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I have never rooted any of my Android devices because I've never really had any reason to. That and I was always nervous to do with my Droid Incredible even though I'm a computer guy.
However, I am considering rooting for this device because of some benefits I've read about such as:
1. Overclocking
2. Better battery life
3. Additional apps or functionality (I want to use Google Movies, Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc and I am guessing root might help get some of this sooner based on some of the other threads)
My concern is whether overclocking has any risk to the processor long term in the tab? For some reason, I seem to have something in my head from years back that overclocking computers/devices could cause processors to overheat or something. Maybe this is an old concern from when I was in college that was specific to PC hardware?
Also, aside from sticky threads, is there any thing on the wiki that talks a bit more about some of the apps used to manage ROMs and backups along with what is preferred and why? I read a good rooting guide thread in Android development forum but apps change all the time and I read different things in each thread that it can be hard to follow jumping in now.
If I missed a thread, feel free to point me to it.
Thanks.
Overclock always carries risks to hardware, especially without proper configuration. When overclocking you will use apps such as SetCPU or others, these apps typically have 'profiles' set up. On my LG G2x I have profiles set like:
Default 1.5GHz
Screen Off 400mhz
Battery Tempurate 48c Downclock to 800mhz
These settings will give you great performance, great battery life and a safety net assuming you leave your phone in direct heat. Sometimes if the battery gets too hot you'll damage your hardware, I've had this happen to my old Nexus One where I now have a very dark spot measuring about half an inch around on my display.
In consideration to rooted apps for Galaxy Tab... Hulu works without root by simply installing a modified Adobe Flash Player and adjusting your browser configuration to reflect a desktop user agent (You can easily find all this information using Google). Google Movies probably won't be available to rooted devices due to the agreement that Google signed with production companies, and whether root will allow you to run this application really depends on the way the content is delivered, however, I'm sure someone will figure it out.
Overclocking the Galaxy Tab probably will resemble the performance measures of other Tegra based devices. G2x can acheive 1.5GHz and Xoom 1.7GHz. Stability is really hit or miss as no two cpu's are created equal. I'm on my third Galaxy Tab and my third G2x and have not ran into an issue where I can't overclock to the speeds which kernel developers are building.
Edit: There is really only one overclock kernel available right now for the 10.1 and Pershoot is working hard to make it stable and powerful, the current 'preview' has quite a few stability issues.
So, hopefully this helps you out. Just an FYI though, really try and search. This has been repeated hundreds of times throughout various different forums. The general consensus is that rooting provides far too many benefits to be afraid of hurting your device, and so long as your are able to A. Unroot the phone for manufacture warranty B. Backup and restore using Nandroid, you will not have any issues that can't be resolved.
Heat is bad for electronics, and any time you increase the operating frequency or voltage of a microprocessor, you're going to be generating more heat. Modern hardware has thermal monitoring and throttling capabilities, and as such you're going to be able to simply fry your processor by pushing it too hard. However the additional stress is is accumulative and will shorten the life of your hardware.
That being said, I suspect that the operational life time of the chips in our tablets (and virtually any modern computer) is several orders of magnitude longer than their useful life time. I'm not entirely sure how long these processors last if operated at spec (it may be in a white paper somewhere), but I suspect it is on the order of many decades, if not centuries.
mesasone, true it will generate heat at full load but in all reality my G2x rarely throttles all the way up to 1.5GHz unless I manual set it to for benchmarking.
Thanks wesbalmer and mesasone. I've been reading threads all day for the last 6 hrs before posting but I'll search a bit more next time. This was helpful in reassuring me though.
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post this under, seeing as I'm new to the XDA Developers community, but here goes nothing:
Has anyone else that has purchased an Kindle Fire been having second thoughts?
I think the main reason that I'm feeling this way is the whole thing feels sluggish, and the entire experience is frustrating. I did not buy the KF for a media consumption device; I bought it with the intention of rooting it, and having a $200 full-featured Android tablet, and having done so, something still feels off. It's extremely frustrating that I spent hours trying to get a custom wallpaper, and while I understand that it's a known-issue (So many threads made everyday...)
I played with my friends G2 today, which by no means is a new phone, and it (felt like), it kicked the KF's ass in speed. I just don't understand this at all. This (afaik) is a single core 800MHz device that feels more fluid than a 1GHz Dual Core. Is there something I'm missing?
Now, I'm new to Android, so I have absolutely no idea if this is a software issue that will get resolved (Honeycomb / Ice Cream Sandwich?), how long a wait that will be. (I understand that no one knows the answer to that.) Or... Is this just the hardware that $200 will buy you? I understand they're selling each KF at a loss, maybe I had higher expectations than I should have.
I noticed in a local Best Buy Black Friday ad, that the Acer Iconia 7" tablet will go on sale for $190, which has spurred thoughts of returning my KF, and purchasing the Iconia. Can anyone think of a good reason not to?
Please excuse my ignorance, I really am trying to learn something here. Will these issues improve with time, once custom ROMs start getting developed for the KF?
Thanks for reading. I appreciate any input, even if it's pointing out something I've missed. (Especially so.)
