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Why I HATED the Surface Pro (just in case you were tempted) ...

I just had to do it. All the hype, all the articles, the lure of OneNote's full power. I had to drop $1000 on a Surface Pro just to see what the fuss was about. Hell, I could always return it but I had to know for myself.
I truly truly HATED the Surface Pro. Here is as short list of what sucks:
1) It's HOT. How hot? After holding it for 30 minutes I felt like I had grabbed a ceramic cup I heated in the microwave. My hand was actually bright red. I have no idea how any sane person could stand holding this toaster over in their hands for any period of time.
2) It's HEAVY. How heavy? Big piece of metal heavy. Also because of it's hard angles it is no fun to hold.
3) It is IMPOSSIBLE TO USE IN PORTRAIT. I mean, this tablet must be a foot high in portrait. If you are trying to type on the soft keyboard the keys are literally 10 inches from the words you are typing so thumb typing is pointless.
4) Considering this has an i5 CPU it actually lags. Scrolling on web pages stutters and dragging pictures across OneNote jerks around like mad (this may actually be a feature of OneNote as it snaps to a grid - so not a bug necessarily).
5) Firefox (if you like that browser) is a DISASTER on this. Pinch to zoom is total fail. Again a lag fest.
6) 1920 x 1080 may sound awesome but on a tablet this small it's not. Even zoomed at 150% text and icons can be tiny and very hard to click.
7) Windows 8 is a schizophrenic mess even on this. Whoever decided Metro was a good idea HAD to be high.
8) The included stylus has a hard plastic tip. Hard plastic tip on slick glass equals HARD TO WRITE. The Note 10.1's rubber tipped stylus is far better.
9) The Surface Pro is not designed to be a tablet. It is more like an ultrabook with a removable keyboard and a pen that you can hold in your hands (if you must).
Why did I write this? Well, if like me you have felt tempted by the Surface Pro and access to full blown OneNote with inking, I wanted to put your mind at rest - don't. The Note 10.1 is a far more "useable" tablet for half the cash.

I totally agree with everything you wrote. My company has given me a surface Pro to test out and I would add the following to your list:
Battery life is only about 4 hours so you are forced to have extra chargers, one for home and one for the office.
The size of the charger is huge. Its a small brick!
There is no silo for the pen! You are supposed to attach the pen in the magnetized power port which means that any little bump and you lose the pen. I give Samsung a lot of credit of delaying the release of the Note 10.1 to redesign a silo for the Spen.
The things I like about the Pro is having Office 2013 and the keyboard cover. However, I actually do not like OneNote. I prefer SNote a hundred times. There is an SNote app for Windows 8 but only for Samsung branded devices. I wish they would make it available for all.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app

mitchellvii said:
I just had to do it. All the hype, all the articles, the lure of OneNote's full power. I had to drop $1000 on a Surface Pro just to see what the fuss was about. Hell, I could always return it but I had to know for myself.
I truly truly HATED the Surface Pro. Here is as short list of what sucks:
1) It's HOT. How hot? After holding it for 30 minutes I felt like I had grabbed a ceramic cup I heated in the microwave. My hand was actually bright red. I have no idea how any sane person could stand holding this toaster over in their hands for any period of time.
2) It's HEAVY. How heavy? Big piece of metal heavy. Also because of it's hard angles it is no fun to hold.
3) It is IMPOSSIBLE TO USE IN PORTRAIT. I mean, this tablet must be a foot high in portrait. If you are trying to type on the soft keyboard the keys are literally 10 inches from the words you are typing so thumb typing is pointless.
4) Considering this has an i5 CPU it actually lags. Scrolling on web pages stutters and dragging pictures across OneNote jerks around like mad (this may actually be a feature of OneNote as it snaps to a grid - so not a bug necessarily).
5) Firefox (if you like that browser) is a DISASTER on this. Pinch to zoom is total fail. Again a lag fest.
6) 1920 x 1080 may sound awesome but on a tablet this small it's not. Even zoomed at 150% text and icons can be tiny and very hard to click.
7) Windows 8 is a schizophrenic mess even on this. Whoever decided Metro was a good idea HAD to be high.
8) The included stylus has a hard plastic tip. Hard plastic tip on slick glass equals HARD TO WRITE. The Note 10.1's rubber tipped stylus is far better.
9) The Surface Pro is not designed to be a tablet. It is more like an ultrabook with a removable keyboard and a pen that you can hold in your hands (if you must).
Why did I write this? Well, if like me you have felt tempted by the Surface Pro and access to full blown OneNote with inking, I wanted to put your mind at rest - don't. The Note 10.1 is a far more "useable" tablet for half the cash.
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@mitchellvii
Why don't you try out one of the Samsung Atom Tablets and let us know your experience.
The Atom editions should solve issues:
1 & 2.
If you install and Dual Boot Android 4.0 x86, then that should solve issues:
3,4,5,6,7
Thus, you can retain the convenience of the Android OS and have the power of Windows 8 without carrying more than 1 device.

I played with one at local store. Win 8 is just not a touch environment. Metro was a try and fix. Microsoft will have to forget they own windows and start thinking fresh to compete with android and crapple. Which both rather you dislike either of the two are becoming very mature and complete operating systems build around your fingers. Not a true business class os patched to try and compete. I will also add tablet software is getting better at productivity and will eventually be able to compete with the true ms type program's. The power of these device's are amazing. If you need full productive programs for now stick with a ultra book type notebook computer. The note 10.1 is the second best thing to that. There is no 3rd place device
My opinion of course conclusion is get a traditional notebook or a note 10.1 tablet

klau1 said:
@mitchellvii
Why don't you try out one of the Samsung Atom Tablets and let us know your experience.
The Atom editions should solve issues:
1 & 2.
If you install and Dual Boot Android 4.0 x86, then that should solve issues:
3,4,5,6,7
Thus, you can retain the convenience of the Android OS and have the power of Windows 8 without carrying more than 1 device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say I agree that Android x86 is a solution. I don't even know how easy it'd be to install on the Pro. Android x86 project has come a long way but there are still issues with it, once it's as easy as just compiling it to x86 then let's talk
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

was walking around the mall and finally saw a surface pro. funny thing is i just read the ts mention the things yesterday. the thing that mostly stuck out was the weight. so first thing i did was pick it up. man that is like picking up a plate of iron... couldnt really get anything going well in the few minutes i messed with it. win8 definately not something for me. nor is carrying around an iron plate...

from a traveling salesman's viewpoint, I love it. I am able to install and run various programs such as AutoCAD (with wedge mouse), a custom estimating software...
Granted the battery life could be better, but I'm able to make sales calls and RDP for my office desktop printouts/updates on the unit without having to charge through a moderate days work. I've never had the heat buildup as described in the first post and it does not have the apps you'll find in the play store. but for a laptop replacement you can travel light with, love it.
FWIW

I think Microsoft has missed the boat. They're obviously not getting Voice of Customer, but are getting voice of Developers when they make these products. Apple figured out what MOST people want for a tablet. Android is assuredly closing that gap and raising the bar (S-Pen). I would recommend that Windows quit trying to compete but get smart and work with Android, so both can crush the Apple serpent.

I have been using Samsung's Ativ Pro for some months now... err... not using at all. It just sits there. Microsoft has missed the train of the mobile age. Because of battery issues it just cant stand by like İOS or Android, it just goes to deep sleep and you cant get your push messages from Facebook.. and no e-mail alerts. I agree it is a detachable ultrabook. I love my Galaxy note II and 10.1, and hardly use my Ipad4.

I actually like the Surface Pro, but it's definitely NOT the same as this tablet. I mean, the Surface is definitely not a.. use-anywhere kind of tablet (I mean, its main "attraction" is that keyboard which really just means that it's not in the same tablet market). So, I'd say that you have to change your expectations because it is definitely an ultrabook in disguise.

The battery life would stop me switching. With my screen brightness turned down I can get a full day at uni out of my note (~ 8 hours) which is fantastic

Mixed feelings...
The weird beveled sides are weird and makes it hard to hold.
The battery life is terrible - even for a full i5 slate.
It is chunky.
I have a Samsung Series 7 slate, which was the reference platform for Win8 and it's a lot better.
As for Win8 itself - yep.. schizophrenic is a good description. You're using desktop and suddenly you're in Metro. You're using Metro and suddenly you're in the desktop. You want to run something - and bam back in Metro - except it's not all your apps - just some of them so over to search which shows you all your apps.
Bring up the keyboard in Metro, things work ok (mostly). Do it in desktop - and it's a crapshoot as to whether it'll come up automatically - and when it does it rearranges your desktop.
Bah.

Sounds like its quite aways from general populations
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I purchased this over the weekend the surface pro 128gb version with type cover. im loving the experience with it so far. its a great and powerful device. no lag at all unlike what the op mentioned. lol

I too had the Pro. It was a very good ultra book (the best out there, in my opinion) that had a kick ass Wacom digitizer, awesome specs (the hard drive is fast as ****) and excellent style. I had it for five months and didn't regret it at all. I found it to be quite light, though obviously not as light as my Note.
It was just a ****ty tablet. Heavy (for a tab), terrible battery life and no Metro apps that are worth having. I used the Desktop most of the time, even after moving to 8.1. Shame, really; I think Metro is a fantastic platform for tablets.
I actually didn't know the Note 10.1 existed until I sold it off last week. I would have never bought it if I did, seeing how it is $500 more. The Note is so much better (right now), since it does everything my Pro did but with more battery, less weight and a Chrome browser that is actually functional. In fact, I found my Note to be easier for reading than my Nexus 7 and sold that off too! The Surface was too heavy for me to read on, and there were no apps for that anyway.
Its screen resolution kind of bites and I miss having a kickstand, but other than that I'm super happy to have sold it off.

