On 2013-02-20 at 22:13 -0800, Morgan Blackthorne wrote: > I'm also interested in testing out compatibility for our revamped site on > the tablet as well, which slightly alters my specs. Here's what I'm looking > for:
You didn't mention "getting security updates so that you can continue to trust the device". Unfortunately, that seems to rule out ~any vendor except Google. If any other vendor wants to be taken seriously, they need to work on establishing a track record of actually bothering. My Nook got updates, but was locked down to only take apps from the B&N store. The Google-sold devices will let you install any apps, not constrain you to their market. In the past, I have had the Amazon market app installed; I uninstalled it because it gave no notice of permissions required by apps it installs. But Google do not lock you into their ecosystem. I've had three or four third-party market apps installed in the past, exploring. When you buy the Google-sold ones, you can root just with a bootloader option; it will restrict what you can do with the stock Market app, but the option is there and _supported_: if you later decide to root, it's a feature of the phone, not something that might have been "fixed" in the meantime. Also, Amazon's Kindle app is available in the regular Google store. I use it on my phone (Nexus 4, Android 4.2.2). No micro-SD, alas. I can't vouch for the N7 first-hand; I ordered it, the device never arrived, apparently stolen in transit (or from porch) and Google's customer service is so bad that they're the only vendor I've ever had to call VISA on, to get a charge reversed. If I hadn't bought an iPad, I'd have tried again. (I'd already given away the Nook and I needed a tablet, fast, for reading an ebook for work, so walked into an Apple store as the fastest way to fix things after the first few of the 28 days it took Google to respond). As to battery life: I hear good things from friends, I suspect that issues in charge/discharge rates are connected to whether or not you use a 2.1A charger (iPad current levels) instead of a regular 0.5A charger. Android 4.2.2 is nice. I've used a Logitech bluetooth keyboard designed for iPads with my Nexus 4. Worked nicely in combination with ConnectBot (SSH client). I can't imagine that it wouldn't also work with an N7. The N7 would probably look less silly resting in the tablet groove, too. :) > - Expandable memory slot highly preferred. I prefer micro-SD but I'm not > wedded to that format; the important part to me is the ability to swap out > storage if I want and to expand the capacity of the unit itself, especially > if I ever end up using it on say a plane ride and want to watch videos. This is the only point of contention. I've come to the conclusion that there has simply been too much piracy aided by the SD card (I'm told that it works to buy, switch installation to card, shut down, copy data from card, claim refund, restore app) and so the vendors are shifting away from it, to provide more closed devices. I'm unhappy, to say the least. I've ended up buying a small Sansa Clip and installing Rockbox on it. Turns out, the vendors of SD cards like selling music devices that use those same cards. :) Keeping the music off, there's enough room in the remaining GB to have a few hours of movies. Remember that a DVD is 4.7GB single-layer and can't use the most compact encodings for compatibility reasons (large installed base), so even the 16GB tablets have quite a bit of room. > On the other hand, Amazon has a bit of a stranglehold on the > ebook market and that's one reason that the wife and I went toward the > Nooks in the first place. I have come to loath B&N because of how badly they've messed up with the nooks. My Nexus phone has the Kindle, Nook, "Google Play" and other ebook readers on it. So I recommend getting the Google Nexus 7: you'll be able to read your existing library, and any other library from vendors who create an Android app. You might also investigate Calibre for library management (it's got an unfortunate security stance from the developer, but it's still the only sane option out there); appropriate plugins can help with format conversion to epub. -Phil _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
