Android Tablet Thread: Defend Your Other Purchase

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

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randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

rotaryfun posted:

According to apple insider, Google and Asus are looking at a $99 Nexus 7 next year. What kind of validity is there to this? Is that price point doable while keeping the same stellar experience that the Nexus 7 currently gives?

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/27/google-reportedly-planning-to-launch-99-nexus-7-by-end-of-2012

Well if the Ainol Elf II can do it I don't see why not.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2012 21:15

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 20:43

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Doesn't someone make a flash-capable browser like iSwifter for jellybean?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2012 17:26

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

General_Failure posted:

stock kernel with bugfixes and full CPU (1512MHz) / GPU(400MHz) speed re-enabled after the OE disabled it because of cry-babies complaining that their tablet was getting hot. It's a dual core, dual GPU tablet. What do you bloody expect!

Define "hot". And are you sure they didn't drop the clock rate to avoid, you know, damage to the device? Semiconductors don't like too much heat, and those things don't have fans (or even a metal case to conduct heat) do they?

# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 04:09

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

General_Failure posted:

That the Anal... sorry Ainol tablets had an internal SD corruption issue. Well and truly fixed. Apparently before better firmwares came out the way to do it was format the internal memory to 64k cluster size. Guess I was right about it being a fatfs issue.

So yes really happy with mine. My daughter loves her Aurora II now. She doesn't want to let go of it. When we started talking about getting one for her the Ainol store.. goddamn that's a terrible name... anyway it had the Aurora II on special for $97 I think it was.
I know it's no Tegra 3 Nexus 7 etc.. but it's like 1/3 the price and runs everything I've thrown at it except Tegra specific games of course.

You already gave your daughter her Christmas present? Glad she likes it, but what's she going to get to open on Christmas morning?

# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 18:54

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Rabble posted:

I know that the Nexus 7 has a faster processor and a blank slate OS, but for Netflix and e-reading you really can't beat the Fire.

Do you mean for the price or am I missing something that makes the Fire unbeatable for those uses?

# ¿ Oct 12, 2012 07:13

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

ThermoPhysical posted:

There's a rumor floating around that Google will have a 32GB 3G version of the Nexus 7.

I'd say it's only a rumor now, but it's coming from the same sites that first mentioned the 32GB Wifi version so who knows.

How long should I wait for that one to go on clearance do you think? I want to grab one for emulators and such but I don't want to get screwed of course.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2012 07:55

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

But the 8G and 16G models are hitting clearance in less than 6 months so wouldn't it make sense that we can expect discounted 32G models by next spring, if not sooner, brought on by the next gen models and or iPad mini pressure etc?

# ¿ Oct 20, 2012 08:36

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

tomm posted:

am using CM nightlies

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm curious: when people say "CM nightlies" do they mean they're putting on a new version of the OS every day (or night, I guess)?

# ¿ Oct 21, 2012 00:15

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

dissss posted:

I just wish someone would do a tablet with a decent wifi radio/antenna. Even if it meant a plastic/slightly thicker casing I think it's be well worthwhile given that its required pretty much the whole time the tablet is in use.

Isn't the galaxy tab thing thin plastic on the back?

Also, you're holding it wrong

# ¿ Oct 25, 2012 07:00

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

dissss posted:

Wonder how it [theverge.com] runs on an iPad?

I just tested it on a OG iPad, an iPad2, a New iPad (3rd gen), and just for fun an iPhone 4s and 5 (I clicked through to "Full Site", not mobile.verge.com). On everything except the iPad1, theverge.com loaded instantly and scrolled perfectly with the usual zero lag from any other website. Page scrolling/inertia was stutter free, and it followed my finger exactly the same as any other website or PDF or doc.

However, on the pad1 it took like 60s to fully load the site, but once loaded it then scrolled smoothly, in both directions, at several zoom levels and on a bunch of random sub-pages. It's eating the poo poo out of memory though, I can see the pad1 has like 50MB free (it's jailbroken and has dumb process/memory thingies on it.) Subsequent clicks to other pages of the site were faster than the first, but still noticeably slower than pad2/3 and phone4s/5. The other open tabs on the pad1 had to reload when I switched from theverge.com back to them. Basically, theverge eats memory bigtime. Also worth noting is the pad1 is on 2-year-old iOS 4.3.1 while all the other devices are on 6.0; I don't know what difference that'd make (we keep it on 4.3.x for some old weird foreign apps that were never updated for 5.x that my wife uses.)

