Apple iPad 16GB Wi-Fi Edition Tablet PC First Impressions

iPad First Impressions

Early this morning, I got up and went to pickup my 16gb iPad WiFi. Before I got carried away playing with it and discovering the fun little touches that go along with it being an Apple product, I wanted share with you some pictures and my first impressions.

Unboxing

The box has a footprint barely larger than the iPad itself.

Opening the box, the first thing you see is the iPad with the power adapter and cable sitting just underneath. That is about all there is to it. The only things I noticed were not included were a cleaning cloth, like the ones that come with iPhones, and headphones. I think that these would be nice to have included.

Front

Back

Sides

Syncing

Syncing took forever because it was loading on all my content for the first time. Now, every time I sync it just takes a minute or two.

Speed

All I can say about the speed is that Apple better come out with new iPhones using the A4 chip soon, because right now my iPhone feels extremely slow compared to the iPad. It is lightning quick, and actually just as fast in real life as it is in Apple’s promotional videos.

App Store Applications

iPad supports two different types of apps; iPhone apps and also new iPad specific apps. My initial impression of running existing iPhone apps is not a very good one. Everything becomes pixelated, but the real problem is that everything is just too big. It feels like something designed for toddlers. The buttons, text and other ui elements are too large to be taken seriously, and waste the great screen space. Luckily, Apple’s SDK allows for native iPad applications which fully take advantage of a screen that is over 5 times the size of the iPhone’s. My impression of many of these iPad specific apps is that they are much more like their desktop counterparts than their iPhone counterparts. One of the best examples of this is the iPod application which looks and behaves much more like iTunes on the Mac than the iPhone’s iPod Application.

Aside from the software, being bigger than the iPhone seems to change the way you hold the device. With the iPhone, I frequently type with my thumbs, however, the iPad is used almost exclusively with one hand holding it and the other hand pointing at it. The iPhone is well equipped for thumb typing, but because the iPad requires you to hold the device with one hand and type with the other, it is very slow to type while standing up. It is possible to type with your thumbs but it’s a stretch. I don’t really see this as a problem because the iPhone is much more of a mobile device and text entry with the iPad will most likely happen while sitting.

On the subject of typing, I found the software keyboard on the iPad to be very useable when in landscape, but not so much in portrait. The largest problem I have is that on a laptop I tend to rest fingers on some keys, but on the iPad doing so will register a key press. It will take some getting used to, but I suspect that in a week’s time, I will feel comfortable writing moderately long emails. With time, people may become well enough adjusted to the keyboard to write things as long as this post, but not much longer. The portrait keyboard doesn’t seem like it is good for much more than short edits or simple twitter posts. The iPad quickly switches to landscape mode so I found myself rotating the device most of the time the keyboard came up.

Overall, the iPad feels light for something this size and very strong. It also feels solid thanks to the solid aluminum back. What really makes it is the software, and it will be exciting to see how the software evolves over the next year.

ASUS U30Jc Intel Core i3 350M Laptop Review

The ASUS U30Jc Superior Mobility Laptop

In the past a thin and light notebook meant that you had to make a compromise in battery life, performance, form factor, or price. There is no better example of this than the netbook, where performance takes a back seat to great battery life and very low pricing. The problem is that not everyone enjoys the sluggish performance, small keyboard, and small screen of the netbooks. Since their original Eee PC that spawned the netbook, ASUS has been working toward bringing these core values to the laptop, where you could still have performance and the larger screen. Enter the ASUS U30Jc, who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

The ASUS U30Jc comes packing a 13.3 inch glossy LED backlit LCD with a 1366×768 resolution, NVIDIA Optimus gaming graphics, Intel Core i3-350M 32nm CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. You would think with this kind of hardware battery life would be terrible, but you would be wrong. Packing an 8 cell 5600mAh, this $961 “Superior Mobility” notebook is ready to change the way you think of laptops.

Have a look at the hardware this little behemoth is packing before we get into the heart of the review.

