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The G-Tablet has ruined my life!

In a good way
This is the most game-changing piece of equipment I have had since I built my first PC from mail-order parts in the early 80s. I sincerely believe the G-Tab is the best-kept tech secret going today, especially with the efforts of all the nice folks here at xdadevelopers.
Some background: I am a VP for a tech service company and run some pretty powerful iron for the company so I have high standards for performance. I just don't have time to sit and watch hourglasses and "loading" pages all day.
When I decided I wanted to take the plunge into "tablife," I spent plenty of time reading reviews and forum posts and then found this website. After lurking for a week or so, all I read told me this was the tab for me. So I got one.
The rest is history. After doing all recommended stock updates and deciding "yeah, this really is a potential jewel," I went ahead and got root and then flashed the enhancement pack. I had no external SD card until last night, so I will be doing the REAL flashing this weekend some time. I have to say though, the enhancement pack and addition of (a working) marketplace makes all the difference in the world. I may even run it this way for a while.
But now my days are filled with searching for the elusive "perfect app" to replace the Windows one I use on my regular PCs and laptops. Thank god for this place and all the resources of the web - I think I will be able to do everything I need to with this.
Of course, now I have to have a keyboard/case and docking station and any other possible peripheral I can jam onto it!

I empathize with you totally! Since I got a Gtab, my poor ipad has seen very little use...

Rarley use a pc anymore....
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0B5.1 using Tapatalk

I use my gtab for daily web browsing but I still feel it is lacking something for my daily use. For example, entering comment to the xda forum is too slow using my gtab, as I still use my laptop for blog, etc. Otherwise, I think that I put my laptop to rest.. forever.

nunjabusiness said:
In a good way
This is the most game-changing piece of equipment I have had since I built my first PC from mail-order parts in the early 80s. I sincerely believe the G-Tab is the best-kept tech secret going today, especially with the efforts of all the nice folks here at xdadevelopers.
Some background: I am a VP for a tech service company and run some pretty powerful iron for the company so I have high standards for performance. I just don't have time to sit and watch hourglasses and "loading" pages all day.
When I decided I wanted to take the plunge into "tablife," I spent plenty of time reading reviews and forum posts and then found this website. After lurking for a week or so, all I read told me this was the tab for me. So I got one.
The rest is history. After doing all recommended stock updates and deciding "yeah, this really is a potential jewel," I went ahead and got root and then flashed the enhancement pack. I had no external SD card until last night, so I will be doing the REAL flashing this weekend some time. I have to say though, the enhancement pack and addition of (a working) marketplace makes all the difference in the world. I may even run it this way for a while.
But now my days are filled with searching for the elusive "perfect app" to replace the Windows one I use on my regular PCs and laptops. Thank god for this place and all the resources of the web - I think I will be able to do everything I need to with this.
Of course, now I have to have a keyboard/case and docking station and any other possible peripheral I can jam onto it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you're in mgmt in a tech Co., and now that you've experienced the Gtab, it'd be interesting to try to leverage tech like this in the 'real world's!
Jim

Yeah it will probably ruin my marriage.

cbmoore9 said:
Yeah it will probably ruin my marriage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL.....I had to get one for the wife too so it wouldn't ruin mine!!

cbmoore9 said:
Yeah it will probably ruin my marriage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do what I did, buy one for wife too. Lol!

cbmoore9 said:
Yeah it will probably ruin my marriage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh boy...
ditto

I'm new to Android, new to rooting and new to modding. I've had my GTab for about two weeks now, and during that time I've read just about every page in the GTab development forum on xda, on Android Forums, on Droidpirates and any other GTab site I could Google (I'm 73, retired, and have lots & lots of free time).
Thanks to the dedicated devs and other helpful members of these sites, and following their instructions and advice, I've gone from knowing absolutely nothing about Android to developing the confidence to successfully flash the TnT enhancement pack, TnTLite 4.1, and currently VEGAn 5.1. This within a period of two weeks; all ran fine with no issues at all--except the well-documented ones that are constantly being tackled and solved.
In these posts, I've watched the evolution of this machine from its perception as a near useless piece of crap at its introduction to its present state as the best tablet on the market today, bar none; one that will go head to head with the best to come this year.
It's really exciting to see these talented devs get down into the heart of this tablet and coax it into becoming all that it's capable of being; it's almost like being present at childbirth. The most exciting part is that we all get to participate in this birth. And now, the pace of development is picking up even more, and our devs are branching out into new territory; I can hardly wait to see what magic they'll perform next!

