Windows 8 tablets are an interesting breed of machines. They offer a full-fledged Windows experience on a portable tablet that usually costs a heck of a lot less than a normal desktop or laptop running the exact same OS. The Lenovo Miix 2 8 is an 8-inch tablet that runs a full version of Windows 8.1 for just $299. While this might seem a bit expensive for a small-sized tablet, you have to keep in mind that this is running a much more powerful operating system than most tablets are. Combine the full Windows experience with a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, an HD display, and a few more goodies, and the Miix 2 8 is actually a pretty good tablet for your money. To find our more about the Lenovo Miix 2 8, keep reading our full review!

From a design standpoint, the Lenovo Miix 2 8 is one of Lenovo's better-designed tablets. When holding the tablet vertically, a small Lenovo logo rests at the top left-hand corner, and the device's 2MP front-facing camera is placed in the very middle on the same top bezel. Going to the bottom bezel, you will find a single Windows Home button placed directly in the middle as well. Moving away from the black bezels on the front, the side frames and back of the tablet have a gray/silver color scheme going on. The back of the Miix 2 8 is constructed entirely out of plastic, but has a faint texture to it which makes it quite comfortable to hold in the hand. At the very bottom of the backside, Lenovo placed a reflective bar of silver plastic, and although it doesn't feel the greatest, it gives the device a little bit of added flare. One design aspect I'm not so crazy about with the design of the Miix 2 8 is all of the sticker branding that is found on the back. With a Windows 8, Intel Inside, FCC, and Lenovo stickers all present in the same relative area, the back can look quite cluttered at times. With that said, the Miix 2 8's weight of 12.2 ounces and thinness of just 0.3 inches more than makes up for a few messy stickers. The Mixix 2 8 is lightweight, thin, comfortable in the hand, and a relatively good-looking piece of equipment. It might not have the revolutionary design of the Yoga Tablet, but it's design is far better than those of other Lenovo tablets we've reviewed in the past.

Another bonus when it comes to the Miix 2 8's design is that it offers expandable storage. The Miix 2 8 is available in both 32GB and 64GB storage variants, but Lenovo has also included the option to expand it even more with the inclusion of a microSD card slot. A definite win for any mobile computing device.

As its name does suggest, the Lenovo Miix 2 8 features an 8-inch display. That display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 and is an IPS panel. Although the resolution may not be the best out there, I did not find any real issues with the Miix 2 8's display. The screen is bright, colorful, and text is easy to read. Video quality looked very good, and the colorful world of the Modern UI in Windows 8.1 really popped on the Miix 2 8's screen.

Along with the good display, the Miix 2 8 is actually a very fast performer when it comes to its processor. The Miix 2 8 is packing in a 1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3740 processor and 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM. While Intel's Atom chipset isn't the fastest processor out there, it performed surprisingly well in my time with the Miix 2 8. Browsing the web with Internet Explorer was fluid and smooth, streaming videos was a fast and painless process, and even graphically intense games like Asphalt 8: Airborne ran without a problem at all. Overall, I was quite impressed with the speed I got out of the Miix 2 8.

The Miix 2 8 also surprised me with how well its cameras performed. The 2MP front camera and 5MP rear camera both took pretty good looking photos, especially for a tablet. The front facing camera took pretty good selfies, and was fairly strong for video chatting. The rear camera, although not the best in quality, is one of the better cameras I've seen on a tablet. Take a look at the sample photos about for a better representation.

The Lenovo Miix 2 8 also shines when it comes to battery life. In my time with the tablet, I was always able to get a strong 8+ hours of use with moderate usage of Web browsing and application/game usage. I could always get through at least a couple of days without having to worry about where my charger was.

As I mentioned in the intro to this review, the Lenovo Miix 2 8 is running a full version of Windows 8.1. This means that you have the ability to install full desktop apps, such as a Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Adobe After Effects, Apple iTunes, and more, right onto the Miix 2 8. The entirety of Windows 8.1 also runs quite well on the smaller screen of the Miix 2 8. Live Tiles are still bright and beautiful, the Modern UI looks slicker than ever since the update to Windows 8.1, and the return of the Start button in Desktop Mode is a joy to have when working in it. Windows 8.1 still has its limitations, but it has improved a lot since October 2012 when Windows 8 first launched.

Unfortunately, one area where the platform still needs improving, is with its app store. The Lenovo Miix 2 8 has access to Microsoft's Windows Store for all of your content wants and needs, but good luck trying to completely satisfy them with it. The Windows Store has gained some traction since its initial launch, but there are still many key apps that are just not present in it. Want an official  Pandora app? Too bad. Want an official Instagram client? Tough noogies. Wanna play Temple Run 2? No dice. If you're a heavy user of multiple apps and games, make sure you take a browse though Microsoft's content offerings before you make the plunge.

The Lenovo Miix 2 8 is easily Lenovo's best table PC they've kicked out to date. It has a solid design, great screen, fast processing speeds, good cameras, strong battery, and pretty good software. If you can get over the lack of apps and the higher price, then the Miix 2 8 is a great 8-inch tablet. On Lenovo's website, they are currently selling the Miix 2 8 for the price of $299. This isn't a horrible price, but it certainly is outshined in terms of overall bang for your buck when you compare it to tablets like Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX. If you're looking for a small tablet to help you stay productive and consume media at the same time, the Lenovo Miix 2 8 is a great way to go.

