Sequel "Intel Inside" in Russian with 3G: tablet review iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G
At the end of last year, we talked about the iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ tablet , which miraculously combined the notions of “Russian B-brand”, “Intel top processor” and “attractive price” among others. The latter is taking into account the Full HD IPS-matrix and appearance, for which IXBT even presented the models with the “Original Design” award. Apparently, the people liked the device, so it was decided to release a slightly more functional "sequel". And here in front of me is iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G. As you might guess, the main innovation is to add support for 3G. From the little things - the color of the case has changed, black has replaced the dominant white.
The box of the tablet was "optimized" compared to the previous packaging in the direction of reduction. What can only be welcomed - I am not a supporter of huge boxes, even if we are talking about a diagonal of 8-10 inches, if most of the space is still empty. However, any tablet here is far from the records of "physical" packages of antiviruses. Design style, information on the appointment of slots and connectors, a brief technical information - all done in a typical (in the sense of the firm) for iconBIT devices style. Well, where without the label "Intel Inside".
')
Accessories and "waste paper" are packed in two separate boxes. The one that is wider (right under the tablet) turned out to be a guarantee sheet and a brief multilingual instruction. In the other - an exclusively white microUSB cable, a network charging unit and an OTG cable. As far as I remember, in the previous tablet, an OTG cable was not attached, although it would have been useful there in the first place - to connect a 3G modem. I’ll say right away that the connection of peripherals and external drives works fine, there was no problem with the definition of a pair of mice and keyboards, as well as flash drives.
In the presence of a "key", designed to retrieve the holder for the SIM card.
When I first viewed iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G, I left clear associations with the Sony Xperia Z - the same glass black surface from both the front and the rear. It is clear that the whole thing is covered with fingerprints at one moment. Why was it necessary to do so, I do not quite understand. On the other hand, if such features are typical even for giants like Sony, then there is some reason. I will say one thing for sure - it looks very attractive, much more spectacular in essence of the same coverage, but in the white version in the version without 3G.
The plastic in the case (in any case, the outer part) is at a minimum, only in decorative thin stripes running along the longest ends. The remaining surface of the sides is covered with a matte metal with a dark-blue matte coating. A nice decorative element is a thin polished frame encircling the front of the model.
For the build quality I put the tablet solid five with a plus. In fact, sometimes everything seems to be fine, but if you press the case more firmly, it will be microscopic, but a deflection, a barely audible creak will still be felt. Here - frank monolith, with all the desire there is nothing to complain about.
The only significant claim to the body - the location of the speakers, which miraculously ideally overlap in the landscape orientation of the tablet with his hands. Although this can also be attributed to taste, it is only necessary to turn the body upside down. The question is solved, but, on the other hand, it becomes inconvenient to reach the volume and power buttons.
Strict lines and the right angle between the rear / front and the ends have both minuses and advantages - the latter is still more. With rounded transitions, the tablet would be better placed in the palm, it would be a little more comfortable to work.
But even so, I would not say that the body “cut” the hand or made it feel uncomfortable. But it looks like a more solid model, but if you wish, you can put it without additional support on a flat horizontal surface.
On the front side, everything is more than ordinary - the front camera, and the black frame around the screen. Joy after the new-fashioned 7.85-8-inch models, in which often the side line near the screen is almost absent.
On the right side are the volume rocker and power key, as well as slots for microSD memory card and microSIM. And a barely noticeable microphone hole.
Next - 3.5 mm audio output and microUSB connector.
From the rear we see a fully glossy lid, almost an “image” icon and a camera confined to the processor. The module of the latter is literally one millimeter "recessed" into the case and surrounded by a polished metal ring.
The display settings remained unchanged, 8.9-inch IPS-display with a decent resolution of Full HD (I mean, 1920 x 1200 pixels). A couple of years ago, the choice of tablets was actually limited to 7, 9.7 or 10.1 inches, now there is no place for developers to frolic - almost all variations of diagonals are covered. The iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G model is one of those that is trying to combine mobility with a rather large screen. Not everyone likes to carry with them frankly rather big 10.1-inch models. At the same time, when I come home, I don’t want to limit myself to an ideally mobile, but still small 7.85-inch tablet.
Most of all I liked the iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G viewing angles - they are, as they say, “extremely wide,” the brightness only slightly decreases in the maximum deviation. The color rendition is normal, on a white background the image is slightly "yellow", which impresses me more in comparison with the "bluish" shade on white in many IPS-matrices. The black color becomes purple "low tide" only when viewed diagonally.
