The Apple executives that quoted that story about getting people up in the middle of the night may have been quoting that story as an example of how great Chinese labor is, but it frankly left me disgusted. They were crowing about how much control they had over the workers' lives.
And I submit that you could easily do the same in the US, you would just have to treat your workers fairly and more importantly PAY THEM for it. Consider this hypothetical situation: Your manufacturing is US-based, and the same emergency comes up. You need to get the workers up in the middle of the night and get them going on an important revision. So you call them and offer each of them a $500 bonus to do so - you'd get the majority of them to agree, I'd wager.
So what these executives are really crowing about is the fact that they have so much power over their workers that they can make them work unlimited hours in the middle of the night for just a cookie.
It's frankly as disgusting to me as slave owners in the United States' history saying that their economy relied on slaves, and seems to me to be no different.
As someone who used to be in electronics manufacturing before getting into IT, I know that you have no idea what you're talking about. More expensive, yes. Lower quality, hell no. US manufacturing in general may have gotten a bad reputation from the US auto industry of the late 80's and 90's, but Made In USA has long been known as best of the best in quality.
Even today, when I can find and buy Made In USA products, they have been in all cases well made and long lasting. I just bought two Made In USA lawn mowers in the last year, and they have been excellent quality.
And there's no way that the cost of American labor doubles, triples, or whatever stupid prices you're making up in your post. American labor might raise the price of the item 20-30% - in my experience when looking for manufactured products, the Made In USA products are near the middle of the price range, not consistently near the top. I grew tired of buying the lowest cost Chinese products and having everything break in less than a year. Does it really save you any money when you have to keep re-buying the same product over and over because of shoddy quality?
It's nice that you think that the USA is Capitalism - meaning unrestricted capitalism I'm assuming. That may well be your point of view, but there are many that disagree that that is what our country stands for. I believe that our country stands for a system that works for "we the people" first, and then possibly for corporations if their goals don't misalign with the people. Remember that the word "capitalism" exists nowhere in the Constitution. I for one, believe that the correct direction for our country is to have strong, regulated capitalism that works for both the worker and the business owner. Right now we're a far way from that.
Note that what I said above does not mean that I think capitalism should go away. Capitalism as an economic framework is the best system out there currently. But what we have today more resembles unrestricted capitalism with all the power concentrated with huge multi-national corporations, or possibly the early stages of fascism.
Ok, gotta agree with you there - that's exactly the problem I've seen with some pages, including slashdot - I click to position the cursor to correct an error, and it thinks I'm clicking half an inch away. I don't really see that as a tablet vs netbook issue though, since I get the same behavior whether or not the keyboard dock is connected. I see that as more of a bug with either the tablet browser (based on Chrome), or a bug with certain web pages. A software error, most likely easily correctable with a software update. I'm curious to see if the issue is at all corrected when the Transformer gets the Android 4.0 update, which by all accounts should drop by the end of the month. Although I do have largely the same issue on my Galaxy Nexus (which has 4.0), just not as bad.
I use Hacker's Keyboard BTW - you should check that one out (it's free.) It looks very similar to a Windows keyboard, and has a full row of numbers at the top. I don't know what it is about it, but I can type way faster on that keyboard than the stock Transformer keyboard - and it has arrow keys, and other Windows-specific keys for when you're remoting into Windows computers.
Well I didn't add a mouse, since the keyboard dock already has a touchpad, so your original point isn't 100% valid in my case. And I wasn't arguing with your main point, I was stating I didn't need to add a mouse to my tablet/netbook. And make no mistake, I consider the Transformer BOTH a tablet and a netbook. Sometimes it's more convenient to use it as a netbook, for example when I need a full keyboard, or when I want to use the added ports in the keyboard dock. Sometimes it's more convenient to use as a tablet, for example when I'm gaming (using touchscreen controls or Wii controllers via bluetooth), or when I'm viewing photographs taken via my wife's DSLR (much more convenient to hand around among friends, or flip the screen to better view landscape vs portrait pictures.)
I actually think it makes more sense to think of the Transformer/keyboard dock combo not as a tablet that converts to a netbook, but as a netbook that has a touch screen that you can remove when you don't need the keyboard.
But really - have you ever used a tablet, really, for any length of time? I post to facebook, answer email, and post to slashdot all the time (although there's something seriously wrong with slashdot's html that makes the posting box seriously buggy), with and without using the keyboard dock. Works great. Would I use a tablet to write code? Of course not. They have their uses, but they are not ideal for everything. But what they are good at, they are very good at. Seriously though - a tablet can't handle email and facebook without a full physical keyboard? I find it hard to take you serious after you state that.
If you have no need for a tablet don't buy one. I just don't understand those people that post in forums how they have no need for a tablet and you should just get a netbook. Get a netbook or laptop if you want one, no one is stopping you. I bought a netbook/tablet, and I couldn't be happier. To each his or her own.
