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In depth review of the Cube iWork 12 dual boot Z8300 convertible tablet

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Pros
Running dual operating systems, and switching from one to the other is simple.
Screen offers good viewing angles and vibrant colors.
Premium build material.
Robust keyboard connection.
Decent battery life.
Cons
Extremely slow to charge.
Very little improvement in performance compared to the Bay-trail powered tablets.
Poor cameras.
A lot heavier than the Surface 3.
Cube has attracted lots of attentions with their line of affordable 2-in-1 convertible tablets since early 2014. Now they have two lines of convertible tablets: the premium Core-M powered i-series tablets, including the Cube i7, Cube i7 CM, Cube i7 Stylus and Cube i9, and the more affordable Atom-based iWork series, such as the iWork 10, iWork 10 Ultimate, iWork 11 Stylus, and the all new iWork 12. There are some exceptions, though. The Cube i6, i10 are not premium Windows tablets like the i7 and i9, instead, they are Atom based tablets, designed mainly for basic tasks.
As confusing as Cube’s product naming is, the all new iWork 12 is definitely Atom-based. With a 12.2-inch screen and a kickstand, it bears a striking resemblance to the more premium Skylake Core M powered Cube i9. Running on an Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 CPU and 64GB eMMc drive, the iWork 12 is more of an entry-level convertible than a powerhouse hybrid. The RMB1,599 ($244) price may seem low compared to similar systems such as the ASUS T100HA, but it is still a tad higher than the price of the iWork 10 Ultimate ($152.4), which rocks the same internal setup. Are the $82 extra bucks a worthy investment for more screen real estate and a kickstand, let’s find out.
Cube iWork 12 Main Specs
• OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit & Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Display: 12.2-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (16:10)
• CPU: Intel Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 Quad-core Processor
• CPU Frequency: 1.44GHz – 1.84GHZ
• GPU: Intel HD Graphic Gen8
• RAM / Storage: 4GB / 64GB
• Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, OTG
• Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
• Battery: 9,000mAh
• Extend Port: USB 3.0 port, TF Card Slot, Micro USB, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Micro HDMI
• Weight & Size: 930g / 302.9*194.9*9.15mm
Packaging and Accessories
The Cube iWork 12 comes with very nice packaging. Inside the box you will find a tablet, a wall charger with a micro USB plug, an OTG adapter, a user manual and a warranty card.
Design and Build
As we mentioned above, the iWork 12 has an identical design to the Cube i9, with a 12.2-inch display dominating its front and a 2-angle kickstand on its rear. The white bezel removes the feeling of cold black technology, and the Magnalium rear side gives the tablet a premium look.
The left side plays host to a slew of ports and slots. You can find a Micro USB port, a Micro HDMI port, a 3.5mm headset jack, a Micro SD card and a full size USB 3.0 port.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the tablet.
As always, a power/standby key and a volume rocker on the top side.
The built-in kickstand can open to two different angles, satisfying the needs of using the tablet in different occasions.
Overall, this machine seems to belong in a class way above that of its price point, so kudos to Cube for continuing to provide compelling value in terms of construction. As the overall design remains quite similar to that of the i9, the weight and size are also nearly identical. The iWork 12 tips the scales at just 930g, although far from being the slimmest or lightest tablet out there, it is still quite portable by any definition.
Keyboard
The keyboard cover for the Cube iWork 12 is exactly the one designed for the more premium Cube i9, and it matches the design of the Microsoft Surface Type Cover. It is very thin, light, and won’t add much weight to the tablet.
The tablet and the keyboard clip together quickly and easily, without much force or maneuvering. When in place, it’s a solid connection which seems like it could take some punishment without breaking apart.
Like we mentioned in the review of the Cube i9, the keyboard itself is very well designed, with ideal space between different keys, it also offers decent key travel, which gives you tactile feedback when you type. And we really love the ability to set it flat against the desk or at a more keyboard-like angle. We’d always rather use a full-sized laptop keyboard, but in the absence of that this Keyboard Cover is the very next best thing.
The trackpad is reasonably sized, and it has distinct left and right click zones, and supports gesture control as you would expect. Unfortunately, unlike the Surface Type Cover, when you fold the keyboard cover around the back of the iWork 12 and the keys are still active.
Display and sound
The Cube iWork 12 rocks a 12.2-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1920*1200. The display is bright, vibrant, with wide viewing angles.
Even when compared to top offerings such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, the Cube iWork 12 doesn’t pale in comparison in the display department. And you can’t really tell the difference in pixel density from a normal using distance.
With that said, I did notice more reflection when compared to top Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, using it outdoors should be challenging.
The Cube iWork 12 has stereo speakers, placed on the left and right side of the tablet’s chassis. Sound quality is respectable for a budget tablet, but not truly remarkable. It’s not too harsh or tinny, and having stereo sound is great for watching movies. Top volume is decent, but lacks the low-end bulk and power of the best tablet speakers such as the ones on the iPads and Galaxy tablets. The 3.5mm audio jack has no problem driving our high-end headphones to an ear-splitting level, and we could hear a lot of details through the headsets.
Operating systems
You might have already noticed that I used a plurality in the heading, that’s because the iWork 12 ships with two operating systems in one machine: Windows 10 and Android 5.1, and you can switch between those two systems with only one or two taps on the touchscreen.
Unlike the iWork 11 Stylus, which runs the 32-bit version of Windows 10 and can only use 3GB of the 4GB RAM, the iWork 12 is preinstalled with the 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home and can take full advantage of every bit of the 4GB RAM built in the device.
Both the Android 5.1 and the Windows 10 are clean, with almost no third-party applications. While the Windows side takes care of the everyday business tasks, the Android side takes care of your social networking and media consumption. With access to numerous applications in Windows (those in Windows store and traditional desktop apps) and Google Play, the iWork 12 is much more versatile than any your average Android tablets or iPads.
Storage
The iWork 12 comes with a 64GB eMMc drive. Although not as lovely as the SSD used in higher-end tablets such as Cube’s very own i7 and i9, it is expected as an eMMc drive is always a standard choice for Atom-based tablets and netbooks. As the iWork 12 is running on both Android and Windows 10, the two operating systems takes up different partitions of the hard drive and don’t have shared internal storage. The Android side takes up a partition of 16GB, while the more complex and powerful Windows 10 takes up 48GB.
Fortunately, the iWork 12’s storage is expandable by a Micro SD card up to 128GB. The users can save multi-media files in the external storage, which they can visit from both Android and Windows.
Performance
The iWork 12 is powered by the latest Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 processor and 4GB of RAM (DDR3 1066), and the performance is pretty predictable for an Atom-based system.
On the Android side, the iWork 12 was pretty fast and responsive to all our controls. Tasks from scrolling the home screens to running graphic-intense 3D games are all handled smoothly by the tablet. We experienced very few lags or delays while browsing image-heavy webpages, watching YouTube Videos, social networking and gaming.
We also ran some benchmarks on the Cube iWork 12. In the Antutu 6 benchmark, the slate was returned a score of 56615, and in the Geekbench 3 test, it got a score of 2093 (Multi-core). It is clear that the iWork 12’s doesn’t match the latest top Android smartphones in terms of benchmark scores, but I didn’t really feel it was by any means slow, even comparing it to my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
On the Windows side, things were a little different. Lags and stutters were non-existent running applications installed from the Windows store, and you can even use several Microsoft Office applications side by side, but the tablet still struggled with heavier desktop tasks: Unzipping a compressed folder took forever, Photoshop took a long time to open, and heavy duty applications such as Corel Draw and lightroom simply wouldn’t start.
Benchmarks tell the story, too. In most of the benchmarks, the Cube iWork 12 scored way behind the Core M powered Cube i9 and the Z8700 powered Microsoft Surface 3. In fact it barely surpassed the ASUS T100, which contained the older Atom Bay-trail Z3740 processor.
The iWork 12 isn’t cut out to be a powerhouse tablet and can’t really replace your desktop PC or laptop for productivity tasks, it is more of a system designed for media consumption, social networking and light business duties.
Connectivity
A slew of ports and slots, as well as built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi give the tablet lots of connectivity options. Not only can the micro USB port used for charging, it can also be turned into a full USB 2.0 port by the stock OTG adapter to host all kinds of input and storage devices. The full USB 3.0 port can take care of high-speed data transfer between your tablet and a mobile drive, it can also charge your smartphone pretty quickly. The micro HDMI port means you can connect your tablet to a monitor or an HDTV, and Bluetooth 4.0 means you can establish wireless connections with headphones, external speakers, and input devices.
The iWork 12’s Wi-Fi connection is pretty solid, we could still stream online videos while there are a few meters and two walls between the tablet and the router.
Battery life
Unlike many other hybrids such as the ASUS T100A and Dell Venue 11 Pro, the Cube iWork 12’s keyboard doesn’t have its own battery to boost the tablet’s stamina. All charging is done using the microUSB port on the tablet part, meaning you don’t have to worry about losing a specific charge cable.
Cube claims that the Iwork 12’s 9,000mAh Li-Po battery should last for 8 hours, but we normally only got around 7 hours’ screen time doing different things with the tablet. In our standard battery rundown test, where we played a 720P video (MP4) on loop, we got 7 hours and 35 minutes’ battery life from the slate.
While the battery life of the tablet is still decent for a convertible this size, charging it can be extremely annoying. Sometimes the tablet would boot itself when we plugged in the charger, and the charging is also extremely slow. We normally needed around 6 hours to finish a full charge, and sometimes the charging got stuck at 99% for a whole hour….
Cameras
The iWork 12 has two cameras, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing cameras. The front camera is decent enough for video-chatting, but we would not suggest using it for selfie. Useless for most people, the rear camera is just there for the sake of being there, the photos it took were of extremely poor quality, and you don’t really want to use a big and heavy tablet like this to capture your daily moments, while any smartphone could do a much better job.
Summary
So who might we recommend this device to? Definitely not those who want a device to use as a main PC, but someone who already owns a powerful desktop PC and only wants a cheap netbook/tablet for light business tasks and media consumption.
We liked
The best thing about the Cube iWork 12 is its cost-efficiency. For only RMB1,599 ($244, keyboard excluded), you have a versatile, simple convertible with a stunning 12.2-inch IPS screen. The tablet does media-consumption tasks brilliantly, and can handle reasonable productivity tasks as well as most entry-level laptops. And you can easily switch from Windows to Android and the other way around on one device. Also, the build quality of the Cube iWork 12 is superior to the similarly priced ONDA and Teclast tablets.
We disliked
There was plenty to be annoyed about with the Cube iWork 12. This is fundamentally not a powerful laptop, and only a passable tablet – especially when there are alternatives for which you could pay much less money and get the same level of performance.
The excruciatingly slow charging speed and only average battery life mean this slate is going to spend a lot of every single day plugged into walls.
Both the DDR3 RAM and the eMMC are pretty slow on this device, and that’s very noticeable while the tablet’s thrown with traditional Windows desktop tasks.
Final verdict
The Cube iWork 12 is more of a system to replace your iPads or Android tablets than to use as a main personal computer. The ability to run Microsoft Office and other light desktop applications means you will always get more productivity out of this device than from an iPad or an Android tablet. For the right reason this can be a really good purchase, but since the iWork 12 is not the only dual boot tablet out there, you might want to take a look at other options before digging into your pocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RWLqTrmBM
Video review here

Nobody interested in this tablet?

