iPad Alternatives – Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC Overview

Viliv X70 Tablet PC vs Apple iPad and other Tablet PCs

We move on to the Viliv X70 EX tablet PC this week at whattabletpc.com as we get back into our run of iPad Alternatives.

The Viliv X70 EX launched around a year ago and has received very good reviews. Along with the Archos 9, it was one of the first tablet PCs to really reach the market and meet expectations of delivering a usable performance. The Apple iPad moved the whole tablet arena on this year but it’s worth going back to have a look at the Viliv X70 EX and see where it stands now in the market. We’ll get to it soon but overall, despite a few niggles; it’s not a bad device.

What is the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC?

The Viliv X70 EX is a well designed tablet PC with strong build quality and high production quality. It has a 7-inch touch screen (measured diagonally) and weighs in at 1.45 lbs (660g) with battery. The full dimensions of the device are 8.2-inches by 4.6-inches and 0.8-inches thick. The device also comes with 1GB of RAM so reasonable processing memory and 16GB or 32GB of storage space depending on what specification you choose. All-in-all these are a good combination of specs to run the Windows XP Home operating system that the base model ships with.

The Viliv X70 EX is powered by an Intel Atom CPU Z520 (1.33GHz) as used in a large number of netbooks. This processor offers a good balance of performance and battery life although not as good as the very latest processors coming to tablets in new releases. The weak link though is an Intel GMA 500 used for video/graphics which struggles with high definition videos, Flash videos or 3D games.

This tablet runs Windows, the base versions of the X70 offering Windows XP Home and the top version running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition. It boasts a 5 second start-up in XP which means it resumes from sleep mode and is quick and easy to pick up to access your data or surf the web as the whim takes you (a full boot up from cold is about 30 seconds). There’s also a Viliv Cube user interface overlay which allows you to assign touch screen shortcuts for accessing applications quickly and enhancing the experience rather than dealing direct with Windows – although it’s straight forward to switch between the two or turn of the Cube UI if you want. Although Windows XP is fine on the X70, it isn’t an optimized operating system for a tablet compared with lightweight operating systems such as iPhone OS or Android and that means you’re running a “full” operating system designed more for a desktop PC/laptop device rather than a lightweight tablet.

Who are Viliv?

Viliv have been around for just over 10 years and focus on mobile internet/multimedia devices. Their head office is based in Korea with over 150 employees and they produce a number of devices already on the market.

What’s the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC design and screen like?

The hi-res LCD touch screen resolution is 1024 by 600 pixels and produces crisp text and bright colours. The screen is a soft (finger) touch variety which is relatively responsive but not on a par with a capacitive touchscreen used in an iPad. The resistive touch screen employed isn’t a palm resistant screen and hence really why a stylus is included to help improve navigating.

What are the key features of the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC?

Navigation – Apart from the touchscreen interface, navigation is handled by a 4-way nub cursor joystick device on the top left of the screen. There are 2 buttons on the right of the screen with the same function of a left and right mouse button, and buttons handling the Windows Start Menu, virtual keyboard and various keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys (for changing the orientation of the screen from landscape to portrait for example). Similarly the buttons can be used to change screen brightness and volume and there’s a lock slider too.

Virtual Keyboard – pops up when called upon and works with haptic feedback. This means it will buzz when you get a direct hit on a key meaning you get some feedback to aid typing effectively – you can turn this off though if it doesn’t work for you. It’s not going to be great for writing excessively long articles or documents but fine for short emails and browsing.

Other features of the Viliv X70 roll out as follows…

• 1.3 mega pixel webcam – supporting video conferencing
• 1 USB Port – fine for attaching a keyboard, mouse or flash drive for getting files on and off the device. However additional USB ports would be better as you may want to attach a keyboard and use a flash drive at the same time.
• 1 USB Mini-B port – for data transfer – we’ll come to that shortly.
• SD Card Slot – you can use this to expand the memory up to 32GB with an SD card.
• Headphone Jack
• SIM card slot – for slipping in the SIM card that will give you the 3G connection when you sign-up with a network provider (at an extra cost).
• Bluetooth – for wireless connection with other devices such as a wireless keyboard or mouse.
• AV out – supports VGA, component, S-Vid, and composite cables allowing you to hook the tablet up to your TV to watch the video on your big screen (cables sold separately)
• Battery life – officially the device is listed with up to 5.5 hours of battery life but test suggest a little less than this and around 4 hours with continuous browsing. It’s also touted to last 6 days on standby mode.
• Stereo speakers – two speakers for stereo output at the back of the device – pretty decent quality and fairly loud.
• Single External Mic
• Stylus – included for precision on the touch screen and tucks away into a port in the device.

How do I browse the internet on the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC?

Wi-Fi – supported so you can get an internet connection when in range of a Wi-Fi network.

3G – is supported with a build-in modem and works effectively so you can get broadband speeds on a 3G network. This means you can use the device when out and about even when you’re outside a Wi-Fi signal – you’d need a cellular agreement though. There’s an expandable antenna also that is designed to help get a signal.

Browser – the pre-installed browser does the job effectively and you can get a Firefox add-on for grab-and-drag functionality to use iPhone/iPad like touchscreen movement. The soft touchscreen here means the screen isn’t as responsive as the iPad. You can get around this most of the time by using hardware buttons to aid scrolling but the small nub cursor joystick doesn’t really work well as it’s stiff, has a smooth finish (making it easy for your finger to slip off) and doesn’t move far with each click.

