Pre-2010, the thought of owning a large screen touch device seemed more like a fad than reality. It was the launch of the iPad (First Generation) that got people to pay closer attention to these plus-sized devices.
Five years later and most households in America own or have used a tablet in their life, whether it be a tablet purchased for home entertainment or one provided by a school to their students for educational learning. Another place they are beginning to gain interest is in the business market as their thin profile, but still functional aspects make them ideal for a traveling workforce.
In the earlier days, contractors, sales & marketing teams, IT departments, and other business departments found themselves in meeting rooms or out in the field without any electronic device to take photos with or, more importantly, notes on the job at hand.
Tablets have begun to solve these issues as notes and photos can be taken and stored for future usage. Some tablets even come with the ability to take notes with a stylus, an electronic pen that can record writing actions just like a pen on paper.
In the consumer market, electronics manufacturers Apple and Samsung dominate the market with their popular iPad and Galaxy devices, so much so that business websites have begun to adapt to their screen sizes so that their site looks just as clean on a tablet as it does on a computer screen.
Seeing a new opportunity, HP has taken a dive into the deep end and have jump started their business class tablets aimed at business users, but haven’t forgotten that the people using them are still the average user; a person who will use this device for personal and business activities.
For almost two years now, I have been working closely with HP in taking an in-depth look at some of their latest business tablets. The first was the small, yet feature-rich, HP Pro x2 612 G1, while the HP ElitePad 1000 G2 was focused towards the health care, retail, and rugged environments. Today marks another day in history with the HP Pro Slate 12 that takes all of HP’s greatest features and throws them into one large device.
Welcome to my in-depth review of the HP Business class Pro Slate 12 tablet. Throughout this review, I will be covering the major aspects of the tablet including the design, features, functionality, and my final thoughts. I would like to thank HP providing the Pro Slate 12 for this review.
Design
When the Pro Slate 12 arrived to my location one afternoon, my eyes grew big as I held up the twelve inch display tablet and the sense of intimidation sets in as its size can be cumbersome. Within the first week of usage, I began to get a feel for the tablet, but was including in my review notes that it may just be too big for humans. Then Apple announced a 13 inch iPad Pro, so I laughed, picked up the HP Pro Slate 12 and started to rethink what I had in my hands.
With the tablet’s dimensions measuring in at 11.82 x 0.31 x 8.73 inches (300.3 x 7.99 x 221.95 mm) and having a screen size of 12.3” this is not a tablet that will be used by moms for everyday house work and it certainly will need some getting used to. Luckily for me, HP was kind enough to also send along one of the many accessories for this tablet, the HP Pro Slate 12 Paper Folio.
Beginning with the Paper Folio, the outer layer uses a soft-touch brushed-liked rubber that is ridged and protective for the large tablet. Unfortunately, the rubber material tends to attract dust and can be difficult to clean, but its black pigment hides most if not all of the dust very easily; only in direct sunlight is it visible. Furthermore, the Folio contains a subtle Hewlett-Packard branding to go along with the same branding found on the front of the tablet.
For protection, the Paper Folio overhangs the tablet with about half-in-inch of room to soak up the shock if dropped as well as protect the sides of the tablet from scratches and bumps. To keep the cover flat, the cover uses an elastic band that is more than strong enough to keep it closed during travel.
With the elastic band undone, the cover easily opens up and due to the pre-made creases in the cover, the tablet has the ability to lie flat, fold into a U shape, or stand upright for typing or watching video.
The inner layer of the cover uses a felt material that keeps the tablet safe. To keep the tablet secure, the Paper Folio has an inner plastic housing that the Pro Slate snaps into and never once during my usage did it pop out or disengage. Lastly, the Paper Folio includes a full sized paper notepad; more on why later.
Adjusting our focus to the Pro Slate 12, I’ll begin with the 12.3” touch screen display. On the front is the 1600 x 1200 resolution screen that centers between four front facing microphones and dual front facing speakers; a HUGE plus for those playing video or music.