2013 has been quite a year for giant smartphones. With handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy Mega, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and Nokia Lumia 1520, we've seen smartphone screen sizes that have shrunk the boundary between phone and tablet more than ever before. Out of all the phablets that have been released this year, the most popular one is, without a doubt, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The Note 3 was unveiled at IFA in Berlin back in September, and is probably one of the best smartphones released in all of 2013. With a 5.7-inch 1080p FHD Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and more, the Note 3 has a ton going for it. Is the Note 3 a worthy successor to last year's ultra-popular Galaxy Note II? Find out in our full review!

From a design standpoint, the Galaxy Note 3 is quite different from the Galaxy Note 2. In fact, the Note 3's design is different from all of Samsung's previous Galaxy-line of devices. Rather than going for the same hyperglaze plastic that's been infamously present on all of Samsung's smartphones and tablets since day one, the Note 3 uses a faux leather design on its backside. The back is still technically constructed out of plastic, but has a a leather look and feel to it, complete with faux-stitched trimming around its border. Personally, I really like the change of design in the Note 3. The back may not feel as luxurious as other high-end smartphones, but it is most definitely a step up from the hyperglaze plastic that we've seen on the Galaxy S4, Note 2, S III, etc. 

Another big design element that the Note 3 has going for it is S Pen. First introduced with the original Galaxy Note back in 2011, the S Pen is Samsung's very popular stylus that is easily one of the best on the market. The S Pen has been a joy to use for me in past experiences with devices in Samsung's Note line, and it has seen some improvements with the release of the Galaxy Note 3. One of those improvements is the fact that the S Pen now works with the capacitive Back and Menu buttons on the bottom of the Note 3. This feature was first introduced with the Galaxy Note 8.0, but is the first time we've seen this feature on a Galaxy Note smartphone. The second improvement is that the S Pen is not limited to going into its holder in the Note 3 in just one specific way. The S Pen can not be inserted into the phone in two ways, and makes storing it much easier than before. (Find out more about the S Pen's actual functions in the Software portion of our review)

One of the Note 3's most "notable" features (just one of the many puns you can expect throughout this review) is its 5.7-inch 1920 x 1080p FHD Super AMOLED display. 1080p screen resolutions are no stranger to smartphones anymore, but the screen quality on the Note 3 is exceptionally stunning. With 386 pixels per inch and the deep blacks and high contrast of the Super AMOLED technology, the Note 3's display is absolutely gorgeous, and easily one of the best we have yet to see. 

Another "noteworthy" feature of the Galaxy Note 3 is its performance. The Note 3 is packing in a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU along with a whopping 3GB of RAM (a first for a smartphone in the US). In normal day-to-day use, as well as intense gaming and other heavy usage, the Note 3 never slows down. There is the occasional hiccup every now and then, but the phone always felt like a raging beast. If you're looking for a phone that feels like a raging beast, the Note 3 is definitely worth checking out. 

Another aspect of the Note 3 that is wroth "taking note of" is its optics. The Note 3 is housing in a 13MP camera on the back with LED flash, as well as a 2MP shooter on the front. As expected from a high-end Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy Note 3 takes gorgeous photos. Colors are bright and accurate, digital noise is rarely present, and low-light photos look great. If you don't take our word for it, just take a glance at the pictures above that were taken with the Note 3. Spoiler: They're quite pretty.

Call quality and data speeds on the Note 3 were both great. Even with its ginormous size, the Note 3 is still able to deliver solid call quality on both ends, which is a nice surprise from other large-sized phablets. The model of the Note 3 that I reviewed is was on Verizon Wireless, and provided me with rock solid 4G LTE download and upload speeds. 

In regards to the battery life with the Galaxy Note 3, I was always able to get through a full day's use before having to look for my charger. With heavy texting, moderate camera usage, light phone calling, heavy application usage, and moderate gaming, the Note 3 never had an issue with powering through a solid day's use. So, why is this listed as a con? Because I was expecting more out of the Note 3's battery. Sure, getting through a full day is great, but I wanted to be able to end a day with around 40% still remaining, considering amazing internals found in the Note 3. Unfortunately, that's something I was never able to accomplish. I understand it's a pretty small thing to complain about, but it's still something that stuck out to me in my time with the phone.

Out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Samsung's TouchWiz user-interface layered over it. Although it's no secret that I prefer the look and feel of stock Android, I've grown quite fond of TouchWiz over my time of use with it. All of the software goodies from the Galaxy S4, such as Smart Stay, Smart Watch, S Health, S Voice, S Translate, Group Play, Smart Scroll, and more all make their way over to the Galaxy Note 3. Despite the insanely long laundry list of features, all of them work surprisingly well. Some are rather gimmicky, such as a Smart Watch and Smart Scroll, but others, such as S Health and Smart Stay, are much more practical and useful. Even if you don't end up taking advantage of all of these features, it's still cool to be able to show your iPhone-loving friend that you can have a YouTube video pause just by looking away from the screen. And, at the very least, it's a true testament to Android's unrivaled power and flexibility. 

The Galaxy Note 3 also offers a list of additional software features that take true advantage of Samsung's S Pen. When you hover the S Pen above the screen of the Note 3 and press the S Pen's only physical button, a semicircle will pop up on the screen with the title of "Air Command". In this semicircle, you have access to Action Memo, Scrap Booker, Screen Write, S Finder, and Pen Window. 

As you can see, the Galaxy Note 3 is one helluva smartphone. The large screen and laundry list of software features may be a turn off for some, but I'm assuming that most of you out there like both of those things in your smartphones. If you're looking for a phone with a solid design, beautiful display, cray fast processing speeds, awesome camera, and intuitive software, then the Note 3 is absolutely worth checking out.