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Hola Guys...can somebody list some reasons to own a XOOM tablet if you already own a laptop(macbook pro)? Everyday im drooling more and more for this tablet...but I don't see a very good reason to own one if somebody have a laptop thats in very good condition...
Well.. if you didn't already figure this one out yourself, here is a list from the top of my head:
With a laptop:
1) You can't hold a laptop with the lid open in one hand and use it (for a long period)
2) You can't remove the keyboard from the screen if all you want to do is read/watch movies (it's stuck there forever)
3) You can't use the screen to navigate (you need the touchpad or "joyknob" or mouse)
4) You don't have a camera on the back to snap pictures
5) You usually have to carry an extra bag/backpack (charger, cables, mouse, ..)
With a tablet:
1) You can't read/write DVD's
2) You can't use it for high CPU/memory intensive tasks (coding, video editing, 3D raytracing,etc.)
Most people can perfectly combine a tablet and a laptop for their tasks: a laptop for coding/video-editing/burning, and a tablet for email, ebooks, twitter/fb, movies, music, (video)chatting, pictures and browsing.
The biggest one for me would have to be: you can't connect an external hard drive to a tablet.
I have all my videos on my 1tb 2.5"...
I'm planning on selling my laptop- probably wont get much for it, but keeping it seems redundant.
Sent from N1 XDA
magicdroid's list hits all the major pros and cons. For me, the major incentive is instant-on for web browsing and a few other apps.
asianxtreme - most of us just have a decent size SD card and rotate shows/movies.
OP - the one catch to all the arguments in favor of a tablet would be having the latest Macbook Air. It has instant-on and amazing battery life. I'm no Apple fan, but having one of those would easily convince me to ditch almost any tablet, as it is extremely thin and light. Of course, the pricetag is pretty unfriendly.
Dont you already have an incredible/fascinate?
asianxtreme said:
The biggest one for me would have to be: you can't connect an external hard drive to a tablet.
I have all my videos on my 1tb 2.5"...
I'm planning on selling my laptop- probably wont get much for it, but keeping it seems redundant.
Sent from N1 XDA
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Click to collapse
You'd really want to stream anyway. Local storage is starting to phase out in a way. Everything is in the cloud or at least stored on a home media server/desktop.
SMB is used for accessing public shares... and the apps for running them from an SMB are getting better.
For me, why I want a tablet?
1. Battery life
2. Instant on (no need to wait for booting!)
3. Easy to carry and hold
4. Touch screen friendly (I hate mouse)
That's all the points, bottom line, it is for most of daily tasks and entertainments:
- Web browsing, email, movies, photo viewer, reading?, facebook, games ...
If I need heavy duty tasks like photo / video editing, coding then I will sit in front of my desktop computer.
Otherwise, just lay down in the couch or bed with the tablet!
Fast, easy and simple
For me I had purchased a G73 asus laptop, which is way to heavy for daily carry. So a tablet will be something i will use for class and entertainment purposes when i'm out and about. the laptop will remain in the house and only be carried out when I need to do some extensive work on it for class.
I decided to get a tablet when I had a crappy delivery job for 3 days and needed to enter delivery information into a google spreadsheet while driving. I tried it unsuccesfully with a 17" Toshiba X205-S9349 laptop... it was marketed as a gaming laptop so it's not a perfect example. It is BARELY a laptop as heavy as it is. It's heavier in a laptop bag then my kindle, evo, thumb drives, pens, cables, evo, and a viewsonic g-tablet in my messenger bag.
I also say DON'T SELL YOUR LAPTOP. Unless you are on a right budget, it's better to have backup devices because things break. My parents talked me out of selling my laptop and it has saved my ass on numerous occasions. Be a true geek and have a device for every occasion. Your tablet will be your everyday mobile device that can do pretty much all of what you could need on the go. It can read/edit documents... record audio(actually I'm unsure about this and can't find an answer, did they forget to put a mic on this thing?), pictures, video. It offers you full internet, which is a big deal because you can do most anything with web apps these days. Think Star Trek, or Stargate Atlantis, or any other sci-fi where they use a tablet. I really do think one day laptops will be obsolete.
We will simply have tablets with docking stations. I mean think about how capable your phone is. My HTC EVO does EVERYTHING I need on the go, except that it is too small for some things and a touch slow on some. The difference between a 4.3" EVO and a 10.1" Xoom is not just a superior UI.. its 450% increased screen area.
Stargate Atlantis is why I'm getting a tablet, it's the future.
There is no easy way to mane anything because in actuality eventhough tablets are pretty cool they have not got far enough yet to replace a laptop yet....Don't get me wrong they are close all they really need to do is make it so u can collect external hard drives and cd/dvd drives.
vamp6x6x6x said:
There is no easy way to mane anything because in actuality eventhough tablets are pretty cool they have not got far enough yet to replace a laptop yet....Don't get me wrong they are close all they really need to do is make it so u can collect external hard drives and cd/dvd drives.
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It's been reported that Laptops only just overtook the desktop last year. I dont think true tablets will ever support external devices like hard-drives or cd-drives. It's not the direction of technology. Yes, we need them now, but we wont in 5 years. solid state drives will hit the TB range by then if not sooner. Also, most of our pictures will be on the cloud, videos will be streamed from your home media server or you'll buy (own) the rights to stream shows/movies from the web instead of having subscriptions (think eBooks, but with movies).
Tablets will overtake laptops, but we'll still have need for docking stations, for real work, for at least another 10 years.
I think I could almost get away with using a tablet as my primary work device.
I already use Google Docs as my word processor, so no problems there.
For coding, the only thing I need is a terminal and an SSH client, since most of the stuff I do is remote using Vim.
Of course, I do need some sort of physical keyboard, when I'm doing heavy-duty stuff, so I'm hoping that something like this...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/keyboards-mice/e65a/
...is eventually released for tablets with the Xoom's form factor.
That said, it would be more difficult for me to lose the Gimp, which I use frequently. I am still not happy with the online graphics tools I've found. Maybe Adobe will eventually release a more powerful version of Photoshop for tablets, but I'm not holding my breath.