snarful said:
I'm new to Android, new to rooting and new to modding. I've had my GTab for about two weeks now, and during that time I've read just about every page in the GTab development forum on xda, on Android Forums, on Droidpirates and any other GTab site I could Google (I'm 73, retired, and have lots & lots of free time).
Thanks to the dedicated devs and other helpful members of these sites, and following their instructions and advice, I've gone from knowing absolutely nothing about Android to developing the confidence to successfully flash the TnT enhancement pack, TnTLite 4.1, and currently VEGAn 5.1. This within a period of two weeks; all ran fine with no issues at all--except the well-documented ones that are constantly being tackled and solved.
In these posts, I've watched the evolution of this machine from its perception as a near useless piece of crap at its introduction to its present state as the best tablet on the market today, bar none; one that will go head to head with the best to come this year.
It's really exciting to see these talented devs get down into the heart of this tablet and coax it into becoming all that it's capable of being; it's almost like being present at childbirth. The most exciting part is that we all get to participate in this birth. And now, the pace of development is picking up even more, and our devs are branching out into new territory; I can hardly wait to see what magic they'll perform next!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said!

cbmoore9 said:
Yeah it will probably ruin my marriage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My son is in first grade and just learning to write... when learnlng the B he had to write some lines with arbitrary words... the whole last line was:
"Tablet tablet tablet tablet tablet"
Does that mean his life's ruined now as well? At age of 6...

At work I manage service tickets, and download drivers.
At home I surf the web, check sports scores, and manage rpg characters

Yep, the Gtablet is the first thing I see in the morning before getting of bed, read the news. Wife is jealous, but she does not know that I have one for her also.
By the way, if anyone is interested, for your hd video, I get silky smooth playbay of video out of the Sanyo HD2000a camcorder by converting it to the mkv [email protected] bitrate, 1920/1080, mp3 audio. All my camera recordings are at 1920x1080 60fps.

Mikeg1969 said:
LOL.....I had to get one for the wife too so it wouldn't ruin mine!!
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Click to collapse
astevens54 said:
Do what I did, buy one for wife too. Lol!
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Click to collapse
I feel your pain (in the wallet), see my sig below. At first it was cute hearing "are the birds angry", "can I have the tablet to play Angry Birds", etc. But I realized I was getting less and less time with it. It replaced my iPod Touch and a Netbook, both sitting lonely now.

Using Transformers in High School

Hello everyone. Im a student from a high school in Costa Rica. (Sorry if I make some mistake writing, english isnt my native language ) Me, some friends and a teacher made a group called "Artech", for promoting the use of art and technology. Im the tech part.
I have been using my transformer as a notebook all this year, and it has been really useful. I use it for all the assignatures. Everything with polaris office, math, chemistry and physics with supernote (really awesome).
School's principal has been very happy of how we use tabs/pcs as notebooks. So we decided to take the project to a higher level giving everyone a tab/pc for school use.
As people around here know A LOT of things i actually dont know, id like to ask some questions:
- TF101 w/ dock might be a good replacemt for books/notebooks? Is there some economic tab better than this?
- You now any other apps we can use for this? We are currently using: Splashtop for viewing everything from the virtual boards, supernote for math and all those things, box for shaing all the documents from teachers to students and viseversa and polaris.
Any help, comment, oppinion, etc, would be really apppreciated thanks!

having first hand experience with the transformer for the use-cases you're interested in, aren't you equally (if not more so) an expert on your own questions?
but from my point of view, definitely yes. note-taking, reading ebooks, etc, tablets definitely are perfectly suitable. for things like taking notes for math equations and stuff, maybe not so much. but i guess if the entire school is going digital, the teacher might just digitize the notes, and distribute an ebook or whatever. (although you miss out on the actual act of taking notes, which some consider help in memorization)
in terms of cost, there's a new tab coming out, the nexus tablet which is supposed to be on par hardware-wise with the prime, but around the price-range of kindle fire. so i'd say do research on that, and wait. it will be made by asus so it's possible that it will also have a keyboard dock, but i'm not sure.
kindle fire is also an alternative, but no keyboard dock.
no offense, just curious: but how is your school paying for these? are you in one of those private international schools?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2

finalhit said:
having first hand experience with the transformer for the use-cases you're interested in, aren't you equally (if not more so) an expert on your own questions?
but from my point of view, definitely yes. note-taking, reading ebooks, etc, tablets definitely are perfectly suitable. for things like taking notes for math equations and stuff, maybe not so much. but i guess if the entire school is going digital, the teacher might just digitize the notes, and distribute an ebook or whatever. (although you miss out on the actual act of taking notes, which some consider help in memorization)
in terms of cost, there's a new tab coming out, the nexus tablet which is supposed to be on par hardware-wise with the prime, but around the price-range of kindle fire. so i'd say do research on that, and wait. it will be made by asus so it's possible that it will also have a keyboard dock, but i'm not sure.
kindle fire is also an alternative, but no keyboard dock.
no offense, just curious: but how is your school paying for these? are you in one of those private international schools?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I am. But obviously, school isnt going to pay 400 TF without gaining something. It just like for persons that still doesnt have its onw pc/tab, or parents that dont allow their kids to take their laptops/tabs to school cause its too dangerous. How are we planing to get them??
Well, lets say that the TF is like 500$. Every month, we need to pay for staying there. So, when people do all the registration stuff for staying on school, there will be a contract, saying that you will be paying some extra bucks per month for having the tab. It will be like 40$ more per month.
Why parent will accept buying tabs instead of buying books/notebooks every year? Isnt more expensie? Well, No. If you count all the money you spend buying materials and notebooks in 2 year it will be more that having a tab, and the tab last longer.
Sorry f i did a mess writting all the info, im not really good at english, so..... And im not the best writter ever.... actually, this is my 1st post/comment, etc on xda. So...If you got any question/sugerence im here