First off, welcome to the forums! and yeah, general is a pretty decent place for this sort of thing imo.
I think, if you're looking for a full featured android tablet for under $200, and are willing to brave the black friday madness to get it, then by all means, return your kindle and go for the Iconia. It's got better specs, cameras, honeycomb, etc - and lets face it, amazon designed the kindle to be just that, a kindle. Whatever android functionality we get past that should be looked at as a bonus to what was already there imo.
I've owned an asus transformer as my primary android tablet for close to 6months now, and got the kindle intending it to be mostly a device for media, so I was pleasantly surprised how well it did as an android tablet as well. I actually ended up falling in love with the size and ease of one-handed use of the 7" tablet, and am debating ditching the transformer and either going with just the kindle, or picking up a more powerful 7" tablet myself.
Don't get me wrong, I love the kindle and will definitely be hanging onto it - but one of the more main reasons I got it was it's integration to all of amazons media services.
I think you'll notice a considerable increase in speed and smoothness with the tegra 2 and more notably the 1gb of memory, especially if you root the iconia and install a more cut down rom.
The only thing I will say here is having used both the kindle and a 10" honeycomb tablet now... I'm not entirely sure how i'd like the honeycomb interface on a 7" tablet... it might almost feel too cluttered - but thats an ocd person with a very minimalist taste speaking.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps.
I've seen quite a few complains about sluggish performance but I honestly haven't seen any of that after rooting and switching to go launcher. There was some noticible slow downs changing orientation of the device or just simply scrolling throught the carousel when I was using the stock launcher but that seems to be all gone now. Ive been playing Pandora while surfing on opera with several tabs open haven't seen any lag at all. Maybe im not stressing my tablet enought? Idk what other ppl do on it but coming from an ipad 1 im very satisified with my purchase . ICS is suppose to have similar ram usage to GB so I think the 512 ram should be suffice atleast for my usage.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
Really appreciate the thought out reply.
I love the 7" form-factor myself; the only doubt that I'm having right now is battery life. It seems to be 5 hours of casual WiFi browsing, which is ridiculously low compared to the KF. The other features totally make it worth it. Mini-HDMI and Micro-SD would definitely be nice to have, as well as GPS? Jeez.
Edit: If I do return it, should I unroot it, is there a process to return it to factory settings?
Yeah, 5 hours battery life is a bit rough - although again to reference my experiences with the transformer, at least, a cut down Rom will likely help that a decent bit.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
If you return any tablet you've rooted by all mean unroot it. It not only helps if you get a clerk who knows what to look for (and refuses your return justifiably as rooting voids warranty) but also it's good form. It avoids "surprises" for whomever gets your tab afterwards.
Having owned the Iconia A100 for about 2 weeks before returning it (battery life, viewing angles, Acer possibly leaving tabs and lack of dev support) I must say it's a fine little tab. Only 8G internal but uSD offsets, 1GB RAM, quality build and reported ICS in January are real pluses. Price ($330) is steep but if you can get it on BF then do so.
Now that root has been achieved on the NT, it's blows the doors off the KF (specs, battery life, etc). Seriously look into it as a replacement for the KF.
BTW I would not count on HC or ICS for the KF. No reason for Amazon to do that as it doesn't add revenue to buying anything from Amazon. B&N only upped the NC to 2.2 Froyo after almost a year on 2.1 then stopped.
skeeterpro said:
Now that root has been achieved on the NT, it's blows the doors off the KF (specs, battery life, etc). Seriously look into it as a replacement for the KF.
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Do you have a link for NT root? I can't find it and I am holding off on buying one until I see what's possible on it.
I already own the HTC flyer referenced in my .sig and I don't think anything comes close to it speedwise since it has a 1.5 GHz single core processor. And I've played with the Dell streak 7 which is dual core 1 GHz. Since app so few apps can actually use the second core it feels slower by comparison. It has 512 memory like the KF and I think that's much of the reason it seems so much slower. I used the V6 whatever script by Zepp-somebody (as you can see I'm just horrible with names) from here on XDA and it made a big difference. So I'd guess the Fire would also benefit from tweaked minfrees and OOM settings also. Considering some of that 512 is given to video I think almost all lag is actually the Android OS moving things out of memory and killing apps to make room for the new app or the app you're returning to.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk
I have to add that I tried quite a few devices before settling on my 7". I brought home a couple, the Iconia screen was just unacceptable period, the angle you will want to view it the most is the worst, every Iconia I've seen has this problem on both sides of the border. Not to mention not so great battery life although I did find it better than the reviews, and random FCs. I eventually settled on a Flyer and it's miles ahead of the Iconia, what a polished device, it just works, so smooth, has a really nice screen, and is solid built.
