My kingdom for some apps: The Asus VivoTab RT review

After months of previews, keynotes, press events, and hands-on meetings, October 26th is finally upon us, and for Ars that means one thing: it's time to stop just looking at the often-bizarre new PC designs that Windows 8 and Windows RT have inspired, and time to start actually using them.

Our first PC, Asus' VivoTab RT, is of the tablet-with-keyboard-dock persuasion, a form factor that attempts to equip its user to make full use of the new Metro touch-optimized interface as well as the time-tested Windows desktop. The "RT" in its name throws another curveball our way, because it means this tablet is running Windows RT on an ARM processor—not only is this our first proper review of a true Windows tablet, but it's our first review of a Windows device that isn't using an x86 processor.

Meet the VivoTab RT

Despite its new operating system, the VivoTab RT—also called the Vivo Tab RT with a space, depending on which of Asus' marketing materials you happen to be looking at—doesn't deviate much from the basic form factor defined by the iPad and countless Android tablets. The front of the tablet is consumed mostly by its 1366×768 IPS touchscreen, which supports five simultaneous inputs and has excellent color and viewing angles. The screen is surrounded on all sides by a black bezel, which is slightly thicker on the top and bottom than on the left and right.

The VivoTab RT in tablet mode.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The VivoTab RT next to the 7" Nexus 7, also by Asus.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The VivoTab RT's Start button is a touch button rather than a physical one.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Embedded in that bezel is a 2.0 megapixel webcam (which, for whatever reason, is aligned slightly to the right of the tablet's center) and a Windows logo, which can be tapped to bring up the Start screen. Unlike other tablets we've seen, the Windows button on the Vivo RT is touch-enabled, rather than an actual physical button, and the tablet's motor vibrates slightly when the button is pressed to provide some feedback.

If you've ever used a widescreen 10" Android tablet before, the VivoTab RT will feel very familiar in your hands. At 1.16 pounds, it's pretty easy to hold with one hand while gripping the center of the device, but the tablet's length makes it tiring to hold for very long if you're grabbing onto the left or right edge or holding the tablet in portrait mode.

All of the tablet's ports and buttons are located around its edge. On the bottom, you've got the retention mechanism for the keyboard dock and a proprietary power jack. This jack is also used to hook up to the included ugly, bulky USB dongle—it clashes with the tablet's slim aesthetic, but does allow you to attach accessories like mice, USB drives, and cameras. Unfortunately, no USB ports (Mini, Micro, or otherwise) are included on the tablet itself.

A Micro HDMI and microSD card slot are both concealed on the upper-left edge of the tablet.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Headphones and a volume jack on the upper-right corner of the tablet.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

A power button and reset pinhole on the top.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The power plug and docking mechanism on the bottom of the tablet.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The included bulky USB 2.0 dongle plugs into the power port on the keyboard and the dock to enable the use of drives and peripherals.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Opening the small cover on the tablet's left edge will expose its Micro HDMI port, and directly next to that is the tablet's microSD card slot. On the bottom is a slider that releases the tablet from its keyboard dock when they're connected. The power button and a small hard reset pinhole are the only things on the top of the tablet, and the device's right edge houses the headphone jack and volume rocker.

The rear is mostly smooth brushed aluminum, with a slightly darker rubberized strip for the top quarter or so of the tablet. The overall build quality is excellent—more solid than the plastic of Asus' own Nexus 7 tablet, and worlds better than the mushy, flexing plastic used in Samsung's comparably priced Galaxy Note 10.1. Between this and the Zenbook Prime we looked at a few months ago, Asus is demonstrating a knack for building quality hardware that I'd like to see more PC makers emulate.

An 8.0 megapixel camera and LED flash are centered at the top of the tablet, while speakers adorn the left and right edges. The speakers are nothing special, but they're clear and don't distort at higher volumes. However, when holding the tablet by its left or right edges, I found it pretty easy to inadvertently block the sound with my hands.

