Related
After using the three main competitors in the tablet market, I’ve made some interesting observations in regards to each the pros and cons. I spent a good three months with my HP Touchpad, a good week with my parent’s iPad and a few days with my new Xoom. I’m not really comparing the hardware. All tablets have dual core CPUs, the iPad and Touchpad have IPS displays and the Xoom a good LCD (although I do miss the viewing angles of the IPS).
Overall, I feel that Honeycomb has the most potential, if it solves some basic issues. WebOS would be great if there were more Apps.
iOS Pros:
Huge App Store
Ease of use
Easy to transfer music to and keep playlists
Music player is set up like a desktop iTunes so its easy to browse music
iOS Cons:
Lack of customization (widgets etc)
Restrictions on types of media that can be played
Semi-multi tasking
WebOS Pros:
Ease of use
True multitasking
Media player set up like iTunes so it is easy to browse
Best on-screen keyboard I have ever used
WebOS Cons:
Lack of Apps
Lack of customization (widgets)
Restrictions on Media
Media can be hard to transfer over and keep playlists
Battery seems to randomly drain: sometimes 15-20% overnight for no reason
Honeycomb Pros:
Customization galore
Ability to sideload apps that Google doesn’t approve
App Store has many apps
Custom ROMS
Transfer music using WMP seems to keep playlists intact
Cloud Music
True Multi-tasking
Honeycomb Cons:
No Lock Screen Widgets for Music Player
Music player “looks” nice, but is extremely hard to navigate in comparison to WebOS and iOS. Wish there was a “text” only version instead of displaying album art
Not as many tablet apps yet
Hard to tell Tablet apps from phone apps in market
Sometimes doesn’t seem as smooth as it should be, given the hardware inside
Wait until ICS comes out on the tabs, then hopefully you can tell us your thoughts on that.
good job guy
Musicmaster said:
After using the three main competitors in the tablet market, I’ve made some interesting observations in regards to each the pros and cons. I spent a good three months with my HP Touchpad, a good week with my parent’s iPad and a few days with my new Xoom. I’m not really comparing the hardware. All tablets have dual core CPUs, the iPad and Touchpad have IPS displays and the Xoom a good LCD (although I do miss the viewing angles of the IPS).
Overall, I feel that Honeycomb has the most potential, if it solves some basic issues. WebOS would be great if there were more Apps.
iOS Pros:
Huge App Store
Ease of use
Easy to transfer music to and keep playlists
Music player is set up like a desktop iTunes so its easy to browse music
iOS Cons:
Lack of customization (widgets etc)
Restrictions on types of media that can be played
Semi-multi tasking
WebOS Pros:
Ease of use
True multitasking
Media player set up like iTunes so it is easy to browse
Best on-screen keyboard I have ever used
WebOS Cons:
Lack of Apps
Lack of customization (widgets)
Restrictions on Media
Media can be hard to transfer over and keep playlists
Battery seems to randomly drain: sometimes 15-20% overnight for no reason
Honeycomb Pros:
Customization galore
Ability to sideload apps that Google doesn’t approve
App Store has many apps
Custom ROMS
Transfer music using WMP seems to keep playlists intact
Cloud Music
True Multi-tasking
Honeycomb Cons:
No Lock Screen Widgets for Music Player
Music player “looks” nice, but is extremely hard to navigate in comparison to WebOS and iOS. Wish there was a “text” only version instead of displaying album art
Not as many tablet apps yet
Hard to tell Tablet apps from phone apps in market
Sometimes doesn’t seem as smooth as it should be, given the hardware inside
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree web os is really "down"
I still feel androia good
Good writeup.... iOS, however, can suck it. I hat my wife's new ipad 2.... I still prefer to use my evolution over it.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3d using Taptalk
agree too web os is really down and ios is at downside ... if they dont work upon there os really fast and make there strategies more good then i am not surprised if they got out of the market really soon..
As a PRO for HP Touchpad, might want to consider adding the ability to also install Android (CM7) right along side and dual boot to even further expand on the utility. I love dual booting my Touchpad. I find I spend more of my time in Android though...love the ability to customize the UI with themes and widgets that I can not do in WebOS.
I was wondering the same thing.
Your research is great for people who want to buy a smartphone
its simple,
IOS = for people who are simple and do not like to bother the operating system to operate
Android = 100% the opposite of the IOS
I think it
I just got my tab two months ago, and I have been trying to find any app that best suits this gadget. So far, I almost got what I want, so I decide to write them down, and maybe this can help some other newcomers like me.
player:
1.BSplayer. It has a very nice ui and an functional LAN mode(you can stream from any smb server within a LAN). It's currently introduced a hw acceleration method, which I think is as good as the one that Diceplayer has.
2.Google Music. Very cool UI with a nice widget. A must-have app for anyone who likes google's music streaming service.
Google Reader
HD Reader Since I rely on google reader to subscribe rss feeds, google reader app is definitely a essential reading tool on my tab. But I really don't like the google's version(it's just a phone app). After several days of app-hunting, I found this one, it supports 3 different theme, and many essential settings such as on/off line mode, font family, cache, image downloading, etc. it's ui design is just visually appealing. Plus it has a transparent widget which is also configurable.
