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Gole1 mini PC review: Blurring the lines between tablets and desktop PCs

07/23/2016 at 8:00 AM by Brad Linder Leave a Comment

The Gole1 is a tiny computer that’s hard to categorize. It’s basically a compact desktop computer that you can also use as a tablet. Or maybe it’s a tablet with a really small screen, a bunch of ports, and a kind of thick case.

Either way, it’s a small device that you can plug into a TV or monitor to use as a computer, media streaming device, or video game system. There’s a five inch touchscreen display on top that you can use to either mirror what’s happening on the big screen, or set up to use as an extended desktop. And the Gole1 has a battery, which allows you to unplug it and keep using the little computer even when it’s not connected to a display or power source.

hand_01

Oh yeah, and it dual-OS device: it runs both Windows 10 64-bit and Android 5.1. You have to reboot to switch operating systems, but it gives you the option of choosing the environment that works best for the task at hand.

Gole unveiled the little computer in May and raised nearly $300,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. The first Gole1 computers should be shipping to backers of the campaign by the end of the month, and Gole sent me one to test.

dual-screen_02

If you missed out on the Indiegogo campaign, you can still order a model with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage through Indiegogo InDemand for $99 or request a 4GB/64GB model for $129.

Gearbest is also taking orders for both versions, although Gearbest charges $144 for the model with more memory and storage.

Overview

If you ignore the touchscreen, the Gole1 is a lot like many other mini-desktop computers that have come out of China over the past few years.

in the box

It measures 5.3″ x 3.6″ x 0.8″ and weighs about 8.5 ounces. The little PC is powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 quad-core Cherry Trail processor.

There’s no fan in the case, so the Gole1 is perfectly silent when it’s running, but even though there’s a heat sink over the CPU, and ventilation on the bottom of the device, it can get rather warm under heavy use.

ports_03

The Gole1 features dual-band 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 and has four USB ports. Three are USB 2.0 ports, but there’s also a single USB 3.0 port. There’s also a micro USB port.

It’s nice having this many ports on a mini PC. I’m tired of having to plug in a USB hub if I want to use a keyboard, mouse and USB flash drive.

plugged-in_02

There’s a full-sized HDMI port for connecting an external display, and Gole ships an HDMI cable with the computer. There’s also a 3.5mm headset jack, a microSD card reader, and an Ethernet jack.


While the Indiegogo campaign promised “Gigabit Ethernet,” the Gole1 appears to have slower 10/100 Ethernet.

ports_05

Now let’s talk about what makes the Gole1 unusual: it has a touchscreen, battery, and speakers. Basically you can use it like a tiny tablet… or use the built-in display as a second screen when connecting the Gole1 to a TV or monitor.

The 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display is on top of the case, and underneath it there are two speaker grills and a few buttons: a power button on the right, a Windows/Home button in the center, and volume buttons on the left.

windows-unplugged_02

The capacitive touchscreen recognizes multi-touch input and seems reasonably responsive when you’re using Android. But it can be a little tricky to navigate Windows 10 using your fingertips on such a small display: the icons, text, and menu items are all very small, even if you’re using tablet mode. But while you can use the Gole1 as a tablet, it’s really pretty clearly designed to be plugged into an external display — it’s best to think of the touchscreen as a second display.

First, the screen seems to be recessed a bit. While the glass or plastic covering the screen is nearly edge-to-edge, it seems like the display is a millimeter or two below the top of the device. So when you put your finger on the screen it doesn’t quite seem like you’re actually touching whatever it is you were trying to tap.

keyboard_01

Combined with the small size of the screen, that makes it difficult to do things like type using the Windows 10 on-screen keyboard.

The built-in speakers are also pretty lousy. It’s nice to have the option of hearing something when you’re not using headphones or speakers. But you probably wouldn’t want to listen to music or watch a movie using just the internal speakers.

edge-unplugged_02

You’d also probably run out of battery life pretty quickly. Gole only promises that the computer’s 2,600 mAh battery will last for up to 2 hours, and the demo unit I received is a pre-production model with an even smaller 1,800 mAh battery, so I can’t really even test that claim.

bottom_01

Opening the case is pretty easy. Just remove the four rubber feet on the bottom of the Gole1 to a set of tiny screws. Once those are removed, you can pry off the bottom panel. But there’s not actually that much you can do once you’ve gotten inside.

open up_01

The RAM and eMMC storage are both soldered to the system board, which means there’s no easy way to upgrade either. If you want more than 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, then you should just buy the 4GB/64GB model. Or you could use the microSD card slot or USB ports to add removable storage.

open up_02

Note that while the battery in the image above says 2,600 mAh, this is a pre-production model with an 1,800 mAh battery. The final hardware should have a battery that matches the label.