I had pretty much the same thoughts, although I think Jackson visualized it much better than I could have. I could never conjure up what Helm's Deep looked like when I re ad the books as a teenager, but when I saw the second movie...aha, now I get it!
It doesn't seem to be fashionable to say it on Slashdot, but I thought all the LOTR movies were SUPERB, some of the best movies ever made. Movies aren't supposed to be literal translations of the book, they're a different medium, you have to make allowances for the different conventions used in books and film. The movies, most of all, captured the SPIRIT of the books, and captured the beauty and majesty of the scenery by filming in such beautiful locations in NZ.
So you're saying that the reason tablets haven't taken off is because they need to be three times as heavy and batteries last a whole day? Call me crazy, but I don't think the masses of consumers have been crying out for such a device.
Asus Transformer doesnt have any USB ports, mini micro or full sized, except on the keyboard dock. I think there's a dongle to convert the proprietary charging/docking port to a USB port but since I have the keyboard dock with two full sized USB ports I haven't looked into it.
But yes I would never consider a tablet with practically no connectivity except WiFi like any of the Samsung Galaxy tablets - which is why I have a Transformer.:)
Last FPS I played was Doom I think, so not really a concern for me - I'm more of a platformer gamer. (Although I am currently playing the new Zelda Skyward Sword on my Wii, and that's kinda a FPS, more like a First Person Sworder.:)
To each his (or her) own, though. A laptop/netbook works for you, on the other hand I'm loving my tablet and smartphone with touch screens. The more choices, the better, I say - I'm glad that all the different input types are all still available.
??? Say what? The ONE area where tablets have laptops beat, hands down, is in battery life. I'm not sure where you get the idea that laptops have longer battery life. My Asus Transformer gets 8 hours easy with just the battery in the tablet itself (that's continuous use), and a ridiculous 16 hours continuous battery life when docked with the keyboard dock. All that for about 1.5 lbs for the tablet, 1.5 lbs for the keyboard dock.
Unless you were talking about *Windows* tablets. Then yes, they definitely need to improve their battery life. We use Fujitsu convertible Windows tablets here at work (medical clinic), and they get about 6-8 hours max (when the batteries are brand new), and that's with the main battery plus the extended drive bay battery.
People like me are probably keeping Michael Dell up nights: I bought a tablet instead of upgrading my computer this year.
I've been thinking about upgrading my over 5-year-old home-built computer for a few years now - I generally will do one computer upgrade a year. AMD Athlon X2 5000+, 2 GB RAM. Put 64 bit Windows 7 on it a few years ago - even though the conventional wisdom is that 64 bit Windows 7 needs 4 GB RAM, it ran fine on 2 GB for my needs. Last year I replaced my boot drive with an SSD, and that was a huge speed boost. Thought about upgrading the whole thing to a new quad core with 8 GB RAM, but then decided my computer wasn't really slow enough to justify that... so I bought an Asus Transformer tablet instead.
Love the tablet. I'll probably go another year or two until I upgrade my computer. The thought of this kind of thing probably scares the HELL out of Michael Dell (not that I've ever bought a Dell, I always build my own, but you get the idea.)
IMO, it's not necessarily the rise of tablets only that is causing the decline in computer sales - it's the fact that computers have gotten fast enough and good enough that there doesn't seem to be any need to upgrade for years and years for the average person. Especially since Microsoft got spanked hard by the fact that Vista was so much more demanding on hardware than XP (I had to double my RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB to run Vista at a decent speed)...right when the economy tanked and people were looking to buy small cheap computers, and Vista couldn't run on any of the 1 GB RAM netbooks flooding the market at the time.
Microsoft learned their lesson, and Windows 7 ran FASTER on the same hardware as Vista, and about the same speed as XP. Now that Microsoft is so obviously aiming Windows 8 at tablets, Michael Dell is probably crapping his pants, because the growing hardware requirements of Windows seems to be at an end...at least for the time being.
Because keyboard and touch screen is a combination that just doesn't work. I've tried it, and found it just easier to add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo rather than reaching across my keyboard to touch the tablet all the time. Touch screen cursor placement is finicky on the best of tablets. And any amount of typing beyond the short email is a hopeless productivity killer.
I completely disagree. I've turned off the touchpad on my Asus Transformer, and decided I really didn't need to get a bluetooth mouse for it. Keyboard dock + touchscreen for navigation is a killer combo in my experience. Reaching out to swipe your finger down the screen is infinitely more natural (and quick) than using the mouse to grab the scrollbar then drag to move the window. With the keyboard only being...what 6 inches deep?...you're not really reaching very far to get to the screen.
