Related
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218075/Mystery_of_the_missing_Honeycomb_apps
Really good, looks like they did their homework...not that I feel much better about hoping more apps come along shortly after reading this-lol
Question: Tegra Zone is mentioned as a place to, also, get apps. Is anyone familiar with them as in do I have to be rooted, etc....I've never heard of them.
sunsetbay said:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218075/Mystery_of_the_missing_Honeycomb_apps
Really good, looks like they did their homework...not that I feel much better about hoping more apps come along after reading this-lol
Question: Tegra Zone is mentioned as a place to, also, get apps. Is anyone familiar with them as in do I have to be rooted, etc....I've never heard of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They sure did, and as you say...there won't be a rush for more apps on the market.
For the tegra zone:
You do not need to have your TF rooted. It's listed at googlemarket
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.nvidia.tegrazone&feature=search_result
sparven89 said:
They sure did, and as you say...there won't be a rush for more apps on the market.
For the tegra zone:
You do not need to have your TF rooted. It's listed at googlemarket
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.nvidia.tegrazone&feature=search_result
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, sparven89
I think I will give this app a try and I see they have a couple of games I might want to try.
Thanks!
I enjoy crapshooting and refunding apps. I bought over 500 apps, refunded over 300. It is a fun process
frosty5689 said:
I enjoy crapshooting and refunding apps. I bought over 500 apps, refunded over 300. It is a fun process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, if only Google gave you a bit more than 15 minutes before you could refund the app you don't want .
Yup it's odd how Google are known for their great search engine, yet have the worst search function ever in the android market. I don't buy that bit in the article about there not being enough demand for developers to want to create apps for HC though. There's loads of demand for apps in just about every section (other than for twitter, enough already!).
Everyone,
I found another new article about Android apps vs HP Touchpad having 400 at release on July 1st - (Android around 200+):
"Does the HP TouchPad Have More Tablet Apps Than Android?" (Apparently it may have and how they did it...yet I wonder if this is true)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387999,00.asp
I do like this part in the article "Google, as I've said before, wouldn't comment. But I've heard through the grapevine that they're working on improvements for the Android Market—it's just nothing they'll confirm. It's an obvious move, though."
On the personal side, I love my TF and number of apps isn't an issue for me-I have plenty(s). But, I am following the posts of others and some apps they want, so I find the whole subject interesting.
Google has so much riding on this...changes have to coming shortly that helps the developers and what they're waiting for. Well, just my 2 cents(s) and interesting to follow.
frosty5689 said:
I enjoy crapshooting and refunding apps. I bought over 500 apps, refunded over 300. It is a fun process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jonitfcfan said:
+1, if only Google gave you a bit more than 15 minutes before you could refund the app you don't want .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems more behind the scenes on this front happening, at least in Taiwan:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/01/2003507141
Apple is complying with Taiwan's 7 day refund policy on their stores and Google
has pulled their paid apps, so far, rather than comply...well!?? Google has to July 14th, certainly hope they don't handle it like this.
I agree with you both 100% that 15 minutes is not enough time. I've already
been caught on an app Moon+Reader Pro $4.99 causing my screen to flash repeatedly when I used the Text to Speech, so I immediately deleted it.
Since it took me almost an hour to get to this point, I wrote the developer for a refund...very polite & I'd be willing to try again if it was fixed. I waited 3 days and no response, then I left a 1 star review in the marketplace, again polite & details.
My review days later never showed up either. Call me skeptic, but I have wondered if I was censored by the 1 star rating & possibly because I said the developer hadn't responded to refund request...ah, guess that's a clue-lol.
So what are you going to do, just being honest & following the rules Google set in place, didn't work for me.
Shame because other's experience is what I reply on when purchasing an app.
Actually, this has been my one and only problem. But, it was a biggie the way it fell through the cracks when I actually asked for a refund.
sunsetbay said:
Seems more behind the scenes on this front happening, at least in Taiwan:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/01/2003507141
Apple is complying with Taiwan's 7 day refund policy on their stores and Google
has pulled their paid apps, so far, rather than comply...well!?? Google has to July 14th, certainly hope they don't handle it like this.
I agree with you both 100% that 15 minutes is not enough time. I've already
been caught on an app Moon+Reader Pro $4.99 causing my screen to flash repeatedly when I used the Text to Speech, so I immediately deleted it.
Since it took me almost an hour to get to this point, I wrote the developer for a refund...very polite & I'd be willing to try again if it was fixed. I waited 3 days and no response, then I left a 1 star review in the marketplace, again polite & details.
My review days later never showed up either. Call me skeptic, but I have wondered if I was censored by the 1 star rating & possibly because I said the developer hadn't responded to refund request...ah, guess that's a clue-lol.
So what are you going to do, just being honest & following the rules Google set in place, didn't work for me.
Shame because other's experience is what I reply on when purchasing an app.
Actually, this has been my one and only problem. But, it was a biggie the way it fell through the cracks when I actually asked for a refund.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am i being daft ? ive got no 'optimised for tablet' section in my market app ????
wilbur-force said:
am i being daft ? ive got no 'optimised for tablet' section in my market app ????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not aware of anything like this either. Is there supposed to be one ?
I think the tablet section is only for the USA.
Damn those Yanks, getting everything first...well, almost .
Misleading
There are several things mentioned in the article (like every other article decrying the state of HC apps) that are false or misleading:
The number of Honeycomb-optimized apps remains in the low hundreds. By comparison, there are over 100,000 apps optimized for the iPad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course the iPad has been out for a full year longer, that number was much lower three months after its release (which is approximately how long its been since the Xoom was released). It looks like it was about 10,000 based on a quick googling. That's quite a big difference from 100,000 (like, an order of magnitude).
