14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re not entirely satisfied with Windows RT but you still love your Surface, you might want to have a look at the so-called Remix tablet, which is a perfect clone of Microsoft’s device but runs Android and comes with a lower price tag.
Usually, if you’re looking for rip-offs to well-known devices, such as phones and tablets, China is the first place to go, but this time, the big surprise comes from the United States and from a company called Jide Technology.
And this isn’t all. Jide Technology is a company founded by three former Google employees, namely Jeremy Zhou, David Ko, and Ben Luk, all of whom worked on a number of important projects at Microsoft’s rival, including Google Maps.
Their tablet is based on the same idea as the Surface: offer the best of two worlds, laptops and tablets, to get a powerful device that can be used on both your couch and on the go.
The best rip-off so far
Jide’s Remix, priced at $349/€310, is shockingly similar to Microsoft’s Surface and comes with an identical keyboard and kickstand as the tablet that Redmond launched for the first time in October 2012.
The Remix features an 11.6-inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1080px, 2 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, and even a charging port that’s identical to the one on the Surface.
The operating system powering the Remix, intuitively called Remix OS and based on Android, is also a clone of Windows 8/Windows RT, and some of the apps running on it are again exactly the same as the ones on Microsoft’s platform.
The description published on the official website might sound familiar to Microsoft’s fans as well. With the Remix “you can get stuff done, anytime, anywhere.” Redmond’s motto after launching Windows 8 and the Surface was “we help you get your stuff done.”
“Inspired by Microsoft”
In a very short description posted on the official website of Jide Technology, the four former Google engineers admit that their device is inspired by Microsoft’s products.
“We formed Jide Technology in 2014 because we can't stand the drawbacks of the tablets and laptops on the market today and we wanted to do something about it. Our hardware & software staff have top-notch backgrounds including from Google, Microsoft, Baidu, Amazon, Sony, ST-Ericsson, Sohu, etc..., while our design team consists of the best & brightest within their industry,” they say.
And now, given the fact that Microsoft has already patented the kickstand design and other Surface elements, it remains to be seen if there will be any legal trouble with this.
