Related
I'd like to make a list of the things you can use your Xoom for. Like most people, I use my laptop for most stuff; the Xoom is just for messing around. I find myself walking over to the laptop to respond to emails, to see things full screen, and for anything productivity related.
It's a pretty expensive piece of kit for messing around; I'm looking for reasons to keep mine (beyond that I'm a huge geek and love this tech stuff). I admit that I thought that the 3.1 update would bring more functionality, but I'm a bit disappointed to find that it's pretty much the same (in terms of how I use it); and there are so few apps with tablet functionality that I kind of wish it was just a phone...
Here's what I use it for: (I'll expand the list with your suggestions)
Check email---ususally switch to the laptop to write back (unless it's short)
Check schedule and change schedule
Check blogs (through pulse; the web browser is too clunky)
Watch videos while I'm working
Listen to Grooveshark while I'm working
Google video chat---Most people tell me it's annoying on their end though
Reading---(this one I'm not certain about yet. It's really too heavy to hold up like a kindle...)
Casual gaming---Only for silly time-wasters like "chalkball"; cordy and dungeon defenders and similar games are just stupid and clunky compared to console or PC gaming.
What I don't use it for:
Web surfing---drives me nuts
Productivity (document editing)
Video to TV---Laptop has HDMI and I also have a PS3
I really like this thing, but considering what I use it for, I could save money and get more satisfaction by buying a kindle and a nice phone. I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Browsing, email, music and kindle.
That's about it.
I'm not sure tablets really have much use beyond that right now. But, to be fair, I do use it a lot for those things. Almost never use my laptop except for work.
I use mines for a substitute for my laptop. I'm a student and rely on it heavily for:
Evernote
Logmein
Pulse (while in boring lectures)
Music
Web Browsing XDA and other forums
Google Docs
Dropbox (Saved my ass several times when thumb drives failed me)
Everything I can do on a laptop I can do in my Xoom. I had the Xoom for 4 days and it blows away the iPad 2 which I traded for the Xoom. More freedom and desktop like experience. To the OP I type my papers on an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
got mine as a stop gap for the galaxy tab 10.1. Don't get me wrong this is a great device, its just a shame about the weight in my opinion.
risq said:
got mine as a stop gap for the galaxy tab 10.1. Don't get me wrong this is a great device, its just a shame about the weight in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha, same here. Figure I can sell this for about 400 and then grab a 16gb tab for 499.
I bought it so excited thinking it would help me with work and this and that, and I hardly use it for anything productive.
Maybe with more classy apps it will work better.
I'm waiting for the funds, but the second I get them I will be applying my Xoom to Photoshop CS5.5, I'm almost positive that expirence is going to be a whole other world for me.
But yeah, so now I mostly use mine for watching videos, general web browsing (personally I find it quite pleasurable in that aspect), BS gaming, and, when i travel I bring this and my ps3 with me and use the Xoom to hop on the PSN.
8 hrs of game play on Black Ops (which is all I tested for that duration of time) only uses up too 200 megs, a lot less than I initially thought.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
I don't see why you would wanna spend another 100 dollars and cut your memory in half.
What is the gtabs screen going to be like compared to the Xooms?
Like besides weight, what's the gtab got on the Xoom?
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
school work
I'm a student so I use it for notes, and if class gets boring I whip out angry birds
RadDudeTommy said:
I don't see why you would wanna spend another 100 dollars and cut your memory in half.
What is the gtabs screen going to be like compared to the Xooms?
Like besides weight, what's the gtab got on the Xoom?
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't need the extra 16gb and in any case I have an SD card which I can use if needed.
Tab has a PLS screen. Supposed to be better than IPS and way better than the TFT in the xoom.
And as a European user I have more faith in Samsung than Motorola when it comes to updates.
hatworthy said:
And as a European user I have more faith in Samsung than Motorola when it comes to updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is just the opposite here in America. Motorola has shown good faith in updates since androids original release.
My girlfriends Samsung Galaxy S Captivate just got Froyo a month ago.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
True, though I think the carriers over there played a part in that fiasco. Motorola on the other hand just don't give a **** about Europe. They don't even release most of their phones over here.
I use mine to take to classes for notes and dungeon defender, its also useful to take to the bed for studying
RadDudeTommy said:
I don't see why you would wanna spend another 100 dollars and cut your memory in half.
What is the gtabs screen going to be like compared to the Xooms?
Like besides weight, what's the gtab got on the Xoom?
