What can I do with an HDX?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by richbrown68

Fair point. Still, I can't imagine that a slight blue halo around a screen would be nearly as distracting as the machine shutting off in the middle of a paragraph....something that I believe you're in agreement with.

Perhaps you're right -- in the utterly impractical abstract.

What's the point of Googling a problem which you yourself have never experienced (nor have I as a regular N7 user) just to construct a counterargument against buying a device you've never actually used?

I've never read a single complaint about random restarts on Mobile Read, and a lot of us happen to own the N7 2013. Do you want the rest of us to start Googling "HDX failure" and citing "widespread" issues that haven't affected us at all?

Originally Posted by richbrown68

The forums are overrun with complaints about the Nexus doing repeated random reboots.

You say you're a technical user but defer vaguely to "the forums," which seems to mean the vast gestalt of forums all across the web, from which you have culled an unsubstantiated consensus -- not only of those with reboot issues, but a cross-ref of the dissatisfied against the satisfied. And on that basis, you "caution" MR members -- some of whom write their own DRM-stripping software and custom firmware -- not to risk owning a Nexus 7. That isn't a technical argument, friend. It's ad populum barking.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Perhaps you're right -- in the utterly impractical abstract.

What's the point of Googling a problem which you yourself have never experienced (nor have I as a regular N7 user) just to construct a counterargument against buying a device you've never actually used?

I've never read a single complaint about random restarts on Mobile Read, and a lot of us happen to own the N7 2013. Do you want the rest of us to start Googling "HDX failure" and citing "widespread" issues that haven't affected us at all?

I think the point he is making that you can find many, many reports of problems for every device. Some are more frequently noted in different places on the web. Moblieread is very small community in relation to the number of e-reader users so just because it is not mentioned here doesn't mean it's not a problem and it also doesn't mean if it is mentioned here that it is a widespread problem.

We also have to admit that we are probably much more finicky about reading devices here than the e-reader userbase as a whole. We probably on average read on the devices more than the general public and probably have been exposed to a wider range of devices as well.

[richbrown68]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Perhaps you're right -- in the utterly impractical abstract.

What's the point of Googling a problem which you yourself have never experienced (nor have I as a regular N7 user) just to construct a counterargument against buying a device you've never actually used?

I've never read a single complaint about random restarts on Mobile Read, and a lot of us happen to own the N7 2013. Do you want the rest of us to start Googling "HDX failure" and citing "widespread" issues that haven't affected us at all?



You say you're a technical user but defer vaguely to "the forums," which seems to mean the vast gestalt of forums all across the web, from which you have culled an unsubstantiated consensus -- not only of those with reboot issues, but a cross-ref of the dissatisfied against the satisfied. And on that basis, you "caution" MR members -- some of whom write their own DRM-stripping software and custom firmware -- not to risk owning a Nexus 7. That isn't a technical argument, friend. It's ad populum barking.

I'll leave the insulting up to you, since it seems to be an area where you excel. I'll simply say that in the summer, when I was evaluating whether to upgrade from my Nexus 7 - 2012 to the 2013, I read AndroidForums.com and AndroidTablets religiously. And the random reboots especially, but also the touchscreen issues, became such common complaints that people were reporting returning the devices. It was complained about as much in AndroidForums as the blue haze has been on Amazon Discussions, and much MORE than the blue haze has been an issue here.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by mcrow

I think the point he is making that you can find many, many reports of problems for every device. Some are more frequently noted in different places on the web. Moblieread is very small community in relation to the number of e-reader users so just because it is not mentioned here doesn't mean it's not a problem and it also doesn't mean if it is mentioned here that it is a widespread problem.

Again you resort to normative refs to an unsubstantiated consensus which doesn't reflect this community's experience or level of expertise.

Originally Posted by mcrow

I think the point he is making . . .

The point I'm making is that you have been referring to vague and nebulous complaints to make your attacks credible, but the problem is this: We're on a user-based site already and have specific feedback on the devices we're discussing right here.

If someone here were actually complaining about random restarts with their device and you then linked to a specific page that corroborated or -- ideally -- helped to diagnose and resolve the issue, that would be relevant. But all you seem to be doing is trash-talking the perceived competition's device and local advocate.

Meanwhile, virtually everyone here has owned devices by all of these companies. A fair number of us (including me) are brand-agnostic.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by richbrown68

I'll leave the insulting up to you, since it seems to be an area where you excel.

Apparently, it's an area in which you like dabble without admitting as much -- even as in the midst of dabbling.

I'll simply say that in the summer, when I was evaluating whether to upgrade from my Nexus 7 - 2012 to the 2013, I read AndroidForums.com and AndroidTablets religiously. And the random reboots especially, but also the touchscreen issues, became such common complaints that people were reporting returning the devices. It was complained about as much in AndroidForums as the blue haze has been on Amazon Discussions, and much MORE than the blue haze has been an issue here.