I figured the Safari Nitro javascript engine might be helping so I also tried Chrome on the pads 2/3 and phones 4s/5, and it's pretty much the same. Chrome loads the site maybe 15-20% more slowly, but once it's there it's smooth as silk scrolling and zooming.

I made a quick video to show how 3-year-old to (almost) current gen devices and laptop/desktop devices handle theverge.com. Compare these to the nexus10 video from theverge and :wtf:

What are you people doing so that website breaks your poo poo? Now, politico.com I could understand (what the gently caress is wrong with that website?) but theverge has always performed decently well technically (though often shittily opinion wise) for me. v :shobon:

v

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PEJIHp3hVQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PEJIHp3hVQ

# ¿ Nov 3, 2012 01:35

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Mister Fister posted:

The problem with the verge not responding well is entirely with chrome. Anyone with a nexus 7, load up the verge in chrome and you'll see the same laggy behavior. Now load it up in Opera or Firefox, and it'll be snappy as any other web page.

Eh what? Chrome on nexus 7, PC, ipad, iphone, etc, works fine what makes you think this?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2012 09:21

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Mister Fister posted:

I don't see where in that statement he said he tried the verge on the nexus 7 with chrome. Which is what we're talking about. And chrome is generally slower than other browsers on android.
Edit:
Here's hundreds of users basically saying the same thing i am
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/12ilty/google_nexus_10_review_the_verge/

I see like 6 there saying that, unless I don't understand reddit (likely) and it's hiding some comments. And yeah, I have tested theverge.com on a nexus 7 in chrome and it was fine, just as fast as any other site on an n7 in chrome.

Maybe it depends on which ad(s) you get?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2012 18:50

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Tunga posted:

I own both an N7 and a GNex, both devices are super smooth and have greater performance. I'd imagine the N10 is the same.

The Verge say's it's smooth and fast but then shows it stuttering pretty badly on a webpage. v :shobon:

v

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt1ZKiZaem8&t=78s

# ¿ Nov 24, 2012 22:36

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Frozen-Solid posted:

The same is true with an iPad. A tablet is just a weird half way point between a laptop and a phone, with none of the benefits of either and all of the drawbacks. It's just a bigger phone with no cellular service.

What exactly were you looking for in a tablet?

This is not true as there are tens of thousands of iPad-specific apps that are specifically designed to take advantage of the additional screen real estate. Eventually (hopefully) android tab apps will catch up.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2012 03:57

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

low-key-taco posted:

7" is a lot better for reading than 10". There can be PDFs that might benefit from the extra size or resolution, but I'd still go for the 7. There is also the option of using pdf tools to remove margins and such to improve reading on the 7.

For files that reflow (html, cbr, etc) 7 is the obvious choice.

I think that's sort of a matter of opinion as I'd disagree with you 100% and way prefer a 10" with higher resolution and larger screen for reading anything. I assume you have an issue with the size or weight but I've tried both and find the extra screen size and resolution a way bigger plus than the slight weight increase is a negative.

Best thing is to try them both in person or, better yet, buy from somewhere you can return easily and try each for a week or two. "The obvious choice" depends on the person doing the choosing.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2012 22:18

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

So, what's good for news apps? I'd like something that aggregates blogs and conventional news sources, in some nice pretty format that somehow lets me read whatever I want to. I guess I'm not sure what the ideal would be, but Currents isn't really doing it for me. What are you folks using for newsreading?

Flipboard.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2012 20:16

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Splizwarf posted:

Looks like it's being marketed as specifically for children, and accordingly built like a brick shithouse; if I were handing that to a 5- to 12-year-old I'd want the screen to be like an inch thick, and an absolutely rock-solid no-flex housing. It needs to survive neglect and rage-quitting. In the same vein, most young kids don't give a gently caress about aspect ratios and a little letterboxing on videos.

I think a good tablet in one of those child-proof cases would be a better deal.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2013 22:01

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Splizwarf posted:

I have never seen anything that could be opened manually that was childproof. Do they make anything that requires solving a calculus riddle to be unlocked?

If the kid is so out of control that they'll take a tablet out of the case then they'll certainly smash that heavy, unprotected tablet. Most likely kids that uncontrollable would be too young (and weak) to figure out how to pry the tablet out of the case. I don't now why you're so hellbent on thinking that heavy, overpriced, just-as-fragile-as-a-nexus tablet is somehow a good deal.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2013 23:28

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

FordPRefectLL posted:

When I was a kid there was very little that I couldn't de-childproof. I think you're vastly underestimating children.

