Day 22 - Canada - Can I live with just the Tablet for 2 whole weeks?

You may remember that way back in August when I first got my Galaxy Tab and started this blog I was asking the question Can I live Without a Laptop?. Well up until that point the answer had really been no. This was because of some of the drawbacks of the touchscreen interface and the fact that sometimes you are really stuck with the mobile version of websites and no keyboard. However to test my tablet "skills" I went on a holiday to Canada and took it as my only means of Internet access and this is how I got on.

The first thing that surprised me is that how useful it is having something with a large screen and Google Maps on to orientate yourself in a strange city. Before having the tablet I had never worried about taking a laptop with me or using my Android phone (roaming far to expensive!) and therefore just kind of guessed my way around. It was great to be able to sit down and plan where I was going to go and what buses I might want to use or roads to walk down etc.

The "killer" app for the tablet user on holiday though has to be the now indispensable TripAdvisor app which condenses the website into a very useful format. Now the only problem is that it is really designed for an Android phone and not tablet which means there is a lot of wasted space.

TripAdvisor - Main Screen

This shouldn't deter you from using it though as its much better than the website and does scale really well particularly when you start to get into the searching and the results. TripAdvisor of course is great for finding stuff to do and also, the number 1 reason I am recommending it, for finding restaurants! Now I don't know about you guys but finding a good restaurant in a foreign city has always been a recipe for an argument but now life is so much easier. We consulted TripAdvisor most nights for restaurants and found that we always got a good meal and were never let down. Carry this app every time you go abroad and you will do very well indeed! 

TripAdvisor - Search Results

The social media aspect of carrying a tablet was also useful allowing us to keep up to date with the pace of life back home and ensure we didn't miss out on anyone being bored at work or going to a social function we couldn't. However it is nice to keep in touch and share stuff as its happening (albeit slightly delayed due to a time difference), but the lack of native Honeycomb Facebook support is still a real pain in my opinion. The phone app is now compatible with Honeycomb but its not even had a re-skin so again you get massive of useless white space not using the 10 inch screen. Twitter was probably my favourite social media application on the tablet while on holiday and in fact proved very useful when Air Canada were threatening to strike and scupper our plans to get home. I found out about this on Twitter and was able to keep up to date with the news from Air Canada and email my travel agent! 

Really what I'm saying is that travelling with a tablet is so easy, and the number of apps out there which really help take some of the stresses of travel or strange cities means that its something you should really have one for. All of this is without even mentioning the benefits of a portable media device with films or TV shows on. I managed to get every episode of Red Dwarf on my 16Gb Galaxy Tab (although only watched 2), which could be particularly good if travelling with young children. 

So to answer my question the tablet was by far the best device I could have taken to Canada, it coped with everything we through at it and really helped us with none of the bulk of a full size laptop or compromises of a smaller netbook. Since we have come back we have found ourselves using the laptop and PC less and less and the focus is becoming the tablet, so much so that I may have to buy one just for the girlfriend! 

Day 21 - ADW Launcher

First off I would like say thanks for coming back to read this as it has kind of been on hiatus (I think that's the right term), but now I'm back. I have found a few more features/apps/tips to blog about and so here we go! Also I realise technically its not Day 21 of living with my Galaxy Tab but because it looks neater I'm going to continue with the numbering. I think its actually more like day 61 but lets not worry about that.

As time has passed I have been getting more and more used to my Galaxy Tab to the point where its a little dull. Any good geek will tell you (perhaps even before this point) that its time to mix things up a little and start changing away from the supplied software. So I've not gone quite as far as rooting it but I have changed the launcher. 

So what is a launcher, well in normal PC "language" it would be called a desktop, every time you press the home button you are in fact loading the launcher application. So by changing this application you can have a different desktop or perhaps just more features from the stock Samsung one. The one I'm trying at the moment is called ADW Launcher EX and is designed for both phones and Honeycomb based tablets. Its not a free app, which is somewhat of a departure from what I normally do, but it is only £2.00.