• Processor & Cache Memory: Intel Core i3 Processor 350M/330M : 2.26 GHz – 2.13 GHz
• Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
• Chipset: Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset
• Main Memory: DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SODIMM socket for expansion up to 8GB SDRAM
• Display: 13.3″ HD (1366×768) Color-Shine (Glare-type)
• Video Graphics & Memory: NVIDIA GeForce G 310M, with 512MB & Intel GMA HD (Support NVIDIA Optimus Technology) VRAM
• Hard Drive: 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA 320GB,5400rpm
• Card Reader 4 in 1 card reader SD,MMC,MS,MS-Pro
• Video Camera 0.3 Mega Pixel web camera
• Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN Integrated 802.11 b/g/n or 802.11b/g (optional)
• Built-in Bluetooth V2.1+EDR (optional)
• 10/100/1000 Base T
• LED Status Indicator: Wireless/Bluetooth on status indicator Power-on/Suspend
• Interface:
• 1 x Microphone-in jack
• 1 x Headphone-out jack
• 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
• 3 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack
• 1 x HDMI
• Audio: Altec Lansing co-brand speakers with SRS Premium Sound
• Battery Pack & Life 6 cells: 4400 mAh or 8 cells: 5600 mAh
• AC Adapter Output: 19 V DC, 4.74 A, 90W Input:100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
• 3/ 2 pin compact power supply system
• Dimension & Weight 32.8 x 23.8 x 2.00~2.99 cm (W x D x H) 2 kg, (with 6 cell battery)
• ASUS Utility:
• Asus Power4Gear Hybrid
• ASUS FastBoost
• ControlDeck
• Asus Win flash for BIOS and Driver live Update
• ASUS SmartLogon
• ASUS Net 4 switch
• Asus Live Update
• Asus Multi-Frame
• Asus NB Probe +
• ASUS Life Frame 3
• ASUS Wireless Console
• Asus Data Security Management(ADSM)
• Virtual Camera
• ASUS Splendid
• ASUS Express Gate
• Asus Screen Saver
• Fancy Start
• eManual
• AI Recovery
• Warranty & e-support: 2-year limited global hardware warranty *different by country
• 1-year battery pack warranty
• On-line problem resolution through web interface (BIOS, Driver update)
• OS (Microsoft Windows Vista) install/uninstall consultation
• Bundled software install/uninstall consultation
• ASUS software supporting

Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Portable USB Monitor Review

ThinkVision LT1421 USB 2.0 Display

We’ve never had the chance to play with a USB monitor before, so when Lenovo offered to send over the ThinkVision LT1421 we told them that we’d most certainly take a look at it for them. The ThinkVision LT1421 is a 14-inch wide flat panel monitor that supports up to 1366×768 resolutions and uses a standard USB 2.0 port for the video stream and as a power source. The point of this unique monitor is to offer those that travel a way have a secondary monitor for ad-hoc meetings, without the need of projectors. This would obviously appeal to those that use a laptop for business meetings, sales presentations, academia and a wide variety of other applications. Priced at under $200 ($190.67 shipped to be exact) it makes owning a second screen for on-the-go user affordable.

Our sample arrived in a boring card board box that is clearly aimed at online distributors or direct sale customers and not the retail shelf.

Inside the box we found that it came with  everything you will need to properly use the monitor. In the box you have the 14 inch display, a six foot long (1.8m) USB 2.0 cable, driver CD, instructions and a protective case for the screen. The ThinkVision LT1421 is only available in one color, raven black.

The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 screen size is 14 inches with an LED Backlight TFT panel that has a resolution of 1366 x 768. The image quality is fairly decent and while it won’t be winning any beauty contests or performance awards it gets the job done.

Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Screen Features:

• Viewable image size: 14.0″
• Optimum Resolution: 1366×768
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Pixel pitch (mm): .227mm
• Dot/Pixels per inch: 112 dpi
• Brightness: 200 nits or cd/m² (typical)
• Contrast Ratio: 400:1
• Pixel Response Time: 8ms (typical)
• Color Gamut: 45%
• Viewing Angle at 10:1 CR:
• Power Consumption: <0.1 watts standby, 4.2 watts typical, 5 watts maximum
• Weight: 1.8lb; 0.84 kg without cover
• Warranty: 3 Year Limited

 

The back of the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 is fairly simple with just a brightness adjustment button with 16 brightness levels, a kickstand, and the micro-USB 2.0 video input port.  There is also a spot for a Kensington lock right next to the tilt stand. Along the bottom edge of monitor are two rubber pads to keep the display from sliding on a desk.

Now that you have a general idea of what this monitor is and what it does, we can move along and show you how to set it up and how it performs.

Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi + Verizon Wireless Tablet PC Review

Motorola Xoom

The Motorola Xoom was the inaugural Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” tablet, but for some reason it didn’t sell off the store shelves like it was supposed to. Motorola began selling its Xoom February 24, 2011 and CEO Sanjay Jha reported on April 28, 2011 that the company had sold 250,000 Xooms to date To put things into perspective Research in Motion sold over 250,000 Blackberry PlayBooks from April 19th to May 19th and thus matching the Motorola Xoom in unit shipments in half the time. Apple’s iPad is still the company to beat as they sold 4.7 million in the first quarter alone. For some reason the Motorola Xoom has been given negative associations, but why? We got our hands on the Motorola Xoom and have been using it for the past month to see how it performs and if this tablet deserves a second chance. When the Motorola Xoom was originally released it was the very first tablet to use the Google Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ operating system designed from the ground up for tablets. Months later there was the Android 3.1 update that was released over the air (OTA), which includes support for the new Android movie rental service, full support of Adobe Flash Player 10.3, resizeable home screen widgets, USB-connected peripheral support, expanded Bluetooth accessory support and simplified photo sharing between the Xoom and PCs. Then came the Android 3.2 update, which included screen scaling compatibility mode, support of microSD cards up to 32GB in size, adaptive streaming support for movies and other minor improvements. As you can see the Motorola Xoom has gone through many changes since it was first released and is a much more capable tablet than when it was first released. The Motorola Xoom offers as close to a typical PC experience that you are going to get on a tablet, so we just had to get one in to review. If you’ve ever owned an Android powered device the user interface will be easy to learn and catch onto, so the learning curve of a tablet isn’t as bad as one might think.

When it comes to buying a Motorola XOOM tablet PC there are three versions that you can buy right now.

• Wi-Fi Only: $469.99
• Wi-Fi + Verizon 3G w/ plan: $499
• Wi-Fi + Verizon 3G w/o plan: $699

The main difference between the models is how you go about accessing the internet. All of the XOOM versions have Wi-Fi, but if you want the ability to use a Verizon 3G/4G data plan with the XOOM you need to spend another $200 or sign up for a data plan contract. This review is being done on the Wi-Fi + Verizon 3G version as we wanted the ability to access cellular services when traveling. For example, I was driving through rural Iowa over the holiday weekend and was able to use the Xoom in areas that my AT&T powered smartphone wouldn’t get service. If you don’t travel or live in a city with Wi-Fi access then you don’t need to spend extra for the 3G data plans.

Lifting the cover off the retail box we find the Motorola XOOM sitting right before you! Motorola doesn’t want to make you wait and gives you the goods the second you open the box!

Under the XOOM we find the charger, USB data transfer cable and the users manual that goes along with the tablet. Motorola unfortunately decided to use a proprietary charger for the Xoom and not a standard mini-USB charger that is used on other devices like the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone. This means you’ll have to lug around multiple chargers and this is by far one of the biggest gripes about this tablet.

If you look closely the piece of plastic that covers the Xoom points out the basic features that you need to know when you use the tablet. This is a nice touch and good for those that don’t like to read instructions. Our Xoom test sample came fully charged and was ready for use right away.

Toshiba Excite 10 LE Full Review: Style Over Substance

The Excite line of tablets from Toshiba is the company’s second major outing into the tablet market after its generally well-received Thrive models. With the Excite X10 LE, an Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) tablet, Toshiba has created what they have called the thinnest tablet on the market. It may look pretty and sport some impressive numbers in terms of its measurements, but how are the rest of its specs and, most importantly, how is its real-world performance? Let’s have a look.

Build & Design

At a mere 0.3 inches thick, it’s hard to imagine a thinner tablet than the Excite. Admittedly, I’m not crazy about how rounded the corners are — an especially odd-looking combination with the sharp edges of the tablet — but it’s difficult to deny that this is one sleek tablet.

I recently marveled at how light the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 was in my first-look review, saying that it was one of the lightest 10-inch tablets I’ve ever handled, but the Excite has it beat. Weighing in at only 1.18 pounds (18.88 ounces), the Excite is feather-light and easily wieldable with one hand. That being said, the backside of the device is a little slick, but it’s because it’s a very spiffy-looking brushed metal (magnesium alloy) surface. It may not be as practical as a rubberized material, but it sure looks nice.

In terms of the layout, it’s relatively standard fare with the power/standby switch, volume rocker, and orientation lock on the right side (when held in landscape orientation), a proprietary charge port and two speakers on the bottom edge, and a pinhole microphone on the top edge of the bezel.

In a move that has become a bit of a trademark for Toshiba, the Excite has an excellent selection of ports — even despite its svelte build, a choice that often gets in the way of including such features — all of which are located on the left side. These include a microSD card slot, a headphone/microphone jack, a microUSB port, and a microHDMI port.

And finally, there are the tablet’s two cameras: a five-megapixel, rear-facing camera with flash that’s located on the back, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, which is a higher resolution than most tablet webcams.

