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D**T
A surprisingly good tablet - glad I took a punt on it (UPDATE, wish I hadn't)
Updated review:All was going well until one day I put the tablet on my lap and the top corner lightly tapped against my knee. Not hard, I didn't even think about it.When I opened it the touchscreen was really erratic - I mean, really erratic. It wasn't responding to any screen touches and at first I thought it was a software issue. It wasn't.When it had tapped my knee the screen actually had a very hairline crack across one corner. Because of this the touch screen functionality is completely broken. I've used other tablets before and have never had this issue, indeed my iPad is about 5 years old and although I treat all my gear carefully, when you put it on the table/desk (regardless of it being a tablet or book etc) you need to let it go and one edge drops to the table. This was no worse than that.My thoughts are that:1. The tablet is widescreen so the screen is less able to handle any form of stress.2. The screen - whilst the quality is lovely - is not very sturdy.Put both of the above together it sort of explains what happened.My updated opinion is to steer clear - this is now a very expensive paperweight.Original review:I purchased this as I have been looking for a windows tablet which could replace my android tablet so I could use it for web browsing and Netflix/Amazon as well as the occasional bit of coding/design work I need to do when out and about. My android tablet is great but being able to have something I could also use for work was quite important to me.Before buying anything I do plenty of googling and trawl through youtube reviews but I could barely find anything on the Xidu Philpad - there are about 3 videos which don't really tell you anything and not much else on the web.I compared it to other tablets and the price and spec seem too good to be true. 6gb Ram compared to others with 2gb and 4gb? A larger screen? Okay, you can't expand the storage (64gb) with an SD card (although you could use a USB stick) but this isn't meant to be my main work machine and I won't be storing photos and music on it so I wasn't too worried about that. I decided to take a gamble - I think it may have paid off…I've only had it a couple of days so here's my experience so far.There are a few reviews here about the security seal being open, this was the same with mine but it wasn't actually 'broken', its as if it wasn't stuck down properly at the factory so it sort of hangs open. Not very good for a security seal(!) but it doesn't look as if it had been tampered as the cardboard isn't damaged in any way.Moving onto the unboxing, the tablet is well protected in thick foam and there's an included screen protector. I actually thought I had a spare screen protector as there was one attached to the tablet already, however I found there was a small plastic 'tab' sticking out and then realised it wasn't the actual protector but one for transit so I took it off and wow - its a lovely display.The keyboard is attached in the box and its a really strong magnet which makes it snap to the base of the tablet. The keyboard itself is really well made, it doesn't flex much and the keys are (I think) full sized so typing is no different than my normal keyboard.The tablet itself is pretty sturdy - it doesn't feel like plastic, more like the material my Macbook Pro is made of (Aluminium?), and the kick stand is well made and stays where you put it. It doesn't open as far as some of the other tablets I saw (in PC World) but its perfectly comfortable to use. I can even open the stand, attach the keyboard and use it on my laptop which was surprising. Okay, its not as steady as a laptop, but hey, its a removable keyboard which is meant to be used on a table so I can't argue.Turn the tablet on and you're greeted with a bright and vibrant display - its really, really nice and crystal clear. Whilst not the resolution of my retina MacBook Pro, it is really sharp.The charger uses a USB Type C connector, so you can connect a device up or charge it. It also has two full size USB ports. Very handy.Once everything was set up (it was nice and easy) there were quite a few Windows updates which I downloaded and installed. Whilst they were downloading I also did some browsing and downloaded some of my software (Sublime Text, Affinity Designer etc) and gave the tablet mode a go (without the keyboard).Again, I was impressed. Looking at the BBC website on the tablet in portrait mode was pretty amazing - I'm not used to seeing so many articles listed on the screen (its a widescreen display so when used in portrait orientation its really long). I also found Microsoft Edge pretty good. I was surprised as I normally use a Mac with Opera/Firefox but Edge did actually beat them in site loading speeds.I tried Netflix and Amazon Video and there were no stutters and everything looked fantastic on the display.When the updates had completed I left them to install and hit my first little issue which was the keyboard symbols not matching what I pressed. If I pressed shift-2 I got a " character instead of the @ symbol. This is the first Windows machine I've had so I asked the seller how to set it and they came back quickly with an apology and some helpful advice (set the language to English with US keyboard) and everything was fine. I can flick between languages by hitting the windows key and space bar so that I can get the £ symbol - everything else is fine. I suppose I could get a UK keyboard - I wonder if the Surface Pro keyboard would work with this… if not it isn't a deal breaker.Regarding disk space, obviously the system takes up a chunk of the hard drive and being 'only' 64gb I found I had around 40gb left when I checked the storage after first boot up. After all the updates (and software installation) I was surprised to see the available space drop to 14gb! No worries though, I went into the storage control section of the system settings and saw that the previous windows installation was taking up 24.7gb, plus there were other old files which together brought the space used by old files to 25.8gb in total. I removed the files which weren't needed anymore and got just over 30gb free. Having two full size USB ports I can always pop in a compact USB stick and push the storage up by an additional 128gb or so.As I said earlier, my intention is to use this mainly for web browsing, Netflix/Amazon and do a small amount of work now and then which includes coding and design. I'm not really into gaming so can't really say how it performs on that front, but so far its running Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo quite well and, to be honest, whilst it may look like a Surface Pro, I know it isn't a Surface Pro so my expectations aren't too high. But, so far, I think I can safely say that this is a cracking (not so little) tablet, seller support is quick and helpful (and that's a good thing to have) and I'd say if you're not sure its definitely worth a punt.P.S. I'll update this review if anything goes wrong with it in the next few weeks/months.
