Android Tablet Thread: Defend Your Other Purchase

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Android Tablet Thread: Defend Your Other Purchase

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

strategery posted:

Any opinions on reading comics and magazine on the device? That's my main draw to this tablet.

Comic reading is about 75% of my tablet use so I might be able to chime in. On a 7" tablet I find that it's way too small to read in full page mode. So if you're buying comics from comiXology or Dark Horse you'll probably just read in per-panel mode ("guided mode").

If you're reading stolen CBRs you should be ashamed of yourself! But you can just turn a 7" tablet sideways and fit to width and read them top to bottom with a fairly significant amount of up and down scrolling. 2-page spreads and vertical-heavy layouts or anything illustrated by J.H. Williams III will be a bigger pain to take in. Older comics or Walking Dead or anything that has a standard 9-panel layout is super easy to read this way on a 7" screen.

10" tablets are a lot different (and better) experience. Nearly every comic reads great in full page mode.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2012 03:40

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 12:26

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

They all pretty much look like this:

e: this was regarding the tablet layout conversation of course

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jul 20, 2012

# ¿ Jul 20, 2012 21:52

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Well the tablet Facebook app is just as lovely and slow and battery hogging as the phone one. Can anyone recommend a full FB replacement app with a nice tablet layout? Extra thanks if its a twitter/foursquare client too. Thanks

# ¿ Jul 23, 2012 03:17

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

letsgoflyers81 posted:

Depends on your tablet. FriendCaster works well tablets and it had a great layout on my CM9 Touchpad. However it uses the regular phone layout on the Nexus 7.

It's a 10.1" Transformer so it definitely gets tablet layout from apps that support it. I'll check out Friendcaster, thanks

# ¿ Jul 23, 2012 03:44

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Zarkov Cortez posted:

It arrived! (Canada)

This long press zoom is pretty useful:

Can you link your wallpaper?

Also yes that zoom is nice which means Apple will probably litigate it out of existence soon :emo:

# ¿ Jul 25, 2012 02:56

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Mister Fister posted:

Wait, what in the flying gently caress, Lenovo has an insanely affordable 10.1 tablet with a keyboard dock that only costs $56????

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/24/3180609/lenovo-ideatab-s2110-available

If this gets ROM support, this sounds golden.

This looks pretty promising.

I like that there's a company willing to buck the "16GB of additional flash storage totally costs $100 we promise :smug:

" bullshit that Apple started and Google copied.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2012 07:03

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Counterpoint: the transformer infinity has exceptional build quality and I am a huge spergmaster about that stuff.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2012 02:51

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Octopode posted:

All the Tegra3 Transformer devices currently have I/O issues under the current ICS kernel and drivers that they're using, there's some pretty detailed analysis over on the xda Prime forums.

That said, it doesn't appear that the Nexus 7 is having these issues, despite running on basically the same hardware, so it's highly likely things will be fixed once Asus finally pushes out the JB updates.

Thanks for this info. I hope the JB updates for the Transformers are pretty close. I have noticed some slowness/stutter on occasion on my TF700 but nothing too annoying. Usually fixed by putting the tablet into "performance" mode.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2012 03:43

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Biggest human being Ever posted:

I've been looking at some very cheap tablet options and I'm wondering if those cheap china tablets are worth a drat, specifically this one:

http://www.pandawill.com/teclast-p85-dual-core-tablet-pc-hd-screen-8-inch-android-40-1g-ram-16gb-hdmi-camera-p65201.html

The price difference to the N7 is actually 85 USD in my country and I wonder if this would be decent enough, if all I'm looking for is web browsing, video calls and playing words with friends.

You could get a used Kindle Fire for cheap and put a Jelly Bean ROM on it. They're actually quite nice tablets at that point.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2012 16:32

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Tedious_Bastard posted:

I'm pretty sure that I would return my car if the wheels fell off overnight unless I put bricks on the roof.

Well I'm glad the TF700 doesn't have any "Asus" problems yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Speaking of which there was a firmware pushed for the Infinity last night and one of the changelog notes said a new touch firmware was included. So far it's been better, the London Olympics game was almost unplayable before.

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Jul 30, 2012

# ¿ Jul 30, 2012 23:21

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

I just want to agree with Ender that "Google Play" is a horrible name for a store and implies nothing about buying or installing apps.