Ugalde97 said:
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I am. But obviously, school isnt going to pay 400 TF without gaining something. It just like for persons that still doesnt have its onw pc/tab, or parents that dont allow their kids to take their laptops/tabs to school cause its too dangerous. How are we planing to get them??
Well, lets say that the TF is like 500$. Every month, we need to pay for staying there. So, when people do all the registration stuff for staying on school, there will be a contract, saying that you will be paying some extra bucks per month for having the tab. It will be like 40$ more per month.
Why parent will accept buying tabs instead of buying books/notebooks every year? Isnt more expensie? Well, No. If you count all the money you spend buying materials and notebooks in 2 year it will be more that having a tab, and the tab last longer.
Sorry f i did a mess writting all the info, im not really good at english, so..... And im not the best writter ever.... actually, this is my 1st post/comment, etc on xda. So...If you got any question/sugerence im here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tranquilo Mae. Your English is fine.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

off topic: i'm glad kids in your country are making an effort to learn and use tools like the TF. kids at my high school would just play angry birds all day lol

Being in university, I find the transformer useful. But not as good as it could be. The only issue I have with it is not having a pen. I have a few capacitive pens (adonit Jot, and a generic rubber tip), but they're not as good as something with a dedicated digitizer.
I'm always keeping an eye out for something with a digitizer, and the ones I've seen are the Xoom 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, HTC flyer (I wouldn't get this as the screen is too small)
This is coming from the perspective from studying engineering. There's always symbols, diagrams, and equations that are used all the time, thus my need for a pen. But for highschool, an android tablet should be sufficient. It's waaay easier to carry around one tablet than 3 textbooks.
That's my only issue.
As for reading and making notes on PDF's I use two apps, Repligo and EZPdf.
EZPdf is great for making notes, I would say it's better than Repligo in this aspect because you can pan while writing.
However, Repligo is better when opening large PDF's. I constantly open 300+ page pdfs in the form of text books, and I've never had issues with them.
I also use Andie Graph as a calculator if needed (that said, it's still not as good as my ti-92)
There's also a new physics app called ForceEffect by autodesk. I haven't had a chance to really play with it, but it seems useful for basic static physics problems if you're having trouble understanding.
Hope that helps

I suggest Adonit Jot with LectureNotes. There is a trial version of LecureNotes on PlayStore.

xun3 said:
Being in university, I find the transformer useful. But not as good as it could be. The only issue I have with it is not having a pen. I have a few capacitive pens (adonit Jot, and a generic rubber tip), but they're not as good as something with a dedicated digitizer.
I'm always keeping an eye out for something with a digitizer, and the ones I've seen are the Xoom 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, HTC flyer (I wouldn't get this as the screen is too small)
This is coming from the perspective from studying engineering. There's always symbols, diagrams, and equations that are used all the time, thus my need for a pen. But for highschool, an android tablet should be sufficient. It's waaay easier to carry around one tablet than 3 textbooks.
That's my only issue.
As for reading and making notes on PDF's I use two apps, Repligo and EZPdf.
EZPdf is great for making notes, I would say it's better than Repligo in this aspect because you can pan while writing.
However, Repligo is better when opening large PDF's. I constantly open 300+ page pdfs in the form of text books, and I've never had issues with them.
I also use Andie Graph as a calculator if needed (that said, it's still not as good as my ti-92)
There's also a new physics app called ForceEffect by autodesk. I haven't had a chance to really play with it, but it seems useful for basic static physics problems if you're having trouble understanding.
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks everyone for the reply! I havent cheked xda lately because of exams.....
Well, the pen may not be an issue because, as every teacher have its own computer in class, they just give us their doc and we take notes while she/he explains the theory and all that stuff. This is a lot faster and efficients that retyping everythign again. So all we need to do is write on the document section "notes". The pen will be only used for math and somethimes chemistry/physics. But everypen will work, even the finger, at least for me, isnt uncomfortable.
EZPdf might be a really good program, thanks for the recomendation. As we will buy virtual licenses instead of books, a good programs might be good, and the taking notes parts looks awesome.
ForceEffect looks really good but, looks kinda complicated so ill be playing with it for checking if it will work. Thanks very much for the reply, im very happy and for the other people to.
And again, sorry for my bad english.

chatch15117 said:
off topic: i'm glad kids in your country are making an effort to learn and use tools like the TF. kids at my high school would just play angry birds all day lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thats something you can see ALLWAYS. Thats why we are making teachers to monitorate all the computers on class. So, every person that is on fb, playing or making dirty stuff, will be punished
I think there is nothing like this but, is there any way every TF can, like connect to the internet, and get monitored?

