Advice for a Tablet Virgin?


Technology

101 to 128 of 128 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:

So, assuming my new Nexus 7 actually ships soon (finger's crossed), what does everyone recommend as "essential" apps (free or paid). I'm looking specifically for:

  • an mail client that will handle multiple email accounts, not just Gmail

  • an PDF reader

  • a mid weight-duty word processor

But I'm sure there are other apps I'm not thinking off. Any recommendations on what works for you, and just as important, what you definitely don't recommend?

Mail: K-9

PDF reader: It's a PDF - why not just use the Adobe reader?

Word processor: No idea - I'd never consider doing anything serious on a small screen, let alone using a virtual keyboard.


JohnF wrote:
Mail: K-9

Looks like it just might be the ticket. And it's FOSS - awesome! Thanks!

JohnF wrote:
PDF reader: It's a PDF - why not just use the Adobe reader?

Sure, Adobe's Reader is the standard, but that doesn't automatically make it the best. I know there are certainly better apps than it for iOS. Doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

JohnF wrote:
Word processor: No idea - I'd never consider doing anything serious on a small screen, let alone using a virtual keyboard.

I'm not looking for a Word or LibreOffice Write... more like a text editor with some horsepower, like TextPad (what I normally use on my notebook). The Nexus 7 isn't the ideal for true word-processing, but I need something because I'm never certain when & where I'll get an idea that needs a quick fleshing out, or be able to sneak in a little editing/proofreading time. And I'm sick of lugging around a 9+ lb. notebook and accessories that only gets around 2 hours on a battery (even with tweaked power settings to max it out).

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
JohnF wrote:
PDF reader: It's a PDF - why not just use the Adobe reader?
Sure, Adobe's Reader is the standard, but that doesn't automatically make it the best.

Perhaps I'm unlucky, but I've had enough bad experiences with third-party PDF readers (and even more with PDF creators) that I generally steer away from them. About the only product in that area that I still use is the PDF plug-in for HeroLab.

Silver Crusade

Marc Radle wrote:

I know you said you do not want an iPad but ... honestly, if I were buying a tablet, I would never even consider anything else BUT an iPad.

By the way, what does "I'd prefer much less of a walled garden model than Apple is going to provide." mean exactly?

This so hard. There is no tablet market outside of the iPad. I neve understand why people consider escaping from the overused term "walled garden" more important than the hardware, and more importantly the apps. App support on non-iPad tablets is shockingly bad. Developers avoid the entire system as its rife with pirating and the average android consumer does not typically buy apps, but instead look for shoddy free versions.

Reconsider if you eventually take this seriously.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Winter_Born wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I know you said you do not want an iPad but ... honestly, if I were buying a tablet, I would never even consider anything else BUT an iPad.

By the way, what does "I'd prefer much less of a walled garden model than Apple is going to provide." mean exactly?

This so hard. There is no tablet market outside of the iPad. I neve understand why people consider escaping from the overused term "walled garden" more important than the hardware, and more importantly the apps. App support on non-iPad tablets is shockingly bad. Developers avoid the entire system as its rife with pirating and the average android consumer does not typically buy apps, but instead look for shoddy free versions.

Reconsider if you eventually take this seriously.

Well, as the soon to be owner of a non-Apple Nexus 7, I'm obviously going to disagree. Yes, the app market for Android currently lags behind iOS, but "shocking bad" is just erroneous or uninformed, and your assessment of the "average android consumer" could be considered insulting. A consumer of either iOS or Android apps needs to be an informed consumer, and iOS still has it's share of buggy or crapware apps. And free=/= "shoddy," especially FOSS.


As the owner of a Motorola Xoom and an iPad 3 (or "new iPad", stupid freakin' release name), I most certainly disagree.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I've found the app diversity and support on Android to be top-notch. I'm uncertain where the Apple fans get their "Android is bad" information from...See my previous posts on hardware value per dollar (Android wins), not trying to lock consumers into constant hardware upgrades (still no microSD slot? Seriously?). Apple has good stuff, but it's not the best at everything. It's probably the best at marketing, and also at creating easy-to-use apps for average users. Nothing they offer, to me, is worth the Apple premium price.

On to your app question, for PDF readers sticking with the Adobe reader is not necessarily your best choice. It's a decent app, but nothing special. I tried several before landing on ezPDF as the best. It's fast at loading/page turns, and has a very nice array of other features (such as annotating, drawing, etc. in the PDF).

