Just ordered the EXOPC Slate

[timezone]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

It's hard not to respond to baiting. And if you don't respond, they think that they won.

But I am interested in the EXOPC Slate, and others. We all know that most slates/MIDS are going to have a problem competing with e-ink re. power consumption. But then too they’ll also have some advantages.

You gave some of the reasons what you want it for, but why did you choose the EXOPC Slate over the others?

Not the first reason but if you spend any time over at the EXOPC forum you discover the people in the company are going way over and above what is expected of any company to provide support and listen to what people expect. They already have made numerous changes based on the forum users. You can go their with skepticism and leave very impressed.

For the price it is feature rich. The display while not eInk is quite good. Looking at the other Slates they are either Andrioid or another OS. Even Google just came out with a statement saying the current Android OS is not for Slates. The other Window choices appear to be either more expensive and most have a smaller screen or less memory or is missing a card slot.

[SameOldStory]

Good support is, I think, an excellent reason to buy a product. I see where a lot of ereaders have only spotty support. More often the "support" is provided by issuing a new ereader.

I'll check out the EXOPC forum.

The power problem is a non-issue with me.

Web access and color are minimum requirements. Being able to put my programs and resources on it would be great. And if I can use it to read on when I have downtime all the better.

And it has to be less than $50. Oh, and the screen is too big and too small, so it has to shrink and stretch to whatever size I want.

[timezone]

For example, even before the product is released they let a prerelease Slate travel to a few users around the world in the forum to try it out.

They allowed forum users to preorder the product even though they decided not to manufacture the product. It will be the only units with the EXOPC brand on it. It will be the partners that will build to spec. They are providing the App Store and GUI front end.

They were willing to delay the introduction in order to put in a faster SSD in the unit for no extra charge.

They also went out of there way to find a screen with less glare.

If none of this was done no one would have complained. This is just a very small example of what they are doing.

People complained about the delivery charge from Canada to the locations outside of Canada. They closed the preorders. Spent time to find a better priced service and reopened the store. Everyone will get the discount.

If you know iRex, all they would have done is stopped communicating. Everyone would be asking where they disappeared to and then lived with the issue.

[eswarjj]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

And it has to be less than $50. Oh, and the screen is too big and too small, so it has to shrink and stretch to whatever size I want.

Took me a second to see through the sudden sarcasm.

[SameOldStory]

That seems to be a common juvenile mantra.

I'll buy it if it gets down to $50.
It's too big.
It's too small.
It has a color screen, it's no good.
It has a e-ink screen, it's too dark.
It has a e-ink screen, it's too slow to watch YouTube.
It has a touch screen, it's no good.
It's made by XYZ, it's no good.
It's NOT made by XYZ, it's no good.
It's too heavy.
It's ....

How about a simple rule kids. Read the threads that you actually like for a change. Stop looking for trouble.

Screen full after screen full of complaints is getting to be very boring. And rather than looking witty and knowledgeable, it looks very childish.

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

That seems to be a common juvenile mantra.

I'll buy it if it gets down to $50.
It's too big.
It's too small.
It has a color screen, it's no good.
It has a e-ink screen, it's too dark.
It has a e-ink screen, it's too slow to watch YouTube.
It has a touch screen, it's no good.
It's made by XYZ, it's no good.
It's NOT made by XYZ, it's no good.
It's too heavy.
It's ....

.

Such complaints usually voiced by those who have not actually tried an e-reader!

[harryE123]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

It's hard not to respond to baiting. And if you don't respond, they think that they won.

. But please single, not double standards. When someone posts about the supposed merits of a product they should listen to others' views about it. This is not a blog, it's a forum. All the more so when said posters declare technological superiority to their product of choice.

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

How about a simple rule kids. Read the threads that you actually like for a change. Stop looking for trouble.

Screen full after screen full of complaints is getting to be very boring. And rather than looking witty and knowledgeable, it looks very childish.

I am sorry but with that much condescension I can only respond with a "thanks mom".

[SameOldStory]

Wisdom speaks. What can I say.

[krighton]

4-6.5 hours from what i've heard...yeah comparing the battery life of a slate that runs windows 7 to a phone (sigh).....even comparing it to the Ipad which is just an oversized ipod is not fair (no OS)...oh and exopc awarded the 500th preorder a free dock, just out of the blue.

[SameOldStory]

I drive a van, loaded to the max, when working. For my own use I have a little rice burner.

Is one better than the other? No. Each fulfills a different need/requirement. Talking about gas mileage is irrelevant.

I will end up with something that has color and an internet connection. Those are the two main considerations. Windows OS could be useful.

All our software works on MS Windows. I could use a different OS to download updates and patches. But then I'll still have to bring my laptop in to connect to our equipment for diagnostics and firmware updates. And let me tell you, my Toshiba laptop/tablet weighs just over 2.5 pounds and has never gotten more than 3 hours of active use.

