28 Apr
2014
28 Apr
'14
9:44 a.m.
I'm looking at buying a new tablet. It will mostly be for watching video,
Youtube and movies downloaded from the net, but as with most general purpose
computers it will get used for lots of other things.
The main options I'm considering now are the Google Nexus tablets. The Nexus
line seem to have good quality hardware, good specs, and reasonable prices.
They also should be easier to root if I want to run Ubuntu or something on
them later.
For tablets with 16G of RAM the Nexus 7 is $299 and the Nexus 10 is $469.
Currently the 32G Nexus 10 is out of stock so I'm mostly comparing the 16G
Nexus 7 with the Nexus 10, if I choose the Nexus 7 then I'll think about
whether it's worth paying for extra storage (probably will be given that
there's no SD card support).
Does anyone have any experience with them? What about comparing 10" and 7"
tablets generally? Obviously 10" is better for watching movies and a lot
better if more than one person is watching. 10" should also be better for
blogging.
Is the 10" tablet worth the extra $170 and losing the option of more storage
(or alternatively waiting for Google to get stock)?
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_16gb_2013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_7_(2013_version)
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_10_16GB?id=nexus_10_16gb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_10
Above are the Play Store and Wikipedia pages for the tablets in question.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
29 Apr
29 Apr
12:40 a.m.
On 28/04/14 17:44, Russell Coker wrote:
For tablets with 16G of RAM the Nexus 7 is $299 and
the Nexus 10 is $469.
Currently the 32G Nexus 10 is out of stock so I'm mostly comparing the 16G
Nexus 7 with the Nexus 10, if I choose the Nexus 7 then I'll think about
whether it's worth paying for extra storage (probably will be given that
there's no SD card support).
The Nexus 10 tablet is very old now, and I can't see how they can
justify that price-tag on it (especially when there are newer Samsung
10" tablets selling for under $300). Admittedly, I've never actually
used one, but a colleague at work who has one told me that he finds his
to be fairly slow, and advised me to wait for them to come out with a
newer model.
Cheers,
Paul.
2:46 a.m.
On Tue, 29 Apr 2014 08:40:30 Paul Dwerryhouse wrote:
On 28/04/14 17:44, Russell Coker wrote:
Thanks a lot for that advice! I already have a 10" tablet I got from Kogan a
couple of years ago which I hardly ever use because it's so slow.
Waiting for a new model isn't an option for me now.
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/google-nexus-7-2nd-generation-16gb-wifi/
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/google-nexus-7-2nd-generation-32gb-wifi/
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/samsung-galaxy-tabpro-t320-84-wi-fi-16gb-black/
Looking at the Kogan prices the Nexus 7 16G is $239 and the Nexus 7 32G is
$299. The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 is $359 but it has a faster CPU (2.3GHz
vs 1.5), better resolution (2560*1600 vs 1920*1200), a bigger display, and a
SD socket. The Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 is clearly better value than the Google
price for the Nexus 7 but the $239 Nexus 7 price from Kogan is appealing.
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/samsung-galaxy-tabpro-t520-101-wi-fi-16gb-black/
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/samsung-galaxy-note-101-p605-2014-edition-32gb-…
The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 costs $459. Compared to the Tab Pro 8.4 it seems to
have just a physically larger display. So that means $100 just for a larger
screen.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition costs $529. Compared to the Tab Pro 8.4 it
has a physically larger display (same resolution), more internal storage (but
with an SD socket that doesn't matter so much) and more RAM (3G vs 2G). It
seems like $170 just for a larger display and the extra RAM. I'm prepared to
pay for a larger display but $170 takes the device over the pain point and 3G
of RAM isn't really necessary at the moment.