V**T
A Truly Impressive Surface Pro Alternative With Gorgeous Big Screen
I love good quality budget tech and this Surface Pro wanna-be by Xidu is evidence that we don't always have to pay Samsung or Apple prices to get respectable gadgetry. For under £320 the box includes the well built tablet, keyboard cover, stylus (needing AAAA battery), and a Valentin's-like greeting gift card complete with red ribbon from the manufacturer offering a free wired mouse. In my case, the mouse arrived in the box too. Firstly, it gets top marks for the 2K screen, which is absolutely stunning. Let me say it again, stunning!!! It may not be fully laminated but I know a quality picture when I see it. The keyboard is also surprisingly good to use; the key travel and separation are perfect for speedy typing. The sturdy kickstand hides the useful SD card slot (up to 256GB) and is capable of every position, including very low. The speakers are on either side of the screen offer good stereo separation, and although the volume and quality of sound is satisfactory, the unit is unlikely to win awards for its audio performance, but that's what wired or Bluetooth speakers are for.The overall performance of the tablet is very good rather than brilliant - we have to pay £700 more if we want that, but I find it definitely meets my fussy productivity and entertainment needs. You Tube videos play flawlessly at the highest HD/4K quality setting, and there was absolutely no lag or tedious buffering either. Good wifi speed helps! The tablet offers C-type connectivity as well as two useful USB 3.0 ports. The ports can power external hard drives too, which is brilliant! Attach a Type-C hub for HDMI connectivity, or just cast the screen via Edge browser. The onboard cameras take usable pictures - see my last pic. I've added Microsoft Office and can confirm the Word docs work flawlessly, but it doesn't come pre-installed at this price. The touch screen is highly responsive and the included stylus has two onboard buttons to navigate, select and paste text etc. Very handy! I haven't had the tablet long enough to properly judge battery life, so I will update this initial review in the very near future. That said, I'm not expecting too much given the asking price. Charging time via the included UK plug/cable is probably 2 hours or so, but I will confirm. Lastly, there is a year's warranty in the box, and I can confirm that Xidu offer lightening fast customer service; a truly impressive company with a first class budget product. Again, I will update my review in a few weeks, but for now I can honestly say that I am extremely happy with my purchase. One more time, the sublime 13.3 inch screen...
J**R
Bargain Machine
I'll be honest with you I am superbly in love with this ! Not just because of its beautiful 2k display , or the fact its extremely versatility in the way you can use it , but just because of the overall craftsman and responsiveness of the overall device is beyond what you’d expect from something of this price range. It truly does trump some of the more well known names on the market.What id say to you is don’t be put off by the fact it has tablet in the title. This is more than just a tablet, its all in one system with capabilities that can out trump some of the cheaper laptops you’d find on amazon. you can use this any way you want. But it as a student for general tasks or as someone looking for a graphics workstation - that can further their work. The possibilities of how it can be used is endless.Having that portability to hand changes the way you look at your laptop. I found travelling long distances with this was a dream. Sometimes I wouldn’t even bring the laptop as the tablet on itself was more than good enough for casual browsing and email checkup. But having that keyboard to hand allows me to take full opportunity of its word processing power! With 6gb of ram its more than enough to handle most apps and multitasking needs.It is a bargain when you think about it and I have had no problems so far so I couldn’t recommend enough!
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