Pope gives youth magic tablet for their problems

Winnie Nansumba, an HIV positive youth leaves the podium after greeting Pope Francis at Kololo Airstrip. PHOTO: Eddie Ssejjoba

By Carol Natukunda and John Semakula

Winnie Nansumba was born with HIV. Today, she is 24 years old.

A graduate of Ndejje University, Nansumba told her moving story to hundreds of youth who had gathered at Kololo stadium to meet Pope Francis.

Later, the Pope, who appeared emotional, listening to her story, laid his hands on her head and prayed for her.

Nansumba narrated how she lost her parents to the epidemic at much younger age.

"I was barely seven years old," she stated in a matter of fact tone.

In 1997, she was enrolled at Mildmay Uganda, a center that is dedicated to the rehabilitation for people with living with HIV associated brain injury.

"I was given Septrine. However four years later, I developed malaria and measles," she narrated, "During that time drugs were expensive, but thank God that I was able to continue with medication."

Nansumba revealed that the words of the late music icon Philly Bongole Lutaaya are l argely what would turn her into the young woman that she is today.

Lutaaya is considered a national hero for being the very first prominent Ugandan to openly declare he was HIV positive in the 1980s.

"Lutaaya said lets come together and fight HIV/AIDS.  He became my role model. I knew I would use his story tin inspire hope," said Nansumba.

She challenged her fellow youth to know their HIV status and take charge of their lives.

"We must respect our lives and that of others. Keep away from Sexually transmitted diseases and infections. Let's work together regardless of our status," said Nansumba

At the same function, Emmanuel Odokonyero, a graduate from Gulu University gripped the Pope and the audience when he shared his experience of having been in abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

Pope Francis prays for Winnie Nansumba, an HIV positive youth at Kololo Airstrip. PHOTO: Eddie Ssejjoba

"I was at Lachor Seminary when the rebels took us into captivity. Some of my friends were murdered.

"At one point, after four months of captivity, I pleaded with them to kill me."

As luck would have it, Odokonyero was later able to escape.

"My heart if full of sorrow for my friends who died in captivity and those still in captivity. To those who tortured us, I am glad my heart found peace…they are forgiven," Odokonyero said.

That incident would be a turning point in his life.

"I did not give up on life. I am a graduate of business administration from Gulu University"

Pope Francis after listening to his story told Odokonyero to take heart, before praying for him.The pope's message

The Pope was invited to the podium to address the youth by the chairman of the Lay Apostolate Commission (LAC), Rt. Rev. Paul Ssemogerere. The Commission constitutes youth and the adults in the Catholic Church.

Ssemogerere told the Pontiff that the youth in Uganda are very active and enthusiastic but that they have got several challenges which are preventing them from effectively participating in Church activities'. He cited the challenges to include moral decay, cohabitation, religious pluralism, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism and drugs.

Pope Francis' message to the youth was a direct response to the two testimonies.

He packaged his address into three themes which he said would be important for the youth to apply whenever facing difficulties in life like Nansumba and Odokonyero.

The three points were prayer, transforming negatives into positives and fighting relentlessly to overcome difficulties.

But the Pontiff put more emphasis on prayer, advising youth never to lose desire to pray because Jesus who saved man from evil is always watching and ready to help.

"Jesus experienced the negatives in life like many of us. He was insulted, assaulted, rejected and murdered. But until he continued pra ying even for those who later murdered him," he said.   

The Pope noted that Emanuel managed to escape from the LRA's captivity because he remained courageous; prayed to be released and kept fighting until the end.   

"Jesus can transform life that is hopeless into a life of services for others the way he did for Emanuel and Winnie. If you want Jesus to change your life ask him through prayer," the Pope said. Pomp at Kololo

Pope Francis had arrived at Kololo airstrip at exactly 3:13pm amidst elation from thousands of youth who had been waiting for him as early as 6:00am. Most of them waved the Uganda flag, chanting, "We love you Pope." The nuns too jumped and screamed in joy.

Earlier, the youth had followed the mass at Namugongo Martyrs' Shrine that was being telecast live on giant screens.

Different Catholic based youth groups and students entertained guests as they waited patiently for the Pontiff to arrive. At least by 11:00 am a ll the seats at the pavilion had been occupied. 

Like it is on most of the public functions in the city, food vendors did not miss the chance to cash in. The food items on sale included roast meat and refreshments.

The youth meeting was attended by notables like State Minister for Youth Evelyn Anite, and the permanent Secretary of the Gender Ministry, Pius Bigirimana.

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Source: Pope gives youth magic tablet for their problems

Common iPad Pro problems and how to fix them

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Source: Common iPad Pro problems and how to fix them

The lows and highs of today’s crossover tablets

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The hot flavour of computing this holiday season is a crossover category: the pro tablet, or the laptop that works like a tablet. This form factor was pioneered by Microsoft with Surface – which crammed a PC into a tablet with a soft detachable keyboard and stylus in 2012. A bunch of Windows hardware partners followed suit with devices of their own. This year, Apple decided to jump on board the idea with the iPad Pro, which also features a detachable keyboard with stylus.

There's still a small percentage of tablet owners who have just a tablet and smartphone – but most also have a PC. I was curious if any of these crossover devices succeed at marrying the different needs of laptop and tablet in one device.

I tried four machines to give myself the range of PC-as-tablet experience. For the budget-minded I tri ed two of Asus's new flexible devices, the 10-inch Transformer Book T100HA, above, and the 11-inch Transformer Book Flip. The T100 starts at $350 and the slightly higher-end Flip costs $450. I also took the Microsoft Surface Book for a spin. That device is almost purely aspirational; it starts at $1,949 in Canada, more than the 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop even ($1,549). I also tested Apple's new iPad Pro.

Breaking them down

Straight away, I can tell you that unless you need just the cheapest of PC/tab solutions for basic Internet reading and not much typing, the detachable T100 keyboard is a huge drawback. Not only is it cramped with small keys, it feels super cheap, like plastic dollar-store toy cheap. That extreme lightness means the whole package is about 1.3 pounds, but because the "screen" is actually a standalone tablet with all the battery and processing parts inside, it feels unbalanced and the hinge doesn't open very wide, limiting viewing angles . In addition, it has underwhelming hardware guts: The cheapest model has 32 gigabytes (GB) of storage and two GB or RAM. This isn't a laptop replacement, but if all you need is a device to stream Netflix it won't drive you crazy.

The Flip is a peppier machine, with better build quality and a keyboard that doesn't detach, but does flip all the way around so you hold the device like a thick tablet and not a laptop. This is basically what the much more expensive Lenovo Yoga laptops do, but with bigger screens.

The Flip is a little heavy, 2.6 pounds, but at least it feels like a decent laptop and not just a tablet waiting to be freed of its peripheral. It has 64 GB of onboard storage, which is decent but not amazing, and the 1366x768 pixel screen resolution is well below the beefiest boasts of high-end laptop makers, but it was bright and has decent viewing angles. The power outlet is the newer USB C standard, so your older extra cables are unlikely to work.

'Too many tabs' test

I subjected it to my "too many tabs" test, opening a dozen tabs in the new Edge browser before it started to really struggle to load. The tab test isn't definitive, but I like to get to at least 15 or more tabs before my PC becomes unusable.

It's a bit awkward to hold on to in tablet mode, which makes some of the Windows 10 fat finger issues more frustrating.

All round, the Flip performed perfectly well for a midrange budget device. It's not for power gamers or video editors, but the average user could get along just fine.

The Surface Book, above, is really nice. I want one. I can't afford one, but I'd like someone to leave me one in his or her will.

You can get a Surface Book with 512 GB storage, and an Intel i7 processor with 16 GB of RAM, for an eye-wa tering price: $3,499. It's a gorgeous machine though. The keyboard is great, spacious and backlit, and ranks among my favourite laptop-style keyboards. The hinge is some solid engineering, flexible but firm enough not to bounce when I used the touchscreen in laptop mode. (Though, I am freaked out about my kids pinching their little fingers on those metal folds.)

There is a software switch to transform it into tablet mode, and when it releases from the keyboard there's a satisfyingly solid "ka-chunk" of releasing mechanisms. Unlike most detachable keyboards, this one isn't going to fall off accidentally.

I wrote most of this article on the Surface, did a lot of my research, too, edited photos, played a lot of video, downloaded Steam games. My favourite feature was the new ability to stream Xbox One console games to any Windows 10 PC. It was a stunningly good experience on the Surface Book (once you got through the migraine inducing set-up process). There was a l ittle bit of loss in terms of graphic sharpness (probably my crappy WiFi network) but no problems with performance. This is a race car of a tablet.

But as it turns out, its problem is not the hardware. You can get decent quality gear for very good prices or really nice gear for a lot of money, all inside Windows. No. The problem is the software. Most of the time it's just not easy to use Windows 10 when touch is your only input – you constantly wish you had a mouse for finer controls.

How we use our tablets

That lack of touch perfection is at odds with how people use tablets.

Insights from Flurry Analytics released this year suggested that when it comes to time spent on tablet and mobile devices, games remain the big daddy: 32 per cent of our time, compared to 20 per cent on various Web browsers, 18 per cent on Facebook and about 8 per cent for each of entertainment and utility functions. Productivity, the thing Microsoft is still fundamentally bet ter at: 2 per cent.

This may not comport with your reality. I don't know how you live your life and everybody is different.