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NO USB, NO HDMI ports on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 means no video out and no keyboard/mouse for easier input/navigation.
I really like the fact the Xoom has a true GPS on the WiFi models. That feature seems to be missing from the Acer and Galaxy Tab 10.1.
shobirama said:
NO USB, NO HDMI ports on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 means no video out and no keyboard/mouse for easier input/navigation.
I really like the fact the Xoom has a true GPS on the WiFi models. That feature seems to be missing from the Acer and Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video out will be through a proprietary cable, just like the iPad. First i've heard about the gps though. Got a link?
I'm using it more and more....
At home/fun: watching movies, playing angry birds (which at first I had no interest in and now I'm hooked) streaming radio/playing mp3s, surfing the web...
Work: I have two jobs.. a part time IT job, which I use dropbox, logmein, browser, office docs, and GPS.
My other job is in sales... which I use GPS almost every day... dropbox... office docs, mostly excel, and calculator..
While driving I'll either play music or videos... I cover larger distances and don't have satellite radio, so streaming is better then having to keep switching stations plus I get tired of the same music over and over again.
I'm very happy with it... well worth the money.
This weekend I just started to customize it... got a long way to go but I plan to have one screen for each job... and then a couple just for fun stuff.
-R
I use mine a lot. I keep finding more and more uses for it.
Uses:
Just discovered evernote, so looking forward to using that more
Movies/anime
Games - Angry birds, stupid zombies, robodefence
Reading - Bible and others (like "In the Plex")
Browsing and email
Pulse
Taking notes at meetings, then I can just email everyone the word document instead of rewriting it up and then doing so.
GPS, Google maps works really well, and you only need to turn on internet every 30 min or so, as it caches the maps quite far ahead of you.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
I don't really use:
music
video editing
camera
Browsing
News stuff (see also browsing)
Email
Twitter
Facebook (to a lesser extent)
Games/Angry Birds
Streaming media - Plex
HDMI connection to TV (see streaming media)
Gallery for viewing photos
Emulators for SNES etc. (will probably use this more when I have 3.1)
Camera (a couple of times)
I'd probably use RDP when I get a mini server set up at home..
That's about all for now.
Almost everything tbh. For non work related purposes I use it exclusively.
reading comics
reading news stories
keeping the kids occupied during tripts
internet
watching movies and shows
playing games
email
messaging with gtalk
reading and editing docs
taking notes
browsing forums with tapatalk
accessing files that are not stored on the xoom - dropbox
slack04 said:
What I don't use it for:
Web surfing---drives me nuts
Productivity (document editing)
Video to TV---Laptop has HDMI and I also have a PS3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find that setting webpages as bookmarks on the homescreen improves my browsing experience.
I use the speaker dock from Moto and that sounds great with music player.
I am gonna have about $400 USD to spend and want a new toy. Here is my laundry list, what do u think would be good for it?
Read books
Watch videos
Wifi
was thinking maybe the ipodtouch or an android tablet but i have had several android devices before and video has always been a hassle.
I suck at making up my mind >.<
Kindle Fire. Spend $200 on the device and another $200 on books and movies.
GreyWilliams said:
I am gonna have about $400 USD to spend and want a new toy. Here is my laundry list, what do u think would be good for it?
Read books
Watch videos
Wifi
was thinking maybe the ipodtouch or an android tablet but i have had several android devices before and video has always been a hassle.
I suck at making up my mind >.<
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could I ask whats up with the video? As I'm not sure an iPod would be much better (iTunes is fussy sometimes about what goes on it, and some video formats it won't play)
well its just been a pain in the past to get movie to play right on many of the android devices, i tried getting video on nook color and it was a disaster even after fallowing several handbrake tutorials that claimed success. Then i had a generic android tab and it played youtube like a dream but nothing else :\
i have been looking at the kindle fire and it looks like it has everything i need plus it gives me an extra 200 for accessories and a few dozen books.
atm my amazon cart looks like this
Kidle Fire
Leather case with stand and hand strap
screen protector
stylus
Gfx cover
and its about $285 before shipping.
The only major problem i have with the kindle fire is it only has 8gb storage and no sd slot (that i know of)
Where do you buy music, im used to buying CDs and ripping them to the computer and from there to my devices. I herd there is like Amazon, Itunes and Google what do you guys recommend?
The 5 bucks for an album thing from Google was great, got a few decent bands caught up with. Do find it odd how much is missing from Google Music though, end up jumping to Amazon, buying, downloading/reuploading to have it all integrated. I like the option to download both Amazon and Google.
