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[Q] What do you use your Xoom for?

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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.

Anyone use for school? Hows it do?

How does this work as a laptop replacement in a school environment? Taking notes, web experience, etc. I'm looking to replace my laptop for at school.
How does it do rendering blackboard ?
Any help would be appreciated I might pick one up tomorrow with the keyboard. Is it responsive to type documents on?
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

As a direct laptop/desktop replacement, I do not believe it will do that. However, if you are looking for something that is light, takes notes with a stylus, web surfing, movies, music, etc... Then it would be perfect. I am a college student, and have used an iPad and now this for school, and it fits perfectly into my daily life.

With the keyboard dock, this thing would seriously be a netbook type device, so typing on one I would not know. I use the Transformer by itself.

Hmmmm, I have found the best solution for my studies (masters in education) was a touchscreen laptop like the fujitsu lifebook using OneNote. I have the keyboard dock for the transformer and I simply love it. I am currently forcing myself to use this instead of my lifebook simply to see the abilities of this in the classroom. This machine falls a bit short of being the perfect companion, thats pretty good. No OneNOTE, but with printershare that makes up for it a bit.
The lightness of it is huge ofcourse, its sturdy as well. Internet is less cumberson than on a windows based machine. There are several apps that can be used for office, or you could use google Docs. Also, once rooted, you can download any file type and with the USB ports on the dock you will be able to move files at your whim.
ON THE OTHER HAND... (And this point just came to me as I was typing this) I have not used my laptop since I purchased this machine a few weeks ago and currently about to finish my last class. So maybe it is a good solution.
Give me sme real world applications (how you want to use it) and maybe I can give you some suggestions.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

boglwe said:
Hmmmm, I have found the best solution for my studies (masters in education) was a touchscreen laptop like the fujitsu lifebook using OneNote. I have the keyboard dock for the transformer and I simply love it. I am currently forcing myself to use this instead of my lifebook simply to see the abilities of this in the classroom. This machine falls a bit short of being the perfect companion, thats pretty good. No OneNOTE, but with printershare that makes up for it a bit.
The lightness of it is huge ofcourse, its sturdy as well. Internet is less cumberson than on a windows based machine. There are several apps that can be used for office, or you could use google Docs. Also, once rooted, you can download any file type and with the USB ports on the dock you will be able to move files at your whim.
ON THE OTHER HAND... (And this point just came to me as I was typing this) I have not used my laptop since I purchased this machine a few weeks ago and currently about to finish my last class. So maybe it is a good solution.
Give me sme real world applications (how you want to use it) and maybe I can give you some suggestions.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
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thanks in advance you are really helping me out. Well some apps i'd like to use would be:
-an office-like application to edit/compose word docs or essays.
-view pdf files
-i have used evernote in the past, but i also like using powerpoint to take notes in the notes pane under slides....(i think with google docs i can toggle speaker notes which may solve this issue)
-another thing on taking notes, can u insert bulleted lists/ numbered lists/ indents to keep notes organized on any notetaking software for the transformer?
-as far as music goes, how does it handle multitasking with music. FOr example, playing audio in the background while i study.
-ease of copying/pasting.
I am thinking it may just suffice and have that 'wow' factor too. I do have a desktop at home, so for anything real intensive i am sure i could use that (which i have been neglecting lately).
Im familiar with rooting/flashing devices as i've come from a captivate and now use a atrix. I feel like im rambling, but the more i type the more it sounds like a viable solution for taking notes in class.
one last thing, i have seen a few threads about some keyboard lag...is this a serious issue? is there a fix? I saw that there are several iterations of the keyboard, is there one i should try and get when i go shopping over others?
i just dont want to have to wait for the keyboard to catch up if i'm taking notes in evernote.
I think i may just pick it up tomorrow and try it out for a few weeks since school isnt until august 29th...but i could use any insight on it i could get!

August 29th... semester system?
I've not used it to take notes yet (summer research), but for school life, entertainment-wise, since I've had it, I haven't used my laptop much for anything other than the occasional Netflix (and I've stopped since I finished BSG ).
I'm using my laptop right now to play some game, but really, the TF has almost replaced everything I need it. The typing lag does kind of suck so if you're some kind of student with a major that will require lots of typing..

asdfuogh said:
August 29th... semester system?
I've not used it to take notes yet (summer research), but for school life, entertainment-wise, since I've had it, I haven't used my laptop much for anything other than the occasional Netflix (and I've stopped since I finished BSG ).
I'm using my laptop right now to play some game, but really, the TF has almost replaced everything I need it. The typing lag does kind of suck so if you're some kind of student with a major that will require lots of typing..
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how bad is the typing lag? i dont do a TON of typing, but i am taking an online class so i may need to type into a forum style system box to submit.
edit:
i see that it is only an issue with SOME apps? have you used thinkfree office?

domin8 said:
how bad is the typing lag? i dont do a TON of typing, but i am taking an online class so i may need to type into a forum style system box to submit.
edit:
i see that it is only an issue with SOME apps? have you used thinkfree office?
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It is not too bad but not like iPad fast either,it lags but catches up easily on everything you type.

It catches up for short typing sessions. When I typed up a document for my parents, it was really noticeable in a bad way though.