Nice Review
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.

Windows 10 sound?
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
EDIT: Turns out it was more of an issue of my Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones (which seem to be failing), my AKG ones sound good. DFX enhancer did work well however in tuning the speakers.

You should definately use "DFX Audio Enhancer". It makes every device sound like studio quality (even on android), if set up correctly. I've tested several software-based audio enhancer and this is by far the best one.
Cost: Currently 30 bucks, normally 40.
They also offer a demo, but it restricts some of the controller handles, so you can't test the full potential.
krazystuff said:
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi,
Some site saids that it's support stylus some site saids no.
So somebody who have the tablet could tell me if it's support stylus ?
Regards
Marc

Grainy screen
My experience with this tablet so far.
Windows 10 really good, runs office apps no problem.
Android performance good for media consumption, eg magazines, podcasts etc.
On the down side is the display. On Android the display always seems a little fuzzy, not so sharp. This is much better in Windows quite sharp.
Unfortunately my unit has the "grainy" screen issue. Its like having a really poor quality screen protector on. Its very noticeable on whites and greys. Also the screen is highly reflective which means I have to be careful where I sit while typing.
Its a shame that the display issue impacts and otherwise very good device.

Weird, I don't notice this grainy screen issue. Looks the same as any of the other 3 screens I use. I do agree on reflections however; I am thinking about getting a tempered glass protector for the thing.
After using the thing for a month (exclusively in Windows):
- Wifi: Performance is good, except sometimes after it wakes from sleep I need to disconnect and reconnect to regain the connection. Kind of annoying, hoping a driver update will fix that.
- HDMI out: I use this for Netflix (Windows 10 app) and Kodi for local media, and both work great (only 1080p tested). No problem with getting bitstreamed audio and 23hz or 24hz output (although I need to switch it for Netflix manually, app issue). I did get an angled connector though which I realise is a mistake since now I can't charge and have the micro HDMI dongle connected at the same time.
- Chrome: Chrome is kind of sluggish, but still ok. Edge is vastly superior, but not having extensions yet lead me to live with Chrome for now. Youtube is kind of sluggish to start; I started using an extension to force MP4 instead of VP9, and haven't noticed much of a difference. Still, it is acceptable for general browsing with a few tabs.
- Battery: I'm happy with battery life, but I haven't measured it formally. With light/medium use, it lasts me 3 days. It does take long to charge, but I can live with charging it overnight every couple of days. Waking from sleep works well also.
All in all, I am happy with the unit, and it fills my niche for a portable, tablet/notebook hybrid that I can take travelling, on a plane, and carry around the house.

linux ?
thanks for your review.
we can install linux in i9.
can we install linux in iwork12?
thanks

Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?

Rom/Recovery
Hi
I just received my Cube iWork12 and on turning it on noticed that it had already been turned on by GearBest so I clicked on Factory reset in Windows. it froze during the reset and now won't book. It comes up with the cube logo for about 20 seconds then restarts and does the same again. Android still boots. Does anyone know how I can fix this or where I can get am image of the Rom to restore? thanks

In case anyone is having the same problem a forum user has kindly posted it on google drive here: http://techtablets.com/forum/topic/cube-i12-firmware/

I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian

ecrivain5 said:
I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise here. I have tried all sorts with different Play Store APKs, based on CPU, Screen Resolution, etc but nothing works, at least not for any length of time.
I have resorted to locating and downloading the APKs of the apps I want to install and doing it that way, bypassing the Play Store altogether.
It is a real PITA. Cube seems to have forgotten this device in terms of firmware updates and support.

Which one i must choose, chuwi hi 12 or iwork 12? I need for my study, i usually use ms. Office, spss, geogebra and other small software. Which one is better? Because i plan to use this stuff for a long time.

youngred09 said:
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to know, so you re take chuwi or cube? How the performance? I still confuse to take cube or chuwi because my money limited.

how can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------
Can you tell me the easiest procedure to update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher on our iWork12 cube?
Thanks!

Does it support any pen ?

I'm delighted with this tablet, very comfortable and performing, the only flaw so far found is that there is no automatic update of the firmware that was compatible with the Android version 5.1, but to use it I need at least the Android version 6.0! Cube site does not upgrade, I contacted the company but told me to ask the retailer ..
I'm waiting for a solution! Has anyone already updated the version of Android?
Thank you
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Tab S3 as upgrade to Note 10.1 2014 - Your opinions?

The upcoming Tab S3 is the first tablet that I've seen that seems like it would be a good replacement / upgrade for the Note 10.1 2014.
Here are some PROs and CONs as I see it:
PRO:
- battery life
- processor
- "HDR"
- USB-C
- Fingerprint Sensor
- Low weight
- look / feel
- magnetic keyboard option
- 4096 levels pressure sensitivity
- larger rubberized s-pen
CON:
- portrait button orientation
- price
- pen does not fit inside tablet
- pen doesn't have eraser (not important for most, but leaves me using old pens that don't take advantage of the heightened pressure sensitivity)
- Big one: early reviews suggest s-pen input lag
The main con for me is really that custom ROMs have made my Note snappy enough that I don't feel like I really need to upgrade (aside from my aging battery life). With 7.1.1 ROMS (currently on LiquidDeath, but Lineage is great, too) I finally don't get s-pen lag when drawing or writing and would be frustrated to have to deal with that again.
I don't think I can justify the expense right now, but if I had the cash this would seem like a solid choice. Opinions?

I agree with everything you've listed.
I was a bit worried about losing screen size so I calculated some stuff.
Note: 8.6 x 5.4in - 46.44 sq in
Tab: 7.8 x 5.8in - 45.24 sq in
The tab loses a bit of length but gains it back in width. Not going to be as big for widescreen movies and such but hopefully not too bad.
I'm also not a fan of the reduced PPI but I'm going to Best Buy sometime to compare.
The pen not fitting inside is a big issue since it's easy for me to lose them (and the replacement is $60). I would probably put something on its belt clip to keep it attached to me.
However, the pen's gained size may feel nicer in the hand and make it more difficult to lose.
We'll get ROMs eventually. Except if the bootloader is tied down like on the S7 (is it?)

IMO it has 3 big cons not listed here.
Aspect ratio. It's bad for for android. Most iOS apps are optimized for 4:3, so it's a good fit for iPad. Most android apps actually look bad on 4:3 (used Mi tab, apps didn't look good). 4:3 is bad for media consumption. Websites are optimized for widescreen.
Lack of MHL is a big con for me too. I frequently use my tablet as my portable computer (booting linux) or portable media center. I don't find wireless a good alternative (things like chromecast), too much input lag and requires live Internet connection most of the times.
The smaller battery. Sure Note 10.1 has a more power hungry screen and SoC but the difference in battery capacity is so great that with a power efficient rom you always get better autonomy with Note 10.1

Stevethegreat said:
Lack of MHL is a big con for me too. I frequently use my tablet as my portable computer (booting linux) or portable media center. I don't find wireless a good alternative (things like chromecast), too much input lag and requires live Internet connection most of the times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it not support DisplayPort over USB-C? If not, on Reddit there is a guy with a solution that works for the pixel, which also doesn't support DP over USB-C and that may work. Can't post the link since I'm still new but you can google "google pixel is wired output possible" to find the post.
Went to Best Buy recently and tried it. Couldn't do much since it was locked in demo mode (so I couldn't see how badly apps handle the 4:3 screen) but it seemed like a nice device.
Have you guys seen the Chromebook Plus/Pro? It's a Samsung Chromebook with an Spen, Android app support, and it folds into a tablet. It supports DP over USB-C. Downside is no button on pen. Might be a better fit if you are using the tablet as a portable computer and it will run Linux even better than the tab.

pmdevita said:
Does it not support DisplayPort over USB-C? If not, on Reddit there is a guy with a solution that works for the pixel, which also doesn't support DP over USB-C and that may work. Can't post the link since I'm still new but you can google "google pixel is wired output possible" to find the post.
Went to Best Buy recently and tried it. Couldn't do much since it was locked in demo mode (so I couldn't see how badly apps handle the 4:3 screen) but it seemed like a nice device.
Have you guys seen the Chromebook Plus/Pro? It's a Samsung Chromebook with an Spen, Android app support, and it folds into a tablet. It supports DP over USB-C. Downside is no button on pen. Might be a better fit if you are using the tablet as a portable computer and it will run Linux even better than the tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think only S8 supports video output over usb C at this point. Display output over usb 3 (as per the reddit page) is buggy at best. Tried it to one of my laptops, it's good for quick work, I wouldn't trust it for real work.
Chrome book plus is better for work. But an ultrabook is even better.
It's very bad as a tablet though. I've found out that the further away we are from 500 grams / 1 lbr mark the less people use the said device as a tablet. There is a reason , most books do not weigh more than 1lbr for easier reading. A tablet plays a similar role, the heavier it is the more unusable. Note 10.1 2014 is on the heavy side (would prefer if it had 100 less grams) but still very usable. 1KG tablet/laptops are not though. You may make the occasional tablet use, but no way you get it in the couch for media viewing or reading, or on a trip as a handheld, pretty much why the 2in1 idea never flew (people find that they don't use them as tablets so prefer to go the ultrabook route all the way).

