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In depth review of the Cube iWork 12 dual boot Z8300 convertible tablet

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Pros
Running dual operating systems, and switching from one to the other is simple.
Screen offers good viewing angles and vibrant colors.
Premium build material.
Robust keyboard connection.
Decent battery life.
Cons
Extremely slow to charge.
Very little improvement in performance compared to the Bay-trail powered tablets.
Poor cameras.
A lot heavier than the Surface 3.
Cube has attracted lots of attentions with their line of affordable 2-in-1 convertible tablets since early 2014. Now they have two lines of convertible tablets: the premium Core-M powered i-series tablets, including the Cube i7, Cube i7 CM, Cube i7 Stylus and Cube i9, and the more affordable Atom-based iWork series, such as the iWork 10, iWork 10 Ultimate, iWork 11 Stylus, and the all new iWork 12. There are some exceptions, though. The Cube i6, i10 are not premium Windows tablets like the i7 and i9, instead, they are Atom based tablets, designed mainly for basic tasks.
As confusing as Cube’s product naming is, the all new iWork 12 is definitely Atom-based. With a 12.2-inch screen and a kickstand, it bears a striking resemblance to the more premium Skylake Core M powered Cube i9. Running on an Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 CPU and 64GB eMMc drive, the iWork 12 is more of an entry-level convertible than a powerhouse hybrid. The RMB1,599 ($244) price may seem low compared to similar systems such as the ASUS T100HA, but it is still a tad higher than the price of the iWork 10 Ultimate ($152.4), which rocks the same internal setup. Are the $82 extra bucks a worthy investment for more screen real estate and a kickstand, let’s find out.
Cube iWork 12 Main Specs
• OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit & Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Display: 12.2-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (16:10)
• CPU: Intel Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 Quad-core Processor
• CPU Frequency: 1.44GHz – 1.84GHZ
• GPU: Intel HD Graphic Gen8
• RAM / Storage: 4GB / 64GB
• Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, OTG
• Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
• Battery: 9,000mAh
• Extend Port: USB 3.0 port, TF Card Slot, Micro USB, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Micro HDMI
• Weight & Size: 930g / 302.9*194.9*9.15mm
Packaging and Accessories
The Cube iWork 12 comes with very nice packaging. Inside the box you will find a tablet, a wall charger with a micro USB plug, an OTG adapter, a user manual and a warranty card.
Design and Build
As we mentioned above, the iWork 12 has an identical design to the Cube i9, with a 12.2-inch display dominating its front and a 2-angle kickstand on its rear. The white bezel removes the feeling of cold black technology, and the Magnalium rear side gives the tablet a premium look.
The left side plays host to a slew of ports and slots. You can find a Micro USB port, a Micro HDMI port, a 3.5mm headset jack, a Micro SD card and a full size USB 3.0 port.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the tablet.
As always, a power/standby key and a volume rocker on the top side.
The built-in kickstand can open to two different angles, satisfying the needs of using the tablet in different occasions.
Overall, this machine seems to belong in a class way above that of its price point, so kudos to Cube for continuing to provide compelling value in terms of construction. As the overall design remains quite similar to that of the i9, the weight and size are also nearly identical. The iWork 12 tips the scales at just 930g, although far from being the slimmest or lightest tablet out there, it is still quite portable by any definition.
Keyboard
The keyboard cover for the Cube iWork 12 is exactly the one designed for the more premium Cube i9, and it matches the design of the Microsoft Surface Type Cover. It is very thin, light, and won’t add much weight to the tablet.
The tablet and the keyboard clip together quickly and easily, without much force or maneuvering. When in place, it’s a solid connection which seems like it could take some punishment without breaking apart.
Like we mentioned in the review of the Cube i9, the keyboard itself is very well designed, with ideal space between different keys, it also offers decent key travel, which gives you tactile feedback when you type. And we really love the ability to set it flat against the desk or at a more keyboard-like angle. We’d always rather use a full-sized laptop keyboard, but in the absence of that this Keyboard Cover is the very next best thing.
The trackpad is reasonably sized, and it has distinct left and right click zones, and supports gesture control as you would expect. Unfortunately, unlike the Surface Type Cover, when you fold the keyboard cover around the back of the iWork 12 and the keys are still active.
Display and sound
The Cube iWork 12 rocks a 12.2-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1920*1200. The display is bright, vibrant, with wide viewing angles.
Even when compared to top offerings such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, the Cube iWork 12 doesn’t pale in comparison in the display department. And you can’t really tell the difference in pixel density from a normal using distance.
With that said, I did notice more reflection when compared to top Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, using it outdoors should be challenging.
The Cube iWork 12 has stereo speakers, placed on the left and right side of the tablet’s chassis. Sound quality is respectable for a budget tablet, but not truly remarkable. It’s not too harsh or tinny, and having stereo sound is great for watching movies. Top volume is decent, but lacks the low-end bulk and power of the best tablet speakers such as the ones on the iPads and Galaxy tablets. The 3.5mm audio jack has no problem driving our high-end headphones to an ear-splitting level, and we could hear a lot of details through the headsets.
Operating systems
You might have already noticed that I used a plurality in the heading, that’s because the iWork 12 ships with two operating systems in one machine: Windows 10 and Android 5.1, and you can switch between those two systems with only one or two taps on the touchscreen.
Unlike the iWork 11 Stylus, which runs the 32-bit version of Windows 10 and can only use 3GB of the 4GB RAM, the iWork 12 is preinstalled with the 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home and can take full advantage of every bit of the 4GB RAM built in the device.
Both the Android 5.1 and the Windows 10 are clean, with almost no third-party applications. While the Windows side takes care of the everyday business tasks, the Android side takes care of your social networking and media consumption. With access to numerous applications in Windows (those in Windows store and traditional desktop apps) and Google Play, the iWork 12 is much more versatile than any your average Android tablets or iPads.
Storage
The iWork 12 comes with a 64GB eMMc drive. Although not as lovely as the SSD used in higher-end tablets such as Cube’s very own i7 and i9, it is expected as an eMMc drive is always a standard choice for Atom-based tablets and netbooks. As the iWork 12 is running on both Android and Windows 10, the two operating systems takes up different partitions of the hard drive and don’t have shared internal storage. The Android side takes up a partition of 16GB, while the more complex and powerful Windows 10 takes up 48GB.
Fortunately, the iWork 12’s storage is expandable by a Micro SD card up to 128GB. The users can save multi-media files in the external storage, which they can visit from both Android and Windows.
Performance
The iWork 12 is powered by the latest Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 processor and 4GB of RAM (DDR3 1066), and the performance is pretty predictable for an Atom-based system.
On the Android side, the iWork 12 was pretty fast and responsive to all our controls. Tasks from scrolling the home screens to running graphic-intense 3D games are all handled smoothly by the tablet. We experienced very few lags or delays while browsing image-heavy webpages, watching YouTube Videos, social networking and gaming.
We also ran some benchmarks on the Cube iWork 12. In the Antutu 6 benchmark, the slate was returned a score of 56615, and in the Geekbench 3 test, it got a score of 2093 (Multi-core). It is clear that the iWork 12’s doesn’t match the latest top Android smartphones in terms of benchmark scores, but I didn’t really feel it was by any means slow, even comparing it to my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
On the Windows side, things were a little different. Lags and stutters were non-existent running applications installed from the Windows store, and you can even use several Microsoft Office applications side by side, but the tablet still struggled with heavier desktop tasks: Unzipping a compressed folder took forever, Photoshop took a long time to open, and heavy duty applications such as Corel Draw and lightroom simply wouldn’t start.
Benchmarks tell the story, too. In most of the benchmarks, the Cube iWork 12 scored way behind the Core M powered Cube i9 and the Z8700 powered Microsoft Surface 3. In fact it barely surpassed the ASUS T100, which contained the older Atom Bay-trail Z3740 processor.
The iWork 12 isn’t cut out to be a powerhouse tablet and can’t really replace your desktop PC or laptop for productivity tasks, it is more of a system designed for media consumption, social networking and light business duties.
Connectivity
A slew of ports and slots, as well as built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi give the tablet lots of connectivity options. Not only can the micro USB port used for charging, it can also be turned into a full USB 2.0 port by the stock OTG adapter to host all kinds of input and storage devices. The full USB 3.0 port can take care of high-speed data transfer between your tablet and a mobile drive, it can also charge your smartphone pretty quickly. The micro HDMI port means you can connect your tablet to a monitor or an HDTV, and Bluetooth 4.0 means you can establish wireless connections with headphones, external speakers, and input devices.
The iWork 12’s Wi-Fi connection is pretty solid, we could still stream online videos while there are a few meters and two walls between the tablet and the router.
Battery life
Unlike many other hybrids such as the ASUS T100A and Dell Venue 11 Pro, the Cube iWork 12’s keyboard doesn’t have its own battery to boost the tablet’s stamina. All charging is done using the microUSB port on the tablet part, meaning you don’t have to worry about losing a specific charge cable.
Cube claims that the Iwork 12’s 9,000mAh Li-Po battery should last for 8 hours, but we normally only got around 7 hours’ screen time doing different things with the tablet. In our standard battery rundown test, where we played a 720P video (MP4) on loop, we got 7 hours and 35 minutes’ battery life from the slate.
While the battery life of the tablet is still decent for a convertible this size, charging it can be extremely annoying. Sometimes the tablet would boot itself when we plugged in the charger, and the charging is also extremely slow. We normally needed around 6 hours to finish a full charge, and sometimes the charging got stuck at 99% for a whole hour….
Cameras
The iWork 12 has two cameras, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing cameras. The front camera is decent enough for video-chatting, but we would not suggest using it for selfie. Useless for most people, the rear camera is just there for the sake of being there, the photos it took were of extremely poor quality, and you don’t really want to use a big and heavy tablet like this to capture your daily moments, while any smartphone could do a much better job.
Summary
So who might we recommend this device to? Definitely not those who want a device to use as a main PC, but someone who already owns a powerful desktop PC and only wants a cheap netbook/tablet for light business tasks and media consumption.
We liked
The best thing about the Cube iWork 12 is its cost-efficiency. For only RMB1,599 ($244, keyboard excluded), you have a versatile, simple convertible with a stunning 12.2-inch IPS screen. The tablet does media-consumption tasks brilliantly, and can handle reasonable productivity tasks as well as most entry-level laptops. And you can easily switch from Windows to Android and the other way around on one device. Also, the build quality of the Cube iWork 12 is superior to the similarly priced ONDA and Teclast tablets.
We disliked
There was plenty to be annoyed about with the Cube iWork 12. This is fundamentally not a powerful laptop, and only a passable tablet – especially when there are alternatives for which you could pay much less money and get the same level of performance.
The excruciatingly slow charging speed and only average battery life mean this slate is going to spend a lot of every single day plugged into walls.
Both the DDR3 RAM and the eMMC are pretty slow on this device, and that’s very noticeable while the tablet’s thrown with traditional Windows desktop tasks.
Final verdict
The Cube iWork 12 is more of a system to replace your iPads or Android tablets than to use as a main personal computer. The ability to run Microsoft Office and other light desktop applications means you will always get more productivity out of this device than from an iPad or an Android tablet. For the right reason this can be a really good purchase, but since the iWork 12 is not the only dual boot tablet out there, you might want to take a look at other options before digging into your pocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RWLqTrmBM
Video review here

