Hands-On With Acer's New 10-Inch Android Tablet 159
adeelarshad82 writes "Earlier this week Acer unveiled three new tablets, two for Android and one for Windows. Unfortunately details on the devices were slim, including their names. According to a hands-on with the 10-inch Android tablet, the device is about half-inch thick and weighs slightly more than an iPad. It's currently running an unknown Android version but according to the Acer executives the tablets will be running Google's tablet version of Android, Honeycomb. The tablet has no front-facing buttons. The side includes a power button, lock button, an SD slot and a docking port for full-sized keyboard dock. The device also includes two cameras, front and back, resolutions details of which are still unknown. There's also a mini HDMI port for playing content on HDTVs. The tablets are powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU which gives it the edge when it comes to graphics."
I don't care (Score:3, Funny)
Does it have 3G and the wifis?
It's the apps, stupid (Score:2, Interesting)
Back when Bill Clinton was running for President, his campaign advisor James Carville stated in the plainest terms possible the best reason for voting for Bill over Bush, "It's the economy, stupid"
Now we have a choice between the iPad and this Android device. Both have fine featuresets, but what it all comes down to is what you can run on them. It's the apps, stupid. Which one has a richer appstore? Which one has the apps you're looking for? Which one has a large, dedicated application developer community?
I
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
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The numbers of apps for andriod will surpass the ipad easily. however since only about 30% of those apps will be available to any given device that metric doesn't really work. between non updating versions of android, (compare the number of iphone 3G users running IOS 2.0 against the number of early model android phones running 1.5 or 1.6) and the heavily fragmented nature of android hardware( tegra, arm, intel, all can't run the same software.
Then stop to wonder if Oracle wins even half of it's google/a
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My television runs Linux (Sharp Aquos). It's a computer. I don't regard it as an "ordinary computer" where I'd want to do with it the same things I do with my laptop.
The iPad and Friends are meant to be problem-free appliances, not laptop replacements. They are wildly successful in that role.
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
I think you just made an, um, bad analogy. The Android market has tons of productivity apps. It has tons of shopping apps. It has tons of fitness apps. The only kinds of apps it's seriously lacking in right now are games. And it actually does have a lot of games, it's just missing a lot of the high profile games that have become popular on iPhone. If you want to be playing "Game Dev Story" or "Cut the Rope" or "Super Mega Worm" or the latest Squenix game then you need to have an iPhone (for now at least.) If you're okay with fun but not as popular games then you can have just as good a time with Android.
So the iPhone is what you want if you just want to play around with a shiny toy. If you just want to get your work done then either will do.
Android without Market (Score:3, Insightful)
The Android market has tons of productivity apps. It has tons of shopping apps. It has tons of fitness apps.
Are these only on the Market, or are they also available as .apk files for devices without official access to the Market? As of right now, Android media players (e.g. Archos) and Android tablets without 3G tend to come without Market access.
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ITYM most [intomobile.com] Archos tablets.
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There are APK files floating around the web for pretty much every Android app. Just download 'em and send the dev a few bucks (most can be contacted by E-Mail or via their own support forums/bugtrackers and subsequently paid via PayPal)...
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I think you just made an, um, bad analogy. The Android market has tons of productivity apps. It has tons of shopping apps. It has tons of fitness apps. The only kinds of apps it's seriously lacking in right now are games. And it actually does have a lot of games, it's just missing a lot of the high profile games that have become popular on iPhone.
The way you described games is pretty much applicable to the other types of apps you listed. I would be amazed if even half of the non-game apps on my iPad or iPhone are available for Android. The only category that I'm aware of where Android is pretty close to iOS in this regard is music streaming apps, and even there it lags, but it at least has most of the main ones that come to mind.
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
...then guess what. They're equal. The "music streaming" role has been satisfied. You're not going to be using 50,000 of them at once, anyway.
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Trust me, as a long time Mac user (my first Mac was a Macintosh), I know the argument well.
Way back when, Macs couldn't do accounting. Why? Because there was no QuickBooks for Mac. No QuickBooks, no accounting. It was that simple for most people. Sure there was AccountEdge and other products, but would you want to trust your company's accounting information to them? All your friends had QuickBooks and they had no problems.
So it becomes a branding issue. QuickBooks = Accounting. AutoCAD = CAD. Micro
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err...if you have 50,000 music streaming apps for ipad, and 500 music streaming apps for android, but the top 10 work about the same... ...then guess what. They're equal. The "music streaming" role has been satisfied. You're not going to be using 50,000 of them at once, anyway.