For email, I use Gmail, but I do agree that K-9 is a nice app. I also tried MailDroid and liked it. Honestly, however, I prefer the Gmail client to both but if you're just dead against having a Gmail account I guess it's not an option.

I've tried both QuickOffice and Documents to Go for word processing, and landed on QuickOffice as my choice. You might also look into note apps. I'm a big fan of Freenote in that arena.


So, when it comes to reading Pathfinder books on your tablet, what do y'all recommend? My girlfriend is trying to talk me into a Galaxy 10.2 instead of an iPad 2, and I'm on the fence--that extra .4 inch would be kind of nice, but I have a Mac and have been using an iPod Touch for some time, so I could carry over my apps/music/whatnot seamlessly. They're the same price, so I'm really quite torn.

(I could get an iPad 3, but I'm not exactly a power user--I'm once of those email-and-web types that just needs a big screen for my gaming books--so that extra $100 doesn't seem worth it at the moment.)


Is there a local electronics store where you can compare the screens on both? The Galaxy Tab2 uses a PLS (Plane Line Switching) LCD screen, which is supposed to rival the more expensive IPS LCD screens for image quality and viewing angles. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 has 1280x800 pixels at 264 pixels per inch, and the iPad 2 has a 1024x768 display at 132 pixels per inch. Specswise, the Galaxy Tab 2 would seem the better choice, but if you're migrating many apps over (especially paid ones), the iPad 2 might be better. I'd still recommend you see the screens on both before you plunk down your cash. If you go with the iPad 2, you might see if you can pick up one used or reconditioned for cheaper than new.

Edit: The Galaxy Tab 2 also has a microSD slot, so you can add up to 32GB of additional storage (for those big Paizo PDFs) or pop in the memory card from you digital camera. The iPads don't have the slot. However, you may find the built-in storage in both to be sufficient, and there are always cloud storage options like Dropbox and Google Drive to store files (but you will need to have WiFi or cellular wireless).

Edit 2: But yeah, the iPad 3 screen blows them both away. The Retina screen is beautiful, crisp, and perfect for reading documents. If you can afford the iPad 3, it's tough to beat.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Patrick Harris @ SD wrote:


(I could get an iPad 3, but I'm not exactly a power user--I'm once of those email-and-web types that just needs a big screen for my gaming books--so that extra $100 doesn't seem worth it at the moment.)

The extra resolution of the unnamed Ipad means a great deal on text. The greater horsepower means those pages on those big PDFs turn a good deal faster. (those Lite PDFs can still get rather chunky)


I've got an Adam, which is nowhere near as good in screen comparisons, and don't have any trouble reading Paizo PDFs.

The expandable memory is a much bigger sell for me than the screen. Cloud storage is nice, right up to the time where you need your books and find that you don't have a cell signal or wifi connection. If you generally game where connectivity isn't an issue, however, then this may not be as big a driver.

The advice on considering how many apps you already have (especially paid apps) is definitely something to keep in mind as well.

Grand Lodge

Brian E. Harris wrote:
As the owner of a Motorola Xoom and an iPad 3 (or "new iPad", stupid freakin' release name), I most certainly disagree.

I have to agree. In fact I find it offensive that someone would suggest the average Android user is a pirate.


Anyone have any feedback on the Asus TF300 or the new TF700 that just came out? The resolution on the TF700 looks pretty good and may make using it for gaming and PDF's a little better.


I haven't gotten my hands on a TF700 yet, but ASUS's entire transformer tablets have always ranked high with me. Vendor support seems good, the product build is solid, and it's got a nice array of on-tablet features that are boosted with the keyboard dock.

If I bought another tablet right now, it would be a TF700 (or a TF300 once the prices start to really drop and if money is tight, since the specs are close).

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
erian_7 wrote:

I've got an Adam, which is nowhere near as good in screen comparisons, and don't have any trouble reading Paizo PDFs.

The expandable memory is a much bigger sell for me than the screen. Cloud storage is nice, right up to the time where you need your books and find that you don't have a cell signal or wifi connection. If you generally game where connectivity isn't an issue, however, then this may not be as big a driver.

The advice on considering how many apps you already have (especially paid apps) is definitely something to keep in mind as well.

Just remember that all Android apps require a bit of core storage. When that starts running low, all the expanded memory you install via SDcard means diddly squat.