Nobody interested in this tablet?

Nice Review
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.

Windows 10 sound?
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
EDIT: Turns out it was more of an issue of my Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones (which seem to be failing), my AKG ones sound good. DFX enhancer did work well however in tuning the speakers.

You should definately use "DFX Audio Enhancer". It makes every device sound like studio quality (even on android), if set up correctly. I've tested several software-based audio enhancer and this is by far the best one.
Cost: Currently 30 bucks, normally 40.
They also offer a demo, but it restricts some of the controller handles, so you can't test the full potential.
krazystuff said:
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi,
Some site saids that it's support stylus some site saids no.
So somebody who have the tablet could tell me if it's support stylus ?
Regards
Marc

Grainy screen
My experience with this tablet so far.
Windows 10 really good, runs office apps no problem.
Android performance good for media consumption, eg magazines, podcasts etc.
On the down side is the display. On Android the display always seems a little fuzzy, not so sharp. This is much better in Windows quite sharp.
Unfortunately my unit has the "grainy" screen issue. Its like having a really poor quality screen protector on. Its very noticeable on whites and greys. Also the screen is highly reflective which means I have to be careful where I sit while typing.
Its a shame that the display issue impacts and otherwise very good device.

Weird, I don't notice this grainy screen issue. Looks the same as any of the other 3 screens I use. I do agree on reflections however; I am thinking about getting a tempered glass protector for the thing.
After using the thing for a month (exclusively in Windows):
- Wifi: Performance is good, except sometimes after it wakes from sleep I need to disconnect and reconnect to regain the connection. Kind of annoying, hoping a driver update will fix that.
- HDMI out: I use this for Netflix (Windows 10 app) and Kodi for local media, and both work great (only 1080p tested). No problem with getting bitstreamed audio and 23hz or 24hz output (although I need to switch it for Netflix manually, app issue). I did get an angled connector though which I realise is a mistake since now I can't charge and have the micro HDMI dongle connected at the same time.
- Chrome: Chrome is kind of sluggish, but still ok. Edge is vastly superior, but not having extensions yet lead me to live with Chrome for now. Youtube is kind of sluggish to start; I started using an extension to force MP4 instead of VP9, and haven't noticed much of a difference. Still, it is acceptable for general browsing with a few tabs.
- Battery: I'm happy with battery life, but I haven't measured it formally. With light/medium use, it lasts me 3 days. It does take long to charge, but I can live with charging it overnight every couple of days. Waking from sleep works well also.
All in all, I am happy with the unit, and it fills my niche for a portable, tablet/notebook hybrid that I can take travelling, on a plane, and carry around the house.

linux ?
thanks for your review.
we can install linux in i9.
can we install linux in iwork12?
thanks

Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?

Rom/Recovery
Hi
I just received my Cube iWork12 and on turning it on noticed that it had already been turned on by GearBest so I clicked on Factory reset in Windows. it froze during the reset and now won't book. It comes up with the cube logo for about 20 seconds then restarts and does the same again. Android still boots. Does anyone know how I can fix this or where I can get am image of the Rom to restore? thanks

In case anyone is having the same problem a forum user has kindly posted it on google drive here: http://techtablets.com/forum/topic/cube-i12-firmware/

I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian

ecrivain5 said:
I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise here. I have tried all sorts with different Play Store APKs, based on CPU, Screen Resolution, etc but nothing works, at least not for any length of time.
I have resorted to locating and downloading the APKs of the apps I want to install and doing it that way, bypassing the Play Store altogether.
It is a real PITA. Cube seems to have forgotten this device in terms of firmware updates and support.

Which one i must choose, chuwi hi 12 or iwork 12? I need for my study, i usually use ms. Office, spss, geogebra and other small software. Which one is better? Because i plan to use this stuff for a long time.

youngred09 said:
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to know, so you re take chuwi or cube? How the performance? I still confuse to take cube or chuwi because my money limited.

how can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------
Can you tell me the easiest procedure to update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher on our iWork12 cube?
Thanks!

Does it support any pen ?

I'm delighted with this tablet, very comfortable and performing, the only flaw so far found is that there is no automatic update of the firmware that was compatible with the Android version 5.1, but to use it I need at least the Android version 6.0! Cube site does not upgrade, I contacted the company but told me to ask the retailer ..
I'm waiting for a solution! Has anyone already updated the version of Android?
Thank you
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Alldocube Freer X9 Hands-on Review