Xevilious said:
I think I could almost get away with using a tablet as my primary work device.
I already use Google Docs as my word processor, so no problems there.
For coding, the only thing I need is a terminal and an SSH client, since most of the stuff I do is remote using Vim.
Of course, I do need some sort of physical keyboard, when I'm doing heavy-duty stuff, so I'm hoping that something like this...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/keyboards-mice/e65a/
...is eventually released for tablets with the Xoom's form factor.
That said, it would be more difficult for me to lose the Gimp, which I use frequently. I am still not happy with the online graphics tools I've found. Maybe Adobe will eventually release a more powerful version of Photoshop for tablets, but I'm not holding my breath.
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You can use any Bluetooth keyboard with the Xoom. The tablet only has to support (HID) protocol. Actually, if you go over to the MOTO website, there's a docking station as well as MOTO keyboards.
kenyu73 said:
You can use any Bluetooth keyboard with the Xoom. The tablet only has to support (HID) protocol. Actually, if you go over to the MOTO website, there's a docking station as well as MOTO keyboards.
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Yes, but I'm more interested in a solution that includes a keyboard embedded in a case. To me, it just seems more convenient than having to carry around a cradle and keyboard with my tablet.
Xevilious said:
Yes, but I'm more interested in a solution that includes a keyboard embedded in a case. To me, it just seems more convenient than having to carry around a cradle and keyboard with my tablet.
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I hear that Google VoiceSearch v12.6 will have full speech recognition that will make keyboards and mice obsolete!
It reminds me of Star Trek IV where Scotty tries to interact with a Mac by talking to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19BWJQ8kjrw
Xevilious said:
Yes, but I'm more interested in a solution that includes a keyboard embedded in a case. To me, it just seems more convenient than having to carry around a cradle and keyboard with my tablet.
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If you want a keyboard in a case.. buy a laptop
In all seriousness I do find that a little silly, though I can understand the logic and utility of such a thing. Carrying it all the time like that though, which it sounds like you want to do is well and truly a laptop. A keyboard that is dockable would be good.. but I still think a seperate keyboard is fine.. and just prop the tablet up in a folio case.
setite said:
If you want a keyboard in a case.. buy a laptop
In all seriousness I do find that a little silly, though I can understand the logic and utility of such a thing. Carrying it all the time like that though, which it sounds like you want to do is well and truly a laptop. A keyboard that is dockable would be good.. but I still think a seperate keyboard is fine.. and just prop the tablet up in a folio case.
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I already have a laptop, and it's perfectly fine for many tasks, but it lacks a lot of tools that I would get with a tablet. I would much rather bring my laptop to a coffee shop, but when I'm traveling, I like to do some light work, and a tablet (GPS, Verizon data, e-reader) makes for a friendlier traveling companion than a laptop. If I had a tablet with a keyboard, I could have most of my tools in a single package. Without a physical keyboard, I'd have to bring my laptop along for the ride, and I'd really rather not have to bring two larger devices every time I travel.
Truth be told, there's nothing I would love more than a tablet that let me make voice calls via a bluetooth headset. With that, I'd even dump my phone.
Xevilious said:
I already have a laptop, and it's perfectly fine for many tasks, but it lacks a lot of tools that I would get with a tablet. I would much rather bring my laptop to a coffee shop, but when I'm traveling, I like to do some light work, and a tablet (GPS, Verizon data, e-reader) makes for a friendlier traveling companion than a laptop. If I had a tablet with a keyboard, I could have most of my tools in a single package. Without a physical keyboard, I'd have to bring my laptop along for the ride, and I'd really rather not have to bring two larger devices every time I travel.
Truth be told, there's nothing I would love more than a tablet that let me make voice calls via a bluetooth headset. With that, I'd even dump my phone.
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For my sake, may I ask what tools the tablet has that your laptop lacks. I don't say that as a challenge, but rather I am seeking ways to use the device that I am not aware of yet.
kenyu73 said:
You'd really want to stream anyway. Local storage is starting to phase out in a way. Everything is in the cloud or at least stored on a home media server/desktop.
SMB is used for accessing public shares... and the apps for running them from an SMB are getting better.
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The problem with this is we are starting to see the beginning of the end of unlimited data plans. So if we have to stream everything, that will come with more data use and cost.
So a tablet won't be able to access an external hard drive? Even with an app like like Astro?
I didn't think it would be possible, but I think it would be cool to have access to an external dvd/cd/blu ray burner with plug and use/play technology.
If these 2 things were possible, people could really ditch their laptops and netbooks for the tablets. Netbooks had the possibility of an external drive, which opened up the usability imo.
I have a Xoom WiFi only. What an amazing peice of kit. But it's crippled by the fact that Motorola or Google or whoever can't actually use the devices they make. I'm almost ready to throw mine in the bin it's so unusable.
- I had hoped I could use my Xoom on site rather than run round with my laptop, except I can't get files onto and off it easily. SyncToy won't play ball. I don't want to have to manually drag and drop each file in turn. Waste of time.
- Bluetooth and WiFi file transfer is just a missed opportunity
- SD card doesn't work
- Can't print reliably
- Simple features that are present on my HTC Desire are missing, like scheduling peak times for email polling so the wife doesn't get woken up at three in the morning if I forget to turn it off.
- Stupid stupid stupid stupid charger. No USB charging, which is supposed to be the universal standard. The charger is huge and the connector is so thin it'll break the first time someone trips over the cable.
- The Motorola Folio case is uggggggggly. Have these people not seen the Smart Cover for the iPad?
- I can stand the Xoom up in the folio case, but I can't charge it, because the charger connector is on the bottom. A poor attempt to get me to fork out more money for the charging dock I assume.
- Word, Excel etc, sort of work, but if you have headers and footers or anything like an automated spreadsheet, it ain't gonna work properly on Docs to Go or anything else for that matter. Good God, do these people not use the World's most dominant software?
It's great for games, and stuff though, but you CANNOT use it as a business tool; you'll spend all the time you were hoping to save in wrestling with the bloody thing.
