Teclast tablets - any thoughts?

[Argus Tuft]

Friend wants to get a reasonably priced starter tablet for his daughter for education apps etc, including tutorial videos.

 

Looking at Teclast as an option to Huawei

Teclast P80 has popped up

 

Any members got experience with these?

[JoePai]

I have one to carry around on my travels, came with Win 10 - runs fast and never a problem with updates - recommended not just as a starter tablet but for 90% of the population who only use a computer for emails, surfing and a little work (Word, Excel etc)

[2008bangkok]

If your friend is not looking for a 2 in 1 Windows/Android Hybrid and just wants a android tablet i think i would prefer Huwai Mediapad T1 or T2, Lenova Tab 3 Essential 7" or Acer Icona B1-733 the latter of which I brought for both my young children and all around the 3k mark.

[JoePai]

I did a full format as soon as I bought my Teclast and just reinstalled Win 10, no need for Android and saves space

[nev]

I have one a X98, very good tablet for the price, I purchased the model without Windows 10 installed, so just standard android.

[Argus Tuft]

Thanks to all who have replied so far - I am passing these comments on.

Keep 'em coming!

 

Cheers, much appreciated!

[2008bangkok]

22 hours ago, JoePai said:

I did a full format as soon as I bought my Teclast and just reinstalled Win 10, no need for Android and saves space

How did you manage to do that? Does the rom they provide no have both firmware on or did you use a USB stick with just windows on?

[2008bangkok]

If your mate doesnt mind waiting this looks an exceptional buy given the specs and price.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CIGE-A5510-Tablet-PC-10-1-inch-Touch-Screen/32791676923.html

 

[robsamui]

I'm sending this from a Teclast T-book 11 2-in-1 PC - I bought it because it has a Gorilla Glass Samsung screen with high resolution and the expected excellent colour saturation. It comes with a dual boot, with Android 5 and Windows 10 installed. 

 

It's taken me a while to get it all sorted out, as there were lots of very annoying things about it. And the best thing by far is to wipe the whole thing and then install the Windows OS of your choice - presumably Windows 10 . . . as already suggested by one reply here.

 

The Teclast forum is in this link, and there is a ton of stuff on how to wipe the tablet and re-install a new OS. It will also benefit by having a matching keyboard to do this - and it's an indispensable add-on anyway.

https://techtablets.com/forum/topic/tutorialinstall-windows-only-teclast-tbook-10/

 

First big niggle - lots and lots of Chinese junk pre-installed - games, unheard of social media etc. For months I kept finding more folders with Chinese language that I had  no idea about on the drive. And they kept on popping up in program lists, searches etc etc.

 

Second, even though it comes with Windows 10, it is the free edition of version 1 that Microsoft licenced for manufacturers to bundle with their hardware. This is the buggiest and most broken operating system in the world - released before it was sorted - it has become a legend in this respect - and MS immediately set about fixing it as soon as it appeared. 

 

Unfortunately this installation on the T-Book 11 cannot be upgraded to the far superior version 2 of Windows 10 (I forget the exact reason why . . . ) so you are stuck with it, unless you wipe the drive and re-install from scratch. Personally I've found this not to be a problem, as I use the tablet mainly as a lightweight laptop to take to a cafe or to the beach so that I can rough out articles and stories (I'm a features article writer).  And for email, Facebook and other social media it is fine.

 

One huge problem is storage space - the initial MS Windows installation and pre-installation files are non-deletable and a big  chunk of drive space is taken up with the Android operating system files.

 

Another big fall-down is the volume . . . it is unusably low! Trying to watch a movie, even in a quiet room, means you have to put your head right close to the screen and try not to make a noise breathing. Fortunately this is fixed by installing DFX Audio Enhancer (free).

 

On the plus side (!) I'm very happy with it. The screen is so good that it will run in bright daylight (not sunlight though) with the screen brightness on 75%, giving a battery life of over 5 hours in continual use. PLUS you can extend this by using a battery powerpack  while you're working - which you can't do with a full-tilt laptop.

