Related
Pros : This game is an original title with creative graphics and mechanics. The finger tapping used to latch on to fleshy walls and objects to get through levels is very intuitive and addictive. Robust physics are a big and enjoyable part of this game’s charm. This an impressive looking game when compared to other titles on the platform in that it feartures sharp graphics and smooth animations. Generally a great pass time.
Cons : I don’t know if I can even complain about pricing anymore giving comparitive examples of most XBox Live games but at $4.99 this title still seems a bit steep when viewed against other platforms offerings. This game is a good pass time but lacks the a good deal substance past that (mobile game disease). Some might find it’s gameplay frustrating and be turned off by crawling through the human body (personally I think it’s cool but I’m not everyone).
Recommendation : This game isn’t going to change your life but is definately a good way to pass a few dead moments of it. If you like creepy crawling things and some intuitive orignal gameplay you’ll be happy with your $4.99 purchase of this title.
http://www.L337ware.com
I agree with you. I struggled to reach level 20. The game is really too tough but awesome in graphics and even sound tracks are of high quality.
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removed.
This is pretty impressive. Detachable cables are a big plus! I wish they had bi-flange tips though,
I think I might actually go for this one... just one query: I know it's probably a wrong comparison to do because of the formats; but how do they compare, sound quality and feel wise, in your experience, with the ATH-M50?
ashphoenix said:
This is pretty impressive. Detachable cables are a big plus! I wish they had bi-flange tips though,
I think I might actually go for this one... just one query: I know it's probably a wrong comparison to do because of the formats; but how do they compare, sound quality and feel wise, in your experience, with the ATH-M50?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can buy eartips for a few bucks
M50 and IM02 are in two different worlds, not even apples and oranges lol!!! M50 is over ear dynamic drivers with warm bassy sound, decent clarity, and not much of a transparency (detailed separation of different instruments). Those are my favorite listening headphones on laptop when I watch YT channels or just background listening; very good build and easy to take on/off or use in Dj-style with one earcup. But they are NOT audiophile quality headphones. IM02 are very analytical and detailed. If you were looking for Etymotic as your original choice, M50 is not for you. Btw, Audio Technica also released ATH-IM50 and IM70 dual dynamic driver in-ears but only available in Japan. That IM50 is more on par with M50 in terms of very strong bass, but you are not going to get the same level of details and instrument separation as you get with balanced armature drivers of IM02.
vectron said:
You can buy eartips for a few bucks
M50 and IM02 are in two different worlds, not even apples and oranges lol!!! M50 is over ear dynamic drivers with warm bassy sound, decent clarity, and not much of a transparency (detailed separation of different instruments). Those are my favorite listening headphones on laptop when I watch YT channels or just background listening; very good build and easy to take on/off or use in Dj-style with one earcup. But they are NOT audiophile quality headphones. IM02 are very analytical and detailed. If you were looking for Etymotic as your original choice, M50 is not for you. Btw, Audio Technica also released ATH-IM50 and IM70 dual dynamic driver in-ears but only available in Japan. That IM50 is more on par with M50 in terms of very strong bass, but you are not going to get the same level of details and instrument separation as you get with balanced armature drivers of IM02.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the explanation, that clarified a lot -- I think I'm now sold on IM02...
Now just waiting for the X5 to hit the US market!
How's the sound signature compared to the UE 900? (Details, Soundstage)
3NF03RC3R said:
How's the sound signature compared to the UE 900? (Details, Soundstage)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Different beasts I had IM02 as a review loaner for a very short time awhile ago, so can only go by memory. Their soundstage was comparable, nothing out of this world, above average. In terms of details, I want to say that IM02 was more analytical versus UE900 being more balanced with a better bass quantity and smoother upper mids/treble (though a bit peaky as well). IM02 is in category of Etymotic and Zero Audio Doppios where you have brutally honest details which can also get borderline sibilant. UE900 and W40 are smoother and more forgiving, better for enjoyable non-fatigue listening. BUT in my book the king of all reviewed IEMs (from my list) is indisputably ATH-IM03. You get the ear-friendly details and da bass!!!
Hi vectron
Very nice, how about the IM04? Did AT also sent you one?
LenMargaux said:
Hi vectron
Very nice, how about the IM04? Did AT also sent you one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, didn't get. I don't think AT is pushing IM01 and IM04 too much and I haven't seen too much discussions about it on Head-fi. If you want a comprehensive comparison, you need to check out earfonia thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/705687/rev...-ath-im02-ath-im03-ath-im04-ath-im50-ath-im70
I think with IM04 price going up, you might be dealing with diminishing returns but for sure it might be more refined. I only tested IM02 and IM03, where found IM03 to be more suited for my preferred sound sig (with lunashops silver-plated upgrade cable). IM02 is more analytical/details, while IM03 has more bass impact and smoother at the top.
