Laptop makers have been forced to dial up the innovation when it comes to fighting off the challenge of tablets and Chromebooks, and as a result we’ve seen the emergence of a new breed of hybrid devices which seek to combine the power of a laptop with the convenience of a tablet. Lenovo’s latest Yoga range is one such example, sporting a hinge that rotates 360 degrees to allow it to switch between two form factors. As you might imagine this has attracted some imitators, with perhaps the most brazen being Chinese company VOYO. Its V3 Ultrabook is, at first glance, a close match for Lenovo’s product, but the price is significantly less – you can pick it up for less than 190. Is it worth considering if you’re shopping on a budget? We’re about to find out.
VOYO V3 Ultrabook Review: Design & Display
It’s impossible not to get a really strong Lenovo vibe from the VOYO V3 Ultrabook. The hinged design which allows the device to transform from a laptop to a tablet and back is basically lifted wholesale from Lenovo’s range, and little attempt is made to hide this fact. However, looking past the shameless pilfering of ideas, the V3 Ultrabook is actually a very well designed piece of kit. The bright orange casing takes some getting used to, but the soft-touch coating used on the plastic gives it a premium feel (although it also attracts greasy fingerprints). The unit is quite heavy as well – presumably because of its large 10,000mAh battery. On the inside things are a little more dull and black, making the V3 Ultrabook look like pretty much any other laptop. Switch to tablet mode and it’s a little more interesting; the 13.3 inch display makes it feel bigger than your average tablet, and despite the fact that you’ve got a keyboard on the rear (thankfully this is disabled in tablet mode), it’s quite comfortable to use.
A stylus is included so you can write and scribble on the touchscreen, and it connects to the device using Bluetooth – which means it requires charging from time to time. To be honest we didn’t use the stylus much as the metal nib felt like it would mark the screen, and because it’s not pressure sensitive it seemed like a bit of a waste of time – especially as in terms of accuracy, it isn’t much better than simply using your finger. The V3 Ultrabook’s 13.3-inch IPS panel offers a full HD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and boasts decent viewing angles, but the overall quality is a little disappointing, even when compared to our trusty (but no frills) Toshiba Chromebook’s display. Colours look washed out and dull, and even when it’s on full brightness the image fails to pop as you’d expect. It’s good enough for basic tasks but watching video on the screen is a strangely lifeless experience.
VOYO V3 Ultrabook Review: Hardware Specifications
Beating inside the V3 Ultrabook is an Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 quad-core processor running at 1.44 GHz. There’s an optional 1.84 GHz “Turbo” mode, but the impact on battery life means this isn’t really worth using – something we’ll address shortly. 4GB of RAM is also included, but despite the generally agreeable specs, the V3 Ultrabook never feels like much of a powerhouse.
Windows 10 might be quite a complex beast these days, but it runs especially sluggishly on VOYO’s device. Opening apps and webpages takes longer than it should, and running two applications side by side drastically impedes overall speed. Intensive activities such as 3D gaming, video editing and 4K streaming are pretty much out of the question, but if you’re content with using the V3 Ultrabook for more menial tasks such as word processing and general web browsing then you’ll have less reason to complain.
VOYO V3 Ultrabook Review: Software & User Experience
Windows 10 is being loaded onto a wide range of devices these days, many of which are at the lower end of the price spectrum – which is a boon for those who prefer Microsoft’s way of doing things. While it takes some getting used to when compared to older Windows variants, once you become accustomed to its new ideas then there’s an awful lot to like here. While the V3 Ultrabook isn’t the best showcase for Windows 10 in terms of power, it does at least show off how Microsoft’s OS can straddle the divide between laptop and tablet; toggling between physical keys and touch-screen input is largely seamless. What really bogs things down here are issues relating to the hardware, not the software. For example, we struggled with Windows 10’s touchpad gestures due to the rather imprecise nature of the V3 Ultrabook’s touchpad.
There’s an option in the Windows 10 settings menu to turn off certain gestures – something that would have improved things dramatically – but switching these off has no effect. Digging deeper into the laptop’s file structure it didn’t seem possible to pinpoint why this was or update the driver to remove the issue, which means that the irksome gestures remain. Other times, the touchscreen would randomly stop working, forcing a reboot to fix the issue. While Windows has always had its fair share of random quirks which call for the IT Crowd mantra of “turn it off and on again”, we can’t help but feel that in the case of the V3 Ultrabook, the hardware is just as much to blame.
VOYO V3 Ultrabook Review: Memory, Connectivity and Battery Life
As is often the case with modern laptops, the V3 Ultrabook uses solid state memory for storage rather than a traditional hard disk drive. 64GB of flash storage is included, with a MicroSD card slot featured on the right-hand side which accepts media of up to 128GB in size. The flash memory used on the V3 is quite slow, which makes disk access and installations a little sluggish, but not unbearably so. Despite our model shipping with a SIM card slot on the left-hand side, there’s no modem inside the machine so it doesn’t actually do anything. WiFi connectivity is generally good, although we did notice that it dropped out a few times despite our Chromebook reporting a strong signal from the router in the other room.
The V3 Ultrabook has a 10,000mAh battery which takes about 4 to 5 hours to fully charge. If you’re doing general low-level tasks then you can expect to get around 4 hours of use out of a single charge, but more demanding tasks can see that drop to around 2 hours. That’s pretty dismal for what’s supposed to be a super-portable laptop and tablet hybrid. Another issue is that the charging cable supplied is incredibly short and this prevented us from charging the V3 and using it at the same time.
VOYO V3 Ultrabook Review: Conclusion
While it might look like a good match for Lenovo’s more famous product, the V3 Ultrabook ends up feeling like a cheap copy. The lack of power, poor battery life and general hardware quirks mean that it’s occasionally frustrating to use, but these points are arguably balanced out somewhat by the hybrid design and that low, low price point. If you’re looking for a cheap Windows 10 laptop device or tablet and can tolerate it being less than perfect in many regards, then the V3 is worth considering. However, should your budget stretch a little, we’d recommend you shop around for something with a little more punch and less problems. You Can Check Out The VOYO V3 Ultrabook Prices and Offers HERE1.
References
^ HERE (www.gearbest.com)