That's why I said that streaming music apps is the one category where Android is fairly close. This is because streaming audio apps are dead simple to write, and are generally free.
And no, your example numbers of 500 and 50,000 are not equal. You're right that you're not going to be using all 50,000 at once, but if you want to use one of the 50,000 that aren't in the 500, what are you supposed to do?
People like to rip on the App Store because of fart apps (as though they make up the bulk of the hundreds of
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"People like to rip on the App Store because of fart apps (as though they make up the bulk of the hundreds of thousands of apps or something), but in terms of top quality apps, the App Store has the Android Market beat hands down."
I don't have ready access to an iOS device, but do play with one every once in a while, and lately, I've got to disagree with this. Do you have any current examples of this, or is it still the same "opinion" that most people have had for the last year or so? And yes, I'll readily
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The way you described games is pretty much applicable to the other types of apps you listed. I would be amazed if even half of the non-game apps on my iPad or iPhone are available for Android. The only category that I'm aware of where Android is pretty close to iOS in this regard is music streaming apps, and even there it lags, but it at least has most of the main ones that come to mind.
I'd certainly be interested to see a list of what you consider to be key non-game apps, but i guess there was kind of an underlying assumption that i didn't bother to clarify in my post. Unless you are migrating from one system to another, no one really cares which particular productivity app they use, they only care if it does its job well. I don't care how awesome the Mac proprietary office suite is, OpenOffice works fine for me on my PC. I know my old fitness app had both iPhone and Android versions. Wh
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You're right that there are similar apps in most likely every category, but the best apps are on the App Store, and only some of them make it to the Android Market. All you have to do is look at the top ten in any category to see what I'm talking about.
It's similar to Linux vs Windows and Mac, where The latter have Photoshop and the former has the GIMP. Oh, and the latter have the GIMP too, it's just that they also have the best programs in addition to the lowest common denominators. Same for MS Office vs O
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Could you give us a few examples of these apps whose equivalents are so much better on iOS?
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Which one has a richer appstore? Which one has the apps you're looking for?
Umm, both have the same apps? Seriously, besides a handful of high profile games, what does Apple have that Android doesn't?
Which one has a large, dedicated application developer community?
Again... the answer is both.
I think we all know the answer to those questions.
Well, if I understand what you were trying to imply correctly, it appears you do not actually know the answer to those questions, so you are thinking incorrectly that we all know the answer, since you don't...
As much as it pains us to say, Apple has done those things very well while the Android market has floundered helplessly. So count my vote for Apple, because at the end of the day I want to get my work done, not just play around with a shiny toy.
Wow... so can you tell me what work you can get done on an iPad (or maybe you're talking about an iPod Touch or an iPhone), because I have an iPod Touch and an iPad and I can't get any real work done on either of them. Not because they are crappy devices, or lack applications, or what have you... but because they aren't built for getting work done. They are built to be shiny entertainment devices, not workhorses. You might *think* you are getting work done on your little iPhone or iPad, but you're not - because it's nigh impossible to be truly productive on the incredibly restrictive iPad (the keyboard on iOS alone would prevent you from doing anything more than hobbling around like an injured bird), not to mention the smaller iPhone or iPod. Then there's the whole problem of the iPad lacking any sort of useful input mechanisms.
But I digress... your entire statement is ridiculous in the extreme. If the Android market is floundering (which I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing with you) the Apple Market is in the same boat. There is absolutely NOTHING in the Apple market that is compelling over the Android Market. I use both extensively, you sound like you are an Apple Fanboi, so I doubt you've actually used an Android based device for any length of time. I think the key take away here is that Android is more flexible and modern than iOS is currently (and likely will ever be) and that is going to be it's advantage, now and in the future. The Android market may be fragmented and may continue to fragment further, and while that has some drawbacks, the gains far outweigh the drawbacks... which is are already seeing in the form of how fast Android devices are taking off compared to Apple. Unless Apple does something drastic with iOS in the not to distant future, they are going to go back to and remain a niche market. I think this is actually fine with Apple, so I don't expect them to be in any race to improve iOS and bring it up to the standards of a modern day OS. Apple is and always has been fine with having a tiny slice of the pie and then charging through the nose for their curated slice.
If that's what floats your boat, fine. But there's nothing there at present and nothing in the future that makes Apple a superior choice any longer. iOS is, has always been and will likely always continue to be a shiny toy (although it's kind of a dull toy now), it's not meant to be productive. Will Android become a productive workhorse? Heck, I don't know, but trying to claim that iOS is one is a total joke. I can get far more done in an Android environment than I can in an iOS one and I don't consider the Android a productive environment, either.