Early users complained about touchscreen issues specifically with the 16GB model.

But apart from that caveat, let me applaud you for at last mentioning your own experience with the original Nexus 7 -- an actual blood relative of one of the devices being discussed. And I appreciate your mentioning the names of the forums on which you recall reading complaints about the Nexus 7 (2013).

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Again you resort to normative refs to an unsubstantiated consensus which doesn't reflect this community's experience or level of expertise. Your sketchy data, like your attacks, have degraded the quality of this conversation for pages.



The point I'm making is that you and your friend with twelve posts have been referring to vague and nebulous complaints to make your attacks credible, but the problem is this: We're on a user-based site already and have specific feedback on the devices we're discussing right here.

If someone here were actually complaining about random restarts with their device and you then linked to a specific page that corroborated or -- ideally -- helped to diagnose and resolve the issue, that would be relevant. But all you seem to be doing is trash-talking the perceived competition's device.

Meanwhile, virtually everyone here has owned devices by all of these companies. A fair number of us (including me) are brand-agnostic.

I coould link to several sources of discussiones elsewhere on several devices that have reported issues. I didn't list any because I'm not picking on any device because they all have reported issues. HDX has the blue border thing, Nexus 7 seems to have a crashing issue...ect. Neither seems to be a widespread problem for either device.

If you had read my post, I noted that people here generally have owned more devices than the general public have which is probably why people here tend to notice problems/differences more than others.

I have made no attacks, I guess you simply cannot state your opinion of things or take exception with what someone says without it being an attack.

I have apologized to Blossom, because I think maybe my posts toward her came off a little more strong than I intended.

And as valueable as the feedback we get here is, it remains a fact that we are blip on the radar in representing the e-reader userbase and we have to keep that in mind as well.

[richbrown68]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Apparently, it's an area in which you like dabble without admitting as much -- even as in the midst of dabbling.



Early users complained about touchscreen issues specifically with the 16GB model.

But apart from that caveat, let me applaud you for at last mentioning your own experience with the original Nexus 7 -- an actual blood relative of one of the devices being discussed. And I appreciate your mentioning the names of the forums on which you recall reading complaints about the Nexus 7 (2013).

Yep, and I suffered through the "defects" of Gen 1 of that Nexus 7, too....because I guess I'm the classic "non-picky user." I am the complete opposite of a nitpicker. Did my Nexus have the "creaky" hardware that others mentioned, due to a slight glass separation? Yep. Did it bother me? Nope. The device did what I wanted it to do....and I still don't get people who got upset with a little creakiness. I guess it's the same thing with a blue halo. It doesn't bother me any more than white light bleed bothered me on my 2012 8.9" Kindle Fire HD did when viewing a black screen. It doesn't bother me having a Carousel at the top of the screen or having to download my apps from 2 different stores (Amazon's and 1Mobile). It gets the job done. That's where I am on any nitpicky issues.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by mcrow

I have made no attacks, I guess you simply cannot state your opinion of things or take exception with what someone says without it being an attack.

I have apologized to Blossom, because I think maybe my posts toward her came off a little more strong than I intended.

I appreciate your apologizing to the person you campaigned against. But your second paragraph belies the issue denied in your first.

And as valueable as the feedback we get here is, it remains a fact that we are blip on the radar in representing the e-reader userbase and we have to keep that in mind as well.

I don't think it's necessary to humble ourselves with the idea we're a "blip." Rather that's the reason to frequent sites like this one: Because the information is more concentrated. XDA is a fabulous site, but I would argue that in certain ways it becomes less useful in proportion to the growth of its popularity.

[Blossom]

I've read for hours on my Nexus 7 no problems. It's never random rebooted yet. I did read those reviews and the problems with N7 before buying it but I took into account all the peeps here that told me to get one too. I figure I would trust people here over reviews from others as the people who post here we are all in like minds and use our devices for reading.

However my Kindle Fire HD2 does random reboot and my MIL's KFHD1 does too. In fact last night I was reading on my Kindle Fire and it just restarted on me. This is the 3rd time it's done it since I got it.

The HDX 1 did the same thing when I own it. My Paperwhite has done this too and so has my Kindle 4 and my Kindle Keyboard. It's just something that happens when you own a device. Oh and my SGP5 has also random rebooted a few times.

I always figured it had to do with running out memory or some bug gets activated who knows it's just something you accept when owning a eReader/Tablet.

Now if it keeps happening several times in one day then something is obviously wrong I would recommend a factory reset first before doing a replacement.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I appreciate your apologizing to the person you campaigned against. But your second paragraph belies the issue denied in your first.



I don't think it's necessary to humble ourselves with the idea we're a "blip." Rather that's the reason to frequent sites like this one: Because the information is more concentrated. XDA is a fabulous site, but I would argue that in certain ways it becomes less useful in proportion to the growth of its popularity.

