Looking for a tablet - Nook Color General

Hey guys,
I have been searching for a tablet for regular use while I am around the house that can browse the web well, use gmail, and maybe watch some movies while I am out and about. I have been looking over the forums here about nooter etc... and am under the impression that with these tools one can turn the nook color into a regular android tablet. I am just not sure if this would be the best route to go and was looking for opinions. Any input is appreciated
Edit: Battery life is a MAJOR factor to me. One of the big reasons I like the iPad is that apple always has amazing battery life for their products.

If the NC was the same size as an Ipad, it would have about the same battery life. I get about 5-6 hours of continuous use. I never turn off wifi so I don't know what it will do without it off. I've seen estimates that the ipad has a 6600 mah battery and the NC around 4000 mah. Where I see the biggest difference is in sleep time. The ipad seems to do much better while sleeping. I can not go more then 2 days without charging the Nook, even sleeping. The ipad can sleep for more then a week without a charge. I don't think the ipad checks mail or weather while asleep. Android gets a bad rap over battery life. My Evo and Incredible are running tuned kernels and roms and they both get better battery life then my 3gs ever did. Stock was horrible.
In my opinion, if you like the ipad stick with it. If you like tinkering and want to play with Android the NC is not a bad way to go. The NC as a tablet is still a little buggy. After playing around and starting over a few times, I have finally gotten mine to stop rebooting when I turn off the screen and everything in the market works. I would hold off till there are some roms have been put together. Yes the NC can do video, mail and browse the web. I still have not really found a browser I like for Android but then I never liked the Safari browser on the Ipad either but it is better then what I have seen on Android.
I have not fired up my Ipad since the semester ended in November. The only thing that kept me using the Ipad was that I had notes and textbooks in it. My unlimited data sim for the ipad has been in my netbook since Sept, much more useful for work. I'm going to craigslist my ipad very soon, the NC works well enough for me that I don't need my ipad. If only there was an iAnnotate app for Android, I would truely be happy with the NC.

gedster314 said:
If only there was an iAnnotate app for Android, I would truely be happy with the NC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alot of people are happy with Repligo, the latest update added annotation.

I actually decided to go with that, and recieved it a few days ago. I absolutely love it, it is perfect for what I need it for. Although the battery life isn't super great, I usually am using it at home anyway.
Sent from my rooted NC.

rgrubb said:
I actually decided to go with that, and recieved it a few days ago. I absolutely love it, it is perfect for what I need it for. Although the battery life isn't super great, I usually am using it at home anyway.
Sent from my rooted NC.
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Great!! At least we can buy extra batteries for our NC if we want or need to. I've only had mine 2-3 days but I'me pretty pelased with the battery. I am trying to remember to turn it OFF at night (and at work) versus just putting it to sleep.
I haven't added a custom kernel or the nookie froyo. I'm trying to wait for a full-on rom.

The NC definitely has a few minor bugs in it, but I think they're worth it for the price. It's literally half of the price of an iPad. To me that's worth dealing with a few minor bugs here and there. I haven't had it die on me yet, but I typically don't use it more thatn 2-3 hours at a time as I just got it the other day. Are you all seeing the 6-8 hr battery life with the cell standby service disabled or with it on? I haven't got around to disabling it on the NC yet.

gedster314 said:
If the NC was the same size as an Ipad, it would have about the same battery life. I get about 5-6 hours of continuous use. I never turn off wifi so I don't know what it will do without it off. I've seen estimates that the ipad has a 6600 mah battery and the NC around 4000 mah. Where I see the biggest difference is in sleep time. The ipad seems to do much better while sleeping. I can not go more then 2 days without charging the Nook, even sleeping. The ipad can sleep for more then a week without a charge. I don't think the ipad checks mail or weather while asleep. Android gets a bad rap over battery life. My Evo and Incredible are running tuned kernels and roms and they both get better battery life then my 3gs ever did. Stock was horrible.
In my opinion, if you like the ipad stick with it. If you like tinkering and want to play with Android the NC is not a bad way to go. The NC as a tablet is still a little buggy. After playing around and starting over a few times, I have finally gotten mine to stop rebooting when I turn off the screen and everything in the market works. I would hold off till there are some roms have been put together. Yes the NC can do video, mail and browse the web. I still have not really found a browser I like for Android but then I never liked the Safari browser on the Ipad either but it is better then what I have seen on Android.
I have not fired up my Ipad since the semester ended in November. The only thing that kept me using the Ipad was that I had notes and textbooks in it. My unlimited data sim for the ipad has been in my netbook since Sept, much more useful for work. I'm going to craigslist my ipad very soon, the NC works well enough for me that I don't need my ipad. If only there was an iAnnotate app for Android, I would truely be happy with the NC.
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Wonderful Insight!!!

