Well, OK, I got a tablet.....

[W1GUH]

They look so small and light and infinitely more carry-able for travel, I just had to give it a go. As it turns out, Asus, no ASUS (hear the fanfare?) has done it again with what looks to me like a great machine at a great price.

This all started when a guy next to me at a bar in Baltimore was using his (excuse the expression) iPad with a keyboard. I was intrigued until I found out it was an Apple.

Well..Asus to the rescue. They make a keyboard docking station for it that makes it kinda like a "little" laptop -- hinged screen and all. Plus the keyboard/dock has a slot for SD Memory and a USB (2.0) connection. All works A-OK. OTOH, Android's gonna take a little while to get used to, but so far, I guess it's OK. But google looses points every freakin' time it just HAS to "suggest" that I create yet another account or download something else. Ah, well, I'm stuck with it.

And the tablet itself has an HDMI output.

This is the tablet
(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Tablet+with+32GB+Memory+-+Blue/5359476.p?id=1218635271532&skuId=5359476)
and

This is the docking station.
(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Keyboard+Docking+Station/5176818.p?id=1218621251807&skuId=5176818)

[N2RJ]

Among the androids I like the kindle fire the best, even though it technically isn't an android and has no camera.

I still like the iPad above the rest... I've been dictating a lot of my posts here using the built in dictation feature. Android has that feature too, IIRC.

[KK4AMI]

My wife bought an HP DM1Z. I'm not a big HP fan, but they custom built it for her, gave her $125 off in coupons and shipped it pronto. Of course that was before they decided to layoff 21,000 employees. I guess its classed as a NETBOOK. It has an 11.1 inch screen and 128 Gig Electronic hard drive. Comes with full up Windows 7, weighs less then two pounds, lasts 7 hours on a battery. The DVD/CD drive is external however, and cost her an additional $50 bucks. I can only say that its not a Laptop and not a tablet, but it does all things. The best thing I can say is that with the small screen, I can still see my wife's head at dinner. Her previous HP had a 17 inch screen that would make me disappear I guess.

[W1GUH]

Thanks for the comments. Android is proving to be a lot of fun!

Best time I've had so far is trying to put a pic up as wallpaper. Took a while to figure out how to use one of my pix, but that's just normal learning curve for a brand new to me OS. But then the genius' at Google really came through for us Android users. The standard way to change wallpaper requires the user to crop the image, and the crop frame comes nowhere near the whole image. WTF???????????? I mean, WTF??????????????

So I google about this & it turns out lots of users have discovered this, and you have to actually download one of those Eh? Pee Pee thingies to be able to put up wallpaper without cropping. It was free, and from a good source, so I did that.* Surprise!!! That app either forces the user to use one of its images, or the route to using my own image was completely buried where significant time spent searching was fruitless.

This kind of BS from Google? Completely baffling as to why?

And, overall, I'm disappointed by the difficulty in learning the OS itself. I've been looking for a primer, preferable one with format of, "How to do in Android things one does as second nature in Windows." Going over to B&N later; maybe they've got something. Googled for a while and didn't really turn up anything; how IS one supposed to learn this OS? If there are help files on the machine, THEY are hidden too.

BUT....this is an Asus machine and that tells me there's a very good reason for Android to be on the machine (assuming it doesn't involve "deals" with Google).



*And another thing....

Android isn't particularly transparent when I'm downloading. All downloads with Windows have always come with an info pane showing progress. If that exists on Android, I haven't found it yet.

BitchBitchBitchBitchWhineWhineWhine

[N2RJ]

Cheap android in case anyone wants one:

http://www.cowboom.com/product/1045495/?utm_medium=Affiliate&cj=true&utm_source=3668349&utm_campaign=CJ

Still no camera but cheaper than a kindle fire.

http://www.velocitymicro.com/tabletcompare.php

[N2RJ]

BUT....this is an Asus machine and that tells me there's a very good reason for Android to be on the machine (assuming it doesn't involve "deals" with Google).


This one?
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/

Only reason I can think of is that they wanted a tablet OS. Android is the only choice for 3rd party mfgs since Apple won't license iOS to OEMs and the rest are more or less dead. Windows 7 would have too much of a footprint.

[W1GUH]

No, this one (http://www.asus.com/Tablet/Transformer_Pad/ASUS_Transformer_Pad_TF300T/)...

Thanks for the comments, Ryan. Makes sense. Guess it IS fun to learn this stuff actually. But, y'know...I was just at B&N and they had plenty of books about software development for Droid, but not one about just using Droid. Gonna be fun learning how to function in the land of no file menus, no x'ing a window to close it, etc!

