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freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
I am a happy iPad 3 owner, but I am also in constant want. I'm thinking of getting a shiny Nexus 7 for actual portable use--take it places without the fear. Please, be open-minded.

However, I'd like very much to be dissuaded. Aside from the obvious lack of access to all media purchased for my iOS devices, what else? I hope there would be some drag-and-drop ability between my iMac and this Android device for music and podcasts. Should I, loving Apple, expect shock and horror from the Jelly Bean user experience? Be fair.

I've had mine for a few days now. I've "tried" to use it as much as possible but there's no compelling reason to use it at all. It's not good at anything. My iPhone kills it. Jobs is right. These things are tweeners and are a fail. In other words, dress it up with as many features as you want, it'll still be a useless because the form factor is a dead end.

For instance, last night I was laying on the couch with it sitting beside me. I was surfing with my iPhone. I picked up the Nexus 7 and started using the Web. "Why am I holding this with two hands?" Because it's too big to hold with 1 hand yet the Web looks like crap on it. My smartphone... the Web looks better because many sites are formatted for it... and I can one handed use it... scrolling and selecting with just my thumb. I realized right away that the smartphone was a better browsing experience.

In could go on. In other words, it's worthless no matter how good the specs are because it doesn't have a reason to live. I'd bet everything in the world that the Nexus 7 will meet the same fate as the Kindle Fire: initial traction from hype for 6 weeks then sales will fall off of a cliff. Don't waste your time.
 

Scarpad

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2005
2,135
632
Ma
I've had mine for a few days now. I've "tried" to use it as much as possible but there's no compelling reason to use it at all. It's not good at anything. My iPhone kills it. Jobs is right. These things are tweeners and are a fail. In other words, dress it up with as many features as you want, it'll still be a useless because the form factor is a dead end.

For instance, last night I was laying on the couch with it sitting beside me. I was surfing with my iPhone. I picked up the Nexus 7 and started using the Web. "Why am I holding this with two hands?" Because it's too big to hold with 1 hand yet the Web looks like crap on it. My smartphone... the Web looks better because many sites are formatted for it... and I can one handed use it... scrolling and selecting with just my thumb. I realized right away that the smartphone was a better browsing experience.

In could go on. In other words, it's worthless no matter how good the specs are because it doesn't have a reason to live. I'd bet everything in the world that the Nexus 7 will meet the same fate as the Kindle Fire: initial traction from hype for 6 weeks then sales will fall off of a cliff. Don't waste your time.

I have absolutely no problem holding the nexus with one hand, perhaps a strengthening course is required, and if you think a 3.5 inch screen looks better for browsing the web... I don't know how to respond to that.
 

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
I've had mine for a few days now. I've "tried" to use it as much as possible but there's no compelling reason to use it at all.

I agree with this but not for any of the reasons you quoted lol. My biggest problem with the N7 is that when I compare it to my Kindle Fire the Fire is far and away the better choice for me even with the weak hardware.

I have an Amazon Prime membership and use the Fire daily including all the Apps I got for free. I knew after the newness wore off the N7 was going to be shelved.

Fortunately for me my N7 suffered from the separated glass and I got a full refund because the retailer did not have any more in stock.
 

freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
I have absolutely no problem holding the nexus with one hand, perhaps a strengthening course is required, and if you think a 3.5 inch screen looks better for browsing the web... I don't know how to respond to that.

First, what I really mean by holding it in one hand is: using it while holding it with one hand. I can use my iPhone with 1 hand, scrolling with my thumb on the Web, selecting Apps, etc. It's not really possible to reliably do this with the Nexus 7 Tweener. I realized just how killer it is to be able to use a device with just 1 hand. And I mean for a multitude of things. It can't be understated.

Second: the Web does look good on the smartphone because many sites have mobile versions specifically formatted for them. That means no need to pinch and zoom, etc. on those sites. But even full blown sites look good: pinching and zooming in iOS is great. On Android it's just ok. And there aren't really any sites that are formatted specifically for the tweener. And the Retina screen blows anything about of the water: everything looks so much better on the iPhone.

Ergo: the browsing experience is better on the iPhone.
 

freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
That's quite subjective though. I hate browsing on the iPhone and I know I'm not alone.

Objectivity:

1. The Web has several sites where they're specifically formatted for mobile phones: the content comes out and doesn't need to be pinched and zoomed. This is not the case for tweeners.
2. You cannot consistently read fullblown webpages on a Tweener without pinching and zooming.