ADW Launcher

So you may look at the above screenshot and think there isn't much difference and your right. The biggest obvious difference is the addition of the Mac like doc across the bottom of the screen. This I must admit I really like simply because you can fit all your icons of your most used apps in there and it looks really neat. One of the better features is that its so much faster than the stock launcher. Swiping between screens and in the app drawer too is instant. I never realised how slow the Samsung stock one was until now.

It is infinitely configurable as well, I spent nearly an hour trying to look and play with all the options. This maybe a little too fiddly for some people but it gives you every opportunity to get your home screen looking exactly as you want.

ADW Launcher Settings

 I must admit I didn't change many settings at all and used the preset option, which allows you to set it up like a Nexus phone or iPad or just in a fast configuration, which is the one I used. As I said before this may all be a little too much for some people spending ages creating their own perfect home screen which is why they might like another useful feature. You can download themes from the Android Market via the handy Themes section within the settings.

ADW Launcher Themes

If you do decide you want to create your own and spend time sorting it all out there is a useful backup option to store them all to an xml file so that should you accidentally change something then you are able to quickly restore your configuration. Hopefully something you won't need to often but a neat feature none the less. 

So far I quite like ADW Launcher and will be sticking with it for a while, the main reason for this is just the speed of it all, the difference is quite striking and I would recommend it if your looking to move away from a stock launcher.

Day 20 - IFA

Just a quick note to point you guys to a new article from T3 about the tablets they have seen at the IFA trade show in Germany. It's ideal if you want to see the state of things to come for the next 6 months in the tablet world.

http://www.t3.com/feature/best-tablets-of-ifa-2011

Also Apple has again applied for a ban on the new 7.7 inch tablet from Samsung. Check out twitter for the latest updates.

Day 19 - Galaxy Tab Manufacturing Problems

You will have probably guessed from reading this blog that I'm very happy with my Galaxy Tab and have been very fortunate not to have any problems with it. It would appear from posts I've seen on Twitter (thanks to @ThomasCrock1) that not everyone has had the best experience with theirs. The faults seem to have been:

• Oil Slick under the screen
• Poor Battery Life
• Different Software issues with the screen

I have been having a look into this and the Oil slick issues seem to be one of the most prevalent on Twitter and certainly one of the most annoying for owners. The photo below is from @rtimi on Twitter who is clearly having issues.

Oil Slick effect, photo courtesy of @rtimi

According to the website GalaxyTabLife, when they surveyed their members they found that out of a small sample of 66 users, 29 had a problem with the oil slick effect! When I read this I was shocked that the problem was quite so large. Again according to GalaxyTabLife the only way to solve this problem is to allow the tab to dry out either by leaving it or by using a hair dryer to blow warm air through the dock port. Samsung say anyone with this issue should contact their customer service department. It's also important to remember that in the UK you have 21-28 days to return your tab to the store you purchased it from for a replacement or refund and 7 days if you purchased it online. 

As I said at the start of this post battery life also seems to be an issue with some users reporting that the battery would only last 2 days of use before it would require a recharge. Now I must admit I find I get 2-3 days of heavy use on a single charge and try to run the battery to completely flat, to give it a good cycle, before I recharge it in order to prolong battery life. Returning an item with poor battery life is always difficult to prove but if its particularly bad the store should respect your UK consumers rights and accept it. Sometimes you may also find excessive heat is being generated by the tablet which can be associated with poor battery life.

The final reported fault seems to be around the responsiveness of the touch-screen. Users are reporting that sometimes touches aren't registered and the screen becomes totally un-responsive. Some people have suggested that this maybe due to the build up of grease from fingertips on the screen but it shouldn't affect the responsiveness by such a degree. It sounds to me much more like a processing issue or a process locking up and stopping the tablet working. 

I have had a quick Google and can't find too much else wrong but if you hear of another fault then please do let me know via twitter.