In my tests, Windows works great with the more hard-core PC gaming and Xbox gaming. The number one thing I like about the Windows machine I tested was the ability to play games from Steam, something that Apple should really make available on iOS if it wants to make Pro-sized tablets into a primary computing device.

Where Windows stinks is casual gaming. I tried a couple of games that totally infuriated me. Crossy Road worked pretty well, and I enjoyed that. The popular tablet game Dumb Ways to Die was broken, didn't scale to the screen and couldn't be used. I had trouble getting some of the other games to recognize I had put headphones in my Asus. Even the Facebook app was a little strange; among other things the default text was tiny. I had the same problem on the Surface Book, which makes me wonder if Windows 10 is optimized for really huge monitors.

These annoying problems loom all the larger when you compare them to the category leader in tablets, Apple. By comparison, Microsoft broke the $1-billion (U.S.) annual revenue mark for Surface devices for the first time in 2015, whereas Apple is headed toward sales above $20-billion.

A pro's Pro?

Apple's Pro, above, is just a bigger iPad (13-inches to the former top-sized 10-inch). It will be familiar in almost every other way to existing Apple users. Odds are if you're in the market for a fancy tablet you'd buy the Apple. (There are also cheap Android tablets, but they are not really swimming in this crossover zone.)

Using the Pro after trying to do tablet stuff on Windows made me remember why Apple is the dominant software platform for mobile. Third-party develo pers hoping to make money go there first, by and large, and the games are very high quality with no weird bugs. I've been an iPhone user as my primary device for years, and my kids stole my iPad a couple years ago. They can take an iPad from lock screen to playing games and back again. They understand the icons, and they understand how to navigate (there's a hardware "back" button, for instance on iPad, but not on any of the Windows devices tested). Not only do iPads have low barriers to entry, they have the better software experience.

Do I love writing on iPad's soft keyboard with little travel in the keys? Not especially (same goes for the latest Surface Pro 4). Did I love the iOS multitasking feature? Not really, though it is good to be able to tweet and watch a video at the same time. Is the touch-sensitive pencil better than Microsoft's pen? Not amazingly, according to the pro illustrators who have reviewed it online and find neither device as sensitive as the ir Wacom peripheral.

These elements, and the enormous 13-inch screen, is what made this iPad into a Pro. But they aren't good enough to make me want to ditch my actual professional tools, my desktop or laptop, for serious multihour work sessions, or trade in the vastly better storage of my laptop.

Apple devices do come with the Apple premium: The 128 GB version of the Pro is $1,249 (more if you spring for the version that supports LTE wireless SIMs). Incredibly, the highest-end new iPhone 6s Plus actually costs more ($1,289). That tells you two things:

1. If you're spending a thousand-plus dollars on Apple gear, you might consider spending it on the thing you take everywhere with you (phone) instead of the thing you only use at your desk or on the couch (or in bed, I don't judge).

2. If the pro boosts tablet sales (and iPad sales have been dropping in recent months) you can bet those prices will go up. So buy it now while you can.

Conclusions

What it comes down to is the iPad Pro is too expensive for a secondary device, but it's a much better tablet than the Windows machines. The Surface Book is insanely expensive for a laptop, and Windows makes a pretty crummy tablet OS. The lowest-end Asus machine is pretty much only for very light use. The middle-range Flip suffers from those Windows issues, but is a competent machine for a pretty great price.

The bottom line is you'll get what you pay for. The best dollar value right now is the Flip, but you might be shopping for something to replace that Asus in two or three years. The iPad should last at least five or six years, but it's expensive and remains more of a media consumption and game device than a workhorse.

I personally would be happiest with something that combined the iPad's operating system with the comfort of a real keyboard and all of Microsoft's professional and gaming apps. But until we get something like that, we have to make comp romises based on our individual needs.

Follow Shane Dingman on Twitter: @shanedingman

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Source: The lows and highs of today's crossover tablets

Where's The Tablet I Ordered?

Joe Kim orders a tablet from Kmart.com, but it never arrives. Now they're balking at a refund. What gives?

Question: I've been a loyal customer of Sears and Kmart, making multiple purchases online of electronics at both stores. I recently bought a Samsung 16GB 10.5" Display Galaxy Tab S Tablet at Kmart.com, for which I paid $475.

This was a wedding anniversary gift and it was imperative that I receive the item on time. The reason I made the purchase online to have it delivered was due to the website stating that the product would be delivered within two business days or by September 25, 2015.

I received an email confirmation within a few hours, indicating that the product was shipped via UPS and giving me a tracking number. According to the UPS tracking, a shipping label was created but no item was shipped. Sears/Kmart customer service reps are now telling me the item was never available at the warehouse.

I've contacted customer service by phone several times, and the representatives from India cannot assist me. The best they can do is tell me to wait three to five business days, then eight business days, and so forth.

I've sent several emails as well, and they assured me a refund was processed and to wait 10 to 14 business days. I contacted them again yesterday, and now a "case manager" is telling me a refund was requested but nothing has been done.

They want me to wait again. I am hearing the same story over and over again with no results. To hold a customer's funds after not delivering a product is unethical. Please help me! -- Joe Kim, Sterling Heights, Mich.

Answer: In a perfect world, Kmart should have delivered your product when it said it would. And when it didn't, your refund should have been immediat e.

It's not a perfect world. Products are not always in stock, which is what happened with your tablet. Refunds can take time -- too much time. The standard line is two to three credit card billing cycles, which can be up to four months. It rarely takes that long, but it can.

The strange thing about your case is that Kmart.com first promised you the refund would be in your bank account within three to five days, which is unrealistic. Then it gave itself two weeks. Still, in my own experience, it normally takes longer.

I list Kmart's executive contacts under its parent company, Sears, on my site. You might have appealed to one of them when it became obvious the phone reps were stringing you along.

Let me add one thing: The practice of making customers wait three "billing cycles" is nonsense. Someone is benefiting from the money that's in limbo -- you're basically giving them a short-term, interest-free, free loan. If corporate America wanted to fix its refund sluggishness, it would have by now. But it's not motivated. Why would it want to spend money to fix a problem that will result in it losing money?

I contacted Sears on your behalf, and it agreed to expedite your refund.

Christopher Elliott specializes in solving intractable consumer problems. Contact him with your questions on his advocacy website. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google or sign up for his newsletter.

Source: Where's The Tablet I Ordered?

Nvidia SHIELD Tablet X1 spotted on benchmarks site

The Nvidia SHIELD Tablet (K1) was recently re-launched after the fire hazard problems earlier this year meant many original tablets were recalled and the product became unavailable. As noted by some HEXUS readers – why did Nvidia launch this while there must be a new Nvidia SHIELD Tablet X1 in the works – based on the newer, more powerful SoC? Well, it's probably to create a range of tablet products at different price points.

New signs that a Tegra X1 based tablet is in the advanced stages of production have been seen over at GFXBench, via GSM Arena. A prototype tablet which appears to sport an Nvidia Tegra X1 (Cortex A57 – ARMv8) SoC was found in the benchmarks on the site. You can see the rest of the known tablet specs in the screenshot embedded below.

The Nvidia SHIELD Tablet (X1) appears to have a quad-core processor in the benchmark but I assume that's due to the less powerful cores taking a breather during the benchmark, and/or a simple misreporting by the benchmark app. Nvidia's 20nm Tegra X1 offers "over one teraflops of processing power" – both twice the computing power and twice the power efficiency of the Tegra K1.

Tegra X1 SoC specs

GPU: NVIDIA Maxwell 256-core GPUDX-12, OpenGL 4.4, NVIDIA CUDA, OpenGL ES 3.1, and AEP

CPU: 8 CPU-core, 64-bit ARM CPU4x A57 2MB L2; 4x A53 512KB L2

VIDEO: H.265, VP9 4K 60 fps Video4k H.265, 4k VP9, 4k H.264

POWER: 20 nm SOC – TSMCIsolated Power Rails, Fourth-Generation Cluster Switching

DISPLAY: 4K x 2K @60 Hz, 1080p @120 HzHDMI 2.0 60 fps, HDCP 2.2

We have no indication when Nvidia might launch the new X1-based tablet or its pricing, so we will just have to wait for more information. Meanwhile you can enjoy another device with a Tegra X1 beating at its heart, at a cut price, thanks to 'Black Friday'…

Nvidia SHIELD Android TV Black Friday offer

Nvidia has emailed HEXUS to let us know that its SHIELD Android TV will be on sale from noon today at £119.99. This is a pack which includes the console, a wireless controller and the SHIELD remote. We are told that the bundle without remote normally has an RRP of £149.99.

If you are interested in smartening up your TV, with support for apps like Netflix, iPlayer, Plex, Hulu, Google Play App Store and many more, plus gaming chops provided by the SHIELD enhanced Android games and GeForce NOW, this could be an interesting proposition.

Source: Nvidia SHIELD Tablet X1 spotted on benchmarks site

iPad Pro: Apple's tablet is a big fat enterprise failure

I'm a huge fan of the iPad. In anticipation of the release of new models, I turned in my iPad Air 2 for cash at Amazon back in August.

I decided to buy an iPad Pro sight unseen, using Apple's online store on November 11, as I was on a business trip at the time in Chicago and was unable to go to a retail location to see one in person.

After a shipping hiccup in China, I received it last Friday, the 20th, almost a week after my peers at ZDNet and other publications had reviewed it.

While I enjoy using the device, and it's an impressive piece of technology, I have come to the conclusion that like all other iPads that have come before it, the unit is totally inappropriate and undesirable for enterprise use.

