Database Users

Xoom For Note Taking

I've been trying to find a decent app that I can use to write notes on. I want to use this in class so I can just take out a stylus and just start writing. I saw that the HTC Flyer had a built in app that you can write with their stylus and then record audio at the same time.
While that app is ideal I am not sure if there is an application like that on the Market.
Has anyone used the Xoom yet in class/meeting for note taking using a stylus and keyboard yet?
Its one of the major things I need for a tablet and one that is making me consider the iPad2. I love Android too much to do that to myself but I really need this functionality lol.

I know it hurts to leave android, but get the ipad. The note taking apps on it are amazing. Note taker HD for instance allows you to simultaneously record and take notes at the same time. Handwriting recognition works beautifully with a stylus, and its very easy to switch colors to make your notes more clear.
Orrr you can follow this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=11852468#post11852468

bobdude5 said:
I know it hurts to leave android, but get the ipad. The note taking apps on it are amazing. Note taker HD for instance allows you to simultaneously record and take notes at the same time. Handwriting recognition works beautifully with a stylus, and its very easy to switch colors to make your notes more clear.
Orrr you can follow this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=11852468#post11852468
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Click to collapse
Notetaker HD is pretty awesome. If there isn't an Android app of quality by the time I start back to school next semester I might have to grab an iPad 2. I hate having redundant devices, but I might have to get both. At least with both I'll never say damnit I wish this app would come to X or Y platform.

Give it some time, with this being a google android experience provides you better believe they're going to do something like that
setite said:
Notetaker HD is pretty awesome. If there isn't an Android app of quality by the time I start back to school next semester I might have to grab an iPad 2. I hate having redundant devices, but I might have to get both. At least with both I'll never say damnit I wish this app would come to X or Y platform.
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Click to collapse

setite said:
Notetaker HD is pretty awesome. If there isn't an Android app of quality by the time I start back to school next semester I might have to grab an iPad 2. I hate having redundant devices, but I might have to get both. At least with both I'll never say damnit I wish this app would come to X or Y platform.
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Click to collapse
If you know of an ipad app developer that designed a great note taking app, I would just email the app developer and ask if they're making one for android or not. Most of the time you'll get a response. Some actually email me back and told me that they're working on it and it'll be released soon.

I have an ipad and it definitely has more software, I use mine daily (not so much now that I have the xoom). Note taking is a bit of a disappointing experience. The keyboard in portrait mode still isn't as fast as a normal keyboard. The stylus for a capacitive digitizer isn't really a good input device. It is a wide foam tip that sometimes skips on the screen, you have to write too big. It is was a hard tip pencil point type used on the resistive digitizers (not possible with current tablets), I think that would be better.
The palm rejection software didn't work for a hook-lefty for the ipad programs I looked at at the time so I didn't even try it.
On the xoom I loaded catch, I use it on my droid and ipad and it works fine. Evernote is good too but the service is too expensive at $45; if you don't buy the service you won't get your notes when not connected to the internet.

I've been using the xoom to take notes! I just use Documents to go Writer for taking notes in class with a mini bluetooth keyboard (not the official one, but a $30 one from amazon). I use a program called grades to track my homework and other assignments. I also use kindle and docs to go PDF for viewing e-books.
I also have no desire to write "naturally" on it with a stylus. If I wanted to do that I would have a five star notebook that doesn't cost $800.

I agree that I have no desire for "natural" writing with my xoom. My biggest concern is that whatever I write I want backed up somewhere, and if I choose to continue on a desktop later.
Two possible solutions:
1. Google docs - I even put a shortcut on my desktop directly to the page with it. Bad thing you need to have wifi or at least 3g.
1a. You can try a program called gdocs. That more of a notepad, but it syncs automatically to a google docs folder
2. I use dropbox to sync a word document with my computer. Download dropbox to your xoom, and open the document once. It'll download it to a \dropbox directory. I used Astro to create a shortcut to that document so it was easy to access in a meeting. I use Documents To Go to open it. When I do open and edit it, I File--> Save and you can see it automatically uploads it to dropbox.
Neither solution allows voice recording as well, but I never felt I needed that.
Good luck

If u download spare part from market and disable app compatibilty then restart then download gdocs. From the market. That should be more then enuff of a office apps for u to use and spare parts lets all ur apps even non tab apps show full screen
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

I'd hold out for the NoteSlate (http://noteslate.com) for note taking and use the Xoom for everything else.

The reason why I need to write notes, is it makes no sense in an engineering/biology class.
Ever had to describe a detailed cell drawing when you can just, I don't know, draw it? lol
And yes I can buy a notebook and just do it there, but frankly, I have a ton of e-textbooks and I rather just carry a tablet instead.
I have a netbook. It does its job for regular note taking sessions, but I can't record properly, and there is no linking between what I wrote and what I recorded.
HTC Flyer does this but its too damn small and lackluster.

sekigah84 said:
HTC Flyer does this but its too damn small and lackluster.
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I wonder if once it's released, an enterprising coder will yank and port it ala Wifi Calling from the G2 to the Nexus.
(I'm extremely interested in a solution for similar reasons.)
If you need an immediate solution "today", the best I've seen is Graffiti as a scrawl to text translator and MaplePaint as a freestyle doodle. I'm biased because I had a number of Palm PDAs so I'm familiar with Graffiti and it's quirks. There was one other as a keyboard replacement that would do the same thing and had a lot of potential, as long as I didn't have to do it on my <4" phone screen (waiting for the wifi version later this spring). It was $10 for the full version and in my aggravated state of having to play with it on my phone I uninstalled it. It did have serious potential if I was on a 10" screen though, now I wished I'd written down the name.

Well it doesnt have audio recording, but for hand held drawing, I just saw drawfree, it does do free style drawing with the ability to change colors,
it just appeared in the tablet apps section of the market

I'm an engineering student also and I'm looking for a good note taking/recording app. I have the Xoom and will be getting an iPad 2 next week which will be much better in this particular area. However, I just don't see how I could be more productive on a tablet than my laptop. A bluetooth keyboard would be really nice and it'd take up less room, but there aren't too many benefits to it.
I tried out this drawing application and there's no way it'd be useful without some sort of stylus. Using your finger just feels very awkward.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App

Notetaker HD
I'm not much of a poster but I've been looking for a good note taking app since I sold my iPad. I emailed Dan about porting his Notetaker HD app to Android and this is what he replied with:
I'd love to have it there, but it will be at least a while before I can even look into it. It's hard enough doing it for the iPad (written in Objective-C and in some places raw C for speed) but perhaps once the functionality gets firmed up on the iPad I can do an Android conversion, but not yet.
-DanB
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Click to collapse
I am disappointed but hopeful that someone will make a Onenote type app for Android yet.

do they know about this? Supposedly it allows apps to be easily ported to android
linky
weisepet said:
I'm not much of a poster but I've been looking for a good note taking app since I sold my iPad. I emailed Dan about porting his Notetaker HD app to Android and this is what he replied with:
I am disappointed but hopeful that someone will make a Onenote type app for Android yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I've got an Ipda and a xoom and have the same goal as you did - write naturally on a tablet with a stylus. The Ipad has a numnber of apps to accomplish this whereas the xoom doesn't have anything that works yet. I use Notes Plus on the Ipad for now til xoom catches up. However, these Ipad developers did not have any sense of urgency for developing for android when I contacted them. They were concentrating on improving their Ipad offerings.
The closest thing I found for xoom was an app called Note Everything but the responsiveness for inkwriting was unusable for note taking.
I'm keepin' my Xoom though cause it rocks in every other way - just waitin for the apps to explode on the scene!

I've been using Evernote for this for quite some time now. Started on my Droid and it works flawlessly on the Xoom. I can take notes from a web browser and they automatically sync to my tab and phone. Handy to have all your notes with you all the time (like when the boss asks for something). I have one of those mini BT keyboards which paired fine with the Xoom and I've been in several meetings so far where I've use the audio recording. The files turn out to be small but it does a halfway decent job of recording. You can add pictures to each note, rich text. It's been pretty slick, and it's free.