There is also the question of how they are counting these "Honeycomb-optimized apps". There is no provision in the market, or in the metadata that describes an app to determine if it is "optimized" or not. Unless a developer explicitly denies the app for a certain screen size, a certain device, or requires a feature that the device doesn't have, then it will most likely run. If its just a question of "will it run?" then we have tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of Honeycomb apps. Beyond that, where can you draw the line to say that an app is "optimized"? This is a subjective question that can't be used as the basis for such an empirical evaluation.
I can offer my own apps (linked in sig) as an anecdotal example. Both worked on day one on Honeycomb, with no changes needed. All the text and graphics were crisp, clean and appropriately sized. They did not look ugly, just not as efficiently designed as they could have. Shortly after HC dropped, I updated them with a minor change to make use of the native Action Bar in HC for menu items. The rest of the UI (mostly list views), while great for a small phone screen, wastes a lot of space on a tablet screen that is several times larger. I'm currently working on refactoring the UI components into fragments, to improve the HC experience. At this point, all the fragments are in, and working, but I have not yet implemented a new activity/layout for HC devices which will make use of the extra screen space to place multiple fragments on the screen at once. At what point is my app then "optimized"? Day one (when it worked)? Once it made use of the action bar (more consistent UI)? When it was refactored into fragments (easier to detect this automatically)? Or when I add separate layouts that make use of a larger screen's real estate (most of us would say this is "optimized", but the point is we don't have any way to tell besides looking at it and making a judgement).
All Android 2.x apps will run on Android 3.x, but oftentimes the text just looks awkwardly small and clunky; this is because the Android SDK does not automatically scale fonts, so developers must create their own code to get their fonts to scale up or down within their apps, which can be extremely tricky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as fonts are specified in "sp" (scale independent pixels) units, this happens automatically.
When graphics are involved, you must use higher-resolution graphics and program them to be scalable, so that when they are on a larger screen they won't become pixilated. However, this requires the size of your app to be larger, and it may put more of a strain on the device's processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Having different resources for different screen densities or sizes is well documented and as easy as putting them in specially named folders. This was already done to make apps look good on LDPI, MDPI, and HDPI devices. It does increase the size of the app, but it will have virtually no performance penalty.
Many pundits have speculated that perhaps the holdup is in anticipation of Ice Cream Sandwich, which will theoretically merge Android's phone and tablet platforms, helping to end fragmentation, and which is due to arrive this fall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if this were true, its not the release of ICS developers are waiting on, but the point where adoption is widespread enough that they can safely drop support for previous versions (this wont happen for quite a while, as we've seen from the last several releases of Android).
To the author's credit, they acknowledge this and state that none of the developers they talked to felt this was a roadblock, but I have seen other articles promoting this idea.
This article was one of the more fair and balanced looks at the subject I have seen, but still upholds some myths about Android app development. The fact is, most any app that was built following the Android UI guidelines worked and looked fine without any changes for Honeycomb. Their UI may just not have been the most efficient for a tablet sized screen. In comparison, iPhone apps, using the 2x scaling on the iPad, look pretty terrible. This, combined with faster hardware adoption by consumers, is what prompted developers to port more apps to the iPad quicker than we are seeing for Honeycomb. The fact that my apps looked "good enough" on HC is why I didn't feel like there was much of a rush to put in the work to "optimize" them. Google made the right call by making Android as resolution/density agnostic as possible, as opposed to iOS's initial assumption of a single screen size and resolution. While iOS developers had to scramble to get iPad optimized versions of their apps out quickly, Android developers are able to take their time and (hopefully) do it right. There will be more HC "optimized" apps, as more tablets are sold, and more developers decide its worth their time to invest in it.
maxpower47, Thank you as a developer jumping in and adding clarification. I've reread your post several times and now I'm clearer on understanding the article and difference between optimized and 'working apps' as the article seemed to implied to be very low in number.
"Even if this were true, its not the release of ICS developers are waiting on, but the point where adoption is widespread enough that they can safely drop support for previous versions (this wont happen for quite a while, as we've seen from the last several releases of Android).
To the author's credit, they acknowledge this and state that none of the developers they talked to felt this was a roadblock, but I have seen other articles promoting this idea."
Interesting!
"This article was one of the more fair and balanced looks at the subject I have seen, but still upholds some myths about Android app development. The fact is, most any app that was built following the Android UI guidelines worked and looked fine without any changes for Honeycomb."
This sure is a myth that I was holding, so again I appreciate your contribution to understanding this better...much appreciated!
sunsetbay said:
Everyone,
I found another new article about Android apps vs HP Touchpad having 400 at release on July 1st - (Android around 200+):
"Does the HP TouchPad Have More Tablet Apps Than Android?" (Apparently it may have and how they did it...yet I wonder if this is true)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387999,00.asp
I do like this part in the article "Google, as I've said before, wouldn't comment. But I've heard through the grapevine that they're working on improvements for the Android Market—it's just nothing they'll confirm. It's an obvious move, though."
On the personal side, I love my TF and number of apps isn't an issue for me-I have plenty(s). But, I am following the posts of others and some apps they want, so I find the whole subject interesting.
Google has so much riding on this...changes have to coming shortly that helps the developers and what they're waiting for. Well, just my 2 cents(s) and interesting to follow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android SDK sucks balls.
WebOS SDK does not.
Result = More WebOS apps.
