Enter Samsung

 Technology  Comments Off on Enter Samsung
Aug 152013
 

My old Motorola Xoom tablet has been slowly dying on my lately. It has been running slower and slower. Part of the reason, I think, is because Google/Motorola stopped supporting development of the Android OS for it. So it doesn’t get updates anymore, which means it’s stuck on 4.1.

Also, the hardware is old, so programs that have become more and more greedy when it comes to CPU and memory are running out of room to work.

It doesn’t help that it weighs a ton, and becomes uncomfortable to use after a few hours.

I saw a sale on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 pen tablet the other day, and finally decided to buy one. I have a few good reasons for it.

First, it supports microSD cards up to 64GB. I have a lot of e-books and MP3 files, and I want to be able to fill that up. The tablet only comes in 16GB models, which I find somewhat annoying, but less annoying if there’s an microSD card slot.

Second, it has a Wacom pressure sensitive stylus, with that bit cooked into one of the layers of the OS. I like Wacom products a lot, so I see this as a definite plus. If I can find a good drawing program, I’ll be set.

I’ve had it for a couple of days now, and I like the tablet overall. The display is crisp, colors are good, and sound is good enough. (I use headphones anyway.)

Yes, it’s plasticky, but I don’t care. Compared to the Xoom, it feels feather-light. If plastic makes it lighter, then by all means, make it all plastic. It’s just as strong as anything else.

My only beef is with all of the “Software I don’t want or need” that Samsung insists on dumping on the tablet. I don’t need a Samsung version of every Google program I already use. What’s worse is that I can’t uninstall the Samsung software. Samsung makes great hardware, but I like the Google software.

Let me run what I want. It’s like buying a laptop full of crapware. I wind up formatting the hard drive and doing a clean install anyway.

I would love to put Cyanogen on this, but then I’m afraid I’d lose some of the pen pressure support, and it may be just as much or more of a hassle than keeping the software I won’t use, anyway.

Xoom Xoom Xoom-a Xoom

 Technology, Travel  Comments Off on Xoom Xoom Xoom-a Xoom
May 012011
 

iPad, iSchmad. I picked up a Motorola Xoom the other day, because I like the way Honeycomb looks, and I’m excited about the prospect of Android on a tablet.

Okay, I’ll admit it. Me and 4 other nerds camped out for it at our local Best Buy on its release day. It’s no iPhone event, that’s for sure. In fact, the store clerk didn’t even know what we were talking about at first.

But I got one! Wi-Fi only, because I already have a cell phone bill.

So far, there’s not a whole lot to say about it. It’s Android. On a tablet.

Of course there are widgets, and I LOVE WIDGETS. Widgets are a large part of my motivation to switch to Android.

Using some of my various reader software is pretty nice. It’ll be nicer when it’s more tablet-friendly.

I’m hoping that there’s a flood of tablet-friendly apps coming out soon. That would be great.

My other hope is that this will replace a lot of the gadgets I carry around with me.

One downside: I don’t like the charger. Once again, Motorola has eschewed a USB charger in favor of this tiny little 12V pin charger, which looks like it’s going to get bent. I’m sure of it.

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