Granted it's not built right into the tablet so slightly less convenient, but it's super easy to connect a Wii controller (including Classic Controller) to a tablet via bluetooth, using a free app from the Market (no root required.) Works great with emulators, and a bunch of Market games. And Android since 3.1 includes USB gamepad support (if you have USB ports, like on the Asus Transformer keyboard dock or built into some like the Acer tablets. Just grab your tablet and Wii controller, and you can play Super Mario 3 on the couch or anywhere.:)
I've found myself gaming a lot more (even purchasing games, which is unprecedented for me) since I've bought my tablet. I think it helps that a) the tablet does a LOT more than just gaming - which is likely why I never purchased a handheld console, and b) tablet games tend to cost in the $5 range, rather than the $50 range that most console games cost.
FPS though? I'm just not interested. Platformers now...lots of good ones on Android.
I completely agree with what you've said in your post. Could the difference in what styles of prose one likes to read have something to do with the type of leisure activities you enjoy?
I personally very much enjoy getting out in nature just to enjoy...well, nature. The stillness, the beauty, the beautiful found in a group of tiny flowers growing in a field. My wife and I get out in our canoe to commune with nature, and have recently taken up hiking. I believe if you go out into nature, you should leave your internal combustion engines behind and soak in the quiet. Once a year I take a "pilgrimmage" to my uncle's land about 5 miles inland of the Oregon Coast, deep in old growth forest at the edge of Tenmile Creek. It's IMO the most beautiful place on earth - I take a lunch and my camera, and spend all day just hanging out with nature.
When I recently re-read The Hobbit followed by the LOTR trilogy, I was aware of how many people complained about the lengthy description of the flowers and the trees they were passing through. In contrast, I loved this kind of detail - it made the whole world more real to me. I think the beauty of Tolkien's world is not necessarily the amount of plot, but the depth of the story, detail, etc.
The thing is, LOTR is not a plot-heavy action story. The events in the books take place VERY slowly over time, which really befits a land where speed is measured in how fast a horseback-rider can ride in a day, but the most common way to get around is to walk. When you're moving 5 miles per hour, what do you see a whole lot of? Scenery, plants, the world around you. LOTR would be very boring (and jumpy) if Tolkien were to leave out all the beautifully detailed descriptions of the land his characters were traveling through.
And I totally agree with what you say about letting yourself get immersed in the prose - if you're reading a novel, and you find yourself really seeing the words and aware that you're reading, you're not really immersed in the story. If you completely forget you're reading, and suddenly you find 2 hours have gone by - that's the mark of a good writer IMO.
The Prime is definitely drool-worthy. If it ends up being better than the original Transformer (which by all reports it is) it's going to be awesome. I can't say that I have any complaints about my Transformer, except very minor things. And with the Prime, they just basically upgraded all the specs, made it lighter and thinner, made the battery last longer, made it prettier with the brushed metal finish...
The keyboard dock is a game-changer - you get a really nice netbook with a beautiful touch screen, and you can remove the screen if you need to. I've found myself keeping it docked most of the time, since on the keyboard dock it keeps it propped up to just the right angle, and when I want to enter text I can use the full keyboard.
Do you have kids or a spouse? You could always hand down the Xoom to one of them, and upgrade yourself to a Prime.:)
Transformer has a 1280x800 10.1 inch screen (of course part of that vertical resolution is taken up by the notification bar - I believe the usable vertical resolution is at least 720.) It is glossy (and very beautiful - got 2nd place in DisplayMate's tablet screen comparison behind the iPad2), but I've actually used it in the full direct sunlight in the front passenger seat of a car and played a game - the screen gets very bright. If that doesn't do it for you, I understand that you can get matte screen protectors. I actually am NOT using a screen protector at all. I bought one at first, and totally ruined it trying to put it on. Decided to try it without a protector, and have only got a very tiny scratch on it that I have to specifically look for to find, after over 4 months of use.
FYI I also have a Galaxy Nexus (got it last week) and the screen is also very beautiful - with a higher resolution than the Transformer! Yes it's Pentile, but with a 1280x720 resolution on a 4.6 inch screen, you'll never be able to tell. Ice Cream Sandwich is awesome, can't wait until the Transformer gets it in a month or two.
I just don't understand why a LACK of options is a good thing. Yes Android allows really cheap, crappy tablets. It also allows really expensive very nice ones. Choice is good. Is there only one option for Windows computers? No, there's hundreds of options, and people still manage to buy them just fine.
And it's not like it's difficult to find a nice Android tablet: just buy from a manufacturer that you've actually heard of, and you'll be fine. If you're looking for something very specific like PerlJedi is, you will have to spend some time finding exactly the one you want. People have different priorities about what they want in their electronics.