By default, a full protective film is pasted over the screen, which is good news. But I would still strongly recommend to buy a cover immediately, in order to protect the back surface of the model from scratches.
From the front 2 Mp, from the rear - 5 Mp, nothing special. And if you consider that the manufacturers in the tablets prefer to save on cameras, during the previous review of iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ I had no illusions and was pleasantly surprised that within the apartment the model showed itself well both in the near (sill / parrot) and on the far (view from the window) distance. I emphasize - in comparison with other tablets, we are not talking about smartphones. I almost forgot, there is one remarkable moment, it is autofocus with the ability to manually point the focus point on the screen.
This time, I remembered that often in the “abroad” tourists do not particularly complex about taking pictures from any iPad and shamelessly use very large tablets as a replacement for the camera. And the circumstances may be such that it will not work to use my “SLR” - which happened to me once during my stay in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. And the photos from the Sony camcorder left far from a good impression.
In general, I walked and appreciated how iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G is suitable for the role of the camera in an emergency. It turned out very well - adjusted for a) tablet b) 5 Mp. There is no frank pixelation, the objects are quite clear, which is especially good at showing a frame with a green fence. The camera predictably does not like shadows and insufficient light, but at the same time it more than tolerably works out mixed scenes - as in the photo with a lonely skyscraper. There are moments with an overestimation of exposure, with seemingly even illumination, here it is more convenient for someone to either fiddle with camera presets or edit after the fact in the editor. In general, if during the trip you do not aim to collect frames for printing into a family album, iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G will normally cope with a photo for VKontakte and Instagram.
You can slightly scold the "stock" program of shooting Android 4.2 with a brute force in the minimalism of the interface. At least the button for switching between cameras could be placed on the main panel, and not forced each time to access the context menu. I will not criticize the organization of settings, four and a half points “for everything about everything” are clearly not worth it.
Compared with the version of the tablet without 3G, the hardware platform has not changed - with us all the same flagship 2-core (x86 architecture) Intel Atom Z2580 with a frequency of 2 GHz and a 32-nm process technology. Let me remind you that the model belongs to the Clover Trail + family and supports the following Intel developments: Hyper-Threading, VT-x, Enhanced SpeedStep, Thermal-Monitoring, Intel HD-Audio and Smart Idle. Not to say that the platform has now become megapopular, but products based on it have already been released by Lenovo, ASUS, ZTE and a couple of Russian brands, including iconBIT. Video processor PowerVR SGX 544 MP2 (533 MHz), 2 GB of RAM LPDDR2 work with the processor, 16 GB are allocated for data storage (12 GB is actually available). Interestingly, in the news about the tablet on the THG model was called nothing less than a "powerful gaming tablet." In principle, it can be said that way, but first things first.
The gaming capabilities of the tablet more than vividly showed 3DMark in the Ice Storm Unlimited test - a test with the maximum load of this graphic benchmarks. In general, only I prepared with the brakes of a large-scale space battle, as iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G produced a picture under 35 FPS, that is, without any brakes at all. In the most action-saturated scenes, the frequency dropped to 20 FPS, but the playback continued anyway smoothly, without jerks.
I will give the data of standard benchmarks.
The “non-standard” architecture didn’t make itself known by the problems of compatibility with programs on Google Play. In any case, the usual set of software and games functioned without problems, the random selection of two dozen applications was also not capricious. Now more about the games. Asphalt 8 at the maximum is excellent, it is clear that the system is far from the limit. There are microlags only at the beginning of arrival, when the tablet is “warming up”. Shadowgun: Deadzone thing is not the newest, but regularly able to give a decent graphic load. On the “Ultra High” seconds 20-30 in the round we run 10-15 FPS, after which the frequency grows and does not fall below the normal 24-25 FPS. Real Racing 3 made you worry, the launch video was close to the slideshow. But directly in the race, the situation has changed for the better. And during the second launch, the same pre-launch video was completely reproduced without question.
Modern Combat 5: Blackout with a standard cache showed no difficulty, including at maximum settings. In general, this game has worked perfectly - the ability to engage in optimization from Gameloft does not take away.
Interestingly, after installing the program or game, the tablet unobtrusively reports how much free space is left. However, it is convenient. Regarding heating - a noticeable temperature increase is observed in the upper left corner and in no way reaches the areas for which you hold the tablet. On the other hand, the heat, the glass back cover ... In general, in order to prevent the tablet from slipping out of the hands and its active contamination, it is impossible to do without a cover.
