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[The End]

I grabbed one of these as a screw-around device as my Xoom is basically unusable at this point.

It's... shockingly competent for what it is: I can play a surprisingly large number of undemanding indie and classic games, and using the actual touch features of Win 8 make it a decent tablet. The only real "problem" is that the app store selection is... more or less nonexistent. The lack of a Marvel Unlimited app, in particular, hurts, and the Comixology app is embarassingly barebones compared to the iOS and Android versions.

I'm hoping that we see a real iPad-competitive tablet alongside windows 10: one of the next-gen braswell atom chips with 2Gb+ Ram and a 9-10" screen for $400 would be extremely tempting.

 

[TetraGenesis]

I got it this morning. I had half an hour to set it up and play around with it before leaving for work and was so excited. But-oops-it won't detect a network. Since I can't get on the Internet I can't activate it which means I can't even change wallpapers or personalize it in any way while I wait to figure it out. I did a little research online and apparently it's a fairly widespread problem without a clear solution. Some people have gone through the complicated process of reinstalling the drivers multiple times and eventually getting it to work but it seems most team at a hardware issue and just return it. I'm so fucking deflated right now. It sucks.

 

[//ARCANUM]

I got it this morning. I had half an hour to set it up and play around with it before leaving for work and was so excited. But-oops-it won't detect a network. Since I can't get on the Internet I can't activate it which means I can't even change wallpapers or personalize it in any way while I wait to figure it out. I did a little research online and apparently it's a fairly widespread problem without a clear solution. Some people have gone through the complicated process of reinstalling the drivers multiple times and eventually getting it to work but it seems most team at a hardware issue and just return it. I'm so fucking deflated right now. It sucks.

is your router broadcasting 5ghz only? I read somewhere online that the Stream 7 can only pick up 2.4ghz networks.

 

[Caesar III]

I got it this morning. I had half an hour to set it up and play around with it before leaving for work and was so excited. But-oops-it won't detect a network. Since I can't get on the Internet I can't activate it which means I can't even change wallpapers or personalize it in any way while I wait to figure it out. I did a little research online and apparently it's a fairly widespread problem without a clear solution. Some people have gone through the complicated process of reinstalling the drivers multiple times and eventually getting it to work but it seems most team at a hardware issue and just return it. I'm so fucking deflated right now. It sucks.

Check your used channel in your router. The device cannot use channel 12 and 13 for whatever reason. Exclude them in "auto-channel".

 

[The End]

is your router broadcasting 5ghz only? I read somewhere online that the Stream 7 can only pick up 2.4ghz networks.

That... explains a lot. My desktop PC falls back to the 2.4 network, which explains why it is sometimes visible to the stream and sometimes not.

 

[mrklaw]

I grabbed one of these as a screw-around device as my Xoom is basically unusable at this point.

It's... shockingly competent for what it is: I can play a surprisingly large number of undemanding indie and classic games, and using the actual touch features of Win 8 make it a decent tablet. The only real "problem" is that the app store selection is... more or less nonexistent. The lack of a Marvel Unlimited app, in particular, hurts, and the Comixology app is embarassingly barebones compared to the iOS and Android versions.

I'm hoping that we see a real iPad-competitive tablet alongside windows 10: one of the next-gen braswell atom chips with 2Gb+ Ram and a 9-10" screen for $400 would be extremely tempting.

but can't you use the comixology etc website for viewing? Just realised this means you'd be able to access all Zinio magazines and not be limited by what the app store decides you're allowed to watch..

 

[The End]

Well, in the specific case of Comixology, it's fine: the reader engine is there, but the only way to load books from your library is to look at either your entire library sorted in reverse chronological order or go to the store page for each book and click download from there. I have 1700+ books on comixology, so this is a bit of a pain.

For Marvel Unlimited though, yes, I can use the web viewer (in desktop mode) but that prevents me reading books offline, entirely.

 

[KojiKnight]

So spent the better part of the morning getting fully acquainted with my Stream 7 since I had to take my father to the doctor's office. Connecting to their wifi to play hearthstone on the go was quite nice. Really starting to enjoy Metro UI... I hated it as a desktop on my main PC, but it is amazingly competent for tablet use.

