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Athenry posted:If price is the main problem, what's wrong with the regular Surface 3? It's not as powerful and the screen is smaller, but functionality is the same as the Pros. Honestly, the little I know about tech stuff pretty much stops when you get below laptops, so I wasn't sure how limiting that would be. But at the same time, he really wants a keyboard with whatever he gets, and those will raise the price by another $130 or so, it looks like. Are there cheap generics of that that are any good?
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Nov 13, 2015 18:17
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My Mum wants a tablet to replace her crappy old laptop. She currently has an Android phone though and plans to use Chromecast. Would this be an issue if she got an iPad?
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Nov 13, 2015 22:11
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Red_Fred posted:My Mum wants a tablet to replace her crappy old laptop. She currently has an Android phone though and plans to use Chromecast. Would this be an issue if she got an iPad? Depends on the Apps she uses Chromecast with. Many have Chromecast support on the iPad too (Youtube, Netflix...), but some only support Airplay instead.
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Nov 16, 2015 07:45
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Red_Fred posted:My Mum wants a tablet to replace her crappy old laptop. She currently has an Android phone though and plans to use Chromecast. Would this be an issue if she got an iPad? The Nvidia Shield Tablet is $200 and, from all accounts, is pretty drat good. Also, they fixed the battery issues of the previous generation. RoanHorse posted:Literally was writing an edit to that post (and was interrupted for 30+ minutes) saying I'd tried the Nook HD at one point and had a sour experience with it. If there's a custom ROM for the HD+ that can't be rolled over by B&N at any point, I'll give it a shot. berzerkmonkey fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Nov 17, 2015 |
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Nov 17, 2015 22:00
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I actually just got a Nook off of Ebay to mess around with and see if it could work for my needs, so I'll try that. Thanks.
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Nov 18, 2015 15:13
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Is the kindle paperwhite still the recommended e-reader? I've had an iPad mini for a year or so but haven't ever used it for anything else, so I figure to pass it along to the wife and maybe pick one up when it goes on sale in the next week.
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Nov 18, 2015 17:36
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Well that depends what you want out of an e-reader, but it's the best one with an e-paper screen.
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Nov 18, 2015 18:09
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Last I heard, that's the best all-round for reading (easy on the eyes, etc.)? I'm not sure what other options one might look for. The file restriction is admittedly quite annoying but there look to be a few tools out there to help now.
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Nov 18, 2015 18:49
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B!G_$W@NG@ posted:Last I heard, that's the best all-round for reading (easy on the eyes, etc.)? I'm not sure what other options one might look for. The file restriction is admittedly quite annoying but there look to be a few tools out there to help now. For ebooks, I've never had a problem using Calibre to convert to a Kindle format. The only thing I don't like about the Kindle is the bookshelf (or lack thereof.) iBooks and Aldiko do a great sorting job, but the Kindle is a jumbled mess. The best you can do is manually sort books into folders, and its time consuming and a pain.
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Nov 18, 2015 19:38
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berzerkmonkey posted:For ebooks, I've never had a problem using Calibre to convert to a Kindle format. The only thing I don't like about the Kindle is the bookshelf (or lack thereof.) iBooks and Aldiko do a great sorting job, but the Kindle is a jumbled mess. The best you can do is manually sort books into folders, and its time consuming and a pain. Does the screen quality/functionality outweigh that drawback? The screen, as I understood it, was the most superior piece. I'm certainly open to other suggestions, I just thought for a straight ebook, the paperwhite was the go-to these days.
