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By way of encouraging discussion -- The HTC X7500/7501 is the closest current HTC product to the emerging class of computers being dubbed UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) that seems to be catching fire. Of course the appeal of the UMPC is its reliance on currently popular PC OS -- WinXP or Vista, as well as its small size (most have screen sizes between 4.5 and 8 in). The Athena's 5 in VGA screen, relatively powerful cpu, 8GB HDD, and form factor with the easy-to-use keyboard makes it very close IMHO to the appealing features of the UMPC's, although it's not officially classified as such because it uses the WinMobile OS rather than XP or Vista. I'm personally torn between my x7500 (with WM6) and one of these UMPC -- have tried the Sony Vaio UX390N but sold it because I found its limitations (unreadable screen, reliance on mouse vs. touchscreen, slow processing with vista) too great. But there are a number of newer UMPC versions coming out that seem worth trying (but who can afford them?).... the OQO Model 02 is only slightly larger than the Athena but offers Vista (at twice the Athena price).... the Raon Everun due out shortly is also only slightly larger than the Athena but not as powerful as the OQO but seems like a "hot" seller.
As a longtime proponent of pocketpc/pdaphones and similar pocketable devices, I'm intrigued -- what thoughts do others in this forum have regarding the emerging UMPC compared to our Athena/Advantage devices?
brucewilsonpa said:
By way of encouraging discussion -- The HTC X7500/7501 is the closest current HTC product to the emerging class of computers being dubbed UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) that seems to be catching fire. Of course the appeal of the UMPC is its reliance on currently popular PC OS -- WinXP or Vista, as well as its small size (most have screen sizes between 4.5 and 8 in). The Athena's 5 in VGA screen, relatively powerful cpu, 8GB HDD, and form factor with the easy-to-use keyboard makes it very close IMHO to the appealing features of the UMPC's, although it's not officially classified as such because it uses the WinMobile OS rather than XP or Vista. I'm personally torn between my x7500 (with WM6) and one of these UMPC -- have tried the Sony Vaio UX390N but sold it because I found its limitations (unreadable screen, reliance on mouse vs. touchscreen, slow processing with vista) too great. But there are a number of newer UMPC versions coming out that seem worth trying (but who can afford them?).... the OQO Model 02 is only slightly larger than the Athena but offers Vista (at twice the Athena price).... the Raon Everun due out shortly is also only slightly larger than the Athena but not as powerful as the OQO but seems like a "hot" seller.
As a longtime proponent of pocketpc/pdaphones and similar pocketable devices, I'm intrigued -- what thoughts do others in this forum have regarding the emerging UMPC compared to our Athena/Advantage devices?
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Battery life is what separates the men (athena) from the boys (umpc). Even the ulv editions don't have that much staying power I have tried the Sony umpc TZ...., and now have the Stylistic ST5112 (not real umpc cos of larger screen) which claims 10hrs battery life, but not really getting that much.
personally i like zippy performance...
and the thing with vista is... with a 1.2ghz chip as these current umpcs are offerning these days...
i dont feel its well worth it for laggy performance...
and it really depends on what your use for the said device is.. ?
is it going to be primarily a workhorse type eqiupment ?
or is it going to be a simple phone that is powerful ?
i prefer to go for something like an athena... for quick work on the go...
but if im going to be doing any REAL work that requires a computer as in web design / various other apps ... i dont see myself successfully utilizing a umpc...
i prefer the large displays at home for webdesign and coding etc.
and there are many of small notebooks you can buy these days for a good price ... in the range of something like 10" notebooks
this is no bigger than a 8.5 x 11 notebook great for note takign etc.
i was thinking of getting one for college work...
boinger66 said:
personally i like zippy performance...
and it really depends on what your use for the said device is.. ?
is it going to be primarily a workhorse type eqiupment ?
or is it going to be a simple phone that is powerful ? ...
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I think this is the key point -- and one which is acknowledged by some of those doing reviews of UMPC -- right now the UMPC's available, while pretty cool in lots of ways, still have a lot of limitations so they can't even match what our WinMobile devices can do. OTOH.... I keep asking myself if I really use all that power of my "primary" computer (core2duo laptop with lots of cpu power, ram and large HDD)..... maybe my challenge is to decide just what I really need??????
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
jab said:
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
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I use PocketSlides from Conduits. http://www.conduits.com/products/slides/
While you do have to go through a "convert" step, I have found that it faithfully reproduces all features and layout, including most animations. Also allows editing on PPC, which for me is the downside to PocketPPT and why I have never given it a try.
I have projected presentations and videos with no problems using the VGA cable. (Other than troubles finding a video player that handles MPEG-2, which 90% of my stuff is encoded in.)
wgary said:
I use PocketSlides from Conduits. http://www.conduits.com/products/slides/
While you do have to go through a "convert" step, I have found that it faithfully reproduces all features and layout, including most animations. Also allows editing on PPC, which for me is the downside to PocketPPT and why I have never given it a try.
I have projected presentations and videos with no problems using the VGA cable. (Other than troubles finding a video player that handles MPEG-2, which 90% of my stuff is encoded in.)
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have you tried TCPMP ?