The keyboard lag is NOT all the time; I mostly see it in the browsers and its actually rare but when it happens, you know it. A few things to note regarding using this machine for serious work...First there are several apps that can be used for Office (documents to go, and polaris, that latter comes with the machine, but I have yet to find one that has auto-save, and that can be scary when writing those long papers. If the machine is rooted you can copy paste ANYTHING, without root, its kind of a hit and miss.
You can play music in the background, so no worries there. most music apps attach to your task bar in any ways.
The way I find myself using this device many times in in conjuction with my own desktop now or at the school library computers and have this next to me at all times. It is an amazing resource to share information point blank with peeps and youself. There is also a thread somewhere here talkin about a Onenote alternative for android using a stylus, I have yet to try one of these apps.
PDF files are easy enough, here are tons off apps to do this.
Something else to remember is that these pads are getting TONS of attention right now from all kind of devs and apps are being made DAILY, its really just a matter of time for an app to show up to do EXACTLY what you need. IMHO
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Yeah, he's totally right about the apps showing up. Now... all I need is... STRATEGY RPG LIKE FINAL FANTASY TACTICS! (Who's up for making/porting one?)
Anyway, I like my TF for what I've used it for so far. Just grab one and try it, and return it if it doesn't work for you ?

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you bud. I bought the TF foreseeing that I would hopefully be able to us it for school and I was very pleased with my decision in the end.
To answer your questions...
It is a very viable (and in most case preferred) option to do basic school work on, especially simple stuff like note taking and editing documents. The included office app (Polaris) is actually a very nice feature and includes just about everything you would need to type an essay such as indentations, points/dots/whatever they are (as you were looking for), also includes numbering, double spacing, different font sizes and colors. Now it's not a full Microsoft Office replacement, but it definitely has all the basic features you'd be looking for.
You can also find a handful of microsoft office editors in the Android market. I haven't personally tested any of them yet (but will use them when school comes around) however from my knowledge they seem capable of editing word, powerpoint and couple other office applications--which is good enough for me.
To address the keyboard lag. I can speak from experience, when typing in most apps (especially apps like colournote, AKnotepad, Polaris or anything else that allows you to take notes or write extended paragraphs/papers) there is absolutely no lag with the keyboard. Once you get the hang of it, you will be typing at a decent wpm rate and you won't tell the difference between the tf dock keyboard and any other. There is however a noticeable lag when using the stock browser but from my knowledge this is due to having flash enabled and has nothing to do with the dock/keyboard itself. Also, the knew dolphintab browser seems much better at cleaning up any lag in the browser and I feel with the net couple updates it will be a near perfect option for tab browsing. That aside, I would like to reiterate the fact that the keyboard does not lag when using things related to note taking or Polaris office. It is for the most part a browser specific issue.
As far as highlighting words and copying and pasting, that is the one thing the tf doesn't really excel at. You can still copy/cut and paste pretty much anything you want but it is just not as fluid as using a pc.
So there you have it. The transformer is pretty much a nice fit for doing basic school work BUT it is not in any means a complete replacement for having a desktop/full size laptop. There will definitely be times when you will come across things that you just have to have a pc to do, but for the most part, especially when it comes to basic stuff like note taking and writing papers, the TF is perfect.
I would also like to note that there are some apps out there that let you control a pc from your android tablet/phone such as phoneymypc or logmein. I highly suggest taking a look into those as they are great tools that you can have at your disposal with the TF and will make being away from you pc all the much easier.
Like I said, i'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I'm an MIS major and I often get annoyed at having to lug around my laptop just to take notes and do basic remedial things that something much lighter and more compact such as the TF can do wonderfully....
One more thing (wow this is a long post). You can easily find top notch netbooks (which offer the productivity of a pc with the portability of a tablet) for the same or even lesser than the TF. This was one of the things I took into consideration before I got my TF. I had to ask myself am I getting this thing solely for school, or do I want it for the other things android has to offer (entertainment wise). Overall I decided that i'd go with the TF because to me it had the best of both worlds as I am a huge android fan and have been an early adopter since the days of the G1, so the TF was a perfect fit for me...Just something to keep in mind.

boglwe said:
The keyboard lag is NOT all the time; I mostly see it in the browsers and its actually rare but when it happens, you know it. A few things to note regarding using this machine for serious work...First there are several apps that can be used for Office (documents to go, and polaris, that latter comes with the machine, but I have yet to find one that has auto-save, and that can be scary when writing those long papers. If the machine is rooted you can copy paste ANYTHING, without root, its kind of a hit and miss.
You can play music in the background, so no worries there. most music apps attach to your task bar in any ways.
The way I find myself using this device many times in in conjuction with my own desktop now or at the school library computers and have this next to me at all times. It is an amazing resource to share information point blank with peeps and youself. There is also a thread somewhere here talkin about a Onenote alternative for android using a stylus, I have yet to try one of these apps.
PDF files are easy enough, here are tons off apps to do this.
Something else to remember is that these pads are getting TONS of attention right now from all kind of devs and apps are being made DAILY, its really just a matter of time for an app to show up to do EXACTLY what you need. IMHO
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
wish i'd of read this post before I spent 10 min typing mine up... I suck at making things compact, lol.
To the dude asking about rpg games. You absolutely HAVE to buy battleheart RIGHT NOW. It's not ff but it is an amazing rpg game and hands down the best you will ever find for android. (I haven't played them all so I really can't say that, but it is freaking awesome.)
Best of luck to you OP.

I'm used to use a 15" HP ProBook at school, but I do feel that my transformer can replace it...
But I guess I have an advantage as IT Professional, I run some servers at home (one of them has serveral types ov VPN on it, in case one is blocked by any firewalls), so I can access my desktops, and just use Office 2010 or Sony Vegas on a Core I7 (video editing), there is pretty much no limit for me...
But even if I was not able to make it this easy for me... I really love the Android OS, and it grows so fast in a short period of time... I wonder where it is in another 5 years... If Android goes on liek this, I think it will replace Windows (for regular users, not for companies)...
When I go back to college in 4 weeks )), I'll leave my laptop at home for the first week to see if I miss it for my everyday tasks...

