Pipo W8 Review

The PiPo W8 is PiPo’s first Core M machine and the first Chinese Core M tablet to incorporate a super high resolution 2560 x 1600 IPS panel. Like the other Core M tablets reviewed, the W8 is build around a 5th generation Intel Core M 5Y10C, dual core CPU with Intel 5300 HD graphics. Other specs include 4GB of DDR3 ram, 64GB or 128GB sata3 SSD’s and USB 3 connectivity.

What’s in the Box:

1 x Pipo W8 Core M tablet
1 x DC adapter (US two prong), 9 volts 3 amps output with a 2.5mm plug.
1 x Micro USB 3.0 to USB 3.0 adapter aka OTG cable
1 x Micro USB 2.0 to USB 2 adapter / OTG cable
1 x Screen protector (Already applied to the screen)

Design & build quality:

The W8 has a mostly plastic build with only the rear backing cover being metal. The plastic use on the sides of the tablet are rather cheap looking with poorly cut edges around the Microusb 3 port and Microsd card slot. The ports don’t even line up 100% and it was difficult to plug the mircousb 3.0 cable into tablet at first. The plastic around the screen bezels and the edges where the front half and rear halves meet are poorly finished. The edges are sharp and the plastics used could have been much better quality with a better finish. I feel that for a high end Chinese tablet, better materials should have been used. Coming from my Cube i7 with it’s metal uni-body housing and my Surface 3, it quite a step backwards. It looks and feels more like a cheaper Pipo W3F’s plastics rather than a powerful Core M flagship Tablet.

The ports are all located on the left side of the machine, from the bottom up we have the Micro USB 3.0 port,reset button, microsd card slot, microphone, D/C charging port, microusb port 2.0, Micro HDMI out, 3.5mm headphone plug, power on button and finally the volume up and down button.

On the right side of the tablet we have nothing port wise, and the top left and right sides of the tablet is where you’ll find the speaker grills. And upper back panel is where the rear 5MP auto focus camera is located. And behind the plastic here is where the wireless antennas are located for better signal strength. On the button edge is the 5 Pogo ping connector for the Keyboard dock, stand and cover combo.

On to the screen the 16:10 ratio, I really like this ratio. I just think it suits tablets better than 16:9. The bezels aren’t overly big, the glass panel comes with a screen protector already installed, this is very common and almost every Chinese manufacturer does this. There was however a piece of dust under my screen, and no it wasn’t just under the screen protector (I wish it was!) but it is under the glass itself.

Keyboard dock: (Optional)

Unfortunately I have nothing to write about the keyboard dock. It wasn’t available at the time of the tablets release or this review, which is very poor to say the least. Release your flagship ship tablet and the keyboard isn’t included in the box unlike the W3 and worse yet it’s not even available to buy? Come on PiPo, get it sorted and quickly!

Screen and touch response:

The screen is a Panasonic 2560 x 1600 16:10 IPS panel with good colors and it’s rated up to 400 cd/m2 according to Panasonic’s spec sheet. The screen very vibrate and the colors stand out. Viewing angles and good, what you would expect from an IPS panel.

• Monitor Name: Panasonic [Unknown Model: MEI96A2]
• Monitor Name (Manuf): VVX10T022N00

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But Pipo have limited the brightness via the bios or software for a reason, it must have been due to heat or battery life reasons. The maximum brightness I could get was only 286 cd/m2. However messing around in the Intel graphics settings via the control panel, disabling the power saving option lead to an increase in brightness of 333 cd/m2 which isn’t to bad. It has a high PPI of 299 pixels per inch.

The touch digitizer is separate from the IPS panel below it, so this isn’t a laminated screen like the two other Core M Chinese tablets tested the Cube i7 and Onda v116w Core M.

Touch is accurate and the default Windows scaling is set to 200%.

Storage:

This W8 I have has a FORESEE brand 64GB SSD, speeds are great for a 64GB drive, no complaints here with 167 mb/s writes and 482 mb/s read speeds. 