 

It is also surprisingly fast. I expected it to be slow and jerky, but it has been well-engineered and put together with a graphics sub-system that matches the processor. Programs like MS Word (note: MS Office is too big to fit on the drive) and MS One-Note open almost immediately and graphics apps like ACDC Editor are fast and can handle hi-res photo images.

 

The only thing that is suspect  is live streaming sports. It spends more time buffering using identical program gateways like 365SportTV (now closed down) than my other similar 2-in-1 does - but that is a Samsung Slate 7 running with an Intel i5 processor. Generally online movies only buffer very occasionally. (And they look great and are good resolution with excellent colour saturation due to the Samsung screen of the T-Book 11.)

 

Seeing that the cost of the T-Book 11 with matching keyboard was less than 7,000 baht, and my Samsung Slate cost me 45,000 baht when it was new 4 years ago, I reckon the T-Book is a very acceptable substitute when it comes to using it on the beach or on the move . . .  I'm happy to chuck it into a  small shoulder bag without having to worry about dust or damage. If you are prepared to spend time sorting it out then it's not a bad buy at all.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2017 by robsamui

[robsamui]

OH - forgot to mention - the camera on this tablet is utter crap! The LED screen might be Samsung, but the camera is by Lego.

[robsamui]

[lingyai]

On 7/23/2017 at 12:48 PM, robsamui said:

 

Did you buy this in Thailand or from Aliexpress/gearbest/banggood? If got online from China, was there any problem with shipping or customs? How is the keyboard?

[robsamui]

On 12/3/2017 at 2:44 AM, lingyai said:

 

Did you buy this in Thailand or from Aliexpress/gearbest/banggood? If got online from China, was there any problem with shipping or customs? How is the keyboard?

I got them both from Gearbest. No problems with having to pay any duties - it came straight through.

The keyboard is soft and squishy, not very nice, and a bit small for my liking, but it's still working fine after 8 or 9 months of daily use. (But the finish is poor - some kind of imitation suede which picks up every bit of dust and dirt - but at least you can wipe it down with a wet sponge!)

[lingyai]

19 hours ago, robsamui said:

I got them both from Gearbest. No problems with having to pay any duties - it came straight through.

The keyboard is soft and squishy, not very nice, and a bit small for my liking, but it's still working fine after 8 or 9 months of daily use. (But the finish is poor - some kind of imitation suede which picks up every bit of dust and dirt - but at least you can wipe it down with a wet sponge!)

 

Thanks for the reply. How long from ordering did it take you to get it? How long ago was this? Just seeing if it was recent, so I might try my luck at getting one.

[robsamui]

1 hour ago, lingyai said:

 

Thanks for the reply. How long from ordering did it take you to get it? How long ago was this? Just seeing if it was recent, so I might try my luck at getting one.

Erm - last April/May, I think? Somewhere around that time. It took about 2 weeks, maybe a little longer - not so long that I started to worry about it!

Edited December 5, 2017 by robsamui

[ricklev]

I bought this a couple of months ago.  No complaints. Excellent for the price. 

 

https://m.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_639367.html?vip=2714267&gclid=CjwKCAiApJnRBRBlEiwAPTgmxLlKK1zSoPXyAYpeRSrkxZH45_bfkGXP3MCls2eCrM-yx2rpmzdv0xoCAYQQAvD_BwE

 

 

[lingyai]

50 minutes ago, ricklev said:

I bought this a couple of months ago.  No complaints. Excellent for the price. 

 

https://m.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_639367.html?vip=2714267&gclid=CjwKCAiApJnRBRBlEiwAPTgmxLlKK1zSoPXyAYpeRSrkxZH45_bfkGXP3MCls2eCrM-yx2rpmzdv0xoCAYQQAvD_BwE

 

 

 

That does look good.

It says Thailand Via Expedited Shipping for only an extra $3.15 US, and 3-7 days. How did you get yours shipped? How long did it take ?

[ricklev]

21 minutes ago, lingyai said:

 

That does look good.

It says Thailand Via Expedited Shipping for only an extra $3.15 US, and 3-7 days. How did you get yours shipped? How long did it take ?

I had heard that if you use the expedited shipping option you are far more likely to end up paying duty as they use DHL.  I think I used registered insured mail.  It took about three weeks.