Maybe so. But the point is the tablet in question is no more "child proof" than, say, a nexus in a kiddy-case.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2013 23:43

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Splizwarf posted:

I guess I need to point out that [b]I never said anything nice about that tabtablets; it looks pretty awful. I was just offering a possible real-world reason for it weighing so much.

Splizwarf posted:

Looks like it's being marketed as specifically for children, and accordingly built like a brick shithouse; if I were handing that to a 5- to 12-year-old I'd want the screen to be like an inch thick, and an absolutely rock-solid no-flex housing. It needs to survive neglect and rage-quitting. In the same vein, most young kids don't give a gently caress about aspect ratios and a little letterboxing on videos.

What does this post refer to? Sounded to me like you're saying it's heavy because its super sturdy. Did I misunderstand you?

randyest fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Feb 4, 2013

# ¿ Feb 4, 2013 02:01

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

JoeMB posted:

Oh and there's some killer apps on iOS which don't have a good equivalent for Android.

CloFan posted:

Sometimes you can find an .apk floating around out there..

What does this mean?

# ¿ Feb 10, 2013 07:31

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

juche mane posted:

Of course. I'd just feel more comfortable handing back a working piece of equipment to the dude.

Are you a magician?

# ¿ Feb 16, 2013 09:29

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Day Man posted:

I'm talking about auto updates for my apps. I'm not going to turn each app to manual updates every time I'm going to use the tablet. It's wifi only, and connected to wifi almost 24/7.

Is there not a global "update apps manually" setting?

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 05:42

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

USB 3 adds additional pins for data. I believe power is delivered over the same pins so it should work. It all depends on the device and port because sometimes specs go out the window. A USB device is supposed to connect at 100mA and then request more but I think that rarely happens so most ports just allow devices to draw as much as they want which is why we have USB fans and coffee warmers.

USB3 provides power over the VBUS pins same as USB2, just more of it. The extra data pins are just data, not power. If the tablet doesn't ID itself as USB3 capable it'll get USB2 data (and power) from the host.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 19:51

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

fondue posted:

Yes it is, I own one. Comparing it to my phone, it gets about 33% less range. For me it's a non-issue as I only use it in the house and for that it works just fine. The backplane they released was for the GPS. I can't imagine why you'd even use a GPS on a tablet unless you had 3G built into it. I tried to be clever on one trip by pre-downloading some google maps and frankly it wasn't worth it.

There are apps like Navigon and TomTom which include all the map and POI data so you can GPS it up without a data connection.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 20:11

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

teagone posted:

Man, there have been two people, in the last two pages in this thread, that have ignored pretty valuable advice and gotten lovely tablets instead. Why?!

One dude should really enjoy his tablet that only lasts up to 4 hours on a single charge that he specifically bought for reading. What. What kind of thought process thinks that's a good deal?

It happens at least once or twice every few months and while it's kinda sad it's also pretty fun to watch their dreams of a "good enough" cheap tablet get shattered; they inevitably end up with a Nexus or an iPad and the Ainol Elf Extreme III goes in a drawer or SA Mart / Craigslist / eBay. This thread would be boring without them

# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 20:46

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Combo posted:

My Nexus 7, which I've had for about a month and a half now, just suddenly won't power on. I haven't used it to death or anything, it hasn't been dropped, gotten wet, or even jostled.

Is there anything I can do to attempt to reset it or anything? Has anyone run into this?

Lots of people. Charge it overnight and if it still won't turn on go for a warranty repair or replacement.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2013 00:45

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Combo posted:

Well crap

The bootloader suggestion on that page didn't work for me. I'll leave it charging overnight or possibly rip it open and unplug the battery tomorrow to see if that does anything.

Since it's so new I'd personally be reluctant to start taking it apart and possibly mucking something up that could result in warranty grief. Out of warranty would be a different story, but of course that's all up to you. If it were me I'd get a new one since it's so new and who knows if the "fix" will stick even if you do manage to avoid breaking something worse.

Good luck!

# ¿ Apr 9, 2013 01:59

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Christoff posted:

The cloud doesn't backup app data? Huh. I thought it'd just re-download the apps and keep the app data. That's lame.

You're thinking of iCloud. Android doesn't have anything like that yet, unfortunately.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2013 11:02

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

bull3964 posted:

I wouldn't touch a 4:3 android device with a 10 foot pole. Everything android is optimized around 16:9 or 16:10. 4:3 has always lead to weird layout issues in apps.