Day 18 - The Times and Sunday Times apps

Today it was announced that Times Newspapers have released a new Sunday Times Android app for Honeycomb, so I thought I would have a look at it and see what it's like while its still free. Once your free sample issue has expired its £1 for the first 30 days and then £2 a week thereafter. I must admit I don't generally have a daily newspaper but its quite tempting at that price to have it as it saves a journey to the shops. It's particularly tempting if your a commuter.

Section Selection Screen

Once you load the app you are of course prompted to subscribe, as you would expect, but in the top right corner there is the link to the newspaper sections, handily titled Sections.One thing I did notice that once I had selected my free copy to download it did take approx 4 minutes to download and then install it but that maybe down to my 2Mbps broadband. 

The interface itself while your in the newspaper is nice and clean and clear. At the top you have your menu options and quick links back to the comments and the front page. The buttons for navigating between stories are down the left and right hand side of the screen but you really don't need them as you can swipe left or right to move around. I thought, on the Galaxy Tab at least, that the swiping was a little slow and shaky but this may have been something happening in the background. The text is clear and as you can see they have made it look like a newspaper with black text on a white background.

Front Page

The free version certainly seems well packed with news items (over 140 pages) and this is only the 1 section of the newspaper so I would expect the paid version to be even more well stocked. On looking through as well I only found what looked to be one advert, although it may have been an advertisement style feature but as it was for virgin I really can't tell. You can download each section individually so if your really not interested in that gardening glossy pull out mag then you don't have to download it which is a neat little feature.

This new Honeycomb optimised app has also prompted me to take a look at the existing Times app which is designed for the mobile phone interface, but actually it tends to scale very well. It does only work in portrait mode which means you have to turn the tablet on its side, however sometimes portrait is much better than the primary landscape view. I know I have found this when surfing certain websites in the past.

The Times - Front Page

As you can see from the above screenshot its not quite as good as view as with the Honeycomb optimised version or as the print newspaper. One can only expect that shortly there will be a Honeycomb version of The Times daily newspaper. Again you can navigate to each story by click on it and then move left and right by swiping through the stories. As its really designed for phones there is very few buttons in the app and you have click the menu button at the bottom of the screen, in practice you have very little need of this though.

The Times - Formula 1

The screen again is very easy to read and laid out well but for the ultimate in readability, if your not worried about pictures, then there is a Kindle version of The Times and The Sunday Times which is displayed in e-ink. This of course makes it much more readable in bright or direct sunlight, something you would struggle with on the Galaxy Tab. I guess the question is are they a good replacement for the paper edition? Well if as long as your not interested in the crossword (something available in the iPad edition) then yes I would say its a good replacement but obviously its not free. 

Day 17 - The Trainline.com

Today's blog entry is going to be smaller than most of the others as I'm now starting to run out of ideas for content! So if there is anything you want to see in here or want me to take a look at then please leave a comment or get in touch via Twitter.

Many a time has passed when I have been in need of train times in the UK or in need of fare information and have been able to find it using the very useful free app from thetrainline.com. This usefulness has now been ported across to Honeycomb. Now I'm not sure if the app is specifically designed to fit a 10 inch tablet screen or its just scaled very well but nevertheless it looks good on the Galaxy Tab.

Journey Planning Screen

As you can see on the journey planning screen there is a bit of wasted space at the bottom which could be put to better use, but at least its not filled with adverts! Here you can choose your destination and start point much as you would on the website and of course it contains the full database of UK stations so once you start typing you can auto-complete. It is possible to put in just as many journey planning options as you can on the full website with the benefit of this being in a custom app so your at the mercy of browser rendering, which as we have mentioned before can be a little spotty. Once you have completed your selection of destination and fare type you are passed onto a screen which allows you to select which fare it has selected is the best for you. Again this screen is a bit sparsely populated but it still works well. From here you move onto my favourite screen within the app and in fact take on a whole new orientation, moving into portrait mode.