JCopernicus said:
Android SDK sucks balls.
WebOS SDK does not.
Result = More WebOS apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, er... what? More webOS apps than Android apps? In which universe?
I'll tell you, I stuck with webOS for 18 months before giving up because the app situation over there is such a mess. I think there's still only about 6,000 official (non-homebrew) apps for webOS, and many (most?) of those don't run on the TouchPad outside of a silly little emulation window. And there's as much junk in the webOS App Catalog as there are good apps. I think the only category with good apps is Twitter clients, which is why you'll find most webOS entusiasts constantly talking about the latest Twitter app.
I'm also astounded that there are only 300 or so TouchPad-optimized apps, given that HP is the world's largest tech company and has a huge vested interest in seeing webOS succeed. Couldn't they do SOMETHING to get more apps written before launching the TouchPad?
My golly, but saying that the webOS SDK being good (which is hugely debatable, given all of the SDK's limitations since webOS was announced) resulting in more webOS apps is just laughable. I have thousands of apps available for my TF, across every major category. If I were to swap my TF for a TouchPad, I'd be giving up a wide variety of useful apps and would essentially give up most of the value of owning a tablet.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
I meant in terms of "tablet" apps.
(which I know just means XL v11 support).
maxpower47 said:
Or when I add separate layouts that make use of a larger screen's real estate (most of us would say this is "optimized", but the point is we don't have any way to tell besides looking at it and making a judgement).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is definitely "Optimized" to me. As much as function is important, I think it's equally as important for an app to utilize screen real-estate properly.
The fact is, most any app that was built following the Android UI guidelines worked and looked fine without any changes for Honeycomb. Their UI may just not have been the most efficient for a tablet sized screen. In comparison, iPhone apps, using the 2x scaling on the iPad, look pretty terrible. This, combined with faster hardware adoption by consumers, is what prompted developers to port more apps to the iPad quicker than we are seeing for Honeycomb. The fact that my apps looked "good enough" on HC is why I didn't feel like there was much of a rush to put in the work to "optimize" them. Google made the right call by making Android as resolution/density agnostic as possible, as opposed to iOS's initial assumption of a single screen size and resolution. While iOS developers had to scramble to get iPad optimized versions of their apps out quickly, Android developers are able to take their time and (hopefully) do it right. There will be more HC "optimized" apps, as more tablets are sold, and more developers decide its worth their time to invest in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This all makes a lot of sense.
What doesn't make sense, as a consumer, though... there is no way for us to search for apps that *are* optimized for tablets. Even with "optimized" being hard to define, there needs to be a way for a user to head into the market and search for apps that work nicely on their tablet. It kills me that I have to depend on forums to find apps that fit my screen well.
HA!!!
I just find what I like from my phone and use that.
Or I think of other things to be done with my amazement machine I: study, download, try, and if I like it buy! If your not an informed consumer then you dont belong on android anyways. Sorry if that sounds crass, but if you want someone to tell you what to by then by all means have fun following the heard.
haensgn said:
HA!!!
I just find what I like from my phone and use that.
Or I think of other things to be done with my amazement machine I: study, download, try, and if I like it buy! If your not an informed consumer then you dont belong on android anyways. Sorry if that sounds crass, but if you want someone to tell you what to by then by all means have fun following the heard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*I* am obviously fine, as I'm here and other places researching apps.
But from a general user population point of view, it's extremely consumer unfriendly to not have a way to find "native" (using that term loosely) apps for your new "hot" products.
Also, there is no reason to be rude about it, imo. It's simply an opinion on customer service, which I think Google has a poor track record of, unfortunately.
Honeycomb is absolutely great, some of the tablets released also great (I love my TF).... but the Android Market needs some serious work, imo, especially in terms of the search engine (ironic hah).
Hi,
Not sure if I could phrase my question right (or posting in the right place) but,
I am really looking forward to getting a TF700 as my first tablet (and android!). But after stalking the infinity forum for the last month or so, I am beginning to feel that using an android tablet is quite complicated....
If anyone could just point me to a place where I can read up more about how I would go about tweaking my android device (like rooting? flashing? etc,) so that I could assess if it is too difficult for me to get the most out of the device if i purchase it, it would be very much appreciated!
First:
state what are your needs, what do you plan to do with the tablet?
DarsVaeda said:
First:
state what are your needs, what do you plan to do with the tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm,
Note taking, movies, and games! (I heard there is an emulator for the dungeon and dragon arcade game? hmm). :laugh:
It is also nice that the android tablets can be customised with widgets and what not too.
First, my 3 year olds can do what you just said you need to do. You don't NEED to mod your device in order to use it for almost everything out there. After you use Android for awhile you begin to develope this sickness where you just gotta fck with your device to see what not it can do, but what you can do too. Don't fear the device. If you can manage to download an app and move files onto a removeable SD card then you already can do almost anything with the pad. Right now there is little reason to root the device. Eventually there will be custom ROMs available and at that point you may want to play around with it, but for now watching movies and playing games and doing notes and such is easily done. I have lots of kid games, coloring apps, and cartoons for my kids to watch on all my devices, and as I said they are only 3.
riightt,
I was under the impression that knowledge of how these work is required to really make the tablet awesome.
If I may ask another question,
You mentioned " Eventually there will be custom ROMs available ".
These are unique to the particular device? To utilise this, i figure i would have to learn how to "root" the device isn't it? Is the methods specific to a device too?
Pardon the ignorance, I tried searching up a little but the tide of information available is a little overwhelming :silly:
utorz said:
riightt,
I was under the impression that knowledge of how these work is required to really make the tablet awesome.