Btw, waiting to receive CKR9 and CKR10 review samples in the next few weeks. AT US is finally going to carry these, and I heard only great things about it! Dual dynamic driver in push-pull config, can't go wrong with that
I think the IM02 that you returned, was sent to me. haha I recognized those markings on the filter. anyway, was it easy to get a sample from beyerdynamic? I been asking them so far no luck.
Here's my review by the way: http://thepcenthusiast.com/audio-technica-ath-im02-review/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10411/the-oneplus-3-review/4
I like the Anandtech site. But sorry, I can't understand his harsh criticism of the display.
When I compare the colors with my LG G2 and my Galaxy Tab S2, they are a bit different (like they are on any device...), but absolutely ok and in no way extreme. And you can set the color balance yourself - the reviewer doesn't write anything about that...
Only thing is the resolution, I can see that indeed the pentile matrix isn't optimal; but I don't think that is a point which justifies such a hard criticism.
Not for some. Personally the display is the main interacting point. I kind of question OP's decision to economise there.
Snapdragon do very good midrange processors, especially the latest series which are plenty fast enough for the latest games and heavy multi tasking. They went for shop headlines instead with a (relatively) pointlessly fast processor and 6gb ram which no one really needs.
A better display, larger battery, water proofing and perhaps better camera would have made more sense IMHO. Of course it wouldn't quite have blitzed benchmarks and thus lost headline appeal. Need proof? Just read how many on here quote Antutu results of 120'000 + even if that is absolutely pointless in real life use.
Still, not taking anything away from OP, the phone seems like good value and I may get one yet at some stage but I don't like to adopt to early. Rather let others do the field testing first!
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The good:
Sharp, colorful, and bright display.
Impressive sound quality.
Nice design and build.
MicroSD card support.
18W fast charge.
The bad:
Older, less powerful SoC. than competitions in the same price range.
Poor cameras.
UI not optimized for the 10.5-inch screen.
Verdict:
If you want an inexpensive tablet for media consumption and don’t mind a less well-known brand, the Alldocube X is the slate to go for.
Yes, Android tablet is still a thing in 2019, with major brands such as Samsung, Huawei and ASUS still releasing new slates, and several smaller Chinese brands such as Alldocube, Teclast and Onda still putting on sale more affordable alternatives. Although lagging behind in both popularity and functionality compared to the Apple iPads, some Android tablets do offer better design, better display and sound or generally higher performance-price ratio. The market for these devices is indeed shrinking, but still existent.
The Alldocube X is a metal-bodied slate which offers Android users a premium-looking design, a fantastic 10.5-inch AMOLED display and great sound quality. But does it match the best of the best in the game, let’s find out.
Design
Only available in one color at the moment, the Alldocube X looks neat and elegant. The metallic rear and curved sides give the slate an air of luxury.
The front is dominated by a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display. Bezels on the left and right are relatively small, but bezels on the above and under are quite big. It won’t win any beauty contest against the more premium new iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, but is at least on the same level of the Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro. A front-facing camera and a light sensor can be found above the display, the rest of the front looks clean, without any button or branding.
There is a fingerprint reader on the right side of the tablet, which is not the fastest we’ve experienced, but still admirably fast. It certainly doesn’t feel as instant as my Xiaomi Mi 8 or Vivo X20, but it does beat the in-display fingerprint reader on my Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
A USB-C port of USB 3.0 standard is also on the right side. Thankfully, you can still find a 3.5mm audio jack on the slate. Many may argue that almost everyone should own a pair of wireless headphones nowadays, but we do appreciate the option that we can still use our brilliant wired headphones with it to enjoy better sound.
A Micro SD card slot is located on the top side, but to insert a Micro SD card in the tablet you need to use an ejection tool, which is not included in the package that I received, but should be included in the retail package. I used the SIM tool from my Xiaomi Mi8 box and it worked fine.
A power/standby key and a volume rocker sit on the left side of the tablet. Both buttons have decent travel and give the users a tactile feedback.
Speaker grilles are located on the top side of the slate, an unconventional placement for this kind of devices.