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>> Which one has a richer appstore? Which one has the apps you're looking for?
> Umm, both have the same apps? Seriously, besides a handful of high profile games, what does Apple have that Android doesn't?
For the answer, see here [daringfireball.net] and here. [scobleizer.com]
Let's sort all Android apps into the following categories:
From my time spent with the Nexus One early this year, I know that Google's Android apps are pretty good. These include both the core system apps, and the closed-source "Google Experience" apps like the dedicated Gmail client and Google Maps.
There are definitely a fair number of apps in the second category -- those ported to both iOS and Android. Examples: Amazon's Kindle client, Pandora, and a few popular games, such as Angry Birds and Doodle Jump.
But what I find striking is that the apps in the third category -- those exclusive to Android -- are almost entirely unappealing or irrelevant to iOS users.
That's not to say there's nothing in Android, as a system, that appeals to iPhone owners. Built-in turn-by-turn navigation on certain models. A system-wide notification system. Widgets on the homescreen. Over-the-air system updates. Unrestricted background processing for third-party apps, battery-life be damned. But those are things that are built into the system itself, or which otherwise come from Google. What I'm questioning is the strength and depth of Android's third-party developer support.
Which are the apps, from developers other than Google, that I should feel like I'm missing out on because I don't have an Android device? Where are the killer apps for Android?
Turn the table and we could be here all day running down the list of high-quality, interesting apps which are exclusive to iOS.
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
As a web developer, the iPad kicks ass for getting work done.. actually *replacing* my laptop for many things: reviewing online (or offline) documentation, checking email, and oh.. testing my work via Safari Mobile. If your work IS the web, the iPad rocks. In a pinch, I could code on it using a bluetooth keyboard, but that's not really what it is best at obviously.
At the very least, it makes a hell of second or third monitor (and has a much better display than the standard 75DPI used on most desktop and laptop displays).
I do have some serious gripes, primarily that of depending on iTunes to sync everything (but I get around that well enough with an old Linksys NAS200 stuffed with 2Tb in drives, a TZO.COM dynamic dns account, and port forwarding on my home router).
I actually held off on an iPad until the Samsung Galaxy reviews came out... I only use Linux at home and work, and a droid for my phone... I -really- wanted my platform to be a droid. My last "Internet tablet" was a Nokia N800 running Maemo... a pity that Nokia smothered their tablet line and moved the OS goalposts so many times (even now, the n800 is impressive... but lacks newer software).
Maybe in a couple of hardware revisions, android tablets will get there. I'm sure of it. But right now Android is not designed for tablets, and people are trying to force it into that hardware...
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As a web developer, the iPad kicks ass for getting work done.. actually *replacing* my laptop for many things: reviewing online (or offline) documentation, checking email, and oh.. testing my work via Safari Mobile.
That is not being productive... Everything you listed is surfing the web (and checking email). Yes you are right, the iPad excels at that. But even that has its drawbacks as far as being productive in even it's area of expertise. For example, I am replying to you on my iPad right now... It is literally taking me 3x as long to do so simply due to the fact the keyboard is so horrible. So even in the things it's designed for, iOS still hobbles any productivity you might be able to get out of it. Android at lea
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Seriously,
What "apps" is Android missing? I work in the I.T. Industry and I've been carrying a Moto Droid since last December. I have yet to find anything that I need for work _or_ play that isn't available. So please give some examples of all these apps that Android is missing.
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I'm fairly happy with my HTC Slide running CyanogenMOD.
But it still hasn't replaced my PalmTX
Um, here's some other guy's blog entry who articulated it much better than I could:
http://jaredrobinson.com/blog/rewinding-from-immature-android-to-mature-palmos/ [jaredrobinson.com]
(eventually he ended up somewhat satisfied with one of the newer iPod touches... I'll probably go the other way and install Debian on my phone)
The Linux Installer app didn't complete successfully on my device, but hopefully I'll have better luck following t
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I'm running CyanogenMOD 6.0 Stable on my Droid but that's only because the last round of updates from Verizon borked my battery life something terrible.
I've reviewed the list and here are my thoughts:
1) There is an icon for direct access to the calendar. Aside from a hardware button this is as easy as it gets. There is a button on the top right of my device for "instant power". Author is confusing Android the OS with Nexus one the device, which they do a LOT in this article.
2) This is available: http://pock [pocketpccentral.net]
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Yeah, thanks for the list. I think a lot of his complaints are addressed by Android 2.2 / Froyo / CyanogenMOD, but I think back in April most of those were still valid.
