Gerbil's stats
- Review count74
- Helpfulness votes603
- First reviewMay 13, 2016
- Last reviewOctober 23, 2023
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating2.9
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- First answerDecember 16, 2018
- Last answerDecember 16, 2018
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Add high-end performance to your everyday life with the Google Pixel XL. A quad-core processor, a 5.5-inch LED screen and 32GB of memory ensure this phone is able to handle daily life, and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protects the screen. Easy cloud storage ensures you never run out of space on the Google Pixel XL.
Customer Rating
4
A top-notch phone that is a joy to use
on October 21, 2016
Posted by: Gerbil
While the Pixel XL is a top-notch phone that is a joy to use, it feels like Google is mostly playing catch-up with their competitors rather than innovating a must-have device. With some features lacking/missing, it seems appropriate for the Pixel phones to have been priced a bit more competitively than they were.
The aluminum and glass construction looks and feels nice. While some opinions differ, I like the rear placement of the fingerprint sensor, which suits my usage patterns. The display is very vibrant--quite usable outside mid-day--and extremely responsive to the touch. The display's QHD resolution provides such high pixels per inch count that I suspect the details displayed are beyond what my vision is able to process. The top-notch processor and abundant memory ensured a very smooth experience with all apps and games that I tested. The battery survives heavy usage throughout the day, and the fast battery charging feels snappy, an increasingly important convenience.
The camera quality was obviously a huge factor in the design of this phone, and it will likely impress the majority of users. Despite the lack of optical image stabilizer, still images produced both outside and inside were of superb quality. The electronic image stabilization provides an impressive degree of jitter reduction when recording videos. The one point of disappointment, however, was that in-door videos had a huge plummet in detail--more than I was expecting--accompanied by a large presence of grain when compared to video recorded in out-door lighting, where the UHD 4K resolution really allowed details to shine.
The single bottom-edge-mounted speaker provides adequate volume and reasonable quality for a phone, but is generally unremarkable. Mid to high range tones sound good without becoming tinny, but as is typical with speakers in mobile devices, low tones fall out with bass generally being inaudible. Fortunately the audio jack comes to the rescue when watching videos and listening to music. The microphone has good volume and clarity in-doors (not tested out-doors), with phone calls being clear on both ends.
This phone is sorely missing a microSD card slot, a basic feature which I've come to expect in mobile devices; combined with a non-replaceable battery, it almost feels like Google is hoping users will treat these phones as disposable, quickly discarding them when newer Google phones become available. Also noticeably missing is wireless charging, a feature present in some competing phones. On paper, the Pixel's IP53 water resistance rating falls well short of competing phones.
While I appreciate the improvements present in Google Assistant, I would like to have seen them implemented as advancement of Google Now, rather than being reserved exclusively to uplift Google's own phones, which I feel should be able to stand on the merits of their hardware and design; this feels like a rather empty gimmick to me. The back-end search of Google Assistant still shares many of the pit-falls of Google Now, leaving plenty of room for improvement. As an example, when I asked Google Assistant to navigate to the nearest hospital, it directed me to a pet hospital; not what I would hope for in an emergency.
While I don't imagine this first generation of the Pixel will be swaying many Apple users over to Android, it sets a nice bar for the Android phone market and provides a top-notch experience for those wanting access to the cutting edge in Android developments straight from Google.
My Best Buy number: 0778200169
I would recommend this to a friend!
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3of 3voted this as helpful.
Browse the internet or play your favorite apps on this Acer tablet. It runs on an Android operating system and is powered by a quad-core 64-bit processor for full functionality. Google Mobile Services and Microsoft Office Suite are preloaded on this Acer tablet for out-of-the-box work or play capabilities, and DTS-HD Premium Sound lets you enjoy videos.
Customer Rating
4
Impressive value
on October 11, 2016
Posted by: Gerbil
While some of this tablet's features feel sub-par when compared to competing devices, collectively the features are a good value for the price point. The combination of 10" class display, 32GB internal storage, and GPS receiver is impressive. For those not expecting much from the cameras and microphone and who want a tablet to perform mostly basic tasks, this tablet is an excellent choice.
[ Pros ]
- Decent battery life lasts through the day with moderate tablet use.
- The front-mounted stereo speakers provide surprisingly high volume.