Journey Selection Screen

This portrait view is great for when your planning on taking a journey on a busy line with lots of trains to choose from. Here you can scroll up and down and then select exactly which departure you want to your destination and move on through the app to purchase your ticket. The next screen is of course the confirmation screen before you actually pay for your ticket. Here you are told what sort of ticket it is and if there are any restrictions on its use.

Confirmation Screen

Now I must confess I didn't actually purchase a ticket so I can't tell you how the in app purchasing works or if it refers you out to the website in the end anyway (I really hope not), but what I can tell you is the whole app works really well and as soon as I need to purchase a train ticket I will be trying this one!

Day 16 - PC/Laptop Remote Access

One of the things I always find useful to do is to be able to remote access into my PC from another device on my network. I have for many years used Real VNC when going between, my now defunct, laptop and my desktop. However there seemed to be a plethora of apps for Android that would allow me to do this so I thought I would look further into doing it from the Galaxy Tab.

The first one that you may heard of is the very good Log Me In Ignition.This requires an account on the Log Me In website, but this is free depending on what level of functionality you want, but once you have done that it works very well. The benefit of the Log Me In Ignition is that it is optimised for the larger screens you will find it makes good use of the extra space afforded to it by the Galaxy Tab. The only downside is that the app is a paid for app and its very expensive! The cost currently is £9.19 and that's in a 50% off sale! I would suggest that if your an IT professional and remote support is something you do very often or your a heavy user of the free Log Me In service I would recommend this app to you, otherwise I'm not sure its quite worth the money they are asking.

One of the other apps that I have tested is the Win Remote application. This runs in conjunction with a service that you have to install on your PC to enable the functionality, which is a bit of a shame as I was hoping it would work using the Remote Desktop Client services which have been part of Windows for sometime.

Win Remote - Main Menu

The benefits of installing the extra service are numerous, giving you access to remote controls for your PC, access to Windows Media Centre, Task Manager, File Manager and others. I must confess though as much as I liked this app and everything it was going to do for me above a normal VNC style app, I just couldn't get it to work. It would happily connect to my PC and display the desktop or the File Manager but actually getting it do anything was very difficult. 

Win Remote - Remote Desktop

I found that the Remote Desktop wouldn't fill the whole screen on the Galaxy Tab, presumably because its designed for a phone sized screen. Also whenever I moved my finger across the screen in an effort to control the mouse as you normally would, nothing happened. I tried to click on the Windows button but still no reaction, so I'm not sure if I was doing anything wrong but it certainly wasn't giving me remote access. The one thing it did seem to respond to was my command to switch it off, which is very useful, but it took at least 2 attempts at the command to get it to do it. 

The best Remote Access app I found was from Wyse using their PocketCloud service. Now you would think with a name like that the app is designed for for a business that already has the necessary cloud infrastructure but actually its perfectly designed for people like you and I. When you first load the application it asks if you want to create an account or just carry on. 

Wyse - PocketCloud

The Wyse client will connect either to the Remote Desktop Connection built into Windows or to a 3rd party VNC server installed on your PC which gives you a much greater flexibility for connectivity. The only issue with it is that you can only have the 1 connection setup within the app otherwise it will prompt you to upgrade which is a little bit annoying. If you, like me, only want to connect to one PC then its ideal.

Wyse - PocketCloud - RDP

 The app itself has been designed to run with Honeycomb which is a plus although when you come to the desktop connection your very much limited by the resolution setup on your PC. The screenshot above shows my PC which is set at 1280 x 1024, this leaves a small gap at the side of the screen which is slightly annoying. This can soon be fixed by using the small control circle in the middle of the screen, this gives you more option to do with your desktop like make it fill the screen and special keys. Its actually a really neat idea and works well much like the additional controls the Google provided as a lab feature in the Browser app. This is definitely the best Remote Access app I have found and may even be worth the £8.99 to upgrade to the full version, but I'll have to leave that up to you.