I personally think it boils down to cpu, I would love to have the ameo running vista, xp, but it would take ages to do anything. I was looking at umpc's today, "was really looking for a bluetooth mouse, no joy as usuall, thanks pcworld." and thinking, nice, but the cpu isnt that much better than my ameo, plus running vista, which is cpu hungry, I just think no, I would like one, but since I got my ameo I don't turn on my pc as much, unless im video converting or doing somthing, which a umpc would be to slow. dual core and a 64 bit operating system, I like speed.
with wm6, or 5, I can do pretty much what I need to do. and lets face it I can remote desk top if I really wanted to do somthing else while I was killing time at work.
its a nice idea, but I think after contiplating one for this lenght of time, I think WM6 is enough for what your average Joe does with it. Be it presentations, excell in my case or sending emails.
Anyway, thats my drunken opinion, and im off to bed.
boinger66 said:
have you tried TCPMP ?
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honestly, I tried it once a while back and it really gummed things up. I do use CorePlayer, but no mpeg-2 support yet. guess I need to give tcpmp another go...
wgary said:
honestly, I tried it once a while back and it really gummed things up. I do use CorePlayer, but no mpeg-2 support yet. guess I need to give tcpmp another go...
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download the tcpmp file that mackaby posted it has all the codecs in it
boinger66 said:
download the tcpmp file that mackaby posted it has all the codecs in it
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Does it have WMA support? I could not play a film with that format on tcpmp
victoradjei said:
Does it have WMA support? I could not play a film with that format on tcpmp
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i didnt know there were wma films...
i thought it was windows media audio .. implying audio only ?
boinger66 said:
i didnt know there were wma films...
i thought it was windows media audio .. implying audio only ?
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WMV, sorry. My question still hold
victoradjei said:
WMV, sorry. My question still hold
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Yes it has support, but is very poor. Corecodec are aware of this and will improve on the new Coreplayer over time, but for now, the best solution for WMV is to stick to WMP.
Personally, I detest playing vids in WMV.
jab said:
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine, I have just loaded a 20MB PPS file to the Hard Drive in the Ameo and it runs great via the 4in1 output cable to the projector, no video embeded, just text and photos, not quite as fast as the laptop but it certainly works well - the time lag is only apparant on certain slides with a number of pictures embeded in them - Mike
so talk about getting off topic...
but anyways to get back on...
i am actually considering the htc shift... but it will really depend on its price point... as i find it would be good for me to use at school... ofcourse the athena would still be my main device
I'm just a little curious wheat everyone is using their Iconia for?
Is it strictly business? All about the games? Are you a social media star? Or is it a little bit of everything?
And what are your must-have apps?
For me, I've found it's a very usefull tool. I'm a chef, and to be able to have all my food costs, invoices, budgets and recipes at my fingertips is invaluable. I'm liking Polaris for this, it's a way better layout than Docs to Go, and it's way more powerful. It's really helped me out at work!
As far as games, I'm mostly playing galaxy on fire 2. Really takes full advantage of the accelerometer, and I've always liked flying games. It's not really what I had in mind for a flying game, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something more realistic (anyone working on a flight sim???)
Other than that, I watch youtube, and the occasional movie on here. I'm using TubeMate to grab videos off youtube, and Drive Mount keeps my movie selection fresh between the tablet and my external hard drive. There's an app I found here called Mizuu Movies that has a really slick interface that displays your movies using the DVD covers. Way more eye friendly than a file browser.
Ummm..... I also have the Ultimate Guitar app and mobile metronome for when I'm strumming my guitar, plus the usual tools like quickboot and titanium backup. Oh... And McAfee is my security suite of choice. I like having site advisor on my tab!
So world, what's your tablet for?
vanisleguy1976 said:
So world, what's your tablet for?
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I find myself using it mostly for browsing, movies and reading. None of the available games really appeal to me, I like my games with rich storyline and well, no one seems to bother with such on devices like these..
mostly media, basic web browsing and such(big loud gaming rig can be off for paying bills), I also use it to remote into my HTPC to run conversion and update things and get some movies downloaded
i use mine for uni mainly. Its great in lectures and far more convenient than a laptop to lug around campus all day.
i use it for games here and there but not so much
I use for casual browsing and media but mainly for my Med school studies. I can easily throw this and a book under my arm and get to a coffee house or library and not worry about finding an outlet. My laptop is getting dusty.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I use mine for communicating away from my office, reading, jotting down short (but important) notes and as an awesome alarm clock
When I step away from computers for lunch or just to hang out and watch tv, I'll turn on IRC/eBuddy and I'll still be available. Having a collection of books and Magazines is nice for lounging in bed or out back etc... and the bonus to all that, I can carry it easily to a friends and hop on their WiFi.
From time to time I'll use it for reference - like say, I'm playing a game on the desktop (even thought I also have a laptop beside me) I'll often kick up the tablet and have walk-throughs or other assorted helpful information on it.
I store ALL my art and pictures on it and a large chunk of (about 6gb) of music. So I have a concise portfolio of my work available anytime and music to play even if I have no connection.
I don't game on it. Except a little Solitaire.
I use mine in sales to bring up and show customers products via PDF files and PPT presentations (Polaris or OpenOffice... haven't settled on either yet). I do use EZPDF for bookmarked PDF files as I find it much better (although it doesn't do landscape scrolling or else I haven't figured out how...).
Browsing and some lookup during the day while using the WifI hotspot on my phone. News360 is nice.