In terms of software, the Gole1 is one of a number of Chinese devices to ship with both Android and Windows pre-installed. The first time I turned it on, I saw a menu asking which operating system I’d like to load, but I haven’t actually seen that menu since. Now when I want to switch operating systems I either launch the WinToAnd app from Windows to reboot into Android, or pull down the Quick Settings tray in Android and choose the “Switch OS” option to reboot into Windows.

android-os-switch

Note that while the computer is sort of positioned as a desktop, Windows 10 thinks it’s a tablet and the default user interface will be tablet mode. But you can switch to desktop mode in the settings. You have to do it manually though. Windows 10 does have a feature called Continuum that works with some 2-in-1 tablets, allowing you to automatically switch between tablet and desktop user interfaces when a keyboard is detected. But the Gole1 doesn’t seem to support Continuum.

windows-start

It should be possible to receive both Android and Window system updates, and since Microsoft pushes Windows 10 updates to users automatically, it should be pretty easy to keep that operating system up to date. But Gole would have to release any Android updates, and since this device is shipping with Android 5.1 at a time when Android 7.0 is about to launch, I wouldn’t really hold my breath waiting for Gole to update the Android software.

You’re not limited to running Windows 10 or Android 5.1 though. I was able to load both Remix OS for PC and Ubuntu 16.04 from a USB flash drive. Not everything worked perfectly out of the box, but it’s good to know that it’s at least possible to switch to a different operating system.

ubuntu_05

I’ll have more details on that below.




So what can you do with the Gole1?

A lot… it basically has all the features you’d expect from a Windows PC and those you’d expect from an Android tablet. But it’s cheap, small, and honestly not really great at being either thing.

It doesn’t have the horsepower for really heavy-duty Windows tasks like serious gaming or heavy multitasking (the Google Chrome browser starts to feel sluggish if I have more than four or five browser tabs open at once). And the built-in touchscreen is a bit too small to make the Gole1 a particularly useful Windows tablet.

edge-unplugged

Meanwhile, as an Android device it has a display that’s about the same size as the one on my Nexus 5 smartphone. But thanks to its full-sized USB and HDMI ports, among other things, the Gole1 is much bigger than a 5 inch phone and thicker than just about any other phone or tablet on the market.


That said, the Gole1’s unusual form factor does open up some interesting possibilities. For example, you could use it as a media center device:

  • Plug the computer into your TV with an HDMI cable.
  • Fire up the Kodi media center app (which is available for Windows, Android, Linux, or other platforms).
  • Choose the Estouchy skin (or another touchscreen-friendly skin).
  • Unplug your keyboard and mouse because now you can navigate your music, movies, photos, and add-ons using just the Gole1’s touchscreen.
  • If you only plan to use the device for an hour or two at a time, you don’t even need to plug it into a power source.


Here’s another nifty way you can use this touchscreen device with HDMI output:

  • Load up an Android game that supports either touchscreen or gyroscopic controls.
  • Connect the Gole1 to your TV.
  • Pick it up and use it as a game controller for games like Asphalt 8: Airborne or Riptide GP2.

Sure, you don’t need a tiny desktop PC with a battery and touchscreen to do those things. You could also use an Android or Windows tablet that has HDMI output or support for wireless displays. But the Gole1 is a cheap enough device that you might want to just leave it plugged into your TV all the time, while a tablet might be something you move around the house with.

In a pinch, you could also use the Gole1 like a regular PC. It can run just about any software you’d normally run on a Windows computer… Just don’t expect stellar performance from a device with an Intel Atom x5-z8300 processor and eMMC storage.

I’ve written several articles for Liliputing, including much of this review, on the Gole1 with a keyboard, mouse, and 1080p display connected. For the most part that means I’ve used the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers a lot, and the Irfanview image viewer and editor a little bit.

libreoffice_02

But I’ve also tested LibreOffice, streamed some videos from YouTube and Netflix, and played a few games in both Windows and Android.

Like most Intel Atom-powered computers, the Gole1 performs best when you’re only doing one thing at a time. Open a word processor or spreadsheet app and spend some time working and you’d never know that you’re using a $99 PC rather than a $999 model. But if you want to watch a video while you’re working on that document and need to constantly open web browser tabs to look things up at the same time, you can expect things to slow down considerably.