If I may ask another question,
You mentioned " Eventually there will be custom ROMs available ".
These are unique to the particular device? To utilise this, i figure i would have to learn how to "root" the device isn't it? Is the methods specific to a device too?
Pardon the ignorance, I tried searching up a little but the tide of information available is a little overwhelming :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are certain rooting methods for certain devices, as well as specific roms. if this your first tablet (or first time using an android device), i would hold off on rooting until you get a little more familiar with it. I have two daughters, 8 and 5, they took over my xoom so much, that i had to buy them their own tablets. They had no problems figuring out how to do things, from watching movies, listening to music, reading and playing games. its all quite simple. It will probably only take you a few hours to get used to the ins and outs.
I see,
I guess these methods will appear in this forum for tf700 eh. So at least when the time comes i would know where to check
I've been rooting and roming since the first android phone the G1. Now ROM availability is a huge factor for me because I know the OS inside and out where there is very little learning involved. But if you jump into a new realm and try doing crazy stuff right off you'll be in for a harsh reality. So like you said, it'all be awhile so buy the tablet and learn about it first. Sometimes it'll be exactly how you want it without having to mod at all.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
Sound advice.
Thanks!
Now to wait for the tablet to be sold at where I am at...
If online purchase is an option, go for it. It may be a couple weeks before stores can stock them on the shelves. Perhaps longer depending on your location.
delivery option to my location will be quite hefty unfortunately So I will have to wait!
But news from asus states that it will arrive end july :laugh:
Oh, is there a way to figure out whether a certain app require you to fiddle around with the tablet or not?
utorz said:
Oh, is there a way to figure out whether a certain app require you to fiddle around with the tablet or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you go to download the app from the market, the description will usually tell you if root is required.
right, thanks!
Hello all. First time post. Let me start off by thanking you for accepting me into this fine community.
I had to chuckle while reading some excellent posts on the good and bad points when it came to some of the performance and features of the Infinity.
The reason for the chuckle was because I had this forum opened in one tab of my browser, and Amazon opened in another. I had actually been looking over the contents on my shopping cart. In it was one(1) ASUS Infinity tablet. I placed the item there a few days ago, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to hit the "Submit Order" button. Something just didn't feel right about the purchase. The decision over which tablet to choose is becoming more and more confusing. With talk about what may or may not be available in the not too distant future re: New iPad, Windows 8, etc etc really has me hesitating at this juncture.
My two daughters each purchased the new iPad so at least I have an opportunity to get a feel of what that product has to offer. Unfortunately, detaching them from their new toy has been a struggle all its own. One of the main reasons for my looking at products other than Apple is that their products seems SO proprietary.
In any case, I think that I will keep visiting this forum for a while longer before I make a final decision as to which tablet to choose. My apologies for the long-winded post. Peter
Hi Peter,
Deciding what Tablet you want for yourself is a very personal decision. If you really don't care about the environment (iOS vs Android) and are just a casual user - I do have a recommendation. At the risk of being flamed, I would say to get an iPad.
It comes down to this: Apps make the ecosystem. While android is gaining in applications and games, and just put out a huge checklist for Tablet developers, apple has a better application and gaming experience for the average user. You are absolutely subject to the proprietary OS, but most people don't care. It's good enough.
I love android (and I suspect that many others do as well) for a few reasons. It's mine. It's fully customizable and I can but really cool community built OS's Recovieries, etc on it. I've learned a lot about how devices work and the things most people don't see. That said, I've had my share of problems too. Many users don't know enough and brick their devices trying to do something that sounds cool but they don't fully understand. If you're a casual user there is no need to get caught up in it. Apple does in fact set the standard for hardware and Android will briefly surpass it, but it's always a tight race. Also, there are a lot more accessories for the iPad then any tablet device. I also love it because I enjoy pushing the envelope and making things better. Finally I love the community around android. It's awesome that I see the same usernames popping up across our little section of XDA helping each other out, supporting each other, joking around, and disagreeing even. It's fun.
Also, for the casual user you can go to a nearby apple store and get your issues fixed if you mess something up.
The first decision you make should be an ecosystem/environmental one. Also, if you don't have itunes there is a bit of a learning curve. I don't think that Apple products have that "intuitive feel" everyone claims. Android just seems harder because there is more customization that can take place.
Before I get flamed - I'm not advocating for Apple or the iPad, but I am advocating for really thinking about what kind of device you want and what you want to get out of it before you make your decision.
Good luck and if you have you have more questions, we're happy to help!
Osteele said:
Hello all. First time post. Let me start off by thanking you for accepting me into this fine community.
I had to chuckle while reading some excellent posts on the good and bad points when it came to some of the performance and features of the Infinity.
The reason for the chuckle was because I had this forum opened in one tab of my browser, and Amazon opened in another. I had actually been looking over the contents on my shopping cart. In it was one(1) ASUS Infinity tablet. I placed the item there a few days ago, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to hit the "Submit Order" button. Something just didn't feel right about the purchase. The decision over which tablet to choose is becoming more and more confusing. With talk about what may or may not be available in the not too distant future re: New iPad, Windows 8, etc etc really has me hesitating at this juncture.
My two daughters each purchased the new iPad so at least I have an opportunity to get a feel of what that product has to offer. Unfortunately, detaching them from their new toy has been a struggle all its own. One of the main reasons for my looking at products other than Apple is that their products seems SO proprietary.
