Re: [Techno-Chat]: Samsung Galaxy Book 12

[Gordon Smith]

As someone who has used a Surface Pro 3 for a couple of years now, I can tell 
you that touch access with JAWS is by no means limited to the Samsung. Of 
course, that was not the implication. I haven’t and won’t upgrade to the latest 
Surface modell because of the horrendous pricing.

It’s good if you can get these thing via a mobile/cellular provider. Then, I 
guess, you just need to insert your SIM and away you go.

I’m *still* looking for the advertised Microsoft from-the-ground-up Windows 
installation that is accessible. I must update my Windows media file, to 
incorporate the latest Fall Creator’s update. I know where to go for that, so 
will do that later I think.

Getting back to tablet computing. On iOS, I am still stuck with my third 
generation iPad. But I’m not in a hurry to change that. I will do so once my 
business venture launches. But I might just push the boat out some time soon 
and buy me one of the latest tablets. Maybe the Samsung, because I like the way 
that Samsung does thing. But there are lots more on the market as well which 
also have their respective merits. So we’ll see.

I have to admit that sometimes I do get a bit frustrated with on-screen 
keyboards. My BrailleNote Touch has one, and I have to keep re-calibrating it 
for my fingers so sometimes typing on it can be a real pain.

But I think that, which ever way I eventually jump, it must be a cellular 
model. I don’t know where I’d be without that sometimes. My ElBraille has one, 
and when I’m out and about in the car, it’s a joy to still have unrestrained 
access to the things I want.



My compliments and kindest regards
Gordon Smith:

Accessibility & Information Technology Support Specialist..

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  Contact:

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On 1 Nov 2017, at 12:51, Dane Trethowan  wrote:

Hi!

My Birthday has come and gone for 2017 so thought I'd make the best of it.

I wanted to get into Tablet computing however the road I chose to take wasn't 
exactly what I had planned 6 months ago when I started looking at tablet 
devices.

I won't tell the whole story here suffice to say that I had intended to use a 
iPad Mini mobile model and ended up with a Windows tablet complete with 
keyboard cover instead.

Firstly the Galaxy Book is Samsung's answer to the hugely popular and hugely 
overpriced - in my view - Microsoft Surface.

I'm not saying that one is better than the other as both have advantages and 
disadvantages, the main advantages going for the Samsung Galaxy Book are great 
value for money and good supplied accessories such as the Keyboard Cover and 
S-Pen, you don't get either with your Surface purchase.

To me - given that I'm blind - a keyboard is hugely important for entering text 
though I can make do with the Onscreen keyboard the Tablet offers which works 
well with JAWS, the physical keyboard is quicker.

Anyway about the bundle.

The Tablet clips onto the keyboard and you can fold the back cover down to make 
a stand thus the tablet looks like a small TV with adjustable angles, just 
adjust the stand to the angle of display you desire.

The keyboard has big keys which are nice to type on but unfortunately doesn't 
have a numeric keypad so you're going to need to use the "Laptop" keyboard 
layout if using JAWS.

Below the keyboard is your tipical touch trackpad though this doesn't seem to 
interact with JAWS at all as it does on a Macbook machine, I rather hoped it 
might.

The Galaxy Book is equipped with two very nice sounding stereo speakers and "An 
Aray" of microphones according to the technical data, though I've not found the 
actual physical location of these microphones on the unit I can tell you that 
the sound from them is excellent and this excellent sound is particularly 
noticed when using a VOIP or chat client such as Skype, the ambiance of the 
room is barely audible so I would suggest the tablet would be right at home in 
a small video conference setting.

So down to specs which are very reasonable for a tablet of this sort.

I bought the top model Galaxy Book which has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD drive 
so the machine is very fast.

The internal battery is rated at 5.5AH and should give you around 11 hours of 
video playback.

Connections are at a minimum but I believe them to be well chosen, you get 2 
USB-C general ports and a combo Headphones port.

Wireless is well catered for with Wi-Fi AC 2.4/5GHZ and Bluetooth though not 
the latest version 5 it does support APTX.

I've used the Galaxy Book with both Wi-Fi and cell networks, the machine will 
switch between them 

[Techno-Chat]: Article: Google Docs users locked out of their files in glitch that raises deeper concerns

[Dane Trethowan]

I really don’t know what all the fuss is about.
Google Docs is a free service so you use it at your own risk.
Yep, Google collects data and has always done to provide you with their free 
service thanks to the support of advertisers who won’t advertise with Google 
unless they know something about the audience.


