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Rockymtnhigh's iPad and Galaxy Tab Review
How does one start to write a comparative review of the iPad and the Galaxy Tab? I guess with a bit of context. I am an Android fan; I have owned a Droid since the first day the original Motorola Droid came out on Verizon. While the iphone was not an option, as I was locked into a Verizon contract, I never really was interested in it. I have had an ipod touch since the first generation device came out, and while I thought it was a fun device for purposes of watching video in the gym, it never really wowed me, and I never particularly liked the iOS interface. In fact, to this day, my preferred music device is an ipod classic (I am now on my fourth one, a 160GB model).
Anyways, I digress. I fell in love with the Droid the moment I laid hands on it, and for a year, it was the be-all and end-all of my mobile internet world. That was until I read about the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab. While the iPad 1 had come out about four months after I entered the Droid world, for some reason I was always skeptical of it. It ran the same iOS as the ipod touch; it seemed bulky and heavy to me from playing with it. I just did not have burning desire to own one. AND I have owned most new technology innovations. But the Galaxy Tab appealed to me in a big way. It had a 7" screen, weighed 1/3 less than the iPad, and ran Android 2.2 (Froyo). I have also owned a Kindle e-reader for close to two years, and I always was intrigued by the Kindle's form-factor. I thought it had great potential for a tablet. So, I made it very clear that my Christmas list really had just one thing on it --– a Galaxy Tab. And Santa did not disappoint. On Christmas 2010, I entered a new world. The Galaxy Tab was everything I hoped for.
It was light; I could hold it in one hand, while using the SWYPE keyboard with my other hand. It was fast. Every Droid app I owned ran on it full-screen, and looked great. I had gone from a 4.3" screen on my Droid X (my second Droid phone) to a 7" 1024x600 screen on the Tab. It was just about perfect. I quickly found my Kindle taking a back seat, as the Amazon Kindle app for Android worked great, and I could conveniently read books on the Tab, and then switch to email, web, or whatever else I was doing. I was very happy. I did not care about it not having Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) – which to this day is an incomplete and somewhat buggy operating system, with few Honeycomb-specific apps. Froyo ran better on the Tab than it did on the phone. My Droid X (which itself was only a few months old) suddenly found itself abandoned and used just for calls, texting, and tethering.
I began using the Tab as a way to go paper-less at the office. I would take notes at meeting with it using Documents to Go; I could use Dropbox.com to access all of my data files. And I would download PDFs of articles I needed to read for my graduate management class, and would read them on the Tab, rather than printing them out. All was good, except that with work documents, I sometimes wished I had just a little more screen real estate.
Then the iPad 2 came out. It promised a 20% reduction in weight; it had a slim form factor, a dual core processor, and two cameras (to this day I could care less about the cameras). For some reason, it was much more appealing to me than the original iPad (what I now call the fat pad). And while I tried to do more and more of my work in a mobile paper-less environment, it seemed to be calling me – particularly for dealing with highly formatted work documents. And in late March, through the fortuitous situation in which I had a small stipend for work on the department website, I found myself in the position to buy one.
By this time, the iPad 2 was already in great demand, and quite hard to find, with five week delays common, but I managed to find one remaining 64GB white Wi-Fi model in town, and I brought it home. Over the course of a week, my computing world once again was flipped on its head.
Initial Reactions to the iPad.
When I first got the iPad, it took a little getting used to. Having to double click the home button to multi-task; realizing that there is no MENU button like in Android, settings either have a button on screen, are hidden in the iOS settings app, or they simply don't exist; and getting used to the fact that if you hit the home button it is not going back a screen like in Android, but going to the main menu. Then there was the keyboard – I have become a huge fan of the one-finger "swype" software on the Tab and Droid X, and the iPad's keyboard is a traditional touch keyboard. Took me a long time to get used to it, and to the iOS auto-correct.
But while these were minor things I needed to learn, I was amazed at the responsiveness of the touch screen. The iPad has the best, most accurate, and precise touch screen I have ever seen. Add to that the zippiness by which apps load, and the over-all speed of the device – particularly web pages. It is just an extremely smooth experience.
Within a week of owning it, I figured out how to enable the iOS gestures, which had been disabled by Apple for the iPad. This enables pinch to close apps, four finger swipes to open the multi-tasker; and four finger swipes to switch among programs. It almost eliminates the need for the home button. Why Apple disabled this fully functional feature is beyond me.
iPad vs. Galaxy Tab
In many ways, it would be more ideal to compare the iPad with the Motorola Xoom – a 10 inch tablet, but I don't own one; so I will provide a comparison of features between the iPad and Galaxy Tab. I am not going to provide a detailed review of specifications, as there are plenty of reviews out there that do that, instead, I am going to provide my gut reaction based on my experience with each device.
Screen Size
Yes, the iPad has a bigger screen. It is a bigger device, and with that larger screen comes more screen real estate. Simply put, web sites are easier to view on an iPad than on a Tab. A seven inch screen is quite functional, but it is still hard to get a full page, except in "landscape" mode. An iPad provides an experience more like a desktop.
Winner: iPad.
Form Factor and typing
The iPad is like holding a thin hard cover book. The Tab is like holding a paper back. The Tab is much more like a Kindle in its size. It is easy to hold in one hand, and it does not result in fatigue doing so. The iPad 2 is more likely to be held resting on your lap; while you can hold it in your hand, it is not as easy to do so.