Asus has stated that absolutely, for sure, the Transformer will get an ICS update within a few months. Since the Xoom has the same hardware specs (CPU/RAM/etc), I don't see why it also couldn't run ICS. Now whether Motorola will actually release an update...that's another question.
you save yourself lots of headaches by avoiding the issues with Android.
As as Asus Transformer owner, I wonder what "issues" are you talking about? Specific issues, not just vague "issues". I've never felt limited by what I can do with my tablet, quite the contrary.
Second this. I use it on my Transformer as the default soft keyboard when I'm not using the keyboard dock. Love that it has arrow keys, Alt/Windows/Ctrl keys for when you're remoting into a Windows computer, and a full row of number keys at the top without having to hit shift or whatever. And I can just type faster on it than the stock soft keyboard.
Forgot to mention:
The Transformer also has a halfway-decent front camera, for video calling. Tried it out with my wife on Skype (me on WiFi, she was on 3G), and she and her friend mentioned how nice the video coming from my transformer looked. The audio, however - they were barely able to understand me, until I hooked up a bluetooth headset, and then they said the sound was great. I'm guessing the microphone on the Transformer is crap most likely.
I second the original Transformer. They're going for less than $400 for the 32 GB model on ebay and similar sites, and the keyboard dock for around $100. I got the 16 GB model about 4 months ago, then got the keyboard dock about 2 months ago. It is very capable as both a tablet and a netbook.
When docked with the keyboard is when I feel it really shines. It gets ridiculous battery life when docked (16+ hours), and will charge the tablet from the dock so when you undock the tablet the tablet will always be fully charged. I recently traveled to a work conference, and brought my Transformer and the dock, plus a 250 GB USB hard drive on the plane with me. Before I left home I filled up the USB hard drive with videos and etc. Watched Star Trek the whole trip on the plane, then when I got to my room, I used my micro-HDMI to HDMI cable (less than $20 at Monoprice.com) to hook up my tablet to the HDMI port of the HDTV in my room. I was able to listen to music through the TV speakers, then watched some of my videos.
The dock has two full sized USB ports that support USB keys, USB hard drives, mice, and USB game pads. There's also free apps in the Market that will help you connect Wii controllers through bluetooth. Many games support USB gamepads, and most emulators (like NES/SNES) support Wii controllers, including using the Classic Controller. (Playing Super Mario Brothers 3 using a Wii controller works great, no input lag.) Google kicked off most emulator apps from the official Market, but there are alternative markets like SlideME that have them as free apps.
The tablet has a micro-SD slot, and the dock has a full-sized SD slot. I just replaced my full-sized SD card in my camera with a micro-SD + a micro-SD to SD adapter - now I can take pictures, pop the card out of the adapter, and put the card directly in the tablet so I can view my pictures on a large screen immediately. (And then upload them, copy them to internal memory, etc.)
The keyboard is great on the dock (you do have to make sure you hit each key sorta hard), and has all kinds of Android-specific keys - definitely not a Windows keyboard re-purposed, this one was specifically designed for Android. The dock also has a touchpad, but I find I never use it - I find it's much more efficient to use the touchscreen instead to navigate and select. (There's a dedicated key on the keyboard to turn the touchpad off.)
Basically I've found that the Transformer and dock are the perfect geek tablet (at least for me.) I find I'm able to do anything I want to with this tablet, and there really is an app for everything.
Seamless experiences always win out over time. We saw it when gaming shifted from PCs to consoles, and now the industry is shifting from desktops to mobile devices. Fragmentation is a huge for users.
Seamless experiences always win out over time...really? That must be why general purpose WinTel PCs have failed so miserably in the market over the last 20 years. (Gaming on PCs is a very small segment of the overall PC market.)
I have had similar experiences with those I work with. It's only bleeding-edge specialized apps that require a specific phone to run - the vast majority of apps are written so that anyone with any Android phone can run them. It's not in the app developer's best interest to write an app that only works on one or two phones - it's in their best interest to write apps so that they run on the widest variety of phones possible.
No non-geeks have any idea about what version of Android is running on their phones. Most of them are coming from feature phones, where there are zero updates after you buy the phone, so they don't expect to get the next major version. I think this issue is being vastly overblown by the geek community - and the fact that Android phones now have over 50% of the smartphone market to iOS's 29% share seems to suggest that this is just not a concern to the majority of smartphone buyers:
On the other hand, I care greatly about what new OS updates I will get on my phone - and that's why I just got a Galaxy Nexus.
Do I think fragmentation is an issue? Yes, and I would like all manufacturers guarantee at least 2 years of OS updates. Do I think fragmentation is going to have any effect in the real world on smartphone sales? Not at all, unless regular users see regular updates and get used to getting them. I don't see that happening any time soon.
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The Apple executives that quoted that story about getting people up in the middle of the night may have been quoting that story as an example of how great Chinese labor is, but it frankly left me disgusted. They were crowing about how much control they had over the workers' lives.