Used to carry a netbook but now carry the A500 + portfolio and leave my HP Laptop in the bag. If you put it in sleep mode it turns on really fast to show a customer stuff.
Also, use it for pricing lookups via Dropbox.
One game I use is Pinball.
The two Iconias in our house are used mainly for keeping up with newsfeeds, web browsing, and watching video. That might make them sound like toys, but the benefit is that my partner \and I spend far less time in front of our computers- the tablets (along with the Android phones that came before them) are freeing us from our desks.
It's more of a toy to me than anything, although.. It is used as an e-book reader as well.. I mean, books aren't toys right? =P
Mind's about equally tool & toy. I e-read, browse the web, remote desktop into work, email, Netflix, and PhotoShop (lite).
It started out as a toy, mainly to function as media player, net surfing and light gaming but its evolved into more.
Not only has it replaced my notebook for most light work and play but its also replaced books and magazines. Its a tool for me in the kitchen when I feel adventurous. I use it at my bedside, paired with bt speakers for soothing music to lull me to sleep. Apart from all this, its also managed to put everything at my fingertips more comfortably vs. my smartphone (in terms of a bigger screen). I can get by without it but at this point, its as much a daily tool as my smartphone and I would rather not.
Toy or tool? Both I'd say.
vanisleguy1976 said:
I'm just a little curious wheat everyone is using their Iconia for?
Is it strictly business? All about the games? Are you a social media star? Or is it a little bit of everything?
And what are your must-have apps?
For me, I've found it's a very usefull tool. I'm a chef, and to be able to have all my food costs, invoices, budgets and recipes at my fingertips is invaluable. I'm liking Polaris for this, it's a way better layout than Docs to Go, and it's way more powerful. It's really helped me out at work!
As far as games, I'm mostly playing galaxy on fire 2. Really takes full advantage of the accelerometer, and I've always liked flying games. It's not really what I had in mind for a flying game, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something more realistic (anyone working on a flight sim???)
Other than that, I watch youtube, and the occasional movie on here. I'm using TubeMate to grab videos off youtube, and Drive Mount keeps my movie selection fresh between the tablet and my external hard drive. There's an app I found here called Mizuu Movies that has a really slick interface that displays your movies using the DVD covers. Way more eye friendly than a file browser.
Ummm..... I also have the Ultimate Guitar app and mobile metronome for when I'm strumming my guitar, plus the usual tools like quickboot and titanium backup. Oh... And McAfee is my security suite of choice. I like having site advisor on my tab!
So world, what's your tablet for?
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Click to collapse
I use mine for my businesses. I have an IT and web development / marketing companies.
For IT I use logmein and an rdp app.
For web I use it to show customers websites and review their website. Most of my marketing apps are online base so everything works with a browser.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
vanisleguy1976 said:
As far as games, I'm mostly playing galaxy on fire 2. Really takes full advantage of the accelerometer, and I've always liked flying games. It's not really what I had in mind for a flying game, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something more realistic (anyone working on a flight sim???)
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X-plane (one of the best light simulators out there) works great on my A500. Although, I must admit that the flight Sim experience is that it reduced on a tab compared to a full computer. Perhaps is better as a companion device?
100% toy.
Web consumption, media of all kinds, movies music books, gaming, and ironically enough surfing the various Android tablet forums for the latest information on my tablet.
strider_mt2k said:
100% toy.
Web consumption, media of all kinds, movies music books, gaming, and ironically enough surfing the various Android tablet forums for the latest information on my tablet.
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+1 exact the same
I've only had mine for 5 days, but it's definitely proving to be a toy. Mostly games and emulators thus far.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT using Tapatalk
Mainly used for itself, meaning browsing xda forums and testing different roms (hope virtuous team will continue their excellent work).
My children love the iconia for playing angry birds, talking tom and other games. I use it for work, too but only reading, sometimes answering emails. Most of the time its fun, but i don't want to live whithout my new toy.
My lovely Thinkpad isn't happy because it is used fairly about 40% of its former usage
kolaf said:
X-plane (one of the best light simulators out there) works great on my A500. Although, I must admit that the flight Sim experience is that it reduced on a tab compared to a full computer. Perhaps is better as a companion device?
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Click to collapse
Funny you'd mention X-plane! I found it yesterday. Played a bit, and I'd agree, it's not quite the same as PC, though still a cool novelty. And I see two companion apps to fsx in the market, if that's what you mean! Cool
Tool and toy. I do some word processing, movies, and games. I try not to use it for work but I cant resist becasue its more effecient then my netbook.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I think I would have to answer this as Toy if I wanted to answer honestly. As much as I would like to think otherwise mine is 99% a leisure machine.
I take mine to work daily, but purely for reading ebooks at lunch or keeping in touch with my social world via facebook. At home it is my armchair companion. Once again reading ebooks, surfing the net, playing a few games (words with friends / Shanghai / pool), and a mobile facebook interface. I also watch movies/TV shows on it.
Anything better out the than the pre installed movie studio app?
Personally I find the whole process on the TAB to be "FUN" but not practical.
Nothing compares to Sony VEGAS
I agree. love my tab, but net surfing, email, games, documents, pretty much everything is easier on with a PC. There is a fun factor and portability with a tab but that's it
Lord Wayne said:
I agree. love my tab, but net surfing, email, games, documents, pretty much everything is easier on with a PC. There is a fun factor and portability with a tab but that's it
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My Tab is replacing some tasks that I used to do on my PC, that includes Email, Games - am Not a PC Gamer - , and Net surfing. The experience is swift and I'm used to Touch screens since the days of HP iPAQ (1999) I guess.