If you need to select text, the Tab seems to be much better at just letting you touch the screen and move the cursor. The iPad seems to have a mind of its own, and it still irritates the heck out of me with the lack of a Delete key (it only has a Backspace key).
For keyboarding entry, the Tab is the definite winner. The Swype keyboard is so powerful and makes using the Tab very easy to use. The iPad uses a traditional keyboard – but one that is much better than the iPhone/iPod Touch keyboard. In landscape mode, it is pretty easy to use. But really works best when using two finger typing.
Both devices have auto-correct. Both can be infuriating. Apple's auto-correct continues to amaze me with the utterly stupid suggestions it makes. And while swype on the Tab seems to magically find what you are trying to say, it too can mess up pretty bad.
Winner: Draw. Both have issues. Neither is perfect.
Picture and Video Quality
When I first got a Tab, I was amazed by the picture quality. When I got an iPad, it was a totally different world. Hands down, the depth of images, and the clarity, was better on the iPad.
I used my Tab for playing video for three months. To do this I would use a program called Audials Tune Bite to convert itunes video (and DVD video) to a mp4 format I could play on the Tab. The process was time consuming, and the results were ok, but not great. If a video would encode properly it would play very well, but maintaining consistent audio volume was very difficult. When I got the iPad, I simply synced it to iTunes and copied a video to it. I was immediately blown away by the video picture quality and the audio. Standard Definition video looks great on it, and High Def video is even better.
Winner: iPad
Apps
Every Android OS app I had on my Droid ran on the Tab, with the exception of a few Electronic Arts games (Sims 3, FIFA Soccer) which I had to find a work-around to make EA forget that I was on an "unauthorized" device. Each app works full screen, and looks very good on a 7" form factor. I used an app called Spare Parts to enable compatibility mode, and it eliminated the need for a 4" window for the apps. None of the apps looked stretched. As I wrote above, it seemed to do Froyo better than any other device.
The iPad has some iPhone apps it will run, but they all exist in a 3.7" window in the middle of the huge 10" screen, with a 1X/2X magnification button. If you magnify an iPhone app it doubles its size, but looks incredibly pixelated – like garbage. Thus, I try not to run iPhone-only apps on it. This includes the official Facebook app (there is no iPad app). It looks terrible. But since you can run the desktop version of Facebook in Safari or SkyFire (an alternative browser), it is not a terrible loss.
But when you load iPad specific apps, the device's true strength comes out. The 10" form factor provides a lot of room for applications, and there are a lot of very good apps. Apple itself only makes a handful of paid apps, but each of these are excellent. If you want a top-notch word processor, spreadsheet, or presentation tool, nothing beats Pages, Numbers, or Keynote. Pages is particularly nice. It converts files to Microsoft word. It provides an almost desktop publishing-like environment with full styles, graphics, and a lot of features. Would you write the great American novel on an iPad? Hell no, but for brief writing tasks, it is more than sufficient. Keynote is good, but if you don't have a mac, and have to convert presentations to PowerPoint, it is somewhat disappointing, in that it does not transfer fonts well.
In comparing iPad to Tab apps, there are challenges, as there are not a lot of "Tablet" applications in the Android world, but for the ones that I was able to run in both environments (New York Times, BBC News, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal), in each instance, the iPad application seemed more thought out and more fully featured. The New York Times for Android Tablet app is very functional, but is basically just a list of stories, with few images. The iPad app is much more like a newspaper.
There are a LOT of apps out for the iPad that simply aren't available in the Android world. Take the Daily, a fully-featured interactive newspaper that is published 7-days a week (cost, $40 per year). While I tend to not care for the editiorials/op-ed in it, the paper itself is enjoyable to read, and kind of like a USA Today for iPad. It has integrated video, 360 degree images, and other features. The ABC News app comes up as a rotating globe with stories on it, you spin the globe to pick the story.
While there are Facebook clients for the iPad, I have not found one I like. Twitter on the other hand, has a ton of choices for both environment. My favorite Twitter client on the Tab was Tweetcaster by Handmark. An iPad version is supposedly in the works, but I have become a fan of Echofon. It is an excellent client.
Games. I am not a huge gamer, but the iPad had plenty of choices. I own Garage Band (but really have not figured it out), all three Angry Birds (really a tie between devices; they look awesome in both the Tab and iPad. My favorite game is Easy Sudoku, available for both platforms. I prefer the 7" version on the Tab, but the iPad version is still very good. Hard to explain why, but its almost as if the Sudoku grid is too big on the iPad. Bejeweled 2 is one of my favorite ipod touch games, and it runs great in its Android version, full screen. There is NO iPad specific version, and you are forced to use the iPhone app. Android wins on this one.
Web browsing. On the Tab I used Dolphin HD for a browser. The Tab was great in that it could run Flash. The iPad has a good browser in Safari, but there are many times I wish it had Flash. But the larger screen on the iPad makes for a better experience, in spite of Flash. I disagree with those who say they never encounter flash sites. I run into the issue regularly.
E-Books. I still prefer the Kindle reader on Android over the iPad. The 10" screen just is not as enjoyable when reading a book in bed. Tab wins on this. And the Kindle TV ads about screen glare when trying to read an iPad outside compared with an actual Kindle? Totally true. You can use an iPad outside with the brightness cranked, but it is not a pleasant experience for my eyes.
