4 ms·

Tablet connected to a network?

by bch 10y ago

dredmorbius 10y ago
Frequently, yes. Though not 3GL/4GL mobile networks. I'm aware of the risk and hypocrisy. I'm also far from happy with it (I increasingly dislike Android, Samsung, and with varying levels, Google). But given the balance of something I can power down, that isn't always on me, and the portability and cost benefits over an alternative laptop, its a far-less-than-perfect satisficing solution for now.
- noir_lord 10y ago
  I'm thinking my nexus will be my last Android device, not decided yet what I want to replace it with but dumb phone is looking likely, I'm either at home, the office or somewhere I can use my laptop so don't really have the need for a tablet, I might been able to google the odd thing now and again when out and about but that's a once or twice a week thing for me. I've come to resent carrying a phone all the time, I rarely answer it and resent that "I tried ringing but you didn't answer!" whine you get as though it's beyond incredulous that you would ever not answer the phone.
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    What I like about the tablet is the size, the battery life, the switching between landscape (generally: composing w/ keyboard) and portrait (generally: reading long-form content) modes. A 10" form factor plus bluetooth keyboard is sufficient for some Real Work (though that's hugely crippled by system and software limitations). As a comms device, on a sufficiently fast WiFi/broadband connection, it's also useful. I've not done that often, but it's been done, and I was impressed. The OS is a mess in many particulars. It handles external storage poorly. It doesn't multi-taske well. Multi-window mode is specific to application. The default shell userland is unforgiveably anemic (Termux, one of a few available add-ons is much better). Lack of comprehensive privacy controls, or insight, is a huge issue. The app "ecosystem" is pathologically broken. I've written on this at G+, my feeling is it needs to be scrapped. Samsung's own tweaks are also pretty bad. The fact that the device is entirely locked down from a bootloader perspective (it was a bit of a panic on-the-road buy) has become beyond annoying. Inability to remove certain stock apps is a major concern. Google's "Play" store is beyond annoying. I'm watching for news of Firefox OS and Ubuntu's mobile offerings. I'm not particularly hopeful. A small laptop _might_ be a suitable replacement, if I can park Linux on it (without systemd). Mostly it's a very effective advertisement against itself. And more generally: the tech world very, very, very badly needs to find a non-advertising business model.
    - notspanishflu 10y ago
      Have you tried Bq Aquaris M10 Ubuntu tablet [0]? I've got one and although it is not ready for the general public yet, it's a little gem for us free software fans. [0] http://www.bq.com/uk/aquaris-m10-ubuntu-edition http://www.bq.com/uk/aquaris-m10-ubuntu-edition
      - dredmorbius 10y ago
        No, I haven't, though that looks interesting. Quick thoughts: 16 GB storage is far, far, far too little. That should be upgradeable. The problem with microSD expansion is vfat. That's crippled on both capacity and permissions. I'd also prefer encryptable removeable media. Speakers. I want my devices to NOT have them. I'll attach via Bluetooth or a wired headset/mic combo. I'd also prefer cameras be shuttered. That's both for protection (lenses get scratched) and privacy. Other than that, yes, it's headed the way I'd like things to go.
        dredmorbius 10y ago
        Erm, meant mics not speakers. Input devices should be clearly and unambiguously disableable, or external.
    - digi_owl 10y ago
      The external storage thing is an accident of history, with perhaps some MAFIAA meddling. When the first Android device shipped, all internal storage was dedicated to OS and apps. But OEMs wanted to advertise that they had X gigs onboard. And thus they started partitioning internal storage, and mounting one part as if it was removable memory. Problem is that apps could not go on removable memory, so people bought a device only to find that a few apps was enough to max out that side of the partition. And thus Google came up with "move to SD". But then that got into trouble with USB data transfers, as the "SD" had to be unmounted on the Android side before it could be mounted by the PC over the cable. So somewhere around 3.x Google adopted MTP, and union mounts to emulate a FAT partitioned SD (for legacy reasons). But at the same time they introduced new access permissions, but reserved write permission to actual removable storage for system level apps. Thus you could use your PC to transfer music and such onto a SD, but you could not officially do so from within Android. Various OEMs, Samsung for example, modified the permissions file so that their devices retained the old behavior. Since then Google has in fits and starts modified the MTP support so that it can also be used by internal apps to write to removable storage without having to deal with permissions. At the same time they have tried to lock down access to the "SD" even further as various dumb app devs have used it to store sensitive user data for any other app to see. Thing is that going via the MTP subsystem invites DRM, as the apps talk to a database that then talk to the FS. And that database can be incomplete, or the subsystem can outright lie to the apps. And it so happens that Google adopted MTP along the same time as they introduced Play Music and Play Movies. Then again, the consumer UI/UX designers have long been tilting the windmills over the whole files and folders thing. For some reason they see it as a failure of UX, and thus something that needs to be at least hidden from the user, if not outright abolished. See numerous attempts at replacing files and folders with a grand database of metadata, that will "magically" pull out everything you have stored related to that company project or aunt Tillie as needed.