If it wasn't for the battery life, I would have bought the surface pro over the note, although I don't plan on using the metro UI at all. I've used it for a total of about an hour and while using the regular desktop in touch mode I didn't run across any issues. Most things there an app for on android you can do through a full Web browser or there's a regular windows program for.
Part of me wants to say that if you're just Web browsing and watching movies then android is a good pick, but I'm getting fed up with pages not loading correctly when trying to browse the Internet. Half of the Web based ebooks I use for school either don't load or have issues.
From a hardware standpoint, I'm never holding my tablet straight out without it resting on something, so weight wouldn't be a issue. If I personally wanted a super casual tablet, I think a cheap 7" tablet like the Nexus 7 would be much better and more comfortable.
It amazes me how quick people are to criticize windows 8. All the metro UI really is is a new start menu that's more touch friendly. Tablet users complain there are no apps, yet have thousands of full blown windows apps they can use. Desktop users complain the start button is gone when all they have to do is hover in the same spot and it appears.
I've been researching for a new tablet or convertible to bring to school there are too many negative reviews for windows 8 for ridiculous reasons. No YouTube app? Guess what, I can play flash in the web browser. The drop box app isn't very good? Guess what, I can install the regular windows program and get two way sync. No email notifications in standby mode? My guess is you have an android phone going off right next to wherever your tablet is anyway.
Lastly, the surface pro is a hybrid device. So it isn't going to be the perfect tablet or the perfect ultra book. Its for people who want a mix of the two. For a device that's been out for nearly nine months, some of these complaints shouldn't be much of a surprise. I don't think its justified to make a thread bashing the product because you failed evaluate your wants and needs and didn't research a $1000 tablet.
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Sher The Love said:
If it wasn't for the battery life, I would have bought the surface pro over the note, although I don't plan on using the metro UI at all. I've used it for a total of about an hour and while using the regular desktop in touch mode I didn't run across any issues. Most things there an app for on android you can do through a full Web browser or there's a regular windows program for.
Part of me wants to say that if you're just Web browsing and watching movies then android is a good pick, but I'm getting fed up with pages not loading correctly when trying to browse the Internet. Half of the Web based ebooks I use for school either don't load or have issues.
From a hardware standpoint, I'm never holding my tablet straight out without it resting on something, so weight wouldn't be a issue. If I personally wanted a super casual tablet, I think a cheap 7" tablet like the Nexus 7 would be much better and more comfortable.
It amazes me how quick people are to criticize windows 8. All the metro UI really is is a new start menu that's more touch friendly. Tablet users complain there are no apps, yet have thousands of full blown windows apps they can use. Desktop users complain the start button is gone when all they have to do is hover in the same spot and it appears.
I've been researching for a new tablet or convertible to bring to school there are too many negative reviews for windows 8 for ridiculous reasons. No YouTube app? Guess what, I can play flash in the web browser. The drop box app isn't very good? Guess what, I can install the regular windows program and get two way sync. No email notifications in standby mode? My guess is you have an android phone going off right next to wherever your tablet is anyway.
Lastly, the surface pro is a hybrid device. So it isn't going to be the perfect tablet or the perfect ultra book. Its for people who want a mix of the two. For a device that's been out for nearly nine months, some of these complaints shouldn't be much of a surprise. I don't think its justified to make a thread bashing the product because you failed evaluate your wants and needs and didn't research a $1000 tablet.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app
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Well said!
-Sent from my laptop running Windows 8

Sher The Love said:
The drop box app isn't very good? Guess what, I can install the regular windows program and get two way sync.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
This feature was an unexpected gem for me. Before if I drew something in Sketchbook on the Note, I had to hit the share button, and pick a format to export to the cloud. Now, I just save it to my Dropbox folder (which I set as the default location), and it'll show up in on my desktop when I get home.
I've been using a Samsung Ativ 500T for a few weeks now, and I actually really like it. The main reason I bought it was I was getting tired of my Note botching all the formulas when I tried to open up an Excel spreadsheet in Polaris, QuickOffice, Google Doc (or fill in your Office Suite). The formatting also became funny on Word docs after opening in one of the above mentioned apps. I'm even able to run PS7 (I'm an amateur, so I don't need CS5 or later).
Of course this device is not perfect. As a straight replacement for a Note or iPad on the go, I still like the Note better. Screen rotation is a bit wonky sometimes on the Ativ. Although the wide screen is great for productivity, it's a bit unweildy, especially in portrait. There is connected standby, but not sure if it stays connected even in deep sleep. So, e-mails don't get come in when I'm asleep. Certain functions also don't work while in deep sleep: I haven't found a decent alarm app I can use (I used my Note as a backup alarm in case I didn't wake up to my phone).

jedah said:
This feature was an unexpected gem for me. Before if I drew something in Sketchbook on the Note, I had to hit the share button, and pick a format to export to the cloud. Now, I just save it to my Dropbox folder (which I set as the default location), and it'll show up in on my desktop when I get home.
I've been using a Samsung Ativ 500T for a few weeks now, and I actually really like it. The main reason I bought it was I was getting tired of my Note botching all the formulas when I tried to open up an Excel spreadsheet in Polaris, QuickOffice, Google Doc (or fill in your Office Suite). The formatting also became funny on Word docs after opening in one of the above mentioned apps. I'm even able to run PS7 (I'm an amateur, so I don't need CS5 or later).
Of course this device is not perfect. As a straight replacement for a Note or iPad on the go, I still like the Note better. Screen rotation is a bit wonky sometimes on the Ativ. Although the wide screen is great for productivity, it's a bit unweildy, especially in portrait. There is connected standby, but not sure if it stays connected even in deep sleep. So, e-mails don't get come in when I'm asleep. Certain functions also don't work while in deep sleep: I haven't found a decent alarm app I can use (I used my Note as a backup alarm in case I didn't wake up to my phone).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sold my note and got a 500T a little over a month ago. While I'm not completely satisfied due to the speed, it's far better than the note was for school. I knew it would be slow, but I got it to hold me off till some newer haswell convertibles came out. Glad I bought the note and 500T refurbished for under $360.
In my opinion, Onenote is much better than anything on android. Especially being able to print full webpages to it. It helps when most of my accounting homework is online based. I can print to onenote and have detailed notes and the problems worked out. I could even get these pages to load correctly on my Note.

I just pre-ordered the Surface Pro 2 for my wife. We got the 256GB option. She wants to be able to consolidate her notebook and Note 10.1 into 1 device. She's a mechanical engineering major and will be running CAD, Matlab, etc and also has a lot of Office oriented and online homework. I think mainly she wants a computer where she can take equation heavy notes on without having to worry what to do on which device and forget about file syncing. Her current notebook is heavy @ 5lbs. Does this seem reasonable or are we asking for a $1500 headache? I keep saying it's going to a heavy tablet. She keeps saying but it's going to be a light notebook. Notifications don't matter since she has an Android phone. We're selling her Note 10.1 to a friend to help finance the Surface Pro 2 so that won't be available to her. I'm excited but nervous at this point.

CONFESSION: Went back to iOS and.....

Sorry for the editorial here but I just had to get this off my chest regardless if anyone reads it or responds. I love my Nexus 7 (2013) but it's been giving me a lot of problems (hardware and software). I decided to upgrade to a bigger tablet and sell my nexus 7 in the process but there weren't really any 10" tablet that enticed me. I have a Note 2 and I love it, but can't stand the hardware buttons on the Note 10.1 (2014 edition). I briefly considered getting a Nexus 10 but it's a year old hardware and I would be very angry if I bought it only for Google to get off their ass and actually announce/release a new Nexus 10 a few weeks or a months later. So....I went to my nearest Apple store and picked up an iPad Air 64gb.
I'm not gonna lie, I loved it. I haven't used iOS in so long but the feel and fluidity of the iPad just brought me back. I went through the app store buying all the apps I've ever wanted but were never ported (or were gimped) on android. Man I was flying high.......until I actually started using the apps and I fell fast and hard. Is there anyone else on here who owns even one iDevice? Because I don't know if iOS is just objectively this bad or if years on android has spoiled me.
First of all, I completely forgot what a horrible experice you can have using iTunes. Ever since I discovered MediaMonkey and sold my iPod I haven't had any experience with iTunes beyond helping my Mom here and there. I think it's been so long that I manged to convince myself that iTunes wasn't so bad. The fact that iTunes and the app store don't automatically sync my purchases still to this day is mind boggling. If I buy something on my brand new out of the box Nexus 7, it's available in my app list on the Play store and across all devices. If I buy something on my iPad then uninstall it, I can't recover it on iTunes on my computer unless i manually plug in my iPad and sync it first. I appreciate the fact that unlike the Play store web browser, iTunes actually auto suggests titles based a first few letters of my search query but what good is it if iTunes crashes ALL THE DAMN TIME. I've had iTunes crash 7 times in one hour. Hell, I've made in-app purchases that don't download to my device for over 24 hours.
In apps, I kept getting buried under menus. I had to back out over and over just to get to certain menu options. I found myself unconsciously swiping from the left. I was one of the people calling for full screen mode on android with a hidden nav bar but man I never thought I would miss it so much. I hold the iPad on the bottom and every time I wanted to go back I had reach up to hit the back button.
iPad has the best Japanese keyboard hands down. However why they wouldn't give you the option of re-sizing the keyboard on such a large device I'll never understand. My fingers can barely reach some keys. Whenever I want to type effectively I have to hold the tablet in one hand and peck with the other. Same thing goes for the home screen. Also, you would think webpages would be clearer but the text size was basically the same as on my nexus 7 (at least for the pages I regularly visit). Just little annoyances building up like pictures downloaded from the web getting saved in my camera roll. Let's not even get into the 4:3 aspect ratio.
The absolute worst thing and the one thing that has me returning the iPad? Multitasking. Trying to download my whole comic book collection was an exercise in patience. It took (honestly) 16 hours for my full library to download. Every time the iPad screen went off, the download paused. Every time I played a video in Youtube, the download paused. This is most frustrating OS experience I've had lately on such a premium well made device. The worst part is that I knew all this going in but I figured the experience just had to be better than the last time I used it, and I couldn't be more wrong. It's changed aesthetically but it's still the same software that pushed me to android to be with.
Now I'm over $1000 (cases and accessories) in and I find myself completely disenchanted by the experience. I just lost $80 in app purchases and I don't know if Apple charges a restocking fee but despite all that I'm still returning the iPad today. ::sigh:: I wish I could download half these apps on the Play store. Hell even the Bamboo Paper app I like so much is available for my Note 2 but not compatible with the Nexus 7 (????) and that's a watered down version to begin with. I think it's hilarious that the ecosystem that's so highly touted wasn't enough to keep me.
Anyway I just had to get this off my chest. For anyone who actually read it to the end, first, thanks and second, if you still use an iDevice along side your android devices then what is keeping you tied to the OS? I honestly tried, because there's nothing I hate more than returning things that aren't defective, but I'm willing to pay a restocking fee because it just isn't worth it to me right now. I wish Goggle would get their game together.

