Database Users

Homemade Tablet? An Idea.

Ok, so here's my dilemma. I want a convertible tablet pc. Problem is though, I think all of the ones on the market are poop. They either run android (I don't see the point still) and iOS, or are clunky and rediculously expensive. But I had a extremley bright idea. Buy whatever laptop I like, slap a touchscreen on that *****, and be happy. Keep in mind that as a poor college student with no job, I will probably never be able to afford this
1. Take apart laptop completley, Rip out the green bullcrap.
2. Mod case to be suitable as a convertible...or just look cool.
3. Rverse USB port to face inside
4. Close USB off from the outside
5. Get a USB Touchscreen conversion kit, which im sure come in many different flavors (Capacitive, Multitouch, Resistive), or better yet use a connector designed for computer internals, making #3 and #4 useless.
6. Add 3rd party accelerometer for Poitrait/Landscape orientation
7. Find a suitable hinge (or make one) and replace it
8. Boot laptop, install drivers for touchscreen and accelerometer
9. Pat myself on the back for custom making a tablet PC?
In my opinion the hardest part would be modding the case to be suitable as a convertible tablet, which can't be too hard. I have access to MIG/TIG welders, sheet metal cutters, grinders, ect. and I know people who know how to use them, so working with metal shouldn't be too dificult. In fact, I probably could just build a case myself from scratch. I also have alot of experience with plastic, so that's not a problem although I'd prefer to use metal for structural parts.
Touchscreen conversion kits seem to be all over the internet with a quick google search, and it shouldn't be too hard to find high quality capacitive touchscreen panels.
Walcom Bamboo Stylus because I'm a G
Accelerometers that work with windows I don't know about, but it cant be too hard Amirite? You can find ANYTHING for sale on the internet.
If I do do this however it will probably be in the summer (when I have a job). The only probelm I might have is the internals, seeing as I've never handled computer internals before. My brother did build his computer though, and I have a friend who also builds computers. It dosen't seem too hard compared to the other stuff like modding the case. While the laptop is dissasembled I'd probably put the parts in ziplock bags to keep them away from dirt and debris while I'm not using them. As long as I'm careful I don't thinkim going to mess anything up.
Good idea or no?

Good idea. Just keep in mind that the whole thing would be much heavier than a regular tablet, so holding it in hand would be difficult.
I have seen an EEE PC modded with a touchscreen, but the keyboard part was still there.

Just get a transformer lol...
What is wrong with Android? What is it you need to do that it won't?
My other idea would be to tell you most android devices are capable of running linux too?
Sounds like alot of work..and there are suitable models on the market, but if you wanna do it?
By the time you get around to it I wonder where technology will be...
PS ziplock bags? NO! Get some static bags..ziplocs are crazy static-charged! Honestly though, sounds like you are a good deal away from being able to deconstruct and reconstruct a laptop..the integrated circuits are ridiculously small and fragile..
PPS The hardest part might be actually getting the accelerometer sensors to function..which is where android comes in..you have to actually write some code into your operating system that will recognize and react accordingly withing the right parameters in your code..devs on this sight have problems with accelerometers that otherwise worked on a stock rom on OEM machines, god knows what it would take to get one working on a machine that never intended to have one by design?
That is all

What's old is new again
It's funny we did something similar a few years ago to build PC's into cars and trucks. For that application and at that time it made sense. Today we essentially just make custom docks for COTS tablets so that they integrate with the car.
If you're opposed to Android and other mobile OS's my suggestion is to start looking around craigslist for convertible tablet/laptops like those from HP and Dell or look for a cheap HP slate. I've seen gently used Slates going for around $200-300 and they run windows 8 reasonably well. I've seen convertibles close to that price as well.
Unless you are just dead set on a fabrication project i'd strongly suggest taking advantage of off the shelf hardware and mass production pricing and spend your extra time and money learning how to get the most of of those components.
If you do go ahead with this then weight and cost will be your biggest issues. I think a better twist on this would be to figure out how to make a transformer type of dock for other popular tablets. If you can make them well and make them cheap then sell a few and buy what you really want.

The reason I don't like android is because It's not a desktop OS. I'll be building this tablet-y thing for graphics/image editing, word processing and a little bit of gaming in between and I'm not 100% sure about android graphics programs. I like to keep it simple and use MS Paint, then GIMP if i need a more powerful program. I'm also a windows fanboy and it's what I've been using ever since I was 2... I also like to build things.
I hate the transformer prime. I want a convertible tablet, not a tablet and a little dock thingy...won't serve my purposes.
I didn't know Ziplock bags are staticy by nature. Thanks for the tip.
As far as the accelerometer, I don't know much about them but if it's super difficult I'm probably not going to bother with it. I'll maybe install a switch?

It's hard to beat windows for functionality but you might check out paint.net as a free replacement for paint.
Over all though I get the idea that you're a little in over your head on this.
Sent from my HTC Flyer using XDA App

LexusFman said:
I hate the transformer prime. I want a convertible tablet, not a tablet and a little dock thingy...won't serve my purposes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you seen the Eee Pad Slider?
Also, Adobe photoshop for android = $10
https://market.android.com/details?id=air.com.adobe.pstouch&hl=en

LexusFman said:
The reason I don't like android is because It's not a desktop OS. I'll be building this tablet-y thing for graphics/image editing, word processing and a little bit of gaming in between and I'm not 100% sure about android graphics programs. I like to keep it simple and use MS Paint, then GIMP if i need a more powerful program. I'm also a windows fanboy and it's what I've been using ever since I was 2... I also like to build things.
I hate the transformer prime. I want a convertible tablet, not a tablet and a little dock thingy...won't serve my purposes.
I didn't know Ziplock bags are staticy by nature. Thanks for the tip.
As far as the accelerometer, I don't know much about them but if it's super difficult I'm probably not going to bother with it. I'll maybe install a switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, I've got photoshop, an office suite, and tons of games, I'd never have to touch a PC again..I am a graphic designer by trade! I can even watch hulu (something not supposed to be capable of on android platforms), I've got a nice stylus and a full qwerty keyboard and mouse- I'm working on the OG transformer not the Prime, as far as I can tell the Prime was pushed too quickly and has issues with all of it's radios due to the metal shell..the TF101 does not have these issues, and the TF700 (basically the prime with the GPS and radios fixed and better resoultion) is available if you don't want to go for the OG transformer.
Seriously sounds like you're trying feverishly to open a can of worms to get a windows tablet when in reality there is no need and windows is given a run for it's money with the new ICS android on the way. Trying to unlock a windows phone after unlocking a whole bunch of Android devices would quickly turn you off of Microsoft as an OS IMO, that's what made me an Android fanboy (I was a windows guy previously, now I'm leaning more and more towards linux/android for their open source code user-friendly programability). But, if you are determined to do something the hard way = the expensive and labor/time-consuming way, no one is going to stop you
Just remember- in the world of technology things are done: Right, Cheap, and/or Fast. BUT, you can only choose two..