I'm here cause I'm looking at the KF myself for my kids, but it sounds like it will be more trouble than it's worth to get them working north of the border. I tried a Vox for a couple of days and it was just so buggy, slow and locked down.
bsoplinger said:
I already own the HTC flyer referenced in my .sig and I don't think anything comes close to it speedwise since it has a 1.5 GHz single core processor. And I've played with the Dell streak 7 which is dual core 1 GHz. Since app so few apps can actually use the second core it feels slower by comparison. It has 512 memory like the KF and I think that's much of the reason it seems so much slower. I used the V6 whatever script by Zepp-somebody (as you can see I'm just horrible with names) from here on XDA and it made a big difference. So I'd guess the Fire would also benefit from tweaked minfrees and OOM settings also. Considering some of that 512 is given to video I think almost all lag is actually the Android OS moving things out of memory and killing apps to make room for the new app or the app you're returning to.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also considered the Flyer when I bought the A100. The digitizer for note taking attracted me but not paying upwards to $70-80 for the pen. No HC was a turn-off with little hope of upgrade. That plus a couple articles spectulating HTC getting out of the tab business broke the deal for me. But I have read that the Flyer is a serviceable device indeed!
---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 AM ----------
sgood1971 said:
Do you have a link for NT root? I can't find it and I am holding off on buying one until I see what's possible on it.
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Click to collapse
Sure. You'll need to be familiar with ADB (but then we all should).
Keep in mind the Search function is your friend!
To be completely honest, most of the things that I've noticed have performance issues are the Amazon-specific things -- the bottom buttons, the stock launcher, etc. In fact, everything else, now that I've rooted it, runs just fine even when I limit the processor to 600MHz per core.
I really am pretty sure the biggest performance thing is Amazon's modifications to the Android stuff. So, that *may* be fixed in upcoming updates. Or, heck, we'll just get a good custom rom sometime!
I've noticed intermittant sluggish performance only on Silk Browser. Using Opera Browser instead solves this and is much faster browsing experience.
skeeterpro said:
Sure. You'll need to be familiar with ADB (but then we all should).
Keep in mind the Search function is your friend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the link. I did indeed use the search, I always do. Unfortunately my search-foo must have been weak indeed today.
Thanks again.
mewshi said:
Or, heck, we'll just get a good custom rom sometime!
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Click to collapse
This. I'm thinking it won't be too long before they start the ROM game...or hoping. I wouldn't keep the fire with its stock interface; I also bought it as a tablet. That said, the thing has been out a WEEK and they've already made leaps and bounds. The thing was rooted in like 12 hours, they've got CWM on it (just can't navigate easily) and I think they'll work out the kinks and start romming. My hope is for CM9, myself.
matt314159 said:
This. I'm thinking it won't be too long before they start the ROM game...or hoping. I wouldn't keep the fire with its stock interface; I also bought it as a tablet. That said, the thing has been out a WEEK and they've already made leaps and bounds. The thing was rooted in like 12 hours, they've got CWM on it (just can't navigate easily) and I think they'll work out the kinks and start romming. My hope is for CM9, myself.
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Click to collapse
True enough but regardless keep your hopes and expectations realistic. Remember that this device was not designed to be an open android tablet. The overlay and mods from Amazon might be tough to completely delete or bypass. Could be wrong but even so it's a $200 device. It will only ever be that. Which is fine but it is what it is.
I own a flyer also and it is a great tablet. I also bought the Fire for what is was advertised for, media content from Amazon. I don't intend on rooting because I think it performs just fine as it is. For your kids, watching movies, games and reading, I think they would enjoy this 7 inch device.
Sent from my GT-P7310 using xda premium
After going to Best Buy, and playing with the Iconia, it's re-affirmed my purchase in the KF. The display on the Iconia certainly leaves something to be desired.
I think I basically want a Galaxy Tab 7.0 at a $200 price point - not gonna happen, heh.
xodlike said:
After going to Best Buy, and playing with the Iconia, it's re-affirmed my purchase in the KF. The display on the Iconia certainly leaves something to be desired.
I think I basically want a Galaxy Tab 7.0 at a $200 price point - not gonna happen, heh.
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Good to know.. display on that was one thing i never really thought about. heh.
At this point, I have to say the Fire is a keeper for me. What put it over the edge was that I was able to sideload the ereader.com app and read my books in full screen (I have been using this site for ebooks for more than a decade and probably have 200+ books in that library). The ereader app won't let me unlock my books on my Archos Honeycomb tablet and my HTC Flyer on Gingerbread will unlock the books, but the app is the screen size of a phone and I can't figure out how to make it bigger.
The Fire is the only device I can stream Amazon Instant Video without stuttering and allows me to use Netflix and Hulu too.
I've managed to sideload my manga reader apps and some other apps I love.
I can't plug a hard drive in, but I can stream with my Go Flex satellite.
Surfing isn't any better than any other device I own (maybe a little bit slower), but I can live with it for the other benefits.
Still not giving up my other tablets though
Expecting a "full featured" tablet from a $200 tablet is silly. The Kindle wasn't built to be a rooted device, it wasn't built to do all the things that Android tablets can do (GPS, bluetooth, video/voice calling, etc), it was built to be a media consumption device and a reader. It does both of those things well, and anything else it can do is just extra goodness. If you need more storage, GPS, bluetooth, or any of those other features... I'd recommend going with another tablet. You'll be spending more, but you get what you pay for.
Hey guys i'm not from this forum but from the galaxy ace forums.
