03-16-2012, 07:04 PM | #1201 | |
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Well, I believe there is more improvements from iPad1 to iPad2 than from iPad2 to New iPad. Just to mention a few: -Weight reduction -Faster CPU (I believe CPU remains the same) -Inclusion of cameras While I do not want to start a debate of what was added and what was not on New iPad, the increase in weight is a minus and CPU remains the same. While cameras are better, we already had that on iPad2; was totally absent on iPad1. I think that the change was more a subtle one on this release. |
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03-17-2012, 04:46 AM | #1202 | |
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I don't mind the increased weight. I'm not too fond of the information politics about the smart covers. Mine fits, but I still would like to know, whether smart covers for iPad 2 and iPad 3 are absolutely identical. Of course, an honest answer here might hurt new business (no new smart covers needed?). It's even worse about the back shields (admittedly, not Apple products, but 3rd party). Some seem to fit (mine does, although it's a very tight fit), other's don't and you just have to guess about yours. |
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03-17-2012, 09:53 AM | #1203 |
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Hey MG
what about glare? I don't think you have beaches there in Germany, lol ...but how easy or difficult to read is when you go outside, vs an iPad 2. Have you tried? |
03-17-2012, 01:46 PM | #1204 | |
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Augsburg isn't quite California. Glare is the same as before. I can't compare to iPad 2 anymore. But it's no use in direct sunlight, exactly as before. Did they change anything? I don't see any improvement in readability, but it never has been a biggy for me. I wouldn't take iPad or any other tablet to the beach anyway. One of my touch readers is perfect for that. Last edited by mgmueller; 03-19-2012 at 08:28 AM. |
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03-17-2012, 03:58 PM | #1205 |
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They DO have beaches in Germany. Even in former "East Germany". When my fellow countrymen wanted to go to the sea for summer holiday during "Good Old Socialistic Times" this was one of very few choices ;-)
They even have 30°C temperatures there during the peak of the summer. 16°C air temperature, plus 14°C water temperature |
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03-17-2012, 09:37 PM | #1206 | |
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My parents had a vacation home in Northern Germany, about 20 minutes walk to the beach. Not that we would go there very often to swim or lie at the beach, walking the ocean floor at low tide is quite nice and interesting, though. Last edited by HansTWN; 03-17-2012 at 09:39 PM. |
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03-22-2012, 04:49 AM | #1207 | |
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03-22-2012, 05:16 AM | #1208 | |
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03-22-2012, 08:56 AM | #1209 | ||
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03-23-2012, 07:41 PM | #1210 |
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The last 2 years I took PocketBook 360 with me in a ziploc bag. To the beach, when hiking or biking. Whenever I had to worry about luggage and dirt or water.
Worked perfectly, especially with the page turning feature. I'll see how my touch units work out for that. |
03-23-2012, 08:04 PM | #1211 |
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Momentary ratings
Quite some time since my last personal ratings...
Touch readers: #1: nook touch In addition to its touchscreen it has buttons for turning pages. Quite convenient. #2: Kindle touch and Kobo touch Very similar readers, even the stores are extremely similar. #3: Sony touch I never liked the placement of the physical buttons, below the screen. It somehow looks and feels somewhat cheap. I don't like the menu structure very much. Tablets: #1: Motorola Xoom 2, Media Edition It's unbelievably compact and mobile, without being flimsy or fragile. I love the quality and placement of the speakers. #2: BlackBerry PlayBook I'm not into side loading the Android apps. So, if you just rely on the official market, it still lacks lots of apps. But it has the best "Plants vs. Zombies" implementation I've seen so far! And the Kobo app for reading. Basically, I have most apps I need. And as a tablet, it still has the most advanced OS/UI, a phantastic display and great speakers. #3: Sony Tablet P It certainly has some weak spots. It can be rather tricky, to flick from one screen to the other because of the gap inbetween. But I love the compactness and have it with me most of the times. Extremely weak and disappointing speaker, though. Mono! From Sony!! #4: HP TouchPad It's a shame, HP killed it. Or do they revitalize it, as rumors say? Still: Great OS, great display. Lacking apps, but enough to work with it. #5: Apple iPad 3 I hear lots of you scream in disagreement. Yes, the display is great. Yes, whenever I take it out of my closet, I'm again and again fascinated about the build quality and sturdiness. Still, I simply find it boring. It's working out of the box perfectly. But I simply don't have fun playing around with it. And there are quite a few weak spots: One of the worst speakers of all tablets around. And I really hate the file management. I've mailed some ePUBs to a friend. On Android, you simply would move them to the folder of choice. On iOS, without jailbreak, you can't do anything with it. 3 of the 4ePUBs aren't recognized. You have to import them via iTunes. #6: Samsung and all the others I've got I'm using my Samsung units less and less frequently. I turn all my tablets and readers off over night. I simply have too many of them, lots of them I don't use for days or even weeks, so I want to preserve battery. Whenever I start any of my Samsungs, Media Scan takes forever. I really don't get it. Why does it take so long to scan a 16GB SD card? Very annoying. Dedicated readers (except the touch units I've mentioned separately): #1: Kindle DX Still my "all-time favorite". Would it have a touchscreen in addition, it would be perfect. I love the free 3G. I always run out of SIM cards, still very much prefer having 3G when on the road. #2: nook classic Still surprisingly good. I love the touch and feel. #3: Kindle 3 I don't like the multi-function button. Too small for my taste. Else, a great reader. #4: All the others I don't use any of them anymore. I still like iRex iLiad, iRex 800, Cybook Opus, Sony 900, Spring Design Alex and PocketBook 360. But I've got hundreds of books on each of my touch readers "out of the box" (downloadable from the respective stores, directly on the readers), so I'm just too lazy to fumble around with calibre and such to get my books onto those other readers. Last edited by mgmueller; 03-23-2012 at 08:10 PM. |
04-25-2012, 09:32 AM | #1212 |
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I have a complicated question that I hope someone on this forum can answer. I am looking for a software/hardware combination that can search the whole library quickly. In the library would be ebooks, downloaded articles (for now PDF, but we sd switch to something better, I think), and articles from RSS feeds (full text, not just headlines). We need to be able to search a huge database in a matter of seconds, not minutes. Currently we use tablet computers, where we laboriously scan and OCR purchased books by hand, download articles one by one, and file them into subject folders. Then we have a couple of kindles for magazine and journal subscriptions, which have to be searched separately by issue. It's archaic. We would be interested in hiring a consultant for a few hours to help us come up with a better method. Please, only experts for that. Any ideas? Carole, debate coach |
05-09-2012, 03:32 AM | #1213 |
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Toshiba Libretto W100
It's a clamshell device (dualscreens, foldable, similar to Nintendo DS).