Podcast download/streaming
Beyond Pod. This one is definitely the best choice if you listen/watch podcast on daily basis. the ui is optimized for tablet, and transition is quite smooth. It provided all the basic features of a podcast receiver app.
Ebook Reader
Mantano I tried a lot of ebook reader's but eventually settled with Mantano reader. It has a very nice ui which is optimized for tablet. It supports epub as well as pdf. The reading experience is excellent.
Ezpdfreader. Probably the best pdf reader I could find.
Facebook/twitter
Wizz widget for tablet. this applet is just enough for basic usage of facebook/twitter. so I don't need other apps for these. Anyway,you can try Friendme/Friendcaster, and tweetcomb. These individual apps are all optimized for the tablets.
My Recommended Apps For Tablet - From Galaxy 10.1 WiFi
Player
1) PlayerPro. It is about the only player app that gave me the opportunity to edit the album art for each one of my songs. Another cool thing of it is the ability to install and use personalized Skins. Pretty Nice looking interface, to me this is my Music Player Winner. My library looks so organized with this app.
2) Google Music. As hilltruange states, this is a must-have app for anyone who likes google's Music Streaming service. I also like the fact that it kind of connects your music experience with the new market Music feauture.
3)AudioGalaxy. This is the winner when it comes to a low capacity of storage on your device!. AudioGalaxy allows you to stream ALL your music from home straight to your personal device in just a few SECONDS! This app is kind of like Google Music nevertheless it does not upload it to the cloud but instead it streams it using the internet connection. Must-have as well.
Ebook Reader
I personally go more for the cool looking interface - Flipping pages like a real book rather than what the app itself can do. Ive had my Galaxy 10.1 Tab for about 4 months now and Ill have to admit that i havent found anything really better than the Ebook.apk app that came with my Task650 - ROM. It does the job just great! In my opinion this app really makes the reading feel like if you were reading a real technological book. I personally use online EPUB converters so that i can enjoy my PDF's with the "Flipping pages" feature.
Just for the record, Ive tried Mantano and dont get me wrong. The app is awesome but just the fact that it only does scrolling effect on the pages really bugs me. :-(
Live TV/Movies/Sports/Streaming
So far my Number One app for live Tv streaming is Veetle.apk. I've personally used Veetle for about 2 years now and trust me it is great!. It is about the only app out there that allows you to stream hd movies at a very nice quality on your Tablet!. I also have NETFLIX which also does the job for me.
Android Launcher
ADWLauncher Ex. I understand that the Stock Android Launcher looks pretty descent but the ADWLauncher Ex just turns your Android Tablet experience to a whole new level! Take a look at my Google+ TNDG page:
h t t p s : / / p l u s . g o o g l e . c o m / u /0/b/103728314829341153863/#
In there i have some of my tablet screen pics using ADWLauncher Ex.
WiFi Calling! For Free
Groove IP. If you have a WiFi ONLY tablet then you should really get yourself a Google Voice account and download GrooVe IP from the market!. Groove IP tuns your WiFi Tablet into a Phone. Must-Have if you want to make phone calls for free.
OoVoO. Number ONE Video conference app WAY better and HD quality compared to Tango. If you have Google Talk and most of your friends are on it then you should be fine using the Talk Video feauture. Nevertheless, if you want to experience something different but with the same quality as Google hangouts then i strongly recommend to download OoVoO.apk.
Sound Equilizer
EQualizer. EQualizer from Google Music takes the quality of your tablet sound to a whole new level!.
Best Keyboards
SwiftKey Tablet X. SwiftKey Tablet X is in my opinion the best when it comes to a nice looking neon easy to use keyboard experience!.
HD Tablet - Video Games!
Riptide GP - HD
ShadowGun - HD
Pinball for Tegra - HD
Ocean Bubble - HD
Light Racer 3D - HD
GOF2 THD - HD
Block Breaker 3 - HD
Stardunk - HD
Heave Gunner 3D - HD
Hero of Sparta - HD
Asphalt 6 - HD
UNO - HD
BackBreaker Tegra2 - HD
AirAttack - HD
WaveBlazer - HD
CrazySnowBoard - HD
N.O.V.A. 2 - HD
Radio Services
Pandora
Jango
TuneIn
hilltruange said:
I just got my tab two months ago, and I have been trying to find any app that best suits this gadget. So far, I almost got what I want, so I decide to write them down, and maybe this can help some other newcomers like me.
player:
1.BSplayer. It has a very nice ui and an functional LAN mode(you can stream from any smb server within a LAN). It's currently introduced a hw acceleration method, which I think is as good as the one that Diceplayer has.
2.Google Music. Very cool UI with a nice widget. A must-have app for anyone who likes google's music streaming service.
Google Reader
HD Reader Since I rely on google reader to subscribe rss feeds, google reader app is definitely a essential reading tool on my tab. But I really don't like the google's version(it's just a phone app). After several days of app-hunting, I found this one, it supports 3 different theme, and many essential settings such as on/off line mode, font family, cache, image downloading, etc. it's ui design is just visually appealing. Plus it has a transparent widget which is also configurable.
