So I have the 4th Chuwi Vi8 model you could say, the Hi8 with it’s Vi8 Ultimate design, chipset and lack of HDMI. It has a very sharp (iPad Retina sharp) 1920 x 1200 screen that is brighter than the Chuwi Vi8 Ultimate.
Both have the exactly same design and specs, they have the horrible 0.3 MP VGA front facing cameras which are almost useless even in video chat. They both have lost the micro HDMI port the Vi8 dual boot had. Cutting cuts no doubt Chuwi have used an unknown “NCard” brand eMMC, it’s one of the slowest I’ve seen. Only 45mb/s read and 35mb/s write speeds. Not good, but it doesn’t seem to effect the speed of the tablets which seem quick enough and responsive so I’m a bit puzzled ?!?!
Transferring large files you will notice the difference in the slower eMMC but, only in Windows.
So it all comes down to the 16:10 screens, 1280 x 800 Vs 1920 x 1200, the impact in has on the GPU and battery.
Update 28th June: My full detailed Chuwi Hi8 Review is now up.
Update 23rd June: The Chuwi Vi8 screen is a dull 185 cd/m2 and the Hi8 screen is 354 cd/m2 – much brighter. However the screen on the Vi8 Ultimate has better view angles.
I also conducted a quick battery life test replicating heavy use – gaming with full brightness. My results are in this video here:
The Chuwi Vi8 Ultimate pros Vs the Hi8:
- Faster 3D performance
- Looks to have better battery life (I will confirm exact figures in the full review)
- Runs a little cooler (screen puts out less heat? Less stress on the GPU)
- Screen has better view angles.
The Chuwi Hi8 pros Vs the Vi8 Ultimate:
- Very sharp looking screen, it’s sharp like an ipad retina display
- The screen is much brighter @ 350 cd/m2 and colors look better due to this brightness.
- 40 grams lighter, not sure why. It has to be the screen as the batteries are the same 14804 mWh size.
So it basically boils down to this, if you want games at native screen resolution to the fastest and have a better battery life, I would get the Vi8 Ultimate. But of course if you need HDMI get the Vi8 Super (Dual OS 2nd model) or take a look at the Cube iwork8 3G which has a bright 1280 x 800 screen and 3G.
And if you don’t game much and don’t mind a little less battery life and a bright, sharp screen is your thing, get the Hi8.
And these dual boot tablets are dirt cheap, $92.59 for the Chuwi Hi8 at gearbest.com and $92.26 for the Vi8 Ultimate at geekbuying.com. And if you want the hdmi port, the Z3735F Vi8 dual boot is only $85 here.