Due to the size, HP expects most users to use this tablet in landscape mode, therefore, on the left side is the micro USB charging port alongside the 3.5mm headphone jack. Its adjacent side is blank, while the top of the tablet includes the power and volume buttons with the bottom of the tablet containing an HP connector for a keyboard and such.
With a 0.31 inch (7.8 mm) thickness, this is a thin tablet that when carried without the Paper Folio is actually very pleasing to use. The body of the unit is constructed out of aluminum and its standalone appearance blows any other tablet out of the water, even the iPad.
Last in this category is what makes this tablet so special and what makes it stand out against the rest. This tablet comes with an electronic stylus that doubles as an ink pen. While we will discuss the functionality of this next, its design is simple with it representing a pen that you would write with. The pen from top down, has a micro USB charging port, a dual action button and the writing tip. To adjust from stylus to a pen, a finger nail is needed to pull out the stylus and flip it 180 degrees to engage the pen.
Features
The user interface of the tablet is powered by a slightly modified version of Android 5.1.1. On the Pro Slate, HP uses their own theme on Android, but it’s less intrusive, unlike HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz. I use the words “slightly modified” because all that alters from this version of Android against Google’s stock edition is the icons are more visually appealing and HP includes a few additional applications that go along nicely with the pen.
Pre-installed applications on the tablet, with the exception of the stock Google apps, include Avast Mobile Security, Corel Painter, HP applications (Notes, Support, Touchpoint Manager, etc.), KeyVPN, Skype, and WPS Office. Two thumbs up to HP for not weighing down this device with unwanted and unneeded bloatware.
For navigation, the Pro Slate uses onscreen buttons for home, back and multitasking. The user interface is very easy to use with modest technology users getting the hang of it in a matter of hours. When needing to type on the tablet, the keyboard pops up, and thanks to the large display, the keyboard is nearly a full sized unit, similar to a laptop. Users also have the option to select a keyboard they can write on with the electronic stylus which works like a charm.
Powering the tablet is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor that runs at a 2.27 GHz clock speed. To save on battery power, the quad-core CPU parks two cores when the tablet is below a certain load and this was unannounced?? to me throughout all of my testing.
Such a screen on a tablet needs powerful hardware and HP didn’t hold back with the Pro Slate 12 using an Adreno 330 graphics card that does an excellent job for video playback and presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint. Throughout usage, I noticed a smooth transition between apps and fast moving items.
For multitasking, the Pro Slate uses 2GB of RAM and allows for 32GB of flash based storage with no option to add more, a bummer if you’re a user who has a lot of documents and with most companies banning cloud based solutions you may find yourself limited.
Other key features include an 8MP rear facing camera and a 2MP front facing unit that takes acceptable photos for the average user. Moreover, HP includes sensors for Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC which is a standard on nearly all Android devices.
Jumping back to the display once more, the 159ppi screen uses Corning Concore glass which is very similar to Gorilla Class, but Concore glass is integrated into the display itself. Furthermore, the 10-point touch screen never misses a beat and when the tablet detects the stylus, the finger activation is disabled and inputs are only active from the stylus.
This isn’t your everyday stylus. As mentioned earlier, this pen, dubed the HP Duet Pen, can be used electronically on the display, as well as used on paper. When used on a display, a small circle will appear on the display to indicate where the stylus will be pressing down and the software in the pen and tablet is incredibly accurate. Recall that notepad that HP includes with their Paper Folio? Lay the tablet flat on a table, adjust the Duet Pen to ink mode, and you can begin to write on the notepad, which is then electronically stored onto the tablet’s HP Notes application.
Finally, for those users who will be constantly on the go, the Pro Slate has an optional nano SIM card slot that will allow you to access the 4G LTE network and jump back to an 802.11 ac connection when you reach your destination.
Taken with the rear facing camera
Functionality</span?
In the design section I mentioned the dual front facing speakers, but what I left out was the fact that the speakers are run by DTS Sound+ audio. With the DTS settings set to my liking, they blast music and videos at perfect volume and if placed in a meeting room, everybody in the room could easily hear what was being played.