Another thing I never realized. Using the iPad feels like using a resistive screen. The glass is not glue down and so there is a gap that makes tapping on the iPad feel more hollow. Pressing down on the glass distorts the screen which is unfortunate because many of the stylus I used require so much force to work well. I kept wondering why the glass on my Nexus 7 felt more solid. I am surprised none of the reviews I watched/read have mentioned this.

That was an interesting read. I have a friend that did a similar thing. After his Android tablet was stolen he bought an iPad and then just ended up returning it to Bestbuy. Personally I've never owned any iDevice but I've used them plenty and it just doesn't feel as natural to me. In my opinion they are just pretty devices that suffer terribly from software annoyances and lack of functionality.

I was long time ago a iPhone, iPod and iPad user, but even with the advances in IOS7 I'm still feel this platform is not for me, too many constrains and limitation to my taste. Right now I love every aspect of my Nexus 7 (2013) and even the lack of ext SD is not a bummer for me, but I have the 32GB version.
Still I recommend the iPad to those of my friends that grow up under the Apple umbrella. I got a couple of former iPad users converted to the Nexus, but only when I feel they want a change or are open to test different shores. I see some advantages using iPad for some users, so I'm not a IOS hater, just is not for me.
<-------- to much words to say nothing, damn, I becoming dumber....

I agree with basically all of your points. Multitasking is much faster on Android for sure, I can switch between apps very quickly and they will also stay open unlike iOS when they might get cut off. iTunes is horrible, as always, but I don't use it anymore. Spotify is all I need for music and everything else I can handle on the device itself. I've used Android for quite some time I'd like to think, but the same thing keeps me from using it exclusively and that's the feel when you touch the screen. It's hard to explain but it's noticeable especially in scrolling. Android has gotten much, much better lately, but it just doesn't feel as connected as iOS does and that really annoys me. I'm quite sensitive to small details like this, most people seem to not even notice these things. My older issues have been basically fixed, like inconsistent app design (Holo fixes this). I like Android, it's quick and efficient but for my usage patterns I prefer iOS. Also my most used apps, Tweetbot and Alien Blue, have good alternatives on android but not quite as good, that's also part of the reason but that's just because I'm heavily invested in the iOS ecosystem.
Go ahead and disagree, but please use some arguments with some thought put into them.

How was the low memory crashes?

"Is there anyone else on here who owns even one iDevice? Because I don't know if iOS is just objectively this bad or if years on android has spoiled me."
This statement alone made me swap my 16gig iPhone 5s (my first iPhone) for a Note 3. iOS felt "fisher-price" compared to all my years with Android. Being there with my Droid OG and seeing how far Android has come is truly amazing. I should have never doubted Android.
And for Apple to release such a fast CPU and to only gimp it with 1gig of memory across the board is ridiculous. All the "lowmem" errors in the diagnostic log and crashes was a joke.

freemini said:
I agree with basically all of your points. Multitasking is much faster on Android for sure, I can switch between apps very quickly and they will also stay open unlike iOS when they might get cut off. iTunes is horrible, as always, but I don't use it anymore. Spotify is all I need for music and everything else I can handle on the device itself. I've used Android for quite some time I'd like to think, but the same thing keeps me from using it exclusively and that's the feel when you touch the screen. It's hard to explain but it's noticeable especially in scrolling. Android has gotten much, much better lately, but it just doesn't feel as connected as iOS does and that really annoys me. I'm quite sensitive to small details like this, most people seem to not even notice these things. My older issues have been basically fixed, like inconsistent app design (Holo fixes this). I like Android, it's quick and efficient but for my usage patterns I prefer iOS. Also my most used apps, Tweetbot and Alien Blue, have good alternatives on android but not quite as good, that's also part of the reason but that's just because I'm heavily invested in the iOS ecosystem.
Go ahead and disagree, but please use some arguments with some thought put into them.
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Android lags heavily in certain apps and it is very noticeable when you scroll. I think only dyed to the core fanboys would defend that. But that's more a Google thing than it is an Android thing. I have over 1000 pics in Quickpic and it loads and scrolls so smoothly with absolutely no hiccups. However attempting to scroll through the "All Apps" section of the Play Store is a nightmare. A lot of Google made apps lag horribly with the only exception I've found so far being surprisingly Maps and Keep. Scrolling is smoother on iOS but it has it's wealth of problems. I had 12 re-springs yesterday attempting to use Safari with only 3 tabs open. Switched to Dolphin and it was only marginally better. It also lagged though not as noticeably as Android.
I agree that iOS offers a very consistent experience and design language and some of the apps are just better designed than their counterparts will ever be on android. I blame Google here though. When I was considering 10" tablets, one of the things that swayed me, beyond the fact that they're weren't options I liked in Android, was the fact that the Play Store just doesn't have many tablet optimized apps. I know some people are going to say it's up to the devs to redesign their apps but why would they bother when Google seems be making it a moot point. Instead of incentivising them to make better optimized tablet apps, Google instead went the opposite route and made their tablet UI more like a Phablet UI. My Nexus 7 just feels like scaled up Note 2 without the Stylus or memory slot and yet my Note 2 (which I still don't understand) has access to more productivity apps than the Nexus. It can't just be because it has a stylus, those are a dime a dozen and I have 2 Bamboo stylus that work very well on my Nexus, so why the limitation when the larger screen would benefit more from handwriting and drawing.
iOS is only slightly better. They may have better optimized tablet apps but all a lot the apps do is move things around while giving you the illusion of more real estate. On my brother's iPhone 5s and my iPad Air, the Bamboo Paper app gives us the same number of lines when we open a notebook. While Android is guilty of leaving phone UI's on tablets so you're left with a lot of white space, iOS is the opposite. Every little bit of your screen is filled but a lot of times it's just by apps that scale up their visuals instead actually optimizing it. Though I should add that I am one of those people that prefers to always use my tablet in portrait mode unless an app forces landscape mode. This is even more evident on the home screen and settings and why I complained about the Keyboard. Apple literally just scaled up everything in their tablets. The keyboard, the icons, the layout...everything is exactly the same as on their phones.
I suppose it would be easy for me to get heavily invested back into the ecosystem. I have hundreds of apps I bought previously (when I was still an iPhone user) but for about 98% of those I'm forced to re-buy the tablet version if I want them again. Never thought I would say this, but if I could load the App store on my Android device while still keeping everything fundamentally android, I'd be happy as hell. I know iPad is better built but some decisions like leaving a space between the glass and the screen or putting both speakers at the bottom seem very odd to me. Sometimes the screen feels very plastic because of the give.

mi7chy said:
How was the low memory crashes?
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I got a lot of those but only using browser apps. Surprisingly none of the other 30 apps I used crashed even once but the web browsers just went crazy crashing left and right sometimes just from clicking on a link.

cdmoore74 said:
"Is there anyone else on here who owns even one iDevice? Because I don't know if iOS is just objectively this bad or if years on android has spoiled me."
This statement alone made me swap my 16gig iPhone 5s (my first iPhone) for a Note 3. iOS felt "fisher-price" compared to all my years with Android. Being there with my Droid OG and seeing how far Android has come is truly amazing. I should have never doubted Android.
And for Apple to release such a fast CPU and to only gimp it with 1gig of memory across the board is ridiculous. All the "lowmem" errors in the diagnostic log and crashes was a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I would never consider iOS for a phone and to be honest unless Samsung does something really stupid to the Note line I think all my phones moving forward will a Galaxy Note (I love the Nexus line but the functionality offered by the Note line is unmatched). I just thought Apple might provide a better tablet experience and if it had I would have stuck with it. There's no loyalty in tech. I buy what works best for me and if that happens to be Apple or Android I show my support by buying their products. I'm just surprised that Apple didn't do it for me. I was really expecting to move forward with an iPad in my backpack and a Note 2 in my pocket.

I have a 5th gen iPod Touch and absolutely love it. As far as music players, I just don't think they get any better. As far as phones and tablets, I'm pretty much always going to be an Android fan. I do have an Acer Iconia W510, running Windows 8.1 but it's running an x86 processor and not using that RT crap. With its keyboard dock, I think of it as more of a laptop than a tablet, with the added bonus of being able to get the keyboard out of my way.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Analyss14 said:
I got a lot of those but only using browser apps. Surprisingly none of the other 30 apps I used crashed even once but the web browsers just went crazy crashing left and right sometimes just from clicking on a link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my experience, but it seems isolated to the iPad air. I've had my 5S for about a month and I don't have a single LowMemory log, I have a fair share of Alien Blue crashes though.

I would like a small ipod with blue tooth so I can exchange music....
But I think it s too much to ask!

I had the first ipad, an ipad 2 and an ipad4. In the end, I always come back to Android and the ipads go to the wife/kids.
I won't even consider an ipad until Apple adds a proper file management system. I have multiple file types for projects and don't want to try and keep track of what app I need to open to get to my data.
Actually, not having USB OTG would be a problem for me since I use usb-rs232 adapters that wouldn't work with idevices. I rarely use this but when I need it, it is certainly easier than carrying a laptop. I guess I'm be more inclined to get a Surface 2 Pro and a 7" android device. without a file manager, apple is useless to me.
If it wasn't Nexus, probably a Samsung Note for the S-Pen. I'd like to try it and see if it is any good.

If you are looking for a 10" tablet, I have now had many android tablets. I currently have the Note 10.1 2014 and the Nexus 7. The Shield is not really a tablet but I have it as well. The Note 10.1 2014 is far and way the most useful tablet I have owned. It has great battery life and a spectacular screen. It is smaller and lighter than the Nexus 10. I am not a fan of the home button it has but that would be my only complaint. I like the Nexus 7 a bunch also it is great for throwing in a pocket on the go. I am totally against iAnything.