The palm was primarily designed as a PIM device, and it shows. I did like the hardware addressbook / schedule buttons, since you're usually in a hurry when someone starts giving you that information, and it takes time and concentration to navigate through your software icons, even if it means hitting 2-3 buttons instead of 1. The guy who o
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I don't think there is an Android version of Osirix yet or a suitable dicom viewer replacement that can view images off of our PACS systems. iPhones and iPads were adopted fairly quickly by clinicians who field of study required time sensitive
If the damn thing was just a computer... (Score:3, Insightful)
If the damn thing was just a computer, who would care about a fucking "app store"???
I don't go buy my PC based on writes software for it. Is this like 1975 when the hardware was thrown in for free to get you locked into their software?
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Seriously, you make it sound like there's some sort of shortage of developers working on the Android platform. And I'd have to point out that Android has attracted a pretty vibrant community considering how much shorter it
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There is a major shortage of developers for android. that is why HTC doesn't support any phone for more than 6 months old and 3/4 of their product line recieves nothing but basic updates to the OS.
Seriously name more than 1 android phone that recieves regular updates from the vendor for the software. You can't do it. after 6-9 months they all stop allowing updates.
Apple gives you 2-3 years everyone else gives you the middle finger.
I want an android phone, but i really don't want to have to root, and the
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I'm with you if we were talking about useful updates, but you are talking about Apple updates, which pretty much stick to one-upping jailbreakers, eliminating unauthorized apps, and otherwise interfering with legitimate use of the device.
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Hmmm, every update I can think of so far has added useful functions to me. The only exception was the last one (4.2) which was mainly aimed at iPad users.
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Can you take this iPad, plug it into a USB jack on any PC, and copy over whatever files you want?
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Back when Bill Clinton was running for President, his campaign advisor James Carville stated in the plainest terms possible the best reason for voting for Bill over Bush, "It's the economy, stupid"
Now we have a choice between the iPad and this Android device. Both have fine featuresets, but what it all comes down to is what you can run on them. It's the apps, stupid. Which one has a richer appstore? Which one has the apps you're looking for? Which one has a large, dedicated application developer community?
I think we all know the answer to those questions. As much as it pains us to say, Apple has done those things very well while the Android market has floundered helplessly. So count my vote for Apple, because at the end of the day I want to get my work done, not just play around with a shiny toy.
Obviously, everyone is you.
Noone cares who you vote for. Hope it helps.
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WTF? I have an iPod touch and an Android phone, and I can honestly say that "not enough apps" hasn't been my experience on Android at all.
I'd characterize the difference between the app stoes this way. There's no question that Apple's store has *more* apps, but in terms of *useful* apps there's not much practical difference between them. I think my one or two very favorite apps are on iOS; I particularly like a version of WordNet that not only has the definitions, but the whole/part (e.g. hand to finger
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h have fine featuresets, but what it all comes down to is what you can run on them.
Well, if they use the existing Android Market, then it'll have a very nice selection right out of the box. One thing that's going for Android here is that its UI framework is designed to be flexible with respect to screen size and resolution - there are Android handsets with resolution ranging from 320x240 to 480x854 - with widely varying aspect ratios and DPI. That means that most Android apps are coded to properly scale. This is quite unlike iOS, where an app written for iPhone can run on iPad only in the
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Actually, as long as I can consume media on it (web, book, music, video), I'll be happy; and doing that really doesn't take much. I'll pay much more attention to the hardware (screen size/rez/quality, I/O, dock) thank to the OS/Apps, 'coz I'm pretty sure any OS can make me happy.
On the same note, I bought an WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2 3 months ago, and I'm mightily happy with it in spite of the clumsy OS and the scarce App catalog, because the thing is solid and the screen large and beautiful. Again, OS and Apps re
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If you're talking about games, sure - Apple's got a pretty big leg up, what with the crappy GPUs and broken MultiTouch on most last-gen Android devices. If you're talking about actual apps (productivity, lifestyle etc.), nope. Android apps may not always be as polished, but they more than make up for it with additional functionality that's just not available on unjailbroken iOS (take Sipdroid as an example)...
And since you mention getting work done and then say Apple gets your vote because of that, I'm pret
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> It's the apps, stupid.
> I think we all know the answer to those questions.
We do, but apparently, we disagree. Walled garden, my ass. If I want tethering, I tap the _widget_ on my home screen and it's activated. I paid my provider exactly zero euros for this oh so holy privilege. I am running a stock firmware cause I happen to like HTC Sense. But if I wanted to run a different image, I could. HTC would not try to limit my choice.
