Database Users

Hdmi out is limited to video and audio....why?

This might be a rant, so I apologist up front but..........
When the dock costs 50 quid why does it only allow the video and audio to be outputted?
What I was hoping is that it could see the operating system and effectively act as a monitor and therefore a portable computer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=mypLbSnxECE
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
Another trick dell have missed
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

Maybe someone can write an app like they did for the DroidX that outputs everything you see on the screen.

Fazziebear said:
When the dock costs 50 quid why does it only allow the video and audio to be outputted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what majority of owners want - to watch a movie on TV and play some music.
The ability to have desktop on TV is useless for them - you cannot touch TV screen to press a button anyway...

But you can touch the dell, therefore touch screen monitor not required.
I also have 3 devices for watching films on my tv (cable, ps3 and dvd player) why do I need another one. But if I could replace them with something better I would.
The present function is not better but in fact worse as I have remotes for my other players
Hdmi out for the full phone means you can browse the internet, check emails via the tv, this becomes a media center that could rival apples iTv. As you could watch hulu, most british tv, love film streams, amazon etc straight from the device. If it was done via wireless or then it would be a remote also, the perfect device.
Short sighted developers and a lack of understanding of what is possible is the only thing blocking it.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

Fazziebear said:
But you can touch the dell, therefore touch screen monitor not required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But then you're looking at Streak screen, not the TV, right?
The desktop on TV is pointless...
Fazziebear said:
Hdmi out for the full phone means you can browse the internet, check emails via the tv, this becomes a media center that could rival apples iTv. As you could watch hulu, most british tv, love film streams, amazon etc straight from the device. If it was done via wireless or then it would be a remote also, the perfect device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to convince me that it is nice use case.
I am only saying that from Dell point of view it is so rare, that it's not worth working on it. ROI is to low.
You may support my effort for porting Maemo/MeeGo to Streak, though.
Maemo/MeeGo offers everything you mentioned and more.
Ie. I already have a working setup with bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected to my Nokia N900, which is connected to TV for display.

it would be preferable if the screen stayed "on" the telly (or monitor?) for everything though - saves going back and forth between the two screens. Can understand why it's not a priority for Dell though, but I think they'd sell more docks if it DID do full output....i'd probably buy one then!
I presume it's not possible for someone to develop something?..............

smokku said:
But then you're looking at Streak screen, not the TV, right?
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really, The streak becomes the remote for the screen. Keyboard and track pad.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

smokku said:
You may support my effort for porting Maemo/MeeGo to Streak, though.
Maemo/MeeGo offers everything you mentioned and more.
Ie. I already have a working setup with bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected to my Nokia N900, which is connected to TV for display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Defo support bluetooth keyboard, not too bothered for a mouse, defo support an output to monitor.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

I would definitely buy a full HDMI app if one existed like one for the Streak.

clubtech said:
I would definitely buy a full HDMI app if one existed like one for the Streak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 In a New York minute.

Full HDMI support and BT Keyboard and Mouse! This combo will be the best! Just add a 42" flat tv and you've got a good everyday PC for multimedia, internet, email an so much more!

Has the Xoom successfully replaced your laptop yet?

The Xoom is my first tablet. Prior to getting it, I was tethered to my laptop. Mylaptop is great, and I made the most of it's potential by networking with my home office desktop. But my Xoom has pretty much replaced it due to the variety of apps that make networking with multiple computers so easy. The Xoom by itself is great, but with the ability to print to a variety of printers from anywhere, as well as being able to tap into the data of several computers at once, my Xoom actually exceeds the capabilities of my laptop.
I'm just wondering what others' experience is with this, and if we're "there" yet, where tablets can actually replace laptops.

My 17.3 inch laptop has been gathering dust since xoom launch day.

My laptop is still on store shelves.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Ditto here
Xoom with vnc and teamviewer is better than any laptop I had before

it replaced it the moment i bought it on launch day

not yet, but I use my laptop much less now. It is regulated to mostly for work and development use. For casual internet use, watching videos, chatting and just chillin, I always use the xoom for that.

I had an acer aspire one netbook i sold to pay for my xoom and i havent looked back. Laptops are old news. Cant tear me away from my desktop though.

50/50. for now, sometimes the laptop is still the best.

50 - 50 same here. My laptop still keeping the music and design Softs, but mos of time i use the Xoom to see my clients. (work in Photo & Video Production)

dell laptop sold to fund my xoom experience, best gadget ive bought to date

I gave my laptop to my daughter. Since i found a universal cut and paste app it really works for me. But my desktop is still vital and actually the Xoom and desktop are like a team, so yes, I don't miss that laptop.

