[Q] Should I buy an android tablet? - General Questions and Answers

Hey, I'm sorry if there's a similar thread floating around somewhere, but I searched as best as I could from my phone...
Anyway, I recently received a free ipad 2, and as I expected, I hate it. I plan to sell it ASAP. So I'm faced with the decision of simply keeping the money, or getting an android tablet in it's wake. From what I've read, there don't seem to be very many apps for tablets, and really, how useful are tablets in the first place? Considering that I'm a university student with a brand new gaming laptop, the only real use I can think of for a tablet is for reading textbooks/studying notes, etc. On top of that, I have a Moto Atrix, so an android tablet seems kinda redundant...
So am I missing something? Does anyone have an android tablet and want to defend the purpose of owning one? Are there decent games at least? Or should I just pocket the ~$500 I'll get for the ipad?
Thanks and again, I apologize if I'm in the wrong place or reposting

I would say no. if an atrix tab-dock comes to market reconsider but it sounds like you would regret a tablet.
Trust me d-..-b im from the webs

I'd keep the money. Like you said, you have an Atrix and a laptop. Me, I have a Defy and a netbook. I love the netbook despite it's ****ty hardware. And I would take a netbook over a tablet every time.

Damn. They're just so cool, but so useless. Maybe I'll wait until ice cream sandwich and then reconsider my decision. Thanks
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

tablet is useless to me

Related

Question about buying a tablet and possibility of flashing custom honeycomb roms

Hey everyone
So my situation, I was fortunate to earn a free ipad wifi/3g 16gb from a sales contest at work, well Ive played with the thing for a few weeks and I have to say apple blows. Anyways gunna sell it on ebay, looking like I can get about $450 for it.
I then want to take the money and buy an android tablet, i really want a honeycomb one, but I know they are very expensive as they are just coming out.
So I thought to myself why couldn't I just buy a tablet that comes with Froyo, and then root it, and flash a custom honeycomb rom once a developer ports it over to my device..? It would save me alot of cash/waiting
So a few questions about that
1. Any hardware concerns or min specs that I should look for to make sure it can run honeycomb?
2. Is there alot of developers out there making custom roms for tablets? I havent seen much on here..? Is there another site that is tablet specific?
3. If the I can get those questions answered what tablet would you recomend?
I only need wifi, dont need 3g, I would like something a little smaller than the ipad, price range is $450 or less, and the use will just be for web browsing, playing games, etc...
Thanks!!!
A question for the community: I'm in the market for a tablet, and have taken my sweet time for the last 3 months looking for the best one to buy. I've done my fair share of research and now i'm asking you: Should I buy the ASUS Transformer Prime with the dock, od should i wait for samsung/htc/moto/lenovo/acer... next-gen tablet? My fear is you see, that I'll buy The Prime, and that it won't be supported by some software develeopers, and left out in the cold with some apps, or not on par with the next-gen 2012 tablets. I want the best hardware specs, possible future windows 8 compatibility, preferably tegra device, and don't mind waiting for a few more months since this would be my first tablet. NO IOS/IPad talk please. Any reasonable advice is more than welcome, and thank you all in advance!

