Reply to: Which tablet do I need?

[TheFaQQer]

If you are looking at a 7" tablet, there are some good, reasonably priced ones out there - Reg Hardware has a review. I quite like the look of the AndyPad Pro (£179), or the Kindle Fire when that comes out.

If you want something that does both 3G and Wifi then your choices are more limited - same goes for if you want a 10" screen.

I can't justify paying £400 / 500 for a fondleslab, to be honest. If I'm buying one, then I want a 10" screen (or similar), plus don't want Apple (iTunes / Linux don't mix), so at the moment it would be the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

[Cliphead]

I've got a Motorola Xoom which I flashed with the US image to get timely updates. Very happy with it.

[Churchill]

I've got a Viewsonic Viewpad 10s with the Dual-core NVidia Tegra.

After loading VegaComb it does exactly what I want it to do.

Very happy with it.

[gingerjedi]

Depends what you plan to use it for. Earlier today I was listening to Radio 4 via the BBC iPlayer app whilst lazing in bed catching up with various web sites, and I use my iPad to watch video (including broadcast TV) much more than I do my TV.

A couple of days ago I was using it to fire up a new EC2 server instance and install Apache using the SSH terminal app Prompt, then compiling an old version of PHP (4.4.7, IIRC) from source on the server; I have a nifty code editor app, Textastic, which is great for editing code and config files and uploading via SFTP.

I know when it launched the tech journalists got very confused trying to work out what their opinion should be until finally settling on dismissing it as a device that was only good for consuming content, not for actually doing anything. They were, as usual, wrong.

Hold your horses Nick, I meant for me it would be essentially a sofa surfer.

I did do some work for schools where all the tech staff blew their budgets on iPad's, by the time I'd left none of them had worked out how to map the networked printers.

[northernladuk]

Ah, right. I haven't got anything useful to contribute

FTFY

[NickFitz]

Yeah fair enough it wasn't like for like - was looking at the 7" galaxy, wasn't sure i'd need anything more... picture myself doing little more than ebooks (tech of course) and browsing (tech websites) on it... apart from all those work related apps to allow me to remote into the office etc

Ah, right. I haven't got anything useful to contribute about either of them, because I've never used them

[NickFitz]

I already have a 13" MacBook Pro which happily does all this for me and more, this is the reason why I don't think I will ever go down the tablet route.

And I've got a MacBook which does all this for me. Furthermore, the MacBook has been right by my side when I've been doing this stuff; I don't even have to lean forward in my chair to pick it up. But I didn't use it, because it was more comfortable to do it on the iPad.

The MacBook serves for proper coding sessions now; straightforward stuff like SSHing into servers and compiling bits, or mucking about with the odd config, doesn't require a machine that big. In fact, the other day I set up, configured, and tested a vhost in Apache on the MacBook using the iPad, only picking the MacBook up when I actually wanted to create the associated project in Eclipse

[Ruprect]

I've got an iPad 2 64GB WiFi+3G. It's awesome

A Galaxy Tab 10.1 16GB WiFi+3G is currently £494.34 at Amazon, as opposed to £499 for the 16GB WiFi+3G iPad 2 direct from Apple. Not sure where you got that £200 figure from.

Yeah fair enough it wasn't like for like - was looking at the 7" galaxy, wasn't sure i'd need anything more... picture myself doing little more than ebooks (tech of course) and browsing (tech websites) on it... apart from all those work related apps to allow me to remote into the office etc

[SimonMac]

Depends what you plan to use it for. Earlier today I was listening to Radio 4 via the BBC iPlayer app whilst lazing in bed catching up with various web sites, and I use my iPad to watch video (including broadcast TV) much more than I do my TV.

A couple of days ago I was using it to fire up a new EC2 server instance and install Apache using the SSH terminal app Prompt, then compiling an old version of PHP (4.4.7, IIRC) from source on the server; I have a nifty code editor app, Textastic, which is great for editing code and config files and uploading via SFTP.

I know when it launched the tech journalists got very confused trying to work out what their opinion should be until finally settling on dismissing it as a device that was only good for consuming content, not for actually doing anything. They were, as usual, wrong.

I already have a 13" MacBook Pro which happily does all this for me and more, this is the reason why I don't think I will ever go down the tablet route.

[NickFitz]

I'm waiting to see what the Kindle Fire is like, I don't want to spend more than £200 on what is essentially a sofa surfer.

Depends what you plan to use it for. Earlier today I was listening to Radio 4 via the BBC iPlayer app whilst lazing in bed catching up with various web sites, and I use my iPad to watch video (including broadcast TV) much more than I do my TV.

A couple of days ago I was using it to fire up a new EC2 server instance and install Apache using the SSH terminal app Prompt, then compiling an old version of PHP (4.4.7, IIRC) from source on the server; I have a nifty code editor app, Textastic, which is great for editing code and config files and uploading via SFTP.

I know when it launched the tech journalists got very confused trying to work out what their opinion should be until finally settling on dismissing it as a device that was only good for consuming content, not for actually doing anything. They were, as usual, wrong.

[gingerjedi]

I'm waiting to see what the Kindle Fire is like, I don't want to spend more than £200 on what is essentially a sofa surfer.

[northernladuk]

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Ruprect: You could say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Ruprect?
Ruprect: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Ruprect: 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Ruprect: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
(Ruprect nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Ruprect: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Ruprect. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue Tablet.)
Morpheus: You take the blue Tablet and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red Tablet is shown in his other hand) You take the red Tablet and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Ruprect begins to reach for the red Tablet) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.
(Ruprect takes the red Tablet and swallows it with a glass of water)

[NickFitz]

So, what does the panel have, and do you like it? Is it really worth shelling out an extra £200 for an iPad as opposed to a Galaxy?

I've got an iPad 2 64GB WiFi+3G. It's awesome

A Galaxy Tab 10.1 16GB WiFi+3G is currently £494.34 at Amazon, as opposed to £499 for the 16GB WiFi+3G iPad 2 direct from Apple. Not sure where you got that £200 figure from.

[SimonMac]

[Pondlife]

Can't believe no one has done this one.