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Nexus 9

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Re: Nexus 9

#111

Post by Roboprog »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #38

Anyone have experience installing Linux on an Android tablet to use for development work? I'd love to use it with tmux/vim to hack on stuff. Is battery life worth it?

Similar to "bergie", I have used Terminal IDE on my 2nd gen Nexus 7 to do some exploratory work programming Android.

It's doable, and battery life is quite good, but having an IDE on a PC to work on the screen layout XML file helps. Also, the Android API documentation layout sucks, which makes it harder to look things up. Auto-complete in a real IDE also helps compensate for how bad the online documentation for the API is.

If it was up to me, the Android documentation would be better, and an API to programmatically set up the screen layout would be readily accessible.

For all of Java's faults, I like how compact the online javadoc is for the runtime library, compared to the crap layout with mandatory frames that Android API uses (or MS .NET, for that matter).

I used "Terminal IDE" for the environment: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spartacusr...

An example Android program to make a "D Pad" to move a circle around on the screen (written using above): https://github.com/roboprog/dpad

I use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. The keyboard has exactly the same layout as my Mac Pro: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E1MRYK2/ref=oh_aui_detai...

Re: Nexus 9

#112

Post by philsnow »

kayone wrote: post #32
izacus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehm.. no nexus since Nexus One had SD card slot. Which Nexus models are you talking about exactly?

and nexus one was also the only nexus to have an SD card. so I think he is talking about every nexus phone/tablet except the nexus one.

Do you consider the G1 to be a 'nexus' ? It had a micro-sd slot.

Re: Nexus 9

#113

Post by nilkn »

dragonwriter wrote: post #109
nilkn wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the Nexus 6, I actually think this is too small. If I'm going to have a six inch phone, I'd prefer a tablet that is upwards of 12". I think huge tablets are currently an unexplored niche that could kick off just like big phones did.

> I think huge tablets are currently an unexplored niche that could kick off just like big phones did. Huge tablets aren't exactly an unexplored niche; the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and Microsoft Surface, and even a few bigger tablets, do exist.

I wasn't aware of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. Thanks -- I'm not keen on Samsung's products, but I do like to see the space being explored.

I guess I unintentionally excluded the Surface Pro 3 since it's so much more than just a tablet.

Re: Nexus 9

#114

Post by anigbrowl »

zmmmmm wrote: post #98

This marks an interesting if subtle change in direction for Google. Suddenly they are talking about productivity on their tablet and even including a keyboard. Also recently we've seen massive upgrades to the Google Docs suite of apps as well, after they long languished as almost comically useless on Android for a long time. Once again, it makes me question whether Pichai taking over has had the unexpected effect of…

Yeah, looks like they're aiming to attack Surface at the same time as iPad. Might be time for an upgrade...

Re: Nexus 9

#115

Post by szatkus »

lgeek wrote: post #104
szatkus wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

32-bit K1 also has the companion core[1] (probaly Cortex A7). [1] http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/tegra-...

The companion core of the ARMv7 TK1 is a low power Cortex-A15, like the grandparent comment says. This is different from ARM's big.LITTLE which uses different microarchitectures for the two clusters, i.e. Cortex-A15 + Cortex-A7 or Cortex-A53 + Cortex-A57.

It's too small to be A15. I found the information that the companion core was A15 in Tegra 4, but it's similar size to other cores[1].

[1]http://cnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2013/01/06/318d69ea-fdb7-1...

Re: Nexus 9

#116

Post by amaks »

emsy wrote: post #103
sheldor wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what exactly would that "app gap" be? I'm genuinely curious.

In my experience, it's not the amount of software, but the amount of quality software. For instance, I wasn't able to find a decent RSS reader that doesn't stutter on the Nexus 7 (2013). Not to mention the ridiculous amount of rights some of the readers want. On my iphone, it's hard to decide which reader I'll use because they are really good (I've tried quite a few). Music apps are still pretty much dominated by iOS…

Feedly works great. Press too.

Re: Nexus 9

#117

Post by gaze »

sho_hn wrote: post #101
fumar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far the best PDF annotation device, I have used is the Surface Pro 3. At 12 inches it displays PDFs very well. The pen is pressure sensitive and will reject any outside inputs.

Out of curiosity, have you tried a Samsung tablet with a Wacom digitizer and their S-Pen stylus? I'm currently looking for a device that lets me scribble into language learning work books, I'd be interested in hearing your comparison to a SP3.

Some people in my lab have samsung tablets (including myself), and others have a surface 3. The samsung tablet has all the right hardware but the software is lacking. In general. I've tried all of it, really. Android onenote, lecturenotes, papyrus, s-note, etc. It all kinda blows.

Re: Nexus 9

#118

Post by elithrar »

emsy wrote: post #103
sheldor wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what exactly would that "app gap" be? I'm genuinely curious.

In my experience, it's not the amount of software, but the amount of quality software. For instance, I wasn't able to find a decent RSS reader that doesn't stutter on the Nexus 7 (2013). Not to mention the ridiculous amount of rights some of the readers want. On my iphone, it's hard to decide which reader I'll use because they are really good (I've tried quite a few). Music apps are still pretty much dominated by iOS…

I've always, always had a hard time finding:

* A good Twitter app for Android (like iOS' Tweetbot or Twitteriffic) * A decent RSS app (like Reeder - slick, w/ Instapaper + Evernote hooks) * A reasonable SSH client (like Prompt, although I haven't looked too hard here)

I'd also miss Office - using Word + Excel out in the field for work (i.e. RF spreadsheets during field surveys) are a huge bonus. Not sure how good Google Sheets is on tablets/Android.

Otherwise, the Nexus 9 + keyboard would be great for travelling and I'm tempted to sell my iPad Mini Retina for one, if not just to experience Android L.

Re: Nexus 9

#119

Post by rtpg »

taylorbuley wrote: post #46

It bothers me that we've lost the meaning of "memory" in the technical marketing of mobile gadgets. "Memory: 16 GB & 32 GB." Google, of course, means storage.

This confusion has existed since the beginning of consumer PCs. Loads of people mix up RAM and HDD space (probably because they're the same units)

Re: Nexus 9

#120

Post by voltagex_ »

lgeek wrote: post #110
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #38

Anyone have experience installing Linux on an Android tablet to use for development work? I'd love to use it with tmux/vim to hack on stuff. Is battery life worth it?

I did a long weekend project a few months ago bringing up GNU/Linux on a low cost tablet. Here's a picture of it running XFCE: http://i.imgur.com/jmh8N0W.jpeg If you at least have a kernel source for the SoC, it's doable. However, especially if you don't have the source for your specific device (because manufacturers play fast and loose with the GPL), you'll probably spend the first few days getting it working and th…

Did you use libhybris for this? What bootloader did your device have? How did you do the initial bringup without being able to see the console? (or did you have UART?)

Basically, do you feel like doing a longer writeup?

I'm sick to death of "Linux on XYZ Android device" meaning a chroot - I would have hoped there'd be more interest in running Debian or whatever everywhere.

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