Introduction UBook Pro The latest 2-in-1 tablet/laptop from CHUWI, is the UBook Pro, that the Chinese manufacturer hopes will rival the Microsoft Surface Pro 6. CHUWI Background The company has been manufacturing tablet/laptop computers since 2013. They targeted the mobile office industry with the UBook, and now the UBook Pro, with focus on versatility, quality, performance, and portability. Processor Improvements UBook Pro has some interesting enhancements to their original tablet. The processor is the first big change, being an upgrade from an Intel Core m3-6Y30 processor of the previous UBook tablet, to a high-efficiency 8th Gen Intel Core m3-8100Y processor with a claimed overall increase in performance of 50% compared to the original UBook tablets. Display Ability The 12.3-inch FHD IPS full lamination screen has a 3:2 ratio, which can be found on the Surface Pro, HUAWEI Matebook and others, delivers a vivid picture with exceptional resolution. The design is […]
Gemini Dual Screen Laptop is Made of Two Kay Lake-R Tablets (Crowdfunding)
[Update August 24, 2019: CNX Software has received a message claiming the project is a scam (identity theft): This is Li Yunjian, the Owner of following company : GST Communication Co., Ltd (Hongkong) 深圳市杰仕特通讯有限公司 (China Mainland) Our Website on Alibaba: https://chinagstgroup.en.alibaba.com/ This is a fraudster illegally using our company information to scam ] [Update October 2, 2019: Gemini Dual Screen Laptop crowdfunding campaign is up again, but references to “GST Communication” are gone] Note by CNXSoft: The campaign is under review and they have stopped taking contributions. I can only assume it’s a trademark issue because Intel did not like them to use the name “Gemini”. If it’s indeed the case, It should be resolved with a new name. We’ll remove this notice when/if the campaign comes back online. The Chinese company GST has been running a crowdfunding campaign for the Gemini, a dual-screen laptop, with the ability to be […]
CutiePi Open Source Tablet uses Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3
The announcement of the CutiePi, an open source tablet-based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 comes a bit late for the Pi-based tablet/laptop space. We have reported on some of the more versatile tablets using the Raspberry Pi platform, the Diskio Pi 13.3” DIY Tablet and the RasPad tablet kit, with a few more Raspberry Pi-based tablet/laptop kits also listed in the same article. Timeline and Pricing CutiePi Tablet has no firm release date, but the company is saying late 2019 for launch. The development team is also saying everything is subject to change, but look for the pricing to be USD $150 – $250. Click to Enlarge How CutiePi is Different The tablet is different in its thinner design and in the software designed specifically to use Linux Raspbian OS for a touch screen platform. There are readily available source code and case plans for the ambitious developer […]
Chuwi HiPAD LTE Tablet Review – Part 2: Android 8.0
Last month, I received HiPad LTE tablet, and in the first part of the review I checked out the specifications of the 10″ tablet with a MediaTek Helio X27 deca-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32 GB storage, and had a look at the accessories including the keyboard dock. I’ve now had more time to actually play with the device, so I’ll report my experience with Android 8.0, and the pros and cons of the latest Chuwi tablet. General Impressions My previous tablet was Onda V18 Pro, and Chuwi HiPad LTE is clearly an upgrade thanks to the faster Heliox X27 deca-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. The 10.1″ display has a 1920×1200 resolution, not quite as good as the 2560×1600 resolution of the Onda tablet, but I still found the screen to be crispy and sharp. I found the tablet to be great for browsing the web and watching YouTube […]
XIDU PhilPad 2-in-1 Hybrid 2K Laptop Review
I had never heard about XIDU laptops and tablets, and it’s apparently the brand name of “Shenzhen Baohuazhong Co Limited” that was founded in 2014 and specializes in the design, development, manufacturing, distributions, and support for computer systems. I came to know about the company as they approached me to review one of their laptops, namely XIDU PhilPad XT133A model with an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, and equipped with a 13.3″ touchscreen display with 2K (2560×1440) resolution. XIDU PhilPad Specifications SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz / 2.40 GHz (Turbo) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 GPU; 6W TDP System Memory – 6GB DDR3 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Display – 13.3″ touchscreen IPS display with 2560 x 1440 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone and speaker Camera […]
Chuwi HiPad LTE Tablet Review – Part1: Specs and Unboxing
Chuwi HiPad LTE is an 10.1″ tablet running Android 8.0 Oreo on a MediaTek Helio X27 deca-core processor coupled with 3GB RAM, 32GB flash, and offering both dual band WiFi and LTE connectivity. The company just sent me a sample, and today I’ll quickly go through the specifications, before unboxing the two packages I received. Specifications SoC – Mediatek Helio X27 (MT6797) deca-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores @ 2.6 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 2.0 GHz, and 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.6 GHz, as well as an Arm Mali-T880 GPU clocked at up to 875MHz System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, microSD card socket up to 128GB Display – 10.1″ IPS capacitive screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in stereo speaker and microphone Camera – 5.0MP rear camera, 5.0MP front-facing camera Connectivity Dual band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 Bluetooth […]
Alipay Dragonfly F1 PoS Enables Payments with Face Recognition
We’re being told the traditional way of paying for purchases – cash – is going away, so we’ll soon have to rely exclusively on electronics payment means such as debit cards, credit cards, contactless stored value smart cards, smartphones, our own face, etc… Wait? I could pay by just showing up my face? Apparently yes, as Alipay recently installed 12 Dragonfly POS (Point-of-Sales) devices with biometric technology at Hong Kong airport. The systems started operating at the airport on April 2nd, but similar devices were allegedly deployed in more than 300 cities in mainland China previously. I’m not entirely sure of the exact model operating at Hong Kong airport, but a quick web search reveals Alipay Dragonfly F1 matches the description. Hardware specifications: Processor – Quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor @ 1.3GHz System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB FLASH Display – 10.1″ TFT touch screen display with 1280×800 […]
Allwinner Tablet SoC Roadmap 2019 – 2020
Both Rockchip and Amlogic have some pretty interesting processors coming down the pipe with for example Rockchip RK3588 Cortex A76/A55 or Amlogic S922D Cortex A73/A53 SoCs both featuring an neural processing unit (NPU) for AI workloads acceleration at low power. The companies also have updated entry-level quad Arm Cortex-A55 processors with RK3530 and S905X3 models which are planned to launch later this year. But this made me wonder what was going with Allwinner since the company got really quiet, except for the “launch” of renamed processors for a specific business unit. That’s the only company among the three to have yet to announce a Cortex-A7X 64-bit Arm processor. The good news is that the company has released a roadmap of sort for their A-Series processors for tablets. The less good news is that very few details are available for the processors except for one: Allwinner A50 – Quad core Cortex-A7 […]