The Moto Evolution-Moto X Full Review

The Come Back

Motorola is back in the Indian market and what a comeback it has been. First the Moto G and now the Moto X – Motorola has shaken up two key segments with just two smartphones. The Moto G changed the mainstream smartphone landscape and proved that we needn’t rely on local brands for good specs and low price. Now, we have the Moto X sitting in the mid-range segment that’s putting quad-core and octa-core phones to shame, thereby busting the myth that more cores equals a better experience.

At a price tag of Rs 23,999, the Moto X is proving to be unbeatable value as we had a glimpse of it just after a day’s usage. So the question is – does the Moto X deliver the best Android experience under Rs 25,000? How does it compare with other phones like the Gionee Elife E7, Sony T2 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2, all of which are available around the same price?

Design And Build

The Motorola Moto X comes packaged in simplistic box with minimal writing on it. You can check it out in our unboxing video of the Moto X. The phone feels really small especially after being overwhelmed with screen sizes north of five inches. In fact, it has the same screen size as the Nexus 4 but feels a lot smaller thanks to the much narrower bezel around it.

At 10.4mm in depth, it’s not very slim but then again it feels very reassuring in your hand. We also liked the bit of heft in it which makes it less toy-like. It looks a lot like the Moto G from all angles, or rather the Moto G has been heavily inspired from the Moto X.

The bezel along the side is half glossy and half rubberised from where the back overlaps. This adds to the aesthetics while preserving grip for when you hold it. The curvy edges lets you slip it easily into your pocket without tearing holes in them. The ports take their usual place around the phone. We have a nano-SIM tray on the X instead of a micro-SIM.

The back is non-removable features a rubberised coating. The black version gets a nice pattern so it’s not as bland as the Moto G. The X is also available in white, blue and two wood finishes. Up top is the 10MP shooter and we also have a 2MP shooter up front. Finally, we have a LED flash and speaker grille rounding off all the external features.

Motorola has done a brilliant job with the build of the Moto X. It feels extremely sturdy and well put together. I personally love the understated looks of it but I can see how some would find it a bit bland and boring.

Features

The Moto X features a 4.7-inch AMOLED display with a decently high resolution. The HD display ensures a healthy pixel count of 312ppi. Colours are richly saturated and level of detail in icons and text is super sharp. It doesn’t end here though as the Moto X has something called Active Display.

Active Display works extremely well at showing notifications

This feature takes advantage of one of the cool properties of AMOLED panels in which, only those pixels needed to form the image or text are lit while the others can remain off. This is also possible since the pixels themselves light up without the need of a backlight. The phone uses the accelerometer to light up the display each time you lift or tilt the phone and fades away. You can view the notification by simply holding the icon and dismiss it by swiping left or right. This works with any notification from any app.

The next big feature is Touchless Controls. If you thought “Ok Google” on the Nexus 5 was cool, this takes touchless controls to another level. You can train the Moto X to recognise your voice so only you can wake it up by saying “Ok Google Now”. This actually works pretty well and provided you speak clearly, it works even in places with lots of background noise. This is possible thanks to a natural language processor which is constantly active and listening. It’s a separate chip from the CPU which uses very little power so battery life is not sacrificed. Unlike the Nexus 5, where the voice command only works from the homescreen, this feature on the Moto X works on when the screen is off or even if you’re playing a game. If you have a password or pattern lock however, you will be prompted to unlock it first to display the results.

A very good performer

Motorola Connect is another very handy feature which lets you manage your messages and call through Chrome on your desktop. We had some difficulties with this as the widget refused to sync with the phone no matter what. Basically, you can reject calls and even reply to messages from the browser without having to unlock your phone. Other apps added by Motorola are available on the Moto G as well like Migrate for carrying your data from the old phone and Assist for automatic changing of profiles when you are driving or stop driving. It puts the Moto X in car mode, when it detects acceleration such as when you are driving.