It would be great if the company would buy one for me, but I'll not hold my breath. I do buy some of my own equipment. If it makes my life easier and my work go faster that’s a big plus. Four techs were laid off. I'm still working. I wonder why.

[weateallthepies]

Originally Posted by harryE123

I am sure you are going to like your system, you've convinced yourself already. I can't see how a system that has the biggest by far app store on the planet, which you can also jailbreak and run anything on is closed. I also can't see how a unix os optimised for mobility and touch isn't a "real os" because it's not wintel and has a functioning paradigm from 2010 and not from 1980. But that's how I look at things.

I disagree, I'm running a win 7 tablet and I believe my app store is bigger. I like to call it "the internet", which runs lovely in all it's glory.

Seriously, are there now more apps in Apple's app store than there are pieces of software that run on windows? I'm not convinced that argument holds up unless you ignore all windows software because it isn't in some centralised database.

Just like with the ipad, to criticise a windows tablet people should at least take the time to use one for a while. I've been using mine now for quite a few months and I've not had any issue with Windows 7 as a multi touch OS. Mines a convertible netbook but it is the same resoultion and screen size as the EXOPC so comparable in terms of use. I've also played with their dev stuff and whilst I'm not keen on UI layers sitting on top of windows, it does look fairly low on resources.

Personally I'm quite looking forward to getting meego or chromeos onto mine, I quite fancy a lean quick booting *nux based OS but I'll probably still dual boot for the extra flexibility windows provides.

[CyGuy]

As an early adopter of the ExoPC, I do expect the device to be slightly less than perfect but I am okay with this. The ExoPC is the best example to date of a Windows slate using netbook based hardware. I know what to expect, and what not to expect. The ExoPC is the only device I have seen so far that will meet my needs for a slate computer. For me, the pros far outweigh the cons, by a lot.

I do wish that the battery life was a bit better, I am sure this will be improved in the next iteration of the device. The coming versions of the Atom processor should be more efficient, and may even allow a fan-less processor heatsink. Battery technology is also improving all the time.

As for the app store argument, harryE123 missed the mark on this one. Windows apps are available from a million places, not just one place. There really is no need to discuss that further.

This is a mobile read forum. I feel like the ExoPC will be a great device to read on. You should be able read any format eBook and any comics as well. If you happen to get a DRM infected file, you can correct that right on the device! The large screen size and high-ish resolution should make reading PDF files acceptable as well. I will certainly follow up once I have spent some time reading on my ExoPC.

[harryE123]

Originally Posted by weateallthepies

I disagree, I'm running a win 7 tablet and I believe my app store is bigger. I like to call it "the internet", which runs lovely in all it's glory.

What's all it's glory flash? How about tapping twice to get a proper page width view of the sentence? How about all the glorious flash that wont function because it can't understand touch?

Guys let's not stoop this low, the app store has been the biggest success for users and developers alike, everyone is copying it and jumping on the bandwagon, any research you read will tell you that app store buyers pay multiple % over what the average pc user is willing to pay, or has ever paid for applications on their computers...that's just the way it is, you may not like it but we can't change facts for fiction. Even if you haven't read the studies about how much more willing app store buyers are to buy apps I am sure you have a lot of friends that you know for a fact have downloaded tons of cracked pc apps from torrents and the like, but have paid instead for apps on ios as well as books, music, videos, spoken word etc. etc.... (case in point just read above what cyguy it's saying, hey you can steal content and break drm right on your device...great, so the authors can live on peanuts...

so instead of getting a proper app (most of them dead cheap or free) such as zinio for mags or the kindle reader amongst the hundreds available, and getting your content there, just remove the drm in the glorious windows 7 with the high-ish resolution non ips screen and lowish battery life, and above all keep those $$ coming to Balmer and co. and fudge everyone else including developers, content providers, authors and musicians. Brilliant, that's the way forward.

Enjoy your tablets, but let's be real.

[Cyclops]

If only the blackberry app store was anywhere near as good as Androids! Buy its not, in fact its pretty bad!

[Graham]

Originally Posted by harryE123

... the app store has been the biggest success for users and developers alike, everyone is copying it and jumping on the bandwagon, any research you read will tell you that app store buyers pay multiple % over what the average pc user is willing to pay, or has ever paid for applications on their computers...that's just the way it is, you may not like it but we can't change facts for fiction.

Do you have any links to that research, Harry? I can see plenty which states that the buyers will pay more for smartphone apps through the app store model, but I can't see anything that states that they will pay more overall than the average PC user is willing to pay on PC software.

And this Mac News report suggests that although very successful in terms of downloads, the app store is not overly profitable - presumably because the average price of each app is very low.

Graham