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K**L
What netbooks should have been
For those with a GPD Pocket 1, here's a quick first-impressions comparison:SCREEN: Pretty much the same quality screen with the same unimpressive brightness. It's default configuration is portrait despite it being a landscape clamshell. No screen protector (my Pocket 1 included one in the box), but no huge loss since again, this is a clamshell, and it's scratch resistant.KEYBOARD: Right shift is no more and the spacebar is 1 key now. Overall better feeling clicks but not a game changer over the Pocket 1 like I hoped, and it's going to take some re-learning. I really like the addition of the "fan off" button. The rest of the buttons on that top strip, including the mouse buttons, feel cheap. I've seen these style buttons on other older laptops fail with normal use, so I think this will be the weakest link in an otherwise premium UMPC. I also noticed this appears to intended for the Japanese market given this is a US-English keyboard with a kanji conversion key (which is mapped as a duplicate tilde). Because this is hard mapped to tilde, you can't remap this key without also remapping tilde, making this key a waste of an otherwise limited real estate keyboard.MOUSE: I like the positioning of the optical mouse and buttons up on the corners like that, it makes using the device while hand-held so much better. In other use cases, such as on a desk, I prefer the trackpoint on the Pocket 1.PORTS: HDMI is no more without using a USB-C hub. The left USB is not 3.0 (despite being blue). On my unit, the card reader was mechanically defective (it didn't retain the card), so I had to seek a refund. I use MicroSD a lot, so not having this on the Pocket 1 and seeing it broke on the Pocket 2 is a disappointment.BATTERY: People rave about this devices battery life but I think it's mediocre. Maybe it's because I have greater demands out of my devices, but I'm not seeing all day long battery life. 4 hours from a full charge if I'm lucky and that's it. Same experience on the Pocket 1. Not impressed with either device.ENCLOSURE: The case is largely the same as the last, but with a bit more tapering to make it appear slimmer. Opening the lid still causes the back of the lid to prop the device up, causing it to have a tendency to slide around more since the rear feet are no longer gripping the surface you are on. This device is more prone to this slippage due to the way the hinge is designed. Since it has practically the same footprint, it still fits into my pocket nicely. Cooling exhaust is now out the back where before it was the side with additional vents on the bottom.Overall, an iterative, not revolutionary, improvement over the Pocket 1 with a few misses here and there. Mine had a defective MicroSD slot (so it has to go back). It also came shipped still in SysPrep mode (just click ok and let it reboot to get into OOBE). This seems to be consistent with the 'half-baked' nature of GPD devices. Pocket 1 is a better value, in my opinion, with prices they way they are now.
R**L
Well-built ultramobile with plenty of potential!
By now you can find plenty of reviews and videos online about the awesome GPD Pocket 2 ultramobile device, so I will instead focus on the issues I faced out of the box and how I solved them.First of all, I am extremely impressed with the build quality in this little device. It feels solid, and when you consider components like the screen, keyboard and the Intel Core m3-8100Y processor, it is evident that quality was in the mind of the designer.The initial setup experience presented me with some challenges. I didn't like the fact that Cortana was narrating the entire process; it's a small detail, I know, but it was annoying. Once I finished setting up the device, I ran into these problems and solved them as described:0. The fan was running very loudly, an obvious sign of overheating. The machine would often appear to go to sleep; the screen would go dark and I'd have to press the power button to bring it back. Pressing any other key would not restore the session. After reading how dependent the Intel Core m3-8100Y processor is on heat dissipation and TDP (thermal design point), I decided to add some bumper feet (pictured in this review; it looks ugly as sin, I know!) to raise the Pocket 2 off my desk surface. As soon as I did that, the problem with the machine "going to sleep" went away almost completely. Now my screen goes dark only very sporadically, but I can turn the screen back on by pressing any key rather than having to press the power key. That is more of an expected behavior; maybe it can be improved in the future.1. As I was trying to diagnose the power issue, I decided to download the new Windows image for the Pocket 2 from the GPD website. The installation was very straightforward. The only thing to remember is that you need to activate Windows using the Windows 10 key provided in the Pocket 2 User Manual included with your device. I would also recommend doing the BIOS firmware upgrade, which you can download from the same GPD site.2. Some folks are not big fans of the key with the Japanese logograms that is located between the Tab and CapsLK key on your keyboard. GPD told me that all devices worldwide have it, so there is no alternative for us in America to get a device without that key. (The Pocket 2's that appear in online reviews that DO NOT have that key were just prototypes.) Regardless, you can download the Japanese keyboard firmware and use a freeware program called SharpKeys to remap that special and the `/~ key. Problem solved! At the time of this update (1/5/2019), avoid using the English keyboard firmware because it has the Japanese special key and the `/~ key both producing the same sendcode. If you try remapping one of the two keys with SharpKeys, you will also remap the other because of the duplicate sendcode.I am very happy with my purchase. To complement it, I got a 400GB SanDisk MicroSD card and a travel mouse. I was able to install the Ubuntu Mate 18.10 image on my 400GB SandDisk, so that microSD card has my Linux and data partitions, while the internal drive is dedicated entirely to Windows 10 Home.Some folks have mentioned that a USB hub is pretty much mandatory to use, but that's only if you're intending to use the device as a stationary machine. I am not sure how good performance would be in that particular use case.Regarding customer service, I had no problem reaching them via email and they were very responsive. I pretty much figured out solutions on my own, but I can definitely attest that their customer service was responsive and courteous.A final word regarding performance. As stated, the Intel Core m3-8100Y processor is very sensitive to heat dissipation. For best performance, make sure that your machine gets good ventilation. Adding rubber feet like I did admittedly makes it look very ugly, but it serves a very practical purpose. If your fan gets too loud and you use the fan mute key to turn it off, you are manually downgrading the processor frequency, which I consider just as bad as putting rubber feet on this beautiful device. It's up to you as to how you address the heat dissipation question.Thanks for reading my review. I hope you enjoy your Pocket 2 as much as I am.
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