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Alldocube, a.k.a Cube, is a Chinese brand best known for making affordable Android tablets. With the demand for Android tablets getting smaller each year, many of Chinese tablet makers either disappeared or changed their business focus, Alldocube hanged on. As a matter of fact, they released quite a number of models of different sizes this year. The Freer X9 is the latest addition to their lineup, and it is the first one this year to come with a high performance processor.
Main specs of the Alldocube Freer X9
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Screen: 8.9-inch IPS, multi-touch capacitive panel
Display Resolution: 2560 x 1600 (16:10)
Processor: MediaTek MT8173V (Quad-core: A72*2 1.8GHz + A53*2 1.4GHz)
GPU: Imagination PowerVR G6250
RAM / Storage: 4GB / 64GB
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
WiFi: 2.4GHz/5GHz
Bluetooth: 4.0
Camera: 5MP front camera, 13MP main camera
Battery: 3.8V, 5,500mAh
Ports: Micro SD Card Slot, Type-C Port (USB 3.0 standard), 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Size: 228*144*8.3mm
Weight: 366g
Color: Black front, grey rear
Design and build
The design of the Alldocube Freer X9 is pretty generic with no core identifying features. The tablet looks like an enlarged phone, with portrait mode use as its default. The front is of course dominated by an 8.9-inch display, with a physical home button below and a front-facing camera up top. Alongside the display are the bezels and it’s clear that the Freer X9 isn’t meant to win any design awards as the bezels are large and somewhat clunky, but for a relatively big tablet designed for using with both hands, we do need more bezels to rest our fingers on. One thing I need to mention is that there isn’t a fingerprint reader built in the home button, which is a shame as every time you wake the screen up, you will need to input pin or draw patterns to unlock the device if you want a reasonable amount of privacy.
The top side of the tablet plays host to a Micro SD card slot, and one of the two speaker apertures.
The bottom side hosts a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack and the other speaker aperture.
A power/standby key and a volume rocker are hosted on the right side of the slate.
The X9 has an aluminum unibody at its rear and four edges. The gray coating is processed with anodic oxidation, not only does it make the tablet feel extremely premium, it is also quite resistant to scratches.
The Freer X9 measures 228*144*8.3mm and weighs 366g, pretty compact for a 9-incher. The tablet feels very robust, and proves extremely resistant to all of our squeezes and twists.
Display
The Freer X9 sports an 8.9-inch IPS display at the resolution of 2560*1600px, which translates into a pixel density of 339PPI. This is one of the best displays we’ve seen on tablets from Chinese brands. HD videos and pictures look razor sharp, colorful and bright. Although it is still no match for the HDR-ready AMOLED display found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 when it comes to contrast ratio and color saturation, it offers colors that are more natural, and it is definitely not going to be outshined by an Apple iPad if you put them side by side.
The X9’s display is also extremely bright, contents are visible even under direct sunlight, which is pretty rare among tablets in this price range. Unfortunately, there’s still bad news, as the display does seem to suffer from reflections, using it outdoors can be tricky sometimes.
Audio
The Freer X9 features two built-in speakers, with one on the top side and the other on the bottom. These speakers sound satisfyingly loud and clear, offer much better audio than the mono speaker found on most cheap phones and tablets, in fact they sound even better than the speakers on my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and Microsoft Surface Pro 3. With that said, it's still best to avoid cranking it to max volume as the distorted highs will overpower the mids and lows.
System, UI and Apps
The Freer X9 ships with stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. Pretty strange as the Alldocube FreeYoung X5, which was released earlier, runs Android 7.0 Nougat. You will get a clean Android experience from the X9 as there is basically no twist or customization made to the stock OS.
Preinstalled apps have also been kept to the minimum, the only third-party app is the ES File Explorer, users can get the apps they need from Google Play Store.
Performance
The Alldocube Freer X9 is powered by a MediaTek MT8173V Processor, which includes a quad-core CPU (2*[email protected] and 2*[email protected]) and an Imagination PowerVR GX6250 GPU. There are also 4GB RAM on board to take care of multi-tasking and 64GB of eMMc as internal storage.
We ran a few benchmarks on the Freer X9 and got pretty decent scores. Though it won’t rival high-end slates such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 or Huawei MediaPad M2 in terms of overall horsepower, it still proves to be a capable mid-range tablet.
In the Antutu V6.0 benchmark test, the X9 scored 68,400, putting it ahead of most budget smartphones.
In the Geekbench 4 test, the Freer X9 scored 1,457 in single-core and 2,578 in multi-core.
In the PCMARK Work 2.0 test, the Freer X9 was returned 3,915.
For some reason (could be the internet restrictions in China), the X9 could not finish the Vellamo browser test, in the metal and multi-core test, it got pretty decent scores.
Unfortunately, the Freer X9 didn’t impress us with its 3DMark Ice Storm score.
When it came to online chatting, surfing the web, checking emails, streaming HD videos and playing simple mobile games such as Pocket Mortys and Leo's Fortune, the tablet performed smoothly. Larger, more complex games such as N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit and Armored Aces were a bit slow to launch, but graphics looked spectacular and smooth during gameplay.
Battery Life
The Alldocube Freer X9 has a 3.8V/5500mAh Li-Po battery under the hood, which is a little larger than the 5,100mAh battery inside of the Huawei MediaPad M3. In our battery rundown test, we played a 1080P video on loop, with screen brightness set at 50%. Wi-Fi turned on to receive social media alerts and notifications. The X9 lasted 8 hours, 50 minutes.
In the real life use, I find myself charging the X9 every three to four days, as I do most of the social-networking on my smartphone. The X9 is mainly used for YouTube Feeds, reading and web-browsing. For heavy users, charging the tablet every two days should be enough.
The Freer X9 doesn’t come with a wall charger, but the users can easily use their smartphone chargers to get a refill. The maximum charging current the X9 is able to take is 10W, which is not impressive as the fast-charging for smartphones can get really fast now. I usually need around 3.5 hours to charge the tablet from 0% to 100% with a 5V-2A charger.
Cameras
On the back of the tablet is the 13-megapixel camera, which is equipped with an auto-focus feature. We've never put much importance on cameras in tablets, because tablets make for awkward and ridiculous-looking image-snapping devices. Plus, most people buying a premium tablet also likely have a better camera sensor in their smartphone. That said, you can get good photos from the camera here, so long as what you're snapping isn't also moving. The sensor's auto-focus is quite slow compared to those typically found in high-end smartphones.
Test shots with the rear camera
There is also a 5MP camera on the front for online video chatting. It is not the worst front-facing camera we’ve seen on a mid-range tablet, but it is by no means a good one. Colors look a little bit washed out, and the photos also lose lots of details. For someone who’s used to the auto-beautification-mode offered by mainstream smartphones, I can barely look at the selfies taken by this camera.
A test shot with the front camera
Connectivity
The Freer X9 is a Wi-Fi only tablet, and there probably won’t be any cellular version coming. The slate supports 2.4GHz & 5GHz dual band Wi-Fi, connection is solid and stable, I can download files at top speed two walls away from the router.
The internal 64GB storage is expandable with a Micro SD card, I have inserted a 64GB Transcend card and it works fine.
The X9 also supports USB on the go. As the Type-C port of the slate is of USB 3.0 standard, transferring files from a flash drive is pretty fast. This port can also be transformed into an HDMI port with an adapter.
Availability and Competition
The price of the Freer X9 has not been announced by Alldocube yet, but rumor has it that it will be around $200, putting the slate in the price range of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 and ASUS ZenPad S8.0.
While the Xiaomi Mi Pad offers more horsepower and a much better battery life, and the ASUS ZenPad S8.0 offers a more user-friendly UI, the Alldocube Freer X9 holds its own with a bigger and more gorgeous display. All 3 slates offer a lot of value for the money, it all comes down to personal preference when choosing which one to go with.
Verdict
Aside from the dated operating system and the absence of a fingerprint reader, there’s not much to dislike about the Freer X9. Its metallic unibody design, build quality, display, speakers and performance all impressed us.
If you want a capable Android tablet which can handle more than just the basics, but refuse to spend three to four hundred dollars on a Huawei MediaPad M3, Google Pixel C or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, the Alldocube Freer X9 is really worth looking at.

Thanks for this review, it's nice and informative. Only thing missing is the issues and bugs. And you forgot to mention that it arrives with a chinese firmware that can be flashed over with a "overseas" firmware to fit english speakers better. Cheers!

mekler22 said:
Thanks for this review, it's nice and informative. Only thing missing is the issues and bugs. And you forgot to mention that it arrives with a chinese firmware that can be flashed over with a "overseas" firmware to fit english speakers better. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't really experienced the issues and bugs u mentioned in your review. I also successfully installed a working Google Play on the Chinese firmware.

Where did you guys found the international firmware and the working Google Play Store installation file?

Second ping for this so called international rom.... googled around and cant find any official or unofficial roms for this tablet anywhere, perhaps its somewhere on the net but only written in Chinese characters somewhere?

Heads up, I received an Alldocube Freer X9 from Gearbest and it has some sort of international ROM installed (Playstore etc preinstalled) but also found the Adsup Fota spyware installed and being built into the ROM you cant remove it

Hi, how do I make the soft buttons to display permanently?

jupiter2012 said:
I haven't really experienced the issues and bugs u mentioned in your review. I also successfully installed a working Google Play on the Chinese firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would you give me the details information how to install the google play on the chinese firmware..thanks....

hi all
has somebody tried to root this tab with "magisk manager" ??...........

U89C UPDATE installed and Root OK!
http://51cube.com/services?_search=U89
Unlocking the bootloader is necessary. To unlock: "fastboot oem unlock" and VOL-, since I do not know why, but it is the opposite.
Boot.img patched for Magisk Manager (flash with U89C or fastboot):
http://www118.zippyshare.com/pd/S2Nb2x4D/10563/boot.img
APK: magiskmanager

could anyone help me how to do step-by-step updates to u89c using the magisk manager and root of this tablet? do you work with antutu 7.0 on this tablet? with me hangs on the first test.

Is it international (overseas) or chinese only firmware? I have downloaded the rar file (v1.0_20171228), but is is fully chinese (the file names and the install instruction). I do not want to install it unnecessarily.

malojk said:
could anyone help me how to do step-by-step updates to u89c using the magisk manager and root of this tablet? do you work with antutu 7.0 on this tablet? with me hangs on the first test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4_hnKgjFA by Hovatek.
It's easy, download ROM U89C (have the link on the official page, 51cube.com).
Antutu does not work for me.
When you download the official firmware, you will need:
1. Install the official drivers of your U89 tablet.
2. Flashing your U89 tablet with "SP Flash Tool" [Tutorial for SP Flash Tool here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzyYXAflmOk]
3. Once you have flashed the latest version of your U89 tablet, connect your tablet to fastboot. He does not know how? it's easy, install this:
https://adb.clockworkmod.com/ for ADB Drivers.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979 for ADB & Fastboot in your Windows.
4. Well, once you have installed everything, connect your flashed tablet to U89C (the latest version) to your computer. In Windows, press "Ctrl + R" and type "cmd", press ENTER and type in your "terminal":
- "adb devices"
Your tablet will ask for an authorization to connect to ADB, now type in your terminal:
- "adb reboot bootloader"
Great, now in fastboot let's flash the patched bootloader:
http://www118.zippyshare.com/pd/S2Nb2x4D/10563/boot.img
Write on your Windows terminal:
"fastboot oem unlock" and press ENTER, on the screen of your tablet you will see some words in English, do not follow the instructions as they are wrong. Actually, to unlock your "bootloader", you need to press the button on your tablet: "VOL-" (Volume down).
On your tablet you will see something like "unlock pass", and on your computer you should type "fastboot reboot". Now your tablet is going to erase completely.
Perfect, it only remains to flash the "boot.img", for it once you have loaded your tablet again, write on your PC again:
"adb devices" & "adb reboot bootloader", in fastboot proceed to flash your "boot.img":
"fastboot flash boot boot.img" *
*A tip: type "fastboot flash boot" and drag the boot.img file to the "terminal" CMD.
Perfect, now write "fastboot reboot". Your tablet is rooted, install the Magisk Manager APK and enjoy.
You can share this tutorial, improve it or do whatever you want with it. It is translated from Spanish to English with Google Translator.

Tell me where I found official drivers of your U89 tablet ?
Is the new U89C antutu still not working, and whether there is a play store? Currently I have the version u89_v1.0_20170911 with the play store, and is there any difference between these roms?
Can I do root on the old version without flashing?
I tried to rooting the tablet apart from uploading a new rom. Going in turn according to your description, I press vol - and I have the message "unlock failed". What is going on ?

Hello malojk,
You can flash with old version. Try VOL+, in my tablet is VOL-.

I tried with vol + and nothing at all. Any suggestions?

it's very strange. Does it happen to anyone else?
can it be because on your android, in "developer options", you do not have marked "OEM unlocking"?
http://upimg.org/image.php?di=7O7A

Okbi will tray. Thanks.
Is the new rom u89 c better? Tell me where else will I find the official driver for u89? I have windows 7 and when I try to run spflash tool, the BEX error pops up

Yes. although it does not include the Google Play store. but I will write a tutorial to install Google Play store in our u89. the drivers are in one of the u89c firmware folders.

Managed to!
I made root. Now, where to download magisk manager? Is it from the Play store ??

