The Inimitable Have Tex Blog

B&N has a winner on it’s hands. With the 1.2 update it’s a crossover between an e-reader and a tablet. Rooted, it gives the Samsung Galaxy tab a run for its money. It’s definitely the best value Android tablet under $300.00.

I’ve spent a lot of time and effort on Android. It’s a great operating system, I still love my Droid phone after eighteen months, and my Nook Color is a great e-reader, and, since the most recent update, a pretty decent tablet. I’ve also played around with other Android tablets in stores, including the Galaxy Tab and Xoom, but never felt the desire to buy one.

We recently acquired a customer that’s exclusively Apple, that I need to support remotely, without hauling my MacBook around. Apple launched the iPad 2, and Verizon had a bunch of 64GB gen1 wifi iPads for $500.00. As I already had a Verizon MiFi, I didn’t need a 3G version, so I grabbed one.

I was a little apprehensive about the price of iPad apps, and the lack of Flash for websites, but the app selection is truly amazing, and the quality is excellent. My iPad has become a constant companion. Here are some highlights:

• Email is a snap. Easy setup (much easier than Outlook, Mac Mail, or Android), and a great email client. I use my iPad to check mail more than any other device.
• Browsing, Safari is fine, but try Terra. It emulates Firefox and IE, and while it won’t do Java or Active X, it really works pretty well at giving the full web experience.
• Remote access, Wyse Pocket Cloud to access my PC, and Mac. On the PC it’s really intuitive,  lets me manage any desktop or laptop I put the (free) remote client on. Mac client is great when it works, but crashes a lot. It uses gmail for authentication, so you don’t have to poke holes in firewalls, or pay $15-20 per month per PC for the privilege. Once logged into my PC I can remotely support my managed service customers, anywhere I can get a Verizon signal. I also use iTeleport to support Macs, let’s me do anything on a Mac remotely, without the Pocket Cloud crashes, but Pocket Cloud is more intuitive when it works.
• Entertainment. Hulu Plus, Netflix, HBO GO, if that isn’t enough, you’ve simply got too much time on your hands. Streaming quality is great, and the iPad will give you at least 4 full length movies on a charge. You can do it 3G, but watch your data plan, and expect some “intermissions” for refilling the buffers.
• Books, iBooks, Kindle, Nook, what else do you need? Doesn’t do magazines though like the Nook Color.
• Music, iTunes, of course, plus Pandora, Amazon Cloud Player.
• News, all the major TV networks have apps. Special shout out for BBC, CNN and Pulse. Great interfaces and feeds
• Productivity. Quick Office. Is it everything you can get in MS Office, no, but what it offers for $15 is truly astounding.
• Cloud storage, you just have to try iFiles. I can access Google Docs, my Egnyte server, Dropbox, and lots of others right from iFiles. The built-in viewers are great. Now, if I could just get it to launch Quick Office instead of the viewers, I’d be all set.
• Games, wrong person to ask, but Angry Birds is fun, and I can feed my FreeCell addiction.
• Speciality interests. We have a bird feeder in the back yard, lots of entertainment. But if you want to know what the birds are, try the Audubon guides, $10-15 each or $30 gets all four. Great graphics, bird calls, and you can even record your own sightings.

Downers, there aren’t many but there are a few irritations:

• No multi-tasking. So when you click on the link in the email it launches the browser, so far so good, but it isn’t Terra, it’s Safari, and when you’re done, you have to relaunch email.
• No Flash. Apple has a large enough effect on the market that lots of sites with video/animation work, but not all, and it’s annoying when they don’t.
• No card reader/USB ports. You have to synch everything you want on it via iTunes. There are $50bn reasons why Apple wants it this way, but it still sucks!
• Too big/heavy. This is a little unfair, I like the large screen when I’m looking at email and web pages, but the thing is a pain in the ass to read books in bed. It’s just too cumbersome, and the darned screen keeps rotating when you try to get comfortable. I can’t get the screen lock to behave as I want.
• No keyboard, now I’m really being picky, but the on-screen keyboard is OK for short emails and doc edits, but a pain for creating copy. I’m tempted by a Zaggmate bluetooth Keyboard/Case combo, but as I told a buddy of mine, I already have a netbook .

So if you’ve been on the fence about an iPad, jump on in, the water’s fine.

The Chromebook is answering a question no one is asking. Windows netbooks and low-end laptops are cheap. If all you want is to web browse and use browser based apps, Acronis will let you reload Win 7 from a protected image in a few minutes, so malware issues can be worked around easily.

If you want a richer graphics experience, tablets from Apple and Google’s Android operating system offer more options, are more compact, and some are cheaper.

If you want a locked down corporate OS, virtualized remote desktops work just fine and protect data from theft/exposure.

So what’s the the point exactly? I’ve been in IT for over 30 years and just don’t get it.