Last night I snapped twitch to the left half of my screen and IE on the right and browsed Gaf while watching some things. Just a shame that IE is the only available browser under Metro...

 

[//ARCANUM]

So spent the better part of the morning getting fully acquainted with my Stream 7 since I had to take my father to the doctor's office. Connecting to their wifi to play hearthstone on the go was quite nice. Really starting to enjoy Metro UI... I hated it as a desktop on my main PC, but it is amazingly competent for tablet use.

Last night I snapped twitch to the left half of my screen and IE on the right and browsed Gaf while watching some things. Just a shame that IE is the only available browser under Metro...

Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Mine will hopefully arrive today if UPS is telling me the truth for a change.

 

[SPDIF]

So spent the better part of the morning getting fully acquainted with my Stream 7 since I had to take my father to the doctor's office. Connecting to their wifi to play hearthstone on the go was quite nice. Really starting to enjoy Metro UI... I hated it as a desktop on my main PC, but it is amazingly competent for tablet use.

Last night I snapped twitch to the left half of my screen and IE on the right and browsed Gaf while watching some things. Just a shame that IE is the only available browser under Metro...

But Metro IE is fantastic. What don't you like about it?

 

[TetraGenesis]

is your router broadcasting 5ghz only? I read somewhere online that the Stream 7 can only pick up 2.4ghz networks.

I think it broadcasts in both. 5ghz is always an option for my PC and (I think) my phone but I never use it.

Check your used channel in your router. The device cannot use channel 12 and 13 for whatever reason. Exclude them in "auto-channel".

Could you go into how I might do that? I'm remarkable ignorant to those things.

 

[//ARCANUM]

oh snap! UPS said they just delivered my package at home. looking forward to playing with this thing!

 

[KojiKnight]

But Metro IE is fantastic. What don't you like about it?

?

I said I liked it.


Installed Civ 5 on it and played around with it for awhile. It works pretty well... I'd say about 10-15fps on lowest setting, but the touch controls themselves were wonderful. I did end up deleting it shortly after.... I think I burnt myself out on Civ games for awhile. Luckily framerate itself wasn't too big of a concern, though the turn timer took longer than I'd like, I guess it's the sacrifice that had to be made for it to work.

I said before, but I'll say again... Steam home-streaming is quite nice. A down-sampled 1080p FFXIII from my main PC to the 1280x800 screen looks really nice.

Plague Inc: Evolved was a bit disappointing. Even with everything set to low the game stutters in it's music. Technically completable (I played a few rounds with the sound off) but for a fairly modest game it made me a little sad.

Over the next few days, I'm going to start testing a bunch of emulators. Both regular windows ones (higan, project 64, epsxe, maybe retroarch) and maybe a few of the ones on the windows store (just because they'll have touch controls) and report back.

 

[Odrion]

Is there anyway you can control the touch screen like a laptop touch pad? Trying to navigate tiny icons using my finger is agonizing.

 

[SPDIF]

?

I said I liked it.

Well I was talking about this part in particular:

Just a shame that IE is the only available browser under Metro...

I took it to mean that although you like the tablet as a whole you just didn't like the browser. So I was just curious as to why

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

I just got this in, and it's kinda weird. Well, it's weird to have a small version of my desktop.

Is there anyway to have controls show up on screen as an overlay and assign them properties? Like if I want to have two dpads show up on screen I can?

 

[The End]

?

I said I liked it.


Installed Civ 5 on it and played around with it for awhile. It works pretty well... I'd say about 10-15fps on lowest setting, but the touch controls themselves were wonderful. I did end up deleting it shortly after.... I think I burnt myself out on Civ games for awhile. Luckily framerate itself wasn't too big of a concern, though the turn timer took longer than I'd like, I guess it's the sacrifice that had to be made for it to work.

I said before, but I'll say again... Steam home-streaming is quite nice. A down-sampled 1080p FFXIII from my main PC to the 1280x800 screen looks really nice.

Plague Inc: Evolved was a bit disappointing. Even with everything set to low the game stutters in it's music. Technically completable (I played a few rounds with the sound off) but for a fairly modest game it made me a little sad.