I've done this already with a eeePC 700.
1. The resistive touchscreen. You'll need a stylus for that.
2. Typing with a stylus is horrible.
3. It was heavy. Even when it was only 7inch screen. The battery made it heavy. (but I had 9hours of battery life)
4. You couldn't navigate the boot menu (without an external keyboard)
5. Resistive touchscreen is crap for drawing, because you still want to support your hand on the screen while drawing, which you couldn't do.
6. Moving Items around sucked (no drag and drop)
and many more.
I used it in my bed, for browsing. was good enough, until the touchscreen cable snapped. (I didn't have an external keyboard, so I had to open the tablet, connect the keyboard, and navigate the boot menu when I had to)
Hope this helped. Though it was fun to build it and use it, it's not what you would call an 'every day' tablet

romitkin said:
Good idea. Just keep in mind that the whole thing would be much heavier than a regular tablet, so holding it in hand would be difficult.
I have seen an EEE PC modded with a touchscreen, but the keyboard part was still there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it would be much heavier, in fact I think the idea is perfect for modification of a netbook. It would probably be cheapest. since so much case modding is required and so many enclosure fabrication resources are handy, to put together a frankenstein out of 2 or 3 broken netbooks. Find someone who smashed the screen of one netbook, another one who fried the board of theirs, find a total-loss broken tablet PC (like dropped in lake michigan level of total loss so it will cost pennies) and get the ribbon cable and swivel element from there. I think if this idea is applied to a netbook it would be excellent in size and weight as well as functionality. And with the x86 version of android's progress, it could even be running android like a tablet in screen out mode, and change to webtop mode when its swiveled. Put a netbook mobile broadband card in there, many netbooks have open card expansions under the screw-out panels underneath, if not you would have to choose between wifi or taking the wifi expansion out in favor of a mobile broadband card, and certainly make sure that the card is supported by your wireless provider if you choose to go the mobile broadband route. With verizon or sprint you will most likely have to acquire a mobile broadband card out of a netbook that was originally sold by the company, but be sure to check and make sure the MEID is clean before paying anything for one, if the seller defaulted on a contract they used to acquire it, you might as well flash the thing to cricket or metroPCS and use them as your mobile broadband carrier. With either wifi or mobile broadband, as well as bluetooth, don't forget the antenna! yeah that thing you have to unhook from the other side of the card to take it out, you need that. (oh yeah, bluetooths are included as expansion cards sometimes too, if so you could always remove this to make room for the mobile broadband if you don't use bluetooth. I sure don't and probably wont until they drop the rediculous prices of non-audio bluetooth interfaces to acceptable and competative levels.)
That project actually sounds pretty freakin cool, the type of thing I'd do if I wasn't already swamped with projects. Definetly keep us posted if you decide to go through with it, as I pointed out, if you build it from netbook parts it should be well within your budget, netbooks run much cheaper then notebooks already, but a netbook is comperable in power to most current android devices and thus is suitable to handle most things you'd use a tablet PC for, just not high powered stuff like compiling code or rendering animation or playing 3d online games.
Edit: I'd like to add and point out that as a regular user of an acer netbook running ubuntu, it is wise to refrain from excessive multitasking, the atom had to sacrifice a bit of things we've become accustomed to in notebooks to meet the low power consumption and operating temperature requirements, and a lot of those things are things that mostly benefit multitasking. You will not be happy if you try and run a jillion programs at the same time.
That being said ubuntu's new primary UI, I forget what it's called evolve or something like that, it is an excellent UI for netbooks, perfectly space-optimized, especially in the vertical range which gets filled quick on lil netbook screens. I'm not sold on it and prefer to go with gnome or xfce on desktops and normal-sized notebooks, but it is top-notch on a netbook. I'd also recommend not messing with the accelerometer at first and including it later as it may be a pain to implement correctly in comparison to the limited amount of functionality it brings to the table. I'd rather have something that works personally that I can make additions to then pull my hair out trying to throw everything in the first time right.
---------- Post added at 10:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 AM ----------
Will_nonya said:
It's hard to beat windows for functionality but you might check out paint.net as a free replacement for paint.
Over all though I get the idea that you're a little in over your head on this.
Sent from my HTC Flyer using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to LMAO @ this comment. If users would ever actually push developers to release for the linux platform, especially hardware manufacturers (which is ridiculous since all they would have to do is release their code open source, or even just parts of their code and the community would do the rest. Doesn't matter much tho, it's mostly crappy chinese hardware that isn't supported by linux, and their HQs more then likely don't speak enough english to be able to request anything, beleive me I've tried to contact MSI before.... most hardware worth running is fully supported tho)
But point is, I feel like it is extremely cumbersome whenever I'm forced to use windows, apart from trying to use unsupported hardware or cross-platform software (although wine and mono have made GIGANTIC leaps in usability). I pretty much never have to deal with drivers, updates to all software happens automatically, it's become so self-maintaining that I'm ashamed of how lazy of a linux user I've become. When I actually do have to do something even remotely advanced I have to think for a minute about it. Usually the only thing that really requires a lot of getting under the hood that I ever have to do is when I set up my audio-production setups which is even a lot easier now that they have dedicated repositories for them, and when set up correctly the real time preemptable kernel will run circles around any windows or OSX setup latency-wise. I was pulling lower latency with computers recording with ardour, and sequencing/synthesizing/sampling with seq24 amSynth, and qsampler, 5 years older then any PC I would test it against running windows with Reason and Protools. the Jack audio drivers that allowed software to plug audio inbetween applications directly across the PCM was just icing on the cake.
Windows is good software, but linux has certainly surpassed it by leaps and bounds. Windows still rules for gaming because of directX and industry unwillingness to port to linux, but the period of time right after Microsoft declared it was removing directX support from XP on further releases saw linux catch up with windows for a little while as they rushed wine to support the newest directX making it actually possible to actually run new releases under windowsXP even. Curses microsoft, foiled again! And off topic, but furthermore, I can't believe people still pay so much money for that god damn talking paper clip, openoffice.org ftw!
As I said windows isn't bad software, I said before in these forums actually that if windows ran a microsoft controlled repository to distribute all software for windows through, like linux, it would have similarly non-existant problems with viruses. Having people go around the wild-west of the internet downloading and installing programs from there without even thinking about it is just asking for the malware and adware problems windows experiences. Windows is good software, linux is just much better software.