Understand that I have never used my iPad to do real work -- I've owned every "regular-sized" model since the product's introduction in 2010, and have always considered it my off-hours device.

It's what I use first thing in the morning, and it's my primary media and entertainment device in the evening as well as on the weekends.

While I do some light work with it, such as answering emails and viewing presentations and documents, I have never gone to a work location with an iPad.

A few years ago I even stopped bringing it on vacation, because smartphones and mobile apps became good enough, and smaller touchscreen laptops became more convenient and more useful if I actually had to do anything work related.

My current travel and vacation laptop of choice? The Intel Atom-powered Microsoft Surface 3, which I bought from Costco, with keyboard and stylus, for $600.

Yeah, I'm one of those guys that sometimes works on vacation. It's a crappy habit I need to rid myself of.

But the real reason why I don't travel with iPads is that I find them to be too fragile. There's far too much exposed glass on a "naked" unit, and to compensate for that, you have to put it in a very heavy duty hardcase.

Doing so can effectively double the weight of the device, which negates the entire point of having a thin, streamlined mobile computer or tablet in the first place.

This has always been my primary complaint when it comes to iPads. I feel that to succeed in an enterprise setting, it has to be actually built for work, as well as for vertical market scenarios.

The iPad has always been a consumer-grade device, which due to its success in consumer settings has been shoehorned and reluctantly allowed into business environments.

The regular-sized, 9.7" iPad is already handicapped for business use. While you can certainly run Office on it -- like many executives choose to do -- a lot of other line-of-business applications require remote access to a real Windows system, such as through RDS or Citrix XenApp.

Despite the iPad's innate fragility and need to be connected to remote line-of-business applications, it has not stopped many executives from using the iPad as a primary computing device.

Apple has sold many millions of units to business users, even with these limitations.

Until you actually hold one of these things, you don't realize just how big it really is.

However, I think a lot of reasons why execs were willing to deal with this trade-off in functionality is that the regular-sized iPad is convenient to carry around.

I knew when I ordered the iPad Pro that it was going to be bigger. Yes, I knew the specs on the screen was almost 13" on the diagonal. But until you actually hold one of these things, you don't realize just how big it really is.

It's a frickin' cheese tray.

My first impression after unboxing the iPad Pro was "Oh my God, that's a hell of a lot of glass."

Then I picked it up and realized just how unwieldy it was, and how slippery it is when held without a case. The regular iPad is flat-out unnerving to use caseless, but the Pro? It feels like tempting fate.

So the first thing I did was put it in a protective case. I have two hardcases for iPad Pro I am currently evaluating, the Ballistic Tough Jacket and the Urban Armor Gear. Both are really good protection solutions, but add significant weight to the device.

The iPad Pro, if you leave the case out of the equation, is about the same exact weight as the first-generation iPad. The fundamental problem is how awkwardly large the unit is. The screen area is actually larger than that of a 12" Macbook and the tablet itself is significantly larger in screen area than a Surface Pro 4.

The iPad Pro is not a tablet. It's a tabloid. You need two hands to operate it and to hold it securely. If a tablet could be obese, it would be the iPad Pro.

Other than the usual spec increase -- the speedy A9X processor and the increased RAM and faster flash storage, the main attraction to the iPad Pro is the gorgeous, ultra high-resolution display, coupled with their "Pencil" stylus, which unfortunately is backordered several weeks if you bought the device online.

But holding that display is awkward. You don't want to hold it on your lap because you'll put yourself into a weird ergonomic position and holding it freehand for an extended period of time is pretty much out of the question.

In short, it's probably not leaving the house or the boardroom.

This is a large device that is meant to be propped up on a table, or used lying down on a couch or in bed -- which is how I find myself interacting with it pretty much all of the time.

I binge watched Amazon's The Man In the High Castle on it over the weekend, and I was really impressed with display's color representation and contrast level. However I found it difficult to keep the screen propped up straight as the weight of the device caused it to constantly slip off the pillows I was propping it up on.

On the couch, I laid the device flat on the cushion while I put myself in essentially a prone position with my head directly facing the screen. I'm all for casual work environments, but this is ridiculous.

Sure, you can type with the thing using either Apple's OEM keyboard case or a number of other 3rd-party solutions, such as Logitech's, but you can't adjust the angle of the screen, like the Surface 3 or Surface Pro 4 out of the box.

Ideally what you want is some kind of accessory that places the screen on a 20 or 30 degree angle, because you get a crook in your neck by looking at it lying down flat. And using it on your lap or in a cramped aircraft seat is pretty much out of the question.

Tablets: Where's the Productivity?

The hottest device in the enterprise remains the tablet. Executives have pushed for them, IT departments have accommodated them, and users continue to clamor for them. Are they a fad or game-changer?

UAG's hardcase has a Surface-like adjustable easel, which allows you to stand it up on a few different angles. Ballistic's Tough Jacket is a bit more protective, but the stand only has a single position.

I spoke with several executives that were considering purchase of the device -- every single one of them rejected it after playing with one in person, because the trade-off in functionality from a full-featured laptop was no longer worth it if the device was less convenient to travel with.

While the hefty price was certainly a factor in their decision to either retain their existing iPads or look at other solutions like the Surface Pro 4, it was ultimately the inconvenience that killed the deal for all of these guys, since I would classify them as heavy disposable income types.

And for those that were serious road warriors, putting it in a heavy case to protect it from damage was an absolute deal breaker.

So we have this powerful, "Professional" grade content creation-oriented tablet that has limited portability, and also currently lacks apps that can truly exploit its capabilities -- not to mention that it's also too fragile for doing real work or for vertical apps.

I'm sure a niche of content creation types will find new and interesting uses for the iPad Pro, especially once we see some really exploitative apps written to take advantage of the screen, the Pencil and more powerful hardware.

But as an enterprise device, a so-called "Professional" device for business, I think Apple really dropped the ball here.

Has the iPad Pro failed to meet enterprise expectations? Will executives reject it in favor of other solutions? Talk Back and Let Me Know.

Source: iPad Pro: Apple's tablet is a big fat enterprise failure

Apple acknowledges iPad Pro issue; tablets freeze while recharging

Posted on: 09:48 AM IST Nov 23, 2015

New Delhi: After reports emerged that users of the latest iPad Pro faced a screen-freeze issue while recharging the device, Apple has acknowledged the problem and is currently working on a fix.

Many users flooded Apple's Support Communities page with similar concerns that the mega tablet was freezing after a recharge.

Many users flooded Apple's Support Communities page with similar concerns that the mega tablet was freezing after a recharge.

While doing a force restart did revive the tablet, the problem would reoccur later. Even a factory reset has not been able to fix the bug.

One user posted that the battery continued to drain despite the screen being unresponsive. Another user has claimed that enabling Siri on the tablet helps fix the issue, along with disabling back up to iCloud, Do not Disturb, and disabling automatic sending of diagnostics to Apple.

However, Apple has posted on its support page that it is aware of the issue and investigating it to come up with a solution.

The iPad Pro is Apple's latest in line of tablets with a mega 12.9-inch display and comes with the Apple Pencil. It starts at $799.

Source: Apple acknowledges iPad Pro issue; tablets freeze while recharging

Apple iPad Pro is Far from Perfect

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Apple admits iPad Pro is Having Trouble Being Responsive After Charging

Apple has recognized a problem with the iPad Pro that makes its charging faulty, and has provided recommendations on just how owners of the 12.9-inch tablet computer can fix the problem for now. The company went on to say that a permanent fix for the problem is on its way, probably in an update to iOS 9.

The iPad Problem Problem Was Spotted Just This Week

Earlier in the week, customers complained that their iPad Pros were unresponsive after charged for an extended period of time. The bugs didn't allow the Touch ID/Home button to power the device on, and in order to bring it back to, users had to reset the tablet. iPad Pro owners with new and restored softwares suffered this malfunction, so it wasn't clear if it was an issue to do with hardware or software.

The Makeshift Solution and the One Suggested by Apple Are the Same

A new support statement from Apple suggests what iPad Pro owners should do when their gadget is unresponsive, and it's surprisingly disappointing: the only recommendation they have for now is to reset the iPad Pro. They stress that a permanent solution is on the way to get rid of this bug, but for now, this is what users can do for their tablets.

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Source: Apple iPad Pro is Far from Perfect

Apple confirms iPad Pro charging problem, a fix is on the way

Apple has acknowledged a fault with the iPad Pro that sees the device become unresponsive following charging, and has provided advice on how owners of the 12.9-inch tablet can correct the issue (at least, in the short term). More usefully, Cupertino has also noted that a permanent fix for the problem may be incoming, likely via a minor software update to iOS 9.

Earlier in the week, we explained how a large number of iPad Pro owners had found their device go unresponsive after being charged for a significant amount of time (something, given the iPad Pro's supermassive internal battery, that a lot of users likely do regularly). Our article explained:

Pushing the power or Touch ID sensor/home button doesn't wake the tablet up. It only comes back to life after a hard rest of the device which is performed by pressing the power and home button for 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Perhaps more concerning, Apple hadn't publicly confirmed this issue, meaning we weren't sure if a long term fix was on the way or not. The problem was affecting iPad Pro owners who had both set their iPad up as new, and who had restored it from a backup; we weren't sure if the issue was hardware- or software-based.

Now, a new support document from Apple provides advice on what iPad Pro owners should do when their device goes unresponsive following charging. The advice is still to perform a hard reset in order to force reboot the tablet.

To get back to using your iPad Pro, force restart it by pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.

Apple is aware of this issue and is investigating.