Podcast download/streaming
Beyond Pod. This one is definitely the best choice if you listen/watch podcast on daily basis. the ui is optimized for tablet, and transition is quite smooth. It provided all the basic features of a podcast receiver app.
Ebook Reader
Mantano I tried a lot of ebook reader's but eventually settled with Mantano reader. It has a very nice ui which is optimized for tablet. It supports epub as well as pdf. The reading experience is excellent.
Ezpdfreader. Probably the best pdf reader I could find.
Facebook/twitter
Wizz widget for tablet. this applet is just enough for basic usage of facebook/twitter. so I don't need other apps for these. Anyway,you can try Friendme/Friendcaster, and tweetcomb. These individual apps are all optimized for the tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the suggestion of Reader HD, that's the kind of RSS program I've been looking for! Love the theme unification with Gmail!
hilltruange said:
I just got my tab two months ago, and I have been trying to find any app that best suits this gadget. So far, I almost got what I want, so I decide to write them down, and maybe this can help some other newcomers like me.
player:
1.BSplayer. It has a very nice ui and an functional LAN mode(you can stream from any smb server within a LAN). It's currently introduced a hw acceleration method, which I think is as good as the one that Diceplayer has.
2.Google Music. Very cool UI with a nice widget. A must-have app for anyone who likes google's music streaming service.
Google Reader
HD Reader Since I rely on google reader to subscribe rss feeds, google reader app is definitely a essential reading tool on my tab. But I really don't like the google's version(it's just a phone app). After several days of app-hunting, I found this one, it supports 3 different theme, and many essential settings such as on/off line mode, font family, cache, image downloading, etc. it's ui design is just visually appealing. Plus it has a transparent widget which is also configurable.
Podcast download/streaming
Beyond Pod. This one is definitely the best choice if you listen/watch podcast on daily basis. the ui is optimized for tablet, and transition is quite smooth. It provided all the basic features of a podcast receiver app.
Ebook Reader
Mantano I tried a lot of ebook reader's but eventually settled with Mantano reader. It has a very nice ui which is optimized for tablet. It supports epub as well as pdf. The reading experience is excellent.
Ezpdfreader. Probably the best pdf reader I could find.
Facebook/twitter
Wizz widget for tablet. this applet is just enough for basic usage of facebook/twitter. so I don't need other apps for these. Anyway,you can try Friendme/Friendcaster, and tweetcomb. These individual apps are all optimized for the tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my tab since August, and I've spent a lot of time trying out different apps and bouncing around.
I still stick with Stitcher for Podcasts, having tried BeyondPod and a few others and just not being that impressed. I'm hoping Stitcher will get more tablet-optimized soon.
For an RSS reader, I hadn't seen HD Reader before -- it looks pretty slick. I've been turned off by all the apps like Pulse which turn my daily news-reading into a huge multimedia experience; I much prefer the simplicity of the standard Google Reader app to that. HD Reader looks like it might be a nice merging, though, and I'll give that a try.
MoonReader+ works well for epub reading, but I think I'll give Mantano a try.
DicePlayer was one of the first apps I bought for my tablet for videos, and I haven't regretted it.
Reddita is great for browsing and posting to Reddit. I have Reddit is Fun for my phone, but Reddita is just perfect on tablets.
I prefer Thumb Keyboard | Tablet over SwiftKey X for Tablet, but it's pretty close. I use Hacker's Keyboard occasionally when I'm doing terminal sessions. Speaking of, Better Terminal Emulator pro is the only option for SSH sessions!
Make sure you browse around Tablified.
news360 is my favorite news app for the tab so far, but I'll have to checkout HD reader.
thank u so much guys...these lists were needed a long ago but its never late.
i agree that these lists are awesome and this thread must be sticky so that newcomers can take advantage.
Music
TuneIn Radio - Ha! Who needs an FM antenna? I can get all my favorite radio stations from everywhere I've ever lived, oh and that cool one from Germany. I haven't even bothered putting MP3s on my tab because of this app.
Ebook
FBreader - No fancy graphics, just customizable and simple epub access. Quite possibly the most opened app on my Tab.
TV
Crunchyroll - Mmmm anime. I've been tempted more than once to invest in the premium access.
Keyboard
Thumb Keyboard - Very fast, and has an awesome Tron-styled theme.
HD Reader is amazing, I've been using it since the first day I got the tab. it is the best Google Reader that I've seen
SamerBerjawi said:
HD Reader is amazing, I've been using it since the first day I got the tab. it is the best Google Reader that I've seen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for me justreader better than hd reader.
mynewuser said:
for me justreader better than hd reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will try that out now... thanks
Data counter apps
Hi Guys,
Need your 2 cent of advice for data counter or data monitor apps, currently all the apps related program to capture our data in and out is not working well for my tab 8.9 only wifi.
any suggestion
thanks in advance
My Recommended Apps
I am an engineer, a designer, a developer, editor and a computer enthusiast
i have these tools on my tab to work on
adobe creatpdf
touch retouch
smart tools
touchnote
photofunia
google reader
money lover
andromedia
adobe kuler
sketch n draw
think free office tablet
ps touch
pixlr o matic
qr droid
mobile biz pro
electrodroid
tape machine
sketch book
super note
---------- Post added at 02:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 AM ----------
abima80 said:
Hi Guys,
Need your 2 cent of advice for data counter or data monitor apps, currently all the apps related program to capture our data in and out is not working well for my tab 8.9 only wifi.
any suggestion
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use this
this is the best one
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.carl.trafficcounter
Is their a way to increase font size in mantano reader?