I contacted a few iPad developers about coming to android, more specifically honeycomb and these were my responses:
SketchPad HD:
"Sorry. No current plans for Android tablet apps. There just aren't that many honeycomb tablets on the market. "
CourseNotes:
"We have no direct plans for an Android version at the moment, but we are keeping a close eye on the state of hardware/software on the Android side to see if it will be a good match for the app in the future."
Not the greatest news. Here's to hoping something comes out soon for android.

DustyD said:
I contacted a few iPad developers about coming to android, more specifically honeycomb and these were my responses:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably just what was said about Android phones two years ago.
I'm using Catch for notes but looking at the HTC Scribe, and I really don't like HTC, I think they're on to something. Hope that's just a pen and software we can all use.
I was using Evernote, a nice program but I thought the price to have offline notes of $45/yr was excessive.

My (Insanely Long) Review of the SGS2

This ended up being way longer than I thought it would. It might help newbies though. Happy reading (to those that don't fall asleep half-way through).
So, here’s my SGS2 story. First some background. My Android experience is with two phones, the G2 (Desire Z) and G2X (LG O2X). Prior to that I had numerous Windows phones, the last being an HD2. So interface wise I’ve never used or even seen TouchWiz and my Sense experience is from Windows. Both Android phones were close to “pure Google” so I’ve played with a lot of launchers and heavily customized them. I liked the G2, loathed the G2X. Also, being in the U.S., the SGS2 is my first non-carrier branded phone.
The phone came Friday but I didn’t get to set it up until Monday. I wanted to play with it for a few days before commenting on it. So, by category, here are my thoughts.
Physical
I like the size, weight, and the way it feels in my hand. For some reason though, I treat it like it’s fragile. You can’t lay it down on its face because the gray trim around the screen touches the surface. You can’t lay it on its back because the plastic on the bulge at the bottom will scratch as will the camera surround. I’ll feel better when the cases I ordered come.
The full-glass front is nice as it makes the phone look rich and is more durable than using multiple materials. It’s a very stylish phone with no flex in the chassis and a very premium look. The hard-key for home that also activates task manager and voice control is a clever touch. As is being able to answer calls with the home button and disconnect them with the on/off switch. The capacitive buttons for back and menu have a pretty wide sensitivity area which makes them easy to hit even if they’re not illuminated.
The on/off switch and volume toggle are firm and respond well. I’m used to the power button being top right but I have no preference.
Overall, other than my fear of damaging it, I rate the phones physical attributes highly.
Screen
LG should stick to TVs. The O2X/G2Xs are plagued with LCD screen bleeding from the corners. It drove me crazy watching video with dark backgrounds. The colors were good on the G2X but the SGS2 blows them away. Having a totally black screen from edge to edge is a nice change from the G2X. Also, 4” vs 4.27” may not seem big on paper but the extra space makes browsing and media a much better experience. My screen has no bad pixels, lines or discolorations so I’m happy. I see the banding in gradients on certain apps and pages that some people have pointed out but it doesn’t really bother me.
TouchWiz & Samsung widgets
I used ADW Launcher on my other phones and liked it a lot. The biggest change coming to TouchWiz was the lack of control – no changing rows and columns, no changing icons, labels, or backgrounds, no controlling transitions. Also, the home screen being the furthest left screen instead of center is taking some getting used to. But to use some of the cool Samsung widgets you have to use TouchWiz.
So, after adjusting to it, I like TouchWiz. The multiple methods of moving between screens is cool as is the methods they use for moving apps around on the screen, adding pages and folders. The gyroscopic zoom is pretty cool too and a great party trick when defending buying a phone for $800. Having used Sense I was expecting TouchWiz to be similar. Sense is pretty much an all-inclusive overlay with different Sense functions all tightly integrated. TouchWiz is less intrusive and leaves a lot of stock Android exposed.
The full page calendar widget is handy and so are the e-mail and mini paper ones. I’m using live panel on one screen but it’s really just a method of resizing widgets which all the other launchers do too.
There’s no lag but I can see TouchWiz being a bear on less powerful devices. Overall, it’s not to die for but as an alternative launcher it’s got some benefits including the use of Samsung’s proprietary widgets.
Pre-Loaded Apps
Some brief comments on the pre-loaded apps:
AllShare – Much better than the DNLA app on the G2X.
BBC iPlayer – Doesn’t work in the U.S., even on a UK phone.
Calendar – I like Samsung’s better than stock.
Contacts – Again, better than stock.
Clock – Some cool features and I like Samsung’s desk clock better than stock android.
FM Radio – Nice interface but I haven’t used it.
Game Hub – Seems pretty limited in content and simplistic but I haven’t used it.
Kies Air – A really neat feature when you just want to move a couple of files between the phone and a PC.
Memo – Simple and effective for taking quick notes and easier than opening a Docs to Go page.
Mini Diary – Pretty cool for vacations and other type of social outings.
Polaris Office – Can anyone figure out what it does that other apps don’t already do better?
Readers Hub – I like it for the newspapers and magazines while I’m traveling. It’s nicely implemented.
Samsung Apps – What a strange little app. I doubt I’ll use it for anything other than updating pre-loaded Samsung apps.
Social Hub – I’m using it instead of individual apps for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I lose some functionality but it’s easier to see everything in one place and be able to respond quickly. Also, Samsung’s figured out a way to link Facebook contacts to internal contacts which supposedly can’t be done in 2.3.3.
Samsung Suggests – Just a link to a web page where Samsung suggests certain market apps.
Task Manager – Nothing special but not offensive either.
Video Maker – Nice to have I guess if you want to edit something on the road before sharing it. A phone’s not a great device for editing though.
Voice Command/Recorder/Talk – I haven’t figured these out yet. They’re all just Samsung-ized versions of Vingo. The few times I played with it what I said wasn’t understood. I haven’t figured out the difference/benefit compared to Google Voice.
E-Mail
I use Exchange and love the Samsung app. It offers lots of customization options, is responsive, and supports advanced Exchange features. It includes a tasks app which most manufacturer e-mail clients don’t. Some people were complaining about the lack of tick boxes. They’re there. When you press delete or move they’re displayed. It’s actually a cool idea as it saves a bunch of screen real estate. Overall, I like it better than the stock app and Enhanced E-Mail which I’ve used previously.
2G/3G/4G
I’ve only used the phone in my home city but it’s worked as well as any other phone I’ve used. It gets signal where my T-Mobile phones wouldn’t but that’s more a tower issue. I’ve never seen the phone drop below 3G but it does intentionally drop H/H+ when no data’s being transmitted. Data restarts immediately so if it saves battery I’m fine with it. Interestingly, I’m not in an AT&T fake 4G area but my downloads and web page loads are faster than my G2X even though SpeedTest shows half the bandwidth.
Wi-Fi
I’ve only used it in my house but it works as well as the G2/G2X in picking up, holding, and re-connecting a signal. It’s actually 15-30% faster than the G2X using SpeedTest. I get close to 30MB down according to SpeedTest where the G2X could only pull in the teens.
Bluetooth
It’s much more reliable than the G2X. It pairs easily, stays paired, and re-connects quickly and automatically. Rhapsody sounds 100% better over Bluetooth in my car than it did with the G2X. Loudness in my car is great, my BlueAnt Q2 headset is a little lower than I’d like but livable.
GPS
No problem picking up satellites and locking with GPS-only enabled. It’s a bit faster with Wi-Fi and sensor aiding on but feels roughly comparable to the G2 and G2X. My area has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky so it’s not a difficult test.
Sound
I have a pair of Shure 530’s and can’t turn the volume up past half-way. The bass seems richer and the separation better than on my G2X and G2. I’m no audiophile but the sound is more than adequate and better than my previous phones so I’m happy. The external speaker is louder than the G2 and G2X but a little shriller.
Internet
I like the stock browser and am impressed with how fast it renders. It’s a lot more fluid and responsive than the one on the G2X.
Battery
Every time I get a new phone I follow the same process. Format the SD card on a PC and have it in the phone at first boot, load any phone updates over the untouched stock ROM, hard reset, than start loading apps and customizing. There’s way too much that’s interconnected in phone software today so I try to reduce the variables.
I’ve been configuring and re-configuring the phone for two days now so it’s hard to judge battery performance. Neither Android OS or Android System have gone above 16% and there are no deep dives in the battery usage meter to indicate a run-away app or service. I’ve used Wi-Fi for hours a day, Kies AIR, AllShare, have all the Hubs as well as news and weather synching and am using Exchange push e-mail. Yesterday I was also watching videos on PlayOn and Netflix over 3G and Wi-Fi and listened to Bluetooth audio in my car for a few hours. Yesterday I got 12 hours on the phone and today about 11. The G2X was good for about 14 to 16 so I think I’ll get that with the SGS2 when I start using it the same way.
It appears I have a different approach to apps I don’t use then most of you. A lot of you freeze or remove them. I open them, accept their nag screens, and register if there’s a registration offered. I then go in to their settings and disable them or throttle them to the least amount of intrusion as possible. With everything inter-connected in the stock ROM there may be a polling process taking place looking for the status of specific apps. Freezing them potentially continues the polling while activating and ignoring them allows them to just be dormant. This could also explain why the online reviewers aren’t having problems as their phones are pre-setup by Samsung. Just my two cents on battery and, please god, don’t turn this in to yet another battery life discussion thread.
Summary
I really like the phone. It looks and feels good, seems well made, and is incredibly smooth and fast. I think Samsung did a great job with the UI. I know there’s battery, 2G/3G/4G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth issues but there are tons of external variables that affect those things. If you think you’ve got problems go check out the G2X/O2X boards. And shame on LG because their ROM is on 2.2 which has been around a lot longer and should be a lot easier to work with. My phone’s running terrific (knock on wood) and I would buy it again and recommend it to others. It’s kind of like moving in to a new house. As I live with it for a while I’m sure I’ll find additional positives and negatives. But, overall, it was a good choice and investment.

