GADGET GIZMO
SPECIAL t.book STYLE & SUBSTANCE IN EQUAL MEASURE
Smartron's first device is a Windows hybrid with eye-catching
design and generous specs. It can actually compete with the `72k Surface Pro 3
Hyderabadbased Smartron is a startup with big ambitions. They
have plans to built an ecosystem of products and IoT services for the global
market. Their first product is the t.book -a Windows 10 hybrid device. While
Windows hybrids are not new, they typically fall into either entry-level or
absurdly expensive. This new device breaks the mould and packs a punch while
doing it.
T he ch as s is is a Ma g ne s i um Aluminium alloy with a
smooth sandblasted finish that resists fingerprints.First impressions are
overwhelmingly positive: it looks and feels the part, despite the relatively
low price tag. It also catches attention thanks to the orangegray colour scheme
-the company calls it Sunrise Orange and its part of the company's identity
(their second product, the t.phone, also comes in this trademark colour).
It's an eye-catching colour without be ing too much `in your
face'. In fact, the t.book reminds us a lot of the Surface Pro series, which is
high praise because the Surface Book falls into the absurdly expensive category
.
The tablet section is a uniform thickness of 9.5mm. Up front is
the high resolution 12.2-inch display -the display glass stretches beyond the
display on all four sides, giving the impression of a larger display when
switched off. The only other things in front are the capacitive Windows
logobutton, a pair of front facing speakers and front camera (flanked by a
couple of microphones).The right side only holds the 3.5mm headphone jack.
A volume rocker and power button are on top and the left side
hosts a majority of ports: two full size USB 3.0 ports, micro HDMI out, a USB
type C (charging and OTG support) and microSD slot.Around the back you'll see
the rear camera and a metal stand that you pull out to prop the display up. It
can be adjusted to change the angle of the display , but not by a lot. The
stand was the first weak spot we found -it flexes a lot and in the long term,
could bend or break.
Underneath is a small gold-plated connector for the keyboard.
The keyboard cover is supplied in the box and comes with full-size chiclet
style keys (but no backlighting). You'll also see a decent size trackpad with
integrated mouse buttons. The case attaches to the tablet magnetically and
connects using a set of pogo pins. The connection between the keyboard and tablet
is quite secure and it even shuts the display off when closed.
The device comes with Smartron's suite of services, supported by
a n a p p c a l l e d Hubtron: there's t.cloud (with unlimited cloud storage
built into the price), t.store (a marketplace), t.care (24x7 re mote support)
and a link to the company's web forums.
Rest of the software is conventional Windows 10 Home but what
sets this apart is that this uses a fanless design Core M and the fact that it
comes with 4GB RAM (twice as much as basic hybrids) and 128GB SSD storage (four
times as much as basic hybrids).
Coming to how the t.book works -the screen is ultra-sharp,
adequately bright, responds well to touch and offers good colours. Though the
glass is also very reflective and attracts a lot of smudges.Performance is good
for all basic tasks like document and photo editing, basic games, web and
multimedia. Of the 117GB total storage in the device, about 100GB is available
to you. Luckily , you can expand this by another 128GB without any fuss thanks
to the microSD slot.Finally, battery life is a comfortable 8 hours with basic
work (WiFI connected).Overall, it's a solid first product from the company and
definitely worth a look if you need a hybrid Windows 10 device.
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