Check Evernote - for me the best note taking and sharing app. It also has desktop version. You might instead like Springpad, they're quite similar, it's just the matter of taste and needs.

Ugalde97 said:
Hello everyone. Im a student from a high school in Costa Rica. (Sorry if I make some mistake writing, english isnt my native language ) Me, some friends and a teacher made a group called "Artech", for promoting the use of art and technology. Im the tech part.
I have been using my transformer as a notebook all this year, and it has been really useful. I use it for all the assignatures. Everything with polaris office, math, chemistry and physics with supernote (really awesome).
School's principal has been very happy of how we use tabs/pcs as notebooks. So we decided to take the project to a higher level giving everyone a tab/pc for school use.
As people around here know A LOT of things i actually dont know, id like to ask some questions:
- TF101 w/ dock might be a good replacemt for books/notebooks? Is there some economic tab better than this?
- You now any other apps we can use for this? We are currently using: Splashtop for viewing everything from the virtual boards, supernote for math and all those things, box for shaing all the documents from teachers to students and viseversa and polaris.
Any help, comment, oppinion, etc, would be really apppreciated thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Galaxy Note 10.1 that comes out in a week will include support for the Wacomb driven S Pen (a professional graphics level digitizer), and the operating system and software will be built entirely around the use of the stylus. If you do a Google or YouTube search for "Galaxy Note Premium Suite Review", you'll be able to see what kind of support and features are built in to the device and the possibilities of using such a device for school. While the galaxy note is a phone, they're releasing a tablet version. It will have all of the features the Galaxy Note has, plus more! And it will be built around a large form factor, with superior math, image editing, drawing, and handwriting support (which will be good for those who are not used to a combination of touching and typing. Being that its an android tablet, you can pair it with a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse, and use it just like a laptop.
So you could write on it during the day, and pair it with a keyboard to type the really long papers! And its much much faster than the transformer, and software like splash top still works!
Search in youtube for the "galaxy note 10.1" and "galaxy Note premium suite" so see a demo. You can also search for "s note Demo" to see the built in math software, and note taking application. It's extremely powerful, and the software even includes handwriting recognition.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium HD app

First Time Post

Hello all. First time post. Let me start off by thanking you for accepting me into this fine community.
I had to chuckle while reading some excellent posts on the good and bad points when it came to some of the performance and features of the Infinity.
The reason for the chuckle was because I had this forum opened in one tab of my browser, and Amazon opened in another. I had actually been looking over the contents on my shopping cart. In it was one(1) ASUS Infinity tablet. I placed the item there a few days ago, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to hit the "Submit Order" button. Something just didn't feel right about the purchase. The decision over which tablet to choose is becoming more and more confusing. With talk about what may or may not be available in the not too distant future re: New iPad, Windows 8, etc etc really has me hesitating at this juncture.
My two daughters each purchased the new iPad so at least I have an opportunity to get a feel of what that product has to offer. Unfortunately, detaching them from their new toy has been a struggle all its own. One of the main reasons for my looking at products other than Apple is that their products seems SO proprietary.
In any case, I think that I will keep visiting this forum for a while longer before I make a final decision as to which tablet to choose. My apologies for the long-winded post. Peter

Hi Peter,
Deciding what Tablet you want for yourself is a very personal decision. If you really don't care about the environment (iOS vs Android) and are just a casual user - I do have a recommendation. At the risk of being flamed, I would say to get an iPad.
It comes down to this: Apps make the ecosystem. While android is gaining in applications and games, and just put out a huge checklist for Tablet developers, apple has a better application and gaming experience for the average user. You are absolutely subject to the proprietary OS, but most people don't care. It's good enough.
I love android (and I suspect that many others do as well) for a few reasons. It's mine. It's fully customizable and I can but really cool community built OS's Recovieries, etc on it. I've learned a lot about how devices work and the things most people don't see. That said, I've had my share of problems too. Many users don't know enough and brick their devices trying to do something that sounds cool but they don't fully understand. If you're a casual user there is no need to get caught up in it. Apple does in fact set the standard for hardware and Android will briefly surpass it, but it's always a tight race. Also, there are a lot more accessories for the iPad then any tablet device. I also love it because I enjoy pushing the envelope and making things better. Finally I love the community around android. It's awesome that I see the same usernames popping up across our little section of XDA helping each other out, supporting each other, joking around, and disagreeing even. It's fun.
Also, for the casual user you can go to a nearby apple store and get your issues fixed if you mess something up.
The first decision you make should be an ecosystem/environmental one. Also, if you don't have itunes there is a bit of a learning curve. I don't think that Apple products have that "intuitive feel" everyone claims. Android just seems harder because there is more customization that can take place.
Before I get flamed - I'm not advocating for Apple or the iPad, but I am advocating for really thinking about what kind of device you want and what you want to get out of it before you make your decision.
Good luck and if you have you have more questions, we're happy to help!