It also has a lower resolution than the Nexus 7 despite having a larger screen. At $199, it's silly to consider one.

Aren't most android apps optimized for phone screens (are those 16:9?) and look like stretched poo poo or sparse crap on any tablet? I can't imagine 4:3 could be any worse. Maybe some screenshots to show the difference would be interesting.

# ¿ May 4, 2013 09:45

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

mesc posted:

Not sure why you're getting poo poo on, but I agree that its got a really cool and unique niche. I had one for about 3 months before deciding the software I wanted/needed the most was iOS only and the 1080p resolution was underutilized. If and when they get that solved, I'll have my perfect device. I wish that Apple would make a similar dock for the iPad (fat chance) but as Android grows as a tablet OS, I'll keep my eye out on the next Transformer and won't hesitate to switch back.

Logitec and a few others make several different keyboard docks for iPads FYI.

# ¿ May 9, 2013 21:35

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Christoff posted:

But I mean does it actually work without an internet connection?

GPS? Sure; there are several GPS apps that store all the maps and POIs locally: TomTom, Navigon, others I forget.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 04:06

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

nrr posted:

Mostly for browsing/posting to be honest. That's why I was interested in a transformer for the keyboard dock because I don't know how useful touchscreen keyboards are for banging out 1000 word careposts about anime.

Watching tv/movies would be a good too though, and if it can run some basic music production stuff like a vsti or amp/effects simulator, then that would be perfect. Never having owned a tablet before, I really have no idea what they're capable of, so I don't know how viable that last one is.

Either will do webpages fine, and typing isn't hard once you get used to it, although I think a 10" is better in both respects, especially with the much higher resolution (not just size). Others prefer the smaller 7". Try them both at a store and see?

Music production is presently pretty lovely on any android because of the huge latency. Supposedly some (hardware?) work-arounds are in the works but I don't know about cost / availability / performance. iOS dominates mobile music production because of the latency issue.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 23:29

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

nrr posted:

The only problem is that I live about 2 hours away from any stores that I can try either out at and I don't get the chance to make that trip often. I guess the reason I was interested in a Nexus over an ipad was the price, and I didn't really want to spend $500 on a tablet. I guess if I want to tick all my boxes then I'm going to just have to go for it, I'm just really reluctant to pull the trigger.

I guess back to my original question, do many of you think the Nexus 10 is worth the extra $200 over the 7? If so, how do you think the 10 stacks up against an ipad?

Personally I'd definitely go for the 10 because, after using a really high-resolution pad for a while, I can't really tolerate the visible pixels on a nexus 7 or ipad 2 -- especially on pdf's, books, and webpages. But before I got the super-resolution ("retina" or whatever you want to call it) I was fine with the old "low-res" tablets. If you never look at a 10 or an ipad3/4 or have poor eyesight you might not mind it. Some people prefer the smaller 7" because it's lighter, but I personally don't find the nexus 10 or ipads to be heavy or bulky.

As for ipad vs. android (nexus) it depends on what you want to do. If you like tweaking everything and flashing custom roms and whatnot, android will probably make you happier. It's a little cheaper too, but then again iOS has more tablet-specific apps, and definitely is the only option for music production / amp effects with real music in/out type stuff, and tends to get the better games and newer apps (at least sooner, sometimes exclusively.)

If you'll just browse the web, play a few simple games, email, etc. either will probably do the job just fine.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 23:59

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

maniacripper posted:

Is the Nexus 7 and 10 still the best bang for your buck at their sizes?

Yes for android.

# ¿ May 25, 2013 10:38

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

I'm playing with a nexus 7 right now and it's definitely janky on pretty much every website. Not terrible, but noticeable. Maybe different people have different expectations/standards?

# ¿ May 29, 2013 20:31

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 20:43

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

1st AD posted:

I'm giving the Nook HD+ a whirl - it seems to be okay if a bit underpowered, but boy do I hate the default launcher and layout. Even with a custom launcher there are like no sounds for anything like softkey presses and it's terribly annoying. I don't want to have to root and install CM (especially since I don't have a MicroSD card and don't plan on ever getting/using one), so is there a way to get this a bit closer to stock? Or should I just ditch this thing and get a Nexus 7?

Am I reading this right and you want the tablet to beep when you press a thing? I mean, to each his own and all, but that seems like it'd be annoying as hell.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2013 03:59

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

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