I'm looking into buying this tab but I just want to know how good is it to live with everyday. I'll just be using it for everyday tasks, web browsing, music, movies and regular fooling around but I would also be starting my masters degree soon so I will want to to take some basic notes and that sort of thing.
I would also like to know how easy it is to root and install custom roms on it, also on average what kind of overclocks can be achieved if I ever need any extra horse power. I was also looking at the Nexus 7 but that does not have any expandable memory slot which sucks and also I think 4 cores for a 7" tab is just being wasteful .
But any way, what are your thoughts on it, I've watched and read the reviews and I know its a good tab I just a want to know how good is it a month or 2 later.
Thanks again for any input guys.
The only thing I wouldn't use it for would be note taking because of trying to type on the keyboard would feel to slow for me. For note taking, I'd think the Note 10.1 would be great because of the s-pen that you could use. It is really easy to flash anything custom to the tablet, just flash recovery via Odin or Heimdall, then boot into recovery and flash whatever you want. I use my tablet for web browsing and as an e-reader and it's fit my uses just fine. Also thinking of using it as a "portable" media player as well since the audio output from the small speakers is really good IMO, and it also has the same audio codec as the SGS3, WM1811, which is a really good audio processor.
amd-dude said:
Hey guys i'm not from this forum but from the galaxy ace forums.
I'm looking into buying this tab but I just want to know how good is it to live with everyday. I'll just be using it for everyday tasks, web browsing, music, movies and regular fooling around but I would also be starting my masters degree soon so I will want to to take some basic notes and that sort of thing.
I would also like to know how easy it is to root and install custom roms on it, also on average what kind of overclocks can be achieved if I ever need any extra horse power. I was also looking at the Nexus 7 but that does not have any expandable memory slot which sucks and also I think 4 cores for a 7" tab is just being wasteful .
But any way, what are your thoughts on it, I've watched and read the reviews and I know its a good tab I just a want to know how good is it a month or 2 later.
Thanks again for any input guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go for it its an excellent tab...
No lags at all...
All your needs will satisfied in a premium touch even without rooting/overclocking the tablet...
It can be overclocked to 1.3 ghz and for rooting tutorial search the forum you will get it...
Thanks for the speedy replies guys...I'm really leaning toward this tab just because of its' priceerformance ratio
Its a great tablet for its price.
Pros-
Sim supported, 3G with 14.4 Mbps speed
Good battery life (comparing to other tablets)
Light weight and looks awesome in white color
64 GB Expandable memory
USB On the go support
Cons-
Some awesome games are not supported (i think it because its new developers will add support soon)
No Gorilla Glass
No HDMI
The Samsung galaxy is full worth the money dude I'm 24x7 online in it using 2g gprs the battery stands for more than one day and the screen on time is 5 to 7 hours depends on the usage with games and stuff that means you can continuous use upto 5 to 7 hours till drain this is he only best tab at 18k to 20 k price range with ICS and don't forget to update to 4.0.4 from 4.0.3 from the box good luck
Sent from my GT-P3100 using xda app-developers app
Well, I strongly disagree about the note taking, I use Evernote, and for note taking it has been a dream-come-true! Its optimized for our screens, and syncs to their servers for backup. Price is very good for what you get. It has a couple of things other 7" tablets dont have, such as GPS (Glonass), and an IR emitter (universal remote for your entertainment system).
This tablet has also had most of its source code released so all the devs here should, in theory, have a field day hacking at it. It also has a very decent CPU and GPU; these chips are used in many other devices aswell, so their technically should be tons of support for lots of games and apps that indulge in nicer hardware (they run smoother, sometimes).
This has become my main music device. I use bluetooth headphones and they, and my tab, support Bluetooth 3.0 and Apt-X Bluetooth lossless audio codec by CSR; listening to music is simply delightful!
Bought mine to replace a Arnova 10g2 that was just not up to the job i wonted it for which was to read E books and Comics (My father now has it now! He loves it?) as the screen was really poor! Happy with the Tab 2 once over-clocked and cyanmod flashed! Got a bit disappointed with the announcement of the Galaxy 7 until they mentioned the lack of external memory support! Still if they release a Nexus 7 with external memory! Then I think my mother might soon be the owner of a nearly new Tab 2! lol!
Good screen, plays Dead Trigger well and SD Slot! What more could you ask for?
amd-dude said:
Hey guys i'm not from this forum but from the galaxy ace forums.
I'm looking into buying this tab but I just want to know how good is it to live with everyday. I'll just be using it for everyday tasks, web browsing, music, movies and regular fooling around but I would also be starting my masters degree soon so I will want to to take some basic notes and that sort of thing.
I would also like to know how easy it is to root and install custom roms on it, also on average what kind of overclocks can be achieved if I ever need any extra horse power. I was also looking at the Nexus 7 but that does not have any expandable memory slot which sucks and also I think 4 cores for a 7" tab is just being wasteful .
But any way, what are your thoughts on it, I've watched and read the reviews and I know its a good tab I just a want to know how good is it a month or 2 later.
Thanks again for any input guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm generally pretty happy with this tablet, it was supposed to be a stopgap tablet until the Nexus 7 was officially announced but once I realized that there would be no external storage (which I pretty much knew anyway) I stuck around with this.
