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tablet
I'm typing this from my new Android tablet -- an ASUS Transformer with keyboard dock. It's quite spiffy! (And a well-timed gift, as I was still cogitating over my dead iBook.)
It works well as a tablet -- nice display, the apps work the way I expect, and it didn't take too long to figure out some of the interface quirks (which may be real or may be signs that I've used an iPad). The on-screen keyboard is "fat"; I don't know how else to describe it, but it works (and, not surprisingly, with better accuracy than my phone). The hardware keyboard is of course smaller than a conventional one, so currently I'm making lots of typos but I'm touch-typing. The keys are closer together than I'm used to and it feels like I'm hitting them harder than I'm used to, particularly the keys toward the edges (that are less likely to be struck "straight on"). I'm still faster with the hardware keyboard than the on-screen one, though, and it doesn't take up half the screen. So, bottom line, when I want to do extensive typing I can slip it into the dock, and otherwise its a nice 10" tablet.
Please feel free to tell me about all your favorite Android apps. I have an Android phone so I know a few, but tablets and phones are different.
Good news: somebody has ported emacs to Android and it's in the store (free). Bad news: it seg-faults for me on start. It's a known problem but the suggested work-around didn't for me. I've contacted the author.
The dock provides a USB port and there's a file-browser app. This is very promising.
How in the world do I get the Google+ web site to let me use the regular, not mobile, site? I know there's an app but I don't like it; the web site is just fine with the real-estate available on a tablet. But when I try to use it it forces me into the mobile version, which isn't as good. (Not as bad as the app, but not as good as it could be.)
The previous paragraph might describe a specific symptom of a more-general problem. General solutions also welcome. :-) (Stack Exchange, by way of contrast, uses the mobile site on my phone but the regular one on the tablet, so it's not as simple as checking for mobile devices.)
There are two browsers pre-installed, "browser" and Chrome. I wonder why. I wonder what "browser" is.
LJ oddity: I'm typing this using the (regular) web site, not an app, and when typing this text is a smaller variable-width font. When focus is elsewhere (like when I typed the tags), it changes to a larger fixed-width font (Courier, I assume). I want that all the time! (This is the HTML editor, not the rich-text one.)
I'm not very good at finger-based cursor placement yet. I wonder what typos Ive introduced while editing. :-)
More to come as I use it more, I'm sure.
It works well as a tablet -- nice display, the apps work the way I expect, and it didn't take too long to figure out some of the interface quirks (which may be real or may be signs that I've used an iPad). The on-screen keyboard is "fat"; I don't know how else to describe it, but it works (and, not surprisingly, with better accuracy than my phone). The hardware keyboard is of course smaller than a conventional one, so currently I'm making lots of typos but I'm touch-typing. The keys are closer together than I'm used to and it feels like I'm hitting them harder than I'm used to, particularly the keys toward the edges (that are less likely to be struck "straight on"). I'm still faster with the hardware keyboard than the on-screen one, though, and it doesn't take up half the screen. So, bottom line, when I want to do extensive typing I can slip it into the dock, and otherwise its a nice 10" tablet.
Please feel free to tell me about all your favorite Android apps. I have an Android phone so I know a few, but tablets and phones are different.
Good news: somebody has ported emacs to Android and it's in the store (free). Bad news: it seg-faults for me on start. It's a known problem but the suggested work-around didn't for me. I've contacted the author.
The dock provides a USB port and there's a file-browser app. This is very promising.
How in the world do I get the Google+ web site to let me use the regular, not mobile, site? I know there's an app but I don't like it; the web site is just fine with the real-estate available on a tablet. But when I try to use it it forces me into the mobile version, which isn't as good. (Not as bad as the app, but not as good as it could be.)
The previous paragraph might describe a specific symptom of a more-general problem. General solutions also welcome. :-) (Stack Exchange, by way of contrast, uses the mobile site on my phone but the regular one on the tablet, so it's not as simple as checking for mobile devices.)
There are two browsers pre-installed, "browser" and Chrome. I wonder why. I wonder what "browser" is.
LJ oddity: I'm typing this using the (regular) web site, not an app, and when typing this text is a smaller variable-width font. When focus is elsewhere (like when I typed the tags), it changes to a larger fixed-width font (Courier, I assume). I want that all the time! (This is the HTML editor, not the rich-text one.)
I'm not very good at finger-based cursor placement yet. I wonder what typos Ive introduced while editing. :-)
More to come as I use it more, I'm sure.
no subject
A few other apps I like:
Lookout Security: Provides basic malware scanning (haven't run into any, but you never know) and can be used to locate your device and/or make it sound an alarm (via an account you set up on the Lookout site during install). There's a subscription version with added features (like remotely nuking your data though the account), but I find the free version sufficient.
Office Suite Pro: Allows reading and basic editing of Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents. There are a few alternatives (Documents To Go, QuickOffice) with similar functionality and free read-only versions.
Jota+: A text editor that supports multiple files open at once.
ES File Explorer: A good file manager program, if your tablet doesn't already come with an adequate one. Includes a useful "back up your apps" feature that avoids the need to re-download things if you need to re-install them.
SwiftKey: An improved virtual keyboard with the best predictive-text function I've seen.
Mantano Reader: My preferred reader for (open format) ePubs -- anything with DRM will require its own dedicated app from Amazon/Nook/Kobo/whatever.
VPlayer: My preferred video player.
Power Alarm: The downside is that the programming is power-user level compared to most alarm-clock apps; I use it because it's the only alarm-clock app I've found that can be set with an "every other Friday (or whatever day of the week)" option, which I need for my 9-9-9-9, 9-9-9-9-8 hour biweek schedule.
KeePass Droid: A password manager, compatible with databases from other KeePass versions (though read-only in some cases).