The back of the VivoTab RT. There's a camera with LED flash at the top and a speaker on each side.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The rear camera is capable of taking serviceable pictures in normal indoor and outdoor lighting, and is neither particularly excellent nor particularly awful. Compared to my iPhone 4S, its colors are a bit more muted, and it takes softer (but less noisy) images indoors. The 2.0 megapixel front camera is fine for video chatting but not much else, putting it on par with just about every integrated webcam in every tablet we've ever looked at.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Two pictures of the same desk junk taken in indoor lighting, taken by the iPhone 4S (top) and the VivoTab RT (bottom). The colors in the VivoTab RT's picture are a bit more muted and its image is much softer. The iPhone 4S captures more detail but is visibly noisier.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The keyboard dock

The keyboard dock is where the VivoTab RT differentiates itself from the Surface and other more conventional iOS and Android tablets. This new tablet-and-keyboard-dock combination is very common in the Windows RT and Windows 8 devices we've seen so far, and Asus already has quite a bit of experience in the field from its Transformer-series Android tablets. Since the last time we got a glimpse of Asus' suggested pricing for the tablet and the dock, the company has made some changes—the dock originally cost $199 on top of the tablet's $599 starting price, but the $599 price now includes the dock, a fairly significant change that makes the VivoTab RT more competitive with Microsoft's Surface.

The keyboard dock by itself. In addition to a keyboard and trackpad, the dock has a USB 2.0 port and a second battery.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

On the tablet's lower-left edge is a small switch used to release it from the dock.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The dock's design complements the tablet's—dark gray aluminum on the top, lightly texturized black (with rubber feet) on the bottom. The dock adds a USB 2.0 port on the right side, and there’s a power connector on the left that will charge both the tablet and the dock when connected to power. The tablet's USB 2.0 dongle can also be plugged into this port to provide a second USB port.

The keyboard dock has a couple of advantages over the keyboard covers that the Surface uses: for one, the adjustable hinge makes the screen more laptop-like than the Surface’s one-angle-fits-all kickstand—the VivoTab's screen can tilt back about 45 degrees in the dock, which isn't quite as much as most laptops, but it should satisfy most usage scenarios. The rigid base also means you can use it on your lap or on a couch, rather than the firm grounding the Surface’s keyboard covers need. The tablet’s screen wobbles slightly when in the dock, but only forward—if you reach out to interact with the touchscreen, it remains firm and does not bend backwards.

The dock's hinge angles the keyboard slightly, making it a bit more comfortable to type on.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

A full-size USB 2.0 port is integrated into the keyboard dock.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The other obvious benefit of the dock is the physical keyboard and trackpad. The 10.6” screen of the tablet means that some sacrifices had to be made: the keys are firm and have great travel for a chiclet keyboard, but they’re slightly smaller than full-size, especially the function and arrow keys. The overall effect is unfortunately similar to typing on a netbook. The keys are large enough that I eventually got my typing up to speed, but it was never quite as comfortable as something full-sized.

The multi-touch trackpad is similarly small, but it’s a bit less of a problem. The emerging standard bunch of common multitouch gestures is all supported: tap-to-click, two finger right-clicking, pinching to zoom, and two-finger scrolling are present. Oddly enough, the trackpad doesn’t support the operating system’s new touch gestures—Windows-specific things like swiping to switch apps work on the tablet's screen, but not on the trackpad. There exists the possibility that new drivers will enable this functionality later on, but it’s not there now.

Despite the missing functionality, the trackpad is at least accurate and consistent, which isn't always a given on multitouch trackpads. One minor annoyance is that Windows RT automatically uses tablet-style "backward" scrolling—you have to move your fingers up to scroll down, left to scroll right, and vice versa. In OS X, Apple calls this "natural" scrolling, but unlike in OS X, Windows RT doesn't appear to give users the ability to revert the scrolling behavior. Again, this is something that could be addressed via the trackpad's drivers, but for now "natural" scrolling for everyone is the order of the day.

The VivoTab RT's keys are slightly smaller than normal, netbook style. Typing at near full speed was possible, but I still made more errors than I normally would.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The trackpad is consistent and accurate, but is missing support for Windows' new gestures.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

When we looked at Windows 8 on a touchscreen-equipped all-in-one, our takeaway was that a large screen on a desk was too impractical to be of much use alongside a keyboard and mouse. Happily, in a laptop this isn't true. The touchscreen is much nearer to where your hands are anyway, and reaching up to interact with items on the screen is no more disruptive than removing your hand from the keyboard to use a trackpad or mouse. In practice, I found myself reaching up to the screen to invoke the Charms menus and to switch apps fairly regularly, and I expect this would also be true for more conventional laptops with touchscreens installed. It's not totally necessary, but it's a nice option to have.