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Nov 18, 2015 19:44
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B!G_$W@NG@ posted:Does the screen quality/functionality outweigh that drawback? The screen, as I understood it, was the most superior piece. I'm certainly open to other suggestions, I just thought for a straight ebook, the paperwhite was the go-to these days. To be completely honest, I'm not sure? I know it is a bad answer, but I don't know if moving from iBooks to the Kindle was an improvement. I actually thought iBooks was good, and with the themes, I didn't have a difficult time reading at all. With Android devices though, I've yet to find a perfect reading app - I like the bookshelves the apps offer, but reading has been so-so for me on all the apps I've tried. With the Kindle, I like the form factor (beats lugging a Gen 1 iPad) or a larger tablet (Nook HD+) around. It is very easy to read in all light levels (backlight works great.) Book storage isn't great, but I understand that most people don't keep an entire library on their devices. Page turning is pretty good, but there is a short "flicker" delay that you don't get on the iPad or Android devices - I know this is an e-ink think though, so it is what it is. It's a little weird to hold in my hand - I'm either used to a larger device or a real book, and my hands don't want to conform to the Kindle for some reason. Reading, though, reading is... off for me and I can't figure out what my problem with it is. I don't know if the screen size throws me off (less text on the screen than a tablet or real book) or if it is something else, but I just don't get the desire to read on that device and I don't know why. It's 99.9% probable that the issue is me and not the device - but I'll actually think "I really need to read that (virtual) stack of books..." and then just go bleh and not do it because reading on the Kindle is just not a thing that gives me joy. I don't hate it, I just am so ambivalent about the device that I actually read less now (and it kills me to say that.) So, personal weirdness aside, yeah, if you do not have an iPad and are looking for something to read ebooks on, the Kindle is the way to go. You can't beat the price, especially if you can snag it on a sale (and I'm sure it will be on sale in the coming weeks.) Worst case, if you don't like it, you can give it as a really nice gift to your mom or whatever. I'm sure you won't hate it when you use it.
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Nov 18, 2015 20:35
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Can you recommend me a cheap(ish) tablet with a big screen? I'd like to use it to read, annotate and reference scientific articles, which are usually printed on A4 or letter sized pages. Text reflow is a hit and miss with illustrations and formulas, which is why a big screen would be nice. I'm kind on tempted by the Onyx Boox m96 android e-reader, but I'm a bit doubtful whether the e-paper is responsive enough for anything else than reading.
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Nov 19, 2015 20:48
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Jasper Tin Neck posted:I'm a bit doubtful whether the e-paper is responsive enough for anything else than reading. I had a Nook Simpletouch running Gingerbread Android that I played video games on and it worked well enough, although endless runners and games with constant swirling visual effects didn't work very well. It was fun pretending the forums were a sprawling poorly-edited newspaper; I think there's some photos in Ferg's old Awful App thread.
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Nov 20, 2015 01:54
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Which has the better form factor for farting around on the internet on, a larger iPad Air 2 or an iPad mini 4? I want to get something to help rip me off the keyboard/touchpad since I want to associate that tacticle feeling with getting work done.
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Nov 24, 2015 00:36
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Hey!  Besides being old and used and from possibly low rated sellers this seems like a good deal!http://amzn.com/B00C9V5FGC I'm looking for something cheap to take notes (using stylus or some kind of phallic object) with in class. Not totally opposed to adding one of those little keyboards. But then I'd be all clickity clackity in class. Under $200 American hopefully. Preferably Android? I dunno, I like Android on mobile stuff. Windows just ain't as intuitive to me. And Apple is for girls (I'm not a girl). The Asus vivtotab 8 seems like a lot of bang for it's buck at $250. And at $350 the Toshiba Encore 2 Write 8inch gets rave reviews. If I go cheapshit on this is it going to be something where maybe the writing with the stylus will be slow, inaccurate, mindmeltingly lovely, or all of the above? All I need to do is take notes and have enough battery for a few hours of class. No frills needed, no apps or games. But don't want an electric lunch tray either! Thanks!  The Amazon Fire or Kindle brand (or whatever they do) has that kind of stuff I think (maybe?) but I mainly associate the Kindle/Fire stuff with girls reading 50 Shades of Grey by the pool. I dunno! fartzone_42069 fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 04:25
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Looking for an Android tablet that would be pretty much used for games, a little movie watching and reading. Preferably 4g enabled and good chunk of storage space. Non 4g isn't a deal breaker though. Like to keep it under 200. If that isn't realistic just tell me so.