As for gaming, Windows was able to recognize an Xbox-style controller I connected, and that’s what I used to play games in Windows 10. But when I rebooted to Android, the game controller was not recognized, so I could only play games using the touchscreen, motion sensors, or a keyboard and mouse.

windows-game_02

In Windows, I tested  SuperTux, an open source platformer in the style of Super Mario Brothers. It worked beautifully and suggests to me that this system would be just fine for playing less demanding games. You could probably use it as a MAME system or install emulators for classic console games without much difficulty. Just don’t expect to play Crysis on this system.

I also installed the Windows Store version of the racing game Asphalt 8: Airborne, and had mixed results. When I tried running after the computer had been on for a while, graphics got very choppy, to the point where it was difficult to control my car. It’s possible that this was due to the CPU getting warm and throttling speeds until it could cool down. When I rebooted the computer and loaded Asphalt 8 before running any other programs, it ran much more smoothly.

When I tried the Android version of the same game, it ran perfectly every time… although as I mentioned above, I had to use touchscreen or motion controls, since Android didn’t recognize my game controller.

android_01

Since the Gole1 has a touchscreen and a battery, you could also use it as a standalone Android device without plugging it in to a display or wall jack. But the battery will die after just a few hours and the device has fairly large screen bezels and a thick design which make it less than ideal for use as a handheld.

android_02

I think it’s more likely that the battery will come in handy if you want to move the Gole1 from room to room without rebooting it. For example, you could keep it in your office or bedroom as a media player or light gaming machine. But when you encounter a cat video on the internet that’s too good not to share, you could take it into the living room to show your friends and family, either on the small screen or on your TV.

Or you could load up presentations on the little computer from your desk at work and carry the system into a meeting room, hook it up to a projector, and start a PowerPoint presentation.

Notes on that whole dual OS thing

Gole sent me a demo unit with 64GB of storage. Windows reports that the C drive has 50GB of storage (about 29GB of which is free after installing a few very large programs), and Android says the system has 4GB of storage space available for apps, media, and other data.

That leaves about 10GB unaccounted for, although I suspect some of it is used as system storage by Android.

Another things to keep in mind is that the two operating systems treat HDMI output differently. Android will simply display the exact same thing on both the built-in screen and an external display. Windows gives you more options.

windows-big_02

You can mirror your displays with Windows, choose to only use one display or the other, or extend your desktop so that you can show different items on each screen (and drag a mouse cursor left to right so that it exits one screen and appears on the other).

The extended desktop option can be useful if you have two screens that are roughly the same size. But I found it kind of awkward to try displaying some items on a 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display lying flat on a table and others on a 24 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display. So I mostly used the mirror mode with Windows.

android_01

Other operating systems may handle dual display setups different. For instance, Ubuntu does have a screen mirroring option, but I wasn’t able to check that box when using the Gole1 for some reason, so my only option was to use the Gole1’s screen as an extended desktop.


Ubuntu also identified the display as a 720 x 1280 pixel screen in portrait orientation, so I needed to into the display settings and rotate the screen manually to change it to landscape mode (automatic screen rotation is another thing that isn’t supported out of the box with Ubuntu 16.04).

Notes on running Linux or other operating systems

You can get into the computer’s UEFI/BIOS settings by hitting Esc or Del on your keyboard during startup. Once there, you can disable quiet booting if you want to see a reminder about the Esc/Del option every time you turn on the computer, change the boot device priority order (which didn’t seem to actually work for me), and make other changes.

The most useful option I found was a sub-menu for “boot override” options that lets you immediately choose the device you want to boot from.


So I plugged in a USB flash drive, entered the settings menu at startup, and selected the drive. Voila! I was able to boot from the drive.

I tried a few different versions of Ubuntu, but the only one I tried that would fully load was the default, 64-bit desktop version of Ubuntu 16.04 that I downloaded from Canonical’s website.

ubuntu_02

Once it was loaded, I noticed that the computer didn’t detect any WiFi networks. So I plugged in a USB WiFi adapter that I know works with many Linux distros, and that did the trick. It was recognized almost instantly and I was able to get online.

Then I noticed that I couldn’t hear any audio coming from either the Gole1’s speakers or from my TV. I tried plugging headphones into the jack in the back of the mini PC and that didn’t work either.

ubuntu_06

Fortunately I have an $8 USB audio adapter. I connected it into a USB port and plugged in a pair of headphones, and suddenly I could hear sound from the YouTube video that was playing.