Too complicated...
On a second thought how about moding a cheap Tablet with better parts. Is it even possible like are the parts such as a processor, camera, or the radio chip available for tablets and phones.

Why dnt you get a transformer?

In my opinion, it would just be better to settle for an table, prices are gonna drop really soon. The market for Eee PC's alike has diminished since the release of the ipad.

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

A lot of things to doo, better start with a simple tablet and try to upgrade it if possible... dont know if its possible btw.

I did something almost like this.
Took apart a dirt cheap acer aspire one with a small 8 GB SDD.
Small 280 Atom 1.6GHz cpu and cheap intel GMA gpu.
Inverted the screen
Added a extra 512MB ram and inserted a 16GB SD card.
My battery however did not stand up to the task so i ordered a 9 cell pack.
It ran quite stable with 6 days standby or 12hours of heavy usage.
The lack of a accelerometer however made it a pain for quite a few games.
But i did have a vague plan to get value's from it into the android OS using a AVR and a few other cheap parts.
Many manufacturers still produce cheap atom notebooks like these.
But hardware specs have gotten better and better, so you should be able to pick one up for cheap still.

http://www.axiotron.com
Soooo 2008...

I'm doing this with an old pentium 3 thinkbook. I know its not really that great of a computer but it at least redeems it as a usable device.

sounds interesting will looking forward for it....

Good Idea!

[Q]Best tablet/laptop to develop ON?

My main, 4-5 year old macbook pro, seems to slowly be dying. HDD making weird noises, dead pixels on edges, power randomly turning off all the way, the works. I know some of this stuff is fixable, and I'll probably come around to it later, but right now I'm looking into getting a new computer, preferably a windows 8/ windows 8.1. While looking around for what my replacement would be, I know that some tablets, such as the surface pro, run windows 8. I think it would be cool to have a computer i could develop on and then go to class and turn it into a tablet and take notes on it. I don't know much about development, since I am a noob at it, and I'm going to collage in computer science next year, I don't know much about computer specifications for development. So, what would be a good choice for a tablet pc for developing? I do understand that a laptop or a full on PC would probably be better, but I'm just looking at options right now.

The main criteria for serious development (note: nothing you do in the first year or two of a CS curriculum is likely to qualify, unless you're going to MIT or something) are:
A) High-resolution display (1920 x 1080 is what I'd consider to be the bare minimum for a dev box) with a large enough screen that you can read it easily at default DPI. This is needed so you can have multiple code views, or code + documentation, open at once.
B) A pretty good supply of RAM. Depending on the languages and IDEs you're using, and the size of the code bases you're working on, just what is *enough* RAM will vary, but I wouldn't want to use anything less than around 8GB in a dev box. That lets me have multiple IDEs open, and a ton of browser tabs and history (for documentation), all at the same time without swapping.
C) SSD if you can afford it; the performance boost on stuff like compiling is substantial. You'll want to make sure you have plenty of space, though; source code even for large projects is only occasionally into and rarely much past single-digits of gigabytes, but the full repository history for a long-running project can be huge, and you will probably want to have room for virtual machines too (which are literally full additional OS installations) so you can test on different systems, or learn to develop for both Windows and Linux on the same machine, etc.
D) A really good keyboard is a must. You'll spend a long time using it, and you'll use a lot of weird keys that you aren't used to hitting right now. You want a full keyboard (no missing keys; did you know that there are actually times when Scroll Lock is useful? No joke...) with full-sized key-spacings (a cramped keyboard will slow you down and be uncomfortable really quickly). What type of "feel" you want to the keyboard is up to you, but most people really like the Lenovo keyboards for laptops, for example; your basic cheap membrane keyboard is probably *not* going to be pleasant to use.
Surface Pro 2 might work, if you got the Type Cover, but I wouldn't really recommend it. You want a bigger display on a dev box, usually, and the keyboard is optimized for everyday use but not for development.

Different people have different preferences for development machines. However I think GoodDayToDies suggestions are all good ones.
I am currently a first year computer science student at the university of northampton. I went with just getting a laptop rather than a tablet hybrid of some sort. Ultimately settled on the HP Sleekbook 14. Its only an intel core i3 @1.8ghz with HD4000 graphics and 6gb of RAM, but for everything you do in first and 2nd year (and potentially 3rd if there is a 3rd year not really sure how things work in the US) thats actually plenty powerful. It isn't a solid state drive, which would have been nice. There is only one criticism with it for programming and that is the screen resolution, at 14" the physical size is fine, but it is only 1366*768 which I can fit my stuff onto but it would be much nicer to have a higher res screen as with a higher res you can fit more code on without having to decrease font sizes or hide task bars in your IDE or whatever (I decrease font size and unpin the solution explorer and toolbox etc in visual studio, eclipse I dont unpin anything because I am still trying to get used to it, its only when you use something else that you realise how good visual studio is).
I did computer science as one of my A-Level subjects. I didn't bother with getting a laptop for that, I used the school machines in lesson, took bus home, used my desktop PC at home (and seeming as I commute to northampton daily from home instead of staying on halls, I can still do the same, but for convenience sake I use the laptop still, with my setup its more comfortable). I did have a friend though that didn't have a desktop PC at home or anything, his only computer was a 10" netbook, 1.3ghz dual core atom on 1gb of RAM and one of those really sucky 600p displays. He did his entire A-Level computing coursework on it, didn't use the school machines for anything other than testing and viewing documentation (as in that school we weren't allowed details for the WiFi which also had a hidden SSID, even if we did connect to the network via wifi or plain old ethernet, there was a proxy server nobody had details for either, so no internet for unauthorised machines). He was perfectly happy to bash out code on a tiny keyboard and only see a few lines of it at one time, I really wouldnt recommend it though. Visual studio was also perfectly happy to run on that machine (albeit with about a 10 minute load time when first opening it), compiled and debugged ASP.net applications perfectly fine too.
Under default settings in eclipse and with the console window thing pinned open at the bottom of the display. I can fit 28 lines of code on a 768 pixel tall screen.
Tablets for taking notes dont last long. Only people still doing that since the beginning of term are either using a surface with touch cover and typing yet still having a pad of paper for drawing diagrams or there are 2 people with surface pro's who use the digitiser stylus. Under lecture note taking conditions capacitive pens and virtual keyboards dont cut it. Also seen a small handful of people using bluetooth keyboards with iPads. One of the 2 surface pro guys does also use the surface in lab sessions for doing his work, the other switches to a uni machine. If your fine with a small keyboard then yeah, you might be able to do devwork on a surface pro, but there are @"keys"^Which>'R'|arely {if ever} get touched during daily usage; They are often placed on smaller buttons on smaller keyboards, much harder to hit. If your going to spend a few seconds trying to hit shift+2 to type a " (I'm british, our keyboards arent the same) then its going to slow you down considerably, my mate with the netbook didn't have a problem with this, I couldnt do it though. I have used the apple wireless keyboard and can type reasonably well on that (even though its about netbook size), but I cannot use it for programming, although in my case thats because apple are morons who don't know what a british keyboard looks like so the symbols are in the wrong place for me (their idea of a british layout keyboard, because they do sell one, is slap a £ sign on the 3 key and give us a double height enter/return key, that is it, all of their changes), that wouldnt effect you in the US.
I would say anything with a core i3/i5 or even i7 will have the CPU horsepower to get your work done.
For first year stuff I highly doubt more than 4gb of RAM will be needed. but I will recommend 6-8 anyway for future proofing.
Unless you are doing a specialised pathway with graphics or gaming, don't bother with an integrated GPU, you won't really need it.
1366*768 screen res should be the absolute bare minimum, 1080p highly recommended though. When this machine is replaced one day, I will definitely be going 1080p.
You need a keyboard which is comfortable to use. Go to best buy or whoever else sells computers out there, use a few machines, see what features you do or do not want.
I cannot recommend something 10" in size for most people. I use 14", I wouldnt go smaller than 13". For that reason I wouldn't recommend a convertible. If you were to go convertible, at least go active digitiser to make up for it. Some of my lectures I just type up, most I just go old fashioned with active digitiser mk1 (also known as pen and paper).
I am however looking at either the dell venue 8 pro or the EVGA tegra note tablets as a note taking tool. Can't really justify the expense though on something that would purely be that, a note taking tool.

