Re: [tlug] shopping for a 7" tablet; non-Android linux on tablets...

[Darren Cook <darren@example.com>]

> I recently got (not-yet-rooted) Android phone for work and I am not
> impressed, although it is OK to delete the spam (or almost) from my
> gmail, read some RSS in the train and occasionally check up some map
> or website/price/spec.

(Just some thoughts on linux vs. android; sorry I cannot help with what
you were asking.)

Some amazing happened the past 12 or so months: Android went from
mediocre regarding games, to "worth buying an android phone just for the
(free) games". Especially if you are a teenager, it seems. (My daughter
introduced me to Temple Run 2, which she learned about from one of her
friends.) (At the other end of the intellectual scale, CrazyStone plays
a strong enough game of go, on a 1Ghz single core phone(!!), that I will
probably never beat it at the highest level.)

The Adobe PDF reader is better on Android than on Linux. The Android app
is better than the web app on linux. (Allowing for the fact that my
linux notebook screen is much bigger than my phone screen, of course.)

ConnectBot is a good enough SSH tool. PocketCloud and 2X Client are the
two remote desktop apps I have installed; both are usable for
controlling window servers from your android phone when caught in the
middle of nowhere.

I am not particularly a fan of Android: it feels like reliability and
security-wise it is in the same class as Windows. (That wasn't a
compliment.) I often have to reboot.
But it is better than Linux is some areas (reading, games), and for the
things I'm likely to use a 7" tablet for I think I'd rather have Android
installed than Linux. (It is also superior to iPhone/iPad in those
areas, in my experience.)

Darren




-- 
Darren Cook, Software Researcher/Developer

http://dcook.org/work/ (About me and my work)
http://dcook.org/blogs.html (My blogs and articles)