Related

Considering a Nexus

So I started my android life with a G1, then eventually got a Mytouch. Now I am considering getting a Nexus one, I have the money saved up but I am not 100% sure... I want some experienced users (mainly the people who's root) and tell me, does the battery last good? And are you truly happy with it? Because I can't make up my mind rather to get the Nexus, or the Droid..Or some other new android phones coming to t-mobile soon..(rumors)
But then again I hate the fact that every time I buy a phone a new one comes out.. lol.
Side note: If anyone is selling a nexus, let me know.
G1-evolve said:
So I started my android life with a G1, then eventually got a Mytouch. Now I am considering getting a Nexus one, I have the money saved up but I am not 100% sure... I want some experienced users (mainly the people who's root) and tell me, does the battery last good? And are you truly happy with it? Because I can't make up my mind rather to get the Nexus, or the Droid..Or some other new android phones coming to t-mobile soon..(rumors)
But then again I hate the fact that every time I buy a phone a new one comes out.. lol.
Side note: If anyone is selling a nexus, let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tough situation. You have to realize that at some point, the trigger has to be pulled and when it is, another device will be coming out. That is just how it works. Look at Apple users...they buy a laptop to find out 6 months later something even better is arriving. Technology never waits, so when you want something, jump on it.
If you are on T-Mobile, you can look at the Desire. If you are interested in Verizon, the Incredible is landing soon which is basically a Desire with a boost.
The Nexus is a very open platform with amazing community support and having owned two, I regret nothing. This phone is amazing.
deprecate said:
Tough situation. You have to realize that at some point, the trigger has to be pulled and when it is, another device will be coming out. That is just how it works. Look at Apple users...they buy a laptop to find out 6 months later something even better is arriving. Technology never waits, so when you want something, jump on it.
If you are on T-Mobile, you can look at the Desire. If you are interested in Verizon, the Incredible is landing soon which is basically a Desire with a boost.
The Nexus is a very open platform with amazing community support and having owned two, I regret nothing. This phone is amazing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+infinity!!!!
I have good battery life now with some setting changes in custom rom I run. I have the extended battery so the feeling is comfortable for 1 hand texting. I still have and toy with my G1 but when I leave the house the I have the N1. I wouldn't trade my N1 for any phone out. It took me a few days to get adjusted to not having the physical keyboard but the size of the screen really make it easy. I just didn't get it when I had a mytouch. These are just a few of my options.
Definitely get a Nexus. Like deprecate said, technology will keep moving. You just gotta take the plunge. Battery life has been decent for me but that is most probably cause mine is still a brand new battery. Once it's broken in a little, it should be good.
The processor is ridiculously amazing. Things just work, and work very fast. Trust me, once you use the Nexus for a day and try to go back to G1/Dream, you will wonder how you lived all this time. The HTC Desire Rom for Nexus is actually very good if you like Sense. It also has Flash Player Lite if you're into that. Cyan's Rom, of course, gets better all the time. Honestly there aren't a lot of Rom options yet but that's because there isn't very much that could be improved at this point. Everything just works.
All in all, I say go for it.
the desire seems ok, idk I really might get a nexus I just don't want the battery to suck for a $500+ phone.
Well you gotta be reasonable. It has a 1ghz processor. The thing is gonna be a bit of a juice monkey no matter what. There are undervolted kernels available that help with battery life though.
After a month playing with my rooted N1 (previously had a iphone 3g) i can only say: Wow, this beast is fast. You can multi-task, load custom ROMs, browse fast and soon we will have flash support. Battery life is accetable, so great performance with a so thin design is acceptable. And android is a powerfull and flexible OS. Im very happy with my nexus1.
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
I went through the same thought process as well before buying my Nexus One. The thing that really sold me was the fact that I have a few friends with Android phones and they all seem pretty frustrated that they see all these new Android releases coming out and their phones remain stuck at 1.5. Since the N1 is Google's showcase phone it's pretty much a given that it will always get timely updates to the latest version of Android. I don't think you can say the same for ANY other Android phone (a lot even have boot loaders that can't be unlocked like the Milestone and Rogers HTC Magic) and I doubt any that might come out in the next few months will be that lucky either. Plus this thing is just mind blowing fast.
I came from an iPhone 3G so initially I was slightly disappointed with the touchscreen (it doesn't reject spurious input from fingers and palms that might wrap around the phone) and the less than stellar reception. Every time I put my hand on lower part of the phone and see 2-3 bars of reception disappear I feel shame.
Coming from a Magic I doubt I would ever notice this because these problems exist in those phones too as I believe it uses the same touchscreen and the radio placement is identical.
As for battery life, I actually get pretty good life now that my usage has settled down.
For the Battery if you run one of the UV kernels as well as setcpu with profiles. Also do some of the main things you do with your Mytouch like turn off wifi, GPS, screen brightness to low, only use 3G when you need it other wise leave it on Edge, as well as the many other battery saving ideas. You should should get great battery life. I can go about 16 hours of ok usage and have about 50 to 60% battery life left. Check my Sig for what i am running. Over all i paid full price for my N1 and i am love with phone in every way.

Why the bad rap?????