In any case, I think that I will keep visiting this forum for a while longer before I make a final decision as to which tablet to choose. My apologies for the long-winded post. Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome here, whatever you decide, but if you go with another tablet or OS, please don't come and tease us about how much better/faster/cooler yours is than ours. that really gets on my nerves, lol!
But I'm sure you would never do that.
I would advocate that if you are interested in customising your tablet, the Infinity is a good one. First of all, it has a beautiful screen, will continue to receive firmware/OS updates and is finally starting to be well supported by some of the best developers in the Android ecosystem. Personally, I don't care about iOS on any level. It's far to closed a system for me, too limited. My Infinity , running CleanROM v1.3 with TWRP 2.3.0.0. recovery absolutely flies. It is super fluid and very powerful. I keep it connected to its keyboard dock and I take it off the charger at 5:30 a.m. and never have to charge again though 17 hour day of almost constant use. Much of that use is internet browsing and with the CleanROM tweaks, the stock browser performs incredibly well. I also have a flawless tablet and dock. Never any problems. I also take care of it, but nothing out of the ordinary...just keep it in its case...don't drop it or spill on it.
I've been using it instead of a laptop, and it just about replaces my desktop. Browsing is actually faster on the Infinity, and watching videos is a lot nicer. I haven't used the HDMI port, so I can't comment on it, but having the micro sd, the fullsize sd and full size USB ports means I never have to worry about not having enough storage...my 750GB WD Passport works perfectly in the USB port. That's a lot of movies.
Well, I know some people are worried about unlocking and voiding their asus warranty in order to flash custom software, but I found that a 2 year square deal warranty with accidental damage coverage works better for me anyway. It cost me $99, but I found out later that with a coupon I could have saved $30. Oh well.
Anyway, good luck with your decision!
wolfman87 said:
Hi Peter,
Deciding what Tablet you want for yourself is a very personal decision. If you really don't care about the environment (iOS vs Android) and are just a casual user - I do have a recommendation. At the risk of being flamed, I would say to get an iPad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the quick response wolfman87. I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision. But of course you are absolutely right about that decision being a very personal one.
I suppose that there are so many factors that one may have to consider. It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
A liitle bit about myself:
Spend most of my time in a Windows client / server environment. (For better or worse my clients have dictated my skill-level)
Which is probably the reason that I am always looking to learn new things. Lately that has been:
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter
okantomi said:
You are welcome here, whatever you decide, but if you go with another tablet or OS, please don't come and tease us about how much better/faster/cooler yours is than ours. that really gets on my nerves, lol!
But I'm sure you would never do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are absolutely right okantomi, I would never come back to do such a thing. By the way, thank you for the great response. I suppose that some of the negative stuff that I read in certain sections of this forum got me a little nervous. I should know better. We don't live in a perfect world, and no ONE item is going to please everyone. This phenomema is what brings about change and improvement.
I will give it another day or two, discuss the purchase with my better half, then see what we come up with.
Have a great weekend. Peter
Here's my two cents... Above, someone mentioned apps... Basically, an iPad is just that - an interface to run apps. On the other hand, Android does so much more. Besides running apps, the OS itself is actually useful and a great productivity tool. The widgets that run on your desktop are simply awesome. Just by looking at my home screen, I can see my upcoming appointments, the time, the date, the weather, my Gmail account and my work email account (exchange). I can do all of that simply by turning the device on! When you turn on an Ipad you see icons - that's about it.
Add to that the features of the Transformer series, such as a keyboard dock with an extra battery, a trackpad, memory card readers, HDMI-out and a USB port and I think you can see just how powerful a Transformer running Android can be. I actually started out with an iPad 1 (as it was basically the first tablet available) - it was a great device - until I stumbled upon Android and the Transformer line! You really can do so much more with a Transformer than you can with an iPad. Hell - even this post - just try typing this on an iPad - it would take forever with the on-screen keyboard!
Like had already been stated - it all depends on what you want the device to do. For me, the iPad is just way too limiting. It may have more apps (for now - although that's beginning to change), but that is literally all that you can do with it - runs apps. There are no widgets. There is no way to expand upon the hardware (I.E. extra ports). It's very "basic".
Anyway, good luck deciding - I have a feeling that we'll be seeing you around these parts soon enough though!
By the way, don't let the "complainers" in this forum scare you off - it's mainly just so same few posters complaining over and over again. Or, it's folks that don't even own the TF700! It is deceiving - there are *many* happy TF700 users out there!
Sorry for the long post - it's just so easy to get long winded when you have a real keyboard to type with!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
Osteele said:
Thank you so much for the quick response wolfman87. I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision. But of course you are absolutely right about that decision being a very personal one.
I suppose that there are so many factors that one may have to consider. It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
A liitle bit about myself:
Spend most of my time in a Windows client / server environment. (For better or worse my clients have dictated my skill-level)
Which is probably the reason that I am always looking to learn new things. Lately that has been:
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter
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Click to collapse
This might be a jumble of thoughts - sorry in advance:
That's really good information actually. From the first post it sounded much more casual. Since the needs that you have are more technical I would lean towards the Android side of things (I think that there are more IT based applications for Android). You can definitely set up exchange accounts (not sure how many, but I know you can). You can also remote into other machines (VPN, I think RDP, etc.). Of course web browsing comes standard, even on the base model
If you are going to be doing a lot of emails the dock absolutely is worth it. for ~$100 (if you get the 201) you get basically a netbook KB and the extra battery life. I have a friend who uses a bluetooth KB for his iPad and it lasts a while itself, but doesn't increase the tablet uptime.