Over the next few days, I'm going to start testing a bunch of emulators. Both regular windows ones (higan, project 64, epsxe, maybe retroarch) and maybe a few of the ones on the windows store (just because they'll have touch controls) and report back.

so far Retroarch is too slow

NESbox (on the windows store) is fine for what it is

 

[BajiRav]

I have been using one for past month or so. It is a good piece of hardware for the price. I wish the battery life was better but for $99, can't complain much.
Metro really shines on tablets but they need to pull in some Windows phone things (such as keyboard).

 

[//ARCANUM]

My fiance and I have been playing with ours that just came in for the past hour or so. Its a fun simple little device. Really neat to have a full windows machine with me all the time moving forward.

We played a match of hearthstone and it worked decently.

Can I get some recommendations on best emulators for it that support touch controls?

Edi - also this might sound silly but how the heck do you close a metro app other than task manager??

 

[KojiKnight]

My fiance and I have been playing with ours that just came in for the past hour or so. Its a fun simple little device. Really neat to have a full windows machine with me all the time moving forward.

We played a match of hearthstone and it worked decently.

Can I get some recommendations on best emulators for it that support touch controls?

Edi - also this might sound silly but how the heck do you close a metro app other than task manager??

Drag your finger from the top middle to the bottom middle. It drove me crazy at first trying to figure it out as well. Though, when not using a metro app it gets 'suspended' which kills it's CPU and ram usage (you can see that from task manager as well). But it gets cumbersome trying to switch between inactive apps, so I close them when I'm done with them regardless.

I haven't gotten a chance to mess with the touch emulators yet, it seems like the selection is VERY limited for non-pay apps (or even pay ones)... A downside to the windows ecosystem on the app store I guess. NES Box seems to support the most for free (NES/SNES/genesis) but it's not been updated in over a year from what I've seen.

 

[Watevaman]

I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these since my first gen Nexus 7 is horrendously slow (I guess I could reset it to see how that works) and pretty much unusable. I know this is more on the gaming side, but how does this fare as just a browsing/video consumption device? I'm also curious as to if I could hook up a keyboard and take notes in Word on it, seeing as it's a full Windows device.

 

[SPDIF]

I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these since my first gen Nexus 7 is horrendously slow (I guess I could reset it to see how that works) and pretty much unusable. I know this is more on the gaming side, but how does this fare as just a browsing/video consumption device? I'm also curious as to if I could hook up a keyboard and take notes in Word on it, seeing as it's a full Windows device.

I won't comment too much on the browsing/video question since I don't own this specific device. All I'll say is that based on my use of other Windows tablets, and as I've said above, Metro (touch screen friendly version) of IE offers a great browsing experience in my opinion. Although of course like you said, it's full Windows, so go ahead and install Firefox or Chrome if you really want. Just don't expect them to be quite as fluid as IE.

As for your final question, of course you can. It does use micro USB though, so you'll probably have to find an adapter before you hook up a (non-Bluetooth) keyboard.

 

[KennyL]

I decided to return this.

I got it mainly for emulators, especially DeSmuME, but it runs like complete shit. Drastic on android is crazy fast in comparison even on my broke ass 2012 Nexus 7. It's pointless to run other emulators because you need keyboard, mouse, controller to do anything that's actually cool in general. Does Retroarch pc have touch interface? Sorry, I didn't bother to check.

I tried Kentucky Route Zero (a point and click adventure game) but touch input doesn't work so pretty game over for me for using it as super light weight steam device. I'm not interested in testing what works and what doesn't. I also tried Dark Souls (ha!!) but won't load so there's that.

Wifi drops out constantly if it's not downloading something so can't even surf the web or play hearthstone. I tried for 3 days to fix but failed. Please buzz off about how shitty my router is. I had 20+ devices passing through my router and this is the only one that's total shit.

I can't move files from my pc to it via network because of this and it can't move files via regular usb cable, which is +1 to completely baffling thing about this tablet.

Shit as tablet, shit as desktop. I got trapped by the pc gaming possibility and price but it turned out to be a complete farcical nightmare device. I won't have bothered with it at all if it weren't for my garbage Nexus 7 dying of painful flash io rot.

