48 replies to this topic

[The Canuck]

I wrote a brief review on the Blackberry Playbook in the past here.  In summary, you can't go wrong with it.  Especially for the price.  In the end it comes down to what are you going to use a tablet for?  Mostly tablets are useless toys.  If you want to use it as an e-reader and web-browser, ipad 3 looks the best.  Ipad 2 is also good enough.  As well as some of the Android tablets.  Probably the microsoft Surface will be good too.  But they don't feel very portable and you'll get tired of holding it in your hand after a while.  If you're at home, the good 'ol desktop monitor is a lot more useful.  You might want to watch videos on your tablet, again the ipad and the other 10" tablets get tiring holding it in your hands.  And if you want to watch it on a table, why not just use your monitor or laptop?

In any case, I think the playbook's a good tablet because of it's portability.  The quality is really good, it's a solid build.  The battery life is actually quite good too, on mine I can watch a 42 minute video and it only drains 5% of the power.  This is when wireless is off though.  I use mine to watch videos occaisionally and to look up something quick in an e-book or pdf, or a website and sometimes video recording (excellent quality too).  I coupled mine with RIM's wireless keyboard too:









And no I don't work for RIM lol.  The case and keyboard is really cool, it feels like a small book and is very portable.  If you have a blackberry phone you can also use that now as your wireless keyboard and mouse, by using the trackpad or mouse on your actual phone which is cool.  I use my data plan on my phone too for my internet connection if I'm traveling and not in a wifi zone.  I also just recently found out the playbook has a GPS built in, which is cool.

ws

[fightingsoul001]

In iPad videos can't be played in browser because they don't support flash. One of the most annoying problem with apples. I hate my iPad.

[aliasghark]

I love the Playbook as well, the biggest problem is the lack of apps on it.

[geek]

fightingsoul001, on 13 August 2012 - 05:26 AM, said:

In iPad videos can't be played in browser because they don't support flash. One of the most annoying problem with apples. I hate my iPad.

hmm which video? all of the popular video sharing websites have 'HTML5' video which is automatically displayed on NON-Flash devices.

aliasghark, on 13 August 2012 - 05:30 AM, said:

I love the Playbook as well, the biggest problem is the lack of apps on it.

and the only problem too. and the reason why iPad is so successful

[aliasghark]

geek, on 13 August 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

and the only problem too. and the reason why iPad is so successful

My other problem is the ridiculously difficult to use on/off button!

[Mostafa-86]

GALAXY Tab & JUST ANDROID

[fightingsoul001]

geek, on 13 August 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

hmm which video? all of the popular video sharing websites have 'HTML5' video which is automatically displayed on NON-Flash devices.




and the only problem too. and the reason why iPad is so successful

I only use ipad for udacity and coursers but it does not work. Stupid iPad. If you know any way please help me.

[Chaotic Muslem]

Mine!

[yaimamyahussain]

An ipad is great piece of technology but its way over priced if you compare it to something like a samsung galaxy note 10.1 or a cheap budget nexus 7.Also the new android 4.1 jelly bean is great! highly recommend it to any1 who wants to buy a tablet and its better then ios 6

also i would avoid buying apple product because the logo is a bitten apple and a bitten apple is the original sin of when Adam bit into the apple

[Chaotic Muslem]

I dont see myself liking anything from Microsoft

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Chaotic Muslem, on 25 October 2012 - 06:26 AM, said:

I dont see myself liking anything from Microsoft

Why not? The Surface has received a lot of positive reviews on a lot of its features from reviewers all around the table!

To me, the Surface - and other Windows RT tablets - are of the only ablets that have ever enticed my to buy themselves (before these, the only that interested me were the ASUS Transformer series).

[Chaotic Muslem]

Khadim uz Zahra, on 27 October 2012 - 12:20 PM, said:

Why not? The Surface has received a lot of positive reviews on a lot of its features from reviewers all around the table!

To me, the Surface - and other Windows RT tablets - are of the only ablets that have ever enticed my to buy themselves (before these, the only that interested me were the ASUS Transformer series).

because i dont like windows.... in particular its demanding updates, when Microsoft lunches new update it means you may need to change your whole PC because it is 7 years old !
Also the regular updates of softwares are annoying and heavy unlike the mac updates ......
I like the windows generally, it is easier to handle if you are someone that likes to fix things yourself , it gives you the freedom to adjust your PC the way you like but in longer term it gets annoying specially if you are depending on laptops

[Marbles]

Tablets are only good if you use them for light browsing such as checking emails and other updates. Other than that they are useless reductionist toys which can't compete with fully loaded laptops, and desktops for that matter.

I recently discovered that tablets are very handy when you are travelling with a backpack. If I ever get one I will use it as a travel accessory.

