Tablet specific thread

Cyrus

As more and more boardies buy android tabs it might be useful to have a thread related to tablets only.
Optimised apps, home screen configs, hints and tips etc

Ive just sold my ipad 1 and picked up a sammy 10.1 and official cover.

Ive flashed a custom rom from XDA dev (something about in paris or something like that )

What im wondering is, how do these tabs fare with the screen off, my ipad used to use hardly any battery if not used, are the android tabs the same or is there some settings needed to prevent wifi and data when screen is off?

also, i hear people mentioning tegra games, what are they and which ones are worth getting?

Finally, what are the best tablet optimised apps??

mickoneill30

Loads of questions there.

Cyrus wrote: »

What im wondering is, how do these tabs fare with the screen off, my ipad used to use hardly any battery if not used, are the android tabs the same or is there some settings needed to prevent wifi and data when screen is off?

My tablet is similar to your iPad experience. Battery lasts for ages. You can get apps to turn off WiFi on a schedule but I don't bother with them.

Cyrus wrote: »

also, i hear people mentioning tegra games, what are they and which ones are worth getting?

Tegra is the type of processor in the tablet. If you have a Tegra processor you can play Tegra optimised games. Have a look at

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.nvidia.tegrazone&feature=search_result

Cyrus wrote: »

Finally, what are the best tablet optimised apps??

Try this app. It's an app that only shows Tablet Apps. It's a good starting point.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.andromo.dev86.app119&feature=search_result

Cyrus

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Loads of questions there.



My tablet is similar to your iPad experience. Battery lasts for ages. You can get apps to turn off WiFi on a schedule but I don't bother with them.



Tegra is the type of processor in the tablet. If you have a Tegra processor you can play Tegra optimised games. Have a look at

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.nvidia.tegrazone&feature=search_result





Try this app. It's an app that only shows Tablet Apps. It's a good starting point.

sorry im not sure if you linked an app?

thanks a lot by the way

Professey Chin

Take a look at Tablified
it goes up & down at times (only a couple guys running it in their spare time) but they only cover tablet optimised apps

jimmycrackcorm

Cyrus wrote: »

What im wondering is, how do these tabs fare with the screen off, my ipad used to use hardly any battery if not used, are the android tabs the same or is there some settings needed to prevent wifi and data when screen is off?

The same rule applies for tablets as for phones - check the battery stats for wakelocks to detect multi-tasking apps that are trying to access data too much during screen-off time.

It's a nice advantage to have your facebook widget already showing updates when you turn the screen back on but with that flexibility comes more responsibility in managing app syncing and non-screen use.

madmoe

Hi guys,
Picked up a Galaxy Tab 10.1 on Friday and yesterday saw the dreaded moisture\LCD issue issue under the screen? It' going straight back to Peat's later today!! Anyone else unfortunate to have this happen to them as well?

Cheers,
M

harr

Hi guys
where is best to buy a xoom on line as they have come down in price in the last few weeks i am looking for one under 350,i know curry's had them up to a few weeks ago but don't stock them any more.Some places are still looking for over 450 and with the xoom 2 on the way there is no way i would pay that,or am i better getting the Samsung tab and forgetting the xoom altogether?

pickarooney

I hear a lot of complaints about the Xoom's video playback being jittery.

mickoneill30

pickarooney wrote: »

I hear a lot of complaints about the Xoom's video playback being jittery.

Using which app? I've MX Player & MoboPlayer & Plex on mine. No probs with any of those 3 for me. I only use it to play downloaded stuff though so it's not super high def I suppose. Just your average 700mb -> 1gb divx avi.

pickarooney

I'll try and get specifics A colleague bought one and was exasperated by the playback (I think he used whatever he had been using on his Samsung Galaxy S - moboplayer or similar) MKV files were particularly bad.

There's a few mentions of the problem in this thread on XDA. I was thinking of getting one around Christmas when they'll hopefully have dropped to under €300 but this put me off.

A few other random search results, all relating to a need to reconvert videos for them to play smoothly:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/motorola-xoom/74226-xoom-video-playback-help.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110226144057AAzgid2

Have you any 720p rip MKVs you could test with?

mickoneill30

pickarooney wrote: »

A few other random search results, all relating to a need to reconvert videos for them to play smoothly:

To play videos using the stock player you needed to convert them. This was frustrating when I first got my Xoom but after a few weeks the apps appeared and I haven't looked back. Nothing I've thrown at it since has had a problem. Those threads you linked to were from the start of the Xooms life. I'll see if I can get an MKV file tonight and try it out.

pickarooney wrote: »

I was thinking of getting one around Christmas when they'll hopefully have dropped to under €300 but this put me off.