Despite the fact that the 3G support was added to the tablet, for some reason, the battery capacity was reduced from 7,000 mAh to 6,500 mAh. In general, autonomy decreased in proportion to the individual categories in the measurements, the maximum duration fell within 10%. In Dead Trigger 2 with maximum graphics - 5 hours 10 minutes, HD movies (maximum volume, average brightness) - 6 hours 54 minutes, Wi-Fi Internet - 8 hours 26 minutes, 3G Internet - up to 5 hours. On weekdays, I use the tablet at home periodically during the day, usually for web surfing and games, until about two hours. With such a load, charging was done about once every three days.
You can even find fault with the Android version, after all, you saw versions even fresher 4.2.2. Intel would have to pay special attention to the support of actual system releases, since KitKat is already in full swing installing even B-brands in their devices on other chipsets. In comparison with iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ, the review hero has a slight difference. If the predecessor did not have an application screen (only desktops), in the version with 3G they preferred to leave a more conservative option. The system is almost extremely "bare", except that the installer added the APK files. Without it, in the absence of the Internet, it would have been difficult, as the default file manager is not provided. Not to say that the smoothness / speed of the tablet is perfect - there are periodic delays in the animation, there is something to “bring to mind”. Although it does not lead to irritation, and thanks for that.
Wireless connectivity includes the following: Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.1 1b / g / n and 3G. Alas, but phone calls and SMS are not provided in order not to leave false hope, even the corresponding applications are “cut out”. By itself, 3G works without complaints, questions to the connection arose only through the fault of the operator. The GPS module is not the quickest, the “cold start” takes up to three or four minutes. For periodic walking navigation will come down, but I would not recommend motorists to fully rely on the tablet.
Prices for iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G fluctuate between 8.5-10 thousand rubles ($ 242-285 dollars). For this money we are offered a good filling, high-quality Full HD-display, original design and support for 3G. By and large, first of all, I see a potential buyer of the model among those who are tired of choosing from virtually identical both externally and internally MediaTek- and Rockchip-tablets. Say, I could easily present iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G in the assortment of some large (globally) brand as an interesting (not only for the price) offer.
Cons - not the most current version of Android, the lack of HDMI-port, the inability to make calls, as well as receive and send SMS. In the latter case, the questions are not to iconBIT, but to the chipmaker, that is, r Intel - apparently, he chose to limit to 3G support. Finally, the body - as much as it looks spectacular, so easy to get dirty. In general, iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G has turned out, though not without flaws, but a very, very attractive tablet, clearly not in the category of “consumer goods”. Here the second echelon brands would release more models with such an approach.
Equipment
The box of the tablet was "optimized" compared to the previous packaging in the direction of reduction. What can only be welcomed - I am not a supporter of huge boxes, even if we are talking about a diagonal of 8-10 inches, if most of the space is still empty. However, any tablet here is far from the records of "physical" packages of antiviruses. Design style, information on the appointment of slots and connectors, a brief technical information - all done in a typical (in the sense of the firm) for iconBIT devices style. Well, where without the label "Intel Inside".
')
Accessories and "waste paper" are packed in two separate boxes. The one that is wider (right under the tablet) turned out to be a guarantee sheet and a brief multilingual instruction. In the other - an exclusively white microUSB cable, a network charging unit and an OTG cable. As far as I remember, in the previous tablet, an OTG cable was not attached, although it would have been useful there in the first place - to connect a 3G modem. I’ll say right away that the connection of peripherals and external drives works fine, there was no problem with the definition of a pair of mice and keyboards, as well as flash drives.
In the presence of a "key", designed to retrieve the holder for the SIM card.
Appearance and controls
When I first viewed iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G, I left clear associations with the Sony Xperia Z - the same glass black surface from both the front and the rear. It is clear that the whole thing is covered with fingerprints at one moment. Why was it necessary to do so, I do not quite understand. On the other hand, if such features are typical even for giants like Sony, then there is some reason. I will say one thing for sure - it looks very attractive, much more spectacular in essence of the same coverage, but in the white version in the version without 3G.
The plastic in the case (in any case, the outer part) is at a minimum, only in decorative thin stripes running along the longest ends. The remaining surface of the sides is covered with a matte metal with a dark-blue matte coating. A nice decorative element is a thin polished frame encircling the front of the model.
For the build quality I put the tablet solid five with a plus. In fact, sometimes everything seems to be fine, but if you press the case more firmly, it will be microscopic, but a deflection, a barely audible creak will still be felt. Here - frank monolith, with all the desire there is nothing to complain about.