The main issue I have with android apps are the pdf readers, I have tried every pdf app but non of the scroll smoothly, not even basic text books.
ios app developers have to keep their apps top notch to compete within the appstore, on google play there are threemmajor pdf apps ( paid)
Ezpdf, repligo reader, mantano reader
All of them have major problems witth either speed of rendering, highlighting difficulties , clumbsy menus and much more.
And note another weird thing, non of them have implemented immersion mode, in fact the only reader app that has enabled it is moon reader.
I get that 4.4 is on a very low share of their market but still these are paid apps, they should have taken the time to implement it.
Nexus 7 with its quadcore hits a wall when it comes to these apps

RKight said:
I have a 5th gen iPod Touch and absolutely love it. As far as music players, I just don't think they get any better. As far as phones and tablets, I'm pretty much always going to be an Android fan. I do have an Acer Iconia W510, running Windows 8.1 but it's running an x86 processor and not using that RT crap. With its keyboard dock, I think of it as more of a laptop than a tablet, with the added bonus of being able to get the keyboard out of my way.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Loved my iPod 5G in the few months I had it. Very decent camera built in as will.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
---------- Post added at 06:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 AM ----------
Only thing I miss after selling my iOS device is the exclusive apps/games like Bastion, Limbo etc. That's all.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)

You should try iPhone, Once you did, you would never say this again
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Different strokes...
I've owned an iPhone and an iPad and I was a Mac developer for 17 years.
I'll never go back to Apple products again as long as I live. My experiences with the new iDevices has been execrable. But what's much worse is the attitude that Apple fans have "Try an iPhone and you'll never go back." Right. Because we're all exactly the same, want the same things - value the same things.
No wonder people call them iSheep. They want everyone to be exactly the same.
Well, screw that.
To paraphrase Edgar Friendly from Demolition Man
"You see, according to Steve Jobs' plan. *I'm* the enemy. Because I like to think, I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech, freedom of choice. I'm the kind if guy who would sit in the Best Buy and think "Gee, should I have the big screen or the 3D screen phone with the side order of 7" tablet?" I *want* high cholesterol. I want to eat bacon, butter and buckets of cheese alright? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinatti in a non-smoking section. I wanna run around naked with green jell-o all over my body reading a Playboy magazine. Why? Because maybe I feel the need to, okay pal? I've *seen* the future, you know what it is? It's a 47 year-old virgin in gray pajamas soaking in a bubble bath, drinking a broccoli milkshake and thinking "I'm sophisticated because I have a fricking iPhone". You wanna live the Apple way, you gotta live Jobs' way. What he wants, when he wants, how he wants. Your other option: come down here, maybe flash your own ROMs."

Cool story. I read it till the end. We should create ex-IOS support group.
Here's my story (long one) :
I still have my launch day iPad2. Mainly since it's in pieces atm.
I've been repairing it several times since spring this year. It was poorly assembled to begin with, the glass was lifting and it'd cut my thumb every now and then.
It finally stopped charging. So I bought a replacement charge connector to fix it.
End up damaging the wifi antenna while opening it.
Bought replacement part. First one didn't work.
2 parts later, I got it fixed.
At this time, the glass was cracked beyond help. Bought a replacement part to fix it.
At this point, I ended up ripping the 4 pin speaker connector.
I'm just gonna solder the wires directly to the main board to fix it.
Then I'm going to flip it on CL.
Around the same time my iPad2 was problematic, my iPhone4 home button gave up.
Didn't feel like going through the same ordeals as the iPad, I sold the iPhone 4 with broken home button on CL for $175.
When I finally finished repairing my iPad2, I'm pretty sure I could get at least $300 for it, since others are asking $350-400.
At the same time when 2 of my iDevices gave up, I had to buy cheap replacements: LG Optimus L9 $150 and B&N Nook HD $150.
I had tried Android prior to this point, but hated them (poorly made, slow, weird interface).
When my L9 and Nook HD work great, fast, so flexible, and everything that's not iOS, I was BLOWN AWAY!
I ended up learning a lot more about Android, rooting, found Samba client app, my life is finally complete again.
I've since bought: Nexus 4, Note 2 and 2x Nexus 7 2013.
At this point, it'd take a lot of Google eff-ups (like the updated G maps), to make me want switch back to iOS.
Oh, and I also sold my iPod Nano 8GB on CL for $75, because the button was starting to wiggle on me. And the buyer bought it knowing about the problem. Bought a Clip+ & 64GB uSDXC and still left with some change.
BTW, Apple wanted $200-400 to repair the iPad2 for the stopped charging issue.
Last, I figured out why my Android experience a long time ago (2.2) was horrible: combination of immature OS and cheap Chinese made crap (don't know why, my friends had garbage like H20 and HTC at that time), was what got me.

Need help to decide what to buy

Hello, because of my job, I need to use my 15" MacBook Pro daily. However, I also want to buy a tablet so that I can read/annotate pdf files while on public transportation and on the bus stop. In my current city, I spend about an hour each day on the bus and 30-50 minutes waiting at the bus stop. On the evening and perhaps sometimes on the weekend, I prefer to bring a lighter tablet with me.
Every 2-3 months, I stay in another city for a week or so. In that city, I spend about 2 hours on public transportation daily. During the summer, I stay in another country for about 2 months.
At the beginning, I was considering to buy the Note PRO 12.2. However, after trying the wifi version two times (no LTE version in my city yet), I don't find it attractive. For example, a bit heavier, without rooting can't have several windows stacking on top of each other likes Windows OS, not all apps can be multi-tasked, large screen but same resolution as the 10.1 2014, virtual keyboard taking half the screen, etc. Also, if I get a Note PRO 12.2, I have to carry it with my 15" laptop when I am traveling.
So, it seems that my choice is 10.1 2014 or Note PRO 8.4" when available. Is this the right way to think? I hope to make the purchase in about 2 months as I have delayed the purchase since last December.
Although being able to view two pdf files side by side is good, I cannot test it because only one local store has the device. They don't allow connection to the internet. I can't test the device by downloading some pdf files.

I have my note pro in a bag that I carry with me for college and when I am on the bus. Only difference between the note pro and the note 10.1 2014 other than the screen size is the multi window, the note 10.1 can only do 2 windows while the note pro can do up to 4. If you use pen window, you can cheat it and possibly go to 6-7. You can also do that on the note 10.1 as well. If you are looking for a pen tablet, I'd go with the note 10.1 2014 or the note pro, if you plan on wanting portability, then you can go for the tab pro 8.4 . I believe all pro series does come with Hancom office, which is like Microsoft Office. That's what sold me to get the note pro. Prices for all of them went down on amazon.
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Premium HD app

Thanks. I do need the pen. Too bad Samsung has not made the Note Pro 8.4".

I dunno man, I am not the type of person who is motivated to convince others to buy something I did just to feel better about my own purchase decisions. That said I would suggest considering a surface pro 2 for a few reasons:
You mention window stacking as opposed to side by side. Text and interface item scaling in multi-window can behave oddly in some apps that you force to do it once rooted.
You mention comparing pdf documents of the same type at the same time; out of the box you can do this with windows but you'll have to force android to do it and I personally haven't tried it so I'm not sure how well apps behave when you do.
You want to do heavy PDF annotation. I've spent a lot on pdf applications and can never find one that works well for this. The best that I have found FOR ME is Easy PDF. I do engineering plan reviews and the plan sets I open for review can have hundreds of sheets (300 sheets that are 24"x36" are not uncommon). All of the apps that I have tried work slowly and are clunky with my large files.
The thing is, aside from size none of the other complaints you have about the note pro will go away when you switch to a smaller note tablet.
At least with the surface pro you are getting a full fledged OS that out of the box will do much of the things that you want. Virtual keyboards though are by nature par for the course with tablets (and the tab pro has size options on the keyboard just like other Android devices have) although with the surface there are some elegant keyboard case options. It's all subjective of course, I don't like large keyboard cases that increase the size of the tablet so much that they look like netbooks.
All that said I do enjoy my note pro and I am satisfied with my sacrifices on the productivity side (plan review) which are outweighed by the entertainment value of the device. I simply love android and customizing my android devices.
Edit:
Just want to add that I fully realize that just because I can't do everything that I want to do with regards to productivity applications doesn't mean others can't do what they want to do. A lot of threads end up getting filled with debates over what works well and what doesn't but at the end of the day while there may be some basic commonality among workflows everyone has different needs so the only way to truly know is to try to use the device yourself. Retailers with flexible return policies are a great way to do that.

Let me try to give you some quick conclusion for the 3 tablets that you would choose from :
based on what you gave above and the common usage of your tablet it will be for reading mostly and a slight pdf editing if that happens so with that its better to go minimal and handy and get the tab pro 8.4 as it will be your best choice for reading and the slight editing etc
( all pro versions come with hancom office so you will get all the goodies with whatever tablets you choose) .
most of our usage for a tablet is multimedia consumption and that likes to be on a big screen for better entertaining experience and in your case if you wish to have the reading and multimedia both in a pretty portable size then go for the note 10.1 2014 edition or the tab pro 10.1 ( if you don't need the s-pen ( you got to keep in mind that the three tablets note 10.1/tab pro 10.1 / tab pro 8.4 have a pretty slight price difference and the choice will be up to you etc) .
*** transportation where you stay will also be important : if its not overcrowded and every time you will be able to have a seat and not so tight in crowd or standing then any of all the tablets will be very fine for you as after all if you are sitting you will find a nice way to hold your tablet somehow comfortably .
12.2 : after you finish your day and resting at home it will be time for media or nice relaxing reading and that size is the best when it comes to the in-house usage as you will always find a comfy way to do whatever you need with your tablet weather if you put it on your lab or a table or on a stand or on a pillow in bed and so on .
so here is my advice to you : think of your tablet needs in-house and out-house usage before you make a decision . Good luck with your pick.
Hope i helped you make your choice.