The X measures 243.68mm * 173.14mm * 6.9mm, and weighs 495g. It does no fit in our hands as well as those 8-inchers, such as the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 or the Huawei MediaPad M5 8.4, but it shouldn’t burden our hands too much, thanks to the slim and lightweight build. Despite being so thin, the X feels extraordinarily robust, mainly because of its glass front and aluminum back. The build quality is as good as these top-tier products in the market.
Display
The X sports a gorgeous 10.5-inch display, which is the same found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. It is the brightest and most vivid I have ever seen on a tablet. Watching the trailer video, we immediately noticed intense, saturated hues. The 2560 x 1600-pixel display is so sharp that we didn't need to squint to see those very fine details.
According to the colorimeter, the display of the Alldocube X produces an amazing 219 percent of the sRGB gamut. That makes it the most colorful tablet (or laptop) display we've ever seen, obliterating the 118-percent tablet average, as well as the ratings from the Surface Pro 5 (140 percent) and iPad Pro (122 percent).
The display is also super bright, emitting up to 460 nits. That makes for a wide range of viewing angles with colors staying strong at 80 degrees to both the left and right. The X tops the 425-nit category average and the 396-nit Surface Pro. And thanks to the super high-contrast AMOLED panel, the X has even better visibility than the 477-nit iPad Pro, which sports an IPS screen.
Sound
The Alldocube X offers top firing stereo speakers, which produce loud, and full-bodied sound. These built-in speakers can sound a little harsh at the highest volume, and lacks the kind of soundstage produced by the Quad Harman Kardon tuned speakers found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and new Huawei MediaPads. Still, they are much better than average and are definitely good enough for YouTube and Tik Tok feeds. For audiophiles, headphones or external speakers are still very much needed for music and action movies.
The X also comes with an AKM AK4376A Hi-Fi DAC, which is rarely found in a tablet. This DAC achieves -107dB THD+N and 125dB SNR, the best performance in the field as a compact DAC with headphone amplifier for portable audio products. It also has an impressive maximum sampling frequency/resolution of PCM 384 kHz/32-bit. Coming from the Xiaomi Mi8, my audiophile ears did notice a significant improvement in overall sound quality when plugging in my Creative Trio IEM. The bass has a lot more punch, the vocals are crisp clear, instrument separation and positioning are as good as some of my earlier DAPs. I even asked a few of my non-audiophile, iPad using friends to try listening to music with the X, all of them actually said that the X sounded a lot better than their iPhones and iPads, although they couldn’t really pinpoint where the differences were. Even the very demanding HiFiMan HE300, which lots of my phones and tablets struggled with driving, works decently with the Alldocube X.
System & UI
The X, at least the international edition, ships with stock Android 8.1 Oreo, with no customization on top, none at all. This is both good news and bad news. The good new is that there won’t be any bloatware, which normally comes with Chinese phones and tablets. The bad news is that this interface is not really tablet-optimized.
You won’t find anything similar to the DeX mode on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S or the desktop-style Remix OS on some other earlier tablets. The stock screen-split function works fine with most applications, but it doesn’t really give you that kind of computing experience the DeX mode offers when there are serious productivity tasks at hand.
Unfortunately, the Android ecosystem is going towards a direction which cares less and less about tablet users. Many of the tablet-optimized apps in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t got any updates in a long time. As a result, most of the apps we tried on the X were just phone apps blown up to fill the 10.5-inch screen, so the user experience on the X won’t really rival it is on an iPad.
Performance
The Alldocube X is powered by a MediaTek MT8176 processor, which has a hexa-core CPU (2 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.1GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53) and a PowerVR GX6250 GPU clocked at 600 MHz. The funny thing is, this chipset, which was built in 28nm, was actually released in 2016 to rival the Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 950 and Snapdragon 652. Yet now it powers a tablet made for 2019. There is 4GB RAM to take care of multi-tasking. These are definitely not top-of-the-line specs for a tablet, and pale in comparison with the internals of latest smartphones in terms of horsepower.
In the Geekbench 4 CPU test, the X scored 1630 in single core and 3994 in multi-core, which is below the average score of mid-range smartphones, which are normally powered by Snapdragon 660 or 710 processors.
In the Antutu benchmark, however, the X clearly outscored the ASUS Zenpad 3S 10, which uses the same SoC., and the Alldocube X1, probably because of its faster RAM and more efficient Android 8.1 operating system.
The storage of the international edition of the X is 64GB, with a slot for a microSD for expansion. I inserted a 128GB microSD card and it works fine. The local storage is eMMc 5.1, which won’t rival the UFS2.1 storage found in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and today’s top smartphones in terms of read/write speed, but it is still quite decent and matches the storage of midrange smartphones and other high-end tablets, as can be seen in the Androbench score.
