Tablet Computer

[Sam Slater]

I don't have the tablet but my sister does. Not asked her about battery life. Google says 9 hours, most reviews say around 8 hours depending on the brightness of the screen.

[spider]

Can I ask why you'd want so much storage on such a small tablet?

I'm new to tablets so I'm still feeling my way.

I have a desktop with a 1TB hard drive, a Laptop with a 500 GB hard drive.

I just feel a bit uncomfortable going back to a device with GBs measured in single figures.

I remember my first PC which I had in 1998 had a 40 GB Hard Drive and I soon filled that.

I have lots of DVDs ripped to wmv files and most of those are around 1GB.

I was thinking I could load these files onto Micro SD cards and watch them on the tablet. I have lots of long train journeys lined-up.

I have also read reviews that if you get a 8 GB machine the storage is soon eaten-up with Apps.

This is why I'm a bit wary about going for a tablet with limited storage like the Nexus.

I wasn't aware of the ability to watch iPlayer and Youtube on iPad Apps.

I'll have a look at that. Still have a view though that I don't want to pay out that type of money for a tablet though.

[Sam Slater]

Ok. Given the better overall quality of the Nexus 7, plus it being more up to date and less likely to be obsolete any time soon, I'd have thought it would have been better to load whatever number of films you want onto the device for whatever journey you're making. No one needs to take their full dvd library on a train journey. I like to take something to read on a long flight to LAX. I don't take my whole bookcase in hand luggage.

Bear in mind that even with class 6 micro SD cards you still sometimes get stuttering as the card's speed means it can't be read fast enough. Class 10 cards are better but many older devices can't read them so check if that Samsung can. You'll also have to add in the cost of the micro SD cards (?20-?30 for class 10 32gb cards).

As for apps filling up 8gb!!!!: You'd be hard pressed. They're simple scripts for the most part, not full blown programmes lazily coded bloatware.

Here are the sizes of some of my android apps:

Chrome to Phone 246kb
gStrings 1.05mb (a guitar tuner before you all think it's some app with dirty women on!)
Plume 8.26mb
GMail 3.87mb
Simple Metronome 276kb
Stopwatch & Timer 856kb
Youtube 6.41mb
Google Maps 6.83mb

etc........

As you can see, even the biggest apps come in under 10mb each. Lots aren't even 1mb. You could download 50 or 60 apps just to fill 1gb of space. I've never heard anyone fill 8gb up on apps!

[Peter]

spider wrote:

> I have also read reviews that if you get a 8 GB machine the
> storage is soon eaten-up with Apps.


All depends what sort of apps you like. I have a couple of those real 3d racing type games which are about 800mb each, so you can burn space quickly with those kind of things.

Personally, I have a 32gb ipad (actual capacity is smaller due to OS, so bear in mind how much you'll lose on an 8gb model) with 9gb of apps and 17gb of movies (about 15 films) and a few other bits. I keep it stocked with films so I've something to do in one of the too frequent power cuts here (Local transformer permanantly overloaded, electric board too tight to replace it)

[spider]

Can you watch BBC iPlayer on the Nexus 7?

I want into a Dixons this afternoon (not that I intend to buy one from them) and had a play.

I went to BBC iPlayer and tried to load the Olympic Closing Ceremony.

It told me I had to load Flash player from the Google Play store before I could view the content.

I tried that but the message in the Google Play store was that "this device does not support this version of Flash".

I had to give up then because I could see I was pissing-off the assistants LOL.

Very nice screen on the Nexus though. I was impressed. I don't want to buy it though if I can not view iPlayer on it.

[Sam Slater]

The Nexus is new and Adobe haven't updated their flash yet so it's not compatible (it is, but not officially).

You just install the .apk yourself by downloading the app manually. Just google it. One good thing about Android is you don't have to install apps from Google Play. You can install them from anywhere on the web without jailbreaking.

There are a few apps that let you watch iPlayer also.

[spider]

Thanks.

I have just been Googling "Playing iPlayer on Nexus 7" and see there are solutions, that even I can understand.

Was really impressed with the screen on the Nexus.

Decisions, decisions.

[Bob Singleton]

william wrote:

> Dont by apple -
>
> never liked Apple products, too expensive and not good value.
>


You may not like Apple products but to say they are not good value is utter rubbish. Yes a MacBook, for example, may be more expensive than its equivalent Windows laptop, but it'll last many, many years longer, and will have a resale value.

I was in the press tent at Guilfest a few weeks ago and I was the only one using a Mac. When the other togs saw how quickly it booted up they were amazed. They were even more amazed when, because of it's speed and ease of use, I had a dozen shots of Jools Holland on my news wire service's website before most of their Windows lap tops had fully booted up! When dealing with news, first one to the picture desk usually sells!

I'll also give you an analogy... I also shop at Waitrose and people say, "oooh but it's so expensive there!" Well, if I buy 4 avocados from Tesco (cost about ?3.00-?4.00) I regularly throw at least 3 of them away as they are either under-ripe and never ripen, or are just stringy and tasteless. If I buy 4 avocados from Waitrose (cost ?4.50-5.00) I end up with 4 perfectly ripe and edible avocados. The actual cost of each edible avocado is at least ?3.00 from Tesco and just over a pound each from Waitrose. So, Waitrose actually works out better value than Tescos, much in the same way that Macs are better value than Windows PCs!!!

[Peter]

Are you against an iPad because you're 'anti-Apple' or is it just a price thing?

Only reason I ask is you can get a refurb* iPad from apple (ipad2, 16gb wifi) for ?259 (when they have them, they go quick)

Maybe that would at least be worth a few moments consideration.

[Snappy]

Bob,
Do you get your Apples from Waitrose as well?

On a serious note I've unfortunately seen the flip side of the Apple experience with the iPod Touch models that I and my daughter both own - or the iPad Nano, as I prefer to call it.

We've both had replacements within warranty and then those replacements have packed up shortly after the guarantee on them expired. I took mine to an authorised Apple workshop and was charged ?25 to be told that it was unrepairable, but they'd generously sell me a refurb for ?180 with 3 months guarantee, when a new one would cost ?211.

I still believe the iPod Touch is the best device of its type, but in other areas, it's horses for courses and I'd be interested to see what price Apple products settled at if there was a more competitive marketplace for them, as there is for PC-based or Android-based devices.