This may be a slightly different post, since most of the users are big fans or / and happy users of Asus Transformer, but hear me out. For haters of long post – a brief summary of my post: the honeymoon’s with my tablet over, considering what to do now…
About 3 months ago I’ve sold my trusty Asus EEE PC 701 to replace it with Transformer, which I currently own. This was done after careful consideration and study of my needs and available products at the time. When choosing a replacement for EEE PC, my priorities were (beginning with the most important):
1. Fast browsing (waiting for EEE PC to boot became a headache) and emailing.
2. Similar productivity capabilities (I mostly work in Google Docs environment with occasional editing of normal documents and spreadsheets)
3. Occasional movies (EEE PC couldn’t handle 720p)
4. Showing pictures to friends (rare occasions)
5. Games, when there’s no work in sight.
When considering a replacement, I took into the account other devices – a better netbook, a smartphone, a normal laptop and, of course, a tablet, which I eventually chose (Transformer + dock keyboard). The start was pretty nice, until I’ve experienced full “features” of Android Honeycomb…
1. Browsing is not what I expected. In PC’s most browsers work the same, render pages in the same fashion, offer similar capabilities. In Android, most browsers are like day and night in some areas. E.g. only in 1 of 5 browsers I tried I was able to move between cells in Google Spreadsheets with my keys on the keyboard (other browsers moved the scroll bar). I’ve constantly encounter(ed) sites that recognized my tablet as a phone, redirecting me to a low resolution version. And by the way – without internet (I’m using the version without 3G) it’s rather useless.
2. Enough to say that a tablet is not meant to be used for a document editing. It’s basically a pain in the arse. Polaris app is more a WYSIWYG html editor than a document app, “Documents to go” app is let’s say a bit expensive. I’ve also did not know how hard it is to use copy-paste mechanism. I do use this in my editing a lot.
3. Movies also are a pickle. While PC can decode almost any format (by choosing a right decoder), Android can’t offer such capabilities. I have 5 different players, which I use to decode movies. Till now I didn’t encounter any movie that can be played in all 5 players, usually 1-2 players (sometimes – none) can open the movie. Subtitles (I watch anime sometimes) are also a headache. Didn’t know that earlier.
4. Picture showing is, let’s say, ok. But only after one update when Gallery app started to act properly, i.e. show pictures in an ascending fashion (before that I had to scroll to the end of the gallery to start showing pictures from the start).
5. Games… Well, what I found out that I simply hate trivial / casual games and the market is full of them. Angry birds / fruit ninja entertained me for one day only.
To make things worse, Google still doesn’t offer a separate search for tabled optimized apps and, most importantly, the market does not offer capabilities of filtering crapware. I found out that there are websites, rating apps in a proper way, but this is still a nightmare.
After this, I’ve tried to search for answers to solve the mentioned problems, but it seems the Android platform is still very young and it will take some time for it to become mature in the software area. By that time the hardware will be different and my current tablet will be let’s say pretty much useless. So keeping it and waiting for a miracle (I’ve thought that Android 4.0 could be a solution) may be not a viable solution… Unless you’ll convince me otherwise.
Rants aside, I’m considering to sell the tablet and buy a smartphone (maybe a HTC Desire S ?). Of course I won’t be able to edit documents or have a big screen for movies, but I hope having a great time with phone optimized apps, blazing fast boot times, better internet availability (I mean 3G).
Your opinions and suggestions about the current situation are very welcome. For me, it's a hard (and maybe an expensive) decision.
P.S. I’ve also considered buying a Windows 7 tablet (which would suit my needs), but found out that the user interface is still VERY hard to control with touches. I’ve also thought about waiting for a Windows 8 tablet, but it seems it won’t be able to run x86 programs, meaning an Android-like situation with little availability of useful software.
No offense, but after reading your post carefully I decided any reply I have is futile. You got the transformer with the wrong attitude. You've been using it with the wrong attitude. And you've been expecting things with ALL the wrong attitude.
It's best that you stick with a win 7 netbook or notebook.
PS - I have not touched my laptop since April. Between my PC at home and my transformer on-the-go, I have no complaint whatsoever. I see your complaints comparable to the complaints of someone who got a motorcycle intending to use it like a car.
goodintentions said:
No offense, but after reading your post carefully I decided any reply I have is futile. You got the transformer with the wrong attitude. You've been using it with the wrong attitude. And you've been expecting things with ALL the wrong attitude.
It's best that you stick with a win 7 netbook or notebook.
PS - I have not touched my laptop since April. Between my PC at home and my transformer on-the-go, I have no complaint whatsoever. I see your complaints comparable to the complaints of someone who got a motorcycle intending to use it like a car.