So, there you have it. Hopefully, we'll see further information on this problem surface online soon. Of course, we'll keep you updated with more news as we receive it.

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The iPad Pro has an App Store problem

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Much of the marketing around Apple's new iPad Pro has been centered on its ability to run professional grade software and the variety of creativity apps it supports. But for smaller developers of pro software, the iPad Pro may present more of a quandary than a new computing platform.

The reason? Despite the new tablet's processing power and capabilities, it's still running on mobile software — and developers aren't totally convinced the economic incentives exist in the App Store for iOS. In short, they feel they wouldn't be able to charge users the amounts they normally would for a version of their software that runs on a desktop.

It's a problem that exists not only around the iPad Pro, but mobile software development in general, and highlights the very real challenges that smaller software companies face when deciding which software platforms to prioritize — especially as mobile tablets and PCs converge.

One of the common complaints made by software developers who spoke to The Verge is that they can't offer free trials of their apps as part of the App Store download process, or issue paid upgrades to long-term users. Others say that selling apps through the App Store can create a kind of wall between them and their customers if the customers have issues with their software. Broadly speaking, the iPad Pro is forcing them to rethink their monetization strategies.

Bohemian Coding co-founders Pieter Omvlee and Emanuel Sa, whose app Sketch is geared toward professional graphic designers, have been especially vocal about the fact that they've chosen not to make a version of their app for the iPad Pro. Sketch is currently available as a Mac desktop app, and has received rave reviews from product designers — exactly the kind of app you'd think would port well to the iPad Pro. But two months ago, Sa left a comment on the website Designer News saying that he and Omvlee had "no plans for an iPad Pro."

"Yes, it has a beautiful screen, but there's more to consider…," Sa said. "Apps on iOS sell for unsustainably low prices due to the lack of trials. We cannot port Sketch to the iPad if we have no reasonable expectation of earning back on our investment."

A trial means there's the option for a consumer to download a free trial of the software before committing to the full price of it — something that is fairly standard for heavy or expensive software downloaded directly from a web browser.

"Sketch on the Mac costs $99, and we wouldn't dare ask someone to pay $99 without having seen or tried it first," Omvlee said in a recent interview with The Verge. "So to be sold through the App Store, we would have to dramatically lower the price, and then, since we're a niche app, we wouldn't have the volume to make up for it."

The iPad lineup is so. damn. sexy. It's a shame that it's held back by Apple's stubborn refusal to enable pro iOS apps to flourish.

— Jared Sinclair (@jaredsinclair) November 11, 2015

Jared Sinclair is another developer who has been outspoken about what he sees as a "stubborn refusal" on the part of Apple to let "pro iOS apps to flourish."

Sinclair says he sees the iPad Pro as "a computer, no doubt about that," because of its performance capabilities. But Sinclair, an iOS engineer at a Seattle-based digital agency called Black Pixel, believes the difficulties in turning pro software into iPad Pro software have nothing to do with engineering. It's mostly because of App Store policies, he says.

"There's no way to issue a refund if someone decides they didn't like it," Sinclair says. "Or, people have a frustration, they go to the App Store, they leave a one-star review and you can't respond or find out why they're dissatisfied."

Another common lament is around the fact that iOS software developers can't offer paid upgrades to longtime app users through the App Store, forcing them to sometimes even consider launching an entirely new app instead.

"I think what a lot of people are worried about is the lack of upgrade pricing for those of us who want to keep incrementing these apps over the years," says Chris Liscio, creator of the popular music instruction and production app Capo. Capo for desktops sells for $29.99 on the Mac App Store, whereas the iOS, touch-optimized version of the app sells for $9.99.

Liscio calls himself an optimist and notes that it's early days for the tablet still. He says he's excited about the iPad Pro, and has an app in the works for it. But, as desktop and mobile platforms converge, Liscio says, "that's when the mobile pricing structures will have to be different."

The founder of Paper by FiftyThree, a free app revered by designers that was originally created for the iPad and has been optimized for the iPad Pro, says all of this is just "the reality of software."

"Maintaining software is more expensive than building it in the first place," FiftyThree co-founder and CEO Georg Petschnigg says. "The first version of Paper, we had three people working on it. Now we have 25 people working on it, testing on eight or nine different platforms, in 13 different languages." FiftyThree makes money by selling hardware, a popular $60 stylus called pencil, and has raised $45 million in venture capital funding from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and New Enterprise Associates.

Still, Petschnigg says, "there's clearly something amiss right now" when it comes to app monetization.

The story is a different one for software giants like Adobe, or Microsoft, who both appeared on stage during Apple's iPad Pro announcement this past September and have optimized a variety of different apps for the iPad Pro. Neither of those companies have to worry about the number of mobile downloads they'll get for their creativity and productivity apps, which they offer as free, lightweight versions of their core apps. Both make money by driving customers to subscriptions for their cloud services. The economic environment for smaller mobile developers, who need to give Apple a 30 percent cut of any paid download or app subscription fee, is more tenuous.

Apple has said that it paid out $10 billion dollars in revenue to its developers in 2014, and developers have made $33 billion to date from the sale of apps and games. These are not insignificant amounts; Apple also likes to point out that developers still get 70 percent of revenues from app sales. There are currently more than a million apps for iPhone in the App Store, and 850,000 for iPad.

But as Ben Thompson has pointed out before in his well-respected blog, Stratechery, 95 of the top 100 apps are free to play (free to download with purchasing options once you're in the app). According to Gartner research, in-app purchases are expected to drive 41 percent of app store revenue in 2016, and apps that cost between 99 cents and $2.99 will account for the overwhelming majority of paid-for downloads by 2016.

At the same time, developers say that even charging just 99 cents for a one-time download of their app reduces demand for it. All of this leaves fewer options for makers of expensive, professional-grade software, who neither a) do free-to-play or b) want to charge as little as a buck for their software.

Apple declined to comment for this story.

So, unless Apple changes the App Store business model for makers of pro software, what are the solutions for niche app developers weighing the iPad Pro as a new computing platform? For a lot of people, selling hardware while also raising millions in venture capital funding isn't realistic.

The most obvious solution for pro software developers may be subscription models, or doling out new tools and features as in-app purchases. Bohemian Coding's Omvlee says for apps like Sketch, that might not work. "Some tools like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud have enough force behind them that they can demand this and people, grudgingly, pay it. Many of our customers don't use Sketch daily, though, and to charge monthly for that is harder to justify," Omvlee says.

Some software makers attempt a combination of paid apps on iOS and paid apps on the web, so they can still take advantage of the giant iOS ecosystem. Animato has been taking this approach since 2007, charging between $9.99 and $29.99 for its creative video editing software on the web, and offering a free mobile app download with a $4.99 per month in-app subscription through the App Store. Both types of paying customers get advanced software features.

But founder and CEO Brad Jefferson says Animoto is "still working through the economics" of making apps. And the company is holding off, for now, on making a version of the app optimized for the large screen or the accessory Pencil of the iPad Pro.

"What we made for the smaller iPad is still going to work on the larger one," Jefferson says. "So there's a little bit of, 'Let's see what adoption of the Pro ends up looking like.'"

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Source: The iPad Pro has an App Store problem

Nvidia Relaunches Its Shield Gaming Tablet, Cuts Price to $199

The revamped Shield tablet K1 has an 8-inch display, 16GB of internal storage and a $100 price cut just before the holidays.

Nvidia has rereleased its Shield gaming tablet with a $100 price cut in time for the December holiday buying season, bring the price down to $199.The Shield K1 features an 8-inch Full HD display, an Nvidia Tegra K1 mobile processor, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot that accepts up to an additional 128GB of expanded storage and a mini HDMI output that allows it to be connected to an HD television.The relaunched device was announced in a Nov. 17 post on the Nvidia Blog.The Shield relaunch comes about four months after some 88,000 of the original Shield tablets were recalled after users reported battery overheating problems, according to an earlier eWEEK report. The Shield K1 also features a 5-megapixel auto-focus High Dynamic Range (HDR) rear-facing camera, a 5MP HDR front-facing camera, motion sensors, built-in WiFi, MIMO and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, as well as expected battery life of up to 10 hours on a charge. The machine weighs 12.6 ounces. An optional Shield controller can be purchased for $59 to add to the machine's gaming prowess. The Shield controller uses Wi-Fi Direct, which offers two times lower latency than Bluetooth, and it includes hi-fidelity headset audio for talking with other players.Other available accessories include a $39 tablet cover, a $19 DirectStylus 2 and a $29 world charger that allows the tablet to be charged when traveling in other countries.By plugging the tablet into an HDTV, users can stream video content from Xfinity to Go, Netflix, Kodi and CBS Sports, according to Nvidia.Also optional is a subscription to AAA PC games, where for $7.99 a month (after the first three months, which are free) users can play an ever-growing library of AAA PC games on their Shield tablet K1 or stream them to their TV.The Shield K1 debuts with Android 5.0 but will be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow in the future.The Shield tablet recall that occurred in July led to the replacement of 88,000 devices that were s old between July 2014 and July 2015. The affected machines included built-in lithium ion batteries that could potentially overheat and create a fire hazard. No other Nvidia products are impacted by the recall.According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Nvidia received four reports of the Shield's batteries overheating due to thermal issues. Two of those reports included damage to flooring caused by the overheating batteries. The affected Shield tablets included a battery type model number of Y01, which could be checked on the devices in the Settings menu.Nvidia, which is best known for selling GPUs that can be found in PCs and servers, is aiming the Shield tablets at hard-core gamers.Nvidia has dropped a previous Shield tablet model that was equipped with 32GB of RAM. That machine was originally introduced in September 2014 for $399, and also featured an upgrade to 4G LTE connectivity for users, according to an earlier eWEEK story.The original Shield tablet was introduced in July 2014 with16GB of storage and WiFi. 
Source: Nvidia Relaunches Its Shield Gaming Tablet, Cuts Price to $199

Nvidia's Shield Tablet Back on Sale at Much-Reduced Price

TEHRAN (FNA)- Earlier this year, Nvidia recalled its Shield Tablet over problems with the lithium-ion battery. The company has put the tablet back on sale and given the base model a whopping price cut.

