed with this little laptop’s display. The colors and sharpness of text and graphics are very good. It’s not a retina display, but when I place the Nextbook next to my MacBook, I really can’t tell a huge difference between them except for the huge bezels on the Nextbook.

Setting up Windows 10

It’s been awhile since I’ve set up a new Windows computer so I was surprised when the setup for the Nextbook was mostly handled by Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant. She tells you what she’s doing during each step of the setup and asks questions that you can answer with a Yes or No answer using your voice. It was slick and easy.

Is it a laptop or a tablet?

The Nextbook Flexx 11a can be used like a traditional laptop but unlike Microsoft Surface and other tablet-style PCs that have a kickstand, the Nextbook works just fine on your lap even though it’s slightly top heavy.

For those times when you want to use the Nextbook like a tablet, you just detach it from the keyboard with a simple tug.

The Flexx attaches to the keyboard with magnets that hold it securely in place but also allow for easy detachment.

The nice thing about the Nextbook is that you don’t have to charge the keyboard separately or bother with pairing it to the tablet. Charging is done through the tablet/display when it’s attached to the keyboard and the keyboard just works as soon as it’s connected to the display.

The display/tablet has a touchscreen so you can use your finger to tap icons and use an onscreen keyboard.

The tablet will also auto-rotate feature when you turn it from landscape to portrait orientations. For audio, there are two speakers built into the edge of the display.

I’ve tried Windows 10 on small tablets before and didn’t really enjoy the tablet PC experience but I hoped the Nextbook would offer a better feel since it has a bigger display.

I had no real issues using the Flexx 11a’s display to watch media, read, and surf websites while in tablet mode, but to do real work in this format didn’t work out well for me. I didn’t like using onscreen keyboards because I can type so much faster on a physical keyboard. I also find selecting items in menus and tapping small buttons with my finger to be tedious and frustrating.

Performance and battery life

The first thing I noticed about the Nextbook Flexx 11a is that it seems to take forever to fully charge it. I’m talking over 4-5 hours for an 8 hour run time return.

As far as performance, the Nextbook felt “ok” after a reboot and an hour or less of surfing using Chrome. But once you opened a few tabs, performance became noticeably sluggish. I would use the task manager to kill the Chrome processes and things would be “ok” again for awhile. I think the problem is due to the fact that this laptop only has 2GB of ram and it has a budget processor.

I’m not an expert on CPUs, so I went to someone who knows much more than I ever will on that topic: Lisa Gade from MobileTechReview.com. Lisa reviews laptops so she knows what she’s talking about. Just for fun, I asked her how my early 2016 12″ MacBook with a 1.1 GHz Intel Core m3 processor compares to the Nextbook Flexx 11a’s 1.84GHz Intel Atom CherryTrail Z8300 quad-core processor. Yes, I know it’s crazy to compare apples to oranges or in this case an Apple to a Nextbook, but both machines have mobile processors, so I was just curious as to what Lisa would say:

The MacBook is a rocket scientist compared to the Cherry Trail Atom CPU. I’ve reviewed a few Cherry Trail over the years, but nothing recently (I guess I’m a CPU snob). I can live with having to use a Core m3 and 12” MacBook here and there. The Atom is “just shoot me now” territory, for my unduly colorful and subjective opinion ;).

This might be the most useful for lots of metrics for each:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Atom-x5-Z8300-SoC.146643.0.html
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-m3-7Y30-Notebook-Processor.178426.0.html (this is the slightly slower 1.0 GHz rather than Apple’s 1.1 GHz, but close enough).

Final thoughts

When it’s all said and done, I find it hard to complain very loudly about the Nextbook Flexx 11a due to the fact that it only costs $179 and can be used as both a Windows 10 laptop or a Windows 10 tablet.

As long as you understand its limitations and keep in mind that it’s no speed demon, the Nextbook Flexx 11a is a capable little computer for email, browsing, watching videos and even some lightweight gaming.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Nextbook. Please visit their site for more info and Walmart to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $179.00
Manufacturer: Nextbook
Retailer: Walmart
Pros:
  • Budget-friendly price
  • Can be used as a laptop or a tablet
  • Touchscreen
  • micro SD card slot
Cons:
  • Sluggish performance

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Nextbook Flexx 11a 11.6″ Convertible Touchscreen Tablet PC review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 31, 2017 at 3:02 pm.

