h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Im not too sure about the size either. THough often thought that 10" (my current tablet size) is a little too big to casually hold.

If I get on with the NX7 i'll keep it, and if not i'll sell it and get a Transformer Infinity when (if?) it is actually released.

My only fear is I am a gadget loving hoarder and I might decide I have need of both (I don't, and can't afford both. Rarely stops me though!)

FB

Well, I;m thinking that the N7 would be a good size for me, as I would be bound to drop a 10" tablet, they're just awkward, to me...and I've been reading hundreds of books on my iTouch 3.5" with no problem, just would like a slightly larger screen for photos...

That the problem for me, I like paper books. I'm not sure I'll ever move properly to ebooks.

Well I do love books but in truth the kindle is very handy. Not sure if backlit screens can ever do the job as well though TBh.

Well just had the NX7 for a few days but I have to say I am really impressed. For such a relatively inexpensive tablet the build quality is excellent. It feels really premium.

My misgivings about the form factor appear to have been misplaced. Whilst it looked really small at first it is actually really easy to hold in your hand, and much more compfortable to use than my 10" one was. Reading teh interwebs, playing on twitter, reading comics and that were very compfortable and convenient. Much better than the Vega was TBH.

I use tablets mostly as a concumption device so can't really speak for how good it would be for productive work. I suspect a 10" tab would win on this TBH.

But for > 200 dabs it is a great bit of kit. If only it had MHL it would be perfect.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/22/google-nexus-7-16-surprise?CMP=twt_fd

Evidently i'm not the only one impressed!

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My Phone's been in for repair for the last week, and I got it back yesterday. I hadn't realised the huge difference a decent sized screen and a responsive processor made until I got it back.

The N7 is a nice bit of kit, especially for the price.

I think if it had MHL and an SD slot it would be pretty much perfect for me.

I suspect those two ommisions will probably mean I will plump for a slightly more premium one in ther future but it will deffo be closer to 7 than 10 inches in screen.

I wonder when the "Wayne" Tegra 4 chip comes out? I suspect that when it is out there will be a 7-8" tablet with it and 2gig of RAM with an sd slot and MHL, and a 1080p screen.

Until then though I suspect i'll be dandy with my NX7

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That's kinda it, I was very close to getting an iPad, but it doesn't do anything that my phone can't except it has a bigger screen... And there's so much good stuff due out "soon".

So I'll too wait.

Most stuff I have read suggests the Wayne chip will be a game changer for System On a Chip. I think the lack of LTE radio has held back Tegra 3 but when the Wayne chip comes out with LTE and the 28nm architecture it will be pretty sysmic.

And whilst I strongly suspect that 1080p wont really bering much to the party on phone screens I am pretty sure it will give a noticable incremental upgrade to tablet screens.

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I think as screen resolutions start to increase main stream, over the next few years, then 1080p might well start to make a difference. Until then, not so much.

*very* popular:

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/07/23/googe_suspends_16gb_nexus_7_orders/

Gaaahhh! Now that I'm on the verge of making the jump from my iTouch to a 7" tablet, it just dawned on me that I'll have to get all new apps!!!! To replace just my productivity apps, for Android, will run me about $50, I'm thinking, so I'll have to calculate that into the cost!

Maybe I should obsess over this for a few more months, and see if Apple really is coming out with a smaller iPad? Nah, probably be twice as much for that, over a Google Nexus 7...

We were discussing that a few dots back. I have to say I was quite impressed with the new Microsoft slates.

But the "App ecosystem" means I am pretty much tied to Android. It would take a revolutionary new OS that offered something groundbreakingly different (I'd say W8 is a great UI but nothing else revolutionary) for me to switch.

Just got too much invested in Android apps (well north of £150 though not all of those are ones I still use).

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The problem with the app ecosystems is Apple. Both Android and MS devices will allow you to install apps from other sources than the Play Store or MS Market, but Apple keep you locked in with iTunes.

It's perfectly possible for someone to open an app store that sold both Android and MS apps, and allowed you to download either once you'd bought one. Unfortunately though, until Apple decide to play we're stuck with the enclosed ecosystems. There's not even anything that the app developers can do about it.

You could come to me and say "Look, here's your app running on my old Android, can you put it on my new iPhone?" And as much as I'd like to, no I couldn't. Not without setting it up as a test device and installing a provisioning profile on it, and they're limited in number per developer.

The only thing that's likely to happen anytime soon is companies selling phones to offer vouchers to their stores to help you replace the apps. Which, actually, I think Google are doing with the N7,

And very handy the 15 dabs credit was too! Rinsed already mind!

Sideloading is a really cool feature of Android I think, I have purchased apps from Amazon App store (required me to set up one of these Pay from the USA online cards though) the **excellent** SLideME market and even from GetJava.

Obviously Android hasn't really "done the do" in terms of sales for most developers yet. I wonder if the new app encryption, and that in recent versions of Android google has been more agressively getting people to register their credit cards will help? I think once ICS starts getting to north of 20% penetration you may well see paid app purchases on Android ballooning.... at least relatively.

Also I rather suspect that Google being a little more willing to counternance "carrier billing" might be a way to drive people to make more app purchases.

As an Android enthusiast I do hope people generally start paying for apps more, on the selfish grounds that Devs will do more development. I think the ever increasing installed user base for Android means that it will inevitably take off more than it currently is at some point.

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Google might be doing that? Fab!! Makes my decision that much easier. Most of my apps are freebies, from the companies they're for, and those offer free apps for both Apple and Android. Would be great to have even part of the switch-over cost subsidized, though.

Yeah you get either $25 or £15 in Play Store credit when you first register your device (as well as $10 Google Wallet credit to use your NFC chip on! Only in the states but if oyu go to MoDaCO.com they have found a work around so we can use it in blighty).

Makes a purchase of the NX7 a little more reasonable!

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Well the infinity has been annouced for blighty. 64gig only with integrated dock. £599.

Frankly that is just way too much, priced themselves out of the market I think. I'll pass...

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On the subject of cross platform development, well actually there's a whole lot I could say so I'll keep it brief...

Natively developed apps at the moment appear quicker and slicker, but they're not financially justifiable. For the same cost to develop just an Android app, I could use something like PhoneGap and develop you Android, iOS, WinPho7 and BlackBerry.

As phone hardware gets better, and starts to hide the slight sluggishness of hybrid apps, they'll start becomming more main stream. I recently (a couple of weeks ago) did a hybrid app for iOS and Android, and with the latest JavaScript and CSS techniques you can do, they're very smooth indeed. Another six months to a year and it could well be the way most apps start being developed.