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Nov 24, 2015 06:59
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fartzone_42069 posted:The Asus vivtotab 8 seems like a lot of bang for it's buck at $250. And at $350 the Toshiba Encore 2 Write 8inch gets rave reviews. The Vivotab has quality issues and the Toshiba Encore 2 Write is designed for Windows 8.1 so if you move to 10, you'll lose those toshiba apps (plus windows 10 is dogshit garbage on tablets) Just get a notebook because you'll look like King rear end in a top hat click clack smashing a stylus into a glass screen all class (seriously they're way louder than you expect)
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Nov 24, 2015 07:42
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So after being thoroughly irritated with the fact that Google has effectively made my 2012 Nexus 7 little more than a paperweight with Lollipop, I'm looking to replace it. I'm looking for a tablet that has the same form factor ( 7 inches), good wi-fi (for whatever reason my tablet could barely get 2 bars of wi-fi while every other device I had got the full 5), and access Google Drive for note-taking with as little lag as possible. This last part especially, as this decision was more or less predicated on my tablet taking like 10 minutes and multiple restarts just to open a Google Slides presentation. The issue I'm having is that tablets in this size don't seem to exist anymore, the latest is apparently the 2013 Nexus 7 and I'm hesitant to pick up a tablet that's 2 years old, especially given the issues I've been having with the 2012 version. The form factor is pretty much exactly what I want, so getting a larger tablet is something I'd like to avoid if at all possible. I do have a Nexus 6, but I prefer to use it as a phone-device and not a dedicated Google Drive machine like I would with a tablet. I'm not looking for a laptop or a netbook either, I prefer using laptops as desktop replacements and not as actual "mobile" devices like a phone or tablet. I would be using it with a Bluetooth keyboard, taking notes with the on-screen keyboard is always a losing proposition. With that all said, does such a tablet exist anymore? Where should I be looking if that's the case? Lord Justice fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 10:28
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Lord Justice posted:With that all said, does such a tablet exist anymore? No. The upshot is that some current 8-inch tablets are almost exactly the same wide/tall dimensions, because the 2012 N7 has such a big bezel area. Same-ish size with more screen. I assume this is why the 7-inch market turned entirely into 8s.
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Nov 24, 2015 12:08
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vulturesrow posted:Looking for an Android tablet that would be pretty much used for games, a little movie watching and reading. Preferably 4g enabled and good chunk of storage space. Non 4g isn't a deal breaker though. Like to keep it under 200. If that isn't realistic just tell me so. The Nvidia Shield Tablet K1 is what you're looking for. It does not have 4G, but it's under $200 and specifically made for gaming. I guess they had some battery issues with the previous model, but the newer version is supposed to be alright. Lord Justice posted:So after being thoroughly irritated with the fact that Google has effectively made my 2012 Nexus 7 little more than a paperweight with Lollipop, berzerkmonkey fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 14:14
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Call Me Charlie posted:The Vivotab has quality issues and the Toshiba Encore 2 Write is designed for Windows 8.1 so if you move to 10, you'll lose those toshiba apps (plus windows 10 is dogshit garbage on tablets) Thanks my girlfriend wants to get me a tablet for my birthday coming up. I start school in January. I'm going pen/paper/Trapper Keeper. If I were gifted a tablet I'd probably end up only watching porn on it. ("Why do you keep going to the bathroom to study??")
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Nov 24, 2015 17:53
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Lord Justice posted:With that all said, does such a tablet exist anymore? Where should I be looking if that's the case? I was in exactly your boat and got a refurbished 2013 Nexus 7. I couldn't be happier. Even if it only lasts a couple years before crapping out like my 2012 N7, I'll feel it was worth it.