I've used it for school and managing my work.
As a photographer it is needed that I have seemless integration of the sd card slot and a good device to support it, the transformer can handle it with ease!
The polaris office (or whatever its called) lets you make documents, excel sheets and powerpoint.
With a good stylus you would be able to take notes in like drawfree for example.
It handles music quite fine as it lets you multitask between apps and music.
And while Im doing all of this I can still get in touch with my friends because of the social part of the transformer that updates my status once in awhile ! ^-^
Its not a full fledged netbook but a nice replacement so far!

asdfuogh said:
Yeah, he's totally right about the apps showing up. Now... all I need is... STRATEGY RPG LIKE FINAL FANTASY TACTICS! (Who's up for making/porting one?)
Anyway, I like my TF for what I've used it for so far. Just grab one and try it, and return it if it doesn't work for you ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already exists, playstation one emulator or gba emulator. They redid fft on gba.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

domin8 said:
How does this work as a laptop replacement in a school environment? Taking notes, web experience, etc. I'm looking to replace my laptop for at school.
How does it do rendering blackboard ?
Any help would be appreciated I might pick one up tomorrow with the keyboard. Is it responsive to type documents on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use it for uni, and it seems to function quite well.
As a notetaking tool in lectures, it works fantastically, and it's so much better than lugging my Dell laptop around with me all day, which would just be a pain. If you've not got the dock or a bluetooth keyboard, it might be a bit of a hassle- I found that on the touch screen keyboard, hurriedly jotting down notes meant that I had to constantly backspace to correct formatting, punctuation, or spelling mistakes.
Polaris Office also tends to be a bit weird with me, though- sometimes files that I make on the transformer refuse to open using Microsoft Word on my computer, and vice versa. If you're doing a project with heavy formatting, you should probably stick to your desktop as Polaris tends to screw all that up for me.
It renders BlackBoard very quickly, and is great if you want to sneak a peek at a document that a teacher has uploaded there.
I'd say that you shouldn't use it as an all out replacement for your laptop where all school work is concerned- but as a device to take notes on, get quick snippets of information on, and access the web, it's perfect. Plus it helps that I can play Angry Birds if a lecture gets especially boring...

My semester just started again last week and I've been trying the TF (with dock) out as a netbook replacement for a week now.
I've been using freenotes to take notes in lectures and it's worked wonderfully. The built in email/gmail apps have worked wonderfully for email use and I use Dolphin for web-browsing and it's all been a real delight to use. Reads pdfs fine and I've got all my textbooks on internal storage (best thing ever).
The only annoying thing is coding on it. Doing a few Java projects this semester and as I'm still getting to terms with this language, I like to be using a full IDE for auto-correction etc. Anyway, I've been using vi via the terminal and this has been fine so far for code editing.
So yeah, after a week it's proved to be a pretty nice netbook alternative. Plus everything's nice and speedy unlike my clunky atom based netbook, plus it doesn't run hot on my lap and I've got no fans blaring constantly. Best thing about ARM from an end-user point-of-view
EDIT: I've also purchased a stylus for my TF last week, so I'm going to see how that goes for taking quick notes during lectures on my TF. Will report back if it's any good or if the keyboard is easier.
If you're looking for a more "desktop"-like experience, install Ubuntu on the internal storage. It's working wonderfully now (apart from a few small things) and you've pretty much got a full x86 laptop replacement in a nice lightweight ARM tablet.

this is why i love XDA, you guys have really answered all of my questions thoroughly! I am going to try and use that staples coupon that's floating around since it expires today and pick one up thanks so so so much guys, I plan on sticking around the transformer forums just as much as i do the atrix forums now

so it works! im glad i found this. this was my original plan to buy a tablet of some sort tablet with a dock (atrix with lapdock was my failed attempt) cuz i dont plan to carry my 17 inch laptop around. lol.

Ipad 2 or Motorola Xoom

As stated above I'm getting either one of them but not sure which to get though .
Need some light from u guys and sry if the post was posted before , using my phone D:
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App

I purchased an ipad2 and traded it for a Xoom as soon as I could. It was a great deal.
The Motorola Xoom is just a nicer piece of equipment. Its heavily customizable. And it has support now to add a SD card which can effectively double your hard drive space.
Oh yeah, and you don't have to use itunes.

kristenm said:
I purchased an ipad2 and traded it for a Xoom as soon as I could. It was a great deal.
The Motorola Xoom is just a nicer piece of equipment. Its heavily customizable. And it has support now to add a SD card which can effectively double your hard drive space.
Oh yeah, and you don't have to use itunes.
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What kristenm said. Ipad2 is for those that just want what's in the box. Xoom is for those that want to make the device really, truly their own.

Hmm hmmm . Its a win win for xoom when comes to customability . How bout its office apps ? Cuz i am going to do docs editing and ppt editing .
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App

LanceAmr said:
Hmm hmmm . Its a win win for xoom when comes to customability . How bout its office apps ? Cuz i am going to do docs editing and ppt editing .
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
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I like the Office Suite Pro app. It's for a tablet and with some limited testing, seems most capable and most like MS Office of the 5 available decent office apps. It's available for a free 30 day trial, so check it out. There are also good peripheral apps for printing, scanning, working with pdfs, etc. I would recommend the Hacker's keyboard (just like a pc keyboard), or use the Moto BT keyboard and mouse of your choice (I use MS BT mouse) for much better editing experience.
Hacker's keyboard also incorporates a keypad if you need to enter a lot of numbers.