Using the iPad for work. I bought the iPad because I wanted to be able to use it for meetings, and for reading complex documents. It is a winner on this category. There are good apps for it, and as a $500 PDF reader, it does that job very well.
The app review could go on forever and ever, but it seems it boils down to this:
1. If there is an iPad app, it is usually better. It is obvious that developers put more effort into the iPad.
2. There are a LOT of iPad apps; far more than Android Tablet apps. BUT Android apps designed for phones all run full screen on the Tab, whereas iPhone apps look horrible on the iPad.
Winner: iPad.
Document Management
Here is one where Android wins hands-down. The Tab has a 16GB microSD card. You plug the Tab into a PC or Mac, and can browse the file structure. You can tell exactly where your files are, and can add files to it easily. Numerous android file manager apps make it possible to manage your files.
The iPad lacks external storage cards. And if you plug it into a PC, you can connect it to iTunes. You can transfer files through iTunes, but who wants to do that? There are no file managers; there is no central repository of folders; your files are linked to the apps they are running under. It is a cost of living in the Apple ecosphere. BUT there are ways around it.
There is a fully functional Dropbox.com app for the iPad, and numerous applications which will sync between a Dropbox account and an iPad. I live my computing world with Dropbox. 38GB of files sync between desktops, laptops, and my Droid. Using a program called ReaddleDocs, I can sync to Dropbox and to Google Docs (it can also sync to other "cloud" services like Box.net or mobileme). I can then open a file in Pages, or a program called iAnnotate (which creates PDFs and enables you to easily annotate it). You can then use the Apple Save to command to send the file back to Dropbox, to upload it. This topic is fairly complex, and demands a review of its own (stay tuned!).
While tools like ReaddleDocs and Dropbox make it possible to avoid iTunes as a file manager, it is harder than it should be, and it really stinks that Apple makes it so difficult. I do not WANT to use ITunes except to transfer music. Heck, I buy most apps and videos directly on the iPad itself. It would not be hard to either provide an external SD port, or enable the iPad to function like a drive in a PC or Mac.
Winner: Tab (Android)
Final Thoughts
This review is much longer than I anticipated, and in many ways it is very much incomplete. So much I want to say. But in the end, it boils down to this. Is the iPad perfect? No, of course not. Is it an extremely polished, functional, and indeed, elegant, tablet? Absolutely. In the past month, the iPad has completely changed the way I compute at home. I use it all day long (the battery lasts all day with heavy usage). I took it on a two day trip to Chicago in lieu of a laptop, and it worked extremely well. I tried to do the same with the Tab back in December, and while it worked, the iPad experience was much better on the whole.
I did not want to like the iPad. I really didn't. I still do not really like the iOS. I hate the lack of widgets. The icons and quasi-folders on the iPad stink in comparison with the ability to have weather maps, photos, calendars, clocks, and other items on the screen of the Tab (Winner: Tab). Add to that the lack of alternative keyboards like Swype.
BUT I have learned to just live with the OS because the actual usage of applications is so much better on the iPad. There is LOST potential on the iOS home screen, but the device itself is so much better than I ever imagined. It is fully functional; it is fun; it is fast. Some of it is hard to put into words. To that end, I have reconfigured my Tab for my wife''s google account, and have passed it along. Sad to say farewell to a friend that I barely knew, but I simply don't need it anymore.
Winner: iPad
How does one start to write a comparative review of the iPad and the Galaxy Tab? I guess with a bit of context. I am an Android fan; I have owned a Droid since the first day the original Motorola Droid came out on Verizon. While the iphone was not an option, as I was locked into a Verizon contract, I never really was interested in it. I have had an ipod touch since the first generation device came out, and while I thought it was a fun device for purposes of watching video in the gym, it never really wowed me, and I never particularly liked the iOS interface. In fact, to this day, my preferred music device is an ipod classic (I am now on my fourth one, a 160GB model).
Anyways, I digress. I fell in love with the Droid the moment I laid hands on it, and for a year, it was the be-all and end-all of my mobile internet world. That was until I read about the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab. While the iPad 1 had come out about four months after I entered the Droid world, for some reason I was always skeptical of it. It ran the same iOS as the ipod touch; it seemed bulky and heavy to me from playing with it. I just did not have burning desire to own one. AND I have owned most new technology innovations. But the Galaxy Tab appealed to me in a big way. It had a 7" screen, weighed 1/3 less than the iPad, and ran Android 2.2 (Froyo). I have also owned a Kindle e-reader for close to two years, and I always was intrigued by the Kindle's form-factor. I thought it had great potential for a tablet. So, I made it very clear that my Christmas list really had just one thing on it --– a Galaxy Tab. And Santa did not disappoint. On Christmas 2010, I entered a new world. The Galaxy Tab was everything I hoped for.
It was light; I could hold it in one hand, while using the SWYPE keyboard with my other hand. It was fast. Every Droid app I owned ran on it full-screen, and looked great. I had gone from a 4.3" screen on my Droid X (my second Droid phone) to a 7" 1024x600 screen on the Tab. It was just about perfect. I quickly found my Kindle taking a back seat, as the Amazon Kindle app for Android worked great, and I could conveniently read books on the Tab, and then switch to email, web, or whatever else I was doing. I was very happy. I did not care about it not having Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) – which to this day is an incomplete and somewhat buggy operating system, with few Honeycomb-specific apps. Froyo ran better on the Tab than it did on the phone. My Droid X (which itself was only a few months old) suddenly found itself abandoned and used just for calls, texting, and tethering.