Nvidia called its Shield Tablet the "ultimate tablet for gamers" upon announcement last year, but the company had to backtrack hard this summer when it issued a recall for every single unit due to a potential battery fire hazard. It would seem the issue has been fixed, though — Nvidia was already sending replacements to affected customers, and today the company is putting the Shield Tablet back on sale for $199, $100 less than the original price, The Verge reported.

It's the same 8-inch 1920 x 1200 tablet with Nvidia's own K1 processor, 16GB of storage with microSD support, and dual front-facing speakers. Nvidia has also announced that the Shield Tablet, currently running Android Lollipop, will be updated to 6.0 Marshmallow in the "coming months." It doesn't look as though Nvidia is bringing the 32GB LTE version back to market; today's announcement only contains details for the 16GB Wi-Fi model.

Nvidia also isn't referencing the recall incident at all in its announcement, choosing instead to say that it's "bringing back" the Shield Tablet because "fans have asked for it." If you're confident that the company has fixed the battery issues, the updated version might be a compelling option for anyone looking for a gaming-focused device.

The Shield line of devices has features like the ability to stream games from your PC or Nvidia's own GeForce Now cloud service, and includes built-in Twitch integration. There are also Shield-exclusive Android ports of popular games like Half-Life 2 and Portal. These are all capabilities targeted toward the gaming niche, to be sure, but at under $200 the tablet may be a more mainstream proposition than before.

 

 

 

 

Source: Nvidia's Shield Tablet Back on Sale at Much-Reduced Price

iPad Pro charging and shut off issue being reported

It was only last week that the Apple iPad Pro finally started reaching the hands of eager buyers. The long-rumored larger iPad is garnering plenty of interest right now, but it seems that the device may not be without its problems. An iPad Pro charging and shut off issue is being reported by some users of the device, as outlined on the Apple Support Communities.

The iPad Pro is a premium device with a premium price to match, so you would imagine a trouble-free experience with the 12.9-inch tablet. However, evidence from user posts on Internet forums points to an issue when the device is being charged. It's said that the iPad Pro can freeze up or become unresponsive, and that it can only be turned back on with a hard reset. Another issue noted is that the battery status reads as 100% after charging, but when the device is removed from the wall socket it goes blank again.

Phone Arena reports on the experiences that iPad Pro users are facing right now, and cites examples from users about the problems they are facing with the device. For example one user says they have charged the device twice and on both occasions could only get it working again with a hard reset. Another user reports the same issue and says when their tablet is connected for charging for over an hour it then goes dead. That same user says they have to perform multiple hard resets to get it going again.

Tech support on the Apple Support Communities appears to acknowledge there is a problem and have suggested a few ideas for those facing this issue. One idea is to do a factory reset through iTunes. Another suggestion is to force restart the tablet by holding down the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons simultaneously for at least 10 seconds.

Looking through the Communities forum ourselves we can see many more instances of users reporting this problem. Interestingly, the same difficulty is also said to be affecting some iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, and 6S Plus units. This means that a simple update to the iOS 9 software could be a way of resolving the issue, so we hope work on this is already ongoing.

At this stage it's difficult to tell if this iPad Pro shutting off issue when charging is a widespread problem or if it's affecting a limited amount of users. Therefore we'd like to hear from you if you have already purchased the tablet. Have you encountered any problems when charging your iPad Pro? Maybe you've had some advice from Apple about resolving the issue? Let us know with your comments.

Source: Apple Support CommunitiesVia: Phone Arena

Read more about: Tablet PC  

Source: iPad Pro charging and shut off issue being reported

Smartphones, tablets and e-readers need 'bed mode', experts say

Smartphones, tablets and e-readers need to be built with a "bed mode" in order to help users get to sleep quicker, experts have said.

New devices are being built with bigger, "bluer and brighter" screens which impact the body's ability to produce sleep-inducing hormones, according to a team of researchers.

Previous studies have shown that blue light hinders people from sleeping by suspending the on-set of their natural body clocks.

But Professor Paul Gringas, from Evelina Children's Hospital in London, said his team found the problem was getting worse, and it was time for manufacturers to take responsibility.

Screens produce a bright light which can stop the body producing melatonin – the sleep hormone – which is produced naturally as the evening becomes darker.

Blue and green wavelengths of light affect the production of melatonin the most, as well as raising alertness in people at a time when they should be feeling sleepier.

Professor Gringas noted in the research findings, published in Frontiers in Public Health, that newer models of phones and tablets are "bluer". These include the iPad Air, the Kindle Paperweight 1st generation and the iPhone 5s.

He went on to say: "Hardware should shift blue and green light emissions to yellow and red as we as reduce backlight/ light intensity".

There are apps that are designed to be "sleep-aware", where the creators have specifically aimed to decrease the blue lights, but this has not before been rolled out to whole devices.

Source: Smartphones, tablets and e-readers need 'bed mode', experts say

Solving the mysterious failure of Apple's iPad

 

Editorial

Across Apple's fiscal 2015, annual iPad unit sales fell by an astounding 19 percent while iPad revenues fell 23 percent, a plunge from fiscal 2014 of just over $7 billion. The tech industry pundits love to talk about the failure of Apple's tablet business, but are short on the specifics of what's happening. Here's why. Was it Android?

What caused the iPad's decline in sales and where did Apple's "missing" $7 billion in tablet revenues and 13 million missing iPad sales go? You might suspect Android vendors, which sell far cheaper tablets across a wider variety of configurations.

Unfortunately, we can't do individual vendor comparisons with great accuracy because no other companies report their tablet sales and revenues the way Apple does. However, we can be certain that Apple's iPads weren't eaten up by Android tablets, because global shipments of Android tablets are down, too. A similar percentage of decline means Android makers are "losing" tablet sales quite a lot faster than Apple is

According to Canalys, September tablet shipments overall were down year-over-year by the same percentage as Apple. However, combined Android tablet shipments represent a larger number than Apple's iPad business, so a similar percentage of decline means Android makers are "losing" tablet sales quite a lot faster than Apple is.

That means iPad's decline clearly wasn't because of shoppers choosing Android tablets instead. In fact, in the world's biggest tablet market, overall sales in Greater China were down 34 percent year over year, a much greater decline than Apple's iPad business suffered.

Android tablet vendors have been coasting on razor thin tablet profit margins from the beginning, so as their sales volumes collapse their pain is much greater than Apple, which is still selling its iPads at world leading profit margins, even if in reduced volumes.

Was it Windows 10, including Microsoft Surface Pro?

Microsoft's Surface Pro has experienced revenue growth. Rather than being counted as a tablet, Canalys appears to include Surface in its "two-in-one PC" category, which it reported grew by 77 percent over the previous year.

Microsoft itself reported that its Surface revenues grew by 117 percent in the final quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, ending in June. That sounds great until you realize that total Surface revenue for the quarter only amounted to $888 million. Over the company's fiscal 2015, Surface amounted to less than $3 billion of total revenue.

iPad revenues grew by huge percentages for years, because "percentage of growth" is initially easy to do when starting from zero. In fact, iPads grew year over year non-stop from 2010 to 2013, up to a peak quarter of 23 million iPads at the end of 2013. Microsoft's quarterly peak Surface sales have reached up toward 1 million units.

Let that sink in: across the same three years of time that it took iPads to peak at 23 million, Surface has peaked at 1 million. And similar to iPad sales, Surface is now headed downward after just one year of profitability.

Over the last quarter ending in September, Microsoft reported Surface revenues of $672 million, a rather disastrous year-over-year plunge of 25.99 percent. Apple sold many more iPads in its last "disastrous" quarter than Microsoft has sold Surface models across the total of its three year history of trying to sell them.

Apple sold many more iPads in its last quarter than Microsoft has sold Surface models across th e total of its three year history of trying to sell them. Even if Microsoft could reverse the Surface slump and return to its peak sales figures consistently over the next year, Apple would still have sold more iPads, by units and revenues, in this quarter alone.

But Microsoft is now facing competition from iPad Pro, which offers a lower entry price with higher performance, tied to modern mobile app ecosystem. At the same time, Surface isn't just competing against Apple. It's main appeal is Windows users, who have many other even cheaper options available to them.

Overall, PC Average Selling Prices are now down around $400, compared to the cheapest Surface Pro 4's entry level price of $899.

The company's fans say the higher price of Surface is reasonably necessitated by its higher performance and build quality than the typical PC, but higher-end premium-priced Windows PCs have long remained a tiny niche as ASPs are driven ever downward into the bargain basement every year.

Microsoft's significant decrease in Surface sales is also far outweighed by the 14 percent decline in PC sales overall. That's because while Surface is shrinking from its roughly 1 million unit peak, PCs are declining to volumes of 114.2 million. Surface is a speck compared to global PC market shipments, and the fact that PCs continue to plummet by millions of units paints a clear picture that not only is Surface irrelevant as a competitor to iPad, but PC vendors overall are—just like Android tablet makers—losing many more unit sales than Apple's iPads are.

