| Author | Message | ||
     Greg_e |
Anyone have one of the cheapo Flytouch 3 Android based tablets? I need something with about a 10 inch display for some e-learning courses, after shelling out the money for the courses I'm not even going to entertain a $400+ tablet to use for playback at work. Flytouch 3 with 8GB internal and a micro SDHC slot can be had for around $170 shipped. 32GB micro cards can be had for another $50 and should hold more than I can digest in a single day once I compress the files to mpeg 4. Will it be as good as the Xoom, of course not, but it will get the job done and do it for less than half the price. I also don't want to cart my Laptop back and forth on my 9R, I'll need it to definitely stay working to use for the lab portions with a bunch of virtual machines. It's too big to carry (in my opinion) and a 10 inch 1024x768 tablet should work great for this purpose and allow me to watch the videos with the several virtual computers running running on the laptop. Also I have an Archos 43it, I will not give Archos (or OEM Arnova) more of my money so please don't suggest their 101 tablet, I'd rather buy an evil Apple product before giving them more money. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I have the Viewsonic G-Tab. It's a bit more than the Flytouch (never heard of it), but I do like it. The Viewsonic is also using very similar hardware to the Xoom, dual core 1GHz processor, etc. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'm still waiting for Froggy's full consumer report on the Xoom. Froggy... what's the word? | ||
| Greg_e |
It's really nice, but the price is more than I want to spend right now. The courses I'm going to buy are $1250, plus I need a least one book and simulator for another $150, then the seven exams are going to total about $1500 more. So dropping another $500 is way beyond what I'm willing to do right now, and even the $200 for a cheapo tablet may end up out of the question. The Viewsonic is a lot closer to what I can afford and deserves a closer look. | ||
| Brinnutz |
No idea about this one but might be an option?? Read through the thread to see if there's any reviews from someone who actually got one? http://m.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sdui d=300877&t=2901657 | ||
| Froggy |
If it isn't running Android 3, it isn't worth owning in my opinion. The tablet optimized OS makes that much of a difference. Android 2.X based tablets are just large screen phoneless phones. As for the will it get the job done thing, I honestly can't say, I am yet to find a cheap android tablet that didn't run like crap. Low frame rates in games like Angry Birds, and videos even in a basic mpg codec were unwatchably laggy. Touch screens that do whatever they want, software keyboards meant for a 4" screen and lots of other minor but annoying flaws make it so I can't recommend any. I know the Xoom is mucho denero, but this is a get what you pay for catagory. I was at Bestbuy today, I saw a new tablet also running Honeycomb but it was only $400 but had slightly weaker specs (16gb?) and was a little thicker and heaver than the Xoom. I never heard of the Flytouch, I'll have to see about aquiring one. | ||
| Greg_e |
At $550 you can get a nice little Dell convertible computer: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-duo/pd or one of the others like it. A little bigger and heavier but far more useful for the money. I may look around for a netbook style tablet in the under $300 range and see what is available. | ||
| Greg_e |
Apparently there is the real Flytouch3 sold by Ibex, and then there are the clones going by the same name. It apparently uses a micro SD card for the system drive so you can get in and swap it to a 32GB system, and have another 32GB for the external storage. The clones almost always have a smaller battery, the 4GB Ibex has a 6400mah, all the larger version and 8000mah. The clones almost all have something smaller yet claim the same battery life. It's a sad day when the Chinese cloners rip off each other. Chinagrabber seems to be the only reliable place to get the real Ibex devices that might actually do everything listed in the specs (might maybe). I'll probably decide tonight if I'm going to buy one, my disks should be here so I can see what resolution they are done with, and how well they play on my smaller device. | ||
| Sl33py |
I wouldn't get a budget tablet, instead look at a used laptop online. Craigslist, eBay, etc. For what you spend you will get more performance out of an older laptop than the new tablets. Especially a cheap-o tablet. You will not get 10hrs batt life, but a used 12-15" LT should be easily found for a good price. you can even get a bit of a premium ultra portable used for a decent price... or a newer 10" netbook... weight savings always costs - depends what hte primary use of the device will be. SSD is an expensive upgrade, but sometimes worth it. I got a used D430 for GF and put in a 120GB SSD for 250 - she loves it! more oomph than the 10" netbook and snappy w/ win7. hth - gl! | ||
| Greg_e |