Depends on what kind of pdf you read. If they are novels or similar format, 8" will be fine and can be held in one hand comfortably. If it's double column or technical stuffs, 12.2" is almost like a full size hard copy. It is a high price for this single purpose however, even though it does well. I have not tried the 10" so can't comment. Personally, I bought the 12.2 mainly for pdf but only because there is no alternative at the moment. Couldn't care less about all the gimmicks that comes with it. Maybe I should get the Tab Pro and save $100.

hajime_android said:
Hello, because of my job, I need to use my 15" MacBook Pro daily. However, I also want to buy a tablet so that I can read/annotate pdf files while on public transportation and on the bus stop. In my current city, I spend about an hour each day on the bus and 30-50 minutes waiting at the bus stop. On the evening and perhaps sometimes on the weekend, I prefer to bring a lighter tablet with me.
Every 2-3 months, I stay in another city for a week or so. In that city, I spend about 2 hours on public transportation daily. During the summer, I stay in another country for about 2 months.
At the beginning, I was considering to buy the Note PRO 12.2. However, after trying the wifi version two times (no LTE version in my city yet), I don't find it attractive. For example, a bit heavier, without rooting can't have several windows stacking on top of each other likes Windows OS, not all apps can be multi-tasked, large screen but same resolution as the 10.1 2014, virtual keyboard taking half the screen, etc. Also, if I get a Note PRO 12.2, I have to carry it with my 15" laptop when I am traveling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I believe I am in a very similar position to you. As a student, I have a MBPr 15" for most functions and a Note 10.1 2014 for PDF annotation. The normal workflow on my note 10.1 2014 is to take notes on it or annotate PDF's on it and then have that sync to dropbox and then viewable on my phone or MBPr later on to supplement studying. The Note 10.1 2014 is a good device but I haven't rooted it so I haven't been able to use my old Note 10.1 1st Gen Workflow of having Lecture Notes open next to EZPDF. It was always cramped when I used it this way too so I'm hoping the Note 12.2 Pro fits my needs. It comes in today so I'll be able to update you later this week.
Yoshi1221 said:
Only difference between the note pro and the note 10.1 2014 other than the screen size is the multi window ...
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well ... there's is the screen which is 44% bigger ...
muzzy996 said:
I dunno man, I am not the type of person who is motivated to convince others to buy something I did just to feel better about my own purchase decisions. That said I would suggest considering a surface pro 2 for a few reasons:
You mention window stacking as opposed to side by side. Text and interface item scaling in multi-window can behave oddly in some apps that you force to do it once rooted.
You mention comparing pdf documents of the same type at the same time; out of the box you can do this with windows but you'll have to force android to do it and I personally haven't tried it so I'm not sure how well apps behave when you do.
You want to do heavy PDF annotation. I've spent a lot on pdf applications and can never find one that works well for this. The best that I have found FOR ME is Easy PDF. I do engineering plan reviews and the plan sets I open for review can have hundreds of sheets (300 sheets that are 24"x36" are not uncommon). All of the apps that I have tried work slowly and are clunky with my large files.
The thing is, aside from size none of the other complaints you have about the note pro will go away when you switch to a smaller note tablet.
At least with the surface pro you are getting a full fledged OS that out of the box will do much of the things that you want. Virtual keyboards though are by nature par for the course with tablets (and the tab pro has size options on the keyboard just like other Android devices have) although with the surface there are some elegant keyboard case options. It's all subjective of course, I don't like large keyboard cases that increase the size of the tablet so much that they look like netbooks.
All that said I do enjoy my note pro and I am satisfied with my sacrifices on the productivity side (plan review) which are outweighed by the entertainment value of the device. I simply love android and customizing my android devices.
Edit:
Just want to add that I fully realize that just because I can't do everything that I want to do with regards to productivity applications doesn't mean others can't do what they want to do. A lot of threads end up getting filled with debates over what works well and what doesn't but at the end of the day while there may be some basic commonality among workflows everyone has different needs so the only way to truly know is to try to use the device yourself. Retailers with flexible return policies are a great way to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are all good points. My main use is pdf annotation and lecture notes and pdf annotation is really clunky. But the problem with surface pro is bad battery life and having to use windows 8 (which I hate for most other things). I got the note 10.1 2014 because it was half th eprice but the pro 12.2 is almost as expensive. Samsung is just milking early consumers though as they already lowered the price by $50 and given the bill of materials is probably only like 250 for this thing (given it uses all of the same components as a note 10.1 2014 except for the screen), I'd say they have plenty of room to pricecut versus an Intel-based device.
wlachan said:
Depends on what kind of pdf you read. If they are novels or similar format, 8" will be fine and can be held in one hand comfortably. If it's double column or technical stuffs, 12.2" is almost like a full size hard copy. It is a high price for this single purpose however, even though it does well. I have not tried the 10" so can't comment. Personally, I bought the 12.2 mainly for pdf but only because there is no alternative at the moment. Couldn't care less about all the gimmicks that comes with it. Maybe I should get the Tab Pro and save $100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are intel-based alternatives such as the ultrabooks and laptops that have digitizers as well as the surface-pro. The Sony Flip 14 is about the same price but much bulkier. You're right, nothing does come close in terms of lightness and mobility in terms of battery life but it's an expensive price Samsung is charging right now. Mine is coming in the mail and if it doesn't live up to expectations, I expect to stick to my note 10.1 2014 or maybe even go to a Sony Flip 13.
I really wish Samsung would pay for the guys behind iannotate to make a good version of their program for Android. It's probably the number one use of everyone I've met with the device to read and markup pdf's. Ezpdf is ok but lacking the ease-of-use for a flagship program.

Thanks. Please do update your experience with the PRO 12.2 We are indeed in a similar situation. I plan to use the tablet mostly for reading academic research papers. I would be good if I could have two papers shown side by side. However, as the screen resolution is fixed, doing so just require me scrolling and adjusting the windows size. I too use ezpdf. It seems that we cannot open two pdf using ezpdf. When we swipe across the screen, the page on which window is going to change? I once considered Surface Pro 2 but it is quite heavy especially if I carry both my 15" MBP and the tablet.

Not all apps support multiple instance and as far as I can tell EzPDF is no exception. So what one would do is just force it and another PDF reading application to be multiwindow enabled using something like pen window manager and then use two different PDF viewers to get the side by side action going. Then its just a matter of doing your gestures on one side or the other.
As a test I just did two documents side by side in EzPDF and Adobe Reader. Works like a charm.
You know if your annotation is going to be light then the note pro may very well suit your purposes provided you're not akin to rooting it (and living with the consequences thereof).

hajime_android said:
Thanks. Please do update your experience with the PRO 12.2 We are indeed in a similar situation. I plan to use the tablet mostly for reading academic research papers. I would be good if I could have two papers shown side by side. However, as the screen resolution is fixed, doing so just require me scrolling and adjusting the windows size. I too use ezpdf. It seems that we cannot open two pdf using ezpdf. When we swipe across the screen, the page on which window is going to change? I once considered Surface Pro 2 but it is quite heavy especially if I carry both my 15" MBP and the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wanted to give you a little insight of my experience...i ordered the note pro LTE p905 and had it delivered...i actually bought the wifi model first but was unhappy with the performance of the exynos processor and wanted the snapdragon 800​...i have a mac book pro I bought a few months ago as well but much prefer a tablet. ..i already owned the note 8.0 and 10.1 2012 and was waiting the the pro and I have to say the experience is unlike anything else...the screen size and clarity offer a laptop size and feel, with similar functionality all packed into a 12.2 inch galaxy note 3. I find I use the s pen 50x more than I ever did on my 8 or 10 inch note tables, the new s pen and improvements to the digizer hardware helps as well. I'm a college student in my senior year of my biochemical degree and the pro has already completely replace my MacBook pro, mini windows 8.1 laptop and smaller note tablets. The size, speed, new on screen keyboard, s pen, and insane battery life make the note pro LTE by far the best device I've ever owned and I currently own and develop roms for several of these below
Galaxy note 1 i717
Galaxy note 2 i317
Galaxy note 3 n900a
Galaxy mega 6.3 i9205 white
Galaxy mega 6.3 i9205 black
Galaxy note 8.0
Galaxy note 10.1 2012
Galaxy note pro LTE
Mega

megalomanic14 said:
I just wanted to give you a little insight of my experience...i ordered the note pro LTE p905 and had it delivered...i actually bought the wifi model first but was unhappy with the performance of the exynos processor and wanted the snapdragon 800​...i have a mac book pro I bought a few months ago as well but much prefer a tablet. ..i already owned the note 8.0 and 10.1 2012 and was waiting the the pro and I have to say the experience is unlike anything else...the screen size and clarity offer a laptop size and feel, with similar functionality all packed into a 12.2 inch galaxy note 3. I find I use the s pen 50x more than I ever did on my 8 or 10 inch note tables, the new s pen and improvements to the digizer hardware helps as well. I'm a college student in my senior year of my biochemical degree and the pro has already completely replace my MacBook pro, mini windows 8.1 laptop and smaller note tablets. The size, speed, new on screen keyboard, s pen, and insane battery life make the note pro LTE by far the best device I've ever owned and I currently own and develop roms for several of these below
Galaxy note 1 i717
Galaxy note 2 i317
Galaxy note 3 n900a
Galaxy mega 6.3 i9205 white
Galaxy mega 6.3 i9205 black
Galaxy note 8.0
Galaxy note 10.1 2012
Galaxy note pro LTE
Mega
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the experience. Could you please let me know what improvements are there?
"the new s pen and improvements to the digizer hardware helps as well."

The Surface Pro 2 is over a third of a pound heavier than the Note Pro with a much smaller screen. As a size to weight ratio consideration, the Note Pro blows away Surface Pro 2.

The purchase decision is getting more difficult after Office for iPAD is announced. I want to be able to read both pdf and PowerPoint presentation files. Annotation on pdf files is required but would be nice if I can do the same thing on PowerPoint. Some PowerPoint files include animations. So far, I only found an app called "Presentations" by SoftMaker that can run the animations. Didn't have a chance to test all the features before the expiration of the trial period. Too bad the Air has no stylus. Are the 3rd party ones not as good as the S-pen?

The inclusion of pressure sensitivity to active stylus devices definitely improves the control one has over handwriting with the result looking more natural. Since the tip of active stylus pens is fine they really are better suited for note taking that requires packing more information in a given amount of space. I would liken it to being able to write comfortably well on narrow ruled paper vs wide ruled. You can do note taking and annotation well with capacitive stylus though.

hajime_android said:
The purchase decision is getting more difficult after Office for iPAD is announced. I want to be able to read both pdf and PowerPoint presentation files. Annotation on pdf files is required but would be nice if I can do the same thing on PowerPoint. Some PowerPoint files include animations. So far, I only found an app called "Presentations" by SoftMaker that can run the animations. Didn't have a chance to test all the features before the expiration of the trial period. Too bad the Air has no stylus. Are the 3rd party ones not as good as the S-pen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are getting the iPad air then go with this stylus as its the one of the best in the market http://www.lynktec.com/TruGlide-Apex-Fine-Point-Active-Stylus-p/lttg-0011.htm . i was getting the air first but i wanted the bigger size anyway but i was going to get that stylus for the iPad air after very long search and here is a video showing you a demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9YlgvKrjE
and here is a full unboxing and review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3v3sTqqWTg

muzzy996 said:
The inclusion of pressure sensitivity to active stylus devices definitely improves the control one has over handwriting with the result looking more natural. Since the tip of active stylus pens is fine they really are better suited for note taking that requires packing more information in a given amount of space. I would liken it to being able to write comfortably well on narrow ruled paper vs wide ruled. You can do note taking and annotation well with capacitive stylus though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How bad is writing using capacitive stylus compared with the S-pen? Seems similar to me.
For those who have used the Note 10.1 2014, PRO 12.2, Air, how do they compare in terms of annotations? I do know that on IOS devices, you can write a phone number on the screen and have it stored in the phone directory. This is just a minor feature.