G tablet #1 selling tablet on Amazon

Did you see the tweet from viewsonic? G tablet outselling both ipad 2 and Xoom. Heh. Viewsonic owes this community because without the developers here this would have never been possible. Thank you guys! I love my g tablet,.....now. There is a link in their tweet to an article about it (didn't know if I could post, let me know and I will post the link)
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk
Sweet! And there is whole bunch of us who got it from Woot too. The community here is amazing and to think that about a week ago many of us thought that there wasn't much life left for our g-tabs.
Viewsonic put out a winner here, well with a little help from a modded rom and kernel and this thing is fast and pretty awesome IMO.
I'm following @viewsonic on twitter, and, just received the tweet a little while ago. I retweeted adding "Thank the modders". Heh.
I am hopeful that with the additional sales Viewsonic will continue to support this tablet as Nvidia has said they will support Harmony based devices as long as the manufacturers do (or something like that) Don't disappoint us VS.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk
drum747 said:
There is a link in their tweet to an article about it (didn't know if I could post, let me know and I will post the link)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please do so
http://www.topcomputertablets.com/v...mazon-ahead-of-ipad-2-xoom-and-others/223689/
mods, if Ive broken a rule please remove
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk
I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.
goodintentions said:
I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote them that they were leaving money sitting on the table back when HC first came out and after the woot sale. All this tab needed was a solid OS. The article said it was beating ipad in sales and that it is set to win sleeper tab of the year. lol
Viewsonic has spent 1% on advertising the article said with most advertising coming from users like us and the boatload of youtube videos. The words they used was "went viral". Too funny!
edirector said:
I wrote them that they were leaving money sitting on the table back when HC first came out and after the woot sale. All this tab needed was a solid OS. The article said it was beating ipad in sales and that it is set to win sleeper tab of the year. lol
Viewsonic has spent 1% on advertising the article said with most advertising coming from users like us and the boatload of youtube videos. The words they used was "went viral". Too funny!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying to figure out for months why the hell VS released this gtab and decided to let it go quietly into the night and die. I'm willing to bet the new found popularity this tablet enjoys has come quite a surprise to them. Did not one of their marketing personnels see this coming?
And again, they are still trying their darnest trying to promote the viewpad while seemingly hoping for the gtab to die a quiet death. I just went around their website again and the feel is still the same. Their not-so popular viewpad remains their #1 focus even though it's not really bringing in any money. The gtab, on the other hand, is raking in the dough. When are they going to realize their mistake and start loving their forgotten son, the gtab?
goodintentions said:
I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Viewpad 7 is now $299 wasn't it just $499 about 15 days ago? It doesn't support flash 10.1 is what the write up is saying.
edirector said:
Viewpad 7 is now $299 wasn't it just $499 about 15 days ago? It doesn't support flash 10.1 is what the write up is saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. And still nobody is buying it. Some genius up high in VS decided to keep endorsing the failed products viewpad 7 and 10 while keep ignoring their succesful gtab. Let's face it, nobody wants a sluggish windows 7 atom processor in a tablet. I mean, what the hell are we going to do with it? Might as well get a netbook. Windows 7 was never designed for a mobile device like a tablet. And who the hell wants a 7 inch tablet that costs $500?
No wonder viewsonic ain't moving up the food chain any time soon. They got idiots running the show.
Edit.
Here's a video review of the viewpad 10. You can tell that the speaker was desperately trying to look for good things to say about the viewpad 10. Android 1.6? Windows 7? It's no good for anything.
That video was pretty sad. Is it me or is it thick as hell? The funny part was when he said it was quite responsive and it didn't move when he touched it. What does anyone need a dual boot tab for? I don't get that. Anyway next month they could be $199.
The commercial for the 7th inch has a guy holding it to his ear to make a call. Just put a Bluetooth earbud in his ear. He looked crazy with that big tab to his ear. Talking about the quickest route to brain cancer. The advertising for that device sucked.
edirector said:
That video was pretty sad. Is it me or is it thick as hell? The funny part was when he said it was quite responsive and it didn't move when he touched it. What does anyone need a dual boot tab for? I don't get that. Anyway next month they could be $199.
The commercial for the 7th inch has a guy holding it to his ear to make a call. Just put a Bluetooth earbud in his ear. He looked crazy with that big tab to his ear. Talking about the quickest route to brain cancer. The advertising for that device sucked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if you look around a bit you will see that VS must have been spending a fortune pushing the viewpads. They even made a bunch of videos and posted them on their website.
In other news, I'm starting to get the over capacity window thing for xda. Looks like xda is under seige again by wooters and amazoners.
Edit.
Half of the videos out there officially made for the gtab were criticisms of the gtab not being responsive because of the TnT UI. And yet in this video this guy was giving it a positive review even though he had to restart the OS to get a response.
The viewpad 7 and 10 are a total failure. VS should realize this and stop ignoring the gtab.
goodintentions said:
Let's face it, nobody wants a sluggish windows 7 atom processor in a tablet. I mean, what the hell are we going to do with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install a full Linux distro on it! I think that the latest version of Ubuntu has touchscreen support. I purchased a second g-tablet from Woot just to put Linux on it. But nVidia seems to have suspended Linux support for the Tegra line. If the Viewpad prices keep falling, I may have a g-tablet for sale, and then I will get a Viewpad!
Amazon currently lists the tablets in this order of popularity (4/21/11/ 17:22):
#1 ViewSonic g-tablet
#2 Motorola Xoom
#3 Apple iPad2
EDIT: The Viewpad 7 has an ARM11 processor. Not as easy to install Linux on that one.