I read all the negative reviews on the Streak 7, but the price was something I just couldn't pass by. I went to my local T-mo store and checked it out and loved it.
Brought it home and honestly, I don't see what so many people are complaining about.
Screen: My husband and I sat side by side watching a youtube clip and both of us could see the screen perfectly. Neither of us has had a problem seeing the screen from different angles.
Battery: I turned off the data, background sync, use it wirelessly and I am really getting decent battery life. With a full charge the Streak was turned on at noon, used off and on lightly thru the afternoon. Left on stand-by the rest of the time until my husband got home from work around 7. He gave it a pretty good workout (it is actually supposed to be his - a Vday present!) with youtube, streaming music and web browsing. He was still using it around 11 p.m. and it still had over 25% battery life.
Camera: We took several pics with it last night and it does a decent job. As good as my HD2 phone.
The Streak is a snappy unit! Fast web browsing, fast opening of apps, etc. etc. It moved a lot faster then the Galaxy Tab at the store.
I have a rooted Nook Color for myself, but am happy with the Streak 7 purchase.
I hope people won't be put off by the bad press. I don't know anything about development, but think that there is a whole lot that could be done with the Streak!
Totally agree!
Hey, me too, it was to good to pass up....
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA App
At first I didn't care for my Dell 7, but after I rooted it and change some settings I get a little better battery life. The screen isn't the greatest, but the size makes up for it, great for traveling.
Great data speeds her in Central California.
Can make calls using Sipdroid with my Google voice account.
Can't wait for Skype video.
Regarding battery life...anything that makes use of graphics system kills the battery fast. Full charge, played lets golf for 2 hours and down to 40%....30 minutes of tv show and down to 20%. Unacceptable...gonna return it tomorrow. Sad...i love it otherwise. Can this thing even make it through a full movie?
Sent from my Streak 7
Dell Streak 7
Galaxy S Vibrant - Whiskey Rom + Voodo
NookColor - Honeycomb port by Deeper-blue / OC @ 1.1ghz
Bandage said:
Regarding battery life...anything that makes use of graphics system kills the battery fast. Full charge, played lets golf for 2 hours and down to 40%....30 minutes of tv show and down to 20%. Unacceptable...gonna return it tomorrow. Sad...i love it otherwise. Can this thing even make it through a full movie?
Sent from my Streak 7
Dell Streak 7
Galaxy S Vibrant - Whiskey Rom + Voodo
NookColor - Honeycomb port by Deeper-blue / OC @ 1.1ghz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly no it can't..I saw a review the other day where they tried to watch Avatar the movie & this device was dead before the movie even ended..I love mine but it's going back today..That battery life has put the nail in the coffin for this device..what were they thinking at Dell when they released this with such a weak battery..Guess i will be at bestbuy sunday for the pre-order sale on the Motorola Xoom.I hate going a full week without a tablet but this Streak 7 has got to go.
Arun01 said:
Sadly no it can't..I saw a review the other day where they tried to watch Avatar the movie & this device was dead before the movie even ended..I love mine but it's going back today..That battery life has put the nail in the coffin for this device..what were they thinking at Dell when they released this with such a weak battery..Guess i will be at bestbuy sunday for the pre-order sale on the Motorola Xoom.I hate going a full week without a tablet but this Streak 7 has got to go.
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Hey. Before you guys decide to take your Streak 7 back, try rooting it with super one click root. It made a huge improvement in battery life. Hope it helps.
Heres the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=939921
mine is already rooted and still very bad on battery, i can deal with the screen and usb charging but would rather them be better, so im returning my streak tomorrow. my streak was fully charged at 7 and already dying out at 9 and all i was doing was surfing the web and not even heavily, just on and off.
i would definitly be able to deal with it except for the fact that this year will bring many more dells which will probably be better and come with honeycomb. if the upcoming dells are not better than streak 7 ill go for the htc flyer.
i love this thing but i gotta return it before im locking in for 2 years
ScReEmZ said:
Hey. Before you guys decide to take your Streak 7 back, try rooting it with super one click root. It made a huge improvement in battery life. Hope it helps.
Heres the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=939921
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Click to collapse
& here's the link to some tests done on the dell streak 7.Also the part where this thing died before a movie went off.....took mine back & going to bestbuy & get the Motorola Xoom.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379219,00.asp
Not as bad as all that
I have recently (yesterday, in fact) gotten the S7 and of course wanted to run it through it's paces. I saw a similar issue for the battery life, having run it down within about 3.5 hours in the afternoon. To give some background, I am not a uber-online guy. I don't post to twitter or fb feeds with my tablet, and I use it mostly to stream media, email, etc. while at home OR reading while on my commute.
After full recharge (powered off, and it still took about two hours) I did the following:
1. Turned on Airplane Mode​2. Applied the "Power Settings" widget to an open home screen​3. Powered on the wifi radio​
This effectively shut down the cell/data radio and the GPS radio. I was getting intermittent 4G/EDGE signal throughout the first run, and you could just watch the battery meter go down. With the cell radio off, I got about 5.5 hours of use from the Streak 7 before it hit 15% battery remaining.
One thing: I'd like to be able to shut off the cell radio in settings, but found no way to do this. Does anyone else know if you can just shut the radio off via settings as opposed to applying Airplane Mode and then turning on whatever radios you want to use?
I am now on my third discharge, and have all radios off at this time. I will give feedback when I have used the battery up, but in about 2.5 hours of constant use (reading ebooks), I have only brought the battery down to about 75%