One downside of the keyboard dock form factor in general is the added thickness you get over a standalone tablet or Ultrabook. Asus’ hinge mechanism is actually one of the least bulky that we’ve seen, but when the two halves are stuck together the effect is once again very reminiscent of a netbook. The faster internals and high-quality screen make it a very nice netbook, but a netbook nonetheless.

Compared to the 11" MacBook Air (and most other Ultrabooks), tablets with keyboard docks are going to be quite a bit chunkier.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The software: A first look at Windows RT

We’re going to be going more into Windows RT and its underpinnings (as well as the bundled Windows apps) in our Microsoft Surface and Windows 8 reviews, both of which will be going up later this week, so I won’t spend much time digging into it in this review. I can give you the short version: Windows RT is exactly like Windows 8 except that it runs on ARM processors, and it won’t run standard Windows applications on its desktop with the exception of those that Microsoft bundles—this includes Internet Explorer, the Windows RT version of Office 2013, and most of the core Windows apps, excluding Windows Media Player.

That second bit—that you won't be installing and running desktop applications yourself—is the most important thing to consider when looking at purchasing a Windows RT device. They’re often going to be cheaper and more power-efficient than their Intel counterparts running full Windows 8 (though, on paper, some of the Atom-based tablets may come close), but you’ll be limited to the Windows Store for all of your applications, and as of this writing that’s a serious liability. There are many, many meat-and-potatoes apps that simply aren’t present in the Windows store. There's no official Twitter client, no Dropbox, no third-party Web browsers, just to touch on the staples. Hulu Plus and Netflix were recently added, but there's no official support from other streaming media outfits like Spotify or Pandora. The apps that do exist are often lacking in features or functionality. This may suddenly change on October 26, or over the weeks and months immediately following general availability for Windows 8, but the situation as of today is not that great.

The Windows Store has a pretty-good-looking Kindle app, but its performance is bad—rotating the screen and turning pages are both sluggish and unresponsive compared to the app in Android and iOS.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

MetroTwit (see left) is a great use of Windows RT’s snap feature, but the fact that its built-in advertisements completely obscure the Retweet and Reply buttons when snapped is a deal-breaker.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Setting aside the bleak app landscape, actually using Windows RT in tablet mode is largely an enjoyable experience—it lacks the interface jerkiness that so often plagues Android phones and tablets, and things like the Charms menus and various touch gestures make more sense with a touchscreen than with a mouse and keyboard. The tablet boots speedily, responds to touch input quickly, and the lack of desktop apps (and, thus, heavy multitasking) helps avoid performance bottlenecks that could come from using Windows with just 2GB of RAM.

The presence of the legacy desktop (along with each and every one of its Control Panels and other cruft) means that, like Windows 8, Windows RT can be something of an awkward hybrid, especially for advanced users, but when I plugged the tablet into the keyboard dock and began using it as a regular laptop, I began to see why Microsoft went down this path. It’s nice to have a familiar, mouse-and-keyboard-optimized operating system under there, even if the inability to run third-party desktop applications limits its usefulness.

The VivoTab RT also gives us our first look at how OEMs will be able to customize Windows RT—happily, the answer seems to be "not much," at least for now. Buyers used to finding piles of steaming crapware on their new Windows computers will find just a few pre-installed Asus apps on their Start screens, all of which can be easily hidden or uninstalled.

The apps themselves, which include a dictionary, a note-taking app, and a camera app that largely appears to duplicate the functionality of Windows' built-in Camera app. They aren't that useful, but they're at least mostly harmless.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Asus also has its own small section in the Windows Store, shown just to the right of the Spotlight section. Here you can find a list of the manufacturer's pre-installed software (in the event that you need to re-download any of it) as well as a few suggestions, like the Netflix and Kindle apps. It stands to reason that this section of the store will be expanded to include more worthwhile apps as more worthwhile apps are made available.

Asus has its own section of the Windows Store.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

If this early example is anything to go by, OEMs will be using a pretty light touch with their Windows RT products. Updates are still delivered directly from Microsoft with no manufacturer or carrier meddling (my version of Office 2013 was updated to the final code as soon as it was available). Asus' logo replaces the standard Windows logo at boot and during the Windows Setup process. Otherwise, you're getting the same Windows experience here as you would on Surface RT or any other Windows RT product, which is a nice change if you're accustomed to the sometimes drastic differences between Android devices from these same manufacturers.