That being said, some of the least technical people I know are perfectly happy with Anrdoid devices, including high end ones such as the SGSIII. I don't think there's much of a UI problem even for stupid/new users, particularly with ICS and up.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2012 14:08

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

JesusDoesVegas posted:

On a slightly different topic, I use my Xoom quite a bit for comics, and I feel like I will miss the larger screen. Can anyone who's made the switch from 10" to the N7 report their comic reading experience? I hate having to pinch and drag around to read the damned panels.

I have an iPad 2, a Transformer Infinity (10.1" Android, 16:10 ratio) and a 7" Jelly Bean tablet and I never reach for anything but the Infinity to read comics.

The 4:3 iPad screen is too wide and the wrong shape, and the 7" screen is not nearly big enough for full page comic reading. If you really want to read comics on the 7" just turn it sideways, fit to width and scroll up/down.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2012 23:38

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Kynetx posted:

If you don't mind, I'd like you to tell me why I need a possibly blurry, possibly grabby, possibly bubble-ridden, possibly loose piece of cling-film to cover a glass that is around 6.8 on the Mohs scale?
Yes, it is POSSIBLE to have random encounters with debris of higher hardness. Keep in mind that a screen protector will not protect against high-pressure (small surface area) impacts, since the glass will likely crack, or the protector will tear.

So, either treat your stuff better or stop being OCD about wear and tear.

Can we stop this dumbshit assumption that gorilla glass is impervious to everything? I have a gorilla glass Atrix that's never been in contact with keys or coins and it still has a shitload of scratches and I wish I had put a film on it when I got the thing.

I have put clear screen protectors on almost every touch device I own and they have served me well. They are not bubbly because I know how to apply them. They're not blurry, clingy or loose because they aren't made that way and if that's the kind of screen protector you've encountered it's no wonder you don't like them because you found yourself some kind of lovely product.

I've replaced screen protectors that had absorbed scratches from sand, concrete, gravel, use by children, time spent in purses and other things that would eventually mess up even a hardened piece of glass - instead I just peel off the $1 film and put a new one on.

I've also sold phones where I took the screen protector off in front of the buyer to reveal a pristine, perfect piece of glass underneath that made them extremely happy and willing to pay more for the device.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2012 16:30

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Thermopyle posted:

I agree with your point about letting people do what they want, but...

How does this happen? I mean...I don't use screen protectors and I'm not particularly careful with my phone and my N1 with 2 years of usage had zero scratches on the screen, and my GNex has one very very minor one that you have to search for after something like 6 months of usage.

Where do you store your phone and where do you go with it to get a "shitload of scratches"?

That's the odd thing; it's my dedicated audiobook player so it literally goes from my house to my car and that's it. It goes in the center console a few times a week and occasionally into my office for a CM9 update but it doesn't even go into a pocket or get used much. It has dozens of very small scratches on the glass. I've had and used the phone for a year or so.

e: I know this is the tablet thread so I don't mean to derail. I put screen films on my tablets too because they seem even more likely to aquire scuffs and scratches just based on the larger screen size and the way they are handled. (Although I'd guess they are not dropped nearly as often)

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Aug 9, 2012

# ¿ Aug 9, 2012 17:22

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Thermopyle posted:

Yeah, that's one thing I don't do because...why the hell would you do that?

Probably because we've constantly been told that it's indestructible and keys won't hurt it.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2012 19:09

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Kynetx posted:

Also, sand-covered planet? Where the gently caress do you live where your environment is sand covered? I guess if you're constantly covered in dirt for your work, I can see it. Otherwise, where is all this sand coming from?

Personally I live in Albuquerque which is literally in the middle of the loving desert so yeah. Sand. You can see this amazing environment in action by watching any episode of Breaking Bad.

e: This came across as extra sassy but I didn't mean it to. Its just gritty around here.

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Aug 9, 2012

# ¿ Aug 9, 2012 20:24

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

If you're reading stolen comics or you absolutely must read your legal comics a full page at a time, you should just do it on a 10" tablet; I personally think the 16:10 Android tablets are better for this than the 4:3 iPads.