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Nov 24, 2015 18:35
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Splizwarf posted:No. The upshot is that some current 8-inch tablets are almost exactly the same wide/tall dimensions, because the 2012 N7 has such a big bezel area. Same-ish size with more screen. I assume this is why the 7-inch market turned entirely into 8s. If 8 inch tablets are around the same size, that would work. I'll look into those, thanks for the advice. berzerkmonkey posted:Can you root it? I could probably figure it out, but I'd prefer to avoid doing that, I've never done it before and I don't want to risk completely destroying the thing. It's not quite entirely useless, just almost useless. werdnam posted:I was in exactly your boat and got a refurbished 2013 Nexus 7. I couldn't be happier. Even if it only lasts a couple years before crapping out like my 2012 N7, I'll feel it was worth it. I suppose if I could get it cheap enough that might be a decent enough option. I'm assuming in your case Lollipop didn't royally gently caress up the 2013 like it did the 2012? As well, would the 2013 be compatible with Bluetooth keyboard cases that work with the 2012? Thanks.
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Nov 24, 2015 18:43
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Lord Justice posted:I suppose if I could get it cheap enough that might be a decent enough option. I'm assuming in your case Lollipop didn't royally gently caress up the 2013 like it did the 2012? As well, would the 2013 be compatible with Bluetooth keyboard cases that work with the 2012? It's running Marshmallow just fine, in fact. I don't use a Bluetooth keyboard (or Bluetooth anything with the tablet) so I can't help you there, sorry. But since the 2013 has a rear camera and the 2012 does not, that might be an issue. Or maybe not, if you don't mind covering up the camera.
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Nov 24, 2015 18:50
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werdnam posted:It's running Marshmallow just fine, in fact. I don't use a Bluetooth keyboard (or Bluetooth anything with the tablet) so I can't help you there, sorry. But since the 2013 has a rear camera and the 2012 does not, that might be an issue. Or maybe not, if you don't mind covering up the camera. Mostly thinking of size, so it would sit properly in the keyboard case. I rather stupidly bought a new Bluetooth keyboard case for my 2012 recently after attempting to get it running somewhat normally, and would prefer not to waste the investment if possible. The tablet is pretty much purely a Google Drive machine, I wouldn't be using the camera for anything. The fact that it's running the latest OS fine is reassuring though, thanks.
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Nov 24, 2015 18:55
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If the keyboard case is designed specifically for your tablet, it won't fit (though the keyboard will work). If it's just a generic thing, it'll be fine.
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Nov 24, 2015 20:31
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Lord Justice posted:If 8 inch tablets are around the same size, that would work. I'll look into those, thanks for the advice. Here's a comparison link with your tablet, a 2013 Nexus 7, a Shield, a Venue 8, and a Note 8.0. Scroll down to the "See Layered" button and it will overlay all of them on the first one in different colors. You can add pretty much anything to compare, I just threw some recent popular 8s in there. If you do their "screen calibration" zoom thing, you can see them lifesize.
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Nov 24, 2015 22:47
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Splizwarf posted:Here's a comparison link with your tablet, a 2013 Nexus 7, a Shield, a Venue 8, and a Note 8.0. Scroll down to the "See Layered" button and it will overlay all of them on the first one in different colors. You can add pretty much anything to compare, I just threw some recent popular 8s in there. If you do their "screen calibration" zoom thing, you can see them lifesize. Thanks for the link, it was quite helpful. Comparing the 2012 and the 2013 they're almost identical in size, with the 2013 being a bit smaller on one end. From the look of it, it should fit more or less fine with my current Bluetooth keyboard. Hopefully I can pick up a cheap one in a couple days. Anyway, thanks for the help guys.
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Nov 25, 2015 05:42
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Jasper Tin Neck posted:Can you recommend me a cheap(ish) tablet with a big screen? I bought and returned the M96. It's a total mess. I have the same desire for a single-purpose document reading/markup tablet and I've tried like a dozen different ones over the years. The only one that's any good is the Sony Digital Paper and it's $800 for a reason.
