Toshiba Thrive review

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by boswd

yes and that's why the internet video's, games and shopping websites are almost ALL Flash

I keep telling you that theres nothing out there iOS users can't access.

Eventually developers are going to go with the one format that all devices can access. We're in a period of transition.

And...flash doesn't work well anywhere BUT on traditional PC's.

Mobile video is still a small part of overall online viewing, but it’s a part that Apple dominates, according to a new report by video monetization startup FreeWheel. In its Q1 2011 Video Monetization Report, FreeWheel said the vast majority of video views that occur on mobile devices happen on Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The most surprising finding might be that despite having sold just 20 million tablets worldwide, Apple’s iPad already accounts for 20 percent of videos viewed on mobile devices, according to FreeWheel. We thought the iPad would be an ideal device for viewing video when it was announced, but the extent to which it has been embraced by even traditional video producers and distributors speaks to the power of the platform. TV networks like ABC and HBO have built applications for the iPad, as have pay TV operators like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and others.

While mobile video viewing accounts for just one percent of all online video views, according to the report, much of it was driven by news and live events. Mobile views peaked during Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, and also during the March Madness tournament, when viewers turned to their smartphones and mobile devices because they weren’t near a TV.

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I keep telling you that theres nothing out there iOS users can't access.

Eventually developers are going to go with the one format that all devices can access. We're in a period of transition.

And...flash doesn't work well anywhere BUT on traditional PC's.

I'm sooo glad you told me this. My HTC EVO has been misbehaving, it runs flash just fine. I will have to tell it to stop immediately.

It would help if you actually USED these devices, instead of dragging up stories on the web to back up your arguements.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I keep telling you that theres nothing out there iOS users can't access.

Eventually developers are going to go with the one format that all devices can access. We're in a period of transition.

And...flash doesn't work well anywhere BUT on traditional PC's.

Flash works just fine on my Droid X, just because Steve- O says a leg is a tail doesn't actually make that true you know. It's still a leg.

you keep telling me there is nothing ios can't access because of Flash. Accessing it or having it run the way it was meant to run without a work around and additional modifications are two different things.

Sure it may or may not come to the point where HTML5 is the defacto standard, but how many years away is that? and that isn't even a given. On android you can access Flash and HTML5.

Face it Apple thought it was big enough where it felt that if they said jump the entire tech industry would say "How High" well it didn't happen. Apple dumped Flash years to early.

[Graham]

Flash runs very smoothly on my Galaxy S as well. I daresay it could be made to run fine on an iPhone.

Graham

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

I'm sooo glad you told me this. My HTC EVO has been misbehaving, it runs flash just fine. I will have to tell it to stop immediately.

It would help if you actually USED these devices, instead of dragging up stories on the web to back up your arguements.

But...why would you bother using the devices when you can just troll anyways?

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by boswd

Apple dumped Flash years to early.

I'm not sure how you could come to that conclusion -- iOS is a vibrant, mainstream, growing ecosystem...without Flash.

If anything, they picked the right time to do it...when technology would allow their hundreds of millions of users to access and enjoy the web and their devices without it.

That's the benefit of the open web -- there's no one right way to get to and consume all the information that's out there.

Interesting dichotomy though: proponents of an open OS (Android) defending a more closed system (Android) over a more open one (HTML5).

[Graham]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Interesting dichotomy though: proponents of an open OS (Android) defending a more closed system (Android) over a more open one (HTML5).

That would only be an issue if you weren't able to enjoy HTML5 on Android.

While iOS does currently provide better support for some areas of HTML5, it's not true to say that Android doesn't support HTML5 at all, with the support being improved all the time.

Graham

[boswd]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I'm not sure how you could come to that conclusion -- iOS is a vibrant, mainstream, growing ecosystem...without Flash.

If anything, they picked the right time to do it...when technology would allow their hundreds of millions of users to access and enjoy the web and their devices without it.

That's the benefit of the open web -- there's no one right way to get to and consume all the information that's out there.

Interesting dichotomy though: proponents of an open OS (Android) defending a more closed system (Android) over a more open one (HTML5).

I'm not choosing one over the other, as I stated before with Android you get both. with the "open" system you get that. Unlike Apple which has made the decision for you. .

The fact remains Flash is still the defacto standard for web browsing media playback.

but this still comes back to my origianal response. Apple said Flash was dead, said it was going to die rather quickly. All the iSheep responded by saying "All Hail Lord Steve, if you say it then it must be true, now we will go out and preach the gospel on internet forums and blogs telling the world how Apple and you are God".

well it's still here, it's still the standard and it's still an achilles heel on your iDevices. Every Con : No Flash support.

[RockdaMan]

There was a typo in my last sentence. I meant to contrast flash with html5, not android. And again, there is no evidence that it's an Achilles heel. Anyone seen any?

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

There was a typo in my last sentence. I meant to contrast flash with html5, not android. And again, there is no evidence that it's an Achilles heel. Anyone seen any?

Don't know, don't use any iOS product. If they've got a problem with Flash, well, that's their problem, not mine...

[HansTWN]

Arguably more people would buy Apple products if they opened up iOS to Flash (and if they really were thinking of their users they would have Flash disabled as standard and have a deeply hidden switch somewhere -- that would work so that only those who know what they are doing would be using it). Being able to use Flash is becoming a selling point for Android. Yes, there are some issues with Flash, even on a PC, occasionally. Nothing is perfect. But I am more than happy with it on my phone. A lot of websites I use do offer lower quality HTML5 versions of their videos --- but why should I do this to myself? And all those "workarounds" definitely don't make iOS easy to use. Out of the box "it just doesn't work" with many websites.

Apple has misjudged the situation and wound up shooting themselves in the foot.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

"workarounds" definitely don't make iOS easy to use. Out of the box "it just doesn't work" with many websites.

I have never seen a website that didn't cater to my browser. I think, not having used the browser, that you wildly overestimate it as a problem.

Almost every website out there serves content to mobile browsers including mobile safari -- no workarounds needed.

And HTML5 is not 'lower quality'. If it's lower quality, its because it was transcoded that way. All HTML5 does is call the video.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I have never seen a website that didn't cater to my browser. I think, not having used the browser, that you wildly overestimate it as a problem.

Almost every website out there serves content to mobile browsers including mobile safari -- no workarounds needed.

And HTML5 is not 'lower quality'. If it's lower quality, its because it was transcoded that way. All HTML5 does is call the video.

I guess the HTML5 is transcoded at a lower quality on purpose. The websites will make the decision to do that because they say HTML5 is for devices that can't handle flash, thus they cannot handle high quality video. Which is, of course, nonsense. But I see this on a number of websites.

The reason I found out about this is that I tried switching to HTML5 when my connection was really slow when traveling.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Since there is not other tablet around that has a user replaceable battery, full SD card reader (including SDXC), and standard HDMI out, it's Hobson's choice. I'll buy it now, while I can still get it.
...

I want a PMP with HDMI out that will last longer than the battery. The Thrive fits the bill, (and currently it's the only one that does) even if too big. Everything else is gravy. Today I can buy a 128GB SDXC for $250 or so. Next year it'll be $150. That's a lot of storage of media files, and no worry or expense for wireless connections.

But I'm old school...Your mileage may differ.

I love the look of the Toshiba Thrive. HDMI, USB host, SDXC is awesome. Wish there was a 7"- 8" 16:9 version of it. 10" is way too big for me.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I love the look of the Toshiba Thrive. HDMI, USB host, SDXC is awesome. Wish there was a 7"- 8" version of it. 10" is way too big for me.

The Toshiba's slot is SDXC? Great, how about the others? And HP's touchpad?