Alldocube i7Book review: an affordable laptop powered by Intel i7 CPU

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The good
Decent performance.
Licensed Windows 10 Home.
Comfortable keyboard and high-quality touchpad.
Solid battery life.
The bad
No fingerprint reader.
No backlight for the keyboard.
Slow SATA SSD.
The Ultrabook market is ultra-competitive, as many respected PC brands all see this as a highly lucrative sector. This market section doesn’t really seem like the ideal playground for Alldocube, a Chinese brand mainly known for their affordable Android tablets, to enter. While Alldocube isn’t a total newbie in the PC industry, as they have release many low-cost Windows convertibles and laptops in the past, but all of their PCs were powered by Atom, Celeron, or Core M CPUs, never the high-end i-series SoC.. That’s why the newly released Alldocube i7Book, which comes with an Intel i7-6660U CPU and a $479.99 price tag, could be exciting.
Main Specs of the Alldocube i7Book
OS: Licensed Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel Core i7-6660 dual-core CPU (2.4GHz-3.4GHz)
Graphics: Iris Graphics 540
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM
Screen: 14.1-inch IPS (1920*1080px)
Storage: 256GB M2. SSD (SATA Standard)
Ports: 3 x USB 3.0 Type A, 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C, 1 x 3.5mm audio jack, 1 x HDMI 1.4 port, 1 x 3.5mm DC port.
Connectivity: 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
Camera: 2MP front-facing webcam
Weight: 1.35kg
Size: 322*212*16.1mm (W x D x H)
Battery: 11.4V-4500mAh (51.3Wh)
Variants, price and availability
If you are constantly bothered by the many variants of a certain model, good news here: the Alldocube i7Book comes with only one configuration. The model features a 14.1-inch FHD IPS display, an Intel Core i7-6660U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD.
The laptop is priced at $479.99 and you can buy it on Banggood.com.
Retail Package
The retail package of the i7Book doesn’t stray too far from that of other Ultrabooks. Inside the box you get a KBook laptop, a power adaptor, and a user manual.
The provided 57-watt (19V-3A) power adaptor looks extremely old and bulky by 2020 standards. But fortunately, this laptop supports PD fast-charging through its type-C port. That means you can use a much more portable PD charger as its power supply. Many of the mainstream smartphones now come with 50W-65W PD-compatible chargers, which can also be used as the i7Book’s power adaptor. We are currently using the Xiaomi 10’s 65W charger with the i7Book, and it works like a charm.
Design and Build
You probably won’t have too many complaints – or accolades – about the aesthetics of the i7Book. There’s nothing wrong with the look, exactly, at least in our very typical silver color scheme. The Alldocube logo on the lid is the only real adornment, and otherwise, this is a very simply designed laptop.
The chassis of the i7Book is made of aluminum, with sand-blasting process on top. The material used here is not particularly high-quality, and even felt like plastic when we first laid hands on it. In comparison, last year’s KBook looks like a more premium device. However, the chassis of the i7Book still succinctly avoids any sharp edges or flexible structures, as these things should.
Opening it up reveals a spacious keyboard which, unfortunately, isn’t back-lit. It’s a typical island keyboard with black keys and white letters.
The feel of the keys is a little shallow, but they still press with a snappy click and that makes for a precise feel. I managed to reach my top typing speed in just a few hours’ time.
The touchpad is also very good, with plenty of size, a comfortable plastic surface, and buttons that aren’t too loud. It’s also a Microsoft Precision touchpad, meaning it provides excellent support for Windows 10’s multitouch gestures. It’s easily the equal of laptops costing a hundred dollars more.
In terms of input, that’s all you get, though. There’s no touchscreen, which is par for the budget course, and there’s no Windows 10 Hello mechanism for password-less login. That’s a bummer, but again, you must give up something to bring in a laptop at this price point.
The bezels around the 14.1-inch screen are relatively small, especially on the top, left and right. The chin is a little bigger than the one on the Huawei Matebook, with Alldocube’s branding in the middle.
Above the display there’s a 2 mega-pixel webcam. In terms of image quality, the webcam is quite basic, but it is okay for video chatting in most scenarios, just make sure there’s sufficient ambient lighting.
Unfortunately, the i7Book cannot be opened up to 180 degrees like the KBook can, the maximum angle it can open up to is approximately 135°. While this may not be a deal breaker for most consumers, it is still a little disappointing.
For an Ultrabook which focuses on thinness, the Alldocube i7Book still offers a healthy combination of I/O. The left side plays host to a DC charging port, a multi-function USB-C port which support not only PD fast charging, but also DP video output and USB 3.0-standard data transmission, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a USB 3.0 port. On the right you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB 3.0 ports, and a MicroSD card slot.
The i7Book measures 322*212*16.1mm, and weighs 1.35kg, quite compact for a laptop this size. The build quality is okay, but nothing to write home about. It’s not hard to tell that the i7Book is somewhat below the quality of the HP Elitebook 745G and Huawei Matebook 13, mainly due to the material used for the chassis. Even last year’s Alldocube KBook feels a little more robust and better built, as its case feels sturdier with less flex. However, the i7Book still doesn’t feel cheap, it just lacks the premium feel of a high-end model, which it isn’t.
Average display, but competent sound
The Alldocube i7Book rocks a 14.1-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1920*1080p. Pixel density is 157PPI. This display isn’t particularly sharp, the colors are a little bit muted, as well. It’s easy for us to notice the differences when placing the i7Book next to the Huawei Matebook 13, and Alldocube’s very own KBook, which sports a vibrant 3K display.
The brightness of this panel isn’t good, either. While it is generally good enough for indoor use, but when I brought the laptop to my office desk near an open window, where direct sunlight could shine on the screen, it was a little challenging for me to see the content even at maximum brightness.
The i7Book features stereo BOX speakers. Audio from these built-in speakers is surprisingly good, with plenty of volume without any distortion when turned all the way up. Mids and highs are strong, and there is even a hint of bass. You could easily binge YouTube using these speakers, although music and movies would definitely benefit from a good pair of headphones or external speakers. Again, this is a great result for such an inexpensive machine.
A clean version of Windows 10
The laptop runs on licensed Windows 10 Home out of the box, so it is able to run all applications like any other regular Windows PC. Fortunately, there’s no bloatware of any kind, you can easily install apps from Microsoft Store or other third-party sources.
Performance that matches the hardware
The Alldocube i7Book was powered by an Intel Core i7-6660U processor, which includes a dual-core CPU clocked at 2.4GHz, but can turbo up to 3.4GHz, and an Intel Iris Graphics 540 GPU. When you see the word “Core i7”, you would probably think this is an absolute powerhouse. Well, it might be true a few years ago, as this chipset was released in 2016, but things are different now. This Skylake i7 CPU won’t really compete with its 10th generation peers, in fact it falls short even in comparison with the 8th generation low-voltage Core i5 SoC. Yet it should still offer enough horsepower for normal day-to-day tasks in 2020. When coupled with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD storage, we’re curious to see how the i7Book could perform.
Benchmarks
Looking at the Cinebench R20 CPU benchmark, the i7Book scored 700. Interestingly, that falls behind the HP Elitebook 745G, which features an AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U, and only beats the i3-8145U powered Huawei Matebook 13 by a small margin.
In the Fritz Chess benchmark, the i7Book notched 6317, which is a huge improvement from last year’s Alldocube Kbook, but is still lower than the score of the Huawei Matebook 13.
The PCMark 8 Home and Work Accelerated tests are designed to measure the performance of a system by simulating basic everyday computing tasks. The i7Book scored 3123 in Home Accelerated, and 4098 in Work accelerated. While these weren’t impressive numbers, they were still much higher than the scores of the Microsoft Surface Go 2, which is powered by an Intel Core M3-8100Y processor.
Without discrete graphics, it’s not hard to see that this laptop isn’t built for intense 3D gaming. We did run a few tests in the 3DMark, though, to see how the i7Book would perform. As expected, it wasn’t that great. The laptop scored 5033 in Night Raid, 4273 in Sky Diver, and 1181 in Fire Strike. In the more demanding Time Spy test, the Alldocube i7Book was returned a score of 473.
Real Life performance
In the real-world use, we get more than enough power for average computer tasks like Word processing, spreadsheets and email, and it won't get bogged down if you have a dozen tabs open in Chrome with some other applications running in the background.
Streaming video and music are no problem either, since I could play all the 4K videos in my mobile drive and even stream 8K YouTube videos in Chrome smoothly.
Heavier apps such as the Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom also work nicely, and I am not talking about just casual photo and video editing, you can even add quite a few layers and filters without experiencing stutters and delays.
In our PowerDirector test that encodes a 330MB video to H.265, the i7Book took 19 minutes to finish the production, that is significantly slower when compared to the Beelink Kaby G mini PC, which rocks an Intel Core i7-8709 processor and only took 8 minutes to finish the same task.
The 256GB SSD in the i7Book is of SATA3 standard, instead of the more celebrated NVME. That’s easily predictable for such a low-cost laptop. The performance is okay, though, as any SSD is, but if you have to compare it to NVME standard SSD used in high-end laptops, you will be disappointed. In the CrystalDiskMark test, it scored 541 megabytes per second (MB/s) in the read test and 439 MB/s second in the write test.
As mentioned earlier, the i7Book is not designed to be a gaming PC. When we tried to run Fortnite, our experience was quite disappointing. The i7Book managed a paltry 8 frames per second (FPS) at 1080p and High graphics settings, and just 5 FPS at Epic settings. Other graphics-intense games such as Crysis 3, Less demanding titles such as League of Legend, CS:GO did run smoothly on the i7Book, but there could be some frameskip in certain scenarios if you set the graphics to the highest.
When it comes to games installed from Microsoft Store, the story is completely different. The i7Book had no problem running the most graphic-intense games at maximum settings. We tired Asphalt 9:Legend, Modern Combat 5: eSports FPS and World of Wsrships, all of them ran smoothly on this laptop.
Battery Life
Alldocube packed in 51.3 watt-hours of battery into the i7Book. That’s not bad for a 14.1-inch Full HD display, but there is a power-hungry 6th Gen i7 CPU under the hood. And given the fact that Alldocube’s earlier models all disappoint in this department, we were initially quite skeptical. As it turns out, we were pleasantly surprised by the i7Book’s longevity.
In our video test that loops a local 1080P movie until the battery ran out, the Alldocube i7Book lasted for 8 hours and 31 minutes. That’s a decent score that bests most of the other models you can find in the same price range, and easily blow last year’s Kbook out of the water.
Also, in our most demanding Basemark web benchmark, the Alldocube i7Book lasted for three hours and eleven minutes. That’s not a record-breaking score, but it’s solid for the battery capacity and display size. The Huawei Matebook 13, for example, only managed around two and a half hours, while the HP Elitebook 745G only lasted 20 minutes longer than the i7Book did.
The i7Book isn’t the thinnest or lightest 14.1-inch Ultrabook around, that much is clear. But for a typical productivity worker, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be able to get in a full working day without carrying around a power adapter, and that’s quite something.
Connectivity
The Alldocube i7Book offers three USB Type-A ports, a type-C port and a MicroSD card slot. That means you will have no problem mounting multiple external storage devices and a mouse.
This laptop supports 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band WiFi, but not the latest WiFi 6, which is somewhat disappointing for a laptop released in 2020. Reception is solid, though, as we didn’t experience any issues streaming 4K videos 10 meters and a wall way from the router. There is also Bluetooth 4.2 on board for connecting with wireless input devices, Bluetooth speakers and headphones. It would have been nice to see Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.2, but that’s not going to add much the overall experience.
Verdict
The Alldocube i7Book is priced at $479.99, and it’s probably the cheapest Core i7 powered laptop you can buy right now. But you have to fall within its niche to consider it, and that means being someone who’s looking for a well-priced mid-sized laptop with a matte non-touch screen, the power to handle everyday activities and a big enough battery to run for 6-8 hours unplugged. On top of those, the i7Book is also a well-built device with appealing simplistic design and a decent keyboard/trackpad. On the other hand, you’ll have to live with the rather mediocre screen and, no fingerprint reader, but this aside there’s not that much to complain about here.

