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	danramos	2011-04-19 , 19:05
	Posts: 4,672 \| Thanked: 5,455 times \| Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA	#2941

Originally Posted by Snoshrk

@danramos (or anyone else)

Another question....

One of the things that has made my N800 so nice is the way it can pull in distant WiFi signals. Better even than the netbook / or laptops we have...

How do the NC and the Tab fair on Wifi Only?

Even with only a $100 difference, I'll probably get the NC. The camera and GPS would be redundant when/if I upgrade my dumbphone to an inexpensive android phone.

Does anyone have any experience with Boostmobile? The $50/month unlimited everything looks very appealing.

Thanks

Sno

Code:

Epic Android Thread
TMO Forums
April 19, 2011


Dear Sno,

    I know exactly what you mean.  I remember how flabbergasted I was when I used my N800 to pull in wifi signals from as far away as one mall plaza to the other mall plaza across the street with my Nokia N800.  My laptop couldn't even do that with an improved antenna!
    Both my Samsung Galaxy Tab and Dell Mini 9 are very close.  I have been able to catch and maintain signals better with those two than with most of my other gadgets and laptops.  As good as my Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Nook Color  are at catching and working with wifi, so far none of these come  anywhere close to the incredible wifi strength I had on my N800.  It still seems to be legendary to this day.   I  have to wonder what sweet spot they managed to hit with that device that nobody else has been able to replicate as effectively (even the other Nokia tablets and the N900 aren't as good with wifi as the N800, strangely).
    These little but incredible things about the N800 are what compel me to remain in possession of such a useful, but outdated device.

Sincerely,
________________
Dan Ramos

I know.. I'm a goober.

__________________
Nokia's slogan shouldn't be the pedo-palmgrabbing image with the slogan, "Connecting People"... It should be one hand open pleadingly with another hand giving the middle finger and the more apt slogan, "Potential Unrealized." --DR

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2011-04-19 , 20:40
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#2942

Ah Adult swim, with such classic games like "Mountain Maniac" and "Robot Unicorn Attack". Welcome to Android!

First up? The game that put Erasure on the map, Robot Unicorn Attack:

http://www.androidcentral.com/adult-...unicorn-attack
MARKET LINK: https://market.android.com/details?i...tUnicornAttack

Fun for about 10 seconds, but has a quality that will haunt you from then on.

All jokes aside, this is good news for casual gamers.

I'm really hoping that Nitrome gets onboard, as their games are damned impressive. The thing that kills me is that Nitrome games are in flash, it would take a minor tweak to make them screen friendly (eg. an onscreen controller below the game).

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2011-04-19 at 21:47.

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	danramos	2011-04-19 , 21:20
	Posts: 4,672 \| Thanked: 5,455 times \| Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA	#2943

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

Ah Adult swim, with such classic games like "Mountain Maniac" and "Robot Unicorn Attack". Welcome to Android!

First up? The game that put Erasure on the map, Robot Unicorn Attack:

http://www.androidcentral.com/adult-...unicorn-attack

Fun for about 10 seconds, but has a quality that will haunt you from then on.

All jokes aside, this is good news for casual gamers.

I'm really hoping that Nitrome gets onboard, as their games are damned impressive. The thing that kills me is that Nitrome games are in flash, it would take a minor tweak to make them screen friendly (eg. an onscreen controller below the game).

ROBOT UNICORN ATTACK! I've been waiting for this day to come! FINALLY!

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	Kangal	2011-04-20 , 07:27
	Posts: 1,789 \| Thanked: 1,699 times \| Joined on Mar 2010	#2944

Originally Posted by Rebski

@Kangal

I too have been waiting on impressions of the 8.9” screen hoping that it would be a good compromise between the relatively cumbersome 10” and the more agile 7”.

Those hopes appear to be dashed by the experience of this reviewer
http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/19/t-mobile-g-slate-review/
Quote
“My only other notable qualm came when I tried to use the G-Slate as an eReader. While I love solid feel and the sturdy build of the device, it does get a bit heavy at times. Yes, this is due in large part to the battery, thus affording very impressive battery life, but after holding it while reading a few chapters of Peter Keller’s Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story in Amazon’s Kindle app, my hands and arms definitely got tired.”

Could it be that for sizes over 7”, usage that requires one hand to hold the device and the other too interact with the screen becomes too tiring after a short while?

Kevin Tofel, who has both an iPad and a 7” Tab is of the opinion “This may be a matter of personal preference, but I’d still take a 7-inch device over the 8.9 G-Slate, all thing being equal.”
http://gigaom.com/mobile/t-mobile-g-slate-review/

It will be interesting to see reports in this respect from former iPad and now iPad2 users. Does thinness and weight make the difference, I wonder.

In short, the larger 8.9”/10” tablets appear to be best suited for extended periods of video watching. And Transformer owners are complaing at video limitations.

Thanks for the links, but those reviews were bad and they never really justified their dislike of the G-Slate properly (hence a little "anti" biased).

So the 7" is just big enough for a coat pocket, purse and car centre-console.
The 8.9" is supposed to be mid-point between the 7-and-10 sizes.
The 9.7" (4:3) is what Apple says is perfect.
The 10" offers generous screen-estate but is smaller than netbook/laptop but many argue is too big for extended use (reading, browsing, watching etc).