I own an iPad 2 currently, and I am really considering selling it for a Xoom. Even jailbroken, it just doesn't offer the functionality I want/need. Since the 3.2 update, I think Honeycomb is much better suited for me.
Other than that, I think the iPad is a great device. As long as you don't want to do anything too advanced, it is one of the best tablets on the market. However, since Apple essentially killed the use of USB devices, my personal usage has been hindered drastically.
USBOTG, SD card support, and a useable file system are the biggest reasons, I feel, to go with the Xoom. If you don't need those things, check out the iPad.
On a side note: I have used many Xooms in stores, and I just don't see the big stink about the screen. Yeah, it's not quite as sharp or bright as the iPad or GT 10.1, but honestly, I don't see a big enough difference to warrant how much noise is being made about it.

okantomi said:
I like the Office Suite Pro app. It's for a tablet and with some limited testing, seems most capable and most like MS Office of the 5 available decent office apps. It's available for a free 30 day trial, so check it out. There are also good peripheral apps for printing, scanning, working with pdfs, etc. I would recommend the Hacker's keyboard (just like a pc keyboard), or use the Moto BT keyboard and mouse of your choice (I use MS BT mouse) for much better editing experience.
Hacker's keyboard also incorporates a keypad if you need to enter a lot of numbers.
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Thx will have a look at the app . Hope its good.
---------- Post added at 01:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------
Plagiarising said:
I own an iPad 2 currently, and I am really considering selling it for a Xoom. Even jailbroken, it just doesn't offer the functionality I want/need. Since the 3.2 update, I think Honeycomb is much better suited for me.
Other than that, I think the iPad is a great device. As long as you don't want to do anything too advanced, it is one of the best tablets on the market. However, since Apple essentially killed the use of USB devices, my personal usage has been hindered drastically.
USBOTG, SD card support, and a useable file system are the biggest reasons, I feel, to go with the Xoom. If you don't need those things, check out the iPad.
On a side note: I have used many Xooms in stores, and I just don't see the big stink about the screen. Yeah, it's not quite as sharp or bright as the iPad or GT 10.1, but honestly, I don't see a big enough difference to warrant how much noise is being made about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm hmmm , seems that ipad still limits i see . My main concern is office work and internet browsing =l . But thx for the heads up

Xoom definitely or any other Android 3.2 tablet for that matter. I just purchased a 1TB External Seagate drive and loaded it with about 400GB's of movies, shows, anime, etc and I'm loving it. Just the ability to do more things than the iPad 2 are worth it.
I owned the iPad 2 for a week. It was lame and I hated that I couldn't plug in a PS2/PS3, WiiMote, Xbox controller to it to play my emulators. You just get more options with third party peripherals.
I love my Xoom and I also own the 1st Gen iPad. My 2 year old plays with the iPad and knows how to navigate it and play her games. That right there tells you a lot. I don't even look at the thing when I get home.

okantomi said:
What kristenm said. Ipad2 is for those that just want what's in the box. Xoom is for those that want to make the device really, truly their own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% agree...
Simply wanna play great apps? - ipad2
Wanna 'play' the device? xoom
greedy? take both

unless you buy an iFAD you're NOT COOL and have no STATUS!..at least that is what mindless "individuals"who only want to be unique in a group (oxymorons...) Would want you to think....open source rules all. Let the mindless drones who only want a giant iPod touch have them...I will keep my xoom with expandable storage, otg support, custom recovery, rooting, overclocked dual processing, awesome stargate theme, developer supported community, wifi tethering wonderfulness, etc etc etc etc

I was thinking between gt 10.1 and ipad 2 and it was (FOR ME) still a hard choice. The price was the same, gt had better hardware, but the tablet was supposed to be a toy, so I chose ipad.
for or so, you can buy cck, which allows you to use sd cards and usb.
with iFile, available in cydia u can totally manage your file system on the ipad.
with some plugins in safari you can download any file, even torrents
You can install an ssh client on the ipad
I'm not an apple fan, I use android phone and it's great, but for entertainment my weapon of choice was apple. Because of the apps (more games) and 4:3 screen which is better for web viewing.
Another thing was the battery which is said to last about 2 hrs longer than the GT's (dunno how about xoom, though)
It has access to dropbox, good vnc clients, office apps (quickoffice or pages, the second one seems very intuitive, haven't used it for real yet).
Both cams are sh*tty, and it's a very delicate word to describe them
The ipad isn't as customizable as any android, which everyone knows, but, for myself, it's a very nice toy. I'm still trying to turn it into work device
Summarizing, it all depends on what you want to do with the tablet, ipad is better for games, has better tailored apps(because of the sick apple policy), seems better for web browsing because of screen proportions.
Android is better for films, and ofc customization, connecting external devices, (but there are also some apps for the apple allowing to do some of that stuff), dlna. And, of course, android has flash, which I don't use but sometimes can come handy. there is though iSwifter, a browser that supports flash enough to watch online movies.

Plagiarising said:
I own an iPad 2 currently, and I am really considering selling it for a Xoom. Even jailbroken, it just doesn't offer the functionality I want/need. Since the 3.2 update, I think Honeycomb is much better suited for me.
Other than that, I think the iPad is a great device. As long as you don't want to do anything too advanced, it is one of the best tablets on the market. However, since Apple essentially killed the use of USB devices, my personal usage has been hindered drastically.
USBOTG, SD card support, and a useable file system are the biggest reasons, I feel, to go with the Xoom. If you don't need those things, check out the iPad.
On a side note: I have used many Xooms in stores, and I just don't see the big stink about the screen. Yeah, it's not quite as sharp or bright as the iPad or GT 10.1, but honestly, I don't see a big enough difference to warrant how much noise is being made about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPad is a TOY for people who sold their souls to steve jobs. Xoom is a great corporate, multimedia, Productivity, gaming, Personal device all packed into one extremely well built device

