I have been doing a lot of research into a good cheap android tablet to buy and now I'm even more confused than when I started. Apad,Iped,etc. Spec. faking and all.
I have come across the zt180 which seems to be the fastest And (among others) This, which is slower but seems to be a better machine overall (2.2, more ram, some sort of video playing dsp chip).
They seemed to be the best but there is probably many I haven't seen.
Can anyone who owns either device or who knows more about this recommend what one I should buy. Weather it be one of those 2 or something else.
I am looking for something that can play "standard 700mb a movie" divx videos (not sure of the quality but its the quality most 700mb movies are), youtube and some web browsing. I am also worried whether the resistive screen is going to be annoying or not.
Thanks
Hi, did you end up buying your tablet. Im looking to get a cheapie too and was wondering how you went.
Hey all,
I have a few questions about the Xoom since I'm thinking about getting one (and yes, I am comparing it to the iPad 2).
First off, we've all seen Anandtech's graphical benchmarks of the Xoom. I'm taking those with a grain of salt though because from what I've seen from the Xoom when I've tried it at Best Buy, the Xoom seems to perform perfectly fine.
That said, do you think the Xoom's bottleneck in terms of graphical performance is more on the software end? Or is it more because of the hardware? Right now, I see myself doubting the Tegra 2.
Next, how well does the HDMI video output work? Has anyone tried it directly from the tablet? Or do you actually need the dock (I've read this somewhere) to use the HDMI video output? I assume it's easy to do, right?
I know this has been discussed before, but while I'm here asking questions, I figured I might as well: how's the office productivity with the Xoom? I won't necessarily need apps to edit Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents (though it'd be nice), but to at least view them and perhaps display them via the HDMI out could be very useful for me at work.
Lastly, how have your experiences with the video chat been so far? With Fring (I would like to be able to do cross-platform video chat, specifically with iOS devices since I have friends/family who use them)? Google Chat?
That's all I've got for now. Thanks!
I have had the xoom for almost a month. I think the performance is great, but I have no I pad experience other then playing with them in the verizon store.
I like this long battery life, the cameras have been fun though the app support is still lacking. I still can't video skype etc. But I am biased towards android and will wait for the market to catch up.
I have purchased a micro hdmi cable to regular hdmi from microcenter and it works fine, I think it defaulted to 720p. But everything shows up on the screen except for the bottom menu bar. Like the bottom 10 pixels or something.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
This is an uneducated guess compared to some of the realllllllllllllly smart people on xda but i think that if you can play games like Samurai II: Vengance in full screen full res the hardware schould have no trouble playing back a video file at that resolution (it doesnt have all that GPU work to do!). So i personally think the issue is software.
norsairius said:
Hey all,
I have a few questions about the Xoom since I'm thinking about getting one (and yes, I am comparing it to the iPad 2).
First off, we've all seen Anandtech's graphical benchmarks of the Xoom. I'm taking those with a grain of salt though because from what I've seen from the Xoom when I've tried it at Best Buy, the Xoom seems to perform perfectly fine.
That said, do you think the Xoom's bottleneck in terms of graphical performance is more on the software end? Or is it more because of the hardware? Right now, I see myself doubting the Tegra 2.
Next, how well does the HDMI video output work? Has anyone tried it directly from the tablet? Or do you actually need the dock (I've read this somewhere) to use the HDMI video output? I assume it's easy to do, right?
I know this has been discussed before, but while I'm here asking questions, I figured I might as well: how's the office productivity with the Xoom? I won't necessarily need apps to edit Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents (though it'd be nice), but to at least view them and perhaps display them via the HDMI out could be very useful for me at work.
Lastly, how have your experiences with the video chat been so far? With Fring (I would like to be able to do cross-platform video chat, specifically with iOS devices since I have friends/family who use them)? Google Chat?
That's all I've got for now. Thanks!
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1. I'm not an expert in this area, but my time with the Xoom indicates that it's a software issue. There are several games available in the market that look absolutely great on the Xoom, and run very smooth without any hiccups. Emulation, which is all done in software, tends to be a good stress-test for hardware. You should see StarFox 64 on N64oid, it's smooth as butter. I have no doubt the software will catch up and in time show off this hardware platform - don't forget there are several tablets being released with very similar specs running Honeycomb.
2. HDMI output works great, it's a full mirror. Just the other day, I was waiting in a building lobby that had a huge Panasonic HDTV hanging on the wall, but there was some issue with the cable TV service. So I took out the Xoom, plugged in the HDMI cable, and fired up some episodes of The Office. Employees walking by were surprised and said "it's about time they got that thing fixed!", not knowing my Xoom was providing the content. Gotta admit, that felt pretty cool.
3. There are plenty of office productivity apps for Android, like Documents To Go. Some are free, and have a paid version that allows you to edit documents as well. As I said before, the Xoom allows for full mirroring via HDMI-out, so this should work for you. I don't to a whole lot of Office-document editing, mostly viewing of Excel, Word, or PDF attachments, which works just fine on the Xoom.
4. I don't use Fring anymore, ever since Skype blocked them, so I migrated to Tango on my EVO, and it works just as well on the Xoom. I've made video calls over 3G on the Xoom, and it works as expected. Really looking forward to a full Skype client. I haven't tried GChat yet.