So far there is only one tablet that can displace the need for a laptop and that is the HP Slate 500, which is still a horrible option (battery life, looks, speed).

If you want something that could displace a netbook/laptop ... then 10" is the best size.
If you want a square device, you gotta pay alot and grab an iPad.
If you want something which is too small but offers the right dimensions for your "heavy pocket" or car the 7" is the best size.
If you want a more extended-use (reading) friendly device, which might be small enough for your car (unlikely) and which might be small enough for your "heavy pocket" than the 8.9" fills this niche.

Here's an image comparison of their relative sizes 7"-10":
(Galaxy Tab, G-Slate, iPad2, XOOM)
Real photo:

Width comparison (I have a HD quality of this image):

Height comparison (I have a HD quality of this image):

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Rebski	2011-04-20 , 11:21
Posts: 874 \| Thanked: 316 times \| Joined on Jun 2007 @ London UK	#2945

Thanks for the links, but those reviews were bad and they never really justified their dislike of the G-Slate properly (hence a little "anti" biased).

Just to clarify, I wasn't supporting any opinions on the devices themselves. My interest is in the respective benefits and drawbacks of the various form factors. Hence the quoted text.

For instance, if a reviewer reports that his arms get tired after a couple of chapters, then that suggests that the device in question may not make an ideal ebook reader.

As for the list of "if you want"s, don't we want all of these things? When I suggested that I need 3 tablets of different screen sizes I was only half joking.

Thanks for taking the trouble to put together the pictures. Those side by side comparisons are always useful to refer to .

What I find also helpful is a side by side where all of the screens show the same web page and they appear from time to time depending on what a reviewer has access to.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2011-04-20 , 15:00
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#2946

This is an interesting commercial from Samsung for the Galaxy S II:

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tyfxEl22Ac
http://www.androidcentral.com/new-sa...eams-come-true

Things like this will sell the device -- very well. Voice input in Android is nothing new, but they've managed to let the masses know in a very comprehensible way that you can talk to your phone to get it to do stuff. This is a killer feature that people gush about.

What's interesting is that the geezer says 'Hi Galaxy' in the beginning of the commercial, which suggests that he wakes up the app with this utterance. This is very interesting if true, and I'm curious to know the amount of battery life this would take as the phone would have to consider every sound as a potential command.

I like the voice talk branding as well. Samsung will do well with this phone.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2011-04-20 , 15:17
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#2947

Here is the HBO go app working on Android:

http://androidandme.com/2011/04/appl...ng-to-android/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisaBTzuqsU

Bonus, Tablet footage! It looks really, really good!

Not quite netfilx, but a great start.

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2011-04-20 at 15:32.

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Snoshrk	2011-04-20 , 15:33
Posts: 395 \| Thanked: 137 times \| Joined on Feb 2008 @ Boone, IA	#2948

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

Here is the HBO go app working on Android:

http://androidandme.com/2011/04/appl...ng-to-android/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisaBTzuqsU

Bonus, Tablet footage! It looks really, really good!

Not quite netfilx, but a great start.

OT

Now that HBO seems to be embracing new technologies, it gives me hope that they might contemplate new payment / subscription options not tied to traditional cable / satellite subscriptions.

[/RANT]
I would gladly pay a nominal fee to stream HBO's non-movie content, thereby supporting said new content. I want to see:

ie Game of Thrones

@HBO: I would gladly PAY to watch your content over the NET!

{/END RANT]

Thanks

Looks like I'm not the only one

__________________
Nook Color
CM7 Nightly

N800 (retired...soon to eBay)
Favorite Apps: CommunitySSU,DiabloTurbo, Flipclock, Keepnote, Dialcentral,

Gizmo5

,MediaBox/pyFMradio, Telescope,Diablo5 theme, Tear, Personal Menu/Launcher, OMWeather,Blubbels, Advanced Power/Backlight...now to play with Garnet6...

Last edited by Snoshrk; 2011-04-20 at 17:39. Reason: add link

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	danramos	2011-04-20 , 19:55
	Posts: 4,672 \| Thanked: 5,455 times \| Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA	#2949

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

What's interesting is that the geezer says 'Hi Galaxy' in the beginning of the commercial, which suggests that he wakes up the app with this utterance. This is very interesting if true, and I'm curious to know the amount of battery life this would take as the phone would have to consider every sound as a potential command.

Not to mention the potential privacy implications of a device that is designed with the intention of always listening. (At least right now, you know that if something is using the mic all the time, you can suspect something is breaching your privacy.)

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2011-04-20 , 20:18
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#2950

Originally Posted by danramos

Not to mention the potential privacy implications of a device that is designed with the intention of always listening. (At least right now, you know that if something is using the mic all the time, you can suspect something is breaching your privacy.)

Very, very good point... It would requires a lot of trust, and regarding what's happening with Apple's users currently, my trust is in extremely short supply.

ARTICLE: Apple is tracking its iPhone iPad Users Every Move
http://www.dailytech.com/Apple+is+Tr...ticle21429.htm

Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Failure to comply with this license means being banned from iTunes, and thus no apps on a closed system.

This is outrageous! I never thought I would see the day where I would conceivably choose a MS product over Apple, but given the option between the two, I am certainly seeing things differently.