Internals and performance

On the inside, the VivoTab RT shares a lot with the Microsoft Surface RT. They are, in fact, largely identical: a 1.3GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC, 2GB of low-power DDR3L RAM, and 32GB (or 64GB) of storage using an MMC interface (as opposed to SATA or something more common for desktops and laptops) are the main features, the same as in Microsoft's offering. As a result, all of the performance numbers and characteristics we see here should also apply to the Surface RT.

The tablet's subjective performance is mostly good. As we mentioned, apps launch fluidly, scrolling is smooth, and webpages load quickly. Individual apps do have some isolated performance problems—the Kindle app takes quite a while to switch between orientations, and some games (Cut the Rope in particular) were a bit jerky. Because these problems appear only in certain apps, at this point I'd be inclined to blame poorly optimized software rather than the hardware, but it's something to keep in mind.

Unfortunately, the benchmark tools we typically use for mobile devices—Geekbench, GLBenchmark, and Linpack—aren't yet available in the Windows Store, and Windows RT's restrictions prevent us from installing anything directly. The Tegra 3 is a known quantity—check our Nexus 7 benchmarks for a recent example of how the chip performs in Android—but until we have proper benchmarking tools in the Windows Store we'll have to stick to in-browser tests to measure Windows RT tablets' performance.

Keeping in mind that the Nexus 7 is running a 1.2GHz version of the VivoTab RT's 1.3GHz Tegra 3 SoC, Internet Explorer 10’s JavaScript engine is apparently much faster than Chrome’s on Android in certain tasks, and much slower in others. Internet Explorer trounces all comers in the SunSpider test (with the exception of the much faster A6 SoC in the iPhone 5, which it fights to a draw), but lags behind pretty severely in the Octane test.

JavaScript tests are an admittedly imperfect way to measure a device’s performance, especially when you’re looking at different browsers and platforms—software optimizations have just as much (if not more) to do with performance than does hardware speed, as is clearly demonstrated here. With any luck, we won’t be waiting long before proper benchmarking tools show up in the Windows Store.

Sensors and wireless

The VivoTab RT includes a GPS sensor (listed as GNSS in the device's wireless settings pane), NFC, and offers optional 3G and 4G connectivity. If your tablet has a 3G or 4G SIM, an Asus app called Asus SMS will allow you to send text messages, subject to your carrier's pricing. These different wireless options are all points in Asus' favor when compared to Microsoft's Surface, which has none of these things—no GPS, no NFC, and no cellular connectivity of any kind.

The VivoTab RT also includes Bluetooth 4.0 and 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi—we really like to see dual-band Wi-Fi in new tablets and smartphones these days, and its exclusion here is unfortunate.

Battery life

Asus claims that the tablet by itself should be capable of nine hours of battery life, though the company admits that this test was performed with the screen's brightness set to 100 nits (read: turned all the way down). The keyboard dock, which will actually charge the tablet's battery if it has discharged, should add about another seven hours, bringing the total up to a theoretical 16 hours.

To test these claims, we set the tablet's brightness level to 50 percent and then drained the battery of the tablet by browsing the Web, typing in Word, watching videos in Netflix, reading books in the Kindle app, and generally poking around the operating system. We then plugged the dead tablet into the fully charged keyboard dock, rinsed, and repeated.

The tablet by itself lasted for about six hours and 20 minutes; plugging it into the dock gave us another five hours and 38 minutes, which adds up to just a couple minutes under 12 hours of battery life. The tablet by itself significantly misses the eight-to-ten hour time range into which most Android and iOS tablets fall. Combined, the tablet-and-dock combo's battery life compares favorably to netbooks and standalone laptops, but still comes in well under Asus' advertised estimates.

The usual caveats apply here: you may get slightly better or slightly worse battery life based on your settings and the applications you're running. I expect the tablet would get better battery life with the ambient light sensor enabled—I disabled it for our testing, but when left on it's pretty aggressive about turning the screen brightness down (perhaps overly so, even—I found the sensor's brightness choices to be a bit dim for my taste).

One particularly annoying quirk (and one that may well apply to all Windows RT tablets) is that Windows refuses to give a battery life estimate that you get on normal Windows 8 systems. This issue appears to be related to ARM's hardware reporting features and is par for the course in many smartphones and tablets, but if you're expecting Windows RT to act exactly like Windows 8 in this regard, you'll be disappointed.