The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is one of the few 10 inch netvertibles I’ve tested that seems to be more than simply a netbook with a touchscreen slapped on. It has a webcam that rotates 270 degrees so you use it whether the computer is in laptop or tablet mode. There are page up and page down buttons built into the side of the display so you can easily scroll through documents in tablet mode. And the computer is choc full of touch-friendly software, whether you buy the netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows 7 Professional. The NL2 convertible tablet also features a rugged design with a thick rubber case that helps protect the computer from scratches and light falls. There’s a sensor which shuts down the hard drive in the event of a fall to prevent damage. And the keyboard is spill resistant.

There’s even a handle built into the case, but unlike previous Classmate PC handles which always stuck out and looked a bit awkward, this one is retractable and looks like it’s just part of the case when not in use. The computer does have some problems. The 1024 x 600 pixel display is more than good enough for most tasks in landscape mode, but if you hold the tablet in portrait mode it turns into a 600 x 1024 screen which isn’t wide enough for viewing many applications or web pages. And the auto-screen rotate feature is sluggish and sometimes simply doesn’t work. The model featured in this review runs $599 and comes with a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resistive touchscreen display, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Professional, 1GB of RAM, and a 160 hard drive. It has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 2 USB ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. The cheaper $499 model ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows XP. And in the coming weeks and months we’ll see additional options including 3G, WiMAX and GPS capabilities, a capacitive touchscreen, and a higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display.

Design
Like previous Classmate PCs, this netbook’s kid-friendly elements take precedence over aesthetics. However, gone is the leathery, Velcro-attached cover. Instead, the gray, rubberized layer encases the whole 10.5 x 7.6 x 1.2-inch system, giving the Classmate a classier air. The rounded corners and tapered edges keep the netbook looking sleek even though it’s bulkier than regular netbooks and only slightly smaller than Dell’s brick of a student netbook, the Latitude 2100. The Classmate NL2 isn’t exactly fashion-forward, but it’s an improvement.

Under the hood, the white, gray, and black palette continues to dominate with light blue accents here and there. The matte bezel around the 10.1-inch display is filled with buttons and lights, giving kids access to key functions while in tablet mode. The speakers also sit on the display bezel at the bottom.

A somewhat cramped keyboard (which should be fine for the target audience) and fairly small touchpad take up most of the deck, which is otherwise bare except for Caps and Number Lock indicator lights and two small indentations at the top. These help keep the display from wiggling on its swivel hinge when the lid is closed. The triangle-shaped stylus is more comfortable to use than the previous convertible Classmate and stows away snugly in a port on the left side.

The ruggedizing touches add weight: the Classmate is 3.6 pounds, almost a pound heavier than the average netbook. The integrated handle also adds to the heft, but since it’s retractable it doesn’t ruin the netbook’s smooth lines, and makes it easier to carry. While its rounded edges and rubber coating made it comfortable to hold either in portrait or landscap mode, it usually ended up on the table or our lap; we quickly tired of holding the NL2 in the crook of our arm.

Tablet performance
The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is a bit of a mixed bag when used as a tablet. On the one hand, it’s probably one of the best Intel Atom powered tablets I’ve used to date due to the software that came with this computer and a few key design decisions. On the other hand, saying it’s one of the best isn’t really saying much. I’m starting to think that while the Intel Atom processor is more than capable of powering a typical netbook it might not be fast enough to handle the demands of running Windows 7 on a tablet-based computer. While capacitive multitouch displays are all the rage these days, the base model of the NL2 ships with a resistive, single-input touchscreen. That means you can use the included stylus or your fingernail to tap at the screen. But it won’t recognize more than one input at a time, and it can’t perform two-finger gestures such as pinch to zoom. In fact, it won’t even notice if you touch the screen with your fingertip.