In the real-world performance, the X is smooth and responsive in general, although it lacks the silky-smoothness found on modern flagship smartphones. There are also some noticeable hiccups in scrolling through homepages and settings, but we believe that’s more due to the animation settings of this tablet. Launching apps is very fast, but could still be slower than my Xiaomi Mi 8 while loading some big applications.
The 4GB of RAM is plenty, though. Even playing a 4K video on YouTube in the chrome browser, loading some image-heavy websites in many other tabs, and playing another local 1080P video simultaneously, the X remains smooth and responsive. The X can also keep apps in memory long enough so that you don’t feel like you’re reloading everything all the time, but when background applications are piling up, there will be noticeable lags and stutters.
When it comes to gaming, the X had no problem with most of the graphic-intense games at highest settings. “World of Warships”, “Shadow Fight 3” and “FIFA Mobile” all ran without a hitch.
But with highly demanding titles such as Asphalt 8, we had to use moderate settings to ensure playability as there were stutters and delays at the highest setting. The sound and visuals the X offers make gaming on it much more fun than it is on an average smartphone.
Video playback works even better. The X scored 872 in Antutu Video Tester benchmark and had no problem decoding all the video clips we played on it. It also has no problem playing all 2K videos in the YouTube app and all 4K YouTube videos in the chrome browser. With a dazzling 2K AMOLED display and impressive sound quality, watching videos on the X is the best experience we have ever had on a tablet.
Simple productivity tasks such as writing an email, editing a photo, splitting a video clip and making small modifications to a document generally work fine. Limited to what the Google Play Store offers, it is impossible to consider serious creative work with the X, or any Android tablet for that matter. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and Huawei MediaPad M5 both come with a pressure-sensitive pen, and should enable users to do some sketching and take handwriting notes, but not much more. Windows-based devices are still more solid choices for productivity.
Cameras
The X comes with an 8MP front-facing camera and an 8MP main camera, both of which are of F/2.8 aperture, but both are simply just usable.
The images produced by the main camera are not satisfying at all – colors are quite poorly produced, and everything feels a shade too dark and fake.
The camera on the front works okay for video chats when there is good lighting, but it is not the kind of camera you want to take selfies with. Both camera support 720P video recording. However, due to the lack of any obvious form of stabilization, footage looks very shaky. These are definitely not the cameras you want to archive your life with, any entry-level smartphone could do a much better job at that.
Battery
The 8,000mAh Li-Po battery under the hood normally gives us 7 hours of screen time on a full charge. I got on a high-speed train from Guiyang to Chengdu on Feb, 4th, playing two episodes of “I am the Night” and a movie called “Overlord”, with the display brightness set at 50%, 4 hours later, I got off the train with 45% battery left on the X.
The X supports fast charge, and the stock wall charger gives an 18W output, which could fully charge the device (from 0% to 100%) in less than 3 hours. It is a big improvement from previous Allodcube tablets, which normally demanded 5-6 hour for a full charge.
Competition
Priced at $269, the X is not a cheap device. In fact, it is the most expensive Android tablet from Alldocube to date. In the same price range, you can find the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus (10.1-inch), which comes with an inferior 10.1-inch IPS display, but has a more powerful Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, higher battery capacity, and LTE support. There is also the ASUS ZenPad 3S 10, which is equipped with the same MT8176 processor, but pales in comparison in other dimensions. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 costs significantly more, but falls behind the X in almost all categories. In addition, the base model of the new Apple iPad released in 2018 costs only $60 more than the Alldocube X, but it offers many more optimized apps which can utilize the tablet screen real estate a lot better, and a much stronger brand presence. And for consumers who focus more on productivity, there are also many Windows-based hybrids under $300 on the market.
Below this price point, there are a bunch of tablets with the similar or even faster SoC. from less well-known Chinese brands such as Chuwi, Teclast and Onda, but none of those slates compares with the X in terms of display, audio, design and build quality.
Verdict
It is very disappointing to see a 2019 tablet powered by a 2016 processor, even the Alldocube X1, which was released last year and costs much less than the X, came with a beefier Mediatek Helio X20 Deca-core processor.
Also, Google Play Store is not really tablet-friendly. As shipments of Android tablet have been on a downward spiral for 15 straight quarters, Google’s very own new Pixel Slate is now running on Chrome OS and foldable phones are still clunky early prototypes, the eco-system for Android slates is only going to get worse for the next couple of years.