I'm not happy with the tablet but I am content with it, if that makes sense.
It doesn't have the fastest processors/gpu, the screen isn't the greatest and the proprietary dock (makes having to buy all new accessories a pain) but as
long as you come into this tablet knowing what to expect, then it's pretty damned good. It doesn't have a huge Rom community but that also cuts down on the over saturation
from some of the more popular phones (have you seen the Galaxy sII or Desire HD forums?!? Ai yi yi) off the top of my head, I think this has a Stripped down stock Rom,
CM9, CM10 (alpha) maybe a Miui Rom which covers all the major basics as far as I'm aware.
I've been running CM9 RC2 since about 2 weeks after I bought this and I'm pretty happy and Once I wake up from this nap I'll probably be flashing CM9 stable & supercharge
it.
I know that I didn't really productively answer your questions but I hope I gave you some perspective on the tablet.
P.S. The thing I hate and I mean hate is the limited internal memory (I think it's 4.7gb or some such) which didn't seem bad at first cuz I was planning
on buying a 32gb card for everything, but apps especially games chew into that space so damn quickly and it doesn't get saved to teh ext card instead, even though I have all my media moved to the external card, I still run into scenario's where I can't update apps because I get that dreaded notification Tablet space is low.
Dev's are working on ways to utilise ext cards for storage bbut there is nothing stable I'm willing to try yet.
I'm running CM1O and its sooooo cool.
The Tab itself is very nice to touch and use . The tab has a nice weight to it and is balanced to hold. one draw back is the placement of the speakers.... sometimes playing games the sound becomes "muffled" due to hand/control positioning. Same as charging /playing music , It is sometimes awkward to use, but not overpowering.
Cant say i have any issues with the Tab , apart from the ones that i have caused lol.
Screen quality is VERY good for a budget tablet /size, same as sound quality.
Storage could become an issue but has workarounds , but over all........ WOW.....LOVIN IT !!!11!!!
I liked it when I bought it but the Nexus 7 is far and away the better 7" tablet in my opinion with one exception. The advantage of the Samsung is the internal micro SD. If you are staying stock, and want to watch media from non cloud based sources, the Samsung is better. If you will be rooting, you can use an OTG USB cable and use micro sd cards on the 7. The 7 is better in almost every other way and has a plain JB interface without the extra bloat Samsung puts on their tablets. My guess is we may never even see an official Jelly Bean release for the Galaxy 2 given the speed at which Samsung updates their software. Of course, there are multiple JB ROM's already out for the Galaxy 2, just not stock versions.
My Galaxy 2 died last weekend. It would just go dead and then required you plug in to the computer and hold the power button for 60 seconds. As soon as the screen would shut off, the same issue occurred. I called Samsung and they were very quick to send me a shipping label to return it for repair. Within 4 days the unit was supposedly repaired with a "Software Upgrade (External Factor)" whatever that means. It should arrive back on Tuesday. Hopefully it is fixed.
Just my opinion....
amd-dude said:
Hey guys i'm not from this forum but from the galaxy ace forums.
I'm looking into buying this tab but I just want to know how good is it to live with everyday. I'll just be using it for everyday tasks, web browsing, music, movies and regular fooling around but I would also be starting my masters degree soon so I will want to to take some basic notes and that sort of thing.
I would also like to know how easy it is to root and install custom roms on it, also on average what kind of overclocks can be achieved if I ever need any extra horse power. I was also looking at the Nexus 7 but that does not have any expandable memory slot which sucks and also I think 4 cores for a 7" tab is just being wasteful .
But any way, what are your thoughts on it, I've watched and read the reviews and I know its a good tab I just a want to know how good is it a month or 2 later.
Thanks again for any input guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no complaints. Does everything my Thrive does , i can put JB on, and have used this as a credit Card terminal. I had audio issues with a custom rom and video playback, nothing major. Only things i dont care for are the stock predictive text and that some of my tegra specific apps dont work (this having and OMAP cpu and all).
Was definitely worth the cash since it actually outperforms my Thrive for most uses and cost half as much. Thrive wins points for the full sized usb and hdmi ports though.
Thank you all for your time on replying...I think this is the tab I am gonna settle on...a good solid all rounder.
I have this (the 3G version) for a week now. So far I'm perfectly happy with the purchase. Excellent value for money.
I really like my tab 2 7.0", but....
My Pros
- TouchWiz actually has some nice apps on this device. File manager, email, pop-up apps, power toggles are nice features
- Speakers are awesome
- Expandable memory
- Works great with USB thumb drives, mouse and keyboard (with adapter)
My Cons
- Screen resolution sucks, things are blurry (like most Android tablets). Some newer devices like Nexus 7, Asus Infinity, iPad3 have HD screens
- No TV out
- TouchWiz although I think is quite nice slows it down at times. I rooted and froze a ton of unwanted apps. Not all can be to be disabled through native ICS settings
- Chrome that comes with the latest update crashes a lot. New bookmark widget is also bad. Install ICS browser+ from the market instead.