Ultimately it’s just a shade off where you’d want it to be. It comes up short when browsing compared to the slickness of iPad and tablet PC alternatives launching now. The video play back for websites is also mixed, as we’ll now explore.

Flash – the sales literature claims you can stream YouTube videos on the device but subsequent reviews have found YouTube videos are hit-and-miss due to the weak video processor. There is potential to download the YouTube videos with 3^rd party software and watch them offline outside the Flash environment but this is hardly an effortless process compared to the iPad.

What about watching video on the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC?

Watching video on the X70 is dealt with via a bundled VilivPlayer application and it’s happy playing DVD quality video but reports suggest it struggles with high definition. You could also use other applications you install yourself but this won’t sort out the HD issue, it may be that the HD falls down due to a low-end video graphics controller. According to the sales literature, it should support 720p HD video but alas, we wouldn’t count on it. Outside of this though the hardware supports H.264, WMV, MPEG4 and MPEG2 files.

What are the other features of the Viliv X70 EX Tablet PC?

The device comes pre-installed with an update manager, application manager (for controlling 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness etc.), a music player and video player.

Other applications of note are as follows:

• EasySuite – the data transfer suite built into the Viliv X70 allows you to transfer files between this device and another computer. You hook a USB cable into the Viliv tablet via the Mini-B socket and the other end of the cable into a computers USB port. The EasySuite autoruns on both the tablet and the PC then allows you super-fast transfer of files between the two devices.

• eReader – makes the Viliv X70 a decent option for reading ebooks. You rotate the screen into portrait mode and use the hardware hotkeys to adjust the screen brightness. The nub cursor joystick pointer is used to click back and forth between pages.

• GPS – The Viliv X70 is designed to allow you to purchase a car dashboard mounting unit and set it up as an in-car GPS unit. The tricky thing here is really finding a GPS program that will install and run effectively but providing you persevere then you should get this up and running. Suggested apps would be StreetDeck, Google Earth or Microsoft Streets and Trips.

• Video Conferencing – is possible using the built in web cam, front-facing mic and an application such as Skype.

• The “open” environment of Windows means you can download any Windows XP software to the device although equally gives you the same virus issues to be wary of as you would with your desktop/laptop pc. That said it does mean that core applications such as iTunes can be loaded onto the device or alternative browsers such as Firefox or Chrome.

A final point of note on applications is that the Viliv X70 has relatively poor 3D performance so modern games aren’t going to work effectively – the advice is, don’t get this tablet if you’re thinking about it using it for gaming.

What is the Viliv X70 Price?

Dynamism US offers the Viliv X70 EX from $598; the UK price is listed from £397 excluding VAT. These prices are for the 16GB version with Windows XP Home but no built in 3G modem; add an extra $130 (£90) for the 32GB version and another $30 (£20) on top of this for the Windows 7 Starter Edition upgrade. The base version usual ships with a 1.2 GHz Intel Atom processor but Dynamism are running a special offer currently so all Viliv X70 EX Tablets come with the 1.3 GHz version – check before you buy though.

If you want the Viliv X70 EX with built in 3G HSPA modem then prices start at $878 (£583 in the UK excluding VAT) for the 32GB and Windows XP Home, you can then play $20 (£15) more to upgrade this to Windows 7 Starter Edition. For the full power version you can go up to $1347 (£895 in the UK excluding VAT) which gets you all of the above plus 128GB solid state storage and Windows 7 Home Premium Edition.

What is the Viliv X70 release date

It’s already out and available from Dynamism US or UK websites as above.

Conclusion – The Best Windows Tablet PC Alternative To The iPad To Date But Still Room For Improvement

The Viliv X70 EX was a very important device when it launched last year, it was the first tablet PC that actually ran a complete operating system, actually performed well and at a price that was attractive to a mainstream consumer. Now Apple have launched the iPad things have moved on substantially, you can now get the base iPad for more-or-less the same price as the Viliv X70 but the iPad has a more responsive screen and video playback capabilities are far superior. That said if you don’t like the “closed” nature of the iPad app eco-system where you can only load Apple-approved apps onto your device via iTunes then the Viliv X70 does offer a Windows alternative. Time will tell how soon new entrants will offer Windows alternative tablet PCs that resolve the video issue and improve the screen. They’re unlikely to match the Viliv X70s high-speed file transfer system which is truly unique but equally isn’t the prime reason you’d buy a tablet.

In our opinion, a “full” Windows operating system is too heavy for a tablet device given the amount of processing/storage space it would take up for functions that wouldn’t be used. Windows XP is also a very dated version of Microsoft’s operating system so again, new tablet PCs due on the market are likely to be more advanced and run variations of Windows 7 that also has better touchscreen compatibility.

All-in-all the Viliv X70 EX tablet PC is a very impressive device. It’ the only Windows tablet PC to have launched at the moment and actually work effectively (The Archos 9 is very buggy in comparison). Also, with some time on the market under its belt it’s fairly well tested with a decent range of accessories so you’ll know what you’re getting into compared to a brand-new manufacturer to the tablet-space. Overall, a good option, personally we’d hold on a few months until the next wave of manufacturers launch their Windows tablets but if you can wait then the Viliv X70 is a good iPad alternative as long as video or gaming aren’t your focus.

Image Source: Dynamism