Few months ago I tried Asus Transformer T100 as my first Windows 8.1 tablet. I didn’t like it and decided to return the product. Few months later, I still haven’t given up on tablet device with full Windows OS. Or rather, my job requires full Windows OS and even an ultrabook is still generally too heavy to carry as an extra on top of my iPad and Macbook Pro. So small tablet becomes my choice this time.
First, the choices. There are multiple choices of Windows 8.1 tablet with 8″ screen. Asus, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba and Acer have their own offerings on this product category, and honestly each of the product looks similar on their technical specs. I finally choose Toshiba Encore 8 because it I saw a limited time promo and I can get a unit with 64GB internal memory for a price cheaper than 32GB of other brands. By the time I write this review, I read that Toshiba has released the second generation of Encore 8. This review is about the first generation product.
Toshiba Encore 8 looks like a tablet. There is a Windows logo on the screen and we can touch it as a Start button. This is important because not all Windows tablet provides the same behavior. In many other products, the Windows logo is just a static logo and does nothing when touched/pressed. Dell Venue 8 Pro, for example, has Start button located on the top of the device instead.
I always have a special liking to 7.5″ to 8″ form factor. For the same reason I returned my iPad Air after a week because I was not happy with it. Later on I got myself an iPad mini (retina) and really happy to use it as my primary tablet until now.
Compared to other 8″ Windows tablet, Toshiba Encore is rather bulky. It’s a bit thicker, and slightly heavier. However, since I don’t plan to use this as my main tablet, I’m ok with this drawback. As a bonus, the extra weight actually provides a bit of extra battery life (14.1 hours according to Toshiba website). The real battery drain varies a lot within my actual days of usage. Sometimes I need to charge it mid-day some other times I can spend multiple days without the need to charge.
Toshiba Encore 8 is powered by Intel® quad core processor Z3740 (1.33 GHz – 1.86 GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 2MB cache). This is a common variant of Intel Bay Trail processor. It packs 2GB LPDDR3 (1067Mhz) memory, with 8″ screen on 1280 x 800 resolution. It has a micro-USB port that works as charging port as well as USB OTG port. We can use our normal USB devices here, but we need additional converter from micro-USB to full-sized USB. It also has slot for micro-SD card and micro-HDMI for easy connectivity to an external monitor or projector (again, additional cables/adapters are required).
I kinda like the back surface of this device. It feels good on my hand, though admittedly it doesn’t give the “premium” feeling. The front display is bright and colorful (WXGA Widescreen with LED Backlit Display). The silver bezel is rather uncomfortable to hold, but becomes a non-issue once I put a protection case on the device.
For connectivity, this tablet is equipped with 802.11(a/b/g/n) WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and DLNA compatibility. It has GPS, 3D Sensor, Compass and Gyro. Plus it has front and back camera, which I rarely use because they’re not good.
Microsoft Office (full version, not demo/trial or subscription) is included with my purchase, which I consider as an important selling point. Too bad they changed it into one year subscription in the second generation model. Using desktop-version of Microsoft Office is indeed one of my primary reason of getting a Windows tablet.
But there are so many other alternatives in other tablets (Android tablets and iPad)? Why would I still need a REAL desktop-version Microsoft Office? Well, I’ve tried many of those “alternatives”. From free third party apps to Microsoft’s own “Microsoft Office for iPad”. I even bought Office 365 subscription hoping I could get real Office experience in my iPad. So far, nothing come close. Most people need Word and Excel to produce letters, documents and do some tables. For them, formatting is a minor issue. As long as it looks okay, a document is acceptable. In my specific needs, I need to produce documents with high precision of formatting. I need to produce document with complex mathematical notations, advanced layout using tables and columns, plus sometimes I also need to use objects like text boxes or other “shapes”. None of those apps in Android tablets and iPad can do all those without any problem for me. Thus my only option (for now) is to get full desktop-version OS with desktop-version Office, at the size (and weight) of a tablet.
Overall, I’m quite happy with this tablet. It’s reasonably fast, from Windows boot-up, application loading time, until multitasking response. It’s obviously not as good as what we can get from a more serious machine. But for extreme portability, this is probably the best of what I can get today. I’m not a gamer, so don’t ask be about gaming performance.
I had a lot of frustration with BSOD and BIOS problem with my Asus Transformer T100. Luckily, I didn’t encounter similar problem with Toshiba Encore 8. Installation and initial settings went smooth and my machine is soon ready to use. Of course I always updated my Windows with the latest updates, plus some manufacturer updates from Toshiba. The charging time is just as slow as ever (just like T100), but I start to “accept” this as a common drawback of devices with Bay Trail processor.
Connectivity with Bluetooth devices is decent, but nowhere near great. Connecting Bluetooth keyboard and mouse is easy. But I still get occasional glitches with the connection. I got my Belkin keyboard randomly disconnected. Sometimes I even need to set Windows to “forget” the device and redo the whole pairing process from the beginning.
The real test for this tablet is when I decide to bring it as my main computing device to attend a conference. Since I planned to spend some personal days after conference, I need to travel as light as possible. Therefore for once I decided to to bring my Macbook Pro, and relied on Toshiba Encore instead.
Surprisingly I find Toshiba Encore is reliable enough for me to ditch my Macbook Pro when I need to travel light. In the conference, I needed the ability to edit some academic papers (Word document) and edit some presentations (PowerPoint) with customized look. Both tasks are performed smooth, except for the few frustration when my Bluetooth keyboard or my Bluetooth mouse got disconnected randomly. Other than that, everything else is bearable.
I had a bit of problem with the charger. The charger included with my purchase has AU plug. I traveled to Europe, so I needed a converter to use it. Since traveling as light as possible was my initial goal to carry this tablet, having to bring an additional charger with additional adapter would be rather ironic. I was hoping that my iPad mini charger (original Apple charger) can also charge this tablet. Especially that I already have travel pack for Apple charger so EU plug won’t be an issue. Apparently it won’t charge. I almost gave up and already put the Toshiba charger into my luggage. Then I tried my wife’s charger for her iPad Air. It works. Then I realized, 10W Apple charger can’t charge this tablet. But 12W charger can charge it properly. So I ended up bringing 12W Apple charger to charge both my tablets (Toshiba and iPad mini).
When I travel, I have limited Internet connectivity except when I get the free WiFi from my hotel. Sometimes I share Internet connection from iPhone to this tablet. Luckily Windows 8.1 allows us to mark a connection as a “metered connection”. Norton antivirus displayed a message that it has switched itself to metered connection (reduced data usage) whenever my Windows tablet is connected to my iPhone’s Internet.
In conclusion, I like my Toshiba Encore 8. It can NOT replace iPad mini as my primary tablet. But during special occasions when I need to travel light, I would choose this over my Macbook Pro with retina display. The weight difference is significant. And the screen size is bearable to do casual document editing tasks.
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