No question: XOOM.....

i would have to say both have their merits. I have both the iPad 2 and the Xoom. the Xoom is a very nicely build device. However, most people look for apps to play on the device. when i got my Xoom and looked for well written native HC apps, i was sorely disappointed. yes, HC is great for customization, but the lack of natively written apps are what hurt HC in the long run. Most people don't care about how much you can customize a device, they just want it to work, have a great experience and lots of native apps. And i can hear you say, well you can run regular android apps on it. Yes, you can. however, they all have a stretched look. I can also hear you say "iPad does that with iPhone apps too. Yes, it is true, however, they double in pixel, not stretch. i love my Xoom and i love my iPad, but for a device that has a better fit, finish and works right without having to resort to what i said above, I'm sorry to say, my iPad 2 has first dibs in my shoulder bag.

kenfly said:
The iPad is a TOY for people who sold their souls to steve jobs. Xoom is a great corporate, multimedia, Productivity, gaming, Personal device all packed into one extremely well built device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because someone uses an Apple product doesn't mean they "sold their soul to Steve Jobs." That logic doesn't work, and could be turned around to use as a weapon against ANY company.
The way I see it, if you want something that solely relies on apps to accomplish a task, the iPad is a fantastic product. The quality of apps for it are great, something that Android has not accomplished yet, but I feel will come eventually. My biggest gripe is the fact that I don't really use apps on my iPad. The things I want to do with it are mostly done with a web browser and in the file system. I know this makes me the minority, but I just don't need thousands of apps on a tablet.
I was initially going to buy a Xoom, but with the $800 launch price tag, I couldn't justify it. Now that the WiFi model is readily available, I think now is as good of a time as any to pick up a Xoom.

I stopped playing games on my iPad because stupid in app purchases in order to get further in the game. It seems like mostgames are heading in that direction.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Lol Ipad 2 is no match for xoom!

These type of threads are usually started by Apple Fanboys that are personally insulted everybody does not like to live by every Apple whim.
The best tablet is one where you get all of your content slaved to a PC ( um Mac ), where you get to use only one method that counts for buying stuff ( iTunes ). where you get the best interface in the world a grid of icons and folders containing icons. Things like having a variety of hardware manufactures and customizing are not important they confuse people. The best tablet has "Facetime"...... and is advertised by 100s of commercials that say this is so.
I am not much of an Apple fan I sold my iPad2 to get my Xoom and never been happier.

Tesco Hudl 2 tablet.

Ok, so i'm tempted to buy one of these as I have a bunch of vouchers which means i can buy it for £25 instead of £129.
I'm a little concerned about the lack of love of the original Hudl device in terms of custom roms and general hacking , and i kinda understand it since its a UK device. so i'm unsure to go for it because of this. Its an Intel Atom cpu so i would love it if it was able to be installed with windows 8.1/10 eventually.
Anyone else seen the device and have any thoughts on it?
http://www.tesco.com/direct/hudl2-8-wi-fi-tablet/454-7907.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=397-7926
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/tablets/391081/hands-on-tesco-hudl2-review

Looks like I've found the right place for my review
I tried posting this in a comment box on Engadget. Suffice to say, it did not fit! I thought there might be a modding forum for the hudl1 over here on xda but to my surprise there is not :-O slightly concerning. I don't understand why it being a British device would be an issue, we make great stuff!
Anyway here goes..
Had a good shot on the hudl2 today. Going in teaco today was like the opening scenes of the Lego movie. Hudl propaganda everywhere. Point of sale cardboards you expect. But I have to admit impressed with the kiosk they've set up. The branding is simple, and hey had all colours of hudl on display, it definitely lures you in. On top of tat, giving the big brother Lego-movir feel, all of the television displays are showing a hudl2 promo vids on loop. 'Were really pleased to announce...' Etc..
The demo units run in obviously a demo mode. Pristine, I think I might have been their first prodder. All the tabs were heleved in landscape view and the first Hong you notice therefore is how wide they look. If you've seen the nexus7, these seem like pretty much the same ratio. The demo mode has a display encouraging you to 'try it', which if you tap, takes you to the android home screen. Naturally it is maiden with blinkbox icons. The home screen to the left features tescos feed. Things like shopping offers, how to get started on blibkbox etc. You can hide then (they appear as cards), but they come back soon enough. The home screen one to the right of the main, is more blink box a centric with more direct links to movies and music etc.
You can choose to ditch blinkbox icons if you wish but long and short, you're not getting rid of these left and right home screens anytime soon. I had a good look through the options and settings, and nowhere did I see the option to remove ho.eacreens.
Neither was I able to enable developer option s, something to note.
Going into settings, apps, I attempted to close/stop any references to Tesco processes running to see if it was possible to 'de-teaco' the homeacreens. And sure, I was able to stop them. But returning to the home screen starts them again and back they appear, as if they never went away.
The homeacreen to.the left incurs the highest lag in all my experience using the tablet. As you scroll left, the background blurs, which is a nice aesthetic touch but I would hedge my bets that is what's causing the lag. As another person has reported, touching the app drawer brings up the app icons very promptly, with only a slight *very very slight* * delay. To the otaku, this will annoy them possibly, but to.most casual users who don't race around phones/tabs as they likely so on desktop PC's, this won't be a problem at all.
Similarly, launching apps was prompt, about th same as the initial 'pressing on app drawer' button.
It feels very much like a smartphone, with a. Bigger screen, which is what most ppl expect.
The screen. The screen is absolutely stand-out feature on this tab. The colours, to my taster are desaturated enough to look natural, I would estimate skin tones in videos would look very nice on this. Photos look absolutely lovely, and using the tab to tweak them with Google Photos was easy, fun and satisfying.
Play store..
Internet wasslow connection in this particular tescos but at least they're connected! A welcome change to a lot of stores/demos. Indeed, these tabs were 'box-fresh' I downloaded Flipboard, which flipped through lagfree, although I can't say 100% for sure about hr speed because the connection was so slow that images weren't displaying yet.
I downloaded flickr, a nice appfor viewing photos on nice screens and it looked wonderful with next to no.lag (aside the net connection ).
Feel in the hand. These things are naturally powered up and connected via mai s as well as a central stem from beneath the desk holding them up. So I wasn't able to feel how theysit in the hand vertically. But I was able to.hold it horizontally and that was indeed very comfy, the rubbery soft touch back is very nice and trippy too.
No accessories were available yet.
I can't comment on the sound, but the screen is just lovely. Again, to echo others, the viewing angles are not fantastic, but its respectably bright and crisp. No such 'cyan oven mode style' colour options in the settings though, if the look isn't to your preference.
This is my first time using an 8inch tablet, its a nice experience. However this like email in landscape could definitely so with a bit of a makeover (everything appears very large), like email for kids . (Gmail I'm talking about).
Goodgle Newsstand, this had had a recent update which makes it quite graphically intense, using the cards style material UI of upcoming Google Android L. Scrolling through the items incurred a bit of lag, I would put in on par with my galaxy S3 (running CyanogenMod 11l. As a news reading experience, this app has a lot of potential, but Aimo It would only be optimal under android L.
Browsing through the play store for music, movies and books requires a fair amount of close-up viewing it on a galaxy s3, not so here. The items on display are pleasant and text metainfo, like price, genre, year etc. Are nicely legible.
Browsing speed..
Now this is the only area where I was not particularly amazed with the hudl 2. I fired up theverge as its quite intense. The chrome.browser held most of the images in place, however a quick scroll from very top to very bottom of the site had images blinking out of view,, then re-appearing. Not a ram issue I don't think. I think (only suspect) this might be a limit of the atom CPU.
I did nothing more strenuous to he tablet, and apart from that, I would say it is very very serviceable. Especially for £129.
Were it not for this potential.nexus9 around the corner with rumoured android L, I would buy this immediately.