I just tried Stitcher and I love it so far, I think that is my media news (podcasts/video/news radio) and Goggle Currents has been nice so far for reading.
So my favorite apps are:
Podcasts: Stitcher
News Reader: Currents, Pulse
Launcher: ADW
Browser: Dolphin w/ LastPass & Xmarks
Voicemail: Google Voice
Media: Pandora, Plex, 8tracks
DLNA: Skifta
Remote Desktop: PocketCloud
Other:
Evernote
Read It Later
Dropbox
someone recommended reddita for reddit, while it is good, i prefer f5 for reddit on tab, and on the phone, bacon reader( also for redit)
I use Pulse and I really like it, some times Currents too but one big issue is offline reading i have 32gigs on my tab and i dont care how much it takes to download all news everyday from about 100 sources. but I want to read full articles with images offline when im on the road..
I would be greatful for any advice
Just had my wifes replacement tab arrive today, boy its gonna be fun getting into this thing!
I've seen a lot of great suggestions here, but was wondering if there are many launchers optimized for tablet?
I saw ADWlauncherEX suggested, i already own that on my phone so i will definitely try that first.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Mirmensky said:
Just had my wifes replacement tab arrive today, boy its gonna be fun getting into this thing!
I've seen a lot of great suggestions here, but was wondering if there are many launchers optimized for tablet?
I saw ADWlauncherEX suggested, i already own that on my phone so i will definitely try that first.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about launchers designed for tablets, but I use ADWex and have had no issue at all with it.
On a side note, Mint just optimized their finance app for tabs and it is great. If you're a stickler about managing your expenses, I find this app to be incredible.
Anybody know pdf readervthat is quick to open not so complex docs and pdf, mostly meeting notes. Ccurrently using ezypdf and polaris office, both is quite slow and for polaris after many pdf docs will force close.
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
biggiebro said:
Anybody know pdf readervthat is quick to open not so complex docs and pdf, mostly meeting notes. Ccurrently using ezypdf and polaris office, both is quite slow and for polaris after many pdf docs will force close.
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Repligo reader
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
Tested and works fine on Nook Tablet 8gb 1.4.2.
0. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1005633
Buy a Sandisk MicroSD card like this thread suggests to prevent read/write problems due to a slow card. I simply went with a class 4 Sandisk 16gb from Microcenter. Not the fastest loading big movie files, but cheap and works fine.
AVOID 4GB Microsd cards!! One that I had was just a few 10kb short of fitting the CM7 below. >_<
1. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529553
Follow the instructions for Option 1 to root the tablet.
a. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529553
Get the SD CARD VERSION of from here.
CHECK THE MD5 checksum of this download to make it MATCHES THE ONE IN THE THREAD ABOVE! This is to prevent problems if the image isn't the same as the original.
b. Write the image to the Sandisk card above. No need to format it beforehand.
On windows, Option 1 noted using win32diskimager linked works fine.
http://nookdevs.com/Nookie_FroYo:_Burning_a_bootable_SD_card
c. Power the Nook off per instructions after making sure it has sufficient charge!! I'd say at least 25% to be safe even though it takes only two minutes. And boot from card per instructions to root.
d. After rooting, feel free to boot without the card in the nook, then insert.and format the card in the nook.
2. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1481826
Now, download the CM7 sd card image. Make sure MD5 checksums match. Write to SD card. It won't fit some 4gb microsd cards because some are a little too small.
4partitions will be created. They'll show up as fat32 for partition resizing later.
Follow the instructions to boot from this CM7 card.
Simplest way to ensure it boots from card is to power off the nook, the plug in the nook usb cable that is plugged into the ac power adapter, or pc. If you don't, it may ignore the card and boot back into the original OS.
3. Optional if you are using a card larger than 4gb.
Once you've booted successfully into cm7, you can power off and eject the card. Take it to a PC and download Easeus Partition manager for free. Launch Easeus and stick the card in. Refresh if needed to make it show up. Select the last partition (one adjacent to any unallocated space on your card) and resize it.to fill up the rest of the card. Apply, eject card and boot the Nook from it. Should still work and you can now use all available space.
4. Now that you're in CM7, go launch NT Hidden Settings app that comes with this. Hacks ->BLock OTA updates to prevent BN from disabling all this fun. You don't need to do it from the Nook OS after this here (but you can if you choose not to do it from cm7).
x-xx Whew. That all is just to get the.cm7 up and running.