I got it yesterday, rooted and installed AOKP JB. The size feels perfectly great to me. I have not cycled the battery enough to give any input on tat. Games run awesomly well, including minecraft PE on fancy graphics. Its an awesome tab, i love it
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2
The Tab27" wireless reciever is weak compared to the Nexus 7
samcory said:
The Tab27" wireless reciever is weak compared to the Nexus 7
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Click to collapse
the wireless receiver on galaxy tab 2 7" is the worst thing on this tablet, the second is the battery life with wifi on! i got mine, i like it but......
For typing, Thumb Keyboard is the best coming from a blackberry. The split keyboard is excellent and fully customizable. The only issue is holding this in portrait mode leads to the death grip but if you are note taking and don't need a strong wifi connection you got to try it. Landscape mode resolves this also.
I am going to try a custom rom to help boost this baby up a bit.
Yea this device may start out with OK performance but it does get pretty laggy. Rooting and running a Jellybean ROM will increase performance a good amount.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Should I buy a Nexus 7? I wonder why I should be buying such a thing... One reason is that I can use it to watch movies on the train more easily. It has easily more battery life than a notebook. I read I can watch up to 9 hours movies.
Instead I could be buying a Haswell build during Spring 2013
Don't forget I need to save up some money to go on holiday with my girlfriend.
i think it's all personal preference. sounds cliche, but it's true.
will you be at home more often to use the newly built computer? is it more important for work/school/etc.?
or do you prefer to be mobile, but always around wifi spots?
I think that a tablet is more something that you need in addition to a solid laptop. So if you don't have a laptop, then you are probably better off saving money and getting one.
#### Sent from my GN7 #### B0$N4 ####
I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that a tablet is a suitable replacement for a laptop or desktop... It's not, get a laptop or desktop first then splurge and get a nexus
Sent from my Rooted, LazyPanda, White "Destroy Mode" Evo
Until a tablet can be a full laptop/desktop replacement, get the laptop, then get the tablet. While I don't use my laptop as much since I have a tablet and a smartphone, I still use it quite a lot.
Here's my situation:
I have a pretty powerful desktop that I rarely use now that I have my Nexus 7. Only time I sit in front of my desktop is when I'm updating my media library; which I listen to on my Nexus.
I'm contemplating selling it and buying something smaller along with a nice NAS and just stream my stuff from that.
cg.voabc said:
Here's my situation:
I have a pretty powerful desktop that I rarely use now that I have my Nexus 7. Only time I sit in front of my desktop is when I'm updating my media library; which I listen to on my Nexus.
I'm contemplating selling it and buying something smaller along with a nice NAS and just stream my stuff from that.
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I'm in the exact same boat as the guy above. I have a very nice gaming rig that i paid a nice chunk of money for and now i find myself sitting at my desk playing or messing with the nexus and only using my desktop for spotify. With all the movement toward mobile/tablet gaming and loads of bluetooth controllers to combat touchscreen controls i'd go with the nexus. You won't regret it.
a tablet don't sobstitute a laptop..but for the use you sad i think it's the devices for you!and i'd want to try yours kernel in the future for this...
How well does a Nexus 7 play GTA or other highend games?
Well I will certainly develop for the Nexus 7. But I mostly support CyanogenMod :fingers-crossed:
From my experience with Google Nexus I see many problems because the kernel is very integrated in the ROM. Franco and other developers use custom frequencies which are not changed in the ROM. So actually the power mananagement will not be working properly. however it might be different here
I am only scared I will buy this thing and it will be of no much use to me.
Also how big is 7", can I still put it in my pocket or not. I might wait for the Nexus 7 3G, maybe not.
So I am still waiting for answers on:
- Does it play the latest high-end games? Eg: GTA, ...
- Battery life is it really 8 hours? Is it significantly more than my Nexus for example which seems to like to drain to 0%? How is this for heavy use?
- Are there any technical issues I should be aware of? Is that screen lifting thing really bad? Or shouldn't I be worrying about that?
Problem is development for Nexus has stalled for a while. I have school, girl friend, and one day in the weekend which I work in a pub. But I still do my best trying to push things.
djjonastybe said:
How well does a Nexus 7 play GTA or other highend games?
Well I will certainly develop for the Nexus 7. But I mostly support CyanogenMod :fingers-crossed:
From my experience with Google Nexus I see many problems because the kernel is very integrated in the ROM. Franco and other developers use custom frequencies which are not changed in the ROM. So actually the power mananagement will not be working properly. however it might be different here
I am only scared I will buy this thing and it will be of no much use to me.
Also how big is 7", can I still put it in my pocket or not. I might wait for the Nexus 7 3G, maybe not.
So I am still waiting for answers on:
- Does it play the latest high-end games? Eg: GTA, ...
- Battery life is it really 8 hours? Is it significantly more than my Nexus for example which seems to like to drain to 0%? How is this for heavy use?
- Are there any technical issues I should be aware of? Is that screen lifting thing really bad? Or shouldn't I be worrying about that?
Problem is development for Nexus has stalled for a while. I have school, girl friend, and one day in the weekend which I work in a pub. But I still do my best trying to push things.