And I submit that you could easily do the same in the US, you would just have to treat your workers fairly and more importantly PAY THEM for it. Consider this hypothetical situation: Your manufacturing is US-based, and the same emergency comes up. You need to get the workers up in the middle of the night and get them going on an important revision. So you call them and offer each of them a $500 bonus to do so - you'd get the majority of them to agree, I'd wager.
So what these executives are really crowing about is the fact that they have so much power over their workers that they can make them work unlimited hours in the middle of the night for just a cookie.
It's frankly as disgusting to me as slave owners in the United States' history saying that their economy relied on slaves, and seems to me to be no different.
As someone who used to be in electronics manufacturing before getting into IT, I know that you have no idea what you're talking about. More expensive, yes. Lower quality, hell no. US manufacturing in general may have gotten a bad reputation from the US auto industry of the late 80's and 90's, but Made In USA has long been known as best of the best in quality.
Even today, when I can find and buy Made In USA products, they have been in all cases well made and long lasting. I just bought two Made In USA lawn mowers in the last year, and they have been excellent quality.
And there's no way that the cost of American labor doubles, triples, or whatever stupid prices you're making up in your post. American labor might raise the price of the item 20-30% - in my experience when looking for manufactured products, the Made In USA products are near the middle of the price range, not consistently near the top. I grew tired of buying the lowest cost Chinese products and having everything break in less than a year. Does it really save you any money when you have to keep re-buying the same product over and over because of shoddy quality?
It's nice that you think that the USA is Capitalism - meaning unrestricted capitalism I'm assuming. That may well be your point of view, but there are many that disagree that that is what our country stands for. I believe that our country stands for a system that works for "we the people" first, and then possibly for corporations if their goals don't misalign with the people. Remember that the word "capitalism" exists nowhere in the Constitution. I for one, believe that the correct direction for our country is to have strong, regulated capitalism that works for both the worker and the business owner. Right now we're a far way from that.
Note that what I said above does not mean that I think capitalism should go away. Capitalism as an economic framework is the best system out there currently. But what we have today more resembles unrestricted capitalism with all the power concentrated with huge multi-national corporations, or possibly the early stages of fascism.
Ok, gotta agree with you there - that's exactly the problem I've seen with some pages, including slashdot - I click to position the cursor to correct an error, and it thinks I'm clicking half an inch away. I don't really see that as a tablet vs netbook issue though, since I get the same behavior whether or not the keyboard dock is connected. I see that as more of a bug with either the tablet browser (based on Chrome), or a bug with certain web pages. A software error, most likely easily correctable with a software update. I'm curious to see if the issue is at all corrected when the Transformer gets the Android 4.0 update, which by all accounts should drop by the end of the month. Although I do have largely the same issue on my Galaxy Nexus (which has 4.0), just not as bad.
I use Hacker's Keyboard BTW - you should check that one out (it's free.) It looks very similar to a Windows keyboard, and has a full row of numbers at the top. I don't know what it is about it, but I can type way faster on that keyboard than the stock Transformer keyboard - and it has arrow keys, and other Windows-specific keys for when you're remoting into Windows computers.
Well I didn't add a mouse, since the keyboard dock already has a touchpad, so your original point isn't 100% valid in my case. And I wasn't arguing with your main point, I was stating I didn't need to add a mouse to my tablet/netbook. And make no mistake, I consider the Transformer BOTH a tablet and a netbook. Sometimes it's more convenient to use it as a netbook, for example when I need a full keyboard, or when I want to use the added ports in the keyboard dock. Sometimes it's more convenient to use as a tablet, for example when I'm gaming (using touchscreen controls or Wii controllers via bluetooth), or when I'm viewing photographs taken via my wife's DSLR (much more convenient to hand around among friends, or flip the screen to better view landscape vs portrait pictures.)
I actually think it makes more sense to think of the Transformer/keyboard dock combo not as a tablet that converts to a netbook, but as a netbook that has a touch screen that you can remove when you don't need the keyboard.
But really - have you ever used a tablet, really, for any length of time? I post to facebook, answer email, and post to slashdot all the time (although there's something seriously wrong with slashdot's html that makes the posting box seriously buggy), with and without using the keyboard dock. Works great. Would I use a tablet to write code? Of course not. They have their uses, but they are not ideal for everything. But what they are good at, they are very good at. Seriously though - a tablet can't handle email and facebook without a full physical keyboard? I find it hard to take you serious after you state that.
If you have no need for a tablet don't buy one. I just don't understand those people that post in forums how they have no need for a tablet and you should just get a netbook. Get a netbook or laptop if you want one, no one is stopping you. I bought a netbook/tablet, and I couldn't be happier. To each his or her own.
