The Smartron t.Book experience : Day 1

Few days ago, I was handed a t.Book 2-in-1 PC by Smartron. The timing was perfect as I have been on the look out for a device that can replace my Apple Mac Mini and I have been considering various options. While a formal review will be covered later once we do all kind of testing on the t.Book, I am penning a specific line of articles where I explain my experience with the T.Book. In this article, I bring to you my day 1 experience with the Smartron t.Book. Do note that I have been a desktop person till now and moving to a 2-in-1 is. If you are wondering what the fuzz is about 2-in-1, read this post that we did earlier this week.

What is this t.Book?

t.Book is a 2-in-1 form factor PC, designed by Smartron. Smartron is an Indian company that came into light recently when they announced the new Hubtron ecosystem, t.Phone Android smartphone and t.Book PC.

smartron India Private Limited was founded with a vision to build India’s first global technology product brand by designing, engineering, sourcing, and marketing world class IoT (“Internet of TronsTM”) devices and systems with tightly integrated services and care targeting consumer, enterprise, industrial and infrastructure markets.

t.Book is powered by 6th generation Intel Core M CPU, has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The display is 12.2″ in size and has 2560×1600 pixel resolution. Priced at Rs.39,999/-, the Smarton t.Book is sold exclusively on NDTV Gadgets360.

Key Specification

Unboxing the Smartron t.Book

You can take a look at the unboxing video here. I had a quick chat with Giridhar and we both have similar requirement. A personal computer that is portable and powerful enough to perform day-to-day tasks that aren’t CPU/GPU intensive.

The Setup

This is how my desk looks like (only when I clean every inch of it to post photos and boast about it). I use a Mac Mini, two FullHD Dell 24″ monitors, Logitech K480 or Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard. I also use the Apple Magic Mouse and Apple Magic Trackpad. OS X El Capitan has been my primary OS for more than a year (was using dual boot setup earlier). Though I tried to use Windows 10 on the Mac Mini, I couldn’t connect to the OS the way I connected to the OS X.

To give the T.Book a true test, I replaced the entire setup with the t.Book. The only things that sit on my desk are

1. t.Book
2. Logitech Bluetooth mouse with touch sensitive surface
3. Logitech Bluetooth adapter
4. Altec Lansing MX-5021

And this is how it looks now

Be it listening to music, watching movies, stream a football game or do my work, all of that will be on this new setup.

The look and feel

There is a uniqueness to the t.Book. The dual color tone at the back is catchy. The t.Book does feel a bit heavy but given how sturdy, the t.Book feels, I can live with the extra weight. Do note that the t.Book is only ~150 grams heavier than the Surface Pro 4 and if Smartron had the budget that Microsoft’s Surface division has, I believe that they would do wonders.

While the rear panel looks supert and unique, the front gives an ordinary look. The bezels are too thick and after using bezel-free display, this feels really awkward (though I may get used to this).

Once the display is on, I forgot about the bezels. The 2560×1600 pixel display is absolutely breathtaking! The viewing angles are good and the text is absolutely crisp. This is definitely one of the best panels that I have seen in recent times.

It just works

I still remember those days when upgrading a desktop is a major work. Going to the store, get the necessary components, assemble them, install windows/linux, download missing drivers, install applications, setup accounts and then you get to start using the computer.

The massive advantage with PCs like the t.Book that come pre-loaded with Windows 10 OS is the simplicity and the speed at which you setup the apps:

1. Take the t.Book out of the box
2. Boot into Windows 10
3. Login using your Outlook account (if you were using windows 10 earlier)
4. Login to windows application store, go to your accounts and download all those apps that you were using on your previous computer.
5. Use data migration tool to move files from old computer

The only difficult task is to install and configure those application that are not available on Windows Store. In my case, more than 70% of apps that I use are available on Windows Store so no complaints here.

The first hour

The first hour of using a new PC is the best and the worst. There is excitement that you are using something shiny and new and you get these tiny issues (sometimes can be deal breakers). In my case, it was almost a perfect experience. The issues that I faced were

1. The touchpad/trackpad is over sensitive. It is so sensitive that when I am typing on the keyboard and if any part of my wrist touches the trackpad, the cursor quickly moves somewhere else. Imagine you are typing at 80+ wpm and suddenly it all goes haywire! Smartron did inform me that the trackpad sensitivity is too high and that they are working on a firmware update to fix this. Until then, I need to be a bit extra careful while typing. We did get the updated firmware and the trackpad is lot lot more usable now. The sensitivity is now spot on. Now that this issue is off, I am absolutely in love with the t.Book. The release version of updated firmware will be available soon.
   
2. The other issue was that the microphone would not pick my voice. I thought that the mic was defective (as an external webcam with mic was working fine when I connected it). Fortunately, the problem was with a minor ‘gain’ setting for mic which was set to zero. Once the gain was set to 20dB, the mic is working well.
3. I have to purchase a micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter if I have to connect a big screen display to the t.Book to improve multitasking. It will be great if Smartron can bundle an adapter with the t.Book.
4. Well, this is not exactly an issue and I hope this is taken care in second generation model. The power adapter is bit too big and being a three pin socket means that it can be connected in only one direction and if there no space below the socket, you will not be able to connect the adapter (and this is rarest of rare cases anyways).

Once everything is setup, I started with a simple blog post and I was pleasantly surprised at the ease that i felt with Windows 10 OS. I tried to use the t.Book as a laptop, on my lap and it was stable. I was sitting in a sofa and the kickstand kept the t.Book in place. I cannot sit cross legged on a sofa or on a chair. In a way, this is a good thing as I must sit in ergonomic posture with both feet on the ground and thighs parallel to the ground. Then I went to the kitchen and used the t.Book to follow a recipe. I cannot describ the ease of use. The UltraHD display, extremely good touch response and the kickstand made it look so easy. And the lack of the keyboard/base saved some space on the kitchen table.

In love with Windows 10

When it comes to picking an OS for a 2-in-1 PC, there is no other OS that comes close. I firmly believe that Windows is going to be the next big ecosystem. But there is lot more to test and I will update you on how it went.

End of Day 1

By end of day, I could only manage to use the t.Book for a few hours and boy, I am impressed. The battery lasts long and how long, we will get to know soon. The keyboard felt a bit cheap but the keys felt good when I typed. In online typing test, I was able to hit 80wpm. They key travel is good and the keyboard grips the desk well and does not move. I have also connected the Logitech bluetooth keyboard to the t.Book. Sometimes, I lean on my chair, pull the keyboard tray out and use the Logitech keyboard and the mouse and sometimes, I sit straight, close the keyboard tray and use the t.Book’s keyboard dock and the trackpad. I can remove the keyboard dock, place the Logitech keyboard at same position. This freedom is priceless, something that cannot be provided by regular notebooks. If I need a more ergonomic setup, I can connect the Microsoft wired keyboard to the USB 3.0 port. To achieve the same with Apple’s iPad or Android tablets, extra hardware is required.

I feel this strong urge now to go ahead and place an order for the Smartron t.Book when the 2-in-1 goes on sale this week. Oh, did I mention that the audio output is absolutely solid? The MX-5021 is thanking me right now for hooking them up to the t.Book. Two thumbs up right now! Kudos to the design team at Smartron who were able to pull off an impressive product. Will this feeling stay or will it fade away after using the Smartron t.Book for a week or two? You will get to know soon!