I got the feeling that they were reduced because of the rumours of the Xoom 2. If the Xoom 2 is imminent who's going to buy a Xoom 1. If places like Currys aren't restocking it seems likely they were just getting rid of them.

A couple of sellers on Amazon seem to still have them cheap but they're Amazon resellers rather than Amazon themselves so who knows if they'll even ship to Ireland.

pickarooney

I presume they were dropped for that reason as well (Xoom 2).

Google "720p mkv sample download" and you'll find a load of small files, trailers and the like.

harr

What do you think of this in peats, its a good bit more bulky than the Samsung but it has a lot more ports and has expandable memory.
http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/catalog_v2.cgi?id=28509&type=product
Or has anyone used the new sony Android tab yet?

pickarooney

That's very expensive looking for a manufacturer with no established base, IMO. You'd want to have a good play around with it to gauge if the screen is worth the money.

mickoneill30

pickarooney wrote: »

I presume they were dropped for that reason as well (Xoom 2).

Google "720p mkv sample download" and you'll find a load of small files, trailers and the like.

I downloaded the Iron Man trailer (1080p) and GI Joe trailer (720p) from here
http://www.divx.com/en/electronics/solutions/high-definition/divx-plus-hd/video

MoboPlayer & MX player choked on both.

So I did a bit of Googling and found people recommending this.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.trial&feature=search_result

I popped this on and the GI Joe trailer plays perfectly.
The Iron Man one is still very laggy.

That Diceplayer isn't a free app so you'd have to add €3.75 to the price of your tablet

It looks like 1080p is out of the equation on the Xoom though.

Edit: I downloaded another 720 mkv file from a disreputable source. That played fine on my PC but on the tablet it plays OK but it seems to be missing a few frames. Weirdly enough it plays nearly as good in Mobo & MX players. The GI Joe one above was unplayable in those. I don't know what's going on. It might be the file or it might be the tablet. If you're going to buy one maybe bring your own mkvs with you to the shop.

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Any good places online lads to buy either the Motorola Xoom or Samsung 10.1?

Stevokenevo

Hi all -

Just picked up a 32gb WiFi Xoom. It came with a U.S charger (i.e., 2 flat pins). I was wondering:

1) Am I OK to charge this in Ireland using nothing more than a plug adapter to go from US to UK/IE 3-pin?

2) If not, there seems to be a lot of chargers on eBay and the like which come up for a search on Xoom Charger - can I buy one of these and use it on the U.S. Xoom without any trouble?

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, couldn't find anything through a search on the overall Android forum.

Steve

Cyrus

Stevokenevo wrote: »

Hi all -

Just picked up a 32gb WiFi Xoom. It came with a U.S charger (i.e., 2 flat pins). I was wondering:

1) Am I OK to charge this in Ireland using nothing more than a plug adapter to go from US to UK/IE 3-pin?

yes

pickarooney

Did you get it for 250 euros on Amazon.com?

TheDoc

A few of my friends have the Xoom and have had nothing but things to say, I'm checking up with them again on some of the reported issues but they never mentioned it before.

And at €250 I'm very much hard pushed to say no.

Tablets above €400 give me cold feet because I don't feel they can warrant that price in some instances, but at the €250-300 mark it looks a good investment.

mickoneill30

TheDoc wrote: »

A few of my friends have the Xoom and have had nothing but things to say, I'm checking up with them again on some of the reported issues but they never mentioned it before.

Youre missing an important word there in the bold bit. Is it good bad or indifferent

I'm one who'd say it's great. It's nearly replaced my laptop at home. A lot of posts on boards (from people who don't seem to own it) say it's laggy. Even with 3.0 it didn't seem laggy to me.

Where's it €250 on Amazon though?

pickarooney

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Where's it €250 on Amazon though?

I got a mail from amazon.com with a special offer 24-hour price of that a couple of days ago. I was sorely tempted.
I'm also tempted by a second-hand Asus Transformer (with dock) for 307 euros on Amazon.fr today...

mickoneill30

pickarooney wrote: »

I got a mail from amazon.com with a special offer 24-hour price of that a couple of days ago. I was sorely tempted.

