The Epic Android Thread - Page 59 - maemo.org

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-10-11 , 15:46
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#581

Originally Posted by bergie

Depends on the definition of serious work. I used a 10" netbook as my primary (well, only) work computer for a year and it worked fine. I also like the distraction-free all apps run fullscreen environment.

You raise an excellent point:
I used a 8.9" netbook as my primary for some time as well, but was given a faster 15.6" notebook and have since migrated completely to that. The size makes it less than portable though, and it spends most of the time on my desk!

I couldn't see using a 7" Tab as my primary, though, even with a full linux GUI environment. I suppose my tasks demand more screen-real estate and computational power, but as you eloquently stated, this depends on how 'serious work' is defined for the individual.

Originally Posted by bergie

For my work availability of development tools for also hacking when offline are important. I've already done a bit of Python app development on my N900, and having Git on the device has helped with that.

Typing something like PHP or Perl on the keyboard wouldn't be fun. On mobile/tablet devices you really want a simple programming language like Python or Genie.

Maybe a morphing on-screen keyboard could help with that, too?

That's pretty darn cool. I could see using a Tab for coding, but only with a keyboard. You're right, the high quantity of special characters in PHP/Perl make it seem less ideal with an OSK as you'll have to switch 'keyboards' with every command (unless there's a multi-touch shift function I'm unware of -- there probably is). Also, it would be nice to have a functional directional keypad -- though again, some OSKs feature.

I think that from a programming perspective (think: long session), the OSK loses most appeal when the screen real-estate is cut down significantly. Perhaps with a good text-editor (I only use TE for coding, I never got the 'feel' for fancy environments like 'eclipse'), that's optimized for coding (indentation, highlighting, two-finger scrolling, disappearing keyboard, smart function buttons, quick file cycling, etc), I could see coding on a tablet for a long duration. However, I doubt I could stomach for long periods. But this is speculation. Who knows? I may really love Tab coding with an OSK.

However, for just coding, having a keyboard and the Tab may not be too bad with a simple text editor and/or some ssh love. With Ubuntu loaded onto the Tab with the Unity interface, the Tab would be a fantastic coding device, even through VNC (though I have serious concerns about the battery life!). Other productivity tasks like wordprocessing or drawing would probably be better served via a dedicated Android app, as I would imagine desktop equivalents running on an A8 would be frightfully slow.

But hey, if I find I can use the Tab effectively as a primary, then that's a beautiful thing! Even more reason to forgo the purchase of a new laptop!

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-10-11 , 15:54
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#582

Originally Posted by bergie

The Tableteer name that Nokia used with the older ITs was also quite cool.

Who knew that the gadgets and concepts we were playing with years ago would become the hottest area of computing

Seriously! Someone in Nokia certainly had a great deal of vision to realize that this idea would work. It really is too bad the company as a whole squandered a 3-year head start with what can only be described as superlative boobery.

Here's an interesting read on the perils of 'rewriting;' an offense which Nokia committed no less than 5 times with the IT line (770/N8x0/N900):
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articl...000000069.html

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	bergie	2010-10-11 , 16:56
	Posts: 381 \| Thanked: 847 times \| Joined on Jan 2007 @ Helsinki	#583

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

Seriously! Someone in Nokia certainly had a great deal of vision to realize that this idea would work. It really is too bad the company as a whole squandered a 3-year head start with what can only be described as superlative boobery.

Being a pioneer is hard as there is nobody whose experience to follow

I think out of all the mobile platforms Maemo/MeeGo with the highly service-oriented concept (messaging is a service any app can use, same with calendar, contacts etc) is still the most interesting one. The Galaxy Tab form factor and the tablet being a phone sound like the perfect combination for me, but I may hold on until we see what kind of proper MeeGo tablets will come to the market.

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	ysss	2010-10-11 , 17:12
	Posts: 4,384 \| Thanked: 5,524 times \| Joined on Jul 2007 @ ˙ǝɹǝɥʍou	#584

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

Seriously! Someone in Nokia certainly had a great deal of vision to realize that this idea would work. It really is too bad the company as a whole squandered a 3-year head start with what can only be described as superlative boobery.

I've finally looked it up

I thought Apple's Newton had been around for ages, but I knew something had to exist before it (real tablets, bigger than Palm Pilots)

While digital tablets and handwriting recognition had been in development for decades before it, including desktop computers which used them as the sole input method, the GRiDpad was the first, real, tangible tablet computer as we would recognise it - although it's a little unclear as to what its specifications were. It was released in 1989; 12 years before the Windows XP tablets, and 4 years before the Newton

Here's an interesting read on the perils of 'rewriting;' an offense which Nokia committed no less than 5 times with the IT line (770/N8x0/N900):
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articl...000000069.html

I think it's all about top-down vs bottom-up design. The NIT is sort of a grab bag of proper and idealistic design, but the implementation is sort of meh, since it tries to please everyone at the same time.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-10-11 , 18:04
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Originally Posted by ysss

I think it's all about top-down vs bottom-up design. The NIT is sort of a grab bag of proper and idealistic design, but the implementation is sort of meh, since it tries to please everyone at the same time.

This is actually a brilliant insight that I had not considered, but instantly (and rather succinctly) brought together many personal ideas about what yields a successful implementation.

I think you're spot on.

I wonder if MeeGo will suffer the same fate. It seems rather bottom-up in design.

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wmarone	2010-10-11 , 18:10
Posts: 1,746 \| Thanked: 2,100 times \| Joined on Sep 2009	#586

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

I wonder if MeeGo will suffer the same fate. It seems rather bottom-up in design.

MeeGo is designed to take that "bottom-up" design and get it out of the way so vendors can do the top-down design and implementation of a user interface without having to worry about the subsystems.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-10-11 , 18:19
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Originally Posted by wmarone

MeeGo is designed to take that "bottom-up" design and get it out of the way so vendors can do the top-down design and implementation of a user interface without having to worry about the subsystems.

This is very interesting! I understand that Intel is behind MeeGo, but are there other major vendors (besides Nokia) who have expressed an interest in developing MeeGo devices?

I suspect that vendors that support Symbian (eg. Samsung -- until very recently), will test the MeeGo waters.

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wmarone	2010-10-11 , 18:23
Posts: 1,746 \| Thanked: 2,100 times \| Joined on Sep 2009	#588

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

This is very interesting! I understand that Intel is behind MeeGo, but are there other major vendors (besides Nokia) who have expressed an interest in developing MeeGo devices?

Not yet, that I'm aware of. I suspect that others may be sitting around waiting for Nokia and Intel to do all the work before jumping in (and of course, they won't interact with the user community.)

I suspect that vendors that support Symbian (eg. Samsung -- until very recently), will test the MeeGo waters.

Possibly. And I'd be up for a device from them (but only if I don't have to "root" it for control and can buy it unlocked!)

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	debernardis	2010-10-11 , 18:38
	Posts: 2,142 \| Thanked: 2,054 times \| Joined on Dec 2006 @ Sicily	#589

I've tested the Tab with gloves - the screen doesn't react at all

Then I tried with my finger encapsulated in one of my socks - works

When the socks became two (finger inside sock inside sock) - screen was unreliable.
Three socks - no reaction.

So you better use one sock in winter instead of gloves

BTW I finally could transmit my face from the N900 to the Tab, but not vice versa, and it was quite unreliable, but it's a start, isn't it? The key was using pbxes.org as everyone who rtfm already knew

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