Compared to the phones in its price band

The X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC. The MSM8960T packs in two Krait 200 cores running at 1.7GHz each. This is slightly old chipset but it’s still very much relevant as its built on the 28nm fabrication process, which is still used today. We also have Adreno 320 graphics onboard, which is a proven GPU. There’s 2GB of RAM as well for faster loading times in apps. Many will be put off by the fact that the X only has two cores when you can get quad-cores and even octa-cores for cheaper. However, it’s not the number of cores that matter but how efficiently you utilise them. We feel the AnTuTu score below amply proves this point

The Moto X sold in India will have 4.4.2 KitKat out-of-the-box and hopefully, will continue to get timely updates in the future even though Motorola is no longer part of the Google family.

Media

Since this is stock Android, we get the default ‘Play Music’ app for audio and the stock player for video. KitKat now supports a good range of video codecs by default so AVI and MKVs will playback. The audio player had some trouble playing back some FLAC files but other than that, we didn’t have any issues. Out of the 16GB onboard, around 11.6GB is usable.

Very good audio production

The volume level for the earphones and speaker is very good as well. Even though the speaker grille faces downwards when you place the phone on the desk, the curve prevents it from being blocked so it’s still easily audible. You can even adjust the audio quality on a system level for both the headphone jack and speaker.

Connectivity

The Motorola Moto X supports 3G and quad-band 2G. You also get dual-band Wi-Fi ‘ac’, Bluetooth v4.0, USB Host, NFC, Miracast, GPS and GLONASS. That’s a healthy mix of connectivity options that’s hard to find in this price bracket. Web browsing is a smooth experience and even heavy websites are rendered with ease. The phone stays very cool for the most part and only gets a bit warm while playing a game or shooting a video.

Very handy features

Camera

The 10MP rear camera and 2MP front camera are both very capable given the right lighting. The sensors are able to pick up good detail but images lack punch and end up feeling flat. The UI is very minimalistic just like the Moto G. The X however gets a new feature which lets you quickly access the camera by flicking your wrist. Since there’s no way to change the resolution for stills and video, you’re stuck with 1080p recording at all times. This can be an issue since you only have a limited amount of space to play with.

The 10MP shooter is not bad

Battery Life

The 2200mAh battery will easily give you a full day’s worth of usage. The Moto X easily completed our 8-hour battery test which included a mix of calling, music, video and YouTube streaming. We still had about 36 percent battery to spare. There’s a power saver mode that kicks in once the battery hits orange level and cuts off packet data. We noticed that the battery drain rather rapidly once it reaches 15 percent.

Easily the best phone under Rs 25,000 right now

Verdict and Price in India

At Rs 23,999, Motorola is easily offering the best Android experience outside the Nexus clan and we feel this is the phone to get under Rs 25,000. For this price, you’re getting features that are not available even in the most expensive Android phone today. Add to that support for Wi-Fi ‘ac’, Miracast and the latest version of Android and you have yourself a pretty future proof device. The Moto X proves that it’s not how many cores you squeeze in that matters but how you utilise them. The dual-core CPU gives even octa-core chipsets a run for their money.

The Moto X and Moto G might look similar but that’s where the similarities end. The G remains one of the best budget droids around but the Moto X offers you so much more. Not only is it more powerful, it has a better display, camera, intuitive controls and fits everyone’s pocket (quite literally as well). We do have a few niggles with the phone like the over-simplistic camera UI. It would have been nice if we had the option to drop the video resolution as not everyone shoots in 1080p. Provision for a microSD card would have also been welcomed. But if you have the budget, look no further than the Moto X for the best Android experience under Rs 25,000.

 #credits http://tech.firstpost.com/reviews/motorola-moto-x-review-putting-the-quad-core-brigade-to-shame-221599.html

credits:Joshua Navalkar, review By Roydon Cerejo@http://tech.firstpost.com/reviews/motorola-moto-x-review-putting-the-quad-core-brigade-to-shame-221599.html

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Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 10 full Review