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Thank you for an oppinion. Yes - my expectations were "something resembling a netbook with a hint of phone". But it's neither a phone, nor a netbook and the tasks I wanted it to do were very limited by the software, which I didn't take into account when considered buying a tablet...
i agree more or less. i owned a 701 too btw. i now own among others an eeepc 1015pem. but i use my transformer all the time. google editing is a bit awkward yes, especially with large docs, but google has his own application for that. it eases the pain a bit.
copy and paste, yes editing is not that easy. i own docs to go, but the user interface is not that intuitive. polaris seems to saves not always that good (it cant be opened with all others wordprocessors). open document format is not very easy to use.
but still i prefer transformer at work for all sort of reasons:
* battery, i can use the transformer (with dock) all day long, with no other hussle.
* it is cool
* boy is the transformer silent - i like that way more than i anticipated.
* the touchscreen, although not always that easy, i love it.
* being more in the cloud (dropbox with 50gb), gmail, and polaris/docs to go, calendar, google contacts, it all works together: fast and easy. i like that too.
* i like the looks, and the way the transformer feels.
* at work with dock, at home: mostly tablet: reading, viewing, surfing
btw i am used to use linux on my netbooks, win 7 moves like a snail.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
I have to agree with GoodInte tions over there; which is ironic because the EeePC 1015PE Netbook that I havent touched since September, was bought in April .
For your needs Android is not effective, for me it is almost as effective as BSD or GNU/Linux; where you use gdocs I use programs that I can run in a Debian chroot or I use a PC, rather than try and use LibreOffice locally with X/VNC.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
For someone who took the time to write that thorough analysis, I would have thought you researched the TF with the same level of thoroughness. Everything you point out in your dissertation has been discussed in detail on this forum.
Yes.. exactly what Rumbleweed said. You said you bought this 3 months ago; then you got it around September, which was about 2 months after I got my transformer (if you got it right at the start). When I first got my tablet, I didn't look through any of the online stuff, but I did start about a week after getting it (to know how else I could improve it further, but I was pretty lucky as my B5 had no problems except for a slight creakiness on one side).
Anyway, by around 4.5 months ago, I already knew several points:
-browsing rendering had some issues, some of which was solved by hardware acceleration, etc. (although, I didn't really notice this as an issue until I looked online because my laptop is old and slower by far)
-document editing is a little flawed because typing lags behind the physical typing
-movies.. well, I saw lots of threads about not being able to play 720p except in Dice Player or something, but I don't really watch HD stuff often except maybe for tennis (btw, espn 360 worked perfectly and looked great for streaming)
-there are a lot of trivial games (I was disappointed with this one too, but I found the emulators soon after, so I haven't played much other trivial games except for the more addictive looking tower defense ones)
tl;dr: I don't understand how you didn't know this by the time you got it as you seem pretty thorough (as per your post). Good luck though, I wanted a Windows 7 tablet before in the past, but they're either expensive as hell or ugly looking as hell.. We just need Google and other tablet-making-companies to realize that tablets are for more than entertainment.
asdfuogh said:
I was pretty lucky as my B5 had no problems except for a slight creakiness on one side).
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OT but I always thought it was just me and my B50 with that, on the right/starboard side. Just happy to have none of the serious problems I read about here lol.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Honestly, why not root and stick Ubuntu on there? I realize this would destroy the Android flavor, but that's obviously not what you're looking for.
Specifically:
1. How is not having 3G any different from your EEE PC with wifi? If you wanted the TF with 3G, there's a 3G version. Otherwise, I'm sure your mobile carrier will happily sell you a hotspot device and plan.
2. Do you have the dock? Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X all work for me on the dock. As for an office suite, how about using GDocs? I know it's not as slick as MS Office or LibreOffice, but it's pretty functional.
3. Yeah, I've found that anime can be something of a pain at 720p and decoders aren't brilliant on Android. It's what happens when the majority of the population uses iTunes, Netflix and Hulu for their media, manufacturers get lazy. I really wish VLC would come to Android, with proper codec support (especially with ICS' per-app hardware acceleration capabilities).
4. You know there are non-Gallery photo viewer apps, right? That's the beauty of Android, EVERYTHING (especially if you have root ) can be replaced.
5. Have you looked at the TegraZone? Or some websites for game reviews? It's honestly like trying to find a game for PC, there's a lot of crap to wade through, even in non-casual games.
laikinasis said:
1. Browsing is not what I expected. In PC’s most browsers work the same, render pages in the same fashion, offer similar capabilities. In Android, most browsers are like day and night in some areas. E.g. only in 1 of 5 browsers I tried I was able to move between cells in Google Spreadsheets with my keys on the keyboard (other browsers moved the scroll bar). I’ve constantly encounter(ed) sites that recognized my tablet as a phone, redirecting me to a low resolution version. And by the way – without internet (I’m using the version without 3G) it’s rather useless.
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Click to collapse
Have you tried using Polaris Office with GDocs syncing? I know Polaris has some Google Docs support. Does the Android app for Google Docs work at all for you? As for the internet comment, how was your Eee PC any different? The TF and PC are the same in that regard. This isn't a Chromebook or anything...
laikinasis said:
3. Movies also are a pickle. While PC can decode almost any format (by choosing a right decoder), Android can’t offer such capabilities. I have 5 different players, which I use to decode movies. Till now I didn’t encounter any movie that can be played in all 5 players, usually 1-2 players (sometimes – none) can open the movie. Subtitles (I watch anime sometimes) are also a headache. Didn’t know that earlier.
