Xperia Z Tablet first Impressions - Xperia Tablet Z General

I just got my New Xperia Z Tablet 32Gb, after being a long time asus transformer user, I had them all. tf101,tf201,tf300, tf700 and after got enough with Asus I/O Performance Issues and Drawn Battery issues w/ Dock, finally decided to jump out of tegra Soc Products and move into Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC's. First I got my Nexus 7 2013 and Now just got my Xperia Z Tablet. Here's my First impressions:
Positives:
- What a beautiful Sleek Machine(aesthetics), thin, waterproof(already tested it), not going to use that feature anymore, I'll explain why below.
-Superb Quality of the Screen,much better than my Nexus 10, Nexus 7 2013 and tf700, color reproduction on movies and photos are simply outstanding.
- Excellent Sony Apps, walkman, FM Radio, Video Player(doesn't support MP4 1080p video files with DTS sound), Dual Shock controller support without rooting, Wireless sound works just great, browsing experience was delightful(fast and accurate with no lag at all, Asus Anyone?)
-Snappy Performance, much faster than my rooted Nexus 7 2013(w/ custom Rom)
Negatives
- I already damaged the speakers cover, both of them, I'm a very delicate man, I was trying to find the ports to charge my unit and slightly pull both speakers thinking they were regular ports cover and bend so easy. So this is a Very Fragile and Delicate Machine, as a Pianist I may say too Fragile and poorly constructed, at least the speaker ports, fortunately it doesn't affect the speaker quality, however I won't be able to test the waterproof feature ever again.
- For god's sake, the MicroUSB port, really Sony???, is that a Standard MicroUSB port or just a proprietary Sony Port. Really Pissed me off I could't connect the micro usb cable to charge it because It didn't fit, after checking the Pins orientation, I found out it has to be plug facing down. Great Job Sony! At least put some Label on it. I already messed up a Android TV Box because of this. I hate these micro USB ports,in my case with my Android Tv Box It didn't fit and I slightly pushed it and micro UsB port(connector) got loose(broke down) and my unit was dead.
- 5-6 Hours charging time, Are you kidding me Sony, I thought the Nexus 10 charging time was bad. I was wrong.
- Very Poor Manual(See ports issues)
- Very Expensive accessories, the official Sony case only was a painful $90, we pay 15% tax in Canada.

Updated(a few hours later)
gdfrisco said:
I just got my New Xperia Z Tablet 32Gb, after being a long time asus transformer user, I had them all. tf101,tf201,tf300, tf700 and after got enough with Asus I/O Performance Issues and Drawn Battery issues w/ Dock, finally decided to jump out of tegra Soc Products and move into Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC's. First I got my Nexus 7 2013 and Now just got my Xperia Z Tablet. Here's my First impressions:
Positives:
- What a beautiful Sleek Machine(aesthetics), thin, waterproof(already tested it), not going to use that feature anymore, I'll explain why below.
-Superb Quality of the Screen,much better than my Nexus 10, Nexus 7 2013 and tf700, color reproduction on movies and photos are simply outstanding.
- Excellent Sony Apps, walkman, FM Radio, Video Player(doesn't support MP4 1080p video files with DTS sound), Dual Shock controller support without rooting, Wireless sound works just great, browsing experience was delightful(fast and accurate with no lag at all, Asus Anyone?)
-Snappy Performance, much faster than my rooted Nexus 7 2013(w/ custom Rom)
Negatives
- I already damaged the speakers cover, both of them, I'm a very delicate man, I was trying to find the ports to charge my unit and slightly pull both speakers thinking they were regular ports cover and bend so easy. So this is a Very Fragile and Delicate Machine, as a Pianist I may say too Fragile and poorly constructed, at least the speaker ports, fortunately it doesn't affect the speaker quality, however I won't be able to test the waterproof feature ever again.
- For god's sake, the MicroUSB port, really Sony???, is that a Standard MicroUSB port or just a proprietary Sony Port. Really Pissed me off I could't connect the micro usb cable to charge it because It didn't fit, after checking the Pins orientation, I found out it has to be plug facing down. Great Job Sony! At least put some Label on it. I already messed up a Android TV Box because of this. I hate these micro USB ports,in my case with my Android Tv Box It didn't fit and I slightly pushed it and micro UsB port(connector) got loose(broke down) and my unit was dead.
- 5-6 Hours charging time, Are you kidding me Sony, I thought the Nexus 10 charging time was bad. I was wrong.
- Very Poor Manual(See ports issues)
- Very Expensive accessories, the official Sony case only was a painful $92, we pay 15% tax in Canada.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updated, why I'm considering return this piece of technology:
1. Charging time when the screen is on, it takes an unacceptable and ridiculous time of 9-10 hours, I don't even sleep that much on a daily basis, this is a power hog device when the device is in use, just regular use as browsing, the battery runs out quickly, I don't want to imagine watching 1080p mp4 video files for a couple of hours before the battery drains out and then have to wait 9-10 hours to charge my unit again. A possible solution would be to have 2 xperia Z tablet and while 1 is charging, use the other one to play my audio/video files(Sarcasm!) or just keep using my nexus 7 for watching 1080p movie files, I have a nexus 10 and nexus 7 2013 to compare with and on those units I don't even have to turn the screen off while I charge them. I know I'm not the only one, a bunch of people are having this issue. My only hope is to root it, install a custom ROM and wipe out all those overkill sony apps. I have 13 days left to try it.
As much as I love this tablet, the Nexus 7 2013 regardless of its smaller screen is a much better(functional) device.
I'm going to buy the charging dock so see if charging times improves a bit.
For a $689.98 unit($599+lovely 15% sales tax where I live), which is a pretty hefty price I'd expect much more than this. If you add the $92 price for the official sony leather cover, $40 for a micros sd class 10 memory card and $50 bucks for the charging cradle(going to buy it tomorrow morning), I get a total whooping and scary price of $871.98.
Now I understand why I've seen some people selling their xperia z tablet on local craigslist for a so low price($350-$400 for the 16gb model and $400-450 for a 32 gob model, there was even a guy selling his 32 Gb model for $350 with only 2 months use, and most of them were including a sony dock and a leather case with their offers, and those were with a proof of purchase(best buy receipt) so we know those are not stolen units.
Now I remember all of the sudden why the only other sony device in my crowded current gadget inventory is a Sony PS3 console.
Will report as I go if I ever solve this issue before the 14 days return policy from best buy. Cheers!

gdfrisco said:
Updated, why I'm considering return this piece of technology:
1. Charging time when the screen is on, it takes an unacceptable and ridiculous time of 9-10 hours, I don't even sleep that much on a daily basis, this is a power hog device when the device is in use, just regular use as browsing, the battery runs out quickly, I don't want to imagine watching 1080p mp4 video files for a couple of hours before the battery drains out and then have to wait 9-10 hours to charge my unit again. A possible solution would be to have 2 xperia Z tablet and while 1 is charging, use the other one to play my audio/video files(Sarcasm!) or just keep using my nexus 7 for watching 1080p movie files, I have a nexus 10 and nexus 7 2013 to compare with and on those units I don't even have to turn the screen off while I charge them. I know I'm not the only one, a bunch of people are having this issue. My only hope is to root it, install a custom ROM and wipe out all those overkill sony apps. I have 13 days left to try it.
As much as I love this tablet, the Nexus 7 2013 regardless of its smaller screen is a much better(functional) device.
I'm going to buy the charging dock so see if charging times improves a bit.
For a $689.98 unit($599+lovely 15% sales tax where I live), which is a pretty hefty price I'd expect much more than this. If you add the $92 price for the official sony leather cover, $40 for a micros sd class 10 memory card and $50 bucks for the charging cradle(going to buy it tomorrow morning), I get a total whooping and scary price of $871.98.
Now I understand why I've seen some people selling their xperia z tablet on local craigslist for a so low price($350-$400 for the 16gb model and $400-450 for a 32 gob model, there was even a guy selling his 32 Gb model for $350 with only 2 months use, and most of them were including a sony dock and a leather case with their offers, and those were with a proof of purchase(best buy receipt) so we know those are not stolen units.
Now I remember all of the sudden why the only other sony device in my crowded current gadget inventory is a Sony PS3 console.
Will report as I go if I ever solve this issue before the 14 days return policy from best buy. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you charging with screen on? I charge mine overnight (with screen off as I don't watch it in my sleep ) and it takes about 5 Hrs to charge. Most people report 5 to 6 hrs charging time.
Also, charging / run down rates improve with time. I use mine mainly for browsing and the battery seems to last well.
Using the dock will not make it charge any faster. However , using a 2.0A charger (as comes with an iPad) does improve charging times.

vedlyH and
GretaLewd said:
Why are you charging with screen on? I charge mine overnight (with screen off as I don't watch it in my sleep ) and it takes about 5 Hrs to charge. Most people report 5 to 6 hrs charging time.
Also, charging / run down rates improve with time. I use mine mainly for browsing and the battery seems to last well.
Using the dock will not make it charge any faster. However , using a 2.0A charger (as comes with an iPad) does improve charging times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tip, will try my iPad 3 charger(2.1A/5V) with it.

gdfrisco said:
thanks for the tip, will try my iPad 3 charger(2.1A/5V) with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The micro USB is a pain but then again it is the same on all other tablets and phones i own. Still pisses me off everytime i have to plug my nexus 4 in.
That's why i bought the docking station for the Z tablet. It is risiculously overpriced but it works flawlessly and you wont have to open close the waterproof caps that seem so fragile.
I reccomend using mx player with the Neon codec (link for the codec is within mx player settings) to watch movies with DTS.
This tablet has a very active modding community here btw. There are very good android 4.3 ROMs around.