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Windows 10 Fall Creators update brings mixed reality and 3D to the masses

The Mixed Reality Viewer lets you bring your 3D creation into a real-life setting

If your Windows 10 PC isn’t up to date, you’re going to want to make sure you update your system with the Fall Creators Update. That is because the Fall Creators Update brings a slew of super cool new “tricks” and practical features. Specifically, on the creative front, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update helps the “average joe” create some incredibly advanced 3D and mixed reality masterpieces. It’s no coincidence that Microsoft also announced today that Mixed Reality headsets are finally available from Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Acer, starting at $399. It’s clear that Microsoft is committed to encouraging the masses to start using Mixed Reality, and this update ensures that folks can get really creative with Mixed Reality beyond just playing games. 

Here are 15 features that the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update brings to the table:

1. The Photos app has been completely reimagined. The app now lets you easily edit and create polished video slideshows using photos, videos, and transitions. You can even throw 3D effects onto them. Available 3D effects include everything from lightning to confetti. A future update will even let you bring in 3D objects and animations.

The redesigned Photos app lets you create video slideshows, complete with Ink and 3D effects

2. Remember when the Paint app was just for scribbling? Well, times have changed and the Paint 3D now makes it incredibly easy for just about anyone to create and edit advanced 3D objects. You can create and design a 3D object from scratch, or you can import one to play with from the Remix 3D library which has thousands of free 3D objects to use. But wait – it gets better! Microsoft is focusing a lot on mixed reality in this update. But as cool as mixed reality is, until now, most users have just been end users. The Creators Update changes all of that with the Mixed Reality Viewer. Using your camera, Mixed Reality Viewer lets you bring your 3D creation from Paint 3D into a real life setting. You can also easily share your creation afterwards on social networks.

You can draw and create 3D objects from within the Paint 3D app

3. You can now bring your 3D creation into Powerpoint presentations, as well as Word and Excel documents.

You can bring your 3D creation from Paint 3D into PowerPoint

4. You can now pin your “favorite” people to the taskbar so that you can quickly communicate with them via Skype or Mail. When you want to share a file with that contact, all you have to do is drag a file directly onto the pinned contact.

5. Pinning your favorite web sites to the taskbar is back! This is one feature that I sorely missed.

6. Game Mode now enables developers to access all the power of the PC and dedicate it to games for an even better gaming experience.

7. Annotating your ebooks from within Edge is now possible. This includes being able to highlight in 4 colors, underline, and make comments.

Annotating your ebooks from within Edge

8. Microsoft Edge is coming to Android. A preview is already available in the Google Play Store, and the idea here is that just like with Chrome, you can use Microsoft Edge on your phone to catch up where you left off with the tabs you had open on your PC.

9. Do you often lose your pen? The new Find My Pen feature will tell you where you were the last time you inked on your PC, hopefully helping you figure out where you might have left it.

10. Your Pen can now be used as a PowerPoint Clicker!

11. OneDrive files can now be accessed on demand, allowing you to save disk space. So online-only files download on demand with just a double-click when you need them. Of course, you can choose to have select files readily available offline.

12. You can now recover your PIN or Password right from the lock screen – even if you’re using an AAD or MSA account.

13. The native calculator app now includes a currency converter, which even works offline for times when you’re traveling internationally and might not have internet access.

14. Filling out and annotating PDFs no longer requires a third party app! You can fill in PDFs right from within Microsoft Edge, you can ink on the PDF, highlight text and erase your annotations.

15. There have been improvements made for accessibility, including the addition of Eye Control.

EyeControl with the onscreen keyboard

Overall, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update allows just about anyone to create advanced masterpieces for everything from videos, to 3D objects, and afterwards, that can easily bring their creations into a mixed reality setting with minimal effort.

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Windows 10 Fall Creators update brings mixed reality and 3D to the masses originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 17, 2017 at 9:30 am.

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Gearbest Cube WP10 4G Phablet review


Phone, tablet, phablet. The market parlance around these three items is somewhat murky, but I’m still not sure there are folks for whom a phablet isn’t a better device than a phone. To test this theory, I volunteered when Julie offered the team the Gearbest Cube WP10 4G Phablet, a Windows 10 tablet with phone service. I got it and have done a few months of testing, and am ready to report back to you folks.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

First off, I’m going to offer a working definition, fresh from Wikipedia:

Current phablets typically have a diagonal display measurement between 5.5 inches (140 mm) and 7 inches (180 mm), assuming a 16:9 aspect ratio. In comparison, most flagship smartphones released in 2016 have a screen size of around 5.5 in (140 mm), with larger versions of mainstream flagships (such as iPhone 7 Plus, Pixel XL, and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) using 5.5 in (140 mm) displays. 

