What Do You Think About Tablet Computers?

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by island911

More to my point, are the Apple commercials for the device. --All finger dragging FUN -
...it's an appeal to simple. ...like Apple's one-button mouse. ...

to my way o' thinkin' a simple GUI is to be desired

if you do complex mental tasks (esp. several at once) when using a computer, then the less brain neurons that have to be devoted to interfacing with the machine likely means you have more to devote to solving the real problem

I've always tried to offload as much onto the machine as possible - it leaves my brain free for other tasks (beer, porn, you name it)

I'd prefer an implanted chip...

[island911]

if only pianos had but one key, and guitars one string (to pluck only) the world wold be an easier, better place.

[bonkers]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

What do you guys thing the View Sonic G tablet??

Byron, I have owned a Viewsonic g tablet since early December and love it, it is a potent piece of hardware.

Unfortunately, out of the box it's a real dog. Viewsonic added a pathetic user interface overlay on top of Android making it run slowly and look terrible. Whoever decided that was fit for public consumption should exiled to Siberia with nothing but a BetaMax VCR and a copy of PeeWee's Big Adventure for company.

Fortunately, a strong little development community has evolved (Viewsonic G Tablet - xda-developers). If you are prepared to follow some pretty straightforward instructions and replace Viewsonic's junkware, you can have a fast, fun tablet. If not, I am afraid I would have to advise you to steer clear. Sad really.

[red-beard]

What is the cost on the Viewsonic G?

[jyl]

Skimmed the FAQ on the site linked above - seems like a lot of issues to deal w/.

[bonkers]

Originally Posted by red-beard

What is the cost on the Viewsonic G?

Around $400. You might be able to pick it up a little cheaper at Sears or quite a bit cheaper if you manage to find a returned one at a Sears near you: quite a lot of people have returned them simply because the stock install is a mess.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by jyl

Skimmed the FAQ on the site linked above - seems like a lot of issues to deal w/.

I thought the same thing when dealing with my ATT Captivate android phone. ATT basically neutered the phone (I think their Apple mojo was strong then) and installed a ton of bloat. Basically it was a POS. I finally got the courage to take control of the situation and man I am happy with the result. There are numerous videos on YouTube showing the step by step process to reflash the device with a "real" ROM - both my phone and the apparently the viewsonic tablet. It took me 30 minutes and is dead simple as long as you can follow the steps in the video.

I just might look into a Viewsonic tablet. Would be cool to have for a demo on my next trip to Japan in March.

[jyl]

Here's what I am thinking. Dozens of Android tablets will be launched in the next few months. Most of them are pretty similar from a hardware standpoint, variables being which processor (Tegra2 seems the best), how good a screen, memory, maybe ports. Most of these will fail resoundingly. In let's say 6 months there should be a glut of tablets being liquidated. If you know how to hack off whatever stupid software the manufacturer installed, you will probably be able to have a generic Android 3.0 tablet for $200. See Overstock.com for a preview, there are already some 2.2 tablets there for $200-ish.

[byfdinky]

I too think my Ipad is just a larger version of my Iphone. With Apple, you have over 350,000 apps to choose from, and counting. Also, it is such a strong company that 4300 mutual funds have AAPl in their portfolio. How can you go wrong?

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by byfdinky

I too think my Ipad is just a larger version of my Iphone. With Apple, you have over 350,000 apps to choose from, and counting. Also, it is such a strong company that 4300 mutual funds have AAPl in their portfolio. How can you go wrong?

How many "apps" do Windows 7 users have to choose from?

[island911]

Good point, James.

Here's my old Windows tablet reading and resetting my 955 with a Duametric "app" and cable.




Does the ipad have an "app" for that?

Maybe in the future Apple will get with times and have that app.

After the iApp, all you need is that USB cable . . . Oh right; no iUSB port.


10's of thousands of iGames => iPad = toy

[techweenie]

No, neither the iPhone nor iPad need USB to work with tuning tools because manufacturers make multiple diagnostic and tuning tools using the iPhone style plug, and have for years. Some of the newer ones use bluetooth or WiFi. Saw the next generation ones at SEMA.

Is your Google broken, Island?

[island911]

Maybe I should try Bing?

[techweenie]

Did you see the article about Bing using Google search results? Funny.

Probably won't come up on Bing, so: http://searchengineland.com/google-bing-is-cheating-copying-our-search-results-62914

[island911]

So I did find one link that went OT (from people wanting a Durametric link for an iPad) to someone saying that the reason that Apple refuses to support Flash is because flash uses too much CPU, and therefore too much battery.

Any truth to that?

[techweenie]

Flash does make the CPU work a lot, that's true. It also opens a lot of security holes.

There are people who think Apple is wrong on this, but they control 160 million iOS devices and the industry (us included) are going to (with videos) transcoding FLVs on the fly and ultimately will do more in HTML5. (Microsoft is supporting HTML5 as well, so expect widespread adoption.) Adobe is scrambling, but it may be too little, too late

[jyl]

Motorola Xoom to launch end of this month, priced at $800 (Best Buy). Ouch - that pricing is too high. Some reports about needing to buy a 1 month cellular data plan to get WiFi to work - doesn't make sense.

[Halm]

Good read over on Wired magazine about iPad pricing.

[red-beard]

The biggest problem with the article is they compare the iPad 16GB model to others with more features/memory/storage.

I already detailed that the HP Slate is actually less expensive if you compare it to an Apple iPad 64GB and add in the options for reading SD cards, a Case, dock, Video capability, etc.

At the Houston pelican get together, we did a quick comparison. Most of the guys were very impressed with the Slate. One of the guys, his company bought several ipad, against his recomendation, and are finding they cannot really serve.

Again, if you need to surf, read book and do light things, the iPad might work for you. If you want a pad replacement/supplement for your notebook, the HP Slate 500 will work for you.

[island911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The biggest problem with the article is they compare the iPad 16GB model to others with more features/memory/storage.
...

Exactly. It's like comparing a McDonald dollar menu item to tabs' favorite buffet.


So, beyond buying one with full memory, what makes the iPad a Happy meal?

First barnacle: ‘camera connection kit’ (an SD card reader) $29

Second barnacle: a Kickstand. Expect this to add a qtr-pound of weight, and another bit o' kit floating around in your bag, for $40

You'll need a bag too.

How about a case? $39

there's the optional (wobbly) docking block for $29

Fries.. a Large Orange drink...


btw, there are all kinds of much less expensive tablets that could be compared to the iPad.