Hate to shit on you folks enjoying it but please don't hype it up as a viable everyday device. Even a $200 laptop would be way way better. The sensible recommendation is to not get it.

 

[jizzlobber]

Haha, you can't be blaming people who have had a good experience with the device.

So it didn't work out for you... Too bad.

Btw- spend your refund on a new router

 

[nded]

Can I install another OS on the Stream 7 or TW700?

 

[//ARCANUM]

I decided to return this.

I got it mainly for emulators, especially DeSmuME, but it runs like complete shit. Drastic on android is crazy fast in comparison even on my broke ass 2012 Nexus 7. It's pointless to run other emulators because you need keyboard, mouse, controller to do anything that's actually cool in general. Does Retroarch pc have touch interface? Sorry, I didn't bother to check.

I tried Kentucky Route Zero (a point and click adventure game) but touch input doesn't work so pretty game over for me for using it as super light weight steam device. I'm not interested in testing what works and what doesn't. I also tried Dark Souls (ha!!) but won't load so there's that.

Wifi drops out constantly if it's not downloading something so can't even surf the web or play hearthstone. I tried for 3 days to fix but failed. Please buzz off about how shitty my router is. I had 20+ devices passing through my router and this is the only one that's total shit.

I can't move files from my pc to it via network because of this and it can't move files via regular usb cable, which is +1 to completely baffling thing about this tablet.

Shit as tablet, shit as desktop. I got trapped by the pc gaming possibility and price but it turned out to be a complete farcical nightmare device. I won't have bothered with it at all if it weren't for my garbage Nexus 7 dying of painful flash io rot.

Hate to shit on you folks enjoying it but please don't hype it up as a viable everyday device. Even a $200 laptop would be way way better. The sensible recommendation is to not get it.

How do you really feel about it? Lol. But for real, theres apps out there that will give you touch controls for all games. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

 

[//ARCANUM]

Drag your finger from the top middle to the bottom middle. It drove me crazy at first trying to figure it out as well. Though, when not using a metro app it gets 'suspended' which kills it's CPU and ram usage (you can see that from task manager as well). But it gets cumbersome trying to switch between inactive apps, so I close them when I'm done with them regardless.

I haven't gotten a chance to mess with the touch emulators yet, it seems like the selection is VERY limited for non-pay apps (or even pay ones)... A downside to the windows ecosystem on the app store I guess. NES Box seems to support the most for free (NES/SNES/genesis) but it's not been updated in over a year from what I've seen.

Thank you!

Also what is the best app with touch controls for reading comics that I have downloaded?

 

[Enzom21]

Thank you!

Also what is the best app with touch controls for reading comics that I have downloaded?

Cover.

 

[//ARCANUM]

Cover.

Thank you!

 

[Odrion]

Steam Home Streaming works real nice, but Big Picture Mode sure as hell doesn't. Is there any sort of work around? Can you stream the native computer's BPM?

 

[//ARCANUM]

Anyone got a case for one of these yet? Recommendations?

 

[KojiKnight]

I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these since my first gen Nexus 7 is horrendously slow (I guess I could reset it to see how that works) and pretty much unusable. I know this is more on the gaming side, but how does this fare as just a browsing/video consumption device? I'm also curious as to if I could hook up a keyboard and take notes in Word on it, seeing as it's a full Windows device.

Streaming quality is excellent, as per it's name sake. I was streaming 60fps twitch content on the left side while watching netflix on the right side without issue. As for web browsing? IE doesn't feel as good as Opera or Firefox does on Android. It doesn't (for my at least) properly fit web pages into the viewable section, so what I end up getting are web pages with really tiny font that I have to zoom in/scrolls left and right on constantly. There are no metro chrome, opera, or firefox browsers, and going to the desktop to use any of them means you lose most of the touch functionality.

I think this needs to be said now since it hasn't really been said previously (or enough really), even though this is a full windows tablet on an x86 processor, if you expect to run this thing in desktop mode most of the time, you're going to be extremely disappointed. This tablet is still designed to run in Metro 95%+ of the time, and the rest of the time when you're on the regular desktop you have to realize you're not going to be multitasking this thing like you would your PC or a laptop with 4+ GB of ram.