I began using the Tab as a way to go paper-less at the office. I would take notes at meeting with it using Documents to Go; I could use Dropbox.com to access all of my data files. And I would download PDFs of articles I needed to read for my graduate management class, and would read them on the Tab, rather than printing them out. All was good, except that with work documents, I sometimes wished I had just a little more screen real estate.
Then the iPad 2 came out. It promised a 20% reduction in weight; it had a slim form factor, a dual core processor, and two cameras (to this day I could care less about the cameras). For some reason, it was much more appealing to me than the original iPad (what I now call the fat pad). And while I tried to do more and more of my work in a mobile paper-less environment, it seemed to be calling me – particularly for dealing with highly formatted work documents. And in late March, through the fortuitous situation in which I had a small stipend for work on the department website, I found myself in the position to buy one.
By this time, the iPad 2 was already in great demand, and quite hard to find, with five week delays common, but I managed to find one remaining 64GB white Wi-Fi model in town, and I brought it home. Over the course of a week, my computing world once again was flipped on its head.
Initial Reactions to the iPad.
When I first got the iPad, it took a little getting used to. Having to double click the home button to multi-task; realizing that there is no MENU button like in Android, settings either have a button on screen, are hidden in the iOS settings app, or they simply don't exist; and getting used to the fact that if you hit the home button it is not going back a screen like in Android, but going to the main menu. Then there was the keyboard – I have become a huge fan of the one-finger "swype" software on the Tab and Droid X, and the iPad's keyboard is a traditional touch keyboard. Took me a long time to get used to it, and to the iOS auto-correct.
But while these were minor things I needed to learn, I was amazed at the responsiveness of the touch screen. The iPad has the best, most accurate, and precise touch screen I have ever seen. Add to that the zippiness by which apps load, and the over-all speed of the device – particularly web pages. It is just an extremely smooth experience.
Within a week of owning it, I figured out how to enable the iOS gestures, which had been disabled by Apple for the iPad. This enables pinch to close apps, four finger swipes to open the multi-tasker; and four finger swipes to switch among programs. It almost eliminates the need for the home button. Why Apple disabled this fully functional feature is beyond me.
iPad vs. Galaxy Tab
In many ways, it would be more ideal to compare the iPad with the Motorola Xoom – a 10 inch tablet, but I don't own one; so I will provide a comparison of features between the iPad and Galaxy Tab. I am not going to provide a detailed review of specifications, as there are plenty of reviews out there that do that, instead, I am going to provide my gut reaction based on my experience with each device.
Screen Size
Yes, the iPad has a bigger screen. It is a bigger device, and with that larger screen comes more screen real estate. Simply put, web sites are easier to view on an iPad than on a Tab. A seven inch screen is quite functional, but it is still hard to get a full page, except in "landscape" mode. An iPad provides an experience more like a desktop.
Winner: iPad.
Form Factor and typing
The iPad is like holding a thin hard cover book. The Tab is like holding a paper back. The Tab is much more like a Kindle in its size. It is easy to hold in one hand, and it does not result in fatigue doing so. The iPad 2 is more likely to be held resting on your lap; while you can hold it in your hand, it is not as easy to do so.
If you need to select text, the Tab seems to be much better at just letting you touch the screen and move the cursor. The iPad seems to have a mind of its own, and it still irritates the heck out of me with the lack of a Delete key (it only has a Backspace key).
For keyboarding entry, the Tab is the definite winner. The Swype keyboard is so powerful and makes using the Tab very easy to use. The iPad uses a traditional keyboard – but one that is much better than the iPhone/iPod Touch keyboard. In landscape mode, it is pretty easy to use. But really works best when using two finger typing.
Both devices have auto-correct. Both can be infuriating. Apple's auto-correct continues to amaze me with the utterly stupid suggestions it makes. And while swype on the Tab seems to magically find what you are trying to say, it too can mess up pretty bad.
Winner: Draw. Both have issues. Neither is perfect.
Picture and Video Quality
When I first got a Tab, I was amazed by the picture quality. When I got an iPad, it was a totally different world. Hands down, the depth of images, and the clarity, was better on the iPad.
I used my Tab for playing video for three months. To do this I would use a program called Audials Tune Bite to convert itunes video (and DVD video) to a mp4 format I could play on the Tab. The process was time consuming, and the results were ok, but not great. If a video would encode properly it would play very well, but maintaining consistent audio volume was very difficult. When I got the iPad, I simply synced it to iTunes and copied a video to it. I was immediately blown away by the video picture quality and the audio. Standard Definition video looks great on it, and High Def video is even better.
Winner: iPad
Apps
Every Android OS app I had on my Droid ran on the Tab, with the exception of a few Electronic Arts games (Sims 3, FIFA Soccer) which I had to find a work-around to make EA forget that I was on an "unauthorized" device. Each app works full screen, and looks very good on a 7" form factor. I used an app called Spare Parts to enable compatibility mode, and it eliminated the need for a 4" window for the apps. None of the apps looked stretched. As I wrote above, it seemed to do Froyo better than any other device.