Also, given Alldocube’s infamous reputation of stopping upgrading the firmware of their devices after a year since the release, the X will highly likely be stuck with Android Oreo forever. For those who care about firmware upgrade of their devices, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus will be a more future-proof choice.
With that said, we do think that the Alldocube X focuses on what’s the most important for an Android slate. When it comes to brilliant displays, the X stands at the top of the mountain with a ton of color and brightness, with very few competitions. If you are looking for a tablet mainly for media consumption, the Alldocube X is an easy recommendation. The only other option which offers the same level of visuals is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, but that will cost you $380 more. Of course, it offers more horsepower, more functionalities and productivity with the DeX desktop mode and the S-Pen, but if these are not compelling features for you, the X will almost save you a fortune.
This is my new daily driver tablet now, just becoz of the screen and sound.
Ain't anyone else have this tablet?
jupiter2012 said:
This is my new daily driver tablet now, just becoz of the screen and sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine too, most devices with oled screens cost a fortune. So much nicer watching media with perfect blacks rather than the milky IPS LCD displays which always seem to have some level of light bleed.
Vertron said:
Mine too, most devices with oled screens cost a fortune. So much nicer watching media with perfect blacks rather than the milky IPS LCD displays which always seem to have some level of light bleed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I cannot even look at my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 anymore, even though it has a display which used to be considered top notch.
They promised android 9 update
https://www.facebook.com/alldocube/photos/a.245194862711288/349671052263668/?type=3&theater
Battery is Li-Ion.
Does Netflix HD work on this device?
satokun said:
Does Netflix HD work on this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it only has Widevine L3.
Kulid said:
They promised android 9 update
https://www.facebook.com/alldocube/photos/a.245194862711288/349671052263668/?type=3&theater
Battery is Li-Ion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, really looking forward to the Android 9 update
Vertron said:
No, it only has Widevine L3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a shame.
jupiter2012 said:
that's a shame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll have to pay a bit more for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5E if you want Netflix in HD
Vertron said:
You'll have to pay a bit more for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5E if you want Netflix in HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't the Tab S4 support Widevine L1? The S5E seems to have an even weaker processor compared to the S4.
jupiter2012 said:
Doesn't the Tab S4 support Widevine L1? The S5E seems to have an even weaker processor compared to the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends what you want to use it for. The processor on the tab S5E is adequate for browsing and streaming. It is also cheaper, lighter and has a better build than the tab S4. If you need the s pen or want to game then sure get the S4. However the S5 is rumoured to have Snapdragon 855 so it might be worth waiting for as it'll be a couple generations jump from the Snapdragon 835 in the S4.
Vertron said:
It depends what you want to use it for. The processor on the tab S5E is adequate for browsing and streaming. It is also cheaper, lighter and has a better build than the tab S4. If you need the s pen or want to game then sure get the S4. However the S5 is rumoured to have Snapdragon 855 so it might be worth waiting for as it'll be a couple generations jump from the Snapdragon 835 in the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much!
通过我的 LYA-AL00 上的 Tapatalk发言
Really hope that there will be Alldocube X 2nd Gen, with a more capable Soc. and refined design.
The send generation Allldocube X will feature a Snapdragon 660 processor.
jupiter2012 said:
The send generation Allldocube X will feature a Snapdragon 660 processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this your guess or do you have evidence / information that the second generation Alldocube X will feature a Snapdragon 660 processor?
And if so, when is the 2nd generation Alldocube X with Snapdragon 660 is going to be released?
Their marketing manager told me they had the plan in April, but no further news afterwards.
通过我的 LYA-AL00 上的 Tapatalk发言
I saw lots of complaints regarding the battery life after a few months, how is it really?
leelavie said:
I saw lots of complaints regarding the battery life after a few months, how is it really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My unit lasts as long as it did 5 months ago.
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Pros:
Sharp, colorful display
Decent performance
Comfortable keyboard and touchpad
Affordable price
Cons:
Relatively old CPU
Subpar battery life
The CPU gets hot easily.
No fingerprint reader
Main Specs of the Alldocube KBook
OS: Licensed Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel Core M-6Y30 dual-core CPU（0.9GHz – 2.2GHZ）
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 515
RAM: 8GB LPDDR3 RAM
Screen: 13.5-inch LCD (3000*2000px)
Storage: 512GB M2. SSD
Ports: 2 x USB 3.0 Type A, 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C, 1*3.5mm audio jack
Connectivity: 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Camera: 2MP front-facing webcam
Weight: 1.6kg
Size: 312.3 x 238 x 15.4mm (W x D x H)
Battery: 7.6V-5000mAh
Variants, price and availability
If you are constantly bothered by the many variants of a certain model, good news here: the Alldocube KBook comes with only one configuration. The model features a 13.5-inch IPS display at the resolution of 3000*2000px, an Intel Core M-6Y30 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.