I had pretty much the same thoughts, although I think Jackson visualized it much better than I could have. I could never conjure up what Helm's Deep looked like when I re ad the books as a teenager, but when I saw the second movie...aha, now I get it!
:)
It doesn't seem to be fashionable to say it on Slashdot, but I thought all the LOTR movies were SUPERB, some of the best movies ever made. Movies aren't supposed to be literal translations of the book, they're a different medium, you have to make allowances for the different conventions used in books and film. The movies, most of all, captured the SPIRIT of the books, and captured the beauty and majesty of the scenery by filming in such beautiful locations in NZ.
Eagerly awaiting The Hobbit.
So you're saying that the reason tablets haven't taken off is because they need to be three times as heavy and batteries last a whole day? Call me crazy, but I don't think the masses of consumers have been crying out for such a device.
Asus Transformer doesnt have any USB ports, mini micro or full sized, except on the keyboard dock. I think there's a dongle to convert the proprietary charging/docking port to a USB port but since I have the keyboard dock with two full sized USB ports I haven't looked into it.
:)
But yes I would never consider a tablet with practically no connectivity except WiFi like any of the Samsung Galaxy tablets - which is why I have a Transformer.
Last FPS I played was Doom I think, so not really a concern for me - I'm more of a platformer gamer. (Although I am currently playing the new Zelda Skyward Sword on my Wii, and that's kinda a FPS, more like a First Person Sworder. :)
To each his (or her) own, though. A laptop/netbook works for you, on the other hand I'm loving my tablet and smartphone with touch screens. The more choices, the better, I say - I'm glad that all the different input types are all still available.
??? Say what? The ONE area where tablets have laptops beat, hands down, is in battery life. I'm not sure where you get the idea that laptops have longer battery life. My Asus Transformer gets 8 hours easy with just the battery in the tablet itself (that's continuous use), and a ridiculous 16 hours continuous battery life when docked with the keyboard dock. All that for about 1.5 lbs for the tablet, 1.5 lbs for the keyboard dock.
Unless you were talking about *Windows* tablets. Then yes, they definitely need to improve their battery life. We use Fujitsu convertible Windows tablets here at work (medical clinic), and they get about 6-8 hours max (when the batteries are brand new), and that's with the main battery plus the extended drive bay battery.
People like me are probably keeping Michael Dell up nights: I bought a tablet instead of upgrading my computer this year.
... so I bought an Asus Transformer tablet instead.
I've been thinking about upgrading my over 5-year-old home-built computer for a few years now - I generally will do one computer upgrade a year. AMD Athlon X2 5000+, 2 GB RAM. Put 64 bit Windows 7 on it a few years ago - even though the conventional wisdom is that 64 bit Windows 7 needs 4 GB RAM, it ran fine on 2 GB for my needs. Last year I replaced my boot drive with an SSD, and that was a huge speed boost. Thought about upgrading the whole thing to a new quad core with 8 GB RAM, but then decided my computer wasn't really slow enough to justify that
Love the tablet. I'll probably go another year or two until I upgrade my computer. The thought of this kind of thing probably scares the HELL out of Michael Dell (not that I've ever bought a Dell, I always build my own, but you get the idea.)
IMO, it's not necessarily the rise of tablets only that is causing the decline in computer sales - it's the fact that computers have gotten fast enough and good enough that there doesn't seem to be any need to upgrade for years and years for the average person. Especially since Microsoft got spanked hard by the fact that Vista was so much more demanding on hardware than XP (I had to double my RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB to run Vista at a decent speed)...right when the economy tanked and people were looking to buy small cheap computers, and Vista couldn't run on any of the 1 GB RAM netbooks flooding the market at the time.
Microsoft learned their lesson, and Windows 7 ran FASTER on the same hardware as Vista, and about the same speed as XP. Now that Microsoft is so obviously aiming Windows 8 at tablets, Michael Dell is probably crapping his pants, because the growing hardware requirements of Windows seems to be at an end...at least for the time being.
Sorry, why are you adding a mouse?
Because keyboard and touch screen is a combination that just doesn't work. I've tried it, and found it just easier to add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo rather than reaching across my keyboard to touch the tablet all the time. Touch screen cursor placement is finicky on the best of tablets. And any amount of typing beyond the short email is a hopeless productivity killer.
I completely disagree. I've turned off the touchpad on my Asus Transformer, and decided I really didn't need to get a bluetooth mouse for it. Keyboard dock + touchscreen for navigation is a killer combo in my experience. Reaching out to swipe your finger down the screen is infinitely more natural (and quick) than using the mouse to grab the scrollbar then drag to move the window. With the keyboard only being...what 6 inches deep?...you're not really reaching very far to get to the screen.