The iPad has some iPhone apps it will run, but they all exist in a 3.7" window in the middle of the huge 10" screen, with a 1X/2X magnification button. If you magnify an iPhone app it doubles its size, but looks incredibly pixelated – like garbage. Thus, I try not to run iPhone-only apps on it. This includes the official Facebook app (there is no iPad app). It looks terrible. But since you can run the desktop version of Facebook in Safari or SkyFire (an alternative browser), it is not a terrible loss.
But when you load iPad specific apps, the device's true strength comes out. The 10" form factor provides a lot of room for applications, and there are a lot of very good apps. Apple itself only makes a handful of paid apps, but each of these are excellent. If you want a top-notch word processor, spreadsheet, or presentation tool, nothing beats Pages, Numbers, or Keynote. Pages is particularly nice. It converts files to Microsoft word. It provides an almost desktop publishing-like environment with full styles, graphics, and a lot of features. Would you write the great American novel on an iPad? Hell no, but for brief writing tasks, it is more than sufficient. Keynote is good, but if you don't have a mac, and have to convert presentations to PowerPoint, it is somewhat disappointing, in that it does not transfer fonts well.
In comparing iPad to Tab apps, there are challenges, as there are not a lot of "Tablet" applications in the Android world, but for the ones that I was able to run in both environments (New York Times, BBC News, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal), in each instance, the iPad application seemed more thought out and more fully featured. The New York Times for Android Tablet app is very functional, but is basically just a list of stories, with few images. The iPad app is much more like a newspaper.
There are a LOT of apps out for the iPad that simply aren't available in the Android world. Take the Daily, a fully-featured interactive newspaper that is published 7-days a week (cost, $40 per year). While I tend to not care for the editiorials/op-ed in it, the paper itself is enjoyable to read, and kind of like a USA Today for iPad. It has integrated video, 360 degree images, and other features. The ABC News app comes up as a rotating globe with stories on it, you spin the globe to pick the story.
While there are Facebook clients for the iPad, I have not found one I like. Twitter on the other hand, has a ton of choices for both environment. My favorite Twitter client on the Tab was Tweetcaster by Handmark. An iPad version is supposedly in the works, but I have become a fan of Echofon. It is an excellent client.
Games. I am not a huge gamer, but the iPad had plenty of choices. I own Garage Band (but really have not figured it out), all three Angry Birds (really a tie between devices; they look awesome in both the Tab and iPad. My favorite game is Easy Sudoku, available for both platforms. I prefer the 7" version on the Tab, but the iPad version is still very good. Hard to explain why, but its almost as if the Sudoku grid is too big on the iPad. Bejeweled 2 is one of my favorite ipod touch games, and it runs great in its Android version, full screen. There is NO iPad specific version, and you are forced to use the iPhone app. Android wins on this one.
Web browsing. On the Tab I used Dolphin HD for a browser. The Tab was great in that it could run Flash. The iPad has a good browser in Safari, but there are many times I wish it had Flash. But the larger screen on the iPad makes for a better experience, in spite of Flash. I disagree with those who say they never encounter flash sites. I run into the issue regularly.
E-Books. I still prefer the Kindle reader on Android over the iPad. The 10" screen just is not as enjoyable when reading a book in bed. Tab wins on this. And the Kindle TV ads about screen glare when trying to read an iPad outside compared with an actual Kindle? Totally true. You can use an iPad outside with the brightness cranked, but it is not a pleasant experience for my eyes.
Using the iPad for work. I bought the iPad because I wanted to be able to use it for meetings, and for reading complex documents. It is a winner on this category. There are good apps for it, and as a $500 PDF reader, it does that job very well.
The app review could go on forever and ever, but it seems it boils down to this:
1. If there is an iPad app, it is usually better. It is obvious that developers put more effort into the iPad.
2. There are a LOT of iPad apps; far more than Android Tablet apps. BUT Android apps designed for phones all run full screen on the Tab, whereas iPhone apps look horrible on the iPad.
Winner: iPad.
Document Management
Here is one where Android wins hands-down. The Tab has a 16GB microSD card. You plug the Tab into a PC or Mac, and can browse the file structure. You can tell exactly where your files are, and can add files to it easily. Numerous android file manager apps make it possible to manage your files.
The iPad lacks external storage cards. And if you plug it into a PC, you can connect it to iTunes. You can transfer files through iTunes, but who wants to do that? There are no file managers; there is no central repository of folders; your files are linked to the apps they are running under. It is a cost of living in the Apple ecosphere. BUT there are ways around it.
There is a fully functional Dropbox.com app for the iPad, and numerous applications which will sync between a Dropbox account and an iPad. I live my computing world with Dropbox. 38GB of files sync between desktops, laptops, and my Droid. Using a program called ReaddleDocs, I can sync to Dropbox and to Google Docs (it can also sync to other "cloud" services like Box.net or mobileme). I can then open a file in Pages, or a program called iAnnotate (which creates PDFs and enables you to easily annotate it). You can then use the Apple Save to command to send the file back to Dropbox, to upload it. This topic is fairly complex, and demands a review of its own (stay tuned!).
While tools like ReaddleDocs and Dropbox make it possible to avoid iTunes as a file manager, it is harder than it should be, and it really stinks that Apple makes it so difficult. I do not WANT to use ITunes except to transfer music. Heck, I buy most apps and videos directly on the iPad itself. It would not be hard to either provide an external SD port, or enable the iPad to function like a drive in a PC or Mac.
