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#1211
Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt View Post
Here's an editorial praising the 7" form factor of the Galaxy Tab:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20023187-64.html

It seems that its becoming more and more common to hear that Steve Jobs 'was wrong' in his assessment that 7" tables were 'Dead on Arrival'. In fact, I remember him raise the case that netbooks were worthless based upon their size, only to release an 11" Macbook Air. It seems that the 7" form factor is loved by many.
To my mind, the 10" inch tablet is the awkward form factor. I realize the display is much larger, but at that point you might as well have a conventionally proportioned keyboard like on a IdeaPad or Dell Duo, which doesn't fit on a 7" tablet. It's not mobile for me compared to 7" because I carry my tablet in my inside jacket pocket rather than pants pocket.

The real awkwardness is that there is no good software for a 7" tablet, just varying degress of success in adapting Android designed for cellphones, windows designed for laptops, or multi-purpose linux disto.

O Maemo tablet, where art thou?
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Last edited by SD69; 2010-11-21 at 19:36.
 

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#1212
Originally Posted by SD69 View Post
The real awkwardness is that there is no good software for a 7" tablet, just varying degress of success in adapting Android designed for cellphones, windows designed for laptops, or multi-purpose linux disto.
Android is well capable of 'tablet apps' though it has been confined to smartphones of late, which is likely why app interfaces are almost unanimously built for phones. This has already begun to change, however, with a smattering of Tablet devices hitting the market shortly.
 

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#1213
Here's a great looking game called 'Touch Racing Nitro' for Android that would rock on the Tab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nw1F6myCCQ&translated=1
http://openfeint.com/android/1632-Touch-Racing-Nitro

It's released by openfeint, and looks like a lot of fun!
 

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#1214
Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt View Post
Android is well capable of 'tablet apps' though it has been confined to smartphones of late, which is likely why app interfaces are almost unanimously built for phones. This has already begun to change, however, with a smattering of Tablet devices hitting the market shortly.
Capable, but not really designed to be used in that way. I read that the maximum resolution supported by Android is limited, but it should be expanded with the Android Honeycomb release. At that point, and assuming Android sort out their Market fragmentation, I imagine we'll see many more high-end tablets.

I guess it would be the same problem if people were trying to install Maemo on 7" tablets - the interface is not really designed for it, but would work.

I just think it's a real shame that there aren't any Meego tablets available. That's down to the immaturity of the software I assume, but it still doesn't help those of us who might want a larger screened device.
 

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#1215
Originally Posted by lardman View Post
Capable, but not really designed to be used in that way. I read that the maximum resolution supported by Android is limited, but it should be expanded with the Android Honeycomb release. At that point, and assuming Android sort out their Market fragmentation, I imagine we'll see many more high-end tablets.

I guess it would be the same problem if people were trying to install Maemo on 7" tablets - the interface is not really designed for it, but would work.

I just think it's a real shame that there aren't any Meego tablets available. That's down to the immaturity of the software I assume, but it still doesn't help those of us who might want a larger screened device.
I think the absence of maemo tablets is due to Nokia's unwillingness to support its own operating system. Hopefully we should see a high quality 7 inch meego tablet next year. Unfortunately, by the time that happens there will probably be like 8 android honeycomb equivalents.
 

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#1216
Originally Posted by lardman View Post
I guess it would be the same problem if people were trying to install Maemo on 7" tablets - the interface is not really designed for it, but would work.
What makes you say it's the same problem? There are plenty of people more knowledgable about this than me, but my understanding is that Android is more tightly tied to 800x480 resolution than Maemo.

Originally Posted by lardman View Post
I just think it's a real shame that there aren't any Meego tablets available. That's down to the immaturity of the software I assume, but it still doesn't help those of us who might want a larger screened device.
Nokia should have put out a tablet during the last couple years.
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#1217
Originally Posted by lardman View Post
Capable, but not really designed to be used in that way. I read that the maximum resolution supported by Android is limited, but it should be expanded with the Android Honeycomb release. At that point, and assuming Android sort out their Market fragmentation, I imagine we'll see many more high-end tablets.
The maximum resolution of Android is a popular misunderstanding as far as I can tell. The Android SDK's emulator is limited in resolution, though the OS guidelines have three distinct 'sizes' and 'densities' that are allowed, one of which is 'large screen' that has been supported since v1.6 (IIRC). In any event, I'm quite certain that no special hackery has been required for the Galaxy Tab to display at 1024x600, or the Toshiba AC100 for that matter.