The moral? Don't be an early(ish) adopter - I thought 6 months would be enough for Motorola to have this sorted.
TL;DR?
Rant over.
Sdcard is readable in 3.2 or u can simply root to make it fully usable
Usb charging is slow. The charger makes us can let our xoom fully charged super quiclly
The case for many ppl is nice
My bro bought it for business n he is quite happy with it
Have a lager and calm down, friend. I feel your pain.
However, you can save yourself a lot of grief by understanding that no matter what the marketing people say, a tablet is not a full laptop replacement yet, not even the iPad. You need to make some compromises if you intend to make full use of your Xoom while on the job.
First of all, lets discuss the charger. Moto opted not to allow the device to trickle charge simple because it would take far to long to fill the battery via a standard USB cable. Therefore they went for the dedicated charger which was a good choice under the circumstances. I agree I have worries to about the very thin connector, but they were working hard not to make the device too thick. THus far I have not brought the charger to the office because I have not had to charge the Xoom except for overnight. The battery can make it through a day pretty easily, so feel free to leave the charger behind and see how you do.
Next, Office apps. I agree, they are limited and are the same on pretty much every non-laptop you will try to work on. Key features are missing, other features work strangely...it gets ugly out there. Therefore, I try to restrict my Office app work on the Xoom to reading and making notes. I wouldn't try to actually create a document on the Xoom at this point, unless it was very short and/or I would be able to edit on my laptop later. I use the Polaris app that was provided with the Asus Transformer, which you should be able to find in the Xoom Apps forum here, and it actually does pretty well.
I have had good luck with Bluetooth transferring files, but it can take a while. You should try using the OTG connector in conjunction with a flash drive for larger files. It adds a step in the transfer but it works perfectly for me.
The folio case? I agree, ugly as sin. Therefore I go without a case during use since I really like the looks of the Xoom anyway. I put it into an iPad Exo Sleevecase from Waterfield (great company, great case) before putting it in my gear bag and it does just fine.
The Xoom is a fine business tool in my opinion, it just has its limitations. All tablets currently available are still at the stage where you are best off thinking of them as an extension of your laptop or desktop computer, not the whole shebang. Use it for the tasks it is suited for, and be creative with how you apply it to those tasks which are a bit beyond a tablet's skillset at the moment.
Remember, we went through a decade of clunky, useless TabletPCs before we suddenly had a burst of innovation (thanks Apple) to get to this point in mobile computing. We are still at the early stages...just think where we will be in a couple years. THAT is when tablets will really shine, and at the moment you are ahead of the curve, devising business use cases for tablets out of sheer necessity. That is not a bad place to be.
rschenck said:
Have a lager and calm down, friend. I feel your pain.
However, you can save yourself a lot of grief by understanding that no matter what the marketing people say, a tablet is not a full laptop replacement yet, not even the iPad. You need to make some compromises if you intend to make full use of your Xoom while on the job.
First of all, lets discuss the charger. Moto opted not to allow the device to trickle charge simple because it would take far to long to fill the battery via a standard USB cable. Therefore they went for the dedicated charger which was a good choice under the circumstances. I agree I have worries to about the very thin connector, but they were working hard not to make the device too thick. THus far I have not brought the charger to the office because I have not had to charge the Xoom except for overnight. The battery can make it through a day pretty easily, so feel free to leave the charger behind and see how you do.
Next, Office apps. I agree, they are limited and are the same on pretty much every non-laptop you will try to work on. Key features are missing, other features work strangely...it gets ugly out there. Therefore, I try to restrict my Office app work on the Xoom to reading and making notes. I wouldn't try to actually create a document on the Xoom at this point, unless it was very short and/or I would be able to edit on my laptop later. I use the Polaris app that was provided with the Asus Transformer, which you should be able to find in the Xoom Apps forum here, and it actually does pretty well.
I have had good luck with Bluetooth transferring files, but it can take a while. You should try using the OTG connector in conjunction with a flash drive for larger files. It adds a step in the transfer but it works perfectly for me.
The folio case? I agree, ugly as sin. Therefore I go without a case during use since I really like the looks of the Xoom anyway. I put it into an iPad Exo Sleevecase from Waterfield (great company, great case) before putting it in my gear bag and it does just fine.
The Xoom is a fine business tool in my opinion, it just has its limitations. All tablets currently available are still at the stage where you are best off thinking of them as an extension of your laptop or desktop computer, not the whole shebang. Use it for the tasks it is suited for, and be creative with how you apply it to those tasks which are a bit beyond a tablet's skillset at the moment.
Remember, we went through a decade of clunky, useless TabletPCs before we suddenly had a burst of innovation (thanks Apple) to get to this point in mobile computing. We are still at the early stages...just think where we will be in a couple years. THAT is when tablets will really shine, and at the moment you are ahead of the curve, devising business use cases for tablets out of sheer necessity. That is not a bad place to be.
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I have found the Xoom to be a great substitute for a laptop out in the field. I just email the files to my work pc, or use my Passport HDD or thumb drive to save...I use dropbox for some non-secure files. Cloud print works fine if you run Chrome on your pc. My work network is locked down tight but I use Splashtop HD to sync with and remotely access my home pc, so I can use full MS Word, Excel, PP etc. I use my Moto BT keyboard and an MS BT mouse if I need do do intensive writing/editing, otherwise Tablet Keyboard Pro or FlexT9 work great. I have the WiFi only Xoom but use my Clear 4G mifi hotspot for connectivity most places I need to be.
This can work. Rooting helps--gives you a few more tools. The battery life is great, especially if you set your screen to minimum necessary brightness and set a battery-saving screen-off profile in SetCPU.
Ok, I will admit that Xoom(as with many android devices) has some bugs to work out, but Android 3.2 has done a lot of fixes that you are talking about....And as for stuff like file managers it matters what one u use.
Some good responses here, I have been on a couple of business trips and left the laptop at home, taking just the Xoom. Sync with and use of Exchange email is brilliant (as it should be). What I had hoped to be able to do is modify spreadsheets while walking round sites, I have some great Excel sheets with drop downs and the like but that is not going to be happening any time soon.