In other words, you're essentially having to do the exact same things on a Tweener as you are on a smarpthone, yet, you can't reliably one hand hold and use the device at the same time. Because of this, you get virtually zero benefit online by using a Tweener and make the one big compromise of not being able to one hand hold and use it at the same time.
 

MacNowhere

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2012
4
0
Objectivity:

1. The Web has several sites where they're specifically formatted for mobile phones: the content comes out and doesn't need to be pinched and zoomed. This is not the case for tweeners.
2. You cannot consistently read fullblown webpages on a Tweener without pinching and zooming.

Both 1 & 2 are wrong. Nexus 7 is a 1280x800 device. It actually displays more content on the screen than 1024x768 iPad. Sure, the screen elements are smaller than 9.7" screen, but not too small. You don't need to pinch & zoom anything, any more so then when you use iPad.

Nexus 7 Chrome browser and overall web browsing experience is excellent by the account of all major reviews (The Verge, Ars Technica, etc), and confirmed by my personal experience. So I don't know where you come up with this stuff.

And please enough with the "Tweener" terminology already. No need to parrot everything Jobs uttered. It gets tiresome.
 

knucklehead

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2003
545
2
Give a freudling a gun,

and he'll shoot himself in the foot with it...

freudling's bizarre take on Objectivity:

1. The Web has several sites where they're specifically formatted for mobile phones: the content comes out and doesn't need to be pinched and zoomed. This is not the case for tweeners.

You said it yourself, several sites. Let's see ... that's out of say about 612,843,429 sites on the internet. http://www.howmanyarethere.org/how-many-websites-are-there-in-2012/ Now that's quite some advantage for the iPhone ... In your "objective" opinion of course ...

2. You cannot consistently read fullblown webpages on a Tweener without pinching and zooming.

Again, you manage to forget about the vast majority of the internet, where any tweener will work better than the iPhone.
 
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freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
Both 1 & 2 are wrong. Nexus 7 is a 1280x800 device. It actually displays more content on the screen than 1024x768 iPad. Sure, the screen elements are smaller than 9.7" screen, but not too small. You don't need to pinch & zoom anything, any more so then when you use iPad.

Nexus 7 Chrome browser and overall web browsing experience is excellent by the account of all major reviews (The Verge, Ars Technica, etc), and confirmed by my personal experience. So I don't know where you come up with this stuff.

And please enough with the "Tweener" terminology already. No need to parrot everything Jobs uttered. It gets tiresome.

First, you have no clue what you're talking about. You lack a basic understanding of pixels, resolution, etc. Because the pixels are so much smaller than an iPad 1/2, Websites become tiny on the 7" screen as it sandwiches everything on that size screen. You MUST pinch and zoom. I'm willing to bet you don't own a Nexus 7. I do.

You MUST pinch and zoom. You MUST pinch and zoom. Anyone who says they don't is either lying, delusional, hospitalized, or all of these three.
 

freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
You said it yourself, several sites. Let's see ... that's out of say about 612,843,429 sites on the internet. http://www.howmanyarethere.org/how-m...there-in-2012/ Now that's quite some advantage for the iPhone ... In your "objective" opinion of course ...

Who cares how many Websites exist in the world. People frequent a specific subset every day. Vancouver Sun. Macrumors, Travelocity, The Verge, Engadget... the popular sites that people visit everyday... many have mobile versions specifically formatted for smartphones. This is a fact. It's called HTML5 and has taken the world by storm. These sites allow a person to hit these Websites, have tailored content for their smartphone, where they can one handed hold and use the device without the need to pinch and zoom. And even if there were none of these, it doesn't change the fact: you MUST pinch and zoom on tweeners because of how small everything is. So add in 2 handed holding, a lack of sites specifically formatted for them, a ton of pinching and zooming, and you land in tweenerville. This is all a fact.

2. You cannot consistently read fullblown webpages on a Tweener without pinching and zooming.

Again, you manage to forget about the vast majority of the internet, where any tweener will work better than the iPhone.

Show me. Show me how it works better than the iPhone. Show us with your Nexus 7 or whatever tweener you own. Oh, wait! You don't actually own one! But you argue vehemently like you do. Some may refer to people like you as a troll.