Tablet connected to a network?

by bch 10y ago

Tablet connected to a network?

Frequently, yes. Though not 3GL/4GL mobile networks. I'm aware of the risk and hypocrisy. I'm also far from happy with it (I increasingly dislike Android, Samsung, and with varying levels, Google). But given the balance of something I can power down, that isn't always on me, and the portability and cost benefits over an alternative laptop, its a far-less-than-perfect satisficing solution for now.

noir_lord 10y ago
I'm thinking my nexus will be my last Android device, not decided yet what I want to replace it with but dumb phone is looking likely, I'm either at home, the office or somewhere I can use my laptop so don't really have the need for a tablet, I might been able to google the odd thing now and again when out and about but that's a once or twice a week thing for me. I've come to resent carrying a phone all the time, I rarely answer it and resent that "I tried ringing but you didn't answer!" whine you get as though it's beyond incredulous that you would ever not answer the phone.
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  What I like about the tablet is the size, the battery life, the switching between landscape (generally: composing w/ keyboard) and portrait (generally: reading long-form content) modes. A 10" form factor plus bluetooth keyboard is sufficient for some Real Work (though that's hugely crippled by system and software limitations). As a comms device, on a sufficiently fast WiFi/broadband connection, it's also useful. I've not done that often, but it's been done, and I was impressed. The OS is a mess in many particulars. It handles external storage poorly. It doesn't multi-taske well. Multi-window mode is specific to application. The default shell userland is unforgiveably anemic (Termux, one of a few available add-ons is much better). Lack of comprehensive privacy controls, or insight, is a huge issue. The app "ecosystem" is pathologically broken. I've written on this at G+, my feeling is it needs to be scrapped. Samsung's own tweaks are also pretty bad. The fact that the device is entirely locked down from a bootloader perspective (it was a bit of a panic on-the-road buy) has become beyond annoying. Inability to remove certain stock apps is a major concern. Google's "Play" store is beyond annoying. I'm watching for news of Firefox OS and Ubuntu's mobile offerings. I'm not particularly hopeful. A small laptop _might_ be a suitable replacement, if I can park Linux on it (without systemd). Mostly it's a very effective advertisement against itself. And more generally: the tech world very, very, very badly needs to find a non-advertising business model.
  - notspanishflu 10y ago
    Have you tried Bq Aquaris M10 Ubuntu tablet [0]? I've got one and although it is not ready for the general public yet, it's a little gem for us free software fans. [0] http://www.bq.com/uk/aquaris-m10-ubuntu-edition http://www.bq.com/uk/aquaris-m10-ubuntu-edition
    - dredmorbius 10y ago
      No, I haven't, though that looks interesting. Quick thoughts: 16 GB storage is far, far, far too little. That should be upgradeable. The problem with microSD expansion is vfat. That's crippled on both capacity and permissions. I'd also prefer encryptable removeable media. Speakers. I want my devices to NOT have them. I'll attach via Bluetooth or a wired headset/mic combo. I'd also prefer cameras be shuttered. That's both for protection (lenses get scratched) and privacy. Other than that, yes, it's headed the way I'd like things to go.
      - dredmorbius 10y ago
        Erm, meant mics not speakers. Input devices should be clearly and unambiguously disableable, or external.
  - digi_owl 10y ago
    The external storage thing is an accident of history, with perhaps some MAFIAA meddling. When the first Android device shipped, all internal storage was dedicated to OS and apps. But OEMs wanted to advertise that they had X gigs onboard. And thus they started partitioning internal storage, and mounting one part as if it was removable memory. Problem is that apps could not go on removable memory, so people bought a device only to find that a few apps was enough to max out that side of the partition. And thus Google came up with "move to SD". But then that got into trouble with USB data transfers, as the "SD" had to be unmounted on the Android side before it could be mounted by the PC over the cable. So somewhere around 3.x Google adopted MTP, and union mounts to emulate a FAT partitioned SD (for legacy reasons). But at the same time they introduced new access permissions, but reserved write permission to actual removable storage for system level apps. Thus you could use your PC to transfer music and such onto a SD, but you could not officially do so from within Android. Various OEMs, Samsung for example, modified the permissions file so that their devices retained the old behavior. Since then Google has in fits and starts modified the MTP support so that it can also be used by internal apps to write to removable storage without having to deal with permissions. At the same time they have tried to lock down access to the "SD" even further as various dumb app devs have used it to store sensitive user data for any other app to see. Thing is that going via the MTP subsystem invites DRM, as the apps talk to a database that then talk to the FS. And that database can be incomplete, or the subsystem can outright lie to the apps. And it so happens that Google adopted MTP along the same time as they introduced Play Music and Play Movies. Then again, the consumer UI/UX designers have long been tilting the windmills over the whole files and folders thing. For some reason they see it as a failure of UX, and thus something that needs to be at least hidden from the user, if not outright abolished. See numerous attempts at replacing files and folders with a grand database of metadata, that will "magically" pull out everything you have stored related to that company project or aunt Tillie as needed.