For usage of the Pro Slate, I tried to use it in both a personal and business perspective. For personal use, its large display goes to waste as browsing the web is no different than on my Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. You do gain the benefit of the screen for video playback, but I don’t see many people grabbing this tablet at home when they can go to their PC for a better experience.
Nevertheless, HP didn’t brand this as a consumer tablet and when you look at its business application, your views change. You have the ability to use this tablet in a small meeting as a presenter for Microsoft PowerPoint or show off graphics for your creative teams. Moreover, sales teams on the go will be able to load up Microsoft Excel and create desktop grade Excel charts.
To ensure that the tablet will never buckle under the stress, I loaded up two Android based benchmarking tests. The first was from AuTuTu Benchmarking which ended with a score of 42913, just under the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. The next was from Geekbench 3 which resulted in a score of 2690. From these results, the tablet had no problem handling the tasks of MS Office or other applications. For temperatures, the tablet reached a peak of 46°C which barely transferred its heat to the screen.
When it came to battery life, the 37 WHr battery feels like it will never run out of power. I would go days without needing a recharge and had plenty for the next day. A full recharge from 0% will take about five to six hours which is quick, considering how long the tablet will last from a full charge.
Traveling with the tablet can be a love-hate relationship. It works well when you arrive at your destination, but bringing it along with you can feel like a hassle as its large size (with the Paper Folio) makes it feel like you have a laptop. One thing that would drive me crazy is that when the Paper Folio was open and I was walking with the tablet, the included notepad would flop about and was impossible to control unless you use the elastic strap to hold it down and that is more work than it sounds; the strap is designed to be strong and meant to hold the cover shut, not hold a notepad up. Then there is traveling with the pen. The Paper Folio had a nice pen holder, but it can be difficult to put in there and if you happen to leave your pen behind the tablet does nothing to warn you of its absence.
I saved the best and the worse for last and it unfortunately comes down to the HP Duet pen. I’ll begin with the good and that comes from the pen’s functionality on the display. When browsing the web, creating a document or practically any task on the tablet that uses the pen, I was pleased with its outstanding performance. The pen flows smoothly and the fact that it rejects any touch input is another plus as your palm or fingers don’t get in the way. I used the pen mostly on HP Notes application and when writing on the display, my writing was smooth and looked great. I even took a venture into the Corel Painting application that allows people to paint artwork with the pen and again, it was exceptionally smooth and easy to use; the pen even uses force detection so you can have light and dark lines. The battery in the pen lasts for weeks at a time without needing a recharge.
The bad comes in when you change the Duet pen to ink mode. To adjust the pen’s mode can be difficult and most of the time you get ink on your fingers as you have to press in the tip of the pen. Then there is the end of the pen and its strange design. HP decided to put this rough and jagged grate where I (you) hold the pen. When writing, I tend to grip the pen hard and write hard on paper and the grate would push into my fingers making writing long-term uncomfortable. Then there is writing on the included notepad. At first, my writing being shown on the tablet was unreadable and looked like a bunch of lines. It wasn’t until later that I realized the tablet had to be changed to “righty” mode for right handed writers. With the paper on the right and the tablet on the left, the HP Notes application picked up the notepad and then began to capture the notepad in a better fashion. As with the tiny circle on the display when hovering over the display, the same thing happens when hovering over the notepad, that way you know where you are writing. Drawings and notes were acceptable and showed up well on the HP Notes app, but if I were to write lightly instead of hard (very hard in some cases) the tablet would completely miss those strokes; it was more of a hit or miss.
My Final Thoughts
With a price of $569, HP is generously pricing this unit and it’s a hard unit not to recommend for that price. The tablet is feature-rich for the business user and its large display allows you to become a work power-user. A slight recommendation is to skip on the HP Paper Folio case and go for the HP Smart Cover instead. That said, HP also offers many different accessories for this tablet and it even comes in a smaller 8” size.
All-in-all, HP’s entrance into the business tablet market couldn’t be better. Backed by the Android operating system, exceptional Duet Pen, and large display, the iPad Pro or other business tablets are going to have a hard time beating this sub $600 tablet.
Buy it Now:
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