Granted it's not built right into the tablet so slightly less convenient, but it's super easy to connect a Wii controller (including Classic Controller) to a tablet via bluetooth, using a free app from the Market (no root required.) Works great with emulators, and a bunch of Market games. And Android since 3.1 includes USB gamepad support (if you have USB ports, like on the Asus Transformer keyboard dock or built into some like the Acer tablets. Just grab your tablet and Wii controller, and you can play Super Mario 3 on the couch or anywhere. :)
I've found myself gaming a lot more (even purchasing games, which is unprecedented for me) since I've bought my tablet. I think it helps that a) the tablet does a LOT more than just gaming - which is likely why I never purchased a handheld console, and b) tablet games tend to cost in the $5 range, rather than the $50 range that most console games cost.
FPS though? I'm just not interested. Platformers now...lots of good ones on Android.
I completely agree with what you've said in your post. Could the difference in what styles of prose one likes to read have something to do with the type of leisure activities you enjoy?
I personally very much enjoy getting out in nature just to enjoy...well, nature. The stillness, the beauty, the beautiful found in a group of tiny flowers growing in a field. My wife and I get out in our canoe to commune with nature, and have recently taken up hiking. I believe if you go out into nature, you should leave your internal combustion engines behind and soak in the quiet. Once a year I take a "pilgrimmage" to my uncle's land about 5 miles inland of the Oregon Coast, deep in old growth forest at the edge of Tenmile Creek. It's IMO the most beautiful place on earth - I take a lunch and my camera, and spend all day just hanging out with nature.
When I recently re-read The Hobbit followed by the LOTR trilogy, I was aware of how many people complained about the lengthy description of the flowers and the trees they were passing through. In contrast, I loved this kind of detail - it made the whole world more real to me. I think the beauty of Tolkien's world is not necessarily the amount of plot, but the depth of the story, detail, etc.
The thing is, LOTR is not a plot-heavy action story. The events in the books take place VERY slowly over time, which really befits a land where speed is measured in how fast a horseback-rider can ride in a day, but the most common way to get around is to walk. When you're moving 5 miles per hour, what do you see a whole lot of? Scenery, plants, the world around you. LOTR would be very boring (and jumpy) if Tolkien were to leave out all the beautifully detailed descriptions of the land his characters were traveling through.
And I totally agree with what you say about letting yourself get immersed in the prose - if you're reading a novel, and you find yourself really seeing the words and aware that you're reading, you're not really immersed in the story. If you completely forget you're reading, and suddenly you find 2 hours have gone by - that's the mark of a good writer IMO.
Thoughts?
The Prime is definitely drool-worthy. If it ends up being better than the original Transformer (which by all reports it is) it's going to be awesome. I can't say that I have any complaints about my Transformer, except very minor things. And with the Prime, they just basically upgraded all the specs, made it lighter and thinner, made the battery last longer, made it prettier with the brushed metal finish...
:)
The keyboard dock is a game-changer - you get a really nice netbook with a beautiful touch screen, and you can remove the screen if you need to. I've found myself keeping it docked most of the time, since on the keyboard dock it keeps it propped up to just the right angle, and when I want to enter text I can use the full keyboard.
Do you have kids or a spouse? You could always hand down the Xoom to one of them, and upgrade yourself to a Prime.
Transformer has a 1280x800 10.1 inch screen (of course part of that vertical resolution is taken up by the notification bar - I believe the usable vertical resolution is at least 720.) It is glossy (and very beautiful - got 2nd place in DisplayMate's tablet screen comparison behind the iPad2), but I've actually used it in the full direct sunlight in the front passenger seat of a car and played a game - the screen gets very bright. If that doesn't do it for you, I understand that you can get matte screen protectors. I actually am NOT using a screen protector at all. I bought one at first, and totally ruined it trying to put it on. Decided to try it without a protector, and have only got a very tiny scratch on it that I have to specifically look for to find, after over 4 months of use.
FYI I also have a Galaxy Nexus (got it last week) and the screen is also very beautiful - with a higher resolution than the Transformer! Yes it's Pentile, but with a 1280x720 resolution on a 4.6 inch screen, you'll never be able to tell. Ice Cream Sandwich is awesome, can't wait until the Transformer gets it in a month or two.
I just don't understand why a LACK of options is a good thing. Yes Android allows really cheap, crappy tablets. It also allows really expensive very nice ones. Choice is good. Is there only one option for Windows computers? No, there's hundreds of options, and people still manage to buy them just fine.
And it's not like it's difficult to find a nice Android tablet: just buy from a manufacturer that you've actually heard of, and you'll be fine. If you're looking for something very specific like PerlJedi is, you will have to spend some time finding exactly the one you want. People have different priorities about what they want in their electronics.
Asus has stated that absolutely, for sure, the Transformer will get an ICS update within a few months. Since the Xoom has the same hardware specs (CPU/RAM/etc), I don't see why it also couldn't run ICS. Now whether Motorola will actually release an update...that's another question.
you save yourself lots of headaches by avoiding the issues with Android.