So, I think these negative reactions are a bit over-done. I understand disappointment in not having a full (almost) 3 hour movie play all the way through. But the battery isn't as horrible as some may indicate. Then again, I am a DInc user, and I am used to quick battery depletion...
Additionally, I am in a bad service area for T-Mo, as I imagine many people are. If the cell radio keeps trying to reach a tower every thirty seconds, That would explain a quick battery drain.
And, for the price (on contract, or off) you can't beat this tablet - great build quality, responsive OS (pretty much a vanilla Froyo) and Gorilla Glass. Did I mention I broke my last tablet when I dropped it? Thanks for the Gorilla Glass!
Dinc user lol i feel your pain. I dont believe there is a way to toggle radios on/off other then airplane mode.
sent from my re-engineered dInc
The screen is absolutely terrible compared to the galaxy tab. Go to a tmobile and hold them side by side. Even the menu transitions are horribly stuttery compared to the smoothness of the galaxy tab. Holding the Streak 7 in landscape mode, the shifting of colors starts within just a couple degrees of vertical tilting (horizontal rotation when in portrait mode), which is very irritating to me. Battery capacity is a fraction of the tab's.
In spite of even the tegra 2 in the streak, its no wonder its cheaper than the older galaxy tab.
There definitely pluses for the streak 7, but the cons are very real. I have a free streak 7 and im already thinking of selling it.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA App
Chris123234 said:
The screen is absolutely terrible compared to the galaxy tab. Go to a tmobile and hold them side by side. Even the menu transitions are horribly stuttery compared to the smoothness of the galaxy tab. Holding the Streak 7 in landscape mode, the shifting of colors starts within just a couple degrees of vertical tilting (horizontal rotation when in portrait mode), which is very irritating to me. Battery capacity is a fraction of the tab's.
In spite of even the tegra 2 in the streak, its no wonder its cheaper than the older galaxy tab.
There definitely pluses for the streak 7, but the cons are very real. I have a free streak 7 and im already thinking of selling it.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Price please?
From my CM7 urban themed Glacier
Chris123234 said:
The screen is absolutely terrible compared to the galaxy tab. Go to a tmobile and hold them side by side. Even the menu transitions are horribly stuttery compared to the smoothness of the galaxy tab. Holding the Streak 7 in landscape mode, the shifting of colors starts within just a couple degrees of vertical tilting (horizontal rotation when in portrait mode), which is very irritating to me. Battery capacity is a fraction of the tab's.
In spite of even the tegra 2 in the streak, its no wonder its cheaper than the older galaxy tab.
There definitely pluses for the streak 7, but the cons are very real. I have a free streak 7 and im already thinking of selling it.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
The screen difference is barely noticable but the Galaxy is MANY MANY times slower... no comparison there... just use them side by side.
Yep the galaxy tab only has better graphics than the streak 7..as far as performance goes..the streak 7 runs all over the galaxy tab.
WookieFan said:
So, I think these negative reactions are a bit over-done. I understand disappointment in not having a full (almost) 3 hour movie play all the way through. But the battery isn't as horrible as some may indicate. Then again, I am a DInc user, and I am used to quick battery depletion...
Additionally, I am in a bad service area for T-Mo, as I imagine many people are. If the cell radio keeps trying to reach a tower every thirty seconds, That would explain a quick battery drain.
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Click to collapse
Not to argue with you here...but I'm kind of a gadget whore, and currently own several devices (GTab / 2x Vibrants / Archos 70it / TMobile Galaxy Tab / NookColor) and the puny battery Dell decided to use with the 7 is pathetic. Even the Viewsonic GTablet has a Tegra2, and gets amazing battery life in comparison!
I figured on the 7 being perfect for road trips, and hence an interest in its multimedia performance. 2780 mAh compared to 4000mAh in the Sammy Galaxy Tab. (milliampere-hour) What were they thinking? 1/2 the size of a device that they doubled in hardware specs! Just ludicrous
And comparing the two...Yes the 7 blows away the Galaxy Tab in most areas (based on CPU performance)...just kinda retarded that it can only do so in 3 hour increments. (Gaming on the Sammy lasted hours...I had a Let's Golf 2 binge, 4 hours and Battery was @ 65% when finished)
Anywho...not trying to dissuade anyone here...simply put, they rushed a product to the shelves to make a quick buck before the 3.0 tabs started selling.
I have noticed you have a large collection of devices! I have a Archos 101 that I bought for my wife, and I agree that the battery life is better on most tablets. Heck, the A101 is almost all battery.
But for about $100 less than my S7, the performance is atrocious. So much so that I don't let my wife watch how smoothly the S7 operates. So, in the end, I think we are talking apples and oranges. The S7 has fantastic performance, from a company I trust. The Sammy has a bigger battery and a nice LCD, but from a company I do not trust, as far as Android development goes.
And, since I am not spending three hours gaming at a time, I can afford to shut off unnecessary battery hogs and I get hours of use from my S7. Anyway. I think I have beaten that dead horse long enough. Enjoy your Xoom!
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
I love my Dell S7 but battery is bad, but I didn't buy it to game, I bought it to surf, txt and email, I am mainly in a 4g 4 bars area, and when I am at work and home I go wifi with airport off, I also rooted it and added performance tweaks, I can get about 6-7 hours.
Honeycomb will make the battery better.
Use Juice defender, task killer and power manager software and you should be good, as for the viewing angles, I kind of like it, because no one can see what your doing (great privacy).
Calling is great with Sipdroid and Google voice.
I use slingbox and the picture is fine.
Thanks
Lou.
lou0611 said:
Honeycomb will make the battery better.
Lou.
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Click to collapse
Uh...how ya figure? Small battery is a small battery. If anything, HC will only drain it faster with more animations, etc.
This device might have been a more compelling offering if it shipped with at least 2.3 on it. That might have been a logistical impossibility though? I hope Dell skips 2.3 in favor of 3.0.