If you're reading purchased comics from comiXology or Dark Horse, a 7" tablet like the N7 or Kindle Fire should be great for per-panel reading.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 03:44

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Looks like the TF300 started receiving Jelly Bean this weekend. Looking forward to 4.1 on my Infinity as well. Kudos to Asus on a quick rollout.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 02:26

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Telven posted:

So I just bought a Asus tf300 32gb and I forfeited best buys insurance policy because it was $200. And sure enough, it falls two feet and cracks the screen a week later. Is there anything at all that I can do to get this fixed?

Your homeowners insurance or the credit card you bought it with might cover it for replacement.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2012 04:34

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Don Lapre posted:

it was terrible... it ran android 1.5 or 1.6.

You don't say

# ¿ Aug 23, 2012 23:02

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Thermopyle posted:

So basically you're buying into another closed ecosystem, and the Amazon Appstore hasn't exactly filled me with confidence.

The difference is that Amazon consistently puts a lot of downward pressure on consumer prices while Apple does pretty much the opposite. If I'm getting locked into an ecosystem, I'll take the one that favors consumers. MP3 albums are about 8 bucks instead of 15 now that Amazon crashed the ITMS party a few years ago. Audiobooks on Audible are a less than what they cost on iTunes. Amazon also had new release books locked at $9.99 until the publishers illegally colluded with Apple to raise prices.

I agree their appstore is mediocre but the real draw of the Fire seems to be the massive content library and better pricing, including the "free" lending library books and unlimited Netflix-style streaming that comes with Prime.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2012 20:11

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Thermopyle posted:

I don't want locked in to any ecosystem, though.

Same here. I'll just keep my TF700. Even as a Prime member, the only way I'm ordering a Fire HD is to root that fucker and put Jelly Bean on it.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2012 20:24

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Mister Fister posted:

Holy poo poo this new kindle fire is laggy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXFCkLi-yqU

Would love to see what it's like with Jellybean.

Considering what a great little tablet the original Kindle Fire is with Jelly Bean, odds are good that a well written custom ROM will make the new one sing.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2012 04:34

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Craptacular! posted:

The 8.9 has a higher PPI than the TF700, which seems like it ought to be the best bang for buck for reading comics, both in Amazon and CBR/CBZ varities.

A 10.1" screen is over 20% larger in area than an 8.9". The difference in pixel density is pretty small and won't even be noticable until "CMX-HD" versions come to Android (if they ever do). Add to that the fact that the Amazon appstore version of Comixology has a shitload of issues and doesn't even include the same content as the other versions of the app.

I'd go for the Infinity for comics.

e: iPad 3 is also a good choice for comics but 4:3 doesn't match comic book pages nearly as well as 16:10 and it's slightly smaller at 9.7"

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Sep 7, 2012

# ¿ Sep 7, 2012 14:57

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Good news everyone the Asus lovely build issue is also present in the $500 Transformer Infinity!! :thumbsup:

As of this weekend, my screen is lifting in the bottom right and upper left corners.

Amazon was cool enough to refund me $99 but would not exchange it since I've had it ~2 months. Now I need to decide whether to roll the dice with Asus' warranty program or just live with it.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2012 20:06

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

The difference in screen area between the 8.9" Fire HD and a Transformer is over 20%. Just something to keep in mind. It's not just 1 inch.

That being said I'm pretty annoyed at the TF700 having the same stupid screen lifting problem as the Nexus 7. Hopefully Asus gets their poo poo together.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2012 15:51

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Timby posted:

Hopefully Google brings the "we know how to make poo poo that works" talent of Motorola Mobility to bear, and we get an Android tablet that A) kicks rear end and B) doesn't have build issues.

I'd like to see a Nexus 10 from Motorola. I don't think the solution to the problem is very hard:

1. Make a 10.1" tablet at 1900x1200 or higher resolution
2. Make it not loving fall apart

Congratulations you just beat Asus

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 03:30

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Verizian posted:

Anyone had any experience with those ziplock "waterproof" cases for the 7" Kindle or Nexus 7? Are they any good or would a roll of heavy duty ziplock freezer bags work just as well for protection from heavy rain?

Example.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LUPO-Waterproof-Bag-Amazon-Kindle/dp/B005H3IXF4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347693313&sr=8-1

The CEO of Amazon uses a Ziploc bag

quote:

What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub?