Rather than solving our mystery of iPad failure, we've discovered two other failures that are much more significant in scope: Android tablets and PC sales overall, along with the minor, rather insignificant failure of Microsoft's Surface to make any difference at all.

If anything, Microsoft's Surface actually poses a greater potential for damage to Microsoft's OEM Windows licensing business than it does to Apple 's iPads (or MacBooks). Google's initial effort to eat into Windows with Chrome OS has failed to make much of a dent, but if Microsoft continues to bleed away the remaining few billion dollars at the most profitable high end segment of Windows PCs, its own licensees are likely to look to Google's Android as a PC alternative, or take fresh stabs at delivering PCs using Linux or other platforms to achieve some capacity for differentiation.

Windows has never been less important as a platform than it is today. Surface could easily replicate the history of the Zune in driving Microsoft's own licensees away, even as Surface fails to have any real impact upon its intended targets sold by Apple.

If not Android or Windows, what's eating into iPads?

Unit sales and revenues are not the only problem affecting iPad. Apple's Average Selling Price for iPads has also been in decline, particularly since 2011. Apple's ASP for iPad was initially above $600, then eased toward the base selling price of $500 across 2012 as Apple began discounting older models.

However, iPad ASPs then declined even further, dipping toward $400 as the company introduced cheaper iPad mini models. The smaller iPad mini helped juice iPad volume shipments, reaching new sales peak throughout 2013, but at the expense of revenues per iPad.

Apple's sales of smaller iPads were welcomed by market observers as a necessary step to compete against 7 inch Android tablets. But in discussing Apple's rumored plans, AppleInsider noted in early 2011 that "Apple will almost certainly not deliver a tweener iPad with a 5 to 7 inch screen size."

That turned out to be true, because iPad mini ended up being 7.9 inches, significantly larger than the mini tablets being introduced by Samsung, HP, Dell and others. While it only sounds slightly larger than a 7 inch tablet in the diagonal, that translates to a 35 percent larger screen.

However, we also discussed the potential for a "big iPod touch," an iOS device between 5 to 7 inches which, "rather than trying to cru sh the full sized iPad's resolution into a smaller screen," would "serve as an expansion of the iPod family, offering a larger view of the simpler iPod touch user interface."

As it turned out, Apple didn't introduce that "large iPod touch" I had envisioned in 2011, and still hasn't four years later. However, it did eventually deliver a large non-iPad device, albeit with a cellular modem: the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus.

Fine young cannibal

While iPad mini sales boosted iPad volume numbers at the expense of falling ASPs in 2013, iPhone 6 Plus sold at higher volumes at a much higher ASP. The base model is priced at a $100 premium to the typical price of new iPhones, which were already higher than iPads, despite being smaller devices.

If Apple arbitrarily categorized its iOS sales volumes the way IDC and Gartner historically counted tablets (defining screens larger than 5 inches as "media tablets"), Apple would be reporting steadily higher growth in units, volumes and ASPs for "tablets" while still reporting market leading iPhone sales.

iPhone 6 Plus ate up iPad sales the same way iPhones ate into sales of point and shoot cameras: by making "the tablet you have with you" more useful than the more optimized device that gets left at home. In particular, iPhone 6 Plus eroded into the differentiation offered by iPad mini, which was contributing a significant part of iPad unit volumes.

Really, rather than having "gone missing," iPad sales turned into iPhone 6 Plus sales, the same way that iPods didn't mysteriously "go away" but were instead folded into iPhones the same way.

Apple can't be too concerned about this "problem," because its latest iPhone 6s Plus has not only expanded the market for iPhones to new demographics (largely at the expense of Samsung and other fablet makers), but has also raised iPhone ASPs, which were already higher than slipping iPad ASPs.

Selling tens of millions of iPhone 6 Plus at a ASP above $750 is much better than selling a few million more low end iPads, not just because it's more profitable but also because it's possible. There's a clear demand for high end phones (which can be subsidized, leased or financed as part of a buyer's mobile contact), but the demand for tablets (typically sold at retail) is simply not as strong among consumers, even at substantially lower price points.

Apple's iPhone 6 Plus has not only encroached upon Apple's iPad sales, but almost certainly has also had a similar effect upon other budget tablets, particularly on the low end, where the 5.5 inch iPhone is even closer in size to 7 inch Android tablets than it is to iPad mini.

Blaming the demise of millions of PCs on iPhone 6 Plus seems like a bit more of a stretch, but consider that Apple sold an incredible 231 million iPhones over the last fiscal year, and at least 10 percent of them were iPhone 6 Plus models. Somewhere around 23 million people spent over $750 on a new very large screen iPhone in the last year. That's a lot of money that could have otherwise been spent on PCs, if there had been nothing else to spend money on.

A large proportion of those users were new to iOS, because in the previous year, Apple sold "only" 169 million iPhones. That 37 percent increase in iPhone sales (an increase of 62 million high end phones) certainly had an impact on other technology purchases, and that fact that Apple's Mac sales also increased by 9 percent (or 2.5 million Macs) as PCs decreased by more than 10 percent (around 50 million lost PCs) indicates that Apple's roughly 13 million "lost" iPads were n ot the only casualties.

Additionally, the fact that Apple lost about $7 billion in iPad revenue but gained $50 billion in revenue overall indicates that perhaps this year's iPad differences are not really a mystery that needs to be urgently solved after all.

iPad growth shifts from quantity to quality

At the same time, Apple is also still holding onto the valuable, premium segment of the tablet market. And it's now expanding upon that with the introduction of iPad Pro. Like iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Pro extends the potential market for iOS while also acting to raise ASPs for iPads overall.

iPad Pro appears very unlikely to boost the volume shipments of iPads by the same amount iPad mini did. However, its ASP is much higher, with base models stretching from $799 to $1079. iPad minis are priced from $269 to $729, but mini customers are more likely to buy lower end models. iPad Pro, like iPhone 6/6s Plus, appeal to customers already willing to splurge, particularly professionals and enterprise users.

That indicates iPad sales growth will be focused on quality (profitable, high end and therefore high satisfaction product sales) rather than quantity (large volumes of cheaper devices that are easier for competitors to challenge with commodity offerings).

Note too that iPad Pro—despite its high end processing power and very large screen—is priced similarly to an iPhone 6s Plus. In addition to addressable market demand, that explains why Apple introduced iPhone 6 Plus before it brought iPad Pro to market: it offered an easier to pick, low hanging fruit with broader potential appeal.

While it's obvious that iPad Pro has some potential to raise iPad ASPs (the base model is nearly twice the current iPad ASP), it has been less obvious that iPhone 6/6s Pro is also leveraging some of the intrinsic value of the larger screens on iPads and effectively "stealing" iPad revenue that's now being chalked up as iPhone revenue.

Why Apple is still reporting iPad data

If Apple's iPad and iPhone divisions were competing companies, this would be an issue. Instead, iPhone 6/6s Plus appears to have stolen even more potential revenue away from Apple's real competitors, erasing what was once a major profit center for Samsung and greatly reducing what had been a significant potential differentiator for other phone vendors, including Microsoft (which just reported a 54 percent implosion of is own Windows Phone revenues, some portion of which had been riding on its very large Nokia models.)

Even more of the mystery of iPad decline would have evaporated if Apple hadn't ever broken out iPad unit sales and revenues in the first place. Samsung, Google, Amazon, Acer and other companies don't detail where their mobile revenues (if any) are made, allowing outside firms to hazard guesses about their tablet and phone businesses in the dark.

Without that data to criticize, Apple would only be reporting record revenues, but investors would have less in formation about how exactly Apple is earning them.

Conversely, that also erases some of the "mystery" of why Apple has decided to obscure the revenue contribution of its new projects, including Apple Pay and Apple Watch, as well as terminating details on the unit sales and revenue contribution of iPods, which no longer play an independent role in defining Apple's revenues (most iPods Apple now sells are iPhones).

So why hasn't Apple stopped reporting details for iPads too? Clearly, Apple would rather address the overblown criticisms of iPad fear-mongers than create new mysteries by, for example, folding iPad tablet computers into the results for its Mac sales. (Notably, Apple does not detail units and revenues for individual Mac models, such as the Mac mini, Mac Pro, MacBooks and iMacs. It also doesn't detail iPad mini, iPad and iPad Pro sales).Apple is allowing iPad's $23 billion business to stand separate from its $155 billion iPhone business and its $25 billion Mac bu siness

Because iPads address a different market segment than Macs, combining them would only hide the much higher ASPs that Macs are generating and the much higher volumes iPads are fueling, resulting in composite figures that would likely be even easier for the company's critics to misrepresent.

Similar issues would arise from folding all iOS devices into the same reporting segment. As it is, Apple is allowing iPad's $23 billion business to stand separate from its $155 billion iPhone business and its $25 billion Mac business, even though there are complex, overlapping cyclical patterns of regional and market segment demand, device replacement schedules and product introductions that cause revenues to flow between those categories.

The remaining mystery is why anyone is concerned that Apple isn't making enough money, when it's earning virtually all the profits in PCs, phones and tablets.

Source: Solving the mysterious failure of Apple's iPad

Apple iPad Pro 128GB delayed, will ship at end of the month

Apple seems to have a problem this time with the iPad. Regardless of the unprecedented success of Apple products in the past, this time Apple seems to have a problem with the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro 128 GB has had reportedly faced delays in shipping. People who have pre-ordered the iPad Pro 128 Gb will have to wait till the end of the month till they receive the iPad Pro.

