I am a non-mobile dev and user. That said, I am exploring mobile devices, and am curious what recommendations people here may offer, and why. I recognize the inevitability of these devices, even as I scoff at the notion of their replacing desktops. But I digress....
I am a non-mobile dev and user. That said, I am exploring mobile devices, and am curious what recommendations people here may offer, and why. I recognize the inevitability of these devices, even as I scoff at the notion of their replacing desktops. But I digress....
My considerations:
- reasonable cost (bye-bye Apple)
- reasonable size (my s4 phone is nice as a phone, not as a tablet)
- ability to connect external devices (kb/mou/display)
So in general, I seek a device which won't cause me to throw it at the wall when used on its own, and which may serve as a reasonable device for early explorations of mobile dev work.
My considerations:
- reasonable cost (bye-bye Apple)
- reasonable size (my s4 phone is nice as a phone, not as a tablet)
- ability to connect external devices (kb/mou/display)
So in general, I seek a device which won't cause me to throw it at the wall when used on its own, and which may serve as a reasonable device for early explorations of mobile dev work.
Or any of the other Google services? Chrome, Google Drive, or Gmail? Not sure about Google Maps. No Google Play = No install of Android apps, other than those in the Amazon store.
ReplyDeleteASUS Transformer is a goog choice, I have a very old one (TF101) with detachable keyboard that has two usb ports and sd slot, the tablet itself has also sd slot (micro sd) and mini hdmi.
ReplyDeleteBoth tablet and keyboard have their own battery, that allows roughtly 16 hours of full power. You can recharge only the keyboard as you work on the tablet, takes about 4 hours.
As any tablet, it has wifi, but you can connect by wire if needed using a usb/ethernet adapter. I even reconfigure routers with it!
If I have to choose any other device, it will be a surface pro tablet, have tried it for a delphi project I'm working on, and runs like a charm. Need to take care on interface design, as the tablet has a very high res that makes some visual components to small to be touchable, but as said, everything works perfectly (I just run the project from a usb penflash)
After many different tries, I settled for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Dell 7" Android (with an atom CPU - boot Windows under Android?), iPhone, ipad 3rd gen, a new and old RT, and a chromebook. I wished the Asus transformer worked for me (it was nice), but Android updates were impossibly slow (or non-existent) for keeping up, and the super nice keyboard kept stressing the digitizer and braking the units. (PS: I have about 3 dozen extra power cords I would love to get rid of). I had an Asus RT tablet with the same problem, plus Windows firmware updates would often brick it (requiring a month long trip to the factory). The Nexus devices get the latest android updates very fast (often same day), and that can count big time when folks are screaming something is broke, or you want to code using a new feature. FWIW, I found Andorid development via emulator is almost impossible, and ios dev via emulator pretty good, RT-ish apps can be run right on the desktop. OK, the bottom line learned the hard way, and at a fair expense: If you are going to develop for the platform, make sure you have devices from the manufacturer (ie: Android means a Google device, Windows RT means a Microsoft tablet, Apple means Apple (not much other choice for iOS), and Chromebook - oh well.
ReplyDeleteI suspect for Amazon you might want to consider a Kindle. Thankfully, this is at least getting cheaper :) That little Dell tablet was only $150, and rocks (speedwise).