See how this compares to other Core M tablets tested at TechTablets.com:

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Ports & Connectivity:

Data speeds from the ports were: MicroUSB 2 port 40mbs max, microsd card 25 mb/s read 19 mb/s write (Samsung Evo 64GB card tested)

The MicroUSB 3.0 port runs at full USB 3.0 speeds, but only with USB flash memory drives. So it would seem that only the Onda v116w Core M has a fully working USB 3 port and it’s a full sized one.

Major issue!: While the USB 3.0 port will run my memory sticks, it will not power a 2.5″ hard drive or will try to power it over USB 3.0, lacking sufficient power and revert to an unstable USB 2 connection. So a powered USB 3 hub is required, not very portable. And definitely not ideal, did Pipo expect us to carry the microusb 3.0 OTG adapter, USB 2.0 OTG cable and a powered USB 3 hub? …

Wifi worked okay, 150mbps Wireless N. I did have one or two times where the Wireless took a long time to connect to my network once powered on. I would have to manually connect it myself. Bluetooth was fine, nothing to add it worked as expected.

Windows & Performance:

My PiPo W8 booted into Windows 8.1. It was activated and is reported as being a Windows 8.1 Single Language version.

Possible issue: I’m worried after my time is done with this unit and I factory reset it, will it be stuck in Chinese, like the Onda v116w Core M was? I will update this post when I do factory restore it.

 

Window Benchmarks:

Due to some throttling under load, benchmarks and over all performance was down over the other Core M 5Y10 tablets I have tested so far. Here’s what the Pipo W8 managed:

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• Geekbench 3: Single thread score: 1820
• Geekbench 3: Mulit thread score: 3489
• PassMark: 1204
• 3Dmark11:
• PCMark 7: 3729

Battery life:

Seeing as I couldn’t fully charge or calibrate my battery, I’m not sure if I could have squeezed more out of the tablet. But running 40% brightness around 170nits, Wifi on. I got just over 4 hours. 4 hours and 43 minutes. Disappointing considering the Cube i7 Core M got close to 6 hours with the same battery size of 10000mAH. I can’t help to think that the screen is to blame here, all those extra pixels requiring much more power than a 1080p IPS panel.

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Heat and throttling:

At times I experienced some serious slow down and lag. Checking out Intel’s Xtreme Tuning Utility, I saw plenty of power limiting going on and the top Tubro speeds throttling down some what. One such time I was merely watching some movie trailers in YouTube and it become very slow. It was so bad that only a reboot brought the system back online with acceptable speeds.

Charge time:

The Pipo W8 charges quickly with it’s 9 volt 3 amp charger, but how long it takes to full charge I will never know, my unit is stuck at 91% charging and will never fully charge. There is something wrong with it.The battery is either faulty or the capacity has not bee configured correctly or will not correct itself.

Audio quality:

One of the few area’s apart from the screen when the Tablet is good, there is no feedback or interference over the 3.5 mm stereo jack. It’s clean and sounds great. Often there is some white noise or a light buzz. The volume output is loud and clean.

The two top speakers and worse than the W3 and W3F’s, Pipo have gone a step backwards here. Maybe it’s the design of the speakers or they are a different model from the W3/F. The have no bass, mostly tinny sounding and lacking in volume. In a loud environment you will struggle to hear someone talking over Skype for example.

Cameras:

The front face 2MP camera was just fine for Skype video and the rear camera isn’t really something you would want to take a lot of photos with. Some close up macro shots looked okay, but the shutter speed is slow so you have to hold the tablet real still. Other images just looked washed out and unusable. It was mediocre for video. Pipo W8 camera samples below:

Conclusion:

I had such high hopes for the Pipo W8, but it failed to impress me. The build is sub par for its asking price and the issues I experienced made this review painful rather than a pleasure. Did I get a prototype unit or is it first batch blues? That’s what I thought, but no it seems. Discussions with an XDA forum user and fellow PiPo W8, they also has a number issues with their W8. This is one Core M you’ll want to avoid.

If you want a decent Chinese Core M tablet, look to the Cube i7 with it’s great performance and build. And failing that, I highly recommend the Dell Venue 7140 Core M 5Y10 model. It’s got a user replaceble SSD and you can pick them up for $339 on eBay, official Dell refurbished ones.