I have found Memento, a great database app that will be my work around for this, but I shouldn't be working around...
I included the iPad in the "tablet computing is sucky" title.
My issue with Bluetooth, a technology that has been with us for years, is that it insists on asking me to OK every file - if I take 100 photos on a site survey, I want them to come over to my laptop with one approval, not 100. It can take a hour, that's fine, just stop asking me if it's OK...This has been a problem for as long as I have been using a smartphone (except my Nokia N73, that had great Bluetooth.)
My frustration remains that I have been able to see the potential of mobile computing and now we have powerful enough devices to deliver it, but the software just isn't there - as usual its the back room hobbyists providing the real world solutions, the paid for software falls very short of the mark.
You talk of 3.2, I have a work device so rooting is not possible and Motorola don't seem in any rush to update me. Any ideas?
66mustang said:
Some good responses here, I have been on a couple of business trips and left the laptop at home, taking just the Xoom. Sync with and use of Exchange email is brilliant (as it should be). What I had hoped to be able to do is modify spreadsheets while walking round sites, I have some great Excel sheets with drop downs and the like but that is not going to be happening any time soon.
I have found Memento, a great database app that will be my work around for this, but I shouldn't be working around...
I included the iPad in the "tablet computing is sucky" title.
My issue with Bluetooth, a technology that has been with us for years, is that it insists on asking me to OK every file - if I take 100 photos on a site survey, I want them to come over to my laptop with one approval, not 100. It can take a hour, that's fine, just stop asking me if it's OK...This has been a problem for as long as I have been using a smartphone (except my Nokia N73, that had great Bluetooth.)
My frustration remains that I have been able to see the potential of mobile computing and now we have powerful enough devices to deliver it, but the software just isn't there - as usual its the back room hobbyists providing the real world solutions, the paid for software falls very short of the mark.
You talk of 3.2, I have a work device so rooting is not possible and Motorola don't seem in any rush to update me. Any ideas?
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If you're taking pictures with your xoom, have it connected to a network (via a wifi network or phone tethering) you can use the auto upload feature that google+ has. That way you can access those pictures on your laptop as well by going to your google+ account.
I love my Xoom, even if my love for Motorola is waning, but I do have to agree to a point.
When I bought the thing, I had dreams of an all-in-one device... something that I could use as a laptop replacement but that I could also use to make phone calls.
Well, I can make phone calls using GrooveIP, but I would be lying if I said I was satisfied with this solution. GrooveIP works fine but generally kicks me out of Google Talk, which is pretty annoying given that I communicate more through chat than phone calls, so keeping it resident makes chat iffy. And speaking of GrooveIP, what's going on with the official Google Voice app for Honeycomb? I never imagined it would take Google so long to get it released.
The result? I finally decided to give up the dream and buy a new phone.
In a lot of ways, the Xoom has replaced my laptop for web surfing, but it doesn't make for a great word processor. I've purchased a few of the word processing apps available for Android, and they really aren't that great and lack key features such as auto-save. I still think that Google's official Google Docs app is the best of all available word processor apps, but even it is really mediocre on the Xoom. I think I gave it three stars in the market, and that might be one star too generous. I dislike Apple greatly, but iWork on the iPad is superior to anything available for Honeycomb. A native Google Docs Honeycomb app that doesn't rely on WebKit would be absolutely killer.
I still use my Xoom for most of my word processing, but it is a less than perfect solution. I love the size, and the tablet+bluetooth keyboard are still much more lightweight than my laptop, which makes them a more ideal travel companion. In fact, these days, the Xoom has replaced my laptop for about 85% of all my tasks, but it's still not a true laptop replacement.
I think it was unrealistic of me to expect my Xoom to be anything other than a tablet.
The first mistake was expecting it to replace your laptop + be productive as a business tool from the day you purchased it. Some things you mentioned the iPad 2 can't even do so it is what it is man.....
BUT if you use your xoom for play and your laptop for work then you won't have to worry about being stuck on your laptop charger all day long.
66mustang said:
- I can stand the Xoom up in the folio case, but I can't charge it, because the charger connector is on the bottom. A poor attempt to get me to fork out more money for the charging dock I assume.
Click to expand...
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Easy solution: turn the Xoom upside down. There is no dedicated button, dedicated top or bottom for most applications. In that case power connection is in the top, easy to charge, easy to work on the tablel. Xoom works well for me as a laptop replacement.
I won't get into a long explanation as to why uninformed people should not be posting such a thread. Here is what I will say:
True... tablets cannot fully replace a laptop or PC just yet in terms of raw power, RAM, graphics, gaming, or features. Windows has been an OS for computers for a loooong time now. Honeycomb for tablets has not been around for that long. There is a HUGE difference between a tablet, and a desktop/laptop. I'll make this very clear for you so that it's easy to understand:
[Words of wisdom]
A desktop is a powerful computer that is meant to stay in one place at all times, a laptop is less powerful desktop computer that is portable, meanwhile a tablet is essentially an even more portable laptop with less power. It's not supposed to fully replace a computer in the first place, but rather work right along side it instead. Thus, one should not say tablet computing is "sucky". Apples and bananas as they say... cannot be compared. Don't even attempt to do such a thing.
[/End Words of wisdom]
Tablets are catching up fast in terms of overall specs to match computers, it's very impressive. They are currently working on beast quad core tablets. That's a lot of power for a small lightweight device.
Re: Charging - The Xoom uses a 7.4V/24.1Whr battery, so can't use USB charging which is only 5V. The iPad2 has a 3.8V/25Whr battery, so it can. (All current HC tabs AFAIK use 7.4V batt.)
The iPad2's USB wall-wart is 5V/2A, and users report it takes 3-4 hrs for a full charge. Based on this, charging from a PC's 5V/0.5A USB port would take a long time (charge time isn't linear to current level, but we're simplifying). So practically, you'd still have to lug along an AC charger for the iPad, although PC charging exists as an emergency measure.
