Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

The Viliv N5 is a teeny tiny thing with the portability of a smart phone and the functionality of a netbook. The little 5″, 1 lb. machine runs Windows 7 AND it has a webcam, and WiFi and 3G capabilities. Drawbacks? It IS freking expensive, with a $649.00 price tag. And what does it have to offer that puts it above and beyond other netbooks/smartphones to deserve its skyhigh price? Let’s take a look.

[Rating:5.5/7]

Features and Drawbacks

• A definite perfect score for portability. – It’s 6.8″ x 3.4″ by 1″, and weights a measly 1 lbs. You can put it in your pocket, your bag pocket, much more so, and you can grip it with one hand, although you’d need both hands to use it. But still, you have to be careful to remember what you have in your pocket is a netbook rather than your wallet.

• Very good design. – Simply put, it looks really good. It has a rubberized plastic material on the lid and sides, which makes it look attractive as well as easy to grip. The rubberized bottom also helps keeping the netbook relatively cooler than other brands. For such a tiny thing, it’s not dainty but as sturdy as they come. If they’re small enough to put it in your pocket, you can expect them to occassionally slip out of your pocket as well. Sturdiness and durability are important.

• Awesome screen for its size. – Don’t wonder why we keep on mentioning its size, because, yes, we are in awe of its size. The screen is 4.8″ with a netbook-staple 1024 x 600 resolution. The images are also up to netbook standards, with sharp images and bright colors. The icons on screen are understandably small, but you can tweak that a bit until you’re comfortable with the size. Graphics performance is also on par with an average netbook. Which, in itself, is a definitely positive point.720p videos played beautifully, both streaming and WMV files

• Small but responsive keyboard. – Positive and negative thing there. They keyboard is tiny and you’d need a little getting used to using it. Touch typing is pretty much impossible because the machine is just too narrow, and your fingers would most likely hit two.. or four keys at any given time, but the typing experience on the Viliv N5 is definitely better than on a smartphone, but obviously less than when typing on a full-sized keyboard. Typing while holding the device aloft is possible but needs a bit more practice and patience. It also doesn’t have a touchpad. What it does have is a small optical area on the upper righthand corner of the keyboard. The left and right mouse buttons have dedicated keys on the upper left hand side of the keyboard. As I said, definitely needs a little getting used to.

• Touchscreen performance is sub par. – Being used to an iPod Touch, I pretty much expect my touchscreen to respond to just that, touch. But the Viliv N5 has a resistive touchscreen instead of a capacitive screen, and it doesn’t seem to recognize that you’re already touching it. No multitouch gestures either. The unit doesn’t come with a stylus. Instead it has this little plastic pick that you use to tap the icons.

• Battery is nothing special. – It’s not a hardcore 11 hour on single charge battery, but one charge can last you for as long as 4 hours, considering that it has all the bells running, including WiFi. It’s better than the barely 3 hours life span of a Sony Vaio P, so I’d say battery life is pretty decent, but nothing special.

Rating – 5.5/7

Value for Money – 0.5
Speed and Performance – 1
Screen – 1
Keyboard – 0.5
Portability & Battery Life – 1
Looks and Design – 1
Extensibility & connectivity – 0.5

Technical Specifications

• 1.33-GHz Intel Atom Z520
• 1 GB RAM
• 32GB SSD
• 4.8″ 1024 x 600 resistive display
• Intel GMA 500
• Microsoft Windows 7 Starter
• 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

Bottomline
How many devices can say that they can do pretty much what any netbook can do and still fit your pocket? Not many. So if you’re after functionality in an ultra-portable package, then the Viliv N5 is the netbook to get. But on the other hand, if you’re looking for an average netbook, you can get the same specs in a bigger body for half the price of one. Weigh your options. The Viliv N5 is available from Dynamism through Amazon for $649.00.

Related posts:

1. Viliv N5 Handheld Now Shipping in the US
2. Viliv S10 Blade Release Date Pushed Back to Mid-May
3. Best Buy to Stock Up on Viliv Tablets, Netbooks
4. Lenovo S10-3t Review: Slow, Sluggish, Disappointing
5. Review: Asus T91MT (and a Video)

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