I want to get a Tablet.

[FlameBait]

I have been window shopping on Amazon.There appears to be lots of crappy low end tablets but I want something I can actually use and root if need be. Access to the Android marketplace is a must.

How do I find a good but affordable tablet with lots of community and developer support?

[hendersj]

On Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:36:02 +0000, FlameBait wrote:

> I have been window shopping on Amazon.There appears to be lots of crappy
> low end tablets but I want something I can actually use and root if need
> be. Access to the Android marketplace is a must.
>
> How do I find a good but affordable tablet with lots of community and
> developer support?

I've been toying around with the idea of getting a Nook Color just to use
as a cheap Android tablet.

Apparently it can run Cyanogenmod.

Doesn't have cameras or 3G, but the price isn't bad. Screen's a bit
smaller than many tablets (I was looking at an Acer tablet at Costco the
other day), but costs about half, and instructions for rooting it are at
nookdevs.com

Jim



--
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

[newtosuse]

Check out oldcpu's blog. He has been looking also. He shared some great information.

[oldcpu]

How do I find a good but affordable tablet with lots of community and developer support?

I spent a bit of time last week looking at tablets, but other than 'hacker' communities springing up around specifically tablets, I could not find a relevant community conceptually similar to what we have with nominal GNU/Linux.

The closest I found was the 'android' forum: Android Forums

But when I read some posts on that thread, I did not get the same sense of 3rd party application availability I get with nominal GNU/Linux distros. The structure of things appears to be different.

For example, I noted many of the tablets do not allow root permissions to the owners by default. Instead there are 'hacks' called 'rooting' the tablet such that users can then obtain root permissions when desired. THAT was a major surprise to me.

... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the application philosophy of Android.

[JoergJaeger]

I have been window shopping on Amazon.There appears to be lots of crappy low end tablets but I want something I can actually use and root if need be. Access to the Android marketplace is a must.

How do I find a good but affordable tablet with lots of community and developer support?

I think you should determine what you want to do with it. Find out what it needs to be able to do and see what any of these tablets can do.
Secondly, i would really spend some time and try them out in a store. There are many where the touchscreen is not as responsive, so you should make sure it meets your expectation.

I don't own any of them myself, but thats what i would be looking for.

[FlameBait]

Thanks for the replies.

I have considered the color Nook which seems to have a good following and a "hacker" community. But the Nook lacks some feature I want.

As far as uses go I want web browsing, Facebook and Gmail access but I also want Skype, Google Talk and a media player. Wife and a camera facing the user is a must. There are just so many devices it';s confusing.
I like this one Amazon.com: Herotab C8 - Samsung S5PV210 1GHz Processor, 7" Capacitive Multitouch, Android 2.2 Tablet: Computer & Accessories and amd going to research it a bit more. It's about what I want to pay on a bet that a tablet might me useful to me.

I have a iPhone 4 and I don't want an iPad or any other Apple products.

Yes oldcpu Google's idea of "open" isn't what we are familiar with in the Linux community. I have varying levels of trust. The US government, Apple and, Facebook being totally untrusted. Google having a moderate level of trust and the Linux community having the most level of trust. So that puts Android at about half the level of trust I have in the Linux community.

[oldcpu]

Google's idea of "open" isn't what we are familiar with in the Linux community.

I'm struggling with this, and I get conflicting impressions. I note this URL Philosophy and Goals | Android Open Source .. which suggests android is very open.

Yet root not being available by default was a surprise. And the Android GUI appears designed to hide the command line/terminal (although there appear to be Android terminal emulators) ?

I noted for some major tablets, that when a new Android OS release is available, one can NOT just install it, but rather one needs to rely on the hardware tablet supplier to release the Android OS update.

THAT was a major surprise, and I don't know how many hardware tablets that is true for. Its sort of like saying when a new Red-Hat/Ubuntu/openSUSE (take your pick) distro version is released, that one can NOT 'just install it' but instead one needs their PC hardware supplier (Dell, or Acer, or Asus, or IBM/Lenovo, or HP ... etc ... ) to release a version of the distro to install.

I need to do more research here to see if I simply encountered 'an exception' to the rule, or if this is true across the board.

[oldcpu]

Yes oldcpu Google's idea of "open" isn't what we are familiar with in the Linux community. I have varying levels of trust. The US government, Apple and, Facebook being totally untrusted. Google having a moderate level of trust and the Linux community having the most level of trust. So that puts Android at about half the level of trust I have in the Linux community.

There is an interesting article (from Dec 2010) here on Google and Android:
Google takes heat over Android tablet OS - Computerworld

Something I read on another site, is since 'root' access is not available, it is NOT possible for one to install an Android update themselves, but rather they need to reply on their Tablet Hardware supplier to provide the update. Ergo such an update may or may not come.

Now one can try to 'root' their tablet (hack it for root) but that's no guarantee a new Android version will install on one's Tablet because of driver issues, with so many Tablet hardware suppliers having different hardware interfaces. I'm not very encouraged by what I read, even though I note I would like a Tablet. ....

For now, I'm just going to keep reading and learn some more.

[oldcpu]

... going to research it a bit more. It's about what I want to pay on a bet that a tablet might me useful to me.

I note something interesting here about updating the OS on one's Tablet:
Why cant the OS be upgraded?

There are four primary reasons for tablets not having an upgrade path.

• Chipset: There are a number of different chips in use. Just like you would not install and run Windows 7 on a Pentium chip, you would not run Froyo Android 2.2 on a VIA 8505 Chipped Tablet. The VIA chipset is too weak to run 2.2 effectively
• Unique builds and Drivers. If you took a drive in a Toshiba notebook and stuck it in an HP notebook, the odd are it would bluescreen. This is the same problem for Tablets. The firmware contains drivers for the specific chipset and some chipsets do not have upgrade paths. These Chipsets were designed for 1.5 or 1.6
• Profit. It is not profitable for the manufacturers to support a low cost tablet. There is not a lot of profit on the low price tablets (Less than $200USD) It is easier to build a newer and cheaper model which has the newer and cheaper chips which can support the current OS
• There is a direct proportion of price to support. The higher the price. The more likely you will find Vendor or manufacture support Archos or Samsung is a good example. Expect updates

I will not touch the issue of Android source code for almost every tablet is a "secret recipe" model and most firmware cooks are only modding the second and third layer. Not the core OS version. That is delivered by the Manufacturer.

[FlameBait]

Well I kind of leery of Samsung and their speed to update devices that are in the hands of consumers. I am just going by what I know of from people who own Android cellular phones. Of course you have the carrier added to the mix as well in that case. The carrier adds all kinds of bloatware and reduced functionality to the builds so they might profit more and lock you in more if they can if they ever get around to updating your phone at all. The Tablet maker wants to sell you a new tablet as well.

It looks like the Nvidia dual core is "good" right now as is the Samsung version of the ARM.

It would be better if these things just ran a version of Linux that is more familiar in set up to us Linux users with a much modified user interface. Then you would have the problem with codecs and driver for closed hardware though.
I may end up with a Color Nook as a intermediate step into Tablet ownership.