There may be workarounds for audio and WiFi that don’t require connecting external devices, but since I had the hardware and the Gole1 had the spare USB ports, I figured this was the simplest solution for my brief experiment.

ubuntu_04

I also tried running Remix OS for PC on the Gole1, and it also failed to recognize the computer’s WiFi adapter but worked just fine with a USB adapter. Audio worked fine in Remix OS for PC.

Should you buy one?

If you really want to spend $129 on a tiny desktop computer that’s also a small (but thick) Android tablet, then who am I to stop you? It’s not a lot of money and it’s a kind of neat toy.

dual-screen_vid

But think about what you plan to do with it before pulling out your wallet. If you just want a cheap, low-power media center there are plenty of other options, ranging from a Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick to small, cheap Windows PCs that don’t have touchscreens.

And if you just want a portable Android device, you can certainly do a lot better than the Gole1.

ports_01

What this little computer has going for it is just how odd it is. Honestly, while I tried to outline a couple of potential use cases above, I’ve spent most of my time with the Gole1 trying to figure out what I could do with it that wouldn’t be easier with a different device like a phone, tablet, or desktop. I didn’t come up with much.

But for some reason, I still kind of enjoyed testing the little PC. There’s something charming about just how odd it is.

And it’s nice that there’s a 4GB/64GB option. While the $99 price tag of the cheaper model is tempting, I’m not sure I’d recommend getting the cheaper model, since 2GB of RAM is the bare minimum I’d suggest using for Windows these days and 32GB of storage won’t get you very far when divided between two operating systems.






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ION_tom
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Even though I have no idea what I would do with this …. strangely I want one. Can the Wi-Fi card be updated or changed? Thanks for the great review.

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CyberGusa
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No, when the case is about this small or smaller then pretty much everything gets soldered… No room for a removable card, etc. Especially, when they’re stuffing in all that other stuff like the battery, etc.

Generally, when dealing with products that use hardware that’s primarily targeted for the mobile market then everything is meant to take up minimum space and lowest costs… So soldered…

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I’ve got various projects I want a relatively powerful but relatively low cost controller with touchscreen for, and this is perfect. Low cost tablets WOULD be perfect too, except they can’t be charged while using USB, which is incredibly annoying (and yes, I’ve explored the USB OTG dongle things that allow you to do just that – but they charge only at 500mA, which isn’t enough to keep the battery draining under load.)

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DIY diagram I found shows how the “identifying resistor” trick works on all OTG devices.

All you need to do is guess the value.

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Gene
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But does that charge at more than 500mA? Because I think that’s exactly what the “charge and data” OTG dongles are doing. I suppose the current draw rate would depend on the device, and how spec compliant it is; most devices rely on identifying higher current supplies by checking if the data pins are shorted together, and if they’re not only pulls the safe USB spec rate of 500mA.

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Generally, no… the problem is fast charging is usually limited to charge only cable connections… Mind, the specifications for high charge rates is still new and not quite industry wide yet… Cherry Trail is a over 2 year old platform now after all…

Most cables aren’t rated for the higher wattage for fast charging, let alone the newer up to 100W USB specifications. So it’s also a safety concern…

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Depending on the resistor value, it draws anywhere from 250mA to 2000mA, I came across this issue with an older micro USB cable which was slow charging my devices, and I couldn’t figure out why.

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Benefit of multiple ports, you can have one line dedicated to charging and the rest for data/peripherals…

Btw, there are some special hub accessories specifically designed to both charge and allow device connections… Depending on the specific tablet model/brand one may work with yours.

Tablets are mainly annoying because their design paradigm is to usually only have 1 of each port type and that means the USB charging port is often also the only USB port but that isn’t the case for these mini desktop products…

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1 year ago
Gene
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Yup. Haven’t tried a couple of the fancier ones, because they’re larger and more expensive than the tablets themselves, which sort of defeats the purpose. The cheap OTG based ones are limited to 500mA, at least on the tablets I’ve tried (and all devices that don’t blatantly ignore the USB current spec, I suspect.)

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1 year ago
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Intel says max memory size for x5-Z8300 is 2 GB. Go figure…

http://ark.intel.com/products/…

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That’s just what’s it’s intended for, specs are sometimes for target market (they do want you to get the more powerful and higher priced models) more than any actual hardware limit, but in this case it can support up to 4GB…

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Brad Linder
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Yeah, there are a number of devices with this chip and 4GB of RAM, primarily from Chinese manufacturers.

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1 year ago
mort
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I’d get it if it had Gb Ethernet. This would make for a nifty not-so-headless headless Linux server.

