This Chinese tablet is full of surprises

Jul 27, 2015 09:36 GMT  ·  By

Chuwi Hi8 is a weird tablet. After ASUS’ failure to actually launch a dual-boot tablet/laptop hybrid at CES 2014, we assumed the idea had been crushed in its infancy.

Microsoft and Google didn’t seem to like the idea of their two OS-es co-existing on a single device, but while their interdiction applied to the Western world, it did not seem to impact device manufacturers in China.

So low-cost Chinese tablet manufacturer Chuwi has defied all odds and managed to unveil the Hi8 tablet, which comes equipped with both Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.

The tablet already received the Android 5.0 Lollipop update and now the folks at Gizmo China report that an OTA update upgrading the system to Windows 10 has also been issued. Which is pretty odd given the fact that the mobile OS hasn’t been officially announced by Microsoft yet. However, the images seem to indicate a different story.

Chuwi Hi8 tablet specs

The device takes advantage of an 8-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and is powered by an Intel Bay Trail Z3736F processor clocked at 2.16GHz (a quad-core one), fitted with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

The tablet also sports a two camera arrangement, with the main 2MP unit sitting on the back, while the 0.3MP one lives up in front.

The report claims both OS-es run pretty smoothly on the platform, so in theory users shouldn’t be experiencing any major lags or anything like that.

However, there’s also a negative side to the whole story. Chuwi says the device can only offer 3 hours of screen on time, which is pretty low for a tablet. As for normal use, you should expect to see the device last up to 6 hours before it gives up on life. Which is still below what other models on the market can do now. The Lenovo Yoga bunch can run up to 15 hours on a single charge, for instance.

Anyway, the Chuwi Hi8 is available for purchase for only $93 / €83 a pop from places like Geek Buying.

Chuwi Hi8 running Windows 10 (10 Images)

Chuwi Hi8 supposedly runs Windows 10
Chuwi Hi8 is a dual-boot tabletChuwi Hi8 has received a new soft update
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