This is a good and a bad thing. It’s good because it makes it much easier to write notes on the display than it would be with a capacitive display which only recognizes finger input. Since the NL2 is designed for classroom use, handwriting support is pretty important. The computer won’t recognize any input from your palm if you happen to rest your palm on the screen while using the stylus to write — much the way you would with a piece of paper. But a resistive display still isn’t the best screen type for handwriting, since it doesn’t recognize variable pressure. That means you can’t differentiate thick strokes from light ones, which makes it touch to write accurately and even tougher to draw. For that kind of precision, you need an active digitizer, which would drive up the cost significantly. You can pull up the Blue Dolphin software from any screen by hitting the Home button on the side of the screen. If you hit the Home button twice you bring up the “Quick Controller app which lets you adjust the volume and screen brightness, calibrate the display, and enable or disable auto screen rotation. The $599 model also comes with Windows 7 Professional, which includes a number of optimizations for touchscreen displays. For instance, any time you tap a text input box in a web browser or other application, an option to launch the on-screen keyboard will appear. And tapping and holding on a shortcut, link, or other part of the screen will simulate the action of right-clicking a mouse button.

There’s also support for “flicks,” which let you navigate through Internet Explorer and other applications by flicking your stylus across the screen instead of relying on scrollbars. You can also use flicks to perform certain editing tasks such as copy, paste, and undo.
By far the biggest problem with using the computer in tablet mode is that a 600 x 1024 x display just doesn’t give you much real estate for displaying web sites or applications designed for larger screens. Even the Blue Dolphin program launcher will only show you a single row of program icons when you’re holding the tablet in portrait mode.

Performance
The 1.67-GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU and 1GB of RAM earned the Classmate NL2 a score of 1,090 in PCMark Vantage, almost 200 marks below the netbook category average (1,231) and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t convertible (1,227). The Classmate’s Geekbench score of 848 is only 20 points below average (868) and more than 40 points ahead of the Viliv S10 Blade convertible (803). Unfortunately, it lags far behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (961) and the ASUS Eee PC 1001P (908). This performance delta was most noticeable when multitasking. While writing this review in Open Office Writer, we switched between Art Rage, Windows Media Center, and Google Chrome with up to 8 tabs open. The browser began to slow once we created more than five tabs, and background tasks like streaming audio made the system more sluggish.

By contrast, the 5,400-rpm, 160GB hard drive is speedier than the competition. It completed the LAPTOP Transfer Test in 3 minutes and 28 seconds for a transfer rate of 24.5 MBps. This speed is comfortably ahead of the IdeaPad S10-3t (22.1 MBps), the Eee PC 1001P (17.5 MBps), and the category average (16.7 MBps). The S10 Blade’s score of 9.4 MBps doesn’t even come close.

Though the hard drive is fairly fast, the boot time of 1:10 is slower than both the average (1:01) and the Dell Latitude 2100’s speedy 35 seconds; this is most likely due to the Blue Dolphin interface that loads on startup.

Intel’s integrated GMA 3150 graphics earned the Classmate NL2 a score of just 150 on 3DMark06, which is on a par with most other netbooks with this chipset such as the Eee PC 1001P (155) and far better than the Latitude 2100 (122). But the IdeaPad S10-3t trumps it with a score of 164, and the netbook average (which includes Nvidia Ion systems) of 214 is over 60 marks ahead. We don’t expect students to do any video transcoding on the NL2, and that’s good because it took the netbook 8 minutes and 29 seconds to transcode a 5:05 MPEG-4 video clip (114MB) to the AVI format using Oxelon Media Converter. This is almost 2:30 longer than the netbook average (6:01) and well behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (5:51), Eee PC 1001P (6:02), and even the Viliv S10 Blade (6:42). Despite the low graphics scores, standard definition video runs smoothly on the Classmate, though the system struggled with a 720p trailer for The Discoverers. And we were able to watch Hulu and YouTube video at full screen with minimal hitching.

Design
The basic design and even most of the internal hardware specs are the same between the X2 and the older X1. Both are sliders, with horizontally-oriented sliding keyboards. Side-sliders are never ideal for dialing, and that’s definitely this model’s biggest weakness. Touchscreens aren’t ideal for hurried dialing. The the X2′s design provides a lot of screen space and a fine keyboard and very well-designed. The slider mechanism feels robust and the keyboard’s keys have a good click. The sort of double-beveling on them provides a good feel under the fingertips, even though the keys themselves are all pressed together.The stylus is basic and kind of small, but it doesn’t slide or collapse, which is good. Despite packing in a nice 800 x 480 pixel screen, the X2 is still small enough, and ergonomic enough, that you don’t feel awkward putting it to your head.