Streak 7 for $199 at Staples

this coupon
http://reg.e.staples.com/c/s/tagfrm...d3Bnb0JBUmtBQUdwMFZ3d0FBQUU2&PID=552179&n=927
= $199 streak 7
is it worth buying, given the low resolution? how's the battery life?
Grabbed one after seeing the link at slickdeals, couldn't resist it for $200.
I was waiting to be able to grab a tablet of such quality and bran for a good price.
Not gonna lie, I"m incredible tempted.
However, some things are holding me back. Namely the sort of meh dev activity, the resolution, the lack of GB at least, and some other niggling things. Dunno though, 199 is amazing for a device of this quality.
EmilVee said:
Not gonna lie, I"m incredible tempted.
However, some things are holding me back. Namely the sort of meh dev activity, the resolution, the lack of GB at least, and some other niggling things. Dunno though, 199 is amazing for a device of this quality.
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Click to collapse
Unless you wanna wait another year or get some chinese chong ching ARM questionable quality, 30 day shipping and no warranty tablet, the DS7 at this price and of such power and quality is the best option in the market right now for under $400 because it'll do what any other tablet does.
Root it, get a clean ROM from DJ_steve, OC it and it'll be just as good as any other tablet in the market right now regardless of the size of the screen. This monster runs a dual core tegra 1GHz that can go as high as 1.4ghz(reaching Xoom/Iconia levels).
I happily jumped on this deal without doubting it. Waiting to get out of class and get back to my dorm to finally get to play with it.
Anyone find any teardown for this tablet ? I want to know how easy is to replace the battery ? How long do they last ? 2 years ?
I just picked one myself just now ... Any tips on what I should do next ? Honeycomb 3.2 ?
GhostXtreme said:
Anyone find any teardown for this tablet ? I want to know how easy is to replace the battery ? How long do they last ? 2 years ?
I just picked one myself just now ... Any tips on what I should do next ? Honeycomb 3.2 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dell has said an official Honeycomb 3.2 is coming, unless i hear otherwise, i think i'm gonna stick with the stock for now and delete the stage UI widgets, which seem to slow down the tablet quite a bit.
we need to bring the community back to life now!!
RavenSEAL said:
Unless you wanna wait another year or get some chinese chong ching ARM questionable quality, 30 day shipping and no warranty tablet, the DS7 at this price and of such power and quality is the best option in the market right now for under $400 because it'll do what any other tablet does.
Root it, get a clean ROM from DJ_steve, OC it and it'll be just as good as any other tablet in the market right now regardless of the size of the screen. This monster runs a dual core tegra 1GHz that can go as high as 1.4ghz(reaching Xoom/Iconia levels).
I happily jumped on this deal without doubting it. Waiting to get out of class and get back to my dorm to finally get to play with it.
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Click to collapse
You know, I'm Chinese. I could be offended by your comment and say something equally offensive, but I'm just going to let you feel stupid. Then again, self-righteousness is a powerful thing.
RavenSEAL said:
Dell has said an official Honeycomb 3.2 is coming, unless i hear otherwise, i think i'm gonna stick with the stock for now and delete the stage UI widgets, which seem to slow down the tablet quite a bit.
we need to bring the community back to life now!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just install Zeam Launcher/ADW Launcher/Launcher Pro/etc. Stage UI will never even come into play; the device is vanilla FroYo with a custom launcher and a few added apks (like Swype).
EmilVee said:
You know, I'm Chinese. I could be offended by your comment and say something equally offensive, but I'm just going to let you feel stupid. Then again, self-righteousness is a powerful thing.
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Click to collapse
Lol, i knew someone was gonna say something about that. Then again, i am describing the quality of their tablets, not the people <3
My personal advice: get it! I love this thing, and I'm on FroYo (I might upgrade to DJ's HC 3.2, but we'll see).
There have been a lot of posts on this, but I know it can be a pain to wade through the forums so I'll summarise the good and bad for this device.
The Bad
Might as well get it out of the way.
First, the battery. It sucks. This is my main device (computer, phone, camera, etc.), which puts me in a pretty good position to rate this. It's livable if you're OK with frequent charging, but if you're going to go for long stints away from a power supply and with heavy use, this is a dealbreaker. If you're normally near an outlet, this is simply an inconvenience.
Next, the screen. It's definitely not up to snuff with the likes of the Nook Color or the Galaxy Tab series, but it's really not that bad. It has one viewing angle that's pretty poor ("down," in portrait mode), but it really isn't a bother. Long and the short of it: you won't notice if you don't have it next to a Galaxy Tab (even then; my wife has a GTab 7, and I like the contrast better on the Streak7 screen).
Next, in the inimitable words of Steve Balmer, DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS! I used to have the OG Droid, which was one of the most developed for devices on the planet. The Streak 7 is one of the least. This may or may not be an issue for you.
The Good
This is a bit broader of a category, and, of course, varies by model.
First, the T-Mo version has 4G. This is incredibly nice and puts it ahead of a lot of the other guys out there.
If you're on the WiFi version, you can disable the cellular stuff and greatly increase your battery life (I do mean greatly; cell standby is the number one battery drain on this device). This isn't exactly a "pro," but it does negate a con if you're going WiFi only. You must be rooted to do this, though.
The processor. Oh, the processor! Tegra 2 is a phenominal little SoC. Don't listen to the detractors (who rely mainly on crappy benchmarking software; there are no good benchmarks for mobile devices right now- not Quadrant, not Egypt, etc.). Think of it this way: the Snapdragon may not have been the "best" of the smartphone chips in the last run of single core phones, but it was the reference hardware. Thus, almost everything ran faster on it due to being optimised for it. The same goes for the Tegra 2, which can be found in the Streak 7, Moto XOOM, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, ASUS Transformer, and on and on. All reference hardware from Google (basically, the XOOM and GTab 10.1) run Tegra 2. Everything I've seen works very smoothly and very quickly.
Cameras. It's got two. Don't expect stellar shots, but the quality is head and shoulders over the iPad2 and it also has a flash.
Gorilla Glass. Enough said.
Size, if it's what you're looking for. I prefer the 7" size because I take it everywhere with me. If that's not an issue for you, you might prefer the 10.1" models. Even without needing portability, though, I think I'd still opt for 7" (I know; that's what she said).
Full size SD card slot. This is great for reading camera memory, purchasing an extra card for media storage, or just saving cash on a second SDD for use as dedicated memory.
Vanilla Android. In it's stock form, the Streak 7 runs a skinless version of FroYo. It can't really be overstated how welcome this is for the type of people who crawl XDA.
Well, that's the long and the short of it. Is the Streak 7 right for you? Maybe. Depends on your usage. I got a Streak 7 for me and a Galaxy Tab 7 for the wife. We both wanted the 7" size, but she benefits more from the long battery life, nicer screen, and even TouchWiz (yes, there are people out there who find it useful). The Streak7 would drive her nuts, but the Galaxy Tab would drive me nuts. Different strokes, you know?
Z4nd4r said:
Just install Zeam Launcher/ADW Launcher/Launcher Pro/etc. Stage UI will never even come into play; the device is vanilla FroYo with a custom launcher and a few added apks (like Swype).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didddddd
Z4nd4r said:
My personal advice: get it! I love this thing, and I'm on FroYo (I might upgrade to DJ's HC 3.2, but we'll see).
There have been a lot of posts on this, but I know it can be a pain to wade through the forums so I'll summarise the good and bad for this device.
The Bad
Might as well get it out of the way.
First, the battery. It sucks. This is my main device (computer, phone, camera, etc.), which puts me in a pretty good position to rate this. It's livable if you're OK with frequent charging, but if you're going to go for long stints away from a power supply and with heavy use, this is a dealbreaker. If you're normally near an outlet, this is simply an inconvenience.
Next, the screen. It's definitely not up to snuff with the likes of the Nook Color or the Galaxy Tab series, but it's really not that bad. It has one viewing angle that's pretty poor ("down," in portrait mode), but it really isn't a bother. Long and the short of it: you won't notice if you don't have it next to a Galaxy Tab (even then; my wife has a GTab 7, and I like the contrast better on the Streak7 screen).
Next, in the inimitable words of Steve Balmer, DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS! I used to have the OG Droid, which was one of the most developed for devices on the planet. The Streak 7 is one of the least. This may or may not be an issue for you.
The Good
This is a bit broader of a category, and, of course, varies by model.
First, the T-Mo version has 4G. This is incredibly nice and puts it ahead of a lot of the other guys out there.
If you're on the WiFi version, you can disable the cellular stuff and greatly increase your battery life (I do mean greatly; cell standby is the number one battery drain on this device). This isn't exactly a "pro," but it does negate a con if you're going WiFi only. You must be rooted to do this, though.