[Q] WebOS Long-term outlook

Hi everyone,
I have an opportunity to buy an HP Touchpad for quite cheap (about $100 for a 16GB wifi) but after doing some research it kind of looks like WebOS is dying. I've had a hard time even tracking down an ereader app, and the only one I've found looks a bit questionable in terms of tablet-optimization. It would be great if I could just install Android on it, but it doesn't look like that's possible. So, basically what I'm wondering is whether WebOS–particularly as a tablet platform–is likely to grow and improve very much, or is it really as dead-in-the-water as it looks? I know you guys might be a bit biased, but I figure you also have much better knowledge of the OS than I do .
m_piedlourde said:
Hi everyone,
I have an opportunity to buy an HP Touchpad for quite cheap (about $100 for a 16GB wifi) but after doing some research it kind of looks like WebOS is dying. I've had a hard time even tracking down an ereader app, and the only one I've found looks a bit questionable in terms of tablet-optimization. It would be great if I could just install Android on it, but it doesn't look like that's possible. So, basically what I'm wondering is whether WebOS–particularly as a tablet platform–is likely to grow and improve very much, or is it really as dead-in-the-water as it looks? I know you guys might be a bit biased, but I figure you also have much better knowledge of the OS than I do .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just check this and tell me by yourself if the tablet is dead... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1202444
Also you can check at precentral Forum at Touchpad section and you will find everything about the HP Touchpad overthere.
WebOS has the full support of HP.
dont listen to the haters out there, remember when android first came out.
Everyone said "they will never make it, apple has the market locked up" and now look @ the market share android controls. Remember that the TP, VEER and Pre3 are first gen HP WebOS devices. Palm is gone along with the hardware. The WebOS ecosystem will be a major player in the enterprise market and consumer as well.
Unlike WP7, HP makes hardware and that is a huge advantage imop. android is everywhere, but the experience varies by manufacture. HP is creating a family of WebOS products that all have the same great experience and the will talk to each other. I dream of the day when my WebOS refridgerator that is synced with my phone will allow me to answer a call, order pizza, alert me of a text or email and all kinds of things. i know it sounds crazy, but electronics, appliances and cars all synced in one ecosystem would rule!
check out "http://www.webosroundup.com/" - "http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Main_Page" - "http://www.precentral.net/"
article and links to the world of WebOS!
Or check this and tell us if its dead.....
http://www.precentral.net/app-sales-skyrocket-and-developers-join-game-webos-not-dead
m_piedlourde said:
Hi everyone,
I have an opportunity to buy an HP Touchpad for quite cheap (about $100 for a 16GB wifi) but after doing some research it kind of looks like WebOS is dying. I've had a hard time even tracking down an ereader app, and the only one I've found looks a bit questionable in terms of tablet-optimization. It would be great if I could just install Android on it, but it doesn't look like that's possible. So, basically what I'm wondering is whether WebOS–particularly as a tablet platform–is likely to grow and improve very much, or is it really as dead-in-the-water as it looks? I know you guys might be a bit biased, but I figure you also have much better knowledge of the OS than I do .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
noooooooooooooooooooo it will die every time webOS makes a nice little change android make almost 3 big changes
jamcar said:
noooooooooooooooooooo it will die every time webOS makes a nice little change android make almost 3 big changes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't be so negative, everything has pros. and cons.
TravisAntonio said:
Don't be so negative, everything has pros. and cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's true i had a htc hero ( android phone before android took off) but it was stolen and i got a palm pre for $20 and now that android did take off a cant wait to get another android phone
I was wrong, HP dropped us (webos users) like a used tissue
http://www.pcworld.com/article/238417/hp_says_so_long_to_webos_devices.html
Cptnjarhead said:
I was wrong, HP dropped us (webos users) like a used tissue
http://www.pcworld.com/article/238417/hp_says_so_long_to_webos_devices.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, I feel for you... it's not often someone has the Cajones to show up on a forum days later and say "bow, was I wrong"....