- Fairly vibrant and responsive touch screen.
- Pre-installed Acer apps add some convenient functionality, such as the ability to launch user-selected apps via touch-screen triggers when the tablet is in the 'sleeping' state.
- Loaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow when 4.x is still being sold in many 'new' tablets.
- Has a GPS receiver, which is absent in some competing tablets.
- Has a microSD card slot, which is sorely missing in some competing tablets.
- Decent battery life lasts through the day with moderate tablet use.
- The front-mounted stereo speakers provide surprisingly high volume.
- Fairly vibrant and responsive touch screen.
- Pre-installed Acer apps add some convenient functionality, such as the ability to launch user-selected apps via touch-screen triggers when the tablet is in the 'sleeping' state.
- Loaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow when 4.x is still being sold in many 'new' tablets.
- Has a GPS receiver, which is absent in some competing tablets.
- Has a microSD card slot, which is sorely missing in some competing tablets.
[ Cons ]
- 1GB of RAM is sub-standard at this price point. The OS itself uses between 50 to 60% of RAM after booting and before I launch an app. With a couple of very basic apps or a single more moderate app running in the background, memory use can easily reach 75%. While most basic tasks are achieved smoothly, more complex tasks such as actively navigating around Google Maps can result in consistent stuttering of the user interface. 2GB of RAM can be found in many competing devices.
- In direct daylight the display becomes almost entirely washed out, making it nearly impossible to use.
- Screen resolution of 1280x800 on a 10" display is low by today's standards. Many competing 10" tablets have 1920x1200 displays.
- The microphone, located on the edge of the tablet's chassis, has problematically low input volume. When recording videos and playing them back, I could barely hear myself. When testing voice and video chat, the person on the other end had difficulty hearing me, and my voice cut out frequently. My Google Now queries were often cut off mid-sentence.
- While 2MP and 5MP cameras are good on paper and are fairly standard for the price point, in-door picture quality is quite bad, where images and video contain far less detail than the resolution allows for. When tested side-by-side with competing devices, both cameras on this tablet fall short. While the rear camera is considerably better than the front camera, the front (user-facing) camera in particularly poor lighting conditions produces nearly pitch-black images, where-as some competing devices in the same conditions produce reasonably lucid images (without flash).
- While the volume of the speakers is impressive, their quality is not. Low bass tones are inaudible, while high treble tones sound shrill. Audio generally sounds tinny.
- The included charging cable is quite short, which can severely limit tablet placement while charging.
- 1GB of RAM is sub-standard at this price point. The OS itself uses between 50 to 60% of RAM after booting and before I launch an app. With a couple of very basic apps or a single more moderate app running in the background, memory use can easily reach 75%. While most basic tasks are achieved smoothly, more complex tasks such as actively navigating around Google Maps can result in consistent stuttering of the user interface. 2GB of RAM can be found in many competing devices.
- In direct daylight the display becomes almost entirely washed out, making it nearly impossible to use.
- Screen resolution of 1280x800 on a 10" display is low by today's standards. Many competing 10" tablets have 1920x1200 displays.
- The microphone, located on the edge of the tablet's chassis, has problematically low input volume. When recording videos and playing them back, I could barely hear myself. When testing voice and video chat, the person on the other end had difficulty hearing me, and my voice cut out frequently. My Google Now queries were often cut off mid-sentence.
- While 2MP and 5MP cameras are good on paper and are fairly standard for the price point, in-door picture quality is quite bad, where images and video contain far less detail than the resolution allows for. When tested side-by-side with competing devices, both cameras on this tablet fall short. While the rear camera is considerably better than the front camera, the front (user-facing) camera in particularly poor lighting conditions produces nearly pitch-black images, where-as some competing devices in the same conditions produce reasonably lucid images (without flash).
- While the volume of the speakers is impressive, their quality is not. Low bass tones are inaudible, while high treble tones sound shrill. Audio generally sounds tinny.
- The included charging cable is quite short, which can severely limit tablet placement while charging.
* The competing devices considered are available in new condition at roughly the same price point of the reviewed tablet.
My Best Buy number: 0778200169
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+117points
124of 131voted this as helpful.