Introduction
For all of its ups and
down, Microsoft's
Surface RT was a
statement that
Windows tablets could
be as slim, light and
sexy as the iPad , while
the Surface Pro offered
the full software
support we'd expect
from a Windows
machine in a similar
package.
Of course, with the
Surface Pro being heavier and more expensive
than its RT brother, and offering less battery life,
the ideal tablet would be the full Windows 8 OS
of the Pro with the light specs of the RT,
wouldn't it? That's what Lenovo thought, with
this thin, light, Intel-powered full Windows 8
tablet, the Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 10.
Like the Samsung Ativ Smart PC and the Acer
Iconia W510 , this is based on Intel's new Atom
processors, which offer performance and battery
capabilities along the lines of what you'd expect
from Apple's iPad 4. It's what enables the
Lenovo Miix 10 to run Windows 8, but be only
9.9mm (0.4-inches) thick and weigh just 576g
(1.27lbs). And like those two machines, it comes
with a keyboard, so you can easily turn it into a
thin and light laptop substitute.
Pulling the Lenovo Miix
out of its box for the
first time, the (lack of)
size and weight is
definitely the first thing
you'll notice. It's nearly
half the weight of the
Surface Pro, and
considerably lighter
than the Surface RT, Samsung Ativ Smart PC or
iPad 4.
The Lenovo Miix offers a 10.1-inch screen, which
sits in a glossy all-black front. It's a 16:9 screen,
with a resolution of 1366 x 768, meaning that in
landscape orientation it looks like most computer
monitors, but in portrait orientation it looks
severely tall. But then, the Lenovo branding and
touch-sensitive Windows button along the wider
edges make it clear that it's designed for
landscape use.
The back rounds off in shimmering silver plastic
that is embarrassingly aesthetically similar to
Apple's tablet, save for the speaker strip and lack
of rear camera (and removable stickers -
seriously, tech companies, give this up), but it
looks smart enough.
Along the edges of the
device, you have a
sleep/wake key, volume
controls, a headphone
jack, a microSD card
slot, a charging plug
and a micro HDMI port.
There's also a micro
USB port, but it's
positioned on the
bottom edge as part of
where the Lenovo Miix
connects to its keyboard case, meaning that it's
useless when the tablet is in its provided case.
In terms of build quality, this tablet-laptop hybrid
feels distinctly average. It doesn't creak or shift
under your fingers, but there were a couple of
poorly finished edges that felt sharp under our
fingers. Still, we wouldn't worry about treating it
delicately - it seems hardy enough. That goes
double when you use its keyboard case.
The case for the Lenovo Miix is very plastic and
corporate, which is fine, because it feels solid
and durable along with it. It houses the Miix's
keyboard, which is standard Lenovo fare in looks,
if a little shallower.
The Lenovo Miix slots
in a dock on the
keyboard and is held in
place with clips - to
use it, you open it up
and the tablet is held in
place by a magnet.
This means that the
tablet draws power
from the Lenovo Miix,
rather than containing
extra batteries to power the tablet, like the Acer
Iconia W510 does.
The case is a fine utilitarian design, and we'll
look closer at the keyboard in the Performance
section of this review, but we have a couple of
gripes. First, we're annoyed that there's no
power port in the keyboard, because it'd be great
to use it as a kind of docking station, rather than
always having the charging cable plugged directly
into the tablet.
Our second gripe is that it doesn't hold itself
closed in any way - there's no magnet or even a
physical latch to stop it flapping open. It's a folio
design, so it would be better if it closed properly.
Perhaps more importantly (or less, depending on
your intended use), there's no trackpad. This
means that you'll be doing all of your interaction
through the keyboard or touchscreen (though
there is Bluetooth, if you wanted to connect a
wireless mouse).
With a full price of £449.99 / US$479 (around AU
$765) the Lenovo Miix 10 is well into iPad or