4 GB of RAM should be enough unless you plan to use emulators. If you use emulators, you might wanna boost that up to 8.
A video card is also useful, regardless of how "weak" performance it has in gaming. If you use a CPU built-in one, you will lose up to 1 GB of RAM depending on what you do.
The display is probably the most important of them all. You will spend lots of time looking at it trying to figure out what is going wrong, and if your eyes do not agree with the display, you will find your efficiency greatly reduced.

The Nook and Eink are dead!

Barnes & Noble has decimated their Nook development group.
Their latest endeavor, the white Nook Glow is a mish-mash of old and new software.
It appears that they've dropped the other two Eink models.
I do not ever expect to see any further updates or developments from B&N.
Eink has always played their cards close to their chest.
They have always presented their products as OEM, that is for manufacturers only.
To get the most out of devices with Eink displays application developers must also have a good understanding of Eink.
Just go to the Eink website, there is no useful information available.
A visit to Eink Developer Center shows just one kit for development of tiny readouts, not full displays.

I am not sure that I agree eInk is dead. I think it will have a niche market out there for a while. I am one of those people who really don't like reading on a back lit screen for any length of time. Perhaps it is due to my job where I stare at back lit LCD monitors all day long. In any case, I want to read on an eInk screen, not a back lit LCD. Until someone develops another tech to take to place of eInk, there will be people like me looking for eInk devices.
As for the eInk Nooks. They are dead. The future of eInk devices is high resolution 1024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen like the Kindle Paperwhite or the newly introduced Tolino Vision from Germany.

Hmm, that new Tolino looks interesting.
Still, I wouldn't say that 600 x 800 vs 768 x 1024 is the biggest deal for me.
The screen resolution is adequate for my eyes.
That it's the Carta display, whiter and faster would be some incentive.
A faster processor, more RAM and a more recent Android would be a win.
Of course I like eInk, I just think with prices being more than an LCD tablet it will remain a niche market.

It is my impression, from what I have read, the the extra resolution is somewhat necessary to make up for the extra layer needed for the capatitive touch screen. I agree that the 800 x 600 on a Nook with an IR touch screen is plenty good enough for these 50+ year old eyes.

No, E-Ink isn't dead. I have had a NST and I've been very satisfied with it as an e-reader. It's still easier on the eyes than even the best backlit display. My hope has been that someone might develop an E-Ink tablet not only for reading books but also for other text-intensive apps. Check out meetearl.com, for one interesting possibility. In the meantime, some folks have figured out that the Kobo line and the Tolino line are very similar in hardware. Long story short, I now have a Kobo Aura HD running Gingerbread from a microSD card. And it's not too bad at all. I don't use it for games or video, but it works well for the apps I've wanted to run on an E-Ink display. Gingerbread is old now, but significantly better than Eclair. The folks at Earl plan to use KitKat. It's still in development. No, E-Ink isn't dead yet!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I will have to admit that I bought a Nexus 7 tablet (1st gen, 32G) because my NST was less than completely adequate for some things. However, now, months later, I still find myself using the NST for almost all my reading. It is lighter, and easier on the eyes than the Nexus.
Dead? Maybe, but you can have mine when you pry my cold dead fingers off of it!
MildBill

All the black eInk Nooks have disappeared from the Barnes & Noble website.
You can only find them on places like eBay now.
I'm not sure about the brick-and-mortar stores, I'll have to check.
I am interested in how the Tolino will work out.
There is this video (in German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SulHahVHxIE
It doesn't really look impressively better.
I spend 99% of my time doing straight reading and my NST works as least as well as that.

eInk devices are going to be primarily for those who (like myself) like dedicated devices. I want my camera to take pictures, I want my phone to make phone calls, I want my eReader to read, and I use a tablet for other media (video / web / music). I believe that there will always be a market for such devices, whether that market is sufficiently lucrative for products to be developed and sold is another question.

We have an NST and a new Kobo Aura HD. I did all my serious reading on my NST. It's still one of the best eReaders out there. If the NST ran a newer version of Android, I would have looked no further. But, I wanted to be able to read books and articles from a few other apps on an E-Ink eReader, apps which won't work on Android 2.1. When I learned that the Kobo eReaders are very similar to the Tolino line, and that someone found a way to run the Tolino Shine's ROM from a microSD card on a Kobo Aura HD, I became very interested. I went and did it. The Tolino ROM works fairly well on the Kobo. The Kobo reader has some good features, like Pocket integration. If you put the NST and the Kobo side by side, you can see the improved resolution on the Kobo. But I still prefer the way the NST formats and presents ePub eBooks. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems like B&N is bailing out of the eReader business. That would be sad indeed if it is true.
Sent from my Kobo Aura HD running Gingerbread

Renate NST said:
Barnes & Noble has decimated their Nook development group.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source?

