...sullen curved heads.
And the larger part of us sadly realized that we all have been submitted to a deeply manipulative plan aimed solely to maximize profits under the solaceous umbrella of the motto "greed is good", (R. Reagan) and the previous generous ground, the rich cornucopia of freeware, of simple direct links to downloads with
no strings attached grew bare and dry, prompting only the fruits of defaced unshamed methods of soliciting pay, pay, PAY (there are various simple, easy forms of payment: paypal, payfoe, credit card indebted card and the lot.
And the usual real life-deprived sons of beaches continued to launch their worms, and virus, and trojan horses and the like and the younger generation begun to use the net just as a date database tool, ignoring and despising the manifolded worlds it also produces for those who have the persistence to surf in orderly sequence... And a large slice of them young blokes gave up and started to look back in anger and search for other skills and entertainment.
Too much of a good thing seems to be too much for our generation to cope with. Hèlas!...
Well, there was a time for M$ to use and abuse its followers, then big develloping companies discovered telecommunications and entered it, inspired by the very same spirit: You will buy our products, and use them the way we constrain you to, and you'll mantain this status as long as we make good profits -- now and then we will keep you under scrutiny and tight surveillance with
tools such as all the KBs and service packs and upgrades and then our net.frameworks basis will provide support to devellopers and other enlightned individuals, while at the same time sending back to our premises individual informations about uses and contents you poor retarded intend to make use of, against our directions, and we will send bsod to your little machines, which today you proudly boast about, but tomorrow we will obsoletize and push you
to spend again your good nickels on some more mhz, or fpm, or any tremendously important benchmark "new" value...whatever we find a good target to aim at.
Then appeared Google and looked sideways and realized there was a good trunk almost unexplored: Linux. And then Android and the promise of stable flexibility and a load of luring applications to market and sell, sell,SELL. You will buy the device we advertise and will pay not only for your phone calls. The minute you activate it, the countdown clock begins to run deducting cents over cents from your meager deposits...
And as time goes by they all begun to weight if their joy of users, consumers in fact, so expensive as it was becoming, if really balanced the economic sacrifice it entailed -- and little, by little started to fold their tends and silently flying away.
And then the masters realized: « That was a funny and profitable game, now we have to find another!...Keep them smiling, keep them distracted with their long hi-tech references and... keep them spending, of course!».
And one of us left his ecstasy and Solomon-like dictated: «Symbian what?! and Android which?! Ah, come on people, 'Rasbadas' is the way! The only one, the best!!! I am buying the "Zhark GT Xanadu 3000": the champion device!!!»..
I'm sorry to occupy your space. Erase it if you will. Regards, HN
I'm looking to get a tablet but I have no idea where to start looking or what to look for. I don't want to spend too much, max $350. I want to basically try to use it as a laptop while I'm on the go. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
What would you be using it for, more specifically?
Just as there are many different laptops (netbooks/ultrabooks/etc) for many different purposes, there are a variety of different tablets.
Would you need carrier network access, or would Wi-Fi suffice?
7" or 10"?
What type of applications are you hoping to use?
There are a variety of tablets in the Marketplace that you can get a deal on.
[shamelessplug] I am selling a couple myself, but, depending on your needs, they may not even be remotely suitable. [/shamelessplug]
Carnagecjb is steering you right...I would also add:
1. Compare OS's...what OS do you think will integrate best with your other electronic devices, assuming you would need/want that.
I have 2 HP Touchpads, that I really enjoy. I have installed Android (Xron's ROM CM7) and can dual boot between WebOS and CM7, so get the benefit of both OS's. Hardware is good quality. Gloss black back is a fingerprint magnet, but mine stays in case so is a null issue with me. Battery life is decent at around 8 hours...depends on activities of course. You can pick these up in 16-32 GB setups for $250 to $300 on ebay all day long. Amazon as well. Leaving you $$ to blow on accessories.