Link to Banggood: https://m.banggood.com/ALLDOCUBE-i7...mds=search&act_poa=SKUF90986&cur_warehouse=CN

Hello I want to ask if there is any official numbers for screen brightness? If not, can you measure it and let me know?

chevyz07 said:
Hello I want to ask if there is any official numbers for screen brightness? If not, can you measure it and let me know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the right equipment to measure it.

In depth review of the Lenovo Tab P11 and Tab P11 Pro

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The good:
1. Solid build quality.
2. Vibrant, clear and sharp display.
3. MicroSD card support.
4. Amazing battery life.
5. Productivity Mode (PC Mode) is good for office tasks.
The bad:
1. Performance isn’t the best.
2. No fingerprint reader on the Tab P11.
Yes, Android tablet is still a thing in 2020, and we’ve seen a variety of slates being released this year. From solid entry-level slates like the Alldocube iPlay30, to versatile midrange devices like the Honor V6, then to the most cutting-edge powerhouses like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, consumers with different budgets could all find the right tablet for themselves.
Lenovo released two Android tablets recently: Lenovo Tab P11 and Tab P11 Pro. The Pro Edition was clearly more celebrated because of its fabulous 11.5-inch OLED display, quad JBL speakers and Snapdragon 730G processor. But both of them come with decent specs for their price tags, and have the potential of being real contenders.
Before we start, I have to say that I bought both tablets, one for myself, and the other for my partner, as they are extremely cheap here in China: the P11 Pro retails for RMB1,999.00 ($305), and the P11 is as cheap as RMB1,299.00($198). So, this review is NOT paid or sponsored in any way, and everything I have written here is based on my real experience.
Impressive design
Both the Tab P11 and Tab P11 pro look neat and elegant. The metallic rear and slim build give the slates an air of luxury.
The P11 has bigger bezels, and is also thicker than the P11 Pro does, but both still look like 2020 tablets which could easily blow the Huawei Matepad 10.8 out of the water in terms of aesthetics.
The Tab P11 Pro has a frosted aluminum back, which makes it feel much more premium than its tag would suggest. Apart from the Dolby Atomos Logo, the camera lens and LED are the only distractions. It’s incredibly clean, simple, and stylish. The P11’s back side looks a little bit more interesting, as half of it is actually plastic. According to Lenovo, the main goal of this design is to allow better WiFi reception, rather than saving cost.
Both tablets have 3 physical buttons: power/standby, volume+, volume-. The power key of the Tab P11 Pro also serves as a fingerprint reader, which makes unlocking the screen a lot easier. Both tablets support 2D face unlock, which is almost as fast as fingerprint recognition, although definitely less secure. The P11 Pro has an infrared camera, which works like a charm in low light conditions. The standard P11 doesn’t have one and, as a result, its front camera often struggles to recognize my partner’s face in low light, and he constantly has to turn to PIN to unlock the screen.
Both tablets have a multi-function USB-C port, which can be used for charging, data transmission, video and audio output. The P11 Pro’s Type-C port is of USB3.1 standard, which allows faster data transfer than the USB2.0 Type-C port on the P11. Also, both of them have a MicroSD card slot which supports cards up to 512GB. Neither tablet has a 3.5mm audio jack, if you intend on using wired headphones on them, you will need an adapter. Fortunately, the Tab P11 Pro comes with one, while the cheaper Tab P11 does not.
The P11 and P11 Pro each has a pogo pin port on its bottom side, which can be connected to their respective official keyboard case. The tablets also support stylus with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. I haven’t got one yet because both the official pen and keyboards are out of stock in China.
The build quality of the Tab P11 Pro is extremely solid, and could even rival much more expensive slates such as the iPad Air 4, the Galaxy Tab S7, and the Huawei MatePad Pro. The P11 does feel less premium than the Pro edition, due to its bigger bezels and slightly thicker body, but it still feels a lot studier than other tablets in the same price range, such as the Honor Pad 6 and Teclast M40.
Screen and Sound
Both tablets have wonderful displays.
The Tab P11 Pro sports a gorgeous 11.5-inch OLED display with Dolby Vision and HDR10. Resolution clocks in at 2,560 by 1,600, for 214 pixels per inch (PenTile). With deep, inky blacks and rich colors, the display is really a joy to look at, and the screen has a brightness level of up to 500nit.
The Tab P11’s 11-inch, 2000*1200px IPS LCD panel is undoubtedly less impressive when compared to the Pro edition, but it’s still a good-enough display for almost any scenario. Somehow I even find the P11’s display better suited for reading.
Both tablets come with quad speakers, but the P11 Pro’s JBL certified speakers are not only louder, but offer deeper bass, fuller and more layered midrange, and brighter treble. With that said, even the built-in speakers of the standard P11 can easily beat average laptops in terms of volume and overall sound quality. Even my HP Elitebook 745G, which sported a Bang&Olufsen speaker, delivers smaller and tinnier sound than the Tab P11.

System & UI
I bought both the Tab P11 and Tab P11 Pro in China, so they both came with Lenovo’s very own ZUI, a heavily customized skin on top of Android 10. The international editions of these slates will ship with stock Android OS, with only a few twists here and there. I installed the international firmware on the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro for better support for Google apps, but kept ZUI on the standard P11 as it is a gift for my partner, who can’t care less about YouTube or Netflix as he finds enough joy with Chinese counterparts such as bilibili and Watermelon Video.
Unfortunately, the Android ecosystem is going towards a direction which is less and less tablet-friendly. Many of the customized tablet applications in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t been updated for a long time. As a result, most of the apps I ran on these tablets were just phone apps blown up to fill tablet screens, and many of these apps only support vertical mode.
However, Lenovo has designed ”PC Mode” for its ZUI, and “Productivity Mode” for its international interface, These desktop modes work very much like Samsung’s DeX mode. You will get a taskbar similar to the one on Chrome OS and Windows 10. On the left side of the taskbar are the three classic Android keys: Back, Home and Multi-tasking, you can use them to control the running applications. You will also get a shortcut to open the application drawer. What really makes Productivity Mode/PC Mode so special is their ability to run multiple apps in windows. You can browse through Emails, chat on Skype and watch a movie simultaneously. You will almost feel like you are using Windows instead of Android.
Thanks to the keyboard shortcuts and right-click menus, the Tab P11 and P11 Pro feel much more productive than average smartphones and tablets. For instance, you can copy texts from a webpage and instantly paste them into office apps or social networking apps.
Performance
At the core of the Tab P11 Pro is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730G chipset, which is built on 8nm process, has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A76 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A55 clocked at 1.8GHz) and Adreno 618 GPU. The Tab P11, on the other hand, is powered by an older, and relatively weaker Snapdragon 662 chipset, which is built on 11nm process and also has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.0GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz) and Adreno 610 GPU. Neither of these two processors are real powerhouses, and benchmarks tell the story.
To help you better understand the performance of these slates, I also listed the benchmark scores of other midrange and entry-level tablets for comparison.
As can be told in the sheets above, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro’s is in the same ballpark with the Kirin 810 powered Huawei Matepad 10.4 when it comes to overall performance, while the Tab P11’s horsepower is on par with other tablets in the same price range.
Both the Tab P11 and Tab P11 Pro features the same 128GB UFS2.1 storage, which should be much faster than eMMc drives in terms of speed. In the Androbench test, the P11 and P11 Pro handily beats the Huawei MatePad 10.4 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite in terms of Sequential Read Speed, but slightly fall short in Sequential Write Speed.
In the real-world use, both tablets can easily handle everyday tablet tasks with ease. I experienced no issues watching videos in the YouTube App, and editing photos in Snapseed at the same time. With that said, the Tab P11 Pro does feel a bit faster opening bigger applications and loading heavier webpages, but differences can only be perceived when I am running the same tasks on them side by side. Each of them feels fast enough for the tasks it is designed for.
Intense gaming should not be your main reason to buy an Android tablet, as most games are designed for phones and will be difficult to control on a 10+ inch screen. With that said, both tablets can run most games installed from Play Store without issues, but in order to have a smooth visual experience, you need to use moderate settings in some of the big titles. The Tab P11 has a weaker GPU of the two, but it is still able to run “Arena of Valor” and “PUBG” in mid settings smoothly.
Cameras
Cameras are not something I would be concerned about when choosing a tablet, with that said, I still want them to be as high-quality as possible. Both the P11 and P11 Pro come with a very decent 8MP selfie camera, but only the latter has an infrared camera by the side. The P11 Pro rocks dual rear-facing cameras: a 13MP main sensor and a 5MP ultra-wide lens, while the P11 only has a 13MP main shooter on the back.
The quality of their selfie cameras is more than enough for video chatting, and both tablets have the capability of taking clear and color-rich photos with their main camera setup in decent lighting conditions. However, as smartphone cameras are getting so good these days, who really need a 11-inch tablet for photography?
Battery Life and Charging
The Tab P11 features a 7,700mAh Li-Po battery, while the P11 Pro has a larger 8,250mAh battery under the hood. With display brightness and speaker volume both set at 50%, the P11 and P11 Pro lasted 11 hours, 37 minutes and 13 hours, 5 minutes respectively in our battery rundown test in which we played a 1080P local video on loop.
Both the P11 and P11 Pro support Qualcomm’s QC3.0 quick charge, and they both come with a 20W wall charger, but only the Snapdragon 730G powered P11 Pro can take full advantage of charging in 20W, the standard P11 only supports 18W charging at maximum.
Both tablets can be fully charged (from 0→100%) in around 3 hours.
Verdict
With Snapdragon 730G and Snapdragon 662 inside their respective shells, neither the P11 Pro nor the P11 is a powerhouse, but they are not really designed to be the best-performing tablets or break any new grounds. With that said, both tablets get a lot of essential things right. They each comes with a wonderful display, amazing speakers, and offers decent performance and perfect software optimization for everyday entertainment and productivity tasks. For me, they are easy recommendations for anyone who needs a new and affordable Android tablet.