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/layoffs-hit-barnes-nobles-nook-division/
http://www.businessinsider.com/barnes-and-noble-hardware-engineering-staff-2014-2
http://www.techspot.com/news/55625-...arnes-nobles-nook-engineering-department.html
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/end-in-sight-for-nook-following-job-cuts-138724

Renate NST said:
http://www.geekwire.com/2014/layoffs-hit-barnes-nobles-nook-division/
http://www.businessinsider.com/barnes-and-noble-hardware-engineering-staff-2014-2
http://www.techspot.com/news/55625-...arnes-nobles-nook-engineering-department.html
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/end-in-sight-for-nook-following-job-cuts-138724
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you!

New Sony Dpt-S1, 13" reader looks like intersting use of Eink technology. But screen refresh still looks better on Nst with fastmode/norefresh
and PocketBook Cad reader, strong specifications like for eink
13",1 Ghz dual core, android 4.0, 2gb ram...

The take-up probably would have been far quicker had ereaders been cheaper. I'm guessing the biggest cost of an ereader is the eink display itself? Is it really that much more complex in it's design than an lcd that prices seem to be high for most ereaders (i know the technology is different, i mean the manufacturing process costs)? Most people would opt for a tablet as you can get really good ones with beautiful screens (Nook HD for example) for less than the price of a new Kindle, Kobo etc and you can do SO much more than just reading. Yeh, ereaders are easier on the eyes, but i doubt most tablet owners care about that when you add all the other functions of a tablet.
I think ereaders will always continue to exist, and i think as more and more people start using their tablets for reading entire books as opposed to just websites, articles, magazines etc, they're going to look to something that's easier on the eyes and ereaders will always be an excellent option, especially if more less restrictive ones come out that allow you to sync other files as well very easily without having to root them and install apps like dropbox, airdroid etc yourself. Kobo's Pocket for example is a great addition, but far more options to the user would be better, such as choosing which article sync app you wanted, Pocket, Readability, InstaPaper etc. Sync apps should also be the norm such as options to choose between Dropbox, gdrive, etc as well as maybe a basic browser like Opera Mini (mini so you get basic text versions of sites rather than the full sites that ereaders struggle with and output ugly results.
What i'd really like to see is great tablets with all their power, but with the addition of an eink display attached to the back Yeh, it's going to be thicker and slightly heavier but i think it could work. Similar to to Yotaphone, but not as rubbish as the Yotaphone (i read really bad reviews), instead, the eink side would work the same as any other touch screen ereader. You can even have a cover that flips over to cover the backside so only the screen you're looking at is exposed so if you put it down you don't have to worry about scratches. The implementation could be so much easier as well, instead of trying to figure about how you get the image on the eink side (a problem Yota did not fix well), you could just mirror the tablet side exactly, so there's no additional complex software conversions to do, that way if you want to end your web browsing session on your tablet and read a book, just open your ereader app, flip your tablet and read on you eink side and flip pages the way you already do on an ereader via touch.
If i had the money and the know how i would be designing a Tablet/Ereader hybrid like that myself. Had this idea for a long time, but never understood why someone didn't do it (other than the cost). I'm sure there are reasons that others will point out maybe, but i'd much rather buy a Tablet/Ereader hydrid long before i buy the failed SmartPhone/ereader hybrid as the latter is pointless, reading on a small phone even if it is eink is still difficult and makes you strain your eyes.

I think the Nook Simple Touch is really the optimal format in many ways.
6" is a good size for reading reflowable text.
It's not that great for page formatted (i.e. PDF).
It's too bad that B&N cut so many corners.
Not all the delay can be blamed on the eInk itself.
The processor is slow and there isn't a lot of RAM.
It would have been nice if they had gotten the Jorjin chip with Bluetooth.
I can compare navigation speed on large documents using the same reader app (i.e. my new app) on my Nook and my old disused Kyocera Rise cell phone.
The Nook shows as pretty slow.

I agree, it is sad that B&N ruined the Nook e-inks.
Was never (and am still not) a fan of Amazon devices.
E-ink devices are still evolving.
My next e-ink device is getting closer to release. http://www.meetearl.com/
Being full Android KitKat device, it has the options I want and a few extra.

I am not really sure if e-ink is going in or out.
I see contradicting moves out there:
- Best Buy has eliminated all e-ink readers from their (brick and mortar) stores. I went to three of them this past week and only Kindle Paperwhite is present. Their explanation: tablets are replacing them.
- hower: one can see bigger e-ink readers being released, which also have more of their Android base exposed: Onyx Boox M96M Zeus, ICARUS eXceL 9.7". It seems that those producers of ereaders that still want to be in the market add features so that they bring the feature convergence on their side.
I personally love the e-ink displays and would very much like to have a modern phone/tablet using it. Keeping my fingers crossed !

[Q] Hacking for non-ebook use, Nook Glowlight vs. Kindle Paperwhite vs Kobo Glo

I'm in the market for an eInk device to be used exclusively for non-ebook purposes. I need something with the battery life of an ereader as opposed to that of an LCD based tablet. My application does not require the flashy color, or the fast redraw of an LCD, it's simply going to be an interface for a control system of sorts. The UI will not require scrolling but be primarily page based, and no high frame rate video. The most advanced thing that might be displayed is the occasional slow update grayscale "video" (maybe a frame or two a second at the most but even that's not terribly likely). Touch is required and a lit screen would be a big plus (hence the list of devices I mentioned). I also require wifi connectivity, cellular is not important and would never be used.
I do like the idea of using a device that runs Android as it would give me a greater number of options for development. While I may stick with HTML5 and JS I also like the possibility of writing a true Android application. I'm not interested in Android Play or any of the other Gapps, though I suppose I could sideload them if I feel the need. I will most likely be running a very simple custom launcher so that the device operates more like a purpose built embedded platform rather than a general purpose Android tablet.
My question is what device would the experts here at XDA recommend I use? The Kindle has the benefit of the 800 pound gorilla that is Amazon but it doesn't run Android natively. Nook has the benefit of a decent sized company behind it, the fact that it runs Android, the downside is I'm not entirely clear on how long B&N will stand behind their eInk devices. Kobo is the little guy in the corner, I know next to nothing about the company, the build quality of the device, or the future of the eInk devices, but like the Nook it appears to run some version of Android.
In truth, it's not really all that important that the device I choose be offered forever. This is a personal project, nothing that's going to market. What's more important is hackability, Android, and at least the possibility for newer custom Android ROMs to be installed.
Thank you for your help.
--adam
P.S. If this is the incorrect forum for this I apologize.

I think a Nook and a native Android app will be fine for control purposes.
I'd avoid the whole HTML5 stuff.
It's easier to get lean, mean, responsive if you stay away from browsers.
There is already enough interchangeability among Android devices.