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1 year ago
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You should check out the Pipo X8, X9, and X10. Unfortunately no gigabit ethernet either, but i think it’s the ultimate concept for a mini headless server.

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Cool! Didn’t know there were other boxes like this. I guess I could use a USB 3.0 GbE adapter on the Gole1. It’d still be nice to have it built-in though.

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Good news! Pipo released a new X10 model the other day, and it has USB 3.0.

Its basically the same as the previous X10, but it has a 3:2 ratio screen, and USB 3.0

http://techtablets.com/2016/07…

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1 year ago
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Currently this seems to be missing a few things from the Indiegogo campaign. The original design talked about Gb Ethernet and 5Ghz wireless. There is also an easy dock with an external hard drive module using pogo pins un the underside of the case which are not in the above photos. In its current configuration this seems to be the same device that Pipo was showing back in April, rather than a new device with new features.

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1 year ago
Brad Linder
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The campaign is inaccurate about the Ethernet, but it does support 5 GHz WiFi. It’s dual-band 802.11b/g/n but not ac.

I’m not sure about the missing Pogo pins. It could be due to my demo unit being a pre-production model. I’ll have to check with Gole.

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1 year ago
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The Indiegogo pages state very clearly that AC is to be supported and this would need a “totally new chip, so its not something that can just be swapped out like the battery. The detailed photo on http://www.cnx-software.com shows an AP6234 chip being used for wifi and this does not support AC. It does support 5GHz 802.11a/n. The Pogo pins are a major question as they are likely to be a USB port, but the x5-Z8300 only has support for up to 5 usb ports and the case already has 5 available (1 x micro USB 2, 3 x USB 2, 1 x USB3). As I said this is looking like the same device that Pipo soft launched a few months ago, but now someone else used Indiegogo to pre-sell to allow production to take place. I have to ask how can you state that the “campaign is inaccurate about… Read more »
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Brad Linder
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OK, so apparently there are two different versions: a 4GB/64GB model and a 4GB/64GB + HDD model. Only the latter model has the Pogo pins, which is why they aren’t visible on the demo unit I tested.

I’m told that the HDD model is currently under production. When they send me a picture of that model I’ll add it to the article.

I’m also told that there aren’t ventilation holes on the bottom of that model, which makes me wonder if it will have overheating issues. But I can only really provide detailed performance notes on the model I personally tested.

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1 year ago
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Its good to see that you are getting some answers. As for the ventilation holes I can’t see them doing much anyway as there can’t be much of an air flow within the case anyway as your photo shows a circuit board that leaves no real space between it and the case.

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1 year ago
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There are definitely better android devices for the money but what would I be getting with a Z8300 or better, ethernet (ideally gigabit), 4GB of RAM and Windows 10 for similar money? I can think of stick computers galore but not things with ethernet and the larger RAM particularly.

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1 year ago
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Cool concept but as a table it would be very hard to use with that smaller screen. This is more like mainly HDMI Desktop pc but with a portable screen.

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1 year ago
Reed
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Reed
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Check-out the Kangaroo PC, which can use your iPad or Android tablet as a monitor and has a slightly better processor (Kangaroo PC has a 4-hour battery).

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1 year ago
Ajemo Haltom
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Ajemo Haltom
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What the Kangaroo PC lacks is a touchscreen. But both still lack a built-in 4G LTE modem. This is almost the full windows phone that I believe the market is ready for. I’m happy to see there is still movement in this direction.

Walk around with your computer as a phone and then dock it when you get to work… how has this not happened yet? Yes yes… Continuum… not full windows (therefore not very compatible).

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1 year ago
treiz01
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I love how the reviewer states that his model has a small battery, and then he opens up the unit clearly showing the 2600mAh battery inside…

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1 year ago
Brad Linder
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Brad Linder
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It’s mislabeled. They used the final sticker on the predeceased hardware.

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1 year ago
Roger
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Roger
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This was covered in another review. The manufacture put the lower current batteries into the production line, but the label is added during the build process. So for the review devices the battery is the wrong size. While their are open questions about the produce the manufacture is being as open as they can.

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1 year ago
mark
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mark
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A couple use cases,

Mini home automation controller, could easily wall mount this in my bedroom beside the light switch to access the HA App in Android, (yes this could be done with a tablet too)

I’m wondering how well this would act as an Octoprint machine for my 3d Printer. A Pi/sd card/case/display adds up in costs. Small enough to mount on top of the Ikea lack enclosure. Connectivity is covered with ethernet port, battery acts as a small UPS for the server, could easily access the web and download files to print…

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1 year ago
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