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Asus EeePad Transformer Gets a Thumbs-Up
Android Central has taken a close look at the new Transformer tablet from Asus, giving it an overall positive review, with minor points deducted for a 'plasticy' feel. The Transformer joins the Motorola Xoom in the world of Honeycomb (Android 3.0), and has very similar, high-end specs (though it's Wi-Fi only) with one big difference: the Transformer is marketed with a not-included-in-the-price attachable keyboard that adds a secondary battery. Notably, given inevitable comparison to the Xoom, the SD card slot, and Flash 10.2, work out of the box. The reviewer says Asus has done a credible job of making Honeycomb work well with a keyboard, but I wonder what other OSes will eventually be hacked onto this device. 16 hours of battery life in a netbook-sized computer sure sounds good to me, but I might want that to be with standard Linux apps instead of only with Android.
What do Optimus Prime have to say about this?
And where do the arms and legs come out?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
If you ever wondered whatever happened to the kid who used to grease up the Nintendo controller every time you let him play, looks like he's reviewing Tablet devices at AndroidCentral.
Seriously, look at the photos of the screen and the keyboard trackpad. Did this guy just finish a bag of Frito Lays?
The World is Yours.
but I might want that to be with standard Linux apps instead of only with Android.
Why? Wouldn't most Linux (or even Windows) apps be a huge pain to use on just a touch screen?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Are you joking? You don't know why it's notable that a tablet computer is shown as having a SD slot? Do you think there might be another tablet computer this is meant to be in contrast to?
Apple geeks are accustomed to having no ports other than the proprietary one.
"Yes, this tablet is good but it needs a keyboard."
"Ah, yes, this keyboard is fine, but it needs a real OS."
"Whoa, this OS is killing the battery, what this needs is a big ol' battery and a charger brick to charge it."
"My hand is getting tired with all the pinching and zooming. I need a good touchpad and sometimes a good mouse."
So we're just reinventing the laptop. Great. Turns out doing something productive on a tablet is borderline impossible.
The 16-gigabyte version will cost $399; the 32GB version runs $499. The keyboard dock is another $149. So for $550 -- less than the cost of a 32GB Wifi-only Motorola Xoom, you can have a 16GB Android tablet/laptop.
I'm guessing this thing will spend most of its life undocked, once you read your email and start surfing the net. Tablets are couch computers for the most part.
How often will want to dredge up the keyboard, balance it on their lap while using it anywhere other than a desk or table?
For the amount of typing one does on a tablet, it might be that some of the predictive on-screen keyboards would be faster for most typing.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
Meh, I think I'll wait for the one with GPS.. IIRC the Acer Iconia 500 will have GPS..
They did a find job killing Linux Netbooks. Anyone remember that half drunk rant from an Asus CEO (or was it ACER) about MS strong arming them? I guess it doesn't matter since they don't run MS-Office, and oo.org isn't a serious competitor (nice software, but too much retraining, and if you don't think that's true, you haven't done enough tech support with end users). So how does Microsoft kill these Android phone/tablets so they don't bite into their market?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
For purposes of balance it must be pointed out that the transformer has a proprietary connector to attach to its keyboard and to charge it should really have been PDMI. But at least the tablet as a selection of non-proprietary ports. So someone can attach the device to a TV, or a mass storage device, or an SD card without paying an ASUS tax for the privilege.
It's notable because the SD slot on the Xoom didn't work out of the box. In fact, I don't even know if it works now, 2 months later.
Who names these things? JooJoo, then iPad, now this?
Maybe because nobody wants to fumble with little cards and little doors to break off, or remember which card has what on it? I wonder why camera companies waste volume with SD cards and don't just put 32GB of flash on the MLB and call it a day. The SD slot is an obsolete waste of product volume and complexity, and for some reason people (meaning people on Slashdot, not as a whole) don't seem to get it.
Because having no SD card slot is better than having a Xoom which has a non-functional SD card slot?
The one thing I'd like to use a tablet for is reading technical documents in PDF format. An ereader is NO GOOD for this task. I also would like a laptop to write my own LaTeX documents on. This is something that appeals to me greatly. Something that I can easily read PDF's on as a tablet and then write my own with it too. If there were a full Linux or Windows operating system for this I'd be pretty much sold.