The Cube is a Windows 10 Phablet which has a dual SIM port, wifi, and bluetooth. The Windows 10 software is supposed to be the same as what you’d run on a desktop or laptop, but I found major shortcomings with this (more later). As for physical specs, it is a flat slab 7.25″ x 3.75″ x 0.375 ” (185 mm x 97mm x 8mm). The screen measures right at 7″ diagonally. The face has the familiar earpiece at the top center, with the “selfie” camera lens to the left. There are two other sensor openings above the camera lens, one of which I’d think would be a proximity sensor to turn the screen off when it is up to your face. The other may be a focus assist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the specs as listed online:

OS Version: Windows 10 (licensed)
CPU: Qualcomm MSM8909
GPU: Adreno 304
Processor Speed (max): 1.3GHz
RAM: 2GB
Internal Memory: 16GB
External Memory: Support for up to 128GB
Display Size: 6.98 Inch IPS
Display Resolution: 1280 x 720

Frequency:

  • 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz,
  • 3G: WCDMA 2100MHz,
  • 4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100MHz
Bluetooth
GPS
Sensors: Gravity
Mic and Speaker
Battery 
Size: 2850 mAh
Continuous Usage Time: up to 3 hours (video playing time)
Battery Standby: up to 48 Hours
Charging time: about 2 hours
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
2 Megapixel Front-Facing Camera
5 Megapixel Rear Camera
Video resolution: 640 x 480 front/1280 x 720 back
Ports
Micro SD card slots: up to 128GB
Dual (GSM+WCDMA+FDD LTE)
2x Nano SIM Card Slot
Micro USB
3.5 mm audio out port
Languages - English, Chinese (simp), Chinese (trad)
Media Formats
Video: MOV, MP4, AVCHD
Audio: AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV, M4A
Graphic: JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG
Dimensions:
Main Product Dimensions: 185x 95x 6mm (L x W x D)
Main Product Weight: 250g

As shown in the photo above, I’ve been using an iPhone 6s Plus (on the left) for almost two years now, and enjoy the large screen much more than I ever thought I would have. But my use of the device itself has changed a lot since the release of the original iPhone in 2007. In short, I rarely actually talk on the phone. I especially only rarely hold it up to my ear and chat with someone on the other end. I use the speakerphone, ear buds, headphones, or text/email/chat quite frequently, but almost never phone-to-face talking. Using the Cube Phablet (on the right, above) held to the ear brings with it the social anxiety of having something that large up by your face. (I have a few friends at work for whom this would not be an issue, though. Their reactions were much more positive than the less height-gifted of my circle of friends was.)

Above, I compared it to the devices of some friends one night at dinner. Top to bottom, that’s a traditionally sized iPad, iPad mini, the Cube, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, and iPhone SE. Stacked, below, top to bottom are the same devices, in reverse order.

Everyone noted how light it was, compared to the mass it appears to be. The screen is also very clear and bright. The In Plane Switching (IPS) makes the screen readable easily from angles other than straight-on.

The cameras, despite the specs, suffered a bit from poor light management. Here are two photos of the same area, taken seconds apart. Both were on automatic, with onboard flash enabled.

First the Cube:

Then my iPhone 6s Plus:

Obviously, the pictures differ widely, due to the sensor on the iPhone being larger, but I found the colors and details, for a 5-megapixel camera, very good. Even the 2 mph front facing camera isn’t too shabby (children should be removed from the room before scrolling further down.):

I found typing on the touchscreen pretty standard for typing on a slab of glass. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. The layout was easy to get used to, and there were only a few pauses with keyboard buffer overruns. I connected to my Live account and was able to read and write to Office 365 documents without problems. (None of the files are sizable, but the formatting issues and fights with the display of fonts seem to finally be in the past!)

I was continually irritated by the fuzziness of the touch targets, however. Tapping a button or a line of text to edit were frustrations that never went away during my testing. Trying to just select a certain word for editing took far longer than it should have. (Remember, I’ve been using my fingers to edit text for almost a decade now, so it’s not like I don’t know how to tap a screen!) I paired my Apple Trackpad with the Cube, and having the cursor show up on screen was fantastic. It’s a bit of trouble to use that when walking down the street, however.

