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Google quits selling tablets

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Re: Google quits selling tablets

#301

Post by supernovae »

dalbasal wrote: post #223
__sr__ wrote: post #12

Good riddance! It’s not like they have actively been developing Android to support tablets. In fact, it is the other way around. The older versions had better support for tablets. Even Nexus 9 was a half hearted attempt at best — and the rest is history. Google’s lack of interest in nowhere more evident than their own apps — many of them were just scaled versions of phone apps. And if Google is not bothering to optim…

In a lot of cases a scaled (or just small) phone app is good enough. But... overall.. I think the tablet category is just not a very big one. I had an iPad and an old 7" nexus. When they died, I didn't replace. Phones got bigger and better. We got better at thumb typing and comfortable holding screens close. Reading on a tablet for example, is not that different to a phone these days and a (cheap) dedicated reader is…

I'll be honest, I look at my phone like I do an iPad these days - I find the same reasons I don't like a classic tablet is the same reasons I don't like my phone much anymore. Apps suck, I'd prefer mobile web and if I have to do anything that requires brainpower then I always reach for my MacBook or my surface pro.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#303

Post by wlesieutre »

freehunter wrote: post #217
wlesieutre wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad Mini (2012) and iPad Air (2013) and all iPads since have stereo speakers on either side of the bottom edge. They're laid out for portrait though, since Apple treats that as the standard orientation. Not ideal for watching movies. The Pro versions have four speakers in the corners and adjust which pair are left vs right depending on whether you're in portrait or landscape.

Plus Apple’s official case (Smart Cover) only allows you to prop it up in landscape mode, not portrait mode.

Especially with split screen modes making landscape more powerful I have to wonder if they’ll change their tune and go for a landscape-first approach in the next redesign. Ditching the home button in favor of FaceID seems like it would be the right moment to move the camera and other sensors to the long edge opposite the keyboard connection.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#304

Post by namibj »

fragmede wrote: post #76
namibj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "hand-out" case seems to be particularily promising. Are there radios that could complement a few miles of range, be it only with simple chat / send-coordinates? Come to think of it, opus doesn't take much either. A sub-100$ kit with voice+tablet should be feasible.

The goTenna is approximately what you're looking for, albeit at a higher price point. https://www.gotenna.com/

Yes, this is about what I meant. The price at about 80$ (with bulk discount), possibly slightly less is still a little high, but thanks for the info.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#305

Post by namibj »

throwawy2018 wrote: post #65
namibj wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly below the range, you find e.g. Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro, on which i yo date don't remember encountering crapware (of any kind). I can comfortably run an 80-column terminal on it (wireless even), and it still (barely) fits in my front pocket.

> don't remember encountering crapware (of any kind) Lenovo Motorola, Huawei and others have plenty of spyware on them. Years ago there was Superfish, later Adups Technology spyware and Allwinner's root backdoor. Not the kinds of devices you want to be doing your banking on.

Yes. Probably. Which is why I only said that I don't remember encountering any, not that one should presume there is none.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#306

Post by namibj »

notatoad wrote: post #106
namibj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "hand-out" case seems to be particularily promising. Are there radios that could complement a few miles of range, be it only with simple chat / send-coordinates? Come to think of it, opus doesn't take much either. A sub-100$ kit with voice+tablet should be feasible.

There are lots of interesting radios that can give you a few miles of low-bandwidth coverage - gotenna linked above, lorawan, or even borrowing a temporary tower from your local cell provider, but the challenge is that $40 tablets don't support any of those frequencies. The best you're going to get is to deploy a mesh of ubiquiti nanostations or similar (which actually works pretty well)

LoRaWAN is weird, but it might be useful. This does remind me to consider playing around with a couple units, and maybe set up something mesh-like or so. Considering one of those only needs an ESP32 and an 18650 to reach similar properties to the gotenna, it might be feasible (if the software turns out to be usable) to get a handful/caseful from Shenzen.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#307

Post by digi_owl »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #134
013a wrote: post #58

Microsoft seems like the only company that understands tablets right now. They should be more like computers, not more like phones. There's also a pretty great argument that given all of our phones are absolute powerhouses nowadays, phones should also be less like phones and more like computers. I'm hopeful Microsoft can also move to spur on this change; maybe soon the market will be ready for the return of Windows P…

I concur. Windows vs. Android/iOS on tablets is one of the better examples of tools vs. toys. I'm writing this comment on a cheap Windows 10 laptop/tablet I bought second-hand for $120. It's an order of magnitude more useful than my brother's $500 Samsung Android tablet. Having proper OS on a tablet turns it from a consumption tool into a productivity one.

The sad part is that Android could have been a tool, and the first gen of tablets were just that to many, but then Google fumbled, badly.

The major fumble was that they restructured the storage permissions, making it that much harder to write to external storage from Android. Oddly this coincided with the introduction of movies and music to the Android Marketplace (later renamed Google Play).

Ting is that much as with many Windows tablets right now, early Android tablets came with type-A USB ports. Thus allowing various devices, storage included, to be plugged in and utilized.

But this quickly vanished on later generations once the storage changes came to be.

Never mind that the UI of the tablet variant of Android was more suited for landscape use, clearly indicating that it was aimed at 2-in-1s as well as tablets.

But then ChromeOS happened, and the focus shifted to it for courting corporate use (they even had Citrix on stage to demo logging into Windows remotely from a Chrome tab).

Only recently have we seen renewed focus on Android for work. But this involves an "enclave" on phones for work apps, and getting Android apps to run on ChromeOS.

Then again, Android was an acquisition. ChromeOS spawned from within Google's 20% scheme of "personal projects". I guess it has always been an ill fit within the Google corporate structure, and should probably have been spun of as its own company during the Alphabet restructuring.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#308

Post by nafizh »

GordonS wrote: post #269
nafizh wrote: post #118

With the new low cost Ipad, Apple will absolutely kill any and all competition. I am a graduate student, bought the new ipad with 290$ + 90$ pencil from my university book store. My life has totally changed. All my notes, and research now happens in the ipad. The writing is so smooth it feels like I have been doing it all along, and I won't ever need to go back to pen and paper. It is a mind blowing combination of ha…

I'm so used to typing that I actually rarely write with a pen; actually feels odd when I do, and my hand cramps up fairly quickly. Give me a keyboard any day of the week for note taking!

That is fine. Different people have different ways to learn in terms of efficiency. Btw, there is research that I can't remember off the top of my head, that shows writing down notes is more efficient than typing in terms of retaining the material.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#310

Post by Dylan16807 »

tracker1 wrote: post #274
jrs95 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft doesn’t need to constantly rebuild different kernels for every supported device, which is basically a necessity for Android/ChromeOS because of their Linux base. That’s probably a big motivator for the Fuschia project.

It has far less to do with the Linux base than the shear variety of chipsets with custom loaders needed for ARM architecture.

To add insult to injury, it's an x86 Chromebook that doesn't require any of that custom ARM configuration to run.
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