[Article] Sent the Latitude 10 Essentials tablet for repair/replacement

Finally Dell arranged the tablet to be picked for repair/replacement. A person from Sagawa courier service came to our place yesterday (Saturday, the 27th of July) and took it away. He brought all the necessary packaging with him. Really there shouldn’t be any need for all that because I gave it to him wrapped in a air bubble wrapping. Hey, the screen’s suppose to be built using Gorilla Glass. If Dell is afraid that it would be damaged easier, how can we believe their claims that it is durable?

I of course had to take off the anti-glare shield I had on it. You cannot apply it again, so I threw it away. There goes $10 or whatever price I paid for it. Anyways, it looked nice and bright after I removed the shield. Clean too, because there were air bubbles between the shield and the screen. I don’t have the patience required for these stuff.

They say it will take 7 to 10 days to return it. I guess that’s the way it is. If I bought an iPad, I could simply go to an Apple Store and exchange it to a brand new iPad within few minutes. However, if I asked them to come and pick it up, it would take about a week for the whole thing. In that case, Dell’s service isn’t that bad.

I just hope they will be able to reproduce the screen issue. The screen starts to work at times. But if you turn it off (just the screen) and let it rest for a while, it won’t work again. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll see how things go in the next week.

[Review] Dell Latitude 10 Essentials Windows 8 tablet user review–part 3: the performance, the camera and battery life

This is the part 3 of the Dell Latitude 10 Essentials Windows 8 tablet user review. This one is about the performance, the camera and battery life.

Note: If you missed the part 1 and 2, click on the following links to read them.

Part 1: Ease of holding the tablet and look & feel

Part 2: Usability

OK, let’s get on with this section then.

Performance

If you want to find out how measurably fast the tablet is, read this review. I will not go into those tests. I will only talk about how I feel, together with Windows 8.

1) CPU

I am a guy that loves fast computers. This tablet definitely isn't fast. That’s mostly due to the Atom Clovertrail 1.8GHz dual core/hyper threaded CPU in there. The specs wise, it doesn’t seem slow, but Clovertrail is an in-order executed CPU, which makes it slow compared to Core series CPUs.  But I knew that before I bought it.

There was no choice, to be honest. ARM doesn't support full version of Windows 8 and Intel Core series CPUs have terrible battery life, need active cooling and all that adds weight. So we all have to put up with the slowness of the Atom chips. Hopefully Baytrail will fix it.

2) Storage

Anyways, the CPU doesn't seem to be the only thing that is slow in this tablet. The storage medium is eMMC which is solid state alright, but doesn't have the raw speed of an SSD. It's pretty slow, just like a USB flash drive.

3) The OS itself

But Windows 8 modern apps are slow to launch anyways. The video app for example takes about 5 seconds to load a video for the first time. The Windows Store is terrible. It is slow and needs a lot of user interactions to get the smallest thing done.

4) Wi-Fi

Downloads are not so fast. Wi-Fi browsing performance is comparable to my iPhone 4S, sometimes even slower. I was expecting more. The current generation devices have better Wi-Fi performance than iPhone 4S.

The Camera

The camera on a tablet doesn’t make much sense and people taking photos with a tablet look like idiots. But nevertheless, some people would like to see how the camera performs. I captured a video and took some photos with it.

Photos:

		Photos from Dell Latitude 10 Essentials tablet VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Video:

Battery life

I haven't measure the battery life accurately but according to the proper reviews, the battery seems to hold for about 8-10hrs. That's good and you should not expect nothing less from a CPU this slow. In other words, you won't have to worry about the battery life.

Next: bundled bloat ware, Windows 8.1 compatibility, recovery and firmware updates

[Review] Dell Latitude 10 Essentials Windows 8 tablet user review–part 2: Usability

This is the part 2 of the Dell Latitude 10 Essentials Windows 8 tablet user review. This one is about usability.

Note: If you missed the part 1, click on the following link to read it.

Part 1: Ease of holding the tablet and look & feel.

OK, let’s get on with this section then.

1) Media streaming from the PC

One of the use cases for this tablet was media streaming from the desktop. While there are hiccups like the video player being too slow to launch videos and sometime you lose the network connection to the video file if you had it paused for a long time, the streaming experience is great. You don't get black bars on HD content like you do in iPad. You don’t need a 3rd party software to manage the streams. And the playback is smooth. Funny how the MacBook Air 2011 model that I have screams when you watch a video. No fans here. All that’s said, the sound quality of the speakers sadly ruins the experience.

2) Desktop experience

This has nothing to do with the tablet. It is all Windows 8'a fault. The desktop apps aren't easy to use. It is not because the controls are not big enough for the touch (at 1366x768, they are large enough), but because they are not optimized for touch. Only the bundled apps have full support for stuff like finger scrolling and zooming.