Re: Charge adapter - Moto Mobo is a phone vendor. The Xoom is its first tablet, and it's likely that some components were common-sourced from existing phone parts. The smallish charge adapter plug is likely one. Ergonomic issues should be ironed out for the Xoom2, which undoubtedly will be thinner and lighter.
Re: Tablet as productivity device - It'd be interesting to see how much app support ICS gets, as HC didn't get much love from devs, or consumers for that matter. The major thrusts for ICS are phone+tablet convergence and cloud computing, at least as inferred from Google I/O '11. Productivity wasn't mentioned. It'd be a step up for Gbread phones, but I don't see a big improvement for current HC users.
On the flip side, if ICS is indeed incremental, then it should be here relatively soon after 3.2. My SWAG says Oct, which would be enough time for holiday shopping. If true, vendors would likely hold their 2nd-gen tablet offerings until that time. Else, we'll see the second wave starting in Sept. Moto's Xoom2 will serve as a bellwether.
Speaking of the Xoom2, my money is on it having the TI OMAP 4460, with the 7" probably using the 4430. Both are a big step up from the Tegra 2 wrt multimedia support, and the 4460's 1.5GHz speed will make for easy marketing pitch ("it's 50% faster!"). Pricing will likely be the same as current, ie USD$500 for 32GB wifi base model, and probably $400 for the 7".
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
hi_its_ryan said:
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
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lol, did u try applying the paint to the drill before using it on ur wall
hi_its_ryan said:
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
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+1 +1 +1 +1 +1
I think a tablet pc would be great OP?
my fav part of the gripe is about not using the worlds most dominant microsoft software... Of course they are not going to use it... Microsoft competes with android... Its the same as crying that your iphone cant run flash or windows programs...
I know it sucks but a tab is not a direct replacement for a laptop just yet... Theres a lot of ways to get around some of your gripes.. Like dropbox app for posting and syncing all your files to all your devices.. Docs to go.. It aint perfect but it helps... Etc...
My only gripe where I agree with the OP is the charger and not being able to charge when in the folio case...but when you consider that the battery lasts at least 24 hours with normal usage it's really not s big deal. I can get a good 5 work days when I use it to stream Pandora or Slacker over WiFi without needing to recharge.
Remote control your PC from your tablet. Then you have the best of both worlds.
brandogg said:
My only gripe where I agree with the OP is the charger and not being able to charge when in the folio case...but when you consider that the battery lasts at least 24 hours with normal usage it's really not s big deal. I can get a good 5 work days when I use it to stream Pandora or Slacker over WiFi without needing to recharge.
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Umm... someone already mentioned it, but... there is NOT a "correct" way to hold the Xoom, or any Honeycomb tablet for that matter. The soft keys are located on the screen itself, and will follow the screen when rotated, meaning you can hold it any way you want. Just unlock the screen rotation option, and then rotate the Xoom to position the charging port to the way that fits your needs. That is what sets Honeycomb apart from the rest. If the OP has this "complaint" he should think again before opening his mouth. It's called rotation... it's a feature. The Honeycomb developers want you to hold and position your tablet however you wish, not force you to hold it one way. Look it up, or better yet... use it.
its interesting to see the posts we have here...
personally i think a tablet is pretty close to becoming a laptop replacement... for some...
now... my laptop at the moment will probably crush many many desktops out there by a long shot (i definitely moved from desktops 5 years ago) but in saying that my battery life is HORRIBLE... i cant even go through 1 class and my charger is the size of a house brick lol but personally i love how i could whizz through a thousand, tabs, programs, music whatever with not one instance of lag and it dual boots like a boss and the 18 inch screen is amazing..
my xoom i bought it to hopefully be able to replace the aspect of taking my laptop to uni as we have alot of classes with just a powerpoint and we can type our own stuff from there (i just received my hk cheapo folio keyboard case today; as i dont see paying $50+ for one with a wire i would have preferred a bluetooth with trackpad or something) and i think im going to try and leave my laptop at home next time.. i agree the word compatible apps are sometimes uses, i cant find one where i can edit the notes section of a powerpoint but what i would really love is too have 2 programs open side by side on the one screen as this would be even easier to multitask but i will be finished uni before these will be met and then simply put my needs now/future are minimal in the 'business' area.. but this will NEVER replace a laptop for me im on it everyday for 6+ hours easy and the necessity for ease of access, large screen, etc for me negate the tablet switch for sometime if at all
for those who require specified proprietary programs your needs may never be met and if so they may only be met in the apple arena for sometime to come.. apple is the in thing at the moment and for the average joe as we all know cant understand alot of techno-babble (this may be a good argument for proprietary stuff to come out on the more tech android, but in business there are alot of people with their head in the sand)..
as for the OP i say this...
1. really consider rooting/flashing a custom rom you can always revert back to stock for warranty (i purchased mine overseas so i have NO warranty, im a poor uni student and saved for mine and honestly it was cheaper than my phone but yeh)
2. get an OTG cable (i got mine for $3 from hk) and use your flash drive for everything you want from the tablet/computer transfers (get a 32gb if you really need a large one).. that will remove alot of file transfer issues with bluetooth, etc and if you need to have constant backups then copy the file to the sdcard of the xoom to be super safe
3. have a better look in the area of printing.. i can wirelessly print from my android devices and they come out great (not good for photos) but documents come out pretty clear
4. burn the folio case, dance around it and move on try something else (if so inclined lol)...
5. the battery life is awesome.. absolutely awesome... i can go 2 full days without charge and using it all day on the train, music, wifi, internet.. bla bla
sorry for being long
First Windows 8 phone revealed, from i-mate:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brier...-8-pc-phone-revealed-plus-tablet-and-desktop/
4.7" screen Windows 8 Pro, and runs atom processor.
Look forward to seeing reviews and seeing how well the phone/messaging capability is on this.
We will see more of these, especially when Intel releases a 22nm atom later this year. And some ARM ones with Windows RT.
(Follow up to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1226360)
CSMR said:
First Windows 8 phone revealed, from i-mate:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brier...-8-pc-phone-revealed-plus-tablet-and-desktop/
4.7" screen Windows 8 Pro, and runs atom processor.
Look forward to seeing reviews and seeing how well the phone/messaging capability is on this.
