Posted on 08/22/2011 8:17:36 AM PDT by dangerdoc
Don’t get me wrong, ct, I applaud anyone who wants to go about their life with a device attached to them. Call me old fashioned, but when I’m away from home, I don’t expect to have the comforts therein. I have a very basic cell phone that I use for emergencies or calling the little lady about dinner. Otherwise, I don’t use the phone much and prefer a home phone for audible fidelity.
And that always on feature out in the world requires cellular tower connectivity or a wi-fi hotspot, two things that would go tango-uniform in the event of a catastrophe (not that my home rig would be doing any good in that situation).
I’m in the IT world and pay very close attention to security, and I would prefer to have a smaller security footprint overall than to have a device that can entertain me when I’m out. I have a Kindle for reading on long trips and an iPod Classic for my music. Far as I’m concerned, that’s all I ever see myself needing, but then again everyone used to say, “We’ll never need more than 512K(yes, Kb) of RAM!”
Looking at the voluminous list of things that a tablet can do it has become obvious (even to an old fossil like me) that it has something for everyone. Although I still wonder if some of the newer laptops wouldn't do as well (I sincerely miss a keyboard on my Nook).
Speaking of Nooks, I am a voracious reader and bought the Nook solely for that purpose. As I said B&W (E-ink) display is fine for a reader plus I really like the battery which lasts nearly ten days w/o recharging. If there is one thing that has started to become a pain it's the file manager (or lack thereof).
When first purchased I added a 16gig micro SD card to give maximum storage (I do read a lot!) and it seems that the "on board" memory is treated as "my library" whereas any additional memory is "my documents". The downloaded files include some "comment files" which contain notes on author and such plus a synopsis of the ebook itself. The problems arise when you download a book and it always winds up in the library. If you want to move it to the axillary memory chip you need to attach to a computer thru a USB cable. Then the computer see the Nook as two outboard drives and you can moves epub files as you please, however the "comment" files are completely invisible and stay put in the library. Frankly, I'd settle for DOS right about know.
Do you run into similar problems when reading epub files on your tablet? If things work smoother that might be enough to get me to try one...
I look forward to you comments,
Regards,
Gandalf
PS Any comments regarding the non-Apple tablets?
“The tablets, to be useful, need a good handwriting recognition program.”
That’s something I don’t understand. On my iPAQ, several years ago, I could jot notes with the stylus and it converted them very well to text. But I can’t find a similar capability for my Toshiba Thrive.
I found one that will record my handwritten note, but it records it as handwriting - a picture, not text.
Doesn’t make sense.
To each their own.
For those who want to walk away from technology with little more than “just a phone”, or are concerned about security footprints etc., go for it. No tablet for you.
For those who want connectivity and functionality anytime anywhere always-on always-connected, get an iPad - it’s a lot of capability in a very slim & light game-changing format.
And I’m from the era of “a gen 1 IBM PC! awesome! let’s see what I can do with 16KB RAM and cassette tape storage!”. I’m thinking of having my iPad surgically implanted.
Hand writing recognition is a very difficult thing for computers to do, just because there are an infinite ways anybody can write down a paritcular letter or number and computers aren’t very good at accounting for individual differences.
If it works for you, use it.
Nook? There’s an app for that.
Web browser? You’re posting on FR, so that’s useful too. Anywhere anytime (3G is awesome).
File management? iOS is moving past that.
Battery life? 10+ hours covers even heavy use, just plug it in each night as habit.
Straight B&W text? e-ink wins, except that page-flip flicker drives me crazy. I’d rather a instant-change no-weirdness full-color glowing screen and sacrifice the bright-daylight issue.
I haven’t done much with epub yet; iBooks & Nook & Kindle readers are working fine. There’s a lifetime of reading loaded on my iPad now; just trying to snap that sentimental attachment to paper (and at 26 bookcases, that’s hard).
“PS Any comments regarding the non-Apple tablets? “
I have the Toshiba Thrive. My eldest has just gotten the iPad.
I can put an SD card in my Thrive, she cannot. iPad has no card slots so I have unlimited storage limited only by the number of cards I have. Also, everything she does has to be synced through iTunes. I don’t like iTunes for my iPod, let alone everything! Mine is viewed by the computer the same as a USB thumbdrive. Easy. Further comparisons will have to wait until she’s had it longer.
I have 4 ereader programs on it. My kindle has, well, Kindle ereader. Nook has free books that aren’t available on kindle.
I love the orientation changes with the tablet.
I can play double-deck solitaire games on the tablet, cannot on the phone.
I have access to two email accts on the tablet, same as my phone. Can open pics or slideshows on the tablet, cannot easily/reliably on the phone.
Can easily read Free Republic on the tablet ;) not so much on the phone.
Will find more as time goes by!
Elmer Fudd does Linux?
I’m a big Mac fan from wayyyyy back. Love my iPhone 4. Mail, text, little web surfing, read a ton of books on it via iBooks and Kindle aps. Play a few games. Also have a Mac Pro quad for real work, and a Macbook pro for light work.
Spent some time playing with the iPad and the Apple store and I immediately had the distinct feeling I was using a device with an oversized interface. Like the touch tone phones with the really big numbers on it for granny.
My first PC was a 286 with 64K of RAM. I’m an engineer now working with server-class hardware and every bit the hardware geek. However, despite my ability to put together a ridiculous gaming rig, I spend less time on it gaming and more time on it upgrading.
I suppose I took a path that diverted from the software side of things, and I prefer Linux to Windows any day. Anyone who wants to use these devices, I say more power to them.
Just not for me.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m covered with my smartphone and netbook.
I mean, just compare the value proposition of a netbook: for $250 you get a complete mini-laptop with a couple of gigs of memory. Runs anything you need, is nearly as portable as a tablet, already has the keyboard, and is sturdier to carry around.
I’ve used all sorts of high-tech gadgets for note taking at meetings (Palms, Smartphones, but no IPad!), and I finally settled on the perfect instrument: A leather 3x5 note card holder with specially printed note cards.
But my iPaq could do it!
Didn’t matter if I printed, used script or a combo. Didn’t matter if I wrote across the screen or on a diagonal. Why can’t the tablet do that?
Reading about all the cancellation orders, and lots o’ people are pretty upset. Seems those that paid with PayPal have been spared so far. Keeping fingers crossed.....C
It could have something to do with the amount of writing you would do in a medium.
With an Ipaq, you’re only going to write short notes, so fixing a word or two because the software couldn’t read it properly is hardly going to be noticeable, compared with a tablet where you have written a paragraph and have to correct 20 or 30 words, than it’s an inconvenience. :)
You’d probably be interested in knowing that www.phatware.com has released Writepad for both Android and Ipad. It’s fourth generation handwriting recognition, so it’s more advanced than what your Ipaq could do.
This fall, we are changing computer systems at work. We are moving from paper to 100% digital and I’ll be carrying a Win 7 tab. I really am not looking forward to the transition and the unintended consequences.
That's why the simplified Graffiti alphabet was a must-have on the Newton and was built into the first several generations of Palm devices. It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty reliable and reasonably fast, but I think I can thumb type faster than I could write in graffiti back in the day.
Handwriting recognition hasn't really caught on on any device because even if it could be made perfectly accurate, it's just not faster than typing, and rarely faster than one-hand typing. The Swype keyboard on Android is an innovative answer to one-handed text entry, and I think we'll see more clever ideas along those lines, but I don't think that retrofitting a 15th century text entry technology to modern devices has much of a future. A lot of kids don't even learn cursive in school any more.
Yes, for literal output, but there are needs and places to communicate that a keyboard just won’t do.
For that, it would be nice to have an alternative.
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