Winner: Tab (Android)
Final Thoughts
This review is much longer than I anticipated, and in many ways it is very much incomplete. So much I want to say. But in the end, it boils down to this. Is the iPad perfect? No, of course not. Is it an extremely polished, functional, and indeed, elegant, tablet? Absolutely. In the past month, the iPad has completely changed the way I compute at home. I use it all day long (the battery lasts all day with heavy usage). I took it on a two day trip to Chicago in lieu of a laptop, and it worked extremely well. I tried to do the same with the Tab back in December, and while it worked, the iPad experience was much better on the whole.
I did not want to like the iPad. I really didn't. I still do not really like the iOS. I hate the lack of widgets. The icons and quasi-folders on the iPad stink in comparison with the ability to have weather maps, photos, calendars, clocks, and other items on the screen of the Tab (Winner: Tab). Add to that the lack of alternative keyboards like Swype.
BUT I have learned to just live with the OS because the actual usage of applications is so much better on the iPad. There is LOST potential on the iOS home screen, but the device itself is so much better than I ever imagined. It is fully functional; it is fun; it is fast. Some of it is hard to put into words. To that end, I have reconfigured my Tab for my wife''s google account, and have passed it along. Sad to say farewell to a friend that I barely knew, but I simply don't need it anymore.
Winner: iPad
24 Replies
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5115 views
Hello everyone, new guy here. I'm trying to solve problem I'm having with Dish bonus view channels. When I'm watching the bonus view channels then I switch back to regular dish channels, after few minutes the screen flips to black and after 30 seconds flips back to regular channels and continues to flip back and forth until I turn off TV. After I wait 30 minutes and turn back on , I can use regular channels again. So, its after I switch from bonus view channels to regular dish channels the problem starts. Been trying to fix this for a month, but no luck
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
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Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
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House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, premieres on HBO Max on 8/21. I will be warching
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View: https://youtu.be/fNwwt25mheo
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'Game of Thrones' spinoff 'House of the Dragon' fires up release date at HBO, drops new character pics
The wait’s felt a little like watching for a dragon egg to hatch, but HBO’s hugely anticipated Game of Thrones prequel series finally has a release date. House of the Dragon will debut the first of its initial 10-episode season this summer, the network revealed today in a series of tweets that...
View: https://youtu.be/fNwwt25mheo
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Hi all, I recently inherited a FTA system off Craiglist and have been trying to get it set up. What I got was a Glorystar-branded ~90cm offset dish with a ground mount (/flat roof) frame, and GEOSATpro DSR200c receiver. From that initial equipment, I've replaced the old LNBF with a (cheap!) new one and also splurged on an SG-2100 H-H motorized rotor which does respond from the receiver's USALS menu.
The previous owner had it set up for religious programming on Galaxy 19 and I've been trying to start by finding that same bird at least. After a couple sessions I'm not sure I have, but I've found *something* at least! A handful of motor ticks further than the dish wants to be for 97W after starting from motor 0 pointing as much south as I can guess at. (I don't have great references to aim for and it's really hard to sight where exactly the dish is pointing anyway….)
Anyway, so far there's only one transponder that I've ever been able to catch as I search. It's 12146 V and when the receiver scans it I get this list of video channels:
but it's a long-winded spiel about "you know us as an industry-leading satellite solutions provider with over a quarter million sites" and to call them For All Your Every Needs™ type thing.
While I get little blips from other frequencies, this is the only strong transponder I've been able to come across. My receiver shows it as S 75 and Q up to 85 when I adjust it. It actually seemed to get better as I **un**skewed my LBNF — iiuc G19 was supposed to be -20º for me but however I'm supposed to be reading/referencing the angles the puck is now basically at 0º relative to the dish/arm got the strongest on this transponder.
Anyway sorry this is so long winded already… my question is, do I even have the right satellite? None of the other transponders that are supposed to be active on G-19 seem to come in. And if not the right satellite does anyone happen to recognize which one I might have found instead? I think knowing that would help me then adjust for a truer south aim and then hopeful the USALS will work automatically once I can get it dialed in.
The previous owner had it set up for religious programming on Galaxy 19 and I've been trying to start by finding that same bird at least. After a couple sessions I'm not sure I have, but I've found *something* at least! A handful of motor ticks further than the dish wants to be for 97W after starting from motor 0 pointing as much south as I can guess at. (I don't have great references to aim for and it's really hard to sight where exactly the dish is pointing anyway….)
Anyway, so far there's only one transponder that I've ever been able to catch as I search. It's 12146 V and when the receiver scans it I get this list of video channels:
- 1.1 Srv_1
- 2.84 OU_Chan
- 3.2 Srv_2
- 4.5 Srv_5
- 5.3 Srv_3
- 6.4 Srv_4
- 7.6 Srv_6
- 8.7 Srv_7
but it's a long-winded spiel about "you know us as an industry-leading satellite solutions provider with over a quarter million sites" and to call them For All Your Every Needs™ type thing.While I get little blips from other frequencies, this is the only strong transponder I've been able to come across. My receiver shows it as S 75 and Q up to 85 when I adjust it. It actually seemed to get better as I **un**skewed my LBNF — iiuc G19 was supposed to be -20º for me but however I'm supposed to be reading/referencing the angles the puck is now basically at 0º relative to the dish/arm got the strongest on this transponder.