Honestly, I just used my first WebOS device days ago. Not a Touchpad, an original PRE... I can see why it failed.... and why it had promise. The device was neat, but too quirky. I got it set up and working for a friend, and actually usable thanks to the folks over at webos internals...
Now, as far as HP's closing of the WebOS unit.. and their promise to monetize it.... In the current mobile tech climate, it's BLATANTLY OBVIOUS why they did this.
They JUST realized that WebOS/Palm is worth more as a patent portfolio than as any actual production. Expect one of two outcomes shortly:
1) Lawsuits...
or
2) Portfolio Bidding War...
Both strategies are going to earn HP enormously more shareholder value than continuing to struggle along. Though, I hear echos of Monty Python's "'Tis but a Flesh Wound" and "I'm not dead yet!" in the distance. Good lord, look how long it took Amiga or OS/2 to die.
if i was a dying phone company (looking at you Nokia!!) i'd seriously consider buying WebOS....a truly unique system
ace9988 said:
if i was a dying phone company (looking at you Nokia!!) i'd seriously consider buying WebOS....a truly unique system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia's already got an under-the-table deal to sell to Microsoft if its WP7 phones don't start bumping up its share price, or I'll eat my hat. (with mustard)
kiwifruit said:
Nokia's already got an under-the-table deal to sell to Microsoft if its WP7 phones don't start bumping up its share price, or I'll eat my hat. (with mustard)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know but if it wants a good system of its own rather than suckering up to microsoft as it has, then this is a good opportunity, since it's abandoned a really good system like Meego aswell
I think Nokia is dead in the water. They are not that great with updating OSes.
Take symbian for example. Nokia taking up WebOS would be like tying 2 anchors together.
LOL, reading this thread makes me giggle. It's funny how people are saying webOS is alive and kicking and then all of a sudden HP throws it away.
Very unexpected and tragic. But with android and iOS dominating everything, it was a matter of time.
I wouldn't take HP's action today as a referendum on WebOS. As a matter of fact, WebOS is the one thing that they are holding on to. What they are dropping is their entire consumer product line. That's all tablets, desktops, and laptops. They sold half a billion dollars worth of product in that division last year, but the margins are too small and the risk is high with so much competition. This is about much more than lackluster sales for WebOS products (which haven't even been on the market for six months).
The question is, if HP's not building WebOS hardware, who is?
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
Anyone think that the hp pre 3 well make it to the US after the big announcement today
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App
Leo says "I wuz wrong, dead wrong!"
Cptnjarhead said:
WebOS has the full support of HP.
dont listen to the haters out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to change your tune?
DoogieDC said:
The question is, if HP's not building WebOS hardware, who is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOOOO! OOOOOO! I can answer that one! I can answer it right now!
The answer is: Nobody
almightyjoe82 said:
Anyone think that the hp pre 3 well make it to the US after the big announcement today
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a snowball's chance. None of the carriers wanted it, that's why only Orange in the UK offered it.
All of the US carriers smelled bad news earlier this year; Sprint publicly announced that they were done with webOS. Verizon, TMobile and ATT didn't even bother to make a statement.
As a 15 yr Palm fanatic, it's a sad end to Palm. Wonder what we'll see next from Jeff Hawkins and team? He did lead the design of the first iPad back in 1989, manufactured by Samsung and sold as the GRiDPad.
mourning Touchpad demise
i bought a touchpad 13 days ago from staples. 32gb for $399! it was a steal. I wasn't sure about keeping it or not but the more i read, the more i believed that HP would see this project (webOS) out to success, that they would continue to develop an amazing operating system. but after today's news it was a no brainer not to keep my TP. Luckily Staples offers a 14 day return policy so i returned that sucker post haste! im still pretty peeved though, in those 13 days i really came to love webOS. oh well this is what i get for turning my back on android. any good suggestions for android tablets?
Hp is dropping webos, but it should be possible to get android running on the touchpad via the same methods they got ubuntu running on it. What would be better would be webos on my dinc2 but alas...
SENT FROM MY DINC2

