Buying an Android tablet

[Tdarcos]

I was on the phone with a woman from the City of Sarasota, Florida who contacted me because my company was one of those who looked at their requests for bids on bidsync.com for an application they want. Well, I read lots of these bids from many sites because by reading the wish lists of actual customers having money to spend it gives me an idea of what is actually in demand in the real world.

So, anyway she wanted me to check their entry and see if we were going to bid on it. So I discover I hadn't downloaded the RFP (Request for Proposal), so I did, then fired up Acrobat and read it.

Seems they want a web-based application to convert manual fire inspections to on-line and to allow searching of the locations that they have recorded information related to what's there. I looked at the requirements and I realized that it's much too much for me to do on my own. Also, one of the things it would do is provide for storing information about a site related to fire safety, such as locations of fire extinguishers, alarms and so on. Well, I realized that if this isn't done right, this could result in someone dying because the fire department has incorrect information. I don't think I'd want to take that much responsibility,

But more than that, they also want to handle portable devices such as hand-held tablet computers to allow for data entry or for inspectors or end-users to be able to enter their signature. Which I've never done work on tablets so I really wouldn't have experience in that.

So I called the woman and told her all of these things, but I told her I appreciated reading the RFP because it gave me the ideas to try a few things.

So I decided to see what it would cost to buy a tablet so I can get some experience developing for it, either web applications or an app, since Free Pascal does have cross-compile capability for Android.

I went up on Amazon and found you can buy an Android 7" tablet fairly inexpensively. They sold one for $44.95 including shipping. There was also a leather case with stylus and keyboard for $6.50, so I decided to buy them.

So I get the thing, fairly quick, it took about two days, and it comes with both the sub-mini USB connector to allow you to plug the tablet into your PC both for charging and to transfer files, and with an electric plug in case you don't have a computer to plug it into.

I plugged it into my computer and the battery icon indicates it's already fully charged, So I can play around with it immediately.

It's a touch-screen device, and it works by gestures, basically you move your finger as a "swipe" to select other screens or functions, or you press and hold the on-screen button to activate it.

It says it has both front and back cameras. I used the front to take a snapshot and some video of myself, but I can't figure out how to access the rear camera. And it has a microphone. It also has built-in Wifi, so I just had it connect to my network and it can do web surfing.

Hmm, I wonder if Skype has an app for it, because that would be a great way to use it like a phone.

Also, like any screen it's wider than it's tall, but the interesting this is you can use it in landscape or portrait mode, and if often knows which way you're holding it and automatically adjusts, or you can tap the edge of the screen to change orientarion. You apparently can run it in all four modes, so that if you want the on-off button on the bottom instead of the top, that will work.

It's very good on conserving power, if left for a while it turns off the display. Touch the power button on the side and it comes right back. And if you are finished, you can choose to do a full shut off.

So the case is a nice leather case, with a stylus and a USB keyboard. Only thing is the adapter is full-size USB and the Android's USB socket is sub mini, so the keyboard won't work. And the Android requires at least a full finger to respond, a stylus isn't enough.

So I have no idea why Amazon was recommending both of these together since the keyboard and stylus are useless.

Anyway, it came fast enough I decided to order another one, and I'm going to give this to my brother for his birthday. When I discovered the case with keyboard and stylus is useless for this device, I cancelled that part of my order.

But my brother can try hooking this keyboard to his laptop. For some reason the USB keyboard I gave him for his birthday doesn't seem to be recognized by his laptop even though I just pulled it off my brand-new Avatar, which I replaced with an old-fashioned PS/2 keyboard (I had misread the description and ordered a PS/2, but the Avatar supports both types of keyboards and mouse, so I substituted the PS/2 keyboard for the USB and gave him the USB one.) He's having problems with the keyboard built into the laptop.

Well, you can use the USB cable to charge but you can't access the internal storage space, it has to have an SD card to be able to copy to and from the Android, so I'll need to install one.

I didn't realize it uses Micro-SD cards, so none of my full-size ones will work. (I'd have bought one if I knew this.) The device has about 2G of internal storage, but you can't load anything onto that through the connection to the PC. So what I'll do is stop at Staples tomorrow and pick up a micro-SD card there, because I'm meeting my brother for dinner tomorrow at 5, where I'll give him the presents I got for him.

So it looks like I might also release Cetka for Android, too. If I had known the devices were this inexpensive, I'd have bought one quite a while ago.

Now I understand why so many places are having to have a serious mobile device strategy. This thing is cheaper than everything but a really-inexpensive cell phone, and it is a computer, and has a touch-screen on it. You could really do serious work with one of these things.

Until now I'd dismissed them as simply toys, but they are much more than that.

[Tdarcos]

Great Fuckin' News.

While I was trying to set it up, I found a micro-SD card and inserted it, and was trying to access it through the USB cable. I turned to my computer and sure enough, I heard a crunch.

The goddam tablet fell off the bed and struck the floor. As I suspected, it cracked the glass and the touch screen doesn't work.

Okay, well, it was only a $45 device, not a $500 one. So I ordered another to be directly shipped to my brother, I'll present this one and explain the truth, I dropped it while setting it up, so I'm having one sent to him. I'll walk him over the phone on how to set it uo.

Of all the dumb luck. I don't even have the fucker two hours and I break it.

[AArdvark]

I want to believe that the device committed suicide for obvious reasons.


THE
LEAPER
AARDVARK

[Tdarcos]

I want to believe that the device committed suicide for obvious reasons.

I know you're kidding but with the way the universe has been treating me lately I wouldn't be surprised. I just don't know how the hell it fell off, I suspect maybe my wheelchair bumped the bed when i turned around. or it caught the wire on it.

But the good news is I purchased it with my American Express Card, which covers accidental damage during the first 90 days, subject to limitations (which aren't applicable here). So there's a consolation in this after all.

This is, I think, only the second time I've dropped a computer. Pinback would know about the first time - around 1992 - as he was there when it happened.

[AArdvark]

I just got my Barnes and Noble Nook a couple three weeks ago. First thing I did was stuff full blown kit-kat into it cause the locked down OS it comes with sucks hamster balls. I'm hoping to put Windows 8.1 in it if possible.
Still not doing exactly what I want it to do but it's better than the Dell mini 9 I had.


THE
EVOLUTIONARY
AARDVARK

[Tdarcos]

I just got my Barnes and Noble Nook a couple three weeks ago. First thing I did was stuff full blown kit-kat into it cause the locked down OS it comes with sucks hamster balls. I'm hoping to put Windows 8.1 in it if possible.
Still not doing exactly what I want it to do but it's better than the Dell mini 9 I had.

Both Amazon's Kindle and B&N's Nook come in emulators for the PC so you can read ebooks intended for them on your PC. Amazon also has Kindle for Android so you can read any Kindle eBooks on the Android as well.

I've never found the operating system on a dedicated device to ever be much good, My sister owns a Sony reader device and always has trouble with syncing with the PC she uses.

And when there are problems with specialized devices, it's always hit-or-miss or a slow process to get them fixed UNLESS it affects their bottom line, then fixes come with lightning speed.

There was a bug in a game for the XBox that if you loaded a corrupted save game you could use it to load unsigned applications (programs not approved by Microsoft, which normally is required to load any program on an XBox). So what was the application people were using this security hole to load on the XBox?

Linux.

You lost use of a special console on the XGox while you did this, but it was fully reversible, and it essentially gave people a pretty nice general purpose computer to run Linux on for $199.

Despite all the complaints about other problems with the original XBox that they delayed or otherwise dragged their feet to get around to fixing, Microsoft acted with all deliberate speed to fix this security hole in the XBox.