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Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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tideout
Joined: 12 Dec 2010
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 Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:16 am Post subject: Tablets on the go or traveling |
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I've been thinking about getting a tablet as something more than an extension of the usual laptop/desktop setup. I've been looking at Asus's tablets (Android) as I've had great luck with their netbooks over the last couple of years.
My question is to those of you out there who may have traveled for a period of time w/o a main computer but the occasional internet cafe or work computer for updates etc.. A Korean co-worker of mine said they haven't turned on their desktop in weeks and just use the computer at the office for anything requiring computer power. I imagine you can get quite a bit of your basic stuff off of wi-fi w/o too many problems.
So, I'm wondering how practical this is or what people's experience is w/ it. There are numerous articles out there saying that announcements about this or that tablet replacing your laptop/desktop are extremely early.
I'm also wondering if anyone has been traveling and been able to sync up do business within cafes w/o major virus issues as well?
Thanks for your thoughts on this! |
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JustinC
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
Location: We Are The World!
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| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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Depends what you want to do on it. Are you wanting to use the internet, watch movies, download stuff, shop, do word processing, edit photos, edit movies ?
Your question's a bit vague. |
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wintermute
Joined: 01 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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I am also looking at ASUS tablets, specifically the Transformer Prime.
http://www.cnet.com.au/asus-transformer-prime-tf201-339325903.htm
I have a PC lectern with tablet pen in class, which I have had a lot of fun with making slides for class, although it is a little crude. I've always wanted a tablet with a stylus to play around on.
I've never used Android, so I'm not sure what the capabilities are exactly, but I want the tablet for:
- preparing handwritten/drawn slides and ppts for class (with stylus)
- reading ebooks, especially comics/graphic novels, or pdfs which don't display well on my Kindle.
- watching movies
- editing, organising and showing photos
- playing games (would I be restricted to android only games? Could I, say, somehow play older windows games?)
- skype video calls
- emails/blogging
- drawing
The upsides of the Transformer Prime, as I see it, are:
- top of the range in specs and performance, at least for now.
- the dock/keyboard protects the screen while you carry it around
- sleek and sexy design
- long battery life
Downsides
- expensive
- wifi only
- keyboard a little cramped. (typing on an eee pc 1000h now - also a little cramped)
Could anyone with experience with android devices give me more insight into its functionality and usefulness for the purposes listed above? Cheers |
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tideout
Joined: 12 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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| JustinC wrote: |
Depends what you want to do on it. Are you wanting to use the internet, watch movies, download stuff, shop, do word processing, edit photos, edit movies ?
Your question's a bit vague. |
Thanks for responding and I think you're right, it is a vague question. As I've gone through reviews or looked at different models on Amazon I've tried to think about what I actually do on a computer/laptop and it's hard to track. Every time I think of one thing another piece of software comes to mind.
I think the biggest sticking point for me would be Youtube downloads. I play guitar and one of the booms in using the internet in recent years are the number of tutorials that I now look at and replay to learn songs. I use vlc player a lot. It doesn't look like you you'd have much memory on most tablets for storing avi files and many don't come with a usb slot? I know the Asus can be coupled with a docking station (usb) but at that point expense wise you might as well get a reasonably powered netbook/laptop right? |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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I have an Acer A500 running ICS (Korea finally upgraded over the weekend compared to the rest of the world getting it months ago.)
| wintermute wrote: |
| - preparing handwritten/drawn slides and ppts for class (with stylus) |
I haven't done this so I can't comment on how well a tablet does it.
| Quote: |
| - reading ebooks, especially comics/graphic novels, or pdfs which don't display well on my Kindle. |
I have done a lot of this. Android has some great free e-book apps: Moon reader is my favorite, but doesn't do PDFs. For PDFs I use "Perfect Viewer", which also does comics/graphic novels really well. You'll definitely get better PDF functionality than you will out of any dedicated e-reader.
I can stream a 1.4gig movie from my desktop over my network nearly seamlessly. That took some finagling, but wow is it awesome. If you want to play bigger, higher resolution files, you're going to need to copy them to the tablet. MX player is my video player of choice.
| Quote: |
| - editing, organising and showing photos |
I haven't done any editing or organizing, but viewing's not a problem.
| Quote: |
| - playing games (would I be restricted to android only games? Could I, say, somehow play older windows games?) |
Download an emulator or two and play all the Genesis/SNES/NES classics you want! Older windows' games, dunno...
| Quote: |
| - skype video calls |
Easy. This is what these things are designed for.
Typing on a touch screen - no matter how well done - sucks compared to a keyboard. Gmail is also very well integrated into Android. Your results may vary with other email providers.
I don't do it, but you're never going to find a drawing app with the same kind of response you'd get from a pencil and paper anyway. There are apparently some decent ones out there though.
| Quote: |
| Could anyone with experience with android devices give me more insight into its functionality and usefulness for the purposes listed above? Cheers |
My tablet's usefulness increased directly proportionally to the amount of time I spent hunting for the right apps for the job. There are great apps out there, but they're not always the highest rated, or the easiest to find. It might be easier if people were less obsessed with digitally rendered pets that make cute sounds and let you tickle them... |
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