Cheap Android tablet
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charlieg wrote:
Define cheap.
Katie Price.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
I disagree. To be that skanky has cost the ol' mutton a fair bob or two.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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How secure is the dock connection? Would it survive for long being used on a lap for instance?
Verily yay sire! Mrs Wife and the Ickles use one mostly with the keyboard docked and it has the same form as a notebook in that configuration.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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How secure is the dock connection? Would it survive for long being used on a lap for instance?
It's solid. The problem isn't the form factor... It's the keyboard (chiclet instead of actual keys) and the fact that it's designed as a tablet, so keyboard shortcuts are lacking and it's MUCH slower to, say, go back and delete a few words or a line... Tablet OSes just aren't designed for word processing.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
I disagree. To be that skanky has cost the ol' mutton a fair bob or two.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
There's girls in Sunderland who achieve that just for the cost of a couple of Bacardi Breezers.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Seconded/Thirded As Ian says, it's very good and versatile, but still short of a net-book.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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There's girls in Sunderland who achieve that just for the cost of a couple of Bacardi Breezers.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
What, even the matching pink & crystal car, phone, dog, house, horse, 'lucky rabbit' and douche-bag boyfriend?
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Agreed, but it does go to great lengths to wipe out the line between them. Now, a Tegra3 based Transformer running Win8... That's my wet dream these days. //L
Media2r wrote:
Now, a Tegra3 based Transformer running Win8... That's my wet dream these days.
TMI.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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It's solid. The problem isn't the form factor... It's the keyboard (chiclet instead of actual keys) and the fact that it's designed as a tablet, so keyboard shortcuts are lacking and it's MUCH slower to, say, go back and delete a few words or a line... Tablet OSes just aren't designed for word processing.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
it's MUCH slower to, say, go back and delete a few words
Doesn't it have arrow keys on it?
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Ian Shlasko wrote:
it's MUCH slower to, say, go back and delete a few words
Doesn't it have arrow keys on it?
Yes, but they don't work as well as on a desktop/laptop... Remember, Android is designed around touch input, not around cursors and keyboards... So that part of the interface feels like it's been hacked and patched in. It IS something that Google and/or Asus could fix with firmware or OS updates... I'm not sure how much it would take. But right now, it's not great for word processing. Usable, but not great.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Thanks for that, Marc. I just really want an 8" tablet to take on holiday, and to keep in the house for quick browsing without firing up something more powerful.
viaducting wrote:
without firing up something more powerful
My desktop is always up and going... folding in the background. :cool:
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Media2r wrote:
Now, a Tegra3 based Transformer running Win8... That's my wet dream these days.
TMI.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Yes, but they don't work as well as on a desktop/laptop... Remember, Android is designed around touch input, not around cursors and keyboards... So that part of the interface feels like it's been hacked and patched in. It IS something that Google and/or Asus could fix with firmware or OS updates... I'm not sure how much it would take. But right now, it's not great for word processing. Usable, but not great.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Well I was going to wait for an Archos A80 Turbo, but I shall go and play with a Transformer instead and see if I like it. Twice the price, but if it offers the best of both worlds... :-D
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Any recommendations? I was tempted by the forthcoming Archos A80 Turbo, but as they are delayed, I am looking for something else. I just need it for a bit of text editing, Google Mail and light browsing.
This one ?[^], It's kind of Android tablet. :)
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charlieg wrote:
Define cheap.
Katie Price.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
"Lady" Caca
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun -
It isn't the cheapest tablet out there, but I wouldn't trade any tablet for my Asus Transformer TF101/TF101G). The detachable keyboard dock (which by means of the extra battery built into it extends battery life of the tablet by 6.5 hours...) makes it a versatile beast of which there is no comparable device. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Cheers, //L
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Thanks for that, Marc. I just really want an 8" tablet to take on holiday, and to keep in the house for quick browsing without firing up something more powerful.
Well, if you want to go really cheap and you're looking for quick browsing, have you looked at Barnes & Noble's Nook Color (US $250) or Amazon's Kindle Fire? (US $199) While I can't vouch for the Fire (not available 'til mid November) the Nook Color runs Android 2.2, and if you feel a bit adventurous you can root it and go with a "clean" Android. Performance of the Nook Color on the web is fairly decent and comes in handy when you don't want to fire up a laptop or a desktop, is quite portable and battery life rather decent. The only drawback is that you have to be in range of WiFi.
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Well, if you want to go really cheap and you're looking for quick browsing, have you looked at Barnes & Noble's Nook Color (US $250) or Amazon's Kindle Fire? (US $199) While I can't vouch for the Fire (not available 'til mid November) the Nook Color runs Android 2.2, and if you feel a bit adventurous you can root it and go with a "clean" Android. Performance of the Nook Color on the web is fairly decent and comes in handy when you don't want to fire up a laptop or a desktop, is quite portable and battery life rather decent. The only drawback is that you have to be in range of WiFi.
About the Nook -- Excellent specialized tablet, I've had one for some time and I really love it. You can run vanilla Android using Cyanogen http://www.cyanogenmod.com/devices/nook-color[^] You don't actually have to root it. You can put Android on an SD card and run it from there, see http://myraroldan.com/wp/2011/05/nook-color-to-android-table-without-rooting/[^] And, you can get refurbs cheaper. For example, here is one for 169 USD: http://www.icemonkey.com/barnes-noble-nook-color-8gb-ereader-with-wifi-and-7-touchscreen[^] This is why many reviewers are calling the Nook Color the best Android Tablet!
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It isn't the cheapest tablet out there, but I wouldn't trade any tablet for my Asus Transformer TF101/TF101G). The detachable keyboard dock (which by means of the extra battery built into it extends battery life of the tablet by 6.5 hours...) makes it a versatile beast of which there is no comparable device. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Cheers, //L
Transformer all the way. I used it at MS Build to take copious notes with photos and beam them back to "base" (aka the office) and it did the trick. It was light weight, and while there are issues with text input on a tablet OS as others mention, I got pretty quick with it. The TF2 will be out eventually and the rumor is that it will use the same keyboard dock providing a bit of an upgrade path. When docked it's as solid as a laptop/netbook, it is one cohesive unit. And it gets like 15 hours of battery life, at MS Build I took notes all day (8+ hours) and still had 100% battery life on the tablet portion itself as all of the battery drain came out of the dock. Can't do that on a netbook! Finally, I like having a tablet to casually read with etc. and the ability to pop out the tablet part and use it as a VERY capable device without any compromises is killer. Sean
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It isn't the cheapest tablet out there, but I wouldn't trade any tablet for my Asus Transformer TF101/TF101G). The detachable keyboard dock (which by means of the extra battery built into it extends battery life of the tablet by 6.5 hours...) makes it a versatile beast of which there is no comparable device. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Cheers, //L
I would agree that this is one of the best if no the best Android tablets available. I have had mine since mid-June (about the time I found out that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 release was a joke). The keyboard with extra battery allows the unit to perform very well as a netbook. The one thing that irritates me, and this is more of an NVidia issue, is that the hardware HD video accelleration requires a very narrow format to work.
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It isn't the cheapest tablet out there, but I wouldn't trade any tablet for my Asus Transformer TF101/TF101G). The detachable keyboard dock (which by means of the extra battery built into it extends battery life of the tablet by 6.5 hours...) makes it a versatile beast of which there is no comparable device. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Cheers, //L