Great review and recap! kudos

Hello!
Thank you for your review, very interesting.
How did you do to install the international rom in p11 pro? Is it easy?
Regards

I just picked up the p11 pro today 12% off sitewise sale and another 5% off customer coupon. Less than $500 shipping and taxes included for the 6 GB...

da_ny01 said:
Hello!
Thank you for your review, very interesting.
How did you do to install the international rom in p11 pro? Is it easy?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very easy, takes only a few minutes.

Jupit3r said:
Very easy, takes only a few minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I will investigate about it. After installing the international rom, will it receive OTA updates normally or is necesary to repit the proccess to get the last rom?
Regards

I would also be interested in learning how to install the international ROM. I've tried once using the Qfil tool, but it beat me. How did you do it?
Also, I'm typing thisnon the Chinese Xiaoxin Pad Pro model of this tablet right now, and I can't get over how grainy text appears on this screen. Noticeably worse than my 4 year old Asus tablet when reading. I thought this screen would be amazing, and I'm considering returning it. Did you experience this at all?

Great review Jupit3r, thank you.
Thirdgenie said:
I would also be interested in learning how to install the international ROM. I've tried once using the Qfil tool, but it beat me. How did you do it?
Also, I'm typing thisnon the Chinese Xiaoxin Pad Pro model of this tablet right now, and I can't get over how grainy text appears on this screen. Noticeably worse than my 4 year old Asus tablet when reading. I thought this screen would be amazing, and I'm considering returning it. Did you experience this at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use Lenovo’s Rescue & Smart Assistant (LMSA) software to flash the P11 Pro firmware. I chose the “Power-off Mode Rescue” option > https://support.lenovo.com/uk/en/downloads/ds101291/ . LMSA can download the firmware but you can also manually download it from here > https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/lenovo/Tab_P11_Pro/TB-J706F/
I’ve seen some issues reported with LMSA (seems to be related to having older versions of Windows and/or hardware). If you want to try again with QPST/ QFIL, then this (Google translated) thread is the best information I can find > https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=605&t=6227500
However, the tablet has a different serial number format to the international models and will be identified as a TB-J706F_PRC. The only consequence I’ve noticed (so far) is the need to sideload Netflix, as Google Play lists Netflix as “no longer compatible”. The reason why is perhaps important to note: the Xiaoxin Pad Pro’s “Play Protect Certification” status is “Device Not Certified”. I haven’t found other apps (so far) that refuse to install or work however. Some apps may stop working and/or won’t update in the future though, if app developers choose, or or are forced, to implement this (a CTS profile check).
The other issue I’ve noticed is that the tablet sometimes seems to think my finger is an active pen, if I use it when charging and I'm not holding it. This sort of problem (picking up taps as swipes etc. while charging) isn’t unique to this device though. This issue doesn’t really bother me, other than the fact it may indicate further issues down the track (depending on what the exact cause is, I gather).
The lack of Google Play certification makes it hard to recommend buying the Xiaoxin Pad Pro, if the intention is to flash the international ROM. Aside from the two issues above, I really like this tablet - I much prefer the close to stock Android experience, compared to what Samsung do (for example).
I haven’t noticed the font to be particularly bad – but maybe my eyes aren’t as good as yours. Have you tried changing the display and/or font size?

Hello, this global firmware for the Pad Pro doesn't have DC, dimming. Do you know if with Zui firmware has flicker free?
Thank you

da_ny01 said:
Thank you! I will investigate about it. After installing the international rom, will it receive OTA updates normally or is necesary to repit the proccess to get the last rom?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will receive OTA upgrades.

Hi, Does the global firmware flashed on this tablet support Netflix in Full HD? Does it still have its widevine l1 certification?
Thank you

elventine707 said:
Hi, Does the global firmware flashed on this tablet support Netflix in Full HD? Does it still have its widevine l1 certification?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. The only caveat is that you have to sideload Netflix; you can’t update the preinstalled app via Google Play.

I found another bug with the Tab P11 Pro/Xiaoxin Pad Pro that may be of interest. Using Productivity Mode with a third party launcher seems to break the Recent Apps functionality with third party launchers.
Steps to reproduce:
Install a third party launcher (I’ve tested Nova & Lean Launcher)
Set it as the default launcher
Turn on Productivity Mode
Use the toolbar buttons and resize some app windows (may not be required)
Turn off Productivity Mode
Open an app/apps and try using Recent Apps
I’ve tried restarting the tablet, reinstalling Nova, clearing the default launcher’s cache/storage. I’ve had to revert to the default launcher for now (Smart Launcher).

Hello!
You could try the following to certificate your device:
How to Fix the "Device is not Certified by Google" Error
Are you having trouble with signing in to your Google account? Can't access the Google Play Store or use Google apps like Gmail, Maps, Play Music, or Photos? Seeing a "device is not certified by Google" error? Here's how to fix that.
www.xda-developers.com
Let us know if it works. I will receive a tab p11 pro soon.
Here is another link about how to install international firmware with QFIL:
【国际版系统·刷机】小新 Pad Pro
前言与联想的朋友聊了几句，对方答应送我一部新出的小新 Pad Pro体验一下，当然体验是有代价的，总得表示表示对不？于是就有了这篇文章——的前身。写完评测的开头我就觉得无聊了，这明明只是一个主打性价比、屏幕不错的平板，并不值得大书特书，除此以外还有什么好夸的呢？思来想去我又问了问有没有操作空间，答复是：有，刷国际版系统，对于Google生态用户而言比国内的预装ZUI好用多了。于是这就有了下面内容，当然在开始教程前，简单介绍这部平板。个人主观体验我用来看完了Netflix的新剧Queen\'s Gambit...
news.axiox.net
Regards

Thanks for that
I should probably have mentioned that I did enter my devices GSF Device-ID at https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/ to see what affect that might have. It doesn’t appear to have had any affect; Netflix still has to be sideloaded.
My experience was not the same as per the article. I never received a “device is not certified by Google” warning prior to completing the GSF Device-ID registration. So, perhaps Google have changed the way this is handled – perhaps the warnings don’t appear immediately after you login to your Google account anymore?
Or, perhaps Google has different categories within the “Device Not Certified” designation. I don’t believe that this situation is what play protect certification is really about – the Xiaoxin Pad Pro tablet has identical hardware and (with the ROW ROM installed) identical software to the certified Lenovo Tab P11 Pro. The device is not rooted nor is the bootloader unlocked. Perhaps there is more leeway because of this, or, for large manufactures in general.
I’m not certain as to the exact reason why a TB-J706F_PRC is not certified, given that the Chinese/ZUI ROM *I think* now supports GSM. I’m guessing it’s because Lenovo didn’t submit the TB-J706F_PRC with the ROW firmware for certification – for legal, political or just cost saving reasons?

These tablets are very interesting, thanks for the review. I wanted to ask you please could you extract the system apk from these tablets (clock, calendar, calculator ...) and upload them here or on apk mirror? On apk mirror the zui apks are old. Then I wanted to ask you one more thing, are these system apps the same in both the "zui" and "international" versions? Or in the international version have they been replaced by the google counterpart? Example zui clock and google clock

MattySAu said:
I should probably have mentioned that I did enter my devices GSF Device-ID at https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/ to see what affect that might have. It doesn’t appear to have had any affect; Netflix still has to be sideloaded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As someone who is following this thread with interest, could you let me know if the sideloaded Netflix still let's you watch stuff in HD?
I'd be very interested in what it shows under App Settings -> playback specification for your device!
Thanks for your input into the thread - great to understand the options here

Tamlyn said:
As someone who is following this thread with interest, could you let me know if the sideloaded Netflix still let's you watch stuff in HD?
I'd be very interested in what it shows under App Settings -> playback specification for your device!
Thanks for your input into the thread - great to understand the options here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems like a lack of Play Protect certification (failing a ctsProfileMatch check) doesn’t affect Widevine/Netflix DRM. I guess there is no guarantee that this will continue to be the case.
From my understanding, any developer can use the SafetyNet Attestation API to:
Hide their app/not allow it to be installed via the Google Play store (this is what Netflix does), AND/OR
Allow their app to run but block certain functions (such as with Google Pay - you can’t run contactless setup)
Block the app from running at all (I think some banking apps do this, but not the ones I use, fortunately)
I’m not really sure why the TB-J706F_PRC fails a ctsProfileMatch check though. I presume it’s because Lenovo didn’t/couldn’t submit the TB-J706F_PRC variant (the Xiaoxin Pad Pro) for verification.
Reading some Chinese/Taiwanese forums (via Google Translate) it seems like the Xiaoxin Pad Pro’s firmware (the original Chinese ROM with ZUI) didn’t support GMS (Google Mobile Services), but an OTA update has since provided support. I guess supporting GMS does not include passing Play Protect certification though.
The other possibility is that just flashing a different ROM is the cause (even when using Lenovo’s official software to flash their official TB-J706F firmware).