The way Android works is that it doesn't use swap and applications are
designed to be shut down when system RAM runs low. So when you get newer apps
that take more RAM running on your old phone or tablet they start to exit when
you switch between them. For example some time ago an update to Ingress meant
that my wife's Galaxy S3 would exit Ingress when Google Hangouts was used,
that made it quite painful to discuss Ingress on Hangouts as every switch
between Ingress and Hangouts required an application reload (and downloading
extra data over 3G). More RAM on Android devices can save you significant
amounts of time in task switching and also money on 3G data.
While I want more RAM (and a device with 2560*1600 resolution needs more RAM
than devices with lower resolution screens) I'm not sure I'll be using the
tablet much when apps become big enough to really need it. Of course when
apps need 3G of RAM they might also need more than 16G of internal storage to
run from.
If I budget $0.50 per day for tablet use then the Nexus 7 should last for 16
months, the Tab Pro 8.4 for 2 years, the Tab Pro 10.1 for 2.5 years, and the
Note 10.1 2014 edition for 3 years. If no-one drops it then I think each of
those tablets should be able to last that long and still be usable.
Does anyone know of other tablets I should consider? One thing I didn't
mention before is that I'd prefer a resolution of at least 1920*1080, so that
seems to rule out all the really cheap tablets.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
For tablets with 16G of RAM the Nexus 7 is $299
and the Nexus 10 is $469.
Currently the 32G Nexus 10 is out of stock so I'm mostly comparing the 16G
Nexus 7 with the Nexus 10, if I choose the Nexus 7 then I'll think about
whether it's worth paying for extra storage (probably will be given that
there's no SD card support).
The Nexus 10 tablet is very old now, and I can't see how they can
justify that price-tag on it (especially when there are newer Samsung
10" tablets selling for under $300). Admittedly, I've never actually
used one, but a colleague at work who has one told me that he finds his
to be fairly slow, and advised me to wait for them to come out with a
newer model. 
3:27 a.m.
On 29 April 2014 12:46, Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> wrote:
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition costs $529.
Compared to the Tab Pro 8.4
it
has a physically larger display (same resolution), more internal storage
(but
with an SD socket that doesn't matter so much) and more RAM (3G vs 2G). It
seems like $170 just for a larger display and the extra RAM. I'm prepared
to
pay for a larger display but $170 takes the device over the pain point and
3G
of RAM isn't really necessary at the moment.
It may have changed now, however when I last purchased a tablet, I found
that only a limited number had 4G support - which seemed a good way of
judging which tablets were up to date (as also being a requirement for me).
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition and the Sony tablet were two that came to
mind. Both were about the same cost (at the time).
The Sony tablet is of interest because they claim it is waterproof, which
is rather unique.
However, I choose the Galaxy Note over the Sony. Can't remember why now, it
might have been that the latest Sony was using old display technology at
the time, looks like the latest one - Xperia™ Tablet Z2 - doesn't have that
problem.
I have always been interested in the ASUS tablets, however they don't seem
interested in selling the latest model with 3G/4G support in Australia,
unfortunately, so I have had to rule them out.
5:25 a.m.
Brian May <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> wrote:
I have always been interested in the ASUS tablets,
however they don't seem
interested in selling the latest model with 3G/4G support in Australia,
unfortunately, so I have had to rule them out.
Are the costs of meeting Australia's regulatory requirements high enough to
deter them from proceeding?
In the case of LTE, at least the newer devices can support more bands,
reducing the need for different hardware to be supplied to different
countries. My phone, for example, supports six LTE bands.
6:45 a.m.
Jason White <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> writes:
Brian May <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au>
wrote:
Isn't that counterbalanced by LTE *running* on far more frequencies,
around the world?
I have always been interested in the ASUS
tablets, however they don't seem
interested in selling the latest model with 3G/4G support in Australia,
unfortunately, so I have had to rule them out.
Are the costs of meeting Australia's regulatory requirements high enough to
deter them from proceeding?
In the case of LTE, at least the newer devices can support more bands,
reducing the need for different hardware to be supplied to different
countries. My phone, for example, supports six LTE bands.
8:12 a.m.