Grand Lodge

Winter_Born wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I know you said you do not want an iPad but ... honestly, if I were buying a tablet, I would never even consider anything else BUT an iPad.

By the way, what does "I'd prefer much less of a walled garden model than Apple is going to provide." mean exactly?

This so hard. There is no tablet market outside of the iPad. I neve understand why people consider escaping from the overused term "walled garden" more important than the hardware, and more importantly the apps. App support on non-iPad tablets is shockingly bad. Developers avoid the entire system as its rife with pirating and the average android consumer does not typically buy apps, but instead look for shoddy free versions.

Reconsider if you eventually take this seriously.

Man you are making WAY to many assumptions here. App support is fine depending on the creator. It does not have to go through iTunes and be moderated and censored like it does with iPad.

"Walled Garden" is a true term though.. it is nice on the inside and great to look at but difficult to get anything in and out of it very fast. Hence the walled garden terminology. So say what you will about Android, I will STILL take it over an iPad any day of the week, despite all of it's so called faults that you list.

BTW I DO buy apps if they are good for what "I" want to use them for. Same with other people in the Marketplace as you could see IF you logged in to it once in a while. It actually SHOWS how many people bought, downloaded and installed the application. So please tell me how the Android consumer does not buy apps?

Grand Lodge

LazarX wrote:
erian_7 wrote:

I've got an Adam, which is nowhere near as good in screen comparisons, and don't have any trouble reading Paizo PDFs.

The expandable memory is a much bigger sell for me than the screen. Cloud storage is nice, right up to the time where you need your books and find that you don't have a cell signal or wifi connection. If you generally game where connectivity isn't an issue, however, then this may not be as big a driver.

The advice on considering how many apps you already have (especially paid apps) is definitely something to keep in mind as well.

Just remember that all Android apps require a bit of core storage. When that starts running low, all the expanded memory you install via SDcard means diddly squat.

So the "install on SD" card does not apply is what YOU are saying again with no research. Not ALL apps require core storage as you say, so do yes that is why as a user you install those that are needed for core storage and watch what you do... the rest can go on the SD card with no problems.

It is great having that extra SD card storage. I have 4, 32 gb cards now :)


Yeah, I've actually managed to "max out" my Adam's memory so I was unable to install any more apps...by installing 216 apps at the same time! I was specifically experimenting to see how much I could get on it. In real-world use, I'm never at more than 184 apps and that's with every game my 8-year old likes to play installed at the same time.

Oh, and since my Adam is rooted, I can actually swap the pointers to what the system considers internal and external memory if needed, so my low-cost 8 GB model suddenly becomes a 32 GB model. It's just a matter of editing two lines in a single text file. I don't need to do this, given the above, but I can if I want, thanks to Android's customizable nature.

As Deanoth notes, most well-written apps that require large storage space on Android utilize the external memory very well. The footprint on internal memory is so minuscule as to be irrelevant for my use. So, as far as I can tell this perceived diminishing value of external memory on Android is a myth.

On paying for apps, at present the value of my apps (according to AppBrain) is $120.86. If an app is good, I pay for it.

Grand Lodge

Erian,
You are getting off lite. The value of all my apps combined is 243.96 hehe :)
Just one cost me 59.99.


Beware electro-herpies. The noisy killer.


I wound up picking up an iPad 3 after all. I am a slave to the whims of Apple, apparently.

... oh well. It's so pretty! App suggestions? xD


I'm resurrecting this Thread in hopes of getting updated info.

I'll be getting my first tablet soon and I'm looking for suggestions.

Obviously-- gaming.

I'm starting to GM for PFS, so this has the potential to be a nice way to carry all my books.

And... HeroLab... wanna port all my NPC's around in it.

As well as office-y real life stuff. Keeping client notes, appointment books, etc.

Quality is more of an issue for me than price.

Suggestions?

Liberty's Edge

Pretty sure the only way to get HeroLab the actual program on a tablet is to go iPad, hasn't been an ETA on the app for Android.