Thanks for that @Mattysa - really informative answer.
Given me lots to think about

Lenovo YOGA Duet 7 (2021) review: the ultimate 2-in-1 laptop

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When it comes to 2-in-1 convertibles, the Surface Pro lineup simply had no competition. Even the 2021 iPad Pro, with its incredible Apple M1 processor and an official keyboard, still doesn’t offer the same level of productivity as its Microsoft counterpart does. Many other big brands, including Samsung, Dell, and ASUS, have also released many hybrid models over the years, yet none of them really generated enough momentum to overtake Surface Pro’s Crowne. But that may change soon, as Lenovo just released the new YOGA Duet 7 (2021), which comes with a newer Tiger Lake CPU, Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and some of the greatest features ever found on a detachable hybrid. It is bound to be a strong contender in the race.
Specs of the YOGA Duet 7 (2021)
​
Processor​Intel Core i5-1135G7 (4 Cores/8 Threads, 2.4-4.2GHz)​Display​13.0" 16:10 2K (2160 x 1350), 450 nits, 100% sRGB, pen support​Graphics​Intel Iris Xe Graphics​Storage​512GB NVMe PCI Express solid-state drive​Memory​16 GB LPDDR4x 3200MHz (soldered)​Audio​2 x Stereo Speakers (1W x 2) with Dolby Audio certification​Cameras​Front-facing 5MP
Support Windows Hello with infra-red
Rear-facing 5MP​Networking​Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, 802.11ax 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.1​Ports: Left​1 x Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 40Gbps (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4)
1 x USB-C (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0)
1 x Micro SD card slot​Ports: Right​1x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo
1 x USB-C (3.2 Gen 1, support data transfer and Always On)​Ports: Bottom​Pogo pin magnetic dock port for the Detachable Keyboard​Pen​Included Digital Pen with 4096 pressure levels​Keyboard​Detachable Keyboard with magnetic docking hinge​Touchpad​Built into Detachable Keyboard, integrated buttons​Battery​Integrated 2-Cell 42 Whr polymer​Weight​799g (tablet only); 380g (Keyboard)​Dimensions​Tablet: 297.4 x 207.4 x 9.19 mm (11.7 x 8.16 x 0.36 inches)
Folio case: 297.4 x 221.2 x 6 mm (11.7 x 8.70 x 0.23 inches)​Operating System​Windows 10 Home Edition​Microsoft Office​Office 365 included, permanent license​
Retail Package
The YOGA Duet 7 comes with very attractive packaging, the sand grey background color and accented letters give the retail box a premium look.
The YOGA Duet tablet and detachable keyboad cover are both nicely protected.
Inside the box we have also found a digital pen (even the AAA battery is included), a 65W power adapter, and some booklets.
Design and build
The YOGA Duet 7 has a magnesium alloy body that feels incredibly sturdy and high-quality in the hands. The slate grey finish of my unit is not only easy on the eyes, but it also has a lingering charm. I have never appreciated the look of a gadget for so long
We can see lots of cooling vents on the top side for hot air expulsion. The machine is actively cooled, and we can feel air wafting from the vents when it's under heavy workloads.
The front is dominated by a 13-inch IPS multi-touch display. The bezels are pretty thin all around, but the top and bottom are a little thicker than the left and right sides. That makes it possible to hold the Duet 7 as a tablet with minimal effort, without obscuring much of the screen.
The front-facing IR webcam also has a 5MP sensor that supports Windows Hello facial recognition and captures video at [email protected] That's a considerable upgrade from most consumer notebooks that get saddled with 720p sensors, and the difference was apparent in online video calls.
The left edge of the tablet sports a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, a Micro SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a multi-function USB-C port. Both of these USB-C ports support Power Delivery 3.0 and Video output, the Thunderbolt port even has DisplayPort 1.4 built in, thus is able to output [email protected] videos.
The right edge plays host to two physical keys: a power key and a volume rocker. There’s another USB-C port for data transfer and Always-On power output.
The YOGA Duet 7 includes a kickstand, which allows you to position its screen at nearly any angle from 0° to 160°. The hinge looks sophisticated and extremely durable, and is able to take a huge amount of pressure, you don’t have to worry about wearing it out in normal everyday use.
The device is also about as portable as you can get, the tablet weighs only 799 grams, while the ultra-thin keyboard, which also serves as a screen cover when closed, weighs only 380g– you’ll be able to throw the YOGA Duet 7 into your bag without worrying. The tablet has accompanied for more than a month now. I took it to the office and back every day, and even brought it with on a business trip for a week. It has survived a variety of interesting encounters. The most concerning was an accidental drop to the ground from a coffee table, which the machine survived unscathed.
I understand that Lenovo has designed the YOGA Duet 7 to be as travel-friendly as possible, but with prolonged use the device’s lack of a USB-A port becomes a serious issue. On too many occasions I found myself wanting – but unable – to carry out basic tasks such as connecting the Duet 7 to a mouse without Bluetooth, or pulling files from a USB stick. A hub would work just fine, but you just need to always remember carrying it with you.
There’s also no fingerprint reader on board. Windows Hello works fine, but I personally would still prefer using a fingerprint as it gives me a higher sense of security than the 2D face unlock does.
Keyboard and pen
The best news is that both the pen and the magnetic keyboard cover are already included in the retail package, you don’t need to pay extra for them. The keyboard cover here magnetically connects to the tablet and protects the screen when not in use. It won’t tilt up to a more comfortable typing angle like the Surface Type Cover does, but it has a built-in battery, and is able to serve as a Bluetooth keyboard even when detached.
The fabric on the back of the keyboard cover feels very nice in hand, and is more resistant to dust and color changing than the Alcantara fabric used for the Surface Type Cover. It looks better, as well.
The keys are not only physical, well-spaced and full-sized, but are also quiet and have decent travel. They are almost as tactile as how I would like them to be. In terms of its satisfying typing experience and high-quality haptic feel, the YOGA Duet 7’s keyboard is still inferior to a ThinkPad keyboard, which is, in my humble opinion, the industry best.
The touchpad has a decent size and a good feel to each click and accurately registered my input as I navigated the desktop, it is also quick to recognize two-finger and three-finger gestures.
The included pen, which supports 4096 levels of pressure, would be ideal for digital artwork. I am not blessed with the talent of painting, but I do take handwritten notes occasionally. The YOGA Duet’s pen is responsive enough for writing, although it can feel a little slippery at times. There’s a slight amount of latency, which is not really a big issue for average consumers like myself. But if you are a digital artist who have already gotten used to the Apple Pencil and Galaxy S-pen level of instantaneousness, you might find the pen here a little unsatisfying.
The two buttons on the pen are quite tactile and responsive, and there’s also a protruding part at one end to prevent the pen from rolling off the table. But unfortunately, there isn’t a dedicated place on the tablet or the keyboard to put the pen like there is on the Surface Pro 7.
Display and sound
One of the major differences between the YOGA Duet 7 and the Surface Pro has to be the 16:10 aspect ratio of its 13-inch, 2160*1350 IPS display. This display shows smaller black bars playing videos when compared to Surface Pro’s 3:2 screen, but shows more vertical real estate than similar 16:9 displays, which equates to more of a web page or more lines of code in a text editor.
The YOGA Duet 7’s display looks clear even from extreme side angles. At 196 PPI, the screen may not be the sharpest, yet it’s still difficult to pick out single pixels. Colors look vibrant and true to life, thanks to its 100% sRGB color gamut. The display can also emit up to 450 nits, which beats the Surface Pro 7 (395 nits) and the category average (386 nits), The Dell XPS 2-in-1 7390 has an even brighter display at 600 nits.
The stereo speakers (2*1W) are tuned by Dolby Audio out of the box. The EQ curve does its best, but the speakers are generally subpar, and won’t match Lenovo’s very own Tab P11 Pro, which comes with quad 1.5W JBL speakers. There’s enough volume for online chatting and occasional YouTube videos, but music, games and movies won't sound too good. Thankfully, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the side.