Idolian tablet or just a cheap tablets section

Ok so I just bought a tablet called Idolian TurboTab Z, off of amazon. I was going to go with a kindle fire, but no micro sd port..... I mean really no micro sd or expand-ability! Seriously I thought the only company lame enough to cheat there customers out of expanding there products was apple, I was wrong. anyway I got the Idolian cause it had basically the same specs, you know minus one core and a much lower quality screen etc. But it does exactly what I want which is web and videos. Anyway the reason for this rant is, this is a great little tab which I would lovvvee to start modding out. I would like to put Cyanogen on it like on my evo, but there is no info on how to do anything with it, because no one is buying these cheaper tabs, or if they are they arnt getting together to mod them.
Anyway way off point. There should be a Idoilan tab or "cheap tabs" section. Cause the Idolian is exactly the same as other "cheap tablets" just branded with a different name. In fact I would love to do a review of this but I also have no idea where I would put it.
Oh yeah it comes Rooted with Ice Cream Sandwich pre installed - which honestly im not a fan of ICS so far from using it, but it is ready for modding so please, make a "Cheap Tablets" section.
Thanks
Nick

Playbook worth $50?

Hey guys,
My friend will sell me his playbook for ~$50.
Is there any sense in me buying it? I already have the touchpad (CM7).
Also, for those of you who have it: how do you like it?
Get it and sell it for a profit, you could probably sell it on Craigslist or Ebay for at least $100-ish.
Since you already have a TP, that'd be my course of action.
Yes. As far as I know you can plug it to your TV and watch movies. The interface is similar to webOS which I love.
asb123 said:
Hey guys,
My friend will sell me his playbook for ~
Is there any sense in me buying it? I already have the touchpad (CM7).
Also, for those of you who have it: how do you like it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a PlayBook for free through the Android developer 'port' promotion, and I really like the device. It feels great to hold, is a nice size, and has a good screen! I'd buy one for that price. The only thing that lets it down is the apps, there aren't anywhere near as many as on iOS and Android (though there are some), but as a web browser alone it's worth it in my opinion.
For $50 definitely!
I've got one, I'm not really one for playing games etc on it but for work related things its really handy and great for email if you own a blackberry to sync with it.
stuartrace said:
I got a PlayBook for free through the Android developer 'port' promotion, and I really like the device. It feels great to hold, is a nice size, and has a good screen! I'd buy one for that price. The only thing that lets it down is the apps, there aren't anywhere near as many as on iOS and Android (though there are some), but as a web browser alone it's worth it in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Well worth it for fifty though, if you get it and you like gaming you get black pegasus and also asphalt 6 for free, both great fun (in asphalt the tablet becomes your steering wheel).
You can put android apps on if they are repackaged, I forget the sites exact name (think it was mybarapps.com) but there is a site where thousands of popular android apps have been packaged to run on playbook.
Also playbook will be getting the new os bb10 which should make it even better but spec wise its got a dual core cpu and the same ram as the new ipad so its quick and very responsive.
Downside is not lots of apps (good games though inc. Deadspace) but can sideload any android app if you have the apk to repackage which helps, and its been poorly advertised so its not selling well.
But if you don't like it the guys at crackberry should have android ported to it soon so you could install that on it when its available (though to be fair playbook os2 is really good already anyway).
Edit: the site is www.playbookbars.com
Dave
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the replies. I think I will pick it up
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
My work gave me one to use and it honestly sits on my computer desk at home and is never charged or used. My wife tried to use it one time to read kindle books but it doesn't have a kindle app and it failed to open the books in the kindle cloud reader.
I honestly can't say much that's good about this device other than the size and the multitasking. But the apps in the market are limited and the device itself doesn't do much.
I spend most my time on my Xoom instead. I guess for 50 bucks it would be worth it. I paid nothing for mine and would have rather gotten 50 bucks from work lol.
For 50 bucks...
For 50$ I would buy any tablet, especially when I love the concept of a tablet but haven't bought one yet
Same here... for 50 bucks I'd definitely take it! Decide what to do with it later.
.
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