.
Thread moved to Q&A due to it being a question. Would advise you to read forum rules and post in correct section.
Failure to comply with forum rules will result in an infraction and/or ban depending on severity of rule break.
I think you could expect to see great things to come to the touchpad if you don't mind waiting for progressing developments.
Did you check Archos tablets? They have OK features, and the price is OK...
---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 PM ----------
VictoriaCoffey said:
Did you check Archos tablets? They have OK features, and the price is OK...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anybody have this or any other Archos tablet? I would like to hear your opinion
350$ is too low. You can't get a good tablet with this buget.
I don't know, if the OP only wants a 7", $350 is more than adequate. If used is OK, there are some pretty nice 10" popping up now and then...
What do you plan to do with the the tablet more specifically? Are you sure the tablet would support your needs or are you just being drawn to the hype of a tablet?
I could do a 7". Mostly I want to use it to get books, email, facebook, photo editing apps, word processor. What about a nice refurbished tablet, could I get one for $350 or less?
Hi xda,
I have developed Ears for the Surface family of tablets. It has launched! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463948377/ears-for-the-surface-tablets
I just want to see what your feedback is. This is my first project/product and if anyone has suggestions, let me know.
I would love to hear what the community thinks!
Thank you,
Brandon
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lgnationrc said:
Hi xda,
I have developed Ears for the Surface family of tablets. I will launch it Saturday at 9:00am EST (UTC-5:00) on Kickstarter. Right now you can see the Prefundia link: http://prefundia.com/projects/view/ears-for-the-surface-tablets/976/
I just want to see what your feedback is. This is my first project/product and if anyone has suggestions, let me know.
I will post a Kickstarter link when it goes live.
I would love to hear what the community thinks!
Thank you,
Brandon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really enjoyed the story behind your move to China and starting a business in there. I'm sure it will be inspirational for a lot of people!
Regarding the project, it's a good idea, but... here is a big problem I see with it. Your product is catered to a small group of people who bought original Surface RT (probably on fire sale when they drop the price). I know you really like it and still enjoying it, but in a big picture Surface RT (arm processor based, right?) was a huge flop for M$. On top of that, if they decide to release a new version of it and re-design location of speakers, your design will have to be changed.. Do you know what I mean?
Don't take it in a wrong way, I'm just trying to help you out with my opinion (I review a lot of products, see my signature link). The product you come up with is a good idea, but I'm not sure if its suitable for KS or IGG unless you set a low target. XDA is not the best place to promote it; you need to go directly to MS/Surface forums and communities to get a feedback from there and see if people will be interested to buy it. Then, maybe sell it through ebay or Amazon? Of course, I could be wrong, but I just feel the focus of this product is very narrow due to Surface RT being less popular product.
vectron said:
I really enjoyed the story behind your move to China and starting a business in there. I'm sure it will be inspirational for a lot of people!
Regarding the project, it's a good idea, but... here is a big problem I see with it. Your product is catered to a small group of people who bought original Surface RT (probably on fire sale when they drop the price). I know you really like it and still enjoying it, but in a big picture Surface RT (arm processor based, right?) was a huge flop for M$. On top of that, if they decide to release a new version of it and re-design location of speakers, your design will have to be changed.. Do you know what I mean?
Don't take it in a wrong way, I'm just trying to help you out with my opinion (I review a lot of products, see my signature link). The product you come up with is a good idea, but I'm not sure if its suitable for KS or IGG unless you set a low target. XDA is not the best place to promote it; you need to go directly to MS/Surface forums and communities to get a feedback from there and see if people will be interested to buy it. Then, maybe sell it through ebay or Amazon? Of course, I could be wrong, but I just feel the focus of this product is very narrow due to Surface RT being less popular product.
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PM sent and thank you or the feedback!
To add to what vectron said...
