The bitchin' gadgets thread... also sofa beds

by **Bill McNeal** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 20:27:08

I know that dell recently discontinued the venue tablets but they are seriously awesome. You might be able to get a good deal since they are discontinued but check this out:
http://www.cnet.com/products/dell-venue-8-7000/

This is the 8" they also have a 10" but it's more of a 2 in 1 with a keyboard. I've used the 8 and it's the best android tablet I've picked up.

by **RichmondPhilsFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:43:45

phatj wrote:Recommend a decent Android tablet for me. Leaving toward ~10 inch. Will be used as an e-reader, web browser, maybe some light games for the kids.

Side note: the Kindle Fire HD is ass

Get a Chromebook Flip. Google is currently rolling out updates to its Chromebook line so that Android apps work on them. The Flip has a touchscreen so you're golden.

by **MrsVox** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 15:14:14

phatj wrote:Recommend a decent Android tablet for me. Leaving toward ~10 inch. Will be used as an e-reader, web browser, maybe some light games for the kids.

Side note: the Kindle Fire HD is ass

Agreed, would never buy again (and I bought ours last year on Christmas in July cheap). It is only good for watching Amazon videos that I can't watch in front of the kids. Slightly better with the latest OS upgrade.

by **phatj** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 20:08:39

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:
phatj wrote:Recommend a decent Android tablet for me. Leaving toward ~10 inch. Will be used as an e-reader, web browser, maybe some light games for the kids.

Side note: the Kindle Fire HD is ass

Get a Chromebook Flip. Google is currently rolling out updates to its Chromebook line so that Android apps work on them. The Flip has a touchscreen so you're golden.

This sounds very promising for my purposes, thanks

by **RichmondPhilsFan** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 13:50:50

phatj wrote:
RichmondPhilsFan wrote:
phatj wrote:Recommend a decent Android tablet for me. Leaving toward ~10 inch. Will be used as an e-reader, web browser, maybe some light games for the kids.

Side note: the Kindle Fire HD is ass

Get a Chromebook Flip. Google is currently rolling out updates to its Chromebook line so that Android apps work on them. The Flip has a touchscreen so you're golden.

This sounds very promising for my purposes, thanks

http://www.androidcentral.com/chrome-developer-channel-53-brings-play-store-asus-chromebook-flip

by **phatj** » Tue Sep 20, 2016 20:38:51

So I just got the Chromebook Flip and it's a pretty sweet little gadget. The size of a netbook, only thinner and lighter and with a better keyboard and trackpad and that slick reversible touchscreen and it runs a lightweight OS so it's not completely hamstrung by its weak CPU.

One thing that I probably should have elaborated on is that I have a lot of .mobi files on my old Kindle that were perfectly readable on it but the Kindle Cloud Reader only works with Amazon-purchased contents in your Amazon cloud account. That's fine, but can anyone recommend a good reader for .mobi files? I found this: eBook Viewer and Converter, but it's not great. I just switched to the Dev channel; I'll see if I can install the Kindle Android app and make that work.

by **WheelsFellOff** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 09:04:14

Anyone here use a drawing tablet (digital, Bucky) on the reg?

by **The Dude** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 09:06:05

My brother uses the iPad Pro for his job

by **Bucky** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 09:06:48

by **WheelsFellOff** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 09:10:21

The Dude wrote:My brother uses the iPad Pro for his job

I'm looking for info on what the most important features are/where can I scrimp for a ~$100-150 model to get back into drawing and to try my hand at some digital sculpting.

by **lethal** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 16:21:06

The Navdy heads up display for my car that I pre-ordered 2 years ago finally arrived. It is pretty cool. Maybe not $800 cool, but cool enough to justify the $300 I paid back in 2014.

My major issue with it so far is that while the display is in my line of sight, my focus distance is now closer and I don't focus as much on the traffic ahead, so while it is a little safer than taking your eyes off the road to look at your phone, it isn't the same as looking down the road all the time.

by **Bucky** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 16:37:27

Thanks! How is the phone integration? I was particularly piqued by the inference on the web site that you could use that "wheel" thing to operator other aspects on your device. It'd be awesome to have, say, the google music interface up on the windshield temporarily while choosing a song.

Did you try Waze with it?

by **lethal** » Sat Nov 05, 2016 16:47:44

Bucky wrote::-D

Thanks! How is the phone integration? I was particularly piqued by the inference on the web site that you could use that "wheel" thing to operator other aspects on your device. It'd be awesome to have, say, the google music interface up on the windshield temporarily while choosing a song.

Did you try Waze with it?

The navigation part is the main seller, so I'm pretty sure that other navigation apps don't work with it. I'll try it out though. The navigation is not as good as Waze or Google maps, even if it uses the maps from Google maps, the AI isn't quite as good I think. Turn by turn is OK, but I haven't found a narrator's voice I like yet. I set it to warn me when I exceed 5 over the speed limit, but the limit doesn't show on the display like it does for Waze. Also no warnings of police or road hazards or red light cameras like Waze.

There is music integration, so I can use the dial to pause, skip and go back a song (or podcast or whatever's playing in any audio app I have running), but I haven't figured out if I can select a song from my playlist yet. It does show the song playing and the album cover and there's a meter to show where you are in the song.

It displays the first few lines of emails/texts/facebook messages/facebook updates/kakao message, etc... if you open them up. It'll show the subject line and sender and give you the option to open or dismiss, which you can do with a wave of your hand or the dial. You can have it read the email or text out loud to you, but I haven't had it do that yet.

There's Siri integration, so you can tell Siri to do something and it'll show on the display.

Honestly, this thing would be much cooler if it just projected exactly what was on your phone screen and you could use the dial/hand gestures to manipulate the phone screen.

by **phatj** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 23:04:20

phatj wrote:So I just got the Chromebook Flip and it's a pretty sweet little gadget. The size of a netbook, only thinner and lighter and with a better keyboard and trackpad and that slick reversible touchscreen and it runs a lightweight OS so it's not completely hamstrung by its weak CPU.

One thing that I probably should have elaborated on is that I have a lot of .mobi files on my old Kindle that were perfectly readable on it but the Kindle Cloud Reader only works with Amazon-purchased contents in your Amazon cloud account. That's fine, but can anyone recommend a good reader for .mobi files? I found this: eBook Viewer and Converter, but it's not great. I just switched to the Dev channel; I'll see if I can install the Kindle Android app and make that work.

One major gripe about this device - the touchscreen goes totally haywire in a very humid environment or when there are the tiniest droplets on the screen. This is a problem for me because I use it outdoors often, sitting on my covered deck. I had it in dev mode with Crouton installed for playing around with Linux which for some reason disabled the ability to disable the touchscreen. But since I haven't used Linux in months, I figured, fuck it, I'll just restore to factory defaults. Finally now I'm sitting on my deck in wet weather with droplets all over the screen and nothing is freaking out.

by **Bucky** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 08:11:51

Unexpectedly impressed with Alexa. Prolly gonna buy another.

by **The Dude** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 08:15:16

google home is better!

by **Bucky** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 08:15:56

FIGHT ME

and rsvp for BSGX

by **The Crimson Cyclone** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 08:52:06

Bucky wrote:Unexpectedly impressed with Alexa. Prolly gonna buy another.

for the same house?

get a Dot instead?

by **JUburton** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 09:12:30

We have both. Alexa is better for smart home integration right now. Google home will get there though. It's pretty great to just tell Alexa to turn on the TV and to turn on whatever channel I'd like (connecting to a Logitech Harmony)

by **CalvinBall** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 09:37:53

dont even have to move our fingers. what have we become?

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