Using Windows 7. I've bought it about 6 weeks ago. I had considered it about 20 months ago, when it was released in a very limited quantity. Toshiba back then (ca. August 2010) had labeled it as a "concept". The limited quantities had been sold out quickly. I've eventually decided against it. € 1.300 (as always, way more expensive in Germany than in most other countries) simply seemed too steep back then. By coincidence I saw it in Amazon for € 900 about 8 weeks ago and thought about it again. And then I got one for € 500 (new, I'm not buying second hand stuff). I absolutely love it. Of course it's totally dated. Still, for what I want do do in Windows (downloading my nzb stuff, Office, PDF manipulation, casual games, ...), it's more than powerful enough. It has 2 flaws though: a.) The fan is quite annoying. The Toshiba power settings allow for some control. But it's still audible. b.) The upper display, containing processor and most other components, gets rather warm (almost hot), especially if you tune down the fan. Without those 2 flaws, it would be almost perfect for me: a.) I love clamshell devices. Sony Tablet P is another favorite tablet for me. b.) It's full blown Windows. Forget about apps. Forget about any kind of limitations. c.) Even a jailbreaked iPad or rooted Android tablet has nothing similar to offer, compared to the endless possibilities of tuning or expansion. I can read Zinio magazines (love them, bought hundreds over the years) in dual-portrait mode. Last edited by mgmueller; 05-09-2012 at 03:55 AM. |
05-09-2012, 04:11 AM | #1214 |
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Sony Tablet S
I've bought it 2 weeks ago.
First, I went for the 16GB version. I had to discover the strangest thing: The SD (SD, not Micro-SD!) only can be used for file transfer, but not for App2SD! Then of course 16GB are way too limited. Even 32GB (the maximum, Sony offers for now) is somewhat critical. No biggy for me, it's only intended to be an additional/specialised tablet. Still, I exchanged the 16GB for the 32GB model without problems (had to pay the difference of € 120 of course). Originally, I had decided against Sony Tablet S about 5 months ago. The display seemed too dim and it's all "plasticky". Then I bought Sony Tablet P and absolutely love it. The "true black" of the display for example. So eventually I re-considered and went for Sony Tablet S. I find the form factor very clever. Because of the "bulk" (one side is way thicker than the other. Sony compares it to a magazine folded back), it really rests perfectly in your hand (if you use it in portrait, in landscape I find it kind of awkward). Wheres iPad for example, with it's '**=?=(&& curved edges (I liked iPad 1 way better than iPad 2 or 3 design-wise) after some time (> 2 hours or so) simply gets uncomfortable to hold. And because of the "all plasticky" Sony Tablet S is really light. So I decided to make it my tablet for reading. So far, I had used my phantastic BlackBerry PlayBook for that. Only downside with this: I only have Kobo and Kindle cloud reader on PlayBook. On Sony Tablet S, so far I have: Kobo Nook Kindle PagePlace Textunes Txtr Pubbles Zinio As for the "dim display": As with many tablets, the automatic brightness is tuned down, probably to conserve battery. In the "right" environment or without using the auto brightness, it's as great as Tablet P: "True Black". Nice add-on: As Sony Tablet P and Xperia PLAY, Sony Tablet S also is "Playstation certified". Rumor has it, this even will mean PSP titles later on. So far, it's Playstation One titles. The ones in the official Sony store aren't very interesting. But you easily can use the great Playstation emulator from Sony with your own games. I've done so with R-Type and Parodius. Perfectly emulated. And you easily can use the WII-remote, instead of the '&/E§$&/(/&%/ onscreen controls. On Sony Tablet S (not on Sony Tablet P, though) you even can use the original PS3 controller. That's what I love about Android: You don't need to jailbreak respectively root, you can install tons of tools like using your WII-remote, directly from the original Android market (now Google Play). Last edited by mgmueller; 05-09-2012 at 05:38 AM. |
07-23-2012, 10:28 AM | #1215 | |
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I had followed your reviews closely and saw that at first you didn't like the Tablet S. Most other users' complaints were of a weak wi-fi (luckily, mine is very strong) and an easily-scratched screen (my Sony-refurubished one came with the Sony screen protector applied and an insert saying so, so they must be aware of this problem). I believe the SD slot is now integrated in the Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3) Android version--at least I see no separation in the apps I've used so far. I also like the dock for easier charging (it easily drops in the dock, as opposed to a slight bit of difficulty putting on the bare connector), and the host USB dongle accessory, which has allowed me to connect an old folding USB keyboard. The Sony case is nice too, because it's fairly stiff, though it has no place to store anything else. Sony USA had the case and dock on sale, each for $10, so their purchase was a no-brainer. Thanks again for sharing all your valuable info! |
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