Now...if one could bring up a Console & have *nix command line stuff....THAT'd be a great help!









This one?
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/

Only reason I can think of is that they wanted a tablet OS. Android is the only choice for 3rd party mfgs since Apple won't license iOS to OEMs and the rest are more or less dead. Windows 7 would have too much of a footprint.

[W4GPL]

Now...if one could bring up a Console & have *nix command line stuff....THAT'd be a great help!You can, there's terminal emulators and 'adb' (Android Debug Bridge).. if you run 'adb shell' with it plugged into your computer, you can get access... and if you 'root' your device, you can get even more access.

[W1GUH]

You can, there's terminal emulators and 'adb' (Android Debug Bridge).. if you run 'adb shell' with it plugged into your computer, you can get access... and if you 'root' your device, you can get even more access.

Thanks! I was hoping there'd be something like that. I'll give it a whirl.

[W4GPL]

ADB is really powerful..

http://pastebin.ca/2155642 -- this gives you some idea of what you can do it with.

[W4GPL]

*And another thing....

Android isn't particularly transparent when I'm downloading. All downloads with Windows have always come with an info pane showing progress. If that exists on Android, I haven't found it yet. Not every Android installation is the same, so YMMV, but when I start a download, it's listed in the notification screen. You take your finger from the very top of your home page and slide down. It should show you all your push notifications, downloads, etc.

Personally, if I was you.. I'd root that baby and get the the latest Cyanogen ICS on there. :D

[W4GPL]

Android hacking is one of my favorite past times, I run a custom build of ICS that I hack on my own.

[KB3LAZ]

My fall to the side of evil has begun. Pilar made me get a cellphone. A wise idea really. I am always exploring a city in which I am unfamiliar with in a country I do not yet belong to. Anyway, its an android touch phone (they really dont have much else here). I am actually starting to like having it. Noooooooooooo! Bad me, bad me.

Though, I have used a tablet and tbh my cellphone does most of what the tablet does. I have yet to figure out the need for both for the average person but who knows....Im on my path to the dark said..sigh.

[N2RJ]

My favorite app is SoundHound. It can tell you what any song you're listening to is, including lyrics!

[W1GUH]

Thanks. Picked up a "Dummies" book about how make Eh? Pea Pee thingies; looks like I'll be doing Java. But the book has mentioned "Just In Time Compiler",
so maybe there's hope for it! Maybe even a drag-and-drop GUI editor? I'll download Eclipse later to check it out.

But, Somebody Please Help!!!!!

Text windows on this tablet are a total befuddling factor. I get these blue arrows pointing at a character that I have no clue about. Maybe a select/cut/paste indicator? Also, the cursor will move to a different place, usually happens when I see that blue arrow.

Where oh where can I find a tutorial about what's going on there? No visible tips on this device, and so far google-fu hasn't had any help to offer.

[X-Rated]

http://www.ramos-tablet.com/ramos-w17-pro-7-inch-dual-core-1-5-ghz-android-tablet-pc-16gb.html

My son just ordered himself a Ramos. We'll see how that goes.

My XYL was wanting a Kindle Fire for Mother's Day, so I found one for $185 NIB delivered and no sales tax on fleabay so I ordered it. Then when I got it delivered without her knowing, she said she rethought it and wanted the Nook. So I got my Father's Day gift in May.

[n2ize]

I just picked up several tablets.

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/lnzyx/lnzyx1204/lnzyx120400507/13329435-green-tablet-drug-on-a-white-background.jpg

[W1GUH]

Not every Android installation is the same, so YMMV, but when I start a download, it's listed in the notification screen. You take your finger from the very top of your home page and slide down. It should show you all your push notifications, downloads, etc.

Personally, if I was you.. I'd root that baby and get the the latest Cyanogen ICS on there. :D

Right on. As I climb the learning curve, I see exactly what you're saying. Matter of fact, I just got a system monitor app last night that does that. AND...you're right, there IS that notification....finally saw it!

Will be hacking that baby lots and lots....gonna be a whole lot of fun!

[W1GUH]

I just picked up several tablets.

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/lnzyx/lnzyx1204/lnzyx120400507/13329435-green-tablet-drug-on-a-white-background.jpg

Nope....them's capsules.

[NQ6U]

I got a tablet too:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Rosetta_Stone.JPG/512px-Rosetta_Stone.JPG

It's heavier than I expected, though.

[KG4CGC]

Hey! I remember making that! We had come a long way by then, what with fire and all.

[n2ize]

Nope....them's capsules.

Thanks for your capsule comments :)