OT: Android Tablet Thread

[wco81]

Blackberry just cut the price of the Playbook by $200.

So for $300, you get 7-inch screen, same resolution as the Amazon Kindle Fire, dual cameras, HDMI out. Not sure if it has GPS or how the dual core processor and GPU in the Playbook compares to the Fire.

But the Playbook probably doesn't have good software support despite being out in the market for several months. No native email yet and no emulator for running Android apps. Maybe with the price cut, there will be interest in porting Android over to it, though from what I've seen of the QNX OS, it looks pretty slick.

It'll be interesting to see if this drives down prices, including that of the iPad.

[dbdynsty25]

Does the playbook even have an email client yet? They've already said their android support will be limited so I doubt it's gonna be that good.

As for amazon...I've never had them email me anything other than order conformations so I'm not sure what you're talking about wco with regards to their email and tracking situation.

[wco81]

It doesn't sound like they've done much with the software. If they're cutting price to get rid of inventory and get out of the tablet business, then they probably won't add software features like the email client they promised. But they're going to continue to develop QNX for their new phones so maybe that's where they will be concentrating -- there are rumors that BES may not work on the first QNX phones.

The Playbook hardware offers more than the Fire but it's of no use if there isn't software to support those features.


Maybe it's some preference that I need to set but I get emails from them every day, either electronics deals of the week or stuff that I've shopped on their site. It's always stuff I looked up, like an email about a garage door opener that I checked on their site.

[dbdynsty25]

This is a WAY better option than the Playbook:

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-Buy ... st+News%29

Next Thursday, the Flyer drops it's price too. Allegedly.

[Murph]

An even BETTER deal.

[Rodster]

Massive Security Vulnerability In HTC Android Devices (EVO 3D, 4G, Thunderbolt, Others) Exposes Phone Numbers, GPS, SMS, Emails Addresses, Much More

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/10/01 ... much-more/

[dbdynsty25]

Massive Security Vulnerability In HTC Android Devices (EVO 3D, 4G, Thunderbolt, Others) Exposes Phone Numbers, GPS, SMS, Emails Addresses, Much More

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/10/01 ... much-more/

Yawn. I guess I'm in the camp that doesnt care about all this crap. All companies are tracking info...no one has found out how quite yet. Apple was accused a while ago...android now and previously as well. I don't know. I guess I just don't know why any consumer would have ultra sensitive info on their phone. Too easy to lose and hack. Guess thats just me.

[Gurantsu]

So while paying my last cell phone bill, I thought to myself why the heck am I paying all this money just to have all my android goodies on the go? 80% of the time when I mess with them I am around wifi anyway, so I decided that I'm going to dump my plan and piece of crap phone (Samsung Galaxy S on AT&T; WORST phone I've ever owned), and get a tablet instead. All I need from a phone is talk and text, so I'll go that route once my contract runs out shortly.

Anyway, I was going to get a Kindle Fire, however the lack of ability to connect it to your PC bothered me, as well as having no slot for expansion memory. So after some research I decided to grab a HTC Flyer from Best Buy now that they dropped the price. I have not gotten the pen for it however.

First thing with me is battery life. No use having all these bells and whistles if you have to charge every few hours. The Flyer doesn't disappoint in this area, I can easily go 2 days with moderate use, and even if I hammer the heck out of it with lots of streaming video and internet it will make it to the end of the night. I'm sure once the honeymoon period is over and I use more of the e-reader stuff instead of internet it will go for even longer.

It only uses Android 2.3, but reportedly Honeycomb is right around the corner. As it stands it runs great, with only a few apps acting a bit wonky. It's not a large 10 inch screen, but to be honest I really didn't want one that big. My Kobo e-reader is about the same size and I like it that way, anything larger would be too big for the way I use it.

Its nice to have a device that I can boot up quick to check e-mail or whatnot without waiting for my netbook to boot up, as well as being a great way to read all my books. I was never sure about the whole tablet craze, but now that I have one I see it fits my needs better than my netbook does. I may send the netbook off to Craigslist or Ebay!

