Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 03:08:14PM +1000, David Tulloh wrote:
As a few others have suggested your specs are rather ambitious.
they don't seem ambitious to me. They seem to be fairly common specs for android tablets from several manufacturers. what i was after was recommendations or notes from people who actually have one of the more recent models.
As an example a high resolution 10" screen uses a fair bit of juice, just reading a PDF for a few hours will drain some batteries. The brute force solution, more batteries, hurts your portability and blows out the cost.
most of the 9.7"/10"/larger models on the market advertise at least 10-20 hours of video-watching time. even assuming that's marketing exaggeration (i.e. a lie), reading an epub or even a PDF with WIFI disabled should get at least that much. i'd prefer longer, but that's acceptable.
There are Kindle models which solve this with e-paper displays but that is black/white only and significantly compromises refresh rate.
i've tried e-ink e-readers before. too slow and way too fragile for my liking. From what i've read, current e-ink displays are a lot faster than when i last used them but they're still as fragile. I broke two kobos in less than six months before getting my nexus 7 which has lasted me 5+ years. My first kobo broke in my satchel when i tripped while running and also resulted in a broken wrist so that's forgivable. The second was from falling asleep reading in bed, which is totally unacceptable as that's SOP for me...so i got a nexus 7 - and i can't count the number of times i've fallen asleep reading with it (at a guess, probably over 50% of the last 5 years worth of nights, so over 900 times) and it ends up either under me or dropped onto the floor beside the bed....there's a few little dints in the plastic shell but the screen is still uncracked and works perfectly.
I looked into tablets a few months ago and landed on the Lenovo Yoga which
Yeah, i've looked into the Lenovo Yoga. My overall impression is that it has seriously underwhelming specs for the price. The screen is larger than my Nexus 7, but the resolution is the same (1280x800) so will look blocky and ugly, certainly won't improve readability. it has double the RAM and a 10" screen but otherwise is no better than what i've already got (and at 16GB it has half the storage but does have a micro-SD slot). for just under $300. i'll pass. hmmm...they have some better models, worth another look. Their '10" BusinessTablet' seems better. 4-core 1.3Ghz (only slightly better than my Nexus 7), 2GB RAM (double the nexus), 32GB storage, micro-SD slot, and 1920x1200 resolution. $284 at JB. worth considering but i want something a bit better. cheaper and better than the Tab3. Their 'Tab 3 Plus 10" Tablet' seems better again, 8-core 1.8Ghz snapdragon 652 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, micro SD slot, and 2560x1600 resolution (so should have beautifully crisp and clear readable text on the 10" screen - that resolution is better than my 27" desktop monitor). it's a bit pricey at $484 (JB again) but certainly matches the kind of specs i'm looking for. I'll put this one on my shortlist.
http://androidbiits.com/lenovo-yoga-tab-3-plus-yt-x703f-android-7-1-1-nougat...
this seems to be for the Tab 3 Plus, not the earlier models....but that's fine, it's the model i'm most interested in. thanks craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>
On Friday, 2 June 2017 8:07:04 PM AEST Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote:
As an example a high resolution 10" screen uses a fair bit of juice, just reading a PDF for a few hours will drain some batteries. The brute force solution, more batteries, hurts your portability and blows out the cost.