Not encountered anything I want that's /not/ on those 2 sites.
ITunes I've stayed away from, originally it was because of the DRM, but now I just find iTunes a mess so avoid installing it on my main machines. I'd still have the issue of downloading/reuploading to make use of in google music, so if I had to, I'd not mind.
So I guess it all comes down to 'what's the cheapest, if it's there, get it' download the mp3 and not worry about it again.
For streaming, Spotify rocks. Also worth investigating.
I'm still buying CDs (but only LPs), rip them to FLAC and put them on my Phone and Transformer (Music converts automatically to MP3).
I use Amazon to buy single releases. Didn't have any problems till now.
I bought a Fire TV Stick for $19 when they offered it to Prime members for $19 because, well, it was $19.
The Stick works a lot like the Nexus Player. It's very snappy and navigates menus quickly. The Fire TV stick plays movies and TV shows instantly. No hesitation, no buffering, no determining download speed. And it's hidef quality. Instantly.
When playing music on the Amazon music player it shows the words of the song while playing automatically.
But the compelling point is content price. I have a Prime account so a lot of content is included in the price. I was able to play Hunger Games: Catching Fire immediately and for free. On Nexus Player it would have cost $20. I was able to play an episode of the Good Wife for free. It would have been $2 on Nexus.
Yes, it doesn't have cast. But I have a Chromecast to take care of that.
I think my Nexus Player will become a gift for one of my kids.
TabGuy said:
I bought a Fire TV Stick for $19 when they offered it to Prime members for $19 because, well, it was $19.
The Stick works a lot like the Nexus Player. It's very snappy and navigates menus quickly. The Fire TV stick plays movies and TV shows instantly. No hesitation, no buffering, no determining download speed. And it's hidef quality. Instantly.
When playing music on the Amazon music player it shows the words of the song while playing automatically.
But the compelling point is content price. I have a Prime account so a lot of content is included in the price. I was able to play Hunger Games: Catching Fire immediately and for free. On Nexus Player it would have cost $20. I was able to play an episode of the Good Wife for free. It would have been $2 on Nexus.
Yes, it doesn't have cast. But I have a Chromecast to take care of that.
I think my Nexus Player will become a gift for one of my kids.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you hate to say it, then dont.
If you want the Amazon ecosystem then nexus player isn't the best bet yet. I got a stick as well, and it's remote seems better, but it feels lagging to me
I purchases a fire stick as well but I don't think it has 802.11ac support which is a must for me since it doesnt have an Ethernet port. I streams tons of 15GB content using xbmc. But I'm glad its working for you, how do you consume content if you don't mind me asking? Plex, xbmc with addons like genesis?
TabGuy said:
I bought a Fire TV Stick for $19 when they offered it to Prime members for $19 because, well, it was $19.
The Stick works a lot like the Nexus Player. It's very snappy and navigates menus quickly. The Fire TV stick plays movies and TV shows instantly. No hesitation, no buffering, no determining download speed. And it's hidef quality. Instantly.
When playing music on the Amazon music player it shows the words of the song while playing automatically.
But the compelling point is content price. I have a Prime account so a lot of content is included in the price. I was able to play Hunger Games: Catching Fire immediately and for free. On Nexus Player it would have cost $20. I was able to play an episode of the Good Wife for free. It would have been $2 on Nexus.
Yes, it doesn't have cast. But I have a Chromecast to take care of that.
I think my Nexus Player will become a gift for one of my kids.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has been on Netflix for a little while now. So, that's not a particularly good example.
Can the Fire TV Stick run XBMC/KODI and play high bitrate 1080p files with DTS smoothly?
I personally don't care about premium content beyond Netflix. I have Amazon Prime and never even watch it.
I actually do have kodi loaded on my stick, and have tested some files with no issues. It's nice. It's not as powerful as the nexus player and more locked down
Returning
I agree completely with the OP. I have a ouya, chromecast, fire tv stick and fire tv all running and I have put more time trying to get xbmc to run smoothly on the NP than any other device put together. I have tried every build possible with zero to no luck resolving constant force closes during streaming from sources like genesis, freezing, not being able to use it yet as a launcher, lack of apps and netflix on it is the worst. The only thing I have found to work good on it is google play content. Mines being returned and ill take the cash loss from the shipping just to get this thing gone since I have it on kijiji at cost price with zero response. Worst device of the year imho
I think that's a bit hard. Especially when you think that this device is out since merely two weeks..
ks2hot4u said:
I agree completely with the OP. I have a ouya, chromecast, fire tv stick and fire tv all running and I have put more time trying to get xbmc to run smoothly on the NP than any other device put together. I have tried every build possible with zero to no luck resolving constant force closes during streaming from sources like genesis, freezing, not being able to use it yet as a launcher, lack of apps and netflix on it is the worst. The only thing I have found to work good on it is google play content. Mines being returned and ill take the cash loss from the shipping just to get this thing gone since I have it on kijiji at cost price with zero response. Worst device of the year imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. I've been using WDTV Live boxes and you don't know the meaning of pain. Lots and lots of issues...
