Tablets - iPad, Galaxy Tab, Playbook, XOOM & More

[jeep991]

I just got the 16 gb Playbook this weekend and I've been impressed with it. I got it mainly as a media player to watch downloaded movies and tv shows and listen to my music collection.
The screen is really nice and bright and the speakers are suprisingly good, much better than my HP laptop's speakers. I've been sideloading Goodereader apps and I've gotten a few apps from there for free, like a book reader, Winamp, and Dropbox.
The only problem has been the lack of an app like Air Video on iOS where I can connect to my NAS to watch. I've been using LAN File Explorer but it is hit or miss.
Overall, I've enjoyed the purchase and used it quite a lot over the last few days. For $200 it was just the right price for me to take a chance on a tablet.

[MrMastodonFarm]

I wasn't a fan of the Playbook at all, I returned it after 5 days. I liked the size, but it only did the very basic things.. which is fine for the price point I suppose, but the potential is there for so much more, I found that to be frustrating.

Note - I returned it before it got the Android and upgrade to OS2, but from reviews it didn't seem to do what I wanted with Android anyways (fully implement through it's own Android Market Google Play). Instead you have to go through the Blackberry App world, just seemed like a needless step.

I still think far and away the iPad is the best tablet out there, but it's expensive, and I want an alternative to the Apple ecosystem.

[Azure]

Asus Transformer is your friend. Bit more expensive than the Playbook, but not as expensive as the iPad.

There is a LOT of community support for it too, and some pretty good ROMs if you're into that sort of thing.

[AFireInside]

I got the playbook awhile back. It does exactly what I would use any other tablet for so I don't see the need to spend more.

Although now that I think about it, there is one option that I would like it to have and that's the ability to connect usb devices to it. I could definitely use that feature when I'm out taking photos. Allowing me to plug my camera into the tablet would be awesome.

That said I don't know which tablets would allow me to do that anyways.

As for apps, for me I don't see the need. I have apps for my android phone, and 99% are useless, I use them for a day or two, and then never again. I'm simple, if the tablet surfs the net, and I can use it as a media player I'm very happy.

[flamesfan55]

Is the Asus Prime anywhere near the Ipad.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

Although now that I think about it, there is one option that I would like it to have and that's the ability to connect usb devices to it. I could definitely use that feature when I'm out taking photos. Allowing me to plug my camera into the tablet would be awesome.

I am pretty confident you can do this with iPad and the usb camera connectivity kit but it does look like it can be finicky with some cameras. You can also use the sd card reader portion if you camera uses that.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by flamesfan55

Is the Asus Prime anywhere near the Ipad.

Define "anywhere near".

I have a Transformer Prime but I have never used an iPad. I've been very happy with the Prime. If you have other Apple products and enjoy the ecosystem then the iPad is a no brainer. There are also a ton more apps for the iPad but there are only so many apps a person can use so if they exist for Android or BlackBerry perhaps those are fine. It all depends upon what you want to use it for and what sort of systems you currently like. The new iPad sounds great, but I have no regrets with my Prime.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by flamesfan55

Is the Asus Prime anywhere near the Ipad.

It's closer than any other device not also named "iPad".

[flamesfan55]

Ok tech question.

I picked up the Asus for myself and the PlayBook for the girlfriend lastnight. She wants to put kindle on her playbook but its an android app so I have read that you can get some android apps but it take some work. If someone can give me the low down on how to do this.

Also for the Asus how can i convert either dvd movies to ones that work on the it. Or is there a site or program that have the moves already scripted to the correct format.

Thanks

[Hack&Lube]

There are tons of media players on the Android market. Just et one of them. They should play any format of movie out there. As far as ripping your DVDs to video formats that's a pretty technical discussion and involves a few applications like a DVD Decypting program, choosing the right codecs and re-encoding, etc.

It might be easier for you to just download the movies over again and just copy them to the device.

[flamesfan55]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There are tons of media players on the Android market. Just et one of them. They should play any format of movie out there. As far as ripping your DVDs to video formats that's a pretty technical discussion and involves a few applications like a DVD Decypting program, choosing the right codecs and re-encoding, etc.

It might be easier for you to just download the movies over again and just copy them to the device.

Whats out there for sites to download movies, I use to use limewire to download my movies and thn used a program to code them to work on my ipod touch. But now I have no idea what to use.

[Bobblehead]

You don't need to transcode anything. There are many different media players, I use BSPlayer lite and I haven't found a format it won't play.

As to where you get movies, that is up to you but you can try the Android store. If you want to "acquire" using non-legal methods then that is up to you.

[Hack&Lube]

Yeah, Android will play anything, there is no need to convert. You could probably drop the .vob files right from the DVD disc onto the device and it would play given the right media player. You do want to convert though if space is an issue. A full DVD is 4-8GB.

[flamesfan55]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Yeah, Android will play anything, there is no need to convert. You could probably drop the .vob files right from the DVD disc onto the device and it would play given the right media player. You do want to convert though if space is an issue. A full DVD is 4-8GB.

Good to know, I didn't know thats how big it was. I will convert it just to save space.

[Hack&Lube]

Most DVD rips are 700MB or less, that's a good size to aim for.

[SinceDay1]

Originally Posted by flamesfan55

Ok tech question.

I picked up the Asus for myself and the PlayBook for the girlfriend lastnight. She wants to put kindle on her playbook but its an android app so I have read that you can get some android apps but it take some work. If someone can give me the low down on how to do this.

Also for the Asus how can i convert either dvd movies to ones that work on the it. Or is there a site or program that have the moves already scripted to the correct format.

Thanks

I haven't tried sideloading any Android apps on a Playbook but you can maybe use this article as a jumping off point. Good luck.

http://crackberry.com/how-get-amazon...berry-playbook

[Slava]

The side loading instructions are also somewhere in this thread. I managed to do it, so its got to be simple!

[flamesfan55]

Originally Posted by SinceDay1

I haven't tried sideloading any Android apps on a Playbook but you can maybe use this article as a jumping off point. Good luck.

http://crackberry.com/how-get-amazon...berry-playbook

For some reason its still not working, I tried folling these steps but its still not working? Was there anything that anyone has done to make it work? It stays its done at the end of the installation but its not on the playbook?

[Slava]

I think kindle was disabled for some reason? I'm not 100% sure but I thought I read that somewhere?

[Top Shelf]

Just picked up an iPad 2 for the wife today. Our first real foray into the Apple world. Any must have apps?