Trent W. Buck <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Jason White <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> writes:
Yes, but apparently the number of bands that can be supported by a single
device is expected to increase also. Manufacturers are having to compensate
for the unavailability of common spectrum for use by LTE networks.
This is interesting:
http://gigaom.com/2013/10/22/one-ipad-to-connect-them-all-apple-crams-14-lt…
Are the costs of meeting Australia's
regulatory requirements high enough to
deter them from proceeding?
In the case of LTE, at least the newer devices can support more bands,
reducing the need for different hardware to be supplied to different
countries. My phone, for example, supports six LTE bands.
Isn't that counterbalanced by LTE *running* on far more frequencies,
around the world?
4 May
4 May
11:26 a.m.
On Tue, 29 Apr 2014, Brian May <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> wrote:
The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition and the Sony tablet
were two that came to
mind. Both were about the same cost (at the time).
I've just ordered that one too.
I decided that a 7" display isn't big enough for two people to watch a movie
at the same time and an 8.4" display isn't that much better. Out of the 10"
tablets that have a high enough resolution and are affordable (the Tab Pro
10.1 and the Note 10.1 2014 edition) I decided to spend the extra $80 to get
more RAM and internal storage so the device will hopefully be usable for
longer.
I regret buying a Nexus 4 with 8G of storage, while charging $50 extra for
thee 16G version is obviously well in excess of hardware costs it would have
made the device a lot more useful to me now. Also my Xperia X10i's became
unusable for me quite a while ago due to only having 384M of RAM and my last
Galaxy S is also becoming unusable now due to only having 512M.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
5 May
5 May
2:39 a.m.
Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> writes:
I regret buying a Nexus 4 with 8G of storage, while
charging $50 extra
for thee 16G version is obviously well in excess of hardware costs it
would have made the device a lot more useful to me now.
Can't you just slap in removable media of equivalent capacity?
7 May
7 May
1:34 a.m.
The Nexus 4 like most (all?) Nexus devices has no sd slot.
--
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with K-9 Mail.
2:06 a.m.
On Wed, 7 May 2014, Jason White <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> wrote:
Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> wrote:
Not really. Samsung seems to have the most popular phone in each category and
they seem to have an SD socket on everything and a replacable battery on all
phones.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
The Nexus 4 like most (all?) Nexus devices has no
sd slot.
This seems to be a trend in phones and tablets: no sd slot, no
user-replaceable battery. There are, of course, exceptions. 
9:59 a.m.
On 7/05/2014 12:06 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
On Wed, 7 May 2014, Jason White
<jason(a)jasonjgw.net> wrote:
There are other ways to deal with this, USB-on-the-go for instance, or a
portable drive that gives massive storage via WiFi, or a Samba share
with the right app.
But I agree that 16GB would be as low as I would be happy with these
days .... 8GB is too low these days, or so it seems (how we can become
spoilt ... first world problems).
Cheers
A.
Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au>
wrote:
Not really. Samsung seems to have the most popular phone in each category and
they seem to have an SD socket on everything and a replacable battery on all
phones. The Nexus 4 like most (all?) Nexus devices has no
sd slot.
This seems to be a trend in phones and tablets: no sd slot, no
user-replaceable battery. There are, of course, exceptions.
2:59 p.m.
On Wed, 7 May 2014, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan(a)affinityvision.com.au>
wrote:
There are other ways to deal with this, USB-on-the-go
for instance, or a
portable drive that gives massive storage via WiFi, or a Samba share
with the right app.
http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-tell-if-your-android-phone-or-tablet-
supports-usb-on-the-go/
The above article explains USB OTG and has a link to an app that tests for it.
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-advanced-usb-otg-nexus-4
According to the above getting it to work on a Nexus 4 is more trouble than
it's worth for me.
Storage via Wifi isn't a good option, I've tried playing video via HTTP on the
Nexus 4, it works but it's difficult to setup and not always reliable.
For larger apps like The Sims Freeplay there's no good option for a phone like
the Nexus 4. The Sims will fit, but it really limits what other things you
can do.
