Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 vs Microsoft Surface 2 vs Google Nexus 10:Which one is Best Fit For Use?

W.A.Khan,                                                                                                                                                Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2                                                                                                                         Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet 2 is a Windows 8 Pro tablet with its own stylus aimed at business users and mobile workers.The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is the best-looking Atom Windows 8 tablet yet, and the optional keyboard dock is excellent. All-day battery life makes it great for travel.                                           Performance and Battery Life:                                                                                                                       Put a full version of Windows 8 on a tablet you're in for a bit of a juggle, just ask the Microsoft Surface Pro. You've got two balls to keep in the air: processing power and battery longevity. While the ThinkPad Tablet 2 often fumbles with the former, it flourishes with the latter.
Unlike the Surface Pro or the Surface RT, which are powered by an Intel i5 and an ARM processor respectively, this tablet has an Intel Atom chip. You may remember this processor from the netbook era of a few years ago, before tablets came along and cleaned their clocks. Now the Atom is back to power Windows 8 slates, like this and the Acer Iconia W510.The ThinkPad Tablet 2 handled web browsing well enough, with Internet Explorer at least. Sites load at an acceptable speed, and we were able to begin scrolling down the page almost instantly, before images and video embeds finished loading. Google Chrome, as well as the Google app, performed poorly though. There's an obvious need for a patch or two here.
The system had just enough grunt for some light multitasking. Using Window 8's neat split-screen feature, we could watch run a YouTube video while browsing news headlines in the Bing Daily news app. We also enjoyed listening to music via the Music app while playing some Angry Birds or Cut the Rope.
That's the limit of the ThinkPad Tablet 2's gaming and multitasking abilities. The low-wattage Atom processor is meant for battery life, not blazing speeds. Lenovo estimates the battery life at 10 hours. We generally came in around 8 hours, after taxing it with heavy web use and streaming video. That's not bad at all, enough to get you through the average work day, or to watch several movies on a long flight.While we enjoyed the battery life the Atom provided, it had us wondering why it was paired up with Windows 8. What's the point of making a device with wide compatibility if it doesn't have the horsepower to run the most important legacy apps? Food for thought, especially if you're between this and the more powerful but not as long lasting Microsoft Surface Pro, or just a regular old laptop.
But, The Tablet 2 is expensive, especially considering the small 64GB SSD, lack of USB 3.0, and generally slow Atom performance.
The bottom line: This Windows 8 tablet from Lenovo scores with great industrial design and battery life, but adding practically required accessories makes the ThinkPad Tablet 2 very expensive for what you get.
System configurations                                                                                                                               Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 737MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB MMC SSD                                                                                                                 Specifications
ProcessorIntel Atom
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type10.1 in
Weight1.3 lbs                                                                                                                                          Price: $679.00                                                                                                                                                                                                                            VS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Microsoft Surface 2                                                                                                                                 The Microsoft Surface 2 is a definite upgrade over 2012's Surface RT. It's faster, with a sharper screen, and houses better cameras.The Microsoft Surface 2 has a sturdy build, smooth gaming performance, and high-quality cameras. Windows RT 8.1 is easier to use than before, and the built-in photo-editing tools and Xbox Music are fantastic features. Office 2013 is included for free, and thanks to a new kickstand angle, the tablet is less likely to fall off your lap.
But, App support still lags behind competitors, and Windows RT is still incompatible with legacy programs. It's too easy to mistakenly push the tablet into its lower stance, and the touch pad on the Type Cover 2 isn't as comfortable as it was on the previous version.                                                                                        Performance:                                                                                                                                           Using the Surface 2 feels fast and responsive, which wasn't the case with the original Surface. This is borne out when browsing the web, as can be seen in an average SunSpider JavaScript score of 496.2ms. That's a very good score for a tablet.
Where the Surface always performed was in gaming, and the Surface 2 is no exception. Running the onscreen Egypt HD 2.5 graphics benchmark the Surface 2 achieved a respectable score of 33fps. Running the 3D Mark Ice Storm Extreme benchmark the Surface 2 scored an average of 8432, Ice Storm Unlimited averaged out at 12,787. These are very healthy scores that reflect our experience of a zippy machine even when running multiple processes.
Battery Life:                                                                                                                                             Of course, the reason the Surface 2 uses Tegra 4 and not, say, an Intel processor, is to improve battery life -- though as the new Atom in the Asus Transformer Book T100 proved, the latest Atoms are very frugal, too.
Here the Surface 2 doesn’t disappoint. Microsoft claims 10 hours on a full charge, and we can’t fault its estimate. We spent a whole day using the Surface 2 on and off, using it to write, browse the internet and stream videos, and still had a comfortable 20-30% spare by the end of the day.