Anyway, just wanted to give my two cents on the Flyer, which I think is a great device.

[pk500]

Grant:

Does the Flyer have a USB or mini-USB port? Thanks.

[Gurantsu]

PK,

It actually has some funky looking proprietary connector, but comes with both a power cord and one to connect to your pc via usb. So if you want to charge in your car you need a special connector or one of those car lighter to usb things that are available. (I have a couple of them, not even sure where they came from!)

[pk500]

Right on. Is the Flyer recognized as an external drive or device for drag-and-drop transfers when connected to your PC?

Thanks!

[Gurantsu]

Yes it is. If you have a micro SD installed then you will see two drives show.up. I drag and dropped some music and ebooks and everything worked fine.

It also comes with Polaris Office, which let's you open and edit office files like word and Excel. Works very well, although I also have Documents To Go which I like. The pen seems like a neat feature for editing stuff, which i don't need at the moment but might be up your alley considering your profession.

[pk500]

Thanks, dude.

[Rodster]

Any good tutorials on rooting an Android phone? I'm just looking to remove all the crap I don't need so I can increase battery life.

[dbdynsty25]

Any good tutorials on rooting an Android phone? I'm just looking to remove all the crap I don't need so I can increase battery life.

It's different for every phone. Go to Xdadevelopers.com and check out the forums for your specific device.

[Rodster]

Thanks db but that takes me to one of those sites after you misspelled it.

[dbdynsty25]

Thanks db but that takes me to one of those sites after you misspelled it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

Why not google it? Faster than whining.

[FifaInspected]

was in coscto the other day.. Anyone familiar with the Vizio tablet?

[dbdynsty25]

was in coscto the other day.. Anyone familiar with the Vizio tablet?

Waste of money. Tablets like the Kindle Fire and Nook Color pretty much destroy it, price and performance wise, so there's really no market for the Vizio branded tablets. I was excited for them when the only other options were $500+...but now, with my Fire on order (or my wife's I should say, lol), I've got no need.

[pk500]

Woot had a refurbished 32 GB Motorola Xoom for $299 yesterday. Must be a precursor for some pretty cheap deals on new Android tablets around the holidays.

[dbdynsty25]

Woot had a refurbished 32 GB Motorola Xoom for $299 yesterday. Must be a precursor for some pretty cheap deals on new Android tablets around the holidays.

The fact that the Xoom 2/Xoom 2 Media Edition have already been announced and coming out shortly would be a bigger reason I would guess.

[pk500]

Woot had a refurbished 32 GB Motorola Xoom for $299 yesterday. Must be a precursor for some pretty cheap deals on new Android tablets around the holidays.

The fact that the Xoom 2/Xoom 2 Media Edition have already been announced and coming out shortly would be a bigger reason I would guess.

Ah. Didn't know that!

[dbdynsty25]

Woot had a refurbished 32 GB Motorola Xoom for $299 yesterday. Must be a precursor for some pretty cheap deals on new Android tablets around the holidays.

The fact that the Xoom 2/Xoom 2 Media Edition have already been announced and coming out shortly would be a bigger reason I would guess.

Ah. Didn't know that!

That's why I'm here.

[wco81]

Nook Tablet may have more appeal to those who want to root it as it has slightly better specs. than the FIre.

It would be cool if they could hit that $250 price point with GPS, compass and cameras, since the 7-inch form factor would be more useful for outdoor apps.

[Murph]

The 'hands on' reviews of the Fire are coming out more frequently now.

In a nutshell from this reviewer: Fire is a little too Playbook- inspired for his liking. Android 2.3 is too limiting, in his opinion. Web surfing, page turning, etc are too slow and clunky and the one phrase that's become a cliche..."it's no iPad killer."

With that said, there stuff he likes too.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560 ... ire-review