Linx 7
with Windows 8.1 and a year's subscription to Office 365 Personal(one that comes with 1TB storage by the way, moving to unlimited pretty soon). it has a meagre 1GB of RAM and the rear camera is a 2-megapixel snapper; so don't expect any miracles.
A sample picture from the Linx 7
The rest of the hardware is similar to the W2. Inside is a bog standard, quad-core Intel Atom Bay trail-based processor, the Z3735G, clocked at 1.33GHz. It has a 1280 x 800 pixel-reslution display (because it's a 7-inch panel, it has a higher pixel density than the W2), a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a microHDMI port and a microSD card reader. Two cables (microUSB to USB and a USB to micro USB) are also bundled.
A side view of the Linx 7
There's also 32GB onboard storage although only 24GB are usable. That's because there's a 4.8GB recovery partition that you may want to delete. After installing Chrome and any necessary Windows update files, 17.59GB (or about three quarters of the available storage) was still free.
The tablet is about the size and weight of a Google Nexus 7 (2013) tablet which means that it is small enough to be comfortably carried in a coat pocket.
The back of the Linx 7 tablet
Its 16:10 aspect ratio means that holding it in portrait mode feels natural; unlike the W2, it is designed to be held in that mode rather than in landscape. This also impacts the location of its physical Windows button as well as that of the front-facing camera.
As expected most of the ports are located on the top of the device while the power and volume buttons are located on its right hand side.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
Getting Office 365 for a year - worth £60 on its own - makes the Linx 7 a very attractive proposition. Office 365 comes with free OneDrive Professional cloud storage and Skype-to-phone calls to further sweeten the deal, and it covers you for a PC licence too - so you could technically install it on your home computer at the same time. If you're already looking to buy the package in the first place then you're effectively getting a tablet for £20.
Even if you have no interest in Office-related activities, the Linx 7 makes a very appealing purchase if you've not been swayed by the likes of the iPad or Android. It's deceptively powerful consider the weak specs and low cost, and makes for an ideal PC retro gaming system.
32GB of storage is pretty impressive too - that's twice the memory that many Android tablets ship with that cost much more than this. Even when taking into account the large footprint of the Windows 8.1 install, there's still over 20GB of space available and the ability to add in more storage with cheap MicroSD cards is even better, and because it's based on Windows, you can link up USB hard drives or thumb drives without any fuss at all.
Disadvantages
Linx quote around five hours of battery life, which isn't spectacular. We found that between four and five hours is a more realistic estimation, and that means you could have to charge the Linx 7 twice a day if you plan on using it heavily.
We also have to take issue with the placement of the Windows button, which is awkward to press on the top edge of the device. We often entirely forgot about it and instead used a swipe gesture to bring up the on-screen Windows button. It's a pretty essential key - akin to the Home button on the iPad - and simply doesn't belong on the top of the tablet, out of easy reach.
Although Linx has included a Micro USB to USB lead in the box, it would have been more convenient to have a standard USB socket on the tablet itself, especially if you're looking to use the Windows desktop and link up various peripherals and drives.
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