The laptop is priced at $399.00 and you can buy it on Geekbuying, Gearbest and Aliexpress.
Retail Package
The retail package of the KBook doesn’t stray too far from that of other Ultrabooks.
Inside the box you get a KBook laptop, a power adaptor, and a user manual.
The 36W power adaptor is a relatively old one, and it is branded “Thinker”, which is a model released by Alldocube two years ago. I guess they still have some stock left and don’t even bother to rebrand these adaptors.
Design and build
Just like many other non-branded Ultrabooks on the market, the Alldocube KBook looks so much like a MacBook Air-- with its restrained, minimalist design -- that it could be easily mistaken for one. However, you won’t get that shinny Apple logo on the back of the screen cover, instead you will find a small, low-profile Alldocube logo in the corner.
The KBook’s design is actually identical to that of the Alldocube Thinker i35 laptop, which was released more than two years ago. The chassis is made of high-quality magnesium alloy. Open the laptop up and you will come face to face with a 13.5-inch LCD panel, the same as the more celebrated Microsoft Book. Just like the 2017 Macbook Air, the KBook’s screen-to-bezel ratio isn’t impressive at all, especially when compared to the Huawei MateBook 13 and the Microsoft Surface laptop, both of which have super thin bezels.
Above the display there’s a 2 mega-pixel webcam. In terms of image quality, the webcam is pretty basic – I looked like a grainy shadow indoors, and shockingly blanched outside.
Opening the device is quite easy and can be done with one hand. The screen can be opened to about 180 degrees, which is ideal when I am using it on my lap. Despite the smooth hinges, the display hardly wobbles when typing.
At 15,4mm thick, and weighing 1.6kg, the KBook isn't the thinnest or lightest laptop around. The award for the absolute thinnest and lightest Ultrabook goes to the Acer Swift 7, which measures only 8.9mm thick and weighs less than 1KG.
But the KBook is still much thinner than average business laptops such as the HP EliteBook 745. And that added bulk is room for traditional USB-A ports, which are beginning to disappear from ultra-thin laptops.
The Alldocube KBook has two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB3.0 Type-C port, a DC-in input and a 3.5mm audio jack on board. It is nice to see these traditional USB 3.0 ports here, as the two type-C ports on the Huawei Mateook 13 constantly frustrate me when I don’t have any dongle within reach.
Not only can the Type-C port play host to storage and input devices, it can also be used as an additional DC input, as long as you have a PD charger. I tried using my Huawei MateBook 13 charger and the Mate 20 Pro charger with the KBook, both were working like a charm.
There are 4 relatively big rubber feet on the bottom of the device, preventing it from scratches and ensuring that enough space is under the bottom side for heat dissipation.
In summary, the KBook is classy from the outside, and is very well-built, too. Despite the slim design, the device feels quite sturdy and robust in the hands and looks like it will survive some serious turbulence and even occasional falls. The texture of the surface feels nice and comfortable, and ugly mold lines are nowhere to be found.
Keyboard and touchpad
Unlike other laptops, the power button of the KBook is in its keyboard.
Sadly, there is no fingerprint reader on board, if you want some privacy for your KBook, the most convenient option is to enter the 4-digit PIN code every time you unlock the device.
One good thing about those sizeable dimensions of the laptop is the amount of space afforded to the keyboard. This stretches close to the left and right edges, so those isolated keys have plenty of room to breathe. While not being the industry best, the keys offer decent travel and nice tactile feedback, there’s no sponginess at all. I reached my top typing speed almost immediately, and found that I could type on the board for hours without feeling fatigue in my fingers.
The touchpad on the KBook is not as smooth as the one on the HP EliteBook 745 G5, but the added friction only makes the entire experience a little better. Fortunately, there are also a left and a right click buttons hiding in the touchpad, making the mousing experience much better than those without one.
Display
The 13.5-inch IPS screen on the Alldocube KBook is simply breath-taking. It is the same panel used for the Microsoft Surface Book and offers solid color reproduction, amazing contrast and excellent brightness.