would it be possible to put the GEL launcher on this? and thanks for the in depth review^^^^^^^

nice hands-on. sort out the strange spelllings and wording and you could put that on a proper website.
i'll be getting mine tonight (cost me £25 on top of my clubcard vouchers which have been sitting doing nothing for years) so will give some feedback for what its worth. i'm totally wanting to run windows on it though. I can't get my head around why anyone would chose a (presumably more expensive) Intel x64 chipset over an ARM given that Android is optimised for ARM.

SkEvol said:
I tried posting this in a comment box on Engadget. Suffice to say, it did not fit! I thought there might be a modding forum for the hudl1 over here on xda but to my surprise there is not :-O slightly concerning. I don't understand why it being a British device would be an issue, we make great stuff!
Anyway here goes..
Had a good shot on the hudl2 today. Going in teaco today was like the opening scenes of the Lego movie. Hudl propaganda everywhere. Point of sale cardboards you expect. But I have to admit impressed with the kiosk they've set up. The branding is simple, and hey had all colours of hudl on display, it definitely lures you in. On top of tat, giving the big brother Lego-movir feel, all of the television displays are showing a hudl2 promo vids on loop. 'Were really pleased to announce...' Etc..
The demo units run in obviously a demo mode. Pristine, I think I might have been their first prodder. All the tabs were heleved in landscape view and the first Hong you notice therefore is how wide they look. If you've seen the nexus7, these seem like pretty much the same ratio. The demo mode has a display encouraging you to 'try it', which if you tap, takes you to the android home screen. Naturally it is maiden with blinkbox icons. The home screen to the left features tescos feed. Things like shopping offers, how to get started on blibkbox etc. You can hide then (they appear as cards), but they come back soon enough. The home screen one to the right of the main, is more blink box a centric with more direct links to movies and music etc.
You can choose to ditch blinkbox icons if you wish but long and short, you're not getting rid of these left and right home screens anytime soon. I had a good look through the options and settings, and nowhere did I see the option to remove ho.eacreens.
Neither was I able to enable developer option s, something to note.
Going into settings, apps, I attempted to close/stop any references to Tesco processes running to see if it was possible to 'de-teaco' the homeacreens. And sure, I was able to stop them. But returning to the home screen starts them again and back they appear, as if they never went away.
The homeacreen to.the left incurs the highest lag in all my experience using the tablet. As you scroll left, the background blurs, which is a nice aesthetic touch but I would hedge my bets that is what's causing the lag. As another person has reported, touching the app drawer brings up the app icons very promptly, with only a slight *very very slight* * delay. To the otaku, this will annoy them possibly, but to.most casual users who don't race around phones/tabs as they likely so on desktop PC's, this won't be a problem at all.
Similarly, launching apps was prompt, about th same as the initial 'pressing on app drawer' button.
It feels very much like a smartphone, with a. Bigger screen, which is what most ppl expect.
The screen. The screen is absolutely stand-out feature on this tab. The colours, to my taster are desaturated enough to look natural, I would estimate skin tones in videos would look very nice on this. Photos look absolutely lovely, and using the tab to tweak them with Google Photos was easy, fun and satisfying.
Play store..
Internet wasslow connection in this particular tescos but at least they're connected! A welcome change to a lot of stores/demos. Indeed, these tabs were 'box-fresh' I downloaded Flipboard, which flipped through lagfree, although I can't say 100% for sure about hr speed because the connection was so slow that images weren't displaying yet.
I downloaded flickr, a nice appfor viewing photos on nice screens and it looked wonderful with next to no.lag (aside the net connection ).
Feel in the hand. These things are naturally powered up and connected via mai s as well as a central stem from beneath the desk holding them up. So I wasn't able to feel how theysit in the hand vertically. But I was able to.hold it horizontally and that was indeed very comfy, the rubbery soft touch back is very nice and trippy too.
No accessories were available yet.
I can't comment on the sound, but the screen is just lovely. Again, to echo others, the viewing angles are not fantastic, but its respectably bright and crisp. No such 'cyan oven mode style' colour options in the settings though, if the look isn't to your preference.
This is my first time using an 8inch tablet, its a nice experience. However this like email in landscape could definitely so with a bit of a makeover (everything appears very large), like email for kids . (Gmail I'm talking about).
Goodgle Newsstand, this had had a recent update which makes it quite graphically intense, using the cards style material UI of upcoming Google Android L. Scrolling through the items incurred a bit of lag, I would put in on par with my galaxy S3 (running CyanogenMod 11l. As a news reading experience, this app has a lot of potential, but Aimo It would only be optimal under android L.