Buttons and Trackpad
The X2′s directional control suffers from a complete lack of tactile feedback, making it really easy to move multiple times, and making precision difficult. It gets better once you’re more accustomed to how the trackpad operates, so that you can move your finger more carefully, but it’s never completely reliable. Furthermore the membrane buttons don’t provide the same level of sensation that regular click type buttons do. Obviously these changes were made to try to more effectively mimic the iPhone. Another reason to dislike the optical pad is that anything sliding over it will be read as movement, not just a finger. If the device is still on when you drop it in a pocket, you might be inadvertently inputting commands, like skipping around on your playlist, or who knows what else.

Etcetera
Sony Ericsson managed to find room on the otherwise compact design for a 3.5 mm headphone plug. the design is very practical, because that’s also where the X2 keeps its TV output connector. By plugging in the special cable that comes with the device, you can hook it up to any standard TV that takes RCA plugs for both audio and video. This smartphone comes with a wired hands-free set, of course, but this is mostly a courtesy, since it’s a little awkward to set up. Bluetooth is still the way to go for most people who need a hands-free system.

PERFORMANCE
When it was unveiled, the Xperia X1 was ridiculously advanced. In late 2008, no other devices could touch it. It’s a testament to how ahead of its time the X1 was that it’s successor has specs with few changes almost 18 months later. However, while nothing could touch the X1, the Xperia X2 is not high end like its parent. While there are other comparable devices from HTC and others, the X2 still manages to impress. Its 528 MHz processor is probably the lowest end component in it. And for reasons unknown, Sony Ericsson lowered the memory from 512 MB of flash to 256 MB.

Wireless and More
What else is inside that compact little case? Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, GSM/HSPA, of course. Can’t have a high end gadget without those. The GPS system supports geo-tagging, so that you can embed GPS coordinates into photos you take with the 8 MP camera. It’s built-in accelerometer and a microSD/SDHC slot — the latter of which comes already filled with a 4 GB card out of the box. Not the largest thing in the world, but enough to get you started if you don’t already have one. And there’s an FM radio receiver with RDS, which we’ll hear about a little more under software.

Software
Although the Xperia X2 has awe-inspiring hardware, its software fails to match up. Let’s start from the most basic impression one gets after using the device. Despite having a 528 MHz processor, it lacks in overall speed. It’s got the same processor speed as the HTC Touch Pro, but the Touch Pro has a smooth and easy-to-use interface, while the X2 consistently lags, is slow to change screens, and generally feels frustrating. But the even bigger problem is this: Sony Ericsson’s integrated software bundle is simply not good. The “panels” interface that is provided with the phone is needlessly complicated, featuring an unintuitive means of switching between views that lets the user get lost trying to navigate around his device.The developers also added some unnecessary layers in between the user and simple functions like playing music. The bottom line is that the software, in clear contrast to the hardware, feels unfinished. This sense, like they rushed the X2 out the door before the debugging was really done, is heightened by the fact that the internal FM radio doesn’t work. It won’t be available to the user until the first official system software update hits the streets.

Camera
On the bright side, Sony Ericsson increased the camera resolution from 3 megapixels to a whopping 8 MPx. Like many high-end phone cameras now, this one has auto-focus, making it practically a “real” digital camera. Of course, the quality is a little less than what you’d get from of a dedicated camera, and the “flash” (a small LED) is so weak that it’s a non-issue when it comes to lighting. Still, the X2 can take some awe-inspiring pictures compared to your average camera phone.