Obviously, Meego will be even more open once they get their act together
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Have many people replaced their main work machine entirely with an iPad or similar tablet? Not likely.
Can you actually do work with them? Absolutely. I've used mine to read huge (~ 1000 page) PDF documents away from my desk, and I've also responded to work emails from an airport using wifi. I've also used some mind-mapping type apps to collect my notes for some projects, and documents I put into my dropbox folder are available to me. I've got a reader for wikipedia which keeps everything it reads offline, so I have a bunch of tech references (and a bunch of other stuff) cached for offline access. Heck, I've got a webex client, remote desktop, telnet, some javadocs ...
I'll even give you "toy", but I prefer "portable entertainment system and light internet appliance" ... on two business trips now I've brought my iPad. Which, in addition to allowing me to read my email in airports and hotel lobbies, also gives me games, movies, books, and loads of other things when when I'm stuck in airplanes or in my hotel room. Heck, I can sit in the hotel bar after work with a martini and read google news, check in with the wife via email, and check my calendar *and* checkout nearby restaurants with UrbanSpoon. Sure, I could do that with my laptop, but it's far less convenient (and, my work laptop has wifi disabled as a security measure, so I'd actually need to be plugged into both wire and power to do it).
For the most part, I'm not hearing people claim to have chucked their laptop/desktop in favor of a tablet. That doesn't mean that the things people do with it don't have value to them. Trust me, on a one week business trip ... my iPad is as important to me as my laptop is -- it actually gets more use than the laptop. It lets me cover about 85% of the things I'd use my laptop for, and a bunch of things that I wouldn't want to use my laptop for. (I've tried watching movies on a laptop in a hotel room, and it sucked. Something I can hold like a book and sit in a comfy chair or lay in the bed is awfully nice.)
Trust me, the utility of an iPad is far more than my ability to "work". I'm not going to use it to compile code, run a web server, or generate SQL queries with it. But, I place a high value on the things it does allow me to do, and the way in which I can do them. That fact that it's small and lightweight, has a huge battery life, and will connect to anywhere with free wifi makes it far more convenient than a laptop. Given the size and weight, there are just certain contexts where I'd just as soon have both my iPad and my laptop -- I will use the iPad more, but if I *really* need to dig out the big gun, it's there.
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/12/tuaw-faceoff-streaming-video-on-the-ipad-with-air-video-and-str/ [tuaw.com]
The iPad has had video streaming apps since the damn thing was released. Maybe you should actually try one (or spend five seconds googling) before you proclaim its shortcomings?
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"Correct, but this toy does something very entertaining that the iPad can't, which is to stream and display video from the home network."
Funny, one of the main uses I have for my iPad is to stream video from my iTunes box. Sure, it's an app I bought called Air Video but it can do it and Apple is rumoured to be developing the AppleTV interface for the iPad too. It's a bit strong to say it can't do it when it clearly can although I'll concede that Apple should provide a solution themselves that works with i
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There's a great app called AirVideo which streams everything I've thrown at it. It's a measly $2.99 IIRC.
Server runs on your Windows/Mac/Linux box and you connect to it with the iDevice.
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except the vga dongle only works in limited ways, and with progams that specifically support it. It is NOT a "regular" video output, in the sense that a PC laptop's (or MAcBook's) VGA/HDMI ports are.
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Wrong. Here is just one of several solutions to stream video from a computer to an iPad. [pixelcity.com]
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How does wildly inaccurate crap like this get modded "informative?" I've used AirVideo [apple.com] for some time now on my iPhone (yes, it also works on the iPad). It streams video not only over WiFi, but over 3G (if your device supports it), with live reencoding. I have the server component running in a WinXP VM on my MythTV box, streaming MythTV recordings and archived movies and T
Re:It's the apps, stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
1) I don't care if I'll never compile it... as long as there's support for it, I'm happier in 2-3 years when the vendor isn't supporting the device, I can get updates. (Froyo on my G1, though sluggish, works).
2) I don't care... specifically Linux isn't *THE* end all/be all for embedded devices, and there are other similar OSes available that are equally/more open source.
3) Not just ROMs, but anything the company/vendor feels like making unavailable to artificially protect their other channels, or after they drop support for said device. Dropped support tends to happen very quickly on portable devices.
4) Really don't care too much on this... flash on mobile, especially smaller devices is a waste imho... though not being able to play videos is annoying at best.
