Tablets

Thinking about a tablet in near future.

My main purpose would be to place my sermon notes on it and use in pulpit.

Any advice from those of you who do this.

What tablet would serve that purpose well?

thanks

Bill Moore:

If I were going to buy one today, I would go with the iPad 3.

. . . sooooo, you obviously have connections that 99.99999999% of the rest of us don't have . . .

I am waiting for the ipad to be updated as well (iPad 3).  The product cycle has been to this point at roughly a year, so we're not that far away... and I am not in any hurry.  I think the 2 would be absolutely fine for someone who doesn't want to wait.

Dan DeVilder:

Bill Moore:

If I were going to buy one today, I would go with the iPad 3.

. . . sooooo, you obviously have connections that 99.99999999% of the rest of us don't have . . .

Apparently, from what I've read elsewhere, if you hang out in bars long enough, Apple is sure to lose a prototype phone/etc there.  

Perhaps just look for the person wearing pastels or black.  

I've been preaching from a Kindle Keyboard for the past year and I really like it.

It would be nicer if I had the DX (see more of the notes at one time) but I just type up my  notes, email them to my Kindle and I'm good to go.

The long battery life means I don't have to worry much about recharging. Once I forgot to recharge and was able to get the device powered up during SS before the service.

An ebook reader would be a more economical option than a tablet, unless you want other features then the tablet is a more flexible tool.

If it helps anyone deciding on a tablet...

I tested the Acer W500 ($600 with keyboard/dock). 32G, 10.1", Win7 running Logos 4 including a few bibles, books, and the very large Perseus Collection.

The Tablet:

Heavy and awkward. It's quite thick and at 2lbs it's very heavy. That may not seem like much but balancing that sort of weight in one hand is a lot of work. After 10-15 minutes it starts to hurt the wrist. After an afternoon of maybe 50-75% use my shoulder hurt and my wrist and fingers were sore. After that, I mostly used it in the keyboard/dock but even occasional handheld use was difficult.  Maybe part of it was gripping it too tight, but the weight, the size, and the slippery surface does feel like it's an accident waiting to happen. People usually hold a tablet in the weaker hand so when evaluating a tablet consider the weight and physical feel before buying.

Graphics/Screen: At 1280x800 it's very clear but the tiny text might be too small for some people. I didn't test  HDMI output but I don't expect it to be a problem. It plays HD movies full screen without s problem -- and the sound is quite decent considering how small the speakers are.

Design "flaws" (IMHO): The location of the 2 USB ports along the bottom of the tablet. One is used by the keyboard/dock and the other is covered by it. The dock comes with 2 USB ports so there's no increase in usable USB ports when docked. If you have something plugged in you have to remove it before you can use the dock. The display orientation lock switch is a great idea. It prevents the display from switching between portrait and landscape as you move the tablet. It's located on the bottom of the tablet. If you lock the tablet in portrait mode you have to remember to unlock it before docking. A different location or a simple override would make it more convenient.

Storage: 32G (29.7G actual) is not enough. I had to clean temp folders, and remove music, some programs, and restore points just to get Logos 4 to install (it wanted 10G to install even though it's only using 3-4G now. I have 7.3G free and all I have is a typical Windows 7 install (up to date) and Logos 4 installed.

Windows 7: All the advantages of Windows, some of the feel of Android but it's definitely not as responsive as Android.

Virtual Keyboard: I think it works better than the one on my Android phone, but that might be because it's twice as big. The use of special key combinations seemed more intuitive than on the Android OS -- I tend to evaluate as an inexperienced user acting intuitively. Win7 passes that test.

Handwriting Recognition: Very cool and it worked well even with stubby fingers and my terrible scrawl! Without it knowing my handwriting I'd say it was around 75-80% accurate. If I have time, I'll work my way through the learning app and see how it does after that.

Acer Touch Control/Jogger app: it's very intuitive and responsive. This sort of app should be standard in any mobile/tablet OS.

Acer Iconia W500 Series: http://www.acer.ca/ac/en/CA/content/series/iconia-tab-w

Last week I purchased an iPad 3, er, I mean an iPad release 2012. As a tablet it has some nice features. Most importantly, Logos for iOS works quite well with it.  If I keep it, it will be because of Logos. 

Why wouldn't I keep it?  While the screen is gorgeous, I don't know that I see the difference within Logos and other apps. In addition, some things are nigh near impossible to do (probably iOS experts know) that are  simple on an Android phone or tablet.  

Things relating to file management and file sharing are annoyingly complex...and usually result in someone suggesting an app to do that. 

But, the iPad is excellent in many ways.  If I were advising someone, however, I believe I would direct them to one of several excellent Android tablets at half the cost.

PS, edting this usng an iPad was painful....can't go back to fix something without exiting keyboard and moving insertion point and the edit, close keyboard and then resume. 

JJ Miller:

PS, edting this usng an iPad was painful....can't go back to fix something without exiting keyboard and moving insertion point and the edit, close keyboard and then resume. 

You shouldn't have a problem moving the insertion point while the keyboard is open.

Asus Slate.  the ipad is okay, but you have to have connectivity to do anything more than read.

Max Snook:

It took me forever to made this decision.  I wanted clear scalable well lite notes for pulpit use but I also wanted to use all of Logos 5 when out and about.  I could not find anything that would do it all except Surface Pro2.  It was a load but i'm getting the hand of it.  Logos 5 is not really ready for tablet use yet. Certain features like reading mode do not work well and are impossible to get out of unless you use a keyboard.  I tried Surface RT and Samsung tablets and they both would not do everything in Logos.  Also an iPAD does not do everything, unless that application does significantly more than the iPhone. I also tried a standard Kindle and it didn't work, a Fire might.  

Max Snook 

Nothing short of a full Windows 8 operating system on a tablet will run full Logos 5 - not Kindle anything, not Windows RT tablets, not iPad, nor nook. If you want to run Logos 5 on a tablet, shop for a tablet with the same or better specs as your laptop or desktop. Get as much processor, ram, and HD as you can. There aren't many to choose from. Surface Pro 2 is the best tablet experience I have ever had, but it is not inexpensive. It is the only computer that I use now, and it does a great job. But if I couldn't get a tablet with full Windows 8, I would stick with the iPad app. It would be less frustrating.