most of the 9.7"/10"/larger models on the market advertise at least 10-20 hours of video-watching time. even assuming that's marketing exaggeration (i.e. a lie), reading an epub or even a PDF with WIFI disabled should get at least that much. i'd prefer longer, but that's acceptable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_10.1_2014_Edition I've got a Note 10.1 2014 edition. I can't remember when I bought it, probably late 2014 or early 2015 as I tend not to buy things when they first come out and have the highest prices. Even so it was slightly expensive, around $600. Wikipedia says that you can upgrade it to Android 5.1, but I am running Android 4.4.2 with no updates being offered. Mine has 32G of built in storage and I haven't needed the SD storage much, but it does suppport 64G of SD storage which might be handy at some future time. Apart from running an older version of Android (with all the security issues etc) there's no reason why I wouldn't buy exactly the same device again. The screen is great. I can watch Youtube for a few hours even though it's far from new, I'm not really sure how long the battery lasts, it's never been an issue for me. Also I haven't had any problems with performance. I've got Skype and Hangouts always running in the background and I've used it for lots of other random things like TeamViewer and games including Pokemon Go and Ingress. I don't know how hard it would be to root it, I've never wanted to do that. https://www.ebay.com/p/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-2014-Edition-SM-P605-32GB-Wi-Fi-4... I can't understand why Samsung don't just keep making this. The above URL has some you can buy now, refurbished and second hand. There are so many new tablets on sale which cost more and aren't as good. http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-tab-s3/ Above is the web page for the lateset Samsung high-end tablet which doesn't have as high resolution as mine from 2014. Seriously this sucks. There is absolutely nothing I want in my current tablet other than a newer version of Android.
My first kobo broke in my satchel when i tripped while running and also resulted in a broken wrist so that's forgivable. The second was from falling asleep reading in bed, which is totally unacceptable as that's SOP for me...so i got a nexus 7 - and i can't count the number of times i've fallen asleep reading with it (at a guess, probably over 50% of the last 5 years worth of nights, so over 900 times) and it ends up either under me or dropped onto the floor beside the bed....there's a few little dints in the plastic shell but the screen is still uncracked and works perfectly.
My Note 10.1 has been drop tested while in a case. I doubt that any 10" tablet is going to survive well if dropped from bed height to a hard floor without a case. But being dropped from bed height to a carpet floor without a case probably won't be a problem. The problem with a 10" tablet over a 7" is the extra leverage against it if you roll on top of it. If you rolled over while asleep and put your elbow in the middle of the screen that would be a real risk with a larger tablet.
Yeah, i've looked into the Lenovo Yoga. My overall impression is that it has seriously underwhelming specs for the price. The screen is larger than my Nexus 7, but the resolution is the same (1280x800) so will look blocky and ugly, certainly won't improve readability. it has double the RAM and a 10" screen but otherwise is no better than what i've already got (and at 16GB it has half the storage but does have a micro-SD slot). for just under $300. i'll pass.
Get a refurbished Note 10.1. So much better than that at a much lower price.
Their '10" BusinessTablet' seems better. 4-core 1.3Ghz (only slightly better than my Nexus 7), 2GB RAM (double the nexus), 32GB storage, micro-SD slot, and 1920x1200 resolution. $284 at JB. worth considering but i want something a bit better. cheaper and better than the Tab3.
A stylus really helps for some use cases. It's a major feature of the Note series. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Russell Coker via luv-talk <luv-talk@luv.asn.au> writes:
I've got a Note 10.1 2014 edition. I can't remember when I bought it, probably late 2014 or early 2015 as I tend not to buy things when they first come out and have the highest prices. Even so it was slightly expensive, around $600. Wikipedia says that you can upgrade it to Android 5.1, but I am running Android 4.4.2 with no updates being offered. Mine has 32G of built in storage and I haven't needed the SD storage much, but it does suppport 64G of SD storage which might be handy at some future time.