5) Google has earned a reputation for delivering quality options with far fewer quirks than other companies. This comes at two costs: a. less feature rich, though what they do offer is solid. and b. google tends to do a lot of data mining, which raises some privacy concerns. As long as you are aware of A, and B I don't see the problem.
6) I don't bash apple for their design decisions (often), I happen to like aspects of Windows 7 *AND* OSX... though I think the applications for those platforms is where the differences come into play a bit more... To me, what keeps me from iOS devices is the artificial lock down regarding being able to side-load applications (I am the great and powerful JOBS, and all apps must go through me, giving me my cut). I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I won't spend my money there... I do own a Macbook.
7) kind of, yes... I can tinker, and my cool toy can do things your cool toy can't... I can do wifi tethering with my phone... For the most part, that was the single biggest selling point for my device is that there was 3rd party dev support, active 3rd party firmware, and the ability to utilize the hardware how *I* see fit.
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I have to say that other than games, you've just named the things I like *least* about the iTunes store. I don't give a fig what apps the staff likes, and I *really* hate the way iTunes wants to steer your purchases to what they think is (or want to be) hot.
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Is this because IRC is such a popular communications medium that everybody in the world uses it?
That last line (Score:2)
The tablets are powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU which gives it the edge when it comes to graphics
Sure, it might have "The Edge" - but that doesn't mean its always a good thing.
No, I'm not a fan of Apple, I don't own any of their products (though I'm forced to support a few Macs at work).
But when Epic showed their Unreal Engine working on an iPhone - well - thats when I realized that they hit a target that will appeal to most people. I imagine getting it to run was probably more ingenuity on Epic's part and not so much Apple Engineers - but regardless, developers wanting to make rich 3D Applications can
scalable graphics engines are old hat (Score:2)
Unreal Engine works on beefer systems too. It's a sliding scale that is easy for developers to configure. Maybe these apps will get higher framerates or high resolutions when ran on some devices.
Besides if you have to port your app to Android instead of iOS, it seems reasonable to also optimize it for the Android devices out there rather than hold back to what the Apple A4 can do.
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The interface just isn't conductive to playing a game in 3 dimensions at least it doesn't seem that way to me.
People said (and still say) the same about the game-pad controller versus a keyboard and mouse.
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"The Edge" over what, anyway? These devices aren't going to ship for 3-5 months, by which time they'll be competing against iPad2 and who-knows-what. The fact that the specs are even comparable to this past year's machine kind of indicates it won't have "the edge" in performance over anything.
Cost? (Score:2, Insightful)
How much is it going to cost?
Also, 16:9? Shit! Should be 16:10
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I disagree. The ideal would be 3:4 (0.75) to be close to the aspect ratios of A4 (0.71) and US Letter (0.77) paper sizes.
Some of us would like to use pads to get some work done. If I want to watch movies when travelling, I would get a portable DVD player.
Why android? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is everyone pushing android for tablets when even the original author [engadget.com] says it's not designed for that purpose.
Maemo & Meego are opensource and free, and they are designed to be used on tablets.
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Where's the application infrastructure? Third parties, distribution, OS drivers, etc?
With MeeGo, it's not there. Not for MeeGo specific apps.
Re:Why android? (Score:4, Informative)
Well, if Acer is going to supply their own store then they're supplying the infrastructure. MeeGo is a middleware platform that resembles a standard Linux distro that pulls heavily from upstream, instead of a massive NIH effort designed around pushing Google's services out to the world.
Most of the anti-MeeGo comments I see stem mostly from not understanding what, exactly, MeeGo is supposed to be.
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I'm curious as to how every single vendor shipping a different interpretation of MeeGo is better than Android?
At least Android's compatible, if fragmented.
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Who knows. If Acer is willing to provide their own stores they should have no problem supporting MeeGo. It may have more to do with the fact that there's no reference UI they can be lazy and make minor modifications to before pushing it out.
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Ah, but there's already a supply of Android apps out there. Supply of MeeGo apps is a bit lower. If you're running a store, you might as well have something existing devs can submit apps they already have rather than write new ones.
Though, this proliferation of Android a
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
What does it mean for an operating system to be designed for tablets? Who cares who puts input events onto the queue and who services them so long as it happens?
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I've wondered this myself. These tablets are just large smartphones with the phone hardware. How can it not be "designed for tablets"?
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Errr, that should say "without the phone hardware."
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If this is running Honeycomb, the version of Android designed for tablets, then we should be okay.
Hey, look, TFS says it's running Honeycomb!
More seriously, I'd imagine the reason they're choosing Android is that more people in the US are familiar with that OS. I've never seen Maemo in my life except for online screenshots, and I've spent more than my share of time puttering around in cell phone stores (I'm from the US).