If I'm in desktop mode, it's JUST to play hearthstone, or it's JUST to play plague inc, or JUST to Steam in-home stream, etc. In Metro with it's apps it's a lot more flexible. As I mentioned above, I regularly snap a twitch streaming app to a web browser or netflix or youtube and multitask that way with no issues, but it's still just the two. Don't have any windows app store games so not sure how well it would handle, say, streaming and emulator an SNES game at the same time. It's something I'll get around to eventually (I only have about an hour or so a day to play on the thing).

Anyone got a case for one of these yet? Recommendations?

Not yet, they have cases at the microsoft store for $30, but they look to be on par with the $10 ones you can get off of amazon. I'm tempted to spend the little extra and get one with a bluetooth keyboard, even if it's a fairly garbage one to make bed time gaf browsing a more comfortable experience.

 

[Rollo Lawson]

I had one for about 2 weeks and returned it. I have a Surface Pro 3 is why, mainly.

It's slow, the UI elements are tiny...using a desktop browser is tough, and the battery sucks.

Outside of that, there is plenty there for $99. Totally worth it. I found it absolutely perfect for Kindle and Nook

 

[bomblord1]

Streaming quality is excellent, as per it's name sake. I was streaming 60fps twitch content on the left side while watching netflix on the right side without issue. As for web browsing? IE doesn't feel as good as Opera or Firefox does on Android. It doesn't (for my at least) properly fit web pages into the viewable section, so what I end up getting are web pages with really tiny font that I have to zoom in/scrolls left and right on constantly. There are no metro chrome, opera, or firefox browsers, and going to the desktop to use any of them means you lose most of the touch functionality.

I think this needs to be said now since it hasn't really been said previously (or enough really), even though this is a full windows tablet on an x86 processor, if you expect to run this thing in desktop mode most of the time, you're going to be extremely disappointed. This tablet is still designed to run in Metro 95%+ of the time, and the rest of the time when you're on the regular desktop you have to realize you're not going to be multitasking this thing like you would your PC or a laptop with 4+ GB of ram.

If I'm in desktop mode, it's JUST to play hearthstone, or it's JUST to play plague inc, or JUST to Steam in-home stream, etc. In Metro with it's apps it's a lot more flexible. As I mentioned above, I regularly snap a twitch streaming app to a web browser or netflix or youtube and multitask that way with no issues, but it's still just the two. Don't have any windows app store games so not sure how well it would handle, say, streaming and emulator an SNES game at the same time. It's something I'll get around to eventually (I only have about an hour or so a day to play on the thing).



Not yet, they have cases at the microsoft store for $30, but they look to be on par with the $10 ones you can get off of amazon. I'm tempted to spend the little extra and get one with a bluetooth keyboard, even if it's a fairly garbage one to make bed time gaf browsing a more comfortable experience.

There's a metro chrome app

 

[SystemUser]

Is there anyway you can control the touch screen like a laptop touch pad? Trying to navigate tiny icons using my finger is agonizing.

Get TouchMousePointer which sits in the system tray and you can use it to turn the entire touchscreen into a trackpad. It's a great app and pretty much essential.

I haven't tried it myself though.

 

[bomblord1]

I'm thinking on getting something like this to replace my netbook, but I have a question. How does something like Spelunky or Shadowrun Dragonfall run on this? Also, are micro-usb tablet keyboards compatible?

I'm fairly certain those would all run although I have not personally tested them to be sure.

As for keyboard your best bet would be bluetooth.

 

[Adnor]

I'm fairly certain those would all run although I have not personally tested them to be sure.

As for keyboard your best bet would be bluetooth.

The only bluetooth keyboard I've seen here it's for Android, so I don't know if it would be compatible.

 

[mrklaw]

The only bluetooth keyboard I've seen here it's for Android, so I don't know if it would be compatible.

Almost certain anything should work. I use the one that comes with Pokemon typing tutor
I've also used the PS3 chatpad

 

[The End]

the $10 amazon "smart covers" are fine

 

[Odrion]

Alright, so I got myself the Nyko Power Clip to turn this thing into a handheld device.