Browse the internet or play your favorite apps on this Acer tablet. It runs on an Android operating system and is powered by a quad-core 64-bit processor for full functionality. Google Mobile Services and Microsoft Office Suite are preloaded on this Acer tablet for out-of-the-box work or play capabilities, and DTS-HD Premium Sound lets you enjoy videos.
Customer Rating
4
Impressive for the price
on October 10, 2016
Posted by: Gerbil
While some of this tablet's features feel sub-par when compared to competing devices, collectively the features are a good value for the price point. The combination of 10" class display, 32GB internal storage, and GPS receiver is impressive. For those not expecting much from the cameras and microphone and who want a tablet to perform mostly basic tasks, this tablet is an excellent choice.
[ Pros ]
- Decent battery life lasts through the day with moderate tablet use.
- The front-mounted stereo speakers provide surprisingly high volume.
- Fairly vibrant and responsive touch screen.
- Pre-installed Acer apps add some convenient functionality, such as the ability to launch user-selected apps via touch-screen triggers when the tablet is in the 'sleeping' state.
- Loaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow when 4.x is still being sold in many 'new' tablets.
- Has a GPS receiver, which is absent in some competing tablets.
- Has a microSD card slot, which is sorely missing in some competing tablets.
- Decent battery life lasts through the day with moderate tablet use.
- The front-mounted stereo speakers provide surprisingly high volume.
- Fairly vibrant and responsive touch screen.
- Pre-installed Acer apps add some convenient functionality, such as the ability to launch user-selected apps via touch-screen triggers when the tablet is in the 'sleeping' state.
- Loaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow when 4.x is still being sold in many 'new' tablets.
- Has a GPS receiver, which is absent in some competing tablets.
- Has a microSD card slot, which is sorely missing in some competing tablets.
[ Cons ]
- 1GB of RAM is sub-standard at this price point. The OS itself uses between 50 to 60% of RAM after booting and before I launch an app. With a couple of very basic apps or a single more moderate app running in the background, memory use can easily reach 75%. While most basic tasks are achieved smoothly, more complex tasks such as actively navigating around Google Maps can result in consistent stuttering of the user interface. 2GB of RAM can be found in many competing devices.
- In direct daylight the display becomes almost entirely washed out, making it nearly impossible to use.
- Screen resolution of 1280x800 on a 10" display is low by today's standards. Many competing 10" tablets have 1920x1200 displays.
- The microphone, located on the edge of the tablet's chassis, has problematically low input volume. When recording videos and playing them back, I could barely hear myself. When testing voice and video chat, the person on the other end had difficulty hearing me, and my voice cut out frequently. My Google Now queries were often cut off mid-sentence.
- While 2MP and 5MP cameras are good on paper and are fairly standard for the price point, in-door picture quality is quite bad, where images and video contain far less detail than the resolution allows for. When tested side-by-side with competing devices, both cameras on this tablet fall short. While the rear camera is considerably better than the front camera, the front (user-facing) camera in particularly poor lighting conditions produces nearly pitch-black images, where-as some competing devices in the same conditions produce reasonably lucid images (without flash).
- While the volume of the speakers is impressive, their quality is not. Low bass tones are inaudible, while high treble tones sound shrill. Audio generally sounds tinny.
- The included charging cable is quite short, which can severely limit tablet placement while charging.
- 1GB of RAM is sub-standard at this price point. The OS itself uses between 50 to 60% of RAM after booting and before I launch an app. With a couple of very basic apps or a single more moderate app running in the background, memory use can easily reach 75%. While most basic tasks are achieved smoothly, more complex tasks such as actively navigating around Google Maps can result in consistent stuttering of the user interface. 2GB of RAM can be found in many competing devices.
- In direct daylight the display becomes almost entirely washed out, making it nearly impossible to use.
- Screen resolution of 1280x800 on a 10" display is low by today's standards. Many competing 10" tablets have 1920x1200 displays.
- The microphone, located on the edge of the tablet's chassis, has problematically low input volume. When recording videos and playing them back, I could barely hear myself. When testing voice and video chat, the person on the other end had difficulty hearing me, and my voice cut out frequently. My Google Now queries were often cut off mid-sentence.
