Hi guys, this is a review on my dad's new Toshiba Encore tablet. It originally launched in October last year. What caught my dad's attention was not the tablet itself but the awesome offer that was available at the Dubai Shopping festival. A nokia Lumia 520 free with this tablet! Needless to say he bought 2. Well here is the review.
DESIGN:
Design wise I felt the encore was more functional than stylish . All the buttons and ports are in the right places, yet there are no design features that stand out or feel innovative. The build quality is also very good. It weighs around 450gms, which is quite heavy for a hand held device, and your arms will begin to tire after 15 to 20 minutes of use. It comes with an 8-inch screen that is surrounded by a black bezel, with a silver coloured edge. The rear is a plastic shell having a silver-gray colour with the Toshiba logo placed at a corner.
It is easy to hold and due to its textured finish, you wont feel the device slipping from your hand although it doesn't feel like a premium device. It is not a very slim device, having a thickness of around 1.1 cm.
The volume and on/off are placed on the right side, with the microSD slot placed on the left. There is a micro USB, micro HDMI and a 3.5mm port on the top.I have the 64GB version with me. 52GB of the internal memory is usable while the remaining 12GB is taken up by the OS and other system files.
SCREEN:
The encore comes with a very good screen. The 1280 x 800 resolution may not seem that great, and even the smaller Nexus 7 offers double the resolution, but it does the job and is more than enough for watching 720p video files. I have been watching game of thrones and breaking bad both on this device and it is perfect for my entertainment needs.
The best feature of the screen is the wide viewing angle. Toshiba has used an IPS panel and there is no contrast fall-off when the screen isn't facing directly to the eyes. Brightness is good and colours are vivid. I had slight problems with reflections appearing on the screen, a problem with most screens, but it was easily resolved by sticking on a matte finish scratch guard worth Rs200. No reflection problems since.
AUDIO:
There are two speakers placed at the bottom of the Encore. Unfortunately they face downwards and they can get covered when you hold the tablet in landscape mode. Luckily they are loud enough and deliver ample volume and they are not placed on the rear like on some models. Most of us don't use the loudspeakers much. The only time I remember using them was when I got the tablet for the 1st time and only whenever a friend asks me how loud the speakers are.The loudspeakers lack any kind of bass though. The sound through the headphones is clear and loud.
SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE:
The touchscreen performance on the tablet is mostly good. I don't know why, but sometimes, on very rare occasions, the device fails to register a touch which is surprising since the sideways finger-swiping always works and I have not had a single unregistered swipe on the tablet till now.
Coming to hardware, the Toshiba Encore comes with an Intel Atom processor(Z3740, up to 1.86Ghz, and 2GB ram) which is enough for medium use but doesn't always result in the fastest response. I found simple tasks such as auto-rotate switching between portrait and landscape mode to be somewhat slow.Medium games like angry birds, Bad piggies, temple run etc work smoothly.When it comes to heavy games, the Encore does struggle a bit. The device hanged twice in succession when I tried to play ASPHALT 8, and one of those times I had to do a system reset to get the device working again. Don't expect to be able to run heavyweight games since the hardware is not sufficient. The tablet comes with integrated Intel HD Graphics chip. Games that have been optimized for tablets as apps, run without a problem. Full HD videos play fluidly, and Intel's Quick Sync Video even makes file conversion possible. Full HD displays can be connected via HDMI, which is a very useful feature, so you can watch HD videos on your TV or via a projector and there is no noticeable loss in performance during web surfing or office-related tasks. Even under full load, the tablet's temperature has never crossed 40 degree celsius.
As this is Windows 8.1 you can install pretty much anything you should want, although many apps are now tailored for directly through the Windows Store, such as VLC player.
There are some annoying Pre-loaded software on the Encore, including McAfee virus protection which became a real pain as it kept telling me how "unsafe" my use was.I still haven't found out a way to turn it off. The device comes pre-installed with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 program. There is no stylus, but I don't think many of us even have or use a stylus anymore so its not a real negative.
CAMERA AND CONNECTIVITY:
The encore comes with an 8MP primary camera which is positioned on the top left corner of the rear panel. Unfortunately there is no flash so taking pics in the dark is a bit challenging. There is a 2MP camera on the front for you to Skype. It.It also comes with Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS navigation.
BATTERY:
The encore comes with a 2 cell, 19Wh battery.In terms of battery life, on average the Encore delivers around 7 to 8 hours with mixed use of 20 to 30 mins of gaming, an hour of wifi and the remaining 5 to 6 hours of video playback. I agree its not the best-in-class performance, but it's still very good.
So here it is
Pros:
1) Windows 8.1 Os, and devices running windows phone 8 will be getting a free update to 8.1 sometime in june-july.
2) 52Gb of usable storage space.
3) 8 Inch Wide angle IPS display
4)2GB RAM and INTEL HD graphics
5)1 year warranty extendable upto 3 years
Cons:
1)No USB 3.0 support. That means if you connect a USB 3.0 Hard disk or flash drive, you will only get USB 2.0 speeds.
2)No cover for the Micro SD card slot which will cause dust and fiber particles to enter the slot especially if you have the habit of leaving the tablet on your bed.
3)Reflections from the screen
4)Hard to find accessories like screen guard and protective case, since there aren't many Toshiba dealerships in India at this time and people who would opt for a Toshiba over the usual suspects like Samsung, acer, dell etc are few. Hopefully this trend will change in the coming years.
Final Verdict:
At a competitive price of INR22000 for the 64GB version and INR19, 000 for the 32GB model, the ENCORE has potential. The only thing holding it back is that it is sort of the Jack of all trades and Master of none. If you want extended battery life, you should turn to Acer; if cost matters the most, go with Dell or Lenovo; if you like to jot down handwritten notes, choose ASUS or Dell. Toshiba has done a fine job with its first foray into 8-inch Windows tablets, but not the exceptional job it needed to rise above its competitors. It offers good performance and usability and a decent price. I will give it 3.5 out of 5. Cheers!