Sure, we are more focused on the reading experience here and that is great because most sites don't really spend much time on it. However, for things like if a device crashes, doesn't power up, has touch screen issue and software issues (things that are a problem to some degree with all tablets) we are just a blip on the radar.

Realistically, how many users do we have here that own nexus 7s compared to other forums? I don't know for sure but I suspect more android focused forums probably have more users, though they may not use them to read on as much as we do here.

Our strength here is in evaluation reading experience, not say we don't know a lot about the other aspects of the devices but other sites may have more overall users for any given device than here.

That is part of the reason I apologized to Blossom because she is right in focusing on the evaluation of the reading experience of the HDX for this site even though my experience isn't the same as hers.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by richbrown68

Yep, and I suffered through the "defects" of Gen 1 of that Nexus 7, too....because I guess I'm the classic "non-picky user." I am the complete opposite of a nitpicker. Did my Nexus have the "creaky" hardware that others mentioned, due to a slight glass separation? Yep. Did it bother me? Nope.

Actually, the glass separation would bother me a great deal. I can see why you might be on the lookout for manufacturing defects in the 2013 N7 apart from those that weren't a problem for you on the original N7.

You've given us one more reason why personal experiences shared on this forum can be invaluable.

Personally, I tend to have more faith in the reliability of Amazon's hardware (whoever manufactures it) than in tablets and laptops made by Asus (so far). Before owning the Nexus 7.2, I'd always wished Samsung made Google's 7" tablets.

My experience with the N7.2 has vindicated Asus somewhat. Not so that of my girlfriend and her twin sister and their Asus laptops -- both of their machines different models, each of which failed in eight months' time.

The problem with Amazon tablets for me is not usually the hardware. The HDX 8.9 is considered the best-sounding tablet with the best-looking display of the tablets in this entire generation, including the iPad series.

The blue light probably wouldn't affect it, but neither am I uninterested in hearing about that.

The problem is that my interest in tablets involves creating content on them as much as consuming it, and the Amazon HDX was designed especially for content consumption.

If I had the budget and physical space for several top-of-the-line tablets, the HDX 8.9 32GB would likely be one of them.

That said, I might still pick up a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 in about a year.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

The problem with Amazon tablets for me is not usually the hardware. The HDX 8.9 is considered the best-looking and sounding tablet in this generation, including the iPad series. The blue light probably wouldn't affect me, but neither am I uninterested in hearing about it.

The HDX 8.9 doesn't use Blue LEDs so it doesn't suffer from Blue Light Bleed. Only the 7" one does. I am making a thread so people don't get confused because when you say HDX people might think it's all units but only the 7" has blue light bleed. The 8.9 has white LEDs so any light bleed is invisible. So if you looking at a HDX 8.9 I say go for it!

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The HDX 8.9 doesn't use Blue LEDs so it doesn't suffer from Blue Light Bleed. Only the 7" one does. I am making a thread so people don't get confused because when you say HDX people might think it's all units but only the 7" has blue light bleed. The 8.9 has white LEDs so any light bleed is invisible. So if you looking at a HDX 8.9 I say go for it!

That's right, Blossom -- you did say that, which was one of the reasons I wasn't worried about the 8.9 initially.

I might buy an HDX later when the price comes down, but that would be strictly for content consumption. I actually do a lot of writing and other kinds of work on my Nexus 7. The form factor's perfect for that.

I still prefer reading books on my Kobo Aura HD.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

That's right, Blossom -- you did say that, which was one of the reasons I wasn't worried about the 8.9 initially.

I might buy an HDX later when the price comes down, but that would be strictly for content consumption. I actually do a lot of writing and other kinds of work on my Nexus 7. And the form factor's perfect for that.

I still prefer reading books on my Kobo Aura HD.

You do writing on the Nexus 7?

I assume you must use a bluetooth keyboard. Which app do you use for writing?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by mcrow

You do writing on the Nexus 7?

I assume you must use a bluetooth keyboard. Which app do you use for writing?

At the moment, I'm partial to OfficeSuite Pro, which was offered at a considerable discount on Black Friday.

As a writer and editor, I revise endlessly and compulsively, as my revisions even of posts on this site tend to show.

I need to be able to revise Word docs on my tablet and OSP has worked perfectly in that respect.

In terms of keyboards, I've been using the Logitech K760, but that can be unwieldy in a brimming messenger bag. Because I have a one-time 50% discount coupon from M-Edge, I've been considering their Stealth Pro keyboard case, which they verify works with the Nexus 7 2013. Trouble is, I haven't been able to find any reviews of it and, even at $40 with a 50% discount, it's a Hank pricey to buy without any feedback -- especially when a keyboard's touch is so personal and its reliability so important.