Anyway sorry this is so long winded already… my question is, do I even have the right satellite? None of the other transponders that are supposed to be active on G-19 seem to come in. And if not the right satellite does anyone happen to recognize which one I might have found instead? I think knowing that would help me then adjust for a truer south aim and then hopeful the USALS will work automatically once I can get it dialed in.
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Done and done and done! I ended up doing a bit more iteration (back and forth between the left-right and up-down adjustments) but I've now got it landing on G19 at its default position for 97W.
Yep, ended up with a page or two full on my receiver's search. Didn't double-check that my receiver has all six of the right transponders but I can mess with that later if it turns out I'm missing something interesting but still DVB-S / MPEG-2 compatible.
Yep, can see definite signal degradation as soon as I skew the LNB either way from "straight" (seam on the LNB lined up with the clamps on the mounting bracket). Will make setup easier if I want to try swapping anything else in!
I don't know if there's any good (unencrypted, DVB-S) satellite farther away to really check the sweep against, but I was at least able to program in my original find at 101.0 W back in (now at the correct "12000 V 20000" setting) and can get both birds automatically.
Shouldn't be *that* exciting since it's just an ad, but still really fun to choose channels on the other one and have it jog over and lock on
B
beside 123W, another one to try (if it's above the horizon at your location) is Hispasat @30W. It has at least 2 DVB-S transponders with SD/Mpeg2 channelsDone and done and done! I ended up doing a bit more iteration (back and forth between the left-right and up-down adjustments) but I've now got it landing on G19 at its default position for 97W.
Yep, ended up with a page or two full on my receiver's search. Didn't double-check that my receiver has all six of the right transponders but I can mess with that later if it turns out I'm missing something interesting but still DVB-S / MPEG-2 compatible.
Yep, can see definite signal degradation as soon as I skew the LNB either way from "straight" (seam on the LNB lined up with the clamps on the mounting bracket). Will make setup easier if I want to try swapping anything else in!
I don't know if there's any good (unencrypted, DVB-S) satellite farther away to really check the sweep against, but I was at least able to program in my original find at 101.0 W back in (now at the correct "12000 V 20000" setting) and can get both birds automatically.
Shouldn't be *that* exciting since it's just an ad, but still really fun to choose channels on the other one and have it jog over and lock on
No luck finding this one. I motor over and it seems like a pretty dead spot of sky. I did get a slight blip (Q up to 1% or 2%) if I lowered the dish slightly. So I wonder if my polar mount itself maybe needs a bit of fine tuning?
Even when loosening the bolts and manually nudging the dish up/down/left/right nothing seemed to really wake it [new receiver, see below!] up and never saw anything more than 4% or 5% which I don't know is even real or could have been just noise?
I'm in Washington state (northwest CONUS) so this one's not an option for me.
I now have a V8 Finder 2
I've been able to scan in more now on G-19, and as well as watching the ad on SES 1 and getting some PBS stations there and G-16 both. So three satellites kinda in the general vicinity of each other (97W/101W/99.1W) programmed and able to rotate between.
Is G-18 at 123W as strong as the others? According to Satbeams I should be at least somewhat in its footprint although it looks like it's maybe focused more on Alaska.
Now that I'm back at my computer waiting for the Finder to charge back up looks like the Eutelsat(s) 117W have a couple Ku transponders I could look for too.
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I'm having trouble finding a for sure answer on this. When I first started diving back into satellite stuff I noticed the GT Media V8 Finder2 which looks pretty cool and relatively low price point. But I can't find an answer, seems like some people (and Amazon's own AI guesser-bot) say it doesn't support motors.
The manual itself (the PDF that I found is named 20220718043903GTMEDIAV8FINDER2.pdf and it's on page 6 of 8) does show on the installation screen a "Motor Setup" menu item and says "If select DiSEqC1.2 or USALS, we can press ◀︎▶︎ to select IF Channel, and use number key to input Center Frequency."
Which…… the USALS part seems promising, but I don't know what IF and Center frequencies have to do with anything? Can it drive the motor off its battery for one, and does it have options for e.g. using the ◀︎▶︎ arrows to change the aim and save adjustments?
The closest I've found to real-world experience here is in Long shot with TBS6909X card where someone is talking about a different rotor and says:
> when I connect my V8 Finder 2, it immediately moves the dish if it's not in the correct position
which seems really promising! Moving the dish is what I'm after here, with something newer than the old MPEG-2 receiver I have now. Even for other receivers its really unclear if motor support is just pretty much a safe assumption that they don't even mention it anymore?
The V9 Prime actually looks pretty nice too and assuming it runs motors maybe that'd be better than the V8 Finder 2 for actual long term use since it has networking. But I'm having trouble finding listings for it (and actually most other receivers I see mentioned here) on Amazon or eBay or even Aliexpress. I'm wanting a DVB-S2 receiver for at least MPEG-4 with H.264/AVC and maybe should just get H.265/HEVC while I'm shopping. Main criteria:
* run my "Goto X"-era SG-2100 rotator
* be able to view most/all modern FTA satellites
* ideally a scheduled DVR feature and/or network would make it more useful
* I don't mind if it has… "alternative" firmwares or features but just for broader compatibility/interest
My main goal is I guess just exploration, seeing what's up there. Honestly not a big TV guy and definitely not into infomercials but if I can time shift the occasional Bob Ross or Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, or catch some world events as they're being uplinked, that sort of thing might be interesting. (Honestly main goal started out as weather satellites but this is kinda a warmup excercise for what will likely be a separate setup due to the frequencies.)