Alldocube Freer X9 Hands-on Review

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Alldocube, a.k.a Cube, is a Chinese brand best known for making affordable Android tablets. With the demand for Android tablets getting smaller each year, many of Chinese tablet makers either disappeared or changed their business focus, Alldocube hanged on. As a matter of fact, they released quite a number of models of different sizes this year. The Freer X9 is the latest addition to their lineup, and it is the first one this year to come with a high performance processor.
Main specs of the Alldocube Freer X9
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Screen: 8.9-inch IPS, multi-touch capacitive panel
Display Resolution: 2560 x 1600 (16:10)
Processor: MediaTek MT8173V (Quad-core: A72*2 1.8GHz + A53*2 1.4GHz)
GPU: Imagination PowerVR G6250
RAM / Storage: 4GB / 64GB
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
WiFi: 2.4GHz/5GHz
Bluetooth: 4.0
Camera: 5MP front camera, 13MP main camera
Battery: 3.8V, 5,500mAh
Ports: Micro SD Card Slot, Type-C Port (USB 3.0 standard), 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Size: 228*144*8.3mm
Weight: 366g
Color: Black front, grey rear
Design and build
The design of the Alldocube Freer X9 is pretty generic with no core identifying features. The tablet looks like an enlarged phone, with portrait mode use as its default. The front is of course dominated by an 8.9-inch display, with a physical home button below and a front-facing camera up top. Alongside the display are the bezels and it’s clear that the Freer X9 isn’t meant to win any design awards as the bezels are large and somewhat clunky, but for a relatively big tablet designed for using with both hands, we do need more bezels to rest our fingers on. One thing I need to mention is that there isn’t a fingerprint reader built in the home button, which is a shame as every time you wake the screen up, you will need to input pin or draw patterns to unlock the device if you want a reasonable amount of privacy.
The top side of the tablet plays host to a Micro SD card slot, and one of the two speaker apertures.
The bottom side hosts a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack and the other speaker aperture.
A power/standby key and a volume rocker are hosted on the right side of the slate.
The X9 has an aluminum unibody at its rear and four edges. The gray coating is processed with anodic oxidation, not only does it make the tablet feel extremely premium, it is also quite resistant to scratches.
The Freer X9 measures 228*144*8.3mm and weighs 366g, pretty compact for a 9-incher. The tablet feels very robust, and proves extremely resistant to all of our squeezes and twists.
Display
The Freer X9 sports an 8.9-inch IPS display at the resolution of 2560*1600px, which translates into a pixel density of 339PPI. This is one of the best displays we’ve seen on tablets from Chinese brands. HD videos and pictures look razor sharp, colorful and bright. Although it is still no match for the HDR-ready AMOLED display found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 when it comes to contrast ratio and color saturation, it offers colors that are more natural, and it is definitely not going to be outshined by an Apple iPad if you put them side by side.
The X9’s display is also extremely bright, contents are visible even under direct sunlight, which is pretty rare among tablets in this price range. Unfortunately, there’s still bad news, as the display does seem to suffer from reflections, using it outdoors can be tricky sometimes.
Audio
The Freer X9 features two built-in speakers, with one on the top side and the other on the bottom. These speakers sound satisfyingly loud and clear, offer much better audio than the mono speaker found on most cheap phones and tablets, in fact they sound even better than the speakers on my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and Microsoft Surface Pro 3. With that said, it's still best to avoid cranking it to max volume as the distorted highs will overpower the mids and lows.
System, UI and Apps
The Freer X9 ships with stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. Pretty strange as the Alldocube FreeYoung X5, which was released earlier, runs Android 7.0 Nougat. You will get a clean Android experience from the X9 as there is basically no twist or customization made to the stock OS.
Preinstalled apps have also been kept to the minimum, the only third-party app is the ES File Explorer, users can get the apps they need from Google Play Store.
Performance
The Alldocube Freer X9 is powered by a MediaTek MT8173V Processor, which includes a quad-core CPU (2*[email protected] and 2*[email protected]) and an Imagination PowerVR GX6250 GPU. There are also 4GB RAM on board to take care of multi-tasking and 64GB of eMMc as internal storage.
We ran a few benchmarks on the Freer X9 and got pretty decent scores. Though it won’t rival high-end slates such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 or Huawei MediaPad M2 in terms of overall horsepower, it still proves to be a capable mid-range tablet.
In the Antutu V6.0 benchmark test, the X9 scored 68,400, putting it ahead of most budget smartphones.
In the Geekbench 4 test, the Freer X9 scored 1,457 in single-core and 2,578 in multi-core.
In the PCMARK Work 2.0 test, the Freer X9 was returned 3,915.
For some reason (could be the internet restrictions in China), the X9 could not finish the Vellamo browser test, in the metal and multi-core test, it got pretty decent scores.
Unfortunately, the Freer X9 didn’t impress us with its 3DMark Ice Storm score.
When it came to online chatting, surfing the web, checking emails, streaming HD videos and playing simple mobile games such as Pocket Mortys and Leo's Fortune, the tablet performed smoothly. Larger, more complex games such as N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit and Armored Aces were a bit slow to launch, but graphics looked spectacular and smooth during gameplay.
Battery Life
The Alldocube Freer X9 has a 3.8V/5500mAh Li-Po battery under the hood, which is a little larger than the 5,100mAh battery inside of the Huawei MediaPad M3. In our battery rundown test, we played a 1080P video on loop, with screen brightness set at 50%. Wi-Fi turned on to receive social media alerts and notifications. The X9 lasted 8 hours, 50 minutes.
In the real life use, I find myself charging the X9 every three to four days, as I do most of the social-networking on my smartphone. The X9 is mainly used for YouTube Feeds, reading and web-browsing. For heavy users, charging the tablet every two days should be enough.
The Freer X9 doesn’t come with a wall charger, but the users can easily use their smartphone chargers to get a refill. The maximum charging current the X9 is able to take is 10W, which is not impressive as the fast-charging for smartphones can get really fast now. I usually need around 3.5 hours to charge the tablet from 0% to 100% with a 5V-2A charger.
Cameras
On the back of the tablet is the 13-megapixel camera, which is equipped with an auto-focus feature. We've never put much importance on cameras in tablets, because tablets make for awkward and ridiculous-looking image-snapping devices. Plus, most people buying a premium tablet also likely have a better camera sensor in their smartphone. That said, you can get good photos from the camera here, so long as what you're snapping isn't also moving. The sensor's auto-focus is quite slow compared to those typically found in high-end smartphones.
Test shots with the rear camera
There is also a 5MP camera on the front for online video chatting. It is not the worst front-facing camera we’ve seen on a mid-range tablet, but it is by no means a good one. Colors look a little bit washed out, and the photos also lose lots of details. For someone who’s used to the auto-beautification-mode offered by mainstream smartphones, I can barely look at the selfies taken by this camera.
A test shot with the front camera
Connectivity
The Freer X9 is a Wi-Fi only tablet, and there probably won’t be any cellular version coming. The slate supports 2.4GHz & 5GHz dual band Wi-Fi, connection is solid and stable, I can download files at top speed two walls away from the router.
The internal 64GB storage is expandable with a Micro SD card, I have inserted a 64GB Transcend card and it works fine.
The X9 also supports USB on the go. As the Type-C port of the slate is of USB 3.0 standard, transferring files from a flash drive is pretty fast. This port can also be transformed into an HDMI port with an adapter.
Availability and Competition
The price of the Freer X9 has not been announced by Alldocube yet, but rumor has it that it will be around $200, putting the slate in the price range of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 and ASUS ZenPad S8.0.
While the Xiaomi Mi Pad offers more horsepower and a much better battery life, and the ASUS ZenPad S8.0 offers a more user-friendly UI, the Alldocube Freer X9 holds its own with a bigger and more gorgeous display. All 3 slates offer a lot of value for the money, it all comes down to personal preference when choosing which one to go with.
Verdict
Aside from the dated operating system and the absence of a fingerprint reader, there’s not much to dislike about the Freer X9. Its metallic unibody design, build quality, display, speakers and performance all impressed us.
If you want a capable Android tablet which can handle more than just the basics, but refuse to spend three to four hundred dollars on a Huawei MediaPad M3, Google Pixel C or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, the Alldocube Freer X9 is really worth looking at.

Thanks for this review, it's nice and informative. Only thing missing is the issues and bugs. And you forgot to mention that it arrives with a chinese firmware that can be flashed over with a "overseas" firmware to fit english speakers better. Cheers!

mekler22 said:
Thanks for this review, it's nice and informative. Only thing missing is the issues and bugs. And you forgot to mention that it arrives with a chinese firmware that can be flashed over with a "overseas" firmware to fit english speakers better. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't really experienced the issues and bugs u mentioned in your review. I also successfully installed a working Google Play on the Chinese firmware.

Where did you guys found the international firmware and the working Google Play Store installation file?

Second ping for this so called international rom.... googled around and cant find any official or unofficial roms for this tablet anywhere, perhaps its somewhere on the net but only written in Chinese characters somewhere?

Heads up, I received an Alldocube Freer X9 from Gearbest and it has some sort of international ROM installed (Playstore etc preinstalled) but also found the Adsup Fota spyware installed and being built into the ROM you cant remove it

Hi, how do I make the soft buttons to display permanently?

jupiter2012 said:
I haven't really experienced the issues and bugs u mentioned in your review. I also successfully installed a working Google Play on the Chinese firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would you give me the details information how to install the google play on the chinese firmware..thanks....

hi all
has somebody tried to root this tab with "magisk manager" ??...........

