My Lenovo A8-50 tablet (Review)

I've bought a tablet: a Lenovo A8. Here's what I think of it so far.

The unboxing was a pleasure. The tablet was a bit hard to get out of its box, but after only five seconds of trying to get my finger in between the box and the tablet I was able to get it out. One small hint for those who are planning to order it: get it out by lifting one of the corners first, that's a little bit easier than the sides.

After getting it out of its box I was greeted by the 8" HD display that simply looks good. It's exactly what you need from it and then some, so I'm honestly really happy about it. I don't mind seeing a couple of pixels, certainly not at this price point, but I was unable to spot any while holding it in a natural way. Of course if you stick it up against your nose you'll be able to see some pixels, but you can't blame Lenovo for that. That's simply the way it is.

The camera works really good for what it is, but I honestly don't see why you'd need anything but a simple front facing camera for Skype on a tablet. Seriously, if you want to take a picture use either your smartphone or an actual camera. Just leave the tablet out of that.

The design also looks really good in my opinion, my sister was a bit grossed out by its "unusual" blue color but I honestly like that it's not a part of the boring sea of black and white devices while still not looking like a child's toy. The blue isn't distracting at all like other colors of tablets you can get.

The buttons aren't as instinctive as I'd like: they just seem a bit odd. I think it's because of them being placed a little bit more to the back of the device than I'm used to from my smartphone.

As you may be able to see on the picture, the buttons are actually placed on the back side of the tablet instead of on the front. You need to really watch it closely to notice shich side the screen is on, though.

Anyways, my overall opinion on it is that it's a great tablet at an affordable price, so if you're looking for a decent tablet you should really consider the Lenovo A8.

Review: IKEA Fingal Chair

I've recently bought an IKEA Fingal chair (it costs only 40 dollars) and I've been planning on writing a review about it for quite a while now. As I've been busy with some work in and around the house I was unable to write it until today.

First of all, let's talk about putting the chair together. The box contained only the back and the seat of the chair, so I was a bit worried that we forgot a box at the store but everything ended up being alright as IKEA apparently chose to hide all of those parts in the back of the chair. 

Those were held together by a rubber band that is attached to the inside of the back of the chair (this band keeps the shape into the back of the chair). The bad part about this band is that you constantly feel it pushing against your lower back, and as back problems are common in my family I see that as a pretty big issue.

Putting it together was pretty easy, it only took about ten minutes once I figured out where all of the parts were. The manual made me a little bit scared when I read it online, but once I had the chair in front of me it all made perfect sense and I was able to figure it out in no time. This isn't really what you would expect from IKEA, and I'm happy about it.

The arm rests are very hard, so once you've been working for a couple of hours it starts to hurt your arms a little. If they weren't essential for the chair (they keep the back and the seat together) I would probably replace them with more comfortable arm rests.

The seat itself feels good. I'm now able to work for longer periods of time with less pain. That's what I bought the chair for, so it does the trick.

The wheels don't roll as smoothly as you would want, but that's also the reason why IKEA sells floor protectors: plastic "carpets" that protect your floor against any damage done by the wheels. I honestly don't think you need those when the chair is still new, but after about half a year the wheels will probably start to wear down a little bit and I'll be happy I bought the protector.

In terms of "bang for the buck", this chair is absolutely amazing. I don't think that you can find a desk chair this comfortable for the same price anywhere else.

If you're looking for a cheap desk chair so you can save up for a more permanent solution, you should really look at the Fingal because it's both cheap and good.