Browsing through the play store for music, movies and books requires a fair amount of close-up viewing it on a galaxy s3, not so here. The items on display are pleasant and text metainfo, like price, genre, year etc. Are nicely legible.
Browsing speed..
Now this is the only area where I was not particularly amazed with the hudl 2. I fired up theverge as its quite intense. The chrome.browser held most of the images in place, however a quick scroll from very top to very bottom of the site had images blinking out of view,, then re-appearing. Not a ram issue I don't think. I think (only suspect) this might be a limit of the atom CPU.
I did nothing more strenuous to he tablet, and apart from that, I would say it is very very serviceable. Especially for £129.
Were it not for this potential.nexus9 around the corner with rumoured android L, I would buy this immediately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good review - and the web pages thing does seem to be an issue. I thought I would add a couple of points based on 24 hours of ownership of this device....
The first thing I noticed was how laggy the Tesco launcher was - not helped by the boat load of Tesco crapola on left screen. The first thing I did was put Nova on there and it was like night and day - zero lag. I disabled most of the Tesco apps and hid them in the launcher as well which basically left me with, essentially, a stock Android tablet. It also left no visible sign of Tesco on the tablet because Nova can get rid of the search bar (Tesco had moved their Tesco button up here instead of having it on the Navigation bar on Hudl1) The only gripe about performance would be that there is some lag with some live wallpapers.
I stuck Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5 on there and there no problems. Both games play really, really well. I also tested the touch responsiveness - an issue on Hudl 1 - by playing CounterSpy and Alone and it seems to be a lot better on Hudl 2. I have not really had a chance to test the speakers yet as I have mainly used it with headphones. I've also not had any issues with app incompatibility caused by the Intel processor yet. Internet speed seems great so far- even large games downloaded quickly both on home and work WiFi.
My biggest gripe is the 9gb of free space - 11 out of 16gb free should be the minimum. First thing I will do when I root it will be to get rid of some of bloat with Titanium.
Overall though - very impressed. As already mentioned, the screen is just fantastic. Huge improvement on the first one and a really, really decent device. For the money its a no-brainer.

Thanks for continuing the discussion! What you've said all sounds very positive!
Have you managed to root it? I note that there sadly didn't seem to be much support for custom rom'ing the hudl1. But those changes you made with the launcher sound like they took care of any lag, this is great!
One thing you did mention.. I thought i would ask you, for clarity.. When you said..
gripweed said:
Good review - and the web pages thing does seem to be an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
--were you referring to your own experience with loading pages? Or were you just echoing the concern i had expressed in my review?
Also, to hear that games work well is also really great!

Took the plunge today used my staff discount didn't use any club card put the google launcher disabled everything other than child and my Tesco which I couldn't do. Tablet is really fast display and size and great feels better the nexus 7

SkEvol said:
Thanks for continuing the discussion! What you've said all sounds very positive!
Have you managed to root it? I note that there sadly didn't seem to be much support for custom rom'ing the hudl1. But those changes you made with the launcher sound like they took care of any lag, this is great!
One thing you did mention.. I thought i would ask you, for clarity.. When you said..
--were you referring to your own experience with loading pages? Or were you just echoing the concern i had expressed in my review?
Also, to hear that games work well is also really great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was more echoing your concerns tbh - noticed it crop up in at least a couple of "hands on" reviews and was wondering if it was an issue. I haven't especially noticed but I will try a few more content heavy web page and see what happens. I should apologise for the lack of clarity on my original reply as I haven't rooted it yet- I rooted the last one and ran exposed and gravity box which did compensate slightly for the lack of custom roms. There was a bit of interest in Hudl modding on Modaco last time, which was where I found the rooting info.

I think Rooting may take a while as this is an Intel Atom Bay trail Z3735D cpu. The Onda V975i has the same CPU and has been rooted so it may be possible to adapt it to work although it is running an older version of android which may raise other problems. Also I would not try any rooting method until a recovery ROM and method are available.
My Hudl 2 on order.
---------- Post added at 11:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------
Further From my previous post it appears that these Bay Trial tabs can have a Bios so It will be interesting to see how this tab matures. Windows Anyone!

vermillions said:
Further From my previous post it appears that these Bay Trial tabs can have a Bios so It will be interesting to see how this tab matures. Windows Anyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty cool to think that would be possible.
Windows has a 1000 uses, what would you choose to do? (just curious)

Do you think that Kings might have solution to rooting?

