Remember the Eve V? In 2016, a small company simply called Eve decided to challenge Microsoft"s Surface line with a product developed with the community, as the company sought direct feedback from fans on hardware choices. It ended up releasing in 2017, and while the hardware earned a lot of praise in our review, the company had some trouble actually shipping the device to customers, and things were quiet for a while.
Last year, the company made a comeback by announcing it would begin handling the sales of its own products, and earlier this year, it teased the successor to the Eve V for the first time, saying it would have two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Today, it"s time for a full unveil, at least of the device"s design.
In a forum post shared today, the company has revealed that the new Eve V will feature a slightly larger display, measuring in at 13.4 inches with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The IGZO panel is provided by Sharp, just like before, but it has higher brightness, contrast, and HDR support. Additionally, the resolution options will range from Full HD+ to 4K UHD+, though the company didn"t specifically say whether Quad HD+ will be an option.
The panel also supports active pens using Wacom AES 2.0 technology, and the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. To make the display more usable with pens, Eve has also improved the kickstand, which now offers up to 170 degrees of step-less adjustment, letting the display lie almost completely flat.
As for sound, the team has worked to improve the speakers by adding a new pair of speakers for a total of four. The two new speakers will sit lower in the tablet"s body (in landscape orientation) and handle lower frequency sounds. Additionally, all the speakers are now front-facing, and the company says it"s working to have enough space for acoustic chambers and tuning the sound with third-party specialists.
In terms of ports, as previously revealed, the Eve V successor will have two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an additional USB Type-C port, but no USB Type-A. The team gathered feedback from the community, asking fans whether they preferred to have USB Type-A ports or smaller bezels, and 58% of them chose the smaller bezels.
Finally, the company is introducing active cooling because the new Intel Tiger Lake processors offer more performance and generate more heat than the Kaby Lake chips inside the original model. Eve is repurposing the speaker holes on the top edge from the old design as air exhaust vents.
We still don"t know much about the specifications inside the new Eve V, but the company says it will have more to share on that front.