My dish is kinda far from my house and even farther from my "radio shack" so if I could just run a PoE ethernet line to something in a box below the dish, or a coax only to the crawlspace where I have 110V but either way would need it full remote including changing between satellites. To avoid having to buy and pull tons more coax up and down through the house. I'm into open source and real standards, so I'd much rather something that I can say use with VLC or go2rtc via a raw IP address and protocol rather than some convenient but proprietary iOS cloud app thingy.
The manual itself (the PDF that I found is named 20220718043903GTMEDIAV8FINDER2.pdf and it's on page 6 of 8) does show on the installation screen a "Motor Setup" menu item and says "If select DiSEqC1.2 or USALS, we can press ◀︎▶︎ to select IF Channel, and use number key to input Center Frequency."
Which…… the USALS part seems promising, but I don't know what IF and Center frequencies have to do with anything? Can it drive the motor off its battery for one, and does it have options for e.g. using the ◀︎▶︎ arrows to change the aim and save adjustments?
The closest I've found to real-world experience here is in Long shot with TBS6909X card where someone is talking about a different rotor and says:
> when I connect my V8 Finder 2, it immediately moves the dish if it's not in the correct position
which seems really promising! Moving the dish is what I'm after here, with something newer than the old MPEG-2 receiver I have now. Even for other receivers its really unclear if motor support is just pretty much a safe assumption that they don't even mention it anymore?
The V9 Prime actually looks pretty nice too and assuming it runs motors maybe that'd be better than the V8 Finder 2 for actual long term use since it has networking. But I'm having trouble finding listings for it (and actually most other receivers I see mentioned here) on Amazon or eBay or even Aliexpress. I'm wanting a DVB-S2 receiver for at least MPEG-4 with H.264/AVC and maybe should just get H.265/HEVC while I'm shopping. Main criteria:
* run my "Goto X"-era SG-2100 rotator
* be able to view most/all modern FTA satellites
* ideally a scheduled DVR feature and/or network would make it more useful
* I don't mind if it has… "alternative" firmwares or features but just for broader compatibility/interest
My main goal is I guess just exploration, seeing what's up there. Honestly not a big TV guy and definitely not into infomercials but if I can time shift the occasional Bob Ross or Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, or catch some world events as they're being uplinked, that sort of thing might be interesting. (Honestly main goal started out as weather satellites but this is kinda a warmup excercise for what will likely be a separate setup due to the frequencies.)
My dish is kinda far from my house and even farther from my "radio shack" so if I could just run a PoE ethernet line to something in a box below the dish, or a coax only to the crawlspace where I have 110V but either way would need it full remote including changing between satellites. To avoid having to buy and pull tons more coax up and down through the house. I'm into open source and real standards, so I'd much rather something that I can say use with VLC or go2rtc via a raw IP address and protocol rather than some convenient but proprietary iOS cloud app thingy.
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Thanks, great tips and yeah when I'd read how the H/V bias worked I wondered if the higher voltage was ever useful for better power transfer
It was perhaps slightly impulsive (though I guess not too late to cancel) but instead of the Finder unit I ended up going for kinda the opposite: a completely faceless USB tuner box (TBS5930) which should have RF support all the way up through DVB-S2X. If I'm understanding correctly the actual video/audio will then be whatever I can get software/GPU support for so my hope is that any unencrypted MPEG-2/AVC/HEVC feed can be viewed with VLC or whatnot. As well as access to what I assume is pure data like the Blockstream stuff just for example. (They had a lot of good resources for reception of their own signal in lots of various interesting ways and is kinda how I found the TBS options.)
And I think I will be able to control DiSEqC stuff through Linux including motor commands. So the idea is kinda what I mentioned, hoping this can just get chained in to an old thin client PC or if there's any Raspberry Pi that doesn't cost triple digits these days, somewhere physically convenient and then run it all over LAN from my laptop.
All this is somewhat theoretical of course based on what I'm piecing together but at a certain point I usually have to close all the browser tabs and just commit to try *something* that looks promising and go from there.
It was perhaps slightly impulsive (though I guess not too late to cancel) but instead of the Finder unit I ended up going for kinda the opposite: a completely faceless USB tuner box (TBS5930) which should have RF support all the way up through DVB-S2X. If I'm understanding correctly the actual video/audio will then be whatever I can get software/GPU support for so my hope is that any unencrypted MPEG-2/AVC/HEVC feed can be viewed with VLC or whatnot. As well as access to what I assume is pure data like the Blockstream stuff just for example. (They had a lot of good resources for reception of their own signal in lots of various interesting ways and is kinda how I found the TBS options.)
And I think I will be able to control DiSEqC stuff through Linux including motor commands. So the idea is kinda what I mentioned, hoping this can just get chained in to an old thin client PC or if there's any Raspberry Pi that doesn't cost triple digits these days, somewhere physically convenient and then run it all over LAN from my laptop.
All this is somewhat theoretical of course based on what I'm piecing together but at a certain point I usually have to close all the browser tabs and just commit to try *something* that looks promising and go from there.
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