[Windows 8 General] OMGitsShan:
I just received my PiPO W3 tablet. Even though this tablet is a few months old I decided to go with it compared to the Teclast X10HD which didn't offer great reviews and seem to suffer from minor hardware and software issues. I liked the PiPO W3 because PiPO seem to make good solid tablets. They are in a rare class like Onda who I feel also make very good quality tablets. One of the big draws for me was the add-on keyboard case. Since PiPO actually have their own branded one, that means they have probably done some testing to see it all works out quite well, compared to the likes of Teclast who may have been offering a more generic keyboard. I really like the Microsoft Surface element of both the tablet and the keyboard. The other big draw for this tablet is of course the full size USB 3.0 port. This means we don't have to mess around with USB hubs or specialist OTG hubs in order to use this device. With the addition Micro USB OTG adapter you end up getting 2 full size USB ports. You only need a hub if you're planning to add even more devices so already this tablet beats out many other Chinese tablets.

PiPO have actually made a newer updated model called the W3F which is available in a WiFi only or WiFi & 3G model. This newer tablet is about $100 less than the older W3. The W3 and newer W3F actually look identical because PiPO are still using the same external casing. So why didn't I go with the newer W3F model? Well simply because it offers only 32GB of internal space. With Windows and Office installed, 12GB is already used up which doesn't leave much space to install anything else. I always feel that 64GB is the bare minimum these tablets should come with. Also the processor in the newer W3F is actually lower than in the W3 model. The W3F has an Intel Z3735F Quad Core (Max 1.8GHz) while the older W3 model actually has a Intel Z3775D Quad Core (Max 2.4GHz). Many sellers are also stating that the W3F has a smaller battery capacity of 4000mAh compared to the W3 which has a 8000mAh battery. There is some discrepancy about this as we don't know what the real value actually is but I personally wouldn't order and take that risk. So while the W3F may be the newer model, in specs it is certainly inferior compared to the W3. Apart from these details, both tablets are pretty much the same. All other specs remain the same.

Screen Size:	10.1“

Screen Resolution:	1920*1200 Full HD

Screen Ratio:	16:10

Touch Panel:	Capacitive 10 point touch

System CPU:	Intel Baytrail T, Quad-core, Z3775D

CPU speed:	Clock 1.5Ghz, burst up to 2.4Ghz

Storage:	64GB (Samsung MCG8GC)

RAM:	2GB DDR3

Operation System:	Windows 8.1 32 bit with Bing

Productivity Suite:	Microsoft Office 365 (1 year subscription)

Camera:	Front 2MP, back 5MP auto focus

I/O ports	:	1x Micro SD slot

USB port:	1x micro USB, 1x Full size USB 3.0

HDMI output:	1x mini HDMI port

Earphone jack:	1x 3.5mm

DC-IN jack:	1x

Microphone:	1x

Speaker:	2x Stereo

Communication:	Wifi 802.11b/g/n

GPS module:	No

3G:	Huawei E1220-2 3G UltraStick

Bluetooth:	Yes

Power:	AC adapter 9V 2.5A

Battery capacity:	29.2Wh

Weight w/o keyboard:	570grams

Dimensions:	257*172*10.3mm

Accessories:	1x AC adapter

USB cable:	NO

OTG cable:	1x

Keyboard:	1x (optional)

Some photos I took:

Unboxing: Contains Tablet, Keyboard, USB OTG Cable, DC Power supply. An adapter for my home country was also included (not shown). There is no Office 365 card included with a serial number anymore. Office prompts you to auto-install it and then activates itself after the installation, without requiring a serial number.

Keyboard:The PiPo branded keyboard that comes with the tablet. The back cover can be flipped in 2 different ways to hold up the tablet. The keyboard is good. Keys are responsive. The trackpad is also good. No issues at the moment. The magnets are very strong as they can hold the tablet upside down if you hold up the keyboard! The 3 lights in the lower right corner are CAPS, SCROLL and NUM LOCK.

Back Of The Tablet: Has a nice poly carbon/metal like effect and finish. Build quality is pretty solid. No creaks or plastic being depressed or anything.

Ports: These are all the ports the tablet has. The big plus on this device is of course the full size USB 3.0 port.

3G Module:The side panel can be opened (the none port side) and you can remove the Huawei 3G UltraStick. Handy when a 4G module becomes available, it can easily be replaced without having to buy a new tablet. You can see where the SIM card slots into on the bottom.