I have laptops, I just don't want to cart them around with me. I have a really nice Samsung QX410 with 8GB ram that I mostly use, I also have a tiny little Fujitsu u810, but sadly the u810 doesn't have enough kick to handle the video files I need to watch for this training series. I have an Archos 43it Android tablet that can watch them just fine (better GPU) and I'm finding that it might do the job I need because most of this material seems to be slide show based with great big fonts. I may still go for an under $100 7 inch tablet just to get a little bigger view, need to think about this more since I can read everything on the slides on my 4.3 inch device and might as well save the money for the exams and for books to verify the material in the videos. The reason for the cheapo tablet was so that it would fit easily in my tail bag when I am on my motorcycle, I do not want to put my QX410 in that bag with the other things I need to carry to and from work. It's not a huge laptop, but it is also not something I want to hit the road if a zipper or strap fails. Yes that's right, the videos arrived today, I haven't spent more than 10 minutes flipping through some conversions to mp4, and I already found ten year out of date material about ethernet standards. Video says gigabit ethernet can not be run on twisted pair copper, I think most of us know this to be 100% incorrect. It will really irritate me to start the exam and find out that everything I thought I needed to know is all 10 years out of date and I am going to fail wasting $200 on the exam. | ||
| Froggy |
I hate exams like that. I recently had to renew my Dell desktop cert, and they changed the test to have all kinds of half assed questions. "The computer randomly restarts, is it an overheating issue? True/false". I picked false because it could be a dozen different things, with overheating being fairly low on the list. They marked me wrong.  | ||
| Greg_e |
Is it an overheating issue... Is it hot? If the CPU overheats it is supposed to give you a series of beeps to let you know the CPU clock has been reduced to keep the processor from frying. The specific tests are the Cisco CCNA and Microsoft MCITP, with the Cisco first because it is the first thing I need for the future project and there are more than a few holes in my router/switch knowledge. They also think that portable devices can only handle 320x240 size video... Going to give them grief about that and try to educate them for future courses. | ||
| Froggy |
Good luck with the CCNA, I did parts one and two a few years ago, never got around to three and four. That is hilarious about the resolution, but not surprising knowing Cisco. My Nokia N800 tablet that I bought in 2006? has an 800x480 screen. | ||
| Royintulsa |
Evil apple? My apples are so superior to virus infected pc's it is unbelievable. | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Evil apple? My apples are so superior to virus infected pc's it is unbelievable.  Yup, it's unbelievable. And before you continue your condescending behavior, I own 2 Macs, and have a "hackintosh"(which also boots to Win7 and Ubuntu). Along with 3 Windows boxes. They each have their strong and weak traits. But the clueless Apple fanbois are seriously annoying. And... Macs aren't immune to Viruses... http://www.macworld.com/article/159595/2011/05/macdefender_trojan_horse.html Security through obscurity isn't superior. | ||
| Royintulsa |
I have spent more on security for my pc's than my macs cost. It is so nice to turn it on, and it is on - wow! What a novel concept. Gregee, do yourself a favor, buy a used iPad. It is like when cavemen discovered fire. It is like the opening scene in 2001A Space Odyssey. My God man, the guy who started Apple has lived with pancreatic cancer for 8 years! God is on his side! | ||
| Froggy |
That takes the cake for the most hilarious and ignorant statement I've ever read here on Badweb! Thank you Steve, I know not all mac users are clueless "Jobs is the next coming of Jesus" types, but there are way too many out there. | ||
| Froggy |
You did lots of things wrong. If you spent even a cent on security, you are doing it wrong. You don't run a network of over 5000 machines on a college campus, so I don't see why you would need to spend anything. Some of the best tools are free, and the best advice and security settings are free too. Microsoft Security Essensials is the highest rated free antivirus software, combine that with not running your computer as an administrator are you will be pretty much invulnerable to anything that would cause real damage. Common sence is still your number one way to not trash your computer, or car, or anything else you operate.
Yep, I have over 5000 PCs, 150 servers, 300 printers, and tons of other crap, and guess what, they all work when you turn them on.  Oh, and we have 21 Imacs, they tend to cause the most headaches on our campus due to them requiring their own servers, incompatibility with other programs, and they like to piss off the firewall to the point their network access gets shut off. Then Apple releases a new version of their server software to work with the latest OSX, and it requires us to purchase more hardware as it isn't compatible with the 1 year old server. I am sure glad the money pit doesn't come out of my pay.