SEE ALSO:Motorola Moto X Style starts getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates in India

However, the 32 GB version of the iPad Pro will reportedly reach the address of people who have purchased, in about 4-5 days. People who have opted for ordinary shipping will receive the iPad Pro in a weeks time while the ones who have opted have opted for more faster shipping by paying for it, will receive it accordingly.

Users who want to opt for the $949 Wi-Fi-only 128 GB iPad Pro or the $1,079 128 GB 4G model will have to wait till November 30. The devices will reach the doorstep of the users anywhere before December 3rd or after November 30th. Users who pay for faster delivery should expect the devices to reach them between November 25 to November 30. The delay for the iPad Pro 1228 GB is about two to three weeks, which is a long time.

SEE ALSO: Apple iPad Pro to be available from November 11: Rumor Report

The worst part about the iPad Pro is that users will have to wait till they get the Apple Pencil stylus or the Smart Keyboard accessories. While these are listed on the Apple Store website, show as "available to ship" they could take about 4-5 weeks. While the Apple Pencil Stylus and the Keyboard were two highlights of the new Apple iPad Pro, their late shipments and availability leaves quite a question mark.

Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates!

Story first published: Saturday, November 14, 2015, 11:03 [IST]

Source: Apple iPad Pro 128GB delayed, will ship at end of the month

Amazon’s Black Friday Deals Look Insane This Year (AMZN)

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Amazon (AMZN) has a tradition of offering killer Black Friday deals, but for Black Friday 2015 the online retailer is really setting the bar high.

The company just sent out a press release announcing three big markdowns leading up to Black Friday 2015 and even for Amazon deals, these stand out:

Starting Nov. 22, the Kindle e-reader will be priced at $49.99, a 40% reduction.

Staring Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving Day, with Black Friday 2015 following on the 27th), the Fire TV Stick video streamer gets a cut to just $24.99 (again, nearly 40% off).

And the real jaw dropper — also starting Nov. 26 — is a $34.99 Fire tablet.

With these Black Friday deals, Amazon has effectively priced some of its best-selling consumer electronics at the level that they could be stocking stuffers.

Amazon Black Friday deals have a history of aggressive pricing, which have established AMZN as a dominant retailer. This is the time of year when its own devices also tend to see a sales surge, which helps to sell content further down the road.

In 2014, Amazon hawked a 50-inch LED TV for $199; in 2012, AMZN peddled $4 Blu-ray movies and a cheap Apple (AAPL) MacBook Air; in 2011 Amazon Black Friday deals included a $200 PS3 bundle; and in 2010, a Kindle 2 e-reader was slashed from $189 to $89. Penny smartphones (on two-year contracts) have also figured prominently in previous Amazon Black Friday deals.

However, that $34.99 Fire tablet really stands out, even given previous sales.

When Amazon first announced the Fire tablet, it was difficult to imagine the concept of a $50 tablet that was actually usable. There have been cheap tablets before, but most are in the $99 range and most are frustrating enough — crappy screens, abominably slow processors, shoddy construction — that they soon become indefinite tenants of a junk drawer.

The Amazon Fire, however, is a cheap $50 tablet with a rich build. By further discounting the device to $35 as part of its Black Friday deals, Amazon has priced the Fire tab so low that it firmly wandering around in impulse buy territory.

Look at it this way, at $35, you could buy seven of these for less than Apple's cheapest, two-year-old iPad Mini 2 and still have enough cash left to order a few of those discounted Blu-Ray movies.

The new Apple TV and updated Chromecast are getting lots of buzz, but a Fire TV Stick at $24.99? Amazon clearly plans to use its Black Friday 2015 promotion — and its to ban Apple TV and Chromecast from the shelves of Amazon.com — to take some of the shine off the competition and ramp up market share.

This year, Amazon is offering early Black Friday deals in a move that's stretching the event into the better part of month.

By announcing the door-crashers early, Amazon is clearly hoping consumers who might have been planning a visit to their local Apple Store or big-box electronics retailer will instead hold off and fire up their smartphone, tablet or PC browser for the big discounts on its online Black Friday deals.

As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Source: Amazon's Black Friday Deals Look Insane This Year (AMZN)

Gear Review | Apple iPad Pro

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FRIEND REQUEST DENIED

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Source: Gear Review | Apple iPad Pro

Major problem with DK5 on Android tablet

I have  big problem reading articles on my tablet. (The front page is slow, but readable). Any article with more than about 50 comments will not download I get a message "Chrome has stopped working. Would you like to wait or close"?. Waiting doesn't help. Close, well, closes it and I must restart. But then the same thing happens. Over and over, so reading diaries or even FP articles is impossible.

I suspect what's happening is that all the imagery (avatars with every single comment) is overloading my system for some reason, I don't know why, I have lots of free memory.

So for now I'm stuck to my laptop, but I'd really like to use my tablet.

If I can't, I'll be here a LOT less.

Any ideas?

Source: Major problem with DK5 on Android tablet

Cube i7 Stylus tablet reviewed

Review: Core M for the masses

Now that Apple is selling a $99 stylus and a Microsoft Surface clone, we decided to check out whether or not it's possible to get a tablet with proper high-end specs for mid-range money.

 The Cube i7 Stylus aims to be just that – an alternative to pricey Windows tablets (including the Surface series). It's got an impressive spec at an affordable price, and there's even an optional Wacom stylus. So, can a $350 convertible tablet really take on big brand ultraportables and tablets?

On paper, the Cube looks like an absolute bargain. It's based on the 14nm Core M 5Y10, a Boadwell-based dual-core capable of hitting 2.0GHz on Turbo. The chip is designed with a Turbo range of 800MHz to 2000MHz, and has a TDP of just 4.5W, enabling its use in passively cooled ultraportables and tablets. It features Intel HD Graphics 5300, with 24 execution units (EUs) clocked at 100 to 850MHz. The tablet is equipped with 4GB of RAM (dual channel 2x2GB DDR3L 1600) and a 64GB SSD.

This is obviously a far cry from cheap Atom tablets, which tend to feature less RAM and slower eMMC storage, but then again the Cube i7 Stylus costs twice as much as your average whitebox Atom tablet.

In any case, at just $327 with free shipping, the Cube i7 Stylus is very cheap for a Core M device, so the question is: Where did Cube decide to cut corners and pinch pennies?

Design and Build Quality

The Cube i7 Stylus is by no means a small device. It's a 10.6-inch tablet and it's up to 10.5mm thick. It weighs just over 700 grams, so it's about 30% thicker and heavier than the average iPad or Android tablet with a similar size screen.

Of course, iPads and ARM-based Android tablets don't have nearly the same amount of processing power squeezed inside them, so it's understandable that the Core M-based Cube is a bit chubbier. Still, it manages to look and feel good. The back is metal, save for the top bit which houses the camera and antennas.

Cube opted for a dark blue finish, which looks good. We are a bit concerned that the matte finish and blue paint could be susceptible to scratches, but that's true of every metal device.

As you can see, the machining is accurate and the finish looks (and feels) premium.

The only problem we had with the finish is that it doesn't handle fingerprints well. Although it's matte, it's rather smooth and gets greased up in a few hours of use.

The design is conservative, perhaps even too conservative. It basically looks like a 2-3 year old tablet, mainly due to its girth.

Another thing you won't see on Android and iOS tablets is the array of ports located on the left side of the Cube i7 Stylus. While it's a tablet, this is still a proper Windows PC, and it has the ports to prove it: Micro HDMI, USB 3.0, microSD card slot, 12V DC in, 3.5mm audio.

There are no connectors on the right side, just two grilles for the tablet's side-firing stereo speakers.

Basically, you should have no trouble connecting the Cube i7 Stylus to a monitor, mouse and keyboard, transforming it into an emergency desktop replacement. With a Core M CPU and 4GB of RAM, it certainly has the muscle to power a proper display and handle serious applications.

The volume rocker and power button are located on the top.

Since this is a convertible, all you'll find at the bottom is a keybroad pogo pin connector and a couple of dock bays.

The front of the device is dominated by a 10.6-inch 1080p panel, which isn't laminated. This makes the device a bit thicker and adds reflectivity, but on the other hand, it also means it's possible to swap out the panel or digitizer separately, should you ever need to do so.

The standard Windows capacitive button is at the bottom of the display. Right next to it, on the side, you'll find a 5-pin keyboard dock connector.

Unfortunately we haven't got the keyboard, but judging by its looks, it features the same blue metal finish and it also houses a slot for the Stylus. Another optional extra is the Wacom compatible stylus itself, which is a tiny, plastic affair. We would have appreciated a softer, more rubbery finish on the stylus.

Cube i7 Stylus Specs and Performance

We already pointed out that the Cube i7 Stylus is not your average budget tablet based on Intel silicon. It's a bit bigger, measuring 27.3 x 17.2 x 1.0cm, and it weighs 700g. If you decide to get the keyboard, this will add a few hundred grams on top of that.