If you increase the DPI, things get larger and it becomes easier to use. You can also change the default view setting to “Large Icons” instead of “Details”. But the issue with that is, this setting gets synced with your desktop as well! That, I don’t need.

I tried adding a photo on Windows Live Writer for a blog post I was writing and I had to waste like 2 minutes just to grab the holders to crop the photo. Google Chrome is horrible and actually too slow for this tablet. Media Player Classic, which is the video player I use on the desktop also doesn't work well with touch. Office apps are OK, but typing is difficult with the virtual keyboard, especially because of the larger size of the tablet. Virtual keyboard has no issues on a mobile phone though. So, you see, the desktop experience hasn't been that great. The only reason I go into the desktop is to access the files stored on the desktop PC. Otherwise I hardly use the desktop apps. I probably should have went with WinRT then!!!

3) Metro experience

Metro runs pretty well on a tablet. Maybe because of the cheap eMMC storage, the apps take a bit of time to load. But after that it is mostly the CPU, which is also slow.

Windows 8 needs more official apps from the major app makers like Facebook and Google. Twitter now has an official client but it is very feature limited. Sure, most people will argue that those are just web apps, and they are right, but you really need touch optimized apps because the web apps are mostly made for the mouse.

4) Reading books

Now, Microsoft doesn't have their own bookstore so you either have to download PDF files or use a service like Kindle to get books in. Sure, you can easily open the PDF files stored in your desktop PC as well. Even though the screen doesn't have a high pixel density as the iPad, once you are immersed in the book ,or anything that you are reading for that matter, you won't notice the pixels. Sure, if you compare it with a iPad side by side, you will notice the difference. But to tell the truth, the low resolution has not bothered me, not even once, during the last four months. It's the glare that ruins things and I have dealt with it. Maybe if you read for many hours, your eyes will get tired soon.

5) Music/podcast listening experience

This is downright bad, because of the crappy speakers. I prefer to listen to them on my iPhone.

6) Browsing experience

Metro version of IE10 (now IE11 in Windows 8.1 Preview) is great actually. Better than mobile Safari. There are times that it becomes slow. But nothing is perfect. Sure, you cannot have add-ons and it will never get add-ons. Most of the issues are related to Windows 8 and some of them are being fixed in 8.1. I'll be writing a separate article about that.

Next: the performance, the camera and battery life

[Article] There's a third option too: DELL Latitude 10 Essentials

Update: I have since then bought the Dell Latitude 10 Essentials tablet and read here to find out what I have to say about it. (It’s a 5 part review)

In the previous post I told you that I had my eyes on two Intel Clovertrail based tablets, namely the Asus Vivo Tab Smart and the Acer Iconia W510. Both were around the ¥50,000 mark, Asus being cheaper. When I checked kakaku.com for other available options I found out that there was a 3rd contender, attacking the same price point, made by DELL. It's called the Latitude 10 Essentials and now you must be wondering why there's an "Essentials" part in the name. That's because there is a "Standard" version of the same tablet that comes with a few more options. We'll discuss about what's missing in the Essentials later. First lets see if it has anything more to offer than the other two.

Differences between the DELL and the other two

This does not come as an advantage, but it packs some muscles it seems. It's about 70g heavier than the other two. I don't know how much of it will be felt, but it surely is getting into that uncomfortable region. The DELL Latitude Essentials weighs 650g which is exactly what the iPad Retina weighs. So it is not THAT uncomfortable to hold, but it isn't light.

I don't know if the weight and the feature that I'm going to talk about next are related, but I read in a review - but the review was about he Standard Edition - that this tablet ran significantly cooler than the Acer Iconia W510. The difference was about 15-20F. That's pretty noticeable to me. Maybe being a business grade tablet, the DELL packs more material just for insulation. Who knows, right?

There is a deal currently floating around that if you go to the product purchase page via kakaku.com, you get a free inner case. That case is worth ¥2,980. None of the other two tablets are getting anything like that.

Since I'm buying straight from DELL's online store, I am able to customize the tablet. The customization options are pretty limited though. But you can choose to get the English language version of the OS. The other two are getting the Japanese version but it seems that Windows 8 non-Pro allows you to change the display language without paying any extra fees. If you didn’t know, Windows 7 Home Premium did not allow you to change the display language. Only the Professional and Ultimate editions did. (But there is a hack which allows you to install language packs onto Home Premium.)

You get better warranty because the warranty is provided by the manufacturer himself. I don't know what will happen with the other two tablets if something goes wrong, since they are sold by some seller who might even go out of business before the warranty period expires. I can ask for extended warranty service as well, but I don't think that it is worth the price premium.