U89C UPDATE installed and Root OK!
http://51cube.com/services?_search=U89
Unlocking the bootloader is necessary. To unlock: "fastboot oem unlock" and VOL-, since I do not know why, but it is the opposite.
Boot.img patched for Magisk Manager (flash with U89C or fastboot):
http://www118.zippyshare.com/pd/S2Nb2x4D/10563/boot.img
APK: magiskmanager

could anyone help me how to do step-by-step updates to u89c using the magisk manager and root of this tablet? do you work with antutu 7.0 on this tablet? with me hangs on the first test.

Is it international (overseas) or chinese only firmware? I have downloaded the rar file (v1.0_20171228), but is is fully chinese (the file names and the install instruction). I do not want to install it unnecessarily.

malojk said:
could anyone help me how to do step-by-step updates to u89c using the magisk manager and root of this tablet? do you work with antutu 7.0 on this tablet? with me hangs on the first test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4_hnKgjFA by Hovatek.
It's easy, download ROM U89C (have the link on the official page, 51cube.com).
Antutu does not work for me.
When you download the official firmware, you will need:
1. Install the official drivers of your U89 tablet.
2. Flashing your U89 tablet with "SP Flash Tool" [Tutorial for SP Flash Tool here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzyYXAflmOk]
3. Once you have flashed the latest version of your U89 tablet, connect your tablet to fastboot. He does not know how? it's easy, install this:
https://adb.clockworkmod.com/ for ADB Drivers.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979 for ADB & Fastboot in your Windows.
4. Well, once you have installed everything, connect your flashed tablet to U89C (the latest version) to your computer. In Windows, press "Ctrl + R" and type "cmd", press ENTER and type in your "terminal":
- "adb devices"
Your tablet will ask for an authorization to connect to ADB, now type in your terminal:
- "adb reboot bootloader"
Great, now in fastboot let's flash the patched bootloader:
http://www118.zippyshare.com/pd/S2Nb2x4D/10563/boot.img
Write on your Windows terminal:
"fastboot oem unlock" and press ENTER, on the screen of your tablet you will see some words in English, do not follow the instructions as they are wrong. Actually, to unlock your "bootloader", you need to press the button on your tablet: "VOL-" (Volume down).
On your tablet you will see something like "unlock pass", and on your computer you should type "fastboot reboot". Now your tablet is going to erase completely.
Perfect, it only remains to flash the "boot.img", for it once you have loaded your tablet again, write on your PC again:
"adb devices" & "adb reboot bootloader", in fastboot proceed to flash your "boot.img":
"fastboot flash boot boot.img" *
*A tip: type "fastboot flash boot" and drag the boot.img file to the "terminal" CMD.
Perfect, now write "fastboot reboot". Your tablet is rooted, install the Magisk Manager APK and enjoy.
You can share this tutorial, improve it or do whatever you want with it. It is translated from Spanish to English with Google Translator.

Tell me where I found official drivers of your U89 tablet ?
Is the new U89C antutu still not working, and whether there is a play store? Currently I have the version u89_v1.0_20170911 with the play store, and is there any difference between these roms?
Can I do root on the old version without flashing?
I tried to rooting the tablet apart from uploading a new rom. Going in turn according to your description, I press vol - and I have the message "unlock failed". What is going on ?

Hello malojk,
You can flash with old version. Try VOL+, in my tablet is VOL-.

I tried with vol + and nothing at all. Any suggestions?

it's very strange. Does it happen to anyone else?
can it be because on your android, in "developer options", you do not have marked "OEM unlocking"?
http://upimg.org/image.php?di=7O7A

Okbi will tray. Thanks.
Is the new rom u89 c better? Tell me where else will I find the official driver for u89? I have windows 7 and when I try to run spflash tool, the BEX error pops up

Yes. although it does not include the Google Play store. but I will write a tutorial to install Google Play store in our u89. the drivers are in one of the u89c firmware folders.

Managed to!
I made root. Now, where to download magisk manager? Is it from the Play store ??

Alldocube X Neo review: media playback king on a budget

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The good:
1. Nice build quality.
2. Vibrant, clear and sharp display.
3. Decent performance.
4. MicroSD card support.
5. 4G and Phone functions.
The bad:
1. Old processor.
2. Big bezels.
3. No fingerprint reader or face unlock.
4. Sub-par battery life.
The Alldocube X released last year enjoyed enormous success on Indiegogo. With its dazzling 10.5-inch 2K Super Amoled display, stereo speakers, and AKM AK4376A powered 3.5mm headphone jack, the X was considered by many to be a perfect choice for media consumption. Unfortunately, it was hold back by a relatively weak processor (Mediatek MT8176 SoC) and poor battery life.
By the end of 2019, Alldocube announced its partnership with Qualcomm, the world’s leading mobile chip maker. Many were hoping that the Chinese brand could release an upgraded version of the X with a Snapdragon processor in it. And here comes the X Neo: An Android tablet with identical design and 10.5-inch Amoled display, but a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, and some other minor changes.
Main Specs
Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie
Screen: 10.5-inch Super Amoled display @2560*1600px
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE
CPU: Octa-Core (4*Cortex [email protected] + 4*Cortex [email protected])
GPU: Adreno 512
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
ROM: 64GB eMMc 5.1 (supports expansion up to 512GB)
Battery: 3.8V/7700mAh Li-Po battery
Cameras: 5MP front / 8MP main
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n, 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band
Mobile networks: 4G (FDD-LTE/TD-LTE), 3G (CDMA/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA), 2G (GSM)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD card slot, pogo pin keyboard port.
Buttons: Power/standby key, volume rocker
Size: 245.9*175.4*7.2mm Weight: 491g
Nice, but unimpressive design
Just like last year’s X, the Alldocube X Neo looks neat and elegant. The metallic rear and curved sides give the slate an air of luxury. But for a 2020 tablet, the bezels around the screen are just a little too big. Alldocube made an argument that big bezels give users enough to grip and hold the tablet to avoid accidental touches, which makes sense, but I still think people would prefer modern designs of the Apple iPad Pro and the Huawei MatePad Pro. A front-facing camera and a light sensor can be found above the display, the rest of the front looks clean, and you won’t even find any branding.
The tablet has a frosted aluminum back, which makes it feel much more premium than the price tag would suggest. Apart from Alldocube’s logo, the camera lens is the only distraction. It’s incredibly clean, simple, and stylish.
When holding horizontally, the left and right edge are each home to dual speakers, and there're also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C charging port on the left.
On the bottom side of the slate you can also find a pogo pin port, which can be connected to the official keyboard case.
The tablet supports 4G, as well as storage expansion. The SIM card tray is able to carry 2 nano SIM cards or the combination of 1 nano SIM card and a MicroSD card.
There are two physical buttons on the right edge of the slate: a power/standby key and a volume rocker.
The X Neo measures 245.9mm * 175.4mm * 7.2mm, and weighs 489g. It does not fit in our hands as well as those 8-inchers do, and you can basically forget about one-handed use, but the device didn’t burden our hands too much, either, thanks to the slim and lightweight build. As thin as it is, the X Neo still feels quite robust, even physically twisting the tablet doesn’t reveal excess movement. The overall build quality of this slate is as good as many high-end products in the market.
One thing that does bother me is the absence of a fingerprint reader, which I loved on last year’s X. I even called Alldocube for their reason regarding the removal of this feature. Their marketing person claimed that the majority of users don’t use their tablets for online payments, so a tablet doesn’t need the same level of security as a smartphone or a laptop. I do understand their point: the absence of a fingerprint reader is not a deal breaker for most tablet users, and the brand can save the cost for more essential features such as 4G connectivity, yet I would have preferred a more convenient way to unlock the screen, instead of having to put in some PIN code or draw a certain pattern.
Stunning Screen, average sound
The Alldocube X Neo sports a gorgeous 10.5-inch Super Amoled display made by Samsung. Resolution clocks in at 2,560 by 1,600, for 287 pixels per inch. With deep, inky blacks and rich colors, the display is really a joy to look at. Color accuracy is also excellent, and the screen is bright enough to use in any scenario.
Although the X Neo’s display uses the standard PenTile RGBW matrix, instead of the more celebrated 'PenTile Diamond Pixel' array, sharpness is still good and, while I don’t think color calibration or the screen architecture match Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, this is still one of the best screens you’ll find in a tablet, and is definitely superior to the LCD panels used on the Huawei MatePad Pro and the Apple iPad Pro.
Not just videos and photos look great. The lightweight nature means it’s also an excellent ebook reader alternative, and great for gaming. I read for many hours using the Amazon Kindle app, and provided I changed the background color from white to a paper-like tone, it didn’t tire my eyes. The light, easy-to-hold body allows for extended play sessions when gaming, too. Asphalt 9 is fun, and it’s visually enhanced thanks to the stunning colors and screen.
The Alldocube X Neo offers side-firing stereo speakers, which can go very loud. Unfortunately, these built-in speakers can sound a little harsh at the highest volume, and lacks the bass and soundstage produced by the Quad AKG tuned speakers found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Still, they are much better than similarly priced Android slates and are definitely good enough for YouTube and Tik Tok. For audiophiles, headphones or external speakers are still very much needed for music and action films.
Although the X Neo has a 3.5mm headphone jack, it is not powered by the AKM 4376A DAC like last year’s Alldocube X was. The tablet works well with average headphones, only when you plug in a power-hungry professional headset with higher impedance will you start to notice some differences. If you don’t even own headphones above $200, this shouldn’t even be anything to think about.
System & UI
The X Neo ships with stock Android 9 Pie, not the latest Android 10, and there’s customization on top. As much as we love the clean feel of stock Android, it is not optimized for a tablet screen, especially a big, 10.5-inch one.
You won’t find anything similar to Samsung tablets’ DeX mode. 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 is less and less tablet-friendly. Many of the customized tablet applications in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t been updated for a long time. As a result, most of the apps we tried on the X Neo were just phone apps blown up to fill the 10.5-inch screen, with the majority of them only supporting vertical mode. The ideal solution would be something like the Phoenix OS, which turns Android OS into a multi-window desktop style user interface, but Alldocube doesn’t seem too keen on shipping their tablets with that operating system.
Decent performance
The Alldocube X Neo is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, which has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz) and an Adreno 512 GPU. This chipset was actually released way back in 2017 and built on 14nm process, so it is relatively old, and doesn’t match the performance of the Snapdragon 675 or Kirin 810 found in many entry-level Android smartphones. But compared to the 28nm MediaTek 8176 processor in last year’s Alldocube X, it is still a solid upgrade.
The X Neo notched typical “Snapdragon 660” scores in many benchmark tests I threw at it, but it even bettered the Snapdragon 670 powered Samsung Galaxy S5e in some of those tests, which came as a pleasant surprise.
The built-in storage is eMMc 5.1, which is not comparable to UFS storages in top smartphones, but the X did manage to get a result similar to the readings of more expensive midrange tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e in terms of Sequential Read and Write speeds in the Androbench test.
In the real-world use, the Snapdragon 660 processor and 4GB RAM are actually enough to drive the tablet for the tasks it is intended for. The X Neo is smooth and responsive most of the time, I had no issues watching 4K YouTube videos in Chrome, and scrolling through my best friends’ Instagram posts at the same time. With that said, there will be some noticeable hiccups when you open too many image-heavy webpages, or have several big applications running in the background.
Gaming should not be your main reason to buy a Snapdragon 660 powered tablet. With that said, the tablet can run most games installed from Play Store without issues, but in order to have a smooth visual experience, you need to use moderate settings in big titles such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG. If you insist on going for the highest level of animation and 3D effects, you should expect frameskip and serious delays.
Superb connectivity
The X Neo supports dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and 4G, you can even use it to make phone calls, but you need to hear voices either through headphones or the built-in speakers, since the tablet doesn’t have an earpiece.
With such an amazing display, more users will be tempted to store a lot of media files in their X Neo, thus the 64GB built-in storage might not suffice. Fortunately, this tablet supports storage expansion, you can insert a MicroSD card up to 512GB. Even better, the type-C port can also mount most mobile SSD drives.
Basic cameras
There are two cameras on the X Neo, a front-facing 5MP camera and an 8MP main camera. Those cameras can be useful for video-chatting, and scanning QR code, but you won’t want to “archive your life” with them. Even in perfectly-lit conditions, most photos I took with the main camera were either over-exposed or under-exposed, and there wasn’t much life to them. In low light, the photos were simply horrible. In an era when most entry-level smartphones come with triple or quad camera setups, there is really no place for tablet photography.
Selfie camera shot
Main camera shot
Subpar battery life, decent charging speed
The Alldocube X Neo houses a 7700mAh Li-Po battery, smaller than the X’s 8000mAh. But with a much more efficient processor, the X Neo can give me around 7-8 hours’ screen time on a full charge, while the X could only last around 6 hours.
With display brightness and speaker volume both set at 50%, the X Neo scored 7 hours and 25 minutes in the PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Battery test, which was really not impressive compared to other midrange tablets.
This X Neo supports Qualcomm’s 18W QC3.0 quick charge. With the stock wall charger, you can fully charge the tablet’s 7700mAh battery in around 3 hours, not bad considering how big the battery is. In comparison, the 2020 Apple iPad Pro also supports 18W charging, but Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 and S5e only support 15W charging. The MatePad Pro is the reigning king in terms of charging speed, as it supports Huawei’s very own 40W SuperCharge, but the cheaper MatePad 10.4 doesn’t have that feature, as it also ships with an 18W charger.
Verdict: great for media consumption
The Alldocube X Neo isn’t designed to break any new grounds, but it is an Android tablet which gets a lot of essential things right. It has a sharp and colorful display, which makes it perfect for video streaming, web-browsing and even light gaming. The Snapdragon 660 AIE processor is old, but still offers decent performance for basic everyday tasks. 4G connectivity means the tablet won’t be limited to places with connectable Wi-Fi hotspot.
However, the removal of the fingerprint reader is not really a smart move. Also, the Chinese brand doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to after-sale support, most of their tablets stop receiving firmware upgrades a few months after the release. The X Neo will probably never be upgraded to Android 10, let alone Android R, something you need to bear in mind before making a purchase.
To sum it up, if media playback is your main focus, the X Neo is really an easy recommendation, in fact you won’t find anything that’s visually on par with this slate in the same price range. But if you use your tablet for more mixed purposes, there are a few other offerings you should look at before reaching into your pocket to get the X Neo.

