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I love my 2013 Nexus 7 but I yearn for something a bit bigger on which to watch my moofies. I wouldn't consider a Nexus 9 due to the SoC and light bleed etc. I was hoping the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 was going to be essentially an 8 or 10 inch Galaxy S6 in terms of build quality, performance and cut-down TouchWiz, but now that dream has gone from me. Front-facing speakers would also be nice. I'd like minimum 32GB onboard storage; SD slot would be good but not required. Should I continue to dream on? Is there another Galaxy Tab in our near future? Oh yeah, I'd considered a Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet, since I love the Xperia Z3 Compact phone. Is that my best bet?
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Aug 12, 2015 18:00
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I was going to suggest a Nvidia Shield tablet, but it looks like with the recall and them having to replace all the units. You can't find any on the shelves.
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Aug 13, 2015 05:14
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Nexus 7 2013 WiFi just got an update - probably the Stagefright fix. 10MB download.
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Aug 13, 2015 13:18
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Last night I fired up my Nexus 10 that I still haven't sold off, updated it fully to 5.1.1, and gave it a run compared to the N9. Make no mistake, the N10 is slower all things being equal (and you can feel it) and the screen is rather muted compared to the N9. However, it's just so much more consistent that it almost feels faster on a whole. It also feels less unwieldy to hold compared to the N9 despite being larger and heavier overall. I think it's because the edges are tapered more. The N10 just shows none of the random pauses and hangs that the N9 does. So, this morning I broke down and ordered a Nexus 7 2013 (16gb this time since I don't need 32gb really and it was only $149), almost exactly 2 years to the day from when I originally bought one. I really wanted to like the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 due to the screen, but I just can't get past Touchwiz and I really doubt it's going to get Android M. I may look at one in person this afternoon and we'll see if maybe I'll fall in love and cancel the N7 order, but I don't think so. Plus I already have a carrying case that fits the N7 and my wireless charger will need something to do after I buy a Moto X.
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Aug 13, 2015 16:49
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bull3964 posted:Last night I fired up my Nexus 10 that I still haven't sold off, updated it fully to 5.1.1, and gave it a run compared to the N9. The N7 is so nice. I only got an iPad because for a few months I had to read a ton of PDF, and it was just too small. I tried the N9, but it was garbage, so I got an iPad Air. That project is done, and now I wish I had an N7 again.
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Aug 13, 2015 17:53
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I really really wish I could have an updated N7 with a Snapdragon 808, 3gb of RAM and a 1440 screen. Keep everything physical about it the same. It would just be perfect. I'm going to hang on to the N9 for now, probably through the official M rollout, just on the off chance it gets sorted. But even if the performance gets fixed, I flat out just don't like the form factor. 9" 4:3 just isn't clicking for me. It's a stretch to palm even for me so it just isn't as convenient to hold and use. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Aug 13, 2015 |
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Aug 13, 2015 18:05
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bull3964 posted:The N10 just shows none of the random pauses and hangs that the N9 does. bull3964 posted:
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Aug 13, 2015 18:13
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Rastor posted:Have you tried doing a factory reset on the N9 after installing the 5.1.1 OTA? It made a noticeable improvement on mine. Yes, I burned it to the ground completely, formatting partitions and flashing each image manually. It's fine for 2-3 days after something like that is done, then it just goes downhill. It's just so inconsistent. 1 minute it will be silky smooth and blazing, another it will take 20 seconds to switch from Chrome to Hangouts. Chrome, especially, it just horribly terrible on it. I just know any time I invoke the browser it'll just tank the whole device.
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Aug 13, 2015 18:24
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Out of curiosity, are there any articles that explain why the SoC in the N9 was/is crappy?