Also a few people are working on getting a distro of linux up on this. It's harder since the bootloader isn't the same as the older models, but I don't think that it's something you can do on the iPad.
If you aren't running any iDevices right now it makes sense to stick with Android/Windows as an ecosystem. My other advice is go to play.google.com and look around at the apps, specifically for what you want to do: (for example: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=SIP&c=apps). This will help you get a feel for what is out there and what you can do.
For hooking up to HDMI - I actually may have blown the port on mine recently - I still haven't tested it again. But I got the Square Trade warranty through amazon (2 years plus accidental damage) for about $75. They're a solid provider and while I hope I don't have to use them, they don't care if you voided your ASUS warranty with unlocking, etc.
If you you and your better half will be using the tablet, I would say to stick to the infinity since the screen is super crisp (I assume that for emails, PDF's, remote PBXing, you aren't worried too much about the resolution) and it gets bright in the outdoors (IPS+). I have an iPad 2 for work and it really is much better than even that screen. Not as good as the iPads, but the best on the market for android.
If you really don't care about the screen, there are other good models out there. The Infinity rocks in terms of horsepower and as I mentioned the screen. Those are probably the two BEST things about it. I figure (for me) it will last at least 2 maybe 3 years. (hopefully more)
Oh, as a note - try before you buy. The headset jack is a bit weird and if you do a lot of audio it takes a bit to get used to holding it closer to the top.
Oh, and no need to apologize for being long winded
To all you great folks who have taken the time to respond to my lenghty posts, my heartfelt thanks. I have to be very honest, and I hope that this doesn't come off sounding strange, I am not a huge APPS kinda guy. Maybe I am not up to speed with that whole apps thing, but I just can't see why some folks put so much emphasis on the procurement of apps. Let's face it, how many are you really going to need / use. Once you find the ones that do exactly what you need for them to do that should pretty much do it.
Well, that's just me talking of course. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that most of the time I am using my machines for work and not so much for play.
Have yourselves a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Thank you
Peter
Osteele said:
I wish that I could say that you've helped me move closer my ultimate decision.
[...]
It's so bizarre because I have been in IT for quite a while now and whenever a client asks for a quote on a new piece of hardware for example, the first question that I ask is: What exactly do you plan on doing with this new piece of hardware?
[...]
Ubuntu desktop and server.
Virtual PBX (freePBX and Asterisk and PIAF)
Video Tutorials. Everything from Linux, jQuery, ASP .NET, Visual Studio, javascript.
Some of the things that I would like for a tablet to be able to do for me:
Receive and send email. Multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts required.
Connect remotely to client machines.
Browse the internet (many sites still require Flash)
Read all of the epub and pdf material that I now have sitting on my HP laptop
Would like to use a SIP client in order to dial thru my home based PBX with a secure VPN tunnel.
I enjoy recording music on my SSL Soundscape DAW.
Things that I found interesting about the Infinity:
Connectivity eg. HDMI - External storage - Dock
So far, I do not think that the iPad can offer any of these things. Unless I am wrong of course !!!
Once again, let me apologize for this long-winded response as well.
I thank you so much for your time and input. It is greatly appreciated.
Peter
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Click to collapse
If web browsing is a must -- and for most of us, it is -- then pretty much any Android machine wins over any iDevice because of Flash support (even with the support detracted on JB devices, you can still sideload the apk and it will still work).
Shell connection has several (free) apps available. I do that from home, mostly, so I do not have really extensive experience with them.
EPub and PDF -- Mantano all the way (I use it for both technical reading (medical and biochemical literature, mostly) and leisure reading (although that is non-fiction as well, mainly (astro)physics, quantum dynamics, archeology -- the high resolution screen REALLY helps in that corner, for it renders formulae, graphs, tables, and such just beautifully!).
To me, given both private and work use, TF700 hands-down, but as has been said oftentimes on this thread already, it's your choice. And indeed you are welcome in here anyway.
Osteele said:
[...]I am not a huge APPS kinda guy. Maybe I am not up to speed with that whole apps thing, but I just can't see why some folks put so much emphasis on the procurement of apps. Let's face it, how many are you really going to need / use. Once you find the ones that do exactly what you need for them to do that should pretty much do it.
Well, that's just me talking of course. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that most of the time I am using my machines for work and not so much for play.
Have yourselves a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Thank you
Peter
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It does make a major difference whether you use the 700 for work alone or also for leisure activity. I have two kids, aged 4 and 2, and they love tablet -- and they're ever handier than me. :S The app thingy is an ongoing search for the best-performing launcher, the best-performing office application, etc. -- and a lot of it is hoarding (I have enough games purchased-but-not-played-yet to last me for the next decade-and-a-half, hahaha!).
(Oh, and sometimes, an app is really good for all things it does, but it doesn't incorporate a feature you need. You then find another app that does, but that one either has a clunky interface (preventing everyday use) or misses some feature the other app did provide... and so on, and so on. )
Jtrosky already tackled this, but I wanted to emphasize it a bit: currently, only a small minority has devices that display major faults. Don't let the few posts about them detract you from trusting the TF700.
I was one of the many that noticed low I/O performance, which is the one issue that is faithfully reproducible, I guess -- and although not eliminated entirely, it has been greatly improved upon by recent updates. I was one of the instigators of the "I/O pressure" -- I unashamedly admit -- and I think we did the right thing in being so vocal. I love my 700, though, and I am easily standing up against the many friends carrying iDevices around (with regards to both screen quality, battery life, physical keyboard, and connection options (main USB, (micro)SD cards)...
Have a good and merry weekend yourself as well!
