Related
Post your user experiences here, what you liked, disliked etc.
I'll start:
Like:
The device feels really solid and well made and has a nice finish
The device is fast, and browsing the web is more comparable to a laptop than a phone (see screenshot). Games look great on it (like Cordy, Dungeon Defenders etc)
I managed to watch iPlayer videos on it via the site in flash, including the live streams - the HD ones don't play at a good framerate though.
Honeycomb is really slick and easy to use
Sound quality is excellent
The built in office suite is great
Gripes:
Absolute fingerprint magnet
Still a few bugs, a handful of FCs, Spanish text in one ASUS tool, Chinese in another!
The bevel when holding it is a bit too wide to make using keyboards like ThumbKeyboard comfortable. With a bit of tweaking it works fine, but its less than ideal.
The weather widget truncates my town name and it looks ugly (Leamington S) an option to tweak the font size would have been nice.
A couple of the default settings provided a less than optimal out-of-box experience, but nothing that can't be fixed by experimentation.
Hate:
Charging cable is ridiculously short and proprietary so you can't replace it! This is my major gripe. When I plug the device in at night to charge on my nightstand I can't use the device in bed - in fact I had to rearrange the stand just to get it long enough to actually let me put the device on top.
Thanks for this. I'm looking forward to picking this up when it launches in Canada. It looks like a really slick device. The price is great. A shame about the bezel, but it's probably something I'll get used to fairly quickly.
I love that all of your issues are either honeycomb related or just tablet related (except the cable, I suppose) everytime I read these good and bad's I recall my Xoom and how I felt the exact same way but I wouldn't consider any of them bad. I kept that screen spotless, even though it was a fingerprint magnet, the FC's and widget issues are normal because HC is new, and when I buy something I always mess around with all of the settings.
I dont think I've read a bad thing about this tablet. There has not been a single dealbreaker!
Thanks for your review As Prof said, I'm also suuuper excited for the Canadian release.
side note: didn't mean for anything I said to sound snappy, I am just overwhelmingly amped for this tablet.
Yeah, the device is great, I suppose my only major problem with this specific device is with the charger - and that will be fixed when the accessories start rolling out. With time greatness can be achieved!
It does seem like the charge/sync cable might be annoyingly short. Why not just use a USB extension though?
bedoig said:
It does seem like the charge/sync cable might be annoyingly short. Why not just use a USB extension though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cable has an extra pin in it which extension cables do not carry. If you try to use one it just doesn't charge...
icStatic said:
The cable has an extra pin in it which extension cables do not carry. If you try to use one it just doesn't charge...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that is going to be quite annoying then. Thanks for the info.
icStatic said:
Post your user experiences here, what you liked, disliked etc.
I'll start:
Like:
The device feels really solid and well made and has a nice finish
The device is fast, and browsing the web is more comparable to a laptop than a phone (see screenshot). Games look great on it (like Cordy, Dungeon Defenders etc)
I managed to watch iPlayer videos on it via the site in flash, including the live streams - the HD ones don't play at a good framerate though.
Honeycomb is really slick and easy to use
Sound quality is excellent
The built in office suite is great
Gripes:
Absolute fingerprint magnet
Still a few bugs, a handful of FCs, Spanish text in one ASUS tool, Chinese in another!
The bevel when holding it is a bit too wide to make using keyboards like ThumbKeyboard comfortable. With a bit of tweaking it works fine, but its less than ideal.
The weather widget truncates my town name and it looks ugly (Leamington S) an option to tweak the font size would have been nice.
A couple of the default settings provided a less than optimal out-of-box experience, but nothing that can't be fixed by experimentation.
Hate:
Charging cable is ridiculously short and proprietary so you can't replace it! This is my major gripe. When I plug the device in at night to charge on my nightstand I can't use the device in bed - in fact I had to rearrange the stand just to get it long enough to actually let me put the device on top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not joking about the speed, it's faster then my dell inspiron 1300 with 1.6ghz and 1gb ram.
Move to Bath, you'll still have that bathing kudos in the title
The lead is short, it won't let me use a usb extention cable either, but i can cure this by buying another extention lead so it's not really a problem.
Will do this when i get keyboard dock.
love
- just the whole Google experience, my phone, desktop PC and tablet feel totally in harmony now. I add a bookmark on my tablet/PC and it's available on the other device. I star a destination on Google maps on the tablet and it's available on my phone when I get in the car
- certain apps optimsed for Honeycomb are awesome, especially Maps, Gmail, Newsr (Google Reader app), I also love some of the widgets, such as Gmail and Pure News.
- in terms of the device itself, find it light, nice colour (copper), excellent battery life, and great that Asus have enabled the micro SD slot. Also appreciate that they have included a screenshot function on the device.
- really like the system of notification, a touch of Android together with a touch of Windows but unobtrusive at the same time.
- overall, like the control I have with this tablet. With the Ipad I was constantly running up against problems as I tried to get pictures/files either on or off the device. With Honeycomb there are so many ways to get your stuff on and off (bluetooth, USB, dropbox, file transfer). I don't mind the steeper learning curve of the OS if it means I decide what I do with my content.
Dislikes
- while I love aspects of the browser, I also find it quite laggy in places. Certain websites seem to bring it to its knees, ironically the worst culprit for me is the homepage of Xda forums! Trying to scroll down that page is an exercise in frustration.
- some of the widgets are a bit flaky (eg Gmail), often failing to refresh and update.
- the tablet Market app is really poor. We don't seem to have the same version as the US, no special section for tablet optimsed apps, no Google books section; I also find that installing new apps can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes I press 'install and often the process doesn't complete and I have to go back and do it again.
Overall though, the plusses outweigh the minusses and I've got to hand it to Asus for getting this tablet out quickly and at such a reasonable price. I would find it difficult to go back to the Ipad after a taste of what's possible with Honeycomb. Yes, it still is a bit unfinished, a bit buggy in places but it will only get better with updates and it feels like an OS for grown-ups. I know the Ipad is touted as the tablet that young kids and grandmas can pick up and use, but I belong to neither of those groups and I'm willing to put up with some mildly confusing UI elements if it means I have complete control over my content.
Thanks for the reviews guys!, keep em coming.
I am living the experience through you guys
Is it end of april yet?
Can you try this and let me know if it works?
-Try attaching two headphones/earphones in docked mode (1 in dock and 1 in tablet), do they both work simultaneously?
-Is the Mynet application seeing your DLNA device consistently
-Are you able to stream movies (esp. 720p/1080p) off your DLNA device onto your tablet?
-connect to tv via mini HDMI while in docked mode works right?
-pinch and zooming on dock's trackpad works?
-how much memory (not storage) is available to apps? I am reading on certain websites they list 1GB/512MB RAM, is only 512MB available for apps?
Thanks in advance,
KG
kgdg said:
Thanks for the reviews guys!, keep em coming.
I am living the experience through you guys
Is it end of april yet?
Can you try this and let me know if it works?
-Try attaching two headphones/earphones in docked mode (1 in dock and 1 in tablet), do they both work simultaneously?
-Is the Mynet application seeing your DLNA device consistently
-Are you able to stream movies (esp. 720p/1080p) off your DLNA device onto your tablet?
-connect to tv via mini HDMI while in docked mode works right?
-pinch and zooming on dock's trackpad works?
-how much memory (not storage) is available to apps? I am reading on certain websites they list 1GB/512MB RAM, is only 512MB available for apps?
Thanks in advance,
KG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately no one has the dock yet, it seems that Asus are having some supply issues and only the tablet is available to buy at the moment. So, can't really answer most of your questions, sorry.
The only one I can answer is about the apps. You can use all of the internal storage for apps, so in theory you have about 14GB free for apps..so plenty of space
dreadnought001 said:
Unfortunately no one has the dock yet, it seems that Asus are having some supply issues and only the tablet is available to buy at the moment. So, can't really answer most of your questions, sorry.
The only one I can answer is about the apps. You can use all of the internal storage for apps, so in theory you have about 14GB free for apps..so plenty of space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, I keep forgetting the dock isn't out yet...
As for apps, I was asking about memory, not storage..
Some more questions, I read on modaco forums about these issues, did you guys run into these as well:
-It cannot handle an episode of Prison Break in 720p for example, without a lot of stutter and out of sync voice. And when I tried a lower resolution video file, it works but again its not smooth (480p). I tried RockPlayer, mVideoPlayer and QQPlayer (which was the best by far, but still not great). Im really waiting for a decent Video player app to come out, something which will take advantage of the processing power inside these new devices! Hopefully VLC will have it up and running soon smile.gif
-An app will not solve this.
Rockplayer, QQplayer uses the CPU to decode, it will _always_ be slow and jerky on HD content
-The Tegra 2 SOC is capable of playing main profile h.264 at 1080p (with caveats), high profile at 720p.
Froyo running on Tegra2 could handle 1080p in baseline profile under the older harmony drivers, It _seems_ like the Nvidia honeycomb binaries are even less capable and content that plays on my tegra2 Vega now stutters on my transformer. Hopefully this (1080p baseline) will be fixed with a firmware update (The harmony platform has been abandoned by Nvidia, the transformer is based on the newer Ventana platform)
Is the above really true? That kills the whole purpose of a tablet in my mind.
Also, another troubling issue:
-little bit worried about the HDMI out. It appears to only do 720p. Whereas the cheaper Vega did 1080p when playing video. The transformer seems to do 720p by "voiding" the bottom 80 pixels. On the screen they still make up the button bar, it just gets a little taller.
If this is true, it will be the final nail in the coffin, i will wait until Tegra3..
kgdg said:
If this is true, it will be the final nail in the coffin, i will wait until Tegra3..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologize if this is thread-jacking but is there any word on when Tegra3 will be released? At this point the best approximation would probably be in terms of quarters, like Q4 2011. Not sure if I can wait that long.
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but.......
If the charging cable is that short, and you want to use it while charging in bed.......
What is the problem with using a short extension cord, say a 6 ft..??
I know this isn't optimal, or preferred, for that matter, but that doesn't seem to be THAT big of a deal......a little inconvenient maybe, but not horrible......
Now, I can see where this isn't the best length for being connected to a computer to transfer files, but workable......and from what I am reading, charging from the laptop isn't great to begin with......
Am I under the wrong impression..??
JoeJags said:
What is the problem with using a short extension cord, say a 6 ft..??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing myself. As technology progresses, I fear that some folks forget about the simple things--like extending the reach of the AC adapter if one can't extend the reach of the charging cable itself.
Reminds me of a time when I was watching a friend eating cookies and milk. He was eating around the edges of the cookies very meticulously, and I asked him, "Why are you doing that?"
He said, "So that they fit in the glass and I can dip them in the milk."
I thought for a moment and then asked, "Why don't you just break them in half?"
Has anyone noticed that the speaker placement is a bit low on the frame and can be easily covered up with your hands? That is to say if you are gripping the tablet with both hands (tablet in landscape mode) on the bottom do your hands cover the speaker ports/grill? If this is the case, do you find it annoying or a down side?
JoeJags said:
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but.......
If the charging cable is that short, and you want to use it while charging in bed.......
What is the problem with using a short extension cord, say a 6 ft..??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main problem is that the charging cable is barely long enough for me to put the device on top of the nightstand and have the extension cord just below out of sight. I could use the extension cord, but I would have to keep moving the extension cord so I don't trip over it etc.
At work I can't even reach the socket from my desk - all the plugs are either behind the monitors or under the desk and the charging cable will reach neither. All it needs is another 60cm or so really and both problems would be solved! What's really irritating is that it's such a simple thing...
While sorting out my keyboard dock I mentioned it to one of the ASUS reps, and my feedback on it has been fed back to the product manager.
Look at it this way, if the only thing I have to gripe about is the charging cable, consider it a good sign.
yoda715 said:
Has anyone noticed that the speaker placement is a bit low on the frame and can be easily covered up with your hands? That is to say if you are gripping the tablet with both hands (tablet in landscape mode) on the bottom do your hands cover the speaker ports/grill? If this is the case, do you find it annoying or a down side?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are right, the grilles are exactly where your hands will go, but I don't really think it's a problem. If you grip really tightly around it you lose the high frequency treble a bit, but you'll only get this when you are typing. When you are just holding it I doubt you can tell the difference. And if you do, just flip the device 180 degrees and hold it upside down! (The screen auto rotates)
icStatic said:
Yes you are right, the grilles are exactly where your hands will go, but I don't really think it's a problem. If you grip really tightly around it you lose the high frequency treble a bit, but you'll only get this when you are typing. When you are just holding it I doubt you can tell the difference. And if you do, just flip the device 180 degrees and hold it upside down! (The screen auto rotates)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, I realized that the speaker placement may be a problem when I was playing SpeedX on my Xoom, since I play in landscape mode and hold the Xoom at the bottom with both hands.
How long does it take to get it fully charged?
Seriously, I love this phone. I got it 2 days ago and i can't take my hands off it.
I'm 32 years old (yea yea getting old now), and was brought up on computer games. This phone makes me remember just how good the old megadrive/genesis/snes games were compared to the (mostly) crappy indie games that we see these days. I've fondly been playing Sonic, Mario, Super Star Wars, Streets of Rage and a whole host of others flawlessly on this little beauty. It's an emulation dream come true.
The N64 emulator lags a little bit for me, but mostly it's just occasional sound skipping, it is certainly still more than playable, although the control mapping could be a little bit easier. I'm hoping a MAME emulator will be released that supports all the old mame games and not just the capcom games. (Anyone can tell me if there is one already or one coming out?)
Some fears i had for the phone before i purchased were these -
- Worried it would be too bulky
- Worried about the screen auto dim feature and not being able to turn it off
- Worried about the battery life
- Worried about the hardware being outdated before it even hit the shelves
- Well, the phone is bulkier than alot of other phones, but it is still slim enough to easily slip in and out your pocket. I didn't look at the phone before i ordered it, i just jumped in and ordered it off the net and hope it was what i wanted (or i could send it back within 7 days to get a refund). Overall i am very happy with the size of the phone. I certainly don't feel like an idiot getting it out my pocket, it looks very cool.
- The auto brightness on the screen is not all that bad. I got annoyed at first, not being able to turn the phone on max brightness, but after a few minutes my eyes got used to it and i hardly notice it anymore. It must serve a good purpose because the battery lasts a long time. I think that an official patch is definately needed though, not giving people an option to turn off auto brightness is disastrous. Saying that, more than likely i would leave auto brightness turned on, it does save battery and it is implemented excellently imho.
- Battery life is amazing. I got through 12-14 hours of gaming, browsing, and general usage + a full night withought charge on standby and when i woke up it had 7% battery life left. You can not go through 2 days with this phone though, so still you will have to charge it every night, but you can guarantee a full, proper day usage out of it without too much worries about the battery dieing.
- Hardware is a bit meh. On one hand the phone runs super smooth. And FPSE plays PS1 games super smooth, no slowdown at all. The N64 as i mentioned has a few sound skips. So the hardware does exaclty what it was designed to do. This is where it stops though. There will be no PS2 emulation, no dreamcast emulation, no xbox1 emulation. Not until the next handset gets released. This is the limits of this phones power.
Overall i think this is the best phone made to date. I don't care it hasn't got 1080p recording, i don't care the camera is only 5 megapixel. This phone owns and is easily the best phone i have ever owned to date.
Roll on the Xperia Play 2. I am now a branded fan.
edit - Just thought i would say that my phone came with a 16gb Micro SD card, 2 screen protectors (1 of them already put on flawlessly, no air bubbles or dust underneath at all, 1 spare). I have heard people only getting 8gb cards and no screen protectors, but this did not happen with my order.
i mostly agree with you, this is the best phone i have had and i have owned a G1, motorola dext, motorola milestone and a HTC HD2, i would only recommend the HD2 out of these and even then, only after installing android (unless your into windows)
the thing is, i no some people dont value proper gaming as much as me or others so they think this device is not needed but im glad we dont all feel the same way
what im really hoping for this device is, for it to be popular enough so that other manufacturers (or even sony) make a similar device, hopefully with dual or even quad core in mind, add 1GB ram and dreamcast/PS2 emulation is a possibility
but for right now? the play is excellent considering its the first of its kind
agree with most of what you say. but yes hardware is a bit meh.
could have done with better implementation on shoulder buttons and i still think they coud've stuck in an L2/R2 somewhere
overall, the best android phone i ever had was hands down the galaxy S. ****ing beatiful, screen, performance (with custom rom and lagfix!), etc.
but as a gaming phone, this is THE best, despite it's lackluster hardware, it has hardware controls, which, IMO, makes up for all its shortcomings!
L2 and R2 buttons.....
Yeah, i guess they could be put next to each other so that it doesn't increase the thickness of the phone.
So it would look like this -
_______________________________
(L1....L2..............................R2....R1)
_______________________________
Still, FPSE allows you to put L2 and R2 at the bottom left and right of the screen. They are easy enough to get to with your thumbs, so it's no big deal tbh.
usually not a big deal, but when you have to use simultaneous button presses, i.e. press R2 and X together, can become tricky.
Sony * Rule * Got mine Today
Hi peeps,
Got mine today, excellent phone love the Ginerbread.
a few issues so far but no problem.
Love this phone, looks so stylish and plays excellent.
TapperOUT!
Im in the same camp as you mate, same age and gaming experience and I agree 100%
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
johnsongrantr said:
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just wanted to say i read your review and it was pretty good, i was interested in pandora at first but because of how long it took to release i completely forgot about it, although looking at it now, i totally envy the keyboard except the D pad and triggers, having gaming controls AND a qwerty keyboard is just excellent, sony should consider this with the xperia play 2 or what ever manufacturer decides to make a PS certified phone, if extra bulk was needed i could certainly live with it
that said, the keyboard is the only thing i would take from pandora, in my opinion the play beats it in every other area except screen size but then thats balanced with capacitive vs resistive
EDIT - forgot to check the pandora website to see how much it costs.....wow, 440 euro is alot, i was expecting a little over half that, just for comparisons sake i bought my play , sim free for £400 a few days after release, considering the play has more useful features (in my opinion) 3G, android OS and its market, phone functions etc....im surprised it cost so much
I agree here !
I am 27 and also brought up with retro games it's so nice able to play my games again from my childhood.
The device lays good in your hand indeed the as for the brightness well it's fine although my xperia x10 with lowest brightness on is still readable and not with my xperia play but even cranked up at highest brightness the battery still remains exellent thought it would drain like hell like my x10 does but it doesn't !
Glad I got rid of my omnia with win mobile and now have 2 nice xperia devices !
Android is the OS I am currently hooked on never was to happy with my omnia due winmobile but the phone was hyped in my country and it was the biggest mistake I made.
Hardware wise yea there are already dualcore devices and tegra2 gpu powered
as for the emulators of xbox , ps2 , dreamcast & gamecube
I don't think we will see them in the next year or so
but then again there is a developer working to get a dreamcast emu working and progress is already nice I think it's a matter of time we will see
as for my order I recieved a stock screenprotector already on screen , extra screen protector ( they are very scratch resistant my x10 didn't have such a good screenprotector had to take the factory applied on off and apply a newly bought screen protector ) Wall charger , car charger , leather poach & 8gb SD card which I recently upgraded to 32gb
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
baaa3 said:
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
silvacrest said:
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know how the sales are going in Europe of this device?
If sales were crazy, like on the iphone, then probably we will have more joypad versions, if not, then this will be like the Nokia Ngage... how many years have passed from that phone to this one? i dont remember well, but at least 6 o 7...
So basically, we will have to wait until the phone gets released worldwide and see how the numbers go to SE.
Probably on the next version i will expect an exclusive suite and not an android suite that all phones can play with. Because if we have something exclusive, then we will have a game that will be made for this controls. (from what i heard, the PS Suite will be available on android market for all high end devices)
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
FrAsErTaG said:
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
dsswoosh said:
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
FrAsErTaG said:
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, to me it also seems nearly impossible to turn the device off while gaming
must agree, has never happened to me also
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
FrAsErTaG said:
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or maybe you guys just have chubby sausage fingers?
First of all, Very and Leap- you two rock something fierce!
I did a review before of the HD+ with 2.1. I gave it a good review, but three things slowly eroded my opinion after time and I returned it.
1- Intermittent stutter that seemed to correlate with on the fly data loads and library sync. This stood out with games.
2- Games loading slow and some REAL sloooooow
3- Accumulative lag. Over a few days, the device got real slow and cache cleaning and restarts were hit and miss to fix it.
Best Buy had it on sale for $20 less this time ($180), so based on folks opinion of CM 10.1, I thought I would test it out again- due to the price and sweet display.
Where 2.1 was a big improvement over 2.0, the improvement from 2.1 to CM 10.1 is fluken' huge!
1- The intermittent stutter is gone along with library sync is gone.
2- Games load a LOT faster. I would not have thought the stock rom would be what was slowing it down, but I tested fresh installs two times with the same sloooow results with 2.1.
3- So far, the accumulated lag has not showed up.
4- Overall device is faster
I also added the "full screen" app to get rid of the navigation bar when I want. More just to test it out, but nice to have an iPad like full display view
Jeepers, it is wild how it is so easy to flash the device with 10.1 and equally wild to have the results of 10.1 with this hardware for the price. Superb so far
Of course, with anything in life comes the negatives:
1- exFAT worked with 2.1, but does not with CM 10.1. I had to transfer, format and recopy back to the sd card with FAT32. I wish there was a simple install fix using the boot card like the unknown sources fix for stock 2.1.
2- Buggy Blitz does not work. I love that game Ditto for Shine Runner. Same company.
3- I have had one instance so far where the device had charged and there was a flashing green light. The device would not wake up with neither home or power button. I had to hold the power down for a while and repeat that a few times. It would get stuck on the spinning boot-up ring. It would freeze up after after "several" seconds. Seems to be working now, but this never happened with stock 2.1 and used the device for a month. Fluke?
4- Quake 3 keeps expecting to see "sdcard" rather than "sdcard0". Touch Quake 1, 2 and Quake Arena mods work fine though. These are examples of games that loaded SLOW with stock 2.1, but are near instant with CM 10.1.
5- The CM 10.1 launcher was jittery and slow. I tried to get used to it, but went back to Nova, which is smooth and fast.
Folks, Nook HD+ plus CM 10.1 equals insane value for the price!
rushless said:
1- exFAT worked with 2.1, but does not with CM 10.1. I had to transfer, format and recopy back to the sd card with FAT32. I wish there was a simple install fix using the boot card like the unknown sources fix for stock 2.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's 3rd party zip you can flash that restores it somewhat..
I also plan to look into this eventually and use texera fat module from the stock rom.
2- Buggy Blitz does not work. I love that game
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That seems to be their bug related to new sgx drivers. Same crash happens on Kindle fire, for example. Nothing I can presently do about it.
3- I have had one instance so far where the device had charged and there was a flashing green light. The device would not wake up with neither home or power button. I had to hold the power down for a while and repeat that a few times. It would get stuck on the spinning boot-up ring. It would freeze up after after "several" seconds. Seems to be working now, but this never happened with stock 2.1 and used the device for a month. Fluke?
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Not sore about not waking up - never saw that. But rare boot problems will be fixed in next release. (esp. those that produce garbage on screen).
Folks, Nook HD+ plus CM 10.1 equals insane value for the price!
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Still no camera, so it cannot serve as full TP replacement
No problem on the games not working, since works on my Excite 7.7 and S3!
Exfat and NTFS would be nice, down the road!
Thanks!
I think B&N could have done much better with this hardware if they hired someone like verygreen in the first place...
I still don't think this is a very good gaming device, though, especially for 3D.
But the screen is amazing and got me really spoiled. Now I look at Nexus 7 and feel the display is too cheap and low in quality. Comparing it with the TP in my opinion is a bit of an apple to orange comparison as it is mainly a media consumption device while TP's display quality is even worse than Nexus 7.
Someone was complaining the Nook being slow and laggy vs a $499 Galaxy Note 10.1 with 2GB ram, quad core and much lower resolution. That is just unfair. But I guess people are entitled to their opinions.
Honestly I would not have bought this without seeing the CM10 and CM10.1 ports in progress. B&N really owes verygreen a commission. I like this combo so much that I hardly touch my Nexus 7 now.
BTW, donation sent.
View92612 said:
Comparing it with the TP in my opinion is a bit of an apple to orange comparison as it is mainly a media consumption device while TP's display quality is even worse than Nexus 7.
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While I somewhat agree here, in reality I distributed Touchpads to my relative and they use them for things like Skype.
Nook, having no camera, cannot replace them and would be useless for such purposes.
I agree that the Nook has deficiencies (proprietary ports are a downer). When it comes to cheap toys we pick our poison, eg Nexus w/ no SD slot. If I want a cam or HDMI, there are a flood of cheap 7" tabs that have both, but none of them has a really great 1080p screen in an IMO perfect size and weight for one-handed use. I don't see any tablet with comparable display quality under $400.
Display quality aside, as a reader my preference is for a 4:3 aspect, since I use the tab mostly in portrait mode. But outside of the iPads, most Android tabs hewed to 16:10, which makes the display smaller than their diagonal size would indicate. The HD+ is the only one to eschew the norm in going with 3:2. That's actually better than 4:3, because the present Android UI takes off a couple slices at top and bottom, so the remaining space comes out pretty close to 4:3.
Using the dpi calculator here,
http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html
The 9" HD+ screen has a portrait width of 4.99". The 8.9" KF HD's is 4.72", or 0.27" smaller and not just 0.1" shorter diagonal. For tablet display size, every fraction of an inch is a big deal when you're squeezing a whole web page into portrait.
Some other display portrait widths, which I view as the tablet's true size measurement:
Code:
iPad Mini 4.71"
Nexus 7 3.71"
Galaxy Note 8 4.24"
Nexus 10 5.3"
iPad 5.82"
Oh yeah, e.mote: Thanks for the "dummies" thread!
True on the lack of camera, but I got it for books, comics (more than books) and games (mainly emulators). There are a few games that my Excite 7.7 plays smoother, but most play the same and game emulators like MAME and N64 are faster on the Nook HD+. Also, CM 10.1 closed the gap on the 3D games that are smoother on the Excite 7.7. GTA is a good example. It plays smooth now, where with 2.1, it did not. Asphalt 7 though is an example that plays smoother on the Excite. Asphalt 7 though is now very playable on the Nook HD+. The TF700 also struggles with some 3D games, BTW.
For game emulators. this thing rocks. $180 for a great display and plays emulators better than any other Android I have used- including the S4 and its quad Qualcomm. Bluetooth game pads work fine and no response lag noted so far and fits the iCade
Sad that we get the stock firmware we get when folks here do a better job for user experience. I appreciate the Nook was designed to be mainly a reader, but their premise was also part of their undoing and the convention of poor stock firmware goes way beyond the Nook.
>Thanks for the "dummies" thread!
I actually wrote that for myself, since I have a stack of HD+'s here that I'm retrofitting to pass along to the family. Credit where it is due, it's all a rehash of what leapinlar has written, but just a bit more digestible. And of course to verygreen that made this all possible.
Glad to hear Nook is good for games. I'm not a gamer, but other peeps in the household would be appreciative. Any good guides for emulators you can point to? How about some strategy/tactical games? I liked Call of Cthulhu and Rebuild.
BTW, little known factoid: The Nook's serial # is printed on the inside of the SD slot's rubber flap. I found that out when returning a HD+ for uneven backlighting.
>I appreciate the Nook was designed to be mainly a reader, but their premise was also part of their undoing and the convention of poor stock firmware goes way beyond the Nook.
I view it as a good-thing-bad-thing situation. If B&N had made a great Android tab, it wouldn't be holding a firesale to clear out the Nooks, and we wouldn't be here yakking away. So yes, I'm kinda glad the HD's didn't sell well (until now).
Very ironic.
As far as emulator guides, there is a very good one over at Phandroid forums. It is in the Android game forum.
This tablet is an old school gaming, comic reading, web and Flash slinging bargain.
rushless said:
Very ironic.
As far as emulator guides, there is a very good one over at Phandroid forums. It is in the Android game forum.
This tablet is an old school gaming, comic reading, web and Flash slinging bargain.
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Totally agree. What controller do you use for the emu, though?
I found it extremely difficult to trigger complex moves (in games that require those) using just touch control..... I'm sure it would not be an issue for games that do not require those.
I use a generic Android controller from Gamestop, two Nyko Android pads and iCade. All work fine.
I found another game that worked with 2.1 but not with CM. NBA 2013. Another of my favorites. What are the odds of that? It loads to the point of showing the team logos at start up and then crashes.
Also, most games like NFSMW that took a long time to load up with 2 .1 now load fast like other tablets. The only exception found so far is Asphalt 7. It still loads crazy slow. About two minutes or more per track. Should take about ten seconds. The London level just took over two minutes. Almost three.
The game plays good though. Much smoother (no stutter) than 2.1, but that is the case for all games so far. Odd how Asphalt 7 seems the only slow load hold out. I have tested a ton. A7 appears to be an anomaly.
CM 10.1 BTW also confirms to me the main stutter was not the gpu, but the stock rom. As per Anandtech, the 4470 is still a capable chipset.
I also compared A7 on the GS3. They appear to play very similarly as far as smoothness. GS3 might be a tad smoother, but does not stand out. The GS3 plays all of my games smooth, but the Nook smacks it down as far as MAME. 4470 appears to be a great emulator chipset.
I figured out why a few games do not work. Quake 3 need the files on the SD card and looks like NBA 2013 is trying to run the game from there too. It installs to internal, but installs a directory also in the SD with no files. I am going to move it to the SD and see what happens.
Update. Looks like ports like Quake 3 work fine, but commercial games do not work when moving the files.
Been looking a the Shield for the last few days and haven't pulled the trigger yet. I have a Droid DNA and Moga controller, so I am not sure if its worth it on the Android side of the Shield. And then my main gaming PC is a laptop with a 750M GPU (kepler) and I don't want to get stuck with the mobile GPUs not being supported. So I am wondering if it is worth it for just he Android games (given I have a phone/controller already) or uif I should gamble that I would be able to stream PC games in the future?
Character Zero said:
Been looking a the Shield for the last few days and haven't pulled the trigger yet. I have a Droid DNA and Moga controller, so I am not sure if its worth it on the Android side of the Shield. And then my main gaming PC is a laptop with a 750M GPU (kepler) and I don't want to get stuck with the mobile GPUs not being supported. So I am wondering if it is worth it for just he Android games (given I have a phone/controller already) or uif I should gamble that I would be able to stream PC games in the future?
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Personally I would wait. I bought it for both, but unless emulators of old games will endlessly occupy you, PC streaming is the star of the show (even though I'm having system requirement issues and haven't tried it yet).
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Yeah that's what I am afraid of. Its a lot of money to spend to not know if I will be able to take full advantage of it (outside of building a PC).
Character Zero said:
Yeah that's what I am afraid of. Its a lot of money to spend to not know if I will be able to take full advantage of it (outside of building a PC).
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There are some other reasons just besides gaming device to buy this.
If you watch a lot of Netflix the Shield is worth it. You can prop up the screen, and watch videos without having to hold up a tablet. The miniHDMI makes it easy to plug the Shield into the TV and use apps like XDA. It could be used as a mobile home theater device. It's even great as a portable boombox because of the loud speakers.
In addition my PC streaming problem is processor specific.... My processor exceeds the requirements by almost twice what they say (I have two Xeon processors).
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Character Zero said:
Been looking a the Shield for the last few days and haven't pulled the trigger yet. I have a Droid DNA and Moga controller, so I am not sure if its worth it on the Android side of the Shield. And then my main gaming PC is a laptop with a 750M GPU (kepler) and I don't want to get stuck with the mobile GPUs not being supported. So I am wondering if it is worth it for just he Android games (given I have a phone/controller already) or uif I should gamble that I would be able to stream PC games in the future?
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I have a SGS3 and a GameKlip. So I kind of under stand where you are coming from.
IMO the shield is a premium device. Its like my SGS3/Gameklip is Folger's coffee and the shield is fresh ground Starbucks.
The controller. The speakers. The huge battery. Its all top notch stuff that may be overkill in most ppls mind but if you really enjoy gaming it might be for you. The PC streaming for me is a bonus. I may build a PC to get streaming set up on but its not a priority.
Mostly for me this thing was bought for emulation of old consoles, android gaming and as a media player for around the house (using to play Pandora around the house IS NICE). Sure my phone will do all that. But the shield will do it all so much better.
s0me guy said:
I have a SGS3 and a GameKlip. So I kind of under stand where you are coming from.
IMO the shield is a premium device. Its like my SGS3/Gameklip is Folger's coffee and the shield is fresh ground Starbucks.
The controller. The speakers. The huge battery. Its all top notch stuff that may be overkill in most ppls mind but if you really enjoy gaming it might be for you. The PC streaming for me is a bonus. I may build a PC to get streaming set up on but its not a priority.
Mostly for me this thing was bought for emulation of old consoles, android gaming and as a media player for around the house (using to play Pandora around the house IS NICE). Sure my phone will do all that. But the shield will do it all so much better.
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You make a good point about the media player aspect. I have a Vita and a 3DS along with all the consoles that I just have no time to play. I am kind of crazy with game consoles, but not sure if I need another one.
Character Zero said:
You make a good point about the media player aspect. I have a Vita and a 3DS along with all the consoles that I just have no time to play. I am kind of crazy with game consoles, but not sure if I need another one.
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Lol. you sound a bit like me.
I literally just bought a brand new in sealed box Nintendo DSlite to play slot 1 & 2 flash carts with. Then I buy this thing. To be honest every other console I own is about to get neglected for the foreseeable future. My phone is also starting to get neglected too. Browsing the web is much more fun with shield than my S3. Still not as good as my laptop but the using the anolog sticks and triggers make for a pretty nice way to navigate the web browser.
Posting this fro shield too FYI.
I've definitely enjoyed my Shield. Originally, I was planning to use it mainly for media consumption, but then I downloaded GTA III of the Play Store and it was on. I've spent hours playing GTA just messing around with the cops and driving around.
It still is a good media consumption device too. I can sit it down and watch it, or hold it up while keeping my hands comfortable by adjusting the screen. Once you get the hang of the little analog stick clicking and flicking to pull down menus, scroll, etc. it's pretty great.
The WiFi implementation is superb. It peaks at 300 Mbps on 5 GHz (full 2x2:2 802.11n). The speakers are very loud. I can usually keep my volume set at about 30% when using the device in my house.
The only drawback is that it's pretty heavy. It doesn't really bother me because I'm usually resting my arms on something when I use it, but if you're expecting the weight of a 3DS or Vita, you're going to be disappointed.
cgutman said:
I've definitely enjoyed my Shield. Originally, I was planning to use it mainly for media consumption, but then I downloaded GTA III of the Play Store and it was on. I've spent hours playing GTA just messing around with the cops and driving around.
It still is a good media consumption device too. I can sit it down and watch it, or hold it up while keeping my hands comfortable by adjusting the screen. Once you get the hang of the little analog stick clicking and flicking to pull down menus, scroll, etc. it's pretty great.
The WiFi implementation is superb. It peaks at 300 Mbps on 5 GHz (full 2x2:2 802.11n). The speakers are very loud. I can usually keep my volume set at about 30% when using the device in my house.
The only drawback is that it's pretty heavy. It doesn't really bother me because I'm usually resting my arms on something when I use it, but if you're expecting the weight of a 3DS or Vita, you're going to be disappointed.
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Speaking of the weight, based on the thread title, I was going to respond: It is 1.5 pounds- You can dooo iiiitt!
I am tempted to get this, but might wait for a price drop to $250.... I wish Best Buy stocked these puppies to try out in store.
rushless said:
Speaking of the weight, based on the thread title, I was going to respond: It is 1.5 pounds- You can dooo iiiitt!
I am tempted to get this, but might wait for a price drop to $250.... I wish Best Buy stocked these puppies to try out in store.
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If you are lucky enough to have a Microcenter near you I believe they have them on display top try out. They did before launch anyway.
Unfortunately no Microcenter and no Gamestop with display for me. But all of the reviews are raving, I can't seem to find one bad review. Except the game streaming is a huge part of the glowing reviews, and since I have a laptop (with a Kepler GPU, so capable) I don't know if I want to gamble on being able to stream down the line. I do like the idea of a Dedicated Android hand held. Using a Moga with my phone just doesn't seem right, plus it kills battery.
Character Zero said:
Unfortunately no Microcenter and no Gamestop with display for me. But all of the reviews are raving, I can't seem to find one bad review. Except the game streaming is a huge part of the glowing reviews, and since I have a laptop (with a Kepler GPU, so capable) I don't know if I want to gamble on being able to stream down the line. I do like the idea of a Dedicated Android hand held. Using a Moga with my phone just doesn't seem right, plus it kills battery.
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The Austin area has one at GameStop (as well as me having one)
Made the impulse purchase this morning. Newegg had the case in stock and had a bundle with the shield, case, faceplate, and HDMI cable for 347. Not a bad deal since I wanted the case anyway. Looking forward to using it when mobile GPUs are supported but for now I have some Android games I can't wait to play.
Check out Ebay guys, I just got the cheapest one posted thusfar (you can see all the old auctions by looking at the completed listings in the filters), an in-box shield in great shape which is already in the post for 250 flat, including shipping, and it has the receipt and hasn't had the warranty registered yet.
You may get lucky like me and find one that someone wants gone fast.
I thought about getting one of these things once. I was gonna beat the crap out of someone and take it so I could put it on eBay. ^_^
I am still waiting to get one problem is we need to pay about £55 custom fees to have it shipped to uk.
i have the first Moga controller + S3/S4. Also pair PS Dual Shock controller + S3.
Moga controller pairing is a nightmare.
With an additional controller, it always take time to setup the phone to play, with Shield you just need to open screen and play.
I can say Shield is definitely a much better experience IMO
The emulator runs great, no lag in controls (especially Mario)
I can finally play Dead Trigger with proper controls (weapon selection need a bit of tweak)
Also trying some of the Shield compatible games and was quite satisfied.
And i didn't even consider about the PC streaming feature.
Btw i have 3DS XL and Vita as well
xtrememorph said:
i have the first Moga controller + S3/S4. Also pair PS Dual Shock controller + S3.
Moga controller pairing is a nightmare.
With an additional controller, it always take time to setup the phone to play, with Shield you just need to open screen and play.
I can say Shield is definitely a much better experience IMO
The emulator runs great, no lag in controls (especially Mario)
I can finally play Dead Trigger with proper controls (weapon selection need a bit of tweak)
Also trying some of the Shield compatible games and was quite satisfied.
And i didn't even consider about the PC streaming feature.
Btw i have 3DS XL and Vita as well
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I have to agree, I never once wanted this for pc streaming. Got it for emulation. Not sure if i like it more than my 3DS but definitely better than my vita. I love mine but their are still people that wont like it because of looks or because it's because it's basically a phone/tablet and controller. I can't think of one thing negative about it. Best emulators in my opinion are DraStic and m64/Super N64 (anything but mupen) My Boy! and Retroarch. Also as far as android games go I like me some Shadow gun dead zone. Needs more levels though. Also I hope an update comes out soon to use the shield controller or emulate the touch screen controls with non-shield optimized games (Minecraft PE, Call of duty Zombies etc.)
I was worried about getting the shield at first aswell.... out of all my retro and new consoles it has been my goto console for the last month.... it me made respect android gaming, there are some really fun console quality games on the play and shield store plus more to come.... can't wait for Dead Trigger 2 to release.
I can emulate my entire retro console library, it has a beautiful retinal screen plus I use miracast adapter to game on my smart tv wirelessly. Plus I use Onlive to stream AAA PC titles..... the shield is a gaming beast.... as of right now it is also my mediahub for music and movies .... since my tv is connected to my sound system.... I sort of use it as my media remote control.... on top of all that it PORTABLE... no handheld right now packs as much power that can be carried around anywhere you go.
Don't think twice just get one, I promise you wont be disappointed.
james.wilder said:
I was worried about getting the shield at first aswell.... out of all my retro and new consoles it has been my goto console for the last month.... it me made respect android gaming, there are some really fun console quality games on the play and shield store plus more to come.... can't wait for Dead Trigger 2 to release.
I can emulate my entire retro console library, it has a beautiful retinal screen plus I use miracast adapter to game on my smart tv wirelessly. Plus I use Onlive to stream AAA PC titles..... the shield is a gaming beast.... as of right now it is also my mediahub for music and movies .... since my tv is connected to my sound system.... I sort of use it as my media remote control.... on top of all that it PORTABLE... no handheld right now packs as much power that can be carried around anywhere you go.
Don't think twice just get one, I promise you wont be disappointed.
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What hardware do you use for miracast i want to do something like that wirelessly
Hello just thinking about getting one of these to game primarily. I think I heard the 4.3 update allows you to move large games to the external SD card. Is this true and how well does it work? Are there any limitations? I'm referring to large games like Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat series. Thanks!
Also does anyone use the Moga Pro with their Note? I have one and it works great on my phone not sure if it would fit this large of a screen though.
I've had no issues moving apps to SD, including huge ones like Asphalt 8. As for the Moga Pro, I have one, and it works just fine, though if by "fit" you mean physically fit in the clamp, no, it's way too large for that. Luckily your Moga Pro should have come with a tablet stand, or at least mine did.
rchrdcrg said:
I've had no issues moving apps to SD, including huge ones like Asphalt 8. As for the Moga Pro, I have one, and it works just fine, though if by "fit" you mean physically fit in the clamp, no, it's way too large for that. Luckily your Moga Pro should have come with a tablet stand, or at least mine did.
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Okay thanks for the reply! Yeah my moga came with the nice stand. How is gaming on it through HDMI with the moga?
There's no Console Mode yet, so it just simply mirrors the 720p output of the tablet's screen, and since the tablet is actually 1280x800 and not 1280x720, there are small black bars on the left and right, and for some reason the top and bottom are slightly cut off on my TV. Even with those little issues, it basically works like you're playing a console, and unlike other Android devices I've hooked up via HDMI, there's absolutely no slowdown and very close to no lag... it's easily the best HDMI-out experience I've had yet with Android. Once Console Mode is implemented (it had better be with the 4.4 update!), games should be able to output at 1080p and will hopefully fit the screen a little better. For the record, if you watch a 1080p video, it'll switch the output to 1080p, but it only happens in that one instance for right now.
Awesome! I've been playing games like asphalt 8 on my 4.5" phone screen and it's kinda getting a little annoying how small details are. Sounds like Nvidia is supporting their product with updates pretty well. When is KitKat supposed to arrive?
HTC Desire 601 (Zara_CL)