The dual SIM port is a nice touch, but the SIMs need to be micro, not nano. Once I got an adapter for the nanoSIM I carry, I didn’t have any issues getting online, making calls, or texting, but all my Apple friends kept asking me why my texts were green, instead of blue.

The real reason I couldn’t continue using this device is even more fundamental – the quiet little earphone speaker doesn’t really give any notice that your phone is ringing, or even that you’re getting a text unless you are in a very quiet environment. Vibration is fine, but sometimes, you need to hear the ringer. Sure, it’s easy to plug-in a set of headphones or earbuds, or even an external speaker, but that’s not appropriate everywhere. Setting up a Bluetooth speaker was easy, but I never found one that didn’t have a slight blip in the sound stream every 10-15 seconds during playback on video. Spotify seemed to work fine and allowed me to both save music to the device and stream music directly, but there’s always that little background blip every few seconds.

Video playback was fine on YouTube (via the web) and some Netflix videos, but occasionally, I’d get an error that the encoded video was not authorized for my device. The marketing blurbs say this is a fully licensed version of Windows 10, but it seems some sites take issue with it from time to time.

As funny as it sounds, me being an Apple guy and all,  I really wanted to like this phablet. Being as pocketable as it is (for a tablet), it’s a great size if you want to have something that you can walk up to a desk with and plug into a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. But, alas, there is no port for a display hookup. There is a setting for wireless connection to a display, but I don’t have anything that can take advantage of that.

So, bottom line: we’ve got a nicely designed package with a good screen, good weight distribution, and that passes the famous Gadgeteer “creak” test fully. It has easily-accessed SIM card slots and can handle two SIM cards at once. It is, however, hampered by a few things.

First, there needs to be a better speaker, as well as better sound over Bluetooth.

Second, there needs to be a video output, so that users can access things like HDMI, DVI, or even just VGA.

Third, Microsoft needs to decide if Windows 10 is going to be the same as on your desktop/laptop, where you can download printer drivers, keyboard drivers and the like and run the .exe files to install them. If not, the manufacturers of those peripherals need to start writing for this version of Windows specifically and provide the needed drivers in a version this OS can use. It does no one any good to say “works just like Windows on your desktop” and then delivers this substandard subset of the features everyone takes as a given and uses on their “real” Windows computers.

Fourth, the store experience was a bit off. I was not able to find normal apps like Cortana, YouTube, or any of a myriad apps that we have become accustomed to in the current world of smartphones and tablets. On iOS or Android, if I want, say, the Instagram app, I go to the store and it’s there. With this phone (and I’m not fully sure if it’s because of the Chinese manufacturer of the device or a shortcoming of the Windows store), there is nothing. Or, worse, there is a closely-named app by some third party that has a similar icon. That’s not a good experience, since sometimes, that means your personal data is being collected by the party that wrote the rogue software, and other times, actual accidental functions by a well-meaning developer seeking to fill the gaps may compromise, corrupt, or delete your data on these services.

In the Apple world, there is MacOS and iOS, and they are totally different, despite loads of shared DNA. In the Alphabet/Google arena, there is Android, and users of ChromeOS, Windows PCs, Linux and Macs alike run this on their devices, and are able to make the switch mentally from “phone” to “computer.” Microsoft, the “Windows Everywhere” thing is not happening. Running this OS is NOT the same as running Windows 10 on a desktop/laptop. The quicker you admit it and either develop a true mobile OS or make it actually work, the better it will be for the marketplace. But saying it’s the same when it’s not doesn’t make it so. It’s making me curious as to how the Surface devices handle their OS.

But for this device, I have to say it’s “No Go.”

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Gearbest. Please visit Gearbest for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $109.99
Manufacturer: Cube
Retailer: Gearbest
Requirements:
  • Phone service with microSIM, or nanoSIM with adapter
Pros:
  • Excellent build quality
  • Nice placement of buttons
  • High quality display
Cons:
  • No speaker other than receiver
  • Glitch in sound playback over Bluetooth
  • No port for video out
  • Unable to run installers for printers, keyboards, mice, etc.
  • Video services sometimes did not allow access

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Gearbest Cube WP10 4G Phablet review originally appeared on on June 24, 2017 at 9:02 am.

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