perfect

Here is my response the phone kicks arse.....good review though

Hold on, you are on t-mobile usa and you can connect to 3g? I thought this phone can not do AWS? I haven't checked this forum for a while so if it works with tmous 3g frequencies I would be damn!
Nice review btw!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

ceroglu said:
Hold on, you are on t-mobile usa and you can connect to 3g? I thought this phone can not do AWS? I haven't checked this forum for a while so if it works with tmous 3g frequencies I would be damn!
Nice review btw!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He said TMo phones. He may have been buying them off contract.

Awesome review. Answered a few of my questions! Didn't know about the home button answering calls and whatnot. I love that!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I believe the browser is faster because stock android doesn't use hardware acceleration on the browser while Samsung does on its phone. I think ice cream sandwich will bring hardware acceleration to the entire os finally.
Glad you enjoy the sgs2. Nice review
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

Good sane review. Hey but what about that crappy batter...jk.
Didn't know about receiving/ending call buttons. Thanks for the tip. I've always hated using the touchscreen buttons and it seems Samsung did me a big favor.
Have you tried purposely scratching your phone? I always baby my phone, until the inevitable first drop. Then it is meh, who cares. The phone is black/greyish so marks won't really be that noticeable.
Also good to hear a normal person who isn't whining about Touchwiz all the time, and actually finds the pre-installed apps useful. Touchwiz is a paper-thin veneer, but certain benchmark freaks would rather turn on Windows Classic and leave Aero off for whatever peanuts of savings they can muster.

How do use allshare
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

poloboogie said:
How do use allshare
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a ton of videos and pictures on my Windows Home Server. I also transfer TV shows from TiVo to it so I catch up using the phone while hanging in the backyard, doing chores, etc. The WHS can stream remotely but I haven't tried that yet. I also use it to transfer pictures back and forth.

silverwolf0 said:
Touchwiz is a paper-thin veneer...
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Click to collapse
I'd imagine version 1.0 was a bit rough. When you think about it, everyone used to dump TouchWiz and Sense to make the phone's run faster and smoother. With dual-core processors UI speed really isn't much of an issue anymore. And you can get things done faster with some of the app integration like contacts/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn all combined. Now let's hope the manufacturers don't start making bloated UI's because of the increased headroom.

great review.

Damn good review, used to iphone for last 3 years. Loving android more and more. This might be my next phone
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Regarding Polaris Office and how it stacks up against other office suites currently available on Android, have a look at this thread.

superrrrrrrrrrrrb review. thanks a lot buddy

I must say thats a nice review! I finally got mine two days ago, I was blown away! Haha
First when I took it out of the (awesome) box. So thin, so beautiful.
Then I turned it on, plastic was still on. Didn't see the boot up animation so well. During set up I already was like "wow, those are some deep blacks..". Then when I arrived in the homescreen and I saw the colours and sharp icons... Oo! (I'm coming from Desire with simple AMOLED)
Then I swiped to the right to go to the second page, again wow xD So smooth and fast.
I also didn't use swype before, I'm hooked now. I swiped all of this, in record time and with minimal effort.
Overall this is the best phone you can get right now, without doubt.
Edit: Just picked up my Desire again.. Slow and ugly haha! Everybody coming from a Desire generation phone will be amazed. Its definitely a big upgrade, worth it in many ways.

Thanks for the review. It was solid and it wasnt long at all.

Great review and I read it all, didn't fall asleep either. Agree with most of your observations.
The things I don't like about Touchwiz is mainly to do with the app drawer, I prefer the continous up/down scrolling of the stock one, apps can't be arranged in alphabetical order.
Also wished there was some kind of nightmode for the screen where it would turn down the brightness to an even lower level for those, like me, who do a lot of reading in bed in complete darkness. The lowest brightness level of the screen is still too high in those situations.

zen123 said:
Great review and I read it all, didn't fall asleep either. Agree with most of your observations.
The things I don't like about Touchwiz is mainly to do with the app drawer, I prefer the continous up/down scrolling of the stock one, apps can't be arranged in alphabetical order.
Also wished there was some kind of nightmode for the screen where it would turn down the brightness to an even lower level for those, like me, who do a lot of reading in bed in complete darkness. The lowest brightness level of the screen is still too high in those situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try screen filter which is free on the market, one click on the widget turns on good night mode..

Honest Opinions on the Transformer

I’ll be starting grad school in the fall and am in the market for a laptop/tablet and currently the Transformer is at the top of my list right now. I was hoping I could get some honest opinions on how the well the transformer works as both a media and productivity device (primarily concerned with the latter). I plan on using it for grad school, but since I’ll also be working a full-time job during the day, hope to use it as a work device as well. I also moonlight as a photographer, and am looking for ways I can incorporate the transformer into that as well.
My main concern is the stability of Android. I’ve owned both an EVO and an HTC HD2 running Android/Windows Phone 7 (thanks xda!), and although I loved the openness and overall capability of Android, the instability and battery life made things too cumbersome at times. My phone doubles as a work and personal device, so I fire off a lot of e-mails all day, view docs, send calls, etc etc. Nothing was more frustrating than having the phone lock up in the middle of something important, or die in the middle of the day if I used it a lot (on days when I need to use it a lot). Currently using an iPhone 4, which I know doesn’t get a whole lot of love around here, but simply works when needed. Not an Apple fanboy by any means…actually an old Windows Mobile guy, but sometimes stability and accessibility are important…particularly for heavy users like me.
Secondly, I’d like to know how productive one can really be on the transformer. What’s piqued my interest about Android on a tablet is the ‘desktop-esque’ experience it provides. As good as iOS to me is on a phone, its utterly neutered and has very little utility on a tablet IMO. For instance, true multi-tasking isn’t too important to me on a phone, but it would be on a tablet. Interested in knowing how well the tablet handles word docs, excel sheets, and PDF files…particularly from those who have experience with the keyboard dock.
Looking for honest answers here, and hope people can look beyond ownership bias. Hoping to hear the good and the bad. I’ve used enough mobile and desktop OS’s and devices to know that nothing is ever perfect.

I can't really comment on the productivity end as I mainly use my Transformer to read, watch videos, play games, and web browse. For what I need it to do it is great. HD videos on YouTube play great. It does have issues playing HD videos that are in mkv format but one they are re-encoded they play great.
The screen is where this thing really shines though. I have yet to see a better screen on a tablet anywhere. None of the HC tablets even come close, imho. I do have some light bleed but it isn't enough to bother me and I don't even see it unless I am in a dark room with the brightness cranked up.
One thing you won't have to worry about is battery life. The battery in this thing is way better than I expected. I can get 2 days with my average use, easy. It also hardly loses any battery when in standby also.
Honeycomb does still need some tweaking but it is not a big problem. There aren't a lot of apps optimized for HC yet but the list will increase with time.