E-Ink options
True grayscale video of any quality would be a stretch as you'd likely be dealing with refresh flashing between frames at even 1fps. Every hack I've seen for improving refresh behavior involves switching to 1-bit color depth. Some solutions preserve the appearance of grayscale through halftoning like a newspaper photo at the expense of image resolution.
One thing's for certain about the Nook Touch series, you'll never get anything newer than android 2.1 on it. A number of closed binary drivers need to be replaced for truly custom firmwares and you'd be limited on RAM anyhow. You will not be able to expect B&N to stand behind the product line in the future. Note that the most recent 4gb NSTglowlight lacks an SD slot and is thus more difficult to root. That said, I'm very pleased with my Glowlight as a bare-bones Android device.
The Kobo Aura HD tablet would at least get you Android 2.3 and is rootable. I'm not certain how strong its developer community might be. One advantage over the Nook seems to be more even distribution of light across the display surface but I can't confirm from hands-on experience.
If you're comfortable with Linux, you might want to consider the Onyx Boox. There's at least a few scraps of information on the manufacturer's site about developing custom Qt apps for the Boox platform. Onyx has announced new tablets using Android but they don't seem to be available in the wild yet.
PocketBook out of Europe supposedly makes all sorts of e-ink Linux tablets, little, big, and waterproof; I'll be damned if I could tell you how to buy them though. Any evidence of purchasable shipped product I can find in English regards old models and dates from a couple of years ago.
Personally, I'm hoping the Earl GPS/walkie talkie Android tablet makes it out of vaporware.

dayofthedaleks said:
Note that the most recent 4gb NSTglowlight lacks an SD slot and is thus more difficult to root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not so. Now that the development on USB booting has been done, it's trivial.
See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51742352&postcount=373

Renate NST said:
Not so. Now that the development on USB booting has been done, it's trivial.
See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51742352&postcount=373
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stand corrected!

dayofthedaleks said:
I stand corrected!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Consider the Onyx Boox T68. Similar specs to Kobo Aura HD, and it runs Android 4.04. A bit more expensive, but maybe what you're looking for.
Sent from my T68Lynx using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I echo the t68 comment. I got mine from Amazon a few weeks ago and it even shipped with prime shipping and was only $200. Totally worth it as an EReader. IDK of it would work for your purposes. But it comes with the play store and I haven't had any issues with it installing any app I've thrown at it.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

Pixel C vs The World

I am in a state of utter indecision and hope this post can generate some food for thought.
I am in possession of my second Galaxy Note tablet--the 2014--and am very unhappy with multi'window and bezel buttons. Before I bought the 2014 I tried jumping off the Android ecosystem to Apple and was less than happy with it, so the 2014 was a bit of a knee jerk, thinking that I could work around the button problem--I can't. But even worse is how they made multi-window into a horrible "feature".
All that is to say that I'm not platform dependent, and that I am so done with Samsung--no matter how much I like the stylus. The stylus was a useful feature but felt awkward to hold so while I think all tablets should have a stylus, I know that it is easier to say than to do in a logical fashion.
Over the past couple years I've encountered a couple Surface users who use theirs in concert with work and speak very highly of their capability. I think one of those would be better than a laptop when I travel. But having tried an early model I don't think they hold-up all that well as tablets. Certainly they do the job okay but don't feel right to me. I don't think like some that the Pixel C is aimed at competing with the surface--perhaps more an attempt at moving the platform more in that direction. It doesn't at all compare well with the surface IMHO.
Another thing that I read is people complaining about keyboards on tablets. I've always wanted one to make answering emails easier. That on screen keyboard is still not as good as a keyboard to me--call it an old folk interface device (OFID) if you must. That said, I've never had one because Bluetooth keyboards always seemed so finicky and the extra charging cable seemed a bridge too far for me. So the Pixel C keyboard's charging method seems inventive and spot on, but I'm not sure I like the Bluetooth nor do I understand why (comparing the surface keyboard with it) some keys had to be dropped off and a trackpad wasn't possible--though those seem a smallish issue.
So I'm having trouble deciding whether to get away from Android tablets and move toward a Surface or go with a Pixel C or something else. I do little more than reading on my 2014--well that and sending all my pictures to it over Eyefi, and web browsing. So I see little real reason to spend Surface Pro 4 money, but the extra functionality would be useful. I've worked more with Google Drive and spreadsheets and docs and am happy to think I can do some office work that way if need be but sometimes you need absolute compatibility without fail so I'm going to be a bit skiddish there.
So I know that's a bit of a ramble, but it seems all that's been rolling around in my head I really want to like this tablet but I'd want more than 64GB of storage because of those pictures, I really would like it to be removable memory, and as weird as it seems this lovely tablet got me looking closer at the Surface and thinking a PRO 3 might be a better bet. Don't come at me swinging, just give me some food for thought.

I strongly agree to stay away from Samsung, so you're already in a good spot after that decision.
Regarding storage space, I'm with you on wanting more space/expandability, but the general trend is to store eveyrthing online these days. At least if you have 64 gb for base that should be reasonable for most core use. (Android and its apps eat up considerably less space than Windows does, so it's not a straight space comparison. But ceretainly there is still a space comparison.)
In either case, bluetooth keyboard will hopefully prove comfortable for you as connection should be strong and seamless.
It really comes down to what you want to do with your new device. Pixel C will give you more portability, more apps, everything your Samsung could do but do it much better, faster, and cooler. Surface will give you PC-ability, Microsoft Office and similar full-PC apps, stylus-digitizer, expansion and desktop-friendly.
Also, Surface is available now and Pixel C is available ?? "by 2015 holidays" ???

ferrydust said:
I strongly agree to stay away from Samsung, so you're already in a good spot after that decision.
Regarding storage space, I'm with you on wanting more space/expandability, but the general trend is to store eveyrthing online these days. At least if you have 64 gb for base that should be reasonable for most core use. (Android and its apps eat up considerably less space than Windows does, so it's not a straight space comparison. But ceretainly there is still a space comparison.)
In either case, bluetooth keyboard will hopefully prove comfortable for you as connection should be strong and seamless.
It really comes down to what you want to do with your new device. Pixel C will give you more portability, more apps, everything your Samsung could do but do it much better, faster, and cooler. Surface will give you PC-ability, Microsoft Office and similar full-PC apps, stylus-digitizer, expansion and desktop-friendly.
Also, Surface is available now and Pixel C is available ?? "by 2015 holidays" ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certainly Windows is part of the reason I shy away from surface, but it is a necessary evil sometimes. I could have a Surface 3 pro right now if I was all that enamored with it, that I don't is due in part to the fact that I don't have to make the decision now. I've been with Android a long time and don't have major complaints, but battery life and security are issues I care about. Both seem to be getting some attention so I've no real burning reason to move away just yet.
So if I can reliably distill the above ramble into a shorter statement it might be that I feel the tug of Surface because I travel a bit for work, and I want a new tablet. I'm just not totally sold on the Pixel C Because of doubts and dissatisfaction with the keyboard and lack of external memory.
That may seem weak sauce to those of you who've been in the Nexus realm for a bit and I'd certainly put lots of faith in your expectations vs experience thoughts, and that's part of why I'm here. Nexus seems like the only realistic Android choice for me as updates and security go hand-in-hand. The Pixel C being an outgrowth of Nexus would presumably follow in the same foot steps. I also like what I'm seeing from an industrial design standpoint.--a Nexus 6p will be in my hands in a couple weeks. As I've stated, memory is an issue more because it doesn't seem enough to hold the pictures from the EyeFi card. I'll have to see how much space I'm currently using to justify that thought though.