Same here. There is an unofficial version of AOSP somebody built and provided that is newer then what Samsung offered - which was pretty good, however seems that project is dead now (at least last time I checked, and I doubt anything has changed). I imagine the person responsible lost interest. It could be that this project is what that the wikipedia article was referring to with the 5.1 upgrade. If you want, I might be able to find the link again. I got put off buying from Samsung after this purchase, as they don't provide OS support nearly long enough (this was the 2nd Samsung tablet I have purchased with this problem), and Cyanogen support is often sadly lacking (as was the case of this device) [*]. I don't want to buy a new hardward just because the manufacturer says I should, especially if the existing hardware is still capable of working fine with the latest software. Curiously, one of the Samsung tablets (can't remember which one now, maybe the 1st) I purchased did not support making phone calls. Until I replaced the firmware with unofficial firmware on the Internet. Then I started receiving wrong number phone calls from people in Queensland. Obviously software, not hardware limitation. So I wouldn't make the assumption that all tablets support phone calls. At least with Nexus devices, when Google stops providing updates, Cyanogen (now Lineage) is a pretty good option. Footnote: [*] actually that may have changed now: https://download.lineageos.org/lt03lte https://download.lineageos.org/n1awifi Interesting... wonder if this is any good. Or is this just the preliminary cyanogenmod work that never got anywhere useful and had large gaps in required functionality? -- Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/
On Saturday, 3 June 2017 7:28:35 PM AEST Brian May via luv-talk wrote:
Same here. There is an unofficial version of AOSP somebody built and provided that is newer then what Samsung offered - which was pretty good, however seems that project is dead now (at least last time I checked, and I doubt anything has changed). I imagine the person responsible lost interest. It could be that this project is what that the wikipedia article was referring to with the 5.1 upgrade. If you want, I might be able to find the link again.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_10_1_(2014_edition)-5677.php No, when Wikipedia refers to an Android version it SHOULD be a manufacturer one. Above is the reference that Wikipedia cites, I'm pretty sure that they mean a Samsung version not rooting it. One issue is that new versions aren't always rolled out to all regional releases. Maybe the Australian version of the tablet doesn't get the updates the US version gets.
Curiously, one of the Samsung tablets (can't remember which one now, maybe the 1st) I purchased did not support making phone calls. Until I replaced the firmware with unofficial firmware on the Internet. Then I started receiving wrong number phone calls from people in Queensland. Obviously software, not hardware limitation. So I wouldn't make the assumption that all tablets support phone calls.
It would be quite possible to build an image for a tablet without the phone software. But in the past I've verified that my Note 10.1 2014 edition can make and receive calls. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
On 4/06/17 12:39 AM, Russell Coker via luv-talk wrote:
On Saturday, 3 June 2017 7:28:35 PM AEST Brian May via luv-talk wrote:
[...] It could be that this project is what that the wikipedia article was referring to with the 5.1 upgrade. If you want, I might be able to find the link again. http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_10_1_(2014_edition)-5677.php
No, when Wikipedia refers to an Android version it SHOULD be a manufacturer one. Above is the reference that Wikipedia cites, I'm pretty sure that they mean a Samsung version not rooting it.
One issue is that new versions aren't always rolled out to all regional releases. Maybe the Australian version of the tablet doesn't get the updates the US version gets.
Last week I took a friend with their Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) to the Samsung service plaza in Vermont. The unit went in with Android 4.3 and came back re-flashed with Android 5.1.1 Samsung seem to be in the habit of re-flashing their phones and tablets for free. This was the SM-P600, not the SM-P605 - the wifi-only version, not the version with SIM-card support.
Hi, On 05/06/17 00:45, Douglas Ray via luv-talk wrote:
Last week I took a friend with their Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) to the Samsung service plaza in Vermont. The unit went in with Android 4.3 and came back re-flashed with Android 5.1.1
That is GREAT! However, before I praise them too much; how many units were sold? And shouldn't that be enough for them to have a small team provide updates to the latest version of Android that the device can actually support, which I would think would be newer than 5.1.1 ?
Samsung seem to be in the habit of re-flashing their phones and tablets for free.
Also, without being too cynical, I hope.... is it done to /help/ get the user using their own junk apps? So, an increase or re-activation of the bloatware?
This was the SM-P600, not the SM-P605 - the wifi-only version, not the version with SIM-card support.
