Help me choose a tablet (got one)

[Netpackrat]

I used to play with public TVs with my old Sony Clié (Palm Pilot on Sony hardware). Maybe there's a reason that feature didn't get put on a lot of devices...

I used to have one of those, and never realized it had that feature. Dang.

[randy]

A group of us that met every Friday after work used to find it a useful feature for turning down the volume of whatever ESPN show they had blasting over our table. The confused looks of staff that had to go to the main bar for the remote or climb up in a booth to bring it back up to where they wanted it were priceless.

[Weetabix]

As a juvenile delinquent, I had a remote control car whose remote reverse button triggered loss prevention alarms in the mall. Needless to say, that was much more entertaining than the car itself. It was interesting how those alarms went off just as the most unlikely of people and the most likely of people walked through them.

[Weetabix]

After fingerprinting a number of them, I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

A bit bigger than the 7" for better seeing, but not so big as a 10" that I'd leave at home.

So far, it's worked great for my work needs - working in an MS Access front end, editing pdf's, and email all via RDP.

It comes loaded with software that will edit MS Office files. I expect that to be useful eventually.

The toying around is also satisfactory except that word capture in blog comments seizes up. Any thoughts on that? Just using the default browser, though thinking of moving over to Dolphin.

FBReader(?), Gutenberg's recommended android reader, doesn't recognize the external microSD card, though I can browse to a file and open it, then FBReader sees it. Not sure if it maintains it in its library after that.

What do you guys find to be the coolest/most unexpected thing you can do with a tablet?

Any idea how to load Adobe Flash onto an android device to watch Amazon Prime movies?

[Greg]

After fingerprinting a number of them, I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

A bit bigger than the 7" for better seeing, but not so big as a 10" that I'd leave at home.

So far, it's worked great for my work needs - working in an MS Access front end, editing pdf's, and email all via RDP.

It comes loaded with software that will edit MS Office files. I expect that to be useful eventually.

The toying around is also satisfactory except that word capture in blog comments seizes up. Any thoughts on that? Just using the default browser, though thinking of moving over to Dolphin.

FBReader(?), Gutenberg's recommended android reader, doesn't recognize the external microSD card, though I can browse to a file and open it, then FBReader sees it. Not sure if it maintains it in its library after that.

What do you guys find to be the coolest/most unexpected thing you can do with a tablet?

Any idea how to load Adobe Flash onto an android device to watch Amazon Prime movies?

Cool, hope you're enjoying it. Android tablets are fun.

Google now offers QuickOffice free in the Play Store. So far all I've used it for is a .pdf viewer, but it's there.

A year or two ago when there was much less choice in Android browsers, I used Dolphin. But it got annoying over time, now I use Chrome and Opera (Opera is better for some types of viewing, particularly long documents/pages, as a downward flick gets it to offer you a 'scroll all the way to the bottom' button, which can be a life saver).

Flash player is available in the Play Store. I haven't done it, but I've seen people say that the Flash viewer combined with certain browsers allows you to view Amazon Prime content (in your browser). Some search engine fu might be in your future, shouldn't be too bad.

Oh, and https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager - you want that.

[Weetabix]

(Opera is better for some types of viewing, particularly long documents/pages, as a downward flick gets it to offer you a 'scroll all the way to the bottom' button, which can be a life saver).

Like our arguments?

Flash player is available in the Play Store. I haven't done it, but I've seen people say that the Flash viewer combined with certain browsers allows you to view Amazon Prime content (in your browser). Some search engine fu might be in your future, shouldn't be too bad.

I'd read that Adobe pulled Flash support for android. I'm a bit leary of getting a fake. I'll polish up the fu.

Oh, and https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager - you want that.

We were at home watching something on DVD at around 11 PM. Pounding on the front door.

Rode-hard-and-put-away-wet-looking girl: I lost my cellphone and it's at this address!

Me: ??

RHAPAWL girl: I want my cell phone! It has all the pictures of my baby! It's my life!

Me: I beg your pardon?

RHAPAWL girl: My boy friend is at his his computer tracking it. It's here!

I called the kids down and asked if anyone had found a cell phone. No one had.

Me: We all have phones (not completely true), and no one has found your phone.

RHAPAWL girl: I'm calling the cops!

Me: That's a good idea. We're going to finish our movie. You knock again when they get here.

RHAPAWL girl: Uh... no! I don't want to call the cops - I just want my cell phone.

RHAPAWL girl's friend: Your boyfriend says your phone is three blocks from here!

I'm guessing whoever found it was driving or walking around with it. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

[Greg]

(Opera is better for some types of viewing, particularly long documents/pages, as a downward flick gets it to offer you a 'scroll all the way to the bottom' button, which can be a life saver).

Like our arguments?

Heh. Or comment threads on certain blogs, with no pagination. 500+ comments all as one page is brutal if all you want to see is the most recent comment....

Oh, and https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager - you want that.

We were at home watching something on DVD at around 11 PM. Pounding on the front door.

Rode-hard-and-put-away-wet-looking girl: I lost my cellphone and it's at this address!

Me: ??

RHAPAWL girl: I want my cell phone! It has all the pictures of my baby! It's my life!

Me: I beg your pardon?

RHAPAWL girl: My boy friend is at his his computer tracking it. It's here!

I called the kids down and asked if anyone had found a cell phone. No one had.

Me: We all have phones (not completely true), and no one has found your phone.

RHAPAWL girl: I'm calling the cops!

Me: That's a good idea. We're going to finish our movie. You knock again when they get here.

RHAPAWL girl: Uh... no! I don't want to call the cops - I just want my cell phone.

RHAPAWL girl's friend: Your boyfriend says your phone is three blocks from here!

I'm guessing whoever found it was driving or walking around with it. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

So don't be that person.

You're still going to want the service. If nothing else, you can't make a phone call to a tablet to use the ringing as a locator beacon when someone buries it under magazines on the coffee table.

[randy]

FBReader(?), Gutenberg's recommended android reader, doesn't recognize the external microSD card, though I can browse to a file and open it, then FBReader sees it. Not sure if it maintains it in its library after that.

I use Aldiko Book Reader and it work fine for me. I use Calibre Companion to synch with my desktop's archive in Calibre. Have had no problems with the SD card.

[Cobar]

I'd read that Adobe pulled Flash support for android. I'm a bit leary of getting a fake.

straight from adobe LINK

scroll down to the android stuff