5. Start up Google Market or Play app and let it update as needed. (optional, if you desire. Lots of other Android Markets and download sites with the same stuff-eg. getjar.com,.amazon market, etc.-if you don't like setting up a google account)
6. Search the market for QQ. This is the Chinese keyboard, and for english, I like it far better than the default keyboard. You can slide a key up to access.the alternate key. eg. slide up on n to type ?.
7. Search and download Multiling Keyboard along with the Chinese, Japanese keyboard plugins and Handwriting plugin. This is ThE only keyboard I've see for Android that allows pen input of kanji and chinese without driving you nuts, and works for kanji AND hiragana characters AND Japanese varients of Chinese characters like 気 气 氣. Yes, even the iOS can't do this!! :-D (only within Midori can it input Japanese kanji version, but not systemwide).
8. Search and download Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, ComicReader, MX Player, AEDict, wwwjdic, and EBPocket to start. I like Opera Mini as well.
These basic apps get you up and running on the Japanese dictionary side. Load epwing dictionaries, videos, books, cbz, etc through usb.
9. To view pdf, adobe reader works well because it can also display text only. Zip folders of your jpg book scans, if they're not in pdf yet, and Comic Reader will nicely let you browse tons of ebook scans of texts, magazines,.etc fast! Customizable tap zones let you read right to left books just fine.
Download Xplore to manage your files. TubeMate to download tube videos offline. Winamp to play mp3s.
Firefox is good for option to save pages as pdf.
MX Player just rocks on videos. Fast, subs support, and 1080videos in mp4 at 8000kbps play fine on the Nook 8gb.
---
Whew. Lots of setup for a first week Asian Nook Tablet user to make it useful for the lot, but nice thus far for a useful mobile language study, ecomic and book viewer, and tube downloader.
Will update later on as I get into the Nook more, but works fine and fast with 12gb of book, mp3, mp4, etc content and Chinese/Japanese IO.
Tested apps for Chinese/Japanese study, and a bit more for the Nook Tablet 8gb.
Top Chinese study apps
---------------------------
Pleco - Nice Dictionary, must have.
Pinyin Lite - pronounciation practice
Trainchinese - Dictionary & flash cards
Xiaoma Hanzi - Flash cards
Top Japanese study apps
----------------------------
EPPocket Free - Load it up with EPWing dictionaries (Genius, Kenkyusha), must have if you have EPWing dictionaries to load.
NariTra - Voice translator (30+ langauges to 30+ languages!), must have internet and for travel.
AEDICT - EDICT Dictionary, Must have.
JA Sensei - kana, kanji, vocab, etc.
INPUT KEYBOARDS
----------------------------
Must haves for Chinese/Japanese input:
Multiling + Chinese/Japanese/Handwriting plugins - pretty much does it all if you decide never to install anything else. Handwriting input is nice, free! Must have for inputting Asian characters/kanji!
QQ - Fastest keyboard I've found for typing by thumbs in English or Chinese! Almost perfect layout for rapid typing with very few mistakes in portrait. To die for!
To try:
7notes - Interesting handwriting input, but can be less accurate than Multiling - try the demo out to see if you want to buy this.
Swype - If you must slide input, this solid keyboard does it well on the Tablet.
Tools
------
ADownloader - Torrents, fast, nice.
App Manager/Explorer - Nice, can run Java MIDLETS on the Tablet.
DroidWall or Avast - both have nice Firewalls.
Kingsoft Office - a free, but decent Office program for the basics - taking notes, typing in outlines, etc.. (see other XDA thread for that huge 7 program Android Office comparo for alternatives)
X-Plore - the only MUST HAVE file manager!!! The best ever!! Very powerful.
Programming
----------------
AIDE - When you're bored, create APK programs on the Tablet itself in Java! Yep, no need for external PC for compiling or editing.
MEDIA
-------
Flipboard - nice use of the tablet to read news from various categories and sites.
MX Player - plays just about everything it can play without a hiccup. Other players can handle more formats, but never as quick or nice. As long as you encode to 1080 or less at Level 4.1 High or less H.264 at 8000kpbs or less, the Tablet will generally play it.
NHK World TV/SPB TV - catch up on news from around the world.
Talkatone - free Google incoming/outgoing calls.
TubeMate - The BEST youtube downloader ever. Much like MXTube for iPhone.
TuneIn Radio - Nice online radio app.
WinAmp - Like the desktop app, good for listening to language audios.
Browsers
--------------
Opera Mobile - solid, fast, can easily turn on/off features. Logical layout across all mobile platforms from Android to iPhone to Symbian to Java phones.
Firefox - only because you can add adblock plus plugin to block ads.
Default browser - Sadly, you still need this to access some free WiFi login pages.
Viewers
------------
Adobe Reader - default PDF viewer. Can extract and view just text in Japanese/Chinese, but won't handle every PDF out there.
PerfectViewer + PDF plugin - handles those PDFs Adobe Reader can't.
ComicRack Free - Very nice image/comic viewer. Simply ZIP up a folder of pictures and voila! You can flip through them like a book. Handles standard CBZ/etc. comic formats as well. You can scan in all of your Language books as JPG, then ZIP up the folder. (Note: Mac ZIPping sometimes creates zips that don't work - use a PC!) Must have.