My Xoom successfully replaced an MSI Wind netbook. On battery life and portability alone Xoom wins hands down, and that Tegra 2 smokes Atom 1.6 in every way that I've noticed. Casual browsing and even just moving through the OS feels much snappier on Xoom than any config I ever tried on the Wind (XP/7/OSX). Desktop + tablet prevails

Xoom killed my MSi u210. Well some sort of CPU hog that I haven't fixed did that. But then the Xoom came and I haven't tried to fix the netty since. Win 7 on my netbook worked until my CPU started running near 99 percent half the time, making small tasks like checking email take 10 minutes.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App

my 17.3 laptop is now my DVR. Soon as I got my USB host cable. It was a mad down moment for my laptop. Now my Xoom has 1.5TB of space. That's 3 500GB hardrive. I love my Xoom. People always as me why I get a xoom. I tell them I don't follow trends, I start my own.

Laptop is now only used for the odd game and/or as a media server for TV/xoom. Have VNC for accessing it so even when I do want it I don't actually use it
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

Only use laptop for lightroom photo editing. Have a desktop for work so laptop is pretty useless now.

BBruin66 said:
Xoom killed my MSi u210. Well some sort of CPU hog that I haven't fixed did that. But then the Xoom came and I haven't tried to fix the netty since. Win 7 on my netbook worked until my CPU started running near 99 percent half the time, making small tasks like checking email take 10 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if your u210 had the same jet engine fan issue my u100 had, but I don't miss that annoyance one bit. That's something I take for granted with Xoom.. the fact that it's fanless and it's sleep mode is truly instant-on. Huge plus.

I love my Xoom and use it to read articles and bbbbbbbbrooooooooooooooowse the web, but it can't replce my laptop for writing or doooing wooooooooooooooork. As you can see, although IIII use a BT keyboard and mouse, typing is still buggy. It'ssss sometimes cleaner with the virtual keyboard but much ssssolower. So, no the Xoom is great,but it has not replaced myyy laptopppppppp.

For the most part. Digital SLR photography is a hobby of mine and the Xoom doesn't handle that.
Other than that, yeah, it's completely replaced my laptop.

If I can get it to recognize my external hard drive, then maybe.

should I get a laptop dock or tablet computer?

so I'm thinking about getting a laptop dock or Android tablet, like a xoom, a500, or galaxy 10.1. Which should I get?

DiamondJay20 said:
so I'm thinking about getting a laptop dock or Android tablet, like a xoom, a500, or galaxy 10.1. Which should I get?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tablet! Not even a question.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Lapdock! Not even a question. But i have one: are you a linux guy? If so, the lapdock is for you. Fan of the ipad? Maybe lapdock then but with the work being done right now to improve webtop, i love it. With gnome or gentoo the skys the limit.
This is made with the assumption that you buy the 200 dollars for refurbished

see thing is I wanna try to minimize how much I spend, but I don't want a piece of junk. The only reason I'm thinking of the laptop dock is that its cheaper than tablets. I think I'm just gonna get a wifi tablet. But is the laptop dock anywhere as fast as a Xoom, a Galaxy 10.1? What is the weight of the laptop dock vs. other android tablets? Thats a big factor, as is general portability.

depends...
If you're looking for cheap, you can definitely get the laptop dock for far cheaper, unless you're looking for a viewpad (i think it's the name) which is also a tegra 2 tablet, but a terrible screen.
Weight is pretty similar I think standalone, but definitely larger with the phone docked.
Speed compared to the xoom or other similar tablets? Unless someone comes along and figures out some way to optimize the laptop dock a bunch, no. But! I'm staying optimistic on this one, since it may be slowed down by the AWN window manager. I personally think (with the power of hindsight) that getting a xoom/galaxy tab may have been a better choice in the long run, but the laptop dock is quite nice for day to day activities, and the modifications the devs have done on the webtop are simply outstanding, and allow for many more opportunities than that of the honeycomb tablets of today.