Hope this helps. Just remember that the Apple vs Google mentality is in stark contrast: Google's stuff is always in development, so the software often needs time to catch up to the hardware, whereas Apple's stuff is ready to go right out of the box. Is Honeycomb incomplete? I'd say yes, but it's already off to a good start.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Now, do you all think the Xoom may become a "developer device" similar to what the Nexus One/S are since the Xoom runs stock Honeycomb? Do you foresee any issues with installing any future updates that come straight from Google since the hardware runs the stock OS just fine?
Also, have any of you tried emulators like SNESoid on the Xoom yet?
norsairius said:
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Now, do you all think the Xoom may become a "developer device" similar to what the Nexus One/S are since the Xoom runs stock Honeycomb? Do you foresee any issues with installing any future updates that come straight from Google since the hardware runs the stock OS just fine?
Also, have any of you tried emulators like SNESoid on the Xoom yet?
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It already is the developer device for honey comb, it's what Google used to show off honeycomb first and it's what Google gave devs early on and gave away at the game developers conferences a couple weeks ago for devs to make games on. it's what nvidia uses to show off demos and games.
Gotcha, well, that certainly increases the longevity of the device!
It would seem then that in my iPad2 vs. Xoom comparison going on in my head, the Xoom is edging ahead.
I'm not a particular fanboy of either Apple/iOS or Google/Android, so this comparison has been tough for me.
So what I've concluded so far then is that the iPad is certainly the more refined and mature product now, but the Xoom is easily more versatile. I have no doubts that the Xoom, with updates, will easily be as good, if not better than the iPad.
And especially given the fact that the Xoom will be able to use updates directly from Google when they come out, the device should have a relatively long and useful life (unless I'm misinterpreting what people are saying around here).
Nope, you hit the nail on the head. the Xoom will have a long and fruitful life from everything I can tell.
I remember when the Macintosh had very few software options, while PCs had EVERYTHING. I see it as the same kind of situation now when comparing the Xoom to the iPad 2. I'm also predicting the same level of success for Honeycomb tablets... just a matter of time!
XoomTech.net
Hi,
Just picked up my Rodimus Prime Transformer today with keyboard dock and all (Micro Anvika Tottenham Court Road for any Londoners).
Just getting it set up and seeing what it can do. Have been waiting for this for ages, and reading threads inside out!!
Some wicked stuff, but also some minor annoyances along the lines of what others post.
VIDEO!! Argh!
Put SD card from Sony HX5 camera in. Hardly get any frames together, from 1080p MP4. Tried moboplayer (with and without ARM codec), rockplayer.
Also tried the Big Buck Bunny test in you tube at 1080p. Also very poor.
Was prepared for it to be quite poor at these, but not as jerky as it is.
Can't get the firmware updates to work, but not sure if they will make a difference.
I am lovingthe transformer, but I need to get these things sorted before I show it off to my Ipad 2 mates!!!
Manythanks in advance for your patience and going over old issues yet again!!!
H
My daugther has a popcorn hour a-110 and i have created the jukeboxefunction on it, but beside that files stops working or shortcuts and that is kinda slow i want the ability for here to self pick what movie she wants to see, its importent that it is jukebox function cause she is to young to read.
I bought the archos it 101 and i seem to be one of not so many that it runs really slow even after custom room and oc etc so i have given up on that pieace of crap.
But i have read that they can suffer from the ability to read all kind of files, lack of jukebox function and ability to run 1080p
im not gonna run 1080p movies but i want it to have the power for it, its mainly dvd rips etc, im not gonna run thos file types that include 1080p with 3d, 7.1 surround and whatever it needs, not even i run that kind of files.
But i need jukebox function and ofcourse its good if i get the best tablet for the price, even if i dont use all functions i still want to do a good deal....
I have looked into differens tablets and now im looking into acer iconia a500 cause its on auction for 2000SEK, little under 300$, and the auction runs out in around 2 hours and i forgat to ask here before
edit: im gonna use external 2tb 3.5" drives for the movies and HDMI output, some have full HDMI but this ones hasnt, but it isnt the end of the world.
edit or the galaxy tab 10.1, found one that is for sell and ens tomorrow its on the same price but i dunno how much higher it will end on, downside is that i need the dock station to use HDMI but that is on the package and the keybord to.
I know bumping isnt allowed but because its not so much more then 1 hour left on the acution for a500 i just wanna try getting answers.
I was going to get my Girlfriend a 10” tablet for Christmas. Was looking at the Nexus 10 until I saw the price. All she’ll really be using it for is simple gaming and streaming TV via Wifi and watching 720p MKV on the screen or output via HDMI. I’ve seen the TF101 for £220 with the keyboard dock. If I Root and install the latest CM10 do you think this will be a sufficient and cheaper option to the Nexus 10 for her needs?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Get a Nexus 10. The TF101 sucks for watching 720p MKV unless you like to spend all your spare time re-encoding files to a bitrate the weaksauce Tegra2 is capable of playing.
years, rtyllmem
raduque said:
Get a Nexus 10. The TF101 sucks for watching 720p MKV unless you like to spend all your spare time re-encoding files to a bitrate the weaksauce Tegra2 is capable of playing.
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I would agree with this statement. The tf101 can play them mind you, but not very well. I use MX player for mkvs, which generally works, but there is usually lag. The Nexus 10 is a really nice, and will likely have no issue playing 720p. I'd like to see more about it as people get theirs from Google, but for now, you might as well go with a newer tablet. Maybe even on of the newer Transformers, like tf200, or tf300, maybe even tf700. Unless you don't want a keyboard.