Am I a bad person for this? haha
Reminds me of the Compaq TC1000, updated.
Well, as a counter point to that ... I have never found myself thinking "boy, what I really need is an SD card slot in my iPad". Not even a little.
Maybe, just maybe, not everybody wants or needs an SD reader in a device like this. I've got most of my iPad filled with MP3s and movies, the rest is apps and books ... and if I really needed to get something onto my iPad, I could always put it into my Dropbox account and it would show up on my iPad. But, generally, it's for accessing the web, as well as the content I already have on it. If I filled the 8GB card in my camera, I don't have room on my 64GB iPad to offload it.
To me, my iPad isn't used to offload data from other devices. In fact, if I compare it to my laptop (which I also bring with me on business trips) ... I use the two devices for completely different purposes.
Clearly, by the volume of screeching and whining about the iPad, it isn't a device geared to the majority of Slashdot users. That doesn't mean that the people who own them don't find utility in them.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I finally got an Android phone and I took an immediate disliking to the way applications and their permissions are handled. Before you install an application from the Android Market you are told what permissions the application wants. If you don't like it, all you can do is not install the application. For example, if I want TV Guide listings, but the TV Guide application wants access to my contacts, and I don't want to give up access to my contacts then I am stuck. There is no method for me to deny the TV Guide application access to my contacts, other than not installing it. With social media taking off, many applications now want access to my contacts. I just find this unacceptable. I also don't know of any means to currently filter the Android applications by their permission requests. I also notice that applications seem to just start up by themselves. I have an application called Advanced Task Killer that stops applications. However, before long a bunch of applications are running that I did not specifically start. I don't know if Linux is any better about this. Is there any means I have to protect against an application finding my email contacts and phoning home with them?
Maybe because nobody wants to fumble with little cards and little doors to break off, or remember which card has what on it? I wonder why camera companies waste volume with SD cards and don't just put 32GB of flash on the MLB and call it a day. The SD slot is an obsolete waste of product volume and complexity, and for some reason people (meaning people on Slashdot, not as a whole) don't seem to get it.
I'd love to have an SD slot on my iPad, but I wouldn't trade battery-life or rigidity of the structure for it. I know it's not the same, but I had a TabletPC a few years ago and I was scared to death of carrying that thing around due to its flimsiness.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
At least I can run a non-toy OS on that one.
"Remember when I said I would never lie? Well, that was the first time."
WTF? My camera has an SD slot (I think they pretty much all do...) and I've never even heard of doors breaking off. The point is that it's upgradable. When I bought my camera 256 MB of flash was a little pricey. Today, I have a 16 GB card in there. And I can carry spares; if I fill one up, I can swap it in a few moments, something you can't do with built in flash.
SD obsolete? Then why is it in damn near every electronic thing you buy? It's the defacto standard for that kind of thing.
You can't imagine how removable media is useful? You've never used a floppy, CD, or DVD drive in your life?
I wonder why camera companies waste volume with SD cards and don't just put 32GB of flash on the MLB and call it a day.
Because photographers don't want to waste time during a picture shoot downloading all their photos through the USB port, or they want to be able to take some shots and hand the card to someone to process them while they keep the camera doing camera-like stuff.
The most expensive part of a camera is not the electronics, it's the optics. Making the optics sit idle while you deal with an electronic issue is big big waste of money and time.
The SD slot is an obsolete waste of product volume and complexity, and for some reason people (meaning people on Slashdot, not as a whole) don't seem to get it.
I don't "get it", because I use the SD slots on the devices I have to move data back and forth, and have compact storage for things I want to carry with me. Yes, it's hard to remember which card contains what, sometimes, but I've found the same problem with USB sticks. What I also like is that most of the SD slots my things have are completely internal, so there isn't anything sticking out of the device while I'm using one, unlike USB sticks which 'stick out' and get in the way.