Nexus 10 price territory, undercutting the likes of
the Samsung Ativ Smart PC considerably. That
said, the Surface RT price drop has made it
available for under £300 online, so it's got some
competition.
Specifications
The Lenovo Miix 10 is a tablet that runs full
Windows 8 (not Windows RT ), yet is less than a
centimetre thick. This is thanks to Intel's latest
Atom chips, known as Clover Trail, which are
designed to offer the kind of battery life you
expect from tablets, combined with the power to
run normal Windows programs.
Specifically, the Lenovo Miix uses the Intel Atom
Z2760 processor, which is a 1.8GHz dual-core
chip, though it does feature Hyper-Threading, so
can act as four virtual cores.
Now, when you
consider that some
recent laptops that use
Intel's shiny new
Haswell chips, such as
the MacBook Air, run at
a much lower clock
speed than this while
being dual-core, you
might think that this is
a fairly powerful
machine.
However, the chips used here are much simpler
than full laptop processors, such as those used in
the Surface Pro. This is the exact same CPU used
in the Samsung Ativ Smart PC and Acer Iconia
W510 , meaning that it's roughly equivalent in
processor power to the A6X chips used by Apple
in the iPad 4.
Similarly, the graphics capabilities of this
machine are not in line with Intel's integrated
graphics in its more powerful chips. The Atom
Z2760 offers effectively lower-end smartphone
graphics in the form of the PowerVR SGX545. In
terms of raw power, it's a less capable GPU than
the one in the iPad mini.
This is all backed up with 2GB of RAM, which is
very favourable compared to other tablets - only
other Windows tablets and the likes of the Nexus
10 match it - but it's still only half what we'd
consider to be the minimum we'd expect in a
laptop.
We'll go over what all
these specs produce in
practice in the
Performance section,
but basically
expectations need to be
managed here: as a
Windows machine, this
simply isn't equipped
to be much of an
entertainment centre, or a machine for intensive
apps.
For storage, it's equipped with a 64GB SSD,
which enables it to wake quickly, but isn't very
large for containing Windows 8 as well as your
files - there's less than 30GB of actual free
storage. This is typical for this kind of machine,
and the Lenovo Miix does at least come with a
microSD card slot, so you can add some extra
storage yourself.
The 10-inch multi-touch screen is an IPS panel,
so should work excellently at just about any
angle, with a resolution of 1366 x 768. This again
is normal for this kind of machine, but it lacks
sorely behind the high-res displays in the iPad 4,
Google Nexus 7 or Nexus 10.
As far as battery life goes, it's quoted for 10
hours of use. These figures are usually based on
turning the brightness down and other power-
saving measures, of course, but it's the sort of
time we're looking for from a tablet.
Performance
Benchmarks
Cinebench 11: 0.53
3D Mark: Ice: 3487
Battery Eater 05: 229 minutes
You can't say we didn't warn you that the
Lenovo Miix 10 wasn't powerful. The benchmark
results give us some numbers on that, since a
mid-range chip would give us over 2.0 in the
Cinebench tests, compared to just 0.53 here,
while the graphics are comically low-scoring.
There's only one 3D Mark benchmark out of a
possible three because it couldn't handle the
other two, and for that one benchmark, it scored
only a tenth of what Intel's integrated graphics in
its Core i chips delivers.
But, as we said, that
was to be expected.
This is not a highly
specced machine. The
important thing is how
this affects real-world
use.
For a start, any games
other than the most
basic fare from the
Windows Store are out. Other than that, though,
we didn't have a problem with the graphics.
Unlike the Samsung Ativ Smart PC , all windows
moved around smoothly, the Windows 8 interface
responded quickly, and scrolling and zooming
through web pages was fine.
Where there were responsiveness problems, the
processor seemed to be the culprit, and really is
what holds this machine back in terms of
performance overall. While the Samsung Ativ