My first take on seeing the product was OH LOOKIT A MICKEY MOUSE SURFACE! awww that's sooo cute... I suspect, however, that that isn't the desired effect Surface owners will be looking for. You are looking at your product from a purely functional view. However, consumers place a higher importance on aesthetic and stylistic aspects. From this, you can't pay people enough to use the "ears," let alone thinking of charging for them. Excuse the blunt words, but it's reality.
My second comment is that you need to think of your market, and not yourself, when creating a new product. As vectron said, Surface RTs are obsolete, with a small userbase. If you want to make something like this (ignoring my first comment), then you need a universal-fit model to fit any tablet. There are indeed many mobile devices with backward-firing speakers that can benefit from this.
Non-Apple tablets are very underserved for accessories, especially Windows tablets. If you are that targetting that niche, there are many things to try.
To name one, Windows/Android tablets are always starved for powered USB ports, and I've looked high and low for a suitable battery-powered USB hub to velcro onto the back of my tablet, but none such exist (one did exist, but it's no longer being made). Granted, this is an order of magnitude more complex than the mentioned silicone slip-ons, but there is wide demand for such.
Good luck with your business.
Thank you for the feedback!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463948377/ears-for-the-surface-tablets
Surface RT and Surface 2 may not be doing well (though there's more than enough customers of them to make something like this work out financially), but the Ears are also available for Pro and Pro 2, and those are pretty popular...
Frankly, for the trivial amount OP was asking, he could well have covered it himself. KS has morphed from its original mission of crowdfunding seed money to be a PR vehicle, as well as feasibility feedback for marginal ventures. This particular is among the latter.
OP's post confirms this, as it was more for PR than getting opinions, since opinions only matter BEFORE committing to a proj, not after. This thing was going live regardless of feedback. Taking OP's KS blurb at face value, my guess is that this is more about the process rather than the end product, ie OP is gathering info for future widgets, presumably via the KS route, and a simple & cheap widget to start was ideal, regardless of its appeal. In short, a dry run.
Extrapolating from the 2-day take, the proj could conceivably make the nominal 5.5K amount ($348 / 2 * 30 = $5220), although normally interest is highest the first few days, then tapers off. But OP miscalculated on the "sweet spot" amount, and the $5 slot (that most backers opted for) is used up. He'll have a tougher time convincing people to pay $10 for the next slot up.
But as said, my impression is the means is the end in this case, and OP is laying the groundwork for more KS ventures. It would be better if the proj gets to its goal, as then he can get more data about the carry-through rather than just the lead-up. But it's not particularly important. He has already gotten a valuable piece of info about how much his widget is worth (about $5 incl shipping).
e.mote said:
To name one, Windows/Android tablets are always starved for powered USB ports, and I've looked high and low for a suitable battery-powered USB hub to velcro onto the back of my tablet, but none such exist (one did exist, but it's no longer being made). Granted, this is an order of magnitude more complex than the mentioned silicone slip-ons, but there is wide demand for such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not a full hub but:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Additions®-Battery-Extender-Batteries/dp/B002PHC1XU
^Battery pack with USB port
USB power injector cable:
http://www.newtech.cat/w/en/1473-USB-2-0-Cable-Double-Power-Injector--2xAM-AH--1-2m.html
Mains powered USB hubs are usually barrel jack connector. USB to barrel jack cables exist to use the above battery pack with a hub directly.
Neither option is the clean 1 piece unit but they are functional if you absolutely require a battery powered hub.
Of *course* the majority of the first 50 backers are going to go for the "get this thing half off" deal. That doesn't mean people wouldn't be willing to pay $10, just that they aren't going to pay 2x as much as they need to...
When I checked last night (midnight on US west coast), there were 0 people at the $10 or $15 levels. Now there are 7 and 1, respectively. That's not huge progress, but it's not bad for 11 hours in the middle of the night for the Surface's biggest market.
>Of *course* the majority of the first 50 backers are going to go for the "get this thing half off" deal.
