Robo & Kala 2-in-1 Laptop - THE SURFACE PRO 9 KILLER
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- *DEAL ALERT* You can pick up Robo & Kala 2-in-1 at Amazon for $799.99 which includes the Keyboard: amzn.to/3OapXwg
Robo & Kala outperforms Surface Pro 9 in terms of screen, portability and battery life. This is an ideal choice for mobile workers who pursue a perfect combination of portability and productivity.
Buy now on the official website to get 30% off on the bundle at a price of only $1099: bit.ly/3I2L0xi
#robokala #surfacepro9
Video Index
00:00 Intro
01:44 Specs & Pricing
02:37 Unboxing, Size & Build
05:41 Ports & Connections
06:09 Comparison to Surface Pro 9 with 5G
07:19 Display
09:59 Dual Mode Keyboard
10:54 Smart Pen
11:44 Cameras
12:52 Performance, Benchmarks & Gaming
14:27 Accessing the SSD
15:01 Battery
16:18 Audio & Sound Test
18:29 Pros & Cons
20:06 The Score
20:19 Outro - Zábava
**DEAL ALERT** You can pick up Robo & Kala 2-in-1 at Amazon for $799.99 which includes the Keyboard: amzn.to/3OapXwg
I can't believe I'm not hearing more about this tablet, aside from the 60 mHz screen, this is hands down the best windows tablet I've ever used. It shipped with no crap ware, the company reached out to me as soon as the pen was in stock (I got mine for $500 sans the pen and case). The multi mode keyboard is just amazing, the surface line should have this. I've had zero crashes, and while I'm always hunting for arm apps, the emulation layer works as advertised. The only issue I've had has been with an audio drive for Boom 3D which doesn't seem to work.
How did you buy this so cheap?
Prime Day Sale. Also, didn't the pen, case, or screen protector. @@netnomad47
Prime Day sale of course. @@netnomad47
I still love, love, love my little Robo & Kala 2-in-1, and your review was what brought it to my attention, so thanks! 😎
It's plenty fast enough for me, but I hope that the Snapdragon Elite X in 2024 will help push Windows on Arm toward the mainstream.
Considering that the Surface Pro 9 ARM is only limited to SME customers here in Malaysia, I am looking forward to this tablet. I've been waiting to see a Windows ARM tablet with 8cx Gen 3.
Wow this looks really impressive!
Wow! I've been searching for a Windows tablet similar to a high end iPad or Galaxy Tab and this seems perfect. I'm a .Net programmer, so I have a beefy x86 laptop for work, but this will fulfill my casual tablet uses and let me tinker with Windows for ARM coding. Thanks for the trusted review 😊
If you had to pick between this and the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 you reviewed previously, which would you get? They are close enough in price and form factor, and both fanless which I think is important for a tablet, so I figure it's a choice between battery life and app compatibility.
Well presented loved it!
Glad you liked it!
Hey Andrew, I saw your review and decided to grab one for myself. My only problem is that the pen is currently of stock. Do you have any recommendations for any alternative compatible pen that is sketching/ taking notes? Thanks!
Hey Andrew Dell Inspiron 14 7420 2 in 1 i5 16gb vs flex 5 2 in 1 i5 16gb ( the one u unboxed 5 months ago ) which one is better fir long term usages..for college student
I was going to buy the iPad M1 or m2 Pro for procreate but then i though I could buy something more useful
I got tired of using the mouse with illustrator on my think pad w530 lil tank btw I love it. What other tablet/laptop do you recommend with a pen ? These are sold out… I will mainly use it to creat vector art for my job. all other things are a plus.
Looking for the same - very tempted by this one for Adobe creative work.
Great review. (One thing for feedback. You said of course like 25 times in one min haha.)
Big bonus points for:
* Built in Kickstand (essential)
* Bluetooth or "pogo connectors" for keyboard flexibility
690g is imho a fraction too heavy for being a comfortable tablet but that comes at the positive of the screen size for use as a laptop. Yeah and with everything it does climb up in weight even if it's still very light compared to laptops. Very useful to itemize all the accessories (keypad, cover, charger, pen and device) at their combined total weight. Appreciate the extra detail for use case there seeing as these devices are made for portability.
With that said, it's totally a superior model and price than the SP9-5G. I'd say 12.6" is good enough size for laptop work while driving the weight down which is a critical consideration as above. Having a bright high quality screen is essential too imo. Bit of a shame it does not have 120Hz refresh. Battery life is a big consideration however.
16GB RAM is refreshing to see baked in as standard for entry level. As you say WOA has it's limitations but the new Snapdragon chip is a big improvement on the older ARM-based chips. Still trailing Apple's M1 chip however is worth noting in relation to say an iPad Pro 11 with respect to tablet usage.
I'm a big fan of 2-in-1s and this is definitely one of the best I've seen. It's great to see this market growing and maturing with tech that resolves most of the previous issues.
Comprehensive and detailed review - an absolute pleasure to listen to and learn all the key specs for any purchase decision o comparison with other models eg SP9.
Thanks as always !