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Aug 14, 2015 04:42
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WhyteRyce posted:Out of curiosity, are there any articles that explain why the SoC in the N9 was/is crappy?  Project Denver if you want to learn about the history of their binary translation. Anandtech covered it in their Nexus 9 review though. Basically it relies a lot on preconditioned executables, so non-stochastic workloads (some synthetic benchmarks) Denver's really, really good at -- especially after a couple of runs. In less predictable usage (real world) though, performance is wildly inconsistent.Anandtech: Nexus 9 Review quote:Unfortunately, even in benchmarks where the DCO should be able to easily unroll loops to achieve massive amounts of performance, we see inconsistent performance in Denver. This may come down to an issue with the DCO, or even more simply the fact that Denver is spending more time than it would like to directly executing ARM code as opposed to going through the DCO. Star War Sex Parrot posted:There are some synthetic benchmarks that show Denver in a favorable light, but that doesn't make it a good architecture. Their binary translation is cute, but I don't think it's destined for a long shelf life. From an IPC standpoint, Denver's almost embarrassing when you consider NVIDIA needed 2.5GHz to match the single-core performance of a 1.5GHz "Enhanced Cyclone" ARM core. Star War Sex Parrot posted:Speculation: Though I'm sure it wasn't planned to be the "good tech" in the Shield Tablet, they went with the safer ARM core choice for that product. It was likely too risky to tie both their future SoC business and Shield marketing dollars to a radical architecture, especially when the GPU is arguably the more important component for the Shield Tablet anyway. Pairing Kepler with an off-the-shelf ARM core for the Shield Tablet just made more sense, and in itself was still a bit of a risk. Save Denver for third-party ODM bids and see how it goes -- so far it doesn't look like anything else besides the Nexus 9 is going to use it. Star War Sex Parrot posted:It's also interesting to note that NVIDIA's latest roadmap does not show Parker (Denver CPU + Maxwell GPU) for 2015 anymore, only a thrown-together part Erista (licensed Cortex A57/A53 CPUs + Maxwell GPU) that is more akin to the SoC that went into the Shield Tablet. Erista looks to be a beast and will likely power NVIDIA's 64-bit "Shield Tablet 2" or whatever they decide to call it this year. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 04:54
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Denver
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I hope they do another binary translation core because I just love post post postin' about Project Denver. It's not completely unusable, but its performance characteristics and quirks are unlike most CPUs out there,so people sometimes get frustrated at the unusual pauses and hitches.
Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 05:21
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If you only want to do one thing on the N9, it works great. However, if you want to switch between doing many things on the tablet, you want to fastball the thing into the wall. 10-15 seconds to switch from chrome to hangouts is unfuckingacceptable. I used to think it was just lollipop until I actually got lollipop on my phone. Then I just realized it was this device. Thrice burned by Nvidia, never again. I said it after the Nexus 7 2012, but I got soft and though that HTC and Google would actually build something flagship level with their flagship priced tablet. If only the thing had the same 805 in it as the Nexus 6 and Droid Turbo, it would have been a pretty nice device (even if I still wasn't thrilled about the form factor.) But an advanced 64 bit processor that can't multitask is just baby town frolics. It shouldn't have gotten out of engineering samples let alone been the launch product for Google's new operating system.
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Aug 14, 2015 05:37
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bull3964 posted:If only the thing had the same 805 in it as the Nexus 6 and Droid Turbo, it would have been a pretty nice device (even if I still wasn't thrilled about the form factor.) But an advanced 64 bit processor that can't multitask is just baby town frolics. It shouldn't have gotten out of engineering samples let alone been the launch product for Google's new operating system.