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Power management for kernel settings, use trinity kernel toolbox it overwrites in rom settings. I dont have a single hardware problem with my nexus, software is dependent on what you install. If they are high end android games they usually work well, some have to be updated/optimized for a tegra3 however. I usually get 6-7 hours out of heavy use, but im overclocked to 1.7ghz with a96 trinity kernel and running glazed jelly bean rom. I think thats all you wanted answered, hope it helps. (I run asphalt7, nova3, and modern combat 3 with no problems at all.)
SithDagger said:
Power management for kernel settings, use trinity kernel toolbox it overwrites in rom settings. I dont have a single hardware problem with my nexus, software is dependent on what you install. If they are high end android games they usually work well, some have to be updated/optimized for a tegra3 however. I usually get 6-7 hours out of heavy use, but im overclocked to 1.7ghz with a96 trinity kernel and running glazed jelly bean rom. I think thats all you wanted answered, hope it helps. (I run asphalt7, nova3, and modern combat 3 with no problems at all.)
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Ok thank you that's all I wanted to know. 6 hours battery life is definately a win over the Google Nexus' 2-3-4 hours.
I've been considering new tablets, and honestly the Shield Tablet has the features I want and I'm able to get one for $250, which seems reasonable. But I'm just wondering if it's still worth it as the it is a year old. How does it compare to newer devices?
If you're primarily going to be using it for gaming, there isn't a better tablet out there. The tablet is a steal for $250. The latest official update really makes the tablet shine and the custom rom called "Blisspop" even makes the device that much better in terms of performance. You won't regret getting one.
Well at the moment there are not many tablets that are faster (maybe even no faster) than this tablet.
Antutu scores are one of the highest even compared with the latest phones.
So speedwise it is still top notch and tablets that maybe come close you have to pay double the price for compared to a shield.
The 32Gb with Lte is unbeaten for that price.
I bought the 32GB LTE version in July, because an LTE tablet anywhere close to the Shield in terms of specs/screen etc. would have been ~$150 more.
Despite the battery recall issue, I'm satisfied with it. My (original) unit has been working perfectly and is very smooth with Lillipop 5.1 (the 3.1 OTA).
I should be receiving my replacement tomorrow, according to UPS. Presuming it doesn't have a defect, I'm looking forward to settling in. I never bothered to settle in on the old tablet (automatic actions, power saving stuff, that kind of thing) since I found out about the recall shortly after buying it, and didn't bother to fine tune it.
I recommend the tablet as an LTE device in the US, though if I didn't need the LTE connectivity probably there might be better values in wifi only (I'm not a gamer, so other tablets could meet my needs... but there are relatively few 8" LTE tablets without permanently locked bootloaders here).
Marc
The problem of the tablet is really the processor that is getting old pretty quick (don't know exactly it's true performance), but nowadays everything coming out is already being 8 cores at 2 ghz or more.
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But they are often not faster. Gpu of the shield is very fast maybe the fastest around at the moment. The SOC is still one of the fastest around and it is just on the market for 1 year so not that old.
Sent from my HTC One M9
Where can you even buy one of these? In Canada every single place is sold out and saying they won't stock them again. The used market can't find for under $500 either.
M3drvr said:
Where can you even buy one of these? In Canada every single place is sold out and saying they won't stock them again. The used market can't find for under $500 either.
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Checkout swappa.com
nbollinger said:
Checkout swappa.com
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There is nothing there for it.
M3drvr said:
There is nothing there for it.
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https://swappa.com/buy/nvidia-shield-tablet-wifi
its the non-lte, 16 gb version
nbollinger said:
https://swappa.com/buy/nvidia-shield-tablet-wifi
its the non-lte, 16 gb version
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And there are no listings.... Useless.
M3drvr said:
And there are no listings.... Useless.
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Its something on your end then
nbollinger said:
Its something on your end then
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No. It's just that there are none...
There seem to be two of them for sale at that link when I go to it. One for $290, one for $320, both advertised as new (resale). Probably you're just filtering by Canadian sellers, based on your picture. Lots of folks in US won't ship outside the US, so no big deal that they aren't showing up for you.
Best of luck finding one!
Frankenscript said:
There seem to be two of them for sale at that link when I go to it. One for $290, one for $320, both advertised as new (resale). Probably you're just filtering by Canadian sellers, based on your picture. Lots of folks in US won't ship outside the US, so no big deal that they aren't showing up for you.
Best of luck finding one!
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Yeah my question was basically how to get one to Canada that's under $500. Impossible! Cheapest I've found is on eBay shipped for $530 for 16gb model no accessories.
Snah001 said:
But they are often not faster. Gpu of the shield is very fast maybe the fastest around at the moment. The SOC is still one of the fastest around and it is just on the market for 1 year so not that old.
Sent from my HTC One M9
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The thing is that there aren't much AAA games to play in the shield, it's a good device more for the extra nvidia stuff.
I'm waiting for Borderlands 2 for a damn long time, but it never comes, and I don't even know if it runs on the device with good performance or if it's just for the Shield TV.
More impressive are some cheap windows tablets that for around 350€ can even run Battlefield 3 on low to mid.
