Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsGreat Entertainment Tablet - NOT "PRO", NOT FOR WORK
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018
It is a great "tablet" and I really wanted to like it but the “Pro” and “Desktop Mode” features are very disappointing. It is advertised as a “Pro” tablet and has the specs and hardware [potential] to be one... but it doesn’t come close to competing with, the albeit more expensive, Samsung or Microsoft tablets that you can actually get some work done on. So if you are looking for an “Entertainment Tablet” you are better off saving a few hundred bucks and getting a Fire or comparative. If you are looking for a “Work/Pro” Tablet you will need to pay up and get a Samsung or Microsoft. Personally, if I could do it over again, I would buy the Surface Go for $399.
THE LONG: \> BUILD – Excellent! Very solid and high quality. \> SPEAKERS – Again excellent [for a tablet]. BUT there is no audio jack, and like most, I generally watch videos with earphones. Most adapter/dongles to charge and listen at the same time won’t work so I can’t listen and charge. Seriously! \> BATTERY – 8 hours light use / 5 hours heavy use [With the size of the battery I was surprised at how bad it was]. \> CONNECTIVITY – the internet and Bluetooth don’t work well at the same time so you basically can’t use Bluetooth speakers/headset/keyboard while using the internet [this was at least the case on my tablet] and again customer service was of no help. \> SCREEN – Very Good… but not as bright as other high end tablets and I found that it occasionally does not register touches, which is very annoying. \> M-PEN – If the M-Pen allowed you to customize its menu, button functions and polished its usability it would be a real “Pro” tool. I imagine it is great for drawing/artist but it has no “Pro” features that are productive. There are only 2 apps that show up in the M-Pen menu and you can’t customize the menu. The handwriting recognition is very accurate and fast but the software is unpolished. For example, you can only write in the handwriting area at the bottom of the screen, so if you need to make any adjustments on any other area of text it is a major pain to get there so trying to just correct one word is a cumbersome task. Additionally, you cannot use the M-Pen on the keyboard [as soon as the M-Pen touches the device it changes the keyboard to handwriting]. This is annoying when you need to make a specific change that the handwriting recognition doesn’t recognize well such as abbreviations, odd symbols, names or just navigating to the specific part of the text. It was also suffered from a number of non-registered touches and the 2 buttons on the M-pen don't really do anything useful [just screenshot and a non-adjustable pinpoint sized eraser, so that is useless] and again, the buttons are not customizable! \> KEYBOARD – For some reason it comes with Google’s phone keyboard layout. It is a 10.8 inch tablet but they don't take advantage of the size by including arrow keys, shift key, Alt key or any other useful options. You can download a 3rd party keyboard so this is fixable but if this is a "Pro" tablet why not put a little bit of thought into giving it some "Pro" features like on other high-end tablets. \> DESKTOP MODE – This is why I purchased the tablet, what a disappointment!!! Basically, NONE of the applications work in “Desktop Mode”, so right off the bat it is useless. When you hook up a mouse the right click is the back button so you have none of the standard left/right features like copy/past etcetera. There are also a number of buttons on the few apps that work in desktop mode that don't work with the mouse so you have to use your finger which will drive you crazy and the mouse is very slow and the same for a keyboard [no keyboard shortcuts] so what is the point. This proves especially frustrating in Word/Excel… [which you have to have a Microsoft 360 subscription to use]. “Desktop Mode” looks cool and useful in theory but it is useless in practice. Just like with the M-Pen there is so much potential but it falls flat on its face. \> SOFTWARE – eghhh. Downloaded a 3rd party launcher. \> PORTS - SD Card slot is great for expanding memory. Just one USB-C port and it could not recognize any of the numerous USB-C dongles to attach other accessories [they all work on my phone, my pc and my wife's phone and tablet] but none of them would work on the M5 Pro. None of them could even recognize a USB Flash Drive. When connecting a dongle, it shows various options for sharing/transferring via USB but it is stuck on "Reverse Charging" only. I contacted customer service but they were unable to fix. Additionally, you can't wire connect it to a monitor [no video out] either so you have to screen Miracast/Chromecast. \> CONCLUSION – It is over specked and priced for a basic tablet but it doesn’t get anything “Pro” done either so you are stuck in the middle. It has so much potential [which makes it all the more frustration] but it just isn’t "pro" by any stretch of the imagination. My suggestion would be to go cheaper for an entertainment tablet for $150-$300 or get a Microsoft Surface Go for $400 [that is what I would do if I could do it over again] or spend more for a Samsung S3/4 or a Microsoft Surface Pro.