Osteele said:
Hello all. First time post. Let me start off by thanking you for accepting me into this fine community.
I had to chuckle while reading some excellent posts on the good and bad points when it came to some of the performance and features of the Infinity.
The reason for the chuckle was because I had this forum opened in one tab of my browser, and Amazon opened in another. I had actually been looking over the contents on my shopping cart. In it was one(1) ASUS Infinity tablet. I placed the item there a few days ago, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to hit the "Submit Order" button. Something just didn't feel right about the purchase. The decision over which tablet to choose is becoming more and more confusing. With talk about what may or may not be available in the not too distant future re: New iPad, Windows 8, etc etc really has me hesitating at this juncture.
My two daughters each purchased the new iPad so at least I have an opportunity to get a feel of what that product has to offer. Unfortunately, detaching them from their new toy has been a struggle all its own. One of the main reasons for my looking at products other than Apple is that their products seems SO proprietary.
In any case, I think that I will keep visiting this forum for a while longer before I make a final decision as to which tablet to choose. My apologies for the long-winded post. Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome here, whatever you decide, but if you go with another tablet or OS, please don't come and tease us about how much better/faster/cooler yours is than ours. that really gets on my nerves, lol!
But I'm sure you would never do that.
I would advocate that if you are interested in customising your tablet, the Infinity is a good one. First of all, it has a beautiful screen, will continue to receive firmware/OS updates and is finally starting to be well supported by some of the best developers in the Android ecosystem. Personally, I don't care about iOS on any level. It's far to closed a system for me, too limited. My Infinity , running CleanROM v1.3 with TWRP 2.3.0.0. recovery absolutely flies. It is super fluid and very powerful. I keep it connected to its keyboard dock and I take it off the charger at 5:30 a.m. and never have to charge again though 17 hour day of almost constant use. Much of that use is internet browsing and with the CleanROM tweaks, the stock browser performs incredibly well. I also have a flawless tablet and dock. Never any problems. I also take care of it, but nothing out of the ordinary...just keep it in its case...don't drop it or spill on it.
I've been using it instead of a laptop, and it just about replaces my desktop. Browsing is actually faster on the Infinity, and watching videos is a lot nicer. I haven't used the HDMI port, so I can't comment on it, but having the micro sd, the fullsize sd and full size USB ports means I never have to worry about not having enough storage...my 750GB WD Passport works perfectly in the USB port. That's a lot of movies.
Well, I know some people are worried about unlocking and voiding their asus warranty in order to flash custom software, but I found that a 2 year square deal warranty with accidental damage coverage works better for me anyway. It cost me $99, but I found out later that with a coupon I could have saved $30. Oh well.
Anyway, good luck with your decision!

wolfman87 said:
Hi Peter,
Deciding what Tablet you want for yourself is a very personal decision. If you really don't care about the environment (iOS vs Android) and are just a casual user - I do have a recommendation. At the risk of being flamed, I would say to get an iPad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the quick response wolfman87. I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision. But of course you are absolutely right about that decision being a very personal one.
I suppose that there are so many factors that one may have to consider. It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
A liitle bit about myself:
Spend most of my time in a Windows client / server environment. (For better or worse my clients have dictated my skill-level)
Which is probably the reason that I am always looking to learn new things. Lately that has been:
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter

okantomi said:
You are welcome here, whatever you decide, but if you go with another tablet or OS, please don't come and tease us about how much better/faster/cooler yours is than ours. that really gets on my nerves, lol!
But I'm sure you would never do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are absolutely right okantomi, I would never come back to do such a thing. By the way, thank you for the great response. I suppose that some of the negative stuff that I read in certain sections of this forum got me a little nervous. I should know better. We don't live in a perfect world, and no ONE item is going to please everyone. This phenomema is what brings about change and improvement.
I will give it another day or two, discuss the purchase with my better half, then see what we come up with.
Have a great weekend. Peter