As long as you're rooted, you can chroot into any armel distro. See here http://nerd65536.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-instal-debian-or-ubuntu-in.html
Install Ubuntu in Android
Just like a touchbook from Always Innovating (http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/home/index.htm) but with an actual production capability and an OS that the maker didn't have to write from scratch.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
Apparently because that something like 95% of people in the market for a tablet don't feel like they need an SD slot? Just guessing.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
This thing looks awesome. The Android tablets are shaping up nicely from a hardware/OS perspective, I'm so impressed with the innovation and capabilities. However, I'm not willing to make the leap until the app developers do. The Honeycomb section of the marketplace is pretty horrible at the moment.
For a more in-depth review that includes benchmarks and photos that weren't taken out on mom's patio table, Anandtech did a pretty good write-up. I'm even being so kind as to include a link to the printer-friendly version with everything on the same page.
http://www.anandtech.com/print/4277
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
For me the big thing is the price... $399 (Even in Canada) is getting pretty close to a price point I'm comfortable with. The keyboard dock for an extra $150 I'd probably get at the same time.
Although a 10" keyboard isn't ideal, I'm wondering what options there are, if any, to do real Android application development on something like this? I need to replace my old MacBook where I do most of my work right now, and my desire to try this tablet thing out and the fact it has a keyboard makes me wonder if that is somehow doable. I imagine I'd have to use a remote server for the actual compiling and some combination of SSH to get the code back and forth... probably not worth the hassle if that's the case.
Yes, thats a reliable conclusion to draw from that. "iPads sold so SD isn't a feature people want." Please, tell me you'll join my marketing department.
If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
The one aspect of fanboys that disgusts me is how they twist drawbacks into being "features", and then other assholes come along and mod them up for it. You, sir, are a fanboy of the most disgusting kind.
Also, none of what you said has any truth in it whatsoever.
Considering 100% of tablets don't have a working SD card slot it is even more so.
Xoom's SD slot is non functional and flash on honeycomb is a nightmare in all aspects.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I don't think I'd miss the slot on a tablet, but I can tell you why camera manufactures still use them. Shooting raw, my wife can fill a 32GB card quite easily shooting a wedding. A long wedding she can fill it completely and make a dent in a second. Once the photos are culled, cropped, and turned into JPEGs they don't take up anywhere near that much space, but during the event there's really not time for that stuff, nor for downloading pics to a computer.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Rrrrright, just like they didn't feel a need for a camera, oh wait, now there's the iPad 2 now with camera! Apple is famous for withholding tech to give incentives to buy the new version. 95% of iPad owners probably have little in common, consider a lot of dialup users even today see no advantage to broadband Internet because they don't know any better. The only difference is that many people on Slashdot know that there are other options which don't have artificial limitations.
Only a complete idiot would say that the SD/SDHC/SDXC is obsolete, the fact that the development of the SDXC card at 1tb is just about to be released is proof that it is going to be the default removable storage medium of the first quarter of the 21st century.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I'm definitely getting one, on release day if possible (I'm such a shameless Asus fanboy). If I can eventually boot Linux off the SD card I think that would be ideal. It saves precious space on internal storage and would only operate with the keyboard attached, which I think is what I would like. There's a MicroSD slot on the tablet itself, though, so some people may prefer that.
And you're the hater of the worst kind. Other people made intelligent arguments against me, like civilized people. You, instead, resort to name calling.
No thanks!
The one aspect of assholes that disgusts me is how they how they relentlessly harp on one thing they can't live without, and then other assholes come along and then mod them up for it. You sir, are an asshole of the most disgusting kind.
See, my problem is the level of absolute screeching irrationality that comes out of the anti-Apple camp -- you more or less assume that your pissing and moaning is a fact of nature, and that just because you hold that opinion, it is sacred and anybody who disagrees with it is clearly defective. Maybe not everybody wants a device they can recompile a kernel for or do a port of a Nintendo emulator to. Generally speaking, after 15 years in the industry, I don't.
Most of these posts amount to "zomg, teh Apple is the suxor and anybody who disagrees is a retard who should be removed from the gene pool". Dial it back a notch -- not all devices are for all users. Just because it's a feature that you absolutely can't live without, doesn't mean everyone cares. People judge these things by different criteria.