wclark57 said:
Certainly Windows is part of the reason I shy away from surface, but it is a necessary evil sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, I'm pleasantly comfortable with Windows 10 on my laptop. I did not love windows 8 and had several measures in place to wrangle it into behaving like 7 for me. I've left windows 7 as is on my Workstation, but both my machines have very similar setups and I use Synergy between them and have been pleased with everything running swimmingly. Having a good touch screen makes a good bit of difference. The Windows store apps, though, are pretty bleh to me. That's not been an issue for me on Win 10; I use the regular desktop apps I've always used on regular windows, rather than the "touch-screen friendly" and "metro-style" apps.
I've been with Android a long time and don't have major complaints, but battery life and security are issues I care about. Both seem to be getting some attention so I've no real burning reason to move away just yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Battery life should be comparable if not better from Android, particularly in this case.
So if I can reliably distill the above ramble into a shorter statement it might be that I feel the tug of Surface because I travel a bit for work, and I want a new tablet. I'm just not totally sold on the Pixel C Because of doubts and dissatisfaction with the keyboard and lack of external memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use MS Office for work or similar desktop-dependent software, and don't want to lug around two machines (laptop for work plus tablet) then Surface is definitely your way to go. Otherwise, there's decent-to-great productivity applications on Android now (if you need MS Office or full Adobe Illustrator or similar, then nothing short of PC will cut it) and you may find the Pixel more portable, hardware and software-wise.[/quote]
Nexus seems like the only realistic Android choice for me as updates and security go hand-in-hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, other options are slim anyway, especially having ruled out Samsung. The other ones I'd look at in your case are Sony's Xperia tablet line or one of Lenovo's various tablets and tablet-laptop hybrids.
memory is an issue more because it doesn't seem enough to hold the pictures from the EyeFi card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I really wish they'd offer more memory across the board. You may find yourself happy and comfortable though with a combination built-in-memory+cloud-drive solution.
Since you're not in a rush, keep exploring the options and asking the questions. until you're comfortable or decidedly smitten with one machine.

ferrydust said:
FWIW, I'm pleasantly comfortable with Windows 10 on my laptop. I did not love windows 8 and had several measures in place to wrangle it into behaving like 7 for me. I've left windows 7 as is on my Workstation, but both my machines have very similar setups and I use Synergy between them and have been pleased with everything running swimmingly. Having a good touch screen makes a good bit of difference. The Windows store apps, though, are pretty bleh to me. That's not been an issue for me on Win 10; I use the regular desktop apps I've always used on regular windows, rather than the "touch-screen friendly" and "metro-style" apps. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the ramble I've written above stands true, enough cannot be made of the security faults with non Nexus devices. My 2014 has not been updated since I got it and it has a bunch of bloatware I cannot remove and have not accepted the permissions for. Not to mention that the reason I tried Apple was largely what this version of Android attempts to fix. So this is the only Android tablet I am considering.
I've also recently bought a fine laptop and its running Linux--which is what I run at home. So while I can configure some synergy in, it isn't a given that the synergy will be all that. And yes I'm sure I could put Linux on the Surface, but that would take me away from my main use case for it.
It comes down to what I most value and I think the process of writing this all out has all but made my decision for me, but still, I would prefer a positive argument for this tablet and frankly I'm not sure I have one. That leads me to the thought that I have an actual use case for a Surface, but not an Android--well there is the photography, but I can setup the surface, or even the laptop (its just not as easy to lug around) to handle that.
The practical side of me says Surface, but every other fiber of my being says Pixel C. I'm trying to convince the practical me that its full of it.

wclark57 said:
it has a bunch of bloatware I cannot remove and have not accepted the permissions for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cannot remove but you can disable them yes? Should be able to disable just about any app you like as long as it's not System... I'm not 100% sure if that's true for Samsung devices though (we've already covered that general topic...).
So this is the only Android tablet I am considering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you and me both; I've ruled out the others this round. Most of them just don't come close to spec requirements.
I've also recently bought a fine laptop and its running Linux--which is what I run at home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay if you have this, then you may not need another laptop[hybrid] in the Surface, neh?
memory is an issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does have that type-C usb port that can take external storage in a small lightweight form if you want to expand memory that way. I know that's not the same as built-in. They all (incl. Microsoft) really want us to be using their respective Cloud storage options, even though they don't yet provide us wth global free high-speed wifi to really take advantage of such.
a positive argument for this tablet and frankly I'm not sure I have one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's purportedly attractive and pleasing to hold, cool keyboard charging and mechanisms, good specs (besides relatively limited storage space), very portable and nice size for frequent use, wide range of Android apps, reliable hardware and software, latest and greatest software and updates.
The practical side of me says Surface, but every other fiber of my being says Pixel C.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a strong argument for the Pixel C. If you're not reasonably/unreasonably smitten with your device then what's really the point?
I think the strongest argument for the Surface above the Pixel C is not as much the storage space (even though that is a huge sticking point with me in general -- storage and ram. I'm annoyed at the general offerings by the technology world in this regard), but the Surface Pro capabilities as a digitizer. If you'll use a pen to screen, then the only choice is the Surface (but then the SP4 is much improved in that regard over the SP3...) Otherwise, for a high-powered Android device you can play and work and browse and do Android things with, Pixel is the choice for you.
If you can wait yet, wait for a bit more news on the Pixel C and some proper hands-on reviews to see if you're still intrigued. If they don't give me news soon, they're making the decision for me. (Grrrrrrr.)