Cube i7 Stylus Specs:

SoC: Intel Core M 5Y10, 14nm

CPU: Two 64-bit x86 cores (Broadwell) clocked at 800MHz to 2GHz

GPU: Intel HD Graphics 5300 (8th generation), 24 EUs, clocked at 100MHz to 850MHz

Storage: 64GB internal SSD, micro SD slot for expansion

Display: 10.6-inch 1920x1080p IPS panel (Samsung)

OS: Windows 10

Rear camera: 5-megapixel sensor

Front facing camera: 2-megapixel sensor

Battery: 9000mAh lithium polymer

Dimensions: 273 x 172 x 10.5mm

Weight: 700g

Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth

Sensors: accelerometer

So what's missing? Not much. Our biggest gripe is the lack of 802.11ac support and the fact that we have no idea what sort of glass is on the screen. This wouldn't be a big issue if we were dealing with a cheap convertible or hybrid, but on a $350-$400 device with a stylus, it's a concern.

The main ingredients – the CPU, RAM and storage – are quite good for the money. Let's check out a few benchmarks.

The 64GB SATA3 drive delivered some very nice results. After dealing with loads of tablets with eMMC storage, seeing a proper SSD is a breath of fresh air. With sequential read speeds between 350MB/s and 490MB/s, backed by relatively high write speeds, the Cube i7 Stylus feels as responsive as a mid-range notebook. It's a pity that there's no 128GB option because 64GB is somewhat cramped by today's standards. Luckily, you can always fall back on the microSD slot in case you want to have your media collection on the road.

Squeezing so much performance in a tiny, passively cooled chip is probably got some people concerned about throttling. Yes, like all high-end tablets, the Cube i7 Stylus tends to throttle under load. Luckily, the powerful Core M processor isn't likely to experience a lot of load (or throttling) in typical tablet/ultraportable workloads. It simply doesn't have to run all out in order to deliver good performance.

We got 2337 points in PCmark, and as you can see, the chip had no trouble hitting 2GHz even after we ran a few benchmarks on the device.

Now for Aida CPU Queen and Photoworxx tests:

It's obvious that Intel's latest Core M silicon delivers excellent performance. Remember, this is a 4.5W chip, yet it manages to keep up with desktop chips from a couple of years ago, with 65W TDPs.

In Photoworxx, Core M ends upjust 5% slower than AMD's A10-7850K APU, a quad core clocked at 3.7GHz, with a 512-core GPU.

RAM benchmarks were quite good, although the gap between the Core M and today's desktop platforms tends to be bigger than in CPU tests.

The system ended up almost on a par with Intel's Core i7-4770 in memory write tests, which is impressive to say the least.

While the chip can deal with some very demanding applications, including 2-3 year old games, sustained performance is always an issue on tablets and passively cooled ultraportables. The CPU can hit about 80 degrees Celsius under heavy load, but throttling is simply not an issue in everyday use.

At the same time, the rear side of the tablet can heat up to over 40 degrees near the CPU. Once again, this is not a big deal, unless you plan to run benchmarks all day long, or run very demanding games on this device.

Overall, this is a very fast Windows tablet that can match and outpace many entry-level and mainstream notebooks in terms of sheer performance.

Display, Audio and Stylus

The 1080p display comes from Samsung, and the good news is that it appears to be the exact same panel used in the Microsoft Surface 2. While this obviously isn't the latest panel out there, display quality is quite good, but we would have liked a laminated display, with Gorilla Glass or similar scratch-proof material on the top.

Unfortunately, we don't know what sort of glass Cube chose for this device.

In any case, display quality should not be an issue, especially not in this price range.

However, audio quality is an issue. We expected a lot more from a stereo speaker setup on this sort of device. Stereo or not, the sad truth is that many $150 tablets and phones ship with better speakers.

The speakers are just not powerful enough, so it doesn't even make much sense to talk about audio quality, since the device is just too quiet to enjoy video or music. This is perhaps its biggest shortcoming and frankly we are surprised to see it fail on such a trivial feature. There is a small chance that the transition to Windows 10 has something to do with it, because we doubt this is what the engineers had in mind when they designed the i7 Stylus. So, it might be a software issue, but that doesn't change the fact that the tablet is too quiet to enjoy South Park.

The tablet is equipped with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facing unit. The rear camera protrudes from the chassis and really messes up an otherwise streamlined device.As for the front camera, it's sufficient for the occasional Skype call, but once again, we've seen better cameras on cheap phones.

What about the Wacom stylus? Well, it's a very potent tool, although it's not as good as a dedicated stylus.

As far as Cube i7's artistic potential goes, Wacom's touch on the entire package has made this tablet quite a contender, even with Wacom's own products. Cube i7 comes with a Wacom packing 1024 pressure levels. As you can see from the picture below, transitions from subtle to hard lines are seamless. Tilt sensitivity is another thing, it's very limited. However, this is still a mainstream product, with stylus support as an afterthought.

This is a passive stylus, so there's no battery inside. It ships with a few replacement plastic tips, although you probably won't need them since you'll be working on smooth glass rather than a matte Wacom digitizer. The single button on the side of the stylus acts as the right mouse button, and there's an eraser on the other side. When the tablet detects the stylus, it deactivates touch input, so you wouldn't mess everything up with your palm (you can still make a mess of it if you lift up the stylus to see your artwork, but forget to remove your wrist).

While Wacom offers similar products, they are much more expensive and tend to serve a single purpose, whereas this is a good hybrid tablet in its own right. The Cube can be used for anything else when you're not letting that inner Picasso out.

Additionally, Cube i7 handled water colours admirably, pretty much the same as our desktop rig, and seeing as how they are the most difficult to pull off, we must compliment the snappy Core M processor and recommend it to anyone interested in doing so-called "tradigital" media. We are not sure an Atom would be able to deliver near lag-less performance with water colours and all other media.

And now, please don't laugh too hard, but here's a sample of what can be done. Remember, we're no artists and this was our first crack at the stylus. The "painting" is inspired by the thumbnail image in Joomla's content upload dialog box, for an added dose of geekyness. We call it Lorem Ipsum at Noon.

Everyday use

Due to its size and weight, the Cube i7 Stylus does not feel or handle like a typical tablet. It's about 200 grams heavier than most 9.7- or 10-inch tablets, and since it's a 10.6-inch 16:9 device, it is rather wide. Bear in mind that this isn't just a tablet, it's a convertible, and most of these 2-in-1 devices feature a similar layout and form factor. The Cube is just somewhat chubbier thanks to its powerful Core M processor.

Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to try it out with the keyboard dock, which features the same metal finish and a multitouch touchpad. The dock is sold separately and it will set you back around $60. The dock also includes a stylus holder, which is nice. Oh, the stylus is also sold separately for about $20.

As far as ergonomics go, we had no trouble connecting the Cube i7 Stylus to a wide range of peripherals. Having all connectors located on one side helps reduce clutter, and there is enough room between the ports, so you can use all of them simultaneously.

The USB 3.0 port comes with an adapter cable. We would have preferred a standard USB port, but the designers obviously though it was more important to keep the thickness down to a minimum and have curved edges on all sides.

We already pointed out that our biggest issue in everyday use is more or less trivial – the speakers are puny. On the upside, the rest of the package is noticeably better.

Since it's a Core M tablet with a big battery, it relies on a proprietary charger rather than a standard micro USB. The charger helps deliver more juice and charges the battery in about four hours. It uses a 3.5mm plug, which can also be inserted in the 3.5mm audio port (yep, we did it, accidentally).

However, if you are used to Atom or iPad battery life, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Core M tablets simply can't keep up with mainstream tablets. After all, the CPU has more than 1.3 billion transistors and a much more powerful GPU than anything used on Atom chips (6x more EUs than Bay Trail, 2-3x more EUs than Cherry Trail). We managed to get almost about six hours of browsing and video, which is a bit less than you'd get on mainstream 10-inch tablets based on Intel Atom or ARM chips. However, when you compare this to Surface Pro tablets and other hybrids like the Lenovo Yoga series, it's just slightly below average.

Conclusion

The Cube i7 Stylus is a strange beast. It's a small brand device and few users outside of Asia will ever get a chance to try it out. While Cube has been around for years, the company does not appear to be focusing on the international market. Considering the price/performance ratio of this particular device, perhaps it's time to give western markets a go.

The Cube i7 Stylus costs as much as a mid-range tablet with a big brand sticker on the back, yet it is based on a processor that would not feel out of place in a device twice its price. Storage and RAM are fast as well, and overall performance is excellent for a tablet (not just a cheap tablet, but any tablet). If you choose to get the keyboard dock, you'll end up with a quite powerful 2-in-1 with stylus support on top. It's a pity there's no 11.6-inch version, or 128GB model, but who knows, perhaps we will see them in the future.

There are a few shortcomings. The blue metal chassis is sensitive to fingerprints and grease. The speakers are woefully inadequate and they are our biggest disappointment. Sure, you have to save money somewhere, but Cube would have been better off with a couple of speakers used in $100 phones. As a result, content consumption suffers, but this tablet is no toy anyway. It's supposed to augment or replace ultraportable notebooks, and it should excel in that use case.

It's a pity we did not get a chance to try out the keyboard, which is sold separately for $58. The stylus is also an option, but it's relatively cheap at $35. The kicker is the price of the tablet itself – it's just $327 via GearBest, who kindly supplied this review sample.

Bottom line; the Cube i7 Stylus is a very powerful piece of kit with a surprisingly low price tag. In case you want a serious tablet or convertible, with a Wacom stylus as icing on the cake, it's a good value alternative to similar big brand devices.

Cube i7 Stylus Pros and Cons

Pros:

Excellent performance

Good display

Stylus support

Value for money

Cons:

Woefully inadequate speakers

Fingerprint prone metal finish

No full-size USB slot

Source: Cube i7 Stylus tablet reviewed