Smart PC frequently froze and crashed programs,
things were much better here, with programs
often hanging initially when switched to, but
coming to life reliably after a few seconds.
Similarly, things like the sound effects on alerts
might arrive slightly later than the dialogue
window, but these can all be lived with -
inconveniences rather than major concerns.
But the slowness is also reliable. Unzipping a
folder takes minutes where it should take
seconds, for example. Any kind of pure data
crunching is just going to frustrate you. It also
means that processor-intensive web content
such as Flash media will slow things down
massively.
If you don't really need it for that kind of thing,
it's fast enough, though. It comes on from sleep
pretty much instantaneously, and we wrote this
review in Google Docs on it (it comes with a tile
for Office, but it just takes you to an Office 365
trial) without any significant problems. We did
experience one crash, but it was sorted after a
restart. As a simple document productivity
machine, there's no problem.
Well, there may be a bit
of a problem. The lack
of a trackpad in the
keyboard case means
that some fiddlier
productivity apps will
be a pain. Text
selection is basically
non-existent, for
example, and though the touchscreen is actually
nice and accurate, selecting fiddly buttons is no
fun at all.
That said, the keyboard itself is excellent. It's a
superbly comfortable size, and feels well made.
It's very shallow, which reduces the feedback it
offers compared to something just a little deeper,
but the resistiveness of the keys is perfect. We
found ourselves typing a suspicious number of
double letters, and double spaces especially,
when using the keyboard, but the simple fact is
that we could use it for hours on end and be
totally comfortable.
It's also good that the keyboard gives
prominence to quick keys such as volume and
Charms when they share a key with a Function -
in a tablet, we find the former more useful than
the latter.
However, it's a shame that the keyboard case is
rather inflexible. There's only one position to
stand the tablet in, and it's very upright. On a
desk, that's not so bad, but on a train or any
where else where space is limited, you really
can't see the screen very well at all. The viewing
angles are good, and the screen is nice and clear,
it's just that the angle becomes acute enough to
be awkward.
Speaking of the screen, it's great. It's not super
high-res, no, but it's an IPS panel, so it's bright,
clear and only darkens slightly when you're at an
awkward sideways viewing angle.
The speakers are fairly loud and clear, though the
way they fire away from you isn't totally ideal.
They're not high quality, but are easily good
enough for hearing people talk clearly in videos.
Of course, battery life is
one of the key
advantages of tablets
these days, so we were
hoping the Lenovo Miix
would match up to the
best out there. Or at
least to the best
Windows tablets out
there. Sadly, that's not quite the case.
It managed 3 hours and 49 minutes in our
intensive battery tests, which would be very good
for a laptop, but is well behind what the Samsung
Ativ Smart PC and small Windows 8 tablets
achieved.
While you could certainly get much more life than
that out of it with careful power management,
it's still going to struggle to last you all day.
However, it held its charge reasonably well when
on standby (the Samsung drained alarmingly
when sleeping), so it's a fairly reliable companion
for a working weekend, provided you can charge
it when needed.
Verdict
The jury is still out on
super thin and light
Windows 8 tablet-
laptop hybrids, despite
the efforts of the
Lenovo Miix 10.
Certainly, there will
come a time when
they're perfectly
powerful enough for
most computer use, but
right now the Intel
Atom chips inside this,
the Samsung Ativ
Smart PC and the Acer
Iconia W510 are just
struggling a bit too
much to make them
ideal replacements for
your laptop.
It's a balance with the
interface too, of course. The Lenovo Miix might
be slow, but it runs fairly reliably. But with no
integrated trackpad, will it run your software
usably?