Jequan said:
The micro USB is a pain but then again it is the same on all other tablets and phones i own. Still pisses me off everytime i have to plug my nexus 4 in.
That's why i bought the docking station for the Z tablet. It is risiculously overpriced but it works flawlessly and you wont have to open close the waterproof caps that seem so fragile.
I reccomend using mx player with the Neon codec (link for the codec is within mx player settings) to watch movies with DTS.
This tablet has a very active modding community here btw. There are very good android 4.3 ROMs around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you send me the link for the 4.3 Roms? the xperia tablet z developer forum is quite a mess, tf300t, tf700 and nexus 10 and nexus 7 2013 developer forums where much better organized.
I cannot believe I cannot unlock the bootloader, I followed the instructions from sony mobile site and it's the first time I've failed in so many years unlocking and rooting android devices. I feel like a newbie, I'm getting "FAILED <remote: command did not succeed>, when I run from cmd "fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version" it works and prompt a reply "0.5". I'm guessing either I entered the wrong ID for unlocking generator tool(Foolish sony for making those numbers so hard and small to read, had to use my DSLR camera and take a picture of it and zoom it just to make sure wasn't making any mistake)
Any ideas why it went wrong???. The Fastboot mode is perfectly working, why do you think it's failing to unlock my device? I did attempt to replace adb driver on windows 7 64 bit with the one sony suggests and it didn't replace it. it says it's an older version. Any clues here?

gdfrisco said:
Can you send me the link for the 4.3 Roms? the xperia tablet z developer forum is quite a mess, tf300t, tf700 and nexus 10 and nexus 7 2013 developer forums where much better organized.
I cannot believe I cannot unlock the bootloader, I followed the instructions from sony mobile site and it's the first time I've failed in so many years unlocking and rooting android devices. I feel like a newbie, I'm getting "FAILED <remote: command did not succeed>, when I run from cmd "fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version" it works and prompt a reply "0.5". I'm guessing either I entered the wrong ID for unlocking generator tool(Foolish sony for making those numbers so hard and small to read, had to use my DSLR camera and take a picture of it and zoom it just to make sure wasn't making any mistake)
Any ideas why it went wrong???. The Fastboot mode is perfectly working, why do you think it's failing to unlock my device? I did attempt to replace adb driver on windows 7 64 bit with the one sony suggests and it didn't replace it. it says it's an older version. Any clues here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the device is reporting the status (0.5) then I guess the drivers are working.
Have you checked if unlocking your bootloader is allowed? Depending on supplier, it may not be.
Follow the instructions in steps 1 and 2 here : http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/instructions to view the boot loader status.
Bootloader unlock allowed - Yes << this means that your Bootloader is Locked but can be unlocked
Bootloader Unlocked - Yes << this means that your bootloader is unlocked

GretaLewd said:
If the device is reporting the status (0.5) then I guess the drivers are working.
Have you checked if unlocking your bootloader is allowed? Depending on supplier, it may not be.
Follow the instructions in steps 1 and 2 here : http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/instructions to view the boot loader status.
Bootloader unlock allowed - Yes << this means that your Bootloader is Locked but can be unlocked
Bootloader Unlocked - Yes << this means that your bootloader is unlocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is. Already checked that.
I'm reinstalling Latest Android SDK Manager and will delete old ADB driver to force it to used the sony one.
An android tablet with a lock boot loader, not root and no custom rom is a definitely No Go for me, I'd return it immediately if that were my case.
The good news is my xperia tablet z is now charging in 4 hours aprox.( iPad 3 charger w/ screen off)

gdfrisco said:
Can you send me the link for the 4.3 Roms? the xperia tablet z developer forum is quite a mess, tf300t, tf700 and nexus 10 and nexus 7 2013 developer forums where much better organized.
I cannot believe I cannot unlock the bootloader, I followed the instructions from sony mobile site and it's the first time I've failed in so many years unlocking and rooting android devices. I feel like a newbie, I'm getting "FAILED <remote: command did not succeed>, when I run from cmd "fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version" it works and prompt a reply "0.5". I'm guessing either I entered the wrong ID for unlocking generator tool(Foolish sony for making those numbers so hard and small to read, had to use my DSLR camera and take a picture of it and zoom it just to make sure wasn't making any mistake)
Any ideas why it went wrong???. The Fastboot mode is perfectly working, why do you think it's failing to unlock my device? I did attempt to replace adb driver on windows 7 64 bit with the one sony suggests and it didn't replace it. it says it's an older version. Any clues here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2309
I use the pacman rom atm. It's allways amongs the top 5 threads so far. Comes with a good tutorial in post 1.

gdfrisco said:
Yes, it is. Already checked that.
I'm reinstalling Latest Android SDK Manager and will delete old ADB driver to force it to used the sony one.
An android tablet with a lock boot loader, not root and no custom rom is a definitely No Go for me, I'd return it immediately if that were my case.
The good news is my xperia tablet z is now charging in 4 hours aprox.( iPad 3 charger w/ screen off)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a bit more info :
The number I provided to Sony to get the unlock code was the IDID number. This should be printed on a label on the side of the box the tablet came in, and is also printed on the edge of the tablet (between usb & sd card ports?). I think I had to drop the last digit for it to work.

GretaLewd said:
Just a bit more info :
The number I provided to Sony to get the unlock code was the IDID number. This should be printed on a label on the side of the box the tablet came in, and is also printed on the edge of the tablet (between usb & sd card ports?). I think I had to drop the last digit for it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I was troubleshooting everywhere with no success, I was using the wrong ID number, based on sony online help. I'll generate my new unlocking code asap, I hope it will let me use my same email.

gdfrisco said:
Thanks I was troubleshooting everywhere with no success, I was using the wrong ID number, based on sony online help. I'll generate my new unlocking code asap, I hope it will let me use my same email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked right away with the new IDID. thank you for your help. Will install CyanogenMod 10.2 ROM, but I need to root it first, not sure what rooting method is better?

gdfrisco said:
It worked right away with the new IDID. thank you for your help. Will install CyanogenMod 10.2 ROM, but I need to root it first, not sure what rooting method is better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chinese method was the best one for latest 4.2.2 firmware 10.3.1.C.0.136 (SGP311/SGP312).

These complaints about the charging time are BS.
5-6 hours is the charging time when charging from EMPTY battery to 100%. (With an alternative 2A charger, 4.5 hours.)
Next point: Who really uses his tablet many hours a day? Since a tablet is not a work device (or, more specifically, a device one can do only very little work on), that would mean: Hey, get a life, don't sit around all day and uselessly play around with your tablet! (By the way: That now tablet sales eclipse PC/laptop sales shows that it's a myth that computers are used for work. The work part in reality is rather small; most time computers by most people are used for leisure activities.)
OK, so with REASONABLE usage, you are at, say, 40-60% battery at the end of a normal day. Charging from that percentage to 100% needs of course much less time. When going to bed, simply plug it in, and even if you sleep very short, it'll be full. And if you forget to charge, even charging it during the morning routine will help to get decent battery percentage to get through the day comfortably.
So, for a normal adult who goes to work and has a social life, this "5-6 hours" figure is irrelevant anyway.

hasenbein1966 said:
These complaints about the charging time are BS.
5-6 hours is the charging time when charging from EMPTY battery to 100%. (With an alternative 2A charger, 4.5 hours.)
Next point: Who really uses his tablet many hours a day? Since a tablet is not a work device (or, more specifically, a device one can do only very little work on), that would mean: Hey, get a life, don't sit around all day and uselessly play around with your tablet! (By the way: That now tablet sales eclipse PC/laptop sales shows that it's a myth that computers are used for work. The work part in reality is rather small; most time computers by most people are used for leisure activities.)
OK, so with REASONABLE usage, you are at, say, 40-60% battery at the end of a normal day. Charging from that percentage to 100% needs of course much less time. When going to bed, simply plug it in, and even if you sleep very short, it'll be full. And if you forget to charge, even charging it during the morning routine will help to get decent battery percentage to get through the day comfortably.
So, for a normal adult who goes to work and has a social life, this "5-6 hours" figure is irrelevant anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your reply was very rude and disrespectful, I don't need to start a flame here and I don't need to give you explanations about my personal life. Just for your information I'm on sabbatical, what you consider normal for your particular case may not be the same reality for others, you sounded like a Sony Fanboy, how old are you? As a System Engineer I can do whatever I want with my tablets and portable devices specially now, when I finally have plenty of time to spend with.
One more question: Do you work for Sony? or maybe Google? Cheers!

I really do like this tablet a lot and i do believe that the runtime of it is ok considering how thin the device is.
Sony did screw up the chrarging though. This is a simple fact. I bought the 12W apple charger yesterday and the tablet charges in no time.
This should not be happening. From what i read this shouldn't even be possible because of charging electronics. Sony simply shipped the device with a ****ty charger.

gdfrisco said:
Your reply was very rude and disrespectful, I don't need to start a flame here and I don't need to give you explanations about my personal life. Just for your information I'm on sabbatical, what you consider normal for your particular case may not be the same reality for others, you sounded like a Sony Fanboy, how old are you? As a System Engineer I can do whatever I want with my tablets and portable devices specially now, when I finally have plenty of time to spend with.
One more question: Do you work for Sony? or maybe Google? Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you getting so worked up?
You just confirmed my thesis - only people who have exceptionally much time on their hands to dabble with their tablets (of course they are entitled to do that, but they're a really small minority, and let's admit it, there are better uses to one's time than sitting around for hours and hours in front of a screen) need all the juice of their battery to get through the day. All others won't, and hence the time to charge won't be 5-6 hours, but much less. q.e.d.
Of course it's always better to have more, but in reality it's mostly (mostly!) irrelevant, and if some people are honest, it's just this "but tablet X can run longer" **** comparison thing.
The Sony engineers were just realistic in this regard instead of participating in the **** comparison and thus were able to build an exceptionally light and thin device, which really makes the device more usable (when I had an Acer A700, I always reached for the Nexus 7 because of the weight & size; now the Nexus 7 collects dust, and there's absolutely no drive to buy the new Nexus 7 or another smaller tablet, I think that says it all).
Best Wishes!

hasenbein1966 said:
Why are you getting so worked up?
You just confirmed my thesis - only people who have exceptionally much time on their hands to dabble with their tablets (of course they are entitled to do that, but they're a really small minority, and let's admit it, there are better uses to one's time than sitting around for hours and hours in front of a screen) need all the juice of their battery to get through the day. All others won't, and hence the time to charge won't be 5-6 hours, but much less. q.e.d.
Of course it's always better to have more, but in reality it's mostly (mostly!) irrelevant, and if some people are honest, it's just this "but tablet X can run longer" **** comparison thing.
The Sony engineers were just realistic in this regard instead of participating in the **** comparison and thus were able to build an exceptionally light and thin device, which really makes the device more usable (when I had an Acer A700, I always reached for the Nexus 7 because of the weight & size; now the Nexus 7 collects dust, and there's absolutely no drive to buy the new Nexus 7 or another smaller tablet, I think that says it all).
Best Wishes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it is sick, how many hours people want to spend with their tablet. Watching movies, reading books, check mails, check facebook, check newssites, write documents, playing games etc.
I use my Tablet @ University. If you don`t play at every lecture games, it is more than enough for the whole day.

