Submitted by nbeam85 on
One major area where FNF as a tablet maker seems to shine is in device design and build quality. The X2 is no exception. The white front and back are both something that is currently fashionable in China and many have noted that black or other darker color are preferable but that is a fairly minor complaint. The white and silver do look quite decent together. My only area of complain is the high-gloss plastic back. This is bound to attract scratches and fingerprints and it doesn't look the best however plastic does tend to help with WiFi range/reception. All of these minor quibbles aside, the overall design is quite nice and is highly comparable to a design/look/feel put out by Samsung (See the Galaxy Note 10.1" series). The unit is decently thin at somewhere between 9.8 - 10.1 mm I think. All of the lines match up with no gaps or glaring issues. The silver rim/edge of the device looks and feels like plastic at first take but it is actually (surprisingly...) magnesium! Magnesium is a metal used more and more frequently in electronics because it has a very good strength/to/weight ratio. High-end laptops often use magnesium shells. After spending a few minutes with the tablet you do quickly realize that the rim isn't plastic because the unit is incredibly rigid and solid. FNF specifically advertises/touts the shell designs of their tablets as being better and more durable than other brands and I don't think they are just blowing smoke. This is one seriously well built device.
Other design choices that really turned out well on this unit was the choice to go with Front-Facing Stereo speakers. I can't express enough what a nice choice this is. This is something I highly praised on the PiPo M8 Pro among other units. The drivers for the speakers are nothing incredible however. They have moderate volume and because they are front firing the stereo effect is decent if you are looking at the tablet dead on. Just don't expect "room filling" sound. I will note that even at high volumes they didn't distort which is always nice. I tested with acoustic (Colin Hay) and blues (Norah Jones) and the general impression was that sound was a bit hollow, lacking any bass or middle notes but the treble sounds decent. If these had been rear-firing speakers I would have been pretty disappointed I think but due to the front configuration they are adequate if not amazing and as noted the stereo sound affect is good for gaming and movies.
Moving on, the tablet has a front and rear camera. Both of which, thankfully, are centered. A lot of tablets use cameras that are placed on a corner or edge of the device. It lowers their usefulness and if you skype much it definitely detracts as you are staring at the screen but the camera is getting the right side of your face. It is a simple thing but it makes a difference in everyday use and is worth mentioning. The unit also features a light-sensor on the front an you can let the screen auto-adjust for brightness if you are so inclined. Personally I felt like the auto-adjust leaned towards keeping the screen too dark so I just kept it ramped up at 100% brightness at all times. And that leads us into a discussion of the screen quality...
The screen is the crowing jewel of this device. They are using either an IPS panel or a very high-quality AHVA panel. Viewing angles are excellent with little noticeable color shift. Color temperature is a bit warm and rich, which is why I tend to think this is probably an AVHA panel as they often have better color reproduction vs many lower - medium quality IPS screens. The Cube U30GT2 also utilizes an AVHA panel however it tends to be a bit too warm for my tastes and the whites end up being a bit yellowed as a result. The FNF X2 also has a bit of this but it isn't nearly as pronounced as the U30GT2 display. All of that being said... the display is a wonder to look at and use. Colors really do "pop" and the ultra-high PPI means image reproduction is indeed pixel-perfect. The display could be just a smidge brighter at the top-end but it isn't noticeable "not bright" unless you are used to comparing a bunch of different tablets all day long :).
The tablet is a bit heavier than expected (considering the smaller size) but not uncomfortably so as it is quite well balanced. No surprise though on the weight as this unit clocked one of the best battery run-times I have seen in recent months! The X2 was able to pull 7 hours and 46 minutes of "screen-on" time, primarily in the Nook E-Reading Application, with WiFi turned on and connected the whole time and cranked up to max brightness. I think someone could pretty easily pull 9 hours down of "screen on" time if they were being more conservative with brightness and Wifi. Also worth noting is that because this using the uber-efficient 28nm RK3188 processor it can sleep for several days and still have a good bit of usable charge left. 5 hours in our battery test is usually a bare minimum for us at TNT as anything less really tends to hurt the overall "mobility" of a device. It is one of the primary reasons we are so limited in what we carry. At almost 8-hours of use with WiFi and Max Brightness the X2 should easily be an "all day" if not "multi-day" device between charges for many users. If you read and browse the web, for example, for maybe a total of 1 - 2 hours of screen-on time spread throughout the day, you could probably use this device for 2 or maybe even 3 days before charging.
I don't think this is just a battery-size thing either with FNF. Considering the good results on the iFive Mini3 which has a rather diminuitive 4100 mAh battery, I really think that FNF is using better quality batteries, not just higher-quantity of mAh.
The last thing I will touch base on here is the port and button array. FNF has included your standard Headphone, Micro-USB Jacks, and MicroSD card slot,. However they made the odd choice of going with a MicroHDMI out port instead of the more standard Mini HDMI out. At least they did include HDMI out on this model. the cable is just going to be a bit harder to come by (as in it is plenteous I am sure but you are less likely to already have one lying about). The other nice thing that FNF included on this model is a physical volume rocker which is always a nice plus even though there are multiple ways to adjust volume in android these days. The physical buttons, by the way, look good and feel great. They have no "looseness" or rattle to them which just further demonstrates how well put together this tab is.
So the design and overall quality have turned out to be quite nice, but what about performance?