As for eye-Pad, my dislike for 'eye' is already well known. Not least because they are overpriced toys with efficiency (and ease of use) easily matched, and in some cases surpassed, by competitors in the market.

I don't see myself using any 'eye' product any time soon. They are not enticing especially in the tablet category.

I once got an eye-Pod as a birthday gift. I couldn't be bothered with what is called an iTunes software to transfer media into a damn music device and thus happily stuck to my other mp3 player which worked like any other flash storage device.

That eye-Pod was immediately handed over to my sister for free who was watering over it like Pavlov's dog.

I like to keep things simple and universal. That's where Windows comes in.

Edited by Marbles, 27 October 2012 - 12:52 PM.

[Chaotic Muslem]

Marbles, on 27 October 2012 - 12:47 PM, said:

Tablets are only good if you use them for light browsing such as checking emails and other updates. Other than that they are useless reductionist toys which can't compete with fully loaded laptops, and desktops for that matter.

I recently discovered that tablets are very handy when you are travelling with a backpack. If I ever get one I will use it as a travel accessory.

As for eye-Pad, my dislike for 'eye' is already well known. Not least because they are overpriced toys with efficiency (and ease of use) easily matched, and in some cases surpassed, by competitors in the market.

I don't see myself using any 'eye' product any time soon. They are not enticing especially in the tablet category.

I once got an eye-Pod as a birthday gift. It was immediately handed over to my sister for free who was watering over it like Pavlov's dog.

I like to keep things simple and universal. That's where Windows comes in.

lol
almost super true , except you didnt use the eye pad for reading!
i need to do regular readings about new updates and researches in my field, mostly online reading , PDF or html formats
loads of pages to be printed out ,so i simply dowload them and read them on my Ipad
but i'd like to get a tablet & ereader at the same time or at least an ereader that has some more functions than just reading
galaxy note is great update to the tablet toys, it enables you to write over the doc as if is a paper you are handing , would make my readings more efficient

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Marbles, on 27 October 2012 - 12:47 PM, said:

Tablets are only good if you use them for light browsing such as checking emails and other updates. Other than that they are useless reductionist toys which can't compete with fully loaded laptops, and desktops for that matter.

I recently discovered that tablets are very handy when you are travelling with a backpack. If I ever get one I will use it as a travel accessory.

As for eye-Pad, my dislike for 'eye' is already well known. Not least because they are overpriced toys with efficiency (and ease of use) easily matched, and in some cases surpassed, by competitors in the market.

I don't see myself using any 'eye' product any time soon. They are not enticing especially in the tablet category.

I once got an eye-Pod as a birthday gift. I couldn't be bothered with what is called an iTunes software to transfer media into a damn music device and thus happily stuck to my other mp3 player which worked like any other flash storage device.

That eye-Pod was immediately handed over to my sister for free who was watering over it like Pavlov's dog.

I like to keep things simple and universal. That's where Windows comes in.

That's where the Surface comes in. Like you, and perhaps even worse than you, I have always seen tablets as toys (I say a lot of times that I wouldn't use an iPad even if it was given to me for free and would rather sell it) and the only two tablets that came near being productive are the Windows RT ones and, previously, ASUS transformers. Even staunch Apple reviewers say that the Surface - and I would extend that to all Windows RT tablets to a more or less degree - are the best tablets for productivity. Since you've long been itching for one, you should check it out.

As for Chaotic Muslim, I certainly don't agree with you! In fact, that's the place where Windows win: support! It's generated quite a lot of anger on the Internet that the first iPad is only two years old and Apple has dropped support for it, while Microsoft is still supporting the eleven year old XP! Also, you don't have to rush for every new Windows version that comes. The long support of Microsoft ensures you are still protected, even with an ages old OS. Plus, if you bought a Netbooks with XP that costs 300 and want to compare that to a $1000+ MacBook you bought, with all the high-end hardware, obviously the MacBook will be able to run new versions of Mac OS, even if it was 5 years old, and the Netbooks may not even digest the next version of Windows (even then, Windows 8 has been shown to not only run on old XP hardware, it also makes then faster).

[Marbles]

Chaotic Muslem, on 27 October 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

lol
almost super true , except you didnt use the eye pad for reading!
i need to do regular readings about new updates and researches in my field, mostly online reading , PDF or html formats
loads of pages to be printed out ,so i simply dowload them and read them on my Ipad
but i'd like to get a tablet & ereader at the same time or at least an ereader that has some more functions than just reading
galaxy note is great update to the tablet toys, it enables you to write over the doc as if is a paper you are handing , would make my readings more efficient

Eye-Pad as e-reader.. hmm.. that sounds like a good idea to me. It'd come handy for job-related compulsory reading and for easy access to large documents but so far as reading for leisure is concerned, call me old school, but I still like the romance of touching the printed paper with my fingers, holding a nicely bound hard back in my hands, like a baby, and smell it's contours as I flip along. That's one main reason why so far I have resisted the idea of switching to an e-reader. But I may, just may, give it a try. Amazon Kindle methinks.