Performance
The YOGA Duet 7 is powered by the latest Intel Core i5-1135G7 Tiger Lake CPU, coupled with 16GB Memory and 512GB NVMe SSD. Without a dedicated graphics card, the YOGA Duet is definitely not a powerhouse, but it should still offer more than enough oomph for normal everyday computing tasks such as office workloads, web surfing and high-res video playback.
As much as I dislike benchmarks, they are the easiest ways to measure the horsepower of a PC. To help you better understand the results, I’ve also listed the scores of some other 2-in-1s here for comparison.
First, we ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The YOGA Duet scored 1331 in single-core, and 4423 in multi-core. Although these scores wouldn’t match what the Apple M1 powered Macbook Air had achieved in the same test, but they did handily beat the numbers the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 had got.
In the cross-platform Geekbench 5.4.1 CPU test, the YOGA Duet’s 1411 CPU single-core score and 4742 multi-core score still lagged far behind the snatches of the new Apple Macbook Air, but they did beat the Dell XPS 2-in-1 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 7.
PCMark simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. 4262 is the number the Duet 7 notched in the standard PCMark 10 test.
This machine is equipped with a fast 512GB PCle NVMe SSD, readings in the CrystalDiskMark tells the story. The storage is also expandable with a MicroSD card of up to 1TB, if you are not too concerned with the read and write speeds the TF card could bring.
One of the biggest complaints about of the YOGA Duet 7’s configurations is its 16GB single-channel memory. Don’t get me wrong, 16GB is quite plentiful for any 2-in-1. The real problem is that the 16GB memory offered here is a single stick, instead of two 8GB memory sticks. This results in lower overall bandwidth and throughput speed. 3D games such as Assassins’ Creed and Fallout 4 may suffer immensely in smoothness when running on a single-channel memory. But in other games and applications, the performance difference between single-channel and dual-channel RAM may vary from subtle to unnoticeable. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the 16GB memory are not impressive, but still solid. The 85.2ns latency isn’t too bad, either.
The integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphis may not rival dedicated graphics found in gaming laptops and mainstream PCs, but it is still a huge step up from UHD 6XX GPUs. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike and Time Spy tests, the Duet's graphics scores are 9129, 2515 and 875 respectively.
In the real world use, the Duet 7 provides ample oomph for normal everyday computing, light media editing, and even some 3D gaming. The system didn’t slow down when I was opening a dozen webpages in Chrome at the same time, and never really left me waiting for it to process a task or command.
Editing videos in Power Director is generally smooth, filters and animations don’t take long to get applied to all layers of clips. However, I did spend 30% more time converting a 4K video on the Duet 7 than on the Xiaoxin 15 (ideapd S), which is powered by the same processor, but has dual-channel memory and a dedicated MX450 GPU.
As for multimedia entertainment, the YOGA Duet has no problem streaming 4K YouTube videos in Microsoft Edge, or decoding different formats of 4K local video clips.
The Intel Iris Xe Graphics is definitely not designed for intense 3D gaming, but it is capable of running most AAA titles in moderate settings. Fortnite was generally smooth under 720P and low visual effects, with average frame rates well above 45 FPS. League of Legends was smooth both in 720P (60 FPS) and 1080P (40-50 FPS), with visual effects set at low to medium.
Conqueror’s Blade was a different story, though. Even at 720P and low settings, frame skips could happen in intense fighting scenes. Game PP reported an average frame rates of only 23 FPS, which means that the title is playable on the Duet 7, but not all that enjoyable.
These were all the games I played on the Duet 7.
There’s an active cooling system in Duet 7’s slim body, and it is audible when the computer is under heavy workloads. Fortunately, the noise won’t be a constant distraction from what you are working on as it never gets too loud for comfort.
Battery Life
There’s a 42Whr battery under the shell, which gives the tablet 5-6 hours of screen time in mixed use. Lenovo advertised 13 hours of video playback for this machine, but that number was probably achieved with some extreme settings.
In my very own test, I set the screen brightness to 40%, which is generally ideal for indoor use, and played a 1080P video on loop for 9 hours, the YOGA Duet was left with only 2% of battery, so I believe it would be really difficult to squeeze more than 10 hours of screen time out of the machine.
The included 65W charger fills up the battery rather quickly. A full charge takes only around 2 hours, and you are able to get a healthy amount of refill during a short lunch break.
Connectivity
The Duet 7 comes with the latest WiFi6 for fast internet access, and Bluetooth 5.0 for connecting with wireless input devices, headphones and speakers.
With 3 USB-C ports on board, you are able to hook the YOGA Duet up to quite a number of external drives. The two Type-C ports on the left both support video output, which means you are able to distribute your computing tasks to two external monitors at the same time.
Verdict
While the YOGA Duet 7 (2021) may be considered to be a Surface Pro 7 alternative, there are many things that it actually does better than its pricier Microsoft counterpart: 1) The new 11th-gen Tiger Lake CPU is a lot faster. Even with the much-criticized single-channel memory, the YOGA Duet still beats the Surface Pro 7 (i5-1035G4) in almost every benchmark. 2) With a rechargeable battery inside, the magnetic keyboard cover also serves as a Bluetooth keyboard when detached. This means the Duet 7 will fit into more computing scenarios than other convertibles. 3) There is a Thunderbolt 4 port on the Duet 7 for high-speed data transfer (up to 40GB per second), [email protected] video output and fast charging. 4) The Duet 7 looks more stylish, although that may come down to personal preference.
However, there are also quite a few things that the Surface Pro 7 could do, but the YOGA Duet 7 falls short: 1) The keyboard cover won’t tilt up for a more comfortable typing angle. 2) There’s no dedicated place on the tablet or the keyboard for carrying the pen.
Still, for anyone looking for a travel-friendly 2-in-1 laptop, the YOGA Duet is the closest offering to a Surface Pro 7, and arguably one of the best choices out there.

Thanks for the very detailed review. This is a very interesting device. Can you confirm if this device has a TPM chip and eligible for windows 11 upgrade. I’m planning to pick one up soon but I read somewhere that it does not have the TPM chip.

akashsgpgi said:
Thanks for the very detailed review. This is a very interesting device. Can you confirm if this device has a TPM chip and eligible for windows 11 upgrade. I’m planning to pick one up soon but I read somewhere that it does not have the TPM chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately, the sad news it's does not have TPM, this new model no. is 13ITL6 which is not come with TPM and the wired thing the the previous model (named 13ML05) comes with TPM and for some reason lenovo decided to remove it in the new model !! now we should wait for Lenovo to bring it back to this model so we can put it as real alternative to Microsoft devices.

pillar.grace said:
unfortunately, the sad news it's does not have TPM, this new model no. is 13ITL6 which is not come with TPM and the wired thing the the previous model (named 13ML05) comes with TPM and for some reason lenovo decided to remove it in the new model !! now we should wait for Lenovo to bring it back to this model so we can put it as real alternative to Microsoft devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got this laptop couple of days ago. There is TPM 2.0 in this model and I'm already running Windows 11 Beta .

That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN

suhaime said:
shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got this laptop couple of days ago. There is TPM 2.0 in this model and I'm already running Windows 11 Beta .
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shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN
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BIOS version: GPCN19WW
MTM: 82MA000XMJ
Could it be the PTT is disabled in your BIOS?

suhaime said:
BIOS version: GPCN19WW
MTM: 82MA000XMJ
Could it be the PTT is disabled in your BIOS?
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That's the funny part. My BIOS does not have the option for Intel PTT. I have the same firmware GPCN19WW. This is ridiculous on part of Lenovo. Possibly they have used different motherboards for the two. Could you check your make? Details of mine are attached in the pic.

I am not sure if this will work to invoke the PTT but you can try to set the password for BIOS ...

shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's the funny part. My BIOS does not have the option for Intel PTT. I have the same firmware GPCN19WW. This is ridiculous on part of Lenovo. Possibly they have used different motherboards for the two. Could you check your make? Details of mine are attached in the pic.
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Seems to be the same motherboard...

suhaime said:
Seems to be the same motherboard...
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Thanks mate. I tried to set a password through device guard but that didn't invoke it either.
This is really jarring. I wonder what's the reason for this? I hope it's firmware related and not an uninformed hardware revision that Lenovo undertook. Thanks for all your efforts!

It looks like windows 11 is coming to this model. check the below link.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
.
I guess PTT will be enabled by bios update from Lenovo later

shiva.kakkar11 said:
Thanks mate. I tried to set a password through device guard but that didn't invoke it either.
This is really jarring. I wonder what's the reason for this? I hope it's firmware related and not an uninformed hardware revision that Lenovo undertook. Thanks for all your efforts!
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I also have the same model and don't have TPM Chipset. Also the spec sheet says the same
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Yoga/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6_Spec.pdf
And good news is we are getting windows 11 for this model. check the link below. Yoga duet 7i(13, 06) has been listed under ideapad.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
I guess PTT will be enabled by Lenovo in Bios update later

thyagur said:
I also have the same model and don't have TPM Chipset. Also the spec sheet says the same
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Yoga/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6_Spec.pdf
And good news is we are getting windows 11 for this model. check the link below. Yoga duet 7i(13, 06) has been listed under ideapad.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
I guess PTT will be enabled by Lenovo in Bios update later
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I spoke to another user from Sweden who has the same issue and says that Lenovo CC there suggested they'd be releasing a firmware update once final release of W11 is near. What's strange is that they turned off firmware PTT in some markets and left it on for others. The LTE variant has it mentioned although its spec by spec similar barring the addition of an lte modem. Its really strange. They crippled an otherwise amazing machine through useless software restrictions.

shiva.kakkar11 said:
I spoke to another user from Sweden who has the same issue and says that Lenovo CC there suggested they'd be releasing a firmware update once final release of W11 is near. What's strange is that they turned off firmware PTT in some markets and left it on for others. The LTE variant has it mentioned although its spec by spec similar barring the addition of an lte modem. Its really strange. They crippled an otherwise amazing machine through useless software restrictions.
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Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?

thyagur said:
Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?
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Yes. I did. It says that the system doesn't meet the requirements for Windows 11. The new health checker shows TPM 2.0 is missing. Btw, check your DM. Have sent you a message.

thyagur said:
Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?
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Lenovo has a new bios update GPCN20WW. Download it manually, install and in bios - press f9 to load defaults. You'll get PTT. Just got it on mine.

shiva.kakkar11 said:
Lenovo has a new bios update GPCN20WW. Download it manually, install and in bios - press f9 to load defaults. You'll get PTT. Just got it on mine.
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Yeah ..I manually did it.. looks like lot of options opened up now in bios. Interestingly windows 11 insider program isn't appearing for me. How about you?

Hey all, I just got the yoga duet 7i 1135g7 8 Gb and quite rapidly I noticed that it would hang or freeze briefly at random times.
I did a quick cinebench while checking temps cpu clock and temp and noticed that my device is very quickly thermal throttling with clock speed going to 1.9 Ghz (lowest noticed during the run was 1.6 Ghz) and my score was only of around 3350, anyone else having a similar experience?
I have the feeling I suffer from a bad paste application