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I've had no issues with media playback since Dice Player came out. It handles all of my 720p or smaller video no problem. Even scenes that were always an absolute ***** on my tablet, like high bitrate Big Bang Theory intro (that always raped it) run great in Dice.
laikinasis said:
4. Picture showing is, let’s say, ok. But only after one update when Gallery app started to act properly, i.e. show pictures in an ascending fashion (before that I had to scroll to the end of the gallery to start showing pictures from the start).
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I'd say better than okay, I love how it syncs pictures between all of my devices with Picasa.
laikinasis said:
5. Games… Well, what I found out that I simply hate trivial / casual games and the market is full of them. Angry birds / fruit ninja entertained me for one day only.
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So keep looking. There are plenty of pretty featured RPGs. Go look at Gameloft games. Most of them are kinda crappy, but definitely more than angry birds.
laikinasis said:
After this, I’ve tried to search for answers to solve the mentioned problems, but it seems the Android platform is still very young and it will take some time for it to become mature in the software area. By that time the hardware will be different and my current tablet will be let’s say pretty much useless. So keeping it and waiting for a miracle (I’ve thought that Android 4.0 could be a solution) may be not a viable solution… Unless you’ll convince me otherwise.
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Uhh.. just because Tegra 3 is coming out doesn't make tegra 2 any worse... the TF 1 is still amazing hardware.
laikinasis said:
Rants aside, I’m considering to sell the tablet and buy a smartphone (maybe a HTC Desire S ?). Of course I won’t be able to edit documents or have a big screen for movies, but I hope having a great time with phone optimized apps, blazing fast boot times, better internet availability (I mean 3G).
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You don't currently have a smartphone? I'm far more productive with both. It's easy to pull out the phone for 5 minutes and check my email, read news, etc, but as soon as I need to reply to a client, the phone is absolutely useless and I pull out the TF. I tether my TF to my phone for 3G/4G anywhere. If I need to open a large PDF, spreadsheet, ppt, etc it's a pain to do it on the phone, but so much better on a tablet. Ebooks are also great on the TF, as is videos.
Other pros: super thin, battery life is simply *amazing* (I can be on it for 14 hours a day and it doesn't need a charge), quiet, no heat, great audio output for music/video with voodoo sound, touchscreen that lets me take complex math notes that would be hard to type quickly, allows me to draw out theories and ideas anywhere I am (I used this all the time for solving puzzles in video games, working out the answers to the google nexus twitter challenges), plus it turns into a freaking TABLET when you disconnect it (call it a gimmick all you want, it's still badass).
Sent from my Transformer TF101
asdfuogh said:
Anyway, by around 4.5 months ago, I already knew several points:
-browsing rendering had some issues, some of which was solved by hardware acceleration, etc. (although, I didn't really notice this as an issue until I looked online because my laptop is old and slower by far)
-document editing is a little flawed because typing lags behind the physical typing
-movies.. well, I saw lots of threads about not being able to play 720p except in Dice Player or something, but I don't really watch HD stuff often except maybe for tennis (btw, espn 360 worked perfectly and looked great for streaming)
-there are a lot of trivial games (I was disappointed with this one too, but I found the emulators soon after, so I haven't played much other trivial games except for the more addictive looking tower defense ones)
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By the silimilar time I did not know about:
1. Google market search (how it's hard to find a decent app or a tablet optimized app)
2. Copy paste issues (ctrl+c / ctrl+v is STILL not supported in many apps)
3. Video playback. It's rather annoying to use ~5 video players. 720p by itself is not an issue. Almost all players support native (hadware) decoding. I had more problems trying to open lower resolution movies in, I presume, less common containers / codecs.
4. Page rendering in browsing. I mean that different browsers may render the same page differently. This was an issue in pc world loooong time ago and it's now almost non-existent.
asdfuogh said:
We just need Google and other tablet-making-companies to realize that tablets are for more than entertainment.
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It's an interesting thought that I do relate.
Gary13579 said:
Have you tried using Polaris Office with GDocs syncing? I know Polaris has some Google Docs support. Does the Android app for Google Docs work at all for you? As for the internet comment, how was your Eee PC any different? The TF and PC are the same in that regard. This isn't a Chromebook or anything...
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Didn't know about Polaris GDocs support, thanks. It works rather how I expect it to work... Speaking about Google Docs - the most common task I do is writing grades to studens in a spreadsheet. In normal PC's, you click a cell, write something, click on another. In Google docs (and most browsers I tried on Android, except one, that is REALLY slow) you click a cell, edit it and must press "SUMBIT". It's a big setback, when you consider larger amounts of editing.
Gary13579 said:
I've had no issues with media playback since Dice Player came out. It handles all of my 720p or smaller video no problem. Even scenes that were always an absolute ***** on my tablet, like high bitrate Big Bang Theory intro (that always raped it) run great in Dice.
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I use that player too. Lots of unopened files, like with other players. Again, it's not about the smoothness of the playback, it's about supporting different codecs / containers.
Gary13579 said:
I'd say better than okay, I love how it syncs pictures between all of my devices with Picasa.
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Could you suggest an app, which would work like default Gallery app, but support inner folders ?
Gary13579 said:
So keep looking. There are plenty of pretty featured RPGs. Go look at Gameloft games. Most of them are kinda crappy, but definitely more than angry birds.