The only significant claim to the body - the location of the speakers, which miraculously ideally overlap in the landscape orientation of the tablet with his hands. Although this can also be attributed to taste, it is only necessary to turn the body upside down. The question is solved, but, on the other hand, it becomes inconvenient to reach the volume and power buttons.
Strict lines and the right angle between the rear / front and the ends have both minuses and advantages - the latter is still more. With rounded transitions, the tablet would be better placed in the palm, it would be a little more comfortable to work.
But even so, I would not say that the body “cut” the hand or made it feel uncomfortable. But it looks like a more solid model, but if you wish, you can put it without additional support on a flat horizontal surface.
On the front side, everything is more than ordinary - the front camera, and the black frame around the screen. Joy after the new-fashioned 7.85-8-inch models, in which often the side line near the screen is almost absent.
On the right side are the volume rocker and power key, as well as slots for microSD memory card and microSIM. And a barely noticeable microphone hole.
Next - 3.5 mm audio output and microUSB connector.
From the rear we see a fully glossy lid, almost an “image” icon and a camera confined to the processor. The module of the latter is literally one millimeter "recessed" into the case and surrounded by a polished metal ring.
Screen
The display settings remained unchanged, 8.9-inch IPS-display with a decent resolution of Full HD (I mean, 1920 x 1200 pixels). A couple of years ago, the choice of tablets was actually limited to 7, 9.7 or 10.1 inches, now there is no place for developers to frolic - almost all variations of diagonals are covered. The iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G model is one of those that is trying to combine mobility with a rather large screen. Not everyone likes to carry with them frankly rather big 10.1-inch models. At the same time, when I come home, I don’t want to limit myself to an ideally mobile, but still small 7.85-inch tablet.
Most of all I liked the iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G viewing angles - they are, as they say, “extremely wide,” the brightness only slightly decreases in the maximum deviation. The color rendition is normal, on a white background the image is slightly "yellow", which impresses me more in comparison with the "bluish" shade on white in many IPS-matrices. The black color becomes purple "low tide" only when viewed diagonally.
By default, a full protective film is pasted over the screen, which is good news. But I would still strongly recommend to buy a cover immediately, in order to protect the back surface of the model from scratches.
Camera
From the front 2 Mp, from the rear - 5 Mp, nothing special. And if you consider that the manufacturers in the tablets prefer to save on cameras, during the previous review of iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ I had no illusions and was pleasantly surprised that within the apartment the model showed itself well both in the near (sill / parrot) and on the far (view from the window) distance. I emphasize - in comparison with other tablets, we are not talking about smartphones. I almost forgot, there is one remarkable moment, it is autofocus with the ability to manually point the focus point on the screen.
This time, I remembered that often in the “abroad” tourists do not particularly complex about taking pictures from any iPad and shamelessly use very large tablets as a replacement for the camera. And the circumstances may be such that it will not work to use my “SLR” - which happened to me once during my stay in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. And the photos from the Sony camcorder left far from a good impression.
In general, I walked and appreciated how iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G is suitable for the role of the camera in an emergency. It turned out very well - adjusted for a) tablet b) 5 Mp. There is no frank pixelation, the objects are quite clear, which is especially good at showing a frame with a green fence. The camera predictably does not like shadows and insufficient light, but at the same time it more than tolerably works out mixed scenes - as in the photo with a lonely skyscraper. There are moments with an overestimation of exposure, with seemingly even illumination, here it is more convenient for someone to either fiddle with camera presets or edit after the fact in the editor. In general, if during the trip you do not aim to collect frames for printing into a family album, iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G will normally cope with a photo for VKontakte and Instagram.
You can slightly scold the "stock" program of shooting Android 4.2 with a brute force in the minimalism of the interface. At least the button for switching between cameras could be placed on the main panel, and not forced each time to access the context menu. I will not criticize the organization of settings, four and a half points “for everything about everything” are clearly not worth it.
Performance and autonomy
Compared with the version of the tablet without 3G, the hardware platform has not changed - with us all the same flagship 2-core (x86 architecture) Intel Atom Z2580 with a frequency of 2 GHz and a 32-nm process technology. Let me remind you that the model belongs to the Clover Trail + family and supports the following Intel developments: Hyper-Threading, VT-x, Enhanced SpeedStep, Thermal-Monitoring, Intel HD-Audio and Smart Idle. Not to say that the platform has now become megapopular, but products based on it have already been released by Lenovo, ASUS, ZTE and a couple of Russian brands, including iconBIT. Video processor PowerVR SGX 544 MP2 (533 MHz), 2 GB of RAM LPDDR2 work with the processor, 16 GB are allocated for data storage (12 GB is actually available). Interestingly, in the news about the tablet on the THG model was called nothing less than a "powerful gaming tablet." In principle, it can be said that way, but first things first.