Deal with it -- it's not like it's something important, like the fact that vi is way better than emacs, and that all those guys have chosen wrong. ;-)
Seriously, it's a computer device ... but you guys make it into an issue like religion, abortion, or politics. Go have a beer, get laid, and try to remember the actual important things in life. I bet after your 3rd pint, the fact that a device you don't even own doesn't have an SD slot will miraculously not matter one whit.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
But your camera itself must be obsolete now. If the included storage is on the correct scale compared to size of a single shot, there's no longer a point to the removable media. How many photos will you take in a single session? 100? 1000?
And don't get me wrong - I don't believe in planned obsolescence, which is why I like large format film instead.
I'm arguing that removable storage itself is becoming obsolete except for specialized applications. I stand by that. We'll see who's right in about 15 years.
This thing hits the market in just a few days - April 26th, and looks like it will be available at NewEgg and Amazon, along with a bunch of other sites. Dual core, 1G RAM, the 'standard' 1280x800 screen resolution for Honeycomb, mini-hdmi, two USB slots, sd slot. Heck, you can plug a usb mouse and keyboard into this thing and skip their docking station / laptop accessory. USB storage shows up too. This is closer to the price point I was hoping the Xoom would come out for.
Sounds like the stock ROM is very close to the stock Android build too - may not need to de-crap the device.
> Considering 100% of tablets don't have a working SD card slot it is even more so.
100% Whatever you're smoking, I want some. My Nokia tablet from half a decade ago has *two* working SD slots. All Windows tablets i'm aware of have at least one.
I'm not saying you're wrong or right for using an SD card - I'm saying that you're in a very small minority. Big difference. My problem is that people assume that what's good for a small number of tech savvy individuals is good for the whole, which is most definitely not the case.
I shoot large format film, but I'd be delusional for saying that users need 100 megapixel images, or judging people as somehow lacking for using a point and shoot.
Sorry, but the only "screeching irrationality" here is your own. Notably, you're making an awfully long strawman argument here, and fail to address anything I actually said while imagining a lot of other things. So kindly fuck of and die.
The iPad is a really great media consumption device. Unless you are near a good wifi access point though, (like your house), you will get charged and arm and a leg for streaming that media over AT&T or Verizon.
Since slower read/write speed SD cards are pretty inexpensive (you don't need class 10 to watch a video), you can conceivably load up several cards once with lots of movies and shows and just pop them in and out as you wish.
Moving large videos off and on the iPad's internal storage takes time. And depending on your mood, you could end up moving stuff back and forth regularly. That gets old.
You don't need expensive, high quality internal storage for viewing videos.
And for more proof Apple does it to extract more money with the higher priced, larger storage models, look at the iPad camera connection kit. Its basically an external SD card reader. And they crippled it so you can't just watch videos off of it.
The DSLRs that I looked at don't have any internal storage. And I don't think I would want it too. The ability to store and organize pictures based on SD cards is nice. You buy a good DSLR camera and it will last you a long time
I'll sometimes takes 500 pictures on an outing at 10megs each
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
You'll be right in 15 years, but are wrong today.
Isn't this nearly as big a deal as when an iPhone site likes a new iPhone? I mean, Android lovers are desperate for Android tablets to like, so they're hardly unbiased.
Are you out of your mind?
Do you want to buy a new device because you suddenly need 32 gigabytes of storage instead of 16 because your media library grows? Or maybe throw the device away when flash memory starts having problems after a few years?
Well, I don't. I'd rather replace a micro sd card with a larger one.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
From the end of the article: "You get an Android tablet. And an Android laptop. And that's something nobody but ASUS can yet offer." Hmmm. I remember reading about Always Innovating's Touch Book about 1-2 years ago, with characteristics similar to this tablet/laptop. And they have a new one called Smart Book, that have two tablets plus keyboard in one, with support for Android, ChromeOS, Ubuntu and their own Linux variant. I just checked their site, and surprise, surprise, they caught ASUS's "invention" too... http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/home/index.htm
Android X86 is coming and I bet I can make it dual boot with just about any laptop you have soon.
I hope with X86 i can get a dell 5 type device with dell 7 specs.