Andrew, waiting for your review on the new HP envy x360 15-fe000. They added a physical camera shutter and softer keyboard. They claim to enhance audio. I hope they added the upward firing speakers. I got to check the 14" one (no longer 13") at Best Buy. But the 15.6" was not on display. HP wasted another year by not switching to 16:10 aspect ratio. Envys are still 16:9. Dell Inspiron is the competitor here.
Thank! Waiting on HP for a review unit. Stay tuned.
i would strongly consider it if they sell it in uk
I received my Robo & Kala 2-in-1 bundle today. So far, I am impressed! The build quality of the tablet, keyboard cover, stylus, and sleeve are all top notch. I'm a .NET programmer with a beefy Ryzen 9 laptop for work, so I planned to use my Robo only for casual tablet use (reading, social media, Netflix, etc.) and tinkering with Windows on Arm coding. I figured I'd encounter some performance and compatibility issues if I pushed it beyond that, but so far it's been great. All of the programs I use regularly run well, and my devices (phone, printer, scanner, external webcam and mic, and keyboard and mouse with software for custom gestures) connected without any issues. I even set up Windows Subsystem for Android for a few video apps (Paramount+, CZcamsTV) so I can download shows when I need to be offline. The speakers are a little weak, and 90 or 120hz refresh rate would be nice on the next model, but for a device this thin and light with so much functionality, it's easy to overlook those things.
Wow! It's definitely going to be a tough market competitor for Microsoft's Surface Pro 9.
More power to the brilliant team behind this piece of art work.👍
Great review
Impressive device for those who want this type of PC. Agreed the sound on the windows surface machine is better but for the price of this one cannot complain. Great review.
Thanks William
The price difference makes this a no-brainer in terms of Price : Performance ratio beating the overpriced SP9-ARM-5G model imho. That said the Xiaomi Book S is even better value with the same Snapdragon chip (though no clippable typecover bt keypad - a great feature here).
Love the oled display and that everything is included, don't like the big logo and color but a great device still. Speakers on surface is huge deal and wish it also comes with a keyboard.
Huawei Matebook E has an OLED display and the quad dolby atmos speakers are awesome. Comes with built in keyboard.
Speakers are definitely on the tinny side. And the microphone quality during the front-camera sequence sounds somewhat hollow. Still... for $599 (which seems to be the current price for this bundle, minus the carry sleeve) you have to admire this unit.
Lets hope the new version will have 5g with the option to make phone calls from Sim like the Samsung tab s9+ 5g. The day that can be used also as a phone will be the perfect companion for many business users with a full desktop OS than can be used as a giant phone too.
Which Apps are you referring to? The ones that dont work?
I couldn't get Geekbench 6 to work, 3DMark and some other benchmark software.
Speedometer test?
Do you have plan that reviews LG Gram style 16?
Waiting on LG
@@andrewmarcdavid I hope if you can make a videos for comparisons between gram style 16 and galaxy book3 pro(360) 16, both have 17-1360P and Xe, two ultra thin and light laptops, who can wins?
What a very impressive piece of technology is the Robo & Kala 2-in-1 Laptop Andrew!!! With a 600 nits OLED display, great battery life, upgradeable SSD, clear 1080p webcam and clear internal mics, I would definitely not hesitate and go for this over the Surface Pro 9 5G in a heartbeat! The only downside to the Robo & Kala that I can see is that the audio quality of the built-in speakers on the Surface Pro 9 5G is fuller than on the Robo & Kala but not a significant deterrent for me! The Robo & Kala laptop is a definite winner for me!! I hope you will showcase this product on an upcoming Livestream Andrew. Thank you for this video review!! 👍😁
Agreed!
Can you run parsec on that ?
yes mine runs parsec just fine
Does Office 360 work well for this laptop?
It's perfect for office 365.
The speaker on Surface is way better
Yes, but the right side where the speaker was located was covered with a stylus, so not everything is so obvious.
Who owns this company Robo and Kalla?
Has anyone installed Linux on it?
This does not kill the surface pro 9 intel version at all and just trades blows with the arm model... and gaming? yeah you didn't even try.. if you'd like to game on surface pro 9 go for intel.. I've got lots of tests out there
I agree, this is not a gaming device as I pointed out in the video. For those that want to game on the Surface Pro 9 the intel will be better for sure but personally I am not a fan of gaming on a surface pro device in general.
I don't even think it's trading blows with the SP9 SQ3/ARM version. The screen is significantly smaller, lower resolution, the keyboard has no incline which makes it worse on a lap, the pen has no haptic feedback to simulate paper-like friction which is a gamechanger for handwriting and drawing, and no 120hz which is crucial for certain handwriting and especially drawing (quick long strokes) apps that don't support ink stroke prediction.
Also, it's an unproven brand which is very risky wrt defects and servicing. Remember the EVE-V? If money is a concern, you're better off to get a SP9 on a sale.
I will definitely be missing 3.5mm headphone jack on a 2-in-1 device. It is just the only reason that stops me from upgrading to Surface Pro 9
No 3.5mm jack is a complete industry fail..
samsung galaxy tab had this amoled display nine years ago/60 hz in 2023 on a new high end device/ Seriously?
The current Samsung OLED tablet at around the same price comes with 8gen2,6GB,128GB,120HZ vs Robo and Kala's 8gen3,16GB,512GB,60HZ.
Which of the two do you think pretends to be "premium"?
On evry aspect surface is way better in my opinion, talking about battery that 15 hours is only for few months, it will start draining too fast after few months.
This is great hardware, but hindered by Windows on ARM.
I do want a lighter Surface Pro and I wish my Type Cover has Bluetooth.
As a Surface Pro daily driver, I can tell that Microsoft is lazy with the recent few generations.
The Robo and Kala could have been a real competitor if it has an x-86 processor. At the end of the day, it's another great computer that most people should not buy, because Windows on ARM simply doesn't work for most people.
I was really digging the intro until I saw the ARM CPU. I purchased the Surface Pro X when released and although I loved everything about the device, the lack of ARM support from the developer community outside of Microsoft became a problem. I was running too many apps in emulation mode which put a heavy strain on battery life.
Solid review and the device has potential for a niche market. However, those mics are terrible and sounded like being inside of a tin can. It's mind boggling to me why they would choose that Qualcomm CPU with no cellular bands, somewhat defeats the point. SMH.....
I hope it gets better. Apple pushes arm and now with the snapdragon 3 and the future 4 it will hopefully get more support. I will get a device with 4.
@@knabbagluon I gave up waiting for Windows on ARM after using an SPX. Nuvia might eventually be an acceptable ARM chip for Windows. As such after selling my SPX I bought an iPad Pro 11" at 470g, M1 chip and use a BT keyboard and mouse and run Remote Desktop software into my desktop at home to make it work as a 2-in-1 and by-pass the limitations of the tablet OS iPadOS. I can now use it as a tablet and portable laptop. I even got a refurbished model cheaper than this device with superior ARM chip in it. I was considering the Go 4 but heard rumours it would not even get the Snapdragon 8 but 7 instead! That was the final straw for me and I have not looked back since hopping onto the iPad Pro 11": It's brilliant (5G too).
@@commentarytalk1446 I did basically the same. I got the ipad pro with m1 on lunch day. There was the rumour it will get IOS but it didn't. Now I just use everything in the browser. Still not optimal. So if the snapdragon 4 is nice and windows will have a long standby time with it i will switch.
But I also waited for a long time....:)
@@commentarytalk1446 Exactly! I have the same exact iPad setup as you and most weeks when I’m on planes, I leave my laptop behind.
@@theslimshadyist You can see how technological convergence is accelerating. The footprint of the iPad is tiny while holding equal hardware performance as a laptop. Apple just need to provision some virtual desktop applications for iPad and it would be on parity albeit remote desktop will suffice for now.
First ❤
After 9 generation either Microsoft or 3rd party needs to work on a better lappability where you can put it on your lap comfortably
That has been addressed since the Surface Pro 3 with the keyboard inclination, which this Robo & Kala sadly seems to lack.
The device weight itself is inside the screen and not the keyboard. Throw in a >12 or 13" screen and about 700g weight of the device then the priority is to lower the weight of the keyboard solution for portabilityeg Typecover. The kickstand is essential for the device to stand up but it prevents a base stability with spread weight contact that Laptops have. It's one of the reasons Apple insists it does not intend to make 2-in-1s (until of course technology catches up and then they change their minds).
There's really only one solution for the device, as per Apple, if/when technology significantly reduces the size and weight and thinness of the devices - which is unlikely to the required extent - OR users use a "Dock-Keyboard" as Apple does but that DOUBLES the WEIGHT thus depriving portability and defeating half the benefits of these devices compared to Laptops.
There is not an engineering solution for Lapability for these devices at these sizes (dimensions) and weights of materials which are at their maximum reach of lightness with current technology. It's a feature trade-off for current 2-in-1s. The only devices which have some lapability are the smaller device eg 10-11" range.
One solution I have seen is covers that add a fabric base to the device for the Typecover to sit on. It can be used Lapable then but the Typecover will feel inferior to a regular keyboard still (more bounce) while the device will still feel less balanced and harder to fit on your knees too.
I simply gave up on Lapability as a desired features for the above reasons and use the touchscreen keyboard if I don't have a table to use a BT keyboard on.
@@commentarytalk1446 what I meant is something like Brydge keyboard for surface pro
Disappointing. More like an add than a comparison, this is realy in a different class as an arm processor which most people are not looking for and would not be a "killer" on most people's lists. Most of this sites reviews are usually excellent but this misleading title, and apples to elephants comparison, reeks of sales more than review. The device seems great for its class but Pro 9 killer is not accurate.😐
an "add"???
Wont need 120 on this spec
Agreed.
It's overpriced by about $200 due to ARM. It doesn't matter that it has an AMOLED screen. Its performance is surely anemic and akin to an Android tablet. Thus, if it was $600 and ran Android, it would be a "possibly buy."
No 3.5mm jack = fail