Related

[Q] NY Purchasers -- Are you satisfied??

For those who actually were able to make it to the NY Event, how do you feel about your purchase? It is meeting or exceeding expectations? Is it heavier or fatter than you thought it would be? I'm hoping to see some reviews from actual users, not review-sites. I know there are a lot of the IO edition users here, but I feel when you plunk down $500-600 for a device, your feelings are amplified and may provide for a "different" review.
Edit: and for those who wanted the grey, how do you feel about the white that you had to purchase? I originally wanted white, but feel that the grey would be more durable (that's a total guess, though).
My specific question regards creak and light bleed. I love the Asus transformer Inks some slight light bleeding along the bottom and right side. It is minor but I am obsessive.
Don't mind the bigger size of it as I do prefer its expandability.
Only review out since new release of the Samsung tab is on mobiletechreview YouTube. I could swear I see some light bleeding along the bottom and right sides. If this is at all an issue on these tabs I am happy to stay withmy Asus.
But my return window ends tomorrow so need help deciding now.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
I got mine earlier today at union square ..the left over from yesterday.I just play with it a few minutes cuz have to go to work..soon ill post some video reviews.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Leftovers? Damn, I wish I lived near NY! I have my pre-order in on Amazon for a 32 GB Grey version, but cannot expect it until June 18 at the earliest (release date +1 according to their shipping options).
July 18?
And not June 18?
ralexand said:
Leftovers? Damn, I wish I lived near NY! I have my pre-order in on Amazon for a 32 GB Grey version, but cannot expect it until July 18 at the earliest (release date +1 according to their shipping options).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh... I was also planning for pre order in bestbuy.. buy this morning I call bestbuy union and she said they still have actually a lot she said. But web I got there 5 left in the shelves.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
I'm happy with my purchase. i am also glad that i went in the afternoon (2:30p) instead of joining some line it literally took 2minutes tops. The build quality is actually quite sturdy considering that it is extreamly light, everything just fits snug and tight no creaks. i didnt notice any light leakage, but i was slow to notice it on my evo until i saw what to look for, so it's not noticible if present at all. i think for me personally no matter which tab i keep i'm going to be giving up something from the next, i like the sd card and the overclocking of my xoom but i gave it up for the light weightness and the sleakness of 10.1.
gogol said:
July 18?
And not June 18?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Corrected. It just feels like over a month away
you guys that bought one in NY, help us out with a 3.1 system dump
Hey,
I purchased mine yesterday, I got their at about 11:15am before the sale started. I really wanted to purchase the 32gb but ended up just buying the 16gb. This is my first 'tablet' that I've ever purchased.
I have a Droid 2 Global phone and I've done all the rooting etc/loading different mods etc and I'm looking forward to doing it with this. I bought this because I want to customize it the same way I did for my phone.
I'm kind of disappointed that i''ll have to buy the usb desktop hub thing in order to get full the usb functionality. Other than that though I really like it.
I bought the Wi-fi version because i can easily tether it to my phone (and have- it works really well). I commute from NJ to NY every day so I wanted something for the train that was bigger than my phone. I think its worth the purchase.
PS i voted - YES
I bought mine yesterday after work around 6:00 and I can honestly say that as a former Transformer owner, the Tab is a much better tablet for the extra $100. No light bleed, no creaks, no FCs...none at all. Plus its a lot more comfortable to hold especially over a longer period of time. Be advised that if you are a Mac owner there is currently no way to transfer through USB. I had to use doubletwist and sync wirelessly.
Did you try the Kies for Mac beta?
I was third in line. I'd been waiting since 5 in the morning. I'd planned to get the 32GB in grey, but since they only had the 16 white, I was a little let down...until I started to use it. I'm totally and completely happy with the device, and can't see myself being separated from it. I've already ordered the USB adapter from Samsung so I can connect my travel HDD and thumb drives for movies. I actually am so happy with it that I'm going to keep the White 16GB.
I wish i could see why the 2 people who are unhappy wothhthe device have voted as such. Assuming, that is, that they're not just trolling.
I'm only selling mine because I want the 32gb version. its a really sweet device.
I was 13th in line at BB and also was disappointed that the 16 GB white was the only model available. I let a couple of the Samsung reps know my dissatisfaction with the way the whole thing was handled, but that's a gripe for another thread. I'm happy with the unit and have zero regrets and, if I didn't like the gray-backed one better, I'd totally keep this one. Those that haven't gotten to handle one yet will be very happy with the unit.
I stopped in at 9pm on the 8th and there were plenty left. It's already listed on ebay in hopes I can make a few bucks. If not I will return it to Best Buy. Build quality is fantastic but 3 major issues:
1. How the F do you transfer files? I'm not interested in hunting down drivers or trying to find back door soutions. The whole purpose of getting an Android device over an ipad is NO ITUNES meaning DRAG AND DROP. I have tried connecting on Mac OS and Windows with no luck in getting any of my computers to recognize the device.
2. I installed Dropbox, waited 2 hours for 1 movie file to transfer over (AVI/divx format) and when it had finally transferred, the default player would not support playback. I didn't even bother trying to DL another media player. The F'in default player should play divx files since that is what is advertised.
3. The damn USB cable requires the charging block that came with it to charge. I can't trickle charge on my laptop's port or use any of my USB travel chargers. That means 1 more charger PLUS one more stupid proprietary connecting port that I have to travel with. Maybe not a big deal to most but I fly about 150 times per year so 2 more things to have to remember to pack is a huge deal.
WARNING - this is a half baked OS. Looks pretty and the device flies but is nowhere near ready for mass consumption. I work 60-80 hours per week with a screaming 2 year old at home. I don't have time to search the web for stupid tricks to make this thing do basic things. For $500 I want something that works well and feels solid. And WITHOUT itunes.
Got mine last night a BB. They seemed to have at least a dozen left in the display area stack. But when I inquired 10 minutes ago they said they were sold out,though the may get more I stock by tomorrow.
I too wwas disappointed that the white model was the only one available, but in actual use it looks and feels pretty good. I may just stick with it.
Build is surperb, but honeycomb needs more tuning. Dedicated apps are supreme, just not enough of them. Looking forward to software improvements, including custom ROM, but I doubt I'll see better hardware before Christmas or ipad3 next year.
(Typing from my GT with thumb keyboard. Which is awesome!)
Mine died today. i was using it and i shut the screen off and now it wont turn back on... I will go back to Best Buy tomorrow to exchange it for a new one.
All and all I like it.
A
1. Downloading samsung kies driver from samsung's website should do the trick,no?
2. Don't bother to convert when transferring video files, and play it using a file a file manager, and it should be fine. (I've watched two HD David films with it already)
3. Not sure about the charging situation, shall check again.
hope this helps!
ssbmg said:
I stopped in at 9pm on the 8th and there were plenty left. It's already listed on ebay in hopes I can make a few bucks. If not I will return it to Best Buy. Build quality is fantastic but 3 major issues:
1. How the F do you transfer files? I'm not interested in hunting down drivers or trying to find back door soutions. The whole purpose of getting an Android device over an ipad is NO ITUNES meaning DRAG AND DROP. I have tried connecting on Mac OS and Windows with no luck in getting any of my computers to recognize the device.
2. I installed Dropbox, waited 2 hours for 1 movie file to transfer over (AVI/divx format) and when it had finally transferred, the default player would not support playback. I didn't even bother trying to DL another media player. The F'in default player should play divx files since that is what is advertised.
3. The damn USB cable requires the charging block that came with it to charge. I can't trickle charge on my laptop's port or use any of my USB travel chargers. That means 1 more charger PLUS one more stupid proprietary connecting port that I have to travel with. Maybe not a big deal to most but I fly about 150 times per year so 2 more things to have to remember to pack is a huge deal.
WARNING - this is a half baked OS. Looks pretty and the device flies but is nowhere near ready for mass consumption. I work 60-80 hours per week with a screaming 2 year old at home. I don't have time to search the web for stupid tricks to make this thing do basic things. For $500 I want something that works well and feels solid. And WITHOUT itunes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Battery & Display suck; why the love?