Here's how flawed your statement is. When you use a tweener, you lose the ability to:

1. One handed use the device (on the iPhone, for instance, you can use the device with 1 hand, using your thumb to tap, touch, scroll...). And you can take advantage of all of the mobile sites out there.

2. One handed hold. It's much harder to hold a tweener with 1 hand for any length of time.

What do you gain? Nothing. Websites are sandwiched on the screen, you must pinch and zoom... all with a bigger device that needs to be held and used with 2 hands. In other words, it doesn't offer any benefit over your smartphone and makes you compromise.

Keep coming knucklehead, I'll school you like I did last time.

And I'm serious: I'll post pictures of what this Website looks like on a Nexus 7 next to an iPad 2. And once I do that, you'll be running for the hills like last time.
 
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MacNowhere

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2012
4
0
I'm willing to bet you don't own a Nexus 7. I do.

No you don't. You don't own Nexus 7. Probably never ever seen one in person. You have been ranting and raving about "useless 7" tablets" for weeks on MacRumors. So you just made up "owning" one, to add credibility to your rants.

Just like you made up some BS about "custom software testing 7" iPad" in the other thread you created. You have already been called on your lies and thoroughly discredited in that thread. So now, you come to other threads to spread your BS.

Do us all a favor and get lost. You have absolutely no credibility on this subject.
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,623
7,798
One handed use

I asked this in another thread, but what is this fascination you have with one-handed use? So iPhone, you can use with one hand. iPad you hold with both hands, and extend your fingers from the sides. Or you prop it up against something, like a stand, a pillow, your knees, etc. A seven-inch tablet, you hold with one hand and tap with the other. I don't see how any of these modes is inherently superior to another. It all depends on the context you are using the device in. Standing on a crowded train with one hand grasping the rail, yes, one-handed usage would be needed. There may be several other such situations, but in situations where you have both hands free, then it doesn't matter that you need two hands to use a tweener tablet. And hopefully, people who buy tweeners recognize that ahead of time, and take that into consideration when deciding if a tweener works for them or not.
 

nishishei

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2005
203
0
Sure, the screen elements [on ghe nexus 7] are smaller than 9.7" screen, but not too small. You don't need to pinch & zoom anything, any more so then when you use iPad.

Absolutely not true!!!

I have both. The small text rendering on the nexus 7 is horrific. You cant read a science journal PDF on the nexus 7 without zooming. The text is a blur otherwise. I found myself panning all over the place and worse there was serious lag zooming and panning PDFs on the nexus 7 and I tried several apps. What could be read on one page on the new iPad turned into an exercise on the nexus identical to reading on my phone with slower rendering in addition.
 

info

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2011
80
1
Bay Area
But how much of that 64GB do you use on a daily basis?

I recently decided to try to look at what I carry around on my iPad 3 64GB and realized I became a mobile hoarder. 95% of it is stuff I rarely/never use like "Bargain" impulse buy apps, way too many videos, a decade of photos etc. So I decided to get rid of it and take over my daughters 16GB iPad2 (she got bored of it a while ago).

What I realized in moving to 16GB is that I'm actually much more efficient since I only have Apps/Videos that I actually want to use and I got money to save for my next toy. Personally, the only thing stopping me from getting a Nexus7 is the pricing of Surface RT. Heck, with the $700 I made from selling my iPad3 then I could probably buy both, but I'm holding back until we see if an iPad 7" actually comes out because thats always been my dream machine.

A "mobile hoarder" is a very appropriate term for the age we live in. I too seem to suffer from the same affliction.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,566
43,547
[MOD NOTE]
This thread devolved into bickering and insulting members. If you want to keep it open, please discuss the topic in a civil manner.
 

knucklehead

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2003
545
2
You said it yourself, several sites. Let's see ... that's out of say about 612,843,429 sites on the internet. http://www.howmanyarethere.org/how-m...there-in-2012/ Now that's quite some advantage for the iPhone ... In your "objective" opinion of course ...

Who cares how many Websites exist in the world.

People with open, functional, minds.

People frequent a specific subset every day. Vancouver Sun. Macrumors, Travelocity, The Verge, Engadget... the popular sites that people visit everyday... many have mobile versions specifically formatted for smartphones. This is a fact.

Yep. It's also a fact that many of the apps are worse than the websites.