Screen & Speakers
The 10.1-inch display of the Excite has a respectable 1280 x 800 resolution, though its colors and blacks pale in comparison to those found on Super AMOLED, and it’s obviously not as sharp as a new iPad Retina display. I was also disappointed by the fact that even on the maximum brightness setting, the display was not very bright at all and suffered from some visibility issues in high-light situations. The tough Corning Gorilla Glass screen is a nice touch, though, and protects the display against drop damage.

The only other complaint I have about the display is an unusual one: it has an odd pattern of various-sized rectangles that speckle it, a pattern that is plainly visible when the display is off. The little rectangles can still be seen through blacks and darker colors when the screen is on, and to say that it’s less than attractive is putting it mildly. It’s only when viewing whites or lighter colors on the screen can the pattern go unnoticed. I don’t know why the display has this bizarre pattern on it; my editor insists that this is actually something common to Toshiba tablets (as he noticed it on the Thrive models, as well), but rest assured that it isn’t a good look.

The speakers on the Excite are pretty pitiful, even by tablet standards. Toshiba claims that the tablet’s speakers feature “premium sound enhancements by SRS,” but there is nothing premium about their sound quality (though if you use headphones, the quality is obviously much better). And aside from being of very poor quality in general, the speakers are also disappointingly weak, even with the volume cranked all the way up. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, given how small they are. I initially couldn’t even tell where they were until spotting the two telltale slits on the bottom of the device. But I suppose these are the sacrifices that Toshiba had to make in order to produce such a thin, compact tablet.

Toshiba Excite 10 LE specs:

• Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0
• 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 resolution, 149 pixels per inch
• TI OMAP 4430 dual-core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB of storage, expandable via microSD
• Rear-facing 5 megapixel camera, Front-facing 2-megapixel camera
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1
• microSD card slot, microUSB 2.0, microHDMI, 3.5mm audio input, proprietary pin input
• 10.2 x 6.9 x 0.3-inches
• 1.2 pounds
• Price at launch: $529

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 Tablet Review

ASUS Transformer TF101

Tablets are getting all of the attention in the tech industry right now and they somehow manage to keep getting better as time goes on. There are a plethora of tablets on the market right now and most of them are Android Honeycomb-based. That makes shopping for one difficult as the average consumer is going to find most tablets are running Android 3.2, feature a 10.1-inch screen and are powered by the mighty NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor. What can a company do to make their tablet stand out from the crowd? ASUS asked themselves that and the companies answer was the Wi-Fi only ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101. ASUS wanted to bring something to market that would not only revolutionize the tablet market, but also be affordable for the average consumer. Doing that without losing key features is very tough, so we’ll be taking at look at the ASUS Transformer TF101 to see what features this tablet has and how it performs.

The ASUS Transformer TF101 is available in two versions with the only difference between the two being internal storage capacity since it is only offered with Wi-Fi internet access. The lowest cost option is the 16GB version with an MSRP of $399.99 and for those that want more storage capacity a 32GB version for $469.99. The ASUS Transformer TF101 does come with a functional Micro SDHC card slot on it, so you can add an additional 32GB of storage for around $50 if you wanted to expand your storage space that way. Just this week we noticed that Target just had the ASUS Transformer TF101 16GB for $299.99 online this very week, so you can find this tablet at very reasonable prices. The Apple iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi can be had for $499.00, so the ASUS Transformer TF101 comes in much more budget friendly than the iPad 2.

Hands down, one of the best features of the ASUS Transformer is the optional keyboard dock accessory. This full chiclet-style QWERTY keyboard dock turns the Transformer tablet PC into a netbook in a matter of seconds. The touchpad and mouse buttons are a life saver for those that want a tablet, but also want the ability to type long e-mails or write papers on it. The keyboard docking station also doubles the battery life since it includes a battery under the keyboard. If those aren’t enough to persuade you, then you’ll also be happy to know that the dock also adds two USB ports and a SD card slot! Our favorite feature though is the print screen button, which might sound silly for some, but we hated the fact that we could capture print screens when we used the Motorola Xoom.

To use the keyboard dock you just line up the center of the table into the hinge and push it down with a little force until it clicks into place. To remove the dock you just slide the lever that is located above the number 4 key on the hinge to the right and you once again have the tablet.

This is why ASUS called this tablet the Transformer as you can basically convert it from a tablet to a notebook in a matter of seconds. When you want a tablet you have a highly portable 10.1-inch tablet to use and then when you want to be able to type, use the trackpad or double the battery life you can click it into the keyboard dock. For $149.99 this keyboard dock is more of a must have add-on rather than an optional accessory. This is what makes the transformer unique and for many it will be the reason to buy it. This does add to the cost though as the best price we could find