I�ll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It�s much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book in a Ziploc bag you can�t turn the pages. But with Kindle, you can just push the buttons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06fob-q4-t.html

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 09:04

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

It's been discussed several times. Nexus models will no longer have SD card slots. Here's some of the reasoning:

To avoid using USB mass storage

To avoid proprietary file systems (exFAT)

To avoid user decisions on where to store data

To avoid applications being stored on the SD card disappearing when the card is mounted

To avoid the need for the physical parts and space needed

Personally I think SD cards need to go away, but it seems I'm in the minority.

The only reason devices don't have expandable storage is so that the manufacturer can make a nice little profit at point of sale by charging $50 for $6 worth of flash storage (or $200 for $12 worth of storage see also Apple Computer Co.) Literally none of the rest of these arguments hold water except maybe the app 2 sd issue which is something normal users would not do in the first place.

The OMG CLOUD argument is even worse because US cellular carriers (and some home ISPs) are actively reducing the amount of monthly bandwith their customers get in the name of profit.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2012 15:52

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Thermopyle posted:

Google is the one who mandates no SD storage on Nexus devices, and they're not exactly in the business of making hardware, much less scheming to make more profit on it.

Then why does the 16GB Nexus 7, which Google sells directly to customers, cost fifty dollars more than the 8GB? That amount of NAND costs less than $10. Ordinary flash costs half that much.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2012 18:59

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Does anyone know if Asus will accept a rooted tablet for warranty repair? I haven't replaced the bootloader, just rooted my TF700. But I need to get it to them at some point to fix the screen lifting issue (which might as well just be called the "Asus issue")

# ¿ Sep 24, 2012 17:38

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Heners_UK posted:

Am I the only one just loving having a simple zip up case that I can pull my N7 in and out of? http://amzn.com/B004LSUR3M
Keep the slim form of my N7 when in hand, but super protection in pocket...

I love this type of case for my 10" tablets. They don't really ever leave my house so I don't need a sturdy case for them.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 08:43

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Got the Jelly Bean update for my TF700. UI is smooth and faster as expected, battery life remains to be seen.

Asus included a new app called My App Backup which is essentially Titanium Backup. I saves all your apps and optionally apps + data to internal SD with an option to make a copy on the external SD card. Very handy and I probably won't even bother to root this time since TiBu was one of the only reasons I did initially (my root was wiped by the ota update).

# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 03:36

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

loudog999 posted:

Is there an Android gaming thread?

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3483273

# ¿ Oct 18, 2012 19:50

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Vagrancy posted:

No NFC either.

Is there any reason at all to have NFC on a 10" tablet?

# ¿ Oct 25, 2012 16:50

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

FordPRefectLL posted:

They canceled the event on Monday because of Hurricane Sandy. Lame.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/27/google-event-cancelled-hurricane-sandy_n_2030779.html

Honestly it was a pretty dick move to schedule on the same day as Microsoft so I'm glad for this little bit of karma.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2012 00:16

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Fun fact: one of our company's mail admin departments (in India) wiped over three thousand iPhones/iPads around the globe one night with an incorrectly scripted wipe that was meant for one device. A good number of these were personal devices, with personal data and photos, not company issued.

On a good note we made a very good case against offshoring any more IT jobs.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2012 03:05

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Zero VGS posted:

While I'm glad you made that case, you say it like a local IT couldn't have pulled that off.

Everything we do like that is sanity checked but apparently that is not a thing in India.

e: the real point is that you should not happily hand over admin rights on your personal device to your IT department just to get your mail via Active Sync. Also keep good backups.

Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Nov 2, 2012

# ¿ Nov 2, 2012 03:12

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

Wow that seems like pretty lousy standby time for a tablet.

My 1st gen Kindle Fire running Jelly Bean gets about as bad of battery life. It loses 15-20% per day even when it's doing nothing, even with Juice Defender installed.

My TF700 has great battery life and can standby for about a 1.5-2 weeks. And it seems like my iPad 3 could easily last about a month between charges. Not sure what's up with the 7" tablets.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2012 03:09

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 12:26

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

If Chrome is problematic what browser is everyone using? I get kind of frustrated at Chrome myself and I'd like a very lean and fast browser.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2012 08:06

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