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Why is everyone pushing android for tablets when even the original author [engadget.com] says it's not designed for that purpose.
that article refers to android 2.2. android 3.0 is specifically designed with tablets in mind and is targeted for early next year. most vendors are waiting for 3.0 before joining the tablet race.
Maemo & Meego are opensource and free, and they are designed to be used on tablets.
maybe because nobody knows what the heck maemo / meego / moblin are therefore wouldn't buy a tablet based on something they've never heard of. i'm just saying ...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nokia *alienated* their user base, sadly.
As an n800 owner, I expected the hardware would become obsolete... eventually. I could see making the n800 with built in GPS... but then the n900 as a PHONE and then signaling to the developer base that Maemo5 will abandon the 800 + 810 user base... that hurt. Then the n900 was obsoleted before it even shipped.
Nokia gets praise for making a system that was largely open, but they weren't open enough. When a product is truly open, it can not be killed by the manufactur
Re:Why android? (Score:4, Interesting)
The N900 is plenty open. And my device hasn't gone tits up on me because Nokia threw some switch. And their handling of the Internet Tablets/N900 has nothing to do with MeeGo, which exists under the Linux Foundation.
I'm confused. How is developing for a Linux distro that uses Qt as its primary toolkit like "developing for the nostalgia/emulator crowd"?
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This is absurd! Version unknown to who? (Score:2)
It's currently running an unknown Android version but according to the Acer executives the tablets will be running Google's tablet version of Android, Honeycomb.
So which is which? The version of Android is unknown to who? If it were unknown to the author, he should have said so. Otherwise news snippets like these add to the notion that there is chaos [scobleizer.com] in Android's ecosystem, which is incorrect.
making up for some bad karma (Score:2, Informative)
General Information:
Launch time: APR 2011
Positioning: Provide a complete Android tabel with full HD media and web anywhere
Features:
Dual coe 1.0 Ghz processor with Flash 10.1 support for the fasted HD web experience and multimedia playback anywhere
The latest and the highly intuitive good android tablet os and acer UI 4.5 to reach a whole new level of interactivity
SMP rear-facing camera + HD front-facing camera for vide,
The real story? (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know that Acer rules any roost, so I think the point of this story is that tablets are getting bigger, more powerful and hopefully, as implied by the Acer name - cheaper.
So far as I can tell, the big winner here is the 10" screen - using tired old LCD tech.
Personally, I think where tablets lose is the display (not e-ink) and for those that may be interested, there's an Android tablet on the horizon with Pixel Qi tech and Qualcomm's Mirasol is also something to know about:
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/11/05/pixel-qi-powered-notion-ink-adam-android-tablet-in-time-for-the-holidays/ [gottabemobile.com]
For some other tablet alternatives - http://www.anythingbutipad.com/ [anythingbutipad.com]
(I got nothing against the iPad, that's just a halfway decent site for a tablet alternative.)
My 2 cents on tablet ownership would be - match your OS to your cell phone if you can because it makes your transition from one device to another smoother and tablets should be all about ease of use. In that sense, Acer's move to offer these things in Androids and Windows shows real insight on their part (and no sad surprise - no Linux out of the box, again).
I'm OS agnostic and believe in the right OS for the job, fwiw.
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I don't know that Acer rules any roost, so I think the point of this story is that tablets are getting bigger, more powerful and hopefully, as implied by the Acer name - cheaper.
They don't rule, per se, but as the second largest PC manufacturer behind HP (they leapfrogged over Dell with the netbook craze), they certainly are a force. It's also very nice to know they are back on board with giving a non-Windows OS a try. I bought their first netbook with a horrible version of Linux on it (it is happy as can be running Ubuntu 10.10 now), but of course when it didn't do as well they axed the Linux line and went Windows-only. They were also one of the manufacturers that pointedly ign
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Yeah, I know. It's safer to call it a version of Linux - root it and run ps from adb and there's no doubt.
But - for those that think in terms of Linux distros with things like rpm and debian installers, Android is other.
Lousey battery life (Score:2)
So Tegra 2 Powered means the Battery life is what like 2 hours? No tablet will be successful with small battery life. The only way to get a successful android tablet is to at least match IMAXI er IPAD battery life.
Can you write on them like a piece of paper? (Score:2)
What I want to know about these tablets is: Can I write on them with a stylus and get results like writing in a notebook?
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What I want to know about these tablets is: Can I write on them with a stylus and get results like writing in a notebook?
Apparently yes, but you need a special iAccessory that simulates a finger [hardwaresphere.com].
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Maybe not with a stylus, but I have an app called neu.notes [apple.com]. (here [appolicious.com], here [appbank.us], here). [techalps.com]
You basically write/draw with your finger ... depending on how far zoomed in you are determines the effective "font size" of your writing. Say, everything from an 8 point font to a 100 point font or somesuch. You can have multiple 'notebooks', and each notebook can have multiple sheets. But, it's vector bas
Read the memo again (Score:5, Funny)
Please in the future stick to the style manual: any headline about a tablet has to include the words "iPad killer". See the previous memo about mp3 players.
If you want to be an early adopter (Score:4, Informative)
Buy the Viewsonic G Tablet now. The software sucks, but there are already several custom ROMs available - a port of CyanogenMod 6.1 (beta), ZPad, and TnT Lite - just check out the XDA Developers forums for all your ROM needs. It has a Tegra 2, 10" capacitive touch screen and has home/search/back/menu buttons like a proper Android device.
It runs Market and gets almost every app after applying the Market fix, all the Android games I've tried run great, YouTube is great for dumb video content in a pinch, my K-9mail push IMAP mail is there, contact sync and calendar sync with Google works, and it plays downloaded video content just fine (I haven't experimented with HD content yet - I don't really see the point on a tablet device). I like the Aldiko and Kindle e-readers and I read PDF ebooks with RepliGo Reader (better than the free Adobe Reader, IMO).
If, on the other hand, you want a tablet that works great out-of-the-box, without installing custom ROMs and recovery images, get an iPad. That's what my wife has. There aren't any Android tablets that are there yet, and most likely won't be until Android officially supports them and will let the official Market ship with the device.
But for the Slashdot early adopter set, the G Tablet is a pretty cool option that you can pick up right now for under $400 at Sears or Staples.
Archos 10.1 (Score:2)
Why not the Archos 10 inch, which runs Android 2.2, weighs less than an iPad, and is buyable now?
Misread the title (Score:3, Funny)
Thought this was another TSA patdown story.
K-Mart 7" Android Tablet $180 (Score:2)
Various outlets are selling for $150 [google.com] a 7" Augen Gentouch78 [linuxfordevices.com]. Is it any good, considering that low, low price?
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OT: Bill O'Reilly? (Score:2)
You do know that your sig is wildly deceptive right? The statement in context is here [thinkprogress.org], and is quite different from (say) Congressman Phil Hare saying he didn't care about the constitution [foxnews.com].
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I'm also fully aware of the "context" for O'Reilly's statement and think that it actually bolsters my point. His guest was making a very good point that we should follow the Constitution in how we try terrorists. O'Reilly would have none of it; he thinks we should have tri
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's the headline. If it were "Acer's New 10" Andriod Tablet Proves to be a better alternative to the overpriced Apple iPad" then, you'd see a lot more comments.
Also, if they had found a way to work in the word "tits".
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Yet the Acer will cost as MUCH as a ipad...
IT will rock if it has a 1.5ghz processor. anything less than 1ghz is dog slow on an android tablet. I also hope they do not end up stupid and cripple it with a low amount of ram.
Both of those make almost all the current android tablets suck bad.
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Older builds of Android have a file system bug that causes really slow ext3 performance. The Cynogen Mod actually fixes this bug and helps with performance.
The problem is everyone shipping old verisons of Android coupled with crap-ware included that is often running in the background all the time.
Someone could put out a new, fast and clean build of Android to deliver a nice tablet experience. Sadly no one has.
Re: (Score:2)
It lacks USB? Other than that, I'll be eying this pad as a possible iPod Touch replacement. The Pod is losing its 'Touch' as the battery starting to show its age(1st gen from 2008), as well as the OS and lame app store nonsense. Android device with SD slot is for me! Storing files on an iPod or iPad is fucking WEAK and endlessly cumbersome, it's just not a proper computing device and the crap store makes it even shittier.
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USB would give quickly allow access to USB-based devices like hard drives and burners - the apps would come.
I think the manufacturers are simply walling things in to protect their low-end laptops.
If true, I'd point the finger for the USB design shortfall at marketing and management, not R&D, fwiw.
Re:No USB, are you sure? (Score:2)
I think I've read about 4-5 articles, plus the press release, and it doesn't say that there is no USB terminal, or that it won't have one when it ships in (February/April) 2011. There are a lot of specs left out, and they (Acer) seemed very careful to show as little as possible about the tablet.
Except for the existence and likely delivery date, I'm guessing that a lot is subject to change.