Ah crap

TheDoc

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Youre missing an important word there in the bold bit. Is it good bad or indifferent

I'm one who'd say it's great. It's nearly replaced my laptop at home. A lot of posts on boards (from people who don't seem to own it) say it's laggy. Even with 3.0 it didn't seem laggy to me.

Where's it €250 on Amazon though?

O lol, good things to say, sorry

If someone linked me it for €250 to my door right now, I'd probably buy it....right now

Sisko

I'm looking at getting a Xoom myself. Confused by the talk of it not handling HD video - sure does it not have pretty much exactly the same specs as the samsung tab etc?

Jarren

is this one worth the price I wonder?




IN STOCK

7 inch touch-screen display
Android OS
3.5 mm stereo audio jack
5 megapixel camera with auto-focus
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n


Price: €399 (incl. VAT)

http://www.phonesonline.ie/Product.asp?ProductID=1568

Sisko

Personally I've no interest in a tab that's under 10 inches. Just seems pointless , may as well use my phone etc.

pickarooney

I brought a USB stick with a high-res MKV file and moboplayer.apk with me to the shops today and was kind of horrified to find that not one of the 400 euro tablets could play properly what my crappy 150 euro device can play with no problems at all.

I don't think I'll be replacing mine any time soon.

statto25

Anyone had a look at this?

http://blog.gadgethelpline.com/viewsonic-viewpad-10e-android-tablet-announced-premium-ips-screen/

OK specs but the lack of Google authorisation makes me a bit wary. I wonder how hard it would be to get the google apps installed on it?

pickarooney

Sounds very meh. 400 euros for a single-core 2.3 device.

statto25

pickarooney wrote: »

Sounds very meh. 400 euros for a single-core 2.3 device.

They are retailing at around 250 euro. Argos are selling them at that price

F@ces

statto25 wrote: »

They are retailing at around 250 euro. Argos are selling them at that price

Now at €229.99. That's tempting. Can't find any reviews though

statto25

Neither can I? Its been out a couple of weeks you would think the Testers would have got hold of this.

I just spotted the Vodafone Smart Tab 10 by ZTE which is suppose dot be out this month. Decent specs but no idea of price yet.

F@ces

statto25 wrote: »

Neither can I? Its been out a couple of weeks you would think the Testers would have got hold of this.

I just spotted the Vodafone Smart Tab 10 by ZTE which is suppose dot be out this month. Decent specs but no idea of price yet.

Yeah, you'd expect some reviews by now. Strange! FYI the Viewsonic 10 (win7/android dual booter) got bad reviews, so Im not chancing it yet!

pickarooney

I got an offer by mail for a refurbished Xoom for 240 euros from woot.com today. I don't know if they ship outside of the States though.

jonnny68

Only one tablet im interested in getting and it blows everything else out of the water no two ways about it.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-shown-off-in-official-photos-50006049/

Spipov

since this is a tablet specific thread - any ideas about getting tablet games like scrabble, monopoly etc, board games?

cheers

shoutman

jonnny68 wrote: »

Only one tablet im interested in getting and it blows everything else out of the water no two ways about it.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-shown-off-in-official-photos-50006049/

Oooh, me likey a lot!:)

pickarooney

Looks like an absolute beast but I still haven't seen any confirmation that it will play high-def MKVs

touchwood

Rang dixons in the airport last night to check about Xoom tablet as I'm flying tomorrow, they had them at 289 so I asked for one to be out aside, just got a call telling me the price is gone up to 369. Ugh nightmare.

Ballyman

I'd say that 369 price is for the new Xoom 2 maybe??

MikeC101

Called the airport Dixons as well to check about the 32GB Xoom, gave them the product number for it (the original one, don't think the new one is out yet) and was quoted a price of 359.

touchwood

Was defo the original xoom I asked about and got one kept for me. Ah it might drop again when the xoom2 is released.

neacy69

do we have a thread for tablet specific apps?

any recommendations?

Professey Chin

Posted it already but Tablified is still one of the best sites of come across since they only put up tablet optimised apps.

I think the best tablet apps so far are:
Friendster Tablet : Facebook
Plume: Twitter
Swiftkey Tablet X or Thumb keyboards
IMDB
Pulse : RSS

Ill check what else I have installed when I get home. Only installed a fresh rom last night so still sorting everything