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I would love a high quality android tablet. I have an iPad at the moment and.. it's a toy. I've bought stupidly expensive software and in a pinch I can kind of

I would love a high quality android tablet. I have an iPad at the moment and.. it's a toy. I've bought stupidly expensive software and in a pinch I can kind of code and push up to a git repo.. and that's about it. Not even linting or feedback on code. I can't even access my notes because file sync is so damn broken on iOS. God help you if you need to move around an ssh key. On my android phone, I can at least do all the things I want to do. I even have an actual real bash shell! It's just that it's a phone and while I can connect a keyboard, it's a tiny screen. It'd be nifty to have a usb port or two extra instead of just the one. The Microsoft Surface, despite being stuck in Windows, is the best "tablet that's usable as a computer" around. It does everything you want it to be able to do, though you're stuck with Windows which is missing a touchscreen based ecosystem. I'd love to see Google produce a good android tablet with quality hardware, expand AndroidOne to tablets, and maybe even see some competition and new features. Build in a kickstand. Get real stylus support. Give me two or three usb c ports.

drBonkers 5y ago
You can run emacs on iOS via iSH [1]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/DoomEmacs/comments/o3phkh/trying_out_doom_emacs_with_ish_on_ipad_a_bit_slow/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DoomEmacs/comments/o3phkh/trying_ou...
tgv 5y ago
The ipad is not a toy, just because it restricts development activity. It’s a perfect replacement for a desktop for my parents, and many others.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  It's a toy because it does no work. My gaming console is a toy. Sure I can probably get google drive to load and pair a keyboard but that doesn't mean it's a real tool. You can't even copy over movies or books! You can't buy books from anyone except Apple. You can't manage files meaningfully. You can't install useful software. Hell, I can't even get a real web browser, instead I'm stuck with safari which is basically a decade old under the hood. I made the mistake one time of traveling with just my ipad, pre-pandemic. I couldn't even get and print train tickets in a hotel! At the time I couldn't even watch videos off a usb drive (since added). iPads are toys. They are the fake version of a real computer you give a child so they don't cause too much damage.
hulitu 5y ago
Android tablets are also toys. You can play some Android games, take some notes and that's about all they can do. Watching movies or reading on them is a masochistic experience. And to do work on them - just forget it.
- eadmund 5y ago
  > Watching movies or reading on them is a masochistic experience. As I noted elsethread, I really enjoyed watching TV (and movies, too) and reading on my Nexus tablets. I found them really well-designed for that, much preferable for reading than the Kindle I had had previously. Granted, a big-screen TV would be better for flashy, Marvel, giant-blue-laser-pointed-at-the-sky-to-kill-mankind, but then a theatre is even better for that! And also I don't want too many of those movies. When I do … I head to my den.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  If you are comfortable going off the default path, you can get a very functional environment on them, but it is not the "happy path" by any means and requires five or six apps, a new app store, etc. Not ideal but possible.
112233 5y ago
Exactly! Have you tried peeling potatoes with iPad? It cannot even do that properly! /s ipad as a tool is a very good tool, it's just not a linux laptop. Asides, too bad samsung killed Linux on Dex, now that was something special.

drBonkers 5y ago

You can run emacs on iOS via iSH [1]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/DoomEmacs/comments/o3phkh/trying_out_doom_emacs_with_ish_on_ipad_a_bit_slow/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DoomEmacs/comments/o3phkh/trying_ou...

tgv 5y ago

The ipad is not a toy, just because it restricts development activity. It’s a perfect replacement for a desktop for my parents, and many others.

vorpalhex 5y ago
It's a toy because it does no work. My gaming console is a toy. Sure I can probably get google drive to load and pair a keyboard but that doesn't mean it's a real tool. You can't even copy over movies or books! You can't buy books from anyone except Apple. You can't manage files meaningfully. You can't install useful software. Hell, I can't even get a real web browser, instead I'm stuck with safari which is basically a decade old under the hood. I made the mistake one time of traveling with just my ipad, pre-pandemic. I couldn't even get and print train tickets in a hotel! At the time I couldn't even watch videos off a usb drive (since added). iPads are toys. They are the fake version of a real computer you give a child so they don't cause too much damage.

hulitu 5y ago

Android tablets are also toys. You can play some Android games, take some notes and that's about all they can do. Watching movies or reading on them is a masochistic experience. And to do work on them - just forget it.

eadmund 5y ago
> Watching movies or reading on them is a masochistic experience. As I noted elsethread, I really enjoyed watching TV (and movies, too) and reading on my Nexus tablets. I found them really well-designed for that, much preferable for reading than the Kindle I had had previously. Granted, a big-screen TV would be better for flashy, Marvel, giant-blue-laser-pointed-at-the-sky-to-kill-mankind, but then a theatre is even better for that! And also I don't want too many of those movies. When I do … I head to my den.
vorpalhex 5y ago
If you are comfortable going off the default path, you can get a very functional environment on them, but it is not the "happy path" by any means and requires five or six apps, a new app store, etc. Not ideal but possible.

112233 5y ago

Exactly! Have you tried peeling potatoes with iPad? It cannot even do that properly! /s ipad as a tool is a very good tool, it's just not a linux laptop. Asides, too bad samsung killed Linux on Dex, now that was something special.