Can it install google play or service?
I buy this tablet, try to install google service,but it's error.
Did someone install it successfully?
Hope twrp can support, and there is a new rom

domon1116 said:
I buy this tablet, try to install google service,but it's error.
Did someone install it successfully?
Hope twrp can support, and there is a new rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ran into the same problems, seems the current ROM isn't compatible with GMS. Alldocube is working on it.

Jupit3r said:
I ran into the same problems, seems the current ROM isn't compatible with GMS. Alldocube is working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can download the gms rom with google service in this link:https://www.alldocube.com/en/firmware/alldocube-xneot1009-firmware-download/

wangyiling said:
you can download the gms rom with google service in this link:https://www.alldocube.com/en/firmware/alldocube-xneot1009-firmware-download/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, many thanks!

Hi. Any full tutorial to flash?
I just received today. But the rom no google play.
As i see in tutorial. To connect to Qfill in tutorial. The tablet must boot to 9008 mode (press volume up and down button and power) after i press the tablet goes death black screen. I try to power up no response. Any tips?

Jubet said:
Hi. Any full tutorial to flash?
I just received today. But the rom no google play.
As i see in tutorial. To connect to Qfill in tutorial. The tablet must boot to 9008 mode (press volume up and down button and power) after i press the tablet goes death black screen. I try to power up no response. Any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the CPU of this tablet is Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. The operation of firmware flashing in the 9008 mode is exactly the same as the other Snapdragon 660 mobile phones. The operation of QFIL tool is universally, and the problems encountered are the same. You can find many references on the xda forum or youtube
If the tablet just enters 9008 mode, the flashing does not started, long press the power button should be able to reset the machine, and boot.
If the flashing has already started, and it was interrupted, as long as the tablet can enter 9008 mode, continue to use QFIL tool to re-flash the firmware

hi to all,
i would use this nice tablet about smart working.
The needed is exporting, via usb-c to hdmi cable, the display on LG 32UL950-W monitor.
But without luck, until now.
Black screen. Any suggests ?
It seems, reading specs on official site at url , that is supported HDMI output.
I've tried with a usb-c HUB and no luck.
Any tips to follow ? Thanks everyone for your patience.
Nicola.

How to unlock bootloader & root device？

sis3002001 said:
How to unlock？
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
password

sis3002001 said:
How to unlock bootloader & root device？
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. go into the Settings > System > Developer options menu and enable the OEM unlocking
2.use adb command let tablet go into fastbootmode:adb reboot bootloader
3.use fastboot command to unlock:fastboot flashing unlock
4.about root,use magsik app to patch the origin boot.img ,and use fastboot command flash the modified boot.img:fastboot flash boot xxx.img,and at last install magisk app.

wangyiling said:
1. go into the Settings > System > Developer options menu and enable the OEM unlocking
2.use adb command let tablet go into fastbootmode:adb reboot bootloader
3.use fastboot command to unlock:fastboot flashing unlock
4.about root,use magsik app to patch the origin boot.img ,and use fastboot command flash the modified boot.img:fastboot flash boot xxx.img,and at last install magisk app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can we update after unlocking and rooting ?
And someone here tryed to get GCAM working ? Perhaps we can get better pictures.
Perhaps an old Stable Gcam can work ? (Camera2api enabled in Hardware).
I just waiting for shipment of this Device.
greatz....

majo3000 said:
Can we update after unlocking and rooting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As is the case with most Android devices that can be unlocked, the unlock persists across updates. The unlocking is of the Bootloader, which is a separate partition from System, Data, etc. When you update the System (OS), the bootloader will remain unlocked. The only exception to this would be perhaps if the OS maintainer wanted to ensure the device was always locked, they may update the bootloader with a re-lock mechanism. But this is rare, and certainly not the case with the Alldocube.