Transformer
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Ok I got home to my lapdock to write this. I urge you to buy the lapdock for several reasons.
I have never needed to plug the phone in to a charger since I got the dock a month ago. I have never had the battery die since then either. The battery life is superb with the dock, both charging and using the dock full brightness it will last 8 hours. To sum things up, with an easy tethering hack, an extremely easy mechanism to block all ads, and motobloat removed, all of which is easily accomplished using Gingerblur, I am working on a hack to make it into a portable HDMI display, I can use an app like meebo in the background on the phone while working and the integration is flawless and golden, such as having a keyboard and window manager. Using ad blocking, which kills all unnecessary flash ads and crap, flash really flies along as well as browsing: I have made webtop faster, with many more tabs open and quicker than ever before. It's a great platform for viewing HD flash videos, the patches for flash have made it a really capable performer, and it's 1366x768 resolution screen is better than any of the tablets, especially what you can get with the transformer or a ****ty wifi tablet. With the easy tethering hack you can use your unlimited plan like crazy with this thing safely. Its super lightweight, more durable than a tablet, can run linux full easily with keyboard and mouse, is as fast as tab....etc etc!!!!
By the way the 200 dollar refurb is the bomb, its like new

Where did you find this 200 dollar refurb?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

dantes5823 said:
Where did you find this 200 dollar refurb?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T sells them for 175 before tax with free shipping.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Do you have to switch to the tethering plan to buy the refurbs from AT&T?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Hell no, just some $$$ for the dock no contract changes READ WHAT I WROTE I STILL HAVE UNLIMITED AND TETHER ALL THE TIME, lapdock super safe for 3g browsing

crashingout said:
Ok I got home to my lapdock to write this. I urge you to buy the lapdock for several reasons.
I have never needed to plug the phone in to a charger since I got the dock a month ago. I have never had the battery die since then either. The battery life is superb with the dock, both charging and using the dock full brightness it will last 8 hours. To sum things up, with an easy tethering hack, an extremely easy mechanism to block all ads, and motobloat removed, all of which is easily accomplished using Gingerblur, I am working on a hack to make it into a portable HDMI display, I can use an app like meebo in the background on the phone while working and the integration is flawless and golden, such as having a keyboard and window manager. Using ad blocking, which kills all unnecessary flash ads and crap, flash really flies along as well as browsing: I have made webtop faster, with many more tabs open and quicker than ever before. It's a great platform for viewing HD flash videos, the patches for flash have made it a really capable performer, and it's 1366x768 resolution screen is better than any of the tablets, especially what you can get with the transformer or a ****ty wifi tablet. With the easy tethering hack you can use your unlimited plan like crazy with this thing safely. Its super lightweight, more durable than a tablet, can run linux full easily with keyboard and mouse, is as fast as tab....etc etc!!!!
By the way the 200 dollar refurb is the bomb, its like new
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds pretty nice, looking forward to see how this pans out.

How good is the lapdock.

Thinking about getting the Atrix or bionic. I wanted to see how pleased people are with the dock? My plan is to use it as my work laptop. Most if my work is browser based, so my first concern is how does the browser compare to a laptop browser. I do know that it is based on firefox, but is it a full browser? Second is how do people handle printing. Thanks in advance.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App

I used the lapdock at work (I'm a sales consultant for bell), I did many projects and reports on it through google docs. Its ideal, good battery life but I hate the atrix. the keyboard wasn't the best but what its meant for 10/10
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

Scottyedmonds said:
I used the lapdock at work (I'm a sales consultant for bell), I did many projects and reports on it through google docs. Its ideal, good battery life but I hate the atrix. the keyboard wasn't the best but what its meant for 10/10
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious, why do you hate the atrix?

meh ...
If you can find the dock for $100 +/- I'd say give it a try. More than that, I'd recommend skipping it.
...I have the Atrix and love it
...I also got the dock for $340 and regret it.
When docked the response is very laggy and the touchpad is especially sluggish. The firefox experience is prone to pauses and stutters as well. I haven't tried any of the hacks to see if it improves the experience.
Oh ... and AT&T requires a tethering plan to use the dock via 3G.
---Rob

if you are rooted and running GB then you can use the lapdock without tethering pan like I do. I don't print from it so I can't say for sure about that. Lapdock is very thin and convenient and charges the phone while you are surfing. I use a small USB mouse (keychain) and leave the mini dongle in the USB port all the time. Works better than hotspot and laptop imho. You can also receive and send sms with the keyboard as well. I take Bluetooth calls while surfing and use apps like Netflix.....to me it's great. Not sure if you can print from USB mass storage though.

crlowryjr said:
When docked the response is very laggy and the touchpad is especially sluggish. The firefox experience is prone to pauses and stutters as well. I haven't tried any of the hacks to see if it improves the experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The touchpad can be adjusted in the settings so that it's not so slow..but otherwise invest in a Bluetooth mouse and you'll be good to go. I find the browsing to be very good actually..and considering most of the time I use it on 3g rather than wifi..it's still very fast (i've used sub $500 netbooks..and the browsing experience absolutely blows on them..unless you're used to Blackberry browsers )
I picked up an external hard drive and formated it to FAT32 and it works great..but I haven't tried a printer yet. I've got a e-printer that I use so no need for usb cables anymore anyways
The only time I really have noticed any lagginess is when i'm playing an emulator game full screen using my ps3 controller.