Here's my two cents... Above, someone mentioned apps... Basically, an iPad is just that - an interface to run apps. On the other hand, Android does so much more. Besides running apps, the OS itself is actually useful and a great productivity tool. The widgets that run on your desktop are simply awesome. Just by looking at my home screen, I can see my upcoming appointments, the time, the date, the weather, my Gmail account and my work email account (exchange). I can do all of that simply by turning the device on! When you turn on an Ipad you see icons - that's about it.
Add to that the features of the Transformer series, such as a keyboard dock with an extra battery, a trackpad, memory card readers, HDMI-out and a USB port and I think you can see just how powerful a Transformer running Android can be. I actually started out with an iPad 1 (as it was basically the first tablet available) - it was a great device - until I stumbled upon Android and the Transformer line! You really can do so much more with a Transformer than you can with an iPad. Hell - even this post - just try typing this on an iPad - it would take forever with the on-screen keyboard!
Like had already been stated - it all depends on what you want the device to do. For me, the iPad is just way too limiting. It may have more apps (for now - although that's beginning to change), but that is literally all that you can do with it - runs apps. There are no widgets. There is no way to expand upon the hardware (I.E. extra ports). It's very "basic".
Anyway, good luck deciding - I have a feeling that we'll be seeing you around these parts soon enough though!
By the way, don't let the "complainers" in this forum scare you off - it's mainly just so same few posters complaining over and over again. Or, it's folks that don't even own the TF700! It is deceiving - there are *many* happy TF700 users out there!
Sorry for the long post - it's just so easy to get long winded when you have a real keyboard to type with!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

Osteele said:
Thank you so much for the quick response wolfman87. I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision. But of course you are absolutely right about that decision being a very personal one.
I suppose that there are so many factors that one may have to consider. It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
A liitle bit about myself:
Spend most of my time in a Windows client / server environment. (For better or worse my clients have dictated my skill-level)
Which is probably the reason that I am always looking to learn new things. Lately that has been:
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might be a jumble of thoughts - sorry in advance:
That's really good information actually. From the first post it sounded much more casual. Since the needs that you have are more technical I would lean towards the Android side of things (I think that there are more IT based applications for Android). You can definitely set up exchange accounts (not sure how many, but I know you can). You can also remote into other machines (VPN, I think RDP, etc.). Of course web browsing comes standard, even on the base model
If you are going to be doing a lot of emails the dock absolutely is worth it. for ~$100 (if you get the 201) you get basically a netbook KB and the extra battery life. I have a friend who uses a bluetooth KB for his iPad and it lasts a while itself, but doesn't increase the tablet uptime.
Also a few people are working on getting a distro of linux up on this. It's harder since the bootloader isn't the same as the older models, but I don't think that it's something you can do on the iPad.
If you aren't running any iDevices right now it makes sense to stick with Android/Windows as an ecosystem. My other advice is go to play.google.com and look around at the apps, specifically for what you want to do: (for example: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=SIP&c=apps). This will help you get a feel for what is out there and what you can do.
For hooking up to HDMI - I actually may have blown the port on mine recently - I still haven't tested it again. But I got the Square Trade warranty through amazon (2 years plus accidental damage) for about $75. They're a solid provider and while I hope I don't have to use them, they don't care if you voided your ASUS warranty with unlocking, etc.
If you you and your better half will be using the tablet, I would say to stick to the infinity since the screen is super crisp (I assume that for emails, PDF's, remote PBXing, you aren't worried too much about the resolution) and it gets bright in the outdoors (IPS+). I have an iPad 2 for work and it really is much better than even that screen. Not as good as the iPads, but the best on the market for android.
If you really don't care about the screen, there are other good models out there. The Infinity rocks in terms of horsepower and as I mentioned the screen. Those are probably the two BEST things about it. I figure (for me) it will last at least 2 maybe 3 years. (hopefully more)
Oh, as a note - try before you buy. The headset jack is a bit weird and if you do a lot of audio it takes a bit to get used to holding it closer to the top.
Oh, and no need to apologize for being long winded

To all you great folks who have taken the time to respond to my lenghty posts, my heartfelt thanks. I have to be very honest, and I hope that this doesn't come off sounding strange, I am not a huge APPS kinda guy. Maybe I am not up to speed with that whole apps thing, but I just can't see why some folks put so much emphasis on the procurement of apps. Let's face it, how many are you really going to need / use. Once you find the ones that do exactly what you need for them to do that should pretty much do it.
Well, that's just me talking of course. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that most of the time I am using my machines for work and not so much for play.
Have yourselves a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Thank you
Peter