I had an iPad app subscription to the NY Times that I canceled because the app was worse than the website -- and they charged extra for it. I much preferred the much more powerful navigation of the website, combined with saving articles to Instapaper or Readability for a much better and customizable reading experience than the app gave. Also, any customized apps that can be made for the iPhone sized web experience, could also be made geared to a mid sized device.

I can appreciate that some people might prefer training wheels, and not even realize how much flexibility they are giving up having them bolted on.


It's called HTML5 and has taken the world by storm. These sites allow a person to hit these Websites, have tailored content for their smartphone, where they can one handed hold and use the device without the need to pinch and zoom. And even if there were none of these, it doesn't change the fact: you MUST pinch and zoom on tweeners because of how small everything is. So add in 2 handed holding, a lack of sites specifically formatted for them, a ton of pinching and zooming, and you land in tweenerville. This is all a fact.

And it's a fact that many people are fine with that. I already zoom on websites on my iPad, and I'd be fine doing it a bit more on a somewhat smaller device.

You keep mentioning 2 handed holding like it's some sort of fact -- You're clearly wrong there.



2. You cannot consistently read fullblown webpages on a Tweener without pinching and zooming.

Again, you manage to forget about the vast majority of the internet, where any tweener will work better than the iPhone.

Show me. Show me how it works better than the iPhone. Show us with your Nexus 7 or whatever tweener you own. Oh, wait! You don't actually own one! But you argue vehemently like you do. Some may refer to people like you as a troll.

I don't own a Nexus 7. I'm looking for one, but they're all sold out in Austin as far as I've seen. Where have I ever argued that I do. You're connection to reality seems to be highly idiosyncratic.

Here's how flawed your statement is. When you use a tweener, you lose the ability to:

1. One handed use the device (on the iPhone, for instance, you can use the device with 1 hand, using your thumb to tap, touch, scroll...).

Yes, it 's obviously larger than an iPhone, and would have to be used a bit differently -- So what?


And you can take advantage of all of the mobile sites out there.

That statement simple doesn't make any sense, as discussed above.

2. One handed hold. It's much harder to hold a tweener with 1 hand for any length of time.

But better than a full size iPad.

What do you gain?

Again, see comment above.

Nothing. Websites are sandwiched on the screen, you must pinch and zoom... all with a bigger device that needs to be held and used with 2 hands.

More nonsense statements in there that I shouldn't need to point out again.


In other words, it doesn't offer any benefit over your smartphone and makes you compromise.

It will offer much of the benefits that a lager size device such as an iPad offers over an iPhone, while offering one handed holding, and increased portably over the iPad.

Keep coming knucklehead, I'll school you like I did last time.

I'm still laughing about your last efforts ... Keep it up!

And I'm serious: I'll post pictures of what this Website looks like on a Nexus 7 next to an iPad 2. And once I do that, you'll be running for the hills like last time.

I'm not runnig for any hills freudling -- just not wasting my time wading through your never ending BS.

"But even though you can't really figure anything out, you will be responsible for it on the midterm"
Once again - A Serious Man 2011
 
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freudling

macrumors regular
Jun 19, 2008
207
0
"But even though you can't really figure anything out, you will be responsible for it on the midterm"
Once again - A Serious Man 2011

People with open, functional, minds.

Unicorns are interesting. This has more meaning than the above.

People frequent a specific subset every day. Vancouver Sun. Macrumors, Travelocity, The Verge, Engadget... the popular sites that people visit everyday... many have mobile versions specifically formatted for smartphones. This is a fact.

Yep. It's also a fact that many of the apps are worse than the websites.

I had an iPad app subscription to the NY Times that I canceled because the app was worse than the website -- and they charged extra for it. I much preferred the much more powerful navigation of the website, combined with saving articles to Instapaper or Reeder for a much better and customizable reading experience than the app gave. Also, any customized apps that can be made for the iPhone sized web experience, could also be made geared to a mid sized device.


Sure they could be made for tweeners. I'd like to see developers waste their time developing for a deadend category though. Until then, the Web is the way it is, and it's not optimized for tweeners. But besides that, fullblown Websites look BETTER on my iPhone than they do on the Sexus.

I can appreciate that some people might prefer training wheels, and not even realize how much flexibility they are giving up having them bolted on.

Making sense? Good old knuck.

And it's a fact that many people are fine with that. I already zoom on websites on my iPad, and I'd be fine doing it a bit more on a somewhat smaller device.