CoolReader/EbookDroid/FBReader - handles those other EPUB/DJVU/etc. formats.
QuickPic - Fast picture viewer. Quick, logical, fast.
Games
========
Ataroid, Gensoid, PianoPerfect, Cut the Rope - Some of the better emulators/games out there. Gensoid is totally perfect for Sonic the Hedgehog!
Thoughts for the 1st week.
Very easy to get a hacked system up and running. Faster than the iPad since you don't have that ugly 700+MB ROM image to download for the usual Sn0w.
Very little OS protection. Thus, backup a clean image of the MicroSD card once you've got it setup and running. No root password even! What was G thinking?!? Would not trust the tablet for credit card/etc transactions since you really don't know if it's been hacked from outside or infected due to OS weaknesses. (Not like BB or Symbian where it's far, far, far, harder or impossible to be hacked/infected from the internet if you've got the device secured. Can't remember a single virus report for the Symbian platform in the past couple of years...)
---
Powerful HW - thus, 1080i H.264 videos playback fine after encoding on the PC. Screen is iPad quality, nice at all angles. Bright enough for everything except outdoor daylight use. Sound quality over headphones is decent, speakers could be better and placed in front/side - otherwise can be muffled.
Dual core sometimes lags as you load up more programs at the same time, so install and bring the SYSTEMPANEL LITE app to KILL ALL programs fast! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED APP!!
BRIGHTNESS LEVEL widget for the home screen is another nice app to install since it doesn't have auto-brightness control.
WiFi sees routers and connects quickly. Nice, no trouble here.
Lack of Ad-Hoc means you can't connect it to a phone that's sharing on such. Might try the Ad-hoc fix....the reports of it messing up the OS and resetting everything isn't enticing however...
---
Runs most things like they ought to run - like a mini-version of Windows. That said, it isn't Windows and you do bump up into the usual limitations of the Android OS quickly.
Browsers quickly run up against the usual 'tablet' but not 'pc' issues - sites are not formatted correctly, don't come up right, can't open, don't run, etc. Thus, trying multiple browsers like Opera and Firefox is the only way to access some sites, while others are simply not available.
Can't run a DOS game easily (virtual keyboards block what you see, must get an external keyboard then), can't program in C++ in a VS-like editor on the tablet, can't run Java apps without converting to APK, and.... none of the zilliions and zillions of apps already out for the iOS platform.
That's probably the biggest lag - you can find everything, often better, for the iOS platform, but not for the Android platform. This is where the iPad mini will take $$$ away from millions of users as they switch over when it arrives.
Even a simple program like GoodReader alone is enough to make or break. For language study, Midori and Japanese on the iOS is awesome vs. anything out for Android.
Also, it's not Windows, so when the sub 1lbs Windows 8 tablets arrive later this year, many will switch over just to get 'real' work done along with full desktop app access - VS, Office, etc.
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The $150 price point is great! Can't say anything about it other than Best Purchase Ever for This Price Point in a multimedia tablet device. It won't do everything an iPad or Windows Tablet can do, but nothing they've released sells as cheap as $150. Thus, for the 90% of Tablet tasks, this one does them all quite nicely - the best iPad alternative for the time being until the iPad mini arrives.
Form factor is just about perfect for the lightweight, one-handed, quick net access and ebook reading. iPad is just too heavy; Windows Tablets even more so.
As long as you don't need the GPS, cameras, bluetooth, etc. of other Android tablets, this one will do fine, cheaper. (probably never since my phone will do all that)
Plus, it's one of the BEST Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog emulators I've ever played! Responsive, fast, crisp, nice!
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16GB MicroSD is just barely enough to hold several dozen music videos and several dozen scanned langauge/ebooks. JPEG ebooks take space and that's the reason. Otherwise, if it's just PDFs, you can get much more free space. Would rather have stuck in a 32GB card as a heavy multimedia user...
While class 4 is slow to load vs faster cards, once the media is loaded, they all play and access fast and fine. No problems scrolling through 2 hour videos in an instant.
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Tested a few converters thus far.
Handbrake on the Mac can make playable videos, but now and then, for no reason, the video won't play. Not sure what's the cause yet, but still looking into this. Probably one of the advanced settings or something...
IMTOO on the PC works fine as long as you set the LEVEL to 4.1 or less for H.264 conversions. It'll convert to 1080s that play fine on the tablet all the time. Recommended.
Nero Recode doesn't work if you select all of the advanced options like 8x8, etc. on that one page before starting the encode. Still working through those settings as well.
Naturally, if you upload to YouTube then download it using TubeMate, it'll generally play fine.
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BEST/CHEAPEST Screen protector film ever?
Daiso stores in the USA and Japan sell the KO-11-P10/D-139 No. 31 LCD Protection Film A4 size for $1.50. Cut it yourself and you can make 2 screen protectors. Applies very easily, sticks perfectly, no bubbling at all, barely a color or tint shift, and thin. (Just don't crease it or you'll get a bubble after applying. Use removable Scotch tape to take off a dust particle on your screen if it lands as you're applying. Make sure the screen is perfectly clean beforehand - use removable Scotch tape across the entire screen after it's been microfiber wiped.)