Jupit3r said:
The good:
1. Nice build quality.
2. Vibrant, clear and sharp display.
3. Decent performance.
4. MicroSD card support.
5. 4G and Phone functions.
The bad:
1. Old processor.
2. Big bezels.
3. No fingerprint reader or face unlock.
4. Sub-par battery life.
The Alldocube X released last year enjoyed enormous success on Indiegogo. With its dazzling 10.5-inch 2K Super Amoled display, stereo speakers, and AKM AK4376A powered 3.5mm headphone jack, the X was considered by many to be a perfect choice for media consumption. Unfortunately, it was hold back by a relatively weak processor (Mediatek MT8176 SoC) and poor battery life.
By the end of 2019, Alldocube announced its partnership with Qualcomm, the world’s leading mobile chip maker. Many were hoping that the Chinese brand could release an upgraded version of the X with a Snapdragon processor in it. And here comes the X Neo: An Android tablet with identical design and 10.5-inch Amoled display, but a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, and some other minor changes.
Main Specs
Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie
Screen: 10.5-inch Super Amoled display @2560*1600px
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE
CPU: Octa-Core (4*Cortex [email protected] + 4*Cortex [email protected])
GPU: Adreno 512
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
ROM: 64GB eMMc 5.1 (supports expansion up to 512GB)
Battery: 3.8V/7700mAh Li-Po battery
Cameras: 5MP front / 8MP main
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n, 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band
Mobile networks: 4G (FDD-LTE/TD-LTE), 3G (CDMA/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA), 2G (GSM)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD card slot, pogo pin keyboard port.
Buttons: Power/standby key, volume rocker
Size: 245.9*175.4*7.2mm Weight: 491g
Nice, but unimpressive design
Just like last year’s X, the Alldocube X Neo looks neat and elegant. The metallic rear and curved sides give the slate an air of luxury. But for a 2020 tablet, the bezels around the screen are just a little too big. Alldocube made an argument that big bezels give users enough to grip and hold the tablet to avoid accidental touches, which makes sense, but I still think people would prefer modern designs of the Apple iPad Pro and the Huawei MatePad Pro. A front-facing camera and a light sensor can be found above the display, the rest of the front looks clean, and you won’t even find any branding.
The tablet has a frosted aluminum back, which makes it feel much more premium than the price tag would suggest. Apart from Alldocube’s logo, the camera lens is the only distraction. It’s incredibly clean, simple, and stylish.
When holding horizontally, the left and right edge are each home to dual speakers, and there're also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C charging port on the left.
On the bottom side of the slate you can also find a pogo pin port, which can be connected to the official keyboard case.
The tablet supports 4G, as well as storage expansion. The SIM card tray is able to carry 2 nano SIM cards or the combination of 1 nano SIM card and a MicroSD card.
There are two physical buttons on the right edge of the slate: a power/standby key and a volume rocker.
The X Neo measures 245.9mm * 175.4mm * 7.2mm, and weighs 489g. It does not fit in our hands as well as those 8-inchers do, and you can basically forget about one-handed use, but the device didn’t burden our hands too much, either, thanks to the slim and lightweight build. As thin as it is, the X Neo still feels quite robust, even physically twisting the tablet doesn’t reveal excess movement. The overall build quality of this slate is as good as many high-end products in the market.
One thing that does bother me is the absence of a fingerprint reader, which I loved on last year’s X. I even called Alldocube for their reason regarding the removal of this feature. Their marketing person claimed that the majority of users don’t use their tablets for online payments, so a tablet doesn’t need the same level of security as a smartphone or a laptop. I do understand their point: the absence of a fingerprint reader is not a deal breaker for most tablet users, and the brand can save the cost for more essential features such as 4G connectivity, yet I would have preferred a more convenient way to unlock the screen, instead of having to put in some PIN code or draw a certain pattern.
Stunning Screen, average sound
The Alldocube X Neo sports a gorgeous 10.5-inch Super Amoled display made by Samsung. Resolution clocks in at 2,560 by 1,600, for 287 pixels per inch. With deep, inky blacks and rich colors, the display is really a joy to look at. Color accuracy is also excellent, and the screen is bright enough to use in any scenario.
Although the X Neo’s display uses the standard PenTile RGBW matrix, instead of the more celebrated 'PenTile Diamond Pixel' array, sharpness is still good and, while I don’t think color calibration or the screen architecture match Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, this is still one of the best screens you’ll find in a tablet, and is definitely superior to the LCD panels used on the Huawei MatePad Pro and the Apple iPad Pro.
Not just videos and photos look great. The lightweight nature means it’s also an excellent ebook reader alternative, and great for gaming. I read for many hours using the Amazon Kindle app, and provided I changed the background color from white to a paper-like tone, it didn’t tire my eyes. The light, easy-to-hold body allows for extended play sessions when gaming, too. Asphalt 9 is fun, and it’s visually enhanced thanks to the stunning colors and screen.
The Alldocube X Neo offers side-firing stereo speakers, which can go very loud. Unfortunately, these built-in speakers can sound a little harsh at the highest volume, and lacks the bass and soundstage produced by the Quad AKG tuned speakers found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Still, they are much better than similarly priced Android slates and are definitely good enough for YouTube and Tik Tok. For audiophiles, headphones or external speakers are still very much needed for music and action films.
Although the X Neo has a 3.5mm headphone jack, it is not powered by the AKM 4376A DAC like last year’s Alldocube X was. The tablet works well with average headphones, only when you plug in a power-hungry professional headset with higher impedance will you start to notice some differences. If you don’t even own headphones above $200, this shouldn’t even be anything to think about.
System & UI
The X Neo ships with stock Android 9 Pie, not the latest Android 10, and there’s customization on top. As much as we love the clean feel of stock Android, it is not optimized for a tablet screen, especially a big, 10.5-inch one.
You won’t find anything similar to Samsung tablets’ DeX mode. 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 is less and less tablet-friendly. Many of the customized tablet applications in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t been updated for a long time. As a result, most of the apps we tried on the X Neo were just phone apps blown up to fill the 10.5-inch screen, with the majority of them only supporting vertical mode. The ideal solution would be something like the Phoenix OS, which turns Android OS into a multi-window desktop style user interface, but Alldocube doesn’t seem too keen on shipping their tablets with that operating system.
Decent performance
The Alldocube X Neo is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, which has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz) and an Adreno 512 GPU. This chipset was actually released way back in 2017 and built on 14nm process, so it is relatively old, and doesn’t match the performance of the Snapdragon 675 or Kirin 810 found in many entry-level Android smartphones. But compared to the 28nm MediaTek 8176 processor in last year’s Alldocube X, it is still a solid upgrade.
The X Neo notched typical “Snapdragon 660” scores in many benchmark tests I threw at it, but it even bettered the Snapdragon 670 powered Samsung Galaxy S5e in some of those tests, which came as a pleasant surprise.
The built-in storage is eMMc 5.1, which is not comparable to UFS storages in top smartphones, but the X did manage to get a result similar to the readings of more expensive midrange tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e in terms of Sequential Read and Write speeds in the Androbench test.
In the real-world use, the Snapdragon 660 processor and 4GB RAM are actually enough to drive the tablet for the tasks it is intended for. The X Neo is smooth and responsive most of the time, I had no issues watching 4K YouTube videos in Chrome, and scrolling through my best friends’ Instagram posts at the same time. With that said, there will be some noticeable hiccups when you open too many image-heavy webpages, or have several big applications running in the background.
Gaming should not be your main reason to buy a Snapdragon 660 powered tablet. With that said, the tablet can run most games installed from Play Store without issues, but in order to have a smooth visual experience, you need to use moderate settings in big titles such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG. If you insist on going for the highest level of animation and 3D effects, you should expect frameskip and serious delays.
Superb connectivity
The X Neo supports dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and 4G, you can even use it to make phone calls, but you need to hear voices either through headphones or the built-in speakers, since the tablet doesn’t have an earpiece.
With such an amazing display, more users will be tempted to store a lot of media files in their X Neo, thus the 64GB built-in storage might not suffice. Fortunately, this tablet supports storage expansion, you can insert a MicroSD card up to 512GB. Even better, the type-C port can also mount most mobile SSD drives.
Basic cameras
There are two cameras on the X Neo, a front-facing 5MP camera and an 8MP main camera. Those cameras can be useful for video-chatting, and scanning QR code, but you won’t want to “archive your life” with them. Even in perfectly-lit conditions, most photos I took with the main camera were either over-exposed or under-exposed, and there wasn’t much life to them. In low light, the photos were simply horrible. In an era when most entry-level smartphones come with triple or quad camera setups, there is really no place for tablet photography.
Selfie camera shot
Main camera shot
Subpar battery life, decent charging speed
The Alldocube X Neo houses a 7700mAh Li-Po battery, smaller than the X’s 8000mAh. But with a much more efficient processor, the X Neo can give me around 7-8 hours’ screen time on a full charge, while the X could only last around 6 hours.
With display brightness and speaker volume both set at 50%, the X Neo scored 7 hours and 25 minutes in the PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Battery test, which was really not impressive compared to other midrange tablets.
This X Neo supports Qualcomm’s 18W QC3.0 quick charge. With the stock wall charger, you can fully charge the tablet’s 7700mAh battery in around 3 hours, not bad considering how big the battery is. In comparison, the 2020 Apple iPad Pro also supports 18W charging, but Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 and S5e only support 15W charging. The MatePad Pro is the reigning king in terms of charging speed, as it supports Huawei’s very own 40W SuperCharge, but the cheaper MatePad 10.4 doesn’t have that feature, as it also ships with an 18W charger.
Verdict: great for media consumption
The Alldocube X Neo isn’t designed to break any new grounds, but it is an Android tablet which gets a lot of essential things right. It has a sharp and colorful display, which makes it perfect for video streaming, web-browsing and even light gaming. The Snapdragon 660 AIE processor is old, but still offers decent performance for basic everyday tasks. 4G connectivity means the tablet won’t be limited to places with connectable Wi-Fi hotspot.
However, the removal of the fingerprint reader is not really a smart move. Also, the Chinese brand doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to after-sale support, most of their tablets stop receiving firmware upgrades a few months after the release. The X Neo will probably never be upgraded to Android 10, let alone Android R, something you need to bear in mind before making a purchase.
To sum it up, if media playback is your main focus, the X Neo is really an easy recommendation, in fact you won’t find anything that’s visually on par with this slate in the same price range. But if you use your tablet for more mixed purposes, there are a few other offerings you should look at before reaching into your pocket to get the X Neo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the review
I'd be interested in knowing which version of the device you have had the opportunity to test (of particular interest is the 4G Network Support). The reason for this is that when comparing the information provided regarding 4G Network Support for the Alldocube X Neo tablet, there are significant differences between information provided on the manufacturer's Chinese website and, respectively, the Global (English) one.
Referring to the information provided on the following webpages (though the former in Chinese only, but one can still determine which the listed/enumerated frequency bands in question are)
Chinese:
https://www.51cube.com/parm/xneo-parm/
International:
https://www.alldocube.com/en/parm/xneo-parm/
It has been rather challenging trying to find out which versions there actually are available (e.g. Chinese and/or Global) from the sellers that offers the Alldocube X Neo tablet for purchase, nevertheless based on the information presented and available on the manufacturer's Chinese and Global website respectively, one should be allowed to expect there to exist (at least) two different versions with regard to the 4G Network Support.
Concerning these circumstances I'd like to ask were you able to verify which 4G network bands the shipped device actually supported?

More details on working being done to root with Magisk, install TWRP, and install LineageOS can be found at this forum:
https://hardforum.com/threads/alldocube-x-neo.1998171/

protechtedd said:
More details on working being done to root with Magisk, install TWRP, and install LineageOS can be found at this forum:
https://hardforum.com/threads/alldocube-x-neo.1998171/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for linking to my thread

I have GCam working.We have Camera2api Level3 . Okay the Camera is not so good.But with GCam i get better details with less Noise.
Also EIS is working with GCAM.
I used Pixelcam-brazil.
I will test more and upload soon my configs for Gcam.

someone knows how to get HDMI via USB-C working ? i buyed a Adapter but it didnt run.

majo3000 said:
someone knows how to get HDMI via USB-C working ? i buyed a Adapter but it didnt run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have try also but not working.