As as Asus Transformer owner, I wonder what "issues" are you talking about? Specific issues, not just vague "issues". I've never felt limited by what I can do with my tablet, quite the contrary.
Second this. I use it on my Transformer as the default soft keyboard when I'm not using the keyboard dock. Love that it has arrow keys, Alt/Windows/Ctrl keys for when you're remoting into a Windows computer, and a full row of number keys at the top without having to hit shift or whatever. And I can just type faster on it than the stock soft keyboard.
Forgot to mention: The Transformer also has a halfway-decent front camera, for video calling. Tried it out with my wife on Skype (me on WiFi, she was on 3G), and she and her friend mentioned how nice the video coming from my transformer looked. The audio, however - they were barely able to understand me, until I hooked up a bluetooth headset, and then they said the sound was great. I'm guessing the microphone on the Transformer is crap most likely.
I second the original Transformer. They're going for less than $400 for the 32 GB model on ebay and similar sites, and the keyboard dock for around $100. I got the 16 GB model about 4 months ago, then got the keyboard dock about 2 months ago. It is very capable as both a tablet and a netbook.
When docked with the keyboard is when I feel it really shines. It gets ridiculous battery life when docked (16+ hours), and will charge the tablet from the dock so when you undock the tablet the tablet will always be fully charged. I recently traveled to a work conference, and brought my Transformer and the dock, plus a 250 GB USB hard drive on the plane with me. Before I left home I filled up the USB hard drive with videos and etc. Watched Star Trek the whole trip on the plane, then when I got to my room, I used my micro-HDMI to HDMI cable (less than $20 at Monoprice.com) to hook up my tablet to the HDMI port of the HDTV in my room. I was able to listen to music through the TV speakers, then watched some of my videos.
The dock has two full sized USB ports that support USB keys, USB hard drives, mice, and USB game pads. There's also free apps in the Market that will help you connect Wii controllers through bluetooth. Many games support USB gamepads, and most emulators (like NES/SNES) support Wii controllers, including using the Classic Controller. (Playing Super Mario Brothers 3 using a Wii controller works great, no input lag.) Google kicked off most emulator apps from the official Market, but there are alternative markets like SlideME that have them as free apps.
The tablet has a micro-SD slot, and the dock has a full-sized SD slot. I just replaced my full-sized SD card in my camera with a micro-SD + a micro-SD to SD adapter - now I can take pictures, pop the card out of the adapter, and put the card directly in the tablet so I can view my pictures on a large screen immediately. (And then upload them, copy them to internal memory, etc.)
The keyboard is great on the dock (you do have to make sure you hit each key sorta hard), and has all kinds of Android-specific keys - definitely not a Windows keyboard re-purposed, this one was specifically designed for Android. The dock also has a touchpad, but I find I never use it - I find it's much more efficient to use the touchscreen instead to navigate and select. (There's a dedicated key on the keyboard to turn the touchpad off.)
Basically I've found that the Transformer and dock are the perfect geek tablet (at least for me.) I find I'm able to do anything I want to with this tablet, and there really is an app for everything.
Agreed, many of our Christmas traditions originally come from Pagan traditions.
Seamless experiences always win out over time. We saw it when gaming shifted from PCs to consoles, and now the industry is shifting from desktops to mobile devices. Fragmentation is a huge for users.
Seamless experiences always win out over time...really? That must be why general purpose WinTel PCs have failed so miserably in the market over the last 20 years. (Gaming on PCs is a very small segment of the overall PC market.)
I have had similar experiences with those I work with. It's only bleeding-edge specialized apps that require a specific phone to run - the vast majority of apps are written so that anyone with any Android phone can run them. It's not in the app developer's best interest to write an app that only works on one or two phones - it's in their best interest to write apps so that they run on the widest variety of phones possible.
No non-geeks have any idea about what version of Android is running on their phones. Most of them are coming from feature phones, where there are zero updates after you buy the phone, so they don't expect to get the next major version. I think this issue is being vastly overblown by the geek community - and the fact that Android phones now have over 50% of the smartphone market to iOS's 29% share seems to suggest that this is just not a concern to the majority of smartphone buyers:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/14/shocker-android-grew-us-market-share-after-q2-ios-was-static/
On the other hand, I care greatly about what new OS updates I will get on my phone - and that's why I just got a Galaxy Nexus.
Do I think fragmentation is an issue? Yes, and I would like all manufacturers guarantee at least 2 years of OS updates. Do I think fragmentation is going to have any effect in the real world on smartphone sales? Not at all, unless regular users see regular updates and get used to getting them. I don't see that happening any time soon.
You got me there - but are there any states that do NOT designate Christmas as an official holiday?