Hi guys. I just bought the Acer Iconia and wanted to give a few of my initial thoughts.
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
I went into Staples to compare it to the Galaxy Tab and Xoom, and I see why Iconia is priced $100 less.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Thanks!
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
With 14 posts, maybe you shouldn't comment. And I can't imagine a troll would actually take the time to write up a full post. What a waste of time that'd be.
I genuinely want to know. Perhaps there's something I'm missing. I want to love it because for $299 (after the Staples $100 off tablets coupon) it might not be a bad deal even with my complaints. But for those who actually spent the full $400, what do you actually like about it?
If you wanna go to staples n pay $300 (not $100!) For extra bulk and a non functioning micro SD, or for a device that doesnt even have a micro sd, USB, or HDMI, go for it. If you feel like a thin piece of plastic is a better investment than stainless steel, that's your money. But don't polute our forums with a "grass is greener" thread. You dont like the Iconia cuz it has the same battery as every other device (the only difference is some companies lie more in their specs- I've tested them all, they are all about the same) or cuz you can see pixels on a white screen, go somewhere else.
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt if people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
allen099 said:
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant find your first post. You posted 224 messages. I klap my hands.
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I obviously misinterpreted a conversation stater by the looks of it!
I beg pardon and stand aside.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Torisen said:
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My slight trolling aside, I agree with Torisen. The screen is better than most devices, albeit topped by the Galaxy. I find the extra ports and functionality a major deal breaker for me, as well as the price difference vs what you get with the galaxy (to me the xoom was never even a question, there is a reason google views it as a flop.) Also, I'm personally a fan of.the stainless chassis, both in appearance and functionality. As for the lag, a real world test of the galaxy provided similar results due to the bloated Samsung ui. Another key advantage is the near stock system, free of bloatware. After weighing all of my options, I am very happy with my iconia true, their whole update process was screwy, but they seemed to have cleared it up a little (for instance at least most everyone got the 4.010.13 update at the same time!) In yhe end, if youre not happy with it, it is a ffree market, get a different one.
strider_mt2k said:
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
internetpilot said:
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I agree. It did come across as an insult to the device, not any form of question. Don't like it? Complain to staples or wherever you bought it and get a different device
The battery stand 8 hours if
- you do not use 3D Games constantly
- Brigthness arround 50%
I use about 12 hours straight my tablet, wifi constantly open, reading ebook, playing games (a little), going internet....
but I charge my tablet every 1.5 day or 2 days sometimes... no I do not use my tablet every 2 minutes
so far with GPS, full brightness, Sygic navigator... about 5hrs++ wich is nice... since I do not drive that long, and I don't need the navigator 5 hours in a row.
playing games 3D . 6hrs ++
playing normal games (angry bird) 8hrs...
Charge the tablet until 100% do not overnight, let the battery drain until 5% oftenly. that's how I use my tablet.
I do not use OVERCLOCK or else. when I make those feedback
Go get an iPad 2 then and stop whining. Oh wait... the display still sucks on an iPad. At least you get a great range of connectivity with the Iconia.
i work at staples, i have had the time to play with all the tablets, i personally recommend the Acer over all of them, even to my customers
the 100 dollar coupons kill our stores sale figures, but i used one and bought the Acer.
i do not regret it one bit, i love my acer. you shouldnt have your face that close to the screen to see the pixels, if you do need to, you need to get glasses
allen099 said:
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have such issues, maybe you've got a defect one?
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, how much do you really expect it to last when playing games? If you're claiming it's "crummy" then obviously you think some other tablet does a lot better, but.. well, so far I ain't seeing one. They all last more-or-less the same.
Besides... I don't play games on my tablet, but it's on for 3rd day in the row at the moment. I have WIFI on 24/7, I do some web browsing, reading comics etc. and it still has over 50% battery left. That ain't something I personally would call "crummy."
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't pixels! You're seeing the grid used for touch-input. You're mixing the two concepts!
As for the grid: yes, it is sometimes visible. I personally don't get bothered by it since it isn't as clearly visible as you make it out to be. But I can understand if some others are bothered by it. It is even mentioned in all the better reviews that the grid can be seen easier than on other tablets. If the grid bothers you that much then go and get another tablet. But bear in mind that even iPads have the grid and atleast I can see it on those, too.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it is great hardware for a great price.
I've had mine for 48 hours, and I have to say I'm loving it. I did take into consideration the $100 off, and getting this device for $299. You can argue positives and negatives on devices of equal price, but for $299, the A500 is a bargain.
The two issues mentioned- display: yes, the transformer's display is brighter. BUT...I've read many, many posts over at the ASUS threads about light bleading. Further, about how the Transformer can "bend" a little due to plastic construction, and this in turn causes further problems. Still, I liked the TF...I was torn over between the two, so don't think I'm hating on ASUS here. But the display is about a 7.5-8/10 for me compared to the BEST displays I've seen. But its a 10/10 for $299.
Battery: I have only good things to say about battery life so far on mine. No, I don't play 3D games constantly, but compared to the many android phones I have had, I realize I'm not always thinking about having this plugged in just in case I'll need the battery power later.
The other points that were in the A500's favor were the aluminum as stated, full USB port (not a feature you should discount), mini usb port, etc. I can't imagine ONLY being able to transfer files via miniSD. That would be a pain.
Most of the other gripes I have are about Honeycomb...it's not up to competing directly yet with iPad, just a few bugs that keep it from going head to head right now. But that has nothing to do with the unit.
I got two A500's now by the way, and both seem to be working as advertised, they were better than I expected when I made the decision to buy them.
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
The Odom Project said:
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
WereCatf said:
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe yeah lol.now I just need to re pierce my lips lol. . . Damn here we go again with the OT lol
I love this baby... and I'm not new to my portable devices... with auto brightness and auto use i get all day battery... and that includes using it's USB port to charge my Moto Atrix when it needs it! I must admit tho mine was a bit laggy with te stock kernel, but that was an easy fix!

Rant - Tablet Computing is really sucky

I have a Xoom WiFi only. What an amazing peice of kit. But it's crippled by the fact that Motorola or Google or whoever can't actually use the devices they make. I'm almost ready to throw mine in the bin it's so unusable.
- I had hoped I could use my Xoom on site rather than run round with my laptop, except I can't get files onto and off it easily. SyncToy won't play ball. I don't want to have to manually drag and drop each file in turn. Waste of time.
- Bluetooth and WiFi file transfer is just a missed opportunity
- SD card doesn't work
- Can't print reliably
- Simple features that are present on my HTC Desire are missing, like scheduling peak times for email polling so the wife doesn't get woken up at three in the morning if I forget to turn it off.
- Stupid stupid stupid stupid charger. No USB charging, which is supposed to be the universal standard. The charger is huge and the connector is so thin it'll break the first time someone trips over the cable.
- The Motorola Folio case is uggggggggly. Have these people not seen the Smart Cover for the iPad?
- I can stand the Xoom up in the folio case, but I can't charge it, because the charger connector is on the bottom. A poor attempt to get me to fork out more money for the charging dock I assume.
- Word, Excel etc, sort of work, but if you have headers and footers or anything like an automated spreadsheet, it ain't gonna work properly on Docs to Go or anything else for that matter. Good God, do these people not use the World's most dominant software?
It's great for games, and stuff though, but you CANNOT use it as a business tool; you'll spend all the time you were hoping to save in wrestling with the bloody thing.
The moral? Don't be an early(ish) adopter - I thought 6 months would be enough for Motorola to have this sorted.
TL;DR?
Rant over.
Sdcard is readable in 3.2 or u can simply root to make it fully usable
Usb charging is slow. The charger makes us can let our xoom fully charged super quiclly
The case for many ppl is nice
My bro bought it for business n he is quite happy with it
Have a lager and calm down, friend. I feel your pain.
However, you can save yourself a lot of grief by understanding that no matter what the marketing people say, a tablet is not a full laptop replacement yet, not even the iPad. You need to make some compromises if you intend to make full use of your Xoom while on the job.
First of all, lets discuss the charger. Moto opted not to allow the device to trickle charge simple because it would take far to long to fill the battery via a standard USB cable. Therefore they went for the dedicated charger which was a good choice under the circumstances. I agree I have worries to about the very thin connector, but they were working hard not to make the device too thick. THus far I have not brought the charger to the office because I have not had to charge the Xoom except for overnight. The battery can make it through a day pretty easily, so feel free to leave the charger behind and see how you do.
Next, Office apps. I agree, they are limited and are the same on pretty much every non-laptop you will try to work on. Key features are missing, other features work strangely...it gets ugly out there. Therefore, I try to restrict my Office app work on the Xoom to reading and making notes. I wouldn't try to actually create a document on the Xoom at this point, unless it was very short and/or I would be able to edit on my laptop later. I use the Polaris app that was provided with the Asus Transformer, which you should be able to find in the Xoom Apps forum here, and it actually does pretty well.
I have had good luck with Bluetooth transferring files, but it can take a while. You should try using the OTG connector in conjunction with a flash drive for larger files. It adds a step in the transfer but it works perfectly for me.
The folio case? I agree, ugly as sin. Therefore I go without a case during use since I really like the looks of the Xoom anyway. I put it into an iPad Exo Sleevecase from Waterfield (great company, great case) before putting it in my gear bag and it does just fine.
The Xoom is a fine business tool in my opinion, it just has its limitations. All tablets currently available are still at the stage where you are best off thinking of them as an extension of your laptop or desktop computer, not the whole shebang. Use it for the tasks it is suited for, and be creative with how you apply it to those tasks which are a bit beyond a tablet's skillset at the moment.
Remember, we went through a decade of clunky, useless TabletPCs before we suddenly had a burst of innovation (thanks Apple) to get to this point in mobile computing. We are still at the early stages...just think where we will be in a couple years. THAT is when tablets will really shine, and at the moment you are ahead of the curve, devising business use cases for tablets out of sheer necessity. That is not a bad place to be.
rschenck said:
Have a lager and calm down, friend. I feel your pain.
However, you can save yourself a lot of grief by understanding that no matter what the marketing people say, a tablet is not a full laptop replacement yet, not even the iPad. You need to make some compromises if you intend to make full use of your Xoom while on the job.
First of all, lets discuss the charger. Moto opted not to allow the device to trickle charge simple because it would take far to long to fill the battery via a standard USB cable. Therefore they went for the dedicated charger which was a good choice under the circumstances. I agree I have worries to about the very thin connector, but they were working hard not to make the device too thick. THus far I have not brought the charger to the office because I have not had to charge the Xoom except for overnight. The battery can make it through a day pretty easily, so feel free to leave the charger behind and see how you do.
Next, Office apps. I agree, they are limited and are the same on pretty much every non-laptop you will try to work on. Key features are missing, other features work strangely...it gets ugly out there. Therefore, I try to restrict my Office app work on the Xoom to reading and making notes. I wouldn't try to actually create a document on the Xoom at this point, unless it was very short and/or I would be able to edit on my laptop later. I use the Polaris app that was provided with the Asus Transformer, which you should be able to find in the Xoom Apps forum here, and it actually does pretty well.
I have had good luck with Bluetooth transferring files, but it can take a while. You should try using the OTG connector in conjunction with a flash drive for larger files. It adds a step in the transfer but it works perfectly for me.
The folio case? I agree, ugly as sin. Therefore I go without a case during use since I really like the looks of the Xoom anyway. I put it into an iPad Exo Sleevecase from Waterfield (great company, great case) before putting it in my gear bag and it does just fine.
The Xoom is a fine business tool in my opinion, it just has its limitations. All tablets currently available are still at the stage where you are best off thinking of them as an extension of your laptop or desktop computer, not the whole shebang. Use it for the tasks it is suited for, and be creative with how you apply it to those tasks which are a bit beyond a tablet's skillset at the moment.
Remember, we went through a decade of clunky, useless TabletPCs before we suddenly had a burst of innovation (thanks Apple) to get to this point in mobile computing. We are still at the early stages...just think where we will be in a couple years. THAT is when tablets will really shine, and at the moment you are ahead of the curve, devising business use cases for tablets out of sheer necessity. That is not a bad place to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found the Xoom to be a great substitute for a laptop out in the field. I just email the files to my work pc, or use my Passport HDD or thumb drive to save...I use dropbox for some non-secure files. Cloud print works fine if you run Chrome on your pc. My work network is locked down tight but I use Splashtop HD to sync with and remotely access my home pc, so I can use full MS Word, Excel, PP etc. I use my Moto BT keyboard and an MS BT mouse if I need do do intensive writing/editing, otherwise Tablet Keyboard Pro or FlexT9 work great. I have the WiFi only Xoom but use my Clear 4G mifi hotspot for connectivity most places I need to be.
This can work. Rooting helps--gives you a few more tools. The battery life is great, especially if you set your screen to minimum necessary brightness and set a battery-saving screen-off profile in SetCPU.
Ok, I will admit that Xoom(as with many android devices) has some bugs to work out, but Android 3.2 has done a lot of fixes that you are talking about....And as for stuff like file managers it matters what one u use.
Some good responses here, I have been on a couple of business trips and left the laptop at home, taking just the Xoom. Sync with and use of Exchange email is brilliant (as it should be). What I had hoped to be able to do is modify spreadsheets while walking round sites, I have some great Excel sheets with drop downs and the like but that is not going to be happening any time soon.
I have found Memento, a great database app that will be my work around for this, but I shouldn't be working around...
I included the iPad in the "tablet computing is sucky" title.
My issue with Bluetooth, a technology that has been with us for years, is that it insists on asking me to OK every file - if I take 100 photos on a site survey, I want them to come over to my laptop with one approval, not 100. It can take a hour, that's fine, just stop asking me if it's OK...This has been a problem for as long as I have been using a smartphone (except my Nokia N73, that had great Bluetooth.)
My frustration remains that I have been able to see the potential of mobile computing and now we have powerful enough devices to deliver it, but the software just isn't there - as usual its the back room hobbyists providing the real world solutions, the paid for software falls very short of the mark.
You talk of 3.2, I have a work device so rooting is not possible and Motorola don't seem in any rush to update me. Any ideas?
66mustang said:
Some good responses here, I have been on a couple of business trips and left the laptop at home, taking just the Xoom. Sync with and use of Exchange email is brilliant (as it should be). What I had hoped to be able to do is modify spreadsheets while walking round sites, I have some great Excel sheets with drop downs and the like but that is not going to be happening any time soon.
I have found Memento, a great database app that will be my work around for this, but I shouldn't be working around...
I included the iPad in the "tablet computing is sucky" title.
My issue with Bluetooth, a technology that has been with us for years, is that it insists on asking me to OK every file - if I take 100 photos on a site survey, I want them to come over to my laptop with one approval, not 100. It can take a hour, that's fine, just stop asking me if it's OK...This has been a problem for as long as I have been using a smartphone (except my Nokia N73, that had great Bluetooth.)
My frustration remains that I have been able to see the potential of mobile computing and now we have powerful enough devices to deliver it, but the software just isn't there - as usual its the back room hobbyists providing the real world solutions, the paid for software falls very short of the mark.
You talk of 3.2, I have a work device so rooting is not possible and Motorola don't seem in any rush to update me. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're taking pictures with your xoom, have it connected to a network (via a wifi network or phone tethering) you can use the auto upload feature that google+ has. That way you can access those pictures on your laptop as well by going to your google+ account.
I love my Xoom, even if my love for Motorola is waning, but I do have to agree to a point.
When I bought the thing, I had dreams of an all-in-one device... something that I could use as a laptop replacement but that I could also use to make phone calls.
Well, I can make phone calls using GrooveIP, but I would be lying if I said I was satisfied with this solution. GrooveIP works fine but generally kicks me out of Google Talk, which is pretty annoying given that I communicate more through chat than phone calls, so keeping it resident makes chat iffy. And speaking of GrooveIP, what's going on with the official Google Voice app for Honeycomb? I never imagined it would take Google so long to get it released.
The result? I finally decided to give up the dream and buy a new phone.
In a lot of ways, the Xoom has replaced my laptop for web surfing, but it doesn't make for a great word processor. I've purchased a few of the word processing apps available for Android, and they really aren't that great and lack key features such as auto-save. I still think that Google's official Google Docs app is the best of all available word processor apps, but even it is really mediocre on the Xoom. I think I gave it three stars in the market, and that might be one star too generous. I dislike Apple greatly, but iWork on the iPad is superior to anything available for Honeycomb. A native Google Docs Honeycomb app that doesn't rely on WebKit would be absolutely killer.
I still use my Xoom for most of my word processing, but it is a less than perfect solution. I love the size, and the tablet+bluetooth keyboard are still much more lightweight than my laptop, which makes them a more ideal travel companion. In fact, these days, the Xoom has replaced my laptop for about 85% of all my tasks, but it's still not a true laptop replacement.
I think it was unrealistic of me to expect my Xoom to be anything other than a tablet.
The first mistake was expecting it to replace your laptop + be productive as a business tool from the day you purchased it. Some things you mentioned the iPad 2 can't even do so it is what it is man.....
BUT if you use your xoom for play and your laptop for work then you won't have to worry about being stuck on your laptop charger all day long.
66mustang said:
- I can stand the Xoom up in the folio case, but I can't charge it, because the charger connector is on the bottom. A poor attempt to get me to fork out more money for the charging dock I assume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Easy solution: turn the Xoom upside down. There is no dedicated button, dedicated top or bottom for most applications. In that case power connection is in the top, easy to charge, easy to work on the tablel. Xoom works well for me as a laptop replacement.
I won't get into a long explanation as to why uninformed people should not be posting such a thread. Here is what I will say:
True... tablets cannot fully replace a laptop or PC just yet in terms of raw power, RAM, graphics, gaming, or features. Windows has been an OS for computers for a loooong time now. Honeycomb for tablets has not been around for that long. There is a HUGE difference between a tablet, and a desktop/laptop. I'll make this very clear for you so that it's easy to understand:
[Words of wisdom]
A desktop is a powerful computer that is meant to stay in one place at all times, a laptop is less powerful desktop computer that is portable, meanwhile a tablet is essentially an even more portable laptop with less power. It's not supposed to fully replace a computer in the first place, but rather work right along side it instead. Thus, one should not say tablet computing is "sucky". Apples and bananas as they say... cannot be compared. Don't even attempt to do such a thing.
[/End Words of wisdom]
Tablets are catching up fast in terms of overall specs to match computers, it's very impressive. They are currently working on beast quad core tablets. That's a lot of power for a small lightweight device.
Re: Charging - The Xoom uses a 7.4V/24.1Whr battery, so can't use USB charging which is only 5V. The iPad2 has a 3.8V/25Whr battery, so it can. (All current HC tabs AFAIK use 7.4V batt.)
The iPad2's USB wall-wart is 5V/2A, and users report it takes 3-4 hrs for a full charge. Based on this, charging from a PC's 5V/0.5A USB port would take a long time (charge time isn't linear to current level, but we're simplifying). So practically, you'd still have to lug along an AC charger for the iPad, although PC charging exists as an emergency measure.
Re: Charge adapter - Moto Mobo is a phone vendor. The Xoom is its first tablet, and it's likely that some components were common-sourced from existing phone parts. The smallish charge adapter plug is likely one. Ergonomic issues should be ironed out for the Xoom2, which undoubtedly will be thinner and lighter.
Re: Tablet as productivity device - It'd be interesting to see how much app support ICS gets, as HC didn't get much love from devs, or consumers for that matter. The major thrusts for ICS are phone+tablet convergence and cloud computing, at least as inferred from Google I/O '11. Productivity wasn't mentioned. It'd be a step up for Gbread phones, but I don't see a big improvement for current HC users.
On the flip side, if ICS is indeed incremental, then it should be here relatively soon after 3.2. My SWAG says Oct, which would be enough time for holiday shopping. If true, vendors would likely hold their 2nd-gen tablet offerings until that time. Else, we'll see the second wave starting in Sept. Moto's Xoom2 will serve as a bellwether.
Speaking of the Xoom2, my money is on it having the TI OMAP 4460, with the 7" probably using the 4430. Both are a big step up from the Tegra 2 wrt multimedia support, and the 4460's 1.5GHz speed will make for easy marketing pitch ("it's 50% faster!"). Pricing will likely be the same as current, ie USD$500 for 32GB wifi base model, and probably $400 for the 7".
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
hi_its_ryan said:
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, did u try applying the paint to the drill before using it on ur wall
hi_its_ryan said:
I bought a really expensive power drill but it's terrible at hammering nails and useless for painting my walls.
I'm mad and posting about it.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 +1 +1 +1 +1
I think a tablet pc would be great OP?
my fav part of the gripe is about not using the worlds most dominant microsoft software... Of course they are not going to use it... Microsoft competes with android... Its the same as crying that your iphone cant run flash or windows programs...
I know it sucks but a tab is not a direct replacement for a laptop just yet... Theres a lot of ways to get around some of your gripes.. Like dropbox app for posting and syncing all your files to all your devices.. Docs to go.. It aint perfect but it helps... Etc...
My only gripe where I agree with the OP is the charger and not being able to charge when in the folio case...but when you consider that the battery lasts at least 24 hours with normal usage it's really not s big deal. I can get a good 5 work days when I use it to stream Pandora or Slacker over WiFi without needing to recharge.
Remote control your PC from your tablet. Then you have the best of both worlds.
brandogg said:
My only gripe where I agree with the OP is the charger and not being able to charge when in the folio case...but when you consider that the battery lasts at least 24 hours with normal usage it's really not s big deal. I can get a good 5 work days when I use it to stream Pandora or Slacker over WiFi without needing to recharge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm... someone already mentioned it, but... there is NOT a "correct" way to hold the Xoom, or any Honeycomb tablet for that matter. The soft keys are located on the screen itself, and will follow the screen when rotated, meaning you can hold it any way you want. Just unlock the screen rotation option, and then rotate the Xoom to position the charging port to the way that fits your needs. That is what sets Honeycomb apart from the rest. If the OP has this "complaint" he should think again before opening his mouth. It's called rotation... it's a feature. The Honeycomb developers want you to hold and position your tablet however you wish, not force you to hold it one way. Look it up, or better yet... use it.
its interesting to see the posts we have here...
personally i think a tablet is pretty close to becoming a laptop replacement... for some...
now... my laptop at the moment will probably crush many many desktops out there by a long shot (i definitely moved from desktops 5 years ago) but in saying that my battery life is HORRIBLE... i cant even go through 1 class and my charger is the size of a house brick lol but personally i love how i could whizz through a thousand, tabs, programs, music whatever with not one instance of lag and it dual boots like a boss and the 18 inch screen is amazing..
my xoom i bought it to hopefully be able to replace the aspect of taking my laptop to uni as we have alot of classes with just a powerpoint and we can type our own stuff from there (i just received my hk cheapo folio keyboard case today; as i dont see paying $50+ for one with a wire i would have preferred a bluetooth with trackpad or something) and i think im going to try and leave my laptop at home next time.. i agree the word compatible apps are sometimes uses, i cant find one where i can edit the notes section of a powerpoint but what i would really love is too have 2 programs open side by side on the one screen as this would be even easier to multitask but i will be finished uni before these will be met and then simply put my needs now/future are minimal in the 'business' area.. but this will NEVER replace a laptop for me im on it everyday for 6+ hours easy and the necessity for ease of access, large screen, etc for me negate the tablet switch for sometime if at all
for those who require specified proprietary programs your needs may never be met and if so they may only be met in the apple arena for sometime to come.. apple is the in thing at the moment and for the average joe as we all know cant understand alot of techno-babble (this may be a good argument for proprietary stuff to come out on the more tech android, but in business there are alot of people with their head in the sand)..
as for the OP i say this...
1. really consider rooting/flashing a custom rom you can always revert back to stock for warranty (i purchased mine overseas so i have NO warranty, im a poor uni student and saved for mine and honestly it was cheaper than my phone but yeh)
2. get an OTG cable (i got mine for $3 from hk) and use your flash drive for everything you want from the tablet/computer transfers (get a 32gb if you really need a large one).. that will remove alot of file transfer issues with bluetooth, etc and if you need to have constant backups then copy the file to the sdcard of the xoom to be super safe
3. have a better look in the area of printing.. i can wirelessly print from my android devices and they come out great (not good for photos) but documents come out pretty clear
4. burn the folio case, dance around it and move on try something else (if so inclined lol)...
5. the battery life is awesome.. absolutely awesome... i can go 2 full days without charge and using it all day on the train, music, wifi, internet.. bla bla
sorry for being long

[Q] Buy or not to buy?

Hey, cool forum :good:
I am trying to decide if a Nexus 10 is suitable for me. I currently have a Nexus 4 and a Acer C7 Chromebook.
I mainly browse the internet on sites like reddit, XDA (obv), checking emails and YouTube.
What attracts me to the Nexus is having the stock Android experience combined with killer specs like the screen resolution, I watch a lot of movies so having a high resolution screen is important because I prefer HD content (Who doesn't, right?). Also, will most content on YouTube play on it?
Is the battery life good? And lastly, is it worth getting a screen protector and case with a keyboard?
Crap Username said:
Hey, cool forum :good:
I am trying to decide if a Nexus 10 is suitable for me. I currently have a Nexus 4 and a Acer C7 Chromebook.
I mainly browse the internet on sites like reddit, XDA (obv), checking emails and YouTube.
What attracts me to the Nexus is having the stock Android experience combined with killer specs like the screen resolution, I watch a lot of movies so having a high resolution screen is important because I prefer HD content (Who doesn't, right?). Also, will most content on YouTube play on it?
Is the battery life good? And lastly, is it worth getting a screen protector and case with a keyboard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy. Its very good.
sharp910sh said:
Buy. Its very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I secnod this, even if I'm having issues with Samsung's service. Hopefully you don't get a defective unit. Love the N10, hate Samsung.
Had my N10 for just over a week and do all the activities in your list. I am very pleased with my purchase. I have a lot of tech devices and am rarely surprised but several times as I customize the UI or find another "cool" app I am amazed at the overall speed of the N10 and how visually impressive it looks.
If you try to use it outside of its intended sphere (media consumption) I asume you could gripe at what it does not do well. Mine replaced a netbook used for media consumption and it blew that away. Viewing emails and short replies are fine but I use my desktop PC for any extensive typing. Right now I do not intend to purchase a bluetooth keyboard.
The lack of accessories can be a pain. I had to make my own dock, so I could watch videos hands free in bed, while waiting for a better solution. It looks crappy but does the job.
I got the N10 early December and haven't regretted it for a moment, I use it for all the activities you list, I travel for work and basically live away 3 to 5 days a week. My work Laptop is VERY locked down as I work in a secure business so the Nexus is my laptop replacement while I'm away, I used to lug two laptops at times but no longer. The Nexus does media, games and browsing in style. I also use it to maintain a couple of websites while I'm away and it works well with the simpler stuff. I wouldn't pretend it's perfect but all round an excellent package and I wouldn't want to go back to hauling two laptops round.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
3DSammy said:
Had my N10 for just over a week and do all the activities in your list. I am very pleased with my purchase. I have a lot of tech devices and am rarely surprised but several times as I customize the UI or find another "cool" app I am amazed at the overall speed of the N10 and how visually impressive it looks.
If you try to use it outside of its intended sphere (media consumption) I asume you could gripe at what it does not do well. Mine replaced a netbook used for media consumption and it blew that away. Viewing emails and short replies are fine but I use my desktop PC for any extensive typing. Right now I do not intend to purchase a bluetooth keyboard.
The lack of accessories can be a pain. I had to make my own dock, so I could watch videos hands free in bed, while waiting for a better solution. It looks crappy but does the job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the MoKo case w/ bluetooth KB on AMazon for $28 to make a great stand and keyboard case. Keyboard's magnetic and removable, too
I have my Nexus 10 for about a week now and I also hesitated for a good while if I should buy it or not. Now that I've been using it for a while I can safely say that it was an awesome purchase.
The screen is brilliant, it's lightning fast, the build quality is top notch (none of the hardware errors that made me so worried in the first place, very solid back etc.) and it does everything I want it to do.
I got a Logitech bluetooth keyboard to go with it (you can find it here) - it says it is for the iPad, but everything works just fine for Android. It's big enough to make typing a breeze and I use it all the time during my classes.
Battery life is very good at about 8-10 hours of heavy usage (brightness adjusted to about ~30%), which lasts me the entire day and I never need to worry about running out before I get through the day.
Make sure you get a nice case for it as well and you're all set. I read so much about reboots and lockups, but during this week I've used the devise intensely and I didn't get a single reboot or lockup. I think Chrome crashed on me once and that certainly is nothing to complain about.
Media playback feels sooo nice - the screen really shines when watching movies and the speakers are also really good.
I was weighing so many options - the Transformer Prime, different Asus und Acer tabs, I even looked at the Surface RT and the Sony Xperia Tablet Z which is gonna be released soon. It was a close call between buying the Nexus 10 now or waiting for the Xperia Z - in the end the small battery on the Xperia Z made the difference for me. I need at least 8 hours usage from my tablet and I wouldn't have gotten that from the Sony device, so I'm very, very happy.
It's the best tablet out right now and I'm saying that after watching hours of Youtube reviews, reading on a lot of sites and finally having the Nexus 10 at home. You can't go wrong with it!
I love mine. It was a Christmas gift from my wife and I've used it everyday since. I use it for what you described. I'm not much of a gamer, but every so often I might play something.
Regrading battery life, mine is more than acceptable. Over the weekend I got over 48 hours before having to charge it (about 5 1/2 hours of screen on time) and yesterday, with heavy usage, I got 7 1/2 hours of screen on time.
One bit of advice, if you can, buy it locally from Walmart or Staples instead of going through the Play Store. Unfortunately, there are some units that suffer from bad light bleed and other issues. Exchanging it at a store will be easier than the RMA process with Google.
Even I'm stuck wid the same problem... One of my czn's got the N10, and he's getting a 100% CPU load wid nothing on it.... No background process, nothing else.... And reading abt the defected ones is so scary, that to me, every second N10 seems to be defected (Okay... that's a bit of exaggeration, but yeah, it feels like that...) Would someone recommend a good place to buy an Un-defected N10???

opinions about the Tegra Note 7

I am looking to get some cheap tablet for my daughter, something that I can use as well (not a cheap Chinese tablet). I had nexus 7 2012 which is now broken so looking for an alternative.
I am interested to get one but I see that it is not famous even the forum is almost empty. Can someone tell me why. I see the specs and price are excellent.
I want to hear opinions from owners of this tab before getting it. what do/don't you like about this tab? before either getting this or nexus 7 2013.
what I like about this over the nexus is the speakers and the styles, they will be useful for me and my daughter (to listen to songs and draw things). but the nexus has more RAM and better support. I don't care about the camera (I have Z1 SGS4 and pro camera) or the resolution as long as the quality of the screen is good, my old nexus 7 screen is good enough.
what do you guys think? get it, get the nexus or do you have any other suggestion?
My problem with 1G RAM is not with opening apps or multitasking. But I am worried that the support for this tab will be dropped very soon because it won't have enough RAM. Most Manufacturers dropped support for device with 0.5 RAM and some even dropped support for devices with 1G RAM. I know that 4.4 tried to solve this issue but I still think that 1 G RAM isn't much and Tegra won't support this tab for long and will drop support after 4.4. What make this problem even more serious is that there is no much support for this tab from the community itself and not many ROMs available that could support this tab if nevidia gone this way. Any opinions?
Well, i think you gotta ask yourself a few questions if you consider buying the TN7.
1. How important is the screen? It's just like all the tests say, the screen ist not SO good. It's ok, i think the resolution is enough, and i am happy with the colors - its not like everything is blue or something. But it is just "ok" and could be better. (for example in the N7'13) (this might be interesting if your daughter wants to read alot)
2. Do you need the stylus? This was the #1 reason for me to get a TN7, and i love it. Good for drawing and writing, but also just for everyday use. I never touch the screen with my finger =)
3. Does your daughter need skype or something? The front camera is VERY bad, and not usable for anything. (640x480 i think, just VGA)
4. The speakers are superawesome. Loud, clear and in generel very good, it's fun to watch videos and movies.
So, in my opinion you should go for the TN7. Guess custom rom support and stuff is not important for your daughter, and for entertainment, drawing and stuff it's very good.
ps: the resolution is more then enough to read, the kindle 4 for exampe just got 800xsomething. but 1080 is better of course
ahomad said:
I am looking to get some cheap tablet for my daughter, something that I can use as well (not a cheap Chinese tablet). I had nexus 7 2012 which is now broken so looking for an alternative.
I am interested to get one but I see that it is not famous even the forum is almost empty. Can someone tell me why. I see the specs and price are excellent.
I want to hear opinions from owners of this tab before getting it. what do/don't you like about this tab? before either getting this or nexus 7 2013.
what I like about this over the nexus is the speakers and the styles, they will be useful for me and my daughter (to listen to songs and draw things). but the nexus has more RAM and better support. I don't care about the camera (I have Z1 SGS4 and pro camera) or the resolution as long as the quality of the screen is good, my old nexus 7 screen is good enough.
what do you guys think? get it, get the nexus or do you have any other suggestion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own one (yet) but if you're looking for a reason to get this over the Nexus 7... aside from the far superior processor (perhaps you won't notice if you don't play games) the HDMI Out is a good one. The Tegra Note's screen lower screen resolution won't make a difference when you're viewing on a HD TV.
ahomad said:
My problem with 1G RAM is not with opening apps or multitasking. But I am worried that the support for this tab will be dropped very soon because it won't have enough RAM. Most Manufacturers dropped support for device with 0.5 RAM and some even dropped support for devices with 1G RAM. I know that 4.4 tried to solve this issue but I still think that 1 G RAM isn't much and Tegra won't support this tab for long and will drop support after 4.4. What make this problem even more serious is that there is no much support for this tab from the community itself and not many ROMs available that could support this tab if nevidia gone this way. Any opinions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The underlying software (I'm told by youtube videos) is about identical to the one the Shield uses (the Nvidia Marketplace looks different). These same videos sounded confident that the updates would come along with the Shield updates. Even though it's only 1 GB, the processor is top of the line (for any price range). So I really hope Nvidia doesn't burn us.
I have the tegra note 7 (x3), nexus 7 2013, Nexus7 2012 (×2 but sold one and may sell the other one).
Been using the tegra note 7 mostly since I got it a while back in Dec 13. Reasonably happy with purchase enough to sell one of my nexus 7 2012 and may sell the other too.
Screen is about the same as nexus 7 2012. Speakers are great much better than nexus 7 2012 and Nexus7 2013 or my note 3 or s4. Back camera is Ok, hdr Mode is cool. Front camera is **** and Can't believe Nvidia even dreamt of putting such a lousy one. Haven't skyped with it but expect it to be lousy after brief testing the camera. Low light performance is obviously poor from both front and back cameras.
Pen is good and accurate and faster response than my note 1 phone or note 3. But pen apps are not as much as for note series.
Have two slide covers. Might be getting the extra Pens set from Newegg. Got the slide covers from pc world / currys UK like the tablet (£89.99 then using a code) . Plus usual other android accessories.
Hdmi micro output is useful. But all ports including hdmi usb have too much jiggling about of cable even after it is in so if device is not lying still then will lose connection. Pet adapter cable is SHORT.
Miracast Wireless screen mirroring works great. You can see my YouTube video from a month ago if interested in my tag line below. Will try to upload some more tegra note 7 videos this Weekend if I get the time.
1gb ram has been Ok in my experience surprisingly. Should get better with Kitkat.
Some gameloft games Eg newer haves work only with controllers and not even due to gameloft coding issue and older gameloft games work fine. Game controllers work fine.
Screen not an issue For browsing, movies, games, satnav.
Satnav works great with several mapping applications. Satellite lock faster with Google navigation than others irritatingly but once locked no issues later. Works great for hours of driving.
Will update more in my video review after using all these tablets for a while now (if I get the time this weekend). Thought of doing a quick review earlier but decided to use it for a while before making one. Been using mine for more than a month now.
bubblesmoney said:
I have the tegra note 7 (x3), nexus 7 2013, Nexus7 2012 (×2 but sold one and may sell the other one).
Been using the tegra note 7 mostly since I got it a while back in Dec 13. Reasonably happy with purchase enough to sell one of my nexus 7 2012 and may sell the other too.
Screen is about the same as nexus 7 2012. Speakers are great much better than nexus 7 2012 and Nexus7 2013 or my note 3 or s4. Back camera is Ok, hdr Mode is cool. Front camera is **** and Can't believe Nvidia even dreamt of putting such a lousy one. Haven't skyped with it but expect it to be lousy after brief testing the camera. Low light performance is obviously poor from both front and back cameras.
Pen is good and accurate and faster response than my note 1 phone or note 3. But pen apps are not as much as for note series.
Have two slide covers. Might be getting the extra Pens set from Newegg. Got the slide covers from pc world / currys UK like the tablet (£89.99 then using a code) . Plus usual other android accessories.
Hdmi micro output is useful. But all ports including hdmi usb have too much jiggling about of cable even after it is in so if device is not lying still then will lose connection. Pet adapter cable is SHORT.
Miracast Wireless screen mirroring works great. You can see my YouTube video from a month ago if interested in my tag line below. Will try to upload some more tegra note 7 videos this Weekend if I get the time.
1gb ram has been Ok in my experience surprisingly. Should get better with Kitkat.
Some gameloft games Eg newer haves work only with controllers and not even due to gameloft coding issue and older gameloft games work fine. Game controllers work fine.
Screen not an issue For browsing, movies, games, satnav.
Satnav works great with several mapping applications. Satellite lock faster with Google navigation than others irritatingly but once locked no issues later. Works great for hours of driving.
Will update more in my video review after using all these tablets for a while now (if I get the time this weekend). Thought of doing a quick review earlier but decided to use it for a while before making one. Been using mine for more than a month now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed answer.
I just have one question since you have both the note 7 and nexus 7 (2012). Can you tell me whats better in the note 7 and whats better in the nexus 2012 as I had nexus 7 2012 and was a great device, I just want quick comparison in few lines if you don't mind.
Thanks in advance.
Better in the N7'12:
#1 colors might be bit better
#2 community, rom support
#3 updates
#4 accessoire availability
better in tn7:
#1 performance is way better
#2 stylus ofc =)
#3 usbotg works with for example usbsticks or 360 controller (both tested), not sure about the n7 there
for me its defenitly the tn7. stylus is just awesome
So I have the tegra note 7 and I've owned other devices like both of the n7s, 10 inch tablets like transformers and galaxy note tabs.
This tablet is THE FASTEST tablet I have ever used.
Tegra Note 7 Pros
-MicroSD card slot
-Front Facing Speakers
-Stock android with a few OEM applications that are actually useful
-Pen Input
-One of the fastest SoCs out there, probably the most featured.
-instant HDR photos
-USB Digital to Analog Converters work out of the box, USB audio sounds good too.
-dedicated HDMI/miracast support
-The best value around at $199
Cons
-Front facing camera is very low resolution, like 640x480. I don't video chat much and even when I do I don't really care about these things, I'd actually prefer not to be in ULTRA HD while I've been lounging around the house unshaven. But still, 640x480 is quite low for a newer device, even if it is $199.
-Short USB cable. I really hate when OEMs get stingy over an extra 2-3 feet of cable.
-IPS displays illuminate blacks and sometimes have bad 'backlight bleeding' on the sides. I would have paid an extra hundred dollars for a display with better color balance than what IPS offers. The screen gets bright, and has good viewing angles/color balance for an IPS display, but at the end of the day it's still IPS. It fits the price of the tablet.
What can be seen as cons:
1280x800 resolution
I do not feel 220ppi is bad in any way shape or form. I can not see pixels even when I move it about 5 inches away from my face. The resolution works great on 7 inch tablets and reduces the strain on the GPU. This translates into higher FPS and a lighter GPU load, leaving a lot of computational power for the tablet to tap into when needed.
1 GB RAM
While I would prefer 2GB, I have grown used to 1GB. Here's a big misconception people make "More RAM is better". More RAM means more power draw, having high amounts of RAM can drop battery life. The way android handles RAM is to kill old processes when more memory is needed, this has worked for years with lower amounts of RAM because it means your most recent processes will always run at a higher priority.
The drawback to this, is that with resource-intensive applications open like games, you can lose old processes from days ago from memory. But I would argue that this is a good memory management scheme because it gets rid of apps you leave open for ages and forget to close, and gives more memory to your game so it doesn't lag. Now with more memory that old application would be around longer, sitting in memory, eating up energy until you close it, run out of memory, or open it again.
At the same time, some newer devices NEED more RAM. This is due to having a high resolution, on a 720p screen your UI elements may be 64x64, well on higher resolutions it goes up to 72x72, 96x96, 128x128, etc. This means that higher resolutions have higher memory requirements because their resources are larger. With a tablet like the tegra note 7, 1GB is okay for 720p resources. With a tablet like the 2013 nexus 7, it is not.
Other Thoughts
I am left handed and really love that Nvidia didn't forget about us lefties. The draw app included with the tablet has leftie optimization. I also love the placement of all the connectors, they are all on one side of the tablet. The settings app has a CPU menu where you can change from quad core mode to dual core mode and I liked that. I would have preferred to have the front facing camera in a closer location to the rear camera, so it doesn't get covered in landscape as easily.
But really, for $200?! It beats everything on the market right now, including the 2013 nexus 7. For any tablet that has a feature that edges out on the Tegra Note 7, the tegra note 7 has about 4-5 tricks the other tablets don't. I cannot complain at all for what I paid, this device will be fast for years to come once the AOSP builds come.
ahomad said:
Thanks for the detailed answer.
I just have one question since you have both the note 7 and nexus 7 (2012). Can you tell me whats better in the note 7 and whats better in the nexus 2012 as I had nexus 7 2012 and was a great device, I just want quick comparison in few lines if you don't mind.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like others have covered many points I agree with already.
Basically almost everything is better on the tegra note 7 than nexus 7 2012. Screen is debatable though.
Tegra note 7 is better ..... cpu, gpu, speakers, sd slot, pen, miracast, hdmi, back camera, Slide cover accessory.
Nexus 7 2012 is better. ... Faster software updates better grip while holding in one hand, front facing camera is better quality, battery life better than tegra note 7, can get 32gb internal storage unlike the tegra note 7, more accessories available.
Some other things.... Nexus 7 2012 although does not have miracast but can cast some apps to miracast receivers. Nexus7 2012 too has usb OTG support when used with nexus media importer app. The loud speakers on the tegra note 7 make it better as a sat nav in my experience.
Some things I don't like. ....
On the tegra note 7. .... random screen switches on. Ports have too much looseness Eg need to keep usb cable still add If you move Tablet then easily gets dislodged. Sane problem with hdmi. Both ports too close together and some cables might not fit together but other cables will fit.
On the Nexus7 2012. .. starts lagging like hell when full unlike the tegra note 7.
This is as short as I can get it.
If your want shorter then. ... Just buy the tegra note 7
Can't wait to ditch samsung note 3 to get a full specked tegra note phone if and when launched with premium features.
Great buy for £89.99 at Curry's using code but code expired now.
Everyone in here needs to realize something, there has to be a profit margin in ANY device sold. How much do you think it cost for just the bare Tegra 4 chip? I would guess $75-$100 OEM for just the chip itself and then you have roughly $99 more to build EVERYTHING else. I honestly only have 2 complaints with the TN7, 1GB of RAM and the Screen. For the cost though, I can't really say they are complaints, more just something I could point at as a short fall if asked to name some. Everything else is awesome, from sound to Tegra 4 speed.
Thanks everyone for your nice and informative answers, (there is a community for the TN7
I ordered mine and should be receiving it tomorrow. I noticed that the main issue is with both cameras which isn't important for me. What worries me is that most people aren't very happy with the screen but I guess I will have to wait and see myself. I am happy to see that the speaker and the styles are of very good quality.
I got mine from PCWORLD for 129.99£ I wish I knew about the 89.99 offer, I would have got two , anyway it is still a bargain.
I got my first Tegra Note from Aliexpress as soon as they were released, a Chinese Homecare model, the same company that manufactures all the version I hear. The problem was the tablet I got seemed to be poorly made. On day 0 I couldn't get the usb cable in. I realised most of my sockets were unaligned to the plastic case. Then there was missing Google Apps and the GPS didn't work so I needed to root and go into repair mode. After bending the USB connector up a little I could power and start work at making this tablet usable. Well within a few days I had a software bricked unit and the repair mechanisms like recovery and bootloader partitions were so limited on this model that I couldn't remedy. The moral to the story is buy local if you can.
I now have an EVGA Tegra Note and it's far better experience. The manufacturing is better and everything works bar the GPS which may come down to the satellite table being narrow.
Buyers should consider that Nvidia's Tegra Tablets are a new series using one of the fastest CPU cores around so if you want to be apart of this new cruise get onboard. It's only going to get better.
gps is non functional on this tablet, takes over half an hour to aquire a lock and looses it in 30 seconds.
slybunda said:
gps is non functional on this tablet, takes over half an hour to aquire a lock and looses it in 30 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gps works fine on mine but slightly slower with new updates. Lock was faster before. Lock is faster with Google Navigation than other apps. Mine work fine in the UK for online and off line navigation using various sat nav apps for hours of driving to unfamiliar cities. Once locked have never lost a signal since I bought in December. I have compared it with Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and nexus 7 2013 and For long journeys now mainly use tegra note 7 due to Good speakers. For short journeys I use my note 3.
Lock time is Ok with updates but was faster before. Only on 3 occasions lock took a while but rebooting device sorted it out.
Battery life is better with nexus 7 2013 and 2012 during navigation though than the tegra note 7.
Ok, I bought the Tegra and have had time to play around with it.
The USB cable it comes with fits loosely into the port. Other cables I've tried fit much better however.
The casing makes noise when I'm holding it. If my thumb is on one of the front facing speakers, iI can feel it compress slightly and its accompanied by a clicking sound. As I walk my fingers around the edge of the tablet and press down gently, I hear a slight clicking. I worry that the screen is going to come out of the plastic shell. And for this reason, I will not root this device until the warranty has expired. I should probably review the warranty sooner rather than later because I'm not sure of the details.
Overall I'm very happy with the purchase and performance of tthis tablet but I will update this post if needed.
Freeze!
I recently bought this tablet but was disappointed to find out that it froze quite often and had to be rebooted after every 15-20 minutes. The problem continues to persist even after upgrading to Android 4.3. Please help!
Arpit_Gupta said:
I recently bought this tablet but was disappointed to find out that it froze quite often and had to be rebooted after every 15-20 minutes. The problem continues to persist even after upgrading to Android 4.3. Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freezing is an issue if apps are moved to sd card improperly. This causes freezing and reboot loops and low battery in my samsung devices. Have you moved apps to sd card. If so then remove sd card and see if problems resolved. If it is Ok without sd card then start deleting the apps one by one when in your tablet. If it crashes too often the insert the card into your laptop and delete the hidden Android folder which should sort the problem if it was due to improper moving of app to sd card
bubblesmoney said:
Freezing is an issue if apps are moved to sd card improperly. This causes freezing and reboot loops and low battery in my samsung devices. Have you moved apps to sd card. If so then remove sd card and see if problems resolved. If it is Ok without sd card then start deleting the apps one by one when in your tablet. If it crashes too often the insert the card into your laptop and delete the hidden Android folder which should sort the problem if it was due to improper moving of app to sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the speedy reply. But I haven't even yet installed an sd card.. All I have done is install apps from playstore to the tablet's inbuilt memory.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Arpit_Gupta said:
Thanks for the speedy reply. But I haven't even yet installed an sd card.. All I have done is install apps from playstore to the tablet's inbuilt memory.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried a factory reset. Did it sort the problem out. After factory reset install apps one by one and wait 15 to 20 mins to see if any of the apps wad causing the issue. Can't think of anything else to suggest. If problem continues then I would get an exchange or refund if I were you.
bubblesmoney said:
Have you tried a factory reset. Did it sort the problem out. After factory reset install apps one by one and wait 15 to 20 mins to see if any of the apps wad causing the issue. Can't think of anything else to suggest. If problem continues then I would get an exchange or refund if I were you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By any chance, could there be some problem with the hardware which is causing such freezes?
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
---------- Post added at 11:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM ----------
Arpit_Gupta said:
By any chance, could there be some problem with the hardware which is causing such freezes?
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried resetting the tablet too by the way.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Categories

Resources