DELL says that the tablet comes with 64GB SSD, but it seems that the speed matches eMMc's performance. Technically, eMMc is solid state storage but that's not what the consumer expects when you say it has an SSD. For some reason, the DELL seems to boot into Windows about 5 seconds faster than the Acer. Since both are using the same CPU and RAM, it has to be the difference in performance of the storage subsystem. It is not as fast as Surface Pro, but it is inconclusive – don’t know because it has a faster CPU or faster storage subsystem or both. (The Surface is miles ahead of all of these 3 tablets anyways.)

Price

Finally, the price. It's ¥49,980. So it sits right in the middle of the Asus and the Acer.

From what I can see, the Acer has already lost the battle. The battle is between the Asus and the DELL.

• The Asus is ¥2,000 cheaper and 70g lighter;
• The DELL comes with an inner case, English version of the OS, runs cooler and comes with better warranty. It's 2 vs. 4 which means the DELL is the winner. Hmmm... I just hope the weight is not a deal breaker.

So what's the difference between the Latitude 10 Essentials and the Latitude 10 Standard?

The Standard comes with a removable battery (also double capacity battery if required, but part of the battery will be protruding out of the body!), comes with support for Wacom pen device, doesn't come with the inner case and is ¥5,000 more expensive. It comes with extra security with a TPM modules and such – I don’t really care much about that. Doesn't sound like a good buy in my book. It would have been awesome if the battery in the Essentials was removable. I don't want the pen.

So it seems that the DELL is the way to go. There aren't many reviews about these tablets out there unfortunately. On a plus side, it's my chance to write one. Hehe. Should get a tablet just for that. :P

Thinking of getting a Clovertrail based Windows 8 tablet

Yesterday I dragged my wife down to Kawasaki to check up on Windows 8 tablets. I would not usually go check stuck up; instead I would simply order stuff online. Heck, shipping is free most of the times. Why spend money for the train when I can get it delivered to home. *To self* I'm digressing. Back on track buddy.

There weren't many tablets available. I was specifically looking at the Atom Clovertrail based tablets. I found only 2 actually. The Asus Vivo Tab Smart and Acer Iconia W510D. Both of them were pretty expensive but that is usually the case at these retail outlets. You can find them for much cheaper if you buy them online. I was going to order one online anyways, but there were few things I wanted to check. That’s the purpose of this visit. I wanted to know how they felt hands-on.

1. Was it light enough?

Yes they both weigh 580g which is slightly lighter than the IPad Retina model (which is about 650g). iPad mini is much lighter though.

I tried out an Acer W700 few months ago and felt that it was too difficult to hold because of the weight. Unfortunately, the Surface Pro weighs pretty much the same. :/

2. Is the screen resolution suitable?

I was specifically looking for a low resolution screen because otherwise the desktop components will be very small to touch. 1366x768 it Is. Both tablets were giving great viewing angles since both of them have IPS displays. Besides, I don't think Atom SOCs can support any larger a screens.

iPad is out. Windows 8 is in. Get Clovertrail now or wait for Haswell? What about Windows codenamed “Blue”?

Surface Pro came out a few days ago but just like the Surface RT, the availability is limited! And above all, the Japanese currency has depreciated against US$, which would raise the price of the already expensive tablet to a whole new level when/if they become available in Japan. I would look to buy the 128GB model and it is a whopping $999 without the keyboard. I want the keyboard, so it’s an additional $130. Microsoft doesn't have any retail outlets in Japan thus there won't be any price controlling like Apple. The usual retail stores will sell them at a pretty high price. (They’ll probably give us back some points, but that’s just a big lie. I would expect the 128GB model to go on sale for no less than ¥120,000 here. Darn! Dreams shattered; time to move on.

Few days ago I did a final evaluation on the current gen iPads, which are, in fact, attractively priced in Japan. Just ¥28,800 for the iPad Mini (I am not interested in the Retina model) but the next model will probably see a price hike because of the depreciation of the currency. But, there isn't much it can do for me that the iPhone already isn't doing. The iPad is a just a “bigger” iPhone; and it even has a lot of disadvantages. Typing is hard, portability is crippled, it's heavy and the camera is useless. I hardly game on these mobile devices because I have a proper gaming PC at home. Then there are other constraints inherent to iOS. You cannot stream movies without using iTunes (nobody likes iTunes on Windows), cannot access photos and files that are in your PC etc. etc. It's only good for reading, and even then, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is much soother on your eyes. So it is a pretty crippled product in every way. So, I have made up my mind not to for got an iPad.