Osteele said:
I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision.
[...]
It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
[...]
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If web browsing is a must -- and for most of us, it is -- then pretty much any Android machine wins over any iDevice because of Flash support (even with the support detracted on JB devices, you can still sideload the apk and it will still work).
Shell connection has several (free) apps available. I do that from home, mostly, so I do not have really extensive experience with them.
EPub and PDF -- Mantano all the way (I use it for both technical reading (medical and biochemical literature, mostly) and leisure reading (although that is non-fiction as well, mainly (astro)physics, quantum dynamics, archeology -- the high resolution screen REALLY helps in that corner, for it renders formulae, graphs, tables, and such just beautifully!).
To me, given both private and work use, TF700 hands-down, but as has been said oftentimes on this thread already, it's your choice. And indeed you are welcome in here anyway.
Osteele said:
[...]I am not a huge APPS kinda guy. Maybe I am not up to speed with that whole apps thing, but I just can't see why some folks put so much emphasis on the procurement of apps. Let's face it, how many are you really going to need / use. Once you find the ones that do exactly what you need for them to do that should pretty much do it.
Well, that's just me talking of course. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that most of the time I am using my machines for work and not so much for play.
Have yourselves a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Thank you
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does make a major difference whether you use the 700 for work alone or also for leisure activity. I have two kids, aged 4 and 2, and they love tablet -- and they're ever handier than me. :S The app thingy is an ongoing search for the best-performing launcher, the best-performing office application, etc. -- and a lot of it is hoarding (I have enough games purchased-but-not-played-yet to last me for the next decade-and-a-half, hahaha!).
(Oh, and sometimes, an app is really good for all things it does, but it doesn't incorporate a feature you need. You then find another app that does, but that one either has a clunky interface (preventing everyday use) or misses some feature the other app did provide... and so on, and so on. )
Jtrosky already tackled this, but I wanted to emphasize it a bit: currently, only a small minority has devices that display major faults. Don't let the few posts about them detract you from trusting the TF700.
I was one of the many that noticed low I/O performance, which is the one issue that is faithfully reproducible, I guess -- and although not eliminated entirely, it has been greatly improved upon by recent updates. I was one of the instigators of the "I/O pressure" -- I unashamedly admit -- and I think we did the right thing in being so vocal. I love my 700, though, and I am easily standing up against the many friends carrying iDevices around (with regards to both screen quality, battery life, physical keyboard, and connection options (main USB, (micro)SD cards)...
Have a good and merry weekend yourself as well!

MartyHulskemper said:
If web browsing is a must -- and for most of us, it is -- then pretty much any Android machine wins over any iDevice because of Flash support (even with the support detracted on JB devices, you can still sideload the apk and it will still work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good morning Marty, and thank you for your valuable input. Undoubtedly, you seem to be getting the most out of your trusty tablet. I am happy to hear that.
I am going to take in all I can about tablets in general this weekend. I know that can probably set me a back a while. I am currently delving into a little .NET programming. So, there is always WIndows 8 tablets.
Came across this article last nite:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010050/leaked-windows-8-tablet-pricing-suggests-asus-is-targeting-big-spenders.html
Will most likely add to my confusion though. No one is holding a gun to my head, right?
Have a wonderful day wherever you may be!
Peter

Osteele said:
Good morning Marty, and thank you for your valuable input. Undoubtedly, you seem to be getting the most out of your trusty tablet. I am happy to hear that.
I am going to take in all I can about tablets in general this weekend. I know that can probably set me a back a while. I am currently delving into a little .NET programming. So, there is always WIndows 8 tablets.
Came across this article last nite:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010050/leaked-windows-8-tablet-pricing-suggests-asus-is-targeting-big-spenders.html
Will most likely add to my confusion though. No one is holding a gun to my head, right?
Have a wonderful day wherever you may be!
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, no, you're only in as much hurry as you put yourself in -- that Intel-based ASUS tablet is priced outrageously high -- 1399 dollars for a tablet? Meh. The people that would pay that )to include the dock accessory) would rather pay 1100 dollars for a really good laptop instead. I'd that swell, and I'd gain Windows gaming in the process (Borderlands 2 on the train commute ftw, hahaha! ) and a crapload of ecosystem apps that have been refined over many years instead of the 2 years we have had Android tablet apps and 0, nada, zilch for Windows 8 tablet apps.
If they price it lower, though, it might even be very tempting (especially when they do not break compatibility with Windows 7 applications -- I haven't been paying much attention to Windows 8. I guess I have some catching up to do...
And as far as your catching up goes: yes, I'd expect you to be busy reading for a week or two, at least. As we say in Holland: it will, at the very least, keep you off the streets.

MartyHulskemper said:
Oh, no, you're only in as much hurry as you put yourself in -- that Intel-based ASUS tablet is priced outrageously high -- 1399 dollars for a tablet? Meh.
If they price it lower, though, it might even be very tempting (especially when they do not break compatibility with Windows 7 applications -- I haven't been paying much attention to Windows 8. I guess I have some catching up to do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again Marty. I was under the impression that the pricing was somewhere in the vicinity of:
Pricing for Asus' Vivo Tab RT will start at $599
As was mentioned here as well:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/12/3495334/asus-vivo-tab-rt-pre-sales-begin-first-windows-rt-tablet-starts-at
IT's going to take more than a tablet to keep me off the streets. :laugh: :laugh:
Have a wonderful day. Peter

Osteele said:
Hello again Marty. I was under the impression that the pricing was somewhere in the vicinity of:
Pricing for Asus' Vivo Tab RT will start at $599
As was mentioned here as well:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/12/3495334/asus-vivo-tab-rt-pre-sales-begin-first-windows-rt-tablet-starts-at
IT's going to take more than a tablet to keep me off the streets. :laugh: :laugh:
Have a wonderful day. Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Peter!
Yes, it did say that in the article, but the RT versions of Windows 8 are the versions that carry ONLY the Metro interface, and are able to run ONLY apps that have been specifically programmed to run on that particular version (although I might have understood all that totally wrong, in which case somebody will undoubtedly be so friendly as to point me to my errors. The more usable versions will cost you significantly more, and the dock will set you back even more...