The processor. Oh, the processor! Tegra 2 is a phenominal little SoC. Don't listen to the detractors (who rely mainly on crappy benchmarking software; there are no good benchmarks for mobile devices right now- not Quadrant, not Egypt, etc.). Think of it this way: the Snapdragon may not have been the "best" of the smartphone chips in the last run of single core phones, but it was the reference hardware. Thus, almost everything ran faster on it due to being optimised for it. The same goes for the Tegra 2, which can be found in the Streak 7, Moto XOOM, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, ASUS Transformer, and on and on. All reference hardware from Google (basically, the XOOM and GTab 10.1) run Tegra 2. Everything I've seen works very smoothly and very quickly.
Cameras. It's got two. Don't expect stellar shots, but the quality is head and shoulders over the iPad2 and it also has a flash.
Gorilla Glass. Enough said.
Size, if it's what you're looking for. I prefer the 7" size because I take it everywhere with me. If that's not an issue for you, you might prefer the 10.1" models. Even without needing portability, though, I think I'd still opt for 7" (I know; that's what she said).
Full size SD card slot. This is great for reading camera memory, purchasing an extra card for media storage, or just saving cash on a second SDD for use as dedicated memory.
Vanilla Android. In it's stock form, the Streak 7 runs a skinless version of FroYo. It can't really be overstated how welcome this is for the type of people who crawl XDA.
Well, that's the long and the short of it. Is the Streak 7 right for you? Maybe. Depends on your usage. I got a Streak 7 for me and a Galaxy Tab 7 for the wife. We both wanted the 7" size, but she benefits more from the long battery life, nicer screen, and even TouchWiz (yes, there are people out there who find it useful). The Streak7 would drive her nuts, but the Galaxy Tab would drive me nuts. Different strokes, you know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm... What are we talking about in terms of battery life here? As long as it's at least 8 hours, I don't think this should be an issue.
I may try it out. It's definitely a steal @ $199. If things don't turn out well, then I'll just return it or maybe re-sell it for profit once the promotion is over.
Thanks for the info!
EmilVee said:
Hm... What are we talking about in terms of battery life here? As long as it's at least 8 hours, I don't think this should be an issue.
I may try it out. It's definitely a steal @ $199. If things don't turn out well, then I'll just return it or maybe re-sell it for profit once the promotion is over.
Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends: are you going WiFi? How many hours of that is actual usage? I can get 15 hours of light use out of the 4G version; would easily be a full day out of the WiFi with phone.apk and telephony.apk disabled.
If you're talking full usage, I wouldn't expect much more than 4-5 solid hours from the WiFi version with the cell radios disabled (but WiFi on). Maybe a little more if you installed Honeycomb. Less for the 4G version; maybe 3+ hours of continued use.
Z4nd4r said:
That depends: are you going WiFi? How many hours of that is actual usage? I can get 15 hours of light use out of the 4G version; would easily be a full day out of the WiFi with phone.apk and telephony.apk disabled.
If you're talking full usage, I wouldn't expect much more than 4-5 solid hours from the WiFi version with the cell radios disabled (but WiFi on). Maybe a little more if you installed Honeycomb. Less for the 4G version; maybe 3+ hours of continued use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm going wi-fi if I get this. When you say 'full usage', what do you mean? 4-5 hours is kinda... ****.
Also, can I safely assume that the Streak will never have CM7? I just read an earlier topic that sort of came to that conclusion.
EmilVee said:
Hm... What are we talking about in terms of battery life here? As long as it's at least 8 hours, I don't think this should be an issue.
I may try it out. It's definitely a steal @ $199. If things don't turn out well, then I'll just return it or maybe re-sell it for profit once the promotion is over.
Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the 4G version, but do not use the 4G. The most I get is around 3 hours with constant use over WiFi.
EmilVee said:
Yes, I'm going wi-fi if I get this. When you say 'full usage', what do you mean? 4-5 hours is kinda... ****.
Also, can I safely assume that the Streak will never have CM7? I just read an earlier topic that sort of came to that conclusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want battery life drop 500 on a different tablet. I could get through 3 hour long shows and then need to charge. Dell really should have made the battery replaceable.
Glad I just sold my 4g version for 250 before this happened (the deal)
Found myself not using the tablet much after getting a ThunderBolt. I'd much rather have a 10 inch empty shell that a phone slides into then a tablet at this point. Spent too much time trying to figure out where I was on my twitter timeline between devices. Same thing with games. They need a way to upload your save state so you can swap between devices.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
nrfitchett4 said:
If you want battery life drop 500 on a different tablet. I could get through 3 hour long shows and then need to charge. Dell really should have made the battery replaceable.
Glad I just sold my 4g version for 250 before this happened (the deal)
Found myself not using the tablet much after getting a ThunderBolt. I'd much rather have a 10 inch empty shell that a phone slides into then a tablet at this point. Spent too much time trying to figure out where I was on my twitter timeline between devices. Same thing with games. They need a way to upload your save state so you can swap between devices.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hearing this, I think... I might just go with the Nook Color.
yup picked up dell streak 7 today using this coupon
awesome deal! - I picked up a dell streak - can't wait to put honeystreak on it! I'm returning my crappy two day old Coby Mid7016(with bootleg coby ginger**** with no flash support LOL)
Here is link for $100 off any tablet with exception of E readers and HP tablet, my co worker used the coupon for a Samsung Tab 10.1 16 gig for only $399 with coupon - Awesome!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-20081008-58/get-an-acer-iconia-10-inch-android-tablet-for-$299.98/
dell streak 7
i recently bought my dell streak 7 after searching the prons and the cons on the internet.
some people complain about the battery time
and some others complain about the screen.
after playing with it for some time, i don't think that the screen is that bad. the colors are pretty good, the resolution though could have been better BUT i have heard that if you manage to change the "density" of the screen its like changing resolution. i haven't tried to change it yet but i will, when i find time to do it.
now about the battery. i only use wi-fi so i have "flight mode" enabled at all times and i switch on the wifi when i need it. i have also deleted the "Stage UI" and am using Launcher Pro Plus.
The standby time is very good, i lose a little less than 1% of battery/ per hour. i went to sleep at 1am (80% battery) and i woke up at 10:30am (73% battery). 7% of battery for 9 1/2 hours
The "use" time is a bit of a problem. i have wi-fi on and i play order and chaos online. The volume bar is set at half and i get around 4 hours of playtime for the tab to run out of battery. When i surf the web i can get up to 6 hours if i don't watch videos, since sound drains the battery faster. i haven't tried to mute all sounds and play games to see if it gets any better.
i have read on another post that when you flash honeycomb on the device you get better battery time on both standby and playtime.
So you can wait for the official HC update or you can even flash DJ_Steve's 3.2
I haven't played on another tablet except ipad but i thing that DS7 its worth the 200$. i paid 400euros (galaxy tab 7 costs 320euros) to buy it since i live in Europe
i hope that my post helped you clear some things on your mind.
alucardnos said:
i recently bought my dell streak 7 after searching the prons and the cons on the internet.
some people complain about the battery time
and some others complain about the screen.
after playing with it for some time, i don't think that the screen is that bad. the colors are pretty good, the resolution though could have been better BUT i have heard that if you manage to change the "density" of the screen its like changing resolution. i haven't tried to change it yet but i will, when i find time to do it.
now about the battery. i only use wi-fi so i have "flight mode" enabled at all times and i switch on the wifi when i need it. i have also deleted the "Stage UI" and am using Launcher Pro Plus.
The standby time is very good, i lose a little less than 1% of battery/ per hour. i went to sleep at 1am (80% battery) and i woke up at 10:30am (73% battery). 7% of battery for 9 1/2 hours
The "use" time is a bit of a problem. i have wi-fi on and i play order and chaos online. The volume bar is set at half and i get around 4 hours of playtime for the tab to run out of battery. When i surf the web i can get up to 6 hours if i don't watch videos, since sound drains the battery faster. i haven't tried to mute all sounds and play games to see if it gets any better.
i have read on another post that when you flash honeycomb on the device you get better battery time on both standby and playtime.
So you can wait for the official HC update or you can even flash DJ_Steve's 3.2
I haven't played on another tablet except ipad but i thing that DS7 its worth the 200$. i paid 400euros (galaxy tab 7 costs 320euros) to buy it since i live in Europe
i hope that my post helped you clear some things on your mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds about right for my 4G version. I stay in airplane mode and turn on WiFi when I turn on the tablet. I get around 3 hours, maybe 3:30, before I have to recharge. For stock use, the 4G modem is always activated, and there is no way to deactivate it without rooting the device, which I don't want to do.