MartyHulskemper said:
If web browsing is a must -- and for most of us, it is -- then pretty much any Android machine wins over any iDevice because of Flash support (even with the support detracted on JB devices, you can still sideload the apk and it will still work).
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Click to collapse
Good morning Marty, and thank you for your valuable input. Undoubtedly, you seem to be getting the most out of your trusty tablet. I am happy to hear that.
I am going to take in all I can about tablets in general this weekend. I know that can probably set me a back a while. I am currently delving into a little .NET programming. So, there is always WIndows 8 tablets.
Came across this article last nite:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010050/leaked-windows-8-tablet-pricing-suggests-asus-is-targeting-big-spenders.html
Will most likely add to my confusion though. No one is holding a gun to my head, right?
Have a wonderful day wherever you may be!
Peter
Osteele said:
Good morning Marty, and thank you for your valuable input. Undoubtedly, you seem to be getting the most out of your trusty tablet. I am happy to hear that.
I am going to take in all I can about tablets in general this weekend. I know that can probably set me a back a while. I am currently delving into a little .NET programming. So, there is always WIndows 8 tablets.
Came across this article last nite:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010050/leaked-windows-8-tablet-pricing-suggests-asus-is-targeting-big-spenders.html
Will most likely add to my confusion though. No one is holding a gun to my head, right?
Have a wonderful day wherever you may be!
Peter
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Click to collapse
Oh, no, you're only in as much hurry as you put yourself in -- that Intel-based ASUS tablet is priced outrageously high -- 1399 dollars for a tablet? Meh. The people that would pay that )to include the dock accessory) would rather pay 1100 dollars for a really good laptop instead. I'd that swell, and I'd gain Windows gaming in the process (Borderlands 2 on the train commute ftw, hahaha! ) and a crapload of ecosystem apps that have been refined over many years instead of the 2 years we have had Android tablet apps and 0, nada, zilch for Windows 8 tablet apps.
If they price it lower, though, it might even be very tempting (especially when they do not break compatibility with Windows 7 applications -- I haven't been paying much attention to Windows 8. I guess I have some catching up to do...
And as far as your catching up goes: yes, I'd expect you to be busy reading for a week or two, at least. As we say in Holland: it will, at the very least, keep you off the streets.
MartyHulskemper said:
Oh, no, you're only in as much hurry as you put yourself in -- that Intel-based ASUS tablet is priced outrageously high -- 1399 dollars for a tablet? Meh.
If they price it lower, though, it might even be very tempting (especially when they do not break compatibility with Windows 7 applications -- I haven't been paying much attention to Windows 8. I guess I have some catching up to do...
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Hello again Marty. I was under the impression that the pricing was somewhere in the vicinity of:
Pricing for Asus' Vivo Tab RT will start at $599
As was mentioned here as well:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/12/3495334/asus-vivo-tab-rt-pre-sales-begin-first-windows-rt-tablet-starts-at
IT's going to take more than a tablet to keep me off the streets. :laugh: :laugh:
Have a wonderful day. Peter
Osteele said:
Hello again Marty. I was under the impression that the pricing was somewhere in the vicinity of:
Pricing for Asus' Vivo Tab RT will start at $599
As was mentioned here as well:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/12/3495334/asus-vivo-tab-rt-pre-sales-begin-first-windows-rt-tablet-starts-at
IT's going to take more than a tablet to keep me off the streets. :laugh: :laugh:
Have a wonderful day. Peter
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Hi Peter!
Yes, it did say that in the article, but the RT versions of Windows 8 are the versions that carry ONLY the Metro interface, and are able to run ONLY apps that have been specifically programmed to run on that particular version (although I might have understood all that totally wrong, in which case somebody will undoubtedly be so friendly as to point me to my errors. The more usable versions will cost you significantly more, and the dock will set you back even more...
MartyHulskemper said:
Hi Peter!
Yes, it did say that in the article, but the RT versions of Windows 8 are the versions that carry ONLY the Metro interface, and are able to run ONLY apps that have been specifically programmed to run on that particular version (although I might have understood all that totally wrong, in which case somebody will undoubtedly be so friendly as to point me to my errors. The more usable versions will cost you significantly more, and the dock will set you back even more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha !!! Gotcha. Thanks to you, I will be going to bed a little smarter this evening. Thank you. Peter
Update
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter
Osteele said:
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter
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Bring it on bro.....We are waiting!!!
buhohitr said:
Bring it on bro.....We are waiting!!!
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Thank you Sir. I really appreciate that.
Congrats! Welcome to the club
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Welcome to the Infinity family.
As a .NET Developer myself, I find this device comes in handy sometimes with the supernote it saves alot of papers and keep them all in one place. I use Supernote for writing pseudo code, brainstorming, UML diagram etc. Maybe you will find this method useful or maybe not. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the infinity!
Cheers
Osteele said:
Well folks, I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I took the plung today at approx 18:00. After spending a considerable amount of time scouring the internet and reading reviews ad nauseam, I finally decided upon the Infinity. Should arrive in a few days and I must say that I am excited. Nice to feel like a kid again.
There is a good possibility that I may have a few questions once I have spent a little time with the unit. Hope you all don't mind if I post those questions here on this forum.
Thank you all again for being so helpful. I hope that I have made the right decision.
Peter
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Click to collapse
I hope so, too, Peter -- you'll find out soon enough, I guess. ; ) It does come pretty sudden, so after your initial resolve to wait it out and inform and inform and inform. I know the feeling of waiting, however, mostly gets the best of me -- I guess us gadgeteers are not the most resilient to marketing and spec sheets. Hahaha!
