The Cube iwork12 is a cheaper version of the popular Core M3 powered Cube i9. The screen, outer housing, and keyboard dock are exactly the same as the i9 model. However the SSD, CPU and Type-C have been replaced with cheaper components. It’s running an Atom X5 Z8300 (quad-core with 1.84Ghz max clock) 4GB of 1600Mhz single channel RAM and a 64GB eMMC. The type-c port is now a MicroUSB port used for data in Android and charging.
The below video reviews are broken into various sections. Check the index times to skip ahead to parts that interest you the most like gaming performance or battery life.
Cube iwork12 Windows review:
- 03:32 – Screen
- 05:08 – Windows & Benchmarks
- 08:09 – Battery Life
- 10:23 – 4k streaming test
- 11:27 – Sound
- 12:11 – Gaming
- 15:33 – Conclusion
Cube iwork12 Android Review
- 01:13 Design and Build
- 02:36 – Screen
- 04:05 – ROM & Benchmarks
- 05:51 – Battery life and charge times
- 06:30 – Audio
- 08:00 – Type Cover Keyboard
- 09:30 – Browser Test
- 10:33 – Cameras
- 11:42 – Gaming (Injustice, King of Fighters & Dead Trigger)
Cube iwork12 review summary:
Design:
The Cube iwrok12 has one of the better builds for a Chinese dual OS tablet, the same quality as the i9 with the exact same two position kickstand. The only difference is the rear alloy housing is now painted in a metallic silver and the front bezel around the screen is white. The iwork12 for now, is only available in this color.
Windows 10:
Battery life in Windows 10 is a good 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours more than Android’s 5 hours or so of battery life. Performance is on par with other Atom X5 Z8300 in benchmarks. But the system does feel smoother in Windows 10 then the higher resolution Chuwi Hi12 with it’s 2160 x 1440 screen.
Android:
Cube did a really good job with the Android ROM, no bloat and it’s very smooth and fast. Games are really smooth and fluid just like the ROM. 4GB of RAM is plenty for Android and helps to keep things moving very quickly.
Screen:
The 1920 x 1200 display is the exact one used in the Cube i9, it does have a layer under the touch digitizer that looks to be a matte anti-glare layer. It’s hard to notice, but looking at it closely you will see a slight grain to the display. It’s only really obvious on brighter colors like white or yellows. It has a max brightness of 250 cd/m2 and the touch screen is a focaltech one, not the common (And cheaper) Goodix. As a result, touch response is very fluid. smooth and accurate. One of the better screens for touch performance.
Sound:
The side firing speakers have more volume than 80% of the tablets of this class reviewed. Better than most, but a full volume (as heard i in the video reviews) there is a bit of distortion from the speakers. The 3.5mm headphone jack supports 4 pole plugs, so microphone support. There is the faintest amount of background static on the 3.5mm port. Barely audible
Battery life and charging times:
- Android at 200nits the screen approximately 5 hours. (Wifi on)
- Windows 10, six to six and a half hours wifi on and 50% brightness.
- Fully charges from 2% in 3 hours and 48 minutes.
- Charing when in use takes over 6 hours due to the power drain of being in use.
nurislam
can you help me, bcoz my iwork 12 windows 10 have an issues..the wireless connection is unstable and always disconnected. i want to reinstall new windows and i plan to install windows 8. can i just install the windows 8 just like in the normal laptop? can u give me some guidance?
thanks
Denis
Hi
I am pleased with the iwork 12 but a weird issue: the Microphone device often disappears making “Recording devices” list empty (and of course no more voice input capability which is annoying). This is solved by uninstalling & reinstalling the audio drivers but the issue is that I’ve got to do it again and again (each time I use the tablet).
Do other owners have this issue? or do you think my hardware could be damaged and I should return the tablet?
I also opened a topic here: https://techtablets.com/forum/topic/microphone-lost/
Chris G
Sounds odd, like a loose cable or something?
Kris
I never even noticed the grainy screen effect, weird.
Can you comment on the headphone jack performance in both Windows and Android? The quality in Windows for me is noticeably less. Not sure if this is due to driver issue, or something else.
Chris G
I don’t find the screen to be an issue, it’s a very minor “grainy” effect, so much so I missed it until it was pointed out. (But I left the screen protector on it and assumed it was the screen protectors fault)
Yes, the kickstand on the bottom and the tablet will scratch up after a while. The paint work is no way near as resistant as my Surface Pro 4’s.
vgiozo
I’m quite intrigued by this latest reporting of “grainy-screen” on the Cube i9/12…I first read it in Notebookcheck’s review before I ever read any other user commenting or complaining about it.
The implementation could be good or could be bad…I once bought a Lenovo Miix 3-10″ tablet and its clarity was really bad, due to distortions caused by the outer screen…it looked more like plastic than glass actually.
Hope it does not produce that kind of effect, would be really put-off….
…but many people have also complained about the “grainy” screens of Thinkpad 5** laptops, which I absolutely love…if it approximates this kind of implementation, it will be very fine.
In general quite a decent tablet decent indeed, but quite expensive I think….if one is really obsessed with an embedded kickstand (as opposed to achieving similar result with a fold-up case) it’s certainly the only option right now.
@Chris, does the kickstand get and scratches or get its paint-job messed up at all at the bottom, where it touches the resting surface?
(does your Cube i9’s kickstand have any scratches at the bottom, e.g. from dragging/moving it on the desk?)
One thing I’ll say is that this type of kickstand – with the axis at the middle of the housing – is better than the kickstand that Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 Tablet has, with the axis at the bottom…that makes it much less steadier really.