Hello Guys!
I am planning to get one of the Transformers (probably 32G+dock) and sell my notebook (will still have a desktop computer).
Now, I'm on a performance notebook (with piss-poor battery life), but I do not use it - only for web surfing, chat, watching movies, sending stuff & downloading - and maybe some games (1x a month LOL)
So my question is - what are the features you like or MISS in the Transformer compared to a notebook.
Thank you!
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Magnesus said:
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
also a system-wide adblock via apps.
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
gottahavit said:
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alt+tab works with the keyboard dock.
Windowed view won't happen until there is a significant increase in system resources available to these devices. Everything currently runs in full screen because 1GB of RAM is just barely sufficient for most of the current apps, and Android devices don't use swap, which means apps get flushed out of memory if the system starts running low on RAM. Windowed apps would crash or degrade under the current Android memory management scheme, which was instated because phones and tablets are so starved for resources when compared to traditional desktops and laptops.
Text selection requires a long press because click and drag on a touchscreen handles panning. I'm not sure what else you're expecting from text selection when many apps allow you to modify the size of the selection to your heart's content. Those that don't integrate nicely with Android's built-in text selection are the fault of the developers.
Thank you for the replies.
Well, Just as finalhit said - firefox has a plugin, and AFAIK Dolphin Browser, too. And by the way, Ad-free is not working on these devices? Like on my rooted Desire?
Proper audio player - I saw the transformer in action and the stock player is great, also have purchased PowerAMP for my phone and the developer says, it'll work on HC 3.2, too. Will see.
Carrying on with Text Input ~
Android needs to be able to support Rich Text in Browser Email Apps (e.g. Yahoo) and also Copy/Paste text into an Email.
Copy/Paste works in Gmail but not in say Yahoo Mail.
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like that too, I tried plugging my USB SoundBlaster in but nothing happened.
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
1) Definitely better text selection/manipulation - it works, but it doesn't feel right
2) Right mouse button - yes, it has long press, but it's long press, meaning it's not very fast. Make the right track pad button function the same as long press, and it will feel almost like a notebook.
3) Better file manipulation/transfer speed. Copying and pasting/moving files is a pain and is very very slow. Astro works, but it's nothing compared to the ease of windows/linux.
Android has all the functions I want, a lot of them just don't feel natural, or are cumbersome to use.
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
mikelt89 said:
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
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Click to collapse
Windows 8 might run on it, as it has arm support and the TF meets the minimum requirements that MS has released so far.
cottinghamm said:
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can indirectly output to a DAC if you use the HDMI port. I have an Asus VH238H monitor that includes a SPDIF out, so I just hook up the Transformer via HDMI and have the monitor output the sound to my DAC.
For printing I use CloudPrint So far it works greatly (home & office) on my Desire - so that won't be a problem.
finalhit said:
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firefox for Android is very far from a proper browser (in my opinion, proper browser is for example Google Chrome and desktop Firefox) and it's adblock is far from it's desktop counterpart. Maybe the new version will be better. In my opinion actually Firefox is worst browser for Android (the best being Dolphin Pad).
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
Magnesus said:
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because the default Music player doesn't show the now playing and playlist views on the same page together doesn't mean you don't have such functionality. Remember what you're dealing with here; it's just a 10.1 inch screen. It doesn't take much to clutter the UI with a lot of menu options, especially when all the UI elements have to be doubled and tripled in size in order to be legible on the tiny screen.
Now, as far as the features of the default Music app, there's plenty to keep most listeners happy. Upon starting the app, in the upper left hand corner you have the ability to sort your music collection by New and recent, Albums, Artists, Songs, Playlists, and Genres. On the right, you can Search through all of your music, refining your results by the previously mentioned sort categories. Once you choose a specific artist, for instance, you can tap once on the "All songs" option to play all of the artist's selected music, or you can just select one album of theirs to play, either of these options taking you to a list of songs added to the queue. Long press will allow you to add the selected songs to the playlist of your choice. Once in the now playing queue, you can sort the songs by name or by album, or shuffle the whole thing. Then once you finally play a song, the now playing screen allows for toggling shuffle and advanced repeat functions just like what you're used to with other applications. The default player also supports mp3, ogg, and flac, and probably some other formats that I haven't tried yet. The only thing missing is the ability to "star" your music, which is a feature I always saw as pointless.
Seriously, why would you even bother with third party music apps at this point?
And what about the microSD slot on the tablet? I'm planning to get a 32GB A-DATA - will it work normally like with my Desire?
rtadams89 said:
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
printing works well for me, but yes, requires a server at this point -- free app: https://market.android.com/search?q=printershare&so=1&c=apps
I do use it as a laptop replacement. I find that 95% of the time I do not need to go back to my laptop; however, I do miss the ability to have more than one app on the screen at once (chatting and browsing at the same time is annoying). I also miss a full office program. I have tried DTG and polaris, and both work quite well by comparison to other office apps, but are not a replacement for MS Office or Libreoffice.
I also have a server in the basement for media serving running ESXi 4.1. I have 2 VMs on it: File/media server running ubuntu 11.04 and a windows VM for running various other things like video transcoding. I would not want to do either of those functions on an android tablet either.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Hello all,
I've read a number of threads that dance around this topic/question but none that answer it.