I think Atrix with Lapdock is really good. It can instead my pc to work with office software.
u can use openoffice for your daily office work.PPT/Word/Excel and so on.

i can plugin to the lapdock usb memorykey?

I too think ths Atrix and Lapdock combination works great for most people that use their laptops for Web stuff primarily. But even office stuff works great, specially after hacking the webtop so one can run Linux apps like OppenOffice and GIMP for example.
I spent $300 dollars on it and don't regret it. I know that's as much as an entry level laptop or average NetBook, but I really think its thinness and huge battery life more than justifies carrying it instead of my heavy and bulky 15" laptop.
Sent from my Atrix using Tapatalk

I too bought it for 300 dollars, but I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the into experience it awesome, our at least the thought of it. I can run remote desktop for pretty much any pro gram I need. On the other hand, the performance is not add great as you would think. If more ram were allocated to the webtop mode, I think it would be much snappier, along with increased clock speed. I'm going to try using the 1.3ghz kernel later this weekend and see how much faster the dock is.
All that said, I still use it as my daily laptop for classes, and it works fine.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

I got mine refurb for $180. I think it was a good deal.
Pros:
1. Wifi printing is great if you have a networked printer.
2. Firefox is pretty good with good addon support.
3. File browser is easier to use than the one on the phone.
4. Hackability.
5. Keyboard is pretty good.
6. Battery life is AWESOME.
7. Built in Citrix Receiver. This is super awesome if you use this for any kind of work. It's easier to use my lapdock than my home PC w/VPN.
8. USB mass storage support.
9. Very light and sleek.
10. Geek factor- I get all kinds of questions from people, "What is that? I didn't know Motorola made laptops. Oh, cool!" etc.
Wishes:
1. Keyboard isn't backlit.
2. I wish it had a camera passthrough to a bezel-mounted webcam.
Cons:
1. Touchpad and touchpad buttons BLOW. Get a mouse (bluetooth or USB).
2. Slow sometimes. Use an OC kernel and that helps.
3. Can't install stuff without hacking.
4. Firefox is the only real "app" on the webtop (see #3).

Magnetox said:
Curious, why do you hate the atrix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hate the Astrix because of the email issue we have with it. Find the screen not as responsive as other phones and moto blur is the worst Android over lay of them all
Sent from my Sensation using xda premium

It really depends on what you want to do. I have the ubuntu hack installed, use Citrix to remote access office pc, and got Gnumeric running great to substitute Excel. I'd say it's functional enough to really do some light work on it. For anything serious, I'd be silly to use webtop instead of my core i5 laptop, but I'd bring Atrix+Lapdock to Starbucks for its coolness and geekness

Quoting Scottyedmonds:
Hate the Astrix [sic] because of the email issue we have with it. Find the screen not as responsive as other phones and moto blur is the worst Android over lay of them all
What email issue would that be. I have a rather complicated email configuration that works well for me.

The Bell mobility Atrix had an issue where no email besides gmail was able to send mail. The Motorola blur was at times un responsive and it was easy to accidentally add your email twice and then not be able to send from either.
As for the speed post, the phone is just as fast as any other.
As for the part where I have no idea what I'm talking about? I sell hundreds of these devices every year, when a phone is crap, my customers come back with their problems! When you get to use whatever phone you want and have responsibility of advising people on which phone to sign a 3 year contract with, I might take your douche comment serious, but with that statement you obviously have no idea what you're talking about; don't bother reading my posts then buddy!
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using xda premium

I just bought my laptop dock today for the ATRIX 4G. I got it for 159.99 on buy.com brand new.
Hope its the shiz nit.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

[Q] Can you still get excited for the tf101? if so, help me!

I've had this transformer since it came out. Dont use it much, except when I need to finish up some work on the road which is the reason why I bought it...having the flexibility of keyboard...
Are you still excited about it? What purpose does it serve you? Whats your favorite feature?
I just bought an HDMI to mini HDMI cable so I could connect it at my in laws T.V and my children can watch Netflix or movies we have purchased on Amazon. Any other use for it?
Thank you for your suggestions.