I was thinking of the coolness factor of just having one device, a phone, to which you could connect an external display and have an extended desktop. I am not finding any reference to this on Android (only the MS Surface). From what I have been reading, and remember/understand (may be confused), Jelly Bean brought the ability for windowing apps. However, the apps have to be coded for the capability, unless you root your phone and installed an app that provided windowing for all apps. Also, I have not heard of the possibility of having an extended desktop in Android.
I would like to ask WHY? Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop, on an external display? A bluetooth keyboard and mouse just follows. Does google have to play nice with the manufacturers that stand to loose from people only needing one device? Is there a reason I'm not thinking of? Most phones are fast enough for this these days.
At the turn of the century, I was running GPS software Deluo Routis on a Sony Vaio 505 Pentium 200Mhz laptop running Win98. The 2-D graphics were smooth even while playing mp3's through the car speakers. The mapping software showed the map clearly, and effectively gave me navigation. People have lost sight of how much you can do if you give up the bloat and bling.
Also, I am pretty confused with the merging of Android and Chrome. I never liked Java to begin with; my experience with it is in MS Windows, and it runs slow as molasses. I believe my phone would run much faster if they had not chosen Java. I understand this to be because you have an operating system running on top of another operating system. It just makes more sense to me to have less layers and run apps natively, for better performance. I thought maybe they chose Java for its level of security. Is the screening process for Google Play not foolproof enough?
I like the philosophy of Google better than Microsoft**, so if one of them is going to win, I hope it's Google. I'm hoping Google won't end up with a convoluted Android/Chrome operating system because Lawyers forced them to (the idea I get based on the latest news). I don't understand: do they want to keep their OS architecture simple, but are being forced to make the OS complex for different reasons?
**Apple doesn't even want to compete. They have never wanted to dominate, just make huge profits. Unless they break up the marriage of hardware and software, they won't win. Then again, if Samsung keeps dominating, there may not be much hardware diversity?
Oh, and my main question was: "Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop?". Wouldn't that be a big deciding factor for anyone that wanted to simplify and just have one device?
Anybody? Tell me I'm crazy at least. There has to be a strategic reason, that Google does not introduce full windowing and extended desktop support.
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Sent from my Samsung i437p using Tapatalk and CM 10.2
E_Phather said:
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you do it right now with any android device having a video port?
Well lets look at how we could achieve this with todays technology.
Input:
Bluetooth Mouse & keyboard.
Output:
Wireless display with support for older displays using something like Chromecast.
Graphical User Interface:
A secondary Launcher/Application (Which could potentially see companies like MS & Canonical developing their own UI's and Charging for them if required).
Home & Office use with one device:
Home would be the default UI, but when your device has used NFC to log into the office it would automatically enable your Office profile/UI for a certain length of time (requiring you to log back in after a set time or manual log out via another NFC tap).
This would be very useful as it would enable you to take your "desktop" environment anywhere with you and connect to any HDTV with Wireless display/Chromecast support.
Applications:
So if like me you are finding your phone to become ever more a better solution to your digital needs and you only require your desktop for apps which work better with larger displays (Videos & certain games) you will find this very useful.
Games:
Now games could become ever more better as they could be controlled using standardised control inputs (game controllers could use standardised input methods allowing you to select any compatible controller to best suit your needs) or even a driving game could allow you to see the game on a HDTV yet be controlled with the accelerometer for steering and the right of the devices touch display would be the accelerator and the left of the display would be the brakes for example.
More Business Solutions:
If you could wirelessly connect to the office display then show a powerpoint style presentation that would be great because the very device which stores the file would also be your controller to move to the next/pevious slides.
Media:
Music could possibly be stored in the cloud so when your on the move you can listen to your music as many of us do now, but when connected to a large display it could utilise the large display and speakers to show a music video too!.
Photos could be viewed on the large screen and the next one to be displayed could be select on the device (allowing the use to avoid showing anyone pictures which they don't want other to see - ie: pitcures of you and your friends whilst your parents/grandparents are in the room...).
The TV Guide:
The TV Guide would become a very interactive thing which allows you to see what is available on other TV channels without other people in the room being limited to viewing the content they are trying to watch in a small box in the corner of the display...
These are just some ideas of what is possible, but I know that you could do so much more with this and with 64-bit technology coming to many mobile devices soon that will make it so much easier for devices to process all of this data at once without any serious lag!.
I would love to see a group of developers on XDA team up on an open desktop (secondary) launcher to run alongside the users primary (phone) launcher. if there was a project like this with an open framework to develop apps for I'd be happy to start developing apps for that or separate UI's to run alongside my current (Phone/Android) apps UI's.
Edit:
Also remember that this could be utilised in other ways too eg:: connecting your device to your car and your device could deliver your navigation & music to your vehicles display whilst getting important traffic/weather news using your devices network connection!.
Isn't this exactly what the Ubuntu phone intends to do or have I got the wrong idea?
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Yes, but with Android already having a large ecosystem it would make a lot of sense to build upon that.