MartyHulskemper said:
Hi Peter!
Yes, it did say that in the article, but the RT versions of Windows 8 are the versions that carry ONLY the Metro interface, and are able to run ONLY apps that have been specifically programmed to run on that particular version (although I might have understood all that totally wrong, in which case somebody will undoubtedly be so friendly as to point me to my errors. The more usable versions will cost you significantly more, and the dock will set you back even more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha !!! Gotcha. Thanks to you, I will be going to bed a little smarter this evening. Thank you. Peter

Update
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter

Osteele said:
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bring it on bro.....We are waiting!!!

buhohitr said:
Bring it on bro.....We are waiting!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Sir. I really appreciate that.

Congrats! Welcome to the club
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Welcome to the Infinity family.
As a .NET Developer myself, I find this device comes in handy sometimes with the supernote it saves alot of papers and keep them all in one place. I use Supernote for writing pseudo code, brainstorming, UML diagram etc. Maybe you will find this method useful or maybe not. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the infinity!
Cheers

Osteele said:
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so, too, Peter -- you'll find out soon enough, I guess. ; ) It does come pretty sudden, so after your initial resolve to wait it out and inform and inform and inform. I know the feeling of waiting, however, mostly gets the best of me -- I guess us gadgeteers are not the most resilient to marketing and spec sheets. Hahaha!
Welcome to the club, and don't fret about posting your questions. It's not your type of user we get fed up with, and to be honest, I think you'll be fine with the guides that have sprung up -- at least as far as unlocking woes, Nvflash, custom recoveries and custom ROMs, etc. go. It's going to take a fair bit of Play Store scavenging to find apps that suit your needs and style optimally, but we'll get there. Relish the kid feeling, and don't lose the fun in finding your way.
By the way: I assume you ordered it with the dock?

ipad vs laptop

Hi. Christmas is approaching and we promised our son to buy him an ipad or laptop. He is undecided what to buy. I know that mostly it depends on what you need it for however I would like some suggestions from you. And I have one question about the ipad. Can you play java and shockwave games such as the games in facebook on the ipad?
Thanks

No, you can't play Facebook games on the iPad. The only alternative is trying to find the same game in the app store.
iPad is good for strictly internet browsing, maybe looking at pictures, or watching movies (if you can successfully transfer them to the device with the oh so awesome iTunes)
A laptop will do everything, being a full fledged computer.
iPad is easier to use though for the things it can do (except transferring stuff to it), so if he just plans on browsing the internet (without flash or shockwave content), and basic stuff like that than the iPad
If he wants to be able to do everything he can do on the computer the iPad will seem lacking.

speedyink said:
No, you can't play Facebook games on the iPad. The only alternative is trying to find the same game in the app store.
iPad is good for strictly internet browsing, maybe looking at pictures, or watching movies (if you can successfully transfer them to the device with the oh so awesome iTunes)
A laptop will do everything, being a full fledged computer.
iPad is easier to use though for the things it can do (except transferring stuff to it), so if he just plans on browsing the internet (without flash or shockwave content), and basic stuff like that than the iPad
If he wants to be able to do everything he can do on the computer the iPad will seem lacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your insight...I really appreciate...

I would also like to point out this is the completely the wrong forum all iOS device related stuff should be on the sister site here: http://forum.iphone-developers.com/

zacthespack said:
I would also like to point out this is the completely the wrong forum all iOS device related stuff should be on the sister site here: http://forum.iphone-developers.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ This. XDA is for Android and Windows Phone devices (also Windows 8) only. Thread closed.

Is it possible to have IOS and Android devices talking to one central tablet

Hi,
My wife babysit for local moms when shes not working, so some days she may have say 5-6 kids age around 4-7.
As they all have tablets (ipad and Androids), is it possible,or easy to make an app for these pads to talk to each other, so she can sent out preset questions (ie, like 2+2 and multiple choice answers like 3,4,6,8) , the kids will get the question/answers displayed on their tablet app, and when they answered, the results will return to the master tablet with who is fastest and who got it right and wrong ?
And possiblily the options to save the results until end of day so they can compare whos done well or not ?
This would be a great way to keep the kids busy while learning.
Thanks for any pointers.

Some sort of server that the device browsers can connect to.
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs