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After having a bit of time to play with my Xoom, I'd thought I'd tell everyone how I felt about the Xoom and whether you should be think of upgrading from your Galaxy Tab.
Build quality
The Xoom is very will built, all the components are solidly put together - there are no rattles or any bendy bits. That said the extra weight of the tablet is definitely noticeable compared to the Tab, and certainly makes reading while holding the tablet in one hand less comfortable - plus you don't really need the larger screen for this use.
The screen does not go quite as bright as the Tab, and is not so readable in sunlight. Also it attracts fingerprints like moths to a light, after an hour of using it it looked worse than an iPad does after a whole day, though you can't really see the fingerprints while the screen is on.
Software
This is the main part I was excited about - there has been quite a bit of hype surrounding Honeycomb. Sadly, IMHO, quite a bit of it is just hype -- the main changes are in the home screen and the task/notifications bar. Both of these work really well, the 3D carousel effect when turning pages of the Home screen is really smooth, and the new notification system works really well giving you a system which works quite like a desktop. Sadly you can't pinch the screen to show all of your desktops at once.
The rest of it though, it is pretty buggy. The settings app and gmail apps have force-closed on me a number of times - these are pretty important parts of the OS and so it's seriously disappointing to see them not quite finished. The Facebook app seems to work for a few mins then crashes and won't work until I restart the device.
The browser is very nice, with proper tabs (and incognito tabs!), but if you dare to switch on Flash 10.2 all the time then the whole thing is no faster than the Tabs browser with Flash enabled -- in fact it's quite possibly worse than my Tab with an OC kernel and the latest leaked ROM.
But main problem is - where is the software? Google made much issue about Android 2.x not being fit for tablets but the truth is all they've mostly done is what Samsung did - the email app now has one pane with a list of your emails in and another showing the content of your email. It's the same with the other apps, nowhere is there an incredibly large difference in functionality between the modified Samsung apps and the new Honeycomb ones.
Sure you get a film editor app, but that was pretty much put in to grab a bit of press after Apple put iMovie on the iPad - I'm sure most people, me included, would prefer a decent photo editing/retouching app more than a pretty basic video editing one.
No free, Xoom optimized apps with the device or a store for them like you get with Samsung.
And then we get to media playback, or rather, the almost complete lack of it. So you've just bought a nice new tablet that will play "HD". Like to play your MKV on it? Nope. AVI? Nope. Xvid? Nope. DivX? Nope. WMV? Nope. MP4 and MP4 only (to the point where you have to rename M4V files to MP4 to make them work even though they are the same thing but with a different extension). Yes I know I can use RockPlayer etc but this simply isn't as good as native support. If Archos could afford it the Moto sure can.
That might not be so bad if there was a store like the Samsung Movies Store or iTunes where I could buy or rent a movie in a compatible format. Except this being a "Google Experience" device there are no apps apart from the few that Google put on there (and aside from film studio that's just upgraded standard Android apps). So you have a tablet that doesn't support that vast majority of media formats used by the largest desktop OS; I feel justified in saying that is a slight fail -- is Youtube supposed to be my entire source of entertainment? It's not like you can call the quality of most Flash videos on the web HD.
The one upside is the tegra 2, and all the nice games it will let you play. Except there are only a couple at the moment, and if the Tegra Zone app is to be believed, most of them won't be out for another couple of months. That said the few that are available are very nice, and run perfectly smooth.
Overall
Overall I'd give the Xoom 7/10. It's good, and the first Honeycomb tablet, but I think it will probably not be in the top 5 come the end of the year.
I can understand some people might buy it over others on the promise of slightly quicker updates, but I'm seriously considering taking mine back and waiting for the Tab 8.9, I have a few more days to play around with it before I decide. Sure it will have customized interface so it might not get updates as quickly, but actually it will do much more out of the box than the Xoom does, and it will still probably do more than the Xoom will even after the Xoom has received an update.
I used to be someone who bought plain Android devices on the basis that they quicker updates (have an NS, had an N1, etc), but a lot of the time it makes little difference. Google doesn't actually release updates often enough anymore for that to be much of an issue, and in some cases these days manufacturers have actually made things better than Google did (e.g. the standard browser in the Galaxy S on 2.2 is far better than the stock browser on a Nexus S on 2.3).
Sadly in this case the bad experience reflects badly on Motorola even though it isn't really their fault - they've had nothing to do at all with the software. At the same time that is their fault - it's their tablet and if I was head of a Motorola I'd want to make sure the software I was putting my name on did everything I wanted and worked properly - Android manufacturers should stop getting so desperate to compete with Apple and actually focus on the quality of their own products.
So my advice would be wait. And possibly in this case don't let the factor of whether it's a pure Google device affect your decision so much -- Honeycomb is still an infant and it really needs some features added on for a full tablet experience.
* I was completely aware the Xoom would come with no added extras like the Tab did when I bought it. I just thought Google would have put more work into making Honeycomb for great for tablets.
That's a pretty accurate description. I went through 2 XOOM's which I bought once they released the WIFI only model, and my experience was the same if not worse. Lots of potential, but they really missed the mark with that one. The second XOOM had a hardware failure and refused to charge, and since I was pretty let down overall, and that needle thin power adaptor is just waiting to snap off, I got rid of it entirely. I bought my first Galaxy Tab WIFI model Monday from Tigerdirect, got it Wed and have used it since and I absolutely love it.
That's an interesting review.
It surprised me that honeycomb still isnt working perfectly. I thought that they would update it regularly.
The Xoom seemed to me, to be a liitle bit too fast released device.
I also agree that it probably wont be the best in the flow of the year - off course.
I think HTC looks quite promising, if they release a bigger version of their Flyer.
Let's see if the Companies learn from the others - if a company releases later, it always has a lower risk of failing, because it can learn out of the mistakes of the others...
And then we get to media playback, or rather, the almost complete lack of it. So you've just bought a nice new tablet that will play "HD". Like to play your MKV on it? Nope. AVI? Nope. Xvid? Nope. DivX? Nope. WMV? Nope. MP4 and MP4 only (to the point where you have to rename M4V files to MP4 to make them work even though they are the same thing but with a different extension). Yes I know I can use RockPlayer etc but this simply isn't as good as native support. If Archos could afford it the Moto sure can.
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Click to collapse
This, x1,000. I own an original iPad, and picked up a T-Mo Galaxy Tab for $100 on Craigslist. Once the wifi Xoom came out, I went to Staples to pick one up.
Disappointment doesn't begin to capture it. Such a lovely screen...why, why, why wouldn't you include a Movies app with the tablet? Videos that played flawlessly on the Tab would stutter and whimper on the Xoom. That's just inexcusable.
I also co-sign everything you said about Facebook; I had the same experience with Seesmic.
I bought it on Friday evening. I returned it on Sunday afternoon. I can handle rough edges with software, but this goes beyond that. And selling it for $600? Yeah...not so much.
That said, I'm keeping an eye on the Asus Transformer; $399 is a sweet price point.
rnoboa said:
That said, I'm keeping an eye on the Asus Transformer; $399 is a sweet price point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're interested, here's my short review of the Transformer, originally posted in the Transformer XDA forum. I do compare it to my Galaxy Tab, so I don't think it's unreasonable to post here!
Regards,
Dave
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I've had my Transformer for 4 full days now, and I've a few comments to make for prospective purchasers.
First of all, a little background - I've had Android phones since the original G1 was released in the US (I was there when it was released), and since then have owned the HTC Hero, the HTC Desire, and now the Desire HD (and a Pulse Mini as a backup device).
I also have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7", which I've been using since October last year and I still think is a fantastic device, so most of my observations on the Transformer (henceforth called the TF) will be in comparison to Galaxy Tab (henceforth called the GT). As an aside, I also have a Toshiba AC100 Android netbook, so I think I have some feel for how the TF will be once the keyboard dock arrives.
Build quality
The TF feels like a really high quality device. I know some people have reported issues with back light bleed etc, but I've had no such issues. The aluminium case is really nice to the touch, as is the back of the device which is a plastic made to look a bit like carbon fibre.
Design - the design is generally really nice, though if I had one criticism it is the size of the bezel is rather large. Additionally, it does feel a little odd holding the device in portrait mode as it comes over as very tall and thin, especially when compared to the GT.
The IPS display is lovely and crisp, though it does seem a little less bright than the display on the GT.
OS and software
This is both simultaneously the best and worst feature that the TF has over the GT. In general browsing use, the TF is much more like a laptop/desktop experience than the GT, and you can see Honeycomb has great potential. However, it does feel very much like an unfinished product.
When the GT first came out, the stock browser was notoriously laggy (fixed in later iterations), and the TF suffers from the same issue - in fact it is worse because whilst the GTs browser was basically just laggy, the TFs browser is laggy and buggy.
Specifically, clicking on links in other applications often causes the browser to pop up, but it doesn't load the new page - this can be fixed by "killing" the browser and restarting it, but it shouldn't be this way. Whilst I much prefer the native browser when it works correctly, I'm now using Opera Mobile for day to day use.
Honeycomb Gmail on the TF is a revelation - it is a far superior client than the client on the GT.
Other minor Honeycomb/TF complaints are:
1. There doesn't seem to be a way to clear all notifications easily.
2. Just getting to the Settings menu is overcomplicated.
3. The keyboards do seem overly large in my opinion, and there don't seem to be enough long press options to get to alternate characters, though I'm aware these are easily replaceable.
4. Overall the TF performance is good, but I don't feel that Honeycomb is taking advantage of the dual core Tegra 2, and thus in general use it doesn't really feel any faster than my single core GT.
Media Playback
This is an easy one - the GT is a better media player than the TF, simply because it natively supports more formats (e.g. DivX).
I'm not unused to transcoding video to H264, as I had to do this often on my earlier Android devices, but with the advent of Cortex A8 class devices with Neon, I found software players like RockPlayer more than acceptable. This does not seem to be the case for the TF, since Tegra 2 doesn't support Neon instructions. However, the AC100 is a Tegra 2 device, and the built-in media player is much better than the stock TF one too, so really I think that Asus should have done more here.
With the TF, I'm back to having to transcode media, and to be honest for the most part that means I'll just my GT instead.
Overall Usage
Here's where it gets interesting!
The TF provides a very different experience to the GT and for the most part it is very enjoyable- when I bought the device, I knew it be mostly be a "coffee table" device, and that the size, weight, and built-in 3G of the GT was going to a distinct advantage over the TF when it comes to travelling.
What I didn't expect is that the GT still holds some advantages at home too.
Put simply, the TF is still too big and heavy sometimes - when I get up in the morning, I usually take my GT off charge and slip it into the pocket of my dressing gown, and this means it goes with me when I go to make a coffee, visit the "office" in the bathroom etc.
Also, late at night, if I want to watch something whilst lying in bed, the GT is simply much more comfortable to hold for any period of time, and coupled with better media support is always going to be the preferred option.
The Future
I don't think it is really fair to judge the TF until the keyboard dock becomes available, because I honestly think this will significant change the nature of the device.
When I first got my AC100, it was running Eclair and to be honest it was pretty rubbish, but it got so much better when Froyo landed.
I can see the TF similarly getting a completely new lease of life once the dock arrives.
Also, Honeycomb does feel like a work in progress, and I'm hoping for regularly updates to this device, which again should improve the experience, along with more Honeycomb specific apps on the market.
Conclusion
I think the TF is a fantastic product and the price is extremely good for what it is. I certainly wouldn't want to put anyone off buying one if they have a genuine interest this form factor. In the UK at least, I think the Xoom has priced itself out of the market massively, which currently leaves the TF as the 10.1" tablet of choice.
The biggest issue for me is that 10.1" tablets are generally too big and heavy, and whilst newer tablets may be lighter, they will still be similarly sized unless they can dramatically reduce the size of the bezel.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9" may well be a better compromise, and I will be looking closely at this once it arrives. However, it won't fit in a jacket pocket, so would still likely just be a coffee table tablet for me.
Ultimately, I think my ideal tablet device would be a 7" form factor device like the GT, similar internal hardware to the TF (dual core, IPS, memory etc), and built-in 3G. Until something like this ships, I think my GT will still be my primary media consumption/browsing device.
Steve Jobs may think that there is no market in 7" tablets, but in my case he's wrong!
Thank you soooo much for the Tab vs Xoom reiew. I was looking at the Xoom a couple weeks ago, but when I saw Sprint marked the Tab down to $199, I bought it instead. Although the Xoom is a gorgeous device, I am becoming quite sold on the 7" size. After using my Tab for a week, I love it! Now if the Xoom was only, say $100 more than the Tab, I may change my mind, but as it is now, it's way too expensive for what it offers out of the box. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Xoom have a price drop soon.
How bad is Honeycomb? The reviews of the G-Slate, Xoom, and even Eeepad Transformer suggest that Honeycomb itself is... not ready and quite laggy. How does it compare to plain old Froyo on a 7'' Tab?
so if understand correctly, android market does not install the tablet version of gmail or any other app on the galaxy tab?
You will have special section of apps created for the Honeycomb and for 2.2 or 2.3.
Apps that are not suppose to work will not be shown on the Market.
Some apps created for phones freeze or fail to work but overall you can find apps that suit your needs. I would agree that at this point software has rough edges but this is always an issue for the early adopters. The 1st iphone had no software choices at all and it took more than half a year to get something else.
Screen size and resolutiin make Xoom almost a laptop.
I like Xoom but prefer Galaxy Tab because of size and weight.
Besides the obvious uses for the note tablet, what do you use yours for? I'm a freelance illustrator and the wacom digitizer and s-pen are what initially attracted me to the note phone, and now the note tablet, both allowing me to sketch on the go and minimizing the amount of time sitting in front of my desktop. Honestly even though I'm a huge tech person and love gadgets such as phones, i was never really into the tablet craze, especially after having a phone with a huge screen, i used a buddies iPad a few years back and didn't understand the buzz (with any apple product actually) but i started eyeballing the old note tablet as a new toy and tool for drawing and days later watched the IFA live on the computer and was sold on the Note 2014 edition, aesthetically it's great looking and has nice specs where I wouldn't have to worry about bogging it down. I love to game, avid xBoxer (when time allows) so the tablet would also serve as a good way to game while watching TV or laying in the couch without burning my phone battery up, and the drawing is awesome, but being drawing, gaming and browsing the internet, I don't know what else to use this thing for ... After dropping $600 + $60 for a 64GB sdcard and another $30+ in cases and accessories, I'm wondering if I just bought another really over priced laptop lol like I'm missing why people really enjoy the tablet, don't get me wrong I love it and refuse to give it up, I'm just looking for tips or advice on how to unlock the true potential of a tablet, like I said this is my first tablet, so any good apps? Games? Tricks? Tips? What role does your tablet serve in your life? Anything I guess that I might be missing, I've been rooting my phones for years and def plan to root this thing, and fully understand what a root can do to a device as far as unlocking extra potential, but beyond that just looking to see if I'm overlooking something awesome about tablets I could start using this for and really getting my moneys worth. Any advice is really appreciated! please excuse any typos lol I'm typing this using Swype on my note phone, and the auto correct has a mind of it's own.
Thanks.
Personally I use my pad as a more mobile laptop. I read on it, code on it, write on it... mostly read though. And games of course, can't forget about the games. Well, i guess i actually do everything on my pad, starting to get all itchy now since i broke the tf700t and am eagerly awaiting the new note. But hey, i guess you could produce some music on them as well... nothing a-grade but some snippets and loops here and there while waiting for whatever.
Mainly for communications, the rest for testing applications and gamea
Sent from my ME371MG using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
When home i use it as most probably do, Web browsing, forum reading through tapatalk, some games, social media etc. Basically a laptop replacement.
Its main purpose though is for use for college.
I use Lecture Notes extensively for note taking as well as all audios of lectures.
I found Class Buddy Pro to be great for scheduling all my classes when papers are do, when exams are etc (great app which syncs with any of your calendars) you can even attach files to the class itself (like a syllabus) and papers for assignments can be attached to the event you create for the assignment so you don't lose them (I use the paper the professors pop up on our internal web site so they are always available with me in an easy to find spot)
I use ezPDF Reader Pro for simple PDF annotations.
Mantano Reader Premium is by far the best PDF ePub textbook reading app out there. I need something which supports Adobe DRM and having tried every single app on the Play Store, I was blown away when I finally got to this one. While the interface is not as flashy as some of them, the nuts and bolts (reading, highlighting, annotating, bookmarking etc) cannot be beat.
This is my 5th tablet. I love my original Note 10.1 so much I bought this one the day a 32GB black one became available (I wanted / needed the higher resolution for anatomy books, really anything with pictures in them). Incredible piece of technology.
Since you like Wacom Digitizers, Google using the Note series as a Wacom Digitizer for a PC.
Porno and drawing porno.
if i had one of these and internet while i was going through puberty...
when i was a young chap we had to look at porn or video cassettes, uphill, both ways!
madsquabbles said:
if i had one of these and internet while i was going through puberty...
when i was a young chap we had to look at porn or video cassettes, uphill, both ways!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had one going through puberty I would have been locked in my room for ages never once looking outside.
That reminds me, is Reagan still President?
Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1 via Tapatalk.
I use the 2014 Note 10.1 mainly for movie watching at the moment. Also owning an iPad 4 I use that for most anything else. Email reading and email management I do mostly on my Note 3, with its indicator light and easy deletion options (the iPad wants you to Archive in stead of delete).
I'm actively looking at other uses for the 2014 Note 10.1 though. Areas of interest include: drawing, decent internet browsing, HD games, reading, and music/audio playback. This could be a great device given the right software. It already is top of the heap in some areas.
Usage of my 2014 Note 10.1 is currently hindered somewhat by the lack of a proper (slim, light weight) smartcover. Right now I'm using an iPad 1 or 2 Belkin "woolen" type sleeve (great fit), but I'm hoping for something more like my beautiful/handy Decoded iPad smartcover.
Op, its really up to what kind of illustrating you are up to do.
As of now, painting and drawing loose is more easier to do, and the results will come out quite clean. However that's the extent of Sketchbook that comes with the note10.1 itself. Generally you'd want to go beyond that for reproduction pipeline, as well as refining for details in cases of print work. HOWEVER. I consider that actual painting beyond the tablet's ability.
Note 10.1 is GREAT for sketching. I feel like it gets the idea down fast, and the first 2 or 3 stages of an illustration is completed just using the tablet - such as the grey value drawing, the base color palette, and general composition. I've yet to find an app that goes to 4K resolution and comes with a decent set of tools. Someone at XDA might point me out on this, but for my own use, I bounce back to my usual pipeline on the PC after my sketch is completed.
Things the Note is also good at, is the beautiful display. Max your colors out and brightness, and you get a 2nd monitor. There are plenty of apps that turns your PC / Laptop into a 2nd screen. Generally for viewing purposes and color / value checking. More things you can do: Use the screen as color reference, use the note as photo ref when drawing, use it as a scanner! 8MP is decent if you snap a pencil drawing and then paint on top of it, as an artist my self, I find this thing similar to be a Swiss army knife, it use it for literally everything.
On another note! Pun not intended, the note is not yet capable of doing any adobe illustrator. It's a horrible set back if you're a vector artist - or a graphic designer that intend to pump out quick samples. I feel that the apps available right now are inadequate. It's quite a shame. my current work around is using splash top and connect it to my home computer.
Previously i was a Tab 7.7 user.
Main use was surfing, and reading books and scanned manga's. I got tons of those digitally and in paper form, same with European comic books. Now the later are usually printed in a A4 format, so it all got a bit to small on the screen. And next to that PDF manuals, big fast high resolution tablets make them better to watch :victory:
So when i went looking for a new tablet, one of the things, i wanted was a bigger screen, a higher resolution, and some decent processor power. I had been eying the Nexus 10, and the LG G Pad 8.3 that was coming. Nexus 10 like all nexus lacking and SD slot, and from what i later heard also did not work with a OTG + USB drive right out the box, was not an option. The G Pad 8.3 looked nice, but i felt it might still be to small a screen for the bigger books to displace well, and readable. So when the Note 10.1 2014 came and i read the specs, and saw the price tag, i though, it might be a bit pricy but it can do everything i want it to do and more. I must say im not disappointed by it yet
So the note safes me from having the lug kilo's of paper books around, they can stay in on my shelves now
OP, since you are looking at sketching etc, check out this article. It's in French but Google translate should help, and even if it doesn't the sketches speak for themselves.
http://goo.gl/Rm7jhO
The drawings were made with Sketchbook Pro which is included on the new Notes.
My original Transformer Prime became a laptop replacement for anything that didn't involve heavy lifting (development work, etc). Once I find a decent bluetooth keyboard I expect I'll be doing the same thing with this.
My primary reason for upgrading to this particular tablet is the screen as I will be using it for photography. I pull the pics off the camera via wi-fi and then I can preview/edit them on the tablet.
I just use my table for viewing movies while traveling.
First i'd like to say I am not what you would call a power user, or a person who looks for things that are wrong, rather i'm a person that uses a device and notices issues as they occur. So, after having the View for 2 days, my Note pro 12.2 is up for sale. I enjoyed the Note Pro for its large size, but I wanted bigger, and the View is it, for me that is. My first thought when I took the View out of the box, was Damn, this thing is big. Its dwarfs all of my devices, hell, it even makes my 32 inch tv seem small, if that makes sense. It is heavy, for a tablet, but it will stay on my desk, so the weight isnt a problem. I have a 10 inch tablet that I take out and about.
Its running 5.1.1 which runs smooth and fast. Using chrome to stay up on the numerous sites I visit daily, works fine. First issue I noticed was many of the sites I visit don't utilize the full 18.4 inches. USA today gives me a desktop view, as well as Android central, but sites like CNN, XDA, Android police, the Verge, and Cnet, and many others treat the View as a tablet. Hopefully Samsung or Google will include a desktop setting in a future update.
As far as games, I play a lot of Madden, and it does utilize the full screen size, and its great. In fact its gonna take some getting use to because its so in your face, like being at a theatre sitting in the front row. As far as I could tell it ran as well as the Note Pro. Samsung also included and app called S console which allows you to connect a bluetooth game pad to the tablet. I downloaded Modern Combat 5, which i'm not very good at, and it ran as well as when playing on my Nexus Player, no stuter as far as I could tell.
Google Newstand, Plus, Earth, Maps, Youtube, Music, Gmail, Xfinity Tv, Showbox, Hd Cinema all use the full 18.4 inches. Samsung also included a Smart manager, which allows you to free up memory, which is nice. No need to download a Ram manger.
Speakers are nice, they are located on the back of the View. I will say, when the View is in the upright position the sound seems muffled, less highs, more bass, but when laying down sound seems to be more balanced. When I get my notifications on my cell its more tingy, all highs, with the View, the notification has high and lows, which is different, but nice.
Battery life for what I use it for is great, better than the Note pro. I went 2 days without charging. With the Note pro I had to charge every day. I dont let my devices go below 30 percent before charging.
As far the Views 1080 x 1980 display, for me its fine. Compared to my Note pro I really dont see that big a difference, but compared to my Galaxy tab S, the S is by far a superior display.
Split screen is fine, Samsung has had this feature for years, and as always, works well but the apps are limited. I will say for such a large screen, it would be nice to open 4 seperate windows as well as cascade windows, but that is not what the tablet was designed for.
Cost was a big factor for me, and I got lucky and through Amazons open box sale I was able to get the View at 468.00, no tax free shipping. that was 28.00 dollars more than I paid for my Note Pro, which I purchase refurbushed. Yes, I'm a bargin shopper.
My wish list:
All apps optimized for the full size of the View.
Better speaker placement, and equalizer settings.
More than just 2 viewing angles.
Be able to remove/disble TV service screen.
Sold by T-mobile.
I hope this helps anyone on the fence about the View. Feel free to ask me any questions and i'll do my best to answer them.
"Love is in need of Love", Stevie Wonder.
I've had my AT&T version for about a week and love it. Some thoughts...
It's a media device. Compared to the Note 12 which I consider a productivity device the features aren't there. The GV's stock e-mail client is bare bones, it doesn't have S Voice, Remote PC has to be side loaded, and Scrapbook is missing. Feature and h/w wise it's equivalent to a mid-range Samsung tablet, not their flagships.
The display has 127 PPI which is fine for distance viewing but woeful for reading text. For reference the 2011 OG Galaxy Tab had 149 PPI. You'll go blind trying to use the GV for productivity. But it's great as a 1080P TV.
As a portable TV the GV is fantastic. There's a remote app for it I use with my Note 5 and you can do anything via the remote you can do on the device. I use it as my bedroom TV rather than replacing my old 720P 32" TV with a newer one.
Big caveat. If your cable provider supports the GV for live broadcasts you can save money by not having to pay for extra equipment on additional TVs. I'm on DIRECTV and they do. If you can't get live TV than the GV is a giant Hulu watcher and at the price the value becomes questionable. At least to me.
Another caveat. The AT&T version is configured differently than the Wi-Fi versions. Rather than the streaming screen with access to popular video apps it's hard coded to the DIRECTV home page. Great if you're on DIRECTV, a big feature loss if you're not.
The GV is the ultimate business presentation device and there are two apps Samsung provides in Samsung Apps to create and present business presentations. I've used it a couple of times and its blown new customers away.
So the GV isn't for everyone. As a movable TV and business presentation device it's in a class by itself. It's great for media consumption but the price is a lot to pay to watch Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. As a giant tablet it's a fail. The PPI is dreadful and the s/w and h/w specs are nowhere near flagship class. So whether you're happy with the GV or not depends on how you plan to use it taking in to account the steep price.
I am using my galaxy view now for three weeks and love it.Former tablet was a notepro 12.2.The only thing i had to get used to was the screen resolution.Flashed the latest firmware from January and this beast is flying.No lag and gaming and watching movies etc is great on the view!
Really happy so far!!
Has anyone used this as a second monitor?
Thanks for the info.
Just got my Verizon version and I love it... for those that want a portable BIG screen for all things android this is it. This is designed for around the house portability. .. not put in your school pack pack portable.
Sent from my SM-T677V using XDA-Developers mobile app
this is the perfect solution for me.
Since the birth of my daughter the wife and I agreed that I need to smoke outdoors ( I live in the Netherlands ) so I've placed a Base tent on the roof Terrace with a comfortable armchair and heater, add the Galaxy View with Kodi and IPTV and I can watch everything I want outside without having to freeze during the winter
I have had mine for over a week now the at&t. one with the 64gb storage and 4g and I just love the size and all apps I tried so far work just great and gaming is awesome on this unit as you feel part of the game..screen looks great for what it is and I am one happy camper with this view.
Lenovo looking to introduce a direct competitor
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2016/05/11/new-lenovo-pb2-690n-18-4-inch-tablet-specs-spot/
Hello everyone here, I see everyone here has different kinds of galaxy views, I am interested in buying one despite the answer I'm going to get because getting this would greatly help with my travels, the question I ask is can you use it as a phone via bluetooth? like a direct line to say at&t or verizon, not that google way people are used to using it as? I also had a note pro 12.2 but I gave it to a family memeber because I couldn't use it as a phone via bluetooth (only verizon models did, I had a at&t one). I'm just hoping that it has in some models but if it doesn't that's also alright, the pros outweighs the con. I'll just hope that I'll try to do the same I did with the note pro which was sideload the apps needed and changing a few files here and there to make it work (or do the google voice thing).
oldgamer31 said:
Hello everyone here, I see everyone here has different kinds of galaxy views, I am interested in buying one despite the answer I'm going to get because getting this would greatly help with my travels, the question I ask is can you use it as a phone via bluetooth? like a direct line to say at&t or verizon, not that google way people are used to using it as? I also had a note pro 12.2 but I gave it to a family memeber because I couldn't use it as a phone via bluetooth (only verizon models did, I had a at&t one). I'm just hoping that it has in some models but if it doesn't that's also alright, the pros outweighs the con. I'll just hope that I'll try to do the same I did with the note pro which was sideload the apps needed and changing a few files here and there to make it work (or do the google voice thing).
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Click to collapse
Not that I can tell. Was in the same boat with my Note Pro 12.2.
So there is one of these in the AT&T variant that I can pick up locally for $200 or less. Is it worth it? Has it been updated past 5.1.1? I've been researching and can't find any answers.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
not at the moment. It should be hopefully
Hi,
I currently have a Roku, firetv and raspberry pi for Kodi and emulation and I would like something which I like one device to rule them all - Kodi, prime video, Plex and Netflix all in one. Shield can do that - which is great!
However, I'm struggling to justify the cost. Aside from the 2019 rehashed version putting the price up a bit, I'm starting to feel Nvidia may give up on this platform in a couple of years with stadia and other providers taking the streaming gaming market. £200 is a lot to waste if they dump it in a couple of years.
So my current setup is I use Roku daily, and Kodi for some films at weekends, and I have a second SD card for emulation. Why would I spend £199 on this when I could replace my Roku and RPI with newer 4k models for a cheaper price?
There are also alternatives although I'm struggling to find a similarly CPU powered unit for this money. On the emulation front I would really like to get to GameCube and 1080p N64, let alone Dreamcast. Annoyingly, all this can be emulated on my powerful android phone! But I don't want a phone or a switch like dock - I want something wired in.
So alternatives here are like odroid or other RPI like cards which provide the grunt and power, but more these would be a Kodi box replacement rather than the one device to rule them all. HTPCs are out of the question afaik as they would be too expensive, but is this still the case?
(Please note, this thread is intentionally blunt to drive out conversation)
even if nvidia dumps it in a few years itll still b the best you can buy.. i also have all those devices and none of them even get close to the shield for years running..
heck, the 2017 model still holds its own against the 2019 model..
also i think the game streaming argument is not even an argument lol.. i can almost guarantee any device google or anyone else will put out will still not come close to the shield.. not to mention if its a streaming service.. nvidia is officially supporting android tv os so dont be surprised if the services become available on the shield down the road..
to top it off, nvidia has been streaming games just fine for years now so they definitely have a leg up already in that aspect also..
i alsi think the price argument is not valid.. you get what you pay for lol.. im sure if u went with a shield to start you wouldnt have wasted money on shotty rokus or pis.. the amount of $$$ you already spent on sub par devices probably amounts to more than you wouldve paid for a shield
It depends on what you want to do with it.
For pure movie watching the Shield's PQ is just not very good. I highly recommend picking up a cheap Amlogic based Android box and installing CoreELEC on it. For the money they can't be beat, and the PQ is leaps and bounds ahead of the Shields. I have a $30 S912 generic box with CoreELEC on it and it looks amazing compared to my $200 Shield.
Hi
Wagmans said:
It depends on what you want to do with it.
For pure movie watching the Shield's PQ is just not very good. I highly recommend picking up a cheap Amlogic based Android box and installing CoreELEC on it. For the money they can't be beat, and the PQ is leaps and bounds ahead of the Shields. I have a $30 S912 generic box with CoreELEC on it and it looks amazing compared to my $200 Shield.
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Click to collapse
I've not noticed any picture quality differences between Amlogic and Nvidia Shield, besides given it's all digital and decoding is easy and just mathematics, why should the picture quality be different? Something else may be going on with the setup perhaps?
I've really wanted to love Amlogic, but what I have found with Amlogic is bugs, I've not found a box yet that will play video back without some issue (frame's being drop, strange artefacts, issues with HDMI frame rates, or no support for streaming services due to not having the necessary DRM etc), now this isn't so much the fault of Amlogic but the rubbish support of the cheap Chinese manufacturers that don't test or update their software, and third party firmware not having access to the latest codecs and drivers to improve the situation. The S905x2, I tried 2 different boxes and countless different ROMs and couldn't stop it from having issues with decoding certain videos, videos that played without issue everywhere else, including the Amlogic S905 non x2, but that had other issues! In the end I bought an Nvidia Shield and have had no problems at all.
Regards
Phil
PhilipL said:
Hi
I've not noticed any picture quality differences between Amlogic and Nvidia Shield, besides given it's all digital and decoding is easy and just mathematics, why should the picture quality be different? Something else may be going on with the setup perhaps?
I've really wanted to love Amlogic, but what I have found with Amlogic is bugs, I've not found a box yet that will play video back without some issue (frame's being drop, strange artefacts, issues with HDMI frame rates, or no support for streaming services due to not having the necessary DRM etc), now this isn't so much the fault of Amlogic but the rubbish support of the cheap Chinese manufacturers that don't test or update their software, and third party firmware not having access to the latest codecs and drivers to improve the situation. The S905x2, I tried 2 different boxes and countless different ROMs and couldn't stop it from having issues with decoding certain videos, videos that played without issue everywhere else, including the Amlogic S905 non x2, but that had other issues! In the end I bought an Nvidia Shield and have had no problems at all.
Regards
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The note about HDMI quality - so a couple of things. Believe it or not, a decent cable can make a difference in visual quality, in particular the colour in which with a decent cable you can get much richer and warmer colour along with better looking bitrate image. Hard to believe I know as it's only digital - but if the cable does not deliver a consistent bit rate then you see degradation on the image - particularly on large 4k screens.
However, the thing that makes the most difference is the source. If you have a quality source, then you get quality output. I've heard the shield suffers from bland colourisation, along with some screen tearing. For £200 I would expect it to match the quality of my 4k Blu-ray, which from what I'm hearing it doesn't.
I wasn't quite thinking of the armlogic route but it is something of consideration as they are indeed cheap. The question here - is a £200 device that much better image and does it have that many features to warrant the £200. I'm not sure it does, but it would be good to obtain some objective feedback.
On a side note, if I wanted the most powerful emulation device for the same money, is the Nvidia the answer? Ideally I would like to run GameCube games (as getting out the old box and games is a bit annoying), but I hear dolphin emulation struggles on the Nvidia (mainly down to poor optimization, the hardware should be capable). Is there such a device and ideally one that can run Kodi also.
I see that Onn Waltmart 10.1 tablet is on sale. I happen to have a different 10.1 2GB tablet (Vaykyo Z4) also running Android 9. and its disappointingly slow for routine web browsing.
The Z4 uses a 64-bit 1.5Ghz quad-core CPU (rk30board) with a Mali-G31 GPU.
Would the Onn be an improvement?
kmandel said:
I see that Onn Waltmart 10.1 tablet is on sale. I happen to have a different 10.1 2GB tablet (Vaykyo Z4) also running Android 9. and its disappointingly slow for routine web browsing.
The Z4 uses a 64-bit 1.5Ghz quad-core CPU (rk30board) with a Mali-G31 GPU.
Would the Onn be an improvement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you keep in mind that it's a $100 tablet, then YES, well worth it.
I wanted a cheap 10" tablet so I first bought a Chuwi HiPad 10" LTE from Amazon that had far greater specs than the Walmart Onn tablet, but it performed really sluggishly. It had 3 GB RAM, Deca core MT6797X Helio X27 processor, yet still felt like it was being intentionally bottlenecked somehow. I disabled the very little bloat that it had but it still felt like something just wasn't right. I wanted to like it because it felt like a nice piece of hardware (for a cheap chinese product anyway), had a surprisingly beautiful high resolution screen, nice keyboard cover with a trackpad, but I couldn't get past how it performed. I returned it.
Now I have the 007 model Onn 10" tablet from Walmart. The screen is very low resolution so that kind of sucks, but the tablet overall performs as one would expect for basic web browsing and media consumption. It's not blazing fast but it's smooth enough that you don't get aggravated with it.
I rooted it easily with Magisk, installed TWRP, disabled the few Walmart apps that were preinstalled, and it performs just fine. There are occasional lags once you start to use up all the RAM, but overall it performs well for being a $100 tablet. It performs MUCH smoother than the Chuwi tablet that had supposedly better specs.
720p YouTube videos play well. 1080p play well enough, too, but the screen is so low-resolution that there's no point. Nova launcher works well. Chrome seems to do alright browsing the web. It has stereo speakers, but they are very flat. Loud, but flat. Battery life is very short compared to higher end tablets with bigger batteries.
It's no powerhouse, but it does run well for basic needs. Only time will tell if it will last longer than a year. Reviews seem hit and miss as far as overheating and battery issues go. Mine, so far, using it daily for email, web browsing, and watching videos, has never gotten even warm in the past month I've had it.
100% Yes its worth it as long as you get it on black friday when its 55 bucks. The 7 inch seems to lag and run poorly. I've had zero issues with the 10 so far. Only thing I did was make all the animations .5 in Developer Settings to make it feel snappier
For one for black friday
Did anyone else get one of these for $60 on black friday? Struggeling with a couple annoyances.
1. Can't get rid of the dang walmart link in the nav bar even after uninstalling bloatware after gaining root.
2. This is supposed to be pie but where are the gesture navigation options??
thatguyjay said:
Did anyone else get one of these for $60 on black friday? Struggeling with a couple annoyances.
1. Can't get rid of the dang walmart link in the nav bar even after uninstalling bloatware after gaining root.
2. This is supposed to be pie but where are the gesture navigation options??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used ADB to reset the navbar to stock.
Code:
adb shell settings put secure sysui_nav_bar "space,back;home;recent,space"
ragtop429 said:
I used ADB to reset the navbar to stock.
Code:
adb shell settings put secure sysui_nav_bar "space,back;home;recent,space"
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Click to collapse
I've been looking for this for like 2 days... Thank you sir!
I bought the one with the keyboard. it's now been rebranded as a Surf and has a different model number lol. Either way great price!
razredge said:
I bought the one with the keyboard. it's now been rebranded as a Surf and has a different model number lol. Either way great price!
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Click to collapse
I got 4 of the 7 inch and one 10 inch with the keyboard. 10 inch is gonna be my obd II in car monitoring tablet, the 7 inch tablets are for family members for christmas lol
KaptinBoxxi said:
I got 4 of the 7 inch and one 10 inch with the keyboard. 10 inch is gonna be my obd II in car monitoring tablet, the 7 inch tablets are for family members for christmas lol
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UM...I might just steal that idea. I'm building my diesel truck and looking into an in dash system my monitor everything. I don't gauges everywhere. I've seen a few in dash systems but I can find other parts to blow $300 on.
razredge said:
UM...I might just steal that idea. I'm building my diesel truck and looking into an in dash system my monitor everything. I don't gauges everywhere. I've seen a few in dash systems but I can find other parts to blow $300 on.
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Click to collapse
Android being Android, I paid for Torque Pro once, ripped the apk and put it on all my devices, including my gf's phone just in case. The OBD II Bluetooth dongle I got was 3 dollars from china off the app Wish. Sure it took a month to get, but was WELL worth it.
Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I'll release a modified system.img for these devices with all this pre-installed. Idk the exact rules on "paid for APK's in ROMs" but I've done it before with the Galaxy S5, so...... eh?
I'd be into getting it if you decide to make something up. Hell I'll test for you too. I got SPFT so I ain't scared of bricks.
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
razredge said:
I'd be into getting it if you decide to make something up. Hell I'll test for you too. I got SPFT so I ain't scared of bricks.
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm probably going to do it the old fashioned way of rip the system.img with TWRP Tool, edit the system.img by just adding the APK's and such, then testing it, and releasing it. It won't be a GSI, but specific to just the 7 and 10 inch tablets until I download the 8 inch image
Or I'll be lazy and just download the img lol
Update on this idea... every time I try to flash a modified system img, it takes it, but it just boots back to fastboot, so I guess I need to just do a TWRP flashable zip which ... I hate making those XD
Update 2, might be the tool i'm using? It extracts just fine, but no modifications at all, convert file system folder back to system img, still doesn't work
I started this thread to ask if the 10" would do better than the 10" Vaykyo Z4 I have with similar specs. Based on the feedback I bought the $60 model, and I'm very pleased! It's incredibly more responsive. Web pages are fast and pinch zoom works well.
There are a couple of issues so far.
kodi works, except for swipe control of the playing stream. No matter what configuration changes I make it doesn't see the swipes (usied for skip forward, and back).
I'm used to printing with the "cups" app. It worked fine on my Pixel3 back when I was on Android 9 and now on 10. On Onn's 9, it complains about security and never successfuly connects to the cups server. The cups server has no restrictions and all 3 are on the same wifi lan. I think it has something to do with https, but why would that be different on Onn's 9?
Finally, do you think we will be getting security patches, or possibly even Android 10 at some point?
ragtop429 said:
As long as you keep in mind that it's a $100 tablet, then YES, well worth it.
I wanted a cheap 10" tablet so I first bought a Chuwi HiPad 10" LTE from Amazon that had far greater specs than the Walmart Onn tablet, but it performed really sluggishly. It had 3 GB RAM, Deca core MT6797X Helio X27 processor, yet still felt like it was being intentionally bottlenecked somehow. I disabled the very little bloat that it had but it still felt like something just wasn't right. I wanted to like it because it felt like a nice piece of hardware (for a cheap chinese product anyway), had a surprisingly beautiful high resolution screen, nice keyboard cover with a trackpad, but I couldn't get past how it performed. I returned it.
Now I have the 007 model Onn 10" tablet from Walmart. The screen is very low resolution so that kind of sucks, but the tablet overall performs as one would expect for basic web browsing and media consumption. It's not blazing fast but it's smooth enough that you don't get aggravated with it.
I rooted it easily with Magisk, installed TWRP, disabled the few Walmart apps that were preinstalled, and it performs just fine. There are occasional lags once you start to use up all the RAM, but overall it performs well for being a $100 tablet. It performs MUCH smoother than the Chuwi tablet that had supposedly better specs.
720p YouTube videos play well. 1080p play well enough, too, but the screen is so low-resolution that there's no point. Nova launcher works well. Chrome seems to do alright browsing the web. It has stereo speakers, but they are very flat. Loud, but flat. Battery life is very short compared to higher end tablets with bigger batteries.
It's no powerhouse, but it does run well for basic needs. Only time will tell if it will last longer than a year. Reviews seem hit and miss as far as overheating and battery issues go. Mine, so far, using it daily for email, web browsing, and watching videos, has never gotten even warm in the past month I've had it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, too bad Netflix will only stream at 480P as the onn tablets only support Widevine L3 rather than L1. Yet another case of streaming services being Defective By Design.