Chromecast is not "open" to third party apps. http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...eeds-to-Tread-Lightly-With/8/28/2013/id/51502
Do they have a displayport version of Chromecast? *cough*
quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/set-top-boxes/457036-testing-google-chromecast/
"Chromecast is also not a particularly good desktop mirroring option, either. It actually can't do full desktop mirroring, and instead works solely with the Chrome browser. In beta right now is Chrome tab streaming, which sends to Chromecast everything that can be rendered in a single Chrome tab, including web pages, flash embeds, and even full-screen MKV video files if you have VLC installed. I like that Chrome tab streaming works independently of what's showing on your laptop or desktop's screen--like with YouTube and Netflix, you can multi-task and switch to other tabs or windows while one tab is being streamed. The only thing that matters is the window size and screen resolution. Chromecast will automatically scale the aspect ratio of your window to fill up your TV screen, adding black bars on the sides to avoid stretching. A full-screen resolution of 1440x900 looked good on a large 1080p TV, but streaming from a 2560x1600 monitor at full-screen made the text unreadable on my 70" TV."
Wow... I thought only displayport was capable of 2560x1600 (edit: hdmi v1.3 brought this). Even if I hook it up to my 2560x1600 monitor, it won't really display anything but entertainment. Chromecast doesn't seem to be a way to have a monitor, to use your Android phone as a PC replacement.
AllCast !!!
http://www.geek.com/android/chromecast-reject-becomes-allcast-public-beta-now-available-1578674/
However, I still need to add some kind of wifi enabled device to my 30" lcd monitor (like with chromecast). Really, I don't mind a cable connection from my phone to my monitor, if that was an option. If Google continues to be closed like this, then I would go for Ubuntu phone.
Displayport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyDP#SlimPort
Any phones have this besides the Google Nexus 4? Actually, I'm not getting a new phone until I know what the hell will happen with Android / Chrome OS
Quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/android/457205-mhl-vs-slimport/
"SlimPort's support for the DisplayPort standard--specifically Mobility DisplayPort--means it can output video at the same 4K resolution as MHL, though not via HDMI (yet, anyway). And here SlimPort hasn't really made good on its potential, yet; though it's based on the flexible DisplayPort standard, the only SlimPort adapters currently available are for VGA and HDMI connectors. The upshot is that you won't be plugging a Nexus 7 into a 1440p DisplayPort computer monitor anytime soon." http://www.slimportconnect.com/
Chromecast May Get Screen Mirroring With Android 4.4.1
Evidence in Android 4.4.1 indicates that screen mirroring is coming to Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/chromecast-google-screen-mirroring-kitkat-android,25345.html
It could start with mirroring a primary display, but gradually result in mirroring something that a GPU has rendered for a secondary display.
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
mraeryceos said:
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that myself with my previous Galaxy S4 (i9500), It was a great dock and when I connected my wireless KB & Mouse USB dongle & connected the HDMI to my PC monitor it was a good experience when doing things like playing GTA3 on the bigger screen (it was better than the windows version in some ways).
But the device just needed a separate home screen UI to be output to the PC screen to look perfect and to work better with the KB & Mouse input type.
It shouldn't be too difficult to make a UI that simply changes the size of some buttons to a smaller size, enabling more widgets to fit on the home screen and if they could simply force the apps to run in either windowed or full screen that would enable better multi-tasking, then the browsers would just need a small update to detect if the device is running in Desktop Mode if so, then simply zoom out of the page a little to emulate the desktop browser experience.
Just a few ideas... If Google's Android team are reading this, I would recommend that you get that dock to experiment with for future Android builds.
Especially now that OS' like Ubuntu Phone are looking at going down this road of the one device fits all computational needs.
Rather than creating a new thread I thought that it would appropriate to bring this topic back up after the recent announcements that several OEM's have made, that they will be releasing desktops with Android as their Primary/Secondary OS.
I hope that this pushes Google into creating a dedicated desktop UI in the future.
And believe me I've virtually tried them all, or at least the best of the bunch.
You get users who praise apps that really only trim video files, and add very basic effects. No, I'm talking about a proper video editing apps with a scrolling 'timeline', with realtime rendered playback preview of effects, texts and transitions.
The only one's that come remotely close are 'VideoPad Pro' and 'Clesh', Clesh is a great cloud editing system but it's a little basic but I'm sure this will improve. VideoPad feels the closest to a PC type UI, but seems to struggle slightly playing back in realtime on what is a powerful Sony flagship phone, 'TrakAx MovieExpress' is a known PC editing suit, but it's Android UI clunky, and not intuitive, also realtime playback is really bad.
The Android original 4.3 version 'Video editor' is also not a smooth candidate, but it has a few effects, transitions and a basic text feature.
Basically they all suffer very limiting 'title' and 'text' functions, some allowing a single font style, some with no text manipulation at all.
So those video editing software developers out there, come on, start producing something in the realms on iOS I Movie, and Reel Director, Android phones should well be able support apps of this quality.
Just needed to have this moan..... After all. it is Christmas.
Happy Christmas
Regards
Livio
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