3000x2000 pixels on a 13.5-inch screen translates into a pixel density of 268PPI, which gives the KBook the top spot in the list of laptops I have tested (Please don’t mind the Apple iPad Pro 12.9 in the list).
268PPI means that the display offers a ton of detail, enough that I could see the strains and bloodshot of the eye in the picture, and read small names on a faraway chalkboard in some of the movie trailers I played. Browsing webpages on the KBook was also the best experience I have had with a laptop, as text rendering on the screen is fantastic, and it would be pretty difficult to discern individual pixels at any sort of normal distance.
Side by side, the KBook’s display is much sharper, much brighter, much more vibrant, and offers much better viewing angles than the 14-inch 1080P display on the HP Elite 745 G5. Also, the KBook’s 3:2 screen aspect ratio works better than the 16:9 display on the HP EliteBook in browsing web pages, and editing Office documents.
The Huawei MateBook 13’s 2K screen is also very sharp (200PPI), and it even matches the KBook’s panel in terms of brightness and viewing angles. However, colors on the MateBook tend to have a warmer tone to them, while the KBook’s screen offers more natural and realistic color reproduction.
Audio
The Alldocube KBook packs in dual stereo speakers. Sound is fired out of the slender, almost invisible grille on the front side of the hinge. In terms of volume it’s okay. Although no match for the Bang & Olufsen branded speaker in the HP EliteBook 745 G5, these speakers can still make enough sound to fill up a small room easily. However, I would never listen to music or watch action movies on the KBook without a headset or an external speaker. The sound coming from the internal speakers has almost no bass and soundstage, the midrange and treble also sound tinny and thin, and can be easily distorted at the highest volume.
Fortunately, I had no issues with the built-in mic when chatting online. It picked up my voice clearly and cleanly, even in fairly noisy environments.
System & Apps
The laptop runs on licensed Windows 10 Home out of the box, so it is able to run all applications like any other regular Windows PC. Fortunately, there’s no bloatware of any kind, you can easily install apps from Microsoft Store or other third-party sources.
Performance
The Alldocube KBook isn’t an expensive device, and it doesn’t perform like one either. The laptop features 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 512GB M2. SSD and mostly importantly, an Intel Core M3-6Y30 processor.
This 6th-generation Intel Core M CPU isn’t comparable with the 8th, 9th or even 10th generation Intel Core i-series processors found in latest mainstream laptops and desktop PCs. As you’ll see in the benchmarks, this computer is no powerhouse. Combining such an old Core M CPU with average-speed SSD storage is more of a recipe for lowering the cost rather than the answer for epic performance. It is ironic that the Thinker i35, which was released by Alldocube 2 years ago, came with a newer and more powerful Core M3-7Y30 CPU. With that said, a Core M CPU is still one of the most powerful solutions that don’t require a fan and the KBook should still be more capable than those Atom and Celeron powered systems.
Benchmarks
In the Cinebench R10 CPU test, the Alldocube KBook scored 4174CB in single-core, 8171CB in multi-core. In the more GPU-focused OpenGL test, it was returned 4583CB.
In the recently released Cinebench R20, the system got a score of 450cb in its CPU test.
The Fritz Chess Benchmark test returned the KBook a score of 3671, which is not impressive at all. Even my Pentium J4205 powered Beelink Gemini J45 scored more points (4131), but the mini PC was set in 1080P.
The PCMark 8 Home and Work Accelerated tests are designed to measure the performance of a system by simulating basic everyday computing tasks. Core-M powered systems normally get around 2200 in the Home Accelerated test, but the KBook only scored 1977, most likely because the 3000*2000px screen resolution was too much of a burden on the processor. In the Work Accelerated test, the KBook scored an admirable 3037, easily beating the Celeron N4100 powered Teclast X4.
Alldocube used a 512GB SSD drive in this machine. It is not as fast as the latest NVMe SSD used for high-end laptops, but still handily beats HHD or eMMc storage found in entry-level computers. In the CrystalDiskMark test, the sequential read and write speeds are respectively 528.2mb/s and 487mb/s. These numbers were not impressive, especially when compared to scores of the lightning fast SSD in the Huawei MateBook 13, but did better the speeds of the SSD in the Teclast X4 and the eMMc in the Chuwi Herobook.
Real Life performance
As can be expected, any task involving intense 3D graphics is undermined by the mediocre performance of the Intel HD Graphics 515 GPU. The KBook struggled to deliver acceptable frame rates in big gaming titles such as the “Assassin's Creed Syndicate” and “Crysis 3”. However, you won’t have problems running even the most demanding games installed from Microsoft Store. I found myself playing the Asphalt 9 Legend for hours at once, the visuals were so nice that I forgot it’s a lightweight version of the game.