Acer Aspire P3 full Review

Acer has upped its
game in recent years,
and it's easy to forget
that just two years ago
the Taiwanese giant
made its money
peddling identi-kit
budget laptops by their
millions. The company
has since turned around
its reputation and is
responsible for the
glorious Acer Aspire S7
- one of finest
Ultrabooks out there -
and has also got chins wagging about the Acer
Iconia W3 - the world's first 8-inch Windows 8
tablet - as well as the Acer Aspire R7 and Acer
Aspire P3.
The devices hit at a busy time, with most
manufacturers releasing their second bite at the
Windows 8 cherry, with Samsung finally throwing
its weight behind the new OS with its Ativ range,
Sony doing impressive things with the Vaio Duo
13, and Asus about to revamp its VivoBook
operation.
The first of the new slew of Acer devices to hit
the shelves is the Aspire P3, a Windows 8 slate
with keyboard docking station which is not unlike
last year's Iconia W5. It's another attempt to
woo buyers by offering the convenience of a
tablet but the usability of a full-blooded laptop, a
challenge that every manufacturer of Windows-
based hardware has attempted without success.
The reason for the
continued struggle is
that the inconvenient
constraints of that
thing called "physics"
mean that every feature
requires a compromise.
Downsizing to make a
tablet-laptop portable
means you sacrifice comfort, but adding the
components necessary for powerful computing
adds weight, and miniaturising everything costs
money. The result has been a series of
cumbersome devices featuring confusing docks,
which weigh the same as a laptop and cost a
ruddy fortune.
Acer has managed to answer one of these
complaints immediately with the Aspire P3. The
£529 (around US$820 / AU$900) asking price for
the entry-level model is a fair deal, and makes it
one of the best value devices on the market.
Surface RT is cheaper, but while that has enjoyed
a price cut to just £250 / US$350 / AU$390
recently, the Windows RT operating system
means it's in a lower division to the full Windows
8 Acer Aspire P3 altogether.
Despite the low price, the Acer Aspire P3 tablet
itself is actually very well made. At 900g
(1.98lbs) - or 1.25kg (2.76lbs) with the keyboard
attachment - it's certainly heavy compared to
the 670g (1.48lbs) iPad 4, but there's USB and
HDMI ports, a good quality feel and great looks.
Our only complaint is the chunky design,
measuring 258.5 x 167.5 x 18.7mm (10.2 x 6.6 x
0.74 inches), especially since Samsung is
boasting that its Ativ Tab will boast a better
spec in a case that's about 33% lighter.
With a good price and excellent build quality, can
Acer solve the usability question and pack the
Aspire P3 with a good enough spec to make this
a killer tablet?
Specifications
With the entry-level Acer Aspire P3 model
retailing for just £529 (around US$820 / AU
$900), compromises will have to be made
somewhere. The first result of Acer's frugality is
found at the machine's heart.
Costs have been saved by using a previous
generation, entry-level processor. The Intel Core
i3 3229Y is the chip of choice, which is only a
dual-core chip (with four threads) clocked at a
mediocre 1.4GHz. It's one of the lowest powered
Intel Core processors you'll find, but it's head
and shoulders above some of the Atom
processors you'll find.
Elsewhere there's 2GB
of RAM, which is the
minimum you'd need
for a good experience,
and graphics are
handled by the onboard
Intel HD 4000 chip,
which is the norm on
hybrid tablets or
Ultrabooks.
The 60GB SSD drive
supplied is also minimal, and raises questions
about whether the Acer Aspire P3 could be used
as a primary machine for your business or family.
With just 60GB available and no SD card slot,
storage is minimal here, and when we started the
Acer Aspire P3 up for the first time, we were told
that only 21GB was free to use - which is a
perilously small amount.
The screen is also mediocre, with the 11.6-inch
panel packing a 1366 x 768 resolution. Most of
the Aspire P5's more expensive competition now
ships with Full HD 1920 x 1080 screens, and
when the display is 11 inches across you do
notice the difference.
As well as the impact on clarity and picture
detail, the Acer's panel also lacked vibrancy, and
colours looked pale and washed out - although
the high 400nit brightness does help. Those
wanting to use their tablet for movies or picture
editing might want to consider spending more.
If you don't believe us about the cost-cutting
theme yet, the supplied cameras are further
evidence. The rear camera is just 5-megapixels,
which we'd consider to be a decent omission.
However, the front-facing camera which is used
for Skyping and video calling only supports 720p
video, which will be sufficient for occasional
users, but again, you will notice the impact.
The Acer Aspire P3 packs in a 5280mAh battery,
which is par for the course on modern tablets.
We'd be expecting around five hours of use from
a battery cell that size, so check the Performance
section of this review to see how it fared.