Now that I have an Android phone...

...I can understand the "Why would I want a tablet?" crowd a little better. I'm late to the smartphone party; my half-bright phone (SE Walkman 760) kept me happy for quite a while, with first a netbook and then the NC filling the gap between phone and PC. The other day, though, I snagged a used Xperia X10 on craigslist, and I'm starting to wonder how much use my NC will see aside from e-reading, which would be served as well or better by an e-ink device.
I mean, if the phone and the tablet are both in arm's reach, sure, I'll go for the bigger screen, but their uses are almost 100% redundant now. The only thing I couldn't see doing on the phone is reading comic books, which I rarely do on the NC anyway, and I could still read b&w comics on e-ink. Some games would be kind of pointless on the X10, but overall the two devices break even there, given the NC's bigger screen and the X10's better touch response. The same could be said for web-browsing; the NC's screen is a gorgeous klutz, as touch screens go. That trade-off doesn't apply to tablets in general, but the rest pretty much do; many phones are at least as capable as any tablet near the NC's price range.
The NC is a great platform for exploring ROMs and mods to a greater extent than I'd be comfortable doing on my phone--really, the NC has been a hobby unto itself in the time I've had it, but I think I've covered all the mods I care to explore. I may well sell it off and pick up a N2E or other rootable Android e-ink device (are there any others yet?) in the near future.
I started with the smartphone, then picked up my NC a year later. The Nook is very much my reader of choice. On long hauls, I'm OK with running down my Nook's battery, while keeping my phone for "serious" use.
Of course, the phone does SMS more cleanly. The phone is always with me, whereas the Nook is more for planned long periods of downtime. While I could do it all on my phone, the larger Nook screen has made reading and browsing more of something I enjoy doing.
- Bob
Battery life is the upside of redundancy, for sure, but for reading at least, an e-ink device would have substantial advantages over the NC in that department. Something like the STR that can be rooted to display pretty much any document format and has some limited browsing capability might end up absorbing more of my juice-intensive activities than the NC. It's also somewhat relevant, for me, that the STR would be more efficient in terms of my personal power consumption, drawing much less juice off the grid.
I'm not decided on shelving the NC--I've had the phone less than a week, so I'll see how my usage patterns shake out. Still, it's tempting to go e-ink. It would also give me a new device to mod
I use my phone on the go and my Nook at home. I like having a bigger screen to do my browsing, movie watching, book read etc.
I don't don't see why you would drop the nook for an e-ink as the nook can do almost anything while a stand alone reader does one thing.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
koopakid08 said:
I don't don't see why you would drop the nook for an e-ink as the nook can do almost anything while a stand alone reader does one thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What it can do is immaterial if I do not in fact use it to do those things--most of my uses for the larger display would be met by the STR, primarily reading and some browsing.
I don't know, though--I probably will end up sticking with the NC. A lot of my reading is at night, where the backlight is a plus, and every once in a while I do get into some dumb game on the NC (often sitting less than six feet away from a PC with probably 20 real games installed ).
Mainly, I just have more sympathy for the people who are baffled by the tablet phenomenon. A decent Android phone is an extremely capable device, and all a tablet really brings to the table are those extra inches.
Since I flash my phone quite often I try to keep the installed apps to a minimum while my nook is loaded to the hilt. Since it (the Nook) fits in my back pocket I take it everywhere so it keeps me from draining my phone's battery as well.
My $.02 with data being so expensive for phones now I actually save money by using the nook everywhere and not using phone data. I love my nook, I can hardly even stand browsing the web on my phone now that I have been spoiled with the nooks brilliant screen. I use my phone primarily when I am super bored in class and to keep updated on email everywhere. And my phone is a mytouch.4g so not a bad phone for comparison. I don't even understand the hype on the Amazon tablet except for the price, if you ask me the brilliant people that designed the nook color should be receiving all the press. Everything but dual core almost a year in advance, am I wrong?
Cant agree more, I found myself using nook more than my EVO.
ncmt4g64 said:
My $.02 with data being so expensive for phones now I actually save money by using the nook everywhere and not using phone data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you please elaborate on that? I don't have a data plan for my phone because I have almost universal access to good WiFi networks, and it doesn't cost me any.
inportb said:
Would you please elaborate on that? I don't have a data plan for my phone because I have almost universal access to good WiFi networks, and it doesn't cost me any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, you can always use both when there is wifi, I would choose nook everytime. But since I started using my nook so much, I reduced my phone data plan to 2.5gb instead of 5gb, mostly because I tend to hold off using my phone for internet and stuff especially on data since the nook is so much bigger and also my primary Android device now.
I watched about 4 hours worth of Archer on my NC while flying from Raleigh to Denver recently. Can't imagine doing that (enjoyably) on my phone. Video quality its pretty darn good on the Nook.
bagelicious said:
I watched about 4 hours worth of Archer on my NC while flying from Raleigh to Denver recently. Can't imagine doing that (enjoyably) on my phone. Video quality its pretty darn good on the Nook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For frequent flyers who aren't trying to work on the plane, tablets are great, no question. Me, I take a 2-hour trip every month or two, and while it's not out of the question I would want to watch a movie, more often I end up reading or listening to music or audiobooks, and/or napping.
ncmt4g64 said:
My $.02 with data being so expensive for phones now I actually save money by using the nook everywhere and not using phone data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, $$ is still my primary concern, I'm no luddite (if that's not obvious from running a hacked nook), but the required data plans for phones add up to hundreds, sometimes thousands a year (eg; family). Personally, I'd rather spend that money on other areas (travel / retirement), so I'm seeing how long I can go for feature phone + nook.
NCKevo said:
I'm seeing how long I can go for feature phone + nook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I was doing when I picked up the NC in May; no way was I getting a smart phone on contract. Since I ditched my contract, though, getting a smartphone actually lowered my phone bill, or at least forced me to look into my options and discover it could be lower. I was doing AT&T/GoPhone's $50 prepaid unlimited they introduced this summer, but they blocked my data when I got the X10, so I'm looking at what I can do, and they'd introduced another new plan last month, with 250 min. and unlimited texts for $25. I don't have to carry any data, but I got a 10MB/$5 "emergency" plan in case I need a map in a tight spot...or want to check Facebook at a bus stop
At any rate, I'm in love with my NC again, mostly because I found an app that handles both epubs and pdfs really well (Mantano) and another one that can read my rtfs (CoolReader). I'm still taking Mantano for a test drive, but I expect it will replace Aldiko and ezPDF. I swear I have about ten reader apps
You guys looking for cheap smartphones. Check out Virgin Mobile. $35 a month unlimited data, and texting with 300 minutes. It's on Sprints network so depends where you are but I have great coverage everywhere I go. Also its prepaid so no evil contracts!
---------------------------------
Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk
If this post helped you don't forget to say thanks!
Taosaur said:
Battery life is the upside of redundancy, for sure, but for reading at least, an e-ink device would have substantial advantages over the NC in that department. Something like the STR that can be rooted to display pretty much any document format and has some limited browsing capability might end up absorbing more of my juice-intensive activities than the NC. It's also somewhat relevant, for me, that the STR would be more efficient in terms of my personal power consumption, drawing much less juice off the grid.
I'm not decided on shelving the NC--I've had the phone less than a week, so I'll see how my usage patterns shake out. Still, it's tempting to go e-ink. It would also give me a new device to mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you'll find that once the novelty wears off you won't want to deal with the tiny screen unless it's your only option (ie at the dr, lunch etc.). I use my fascinate for phone calls, wifi hotspot and personal email and gchat at work (blocked on my work laptop) or when I have nothing else. The 7"screen is the right compromise between comfort and big enough text to be comfortable for extended use where the phone isn't, even with the beautiful amoled screen on the fascinate. I use the NC at home for most browsing and reading (and for tracking my fantasy football team on sundays).
Taosaur said:
At any rate, I'm in love with my NC again, mostly because I found an app that handles both epubs and pdfs really well (Mantano) and another one that can read my rtfs (CoolReader). I'm still taking Mantano for a test drive, but I expect it will replace Aldiko and ezPDF. I swear I have about ten reader apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy hell! I LOVE mantano! It's an immediate new favorite over aldiko and already has all the things I loved about aldiko, but it handles the PDFs soooo much better. The hint on using coolreader for rtf's was also good, as i gave up looking for something that could handle that format.
Now i'm going to go whole hog and couple mantano to calibre and be in heaven...
A hundred shiny new internets to you for such a great find, sir!
koopakid08 said:
You guys looking for cheap smartphones. Check out Virgin Mobile. $35 a month unlimited data, and texting with 300 minutes. It's on Sprints network so depends where you are but I have great coverage everywhere I go. Also its prepaid so no evil contracts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I considered them (and could have sworn it was $25 when I looked at it), but the only Android they had was the LG Optimus V, which didn't look so hot, and while their service is decent right where I live, it's extremely spotty everywhere else I go. "Unlimited" sounds great, but "enough" is just as good for all practical purposes, and the aftermarket for AT&T phones is quite solid.
skwalas said:
Holy hell! I LOVE mantano! It's an immediate new favorite over aldiko and already has all the things I loved about aldiko, but it handles the PDFs soooo much better. The hint on using coolreader for rtf's was also good, as i gave up looking for something that could handle that format.
Now i'm going to go whole hog and couple mantano to calibre and be in heaven...
A hundred shiny new internets to you for such a great find, sir!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mantano CS/development is very engaged, too, and making constant improvements. They're active in this thread over on mobileread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131997
I wish I could find a rtf editor for Android. I don't have a keyboard for the NC right now, but it is my preferred medium for word processing, and I'm thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year, so it would come in handy when I'm on the road around Thanksgiving.
Taosaur said:
I considered them (and could have sworn it was $25 when I looked at it), but the only Android they had was the LG Optimus V, which didn't look so hot, and while their service is decent right where I live, it's extremely spotty everywhere else I go. "Unlimited" sounds great, but "enough" is just as good for all practical purposes, and the aftermarket for AT&T phones is quite solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it was $25 and I'm still grandfathered into that price. They do have other Androids now the Moto Triumph looks pretty good but they also got some HTC phone and the optimus slider.
---------------------------------
Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk
If this post helped you don't forget to say thanks!

