Tablets

[Yozora]

Lately my phone's been acting a little odd, so I ended up getting an android tablet for general web browsing. I haven't moved everything over yet, and am still getting used to the bigger screen and such, but it seems pretty similar to my phone, which is good..

All this got me wondering how Gigarank members who have tablets use them. What are some fun things to do on them? What are your favorite ways to use them? Are there things it would be useful to know as a first-time tablet owner?

 

[strokerace]

Think of a tablet as a cross between your cell and a laptop. Its small and portable and ok. I guess there are some apps that you can get to do some things that your cell can't, but, atleast you can get apps to text with.

 

[GigaGreg]

You can get a 3/4G tablet, but why don't u get a Phablet such as Samsung Galaxy Note or Motorola ones, even Lenovo has good ones.

 

[Yozora]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

@"iGdesigner" I'd love to look into those, but I can't get a new phone yet without paying full price, and they're pretty expensive. I'm not sure how it is in the UK, but in the US most phone companies heavily subsidize the cost of cell phones when you sign a two-year contract with them. This means most people can choose a new phone every two years at the very least. I can't get a new phone right now without paying full price. An on-sale Galaxy Tab ended up being cheaper.

 

[GigaGreg]

That sucks in US. Yeah Samsung tablets are relatively cheap and good with specifications.
You would have to read on reviews just to make sure that you would want to have one.
You also might want to check other tablets not just Samsungs, not saying about Apple products because they are expensive.

The cheapest Lenovo tablet is around $200 for Android which is not bad.
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/tablets/lenovo/yoga-tablet-series/yoga-tablet-2-8/

 

[rockforlife]

I have an Acer Iconia B1-710 that I love... about $100.. I use it to do pretty much everything I use my laptop for except for image work.

---

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Iconia-B1-710-L401-7-0-inch-Tablet/dp/B00DKFF386

 

[Yozora]

Thanks, all! I just checked back and apparently the tablet was on clearance & it might be hard to return it. Even if I can't return it, I'm pretty happy with it though. It was fairly cheap, and my phone's also a Samsung, so they're similar, and there's not much new stuff to get used to. When this one wears out I'll definitely look at some more Android ones (After I, like all the other design majors, had to get a Macbook for college, or university as I think it's called in the UK, I learned that me and Apple products just aren't a good match for each other), or cheap Windows ones if they're using something besides Windows 8 by then though!

I just figured out my phone company (Verizon) made an app that lets me receive text messages on my tablet! That could be super useful...

 

[Tony1Faze]

Any cheap android tab is better that iOS... ( Hates IOS)... lol

 

[T.Kawabata]

I like windows tablet. It was not good and expensive,but recently I feel it is getting better. I found , when I started using it , I still need mouse and keyboard....but still I love to use it as a second PC, not so bad.

 

[Yozora]

@"T.Kawabata" Could you go into more detail on what your experience is like using a Windows tablet? Do you need to use antivirus software? Can it run all the programs a regular Windows computer can?

 

[GigaGreg]

Yes, you need to have an antivirus software as it is a windows A windows tablet works under windows 8 which means that you can run the same programs.

 

[T.Kawabata]

@"T.Kawabata" Could you go into more detail on what your experience is like using a Windows tablet? Do you need to use antivirus software? Can it run all the programs a regular Windows computer can?

I am using Toshiba tablet with bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
http://www.toshiba.com/us/encore-tablets

>>Can it run all the programs a regular Windows computer can?
Yes. About OS and programs , nothing different from normal PC. I am using antivirus as well.
It is just smaller size PC, like CPU is Atom and memory is 32GB eMMC. It is not so good performance but in my case, if only for email , web access and small business application, no problem at all.
Unfortunately my company's business application , almost all of them , work only in MS Windows. So windows tablet is very important for me rather than iOS or android.

 

[Yozora]

@"iGdesigner" @"T.Kawabata"
Thanks guys! I think I'm better informed about Windows tablets now.

 

[jbjenterprises]

Lately my phone's been acting a little odd, so I ended up getting an android tablet for general web browsing. I haven't moved everything over yet, and am still getting used to the bigger screen and such, but it seems pretty similar to my phone, which is good..

All this got me wondering how Gigarank members who have tablets use them. What are some fun things to do on them? What are your favorite ways to use them? Are there things it would be useful to know as a first-time tablet owner?

I like to load the InkScape app which actually installs a basic Linux system. With a Bluetooth mouse and Bluetooth keyboard, I turn my tablet into a mini Linux PC. I have been able to install other apps in the Linux system as well. It is a little slow, and it takes some tinkering to get things to work well for use as a Linux system. The app that I installed also included Gimp for photo editing.

 

[Yozora]

Lately my phone's been acting a little odd, so I ended up getting an android tablet for general web browsing. I haven't moved everything over yet, and am still getting used to the bigger screen and such, but it seems pretty similar to my phone, which is good..

All this got me wondering how Gigarank members who have tablets use them. What are some fun things to do on them? What are your favorite ways to use them? Are there things it would be useful to know as a first-time tablet owner?

I like to load the InkScape app which actually installs a basic Linux system. With a Bluetooth mouse and Bluetooth keyboard, I turn my tablet into a mini Linux PC. I have been able to install other apps in the Linux system as well. It is a little slow, and it takes some tinkering to get things to work well for use as a Linux system. The app that I installed also included Gimp for photo editing.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.gimp.inkscape That one? Woah, looks nice! I was just thinking that if Android had something like Sublime Text & Photoshop, my tablet could replace my computer 90% of the time. I'll need to look into this!

 

[jbjenterprises]

Lately my phone's been acting a little odd, so I ended up getting an android tablet for general web browsing. I haven't moved everything over yet, and am still getting used to the bigger screen and such, but it seems pretty similar to my phone, which is good..

All this got me wondering how Gigarank members who have tablets use them. What are some fun things to do on them? What are your favorite ways to use them? Are there things it would be useful to know as a first-time tablet owner?

I like to load the InkScape app which actually installs a basic Linux system. With a Bluetooth mouse and Bluetooth keyboard, I turn my tablet into a mini Linux PC. I have been able to install other apps in the Linux system as well. It is a little slow, and it takes some tinkering to get things to work well for use as a Linux system. The app that I installed also included Gimp for photo editing.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.gimp.inkscape That one? Woah, looks nice! I was just thinking that if Android had something like Sublime Text & Photoshop, my tablet could replace my computer 90% of the time. I'll need to look into this!

That's it!

 

[Yozora]

@"wpchurchofchrist" My tablet doesn't have the space for it right now, but hopefully I can clear enough to install it. It should work on non-rooted devices, right? I don't see anything in the description that says it can't...

 

[jbjenterprises]

@"wpchurchofchrist" My tablet doesn't have the space for it right now, but hopefully I can clear enough to install it. It should work on non-rooted devices, right? I don't see anything in the description that says it can't...

I installed mine on an non-rooted device.

 

[Yozora]

@"wpchurchofchrist" My tablet doesn't have the space for it right now, but hopefully I can clear enough to install it. It should work on non-rooted devices, right? I don't see anything in the description that says it can't...

I installed mine on an unrooted device.

Yes! That's great to hear!:good:

 

[jbjenterprises]

@"wpchurchofchrist" My tablet doesn't have the space for it right now, but hopefully I can clear enough to install it. It should work on non-rooted devices, right? I don't see anything in the description that says it can't...

I installed mine on an unrooted device.

Yes! That's great to hear!:good:

It works best with a Bluetooth mouse and Bluetooth keyboard. Almost unusable without those.