Our only real complaint here is that the auto-brightness system typically sets the screen a little dimmer than is comfortable, which means you’re constantly fiddling with it manually.                                                            The bottom line: The Microsoft Surface 2 is great for getting work done, but those looking for extensive app support (beyond Office) will find top Apple, Android, and Amazon tablets to be better options.                                                                                                                                                                                          Specifications
Release date10/22/13
Display type10.6 in
OSMicrosoft Windows 8.1 RT
RAM2 GB
ProcessorNVidia Tegra 4
Wireless connectivityBluetooth 4.0Wi-fi 802.11a/b/g/n
Dimensions (WxDxH)10.81 in x 0.35 in x 6.81 in
Weight1.49 lbs                                                                                                                                  Price:$449.99                                                                                                                                                                                                                           VS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Google Nexus 10                                                                                                                                     The Nexus 10 is comfortable to hold in either landscape or portrait mode. It's both thinner and lighter than the most recent iPad at 9mm and 604g.The Google Nexus 10 is clearly a brilliant tablet. It's got top-end specs at a mid-range price; that alone makes it deserving of attention.The Nexus 10 has a beautifully sharp screen. It's light, durable, and has the fastest processor of any Android tablet. Photo Sphere is an incredibly cool concept. Google's content ecosystem is only getting better.                                                           Performance:
Google's Nexus 10 is powered by a 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5250 dual-core processor along with 2GB of RAM. It's easy to get caught up in specs like the number of cores when talking about tablets (quad-core is quickly becoming par for the course these days), but it's important to remember that those numbers alone don't determine a device' performance.The experience of using the Nexus 10, in fact, is more consistently smooth and snappy than what I've experienced with most other 10-in. Android tablets - including those with quad-core chips. Navigating through the home screens is fast and fluid, apps load instantly and multitasking feels effortless. Web browsing is a breeze, too, even with numerous tabs open in the Chrome browser. There's nothing to complain about in terms of performance here; the Nexus 10 absolutely delivers.
The Nexus 10 packs a 9000mAh battery that promises nine hours of nonstop video streaming, seven hours of continuous Web browsing and 500 hours of standby time. I found the tablet's stamina to be top-notch; even with moderate to heavy use, I was often able to go a solid few days between charges.
One area where the Nexus 10 falls short is in storage: The tablet's internal space is limited to either 16GB or 32GB. Once you factor in system files and all that fun stuff, even on the 32GB device, you're left with only about 27GB to 28GB of actual usable space -- and the device does not have an SD card slot for external storage. As with its Nexus 4, Google is clearly putting the focus on cloud storage and Web-based streaming, but that kind of configuration isn't going to work for everyone.
The Nexus 10 has two cameras: a front-facing 1.9-megapixel, 720p camera for vanity pics and video chat; and a rear-facing 5-megapixel, 1080p camera for stills and general recordings. When it comes to still pictures, the cameras are okay but not great; they'll get the job done, but you'll get far better quality from pretty much any current high-end smartphone camera. (Does anyone actually take photos on a tablet, anyway?)
Google's Nexus 10 supports near-field communication (NFC) for contact-free sharing and services, including Google Wallet, which comes preloaded on the device. Contrary to some reports, the tablet does not support the new Miracast wireless display-sharing protocol announced for the Nexus 4.
The Nexus 10 is currently available as a Wi-Fi-based device; at this point, Google has not announced any plans for a 3G- or 4G-capable version.
Battery Life:
The Nexus 10 is powered by a non-removable 9000mAh Lithium polymer battery. During our time testing the tablet we found that it offers excellent performance. Indeed, in between testing various apps, capturing screen grabs, watching HD movie content, loading and re-loading dozens (if not hundreds) of websites, playing games, using the camera and all other manner of applications we were easily able to get a full day’s use of the tablet on a single charge. Given the power that’s required to light up all those pixels on the Nexus 10’s high-resolution screen this is really quite an achievement on Samsung/Google’s behalf. There are, of course, various ways and means to prolong battery life, such as switching the GPS off, however we’re confident that the majority of users will find that the Nexus 10 offers excellent battery life as is.
But, The included charger isn't fast enough to power the battery while playing a game; even while idle, it charges painfully slowly. There's no storage expansion option, and apps that take full advantage of the screen are currently few and far between. Navigating isn't quite as seamless as on the Nexus 7.
The bottom line: The Nexus 10's superior design and swift performance make it one of the best Android tablets to date.                                                                                                                                 Specifications
Display type10.055 in
OSAndroid 4.2 Jelly Bean
RAM2 GB
ProcessorA15
Wireless connectivityBluetoothNFCWi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Dimensions (WxDxH)263.9 mm x 8.9 mm x 177.6 mm
Weight603 g                                                                                                                                               Price;$399.00

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