Droid 3 [XT860] Arrived

Well it arrived yesterday, and I'm super-happy to say that so far (knock on wood) it appears to be essentially flawless; no screwy keys, no bad backlight, no boot-looping or overheating or any of the other issues that seem to plague some of the batches of phones. I also got the Moto 1930mAh battery, so battery life shouldn't be a big issue.
I was worried about the screen quality (a common D3 gripe), but I gotta say, after being accustomed to an older, smaller, scratched-up, lower-res, innaccurate, resistive touch screen on my HTC Tilt 2 for the last two years, I'm totally happy with the D3's screen; aside from it being slightly dimmer than some of the super-bright/saturated Super-AMOLEDs, it looks fine. I looked pretty closely and watched the text scroll in the Home interface and on web pages, and I never saw this "blurriness" that apparently drives all the super-picky screen elitists to hate PenTile. It looks great to me, probably due to the high res.
When it comes to navigating Android, I pretty much just stare at it and drool like a catatonic chimp, occasionally poking at buttons/icons, and dragging stuff here and there. Years of Windows Mobile haven't left me very Android-inclined I guess, but it looks intuitive and I've heard that it may be a slightly better OS than WinMo, so I'll figure it out.
And, as expected, the keyboard blew away any expectations I had. It's awesome.
So far I love the thing.
I'm a little scared to root; can I brick my phone while trying to root it?
Nice! I see: root! It can't be easier. Just double click!
I'd wait a bit before root. In general I say wait for an SBF of a sort. Soon we should see an update to address the bluish camera, power leaking car dock and few other minor annoyances. Hopefully recovery files will leak soon.
Sent from my XT860 using Tapatalk
Well it's been 2 days now. I've figured out how to drag icons around and add/remove them from my Home screen, updated some stuff, and downloaded/played GRave Defense HD (fun game btw).
I left it to charge all night, and plucked it from the chrager at exactly 7am yesterday when I left for work. I've used it moderately so far; watched a few YouTube vids, played some GRave Defense, texted a fair amount, checked Gmail, explored the menus a lot and fiddled around with it quite a bit. So far the battery is down to about 48% in a period of 30 hours (7am one day to 1pm the next day) without being turned off at all. I'm betting it will hit two days before needing a recharge, althoug with heavier usage it mayonly last 30-36 hours per charge. Still, not too bad at all for such a monster smartphone. I'm actually pretty impressed. I do have the 1930mAh Moto battery though. Which, I must add, doesn't even add any noticeable size increase to the phone.
Gotta say I LOVE this phone so far; I definitely picked the right phone for me; I can't find a single thing wrong with it, really. I don't know what people are *****ing about as far as the interface being slow or the screen being in any way blurry; you practically have to look at the thing under a friggin microscope to even see the slight cross-hatched PenTile dithering. I think people are just looking for excuses to complain. Of course, I don't have that much for a basis of comparison; I'm not really spoiled with all the latest phone technology, having only a Tilt2 with its old 528MHz single-core processor and buggy-ass, laggy TouchFLO-3D-on-top-of-Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system for comparison.
the blurry thing is hard to see at first.. but after a while you will notice it.. it doesnt bug me so much but its there lol.. overall i love the phone too.. great purchase.. i just got into the rooting and exploring android further scene.. rooting is easy .. its literally 2 clicks away.. cant harm anything.. but from there.. becareful what u do .. u dont want to delete the wrong thing .. then ur sol till an SBF comes out..
I agree it is a good little phone and once you get used to it you get to liking it. I am finding that it is a nice phone to be able to dink around with. My only thing is I haven't found a launcher I just love. Blur seems slow, as does ADB, and Go Launcher was buggy. But other then that it seems like a good little phone.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
Oooh, I just figured out that I can forcibly turn up the brightness in the Display settings and the display looks brilliant in a half-lit room. I don't want it eating up battery though so I'll keep it down around 60% or so.
I loaded DICE player and it literally crashes and reboots my phone EVERY TIME I load any kind of video file. Craptacular. I'll stick with MoboPlayer.
I rooted my unlocked XT860 quite easily using PSouza's Tool (version 1.06). It worked very well! I was afraid as well but didn't see anyone in the forum that said they bricked when they tried it.
I semi-bricked my phone by trying to flash one of the ROMs out there (Steel Droid), so I warn you - don't do any ROMs until they are released as international-friendly! (or specifically built for our XT860's).
To unbrick, I flashed the Chinese ME865 SBF. It's nice to have my phone back but it's on Android version 2.3.5, which is currently not root-able.
So there *is* a way out in case of catastrophe, but it's not as nice as having a stock Bell SBF.
I also rooted and added Hashcodes recovery to my XT860, but like everyone else, I'm impatient for something to flash. It's like our phones are all dressed up, but have nowhere to go
Its slightly depressing as well, surfing all the other sites, the popular ones and some not so popular...there's just no dev action on this phone. No forums even where we can exchange information. Well, except in here, hidden in the D3 forums.
I can't complain about the phone at all, to be honest, as I won it in one of MobileSyrups giveaways.
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
Well just as an update, the battery ran until about 8pm the following night, from 7am the previous morning. That's about... What? 37 hours? When I plugged it in, it still had 10% as well, but it was going down pretty quick, likely would not have lasted another hour or two. Not bad at all though; 37 hours without a recharge while surfing, texting, and downloading/installing hordes of new apps is certainly a pretty good time-frame for a smart phone these days.
Just downloaded/installed Pandora Radio, it is the dog's bollocks (that's British for "Awesome").
Savior057 said:
Well just as an update, the battery ran until about 8pm the following night, from 7am the previous morning. That's about... What? 37 hours? When I plugged it in, it still had 10% as well, but it was going down pretty quick, likely would not have lasted another hour or two. Not bad at all though; 37 hours without a recharge while surfing, texting, and downloading/installing hordes of new apps is certainly a pretty good time-frame for a smart phone these days.
Just downloaded/installed Pandora Radio, it is the dog's bollocks (that's British for "Awesome").
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Click to collapse
You got 37 hours from a xt860?!
Sent from my rooted xt860
Endoroid said:
You got 37 hours from a xt860?!
Sent from my rooted xt860
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the times of milestone one, those big numbers are surfacing.
Usually they came from people that doesen't use the always on data or is used to keep the phone in 2g.
With my xt883 and the extended battery i'm happy if i reach the end of the day...
Well OK, to be fair, I work in a secured area and can't bring my phone in, and must leave it in a little locker outside the door. This happens about 5-6hrs a day, so you could subtract up to 10 or 12 hours of actual usage time out of that 37 hours, but I made sure that at no point was the phone ever turned off or put in sleep mode or airplane mode; it was always on and had signal.
Wow impressive. I wish my battery life was that long. But unfortunately CDMA isn't as friendly. But I can make it through the day with over 50% left if I do it right.
I'm lucky if I get 8 hours, regardless of use
Sent from my rooted xt860
My stock XT862 (debloated though) does about 12 hours on heavy usage. Does 16h on normal usage
I think my only regret so far was getting the Moto 1930mAh battery; sinc then I've heard amazing things about the Mugen power 3600mAh one. Oh well, the Moto battery definitely pulls it weight.
Savior057 said:
I think my only regret so far was getting the Moto 1930mAh battery; sinc then I've heard amazing things about the Mugen power 3600mAh one. Oh well, the Moto battery definitely pulls it weight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still regretting ??
DoubleYouPee said:
My stock XT862 (debloated though) does about 12 hours on heavy usage. Does 16h on normal usage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes however the xt862 has had a software update fixing the cell standby/idle bug. The xt860 has had no update.
Sent from my rooted xt860
DoubleYouPee said:
Still regretting ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHAT?? That's a D3?? Holy crap. Maybe I will stick with my 1930mAh bat for a bit... how's ur battery life? Is it worth the bulk?

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