People don't cost-justify for small amounts. Yes, my $5-ceiling guess looks to be off, and the $10 mark looks to still be under the impulse-spend threshold for the widget. Also, I didn't take into account that KS isn't just about crowdfunding money, but crowdsourcing publicity.
I'd retract my "Mickey Mouse ears = bad" comment. This falls into the "conventional wisdom" category that oddball accessories that clash against prevailing fashion sense are eschewed by the main. I think that still holds, but given the small numbers involved here, this isn't the main. For fringe projects, being unusual and weird is a plus in that it catches people's attention, and the money amount is small enough for impulse buy.
Yes, I dare say that if OP had shaped the ears to be like Mickey's, or Batman's, or a nekomimi shape (as a backer had requested), then the widget would have added "decorative" appeal. It can become a conversation piece. (How about glow in the dark?) Pragmatic concerns like "how does this work with a case" don't come into play until after the purchase, which are irrelevant for impulse buys.
Consumer buying and selling is mainly about psychology, and each platform has its own idiosyncracies. I've not paid attention to KS as a platform, but looks like I'll need to put it on my to-do list.
As said, all this is valuable data for OP as well as anybody who wants to make a go at the crowdfunding route--much more valuable than the actual project itself.
Congrats on passing your goal! Only 1/3 of the way through the campaign, too. I've seen some buzz online about this. Sorry I don't do more social media stuff myself. :-/
e.mote said:
Frankly, for the trivial amount OP was asking, he could well have covered it himself. KS has morphed from its original mission of crowdfunding seed money to be a PR vehicle, as well as feasibility feedback for marginal ventures. This particular is among the latter.
OP's post confirms this, as it was more for PR than getting opinions, since opinions only matter BEFORE committing to a proj, not after. This thing was going live regardless of feedback. Taking OP's KS blurb at face value, my guess is that this is more about the process rather than the end product, ie OP is gathering info for future widgets, presumably via the KS route, and a simple & cheap widget to start was ideal, regardless of its appeal. In short, a dry run.
Extrapolating from the 2-day take, the proj could conceivably make the nominal 5.5K amount ($348 / 2 * 30 = $5220), although normally interest is highest the first few days, then tapers off. But OP miscalculated on the "sweet spot" amount, and the $5 slot (that most backers opted for) is used up. He'll have a tougher time convincing people to pay $10 for the next slot up.
But as said, my impression is the means is the end in this case, and OP is laying the groundwork for more KS ventures. It would be better if the proj gets to its goal, as then he can get more data about the carry-through rather than just the lead-up. But it's not particularly important. He has already gotten a valuable piece of info about how much his widget is worth (about $5 incl shipping).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to get into conflict here but I want to say that this KS campaign was all about raising money and this thread was all about getting feedback. Since I have no money to produce these myself, this project would have never happened if the goal was not met. Period. I don't see the point to continue to put money into a project or business venture if people are unwilling to buy it. The whole point of Kickstarter. It doesn't make good business sense to me to continue to pour funds into a dying/dead business. There has to be an exit strategy. Mine was, if Kickstarter didn't meet the goal, the project will stop.
And no, no future Kickstarter projects planned. Personal I prefer to deal with angel investors. Yes, I have more projects and business' planned for the future, but none on Kickstarter for the foreseeable future.
I wanted more sound on my Surface, I thought the Surface crowd would share the same feelings as me, I have to put food on the table. Lets make a business!
GoodDayToDie said:
Congrats on passing your goal! Only 1/3 of the way through the campaign, too. I've seen some buzz online about this. Sorry I don't do more social media stuff myself. :-/
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Thank you! A much followed writer for Cnet Twitted about Ears and my project took off! It is back down again but I reached my goal. Surface owners are so far and few in between and Ears are very niche, so it is hard to get through to enough people. But it has been exciting to watch my project go.
Thanks!