If you had to pick a device that was smaller than an iPad as you were being carted off to a deserted island, and someone put a tweener and a smartphone in front of you... I'd bet you'd take the smartphone. The point is that I do more pinching and zooming on the Tweener than my iPhone because:

1. The way the text is rendered on the tweener is very small, in some cases SMALLER than how it appears on my iPhone.
2. The screen is nowhere near as sharp as it is on my iPhone.
3. The tweener's screen is small enough that Webpages get squished down to a awkwardly small size: small enough to offer effectively zero benefit over my smartphone in most cases.

You keep mentioning 2 handed holding like it's some sort of fact -- You're clearly wrong there.

You cannot reliably pinch, tap, zoom, scroll, etc. the tweener with only one hand while holding it with just 1 hand. You can with a smartphone, which is what makes it so useful in daily life because of the portability.

I don't own a Nexus 7. I'm looking for one, but they're all sold out in Austin as far as I've seen. Where have I ever argued that I do. You're connection to reality seems to be highly idiosyncratic.

Maybe Alex Jones has one?

Yes, it 's obviously larger than an iPhone, and would have to be used a bit differently -- So what?

The big so what is that the smartphone offers the full Internet in such a small, pockeable form factor that can be used almost anywhere: busy streets, the subway while you're holding food in another hand, running through an airport... the Tweener has much more limited use because of how big it is yet if offers no better a Web experience compared to the smartphone. So you compromise by using a device much larger and heavier without gaining anything in the Web department. I actually can't think of 1 thing that the tweener is better at compared to a smartphone, and I've been trying as hard as I can using the Sexus over the past 3 days to find one.

Let's look at it. How about reading freudling? Yeah... I tried, tried to read some PDFs on the Sexus and it was a waste of time: same pinch and zoom affair as it is on the iPhone, but the iPhone renders the PDFs much better. What about book books? I can use my thumb to swipe from page to page in iBooks Author on the iPhone, meanwhile the tweener requires two hands and it's heavier. On and on.

That statement simple doesn't make any sense, as discussed above.

It does make sense.

But better than a full size iPad.

But much worse than a smartphone which is the point. You're stuck with this unweildly device just like the iPad. Yet, you get nary any of the benefits of an iPad but several of its compromises. If I'm going to scale up, I'm going for the iPad because it offers such a large screen. My Sexus just collects dust on the table. Jobs was spot on with his comments:

Tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.

More nonsense statements in there that I shouldn't need to point out again.

The only nonsense statements are statements made, like yours, that are unqualified and have zero support behind them.

It will offer much of the benefits that a lager size device such as an iPad offers over an iPhone, while offering one handed holding, and increased portably over the iPad.

Let's see how wrong you are:

1. The Sexus's screen is less than half the surface area compared to the iPad. When you try and read things like PDFs or even fullblown Websites, everything is squished and small on the screen you have to pinch and zoom everywhere. Therefore, the size of the screen offers very little benefit over a smartphone.
2. You cannot 1 hand hold the device and use it at the same time. And in our usability test yesterday, the girls we tested it on in the office (there was only 4 so sample size is basically nothing), found it to be heavy quickly when holding it in one hand. Regardless, to use it properly, it's a device that demands 2 hands. Therefore, no benefit here either: the same compromise as the iPad with a tiny screen in comparison.
3. Portability: yes, it's smaller. But since it's not pocketable, it's not that portable and ends up in the same places as the iPad: suitcase, bag, etc.

I'm still laughing about your last efforts ... Keep it up!

And I'm laughing at your attempt to pretend like you're a UI designer, trying to use Fitts that I introduced you to, etc. Now that was a laugh.

I'm not runnig for any hills freudling -- just not wasting my time wading through your never ending BS.

The only never ending BS is what flies onto your computer screen from your paws.

"But even though you can't really figure anything out, you will be responsible for it on the midterm"
Once again - A Serious Man 2011


Once again, knucklehead earns his name.
 

knucklehead

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2003
545
2
I don't own a Nexus 7. I'm looking for one, but they're all sold out in Austin as far as I've seen. Where have I ever argued that I do. You're connection to reality seems to be highly idiosyncratic.

Maybe Alex Jones has one?

Way to go freudling!

I almost missed this, what with the way all your repetitious drivel only serves to put one to sleep at this point ...

I don't see a store named "Alex Jones" in the area. Could you provide me with the contact info please? I'll head there tomorrow!
 
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