Now with DX12 and tons of compatibility tablets might go more for windows again.
In fact I'm not liking much android, not a single game like the good old C&C Red alert 2, boot takes almost 2 times longer than my wind 10 PC, some websites stop working, multitasking is a joke since we can't even play a youtube music while doing anything else...
ps: Also in most performance tests we see other tablets ahead of Shield, so I don't think anything is actually that much optimized for it, not even most tegra games.
Keep Cool
My Shield Tablet LTE topped my Nexus 9's scores on Antutu plus the Shield gaming is great to have. Let's not forget about the SD slot and the mini HDMI port on top either. This tablet still destroys everything else (even most phones) a year later. I really mine because it has a stylus and no dumb Samsung home button like their Tablet S/S2 does. Its hard to find a good tablet these days yet the Shield holds its ground and doesn't seem to lose any performance over time. I like playing Half Life 2 on it or DOOM 3 especially when I travel. Its nice to have a tablet which can play nice games too even though that's not its primary purpose for me.
---------- Post added at 23:39 ---------- Previous post was at 23:32 ----------
guily6669 said:
The thing is that there aren't much AAA games to play in the shield, it's a good device more for the extra nvidia stuff.
I'm waiting for Borderlands 2 for a damn long time, but it never comes, and I don't even know if it runs on the device with good performance or if it's just for the Shield TV.
More impressive are some cheap windows tablets that for around 350â?¬ can even run Battlefield 3 on low to mid.
Now with DX12 and tons of compatibility tablets might go more for windows again.
In fact I'm not liking much android, not a single game like the good old C&C Red alert 2, boot takes almost 2 times longer than my wind 10 PC, some websites stop working, multitasking is a joke since we can't even play a youtube music while doing anything else...
ps: Also in most performance tests we see other tablets ahead of Shield, so I don't think anything is actually that much optimized for it, not even most tegra games.
Keep Cool
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Those cheap windows tablets also use Intel chips in most cases plus Windows an as OS handles things differently than Android does. I agree that there aren't many great games but the ones they do have are fun in my opinion. I have the Shield TV as well and I play all kinds of games including emulators without any issues. My i7 Samsung Ultra book probably can't handle some of the games the Shield can then again I haven't tried. I'm not a big PC gamer but I do know the GPU isn't that great in most Windows tablets/ultrabooks. Android M fixes a lot of the productivity issues and adds multi window and I'm sure Nvidia is working on it now anyway. They tend to lush updates out promptly in most cases unless there's a big issue.
I haven't seen another tablet have better gaming performance than he Shield or Nexus 9 since hwy share a GPU yet use different CPU's. My Nexus 6's SD805 doesn't come close to he 3D score that the tablet does but on Marshmallow it does get a nice ~1500 pt boost likely from the optimization in it. I can imagine the same will occur in the Shield Tablet but we won't know until Nvidia releases it.
I'm not saying the Shield is the best fit everyone but it is a great tablet if you are in the market for a LTE enabled 8in tablet thats fast, runs near stock Android and has nice games for it.
Most of those BEST Nvidia Shield games coming soon are old and I finished them already. (RES5, Half Life, Borderlands, Doom...).
The thing is, you get a good device, but you will probably end playing most games that your phone already can play maxed out.
Other thing is Nvidia blahblahblah says it's more powerful than a X360 GPU, but then most games have a little lag and nothing, but really nothing made to the android yet comes close to most X360\PS3 gameplay\physics (they just look good, but plays like crap).
Then it's my 4th Nvidia shield all are defective and the last one needs to go to RMA again.
I never had an android device, so I wanted to try it, with my experience is just a god damn bugged SO worst than windows.
Also I got sad with the strategy games and how nothing on the android thousand of games even come close to Command and Conquer Red Alert II from like 2000
My opinion:
GOOD:
- hardware Performance;
- Sound;
- has it's own wireless gamepad;
- Nvidia software + remote pc play (button mapping already in the tablet, no need to root 4 that);
- More games than other android devices;
BAD:
- Android is not really optimized;
- Not much AAA games:
- Nothing like C&C, age of empires, Skyrim........ (most games are very cheap copies of good games, but look like a 2003 game);
- In the real world, performance is not as big as nvidia make you think (best phones now probably have better performance, like Samsung S6 which is a lot more little and doesn't come close to having more than a hundred cores like this nvidia);
- Screen quality is not that awesome, it is a High resolution LCD, but nothing special besides that. It doesn't get any close to samsung phone's\tablet amoled screens;
- Battery doesn't last much either;
I actually think that something like that made for DX12 and wind 10 would probably get almost twice the performance than on the actual android OS. At least I saw some people playing BF3 on dell cheap 1 year old tablets that cost basically the same as this nvidia shield. Nowadays with DX12 and Wind 10 soon may be a new era for tablets (it seems windows based hardware have more performance per price than android devices). At least I never seen any 300€ android tablet playing anything close to a BF3 which is years ahead in gameplay + physics than any android game I ever seen\played until now.
ps: If it was today I would buy a ~350€ DELL wind tablet that can even play BF3 (guess what? No need to Root for anything as you own everything already and can update\mod everything).
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