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Believe me, I am looking
Gary13579 said:
You don't currently have a smartphone? I'm far more productive with both. It's easy to pull out the phone for 5 minutes and check my email, read news, etc, but as soon as I need to reply to a client, the phone is absolutely useless and I pull out the TF. I tether my TF to my phone for 3G/4G anywhere. If I need to open a large PDF, spreadsheet, ppt, etc it's a pain to do it on the phone, but so much better on a tablet. Ebooks are also great on the TF, as is videos.
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I thought about owning both of them. Maybe it's the solution I'm looking for, but now it seems that phone may replace most of the tablet functions.
Thanks for your answer.
I have to say, i bought the TF with the premise of getting a tablet that was at least as good as an iPad, without paying Apple Tax. After three months, I am also quite disappointed with the tablet.
I think what a lot of members on this specific website seem to forget, is that many people want to buy a tablet to just use, not to have to tweak and hack to get it to work.
I still cannot play live streamed 30fps 480p flash videos without juddering.
Apps (especially games) for Android simply are not up to the same quality as iOS - this is obviously due to developers not bothering with the platform. And compatibility issues is probably the biggest joke I have ever seen. Even Windows doesn't have that problem.
My own opinion is that HC was simply developed quickly to try and compete with tablet iOS, and was rushed out. I don't know how much of a difference ICS will make - that remains to be seen.
My biggest issue however, is as I said earlier. While I and most people on this website don't mind tinkering and tweaking with their tablet, the vast majority of customers looking for a tablet want it to just work - and HC doesn't. And the hard truth is, iOS does. Except flash, obviously.
Kaltern said:
I think what a lot of members on this specific website seem to forget, is that many people want to buy a tablet to just use, not to have to tweak and hack to get it to work.
.
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Recheck the title of this website. XDA Developers. Kind of like buying a 1968 GTO based on a recommendation in Hot Rod magazine then complaining that it doesn't get 35 mpg like a 2011 Prius. If you are looking for a " tap and play" tablet get an ipad.
Hey there,
hope nobody metioned it before, but why didn't you try installing ubuntu on your TF?
Well in my opinion its an even better os than windows and you get a bunch of free software with ease.
There is a thread over in the qa-forum from lilstevie giving you a pretty easy way to install ubuntu (as long as you got sbk1 at the moment)
It got no hardware graphics acceleration at this point but it didn't sound as you would need it.
Maybe this can save you a few bugs
Greets, coni
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
A lot of your cons will be fixed with the Android 4.0 update.
When I first bought my transformer, I fully agreed with everything you said. I even wanted to sell it because I felt I had wasted my money. But I have to say it is growing on me, for two different reasons.
1) Problems are getting fixed. Better software is coming out or I'm finding solutions to the problems I had. Just the other day I updated flash and started using stock browser to for tudou.com (Chinese youtube), and the videos played flawlessly. Astro made a update recently that greatly improved my file management experience. Granted solving these problems/waiting for updates is still a pain in the ass. But progress is being made.
2) I'm finding things I can do on the transformer that I couldn't do on a laptop. I was taking short notes during an evaluation of one of our teachers. I used evernote with swype (no dock), and it was a great silent experience with no laptop screen blocking my view. Reading books on the transformer is also great. It even got me to start reading comic books, The Walking Dead is a freaking awesome series. I never would have known about were it not for the transformer. And pictures, I feel you on the backwards order thing. But you can't compare sharing pictures on the transformer with a laptop. It's so much better on the transformer.
I still agree that 99% of the games are just terrible. If they can get playstation emulation working a good bit better graphics wise, I'll be happy. Speaking of which, I need to check to see if there have been any recent improvements to the sixaxis app and the emulators.
I like the simplicity of the iPad with the complexity of Android. Minus HC. Not a fan. I have this and the OC Ipad. I like games like Madden 12 and the new NFS and Riptide. Lots of nice graphics. One thing that frustrates me is there are Tegra 3 games out that will not work on Tegra 2. And there is not a huge offering for T2. So Will that mean T2 games will be obsolete?
I find Polaris and Docs to Go are just fine for preparing reports and simple spreadsheets. The 16 X 9 screen is great for movies as well as the nice IPS screen on the Pad. I give the speaker quality to the ipad. Not a fan of the speakers on the Transformer.
Hardware wise, the Transformer blows the Ipad away. Better camera, more RAM, the dock, USB and the sdcard to add on. I think if you are creative then you are using a net book. Plus I can wireless print.
I don't think there is anything wrong with wishing for that perfectly fined tuned device and it will come in time.
To the OP I would recommend the Samsung galaxy note coming out early next year. 5.3 inch screen. IPS screen, dual core processor, phone, and great note taking ability.
I don't like Apples scam of upgrading every year and the costs are incredible. I'm praying for ICS and continued tweaking of problems.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Really, what video formats has Dice been unable to open? It has opened *every* file I've thrown at it.
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Rumbleweed said:
Recheck the title of this website. XDA Developers. Kind of like buying a 1968 GTO based on a recommendation in Hot Rod magazine then complaining that it doesn't get 35 mpg like a 2011 Prius. If you are looking for a " tap and play" tablet get an ipad.
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Exactly the sort of reply I'd expect.
This site began as a Developer's site, but has since grown into a site for non-devs to get help and information.
You are basically saying that unless you know what 'sudo' means, you shouldn't buy anything other than an ipad, and you shouldn't be on this site.
Which is arrogant and well, not unexpected.
