Qube QTouch Windows 7 Tablet Review

Last July, we spotted local PC store Qube promoting a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet for only Php19,999. It’s arguably the most affordable Windows-based tablet we’ve seen ever. They sent over a review unit a couple of months ago and even had Windows 8 Developer Edition installed in it. The 10-inch tablet is a bit chunky but that’s expected of a device that uses an Intel chipset. Besides, it houses a full-sized ports that should really be useful when you’re running Windows. The power button is situated at the top left part while the volume control is on the right side along with the lock switch (for orientation). On the left side are two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port and a microSD card slot. Mind you, these are full-sized ports so you can plug in a mouse, USB dongle, printer and other devices like camera or scanner right off the bat. Along that side is the charging port, the 3.5mm audio jack and a 3G SIM card slot. The speaker grills are found on the top and bottom sides. There’s another small button there but couldn’t figure out what’s it for. The back side is flat and smooth with a huge Qube logo in the center. Up at the front is the 10.1″ LCD screen, a Windows Home button on the right side of the bezel and a webcam at the top corner. The display screen is glossy but bright and crisp. It looks like your typical netbook screen especially that it only has a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. The capacitive touch panel is quite accurate and responsive and we didn’t need to use a stylus to navigate around the system. Like all other Windows-based tablet before it, the Qube QTouch runs on an Intel platform. Here’s the complete hardware configuration: Qube QTouch Windows 7 Tablet specs: 10.1” TFT Capacitive LCD Display @ 1024×600 pixels Intel Lincroft Atom Z670 1.5GHz Intel Whitneypoint SM35 1GB DDR2 RAM 32GB PSSD with Mini PCI-E Form Factor 1.3MP webcam WiFi 802.11b/g/n 3G SIM Card Slot (optional) Bluetooth 2.1 53Whr battery capacity Windows 7 As expected, performance is netbook-like, the single-core kind. If you look at the Windows Experience Index, you’ll see something like the one below. Don’t expect to run heavy applications or do HD videos on this one. Most of what you can do would be in the media playback, web surfing and office productivity. Bottom line, whatever you can do with your 1-year old netbook, you probably can do on this one as well. Technically, you can install any type of applications you can install on your Windows laptop or desktop at home but I reckon you don’t want to do that on this little machine because this one is really just for light usage and portability. We’ve also managed to upgrade the device to Windows 8 Developer Edition so that’s already a feat in itself. Problem though is that most of the apps would not launch because they require a higher resolution (1024×768 pixels). Battery life is also a bit of a disappointment at around 3 hours or so on a single full charge. If you’ve tried a Windows netbook or tablet before, this is actually just a normal figure. The intro price of Php19,999 isn’t bad though considering we’ve seen Windows tablets in the Php30k range. If you fancy a built-in 3G modem, that’s Php24,999 for that variant. You can check out more at BuyQube.com. — Yugatech.com