The TF101 is a great device! I've had it almost as long as it's been out and I still love it. If you are having a hard time finding a use for it then you either didn't really need a tablet in the first place or are not looking at its full potential. I use mine for everything, it has totally replaced my laptop. Android has tons of productivity and office apps, apps for sharing documents and other work, loads of games, eBook reading apps, etc., etc.
Any device can be written off as not necessary, after all people can get along just fine with no electronic devices at all (I used to work and live in a wilderness training camp myself). The key to revitalizing the shine on any tablet is to start using it for everyday things and to try changing the look and feel. Try doing something on it that you would normally do on a laptop or PC, after the initial shift in feel you may find that you like the tablet more. You could also try a new ROM to change the look, feel, and performance. If all of this seems like too much work then maybe you should just sell it and move on...tablets are not the answer for everyone.
Sent from my Asus TF101 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

If you need others to remind you what you should use your tablet for, then maybe you don't really need one?
I'm not at all saying this to mock you, I purchased a TF101 myself and have the dock too. I use the tablet for Netflix, casual news reading and a little bit of playing games like Machinarium and Rayman Jungle Run. I intended to use it for Skype as well, but the mic volume was always too low so I gave up on that and went back to my laptop for Skype.
My three year old son uses the tablet a lot more than I do for watching videos and playing games in Zoodles Kid Mode.
The dock I use for one thing and one thing only: backup battery when traveling - what a waste of money! (for me)
I like having a tablet even though I'm far from a heavy user and I like my TF101. That said, I'm tempted to get a Nexus 7 and let the Transformer call it a day.

It's convenient, small, and can do everything... well almost. I mostly use it at work to connect to switches, serial ports, etc. That way I don't have to carry the macbook around. Then at home it becomes a remove for my TV device, a portable crappy-game station, a small OGT TV for streaming from the SAN, etc. There's so many uses!

TF101 Uses
dinc2010 said:
I've had this transformer since it came out. Dont use it much, except when I need to finish up some work on the road which is the reason why I bought it...having the flexibility of keyboard...
Are you still excited about it? What purpose does it serve you? Whats your favorite feature?
I just bought an HDMI to mini HDMI cable so I could connect it at my in laws T.V and my children can watch Netflix or movies we have purchased on Amazon. Any other use for it?
Thank you for your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love my TF101. Best part is the "instant on" feature. When I need to quickly check something quickly on the Internet without waiting for my laptop or desktop to boot.
How about buying a Bluetooth OBD II adapter (less than $20 on Amazon) buy the app "Torque" and for $25.00 you have an excellent OBD2 diagnostic tool. I have one and it works great!
Rodger

I just use my transformer to output video to my TV. Other than that, not many uses. Used to use it a lot more when I was using my Nexus S.
Now that my phone is more superior (in specs) to my Transformer, I use it a lot less and less.
Would I get another tablet? Probably not because it doesn't fit my needs. For some people, it fits into theirs. For me, I use my desktop a lot so a tablet doesn't necessarily replace anything for me. I find some uses for it when I'm reading on the go though, although this semester it wasn't needed as much--others it was more handy.
Just kind of hard to find the balance between tablet and phone usages, in my opinion.
Was extremely excited to flash ROMs and all that on my TF101, but now that the community isn't as active (most has shifted to other devices) this has gone downhill.

bedtime surfing
I only really use mine for bedtime surfing, youtube and occasionally Music. I like playing with different ROMs and now I'm trying to get Plasma Active (Ubuntu.... proper Linux) on it.

I use mine for a multitude of things, from inventory control, web surfing, submitting customer orders, receiving inventory, word processing, spread sheets, games, and more often then not when I am out camping. I go camping A LOT in summer here in Alaska, so it is a lot easier to tote around the TF101 then it is to tote around my 17" Toshiba laptop.
My tf also serves as my GPS in the car when I'm on the road visiting customers. Tethered to my phone just for the web connectivity since I did not get the 3G version. Honestly the TF has changed the way that I use computers and my work. Yes the "instant on" feature is very nice. But the portability and feature rich ability is the sole reason I wanted one.

Let's see: internet, email, netflix, crackle, remote into home pc and most importantly as a head unit in my truck, lol! Since it is my head unit, I use it almost everyday.

diffrnt said:
Let's see: internet, email, netflix, crackle, remote into home pc and most importantly as a head unit in my truck, lol! Since it is my head unit, I use it almost everyday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, you get a WIN and a +1 from me. How exactly do you have it as your head unit? Mounts? Pictars wud be gud....Ja!

diffrnt said:
Let's see: internet, email, netflix, crackle, remote into home pc and most importantly as a head unit in my truck, lol! Since it is my head unit, I use it almost everyday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pics or it didn't happen...