I agree that the 12.2 exceeds any tablet ever. It's a piece of art in a way. I sold my macbook air and replaced it with the 12.2. I also have the note 10.1 2014 edition and the note 8. Hancom office is great in the 12.2. I use h word and it's totally compatible with word for the mac on my mac desktop. Btw, if anyone needs a case for the big guy, I got the moko from amazon for about $10 and it's perfect. For writing I'll use it with a bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth mouse. I'll probable get a case - keyboard -- the logitech pro -- if I need to travel AND work, but mostly I see using it at home where I work.

Hello, considering to get the PRO 12.2 or 10.1 2014 this week. I have a few questions:
1. Under the split keyboard, is it more difficult to type on the PRO 12.2 than on the 10.1 2014?
2. Have you guys found out the advantages of having a USB 3.0 on the PRO 12.2?
3. Besides the DPI and weight, are there things that the 10.1 2014 is better than the PRO 12.2?
4. How is the battery life if watching the same videos for hours on both devices?
5. How is the charging rate of both devices from 0% to 100% while being used or unused? Is the LTE version better?
6. Some people said that the 12.2 has a larger real estate. It has the same resolution as the 10.1 2014. So, it does not has a larger real estate I think. Right?
7. For multi-windows, if we open 2 windows, the amount of things that we can see is less on each window. If we open 4 windows, the amount of things that are displaced is even smaller in each window. Can anything be done on this?
8. Can the PRO 12.2 and 10.1 2014 be connect to a projector?
9. Besides a bigger screen, what is the point of buying the PRO 12.2 compared with the 10.1 2014?
Diogenes5: how is your experience? I am considering to buy either the Note PRO 12.2 or 10.1 2014.
Thanks

Just because resolution is the same doesn't mean you cant comfortably fit more information on screen. On the contrary, if pixel density is such that that things can be zoomed out on multiple windows then the additional screen size of the 12.2 can be an advantage over the 10.1, even without the advantage of rooting and adjusting lcd density settings.
Screen size positives go beyond just fitting information on the screen though, such as having larger areas to write on when taking notes or having a more comfortable viewing distance, or having a more natural sized landscape keyboard.
On the flip side the larger screen means more weight which goes beyond just the weight in your bag but also stress on your wrists during extended use handheld.

I just got the Note Pro from work in addition to my Note 10.1. If I had to choose just one I'd go for the 10.1 because the weight makes it a better all purpose tablet. Gaming is better because the weight of the 12.2 is more fatiguing and the size makes some on screen controls awkward.
The full size keyboard on the Pro makes typing a breeze - it's the first on screen keyboard that allows me to type with two hands just like a physical keyboard. The larger screen makes it much easier to take handwritten notes. Video is impressive and more immersive, and it is the best comic book and magazine reader ever made - nothing ever seems cramped or requires zooming.
If you can handle the extra 8 ounces, the Pro is a no brainer. But after using both, the size and weight of the 10.1 is perfect.
Or you can get both!

Is the Note Pro 12.2 for Me?

I'm in the market for a tablet (or possibly a Chromebook). I'm an editor of a website and need to be able to use it to work on my Wordpress site effectively so strong browser support and keyboard input is crucial.
I like the idea of an Android tablet as I own a Galaxy S4 and have a large collection of Android apps already. Thus, it would also start out with a nice collection of apps.
I'm a bit unclear as to the differences between the Tab Pro 12.2 and the Note Pro 12.2. They seem very alike except for the stylus. Clearly I'm missing something as that's not much to account for the price difference.
I have an iPad 2 and it's nice but I can't really work on it at all. It's too small to enjoy movies on and, sorry, it's Apple so it's too limited.
I'm also wondering about keyboards. If I got this way, should I get the Samsung keyboard, Logitech keyboard or some other keyboard? I'd like to find a very responsive keyboard. It would be an additional boon if it were also pretty quiet. My GF gets disturbed by late night typing on my desktop gaming keyboard.
I'm older so larger is better for my eyes. I'm at a point where I often pretty much need reading glasses for my S4 now.
For ages I was thinking I wanted a Transformer of some design but Asus seems to have fallen behind. Samsung seems to give me lots of potential breathing room.
Any input greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure the Note Pro and Tab Pro are identical except for the S-Pen and wacom digitizer that powers it. Absolutely if you don't need pen input for notes or drawing then get the Tab.
You can use just about any Bluetooth keyboard with the Pro 12.2. I've had no trouble with several Logitech and Microsoft BT keyboards. I haven't used any of the made-for Note 12.2 keyboards.
My personal fave keyboard is the Logitech K810. It feels excellent for typing, has backlit keys and can instantly switch between 3 different devices.Its very quiet too- keys feel really nice.
Honestly though, if you really want the best laptop style experience, personally I'd opt for a decent lightweight x86 laptop vs a tablet. I'm not crazy about chromebooks though. I'd personally take the Note 12.2 over a chromebook any day, but that's just me.

Thanks. I keep thinking about a laptop but wonder about battery life, weight and the lack of instant-on, etc. I have my desktop always on so x86 isn't a problem. I saw the Tab Pro 12.2 at Best Buy today (they didn't have the Note Pro 12.2) and the size was fine.
However, on your keyboard issue. My concern is that I would like it to be connected so that it can act as a solid laptop replacement. It sounds like you use yours, say, around the house? Not sure how comfortable I'd be transporting two devices like that.

Years ago I'd loathe the thought of converting to Mac but I gotta tell ya, the retina macbook pros are pretty sweet in regards to battery life and instant on . . .
Agree with Zaptoons. Mobile platforms are always a compromise. I have to wonder if you'll be able to do the Wordpress work on Android, though I do see that there are apps for it.

muzzy996 said:
Years ago I'd loathe the thought of converting to Mac but I gotta tell ya, the retina macbook pros are pretty sweet in regards to battery life and instant on . . .
Agree with Zaptoons. Mobile platforms are always a compromise. I have to wonder if you'll be able to do the Wordpress work on Android, though I do see that there are apps for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the Mac, that might be a bit out of the price range for this purchase. I also really despise Apple on too many fronts. I recommend them highly and readily -- just not for me so far, but I will continue to refresh the thinking.
On Wordpress work, it really comes down to the capability of the browser. As long as it supports a solid browser experience, I should be okay. I hit Best Buy today to see if the 12.2 would be "too big" and it wasn't. I loaded the browser and it seemed to be solid. I just wasn't comfortable logging into Wordpress though. No idea about stored accounts, etc.

I hear you on the mac.
Definition of solid performance is subjective, you realize that right?
Let's put it this way; unless there's a tablet specific application to do what you need to on wordpress then nothing other than screen size is going to differ between the Note Pro and your s4. The browsers are going to be about the same.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

Leading up to the launch of the Note Pro 12.2 I was eager to get one. Then I stopped by Best Buy and, on a whim, picked up the Acer C720P Chromebook. For a third the cost it doesn't have as big, high resolution or bright of a screen as the Note Pro but it has served me well for everything I need in a mobile device. I even stopped using my Note 10.1 OG. Notice I said mobile device. The Acer has typically given me a solid 7 hours of batter life which is amazing.
Having said that...if you are worried about needing reading glasses and want more screen real estate, the Note Pro might be your path. Though, with a higher resolution type is smaller at normal zoom. You can simply zoom in for bigger text.
If WordPress is your thing, the Chromebook will handle that with no issues. It is a browser afterall.
I'm still contemplating the Note Pro but it is not at the top of my wish list since I purchased the Chromebook. At first it was weird to get used to but it is second nature now and the added offline support for most of the Google apps has sealed the deal for me.
Just my two cents.

Again, great info from all. My thoughts:
1. I haven't had good luck with Android Wordpress apps. To me, they're all a kludge. However, that doesn't mean you can't be productive with Wordpress on Android. The limitation on my S4 is real estate. The browser seems to work fine but I can't be effective with the size of the screen or the keyboard. I suspect a larger screen would work. In part I was hoping I'd get lucky and find another Wordpress user who happened to have luck (or no luck) on this device or a similar one.
2. I have a bit of a klunky Chromebook. A while back I installed Chrome on a eePC -- an entry level Asus T100 or something like that. It's a horrible piece of HARDWARE. I have zero issues with the OS itself and it feels very natural to me. However, I have this haunting feeling that Chrome itself is becoming a dinosaur. As Android continues to prosper, it's dwarfing Chrome to such a point that, I suspect, Android will evolve into being an OS we can use on any device. Maybe I'm missing something entirely about its potential, but that's my thinking. There isn't much going on in the development world for it compared to Android where there's exponentially more options.
Right now, having seen it, I'm concerned about ease of keyboard use (physical). Given the top-heavy design of the tablet having most of the weight, using it on my lap looks pretty impossible. The right keyboard seems an issue too. Samsung's has those raised edges that, I suspect my wrists will want to sit on (ouch). Logitech's keyboard sounds great except for the fact that most of the reviews of it contain horror stories of the Note Pro falling out of its clasps. The other options are all poorly reviewed.
Asus has the combo Android/Windows device but its not all that impressive. Heck, I'd rather it was an Android/Chrome device. hehe

It also appears as if the hybrid options from Asus are cancelled due to pressure from both Google and Microsoft. hehe Neither their Duet or Trio looked all that impressive (lousy battery life, Android 4.2, low resolution, average screens).