- While 2MP and 5MP cameras are good on paper and are fairly standard for the price point, in-door picture quality is quite bad, where images and video contain far less detail than the resolution allows for. When tested side-by-side with competing devices, both cameras on this tablet fall short. While the rear camera is considerably better than the front camera, the front (user-facing) camera in particularly poor lighting conditions produces nearly pitch-black images, where-as some competing devices in the same conditions produce reasonably lucid images (without flash).
- While the volume of the speakers is impressive, their quality is not. Low bass tones are inaudible, while high treble tones sound shrill. Audio generally sounds tinny.
- The included charging cable is quite short, which can severely limit tablet placement while charging.
* The competing devices considered are available in new condition at roughly the same price point of the reviewed tablet.
* This review assumes the availability of GPS. The technical specifications for this tablet on Acer's website do not mention GPS capability. I spoke with an "Acer support professional" who told me that the product specifications available to him did not indicate GPS functionality either. However, the product manual on Acer's website (for the B3-A30) does indicate GPS functionality, and the unit I received definitely has a working GPS receiver in it. If for some reason this product were to release without a GPS receiver, I would rate this tablet with three stars instead of four.
* This review assumes the availability of GPS. The technical specifications for this tablet on Acer's website do not mention GPS capability. I spoke with an "Acer support professional" who told me that the product specifications available to him did not indicate GPS functionality either. However, the product manual on Acer's website (for the B3-A30) does indicate GPS functionality, and the unit I received definitely has a working GPS receiver in it. If for some reason this product were to release without a GPS receiver, I would rate this tablet with three stars instead of four.
My Best Buy number: 0778200169
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
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Your household is busy streaming media, working online, and playing games every day. This Linksys Wi-Fi Router will expand your network coverage, send signals directly to your devices, and deliver a lag-free connection, even when you’re all online at the same time.
Customer Rating
2
Solid hardware, basic features
on May 13, 2016
Posted by: Gerbil
The EA9500 can be a decent option for those with high bandwidth/connectivity needs, but don't require more than basic features. It is designed to be quickly and easily setup, then forgotten.
The EA9500--as can be expected for a tri-band router--is large, with no option for vertical standing/mounting. The status lights are located on the top of the router which means that in many (if not most) placement scenarios, users will not have direct line of sight to them. The status lights are not labeled and have no immediately obvious meaning; you must refer to the manual to understand what they represent. No printed manual was included; instead I found a CD titled "Documentation" containing a multi-language PDF file. Unfortunately, there is no convenient index at the top of the PDF file containing links for the various versions of the manual, instead requiring you to scroll through several non-English versions before arriving at the English version of the manual. Configuration of the router is possible directly via the local web interface, as well as indirectly through the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi website, which provides convenient remote configuration and administration. Initial router setup was quick and simple. During the setup process, the user is given the option to enable automatic official firmware updates, which is a very nice feature for common users who want to "set it [up] and forget it". Upon perusing the web configuration interface, it is obvious that only very basic configuration and administrative features and options are provided. This is compounded by the fact that the implementations of these basic features are, well, pretty basic. For example, the dynamic DNS feature--quite astoundingly--supports only two providers. The lack of configurability via the web interface may be tolerable if SSH access were granted for power users, but alas, this option is sorely missing. I was immediately yearning to have third party firmware on this router, but as of writing this review (before retail release of this router), none of the popular third party firmwares (understandably) support this router model. Should third party firmware be available for this router, I would be hesitant to try flashing it in, as the manual provides no indication that this router has a firmware recovery option, a feature with which I've been spoiled by the routers available from a popular competitor. An attempt to flash this router's firmware might result in a very expensive paper-weight.
For the very limited features it provides, so far the EA9500 performs solidly. The beefy hardware--which is what you're paying for--is designed to handle high bandwidth and to juggle many simultaneous connections from many networked devices, which a lower-tier router with lesser hardware will struggle with. This is a router that can very well suit common users. However, power users, tweakers, and those with special network setup needs are likely to find the lack of configuration options frustrating and perhaps even impossible to deal with.
My Best Buy number: 0778200169
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+2points
7of 12voted this as helpful.
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Does this include the “pencils” feature (that my son wants for Christmas)?
If you mean the new digital inking set of features that allows you to draw on a document, then yes, that is included in Office 2019.
5 years, 4 months ago
by
Gerbil