As well as the entry-
level Core i3 model that
we reviewed, an Intel
Core i5 version of the
Acer Aspire P3 is also
available, priced at
£699.99 / US$899.99 /
AU$1,199 with 120GB
of SSD storage and
4GB of RAM. There's also a Core i3 version with
a 120GB SSD and 4GB of RAM available for
£629.99 / AU$999 (around US$980).
US customers get an Intel Pentium processor on
their entry-level Acer Aspire P3, plus 60GB SSD
and 2GB of RAM, for US$599.99.
While the price is right, however, Acer hasn't
done such a good job with the dock. While many
keyboard accessories connect to the laptop
physically and even work as an extra battery to
aid longevity, the Acer Aspire P3's keyboard is
simply built into the case and works using
Bluetooth.
This is doubtlessly a cost-cutting exercise, but it
makes the keyboard a sticking point for us, for a
multitude of reasons, which we'll outline.
Firstly, it's thin and uncomfortable, flexing
heavily even on hard surfaces and often mis-
registering key presses. Then there's the way it
holds up the tablet, propping up the screen at a
steep angle that there's no way to adjust and
very hard to balance on your lap. Think that's
our only gripe? We haven't got started yet.
Acer says the battery will last a week, but if you
forget to long-press the power button to turn it
off you get a couple of days. If it gets low on
battery, you need to dig out a small cable to
charge it from the tablet, which in turn will need
to be charged. The Bluetooth connection is prone
to dropping, because it's Bluetooth. There's no
trackpad on the keyboard, which would still be
handy for documents and working in older
programs even if you have a touchscreen.
As you can see we didn't really like the keyboard,
and we didn't even get on to saying how difficult
it is to remove the tablet from the bendy plastic
case or how boringly corporate it looks.
Performance
Benchmarks
Cinebench: Open GL: 7.07fps. CPU: 1.11pts
3D Mark: Ice Storm: 20,449. CloudGate: 2358.
Fire: 354
Battery Eater: 250 mins
The Acer Aspire P3's Intel Core processor was
never going to set any records in our testing
labs, and a score of just 1.11 in Cinebench
backed this up. This is one of the lowest scores
we've seen from an Intel Core-based chip, and is
a direct result of both the lack of cores the low
clock speed. These two factors combine to make
for disappointing performance.
Benchmarks mean little without real-world
testing, but we did feel the lack of raw speed all
over the Acer Aspire P3. It wasn't stuttery -
something those who own older Windows laptops
might have experienced - but there's a general
lethargy across the whole operating system,
which regularly keeps you waiting.
Apps take a long time
to open, and menus
would often sit for a
couple of seconds
before springing into
life. One of Windows'
virtues is its ability to
run well on lesser
hardware, and while the
experience rarely
missed a beat, some
users might be frustrated by the loading times.
Graphics power on the Acer Aspire P3 is pretty
much non-existent. All of the graphics and pixel-
pushing is left to the onboard Intel chip, and with
barely enough power to keep things running
smoothly the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip was
hardly likely to ace our frames per second tests.
Most of our renders chugged along at around
10fps, dropping to below 3fps for anything
resembling an intense modern PC title. If you
were wowed by the idea of a Windows PC in a
tablet form for playing games on the train, you
will seriously need to rethink your expectations.
However, for most people, the Acer's graphics
capabilities will be sufficient. Games from the
Windows Store still played well, not that there's
a huge selection to choose from, and 1080p
video didn't miss a beat during extensive
playback. A light smattering of app-based games
and the occasional movie or TV show rented
from the Windows Store is all most users will
need.
With low power often comes savings in battery
life, and this is one area the Acer Aspire P3
prevailed. A score of 250 minutes in our tests,
which involve looping high-def video and
simulating office tasks, show it's got the
stamina.
This is the kind of battery life we'd expect from
newer fourth generation Intel PCs, so to find it on
this third generation tablet is pleasing. It means
you're getting next generation longevity for less,
but the pay-off is the pedestrian speeds.
Verdict
Overall the Acer Aspire
P3 is a decent Windows
8 tablet that will suffice
for those looking for a
portable tablet that
runs Microsoft Office,
their favourite programs
and can support
external displays and
USB devices.
With its bulky build, poor keyboard and mediocre
performance it's another Windows 8 hybrid that's
neither suited to replacing your existing laptop,
nor providing an exciting entertainment
experience that might rival Apple's iPad.
However, if the benefits of Windows 8 are what
you're looking for in a secondary device, the solid
build and good price make the Acer Aspire P3
worth consideration.