Is there an App that will enable an Android smart phone to remotely control/advance a Powerpoint Presentation on an iPad via Wi-Fi or Blue Tooth?
...without jailbreaking the iPad?
FYI: I've come across a thread post offering this solution (enterpriseios website) but don't know if it'll work and would prefer not to try.
"If you jailbreak the device you are trying to control, yes. There is an app in Cydia called Veency that is a VNC server for iOS. You can then use Screen Sharing on the Mac, or one of the many free VNC clients (such as UltraVNC or TightVNC) on a Windows machine to view and control the target iOS device. You can even view/control the iOS device FROM another iOS device with a remote desktop app like Jump."
Greenster said:
Hello all,
I've read a number of threads that dance around this topic/question but none that answer it.
Is there an App that will enable an Android smart phone to remotely control/advance a Powerpoint Presentation on an iPad via Wi-Fi or Blue Tooth?
...without jailbreaking the iPad?
FYI: I've come across a thread post offering this solution (enterpriseios website) but don't know if it'll work and would prefer not to try.
"If you jailbreak the device you are trying to control, yes. There is an app in Cydia called Veency that is a VNC server for iOS. You can then use Screen Sharing on the Mac, or one of the many free VNC clients (such as UltraVNC or TightVNC) on a Windows machine to view and control the target iOS device. You can even view/control the iOS device FROM another iOS device with a remote desktop app like Jump."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how to control your iPads media with your android device :
Developed by BOJA, iRemote iTunes WMP is an app that allows you to control your iTunes library using an Android smartphone. It works over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and we found it to be the simplest and easiest to set up among the handful of apps available.
To get started, you will need to install the Android app on your phone along with a server app which you have to install on your Windows-based PC. Once the server is running on your computer, open up iRemote on your Android device to get started.
iRemote is a free WiFi and Bluetooth remote for iTunes and Windows Media Player WMP on Windows (XP,Vista,Win7)
Remote control iTunes and WMP on your Windows desktop, laptop, notbok or tablet. Plug in Apple AirPort Express to any speaker in the house and get the ultimate iTunes remote control sound system.
Enjoy the gourgouse [sic] UI and rich feature set of this inovating [sic] remote control. iRemote iTunes and WMP is the only dedicated iTunes and WMP remote control supporting both WiFi and Bluetooth connections.
No user settings required! Simple out of the box support connecting over WiFi and Bluetooth.
We have tested the app on our Samsung Galaxy S II unit and can confirm that it works as advertised. While it does do what it says, it looks spectacularly ugly in the process. I’m not saying this because I’m some sort of UI snob, but I do appreciate a user-interface which, at least, doesn’t make you look away in disgust.
Another issue we had with the app is how much of a dent it makes on the battery. In our limited testing (which didn’t last more than an hour), we found our phone’s battery going down faster than usual. Opening up Settings > About > Battery usage proved our suspicions to be true:
Still, it is certainly worth a try if you’re in the market for a remote app for your iTunes library. We couldn’t find a better alternative, but if you know of one, please let us know! We’d love to cover it!
There are two versions available: the Free one comes with ads, does not allow you to search your library for that one song and it also does not allow users to play a song by browsing artists or albums. The paid version, which costs $3.00, obviously lifts these limitations.
Clarification?
Problem. I don't think this answers my Q.
I'm looking for an APP to remote control "media" on an iPad (iOS) with an Android ...not iTunes media on a windows based PC.
Streetryders_2000 said:
I know how to control your iPads media with your android device :
Developed by BOJA, iRemote iTunes WMP is an app that allows you to control your iTunes library using an Android smartphone. It works over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and we found it to be the simplest and easiest to set up among the handful of apps available.
To get started, you will need to install the Android app on your phone along with a server app which you have to install on your Windows-based PC. Once the server is running on your computer, open up iRemote on your Android device to get started.
iRemote is a free WiFi and Bluetooth remote for iTunes and Windows Media Player WMP on Windows (XP,Vista,Win7)
Remote control iTunes and WMP on your Windows desktop, laptop, notbok or tablet. Plug in Apple AirPort Express to any speaker in the house and get the ultimate iTunes remote control sound system.
Enjoy the gourgouse [sic] UI and rich feature set of this inovating [sic] remote control. iRemote iTunes and WMP is the only dedicated iTunes and WMP remote control supporting both WiFi and Bluetooth connections.
No user settings required! Simple out of the box support connecting over WiFi and Bluetooth.
We have tested the app on our Samsung Galaxy S II unit and can confirm that it works as advertised. While it does do what it says, it looks spectacularly ugly in the process. I’m not saying this because I’m some sort of UI snob, but I do appreciate a user-interface which, at least, doesn’t make you look away in disgust.
Another issue we had with the app is how much of a dent it makes on the battery. In our limited testing (which didn’t last more than an hour), we found our phone’s battery going down faster than usual. Opening up Settings > About > Battery usage proved our suspicions to be true:
Still, it is certainly worth a try if you’re in the market for a remote app for your iTunes library. We couldn’t find a better alternative, but if you know of one, please let us know! We’d love to cover it!
There are two versions available: the Free one comes with ads, does not allow you to search your library for that one song and it also does not allow users to play a song by browsing artists or albums. The paid version, which costs $3.00, obviously lifts these limitations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse