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My eye! Sweet Jesus, Ouch!


Sledge

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Hmmm.

 

If you love the Apple interface you can get an android launcher that will mimic it, if you are a trekkie you can get an LCARS launcher, you can do pretty much what you want with an android device because Android is based on Linux and is open source so there is a massive home grown development community out there.

 

If you like HTC phones but not the UI (which is called sense and I am with you on that) you can get one and root it, stick a custom recovery on it and try any number of custom ROMs, iOS lookalikes, Senseless ROMs, whatever.

Shove a bit of Zeam launcher in there for the minimalist look and you are golden.

 

I am on 3 and other than a fair use policy they don't care if I utterly hammer my bandwidth.

Constant on HSDPA, never use WiFi, download whatever I want, tether my laptop and a work PC, generate a WiFi hotspot so Jim at work can get on the internet.

I've used 2 Gb this week and it's only Thursday.

 

No extra charges.

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Having not much technical savy, when it comes to tablets/i-pads, I am busy searching the internet for the cheapest one. I shall only be using it for creating a comic book, so I need to be able to draw on it and use the photoshop app. I've found one called cloudnine neuropad, that comes with andriod 4, 10 inch screen, 16 gb internal memory, 1 gb ram. The thing that is holding me back is the fact I don't know if this is a good deal.

 

So on and on I go trolling the internet for reviews/information about which is the best tablet/ i-pad for the tast. If anyone has any technical svayness, please pm me with any advice/tips. That would be, massively helpful and very much apppreciated

 

Edit:- I originally found it on amazon.

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Hab: Pretty much, as far as i've seen, all the 'cheap' android tablets are a bit meh. The decent ones, like the motorola xoom, and the asus transformer thing are all quite expensive.

 

However, there are rumours of a Nexus tablet coming out soon (probably the first device with the new 4.1 jellybean OS if previous nexus devices are anything to go on.) and that should be good spec, excellent hardware and its suggested to be around $200.

 

4 of my colleagues at work have iphones, me and another colleague have HTC Desire S's, and pretty much the rest of them don't care about phones.

 

Anyway. Rant thread. not apple vs android thread.

(although saying that, android has wireless sync'ing over winamp ;) )

 

Still too hot. stupid dusty rain that's left my car looking horrid. Rage.

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Habakure, maybe look at HP Touchpads on ebay. I picked up a couple in the ridiculously cheap firesale. They're nice pieces of kit and you can boot Android,Web OS and Arch Linux on them. You can get 16GB ones for around £120/£130.

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Just had a look at the nexus & by google. The screen would be too small for me, but it does look impressive, on cnet they had it as being £160 for the 8 gb version and £200 for the 16 gb version. But, it doesn't have sd micro card slot, which puts me off. Thansk for the heads up though tinkerton, appreciated.

 

Edit:- Thanks hitman, I'll have a look now.

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https://www.google.co.uk/nexus/#/7

 

I'll just leave that there.... ;)

 

Also personally i think 7" is about the right size for a tablet. roughly the same size as a book (or kindle screen). Also seriously. £160 for a bonafide google tablet? It's going on my christmas list (if not my credit card list when i get paid tomorrow :D )

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Having not much technical savy, when it comes to tablets/i-pads, I am busy searching the internet for the cheapest one. I shall only be using it for creating a comic book, so I need to be able to draw on it and use the photoshop app. I've found one called cloudnine neuropad, that comes with andriod 4, 10 inch screen, 16 gb internal memory, 1 gb ram. The thing that is holding me back is the fact I don't know if this is a good deal.

 

So on and on I go trolling the internet for reviews/information about which is the best tablet/ i-pad for the tast. If anyone has any technical svayness, please pm me with any advice/tips. That would be, massively helpful and very much apppreciated

 

Edit:- I originally found it on amazon.

 

 

You definitely get what you pay for I'm afraid.

The budget ones are all budget for a reason.

 

I'd look for a keenly priced last generation used device.

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https://www.google.co.uk/nexus/#/7

 

I'll just leave that there.... ;)

 

Also personally i think 7" is about the right size for a tablet. roughly the same size as a book (or kindle screen). Also seriously. £160 for a bonafide google tablet? It's going on my christmas list (if not my credit card list when i get paid tomorrow :D )

It looks good and I'll no doubt add it to my christmas/January sale list but the lack of SD support puts me off. I can see myself using it around the house when I don't have a computer on and I want to search for stuff but when I'm out and about I can't see it being all that useful as it doesn't have any kind of mobile internet and 16gb will fill up fast with HD video.
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TBH, i really dont see the lack of storage as an issue. Its not designed to be a music player, or a movie player. Yes, i'd have preferred a micro sd card slot, but as its not there, i'm sure i'll cope. As it is, i've only got an 8gb card in my phone and i've not even used half of that so far (most of it is backups of my entire phone ROM).

 

I'll probably get one to use as a general browsing device, while i'm sat on the sofa, and probably sideload a sat nav app onto there for my car, but beyond that? it is what it is.

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It looks good and I'll no doubt add it to my christmas/January sale list but the lack of SD support puts me off. I can see myself using it around the house when I don't have a computer on and I want to search for stuff but when I'm out and about I can't see it being all that useful as it doesn't have any kind of mobile internet and 16gb will fill up fast with HD video.

 

ARGH! here we go again!

it can't be that bloody expensive to add an SD slot can it!? would it not be worth the extra penny just on the odd chance that some of your potential customers *might* want a reasonable amount of storage. jesus christ, apple were offering ipods in 160GB flavour 5 years ago, and they're only capable of playing music and low res video. how are we expected to make do with 16GB when most videos are offered in HD and bigger games take up a good 1.5-2 GB each.

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Why SD cards too, they max out at what 32 or 64gb?

 

Why not get a USB flash drive that can run higher up and have it with a design that fits close on the side or bottom of the tablet so it doesn't stick out too much. Failing that why not have the option to run Micro SD slots, particularly a couple of them, that way you could easily add individual amounts of 32gb (or whatever the futyre sizes are) whenever you need them for a small fee.

 

Even modern £30 basic phones come with Micro SD slots and the option to accept up to at least 8gb extra data so why can't a more expensive tablet or phone do the same?

 

'FireKnife'

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Even modern £30 basic phones come with Micro SD slots and the option to accept up to at least 8gb extra data so why can't a more expensive tablet or phone do the same?

 

 

Because then they couldn't sell you pretty much the same phone with twice the memory next year for the same price again.

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True, but that is why you have those of limited intelligence that believe cost equals performance.

 

Had a cheap Olympus 6.0 megapixel camera, got it second hand for about £30, beats the life out of my parents Sony 12.0 one and that cost near four times as much. It is all the user that makes something good. Like i bet all their is a lot of people running Windows 7 Pro on a new PC using only a fifth of it's power, why spend the money when you could do the same for a lot less?

 

Though a lot is always going to be pressure and how you look to others, i have a basic phone, a XP running two year old netbook and a 6.0 Megapixel camera, all work better than anything i have seen that costs more, just they take up more space.

 

'FireKnife'

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TBH, i really dont see the lack of storage as an issue. Its not designed to be a music player, or a movie player. Yes, i'd have preferred a micro sd card slot, but as its not there, i'm sure i'll cope. As it is, i've only got an 8gb card in my phone and i've not even used half of that so far (most of it is backups of my entire phone ROM).

 

I'll probably get one to use as a general browsing device, while i'm sat on the sofa, and probably sideload a sat nav app onto there for my car, but beyond that? it is what it is.

I'd mostly use it for browsing too like I currently do with my phone but with the bigger screen I know I'd be more tempted to put videos on it as well. I can see the main things I'd put on being cartoons I've downloaded or the occasional tv series which average 4-5gb each. Stick a few of those on and you'll fill the on board memory pretty quickly.

Having the option to add a mico SD card would have made up for it not having any kind of mobile internet imo as I could have put things I'd be likely to watch on the card and not have to worry about streaming it.

 

 

Why SD cards too, they max out at what 32 or 64gb?

 

Why not get a USB flash drive that can run higher up and have it with a design that fits close on the side or bottom of the tablet so it doesn't stick out too much. Failing that why not have the option to run Micro SD slots, particularly a couple of them, that way you could easily add individual amounts of 32gb (or whatever the futyre sizes are) whenever you need them for a small fee.

 

Even modern £30 basic phones come with Micro SD slots and the option to accept up to at least 8gb extra data so why can't a more expensive tablet or phone do the same?

 

'FireKnife'

The reason I'd go with micro sd is because it's small enough to fit inside the device. If it had a full size USB socket it would be a lot more useful as you would be able to add a portable hard drive or flash drive but adding those cuts down on the portability of the device.

A hard drive is another thing to carry and a mess of wire to put somewhere and a flash drive is a snag hazard. Even the micro flash drive you can get now that are designed to be put in a netbook/laptop and forgotten about will be something sticking out of a tablet waiting to get snagged and ruining the aesthetics.

Yes that last reason was a bit poncey but it is a valid reason some people wouldn't like that option.

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Why SD cards too, they max out at what 32 or 64gb?

 

Why not get a USB flash drive that can run higher up and have it with a design that fits close on the side or bottom of the tablet so it doesn't stick out too much. Failing that why not have the option to run Micro SD slots, particularly a couple of them, that way you could easily add individual amounts of 32gb (or whatever the futyre sizes are) whenever you need them for a small fee.

 

because SD cards are common and are a nice, compact size. that and most digital cameras and camcorders use them, so it'd be easy to swap pictures and videos around.

USB drives are a poor idea since the majority of people won't want a damn great USB stick hanging off the side of their tablet. yes, you can get the diddy little ones, but they hold no more than an SD card, which wouldn't stick out at all. and why would you want micro SD? less space than SD at a greater cost. multiple card slots would be a nice idea though

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less space than SD at a greater cost. multiple card slots would be a nice idea though

 

Because you could have three for the size of a SD slot? Plus cost doesn't factor in, the kind of people that are often buying said tablet can afford the three Micro SD cards, especially when they get to much bigger capacities.

 

Though a hi-speed USB port would also have it's advantages, same reason for my one with my Netbook, when i get home every day it gets a backup, and the files i want are put on it, that way it removes spare stuff from the Netbook and stops reduced performance. However it is a bugger to carry one round but very useful to have at home so you can have all your info stored somewhere else, but if you have got this far in life with an interest in computers and don't have a back up then you sir are an idiot :P

 

'FireKnife'

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Aparrently, all android 4.0 and above devices support on the go usb (whatever that is) but basically, means that a usb memory stick SHOULD work.

 

Cue me trying desperately to find a micro usb - fullsize USB adaptor with a flexi / cable centre section and a minimal microusb socket. You could easily 'mod' a case for the thing to house a slim usb stick, or usb SD or micro SD reader.

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Yeah. Certainly puts that option there for people that simply can't live with 8/16gb storage.

 

Still not a good enough reason for them not to include a slot in the first place, but oh well. There isnt a slot on the galaxy nexus, either, which was the main reason i didnt get one. On a phone, its more important, as i (among with most other people) use them as a media player as well as a phone.

 

I'll wait a while, see what other reviews are saying (the engadget one is very positive, apparently the screen is great, and actually out performs some of the 'better' tablets when it comes down to benchmarks and real world use) and probably pick one up at christmas.

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I've been doing that for over a year.

 

On the Go USB or OTG is the name given to a way of unlocking a device's USB controller's host capability it is a cable with two of the pins shorted to tell the device that the cable is working "the other way around".

 

You also get Mobile High-definition Link (MHL) which is where a micro USB socket on a phone can be turned into an HDMI out socket in a similar fashion.

 

Android phones have been able to do it for ages but whether it will work is down to the USB controller in the phone.

 

Now for the colossal bad news.

 

The chip in a phone that controls the following USB functions:

 

Ability of the phone to enter host mode (OTG)

Ability of the phone to natively mount itself as a hard drive over USB

 

Is the same chip that controls the SD card. The SD card in your phone is driven by an internal USB bus running off the same chip (that is why you can't access SD card contents on the phone when it is connected to the compute in most cases).

 

When the manufacturer cheaps out and doesn't fit an SD card slot they don't have to (and therefore probably won't) fit the USB control chip.

 

What does that mean?

 

That meant that if you don't have an SD card you probably won't be able to use USB OTG to read Thumb drives either.

 

AND

 

You will need proprietary software on your computer in order to access the data on your phone because it won't natively appear as an external drive.

 

WHAT?

 

Welcome to 10 bloody years ago.

 

Go *fruitcage* yourself you tight bastards.

That said my Galaxy Note supports both MHL and OTG and has an SD card slot.

 

Buy one of those, they are awesome.

 

If you do, you need something like these cables:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007H5ONO0

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Always keep some in the freezer, pre-divided beforehand to save trying to pry 6 rashers apart and nearly taking a thumb off when it's frozen!

 

Rant today? Vodafone. When I got my iPad, I was told in currys (pc world? I forget...) if my iPhone contract supported a personal hotspot feature, I could browse on the tablet through my phone. A quick call to Vodafone confirmed this, and I specifically asked if I would be charged, or would it just use my mobile data allowance. Call centre monkey said its all good. Im happy, as I'm on unlimited data.

 

Got my bill, and have been charged £5 per 500 meg of data, as I have tethered my phone. This took over an hour on the phone to sort, including being hung up on after half an hour on hold. Wasn't being uppity or rude either, as it gets you nowhere when speaking to call centres.

 

Anyway, called back, another 25 minute wait, and all sorted by the nice lady I spoke to, but none of it should have happened in the first place.

 

 

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