Lifestyle: Tech Essentials

I never thought of myself as a true tech fan until I moved back to university. Then I packed up my laptop, Chromebook (which I was lucky enough to win after writing this post), my tablet*, Kindle, camera, phone…you get the picture. Turns out I have a LOT of tech!

Then I thought about the fact that my phone virtually never leaves my hand at the moment (a bad thing for concentrating in lectures!) and realised that, actually, I’m pretty found of tech. I adore my camera, love blogging on the go using my Chromebook, and my laptop is a three-year old powerhouse that somehow runs as well as it did on the first day. Yes, I don’t have the best of luck with phones, but getting a new one every two years adds to the excitement…

One of my favorite bits of technology has to be a tablet. I’ve had a Nexus 7 (W kindly gave it to me, I returned the favour two weeks later with a smashed screen), which I did love however a firmware update meant it ran ridiculously slowly. When ASUS offered to send me one of their 8″ tablets* over the summer I jumped at the chance!

I’ve now had the tablet for well over a month, it’s been put through it’s paces and I’m happy to share my opinions. With things like this I always like to give them time – it’s so easy to love a new gadget before forgetting about it a few weeks later. Turns out that I haven’t fallen out of love with this tablet, and it’s getting a LOT of use.

It doesn’t hurt that it looks quite sleek. I’ve never been one for white tech, but I do love this, especially with the metal-effect back. This particular tablet also lets you swap the back for bolder colours, and even use a back with a super-charged battery* – perfect for when you know you might need extra usage. I was worried that being 8″ would make the tablet chunky but it’s just thin enough to get away with it – it’s actually the perfect size to curl up in bed reading blogs with, but it’s also big enough to watch a film on. I don’t often use it to watch films (my Chromebook has an excellent screen and great sound quality) but it is pretty perfect for train journeys.

The only thing I’m not hugely thrilled with is the silver trim. Or rather how easily it seems to have scratched and chipped…

The performance is far superior to that of my Nexus. Possibly  cos my Nexus is old (it was the original one), possibly because of the recent firmware update. I’ve always been impressed with the majority of my ASUS products – both my laptop and Chromebook are from the company, my laptop in particular has lasted amazingly well.

I tend to use this for lazing in bed, and also a bit of cheeky online shopping (so much more enjoyable than on my phone screen!). That said I’d bought it a keyboard case and also attached it to my Logitech keyboard and used it briefly to blog – whilst not particularly easy to upload photos it’s great for quickly drafting out posts. And of course, it’s perfect for procrastination in between lectures too…

Actually, I reckon you could easily take notes on this if you were doing a more wordy subject. As a maths student I’d find it pretty difficult, but if essays are more your thing…? It’s a possibility!

So is a tablet essential? Not really, and even now if I could only have one I’d take my Kindle. But I do like having it, it’s really handy for lazing in bed and using in the kitchen. And hey, it’s another bit of tech to add to my collection!

Disclaimer: ASUS sent me a tablet to review, however as always it is my honest opinion. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t blog about it!

Do you use a tablet? What piece of tech could you not live without?