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Aug 14, 2015 05:42
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Honestly the other Tegra K1 would have been a good choice too. Of course, in both cases, this means Google wouldn't have been able to show off 64 bit android and I think we all know that was the real reason for the choice of Denver. Edit: I think I just realized what my main beef of Android tablets is right now. There's no Motorola equivalent out there. Solid hardware with good long term support and sensible enhancements on top of stock Android. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 05:46
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bull3964 posted:Make no mistake, the N10 is slower all things being equal (and you can feel it) and the screen is rather muted compared to the N9. However, it's just so much more consistent that it almost feels faster on a whole. It also feels less unwieldy to hold compared to the N9 despite being larger and heavier overall. I think it's because the edges are tapered more. I've tried wiping/reflashing it before and I'll try it again when M is released but I don't hold out much hope for it.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:22
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I'm wondering... any of you N9 owners have tried something else than chrome? I hate that poo poo and usually stick with either Opera or Firefox.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:57
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Guillermus posted:I'm wondering... any of you N9 owners have tried something else than chrome? I hate that poo poo and usually stick with either Opera or Firefox. If your Google-sold tablet on its Google-controlled OS can't run Google services and Google's own browser, would it really be okay if the solution was to just change the browser? I mean even if it worked (and it wouldn't for all the reasons Star War Sex Parrot stated above) wouldn't it bother you that such a thing was required?
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Aug 14, 2015 13:21
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LastInLine posted:If your Google-sold tablet on its Google-controlled OS can't run Google services and Google's own browser, would it really be okay if the solution was to just change the browser? I mean even if it worked (and it wouldn't for all the reasons Star War Sex Parrot stated above) wouldn't it bother you that such a thing was required? Flip that: If your Microsoft-sold tablet on its Microsoft OS with Microsoft's browser got outperformed by Google's browser, wouldn't it bother you? Seriously you've got a weird attitude toward computers.
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Aug 14, 2015 13:30
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Pyroxene Stigma posted:If your Microsoft-sold tablet on its Microsoft OS with Microsoft's browser got outperformed by Google's browser, wouldn't it bother you? Sounds like a situation that would be worthy of great mockery and general derision. Fortunately, Edge fixed the issue.
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Aug 14, 2015 13:59
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Pyroxene Stigma posted:If your Microsoft-sold tablet on its Microsoft OS with Microsoft's browser got outperformed by Google's browser, wouldn't it bother you?
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Aug 14, 2015 14:00
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Pyroxene Stigma posted:Flip that: That would bother me. I'd probably not ever use a Microsoft computer if that were the case. Which it is, and I don't.
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Aug 14, 2015 14:40
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LastInLine posted:If your Google-sold tablet on its Google-controlled OS can't run Google services and Google's own browser, would it really be okay if the solution was to just change the browser? I mean even if it worked (and it wouldn't for all the reasons Star War Sex Parrot stated above) wouldn't it bother you that such a thing was required? I have a Nexus 7 2013 that works perfectly, I just don't use chrome because I don't like it. My question was as simple as if chrome performs like poo poo, while other apps run fine why not try something else. And funny that now Edge outperforms every other browser on Windows 10.
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Aug 14, 2015 20:40
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I think the limitations of the SOC would extend to other browsers based on what swsp wrote.
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Aug 14, 2015 20:46
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TheQat posted:I think the limitations of the SOC would extend to other browsers based on what swsp wrote. That and I'm not going to change browsers for one tablet. I don't really consider that a valid workaround since I would be giving up all that I sync across platforms. Amazon was even faster than normal and I got my new N7 this afternoon after ordering yesterday. What's funny is my N9 was feeling zippy this morning and I thought to myself "maybe I'm being too critical" until chrome froze while scrolling and touch inputs paused for a good 30 seconds before suddenly executing every touch input I gave it while I was trying to get it to respond.
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Aug 14, 2015 20:53
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I'm just lucky my use case for the n9 is so narrow. Kindle, comixology, and twitch. I barely touch chrome or anything else and I find it quite livable
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Aug 14, 2015 20:56
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Apparently the Zenpad 8 (with better cpu and higher ram) is "available", although Amazon still lists it as out of stock. I was going to wait until the Shield Tablet 2 was announced (supposedly this month) but I may pick this up instead. http://www.androidcentral.com/asus-announces-new-zenpad-s-8-model-increased-storage http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenPad-Z...alb-20&m1k=d_ac
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Aug 18, 2015 20:14
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Asus and Nvidia SoC make up for some stuff I can't forget (like my still alive TF-201...).
