Hey Eve Community, Techmo here.
I’ve been a long-time community member and purchased the first-gen V back in 2018; I’m using it right now to write this topic. I was offered the opportunity to be part of the team to help write posts as Eve Community Editor! Today, I’m excited to show you a preview of the new V EVT prototype! Grant from our China team got his hands on the development sample; through his camera, let’s take a look!
A look Around
This is the stage in development when a product goes from renders to a real, functional prototype you can hold in your hand for the first time. When a product undergoes Electronic Validation Testing, or EVT, the engineering team inspects the device to make sure all the electronics function properly from custom-designed cables and speaker assemblies to the motherboard.
We also have the chance to get our hands on a V sample to check out its color, material, finish (CMF), mechanics, and see how it functions after booting into the operating system. There will be many iterations of prototypes during this early testing phase to make improvements and adjustments. Some parts may not be fully functional yet.
The new V is made of smooth anodized aluminum with black polycarbonate on the rear near the top for the antennas. The display and the bezels are covered with a durable layer of Gorilla Glass Victus with cutouts for the speakers, cameras, and microphones.
Front View
Rear View
The Display
The new display is a larger 13.4" in a resolution of 3480 x 2400 (WQUXGA). It has an IGZO IPS panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It gets to a very bright 500cd/m², covers 90% of the DCI-P3 and 100% of the sRGB color gamut, has a 1500:1 contrast ratio, and supports HDR10. This will be great for media consumption and creative work.
The Antenna
There is a good match between the rear anodized aluminum housing and the built-in antenna on this prototype, but we will perfect the color and finish of the antenna area to be as close to a match as possible.
Rear Camera
Here is a shot straight from the rear camera, taken with the default Windows app. You can see details on the fabric. It’s a perfect fit for users who would like to snap pictures of documents. The EVT device uses the same camera module as the first-gen V but there will be improved cameras in future prototypes!
(Unedited)
There was a delay in supply for the new camera modules but since this is an off-the-shelf component, we can swap it out for another one, so the whole project wasn’t delayed because one component didn’t arrive on time. Which camera we use isn’t relevant to testing the motherboard or other critical electronics, so if that one works, a brand new one should as well but we will test it to make certain.
Card Reader
The SDUC card reader is now located on the left side, where it is more accessible than under the kickstand in the first-gen V. The tray also contains a SIM card slot for enabling LTE on selected models.
Guide Notch
Shape changes on the bottom complement the added keyboard guide notches, reinforcing the pogo pins to ensure that the tablet and keyboard are in proper alignment when attached, which is essential for the keyboard to function properly.
Ventilation
The device’s Intel 11th generation Core ‘Tiger Lake’ CPU requires an active cooling solution. The vents on top keep the device cool during heavy workloads. Tuning the device to find a balance between power draw, cooling, and performance will be done in later stages.
Air intake (left); air exhaust (right)
Speakers
There are four front-facing speakers on the V; two in the top bezel for the high and mid frequencies and two on the side bezels near the bottom for the low frequencies. As it is still a prototype, tuning will help in getting them to be loud and balanced.
Functionality
It was far easier to get this prototype running as opposed to Spectrum. It took a week to get a image to display and months to get the core features working because the unique combination of components required custom firmware for it all to work harmoniously.
The V, an x86 PC, already had parts from Intel and other manufacturers that were designed to work together. It didn’t work right after assembly, as it still needed an OS, but it was ready for testing in no time. As a functional prototype, it can already perform almost everything Windows enables it to do!
Volume Adjustment
Brightness Adjustment
Video Recording
HDR Playback
Data transfer through Type-C
Rotate Detection
Stepless Kickstand
Display Extension
Bluetooth Typing
WiFi Network
This has been our first look at the new V prototype, and I can’t wait to show you more! The team will be inspecting the prototypes in depth and report back our findings!
(and no-one in customer support is the slightest bothered!)
. When I repeat pressing it, it just repeats on/off.