Personally I think you would be better off with a laptop for your needs.
I think you will suffer the same frustration you did with your andriod phones if you are using the tablet for lots of documents, spreadsheets and other office type apllications.
I think these things are really designed for web browsing, casual email, game playing, music & video playing, etc.
You can edit docs etc and the optional keyboard helps a lot, but I think of these as a secondary machine. I have a desk top and a laptop too. At home it has pretty much replaced the laptop but not for work related tasks.

Im new to tablets and android all together. As a computer tech by trade, I figured it would be good to learn somethign new, did some research and went with the transformer. And I must say, coming from a windows & iOS background, Android has been a HUGE let down.
the hardware on the tablet is great. Build quality, the screen, the dock works wonderfully. USB ports that charge my phone. etc. All top notch.
Android is the downfall of the eee pad. To get the tablet to perform anywhere near the capabilty of my iPhone or PC, its about 5x the amount of work.
Video playback is a joke. when I try to copy any file over 3 or 4 gigs onto it, it crashes. And of all the videos ive copied over, only 2 worked properly. Even supported file formats are iffy at times.
App support is also very weak. The list of apps on this site that are supported by the eee pad is pretty much all you get. Which is sad compared to the App support that the iPad / win7 tablets have.
From a work standpoint, the failure of the proxy support is huge. I have to use a proxy server at work for my devices to function properly. Laptop: works fine. iPhone: works fine. Android: doesnt work at all. Native proxy support in 3.1 just doesnt work. Using apps to get proxy support KIND of works, but is flakey at best. If your work/school relies on proxy servers , then dont expect to use the eeePad there.
Hotspots.. again, a big problem. Bluetooth tethering KIND of worked for me, but since the proxy support is so shoddy, that started interfering with tethering when proxy wasnt needed and... you guessed it, didnt work. Not only that but for proper adhoc tethering , youll have to root the device and install a custom kernal or something.
So, all those issues are Honeycomb related. Gonna hit the same problems on the Xoom or anythign else that uses 3.x The only reason im keeping my eee pad is because software issues get worked out in time. They better... because right now this thing is just a giant paper weight for me. still on the edge of returning it and buying it again later once all the problems are fixed. So ya, it may be able to handle word, excel and such documents (so can the iPad by the way), but with such severe connectivity and networking issues, it really doesnt matter. *shrugs. honesty! EP121 anyone?

The TF would be good to SUPPLEMENT a full desktop or more powerful laptop but it could never be my primary machine. I need the application/device support of windows.
Being said if I had a computer at home I could have made it through college with the transformer as my mobile device.
As for the guy above me i havent experienced any of his issues. It only supports a few video files but that goes for all android stock media players. Recoding them to mp4/m4v in handbrake results in flawless video playback, never had a failure.
Apps are weak, its a new ecosystem. Like the ipad when it came out the vast majority of the "compatible" apps are just the phone apps scaled up. That will change.
Not sure about the proxy, havent encountered that. Ive never had a hotspot issue. In a restaurant, at work, using my Evo to wireless tether or on the plane. Its connected to every "infrastructure AP" network Ive ever tried and that is all I encounter. I have never had a need to connect AdHoc.

Before I got my tablet, I had imagined all these things I would use it for.
I was going to be able to do all of the following on one device!
For productivity:
- Check emails
- Read textbooks in pdf format, be able to highlight, save bookmarks and annotations...all in digital format.
- Use office programs like Word & Excel for typing up papers and creating charts.
- Watch video lectures & tutorials
- Use Anki flashcards
For entertainment:
- Watch videos from streaming sites
- Have a library of HD movies/miniseries on the device
- Be able to HDMI out my video library wherever I was
- Have emulators with a whole bunch of games I could play whenever I had down time
- play Android market games
This is what happened after I got the Transformer:
I realized I could do all the above, but ended up going to other devices because it just felt cumbersome on a tablet.
About all I used the tablet for was to watch videos and...watch videos..oh yeah and casual web browsing.
- Checking emails...I ended up just pulling out my phone.
- Reading textbooks...not many available in PDF...and it's not that great on a digital screen. Writing notes...don't even try it...even with one of those capacitative pens.
- Word and Excel are ok...but you can't do multi worksheet formulas...etc. I ended up just using my laptop or desktop.
- Video lectures...a lot of them required plugins and the browser/OS did not support that...back to laptop.
- Videos from streaming sites...choppy...unwatchable.
- HD movies...commonly downloaded ones dont work...had to re-encode or transcode at least 80% of them.
- HDMI haven't tested....I had to return my transformer...since the touch screen locked up.
Emulators...never did it.
- Android games...as a gamer...I find the current crop of games to be too simplistic and boring (minus Spectral Souls)
I have another one on order that's arriving today, so I'm still giving it a chance. Maybe I'm not using it properly...in any case it is still a pretty cool device to have around. I would consider it a borderline second device...but more like a third (i.e. Desktop for true power productivity/gaming, Laptop for moderate mobile productivity, then a Tablet when you go on quick vacations and you don't want to carry the others).

I would look for something like a laptop that cam run windows and android at the same time. Like the viewsonic pro.. acer w 500..better yet the evolve three convertible.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I have my Transformer for about 2 weeks now. Actually today is the day I would have to decide either to keep it or to return it back to BB. Just finally got the keyboard dock just 2 days ago. My perseption before and after having it is completely different.
Before having it, I was really excited, kind of hoping finally the perfect device has arrived. A perfect device that can do everything I need.
I kind of know from reading everywhere, mostly from this forum what to expect and what is not there yet. Yet I finally decided to buy it with big hopes that with time, everything will be there. Buying the transformer also means I decided to invest in the Honeycomb platform rather than others (like iPad). I have no luxury of keep buying new devices, so I had to be careful to choose and decide.
My previous experience with Android was very good indeed (have a HTC Evo, my first Android phone). Before that, I always used Windows Mobile phone, which did everything I needed.
Well, my HTC Evo did everything and more, and that's why I had a big hope with the transformer/honeycomb. I chose the transformer among other honeycomb tablets for some obvious reasons: the keyboard dock that has the USB ports and the SD Card reader, and extra battery.
I also like photography and I needed to make sure I can use it to transfer pictures from my camera SD Card to an external HDD. I checked and found out the transformer does that perfectly, with the NTFS support right out of the box. That's incredible in my opinion.
I also imagined I would be able to connect to my work network and do anything I needed to via Citrix. And for personal communication, there is a Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and Skype.
After getting it, my expectation dropped and everyday is a learning day for me, as well as improvement day.
My first day with the transformer, I got all my emails setup (dual Exchange support! My Evo does not do that (I heard some custom ROM can do that), then I could not find Yahoo Messenger (dissapointed, well, there is a Yahoo messenger for my android phone, and its perfect!), Skype is a phone version and looks weird and many features missing (video call is the most important missing feature).
Day after day, until now, I still do the improvement jobs, and got many items not available previously. Got Yahoo Messenger from a good guy here in the forum, got a battery indicator wigdet from this forum also, and many bug fixes here and there.
For work purposes, I also drop my expectation. The connection from Citrix client in honeycomb takes very long (3-5 minutes) while from my Evo it takes much quicker. Not sure why, I contacted Citrix support about this. They said they both should perform the same as the core are the same, but they behaves differently.
Checking email only is not enough for me, if somebody sent an email, it comes with an issue to fix.
Yes, its hard to decide to let it go, or continue to keep it. I decide to continue to keep it, again, with hope, over time, things get better and better.
What do I gain from the transformer compared to my netbook?
Well, battery life, like many said here, is very exceptional. I got 2 full days. 1 day plus without the keyboard dock before. Really full day till night, with everything I do, from emails, browsing, youtube, reading, etc.
Instant on and ready. Wifi always on.
No spinning harddrive. No heat.
I was surprised! The device was not hot at all. Very different even compared to my Windows phone, connect to the wifi to a while and you can feel the heat. I'm not even talking about my netbook.
And I agree that many said here that its not a primary/replacement device. I still need my Windows machine to do most of the work.