The gaming capabilities of the tablet more than vividly showed 3DMark in the Ice Storm Unlimited test - a test with the maximum load of this graphic benchmarks. In general, only I prepared with the brakes of a large-scale space battle, as iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G produced a picture under 35 FPS, that is, without any brakes at all. In the most action-saturated scenes, the frequency dropped to 20 FPS, but the playback continued anyway smoothly, without jerks.
I will give the data of standard benchmarks.
The “non-standard” architecture didn’t make itself known by the problems of compatibility with programs on Google Play. In any case, the usual set of software and games functioned without problems, the random selection of two dozen applications was also not capricious. Now more about the games. Asphalt 8 at the maximum is excellent, it is clear that the system is far from the limit. There are microlags only at the beginning of arrival, when the tablet is “warming up”. Shadowgun: Deadzone thing is not the newest, but regularly able to give a decent graphic load. On the “Ultra High” seconds 20-30 in the round we run 10-15 FPS, after which the frequency grows and does not fall below the normal 24-25 FPS. Real Racing 3 made you worry, the launch video was close to the slideshow. But directly in the race, the situation has changed for the better. And during the second launch, the same pre-launch video was completely reproduced without question.
Modern Combat 5: Blackout with a standard cache showed no difficulty, including at maximum settings. In general, this game has worked perfectly - the ability to engage in optimization from Gameloft does not take away.
Interestingly, after installing the program or game, the tablet unobtrusively reports how much free space is left. However, it is convenient. Regarding heating - a noticeable temperature increase is observed in the upper left corner and in no way reaches the areas for which you hold the tablet. On the other hand, the heat, the glass back cover ... In general, in order to prevent the tablet from slipping out of the hands and its active contamination, it is impossible to do without a cover.
Despite the fact that the 3G support was added to the tablet, for some reason, the battery capacity was reduced from 7,000 mAh to 6,500 mAh. In general, autonomy decreased in proportion to the individual categories in the measurements, the maximum duration fell within 10%. In Dead Trigger 2 with maximum graphics - 5 hours 10 minutes, HD movies (maximum volume, average brightness) - 6 hours 54 minutes, Wi-Fi Internet - 8 hours 26 minutes, 3G Internet - up to 5 hours. On weekdays, I use the tablet at home periodically during the day, usually for web surfing and games, until about two hours. With such a load, charging was done about once every three days.
System and Wireless
You can even find fault with the Android version, after all, you saw versions even fresher 4.2.2. Intel would have to pay special attention to the support of actual system releases, since KitKat is already in full swing installing even B-brands in their devices on other chipsets. In comparison with iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ, the review hero has a slight difference. If the predecessor did not have an application screen (only desktops), in the version with 3G they preferred to leave a more conservative option. The system is almost extremely "bare", except that the installer added the APK files. Without it, in the absence of the Internet, it would have been difficult, as the default file manager is not provided. Not to say that the smoothness / speed of the tablet is perfect - there are periodic delays in the animation, there is something to “bring to mind”. Although it does not lead to irritation, and thanks for that.
Wireless connectivity includes the following: Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.1 1b / g / n and 3G. Alas, but phone calls and SMS are not provided in order not to leave false hope, even the corresponding applications are “cut out”. By itself, 3G works without complaints, questions to the connection arose only through the fault of the operator. The GPS module is not the quickest, the “cold start” takes up to three or four minutes. For periodic walking navigation will come down, but I would not recommend motorists to fully rely on the tablet.
Conclusion
Prices for iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G fluctuate between 8.5-10 thousand rubles ($ 242-285 dollars). For this money we are offered a good filling, high-quality Full HD-display, original design and support for 3G. By and large, first of all, I see a potential buyer of the model among those who are tired of choosing from virtually identical both externally and internally MediaTek- and Rockchip-tablets. Say, I could easily present iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G in the assortment of some large (globally) brand as an interesting (not only for the price) offer.
Cons - not the most current version of Android, the lack of HDMI-port, the inability to make calls, as well as receive and send SMS. In the latter case, the questions are not to iconBIT, but to the chipmaker, that is, r Intel - apparently, he chose to limit to 3G support. Finally, the body - as much as it looks spectacular, so easy to get dirty. In general, iconBIT NETTAB THOR IZ 3G has turned out, though not without flaws, but a very, very attractive tablet, clearly not in the category of “consumer goods”. Here the second echelon brands would release more models with such an approach.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/232327/
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