We will see more of these, especially when Intel releases a 22nm atom later this year. And some ARM ones with Windows RT.
(Follow up to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1226360)
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Click to collapse
If you can get that setup for $1600, I'd be impressed. Nice business solution if you ask me...
it won't sell, because its a proprietary dock, for one phone only.
needs to be a STANDARD wireless charging base (mac mini sized) with vga/sound/mic/hdmi/etc out the back, so regular peripherals can be used. large enough to charge 2-3 phones at once, is a good idea too.
dlna to dock, hdmi/vga to screen, etc
now, as far as convincing people to buy windows 8, I have no idea how.
ohgood said:
it won't sell, because its a proprietary dock, for one phone only.
needs to be a STANDARD wireless charging base (mac mini sized) with vga/sound/mic/hdmi/etc out the back, so regular peripherals can be used. large enough to charge 2-3 phones at once, is a good idea too.
dlna to dock, hdmi/vga to screen, etc
now, as far as convincing people to buy windows 8, I have no idea how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You want a Dock with a wireless charging base, VGA/HDMI, Audio in out all coming out of the dock. designed around all phones and indeed work with multiple phones at the same time.
So we can explain audio with Bluetooth, and DNLA with wifi but how my friend, do you explain your VGA/HDMI out? how do you charge it if your don't have a inductive phone? or do you want all phones to have inductive charging wireless VGA and HDMI output as well?
the concept of a docking station for a specific phone is a tried and tested model and is routinely used on laptops and tablets, these devices are far from "universal" one can argue that there has never been a universal docking station, simply because there are far too many designs and technologies to take in to account. The beloved Apple are the worst for this, buy any ipod dock and youll find as many adaptors and connectors stuffed in to the box to "make" it compatible as there are iphone covers in cheap arse phone stores.
I think the idea of having a phone that's so powerful that can be plugged in to a tablet case, laptop case, home entertainment system is a great concept, itll never happen but if a unified connectivity model could be made up then even better, the problem with such things is space, yes you can transmit HDMI wirelessly, but its heavy on juice consumption, far heavier than what induction charging can deliver.
I see what your saying and that would be ideal but practicalities will prohibit a universal dock, a set of docks available for your specific phone however is a great idea and one id sign up to.
As the article says, it is not going to be a 'stand alone' phone, but part of a 'hub' system. So it doesn't need to have a 'standard' docking or wireless charging system...
I think it's an interesting idea. Let's see if i-Mate pull this off!!!
dazza9075 said:
You want a Dock with a wireless charging base, VGA/HDMI, Audio in out all coming out of the dock. designed around all phones and indeed work with multiple phones at the same time.
So we can explain audio with Bluetooth, and DNLA with wifi but how my friend, do you explain your VGA/HDMI out? how do you charge it if your don't have a inductive phone? or do you want all phones to have inductive charging wireless VGA and HDMI output as well?
the concept of a docking station for a specific phone is a tried and tested model and is routinely used on laptops and tablets, these devices are far from "universal" one can argue that there has never been a universal docking station, simply because there are far too many designs and technologies to take in to account. The beloved Apple are the worst for this, buy any ipod dock and youll find as many adaptors and connectors stuffed in to the box to "make" it compatible as there are iphone covers in cheap arse phone stores.
I think the idea of having a phone that's so powerful that can be plugged in to a tablet case, laptop case, home entertainment system is a great concept, itll never happen but if a unified connectivity model could be made up then even better, the problem with such things is space, yes you can transmit HDMI wirelessly, but its heavy on juice consumption, far heavier than what induction charging can deliver.
I see what your saying and that would be ideal but practicalities will prohibit a universal dock, a set of docks available for your specific phone however is a great idea and one id sign up to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know the answers to the questiions already... if the phone isn't inductive charge capable, well, it misses out. (I screwed up suggesting vga out, yes)
is the dock to be tossed out when the next phone is released, or microsoft abandons the current os, forcing hardware upgrades ?
---------- Post added at 05:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:58 AM ----------
geddeeee said:
As the article says, it is not going to be a 'stand alone' phone, but part of a 'hub' system. So it doesn't need to have a 'standard' docking or wireless charging system...
I think it's an interesting idea. Let's see if i-Mate pull this off!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya, that was part of my point. the docking system is physically bound to only one phone model. a change of phones means the dock is obsolete. that's why I suggested a inductive version instead.
Re: Docks. You can do a lot with mini-displayport and micro-usb, which should fit on a superpowered phone. Or thunderbolt would work as a universal connector - thunderbolt out to a dock.
But what is more interesting to me is having a full windows OS on a phone. Windows Phone 8 still has a lot of core features missing, while Windows 8 does not have these gaps. Just add phone and messaging capability to Windows 8 and you will have an excellent OS for power users.
Hopefully there will be more of these phones when Intel finally moves Atom to 22nm later this year.
CSMR said:
Re: Docks. You can do a lot with mini-displayport and micro-usb, which should fit on a superpowered phone. Or thunderbolt would work as a universal connector - thunderbolt out to a dock.
But what is more interesting to me is having a full windows OS on a phone. Windows Phone 8 still has a lot of core features missing, while Windows 8 does not have these gaps. Just add phone and messaging capability to Windows 8 and you will have an excellent OS for power users.
Hopefully there will be more of these phones when Intel finally moves Atom to 22nm later this year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yesssss, that's what wp7/8 were supposed to do: bridge the gaps, the pc/phone in one.
but, now you have wp, surface/rt, w8 and their versions also. fragmentation, not integration.
oh, and xbox... office... very odd way of doing things.
huawei ascend w1
i recently bought the huawei ascend w1 and does anyone know how to disable the shutter sound ?
tkelly0727 said:
i recently bought the huawei ascend w1 and does anyone know how to disable the shutter sound ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings>Ringtones + Sounds> uncheck "Camera shutter" box
Shutter sound
Dadstar said:
Settings>Ringtones + Sounds> uncheck "Camera shutter" box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. I don't have a checkbox to turn the shutter sound off. I know my old Windows 7 phone had the option, but nothing on this one.