Is there already a compatible and optimized custom rom that I can install on this device?

Lenovo YOGA Duet 7 (2021) review: the ultimate 2-in-1 laptop

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When it comes to 2-in-1 convertibles, the Surface Pro lineup simply had no competition. Even the 2021 iPad Pro, with its incredible Apple M1 processor and an official keyboard, still doesn’t offer the same level of productivity as its Microsoft counterpart does. Many other big brands, including Samsung, Dell, and ASUS, have also released many hybrid models over the years, yet none of them really generated enough momentum to overtake Surface Pro’s Crowne. But that may change soon, as Lenovo just released the new YOGA Duet 7 (2021), which comes with a newer Tiger Lake CPU, Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and some of the greatest features ever found on a detachable hybrid. It is bound to be a strong contender in the race.
Specs of the YOGA Duet 7 (2021)
​
Processor​Intel Core i5-1135G7 (4 Cores/8 Threads, 2.4-4.2GHz)​Display​13.0" 16:10 2K (2160 x 1350), 450 nits, 100% sRGB, pen support​Graphics​Intel Iris Xe Graphics​Storage​512GB NVMe PCI Express solid-state drive​Memory​16 GB LPDDR4x 3200MHz (soldered)​Audio​2 x Stereo Speakers (1W x 2) with Dolby Audio certification​Cameras​Front-facing 5MP
Support Windows Hello with infra-red
Rear-facing 5MP​Networking​Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, 802.11ax 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.1​Ports: Left​1 x Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 40Gbps (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4)
1 x USB-C (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0)
1 x Micro SD card slot​Ports: Right​1x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo
1 x USB-C (3.2 Gen 1, support data transfer and Always On)​Ports: Bottom​Pogo pin magnetic dock port for the Detachable Keyboard​Pen​Included Digital Pen with 4096 pressure levels​Keyboard​Detachable Keyboard with magnetic docking hinge​Touchpad​Built into Detachable Keyboard, integrated buttons​Battery​Integrated 2-Cell 42 Whr polymer​Weight​799g (tablet only); 380g (Keyboard)​Dimensions​Tablet: 297.4 x 207.4 x 9.19 mm (11.7 x 8.16 x 0.36 inches)
Folio case: 297.4 x 221.2 x 6 mm (11.7 x 8.70 x 0.23 inches)​Operating System​Windows 10 Home Edition​Microsoft Office​Office 365 included, permanent license​
Retail Package
The YOGA Duet 7 comes with very attractive packaging, the sand grey background color and accented letters give the retail box a premium look.
The YOGA Duet tablet and detachable keyboad cover are both nicely protected.
Inside the box we have also found a digital pen (even the AAA battery is included), a 65W power adapter, and some booklets.
Design and build
The YOGA Duet 7 has a magnesium alloy body that feels incredibly sturdy and high-quality in the hands. The slate grey finish of my unit is not only easy on the eyes, but it also has a lingering charm. I have never appreciated the look of a gadget for so long
We can see lots of cooling vents on the top side for hot air expulsion. The machine is actively cooled, and we can feel air wafting from the vents when it's under heavy workloads.
The front is dominated by a 13-inch IPS multi-touch display. The bezels are pretty thin all around, but the top and bottom are a little thicker than the left and right sides. That makes it possible to hold the Duet 7 as a tablet with minimal effort, without obscuring much of the screen.
The front-facing IR webcam also has a 5MP sensor that supports Windows Hello facial recognition and captures video at [email protected] That's a considerable upgrade from most consumer notebooks that get saddled with 720p sensors, and the difference was apparent in online video calls.
The left edge of the tablet sports a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, a Micro SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a multi-function USB-C port. Both of these USB-C ports support Power Delivery 3.0 and Video output, the Thunderbolt port even has DisplayPort 1.4 built in, thus is able to output [email protected] videos.
The right edge plays host to two physical keys: a power key and a volume rocker. There’s another USB-C port for data transfer and Always-On power output.
The YOGA Duet 7 includes a kickstand, which allows you to position its screen at nearly any angle from 0° to 160°. The hinge looks sophisticated and extremely durable, and is able to take a huge amount of pressure, you don’t have to worry about wearing it out in normal everyday use.
The device is also about as portable as you can get, the tablet weighs only 799 grams, while the ultra-thin keyboard, which also serves as a screen cover when closed, weighs only 380g– you’ll be able to throw the YOGA Duet 7 into your bag without worrying. The tablet has accompanied for more than a month now. I took it to the office and back every day, and even brought it with on a business trip for a week. It has survived a variety of interesting encounters. The most concerning was an accidental drop to the ground from a coffee table, which the machine survived unscathed.
I understand that Lenovo has designed the YOGA Duet 7 to be as travel-friendly as possible, but with prolonged use the device’s lack of a USB-A port becomes a serious issue. On too many occasions I found myself wanting – but unable – to carry out basic tasks such as connecting the Duet 7 to a mouse without Bluetooth, or pulling files from a USB stick. A hub would work just fine, but you just need to always remember carrying it with you.
There’s also no fingerprint reader on board. Windows Hello works fine, but I personally would still prefer using a fingerprint as it gives me a higher sense of security than the 2D face unlock does.
Keyboard and pen
The best news is that both the pen and the magnetic keyboard cover are already included in the retail package, you don’t need to pay extra for them. The keyboard cover here magnetically connects to the tablet and protects the screen when not in use. It won’t tilt up to a more comfortable typing angle like the Surface Type Cover does, but it has a built-in battery, and is able to serve as a Bluetooth keyboard even when detached.
The fabric on the back of the keyboard cover feels very nice in hand, and is more resistant to dust and color changing than the Alcantara fabric used for the Surface Type Cover. It looks better, as well.
The keys are not only physical, well-spaced and full-sized, but are also quiet and have decent travel. They are almost as tactile as how I would like them to be. In terms of its satisfying typing experience and high-quality haptic feel, the YOGA Duet 7’s keyboard is still inferior to a ThinkPad keyboard, which is, in my humble opinion, the industry best.
The touchpad has a decent size and a good feel to each click and accurately registered my input as I navigated the desktop, it is also quick to recognize two-finger and three-finger gestures.
The included pen, which supports 4096 levels of pressure, would be ideal for digital artwork. I am not blessed with the talent of painting, but I do take handwritten notes occasionally. The YOGA Duet’s pen is responsive enough for writing, although it can feel a little slippery at times. There’s a slight amount of latency, which is not really a big issue for average consumers like myself. But if you are a digital artist who have already gotten used to the Apple Pencil and Galaxy S-pen level of instantaneousness, you might find the pen here a little unsatisfying.
The two buttons on the pen are quite tactile and responsive, and there’s also a protruding part at one end to prevent the pen from rolling off the table. But unfortunately, there isn’t a dedicated place on the tablet or the keyboard to put the pen like there is on the Surface Pro 7.
Display and sound
One of the major differences between the YOGA Duet 7 and the Surface Pro has to be the 16:10 aspect ratio of its 13-inch, 2160*1350 IPS display. This display shows smaller black bars playing videos when compared to Surface Pro’s 3:2 screen, but shows more vertical real estate than similar 16:9 displays, which equates to more of a web page or more lines of code in a text editor.
The YOGA Duet 7’s display looks clear even from extreme side angles. At 196 PPI, the screen may not be the sharpest, yet it’s still difficult to pick out single pixels. Colors look vibrant and true to life, thanks to its 100% sRGB color gamut. The display can also emit up to 450 nits, which beats the Surface Pro 7 (395 nits) and the category average (386 nits), The Dell XPS 2-in-1 7390 has an even brighter display at 600 nits.
The stereo speakers (2*1W) are tuned by Dolby Audio out of the box. The EQ curve does its best, but the speakers are generally subpar, and won’t match Lenovo’s very own Tab P11 Pro, which comes with quad 1.5W JBL speakers. There’s enough volume for online chatting and occasional YouTube videos, but music, games and movies won't sound too good. Thankfully, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the side.