Both platforms have some sort of office type app. If I were to go back to iPad, I'd make sure to download Chrome and such, mostly because I use Chrome a lot on my laptop and some at work, so I like the convenience of having all my bookmarks across platforms. I have my work email on my tablet through the Touchdown App, but Apple can use the native email app, at least my work does and I work at a bank so security is a big deal.

here's my 2 cents: Find the platform (Android/Apple/whatever) and stick with it. I am not going to say that Android is better or worse than Apple or vice versa. I use an Android phone and I'll be honest there's enough difference in the platforms that I didn't care for my iPad and sold it back and picked up a Google Nexus 10. I have the Nexus 7 too, mostly for the smaller form factor, but I don't use it much at all. I'll probably always stay at the 10" form factor. It's not overly large to carry around, more people are doing it and you'll love the screen real estate. I know there are a lot of apps on Apple, including hero lab, which I wish were on Android. BUT, I do use Hero Lab, export the character sheet into PDF and use Google Drive to access them. Yes there are times I wish I could access HL, but I get by with the text exports into my profile and the PDF.

As to quality, buy one of the big names and you'll be fine. I love the Nexus brand and I upgraded my phone to the Note2 and I don't like the crap Samsung put on the phone. I'll probably upgrade to the Nexus 10 new edition once it comes out, just to have a lot more RAM etc.

This turned out kinda long, but YMMV


Many Thanks!

Grand Lodge

Having owned both Android and iPad (still have both right now) I will say that if you are using Hero Lab as a player/GM then iPad is the way to go. But if you are not using it then it is up in the air. Though right now I lean more towards iPad because of a couple of apps Android does not have right now.

Hero Lab and Initiative board. iTunes Initiativeboard.

Both Android and iPad have the PFSRD which is an invaluable tool. iPad also has Goodreader which has the awesome ability to use annotations, comments and notes and such. Which I love to do with my PDF's and it is one of the fastest PDF readers I have seen on either platform.

I have the iPad and Asus Transformer which both has the latest OS's on them.

But as said above... I would go with something that is ten inches or better. Has the apps you want and WILL use on a regular basis.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
erian_7 wrote:

I've got an Adam, which is nowhere near as good in screen comparisons, and don't have any trouble reading Paizo PDFs.

The expandable memory is a much bigger sell for me than the screen. Cloud storage is nice, right up to the time where you need your books and find that you don't have a cell signal or wifi connection. If you generally game where connectivity isn't an issue, however, then this may not be as big a driver.

The advice on considering how many apps you already have (especially paid apps) is definitely something to keep in mind as well.

The expandable memory on Android devices can be extremely misleading.

Android devices generally have two types of memory, core and expanded via SD slot or some other addon card. The real cheap Android tablets have something like 512 megs or 1 gig of ram and make a big deal on how they can expand.

The ugly truth is that these cheap units are typically running 2.3 or earlier and while apps can be largely installed on the SD card they will require some core memmory. And once that core memory goes down to 50 megs free, you're done installing any more apps on it, even if you have 28 gigs free on the SD card.


I use a Lenovo thinkpad tablet 2. Windows 8 pro, and about 8 hours of battery life. Best PDF reader out there. I use skydrive to sync all of my books.

Grand Lodge

IamNabil wrote:
I use a Lenovo thinkpad tablet 2. Windows 8 pro, and about 8 hours of battery life. Best PDF reader out there. I use skydrive to sync all of my books.

Folks, lets keep in mind that when promoting your idea of what is "best" is just an opinion.

If you want the truth though. Epaper readers are one of the best as they reduce eye strain and are specifically DESIGNED for reading only. such as some of the lower end kindles and Nooks. If that is ALL you are wanting to do then you might want to get one of them with a touch screen or button guide. Depending on your needs. This is beyond my opinion and something I personally would not consider because they are not enough for what I personally need. But if you want battery life the Epaper readers such as the Lower End Nooks and the lower end kindles have batter lives that go in to the month range, not hours.

So before you purchase a Tablet based portable system like that you might decide what you want to use it for first and foremost. Once you decide that... do further research in to the operating system, such as iOS, Android (and the versions the table will support if it is an older model) and even the Windows 8 RT or Pro versions. then look in to features, of the models you want and what the tablet can do that you like and don't like and then seek unbiased opinions on the one you choose to see their opinions and weigh the pro's and con's of the tablet you are buying such as price and the like.

Then once you have done all that look in to the future of the product and see if there is anything coming out that might be better in the next month or two only. Because if you wait until something better comes a long, you will never buy a tablet at all. Because eventually something better always comes along and then something more always comes along and so on. Same with computers.

tablets can do some amazing things and if you do not utilize them much then they just pretty much are expensive paper weights are deck of cards to play solitaire.

In wish you luck and please please don your research!! :)

101 to 128 of 128 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Entertainment / Technology / Advice for a Tablet Virgin? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.