I'd love to turn it off because the default sound is horrible.
Dadstar said:
Settings>Ringtones + Sounds> uncheck "Camera shutter" box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just purchased an O2 version, same here there is no Camera shutter box to uncheck.
There are many reasons to buy the device, but here are some of the highlights:
1. Runs stock Android. Not some heavily secured or modified version as seen on the FireTV, Ouya, etc
2. Rooting does NOT void your warranty. The company (Mad Catz) actually EMBRACES it!
3. It is bar non the most powerful Android set top box available today. No other cheap knockoff compares.
4. It contains the well renowned Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and all of the power that comes with it.
5. The controller is a nice, solid piece of equipment equivalent to a Xbox 360 controller
6. It has USB 3.0 (very few tv boxes have this)
7. It handles a slew of addons. I have a 7-port USB 3 hub, 2TB hard drive, two USB controllers, wireless mouse and keyboard.
8. It's more than just a game console. It has literally become my PC. It is that powerful!
9. It has nothing to do with "Amiga and Wolves". Actually, there is a UAE emulator, so it does have something to do with the Amiga...so that is ok. As long as it has nothing to do with the prior
10. It is priced *right* at $199. Once you realize how versatile this device is, it is a bargain. I almost want a second one as a spare, but will wait to see if any K1 boxes come out in the future.
There are many more reasons of course, but that is my top ten list. Great device!
I agree..
But lately I bought my second CTRLR and would say that the CTRLR is actually the best part of MOJO!
As time goes on, others are catching up with the mojo's specs... while the CTRLR is really unique.
Im no order:
1. Travel clip for your mobile (better then the shield IMHO)
2. Mouse mode is really excellent, especially compared to other consoles that dont have it
3. PC/Mac gamepad, including mouse mood.. I use mine as a wireless mouse and yes media keys work!
4. Great battery life and AAA is good because i have rechargables for remotes
5. Excellent build quality
6. Media keys.. Works great and i can use then without looking
7. BT4 ready for new devices
I think the MOJO is a good stational alternative to Shield but then the price is a little high cuz you get the same hardware in a mobile device for the same price.
If they would reduce the price to at least $150, I'd think about buying one to replace my Ouya.
Honestly, I've stopped using mine. I'll sell it for $150. It's rooted, of course.
ExtremeRyno said:
Honestly, I've stopped using mine. I'll sell it for $150. It's rooted, of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I ask why you stopped using your MOJO? Just curious.
Gaming is the main reason why you should buy a MOJO. Great for emulation and certain android games. The selection of games isn't bad, I mean how many android games can you play at a time? There is plenty of material of solid games that can take up quite a bit of time. Media playback is mediocre for me. Price is too high for what you get. I agree with gwaldo, the controller is awesome. If kit Kat comes and ouya store comes and some bug fixes come, i'd say its a great system. I would however need a replacement if I were to get rid of it, because I love the android on big screen and mojo does well with it overall. It's by far my fastest android I have. Just needs some fine tuning and I hope it comes
I wanted a streaming media giant that played all my console games... The experience is less than ideal streaming media-wise with the MOJO. I dunno...I still use it for game emulation sometimes, but it has been at least a month. I love the controller, though.
I actually bought a Note PRO 12.2, and since then I spend more time on it than any other device. I have it paired with a keyboard and controller so it does everything I wanted the MOJO for except Tegra 4...which I am living without. It's like having my own TV and my wife can't change the show on Netflix or make me turn my game off. The SPen is the icing on the cake, really.
Looking for a Kodi box plus emulation
Can the box run Dreamcast/PS1/PSP /N64 games well?
Should I chose the new firebox or an Intel atom cherry trail small media center
All I can say to this is I absolutely love my MOJO and would not replace it. But (there's always a but!) it can be a tough console to love and requires a bit of effort to get what you want from it. That said I would not change it and have even considered buying another as a back up.
Ultimately it does depend on what you want from it.
For me it's a brilliant one-stop place for my movies and games. I use KODI but I don't stream with it (though I am led to believe the box does this well) but instead have my personal media on an external drive along with my retro games. I flashed the console with UJD's Cyanogenmod 12.1 and have tailored it further still with the Top TV Launcher from the Play store. There have been some minor bumps along the way but I have resolved everything that I had problems with.
I would recommend not paying too much for one now if it can be avoided. I paid £60 brand new for mine and that is about right considering the required effort needed to get it running sweetly. I certainly wouldn't pay over £100 that some are trying to charge on eBay for second hand units.
As for emulation it is imho the best box I have bought for it. Some of the emus need a bit of work but they won't suffer because of anything the MOJO does wrong. N64 runs extremely well on both Retroarch and Mupen FZ Edition. I also recently installed Drastic which is amazing too. Dreamcast emulation is very old but still runs OK via Reicast. PSX is spot on, though I haven't tried PSP. The only downside with emulation here is the D-pad on the CTRLR. It is very stiff. I've gotten used to it but occasionally on fighting games it drives me nuts!
Wow fantastic response they are going for £60 ATM
Roughly same as fire box TV ,
Also could add extra and get a Intel atom cherry trail for £80
Nvidia shield is the bee knees but is around 150 which I don't have.
I'd say no, support for it is pretty much dead and current custom roms are fairly buggy.
I've had no issues with CM 12.1 personally. It has been extremely stable and problem free for me. The only thing I've heard is Netflix doesn't work, but I don't need that myself. If you do use it, you may wish to consider something else. Similarly, I don't have a 4K set, just a fairly standard 1080p TV. I don't know how the MOJO works with 4K, and I suspect you'd need to look elsewhere for that.
I came to this box from the OUYA, the Raspberry Pi (3), and I also had a Minix Neo U1. They are all compromises one way or the other. Even the Nvidia Shield is in some ways. Stuff may work on one but not the other, options may be available on that box but not on the other box. The compromises with the MOJO worked out better for me than the compromises the other boxes offered.
I'm not trying to convince you to buy one. If you have the money I'd say get the Shield as people seem to love it, and the MOJO is not a Shield replacement. What it is to me is a great game console and media player that I have tailored to suit me over time, and at this point I would not swap it out for anything else.