If I were you you, I'd RMA the unit back to Google. Google will send you a brand new one. Don't open it! You'll have a much better chance of selling it on Kijiji as new un-opened.
ks2hot4u said:
I agree completely with the OP. I have a ouya, chromecast, fire tv stick and fire tv all running and I have put more time trying to get xbmc to run smoothly on the NP than any other device put together. I have tried every build possible with zero to no luck resolving constant force closes during streaming from sources like genesis, freezing, not being able to use it yet as a launcher, lack of apps and netflix on it is the worst. The only thing I have found to work good on it is google play content. Mines being returned and ill take the cash loss from the shipping just to get this thing gone since I have it on kijiji at cost price with zero response. Worst device of the year imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its early days for android l and think you are jumping the gun. The np has just been rooted and expect to see good things develop in the near future. Performance wise it is faster than most of the devices you own. I installed xbmc 13.2 on it with advanced settings and it works ok, not rock solid but reasonable. I will admit Navi-X is rocky, but does work sometimes.
Worst device of the year is a bit far of a reach especially when you are looking at it for XBMC use. On that end it may be a simple thing of its too new of a product.
For the value the fire stick could be a better buy if you are in the US. In canada Prime instant video means nothing, you could probably tinker with your router and work through that but sometimes you just want to be go the simple non hacking route.
Personally i am enjoying the nexus player very much. but if you are looking for xmbc streaming or the amazon eco system then yeah go for the fire tv stick. grab a chrome cast as well for good measure.
ks2hot4u said:
I agree completely with the OP. I have a ouya, chromecast, fire tv stick and fire tv all running and I have put more time trying to get xbmc to run smoothly on the NP than any other device put together. I have tried every build possible with zero to no luck resolving constant force closes during streaming from sources like genesis, freezing, not being able to use it yet as a launcher, lack of apps and netflix on it is the worst. The only thing I have found to work good on it is google play content. Mines being returned and ill take the cash loss from the shipping just to get this thing gone since I have it on kijiji at cost price with zero response. Worst device of the year imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? This is worrying, I have an ouya and xbmc works great on it, was going to buy a nexus player for downstairs though as fancy one and Wifi is bit flaky on ouya.
Does xbmc not run great on it?
A device with a locked bootloader, it will never be better than one with bootloader open. Because you will always be forced to do only what the manufacturer wants. If they want to remove XBMC they will do it in a second, like many other things. Thanks to Google Nexus Player is a true Nexus device with an open bootloader and the potential is a million times greater than the Fire TV. Specially with a new and modern OS like Android 5.
Sorry for the intervention and i suggest to vote with your wallet. Do not buy a device with a locked bootloader if you like Android.
Will get better
Not only is it new hardware, but it's new software also. I'm sure kodi will eventually run perfect on it and google will patch up android L...
zulu99 said:
A device with a locked bootloader, it will never be better than one with bootloader open. Because you will always be forced to do only what the manufacturer wants. If they want to remove XBMC they will do it in a second, like many other things. Thanks to Google Nexus Player is a true Nexus device with an open bootloader and the potential is a million times greater than the Fire TV. Specially with a new and modern OS like Android 5.
Sorry for the intervention and i suggest to vote with your wallet. Do not buy a device with a locked bootloader if you like Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. It's the community of developers, small and large that makes this OS so great. I don't see much progress in the Fire TV forum and its been out for months.