> http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-docs-users-locked-out-of-their-files-in-glitch-that-raises-deeper-concerns-20171101-gzcmsw.html?deviceType=text
>  
> 



**
“For the gardener nothing is more handier than bulbs, I mean the 1’s you put in 
the ground and not the electric light 1’s.”

Re: [Techno-Chat]: Samsung Galaxy Book 12

[Dane Trethowan]

You're absolutely right regarding the Surface and the review I wrote was 
in no way designed to discourage anyone from using one of these devices.


I like the way Samsung does things too and the first thing you'll notice 
when using the Galaxy Book is Samsung's approach to bloat-ware, 
practically nothing is on this machine.


The best onscreen keyboards I've ever used have been on Android devices 
because all the keyboard is present on the screen - letters and numbers 
- so you don't have to double-tap this or double-tap that to have 
various parts of the keyboard appear, disappear and then reappear again, 
a real pain in the but.


Android keyboards are incredibly versatile and I suppose they very well 
ought to be given that there are more than 900 Android keyboards 
available, my favourite being the Swiftkey keyboard.


As for iPads? I'm very sorry to hear about your iPad and I truly mean that.

Not that I begrudge you having one of these machines in fact on the 
contary, I had one of these iPads and I couldn't wait to get rid of the 
thing, I found the speakers to be dreadful, thankfully Apple very much 
improved the audio quality in the Forth generation of iPad and iPad 
Mini, I really liked those machines.




On 3/11/2017 4:25 AM, Gordon Smith wrote:
As someone who has used a Surface Pro 3 for a couple of years now, I 
can tell you that touch access with JAWS is by no means limited to the 
Samsung. Of course, that was not the implication. I haven’t and won’t 
upgrade to the latest Surface modell because of the horrendous pricing.


It’s good if you can get these thing via a mobile/cellular provider. 
Then, I guess, you just need to insert your SIM and away you go.


I’m *still* looking for the advertised Microsoft from-the-ground-up 
Windows installation that is accessible. I must update my Windows 
media file, to incorporate the latest Fall Creator’s update. I know 
where to go for that, so will do that later I think.


Getting back to tablet computing. On iOS, I am still stuck with my 
third generation iPad. But I’m not in a hurry to change that. I will 
do so once my business venture launches. But I might just push the 
boat out some time soon and buy me one of the latest tablets. Maybe 
the Samsung, because I like the way that Samsung does thing. But there 
are lots more on the market as well which also have their respective 
merits. So we’ll see.


I have to admit that sometimes I do get a bit frustrated with 
on-screen keyboards. My BrailleNote Touch has one, and I have to keep 
re-calibrating it for my fingers so sometimes typing on it can be a 
real pain.


But I think that, which ever way I eventually jump, it must be a 
cellular model. I don’t know where I’d be without that sometimes. My 
ElBraille has one, and when I’m out and about in the car, it’s a joy 
to still have unrestrained access to the things I want.




My compliments and kindest regards
Gordon Smith:
>
Accessibility & Information Technology Support Specialist..

This Message Was Created Using 100% Recycled Electrons. If you can 
avoid printing it, please do so. Think of the environment, save a tree!


  Contact:

• UK Free Phone:
0800 8620538
• UK Geographic / Global:
+44(0) 1642 688095
• UK Mobile/SMS:
+44 (0)7804 983849
• Vic. Australia:
+61 38 82059300
• US/Canada:
+1 646 9151493










On 1 Nov 2017, at 12:51, Dane Trethowan > wrote:


Hi!

My Birthday has come and gone for 2017 so thought I'd make the best of it.

I wanted to get into Tablet computing however the road I chose to take 
wasn't exactly what I had planned 6 months ago when I started looking 
at tablet devices.


I won't tell the whole story here suffice to say that I had intended 
to use a iPad Mini mobile model and ended up with a Windows tablet 
complete with keyboard cover instead.


Firstly the Galaxy Book is Samsung's answer to the hugely popular and 
hugely overpriced - in my view - Microsoft Surface.


I'm not saying that one is better than the other as both have 
advantages and disadvantages, the main advantages going for the 
Samsung Galaxy Book are great value for money and good supplied 
accessories such as the Keyboard Cover and S-Pen, you don't get either 
with your Surface purchase.


To me - given that I'm blind - a keyboard is hugely important for 
entering text though I can make do with the Onscreen keyboard the 
Tablet offers which works well with JAWS, the physical keyboard is 
quicker.


Anyway about the bundle.

The Tablet clips onto the keyboard and you can fold the back cover 
down to make a stand thus the tablet looks like a small TV with 
adjustable angles, just adjust the stand to the angle of display you 
desire.


The keyboard has big keys which are nice to type on but unfortunately 
doesn't have a numeric keypad so you're going to 

[Techno-Chat]: Samsung Galaxy Book 12

[Dane Trethowan]

Hi!

My Birthday has come and gone for 2017 so thought I'd make the best of it.

I wanted to get into Tablet computing however the road I chose to take 
wasn't exactly what I had planned 6 months ago when I started looking at 
tablet devices.


I won't tell the whole story here suffice to say that I had intended to 
use a iPad Mini mobile model and ended up with a Windows tablet complete 
with keyboard cover instead.


Firstly the Galaxy Book is Samsung's answer to the hugely popular and 
hugely overpriced - in my view - Microsoft Surface.


I'm not saying that one is better than the other as both have advantages 
and disadvantages, the main advantages going for the Samsung Galaxy Book 
are great value for money and good supplied accessories such as the 
Keyboard Cover and S-Pen, you don't get either with your Surface purchase.


To me - given that I'm blind - a keyboard is hugely important for 
entering text though I can make do with the Onscreen keyboard the Tablet 
offers which works well with JAWS, the physical keyboard is quicker.


Anyway about the bundle.

The Tablet clips onto the keyboard and you can fold the back cover down 
to make a stand thus the tablet looks like a small TV with adjustable 
angles, just adjust the stand to the angle of display you desire.


The keyboard has big keys which are nice to type on but unfortunately 
doesn't have a numeric keypad so you're going to need to use the 
"Laptop" keyboard layout if using JAWS.


Below the keyboard is your tipical touch trackpad though this doesn't 
seem to interact with JAWS at all as it does on a Macbook machine, I 
rather hoped it might.


The Galaxy Book is equipped with two very nice sounding stereo speakers 
and "An Aray" of microphones according to the technical data, though 
I've not found the actual physical location of these microphones on the 
unit I can tell you that the sound from them is excellent and this 
excellent sound is particularly noticed when using a VOIP or chat client 
such as Skype, the ambiance of the room is barely audible so I would 
suggest the tablet would be right at home in a small video conference 
setting.


So down to specs which are very reasonable for a tablet of this sort.

I bought the top model Galaxy Book which has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD 
drive so the machine is very fast.


The internal battery is rated at 5.5AH and should give you around 11 
hours of video playback.


Connections are at a minimum but I believe them to be well chosen, you 
get 2 USB-C general ports and a combo Headphones port.


Wireless is well catered for with Wi-Fi AC 2.4/5GHZ and Bluetooth though 
not the latest version 5 it does support APTX.


I've used the Galaxy Book with both Wi-Fi and cell networks, the machine 
will switch between them automatically depending on your location or if 
the Wi-Fi network is down, the Wi-Fi network takes priority by default.


Setting up the Galaxy Book couldn't have been easier thanks to the 
machine running the latest build of Windows 10 Professional.


When I'd booted the machine - hold down the power button for 2 seconds - 
all I had to do was wait a bit and start the Windows Narrator Screen 
Reader using the Windows-Ctrl-Enter keyboard shortcut, Narrator came up 
along with the self--speaking Windows setup wizard which you can follow 
very easily.


I Haven't done any audio editing etc with this device yet and I really 
didn't buy the Galaxy Book for that sort of thing.


I've written eMail messages - this one included -, used Word, played 
music, listened to radio, used a VPN etc with no problems.


I've not needed to tweak much in the way of settings though I'm sure in 
time I'll probably change a few things.


It should be noted that - if you're listening to radio for example - and 
you don't use the keyboard for a while the machine won't respond to a 
first press of a key on the keyboard, I imagine this is some sort of 
power saving function that activates after a time of inactivity on the 
keyboard.


The build of the Samsung Galaxy Book is tough even though the case is a 
Polly Carbonate plastic rather than metal.


If you're going to hold the Tablet as a tablet in your hand then I 
advise a good elbow rest or you make yourself comfortable on a couch as 
the Galaxy Book is a little heavy for one hand and - at 12 inches - a 
large but yet powerful brute.


The tablet can get rather warm when multi tasking but - believe it or 
not - Samsung have managed to squeeze a fan into this thing.


So there you have it, my first impressions of the Galaxy Book 12 which 
I've now had for a week.


Its always good when you find those products that you really enjoy using 
and you struggle to find anything to dislike.



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"Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life"
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