I really think that there should be more longer term support to keep these devices safe and secure at the very least. Even if the device can't take advantage of some newer hardware features. And I think the manufacturer should be obliged to allow and facilitiate users to remove apps that they don't want on their own devices. Kind Regards AndrewM
On Monday, 5 June 2017 12:45:14 AM AEST Douglas Ray via luv-talk wrote:
Last week I took a friend with their Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) to the Samsung service plaza in Vermont. The unit went in with Android 4.3 and came back re-flashed with Android 5.1.1
Samsung seem to be in the habit of re-flashing their phones and tablets for free.
Did they upgrade it or wipe it? If I can get my Note 10.1 upgraded I would be very interested in that. But I'm not interested in having it reset to factory defaults. Thanks. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
On 5/06/17 2:24 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
On Monday, 5 June 2017 12:45:14 AM AEST Douglas Ray via luv-talk wrote:
Last week I took a friend with their Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) to the Samsung service plaza in Vermont. The unit went in with Android 4.3 and came back re-flashed with Android 5.1.1
Samsung seem to be in the habit of re-flashing their phones and tablets for free.
Did they upgrade it or wipe it?
wiped. That was the intention. I didn't ask if upgrade was available; you could phone them. cheers
If I can get my Note 10.1 upgraded I would be very interested in that. But I'm not interested in having it reset to factory defaults.
Thanks.
I also owned a Nexus 7 (the same 2012 version as yours, not the newer 2013 one), and it was my first "eBook Reader". It was nice to use in the early years, then later it started to freeze up frequently, requiring reboot. At times even simple reading of ebooks was a pain, and jerky. So early last year, I started searching around for a replacement - and bought myself a Nexus 9 in April 2016. It's not the top-of-the-line tablet around, but it's the best I could find for me at the time - within my price range and with fairly decent quality - I bought mine from an Australian-based online store at AUD$ 417 (before adding shipping cost). My Nexus 9 specs: - Made by HTC - Out in late 2014 - 8.9in, weight 436g - Resolution: 2048 x 1536, (~281 ppi), 4:3 aspect ratio - *32GB internal storage, 2GB memory, no SD card slot.- * *NVIDIA Tegra K1 64-bit dual-core processor at 2.3 GHz - 4G LTE (but I only use its WiFi)* *- battery: ~ 9 hours general use.* *Like you, I am also primarily using my Nexus 9 to read ebook, as well as online news & articles. But I also use it to view Youtube - there are lots of online how-to's & tutorials on the Internet nowadays, and with my tablet I can view them in many more places than a PC. I also use it to listen to podcast or even Youtube clips. * *One year on, my Nexus 9 still performs reasonably well for all the things I use it for. I had since upgraded its OS a few times, it's now 7.1.1. While not as handy as my old Nexus 7, I find its size and form-factor to be pretty good for e-reading - even US-Letter size PDFs. My eyes can't read small prints nowadays, so the ability to effortlessly zoom the font up really helps. With more memory and newer CPU, both reading and viewing of videos are much smoother than the Nexus 7. Started to have the occasional freeze up requiring a press-button reboot, but it's still few and far between ... * *Now in 2017, I don't think the Nexus 9 can cut it as the new tablet of choice, unless of course you could find a brand new one with a price too good to pass up! I haven't found a need to root my Nexus 9, just yet. Though at the time, one of my reasons to go with a Nexus tablet is its reputation for being 'easier' to be rooted.In fact, I found this site: *The best Android tablets in 2017 ... FYI. *http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/15-best-android-table... <http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/15-best-android-tablets-in-the-world-905504>* *and not surprising that Nexus 9 didn't make it into the list. In fact, only one Google tablet in this list - the Google Pixel C (but it's too pricey).* Here you are, just my personal impression and experience using an Android Tablet - not exactly a most recent model, but close. As for a smart phone, I don't think I can offer any advice as I haven't been looking around for a new one since 2013, when I bought my Nexus 5 - still working well (touch wood!) ... and I intend to keep using it for some time ... Cheers, Wen On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 8:07 PM, Craig Sanders via luv-talk < luv-talk@luv.asn.au> wrote:
On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 03:08:14PM +1000, David Tulloh wrote:
As a few others have suggested your specs are rather ambitious.
they don't seem ambitious to me. They seem to be fairly common specs for android tablets from several manufacturers.
what i was after was recommendations or notes from people who actually have one of the more recent models.