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Nov 25, 2015 20:12
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I could use a recommendation. Here's what I'm looking for. Cheap: This isn't going to be used for all too much, mainly for reading comics. I want to keep this under $200, preferably around $100. Smaller size: I don't want something big, don't need it. I have an XPS 12 if I want that. I'm looking at something between 6 and 8 inches. Here's what I've looked at so far. iPad Mini 2: I'm leaning towards getting something Android, as I've always had iPhones and would like to play in the Android playground here and there. But the Black Friday deals on the Mini 2 look nice. Android Fire: $50 for a tablet sounds really nice, and it sounds like it isn't a slow piece of poo poo. But the Amazon shop turns me off, I feel like I may as well just stay walled off in the Apple system at that point. Galaxy Tab 4 7": This would hit the sweet spot: $120 bucks for a Samsung tablet, decent screen, perfect size. But review I'm reading say it is sluggish, slower than older tablets. Think I'll stay away.
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Nov 26, 2015 01:04
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For comics, I would strongly recommend a larger screen, like an iPad Air. But since you do want something smaller, I would go with a refurb iPad Mini 2. $229. Can't go wrong with that choice.
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Nov 26, 2015 02:45
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The tremendously dissatisfying experience of reading comics on a 7 inch screen is the entire reason that I got a 10 inch screen, ie the same size as physical comics (TF201, $100 in SAmart like... 2 years ago?). Now I can look at a whole page at a normal reading distance instead of a third of a page at normal distance or the whole page 6 inches from my nose. Displaying a whole (standard comics, non-manga) page on anything smaller than ~10 makes everything a little artifact-y from shrinking, especially text.
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Nov 26, 2015 03:23
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For Christmas, I'm asking the folks for either a nvidia Shield or a 2013 Nexus 7. It'll mostly be used for watching TV, reading, and web browsing. Is there much of a difference between the two as far as how long they'll be supported and get updates, or in their performance? I had a 2012 Nexus for a while that I quite liked, but eventually it became so stuttery and slow that it was just a paperweight.
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Nov 26, 2015 05:43
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The entry level Kindle Fire is now on sale at its Black Friday price: http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Display-Wi-Fi-GB-Special/dp/B00TSUGXKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448508224&sr=8-1&keywords=Kindle+Fire $34.99 (before tax)
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Nov 26, 2015 06:11
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teagone posted:The entry level Kindle Fire is now on sale at its Black Friday price: http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Display-Wi-Fi-GB-Special/dp/B00TSUGXKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448508224&sr=8-1&keywords=Kindle+Fire I've never rooted a tablet before or dealt with custom ROMs, but for $35 I'm willing to try - how hard is it to get Marshmallow running on this thing?
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Nov 26, 2015 07:22
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EugeneJ posted:I've never rooted a tablet before or dealt with custom ROMs, but for $35 I'm willing to try - how hard is it to get Marshmallow running on this thing? No idea, but you can just sideload the Google Play Store onto it without the need to root it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/installing-google-framework-playstore-t3216122
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Nov 26, 2015 08:42
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I'm looking for the easiest, cheapest way to export across and view pdfs and epubs - technical documents - on a tablet. Ideally a 10" screen. Coming from OSX, iBooks is a big step down from Preview and has turned me away from buying an iPad. DEAD MAN'S SHOE fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Nov 26, 2015 |
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Nov 26, 2015 17:00
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Pinball posted:For Christmas, I'm asking the folks for either a nvidia Shield or a 2013 Nexus 7. It'll mostly be used for watching TV, reading, and web browsing. Is there much of a difference between the two as far as how long they'll be supported and get updates, or in their performance? I had a 2012 Nexus for a while that I quite liked, but eventually it became so stuttery and slow that it was just a paperweight.
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Nov 26, 2015 17:55
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Revol posted:I could use a recommendation. Here's what I'm looking for. iPad Mini is the only option here. The Fire has a 1024x600 display, the Samsung has a 1280x800. They'll be bad if reading is your main use.
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Nov 27, 2015 05:50
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Quick sanity check Lenovo A8 8 Inch 16GB Tablet. On special offer for £50 here in the UK. Worth it as a replacement for my phone for home web/awful browsing? 8 inch screen. Resolution 1280 x 800 pixels. 1.3GHz MediaTek MT8121 quad core processor. 1GB RAM. 16GB internal storage. Android 4.2 operating system.
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Nov 27, 2015 11:22
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