14 DAY TRIAL // The Chinese at Pipo have recently launched a funny-looking device. Looking like a small writing desk with an antenna, the Pipo X9 is basically a mashup between a mini-desktop computer and a tablet.
Having pretty much the sort of hardware you'd expect from a cheap tablet, this wedge-shaped device includes an 8.9-inch touchscreen and a thicker case and more ports than a tablet, which is fine, if not quite impressive. Unfortunately, it lacks a battery and it gets its juice via a power adapter, so it can't effectively be called a tablet, but rather something else, not sure what exactly.
However, for your curiosity, the Pipo X9 has a 1920 x 1200 pixel display, an Intel Atom Z3736F Bay Trail processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. To make things even more interesting, it comes with Windows 10 and Google Android 4.4 pre-installed.
Pipo X9 doesn't mind that it's strange as long as you browse it with a mouse and keyboard
However, ports-wise, this thing is great! It has full-sized USB ports, Ethernet jack, and HDMI port - clearly, you won't see this sort of connectivity in a tablet. And while ordinary customers have to fumble around using fingers on they tablets, Pipo X9 users can plug in a mouse, keyboard and an external display, even if the screen has 100 percent tablet functionality.
Well, it's true that it may seem amusing to some and completely pointless to others, but installing a mouse and a keyboard on a Windows 10 tablet/mini PC might help some people, but not too many for that matter.
To amplify the need to have the most complete tablet/mini PC hybrid, the Pipo X9 includes a headset jack, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a Bluetooth 4.0, and there's even a built-in speaker. For those who are dying of curiosity to know how to use this weird device, they can buy it on GearBest for about $135 (€121).