Greg wants something that is affordable and does what he wants. The Ipad does neither. I've used the Ipad, it is a pile of junk compared to the latest and greatest with Android. Hell, even my 5 year old Nokia N800 tablet blows the Ipad away in functionality.
Then the Motorolla Xoom is when cavemen discovered a flamethrower that came with blueprints to invent the wheel and helicopter.
Wrong again. In 2004 he announced he had a non aggressive cancer in his pancreas. Shortly after he went and had the tumor removed. | ||
| Steve_mackay |
I have spent more on security for my pc's than my macs cost. Then I guess a mac is PERFECT for you. I spend little to nothing on security. Two of my PCs have Norton IS, which I purchased a 3 year, 3 PC license( One license went to the Mother-in-Law's PC) for $24. The other 2 have Microsoft Security essentials on it, which is free. $2.67 per year, per PC wont exactly break the bank. Gregee, do yourself a favor, buy a used iPad. It is like when cavemen discovered fire. It is like the opening scene in 2001A Space Odyssey. Some of us want to think independently. Without the lord all mighty Jobs, and his Cupertino disciples telling us what, when and where we can install things on OUR devices. I've owned an iPhone 2g and 3GS, and now a HTC Evo 4g. I'm not looking back. My iPhone 3GS is sitting in my toolbox at work. Relegated to doing nothing but streaming the local radio station over wifi, and acting as a glorified iPod. And now that Google has gotten there act together this year with their open accessory API, apple wont have a strangle hold much longer. Curbing Android fragmentation is the biggest hurdle for Google. | ||
| Royintulsa |
Great observations. (Message edited by Royintulsa on May 19, 2011) | ||
| Froggy |
What is wrong with the Blast? It beats the hell out of the XB and 1125 in cost per mile, which is the primary reason I got it. Also, personal attacks are not tolerated here, and make you look like the idiot.
I have no credibility? I am a computer technicians with multiple certifications, I am responsible for every piece of tech at a college, and I own multiple websites. What do you have for credibility? You own a mac and apparently can't properly operate a PC after all! | ||
| Steve_mackay |
You have no credibility whatsoever plus you have your own website - like you are too big for Facebook! LMFreakingAO. Actually, our 'lil green friend has quite a bit of credibility. Someone who claims to have spent more on security than the price of a new Mac really isn't in much of a position to judge one's credibility concerning technology. You do realize that running a web site of your own gives you a multitude of options that Facebook couldn't DREAM of doing. I can't stream my 300+ gig of music from facebook, or any other service for that matter. I can host a multitude of ride routes for our local Buell group that could never be done with Facebook. Or any other service the way I do it. But, seeing as you're entrenched in the Apple fanboi culture, you couldn't possibly think of any reason why you'd want to do anything outside of the norm, or comfort of a site like Facebook But, just like Mac VS PC arguments, they each have their place. | ||
| Royintulsa |
I have both, I like apple more. (Message edited by Royintulsa on May 19, 2011) | ||
| Court |
>>>>I know what I am talking about. I commend you on a superior job of concealing that fact. Your tone is rude, your grammar poor, your facts are flawed and your knowledge lacking. I have no credibility . . . . but, hey . . that's construction for you. | ||
| Royintulsa |
Court, I made a little joke about apple being superior. (Message edited by Royintulsa on May 19, 2011) | ||
| Greg_e |
I agree with Froggy about the networks and especially Macs on those networks as I also have issues like this (though my network is not nearly as large). Especially when Apple decides to just toss a product in the trash leaving the users hanging like they did with the Xserves and the server OS in general. I have had enough bad experiences with Apple that I would sooner transform everything I do to Linux than to buy a wickedly overprice (but pretty) piece of apple hardware. Support from Apple is nonexistent every time I contact them, there educational discounts are pretty much gone when you need an upgrade. In short my dealings with them have been very poor. They are a consumer based company and only give decent level support to big prestigious universities. I didn't intend to turn this into and Apple vs. any other system, but there are my reasons based on experience for hating Apple. I gave them every opportunity to treat me like a valued professional and they basically spit in my face several times. Let me throw out a few keywords so that when the person at APPLE who gets paid to do nothing but google for certain keywords sees this they can report back to our saviour... Steve Jobs, Apple, Xserve, OSX, MacPro, Mac. Also, Froggy, this is a Trainsignals video not directly from Cisco. The only thing that Cisco officially supports now is in class training, and I don't have $3000 per class to go through everything, let alone the 5 days each to do it. I found out from our IT department that the Win7 deployment is stopped because the college won't free up the cash to get the IT people trained. Even Microsoft is behind the times because the only official volume license product for Win7 is the Enterprise version and they only recently released that version. Pro on a domain seems to have a few oddities that may be causing me some grief in getting our virus scanner remotely installed. I even disabled all three firewalls and still no luck, but it might be an issue with AVG. | ||