It pains me to agree, but the above coments are true, as follower of android from day one. to anyone who has used an rooted/jailbroken ipad, honeycomb is way behind, to be honest google should be ashamed. as i type this on my transformer the lag is horendous. with the ipad you can nearly replace a netbook, full printing, ipgages and numbers are real tablet work tools. The TF is just about ok for web browsing, but just. As a media device it sucks. I tried to watch a streaming movie on movie stream, ok it plays but stutters and is awful. switched on my now ancient ipad with 256mb ram clicked on istream net and bang same movie looking almost 720p smooth as a nut. All the points brought against the ipad now seem to be a joke to me, even the no flash issue. Ok you have limited access by usb and SD card but there is some plus work arounds. I mentioned on a Archos site that i could stream any movie via air video from a crappy netbook hooked up to a 1TB HDD and if not in playable format they could be converted on the fly, this is over a local wireless network or over 3g anywhereon the ipadand they all took the piss, but its true. As an owner of a TF and Ipad, I have togive credit to ASUS, i love the concept. But as stated in an earlier post, I will be reaching for my HTC desire or IPAD more than the transformer. Lets hope Google step up, and support ASUS and the other manuacturers.
If honeycomb worked like the ipadit would blow apple out of the water. Anyway going to watch Tron on my year old Ipad.

i have to echo most of the above sentiment.
this is such a good idea, but it's just not ready...at least for me. i bought it for the reasons the op cited, and i'm let down. the lag kills the experience, even typing this on the keyboard is painful. honeycomb is great for usability imo, and the open ability to customize, but it is flat out slow. the browser is capable, but slowdolphin is buggy, adbloc is hard to come by (that works properly)
editing docs in polari is slow, screen rotation is slow, it's just everything i so slow. my dell mini 9 runs faster for the few times i need to doc edit, and the ipad run circles around it in terms of tablet function (but has several huge letdowns in its own right)
the one difference from some of the above posters is that i won't hang onto it and hope software gets smoothed out, by the time that happens we will have at leat one generation newer devices, maybe 2...so suffer with inferior experience to be outdated..not for me.
As I sai in another thread, i see this concept as the future...without doubt. my days of wanting to pay to beta test are over though.
Edit from my iPad. - see all those missing letters at the ends of words, that was typed with the dock..that's how bad lag is. I see no choice but to return it, I can't see google/ ASus releasing a realistic fix in the next couple weeks...but I hope I'm wrong.

Stability: maybe I'm lucky but I find Transformer to be VERY stable. Only FCs I have were when closing some game and maybe once in the browser.
Honest opinion: it's still only a toy. Don't expect it to be able to do anything better (or even on par with) than laptop or PC - but it is quite a good toy for many thins.
Right now I do most of my browsing on Transformer, for browsing it's in some things better than computers/laptops but in others it lacks greately (adblock, lack of extenstions in browser). It's also great for comics and PDF. And it's quite good for small games (Aporkalypse is great!).
I bought it mostly to write applications for it. In my personal opinion the OS is just great. The apps are mostly a mess with some pearls in it - like Newsr which just great or Dolphine Browser HD (or many others that you can find mentioned here and there on this forum). The problem is there is quite a huge lack of pearls in some departments. But it will change, I don't see what could stop it.

SCARED
I wish I had not read this thread. I´m very exited to collect my TF tomorrow. Looking forward to it for weeks. Planning on using it on the couch for browsing, playing with some apps, reading and responding to email, hanging around in a variety of forums etc.
Same as I do now with my HTC Desire and Asus T101MT netbook...so no really heavy stuff...
But as I read all these unsatisfied experiences I feel a bit uncertain about it. I mean I´m not an Applefanboy (ok, I do own an iPod) and I always feel a bit pity for all those people who buy an iPad just because it's an iPad...but now I'm in doubt...
Is this toy really that bad???

jpvdw said:
I wish I had not read this thread. I´m very exited to collect my TF tomorrow. Looking forward to it for weeks. Planning on using it on the couch for browsing, playing with some apps, reading and responding to email, hanging around in a variety of forums etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For things like that it's great. Only problem is that on some forums (this one is an example) most browsers are slow (but usable and with keyboard dock it should be much more easy to write on forums thank using screen keyboard).
Is this toy really that bad???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not.
If you are not sure - go to some shop and play with it for a while. By "it" I mean - any tablet with HoneyComb.

Well after using the TF for about 3 weeks, I have to admit it is only a good toy. If you want productivity at school and home, stay away from the tablet form factor as a whole. HC is good, but the app support is bad, and its still a platform which is evolving. Other than watching YouTube videos, I don't use it much. The stock browser even on 3.1 is bad and slow. The browsing experience is way better on the laptop than this one.
Will try the Tab 10.1 too and see if it has a better experience. Otherwise, I don't feel the need for a tablet now, especially keeping in mind the current state of HC. Won't go for an iPad because I feel 4:3 aspect ratio is ridiculous.

Great toy for work and home. Wife loves it and my 7 year old enjoys it. Is hc beta? yes. Will it get better? yes

What's wrong with document editing in Polaris? Certainly it's a good deal better, in UI and features, than say QuickOffice or Doc2Go. I don't know if the rest of you are trying to manage complex multi-sheet spreadsheets or something, but for basic word processing it seems more or less adequate. Some people have weird and unrealistic expectations.

Be realistic as to what to expect
im new to the tablet and android world. When i bought the tablet, i wasnt expecting it to replace my laptop for heavy duty usage. Simply not there yet..
Allow me to give you and example of every day usage for me:
My tablet is always on.(sleep mode) i wake up, check my emails, the news, weather, all while im still in bed. I even check XDA forum to see the latest "oh no..im returning the transformer (sad Face)" thread...
when i get home, i do the same, but this time i sit in front of my tv, watch some nba finals, lookup some articles or "do it yourself" tutorials.. i get bored, open some tabs, tune my guitar (with the TF), and just jam out.. (reading tabs on portrait mode is beautiful)
Then my little girl gets to play on my "little computer" (barn stack, angry birds, read a long stories, etc.... which came in super handy on our recent road trip)
Before bed, i lookup some reviews on Netflix, add them to my instant queue, fire up the TV, check my Chase account (also app), more emails,
its convenient..
just last night i wanted to be nos and see how much the house on our street is selling for.. (zillow App) quick, with a gorgeous map. My xboxlive app notifies me of whose online.. just a lot of cool features
And im sure im not using the tablet to its full potential.. Ive tried the cloud jsut once (and monitored my laptop as it downloaded some "Stuff"//haha)

grainysand said:
What's wrong with document editing in Polaris? Certainly it's a good deal better, in UI and features, than say QuickOffice or Doc2Go. I don't know if the rest of you are trying to manage complex multi-sheet spreadsheets or something, but for basic word processing it seems more or less adequate. Some people have weird and unrealistic expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lag. Also, the touchpad in the dock is a mess....unless I missed a way to disable tap clicking natively. It really has to be turned off. Polaris as a program is fine, and I liked the easy integration with dropbox...but even editing a light 2 page resume was laggy. It's probably not polaris' fault..the platform is laggy.
@jpvdw I actually think the iPad would be better suited for what you want to do. I see a ton of shortcomings with the iOS devices, but most of them involve getting work done for me. Like uploading files through a web browser and wanting to use a real keyboard (though there are bt options).
I want to move to android...there's just nothing for me to move to that can equal what I get. If maybe the device was 15% faster I'd bear with it.

two things..
first, there has to be a memory leak in one of the stock apps, or os, or something. i can reboot and be working fine for about 10 mins... then it gets all wonky again.
i reset the browser to factory defauults, and it actually seems like it's a bit faster now. even with plugins enabled

People - please DON'T EXPECT tablet performing well as your laptop or desktop replacement....how could a Tegra 2 with integrated GPU comparing to your laptop/desktop power horse!!
Now please go and enjoy your own Transformer device while sitting on the couch, lying on the bed or even in your bathroom (make sure you have accidental damage insurance in case you drop into the water ...)
For me, this tablet makes me more connecting to digital world...well sort of because sometimes I just use my blackberry without tablet or desktop at all...
good luck/enjoy!
rcjpth

Android that supports windowing?

I'm just curious - with tablets as popular as they are - and with nice big screens, do you think there is any chance Android will provide any sort of windowing system in the future (so you can see more than one app at a time)? I think that would be awesome on tablets...
Any thoughts??

There is always that onskreen thing that is being developed... i heard conflicting sides to why it's not available on android, but itsounds like google is trying to displace apple instead of overwhelming it by showing that tablets can be more than entertainment..

Hmm, haven't heard of Onskreen - I just looked it up and it looks awesome! Has any OEM actually used it yet?? It says that it IS for Andorid, from what I read!

Well, there are several reasons why onskreen cornerstone is having a hard time launching. But here are the main reasons.
(1) Onskreen wants to make a lot of money out of this. So, they want to go through the formal route of having google and tablet manufacturers incorporate this in the updates.
(2) Unfortunately for onskreen, google and tablet manufacturers are not convinced that people would want this feature on their tablets.
About #2, look at the success of the ipad and ipad 2. And you couldn't even multitask on the ipad. Yet, apple is selling them by the tens of millions. Google and android tablet manufacturers think people don't want multitasking on their tablets. These mega companies are trying to catch up to the ipad's success by tailing it. And that means copying how ipad works.
Last there was any info on the development of cornerstone, google and some manufacturers were making onskreen take surveys to prove that anyone at all would like this feature on their tablet. It's sad, really, that these mega companies are perfectly happy tailing apple instead of trying something new to beat it.

If my tablet had a twenty inch screen I would want Xmonad, never mind that. At 10.1 inches Android is good enough at multi-tasking. Maybe if Android overtakes Windows PC someday in the next billion years, we'll get windowing.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Spidey01 said:
If my tablet had a twenty inch screen I would want Xmonad, never mind that. At 10.1 inches Android is good enough at multi-tasking. Maybe if Android overtakes Windows PC someday in the next billion years, we'll get windowing.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No way... imagine being able to watch a YouTube video while browsing Tapatalk. Or open GTalk while watching a movie. A tiling window manager for our TF would be really awesome. Not to mention I hook my TF up to a 24" monitor or 40+" TV for doing development work on (ConnectBot SSH'd into a VPS running vim), which would really really benefit from this.
Sent from my Transformer TF101

Gary13579 said:
No way... imagine being able to watch a YouTube video while browsing Tapatalk. Or open GTalk while watching a movie. A tiling window manager for our TF would be really awesome. Not to mention I hook my TF up to a 24" monitor or 40+" TV for doing development work on (ConnectBot SSH'd into a VPS running vim), which would really really benefit from this.
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 - my thoughts exactly!

Unfortunately it seems running eMMC Ubuntu is the only solution to this at the moment, and without hardware accel it's definitely not the quickest solution.
That being said, I run a full dev environment (with VPN) on my Transformer and it's incredibly convenient.
Also, battery life in Ubuntu is incredible! Surprisingly so for me anyway..
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

Gary13579 said:
No way... imagine being able to watch a YouTube video while browsing Tapatalk. Or open GTalk while watching a movie. A tiling window manager for our TF would be really awesome. Not to mention I hook my TF up to a 24" monitor or 40+" TV for doing development work on (ConnectBot SSH'd into a VPS running vim), which would really really benefit from this.
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a _very_ heavy multi tasker and overloader, as in making my laptop want to halt and catch fire kind of multitasking. At a minimal we're talking code compiling, music streaming, and 3+ IM tabs. while surfing the web. If I have a 24" or 40+" to work with, I'll want them each arranged in tiles automatically like XMonad can.
Over the years I have used the following: 15", 19", 22" wide, 10.1" wide, and 15.4" or w/e the wide format is. Resolutions from SVGA to HD. You know what I found when I was using a 10.1" netbook? Most of the time ALT+TAB was more effective with so little screen space. Whether I was reading or writing, watching or chatting, there just wasn't enough screen screen space for more than 1 and 1/3 programs on a 10.1" at 1024x600. I'd rather ALT+TAB than use smaller windows. The TF101's resolution on the 15.x" laptop wasn't so much better, that I would expect the same resolution on 10.1" to be a serious improvement. To be honest I never notied that big a serious gain until I hit 1920x1080 on a 22" wide screen!!!
At work, I run tmux locally (it's like screen) and connect to dtach'd shells on the development server; at home I skip the SSH part. Chrome and Pidgin being the primary GUI needs that matter and corrisponding to Opera Mobile and IMO+jTalk on my TF101.
So I don't really miss adding the 20" Dell on my desktop to it most times. It is a short comming that I can't hook up my TF to my 22" wide at home and have xterm and chrome side by side, the way my netbook and laptop could, and being able to use xrandr to choose if I wanted a mirror or a second screen, or even to make the big screen the only screen. But hey, I can't really complain because most of the time I would just be filling it with a huge ass xterm. For most people that use a tiling wm, probably the same. Regular users have more need of it and regular users are not going to use their TF the way I do.
It was a nice to have feature not a requirement -- because if it was, I wouldn't have been using anything less mobile than my desktop PC to start with! I just don't need that to be productive...maybe if I spent my job in photoshop instead of vim, idk.
edit: if it was to a vote, I'd rather have better access to things like Chrome's debugging tools than multiple windows. Then I wouldn't need my workstation every now and then!
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

But remember - as with any windowing system, you would always have the option to run any app in full screen mode.... It would just be nice to have the option to view mutiple apps at once in certain situations... I don't see any drawbacks - just advantages!
The biggest problem I currently have is that when I go back to the home sceeen from some apps, the app actually closes, so there is no way to multitask.... If I had multiple windows on teh screen at once, I wouldn't have that issue...
Currently, I guess it's up to the app to determine if it stays open when going back to the home screen?? It just seems like I don't have the option to multitask all apps....

jtrosky said:
But remember - as with any windowing system, you would always have the option to run any app in full screen mode.... It would just be nice to have the option to view mutiple apps at once in certain situations... I don't see any drawbacks - just advantages!
The biggest problem I currently have is that when I go back to the home sceeen from some apps, the app actually closes, so there is no way to multitask.... If I had multiple windows on teh screen at once, I wouldn't have that issue...
Currently, I guess it's up to the app to determine if it stays open when going back to the home screen?? It just seems like I don't have the option to multitask all apps....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get an ipad.

goodintentions said:
Get an ipad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? I have an iPad - it's even worse than Android at Mutlitasking!
Back to the question - what determines if an Android app is multitask-able? Is it up to the author of the app?
Thanks!

jtrosky said:
Huh? I have an iPad - it's even worse than Android at Mutlitasking!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But... but... according to engadget the ipad is perfect at everything. Surely, the best, most powerful tablet in the world (personally created by St. Stephen and distributed by the Holy Apple Church) would be perfect at multitasking.

goodintentions said:
But... but... according to engadget the ipad is perfect at everything. Surely, the best, most powerful tablet in the world (personally created by St. Stephen and distributed by the Holy Apple Church) would be perfect at multitasking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too funny! I would like the option as well to view both programs similar to cascade in windows. The only thing close I have ever seen is the dual browser whcih is ok but obviously only for internet pages. I truly think android needs a couple more software iterations. However I also don't think eclipse would let u do half of a screen for example because they have specific dimensions and sizes built in. Much like compatibility mode, if the app could default to a smaller size then it could be possible but probably wouldn't look natural.
Fascinate CM7 Stable

jtrosky said:
But remember - as with any windowing system, you would always have the option to run any app in full screen mode.... It would just be nice to have the option to view mutiple apps at once in certain situations... I don't see any drawbacks - just advantages!
The biggest problem I currently have is that when I go back to the home sceeen from some apps, the app actually closes, so there is no way to multitask.... If I had multiple windows on teh screen at once, I wouldn't have that issue...
Currently, I guess it's up to the app to determine if it stays open when going back to the home screen?? It just seems like I don't have the option to multitask all apps....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't really see the development efforts and the major headscrew for the user expirerence as being worth it until we have the Android PC where most people have a Dell or an eMachine on a desk. Maybe someday if Windows 8 flops but not today w/o a freaky fork of Android.
A great plus of Android to me, I have almost all the power my BSD and Linux based systems have, everything I need (personally) to be productive, some useful propritary apps I might not get with FreeBSD, plus it is so easy to use that my mother can use Gingerbread and Froyo. We have had computers for nearly 20 years and she has used Windows XP since 2001 ---- and still struggles with multiple windows, copying and pasting, browsing/saving files, etc. Holy crap, I think it took 7 years for her to stop asking me, "Left or right click". Google has done an awesome job IMHO.
That is just an awesome combo, plus I could probably use x forwarding/vnc magic and get a 1280x1080 GNU/Linux desktop on my big screen, and use a local VNC connection when getting up to go. Maybe even resize it after rather than scroll around. So I can technically have it if I wanted or needed it for productivity, just not with Android apps.
@the multitasking part, usually you can use the copy buffer as an accumulator when that happens. I tend to use Home or the "Multitasking" buttons / ALT+Tab depending on what I'm doing, and rarely have a problem unless I take too long to switch back or launch something memory intensive. Also another reason I switched from TexTab to Tablet Talk, hehe. Most apps that I use don't cause me troubles and those that do on occasion (TeamSpeak) wouldn't if designed properly for the life cycle of an Android application. Then there are some where the activity just dies out, like MoboPlayer lol.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Spidey, fact is, I'd get a lot of use out of a tiling wm on Android. I know we can go without it, certainly, that's why I'm still using my TF for development! The TF offers so many advantages over a traditional notebook that the loss is worth it, but that doesn't make it useless. There are many, many uses for it, especially for IM and video. I suppose we could probably get IM working with window fragments... I'll have to look into it for my #1 l33t IM app! Also tiling things like connectbot and the browser would be great, for so many reasons. It may not be perfect on such a small screen, but it would be useful most of the time.
jtrosky said:
Huh? I have an iPad - it's even worse than Android at Mutlitasking!
Back to the question - what determines if an Android app is multitask-able? Is it up to the author of the app?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He tells that to everyone that even hints at Android not being perfect.
Android sends a signal to an app when you leave it, telling it that you left. It sits there for a while, and if you don't enter it again for so long, Android sends it a destroy signal, and it's up to the author of the app to save the current state so it can be resumed next time it's opened. If it doesn't behave like this, then yea, it's because of the author of the app (or it's too complicated an app to save/restore the state... eg imagine a 3d game).
Sent from my Transformer TF101

Gary13579 said:
Android sends a signal to an app when you leave it, telling it that you left. It sits there for a while, and if you don't enter it again for so long, Android sends it a destroy signal, and it's up to the author of the app to save the current state so it can be resumed next time it's opened. If it doesn't behave like this, then yea, it's because of the author of the app (or it's too complicated an app to save/restore the state... eg imagine a 3d game).
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info! What I've been noticing thuough is that when I try to multitask certain apps, they wont even show in my recents list at all (like tthere is NO chance for multitasking...). From what your saying, it sounds like all apps shoudl be able to multitask to some point, but that's not what I'm seeing... I'm wondering if it's just an issue with the custom ROM/kernel I'm using...
Thanks again! Obviously, not a huge deal, but kinda annoying sometimes.
Regardless, I would NEVER even think of switching back to Apple devices (gave the iPad to the wife) - Android really is so much more powerful!

jtrosky said:
Thanks for the info! What I've been noticing thuough is that when I try to multitask certain apps, they wont even show in my recents list at all (like tthere is NO chance for multitasking...). From what your saying, it sounds like all apps shoudl be able to multitask to some point, but that's not what I'm seeing... I'm wondering if it's just an issue with the custom ROM/kernel I'm using...
Thanks again! Obviously, not a huge deal, but kinda annoying sometimes.
Regardless, I would NEVER even think of switching back to Apple devices (gave the iPad to the wife) - Android really is so much more powerful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only time I've seen this happen is because of launching one app from another. eg if you click a web link within an app and it opens the browser, it won't show both the originating app *and* the browser for some reason, it only shows one (I forget which).
Sent from my Transformer TF101

Gary13579 said:
The only time I've seen this happen is because of launching one app from another. eg if you click a web link within an app and it opens the browser, it won't show both the originating app *and* the browser for some reason, it only shows one (I forget which).
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks for the info. I can't even remember which apps were giving me issues off-hand - I'll have to start paying attention to this again to see if my system is working properly or not.
Thanks again.

Gary13579 said:
Spidey, fact is, I'd get a lot of use out of a tiling wm on Android. I know we can go without it, certainly, that's why I'm still using my TF for development! The TF offers so many advantages over a traditional notebook that the loss is worth it, but that doesn't make it useless. There are many, many uses for it, especially for IM and video. I suppose we could probably get IM working with window fragments... I'll have to look into it for my #1 l33t IM app! Also tiling things like connectbot and the browser would be great, for so many reasons. It may not be perfect on such a small screen, but it would be useful most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said it was useless but short of the Android PC on almost everyones desk, I don't see that happening; because I can understand why Google hasn't really done that. And I think we will just get refineme ts on what we already have for multi-tasking by Android 6.x.
jtrosky said:
What I've been noticing thuough is that when I try to multitask certain apps, they wont even show in my recents list at all (like tthere is NO chance for multitasking...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is most probmatic when one activity lauches another, for example openning a PDF in Polaris via Opera. I hope the mukti0tasking button gets better in ICS, since I need the dock to use the okd one.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

You are stubborn. And your W7 desktop is full of sh...

Yeah, I'm talking to you
I'm really surprised at some of the scorn poured on Metro on WP8.
What I've noticed:
When I browse on the Metro IE, my screen is clutter free!
I have social feeds, direct to tiles that I can see.
What I notice when I go back to W7, and observe others.
Peoples desktops are full of junk/work in progress/files they haven't "dealt with". Almost like a notice board, waste paper bin. Stickie note collector.
I used to work this way. I also used to use email as my reminder/work scheduling system.
I've stopped being bogged down by email by originally using Evernote, then moved to OneNote, as I like the sync via Skydrive (WP7 of course) but also that each section is just a file on a drive.
My email is very low, it doesn't stress me. I have a better GTD style "worflow".
All my files are filed, either on Skydrive or SharePoint. Clutter no more.
My kids don't do email. At all.
I've also noticed at work that it is programmers who don't like change. Which to me seems odd, as they are the smart people? But there are different types of smart, and concepts, futures etc sometimes seem to illude them.
Ramble ramble. I think Windows 8 is on the right path.
Ironically I've found W8 to work better on my desktop than on the Dell Duo tablet I've tried it on. Perhaps this will change when the hardware is more targetted, but the hot corners were inconsistent and I clammered for mouse.
I want pictures, fast links, social feeds and real information on my desktop. Not the contents of my bin.
I'm very curious how this will play out. Another Vista, or Windows 7+ ?
Time will tell. But I really _love_ W8. I hate going "back" to W7 now.
Are naysayers sticks in the mud, or reflective of how the masses will take W8.
Intruiging times.
(For the guy saying he will go to Mac, thats funny as Launchpad is similar to the Metro start screen. Recent updates have changed scroll direction to match touch.)

hear hear!

Right On.
http://www.winsupersite.com/content...s-8-consumer-preview-call-common-sense-142476

very well said, even though i disagree with some of your points, your statement was very well thought out.
personally after using W8, i was dying to get back to W7, for some of the same reasons you enjoyed W8.
I'm a little OCD about my start screen being aesthetically pleasing, so i keep it very clean and nice, with only the recycle bin, libraries, and 3 programs against the left side. Link if you care. i will occasionally dump a file or folder on the desktop as it is the easiest way to access said file or folder at the time, until i can put it "away" or am done with it. Not dissimilar to getting what you're working on IRL out of your desk drawer, and leaving it out while you use it (IMHO) all my stick notes go on my android phone, on the screen right of home. i don't email much, when i do i use my phone as my notification. if i need to write one i'll jump on my tablet or gmail's web interface: i have no need for it to be integrated with my PC. i also fancy myself as a causal rookie photographer, so i take a lot of pictures and don't always toss out the not-the-best ones. i don't necessarily want those scrolling through my homescreen. I also don't really use social media, so that's not that applicable to me.
and having used Lion after using W8CP, i do like it, but i actually found launchpad pretty pointless.
i have nothing against the metro theme or design language, i simply think the execution of the UI for non-touch is badly done. things like the charms and hot corners make it un-intuitive and confusing to existing, non-geek users. multitaking is too difficult for your average joe "I click E to get to 'E'nternet, right?" to comprehend easily. all your points are valid, but i think you're over-estimating the average consumer.

I'm not stubborn as you think I am. Just to make you understand in your simple language. I just don't use my desktop PC to read emails or share every freaking thing I do on FB or twitter unlike you and few others. On internet browser I have to switch among multiple tabs fast Then switch to software like adobe dreamweaver, PS, FTP client, etc. I can keep all open and reduce the shell size so I can follow all work at once and lot faster, its easier on my high res big screen and on metro ui I can't resize any metro apps cause my desktop thinks that its a f..king tablet. What you can't see is MS is trying to sell their tablets and phones to their existing desktop users. Which is unfair to us.
And in metro UI it kills most time finding the opened tabs. Hell with it now It has many flaws but you wouldn't care cause software.. sorry "app" like Ms paint is the only thing you have learned to use so far and of course you can see all you social feeds on the "homescreen" itself.
Sorry, just being polite.
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I thought I might add........
I think people misunderstand the difference between Apps and Applications/Programs, I'm not sure your suppose to see them the same way.
Applications/Programs traditionally are used on the desktop. They are fully featured software for the doings of complicated things. The desktop interface in Windows 8 is still the place to do such work, that's why it's still there. High Power Activities such as PhotoShop, Video Editing, Big Release Games etc
Apps, these are small quick programs for doing smaller less intense and demanding jobs. The job of an App is to perform simple low power task such as mp3 playing, picture viewing, Calendar Entries, Emails.
The differences maybe subtle at first glance but it only takes a moment to realise the significance. Only in recent years have Pc's become powerful enough to do multiple small tasks at the same time properly, there was no real power difference between watching a video and editing one. Now there is a clear gulf between the 2 power states & it makes complete sense for an operating system to reflect it.
Laptops have had different "power states" for sometime now, they conserve battery life for normal tasks but gives you an option to turn them up if and when its required. Cpu's always used to run at full blast all the time. Most cpu's Idle themselves when not required now, some even overclock themselves depending on demand. I could go on, the Tegra 3 uses a separate underclocked core when being used for low power consumption applications.
The Metro UI simply bundles all those small things that we do everyday into one easy place. None of these tasks demand huge attention so a live tile is all that's required to display what you need to know at a glance. Then you hop back to your desktop to continue with the real tasks at hand.
Theres my 27 cents worth.

m0nkf1sh said:
I thought I might add........
I think people misunderstand the difference between Apps and Applications/Programs, I'm not sure your suppose to see them the same way.
Applications/Programs traditionally are used on the desktop. They are fully featured software for the doings of complicated things. The desktop interface in Windows 8 is still the place to do such work, that's why it's still there. High Power Activities such as PhotoShop, Video Editing, Big Release Games etc
Apps, these are small quick programs for doing smaller less intense and demanding jobs. The job of an App is to perform simple low power task such as mp3 playing, picture viewing, Calendar Entries, Emails.
The differences maybe subtle at first glance but it only takes a moment to realise the significance. Only in recent years have Pc's become powerful enough to do multiple small tasks at the same time properly, there was no real power difference between watching a video and editing one. Now there is a clear gulf between the 2 power states & it makes complete sense for an operating system to reflect it.
Laptops have had different "power states" for sometime now, they conserve battery life for normal tasks but gives you an option to turn them up if and when its required. Cpu's always used to run at full blast all the time. Most cpu's Idle themselves when not required now, some even overclock themselves depending on demand. I could go on, the Tegra 3 uses a separate underclocked core when being used for low power consumption applications.
The Metro UI simply bundles all those small things that we do everyday into one easy place. None of these tasks demand huge attention so a live tile is all that's required to display what you need to know at a glance. Then you hop back to your desktop to continue with the real tasks at hand.
Theres my 27 cents worth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you so much for your reply. actually youre the first one who put in some logic to your words over here. Now my problem is for people who have a high end quad core processor, ram, gpu, etc for doing 10 things at once and not one at a time. small things like music player doesnt require to take up the full screen with 100's of "buy" button.
App is supposed to be small and on windows desktop they could just keep it as tiles or widgets on screen and keep the rest of desktop as it was or might changed the look to match the metro ui just keep the real desktop pc experience alive.
Right now I have to switch to the desktop version of IE to watch videos on youtube just because windows ph and tablets don't support flash hence no flash support for new IE on prime desktop. Of course after few days I can download other metro browsers when they release which might support flash but everything looks very messed up right now on W8.
It's clearly going to be like another Vista release which was still okay but this is utter crap cause I dont want to use my desktop as my tablet.

Widgets/gadgets appeared with vista but weren't commonly adopted, I think this was due to a lack of interested by programmers, the financial incentive came from the phone market a little later. My personal issue with the gadgets was clutter (the original posters comments prevail).
Flash support is another story. Adobe own Flash & the people putting together HTML5 as a standard want to use an Open Source base for streaming web video. In general this seems like a good idea apart from the wide use of flash already on sites like Iplayer, Youtube etc and they are radically effected by this & they will either choose to adopt or not. I think they probably will, a lot of Youtube videos are already compatible & if they start forcing all videos to be HTML5 compliant the transition shouldn't be too painful.
Remember Windows 8 is Beta, early adopters will always pay a price for progress.
Personaly I don't normaly use IE & therefore Im forced back to the Desktop for Internet Browsing anyway.

Just as widgets I see the same with metro, devs will have lack of interest and eventually win desktop PC will reach a saturation point just like wp7 though I hope not.
But see what MS is doing right here they want to increase the wp7 apps number to increase so they've introduced metro ui as prime desktop so devs those who works on PC software can later just scale it down for wp7 too. And Eventually that'll never happen cause most of the devs are just into productivity and not into designing metro apps which focuses more on looks, the devs are not ready to proceed that yet. How can I be so sure? Well WP7 is right in front of you.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

bornotty said:
Just as widgets I see the same with metro, devs will have lack of interest and eventually win desktop PC will reach a saturation point just like wp7 though I hope not.
But see what MS is doing right here they want to increase the wp7 apps number to increase so they've introduced metro ui as prime desktop so devs those who works on PC software can later just scale it down for wp7 too. And Eventually that'll never happen cause most of the devs are just into productivity and not into designing metro apps which focuses more on looks, the devs are not ready to proceed that yet. How can I be so sure? Well WP7 is right in front of you.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the main app suppliers for phones have already confirmed they will be porting their apps to windows, Firefox has also confirmed they are working on a Firefox metro ui interface. There are now thousands of companies who specialize in Apps alone & make a healthy living from it. The Metro UI is written in Html5 which is to become the web standard therefore compatible on all devices(in theory) and based on a common computer language that a lot of Devs already know. Microsoft, although this is probably yet to be confirmed, were saying that the Windows 8 Store will give a higher percentage of the sales revenue back to the developers than Google or Apple too.
So if you already have Apps you sell it would be easy enough to convert it, the conversion would be to the future web standard code, that you already know how to use and the extra market place, which is going to be installed onto millions of computers, giving you a good market coverage, will pay you more money for your work than the markets you already use. The only problem that I see is that its an offer that's too good to be true for Devs. But Equally, knowing Microsofts marketing strategy history would suggest that "Cut Throating" your competitors for market share wouldn't be such a big leap for them.
Although I could keep debating this, time will tell. The truth is, Apps are probably here to stay in one form or another, they have already proven themselves on Mac, Android, Wii, Xbox live Arcade, PlayStation etc. Windows late adoption only shows that its inevitable. I think your quite right that Microsoft has made a point of putting it main stage in order to encourage adoption & I think it will work.
Windows 8 is not Vista. Vista didn't work very well & was far too demanding for the existing systems people owned. They also hid it away so it could be a surprise. That why Windows 7 had such a large Beta launch and why Windows 8 has just had an even larger one. Windows 7 ran much faster than Vista & Windows 8 is faster again.
Anyways I quit the debate here, ill just be answering peoples problems if I can help from now on. My last piece of advice "One should float like a leaf on the river of life, & kill old lady!"

Metro is amazing i love it but the only problem is its not a desktop os. For laptops it amazing I say not good for desktop because nowaday desktop is a Family computer not a Personal computer. But you can do some mods and remove metro and everythings fine.
Also Windows 8 uses a lot less ram and is a hell lot faster