Welcome to the club, and don't fret about posting your questions. It's not your type of user we get fed up with, and to be honest, I think you'll be fine with the guides that have sprung up -- at least as far as unlocking woes, Nvflash, custom recoveries and custom ROMs, etc. go. It's going to take a fair bit of Play Store scavenging to find apps that suit your needs and style optimally, but we'll get there. Relish the kid feeling, and don't lose the fun in finding your way.
By the way: I assume you ordered it with the dock?
Hi here in the uk the note 10 is now £318
But on seeing this VIDEO review dated 15th of august i am a bit unsure as i expected it be better as it is quad core, 2g ram etc.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/15/3243546/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-review
Can anyone advise is it any better now? Has it been updated etc?
Cheers,
MJ-12
read the threads that user post their comments about this device.
many reviews in the internet never give accurate information. this device is not laggy at all, even when i playing some heavy games like the bards tale.
Bought one a couple of weeks ago.... previously had a Sony Tablet S and before that a dreaded fruit based tablet!!!
The Note is by far the best tablet I have owned!!!
With regards to lag, in day to day use there is ZERO Lag!!! The only lag I have witnessed is when the device is on charge and I'm downloading multiple very large files and playing games all at the same time!!!
I'm UK based too, so still running HC, when this baby gets JB or is only going to make it better and faster!!!
Sent from my GT-N7100
So there have been no OS or TW updates?
I have asome questions first.
Do you want a tablet that you can show others how sharp, smooth, fast and responsive the screen is or do you want a tab that has the ability to be the most productive tab on the market?
Do you want a tab so you can brag how high the specs are or do you want a tab that will do things that you need to do?
I ask these questions because you refer to the posted review and I guess the most damming thing in the review is the way they demonstrate the lag of the multi screen apps. The truth is you will not be switching between apps that fast in real life so you won't get the lag hardly ever. The thing they should point out is not the fault of the muli screen but the very fact that the GNote10 is the first and at this point only tab to have this productive ability.
As far as resolution true the iPad 3 has 2048x1536 and the GNote10 has 1280×800 but the real consideration is that for all practical purposes the average user can't tell the difference between then unless they are side by side that is how good the GNote10's screen is. There is a limit to how much detail the eye can see on the small 10.1" screen.
If you want the tablet that will always have the best specs, fastest, smoothest sharpest display then you need to forget about getting any tab. Because as soon as you get one it will no longer be the tab with the best specs, fastest, smoothest sharpest display as someone will make a better one.
Not yet but jelly bean has been released in Germany so its not far away.
MJ-12 said:
So there have been no OS or TW updates?
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Click to collapse
You really need to do some poking around on the forum; all your questions have been answered. There are some videos showing how it performs posted by actual users. It's been updated numerous times and a stock JB ROM was released in Germany. There are also threads comparing it to the TF700 and to the N10. Seek and you shall find...
Hmmm, thank you for your time in replying.
As for poking around I am too excited and thought the best way to get the info is from people who would be happy to tell me, as I would be if I had one and someone asked.
Sorry, I don't subscribe to the thread police point of view.
In line with that, where are the video reviews
There are many many post on the review of note please see my pinned thread I have most of the links on that. One thing you will find is that all user reviews are opposite to the tech site reviews.
As far as the lag is concerend I and many other fellow users have posted videos proving it to be otherwise even under extreme conditions which you will never do in normal use.
There are many threads related to this and I would request you to use the one opened by me at the begning as it becomes easier for everyone
samir_a said:
There are many many post on the review of note please see my pinned thread I have most of the links on that. One thing you will find is that all user reviews are opposite to the tech site reviews.
As far as the lag is concerend I and many other fellow users have posted videos proving it to be otherwise even under extreme conditions which you will never do in normal use.
There are many threads related to this and I would request you to use the one opened by me at the begning as it becomes easier for everyone
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Click to collapse
Cheers, on my way there to check it out
Its okay you in excitement opened the thread but please spend some time searching this category you will find many reviews of people actually using the note and all of them will tell a different story
Hello everyone, not sure if this is the correct place to ask this, so please correct me if it's not.
With all the informational videos you can watch on here, as well as youtube, of reviews on different hardware and software I'm wondering...
How do you get connected with these companies to review the products yourself? Do you need to be certified to do this, or do you directly contact companies like samsung, motorola, asus, etc.?
I'm very interested in this because I'm currently in the process of earning a degree in IT and I find it very useful to be able to provide information to people who are looking for this. Like I said, not sure if I'm asking in the right area, but if anyone has insight, please educate me.
Thank You
I think a lot of it comes from having cultivated a large audience - to be able for the companies to see your audience as large enough to offset the material cost. It's product placement for them, getting their name out there - but for that to be effective for them, they need to know you have a large audience and a good reputation.
I'd start working on your social media presence if you're serious about it - but that can be a lot of work and those guys who are at the top (the ones that get all the latest stuff) really had to work to get there.
Even then, I've seen manufacturers not want to work with reviewers.
I'd guess a good number are either simply reviewing as a hobby - buying what they want for themselves and reviewing it (I'm guessing this is the case for a lot of videos I've seen on YouTube) buying it out of pocket and hoping the money from ads recovers that cost.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Thank you, pennycake, appreciate the quick response. I always wondered how they get to that point. Seems like a cool gig, I may research it a bit more!
That would be pretty cool to test all the new stuff first!
UnholyDecade said:
That would be pretty cool to test all the new stuff first!
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^^