Update please
Agrajag27 said:
I'm in the market for a tablet (or possibly a Chromebook). I'm an editor of a website and need to be able to use it to work on my Wordpress site effectively so strong browser support and keyboard input is crucial.
I like the idea of an Android tablet as I own a Galaxy S4 and have a large collection of Android apps already. Thus, it would also start out with a nice collection of apps.
I'm a bit unclear as to the differences between the Tab Pro 12.2 and the Note Pro 12.2. They seem very alike except for the stylus. Clearly I'm missing something as that's not much to account for the price difference.
I have an iPad 2 and it's nice but I can't really work on it at all. It's too small to enjoy movies on and, sorry, it's Apple so it's too limited.
I'm also wondering about keyboards. If I got this way, should I get the Samsung keyboard, Logitech keyboard or some other keyboard? I'd like to find a very responsive keyboard. It would be an additional boon if it were also pretty quiet. My GF gets disturbed by late night typing on my desktop gaming keyboard.
I'm older so larger is better for my eyes. I'm at a point where I often pretty much need reading glasses for my S4 now.
For ages I was thinking I wanted a Transformer of some design but Asus seems to have fallen behind. Samsung seems to give me lots of potential breathing room.
Any input greatly appreciated.
Which way did u decide to go? I'd love to know your thoughts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The only difference is the stylus really. If you plan to be taking this to meetings or digitize any part of your handwriting, then the NOTE pro is the device to get, as the TAB pro has no stylus and thus does not specialize itself in taking handwritten notes. I got the wifi version, im satisfied, although probably the LTE snapdragon version may be slightly snappier. If samsung decides to offer some decent customer support in terms of software then overall this will be a good buy. Other than thati find battery life great. I havent used keyboards yet, however if you plan to be using this at a desk u will find the extra screen size v v useful vs the 10 inches. If u plan to be holding it in bed a lot, it could get some time to get used to,but i did. Multi window is v useful in making the experience more windows like and enhances productivity. Browser support is good but not quite the pc levels yet.
You could not investigate surface pro 3 vs this one.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

nesx87 said:
The only difference is the stylus really. If you plan to be taking this to meetings or digitize any part of your handwriting, then the pro is the device to get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They both are called Pro. You meant to say Note Pro if using S pen for note taking. I think there is also difference in RAM, Note Pro has 3Gb, Tab Pro has 2.

ddavtian said:
They both are called Pro. You meant to say Note Pro if using S pen for note taking. I think there is also difference in RAM, Note Pro has 3Gb, Tab Pro has 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edited and clarified. Thanks
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Girl527 said:
I'm also wondering about keyboards. If I got this way, should I get the Samsung keyboard, Logitech keyboard or some other keyboard? I'd like to find a very responsive keyboard. It would be an additional boon if it were also pretty quiet. My GF gets disturbed by late night typing on my desktop gaming keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went with the Note Pro 12.2. I'm very glad I did. Here are same random observations:
1. It's not quite as "polished" as an iPad but it is more flexible in use. I'll take that any day.
2. The size is excellent. Very good for watching a film at the airport, etc.
3. Google seems to be the worst thing about the device. Limitations I find all lead to them at the end. For example, Chrome (the browser) is a cheap imitation of its cousins on PC and Chromebooks. It doesn't do spell checking well, it has odd bugs like opening tabs by using the keyboard. Hit CTRL-T and you'll have to sometimes do it twice to get a new tab and then you get two. Google also doesn't give devs a way to re-assign mouse buttons should you use a bluetooth mouse for a bit of laptop-replacement work. That gets a bit strange as the right mouse button doesn't bring up options (like you get when you hold a screen link or item on the touchscreen) but instead acts like the back button on the device. Doh.
4. The keyboards are all a mixed bag. The Zagg is okay but has annoying raised corners than your hands sit on when typing and its also a bit cheap feeling and not very responsive. The Samsung keyboard isn't really a case. It's more like a snap-on cover that's entirely unconnected when used as a keyboard It just lets the tablet sit at an angle in it which makes it tough to use in bed, for example. It also has the same terrible raised corners. The Logitech is the best of the lot. Quiet, well laid-out and robust. However, it too has its own had-banging issues. You can't reassign its macro keys so if you use a different mail app, tough. Hitting the Mail button will bring up Gmail. The Browser button has an annoying bug that forces you to ALWAYS select which browser you'd like to use no matter how many times you "set the default browser". It also lacks the keyboard app Logitech provides for ALL their other similar keyboards including one made for the Tab 10.1. Go figure. Their own support reps don't even understand this.
Regardless, I'm an old quality assurance professional so I can be very opinionated and a perfectionist so this is a very short list of gripes from me. I still wouldn't own anything else given what I've tried and seen. Very happy customer so far. Having access to all my Android apps is great. I just wish Google would look at Android as a complete OS and stop limiting it to just a hand-held-type OS. Give it a FULL version of Chrome. In fact, just dump the fairly useless Chromium OS and put your efforts into this.

Great info!
Agrajag27 said:
I went with the Note Pro 12.2. I'm very glad I did. Here are same random observations:
1. It's not quite as "polished" as an iPad but it is more flexible in use. I'll take that any day.
2. The size is excellent. Very good for watching a film at the airport, etc.
3. Google seems to be the worst thing about the device. Limitation I find all find them at the end. For example, Chrome (the browser) is a cheap imitation of its cousins on nearly the PC and Chrome books. It doesn't do spell checking well, it has odd bugs like opening tabs by using the keyboard. Hit CTRL-T and you'll have to sometimes do it twice to get a new tab and then you get two. Google also doesn't give devs a way to re-assign mouse buttons should you use a bluetooth mouse for a bit of laptop-replacement work. That gets a bit strange as the right mouse button doesn't bring up options (like you get when you hold a screen link or item on the touchscreen) but instead acts like the back button on the device. Doh.
4. The keyboards are all a mixed bag. The Zagg is okay but has annoying raised corners than your hands sit on when typing and its also a bit cheap feeling and not very responsive. The Samsung keyboard isn't really a case. It's more like a snap-on cover that's entirely unconnected when used as a keyboard It just lets the tablet sit at an angle in it which makes it tough to use in bed, for example. It also has the same terrible raised corners. The Logitech is the best of the lot. Quiet, well laid-out and robust. However, it too has its own had-banging issues. You can't reassign its macro keys so if you use a different mail app, tough. Hitting the Mail button will bring up Gmail. The Browser button has an annoying bug that forces you to ALWAYS select which browser you'd like to use no matter how many times you "set the default browser". It also lacks the keyboard app Logitech provides for ALL their other similar keyboards including one made for the Tab 10.1. Go figure. Their own support reps don't even understand this.
Regardless, I'm an old quality assurance professional so I can be very opinionated and a perfectionist so this is a very short list of gripes from me. I still wouldn't own anything else given what I've tried and see. Very happy customer so far. Having access to all my Android apps is great. I just wish Google would look at Android as a complete OS and stop limiting it to just a hand-held-type OS. Give it a FULL version of Chrome. In fact, just dump the fairly useless Chromium OS and put your efforts into this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome information! Thanks for taking the time to share your impressions. I'm having a difficult time pulling the trigger on this purchase (why??) and your opinion helps a bunch! Thanks again!

Still worth buying in late 2017 ?

I'm looking for a new tablet and the yoga book still looks like a good unit.
I can't see any sign of a new version coming out (new colours have been announced but same internals).
My question is - is this still a worthy piece of kit in September 2017 ? Ideally I was looking at the windows unit but the "screen off notetaking" in the android version looks useful and I'm android/Google in most other aspects of my life.
I won't be a heavy user - mostly web browsing etc. Certainly no PC gaming expectations.
Opinions appreciated

wilbur-force said:
I'm looking for a new tablet and the yoga book still looks like a good unit.
I can't see any sign of a new version coming out (new colours have been announced but same internals).
My question is - is this still a worthy piece of kit in September 2017 ? Ideally I was looking at the windows unit but the "screen off notetaking" in the android version looks useful and I'm android/Google in most other aspects of my life.
I won't be a heavy user - mostly web browsing etc. Certainly no PC gaming expectations.
Opinions appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your use-case, it seems like it will still be a great device, depending on the price.
I'm still using mine as an office device for some light tasks like Word and Powerpoint presentations (I'm using an Android version, by the way ), emails and spreadsheet reports in a pinch. I work out in the field, and I have come to rely on it a bit more than my laptop as it's easier to carry around and the battery lasts longer..

boofman said:
In your use-case, it seems like it will still be a great device, depending on the price.
I'm still using mine as an office device for some light tasks like Word and Powerpoint presentations (I'm using an Android version, by the way ), emails and spreadsheet reports in a pinch. I work out in the field, and I have come to rely on it a bit more than my laptop as it's easier to carry around and the battery lasts longer..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
The windows version can be found for £450, the Android version for £350
I was really looking for a windows unit but the price makes the android version look very appealing......

wilbur-force said:
Thanks,
The windows version can be found for £450, the Android version for £350
I was really looking for a windows unit but the price makes the android version look very appealing......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the time, if it's productivity you're after, Windows wins. In this case, however, the Android version seems like a better choice as it has a lot more App support for native touchscreen functionality, and the environment, as it is still a tablet IMO, an Android version is a lot better than a Windows one.
Add to that the price point, and you've got a winner!
Be aware, though, that there isn't much of an Android development path coming from the community. Also, Lenovo seems to have neglected the development of this device internally, so it seems we won't get updates anymore. If those things are going to factors, then stay away from this device. lol

boofman said:
Also, Lenovo seems to have neglected the development of this device internally, so it seems we won't get updates anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where does this info come from? Are they not on track for the October release on Nougat as listed in the upgrade matrix?
Lenovo Upgrade Matrix

Mechey said:
Where does this info come from? Are they not on track for the October release on Nougat as listed in the upgrade matrix?
Lenovo Upgrade Matrix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong, but..
I haven't got OTA updates even for security, but it could be just an isolated case.
But in the case of the OP, since he's just getting his tablet, the support he'll be getting will not be as long as the support we've had who bought earlier than him.

boofman said:
I haven't got OTA updates even for security
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am hopeful that they haven't been bothering to release security updates because they have been hard at work on Nougat! Who knows...
@wilbur-force , I would recommend waiting a month and seeing if the Nougat update comes out.
Even without the update, I think this is a pretty great tablet if you plan on using the note taking capabilities. I use mine every day for note taking in lectures and working on assignments while on campus. It is a feather compared to my laptop and I find that I can leave my laptop at home 90% of the time. However, it could definitely benefit from some of the enhancements of Nougat; namely better split screen capabilities.
If you mostly just plan on surfing the web (ie, extensive keyboard use and minimal stylus use) I would recommend getting something with an actual keyboard. While the Halo keyboard is certainly better than an on screen keyboard, it is an order of magnitude less effective than a physical keyboard. I actually purchased a small bluetooth keyboard, both so that I wouldn't have to use the Halo, but also so that I can seamlessly go from taking notes with the stylus (great for equations and figures) to typing.
When paired with a bluetooth keyboard, this tablet is a perfect for anyone who plans to get a lot of use out of a stylus. However, I wouldn't want to compose more than a few short sentences with the Halo keyboard.

wilbur-force said:
Thanks,
The windows version can be found for £450, the Android version for £350
I was really looking for a windows unit but the price makes the android version look very appealing......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just returned my Windows version as a fully patched Win 10 with the latest Lenovo supplied drivers breaks keyboard functionality as well as sleep when you close the lid. Horrid...I may get the Android version though if I can root/jailbreak it.