SkEvol said:
Pretty cool to think that would be possible.
Windows has a 1000 uses, what would you choose to do? (just curious)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the worst person with devices, I like to get them to do more than they were originally intended to do and to tinker and learn as much as poss, then I just end up never using them. But if a Dev overcomes all the obstacles in Boot and Bios and is able to roll all the drivers into a windows rom, I couldn't help myself I would have to test it.

Hudl2 Thread
How do we lobby the XDA Devs to open a section for the Hudl2?
Do we need to raise money to buy one to send it to a dev?
I'd quite like a recovery loader (at the bare minimum) to be able to back up the Hudl2, before asking for some kind dev to port a new Rom to it.
What can we do to make any of the above options happen?

giac0m0 said:
How do we lobby the XDA Devs to open a section for the Hudl2?
Do we need to raise money to buy one to send it to a dev?
I'd quite like a recovery loader (at the bare minimum) to be able to back up the Hudl2, before asking for some kind dev to port a new Rom to it.
What can we do to make any of the above options happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know the answer to any of your questions but I'd be willing to contribute £5 to the cost of finding out how to root it, in whatever form that takes.

Just out of interest has anyone tried Root Genius? it is made by the same people that made Shuame. If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters. All only a guess though.

Hi. Does anyone have an idea of how someone who's not in England can purchase one?
I'm very interest, seems great value for the money.
Thanks.

vermillions said:
Just out of interest has anyone tried Root Genius? it is made by the same people that made Shuame. If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters. All only a guess though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone over in MoDaCo had a similar thought and suggested this may work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2681783

giac0m0 said:
Someone over in MoDaCo had a similar thought and suggested this may work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2681783
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it might, my Hudl 2 is not yet delivered so I am unable to test at present. But I think it is worth a shot.
(kicking myself for ordering with delivery and not picking up from store.)

vermillions said:
If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm impressed! I have no idea now you had the thought process of thinking of doing that! I take it you must have quite a lot of experience with routing. I only ropted my s3 because i needed to. Sometimes i wish i had the insight to be able to suggest something like that. I usually work off of what faq or how-to suggests. I'm quite interested in why this device would require a different method because of it's cpu. Interesting to me.

Has anyone had success playing encoded videos e.g. x264 codec and similar? I used to get decent results using MXplayer or VLC beta on my previous tablet (a cheap Chinese version that should be worse than the Hudl2), but now I suspect that poor x86 support from those players is letting it down. I've downloaded the x86 codec for MX and played with the various performance options, but results range from good to appalling depending on the video, with stuttering or full crashes. I've also tried some other players that claimed x86 support, but no dice.
Any advice gratefully received, as I'm very happy with my Hudl2 apart from this.
Sent from my Hudl 2 using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] How to make having a smartphone worthwhile?

I held off of getting s smartphone for a long time, because I never could see any decent reason to have one. Finally, considering it would be convenient for playing music on the go, I ended up getting one. I've had one for a year, and it still doesn't feel worthwhile. Granted sometimes it can be nice to use a terrible version of a web-browser without having to have a computer around, but that hardly makes it worthwhile.
When I finally did get one, refusing to get an apple product I went with Android, and haven't been too impressed with it. Can't even change the volume steps, not even custom roms touch that, making it really useless as a music player (and people told me Android is supposed to be customizable). Wanting to make it worthwhile, I asked all my friends what cool apps there are, and consistently got the reply that there really isn't any. I've scoured the Google Play Store and Fdroid countless times with the same result.
I end up with the vast majority of my apps being stuff for my phone like Nova Launcher, Kernel Adiutor, Better Battery Stats, etc, etc. Those help make the phone usable, not worthwhile. I've only found one game ever that I enjoyed playing on a mobile device, which was Quizup (before they ruined it, now there's really nothing). Is there anything entertaining? Is there anything more interesting than a graphic calculator emulator? Is there anything more useful than a flashlight? Or is a smartphone as useless as I had always envisioned it to be? Just a tinker-toy for tech enthusiasts. Is it just a phone with a few interesting but not useful things and garbage battery life in return (despite doing everything in my power to maximize my battery life and put others with the same phone to shame)? I'd prefer the much more massive battery life and better voice quality of my ancient Nokia phone. I don't want to give up on it, but I need help keeping up hope. Even Tasker is sitting around not doing anything particularly useful. At least it can make phone calls unlike a useless Android tablet. Someone please help me make it worthwhile.

Hey, what was that movie with that one guy that was in that other movie with that chick from that TV show?
How far is a league?
Why is a booby trap called a booby trap?
Where the hell am I and how do I get to where I need to go?
Boy, I wish I could hear "Handle With Care" by the Traveling Wilburys right now. I haven't heard that song in ages.
A phone is something you make calls with. A smartphone is the wealth of the world's knowledge at your fingertips.

The problem with that is that a smartphone is a cumbersome device for giving input and getting output. Even with getting as good of a tiny touchscreen keyboard as you can get (which is still bad compared to a real keyboard) and voice input (which is usually even worse in my experience with several Android solutions as well as Apple's), you still have super buggy difficult to navigate watered-down info on a tiny screen that takes more scrolling than the miles of it I've put on my mouse.
I'm never too far from a computer that I've ever had to use or would have liked to use a smartphone to get that information. I've had the world's information at my fingertips, but why would I want to use a smartphone to get it? I've tried using it for convenience, I've tried using it to augment using a computer, but I've quit trying. Maybe it would be useful if I forgot to plan things ahead of time, or forgot to bring a camera or something. But I'm looking for a way for it to be consistently useful, not something that might come in handy one day and cost me hours of charging every day. I'm still not seeing it.