Performance
The YOGA Duet 7 is powered by the latest Intel Core i5-1135G7 Tiger Lake CPU, coupled with 16GB Memory and 512GB NVMe SSD. Without a dedicated graphics card, the YOGA Duet is definitely not a powerhouse, but it should still offer more than enough oomph for normal everyday computing tasks such as office workloads, web surfing and high-res video playback.
As much as I dislike benchmarks, they are the easiest ways to measure the horsepower of a PC. To help you better understand the results, I’ve also listed the scores of some other 2-in-1s here for comparison.
First, we ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The YOGA Duet scored 1331 in single-core, and 4423 in multi-core. Although these scores wouldn’t match what the Apple M1 powered Macbook Air had achieved in the same test, but they did handily beat the numbers the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 had got.
In the cross-platform Geekbench 5.4.1 CPU test, the YOGA Duet’s 1411 CPU single-core score and 4742 multi-core score still lagged far behind the snatches of the new Apple Macbook Air, but they did beat the Dell XPS 2-in-1 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 7.
PCMark simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. 4262 is the number the Duet 7 notched in the standard PCMark 10 test.
This machine is equipped with a fast 512GB PCle NVMe SSD, readings in the CrystalDiskMark tells the story. The storage is also expandable with a MicroSD card of up to 1TB, if you are not too concerned with the read and write speeds the TF card could bring.
One of the biggest complaints about of the YOGA Duet 7’s configurations is its 16GB single-channel memory. Don’t get me wrong, 16GB is quite plentiful for any 2-in-1. The real problem is that the 16GB memory offered here is a single stick, instead of two 8GB memory sticks. This results in lower overall bandwidth and throughput speed. 3D games such as Assassins’ Creed and Fallout 4 may suffer immensely in smoothness when running on a single-channel memory. But in other games and applications, the performance difference between single-channel and dual-channel RAM may vary from subtle to unnoticeable. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the 16GB memory are not impressive, but still solid. The 85.2ns latency isn’t too bad, either.
The integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphis may not rival dedicated graphics found in gaming laptops and mainstream PCs, but it is still a huge step up from UHD 6XX GPUs. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike and Time Spy tests, the Duet's graphics scores are 9129, 2515 and 875 respectively.
In the real world use, the Duet 7 provides ample oomph for normal everyday computing, light media editing, and even some 3D gaming. The system didn’t slow down when I was opening a dozen webpages in Chrome at the same time, and never really left me waiting for it to process a task or command.
Editing videos in Power Director is generally smooth, filters and animations don’t take long to get applied to all layers of clips. However, I did spend 30% more time converting a 4K video on the Duet 7 than on the Xiaoxin 15 (ideapd S), which is powered by the same processor, but has dual-channel memory and a dedicated MX450 GPU.
As for multimedia entertainment, the YOGA Duet has no problem streaming 4K YouTube videos in Microsoft Edge, or decoding different formats of 4K local video clips.
The Intel Iris Xe Graphics is definitely not designed for intense 3D gaming, but it is capable of running most AAA titles in moderate settings. Fortnite was generally smooth under 720P and low visual effects, with average frame rates well above 45 FPS. League of Legends was smooth both in 720P (60 FPS) and 1080P (40-50 FPS), with visual effects set at low to medium.
Conqueror’s Blade was a different story, though. Even at 720P and low settings, frame skips could happen in intense fighting scenes. Game PP reported an average frame rates of only 23 FPS, which means that the title is playable on the Duet 7, but not all that enjoyable.
These were all the games I played on the Duet 7.
There’s an active cooling system in Duet 7’s slim body, and it is audible when the computer is under heavy workloads. Fortunately, the noise won’t be a constant distraction from what you are working on as it never gets too loud for comfort.
Battery Life
There’s a 42Whr battery under the shell, which gives the tablet 5-6 hours of screen time in mixed use. Lenovo advertised 13 hours of video playback for this machine, but that number was probably achieved with some extreme settings.
In my very own test, I set the screen brightness to 40%, which is generally ideal for indoor use, and played a 1080P video on loop for 9 hours, the YOGA Duet was left with only 2% of battery, so I believe it would be really difficult to squeeze more than 10 hours of screen time out of the machine.
The included 65W charger fills up the battery rather quickly. A full charge takes only around 2 hours, and you are able to get a healthy amount of refill during a short lunch break.
Connectivity
The Duet 7 comes with the latest WiFi6 for fast internet access, and Bluetooth 5.0 for connecting with wireless input devices, headphones and speakers.
With 3 USB-C ports on board, you are able to hook the YOGA Duet up to quite a number of external drives. The two Type-C ports on the left both support video output, which means you are able to distribute your computing tasks to two external monitors at the same time.
Verdict
While the YOGA Duet 7 (2021) may be considered to be a Surface Pro 7 alternative, there are many things that it actually does better than its pricier Microsoft counterpart: 1) The new 11th-gen Tiger Lake CPU is a lot faster. Even with the much-criticized single-channel memory, the YOGA Duet still beats the Surface Pro 7 (i5-1035G4) in almost every benchmark. 2) With a rechargeable battery inside, the magnetic keyboard cover also serves as a Bluetooth keyboard when detached. This means the Duet 7 will fit into more computing scenarios than other convertibles. 3) There is a Thunderbolt 4 port on the Duet 7 for high-speed data transfer (up to 40GB per second), [email protected] video output and fast charging. 4) The Duet 7 looks more stylish, although that may come down to personal preference.
However, there are also quite a few things that the Surface Pro 7 could do, but the YOGA Duet 7 falls short: 1) The keyboard cover won’t tilt up for a more comfortable typing angle. 2) There’s no dedicated place on the tablet or the keyboard for carrying the pen.
Still, for anyone looking for a travel-friendly 2-in-1 laptop, the YOGA Duet is the closest offering to a Surface Pro 7, and arguably one of the best choices out there.

Thanks for the very detailed review. This is a very interesting device. Can you confirm if this device has a TPM chip and eligible for windows 11 upgrade. I’m planning to pick one up soon but I read somewhere that it does not have the TPM chip.

akashsgpgi said:
Thanks for the very detailed review. This is a very interesting device. Can you confirm if this device has a TPM chip and eligible for windows 11 upgrade. I’m planning to pick one up soon but I read somewhere that it does not have the TPM chip.
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Click to collapse
unfortunately, the sad news it's does not have TPM, this new model no. is 13ITL6 which is not come with TPM and the wired thing the the previous model (named 13ML05) comes with TPM and for some reason lenovo decided to remove it in the new model !! now we should wait for Lenovo to bring it back to this model so we can put it as real alternative to Microsoft devices.

pillar.grace said:
unfortunately, the sad news it's does not have TPM, this new model no. is 13ITL6 which is not come with TPM and the wired thing the the previous model (named 13ML05) comes with TPM and for some reason lenovo decided to remove it in the new model !! now we should wait for Lenovo to bring it back to this model so we can put it as real alternative to Microsoft devices.
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Just got this laptop couple of days ago. There is TPM 2.0 in this model and I'm already running Windows 11 Beta .

That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN

suhaime said:
shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN
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Just got this laptop couple of days ago. There is TPM 2.0 in this model and I'm already running Windows 11 Beta .
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shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's very strange. I got this day before yesterday. It's the same model - 13ITL6 with the exact same processor and ram (i5/8gb) and mine doesn't have TPM support. Can you please share your bios firmware and model number details? Mine is 82MA001VIN
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BIOS version: GPCN19WW
MTM: 82MA000XMJ
Could it be the PTT is disabled in your BIOS?

suhaime said:
BIOS version: GPCN19WW
MTM: 82MA000XMJ
Could it be the PTT is disabled in your BIOS?
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That's the funny part. My BIOS does not have the option for Intel PTT. I have the same firmware GPCN19WW. This is ridiculous on part of Lenovo. Possibly they have used different motherboards for the two. Could you check your make? Details of mine are attached in the pic.

I am not sure if this will work to invoke the PTT but you can try to set the password for BIOS ...

shiva.kakkar11 said:
That's the funny part. My BIOS does not have the option for Intel PTT. I have the same firmware GPCN19WW. This is ridiculous on part of Lenovo. Possibly they have used different motherboards for the two. Could you check your make? Details of mine are attached in the pic.
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Seems to be the same motherboard...

suhaime said:
Seems to be the same motherboard...
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Thanks mate. I tried to set a password through device guard but that didn't invoke it either.
This is really jarring. I wonder what's the reason for this? I hope it's firmware related and not an uninformed hardware revision that Lenovo undertook. Thanks for all your efforts!

It looks like windows 11 is coming to this model. check the below link.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
.
I guess PTT will be enabled by bios update from Lenovo later

shiva.kakkar11 said:
Thanks mate. I tried to set a password through device guard but that didn't invoke it either.
This is really jarring. I wonder what's the reason for this? I hope it's firmware related and not an uninformed hardware revision that Lenovo undertook. Thanks for all your efforts!
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I also have the same model and don't have TPM Chipset. Also the spec sheet says the same
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Yoga/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6_Spec.pdf
And good news is we are getting windows 11 for this model. check the link below. Yoga duet 7i(13, 06) has been listed under ideapad.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
I guess PTT will be enabled by Lenovo in Bios update later

thyagur said:
I also have the same model and don't have TPM Chipset. Also the spec sheet says the same
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Yoga/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6/Yoga_Duet_7_13ITL6_Spec.pdf
And good news is we are getting windows 11 for this model. check the link below. Yoga duet 7i(13, 06) has been listed under ideapad.
Lenovo devices supported for upgrade to Windows 11 - Lenovo Support IN
support.lenovo.com
I guess PTT will be enabled by Lenovo in Bios update later
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I spoke to another user from Sweden who has the same issue and says that Lenovo CC there suggested they'd be releasing a firmware update once final release of W11 is near. What's strange is that they turned off firmware PTT in some markets and left it on for others. The LTE variant has it mentioned although its spec by spec similar barring the addition of an lte modem. Its really strange. They crippled an otherwise amazing machine through useless software restrictions.

shiva.kakkar11 said:
I spoke to another user from Sweden who has the same issue and says that Lenovo CC there suggested they'd be releasing a firmware update once final release of W11 is near. What's strange is that they turned off firmware PTT in some markets and left it on for others. The LTE variant has it mentioned although its spec by spec similar barring the addition of an lte modem. Its really strange. They crippled an otherwise amazing machine through useless software restrictions.
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Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?

thyagur said:
Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?
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Yes. I did. It says that the system doesn't meet the requirements for Windows 11. The new health checker shows TPM 2.0 is missing. Btw, check your DM. Have sent you a message.

thyagur said:
Very true.. Even I was wondering why would lenovo turn off the PTT.. i was searching for answers everywhere and after seeing official lenovo list for w11 upgrade I stopped searching. It's literally waste of time. Even Indian lenovo cc said this machine is eligible for w11. So let's wait for it.. Did u try registering in insider program?
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Lenovo has a new bios update GPCN20WW. Download it manually, install and in bios - press f9 to load defaults. You'll get PTT. Just got it on mine.

shiva.kakkar11 said:
Lenovo has a new bios update GPCN20WW. Download it manually, install and in bios - press f9 to load defaults. You'll get PTT. Just got it on mine.
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Yeah ..I manually did it.. looks like lot of options opened up now in bios. Interestingly windows 11 insider program isn't appearing for me. How about you?

Hey all, I just got the yoga duet 7i 1135g7 8 Gb and quite rapidly I noticed that it would hang or freeze briefly at random times.
I did a quick cinebench while checking temps cpu clock and temp and noticed that my device is very quickly thermal throttling with clock speed going to 1.9 Ghz (lowest noticed during the run was 1.6 Ghz) and my score was only of around 3350, anyone else having a similar experience?
I have the feeling I suffer from a bad paste application