On Wed, 7 May 2014, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan(a)affinityvision.com.au>
wrote:
Right now, I am disillusioned over any device that has
to have lots of
extra crap on it from the manufacturer -- Samsung ... for one. If only
every Android device could be sold with vanilla Android directly from
Google or some other retailer WORLDWIDE, not just in the US; as well as
being able to get updates quickly for a good period of time.
Having to root a device to get the latest software shouldn't be
necessary either, glad it's possible, but it shouldn't be an issue at all.
I haven't had any problems with Samsung modifying the OS. I've got a
replacement launcher on all my Samsung devices (Go Launcher on the Galaxy S
and Nova on the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2) but that's not particularly
difficult to install. The one Galaxy S I still support came from Optus and
has a lot of Optus rubbish on it, but that's an Optus thing not a Samsung
thing.
On Wed, 7 May 2014, Robert Parker <rlp1938(a)gmail.com> wrote:
One of the members of Chiang Mai Geeks has installed
the latest cyanogenmod
on his Samsung device without problems. He can access Google Play Store
with it. That is a change from earlier versions.
I had CyanogenMod with the Google Play Store running on a Galaxy S when it was
one of the latest and greatest phones on the market. But it was a bit of
effort to install it and I haven't felt that I'd get the benefit from doing it
on later phones.
I can't hack on every computer I own, sometimes I just need to get stuff done.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
3:06 p.m.
I've got an i9300 running 4.3 and an i9505 also running 4.3 -- both
different kernels. Can't get newer without rooting the devices, but I
don't want to do that .... I too want to get on with other things.
In the US Google Play store, you can buy Samsung devices WITH vanilla
Android and most likely get the latest version running on it very
easily. That's what I want here.
Cheers
A.
10:08 a.m.
On 28/04/2014 7:44 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
For tablets with 16G of RAM the Nexus 7 is $299 and
the Nexus 10 is $469.
Currently the 32G Nexus 10 is out of stock so I'm mostly comparing the 16G
Nexus 7 with the Nexus 10, if I choose the Nexus 7 then I'll think about
whether it's worth paying for extra storage (probably will be given that
there's no SD card support).
It's not 16GB of RAM..... but I guess that is a typo. It is 16GB of
storage, certainly not the same thing.
Right now, I am disillusioned over any device that has to have lots of
extra crap on it from the manufacturer -- Samsung ... for one. If only
every Android device could be sold with vanilla Android directly from
Google or some other retailer WORLDWIDE, not just in the US; as well as
being able to get updates quickly for a good period of time.
Having to root a device to get the latest software shouldn't be
necessary either, glad it's possible, but it shouldn't be an issue at all.
Cheers
A.
10:26 a.m.
On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 5:08 PM, Andrew McGlashan <
andrew.mcglashan(a)affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
On 28/04/2014 7:44 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
One of the members of Chiang Mai Geeks has installed the latest cyanogenmod
on his Samsung device without problems. He can access Google Play Store
with it. That is a change from earlier versions.
Bob
For tablets with 16G of RAM the Nexus 7 is $299
and the Nexus 10 is $469.
Currently the 32G Nexus 10 is out of stock so I'm mostly comparing the
16G
Nexus 7 with the Nexus 10, if I choose the Nexus
7 then I'll think about
whether it's worth paying for extra storage (probably will be given that
there's no SD card support).
It's not 16GB of RAM..... but I guess that is a typo. It is 16GB of
storage, certainly not the same thing.
Right now, I am disillusioned over any device that has to have lots of
extra crap on it from the manufacturer -- Samsung ... for one. If only
every Android device could be sold with vanilla Android directly from
Google or some other retailer WORLDWIDE, not just in the US; as well as
being able to get updates quickly for a good period of time.
Having to root a device to get the latest software shouldn't be
necessary either, glad it's possible, but it shouldn't be an issue at all.
Cheers
A.
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