You get enough power for average computer tasks like Word processing, spreadsheets and email, and it won't get bogged down if you have a dozen tabs open in Chrome with some other small applications running in the background.
Streaming video and music are no problem either, since I could play all the 4K videos in my mobile drive and even stream 4K YouTube videos in Chrome smoothly.
Heavier apps such as the Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw also work nicely, but I wouldn't recommend anything more than casual photo and video editing, adding too many layers and filters and you will experience some stutters and delays.
Overall, the KBook offers decent performance and definitely betters those Celeron and Atom-based entry-level 2-in-1s. The Core-M does generate plenty of power here for basic computing tasks. But the laptop is not designed for power users who constantly push their PC to its very limits.
Emissions
System Noise
The KBook’s cooling solution is entirely passive. Accordingly, there are no cooling components that would be able to make any noise. That said, the computer did exhibit minor electrical buzz when accessing the internal storage. These were, however, unnoticeable during everyday use and could only be heard when I intentionally try to pick up the sound with my ears.
Temperature
Since this is a passively cooled device the entire case is used for heat dissipation. CPU temperature was comparatively high when the laptop was running, and even the surface could become quite warm when the KBook was under load, but never to the point that I want to get my hands off it immediately. Fortunately, when idle, the device remained fairly cool.
Battery life
The battery life of an Ultrabook is always an important factor. Having a go-anywhere system is of little value if it only works for a short time away from a power outlet.
Featuring a power-efficient CPU like the Core M-6Y30 may seem to be the right answer for a long battery life, but keeping 8GB memory, 512GB SSD alive and feeding that many pixels on a bright, power-hungry 3K display is still a tall order.
The factory installed battery in the KBook is rated for 7.6V-5000mAh. To figure out how long the KBook’s battery will last, I tested it out with my usual video loop test (1080P, 50% brightness, 50% sound with headphones, and balanced power setting). The result is a disappointing 5 and a half hour. In real life practice, I normally got around 4-4.5 hours of mixed use, that’s less than a full working day for most users. And if you have computing intensive tasks at hand, you probably won’t feel safe without a power outlet by your side.
Another disappointing factor is that if you want to save battery by lowering the screen resolution, you will have to learn to make peace with some black areas on the screen, since there’s no other 3:2 resolution for you to choose besides the defaulted 3000*2000px. Optional resolutions are all in 4:3, 16:10 or 16:9 aspect ratios.
Final Verdict
My overall impression is that the KBook is a visually stunning and generally well-made laptop. The aluminum case is light and sturdy, and its surface textures feel comfortable to hold. I am particularly impressed by the extremely high-resolution display, which is a rarity even in high-end offerings, and adds a lot of value to this low-cost device. Intel’s Core M3-6Y30 CPU is relatively old, but offers enough horsepower for basic everyday computing tasks, and the internal GPU is capable of playing 4K videos smoothly.
But instead of being an all-arounder, the KBook has a couple of major unsatisfying aspects. My top 3 gripes are the lack of a fingerprint reader, the passive cooling solution and the battery life. The need to type in a password to unlock a modern laptop seems way too excessive by today’s standards. Also, the CPU constantly gets hot under load, and hardly lasts through a day without being plugged into a power outlet.
Priced at $399, the KBook is clearly not designed to be the primary machine for graphical/video creativity work or demanding tasks—Alldocube acknowledges this is not really its place—it's still a fine, inexpensive choice for a lean travel companion. Power seekers, though, looking for a primary PC system should continue to look at mainstream Ultrabooks with more powerful CPUs and better battery life.
very well written review, but I don't have any nice feelings about Alldocube since that X slate.
nice design, but I hate the bezels.
leelavie said:
nice design, but I hate the bezels.
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It is a little on the thick side, but not really too bad.
jupiter2012 said:
It is a little on the thick side, but not really too bad.
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come on! You call that a "little" thick?
Twitch007 said:
come on! You call that a "little" thick?
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Well, that really depends on what u compare it to.
Thanks for the review, Alldocube does produce better quality products compared to Teclast and Chuwi.
GadgetSino said:
Thanks for the review, Alldocube does produce better quality products compared to Teclast and Chuwi.
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Can't say anything about Chuwi, but I don't even care to test Teclast products.
this should be at the top
jupiter2012 said:
this should be at the top
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yes, it should. well done with the review, but I am afraid not many people would buy this.