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Aug 18, 2015 21:19
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Guillermus posted:Asus and Nvidia SoC make up for some stuff I can't forget (like my still alive TF-201...). My TF-201 is almost unusable. It's only use now is as a web cam monitor that I never touch. Anything else is too slow. I can't even use Chrome on it anymore without constant freezing
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Aug 18, 2015 21:38
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Mine is mostly for video playing when I'm not at home, other than that is as slow as my Galaxy S from 2010. This is using a modified CM 10.2 (Android 4.3) because the stock firmware just goes nuts.
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Aug 18, 2015 21:46
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So, too early to make a definitive statement, but so far preview 3 has been a massive improvement for me on the N9. I've actually been able to switch apps away from the browser and go back without it having to reload a tab. Then again, I just got the update last night and the thing always degrades over time. A week with my new N7 though has just been great. I can notice that it's slower than the N9 doing some things, but it multitasks so much better. It's such a great buy at $149. I'm glad to have it back.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:53
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If I am looking for a LTE tablet, is waiting for the tab s2 in my best interest?
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Aug 22, 2015 01:19
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Calidus posted:If I am looking for a LTE tablet, is waiting for the tab s2 in my best interest? If you don't mind the 4:3 aspect, then yes.
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Aug 23, 2015 15:22
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This might be an odd request, but does anyone know of a decent, modern tablet running at least Lollipop (or some CM-equal) that does not have any camera, microphone, and does not have GPS? I occasionally have to go to a facility that restricts any recording/etc and want something to use on wifi.
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Aug 23, 2015 15:31
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Biowarfare posted:This might be an odd request, but does anyone know of a decent, modern tablet running at least Lollipop (or some CM-equal) that does not have any camera, microphone, and does not have GPS? I occasionally have to go to a facility that restricts any recording/etc and want something to use on wifi.
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Aug 23, 2015 15:35
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Tesla Was Robbed posted:I think a nook hd would work, but you'll need to put CM12 on it for lollipop. This was my first instinct as well, but then I remembered that the nook hd has a mic.
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Aug 23, 2015 16:33
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Tesla Was Robbed posted:I think a nook hd would work, but you'll need to put CM12 on it for lollipop. I can't remember if it has a mic, but the other stuff would work. It really stretches the definition of modern though. Pretty sluggish.
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Aug 23, 2015 16:33
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BeastOfExmoor posted:I can't remember if it has a mic, but the other stuff would work. It really stretches the definition of modern though. Pretty sluggish. What do I know. I still love my Asus Eee tablet, and will soon be replacing it with something similar but bigger.
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Aug 24, 2015 17:22
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So I did the Shield Tablet recall and my new one was shipped to me today. I unlocked, rooted, flashed custom recovery and custom ROM on my old one. Then turned on the new one and got it running. Both running perfectly. The note in the box indicated that my old one would bet deactivated as soon as I setup my new tablet and I could dispose of it following my local e-waste guidelines. So I don't even need to ship it back. This is pretty awesome.
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Aug 25, 2015 01:39
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My Notice letter with my replacement specifically said not to throw it away as they would be shipping me a box to return the old one in.
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Aug 25, 2015 09:43
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Boywunda posted:So I did the Shield Tablet recall and my new one was shipped to me today. I unlocked, rooted, flashed custom recovery and custom ROM on my old one. Then turned on the new one and got it running. Both running perfectly. The note in the box indicated that my old one would bet deactivated as soon as I setup my new tablet and I could dispose of it following my local e-waste guidelines. So I don't even need to ship it back. This is pretty awesome. A couple Qs: What country are you in? What custom rom did you go with? Just asking because I'm in the UK and haven't received my replacement tablet yet.
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Aug 27, 2015 18:59
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