| Greg_e |
Oh, and by the way... I posted this question on this forum instead of an Android or other computer tech forum because I KNOW that we have a diverse set of professionals on here and that some are much more knowledgeable in the IT areas than I am, Froggy being one of them. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
I'm not a Windows fanboi but Froggy always has good Window$ advice. That doesn't even broach the subject of his, Froggy, willingness to help anyone on this board at anytime. Do a search and look at how many times he produces part numbers, page numbers, the list goes on and on. Why anyone would pull out the Richard Cranium posting method on him is beyond me. Also, FWIW, the original poster is concentrating on a Cisco cert and just in case you didn't know Cisco loves some Microsoft and works very well with it so he'd be wise to proceed down the Microsoft path. Greg_e, keep your head down and don't stop with the Cisco certs until you are a CCIE x 2 or 3. You will never lack for gainful employment...thus far anyway. Full disclosure: This message was created in a Window$ VM (I'm actually working on some Cisco crap) that rides on Redhat. | ||
| Greg_e |
Thanks for the encouragement, for the time being I need to get some education on routing to work with new equipment that we will hopefully be installing in September, not Cisco because I don't like them as a company but Enterasys (owned by Siemens) which is what the entire campus uses. It is state contract pricing, comes with lifetime warranty, and has all the features at 1/3 price of Cisco. There is no other network training and internationally know certification that covers "generic" routers so Cisco is the path to that knowledge and certification. After I finish CCNA I need to go to work on Server 2008 and Win7 because that is an inevitable path for the college and it will take too long to learn on the fly. MCITP Enterprise Admin is the level I am looking at starting with, if I like the training I'll grab another one or two win7 specific courses. After that I want to go CCNP and maybe security so that work in a hospital is possible (damn hippa laws). These certs. may be a bargaining chip to actually get paid for the work I am doing, everything to this point is above my pay grade and it is getting to the point where they either need to pay me the extra, or let the IT department take it over. Since I don't have any certifications they will not pay me (haven't even asked). If they decide not to pay me and I still have to do this work, then I will have the certifications and hands on experience to walk away into a new tax bracket. I get by now with 2003 and XP, but 2008 and win7 are somewhat different. I've slowly been cutting down on the time I spend on the net, now that the courses are here I need to pretty cut that to checking email once in a while and nothing else. Converted the entire ICND1 course from the TSCC screen capture codec to h.264 so that I can work on it with my portable device. Ordered the Cisco CCNA book and simulator kit from Amazon yesterday too (good for backup in case I find more lacking or old info in the video courses). Got Vbox running with Win2008 and my win7 pro laptop so I think I have most of the exercise/hands on stuff in process. Time is the biggest factor which is why the portable device is so important. I need to update all our macs (no easy process), update all our Windows, update a few applications, and hopefully coast the rest of the summer at work. The only real hitch is this whole thing might be a non linear video editing control surface that I just made, if sales actually appear when I finish the final information, then I might have less time to devote to studies. I need to program the controller, print key labels, test, obtain video for the product, and finish the website. I want to have the raw video and stills ready for editing next week and see what kind of interest I can produce. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
I feel for you and I, too, dislike Cisco greatly. Second on my list is Enterasys  At one time the Dragon was the cream of the crop in the IDS/IPS sector, but that time has passed. However, I just work on whatever the customer puts in front of me and if it is an inline, as opposed to something passive, device pray that it is not a Cisco IPS or a Dragon. The Dragon HIDS had some promise, but it is way too sensitive to host changes and falls over for no reason at all. Good luck! |