I think my point was missed. I ordered the NP first day. Love my nexus 5, have a nexus 7 flo installed in my dash which replaced the nexus 7 2012 that was there before it. I run xbmc on all my nexus products without a hitch. Received the NP last Wednesday, as soon as I plugged it in I sideloaded Chainfires tool, installed es explorer and used the official xbmc x86. Right off the get go it seems slow and laggy, it has a few hiccups using addons but no biggy. The biggest issue for me in xbmc is streaming content from 1channel, icefilms and genesis during a 22 minute episode xbmc crashed 4 times and returned me to the launcher. I tried spmc, tvmc, fired tv xbmc, Kodi alpha 1,2,3,4, and now 5 all with multiple configurations they all crash frequently. The remote is cheap and lacks a menu button, 1gb ??,no spdif, no ethernet, no full size usb (although I had no issues with OTG and a hub), Netflix broke so hard I had to do a factory reset, and the chromecast integration is laggy and bug ridden. Might have good potential in the future but as of right now I would much rather use the 25 dollar fire stick. Only tested one game asphalt 8 and the fire tv blew it out of the water. This isnt a debate of the potential of the device or what it might do in the future with roms its about out of box usage with current methods and mods. The ouya lacks in areas but out of the box ran 10x better and especially after with cyanogen. The reality is I received my firetv rooted it loaded xbmc and backups 20 minutes later up and has ran with no issues, received the fire tv stick a bit slower than the box but still set up and running in 20 minutes and no issues. To me thats enough, I have a rma and hate that I waited anxiously for over a month to have the thing ship and destroy any conceived expectations of a good working fire tv contender.
I'm running Kodi on mine streaming even 3D content at high bitrates no problem. I recommend the Helix Beta. Downloadable as an APK at: kodi.tv/download (choose the android beta x86 version).
I agree with ks2hot. I have issues with xbmc/kodi 14 beta 1,2, &4 on the NP. For whatever reason I am getting FCs. My firestick has had beta2 on it and is rock solid. I am sure they will figure out the issue and fix. The NP is a better box in most every other way though, but if I am playing a movie via xbmc I will choose the stick for now
volwrath said:
I agree with ks2hot. I have issues with xbmc/kodi 14 beta 1,2, &4 on the NP. For whatever reason I am getting FCs. My firestick has had beta2 on it and is rock solid. I am sure they will figure out the issue and fix. The NP is a better box in most every other way though, but if I am playing a movie via xbmc I will choose the stick for now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have had issues with XBMC 13.2, kodi betas 1-5 and now the nightlies - but only if I enable addons. Straight kodi has had no problem streaming hours of a random sampling of my 600+ blu-ray rips, 100+ television shows and my music collection from my synology nas. Once I start adding addons, the thing gets unstable pretty quickly - I haven't narrowed down which addons to date.
The Nexus Player is the first production lollipop set top and devs haven't had much time updating for it. Google also has some clear bugs to deal with on the box. Even with those caveats, however, I love the NP. That its easily rooted, has simple support for a ton of peripherals (such as any of my bluetooth ps3 controllers), hard drives, extended storage for games, etc... the list goes on. The ability to sideload and use hundreds of thousands of apps with ease is also a huge bonus while we wait for devs to code leanback interfaces and games.
A relatively open system will *always* be preferable to a closes system in my mind. The Nexus Player is a keeper, even as it is right now for me.
Elrondolio said:
I too have had issues with XBMC 13.2, kodi betas 1-5 and now the nightlies - but only if I enable addons. Straight kodi has had no problem streaming hours of a random sampling of my 600+ blu-ray rips, 100+ television shows and my music collection from my synology nas. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks good to know..I will get rid of all my addons and see if that helps. Once we get the expanded storage thing figured out the NP is going to be a beast.. Its already a phenomenal device
Is ridaex tv is worth for money or shall i try for any other brand?
Yes it is worth the money.
Yes it is worth the money only i am using this Tv from past 2 weeks Its working good only. My family and relatives liked this tv very much. My relatives also bought the same Tv. They are also using that only at present. It is given good quality of picture and sound.
This Tv is different from another brand. This Tv allow us to download to any apps from playstore.
Ridaex tv
Yes, Ridaex TV really worth the money. I am using this TV from past 1 year.
I bought ridaex nuke 20 inches from Amazon. It took a bit late I called the customer care then they told they got a problem in dispatching the tv. After 10 days the Tv delivered to my home it was looking so amazing. I switched on the TV and played a 4k content to check the sound clarity it was so perfect. I played an angry bird on tv it was so much fun. After 2–3 days I started to download the apps from the play store. The most interesting fact on Tv is we can download n number of apps from the play store there is no restriction. The storage is so good I stored many video and images as well. There is no lag (HANG) in Tv it just runs smoothly.
Really Ridaex tv is a good choice for the person who were looking for the best budget TV.
If you want to see the perfect 4k content then you should have a good internet speed