Alright, i want to make this flat out, i am at the middle of almost everything when considering picking up an tablet.
Right now, i have already owned a massive computing in a form of a laptop (i7 3610QM + GTX 675M + 16GB RAM) and i do all the heavy stuffs on it (Photoshop, Vegas rendering ... blah).
But with the growing of the tablet market, i find myself a little bit out of place and really considering of picking up a tablet myself, a Windows Tablet ( i don't like anything that related to iOS and find Android to be unsecured) . Just because i think the tablet might come very handy in some situation that you can't always bring out the 17-inch laptop like what i have. But the thing is, i am stuck between choosing the nVIDIA Tegra 3 Windows RT tablet with the Intel Atom Clovertrail series with x86 Windows 8. Sure, Microsoft has Surface Pro and i love that thing, but i don't necessarily need the power of the i5 in such a small tablet like that, because i have already had my i7 do all the heavy work.
The thing is, with all the review that i have read so far, 10/10 of them said that the Atom is seriously underpowered and will cause "not-pleasant" Windows Experience, but in this case, they are running the x86 version of Windows 8, that mean all the Legacy Programs will work. While the Tegra 3 (Surface RT) has been claimed to give a smooth experience with Windows RT, but then again, sometime you will feel out of place because you can't run any x86-based App.
So my question is , what is your suggestion? I am leaning a little bit over to the Atom x86 side, just because it can run the Legacy apps, but the Windows RT won't really bother me to the point that i can't handle it. I would love to hear anybody here that are using the RT version, and also the x86 version of Windows 8 but with the Atom Chip.
I use the Surface RT (Tegra 3 ARM chip), but I make heavy use of the hacks available to unlock third-party desktop software and have compiled several such desktop apps myself. I also sometimes use the x86 compability layer that mamaich (on this forum) has hacked together; it's far from fast but suffices to run some software that I was unable to port.
I make very, very little of Windows Store apps except for a handful of games. With a genuinely full web browser available (including Flash and ad blocking), and the Touch Cover trackpad, I find myself using the browser probably more than all non-game apps, including Mail and Skype (the only two I use much at all) combined. I do use Office on the tablet, however (again, in desktop mode).
GoodDayToDie said:
I use the Surface RT (Tegra 3 ARM chip), but I make heavy use of the hacks available to unlock third-party desktop software and have compiled several such desktop apps myself. I also sometimes use the x86 compability layer that mamaich (on this forum) has hacked together; it's far from fast but suffices to run some software that I was unable to port.
I make very, very little of Windows Store apps except for a handful of games. With a genuinely full web browser available (including Flash and ad blocking), and the Touch Cover trackpad, I find myself using the browser probably more than all non-game apps, including Mail and Skype (the only two I use much at all) combined. I do use Office on the tablet, however (again, in desktop mode).
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So there are actually a way to run Legacy App on the RT with an extra layer of Virtualization? I mean, most of the time i can just use the laptop, so i don't require the tablet to be able to run 100% what i want to run with Windows 8, but some x86 app like Foobar2000, i would like to see it run because i also have a lot of music in FLAC and others type that XBOX Music App doesn't play.
And are there any news on the VLC for RT? Heard that they have been developing that, would be nice if they can play MKV files.
It's an emulation (well, technically dynamic recompilation) layer, not virtualization in the usual sense. The performance hit is massive - I certainly would not recommend trying to run a software media decoder through it - but it doesn't require running a whole additional OS (the way virtualization usually does). My point was basically that RT works for me because I ignore at least 50% of its intended use cases and add a bunch of new ones - something that a normal user would not do. If I were limited just to what's in the store, I would feel that the RT is a waste of money, but that's because I don't like the way the store apps work and have yet to discover one that was A) worth using and B) couldn't be done better using a desktop app.
The x86 emulator is very slow. 0.1ghz as an incredibly rough guess that's not entirely accurate but gives a vague idea of performance. The original Age of empires plays ok as do a few other old applications but chances are most things you run through the emulator won't actually run.
There is a jailbreak for windows RT that allows installation of non store applications, but these applications need specifically porting to windows RT. The advantage of the ported applications is that they aren't being emulated, they are run natively utilising the full power of the tablet. However few applications have been ported so far but the situation is improving.
If you need desktop apps then you are best off with the atom tablets. They aren't as slow as the media make out, they just aren't fast either. The chips in current tablets are a bit more powerful than those in netbooks and are at a higher clock speed but they still won't come anywhere near your other machine. I do know a few people that happily use minecraft and visual studio on atom netbooks.
i've got both the 700t and 500t but find myself using the 500t far more. mainly it's used for media consumption and artwork. i use sketchbook pro, sai, and photoshop 12 (cs5) with no real problems. sure it's not as fast as the 700t, but i can keep on going for 12+ hours on the atom where the i5 dies after 5.5 hrs (faster when watching a movie). i generally keep my screen at 0% brightness since i'm indoors and the battery life still sucks on the 700t. if i have to remain tethered to an outlet i'd much rather be using something more powerful.
i have no regrets about getting the atom, but the i5... i should have sent that back and bought a gaming laptop. i'm not saying that the 700t is a bad tablet, it's pretty dang good, but the way i use my tablets battery life is more important. i thought i could squeeze 6-7 hours out of the 700t since i keep the screen dim.