Category: Tablet

Tablets might not be such a big thing as they were almost a decade ago, but this sector of the market is not doing that bad, either. Obviously, tablet makers have to thank the ongoing pandemic for homeschooling and work-from-home, not to mention the increased media consumption rate worldwide. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro is a premium slate that has been unveiled back in August and now is finally up for purchase.

The aforementioned Android tablet uses the same processor as the Google Pixel 4a, namely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G. The 11.5-inch display uses an OLED panel with 2,560 x 1,600 pixels and Dolby Vision, and the slate also features no less than 4 JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos audio. With optional pen and keyboard support, the Tab P11 Pro starts at US$499.99, which is the price for the setup with 4 GB of memory and 128 GB of internal storage space. The advertised autonomy can go all the way up to an impressive 15 hours.

In addition to the above, we should also mention the dual 8 MP front cameras and the 13 MP + 5 MP main camera assembly on the back. The 6/128 GB version costs only US$50 more, which is a great deal. Sadly, there is no keyboard or case included in the retail package for both hardware setups mentioned here. 

We have reported on several Teclast devices over the years, with the company specialising in tablets. Now with the M30 Pro, Teclast has released a tablet with a MediaTek Helio P60 chipset that retails for US$189.99. Available on AliExpress, the Teclast M30 Pro also has 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

Meanwhile, the Helio P60 offers four ARM Cortex-A73 cores, four ARM Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU that can boost up to 850 MHz. ARM manufacturers the processor cores on a 12 nm process and the GPU cores on a 16 nm process, for reference.

These components power a 10.1-inch IPS display that resolves natively at 1,920 x 1,080 pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio. There is also a 7,500 mAh battery, which Teclast claims can deliver up to 10 hours of battery life when streaming videos, and a microSD card reader should you need more than the allotted volume of built-in storage.

The M30 Pro has an LTE modem too, for which it has two nano SIM card slots. Additionally, Teclast has included support for A-GPS, BDS, GPS, Glonass and Galileo navigation services. The M30 Pro also has plenty of I/O, as the image below demonstrates.

Teclast ships the M30 Pro with Android 10. However, we would not necessarily hold out hope for Android 11 and beyond. The manufacturer has not promised Android 11 for the M30 Pro, at any rate.

The T8 proved to be what claims to be in our review: A cheap Android tablet. The MatePad T8 rounds off Huawei’s low-priced MatePad series.

When it comes to performance, build quality and battery life, the entry-level Huawei tablet is very competitive. Whether or not any device should ship with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of eMMC memory in the year 2020 is still open to debate. However, in our opinion, no device with a 5100-mAh battery should come with a 5-watt charger. A microUSB port is also inappropriate in the year 2020, even for a budget tablet.

In addition to these minor points of criticism, Huawei also failed to provide its entry-level tablet with any unique features such as Huawei M Pencil support. Moreover, the hardware is also not special and is on the level of a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 from the year 2019. The MatePad T8 does not offer any major advantages when it comes to the screen or the SoC, either. Additionally, because Huawei is barred from using Google Play services or Google applications, the tablet only supports Huawei Mobile Services. 

If you are interested in the MatePad T8 and want to learn more about it, then you should check out our extensive review of the Huawei MatePad T8. 

WalkingCat has revealed that Microsoft plans to release a new version of the Surface Hub. Microsoft released 55-inch and 84-inch versions of the Surface Hub five years ago, but it opted to only bring a 50-inch edition of the Surface Hub 2S to market last year. However, it did announce an 85-inch model last April, which may be the version that we are looking at here.

According to the two images, the device has an 85.6-inch Pixelsense display that operates at 4K. The display also has a 16:9 aspect ratio and is coated anti-glare glass. It is only a 60 Hz panel though, unlike the 120 Hz ones that Microsoft offered with the original Surface Hub. Additionally, the screen has 32 mm thick bezels, which appear to be uniform.

The device itself measures 1130 x 1960 x 85 mm and weighs 85 kg. Moreover, Microsoft has included VESA 600 x 600 mounting screens, which can be seen below. The device also has USB Type-A and Type-C ports, along with Source, Volume and Power buttons. 

It is unclear if Microsoft will ever bring this version of the Surface Hub to market. The company postponed the Surface Hub 2X earlier this year, although Windows Central claimed that it would eventually ship with another variant of Windows Core OS, codenamed Santorini. Mary Jo Foley stated in February that Microsoft still planned to release the 85-inch version of the Surface Hub 2S in 2020, so there may still be hope for the project yet. As for a price, we expect Microsoft to launch the device for at least the cost of the 84-inch Surface Hub, which started at US$22,700. 

Apple may not have announced the iPhone 12 series today, but it has unleashed the A14 Bionic chipset with the new iPad Air. The fourth-generation tablet has received an overhaul from the tablet that Apple released last year, which was the first iPad Air since the second-generation model that debuted in 2014.

The new iPad Air has been upgraded to a 10.9-inch screen that resolves at 2,360 x 1,640 pixels, which Apple is calling a Liquid Retina display. The fourth-generation tablet has much smaller bezels than its predecessor too, so Apple has moved the Touch ID to within the power button. Another change from previous iPad Airs is the switch to USB Type-C charging. Apple will include a 20 W USB Type-C charger in the box, which should give the iPad Air relatively speedy recharging times.

Apple has also upgraded the iPad Air to Wi-Fi 6 and claims to have equipped the tablet with a 60% faster LTE modem than the one it included in last year’s iPad Air. The new iPad Air will also support the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and Smart Folio covers.

Undoubtedly, the most significant change for the iPad Air is the inclusion of Apple’s new A14 Bionic chipset. If you would like to find out more about the company’s new 5 nm chipset, then head here.

The fourth-generation iPad Air starts at US$599 and will begin shipping from October in five colours. The base model comes with 64 GB of storage and Wi-Fi only. If you want LTE connectivity or 256 GB storage, then these are US$130 and US$150 surcharges, respectively.