The weight doesn't balance out, the tablet is just too heavy for it. The thing is so top heavy that after ten minutes of using it my wrists have become incredibly sore. Add that to the fact that it's too weak to run Big Screen Mode efficiently and that it's speakers are pitifully weak, and you got a bad situation.

So I might just return the thing, but the idea of having a portable steam streaming handheld is a real good one. Are there any sort of lightweight 7 inch windows tablets that have more ram?

 

[bomblord1]

Alright, so I got myself the Nyko Power Clip to turn this thing into a handheld device.

The weight doesn't balance out, the tablet is just too heavy for it. The thing is so top heavy that after ten minutes of using it my wrists have become incredibly sore. Add that to the fact that it's too weak to run Big Screen Mode efficiently and that it's speakers are pitifully weak, and you got a bad situation.

Well it was $70 lol so you're not out too much. Why is it too weak for big screen mode?

 

[Odrion]

Well it was $70 lol so you're not out too much. Why is it too weak for big screen mode?

I'm guessing ram?

 

[bomblord1]

I'm guessing ram?

I mean what happens if you hook it up to a tv?

 

[Odrion]

I mean what happens if you hook it up to a tv?

It doesn't have an HDMI out, so it can't.

I wanted to run it on the tablet itself, but the lack of ram causes it to time out before the stream even gets loaded.

edit: nevermind, I guess it takes time to "warm up" or something but it does work. Be sure to turn off the "In Game Client" on your tablet and turn it on your PC, it'll then stream the menu instead of rendering it on the tablet.

 

[KojiKnight]

It doesn't have an HDMI out, so it can't.

I wanted to run it on the tablet itself, but the lack of ram causes it to time out before the stream even gets loaded.

edit: nevermind, I guess it takes time to "warm up" or something but it does work. Be sure to turn off the "In Game Client" on your tablet and turn it on your PC, it'll then stream the menu instead of rendering it on the tablet.

Not having any issue with streaming with steam, but I'm not using BPM, just the regular UI.

 

[Syriel]

Check your used channel in your router. The device cannot use channel 12 and 13 for whatever reason. Exclude them in "auto-channel".

If this is a US model, that would be because channels 12, 13 and 14 are not available for use in the US.

Technically 12 and 13 can run in a low power mode, but they would interfere with 11 anyway so it's not worth it. Any router sold in the US and running stock firmware won't ever go above channel 11 on the 2.4GHz band.

 

[//ARCANUM]

Does anyone know of a good app that will give you touch controls like Gesture Works Gameplay that can be found in the Windows store?

This is Gesture Works btw: http://store.steampowered.com/app/296610/

I'm trying to find something specifically in the Windows Store rather than Steam because I have the $25 gift card I'd like to spend there.

 

[//ARCANUM]

also, is there a reason this thing won't charge from a computer's USB port? I just plugged it in to my Mac Pro at work hoping to charge it and nothing happens, not charging. I tried multiple USB ports (all working) and nothing will start a charge. I had no problems charging at home when plugged in to the included power brick...

 

[Syriel]

also, is there a reason this thing won't charge from a computer's USB port? I just plugged it in to my Mac Pro at work hoping to charge it and nothing happens, not charging. I tried multiple USB ports (all working) and nothing will start a charge. I had no problems charging at home when plugged in to the included power brick...

What is the minimum power required to charge for the device?

It is possible that the computer is only supplying the required current for the specific USB port according to spec.

USB 1.0 = 150mA
USB 2.0 = 500mA
USB 3.0 = 900mA

Your power brick (since it is just supplying power and not data) will output more current.

 

[//ARCANUM]

What is the minimum power required to charge for the device?

It is possible that the computer is only supplying the required current for the specific USB port according to spec.

USB 1.0 = 150mA
USB 2.0 = 500mA
USB 3.0 = 900mA

Your power brick (since it is just supplying power and not data) will output more current.

hmmm, i'm not sure. Though my Mac Pro (newest model) has USB 3.0 so I'd think it would be outputting enough power...