Comparison: The keyboard and tablet attached. I've placed my old iPhone 5 next to it so you can roughly gauge the overall size. I would have used my iPhone 6 Plus but I had to use that to take the photos!

Wrapped Up: This is what it looks like with the keyboard cover fully closed around the tablet. Pretty good fit.

I just got this tablet so i'm still exploring it. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.

Drivers:

http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQlDJdK (154MB - official link)

Windows system Image:

http://pan.baidu.com/s/1sjO61RJ (4.6GB - Chinese language image - for tablets built after 20th August 2014)

http://pan.baidu.com/s/1mg3bO8K (4.6GB - Chinese language image - for tablets built before 20th August 2014)

There is no English language image (or any other language image) that I know of. The best case is to restore using the Chinese image and then change the language to English. If you recently bought this tablet then it is safe to say that it was built after the 20th of August 2014. I believe that the models before that date actually had a different case where the back cover is completely flat, from images I have seen.

How to PROPERLY remove the original language (Chinese, Mandarin) and choose your own system wide language.

What's the story?

Since the PiPO W3 is considered a "cheap" tablet, it comes with Windows 8 SINGLE LANGUAGE edition. Notably, all our tablets by default have Chinese (Mandarin) set in them by default. When we purchase the tablets, the seller goes in and adds a en-US (English United States) language pack that then gives us a way to actually use the tablet.

What is the issue?

Even though a language pack can be added and therefore used, it doesn't fully convert the system to that new language. There are still parts of the old language left. The original language cannot be removed. This issue highlighted itself when i recently went to update the tablet to Windows 10. The default language was Chinese (Mandarin) and I wanted to upgrade the tablet via a USB installation of Windows 10. The copy of Windows 10 I downloaded using their creation tool was English (United States). The problem however was that when you go to upgrade Windows 8.1 to 10, you are given 3 choices - keep all your apps, settings, etc or just keep your settings or fresh install that keeps nothing. As I was pressed for time and about to go on a trip, I wanted it to keep all my apps, settings etc. The problem however was that the installer was seeing that the original language of the device was Chinese (Mandarin) and my Windows 10 upgrade was English (United States) and therefore prevented me from doing an upgrade that kept all my installed software etc. I was only given the last 2 choices - keep a few settings, or fresh install that wipes everything.

What didn't work?

Messing around with language packs and keyboards etc does not fully solve this issue. Changing any other options in settings etc didn't work either. There are a bunch of videos and instructions on the net about how to change the language from the default to one that you want, but NONE of those actually solve the issue. A method was needed that actually REMOVES the default Chinese language and then allows you to make a new system wide default language. The instructions below show you how to do this. After I completed these very steps, the Windows 10 installer then allowed me to choose the first option which meant I could keep all my installed programs, apps and settings.

1. Download the appropriate (for your version of Windows 8.1) language pack listed further down in this post.

2. Rename the cab file to lp.cab

3. Put the lp.cab in some folder on your hard drive. Let's put it in C:\lp\

4. Open command prompt in elevated mode and type:

Windows 8.1 may recommend restarting after successfully adding the package. If returning from a reboot - go into elevated prompt again.

5. Now we need to remove the reference to the old language pack. To do that we need to find out the exact identifier of the language pack installed. For this we need to type:

6. Because the list of installed packages is long, the command sends it to a file called "pack.txt" located in the root of the C: partition. Open the file and look for:

7. Make sure you find the identifier for your old language pack, so if we're getting rid of the Chinese language - the identifier will have "zh-cn" in the name. For example a Chinese language pack that comes with your system will be something like:

Note the zh-cn in the name.

8. Now let's run a command to remove the old language pack (listed in the above example):

9. After the removal procedure is done, you will be prompted to reboot the computer. After the reboot you should be faced with the new language interface.

NOTE: Check the output txt file carefully. If you have already installed your desired language pack, it may be listed there alongside the Chinese one. In this case you can avoid getting the language cab file and start the above instructions from step 5.

Windows 8.1 32-bit (x86) MUI Language Packs

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese - Simplified

Chinese - Traditional

English - United Kingdom

English - United States

French

German

Italian

Korean

Portuguese - Brazilian

Portuguese - Portugal

Russian

Spanish

Thanks to Irina Likhter & Serge Argaman for this!

Videos: (Not mine)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QhCYTCiPdQ (Unboxing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi2zGPiroCs (Review)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuXxiixXBY (Game: Need For Speed Carbon - In Russian)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pck-JerYSTw (Photoshop Demo - In Russian. It's long but you get the idea!)