Edited by Marbles, 27 October 2012 - 01:10 PM.

[Gypsy]

I'm using IPad. Still happy with it. I can do just about anything with it. I'm even using it as an ebook reader http://www.shiachat....n-ebook-reader/

My only complaint is with the virtual keyboard. Hate it.

[Marbles]

Gypsy, on 27 October 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

My only complaint is with the virtual keyboard. Hate it.

The biggest reason why a prolific keyboard user like myself should never, can never, use such tablets as a main computer.

Edited by Marbles, 27 October 2012 - 01:58 PM.

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Gypsy, on 27 October 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

I'm using IPad. Still happy with it. I can do just about anything with it. I'm even using it as an ebook reader http://www.shiachat....n-ebook-reader/

My only complaint is with the virtual keyboard. Hate it.

Keyboard problem: Surface!

LOOL! I must be sounding like some real Microsoft fanboy!

[Mutah_King]

Apple products are for spoiled morons with too much money to waste.  Every single apple product is way overpriced and non Apple products can perform all those functions a lot more effectively anyway.  Apple is genius with its marketing though and it's designs, it's like marketing diamonds to women, most women simply can't resist.

Try to convince a woman out of it, it's like talking to a brick wall.

[Chaotic Muslem]

Marbles, on 27 October 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

Eye-Pad as e-reader.. hmm.. that sounds like a good idea to me. It'd come handy for job-related compulsory reading and for easy access to large documents but so far as reading for leisure is concerned, call me old school, but I still like the romance of touching the printed paper with my fingers, holding a nicely bound hard back in my hands, like a baby, and smell it's contours as I flip along. That's one main reason why so far I have resisted the idea of switching to an e-reader. But I may, just may, give it a try. Amazon Kindle methinks.

the thing with ereaders is that they have this special screen e-ink technology one, it is great because it is as if you are reading from a book, the lighting is not flashy like the LCD screens, the screens of ereaders are eye friendly
but this screen only hsow black and white , also the doc should be in special formats
the pdf might not look great on ereader , if you want to save some html or pdf on your erader in better quality you need to send that doc to amazon to convert it to teh special format

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Mutah_King, on 27 October 2012 - 03:31 PM, said:

Apple products are for spoiled morons with too much money to waste.  Every single apple product is way overpriced and non Apple products can perform all those functions a lot more effectively anyway.  Apple is genius with its marketing though and it's designs, it's like marketing diamonds to women, most women simply can't resist.

Try to convince a woman out of it, it's like talking to a brick wall.

LOOL!

[Thurston]

So which is better, kindle fire hd or nexus 7?

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Thurston, on 28 October 2012 - 04:51 AM, said:

So which is better, kindle fire hd or nexus 7?

Both have advantages over the other so it depends on what you want - and, for anyone who knows the names of these two devices, are a no-brainer over the iPad mini, which is the embodiment of what Marbles was talking about and how iGadgets are way too overpriced!

As far as the screens go, they both have the same pixel density so the clarity is the same but the Nexus is a bit longer so if you want a bigger screen, that would be the one to buy.

While the Kindle wins on pricing (you get 16 GB for 199 and 32 GB for 249 and only 8 GB and 16 GB for the Nexus at these prices), the Nexus triumphs, by a scale of almost two, on battery life, giving around ten hours, compared to the 5 that the Kindle manages. I don't really know about Texas Instruments' processors and don't know how well the one in the Kindle fares but if you want to play games on your tablet, the Nexus would certainly win because it has an Nvidia processor and Nvidia has a lot of optimisations for games. The Kindle has an extra micro-HDMI that the Nexus doesn't so if you plan on linking your tablet to your TV, the Kindle might save you a bit in adapter costs. Also, the Kindle features extras that are related to Amazon's ecosystem so you may consider that if you are very attached to Amazon's ecosystem, though it won't really require a lot more effort getting the same stuff on a Nexus and the Nexus has Tegra (the Nvidia processor used in the Nexus) optimised games.

All in all, I'd ask you to wait out now because Google is soon going to have a press conference where it's expected to release a 32 GB version of the Nexus and, also, reduce its price (rumours are that the 32 GB model will cost 199 only and that they are going to release a $99 tablet) and if this turns out to be true, I'd say that the Nexus is the best thing to go for!

You can see a direct comparison here:

http://reviews.cnet....kindle-fire-hd/

Hope I helped!

Edited by Khadim uz Zahra, 28 October 2012 - 06:28 PM.