ferrydust said:
Okay if you have this, then you may not need another laptop[hybrid] in the Surface, neh?
It does have that type-C usb port that can take external storage in a small lightweight form if you want to expand memory that way. I know that's not the same as built-in. They all (incl. Microsoft) really want us to be using their respective Cloud storage options, even though they don't yet provide us wth global free high-speed wifi to really take advantage of such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the use case does not apply at home, only during travel, and it deserves to be said that the case is served by a normal laptop currently--only the convenience of a smaller, lighter system is implied.
I just don't think moving images from my SLR to the cloud is all that good an idea. It already takes long enough to establish comm with the EyeFi card, adding several seconds to each image transfer to the cloud when you just took 20-30 shots seems excessive.
ferrydust said:
This is a strong argument for the Pixel C. If you're not reasonably/unreasonably smitten with your device then what's really the point?
I think the strongest argument for the Surface above the Pixel C is not as much the storage space (even though that is a huge sticking point with me in general -- storage and ram. I'm annoyed at the general offerings by the technology world in this regard), but the Surface Pro capabilities as a digitizer. If you'll use a pen to screen, then the only choice is the Surface (but then the SP4 is much improved in that regard over the SP3...) Otherwise, for a high-powered Android device you can play and work and browse and do Android things with, Pixel is the choice for you.
If you can wait yet, wait for a bit more news on the Pixel C and some proper hands-on reviews to see if you're still intrigued. If they don't give me news soon, they're making the decision for me. (Grrrrrrr.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So follow my heart? That's not my normal approach with hardware. Still, the very fact that I'm engaged here and checking several times a day does tell you that my heart is not to be trifled with. FYI, I read yesterday that Marshmallow is optimized for active stylus. But the whole of the application space for its use has always been less than inspiring, and keeping track of a stylus seems a bit of a chore. I will probably try one out though. As I alluded to earlier, the Note stylus barely got used and that was largely because it was a pain to use--largely a function of its size and the button placement. Its size was mainly driven by its storage method--which was a sensible feature. The surface stylus seems clumsy when it comes to keeping track of it. So IMHO there are limitations with how easy a stylus is to live with. It isn't on my list of must haves.
I'm with you on the lack of solid information. And I am so tired of the endless attempts to make this out as a competitor to the Surface with all the comparisons--just doesn't sound realistic to me.

wclark57 said:
Yes, the use case does not apply at home, only during travel, and it deserves to be said that the case is served by a normal laptop currently--only the convenience of a smaller, lighter system is implied.
I just don't think moving images from my SLR to the cloud is all that good an idea. It already takes long enough to establish comm with the EyeFi card, adding several seconds to each image transfer to the cloud when you just took 20-30 shots seems excessive.
So follow my heart? That's not my normal approach with hardware. Still, the very fact that I'm engaged here and checking several times a day does tell you that my heart is not to be trifled with. FYI, I read yesterday that Marshmallow is optimized for active stylus. But the whole of the application space for its use has always been less than inspiring, and keeping track of a stylus seems a bit of a chore. I will probably try one out though. As I alluded to earlier, the Note stylus barely got used and that was largely because it was a pain to use--largely a function of its size and the button placement. Its size was mainly driven by its storage method--which was a sensible feature. The surface stylus seems clumsy when it comes to keeping track of it. So IMHO there are limitations with how easy a stylus is to live with. It isn't on my list of must haves.
I'm with you on the lack of solid information. And I am so tired of the endless attempts to make this out as a competitor to the Surface with all the comparisons--just doesn't sound realistic to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also,
If they ultimately release a 128 GB version then I will stop complaining about memory--though I would still prefer it to be removable. Beyond the very real need to have space for pictures, is the convenience of traveling with something that would be able to replace my work laptop. I hope to convince the company to pop for a Surface so I think I'm just going to stop thinking about that. Still, if anyone uses an Android for work--using Office or Google Drive and its office suite--then workflow discussions would help.

wclark57 said:
Also,
If they ultimately release a 128 GB version then I will stop complaining about memory--though I would still prefer it to be removable. Beyond the very real need to have space for pictures, is the convenience of traveling with something that would be able to replace my work laptop. I hope to convince the company to pop for a Surface so I think I'm just going to stop thinking about that. Still, if anyone uses an Android for work--using Office or Google Drive and its office suite--then workflow discussions would help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a Note Pro 12.2 and I find both multiwindow and pen window to be absolutely brilliant. I am not sure I could use another android device without the pen window. I do use it for some work stuff when I am at home or away from my desk. For the most part I use Hancom Office apps for a couple of reason; first, it seems completely compatible with almost all other office suites, and second, because I use the s-mouse with my Note pro and in Hancom the s mouse has right click capability. As far as I know hancom is the only android office suite that has right click compatability built in and it means I can actually edit the data sets in excell fully on my Note Tablet. If the Pixel C does get a version of android with multiwindow support I would definately consider it. Otherwise the SP3/SP4 are the best option.

They certainly could have fixed it for the 12.2. Multi-window on the older note was great, but on the 2014 it just sucks. I click on a youtube link and half the screen is the browser window and half is the youtube window and I can only make either of them about two thirds the screen size by dragging the dividing line one way or the other. No movable windows, just a split screen, and no discernible way to make one take full screen. I don't tend to use the word, but I hate the thing.

Considering this is a Google tablet running pure Marshmallow, being able to unlock and root it to customize it, like putting Linux on it, or maybe even dual booting it for both Android or Linux or even Windows, it's pretty much a no brainer for me to get this. The 64 gb is the perfect amount of storage for me as well.

I've beat-up on the Galaxy Note 2014 enough to feel compelled to report that it just updated to Marshmallow.

wclark57 said:
I've beat-up on the Galaxy Note 2014 enough to feel compelled to report that it just updated to Marshmallow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wat. I just got mine on Lollipop 5.1.1
How are you on Marshmallow?!?
I will say the 5.1.1 update was a positive but I am still gunning for the Pixel C.
---------- Post added at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------
kibmikey1 said:
Considering this is a Google tablet running pure Marshmallow, being able to unlock and root it to customize it, like putting Linux on it, or maybe even dual booting it for both Android or Linux or even Windows, it's pretty much a no brainer for me to get this. The 64 gb is the perfect amount of storage for me as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think Windows will work on an ARM processor. I could be wrong though. I have heard of a decent amount of people wanting to dual boot into Linux though.
What I would really love is a dual boot of android/chromeOS.

atg284 said:
Wat. I just got mine on Lollipop 5.1.1
How are you on Marshmallow?!?
I will say the 5.1.1 update was a positive but I am still gunning for the Pixel C.
---------- Post added at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------
I dont think Windows will work on an ARM processor. I could be wrong though. I have heard of a decent amount of people wanting to dual boot into Linux though.
What I would really love is a dual boot of android/chromeOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I should have checked my version numbers.