Key features:
* Quad-band GSM support
* Tri-band 3G with HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
* Four-row slide-and-tilt QWERTY keyboard
* Landscape and portrait virtual QWERTY keyboards
* Handwriting recognition
* 3.2″ 65K-color TFT LCD resistive touchscreen (480 x 800 pixels)
* Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
* XPERIA panels user interface
* Accelerometer sensor
* Qualcomm MSM 7200 528 MHz CPU, 256 MB of RAM memory
* 8.1 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
* WVGA video recording at 30fps
* Support for DivX/XviD files out of the box
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
* Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support
* Bluetooth and USB (standard microUSB connector) v2.0
* 3.5mm standard audio jack
* Stereo speakers
* Flash video support
* TV out port, TV out cable supplied in the retail box

Main disadvantages:
* Outdated hardware
* Sluggish interface
* Display still on the small side, inadequate touch sensitivity and sunlight legibility
* Almost no screen auto-rotation throughout the UI
* Disappointing video recording
* Basic music player
* No FM radio (should be enabled with upcoming firmware update)
* No video calling (should be enabled with upcoming firmware update)

Desaign and Keys

Milestones button which is almost one hundred percent black is very sturdy, but its design a bit stiff. 165 grams of weight that it felt excessive. however, its size is 115.8 x 60 x 13.7 mm is still quite okay for category hape hape-style QWERTY slider. Even including the dimensionless thin milestone in its class. Holding it in left hand while right hand trying on the menu, a milestone is a convenient device to be played. power button located on the top right corner. Tto reach it must be touched first, then press. Less ergonomic, since this button will be frequently used. In addition to hape started the switch, the on-off it will be useful also to enable or lock the screen. type of haptic touch buttons are in sequence down the screen. they are back, menu, home, and search. Because of sensitive, sometimes this haptic haptic accidentally touched but it was no big deal. With the presence of vibration feedback, haptic model it becomes interesting. QWERTY keypad. geserannya very solid technique. but this is not the full form factor slider. milestone only just opened the bottom half of the field. this news is less good, because it becomes less QWERTY space maximum. Here must be satisfied with the layout and structure of rigid QWERTY keypad buttons are squeezed. It’s QWERTY keypad buttons are made of fairly soft rubber material, but less so crisp.

Multimedia

Multimedia in Motorola Milestone still feels responsible. No radio, but still retain the music, camera, and GPS. For games can be downloaded from the android market. resolution 5-megapixel camera with features supported a complete picture. There otofokus, macro mode, nightmode, and two types of dual led flash. Milestone in the video recording can record level D1 (720 x 480 pixels) at a speed of 24.5 fps. The music features, the audio quality is quite satisfactory. 3.5mm plugs role here will be very useful, to get better sound quality. Using GPS through A-GPS. Through google maps, location points can be acquired only in a matter of seconds. Complemented by MotoNav navigation. But unfortunately this map are shareware.

Stable and Fast Internet

Internet at this hape really stable and fast. browsers and applications are amazing. the milestone has been able to do multi-touch and multi-window support. with qualified browser application, a stable internet connection applications and widgets on the homescreen widget that floats realtime will always be connected to the internet, will be faced with the high cost of internet access to enjoy them. all of these features can also be disabled but will leave its core features. probably would be great if this milestone comes with unlimited internet access card.

Complete Connectivity

Oversized battery milestone is highly qualified internet hape. With the existence of the HSDPA connection 10.2 mbps and 5.7 mbps HSUPA have been very promising although the later will depend also on the quality of an organized network of operators. another point is the wifi connection. for connections between devices, existing types of data cable microusb, which already supports bluetooth A2DP and a 3.5mm standard audio hole. Battery is enough slack in the milestone. Heat the battery very quickly felt at the accidental casing dominated the metal material. With the level of brightness (brightness) screen in auto mode, with normal use, a milestone can burn up to 2 days. But when it is often used to connect online with the occasional hotspot point, hape is reeling. can only survive less than half a day.

Key features

* Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
* 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
* 3.7″ 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480x 854 pixel) resolution
* Android OS v2.0 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming
* Slimmest side slider with full QWERTY keyboard yet
* Great build quality
* ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator; 256 MB of RAM
* 5 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and geo-tagging
* D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps
* Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
* 133MB storage, microSD slot, bundled 8GB card
* Accelerometer and proximity sensor
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Main disadvantages

* No DivX and XviD video playback
* No smart and voice dialing
* Somewhat clumsy camera interface and limited camera features
* No free GPS navigation solution
* No Flash support for the web browser
* No FM radio