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ASUS VivoTab Smart:
The VivoTab at 399€ was a relatively cheap purchase. One may compare the Price with similar Android ones but there is something to take in Count and that is the fact that you're getting a System with a full Version of Windows and you are not restricted like you are on Android, iOS or Windows RT. People may believe that those bring an Advantage over the real Thing but from a coding view they are relatively restricted and just usable to cash in by creating crappy apps or games.
At first i was afraid about Performance and apps since devices powered with Android and iOS offer far more apps than Windows 8 and that is a fact. However when it Comes to Quality apps the real Windows experience is billions of times better and that is a undeniable fact. After using the device for a week now we were able to install every single application and all of them run surprisingly well. The Performance of the device is really impressive as well as battery life. We managed to get 8 and half hours of battery life while Surfing the web, playing Music, viewing YouTube Content or Streaming Video but to be honest that was more of a hardcore senseless test since None of us actually use our devices that Long except for our main device. After that we did a real test by using the device the way we Need it and my wife managed today 3 days without the Need to recharge the VivoTab.
Network, games, Emulators and a hell bunch of things works great but obviously Emulators the like of Dolphin or PCSX2 won't run at fullspeed(interestingly enough Dolphin run at full Speed on my Vaio Tap 20 but that is for the next post). The whole experience is really smooth and even after running several 1080p Videos the device stays up like a champ so far we've had 0 complain about the Performance.
Connectivity:
The VivoTab smart doesn't have many but you have the headphone jack, micro HDMI and the mini USB port that work as OTG as far as i know which is great.
Compatibility:
Since you have the full Windows experience compatibility is nothing but awesome obviously and it runs anything you throw at it app-wise. The lack of apps in the Windows store is almost irrelevant when you take in Count the countless apps you have available for it. My wife wanted several apps she like and asked if is possible to install and run them as she wasn't sure at first. Obviously that wasn't a Problem and there was 0 Need of a app store as we have the biggest store on the planet..... www.google.com that is :thumb:
The VivoTab feels great in the Hand and the build Quality is obviously awesome. The most amazing Thing is how light(at 580g) it is and with 9,7mm thickness it just Looks terribly sexy. To test the compatibility a bit more we used a Special site(can't provide links here for obvious reasons) to stream Video Content.... the reason why that site is so Special is because it has tons of popups and other stuff that are required to reach the final link where the Video Content is. iOS obviously fail in all the Areas let alone being able to Play the Video. Android in the other Hand is capable to Play the Video but is unable to reach the final link no matter what browser you use. The ASUS VivoTab with the full Windows experience obviously overcome those like a champ and if one use a proper popup blocker it Display the final link instantly.
Desktop Experience:
The Desktop experience is great but obviously not that touch friendly. However if you increase the DPI as well as Icon size the experience is great unless some apps use super small Icons.
Heat:
Personally can't really say the device ever got warm and in fact not even slightly so there is absolutely nothing to say about it and since there are no vents is obviously silent.
Contras:
Honestly, there is nothing much to say here except for 1 Thing..... the Speakers. Sadly enough there is no Stereo Speakers available except for a Speaker on the left which in my opinion is very bad specially if you hold it with both Hands as you can easly block the Sound any time. Apart from that i haven't found a single Thing to list here.
Camera:
The camera is relatively good for a tablet and i personally can't complain with the Quality of it so far.
Conclusion:
I personally recommend the ASUS VivoTab Smart to everyone that want to do some daily Tasks without compatibility or availability limits but that doesn't Need a super high-end PC in there Hands. Obviously the ASUS VivoTab smart isn't a replacement for a Desktop Setup but is definitely powerful enough to handle most of our daily Task without effort. Obviously if you're looking for more power and probably something better then i recommend to wait a bit more until the next Generation of tablets hit the market. The tablet is very Handy and also easy to type because the touch experience is really awesome. Here is a pic of my wife's favorite way to hold the tablet and she's really fast at typing:
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Here a Picture of the backside:
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The VivoTab at 399€ was a relatively cheap purchase. One may compare the Price with similar Android ones but there is something to take in Count and that is the fact that you're getting a System with a full Version of Windows and you are not restricted like you are on Android, iOS or Windows RT. People may believe that those bring an Advantage over the real Thing but from a coding view they are relatively restricted and just usable to cash in by creating crappy apps or games.
At first i was afraid about Performance and apps since devices powered with Android and iOS offer far more apps than Windows 8 and that is a fact. However when it Comes to Quality apps the real Windows experience is billions of times better and that is a undeniable fact. After using the device for a week now we were able to install every single application and all of them run surprisingly well. The Performance of the device is really impressive as well as battery life. We managed to get 8 and half hours of battery life while Surfing the web, playing Music, viewing YouTube Content or Streaming Video but to be honest that was more of a hardcore senseless test since None of us actually use our devices that Long except for our main device. After that we did a real test by using the device the way we Need it and my wife managed today 3 days without the Need to recharge the VivoTab.
Network, games, Emulators and a hell bunch of things works great but obviously Emulators the like of Dolphin or PCSX2 won't run at fullspeed(interestingly enough Dolphin run at full Speed on my Vaio Tap 20 but that is for the next post). The whole experience is really smooth and even after running several 1080p Videos the device stays up like a champ so far we've had 0 complain about the Performance.
Connectivity:
The VivoTab smart doesn't have many but you have the headphone jack, micro HDMI and the mini USB port that work as OTG as far as i know which is great.
Compatibility:
Since you have the full Windows experience compatibility is nothing but awesome obviously and it runs anything you throw at it app-wise. The lack of apps in the Windows store is almost irrelevant when you take in Count the countless apps you have available for it. My wife wanted several apps she like and asked if is possible to install and run them as she wasn't sure at first. Obviously that wasn't a Problem and there was 0 Need of a app store as we have the biggest store on the planet..... www.google.com that is :thumb:
The VivoTab feels great in the Hand and the build Quality is obviously awesome. The most amazing Thing is how light(at 580g) it is and with 9,7mm thickness it just Looks terribly sexy. To test the compatibility a bit more we used a Special site(can't provide links here for obvious reasons) to stream Video Content.... the reason why that site is so Special is because it has tons of popups and other stuff that are required to reach the final link where the Video Content is. iOS obviously fail in all the Areas let alone being able to Play the Video. Android in the other Hand is capable to Play the Video but is unable to reach the final link no matter what browser you use. The ASUS VivoTab with the full Windows experience obviously overcome those like a champ and if one use a proper popup blocker it Display the final link instantly.
Desktop Experience:
The Desktop experience is great but obviously not that touch friendly. However if you increase the DPI as well as Icon size the experience is great unless some apps use super small Icons.
Heat:
Personally can't really say the device ever got warm and in fact not even slightly so there is absolutely nothing to say about it and since there are no vents is obviously silent.
Contras:
Honestly, there is nothing much to say here except for 1 Thing..... the Speakers. Sadly enough there is no Stereo Speakers available except for a Speaker on the left which in my opinion is very bad specially if you hold it with both Hands as you can easly block the Sound any time. Apart from that i haven't found a single Thing to list here.
Camera:
The camera is relatively good for a tablet and i personally can't complain with the Quality of it so far.
Conclusion:
I personally recommend the ASUS VivoTab Smart to everyone that want to do some daily Tasks without compatibility or availability limits but that doesn't Need a super high-end PC in there Hands. Obviously the ASUS VivoTab smart isn't a replacement for a Desktop Setup but is definitely powerful enough to handle most of our daily Task without effort. Obviously if you're looking for more power and probably something better then i recommend to wait a bit more until the next Generation of tablets hit the market. The tablet is very Handy and also easy to type because the touch experience is really awesome. Here is a pic of my wife's favorite way to hold the tablet and she's really fast at typing:
Here a Picture of the backside:
lots of Emulators run great and with those i have far better Quality games than those found on app stores. Another Thing i definitely enjoy is the ability to Transfer files easily to the tab since is part of my home Network or just Play game through Emulators stored on my Server or control my Server with the tablet(the awesomeness of no Limits).
