Now for the record this is not a laptop. Not even close. Its a tablet/home device. Think Amazons Echo Show that could be your home control device and if you need to leave the room it automatically becomes a tablet. I dont't honestly know if there is anything close to this on the market right now. Tablets aren't exactly the in thing right now and if anybody knows me well enough, I like to streamline as much as possible while being efficient as possible.
That's where this comes in. I don't plan on doing heavy duty photo editing on this. For a few reasons. When I edit I want to use a bigger screen. I am not a pixel peeper BUT at the same time more screen makes for better editing. Now if I REALLY need to do any photo editing on this, It might come in handy if I am looking to do contrasts, brightness. AKA basic editing. Which probably would be taken with my phone and not my Canon R6M2! That's what my MacBook will be used for.
I also frequent coffee shops and the such to read my newspaper and read an ebook. Would I want to hull my HEAVY MacBook for that? Probably not.
I also am not a heavy mobile gamer, So specs really don't impact me. There is a OnePlus Tablet that looked excellent within the same price range But it was overkill. Good overkill but overkill none the less as it was focused more on productivity.
Now a few things to note.
I picked this up on sale for under $400 for a 128 storage. A 256 was available for roughly 100 more. The 128 runs normally 500 and the 256 runs slightly over 600 normally. The One Plus was 549 at last check but after keyboard and case it would have been over 700. My current set up cost me 519 after tax. That's for a Targus folding Keyboard and a folio case which is supposed to be "military grade" against drops but that's questionable to say the least. It also supports a stylus if I ever decide I need one. The Samsung 9 FE does not support a stylus and that is 100 more but it is a bigger screen (12) compared to the pixel (11)
The big differences FOR ME are out of the way.
Like I said this is like an Echo Show/Tablet Hybrid. It comes with a charging speaker (cant buy the tablet without it, which I am not sure I exactly agree with). The sound on the speaker isn't bad. I don't plan on blasting it. The volume that it was set at I don't think I have to adjust it. Unless ofcourse, I go hard of hearing soon.
The screen is bright. Being it is from Google, there is access to the play store. Which was a selling point for me as I already have a pixel phone so I can flip between the two as need be.
A couple reviews said there was delays going from app to app. I personally haven't noticed it. But the reviews didn't mention what apps were being used either. But flipping between my social media and some browsing it seemed snappy and intuitive.
One word of note is it only charges to 90% by default this is to make the tablet last longer (since chances are you are going to have it sitting on the speaker quite a bit which is the charger) it can be changed in the settings. I forsee power users only having any real issues with this feature.
Video plays fine. Netflix, Tubi run great .
This tablet at 399 I feel is a bargain. I MIGHT have been more conflicted if it was the same price as the samsung and OnePlus. At it's current price point I could definitely (and easily) suggest this if you're a light user on the productivity end, like your entertainment and want an echo show that's not an echo show. It's even easier to suggest if you have a pixel phone.
It ships with Android 13, but at time of this writing android 14 is out and it fixes some of the apps with full screen mode. Which seemed to be of concern as well to some
Ebook reading is good. Some don't like the ratio perspective on it. I haven't seen if android 14 addresses this to any degree yet but things (I thought) looked fine in kindle.
Over all it's solid piece of hardware.
4.5/5
Targus keyboard
4/5. (Would have been higher if pairing was better)
Folio case. 2/5 . I'm def not impressed by it but I sadly needed something right then since I do travel and some protection is better than none at all.
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