Just got the mojo on ebay for 35 delivered
So looks like it should be coming Tuesday.
Cm12 best option
CM 12.1 I would say personally, but you might want to try them all and see which works best for you. You can't really brick the MOJO once the recovery is installed. The files you'll need are around the forums somewhere. You might like the stock OS, who knows?
£35 all in? That's absolutely excellent. Even if you don't like it, for that price you can sell it on again and not lose anything.
I personally followed this guide to install the OS. It says it's for Remix but it helps with all of them. If you have any trouble I'm sure a good search around here will set you on your path. Chances are someone else will have experienced the same problem and posted here.
Once it's installed, first thing I would do is install a shutdown button as otherwise you'll just be unplugging to switch it off. I hate that myself, it can't be any good for the system. I use Quick Reboot Pro, but I think there's a free version. Also as I mentioned before I would try Top TV Launcher too. Many people do not like the stock Android interface on their TV's. I don't either tbh but I could cope with it, but Top TV Launcher is much better and nicely customisable once you know how it works. If you do decide to use CM 12.1, root is in the developer options.
K-Project said:
CM 12.1 I would say personally, but you might want to try them all and see which works best for you. You can't really brick the MOJO once the recovery is installed. The files you'll need are around the forums somewhere. You might like the stock OS, who knows?
£35 all in? That's absolutely excellent. Even if you don't like it, for that price you can sell it on again and not lose anything.
I personally followed this guide to install the OS. It says it's for Remix but it helps with all of them. If you have any trouble I'm sure a good search around here will set you on your path. Chances are someone else will have experienced the same problem and posted here.
Once it's installed, first thing I would do is install a shutdown button as otherwise you'll just be unplugging to switch it off. I hate that myself, it can't be any good for the system. I use Quick Reboot Pro, but I think there's a free version. Also as I mentioned before I would try Top TV Launcher too. Many people do not like the stock Android interface on their TV's. I don't either tbh but I could cope with it, but Top TV Launcher is much better and nicely customisable once you know how it works. If you do decide to use CM 12.1, root is in the developer options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes £25 pound won the bid but a tenner postage and packaging.
Thank you for the tips
Is it easy enough to add extra controllers i.e Xbox pad (i have adapter) and Bluetooth pads
Looking forward to Mario kart and fzero
You can add other pads for two player but to be honest you'll be using the CTRLR as the main controller for the system. You'll likely be better off with Bluetooth pads for multi player gaming (though the only one of those I've tried is the retail CTRLR) as the stock pad included uses up one of the two USB ports provided. This can be a pain if you use the other USB for storage, so you'll have to use a Bluetooth pad as a second controller rather than a wired one. Also I would note that the SD card slot is only really useful for installing OS's. If you try to use it when your new OS is installed it will mess up your wifi (i.e - it won't work). Just reserve the SD card slot for installation purposes only and don't use it as storage. It's a shame but there it is. Unless you stick with the stock OS where I believe it works fine.
Thanks for the heads up so if i want to add external storage another usb way is the way forward.
Yes that would be my recommendation. On mine I have the stock CTRLR in one USB (the 3.0 one) and my external 2Tb hard drive in the other. I've recently started using my retail CTRLR and this does not require a dongle. It's freed up a USB port but I don't really have anything to plug into it anyway beyond a wired pad for two player games.
I hope you enjoy it tbh, but I know people have been this way before and really disliked it. A lot of this was to do with the stock Android OS on a big TV, which is why I recommended the TV launcher above. But also a lot of folks just didn't like having to deal with it in such a manual way. Like I say I paid £60 for mine so could afford to be philosophical about it, as can you I suppose at £30. I suppose those who paid £200 upwards won't be as forgiving, and I would not have been either all told.
Well maybe i have bought a dud my own fault for not reading listing ,
As it was sold as used and not for spares or repairs
Unable to copy and paste but basically the seller maybe from here as apprantly he's gone to flash android tv and basically the unit goes into some sort of boot loop , he mentions 4 coloured balls.
Can I recover this ?
sutty86 said:
Well maybe i have bought a dud my own fault for not reading listing ,
As it was sold as used and not for spares or repairs
Unable to copy and paste but basically the seller maybe from here as apprantly he's gone to flash android tv and basically the unit goes into some sort of boot loop , he mentions 4 coloured balls.
Can I recover this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You most likely can recover this, unless it's a hardware issue. Search through the forums, there is a key combo to get into the recovery menu from boot up... it's something like CTRL-ALT-PRNT SCREEN-I. Failing that there is also the USB AtoA cable which will put you into fastboot mode on bootup, from there you can flash it with whatever you like.
Personally i like the Remix OS image... very stable, everything works including Netflix... I use my MOJO as a Moonlight streaming device that i stream all my Steam games to my TV with, then play from the comfort of my couch :victory:
Enjoy!
sutty86 said:
Well maybe i have bought a dud my own fault for not reading listing ,
As it was sold as used and not for spares or repairs
Unable to copy and paste but basically the seller maybe from here as apprantly he's gone to flash android tv and basically the unit goes into some sort of boot loop , he mentions 4 coloured balls.
Can I recover this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AH! This may be the same listing I was following for a short time. Yes the owner had tried to flash it himself but got stuck with it and didn't know what to do next. I was going to buy it as a backup (I've always got my eye out for a backup!).
It could be a hardware fault but personally I'll be amazed if you can't rescue it one way or the other. The MOJO is incredibly friendly to users and is (I'm told) difficult to actually brick. Unless it is a hardware issue, I don't think you'll have any bother installing TWRP recovery and then installing your chosen OS. There are more than enough quality guides on this site as long as you follow them closely.
I did try Remix myself and loved it. I would have stuck with it, but unfortunately it did not play nicely with my NTFS formatted 2Tb external drive. I had to install Paragon NTFS, but even then when playing back my media files using KODI the playback was a mess of jitter and stutter. No such issue with CM 12.1 - it recognises the drive no problem and playback is silky smooth. YMMV.