Check out this review (and hit the Thanks button once you've read it and realized how awesome it is):
http://www.appsandroid.dk/joomla/gu...ony-smartwatch-2-tanker-tips-til-apps-mm.html
Mind you, it's in Danish, but just read it using Chrome auto-translate, which doesn't screw too much with the comprehension as far as I can tell.
World's longest and most thorough review of our beloved wrist genie (Top 10 most read article of the year on the biggest Android website in Denmark which has 80-100,000 readers a month and 6-8 articles per day and it wasn't even posted till October 7). There's also reviews of screen protectors incl. links to purchase and links to all apps reviewed, so you can just open them and add them to your Google Play Wishlist, so you can easily find them on your phone later. There are lots of pictures for those considering the outdoor visibility and comparison shots with a normal sized man's watch. Photos display the metal band version incl. links to a great to-do video of how to shorten the metal strap. Also links to Sony support and feedback from the very responsive support. Sony themselves even said thanks for a great review, so I'm not just pulling this out of my ass, so to speak
Chrome got a lot better at translating in recent years and also Danish is very similar to English in sentence structure which makes any translation much more accurate than German with its odd sentence structure with the verb at the end, which always trips up Google Translate (so badly so that I mostly end up using my crappy 9th grade level German from 20 years ago when shopping through the German version of Amazon in order to not get the opposite meaning of the original text).
I apologize for not posting this back in October. Well, better late than never, right?
Also here's a couple of useful posts. Those hatin' on Google+ must be those who don't actually use it for what it's great for, namely the free-wheelin' exchange of ideas, helpful hints and recommendations. Pay it forward and all that :angel:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2735718
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...6008115988060526450&oid=111835435217155668948
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/112951098198989411354 (main Smartwatch 2 community page)
We're at 997 members so far, come on and join in so we can get to a clean one thousand
My 6T is on its last legs, there is something wrong with the phone reception, everyone tells me that they can barely understand me when I am on the phone (but not on Whatsapp or other VOIP apps).
Things that are important to me, arranged in order of priority
a) Best in class battery life
b) Rootable - the only two mods I do that require root are install AdBlocker and AFWall+, then I Magisk hide the InTune crap
c) 6.4-6.5" screen - smaller is too small, larger requires 2-handed opertion
d) Screen that is readable in daylight - the 6T really struggles there
e) Reasonable update schedule
f) Clean-ish Android experience
g) $800 or less price, preferably $600 or less
Things that are a don't care
1) Camera - the phone is a utility camera for me, when I want great pics I reach for a real camera
2) High pixel count or referesh rate - I mostly read news/blogs/articles on the phone
3) 5G - it ain't gonna be viable in the US for a few years, so why pay for something that just sucks battery and does nothing useful
4) Selfie lens, optical telephoto, portrait mode, etc - see #1 above
Based on the above the Nord hits all the right specs, but I am going to have to take a flier on importing it via some shady channel.
By all accounts the Pixel4a is a good phone with a sh*tty battery. The Pixel 4 is a great phone with a marginal battery. And battery is #1 for me.
Samsung prices are ridiculous
Moto software updates are non-existent
Which kind of leaves me with the OP line. From what I have read the primary difference between the 7T and the 8 is the 5G and a slight QCOM processor upgrade, which I don't care about. At this point the 8 will also get software updates a year or so longer than the 7T. But I can get the 7T for $450 tax free from B&H, while the 8 will set me back a minimum of $700+tax, for allegedly a very similar phone .
Am I missing any other important differences between the 7T and the 8?
Any suggestions on where to "safely" get a Nord?
Any other phones I should cosnider?
TIA
GroovyGeek said:
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@GroovyGeek THREAD CLOSED as duplicate of https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-nord/help/nord-vs-8-vs-7t-t4153317#post83358647 and https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/7t-vs-8-vs-nord-t4153313, although the first one has also been closed and the latter one moved to the General forum.
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