Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2014
TLDR;
DOES NOT COME WITH OFFICE, extra ~$100
Sleek and shiny, lightweight but large(Almost an A4 sheet of paper)
Expandable memory is good
All windows 8 gripes people have are still here
OneNote syncs across devices, desktop version beats Metro
Awesome digitizer
Full Review:
I purchased this tablet for my son's use at his University Primarily as a note taking device for his classes. This is his review.(The son wrote this bit, you think my mother knows how to internet?)
Quick background, I'm a junior majoring in physics. As a result I do a lot of writing math and note taking, and wanted a better way to store my notes and homework.
I spent a couple weeks looking for tablet to take notes with for my physics and mathematics courses, and quickly decided I should have a tablet with an active digitizer. I was deciding between the Thinkpad 2, The Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition, Asus Vivotab Note, and the Microsoft Surface. Now if you notice these are mostly windows 8 operting systems, as I also was considering the method to take notes itself, and OneNote seems very good. But then I was informed that this successor to the Thinkpad 2 existed, and with the new Bay Trail Processor.
But onto the review. The tablet was shipped in the box it is housed in, with two cardboard things on the ends suspending it in the middle. The actual tablet is very sleek, and powers on almost immediately after plugging in. You use your Microsoft Login to access the tablet for the first time, I don't think any other way is an option and that because the default user of the tablet.
This is a Windows 8 tablet, so you first are greeted by the new start menu, with the option to then go to a desktop. Apps seem to load quickly, but I have had troubles with the Mail app failing to load after 30+ seconds of waiting. The onscreen keyboard takes up a little over half the screen when active, but the space does allow for relatively painless typing. I wouldn't want to do it for a essay or paper, I have a laptop for that, but you could get it done.
The main reason I got the tablet was for the note-taking, and that is what the rest of this review will be about. the stylus works great, but there is no included place to store it in the tablet itself, so you have to get a case for the tablet with that functionality. I am getting one of those Protective cases for it, but it is currently in the mail so no thoughts on that. In OneNote the stylus's only button serves to select areas of text, and the opposite side acts as an eraser that erases the entire line/stroke it is place on, not just the area it is pressed.
OneNote comes in two forms, one the free metro app with limited functionality but optimized for touch, and the desktop mode you pay for( and comes with Office) with expanded toolbars and more options. Starting with the Metro OneNote, the app functions perfectly for quick jottig down of thoughts and simple note taking where complex actions are not required. The one thing that annoys me is the inability to zoom in and out with your two fingers pinching. You can flick up from the bottom to change the background, for ruled paper to graph, and even make the note taking section fullscreen. But why can't I zoom out to see where I am in my notes, to easily find a picture? Changing pen sizes and colors is done through a radial menu, but has 4 quick-select pen options. Perfect for some applications, but if you like the switch colors a lot, that isn't the best way.
Now the Desktop version of OneNote is in my eyes far superior. You can enable a touch mode that spaces the buttons you can click, and it allows more possible pen changes at once, and the ability to zoom by pinching. What a revolution! All sarcasm aside, you can convert handwriting to text, or to math with the ink to text or ink to math tools, respectively. The only downside is if you want this to happen automatically instead of selecting the text and doing it manually is to use the keyboard mode, which I dislike as it is both constrained to a certain space and the writing space itself does not clear quickly. But you can draw shapes, take pictures of documents and have them auto inserted, clip pictures from the internet, you name it.
Basic Verdict is that This is a nice, if pricey windows 8 tablet, THAT DOES NOT COME WITH OFFICE. See that Caps part? this means if you want even the most basic edition you have to pay an extra ~$100, unless you already do that Microsoft Office 365 thing and can just share your keys. It is limited by the Bay Trail processor, but dealing with slightly slower speeds means it has great battery life. I go all day without charging it. Comes with a micro SD so you can get 64gig of extra storage for ~$30, and usb slot means you can use a mouse or keyboard without shelling out for one of their accessories. The tablet is light, but almost the side of a sheet of A4 paper. You can draw diagrams and handwritten notes well, and the search handwritten notes feature does wonders, when it recognizes your handwriting. I am actually excited about this piece of hardware and my future use in classes.
I am writing this as apparently it is the first review as these things are fairly new, and I will come back after a month or two and I have seen how well it held up to my Note taking and late nights doing quantum problem sets. I'm looking forward to doing scratch work, so at the end of things I can just drag all my problems into a finalized document and print. No re-writing here.
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The update(as promised, if a bit late. procrastinating on hw):
Battery Life: Fantastic! I can forget to charge my tablet overnight after a day of note taking and still have it last the next day. A real life saver in some of my classes. The non-standard charger is a pain, but that's the trade off for a faster charging speed over a mini-usb.
One-note: Metro Version is all I need. Much cleaner and simpler, and turns out you can zoom in and out, just that that feature is turned off for a good reason. This way your notes are exactly a letter page in size, and so it works wonderfully for both notes and homework. Handwriting recognition is kinda bad though, it is probably just my atrocious handwriting.
App selection: It's windows 8, so you don't get very many apps. No dedicated Gmail app. The built in Mail app started working better, but still. No Pandora App. Chrome doesn't have a polished metro mode, and a bunch of links load to desktop internet browsers.
Stylus: Still great. Use the tablet for all my classes and I love it. Much better than using pen and paper.
OneNote online: A note about the syncing of notes online. I have very long homework sets that can take more than 10 pages worth of printer paper. The online version works, but for some stupid reason sometimes my words are placed over each other. So you can have 10+ lines of algebra, but lines 5 and 6 are placed directly on top of each other making them unreadable. It isn't a problem on the tablet, there the work looks fine, but it is only on the sync'd versions. A major nuisance, but fortunately my tablet can print so I can avoid it most of the time.
The protective case I got for the tablet did not have a place to store the stylus. However, it has a part that detaches to let you connect the tablet to the dock, and with some modifications to both the case and the pen involving dremel use you can actually store the pen in this bay area. Just a quick tip for those that are a little handy.
In hindsight, I might have been able to get away with the Thinkpad 2. I don't do enough things so that the processor ever really struggles, and I do just takes notes. But I do appreciate being able to do occasional word stuff and the future-proofing to make this tablet last at least into grad school. Definitely a good choice if you primarily care about note taking an don't expect the tablet to do any heavy lifting.