As an example a high resolution 10" screen uses a fair bit of juice, just reading a PDF for a few hours will drain some batteries. The brute force solution, more batteries, hurts your portability and blows out the cost.
most of the 9.7"/10"/larger models on the market advertise at least 10-20 hours of video-watching time. even assuming that's marketing exaggeration (i.e. a lie), reading an epub or even a PDF with WIFI disabled should get at least that much. i'd prefer longer, but that's acceptable.
There are Kindle models which solve this with e-paper displays but that is black/white only and significantly compromises refresh rate.
i've tried e-ink e-readers before. too slow and way too fragile for my liking. From what i've read, current e-ink displays are a lot faster than when i last used them but they're still as fragile. I broke two kobos in less than six months before getting my nexus 7 which has lasted me 5+ years.
My first kobo broke in my satchel when i tripped while running and also resulted in a broken wrist so that's forgivable. The second was from falling asleep reading in bed, which is totally unacceptable as that's SOP for me...so i got a nexus 7 - and i can't count the number of times i've fallen asleep reading with it (at a guess, probably over 50% of the last 5 years worth of nights, so over 900 times) and it ends up either under me or dropped onto the floor beside the bed....there's a few little dints in the plastic shell but the screen is still uncracked and works perfectly.
I looked into tablets a few months ago and landed on the Lenovo Yoga which
Yeah, i've looked into the Lenovo Yoga. My overall impression is that it has seriously underwhelming specs for the price. The screen is larger than my Nexus 7, but the resolution is the same (1280x800) so will look blocky and ugly, certainly won't improve readability. it has double the RAM and a 10" screen but otherwise is no better than what i've already got (and at 16GB it has half the storage but does have a micro-SD slot). for just under $300. i'll pass.
hmmm...they have some better models, worth another look.
Their '10" BusinessTablet' seems better. 4-core 1.3Ghz (only slightly better than my Nexus 7), 2GB RAM (double the nexus), 32GB storage, micro-SD slot, and 1920x1200 resolution. $284 at JB. worth considering but i want something a bit better. cheaper and better than the Tab3.
Their 'Tab 3 Plus 10" Tablet' seems better again, 8-core 1.8Ghz snapdragon 652 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, micro SD slot, and 2560x1600 resolution (so should have beautifully crisp and clear readable text on the 10" screen - that resolution is better than my 27" desktop monitor). it's a bit pricey at $484 (JB again) but certainly matches the kind of specs i'm looking for. I'll put this one on my shortlist.
http://androidbiits.com/lenovo-yoga-tab-3-plus-yt- x703f-android-7-1-1-nougat-lineageos-14-1-unofficial-rom/
this seems to be for the Tab 3 Plus, not the earlier models....but that's fine, it's the model i'm most interested in. thanks
craig
-- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> _______________________________________________ luv-talk mailing list luv-talk@luv.asn.au https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-talk
On Sun, Jun 04, 2017 at 03:59:47AM +1000, Wen Lin wrote:
I started searching around for a replacement - and bought myself a Nexus 9 in April 2016. [...]
thanks for all that, it was exactly the kind of personal experience i was looking for. it's easy enough to find specs for various models, but spec sheets for consumer products are partly fact and partly marketing.
*and not surprising that Nexus 9 didn't make it into the list. In fact, only one Google tablet in this list - the Google Pixel C (but it's too pricey).*
The Pixel C doesn't seem to exist any more, anyway. Disappeared from google's store in January apparently...and no sign of any replacement model. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>
participants (6)
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Andrew McGlashan -
Brian May -
Craig Sanders -
Douglas Ray -
Russell Coker -
Wen Lin