I would argue that Android's 'market fragmentation' is much lower than that of Apple's, in that up until this point Apple's support across devices is largely limited to the device itself. Android binaries on the other hand span multiple OS's, and multiple devices quite well. It's clear that the OS design bore this in mind from the outset. For example, properly developed apps display work flawlessly on the Tab, though often with phone-esque UIs.

It's true that there are not many UI elements that are specific for 'tablets', however, creatively used, multi-pane displays can be easily crafted with the stock API, and what's more, they have been supported since verision 1 of the OS -- or before the first public release. Few apps have done this, though, Twidroyd, uses multi-pane quite effectively, supports all android devices and works flawlessly on the tab.

I suspect that Gingerbread/Honeycomb will feature a more flexible UI for larger screens, but ideas like 'fragmentation' and android not being 'tablet ready' are ideas popularized by modern media, but are no moreso than any other OS out there. In fact, I'd argue that due to Android's design, it's far less subject to 'fragmentation' than other mobile OSs.

EDIT:

Just to follow up, it's also possible to dictate different layout schemes in the apps application manifest based on screen size (as reported by the device). Basically you can have a tablet-UI and a phone UI rolled into the same binary.
http://developer.android.com/guide/p...tml#qualifiers

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2010-11-21 at 20:19.
 

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#1218
Originally Posted by SD69 View Post
What makes you say it's the same problem? There are plenty of people more knowledgable about this than me, but my understanding is that Android is more tightly tied to 800x480 resolution than Maemo.
Simply not true. Take a look at this document:
http://developer.android.com/guide/p...ort.html#range

From the site:
Starting from Android 1.6, the platform provides support for multiple screen sizes and resolutions, reflecting the many new types and sizes of devices on which the platform runs. If you are developing an application that will run on Android 1.6 or later, you can use the compatibility features of the Android platform to ensure that your application UI renders properly across the range of supported screen sizes and resolutions.

To simplify the way that developers design their user interfaces for multiple devices and to allow more devices to participate without affecting applications, the platform divides the range of actual supported screen sizes and resolutions into:
  • A set of three generalized sizes: large, normal, and small, and
  • A set of three generalized densities: hdpi (high), mdpi (medium), and ldpi (low)
Android is designed to be resolution independent, and cleverly achieves this.
 

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#1219
Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt View Post
Take a look at this document:
http://developer.android.com/guide/p...ort.html#range

Android is designed to be resolution independent, and cleverly achieves this.
Umm, the document says the opposite of resolution independent -

"To simplify ... user interfaces ..., the platform divides the range of actual supported screen sizes and resolutions into: a set of three..."

"The objective of supporting multiple screens is to create an application that can run properly on any display and function properly on any of the generalized screen configurations supported by the platform."

I recognize that 800x480 is not the only resolution supported by Android, but it is the only one even remotely suitable for a 7" tablet.

This is not the situation with Maemo (or vanilla GTK+) AFAIK.
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#1220
Originally Posted by SD69 View Post
Umm, the document says the opposite of resolution independent -

"To simplify ... user interfaces ..., the platform divides the range of actual supported screen sizes and resolutions into: a set of three..."

"The objective of supporting multiple screens is to create an application that can run properly on any display and function properly on any of the generalized screen configurations supported by the platform."
But this is the essence of resolution independence. Instead of hard pixels, they use 'dips' and instead of screen resolution, the UI uses three generalized screen sizes and three generalized densities. Even the UI widgets are designed to flow/stretch to fit different screen dimensions.


The 'screen sizes' are not hard-coded values but rather 'loose' definitions of small screens (think tiny PMPs), medium screens (think smartphones), and large screens (think tablets). Additionally, the pixel density is accounted for with three generalized denominations.

Originally Posted by SD69 View Post
I recognize that 800x480 is not the only resolution supported by Android, but it is the only one even remotely suitable for a 7" tablet.

This is not the situation with Maemo (or vanilla GTK+) AFAIK.
You'll have to explain this point as it doesn't make sense to me. This implies that the Galaxy Tab's 1024x600 resolution isn't suitable for it's screen size. How does Maemo tackle this issue?

Just to follow up:

It's worth looking at this discussion on the Tab and Android's UI:
http://groups.google.com/group/andro...ad1666dacb3647
See my previous post. There is no compatibility issue with running the UI at a higher density than the normal bucket for its actual density. It just means you want to have a larger UI for the user.

The big thing we don't want to have happen here is for developers to have to tweak their UI to account for this. You should *not* do that. Let the manufacturer do this, and if it results in an absurdly large UI for apps, well that is what the made for their device. (In this case I believe it is fine.)
That was written by an Android framework engineer. This is VERY good solution to the multi-res/multi-size problem.

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2010-11-21 at 21:02.
 

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