DigiAngel69 said:
I just returned my Windows version as a fully patched Win 10 with the latest Lenovo supplied drivers breaks keyboard functionality as well as sleep when you close the lid. Horrid...I may get the Android version though if I can root/jailbreak it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of my devices are rooted or jailbroken..except for my YB Android, as it works perfectly fine without it.

DigiAngel69 said:
I just returned my Windows version as a fully patched Win 10 with the latest Lenovo supplied drivers breaks keyboard functionality as well as sleep when you close the lid. Horrid...I may get the Android version though if I can root/jailbreak it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you apparently made something wrong as mine works more than perfectly...
I would never buy an Android Tablet in this price range as it is more than common through all Manufacturers they stop developing/support after a while... The Yoga Book has a too specific Hardware to expect any Custom Roms... Windows wins here clearly through permanent updates...
And the possibilities on Windows are simply endless ampler... You can even use BlueStacks with decent speed to use that very specific Android App...

jamespmi said:
Well you apparently made something wrong as mine works more than perfectly...
I would never buy an Android Tablet in this price range as it is more than common through all Manufacturers they stop developing/support after a while... The Yoga Book has a too specific Hardware to expect any Custom Roms... Windows wins here clearly through permanent updates...
And the possibilities on Windows are simply endless ampler... You can even use BlueStacks with decent speed to use that very specific Android App...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on the use case. I still consider it a tablet more than anything, and an Android tablet is better than a Windows one in terms of tab-specific apps (functionality, ease of use / ux and the graphics are scaled correctly)

I bought and Android yogabook 6 weeks ago and am very happy with it. I have just installed the OTA Nougat update. I had issues that required me to reformat my SD card otherwise it got stuck in a boot loop, but all is OK now

I just bought the Android version on sale a week ago. I must say that I'm very impressed because of it's versatility and portability. I think the must have apps for this tablet are from myscript. They are the myscript stylus input method and the myscript nebo preview (which must be sideloaded via an apk).
What makes myscript stylus better than, say, google handwriting input is that Stylus allows you to use the digitizer. With google's version, you can only use the screen and the digitizer does not respond to input. What's the benefit of this app? Well, if you are in pen mode in the Artrage app doing a drawing, and you switch to any other app which requires the keyboard, you don't have to put the pen down and start typing. It will stay in pen mode and instead of the popup keyboard, it will popup a text line for you to write in. It will recognize handwriting, printing, and gestures. So basically, if you're comfortable with writing on a pen more than typing on the keyboard, or you don't want to switch modes when you switch apps, then this app is a must. I usually have the yogabook in 30/70 splitscreen laptop mode. One side a messaging app, the other side a notetaking app. I can switch between the two and do all my inputs with the pen on the exact same surface (the digitizer).
Myscript nebo is a great notetaking app simply because it allows you to convert your handwriting into text as if you typed it using a keyboard. It also converts your hand drawn flowcharts into Visio like flowcharts with connectors that stick. Hand drawn math equations also get converted and calculated (depending on complexity).
These two apps alone make the yogabook much more useful for me since I like using the pen vs the keyboard.

Just got the yoga book yesterday, mainly because it's just pretty unique and the 'writing notes on the keyboard' thing just pulled on me. Had tablets in the past, and now also a hp x360 (so with touchscreen) but writing on the display always had it's quirks. This solution by yoga just works pretty great, loving it so far.
It's also still very sleek and has a nice design, so no regrets so far. But I think that if you want 'just a tablet' or somethin with a keyboard, you might want to look further as this is really pointed towards the note taking and writing imo.

Hi all, I am also considering getting a Yoga Book even though we are in 2018 already. Lenovo doesn't appear to be coming out with a follow-up device, and I can see some pretty interesting prices for it.
I have a question about the stylus use though, and I have not seen or tried an actual device yet, so I will ask here. I assume you can takes notes with the stylus either on the "slab" where the keyboard is, but also directly on the screen, as in a notepad, if you swivel the slab to make it a true tablet mode. Is that correct?
To take notes with the stylus I would assume that it feels more natural to write directly on the screen and see the "ink" drawn directly where the stylus is.
I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition). It's 4 years old but I still absolutely love it, and I use it extensively to take notes, and it has replaced my paper notebook completely. It is however showing signs of age and the screen is starting to have defective spots where the stylus doesn't work. So, I need to replace it, and the Yoga Book looks like an interesting step up, even considering its age. Would it be a god choice?
I think the My Galaxy Note still has a better screen and split windows support than the Yoga Book, but at the prices I have seen the Yoga Book, it might be a good deal. I am not overly concerned about Android level upgrades, as my Galaxy Note is still at Android 5.1.1 and it works great.
Thanks!

Electrocutus said:
Hi all, I am also considering getting a Yoga Book even though we are in 2018 already. Lenovo doesn't appear to be coming out with a follow-up device, and I can see some pretty interesting prices for it.
I have a question about the stylus use though, and I have not seen or tried an actual device yet, so I will ask here. I assume you can takes notes with the stylus either on the "slab" where the keyboard is, but also directly on the screen, as in a notepad, if you swivel the slab to make it a true tablet mode. Is that correct?
To take notes with the stylus I would assume that it feels more natural to write directly on the screen and see the "ink" drawn directly where the stylus is.
I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition). It's 4 years old but I still absolutely love it, and I use it extensively to take notes, and it has replaced my paper notebook completely. It is however showing signs of age and the screen is starting to have defective spots where the stylus doesn't work. So, I need to replace it, and the Yoga Book looks like an interesting step up, even considering its age. Would it be a god choice?
I think the My Galaxy Note still has a better screen and split windows support than the Yoga Book, but at the prices I have seen the Yoga Book, it might be a good deal. I am not overly concerned about Android level upgrades, as my Galaxy Note is still at Android 5.1.1 and it works great.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can technically write on the screen but the tracking and lag are awful. I'd only use the pen on the screen for underlining and even then you would probably still be better off using the wacom pad

I've just got one myself and I think it's great tool for students, highly portable, easy to take notes on.
I'm not sure whenever it's worth the risk of updating to nougat, but even on Android 6 I like it's functionality.
There is some delicate lag with pen when using in OneNote though.

Electrocutus said:
Hi all, I am also considering getting a Yoga Book even though we are in 2018 already. Lenovo doesn't appear to be coming out with a follow-up device, and I can see some pretty interesting prices for it.
I have a question about the stylus use though, and I have not seen or tried an actual device yet, so I will ask here. I assume you can takes notes with the stylus either on the "slab" where the keyboard is, but also directly on the screen, as in a notepad, if you swivel the slab to make it a true tablet mode. Is that correct?
To take notes with the stylus I would assume that it feels more natural to write directly on the screen and see the "ink" drawn directly where the stylus is.
I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition). It's 4 years old but I still absolutely love it, and I use it extensively to take notes, and it has replaced my paper notebook completely. It is however showing signs of age and the screen is starting to have defective spots where the stylus doesn't work. So, I need to replace it, and the Yoga Book looks like an interesting step up, even considering its age. Would it be a god choice?
I think the My Galaxy Note still has a better screen and split windows support than the Yoga Book, but at the prices I have seen the Yoga Book, it might be a good deal. I am not overly concerned about Android level upgrades, as my Galaxy Note is still at Android 5.1.1 and it works great.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My note had some internal malfunction, like force-closing apps and i was unable to fix it. I got the YB last week and it kinda feels like the SMP-601 was a more powerful tablet, the art rage app seems a bit laggy compared with the drawing app in the note 2014, i may be wrong and require more testing also the pen that comes with it is not what i would call suitable for the screen as the note 2014 was(that pen was awesome) and on top of that you do not have a native app to take notes in content that is on the screen, like when you are reading a text and wanna save a little paragraph for latter like the air commander app. The battery life seems worse too, the note 2014 could be left alone in a table for about a week and still have some juice left on the battery. There's a new Samsung tab S3 seems a worthy replacement (Even with Samsung awful software updates), but it is jesus christ expensive and thus it kinda can't compete with YB price range and cost benefit.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I kind of get the same feeling and I'm not sure the Yoga Book is a suitable replacement. Even though my Note 2014 is 4 years old, it is still my workhorse.
I like the Tab S3 but I am upset that they didn't keep the S pen small and in a slot in the unit, just so they could make it thinner.
I have to be able to use it as a true notebook replacement and take notes on screen. I use OneNote extensively because I can also sync and work with them on my desktop later.

Electrocutus said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I kind of get the same feeling and I'm not sure the Yoga Book is a suitable replacement. Even though my Note 2014 is 4 years old, it is still my workhorse.
I like the Tab S3 but I am upset that they didn't keep the S pen small and in a slot in the unit, just so they could make it thinner.
I have to be able to use it as a true notebook replacement and take notes on screen. I use OneNote extensively because I can also sync and work with them on my desktop later.
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You can kinda use it like a Hybrid Between Tablet and a Netbook. I'm having my first experience using it in classes this week and it kinda works well. I rooted and removed all bloat, by doing that you can get an very lightweight 7.1 android experience which comes with an Microsoft office suite apps including the OneNote app. Typing in the halokeyboard is not bad as some people say it is. I think battery life might be manageable if you can put some GovTuner or something in it. Installing windows 10 is also an option. But if you have the money i would take a look on some reviews on the S3 or even an Ipad Pro. As the android tablet market shares apps with the smartphone market we are on a state that we are kinda lacking optimizations for tablets, i mean it makes the android tablets look exactly like a smartphone with a bigger screen, while on the IOS side we have apps that are really suited for tablet use.:fingers-crossed: