Today I'm reviewing a device without a screen. It doesn't make any noise. It doesn't even have an on-switch. Or a battery.
In fact, this device has been specifically designed to undo the damage being done to my body by all my other devices.
You could say, it's an anti-device...
The Backpod was designed by a New Zealand physiotherapist to address the issue of back pain and tension between the shoulder blades, commonly caused by prolonged use of computer keyboards, tablets and other devices.
Apparently the more time we spend hunched over these things, the more likely our spine is to seize itself into that position and that's where the pain and posture problems start.
As someone who's suffered from consistent and prolonged back pain for as long as I can remember, I figured this thing was definitely worth a crack. (That's a totally brilliant pun, by the way. Although it may not become obvious until a little bit later)
Not only do I spend hours a day curled over a keyboard, I also subject my torso to the regular torture imposed by a fairly large sound desk. That's a lot of repetitive reaching in rather un-ergonomic directions and by the end of the week, I usually have a lot more in common with Quasimodo than just an annoying ringing in my ears.
This condition is colloquially known as "i-Hunch," something I'm sure many of you would find all too familiar.
That's where the Backpod comes in.
But first I had to figure out how to turn it on.
Or at least where the batteries go.
As it turns out... that's not the idea here.
I eventually discovered, the Backpod is just a lump for lying on.
The trick is, it's exactly the right kind of lump.
As anyone who puts up with a bad back will tell you, there's nothing more satisfying than the crackity-crack-crack of your spine being manipulated by a trained professional. It's so annoying most of us don't have a trained professional on hand 24 hours a day.
Amazingly, by lying on the Backpod and putting my hands behind my head as per the enclosed instructions, I immediately found myself in crackity-crack-crack heaven. By working the Backpod up and down your spine for a few minutes every day, the theory is you can rehabilitate the frozen bits between your shoulder blades to their former flexible selves.
I've been using the Backpod for a couple of weeks now, and while I'm not yet about to tour my contortionist act with Cirque du Soleil, I'm definitely feeling more freed up. The Backpod's instruction booklet depicts a host other helpful exercises and massage techniques which are all demonstrated on Backpod's YouTube channel.
The best thing about it though, is the instant relief I feel each time I use it. This isn't any kind of medical testimonial, it's just my personal experience after a hard Saturday's waterblasting. To be able to go from seized up old man, to happy-go-lucky slightly-less-old man in minutes is a godsend and I owe it all to my trusty green lump.
Pity they don't come in red though. Green really isn't my colour.
Click here for more information on the Backpod
It's getting hard to tell the difference between a laptop and a tablet these days.
On the Apple side of the equation, the latest iPad is their biggest yet and seems to have almost all the functionality of a MacBook without the keyboard.
Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps banging out its Surfaces of course. Physically this concept has always been tempting; from the outset, a highly portable Windows tablet with a purpose-built keyboard seems like a neat idea. Unfortunately the first few generations were hopelessly under-powered and offered such limited performance I'm sure they would have frustrated some users right away from the brand for good.
Now there a several "2-in-1" devices on the market, although often the design involves folding the keyboard away underneath the screen to create a pseudo-tablet experience - practical but perhaps not an ideal solution in terms of cosmetics or comfort of use.
The Transformer Book T300 Chi from ASUS is different again...
To look at, the T300 Chi is a Windows tablet with a detachable keyboard. But it isn't. It's a fully functioning LAPTOP with a detachable keyboard. ASUS have packed plenty of Intel's latest processing power into the tablet side of the equation and I'm convinced this device is more than capable of fulfilling most daily computing requirements.
There's an adjective I'll probably use several times in this review; "solid." With the screen and keyboard magnetically clipped together, there's a definite solid feel to the whole set-up. The keyboard is robust and responsive, with a good number of functions, although I found it a bit of a pain having to use the function key to access the "home" and "end" operations.
Close it all up and again there's a solid, safely-tucked-away vibe going on. The screen feels protected and while at 720 grams (tablet only) it's certainly light enough, there's a heft there that inspires confidence.
It took me a few goes to get the hang of detaching and reattaching the keyboard, but only because it was less complicated than I expected. There are two very strong magnetic hinges which make it difficult to do anything OTHER than line them up in the right place.
As a tablet, you are of course restricted to an on-screen keyboard, lot more limited than the one you've just removed. I'm not into on-screen keyboards so I'm not sure how the ASUS one stacks up. I'm sure it's fine, even if it does conceal half of what you're looking at - which is a shame because the T300 Chi's screen resolution is off the hook.
Wind it all the way up to 2560 by 1440 and you'll swear you can see pixels on the pixels. Handy tip for newcomers to this level of definition; (like this tired, blind old geezer was) go straight to the display preferences and opt to "make text and other items" as large as possible. Otherwise the text in your task bar, window titles and notification bubbles will be so small, you'll need a microscope to to read it. Really clear... but tiny.
There is no standard USB port to plug other accessories into, although there is a Micro USB so I assume an adapter would get around that. Unlike most other tablets, you get an SD card reader and a Micro HDMI slot too. Sadly, the mic and headphone ports have been combined into one which seems to be the trend these days - annoying when you want to use separate audio devices. This isn't a phone, there's plenty of space for 1 extra jack, surely.
I'm very confused about battery life. The ASUS website claims the T300 Chi will last 8hrs on a charge. So I charged it, which doesn't take as long as some comparable devices I have used. However, when I hovered the cursor over the battery indicator and I was told there was just 3hrs 40mins remaining. Disappointing, but I've come to expect underwhelming power stamina from such devices. Weirdly, about 2 hours later, the battery indicator told me I still had more than 3 hours left. So I don't know whether this thing will stay on all day or not.
Perhaps the confusion arises due to being connected to its keyboard via bluetooth. Depending on how constant the use is, bluetooth can be quite power-hungry. In saying that, every time I checked the level on the keyboard itself, I was always pleasantly surprised to discover it had drained hardly at all. I imagine you could go several days before having to top up the keyboard side of the ledger, which is probably just as well, because it's a bit fiddly. For some reason the ports to connect the screen to the keyboard for charging are on opposite sides, meaning an unnecessarily long cable to join the two. In practical terms, it doesn't make a great deal of difference but it seems strangely clumsy and inelegant.
I wish I could get a definitive read on the T300 Chi's battery life because as I've mentioned before, if a device like this really wants to compete with the likes of iPad and Microsoft Surface, it absolutely must last out the day.
That being said, I found this machine very usable. The fanless operation of its swanky Intel processor made for a cool, quiet experience and there was nothing I wanted it to do it didn't want to. Solid, solid, solid.
The Transformer Book T300 Chi is neither a laptop or a tablet... it does both things so well it may be a laplet. (Please tell me I just invented that)
Click here for more information on the ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi