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
It's an add-on for those that want one.
Android tablet/netbook hybrid gets thumbs up from Android blog...
In other news, AppleInsider likes some Apple products.
The real question is whether the market will give the EeePad (and you guys thought "iPad" is was a dumb name?) a thumbs up. I wouldn't get my hopes up. They may very well sell a few thousand, though, making it one of the top Android tablets, so there's that.
A 32GB SDHC card can be had for $40+ so you save yourself money right there. Oh and if you did want to swap photos off a camera you save money by not having to buy some expensive dongle Apple for the purpose.
> That's notable these days? Every single consumer electronics device I've bought in at least 5 years, from my television set to my digital camera to my ultra-mobile PC has an SD slot. I didn't think it was possible to buy anything these days that _doesn't_ have one.
Any Apple product.
That's what makes it notable -- not that other Android devices don't have them, but that no Apple touchscreen device has them. Or ever will. Apple's business model is built on you paying their prices for memory, and discarding your old device in order to increase memory capacity. Having an SD card slot would invalidate that.
Now, in my opinion, what makes an Android device *truly* notable, even amongst other Android devices, is USB hosting capability. To my knowledge, only one tablet has that, and it's not out yet. What I want is to be able to move the photos from my camera to my tablet without dragging a PC into the field, and I can't do that if both devices think they're USB peripherals. (...and my camera is a pro body that uses compact flash, so having an SD card slow doesn't help me.)
(If it's a Sony TV or other product, it'll be Memory Stick instead of SD card, but that doesn't invalidate your point.)
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
It's an add-on for those that want one.
It's an expensive, hobbled add-on.
You're seriously saying that an 11mm wide slot would compromise the device's structure in any significant way?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I dunno, even when the iPad 12 has a terabyte of internal memory, everyone else in the world will be offering similar products with a slot that will take a 2 terabyte card. These things tend to leapfrog each other. So I don't think he'll ever be right, except perhaps momentarily due to vaguarities in the market.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
> The one aspect of fanboys that disgusts me is how they twist drawbacks into being "features"[...]
Well, it's either that or Zoloft...
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You're seriously saying that an 11mm wide slot would compromise the device's structure in any significant way?
No, I'm saying I wouldn't make that compromise.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
So 32GB of flash would hold on the order of 3000 photos for you, or a week's shooting. For a DSLR class device, one could see justifying 64GB or more. I think I'd personally take the embedded version. That said, I can see the argument that a DSLR is an inherently large device, where volume doesn't matter that much. On a pocket point and shoot, it would be that much more compelling to embed.
Because Apple fanboyz are gay like the rainbows that fly out their mouths
Dude, don't dis on rainbows. A Rainbow is God's bow that He put up as a gesture of pseudo-peace (He won't drown us all again, but anything else still goes).
WTF? My camera has an SD slot (I think they pretty much all do...) and I've never even heard of doors breaking off. The point is that it's upgradable. When I bought my camera 256 MB of flash was a little pricey. Today, I have a 16 GB card in there. And I can carry spares; if I fill one up, I can swap it in a few moments, something you can't do with built in flash.
And it's easier to carry 10 cards and 10 batteries than it is 10 cameras. Not everyone goes on trips where power is ubiquitous and computers are available.
But of course, GP thinks that we should all be using iCamera/PictureFrames and just buy new ones when the memory fills up (because you can't transfer Apple's IP [your photos] to another device).
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
Well, as a counter point to that ... I have never found myself thinking "boy, what I really need is an SD card slot in my iPad". Not even a little.
Well, as a counter point to that ... I have often found myself thinking "boy, what I really need is a micro SD card slot in my iPhone" because I want to easily transfer data (usually PDFs) to my phone. Instead I have to email them to myself or put them up on a secure website. Apple is pretty dumb about some stuff.
> No, I'm saying I wouldn't make that compromise.
I have no idea what that means. If you mean you wouldn't accept an 11mm slot in any gadget on the miniscule chance that it'll change the structural integrity in any way that you're at all likely to notice, then all I have to say is, that's taking "purist" to a whole new level. ...So, none of your devices have, for instance, a removable battery?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Oh brother. Am I *really* being that unclear?
No, I'm saying I don't want a flimsy tablet. I like my iPad because it is rigid. If it has an SD slot, and it's still rigid, great! If it had an SD slot, but its design was flimsy, then it would not be great. There is no 'purist' about it. I had a TabletPC that was flimsy and I hated it. It felt like one wrong turn and it'd crack. The iPad, nope, I can carry it around without fear of that. Does this make sense now that I've stripped away the nonsense you added to my post?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Mod parent up, he promised me a blowjob!
Okkkaaay, fine, but what does that have to do with having an SD slot?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It seems pretty clear to me that the Linux desktop is going to be Android, or some future variant. The steps from phone to tablet to laptop to desktop are not too hard to imagine, as people get used to the environment.
Android will take over the world!
expandfairuse.org
With removable cards I can carry a lot of data around in my wallet.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
More to the point, can I boot this device from the SD card slot? My eeepc can do that. Thats how I install ubuntu. Maybe its not so bad to not have root access on a phone (I still want it though) but its pretty important to me on a laptop.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Considering 95% of all tablets in the wild (meaning the iPad) have no SD Card, having a card reader in a tablet is still somewhat of a novelty. How Apple gets away with that kind of thing I'll never know.
It's an add-on for those that want one.
It's an expensive, hobbled add-on.
It's $29, and works with any camera. That's not expensive, nor is it hobbled to any but a small niche of geeks.
But why, for fuck's sake? What's the benefit limiting a camera to internal memory only, is it the 10 cents saved by not making a latch? (recommended response difficulty: construct an argument without invoking Apple).
For now, let's all take a minute to pray that Canon and Nikon continue not to listen to ideas like these in the future.
Call me cynical but the whole point of non-upgradeable storage is dictating the supply of internal storage.
Apple has 2 models available on their store for iPad. Wifi only or 3G. Yet they have the 16/32/64GB options - exactly the same computer but at $US100 price increments.
Wow, I actually like this. It seems like it's very well done.
I like the keyboard attachment, I really like that the keyboard got it's own battery and that you can decide if you want to use this as a tablet or as a laptop. Long term battery life, a good form factor, and it's not apple. I'm sure there will be lots of bugs to work out, but it sounds pretty cool to me so far. Oh, and the price is quite good. (Remember the price listed is the starting price... and it goes down from there.) We may get down to $300 for a non-crappy tablet by Christmas if the market can put out a few more of these types of products. At that price point, I'd pick one up, and I'm not really in the market!
d
all language nazi's will burne in heil!
The pricing is really well done.
The differentiation is either in price ($100 lower than even the iPad) or in form-factor (keyboard dock) but not simultaneously.
The reversed scrolling sounds particularly annoying.
The Android invasion so far has only crippled Nokia and RIM (and assimilated Samsung, HTC, and Motorola), but now it's going for Microsoft.
If this is a successful product, it's not clear how WinTel will be able to stop the second wave when the other Android manufacturers pile on.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Because, in the case of small cameras, it makes them larger. As I said, earlier, I carry a larger camera than most anybody who posts here, but that doesn't mean that it makes sense for most people. I bet you the SD card slot, mechanism, and door is multiple percent of the volume of a small point and shoot. Oh, and the 10c, because every cent does matter if it's a waste. And the gram, because it matters too.
But bring on the personal attacks, because it's easier than having a rational debate.
It doesn't. We're still waiting for that elusive software update.
Other reviews mention random reboots. Is Android Central at a point where they don't see that as a problem?
Yeah, and the one on that iPad still doesn't work... oh wait..
"To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
Well, it's either that or Zoloft...
Why not? It comes in tablets.
In general, it is safe and legal to kill your children. -- POSIX Programmer's Guide
It's $29, and works with any camera. That's not expensive, nor is it hobbled to any but a small niche of geeks.
A USB SD card reader that reads SD/SDHC cards costs a dollar. Of course if you wanted to go with a brand name such as Sandisk for your reader that would set you back a whopping three dollars.
So Apple's dongle enjoys a mere 10 times more expensive that an equivalent reader that plugs into a USB port. And yes it is hobbled since SD cards work in a variety of roles, and in a variety of applications not just for pictures and not just in blessed apps e.g. transferring files like documents, videos & music between devices.
There is no point trying to defend this practice, it's deliberately done to fleece and limit users, no other reason.
Oh brother. Am I *really* being that unclear?
Yes, you are. Phrasing it as a trade-off shows that you think there's some relationship between them.
Put identity in the browser.
Really? My little GNet text-n-talk phone has space for two SIMs and a micro SD card and it's about as small as phones are made. My four-year-old camera has a full-size SD slot and it's so small it's difficult to take good shots with.
Put identity in the browser.
If people consume on a laptop, there isn't much of a barrier to starting to create on the same laptop should an idea hit them. But if people consume on a tablet and don't own a laptop, they can't easily switch to creating without making a substantial purchase.
After using the XOOM for a month now, I crave Android on the desktop. The interface is much more productive and intuitive than Windows. Back, Home, and Running Apps "buttons" are straight to the point and make it very easy to navigate quickly between apps and be productive. I do find myself wanting a Forward "button" sometimes though. Honeycomb works so good that I take it for granted. It just works. The onscreen keyboard allows me to type faster and more accurately than on a desktop (my typing skills aren't the greatest). I envision a desktop system where my PC is the screen (giant 24" tablet) with another screen for the keyboard (same dimensions) that sits on my desk. The keyboard, being another screen, would allow you choose the keyboard style or allow you to have another view-port (for webcam?) on the "keyboard." Oh yeah, I want a mouse, gesture, and touchscreen functions running in conjunction.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
I want two more cores and will pay another $150. I will sell all my netbooks (I have three) and maybe some other hardware to pay for it if necessary. With two cores I would only buy it if I had disposable income. I trust Asus in a way I don't trust any other manufacturer though, so I could believe they could get this hinge thing right. Having both uSDHC and SDHC slots is a big win. Having bgn wireless likewise. I've been dreaming of a laptop with touch for a long time, and fantasizing about a tablet, and this is both. It's about the same size and weight as the netbook with chiclet keys I'm typing on right now. Again, except for the lack of processing power, it seems ideal to me for everything I want to do but gaming and graphics, for which I have a desktop computer with dual 20" LCDs.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Oh brother. Am I *really* being that unclear?
Yes, you are. Phrasing it as a trade-off shows that you think there's some relationship between them.
There is. But if it's unnoticable.....
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
It's $29, and works with any camera. That's not expensive, nor is it hobbled to any but a small niche of geeks.
A USB SD card reader that reads SD/SDHC cards costs a dollar. Of course if you wanted to go with a brand name such as Sandisk for your reader that would set you back a whopping three dollars.
What a load of shit. You can also buy iPad SD adaptors from other companies if you want, but your comparison is irrational. The adaptors you are linking to don't have a dock connector, they don't include two adaptors, and they don't connect to an iPad. Also, you are not comparing the price of buying them in a store, which is usually about $20, you're comparing the cheapest price you can find straight off the docks (or even straight out of the factories in China). Few people buy their parts this way.
All of this, of course, ignores the original question of whether or not $29 is "expensive". It's not.
So Apple's dongle enjoys a mere 10 times more expensive that an equivalent reader that plugs into a USB port. And yes it is hobbled since SD cards work in a variety of roles, and in a variety of applications not just for pictures and not just in blessed apps e.g. transferring files like documents, videos & music between devices.
I'll just quote what I originally wrote, since you clearly didn't read it the first time through;
"nor is it hobbled to any but a small niche of geeks"
Congratulations on being in the small percentage of people for whom the port is "hobbled". Ironically, the micro SD slot in the Xoom is even more hobbled, but I'm sure you'll let that one slide.
There is no point trying to defend this practice, it's deliberately done to fleece and limit users, no other reason.
Neither, actually. It's not done to "limit users". By definition, it adds capabilities to the user. How ignorantly Orwellian of you. And $29 for two adaptors that let you connect a camera to your iPad is not "fleecing". If you think it is, buy one from someone else. Apple isn't forcing anyone to buy one of theirs.