Comments on: Test: Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M 10” Touchscreen Netbook.

By: DR KAMRUL

DR KAMRUL — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:46:37 +0000

I am from Bangladesh. I am impressed of this notebook. But I do not know where I van get it in Bangladesh and whats the cost. Please inform me details in mail.

By: Brad Gater

Brad Gater — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:42:05 +0000

Eric — I’m curious what hardware you found for internal 3G card that would work with AT&T and any details re retailer, etc. I already have AT&T account that I would like to use and I want to purchase the TouchNote — IF there is available 3G card for mini pci-e slot. Thanks for any info you might have. B

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:25:42 +0000

After looking at the cost to add the 3G capability, both initial investment and monthly AT&T subscription, it does not make sense for my usage. Someone else will have to test out this upgrade to the T1028X.

By: Chippy

Chippy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:18:39 +0000

i’ve now added a long-term testing post that you can read here:
http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/08/gigabyte-touchnote-long-term-testing

Regards. Chippy

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:00:39 +0000

Rotating the screen with the function keys may not be as simple as I first believed. After I had started my reading application (Mobipocket), I tried using the function and left arrow, and nothing happened. I’m not sure why, and I’ll have to investigate more. Perhaps the function keys only work once you have started Gigabytes control panel application (the name currently escapes me).

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:54:41 +0000

I’m not sure what he is referring to as far as the memory. From what I see, the RAM is on a card in a single available slot. You have to remove the 1GB card to add a 2 GB card. Perhaps there are cards with more memory on the single card, in which case, it is feasible.

When you refer to the handwriting recognition, do you remember it as being good or bad? Is it worth bothering with, or is it a waste of time? Useful tool or interesting toy?

By: Corrie

Corrie — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:41:45 +0000

I installed vista on my T1028. I had to install a few drivers to get the calibration, rotation and ethernet connection to work. Now it seems to work perfectly. So far I seem to ba able to do all of the things that I could with my old tablets and Windows XP as well as new functions in vista. The handwriting recognition is about as good as I remember it as well. The speed may have suffered slightly, but I did upgrade to two gigs and I dont do many things that would expose a weakness in this area. By the way some one much more knowledgable than I took a look under the hood and said there is space for the kind of memory that is broken into half gig increments. He said you could get quite a bit of memory in this space, but it would be expensive. Sorry I don’t know the technical details.

By: Georgi R

Georgi R — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:06:18 +0000

I have W7 on M912X and I had to install the touch-pad software from the CD – it would function even without it, but I wanted to use the advanced options and settings. It installed fine and works like a charm.
I don’t remember for sure now if I also installed something for the touch screen. But I think not… I am sure that I haven’t needed to calibrate it like I did with the default XP home.
For the rotation, I never used the gigabyte shortcuts in the first place. It is stupid to have a keyboard shortcut for rotating in tablet mode when the keyboard is covered. So I have no clue if these shortcuts still work or if there is a way to enable them. In W7 I use the “mobility center” app which has a button to rotate 90 degrees (only in one direction unfortunately, so to return to normal you need to press it three times), and to open the display control panel where you can directly select the angle of rotation in a drop-down.

By: Chippy

Chippy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:55:48 +0000

The last time I tried it I could get the Gigabyte control panel working. I have spoken to Gigabyte and it seems they are looking at fully supporting W7 though.

By: Georgi R

Georgi R — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:50:26 +0000

As I said in other comments, I have W7 on my M912X, and it is no problem to use its built-in handwriting input for small pieces of text like entering a web address or filling in a form field. Or you can use the on-screen keyboard instead of handwriting, it’s almost the same.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:29:06 +0000

As far as rotating the screen, it seems there are more ways to do that than you can shake a stick at, but NONE of them are automatic. However, the one that’s CLEARLY the most responsive and intuitive is press the FN key in combo with one of the arrow keys. Way faster than the software control panel. In fact, it’s basically immediate. OTOH, the manual talks something about setting the correct resolution for portrait vs landscape, and I suspect the control panel software takes care of that for you. I would guess the function key combo does not. As far as which arrow key, just select the one where you want the top of the screen pointing when the machine is in basic laptop orientation, as opposed to tablet form.

As for Hulu, sorry, but I don’t even know what that is. I’ve heard the name, but really, no idea. Sorry. Generally speaking, I don’t do video.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:20:21 +0000

OK, I opened up some doors on the bottom. The hard drive and memory are present. Whew! Lucky thing there. Of more interest, there is only one mini-module, and that’s probably for the wireless N, so that means no 3.5G. Still have to do some research to see if I have to buy one separately, or if AT&T sells one for the internal slot. I don’t want to use my external card slot.

There are a number of companies that make these, but I don’t know if I have to be real specific about which I get, or if any HSPA will work with AT&T. If it seems I’m locked into AT&T…well, yes. Family plan, wife on new phone with 2 year contract, yada, yada, yada…

Anyway, looks like it’s an X.

By: Wahoomcdaniel

Wahoomcdaniel — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:19:46 +0000

Can you comment on the screen rotation item? Is it automatic or do you manually use keyboard shortcut or a switch to change the screen perspective?
Also, is there an on screen keyboard option when you fold back the screen?
And lastly, can you comment on the graphics from the standpoint of video jittering with Hulu or better video encoding?

Thanks for any info.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:16:40 +0000

I did not go to my local AT&T dealer this weekend, so there’ll be a little delay on the 3G stuff. I’ll get back with you on the result of my investigation, perhaps by next Saturday.

I’m not going to install Vista. Everything indicates it’s too slow for the Atom processor. I will be trying out W7, but not until October/November. Until then, I can confirm that XP runs very nicely on the machine.

I didn’t spend as much time with it as I would have liked. Got sidetracked by life. Go figure.

By: Brad Gater

Brad Gater — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:25:44 +0000

Eric, Anxious to hear of your exploits with the “3(.5)G” and whether this turned out to be an X or G model. If it’s as currently advertised on Amazon I am inclined to think X model as it doesn’t appear to claim that it HAS mobile broadband, only that it CAN [antenna and SIM slot but no internal card]. If it turned out to have card included I will get one immediately, but if not I’m waiting to find out what card works well with it for North American area [the MobilX offering appears to be a Novatel Expedite EU870D which is optimized for Europe, and I hope there will be something optimized for our peculiarities -- whether EU860 or something from Ericsson, etc.]. I really would like the T1028 but, sadly, 3G compatibility in N.A. fringe areas is an absolute necessity for travel and the internal/embedded card and excellent reception is a major plus. Thanks for any info.