Advice, please, on tablet or similar

[davidedric]

Hi,

My wife has offered to buy me, as a birthday present, something which would enable me to show my photographs to others (without printing them!).

I'm thinking of a tablet, of course. Because it's a present, budget isn't the first consideration (I have a very nice wife!), so I am looking for something which is light and has a high quality / easily viewed screen.

I would still intend to do the PP on my desktop (with LR4 and PSE9), so I'm not interested in PP software, but of course display software is important. And the facility to get photos from my PC to the tablet.

I suppose if I did have a tablet, I would find myself using it for other things (my only portable devices are a rather venerable laptop and a not-very-smart phone).

Any thoughts or recommendations gratefully received.

[FrankMi]

Hi Dave, do you need to match a current or future cell phone OS such as Android or iPhone?

[davidedric]

Hi Frank,

I don't think so. I happen to have an Android phone at the moment, but I only use it for basic stuff. I'd be inclined to stay with Android in the future, but I confess that's in some measure because of a possibly irrational aversion to Apple.

Thanks,

Dave

[FrankMi]

LOL! The reason I ask is because I have an Android phone that I am getting used to and it has a ton of applications available, most of which I haven't learned yet.

I've been thinking about getting a tablet for the same reason you are and am leaning toward an Android OS for compatibility and ease of learning the applications, etc. I am very interested in seeing how your responses to this thread progress as I have been a bit on the fence as to whether this would be a good decision. My gut tells me that it would need to have benefit for more than just displaying images before I could justify the budget.

With wi-fi to the web, the images to be displayed could be from my SmugMug account as well as what I may have currently loaded. Like you, I would also want to have an easy way to synchronize the images with my PC.

[Manfred M]

Hi Frank,

I don't think so. I happen to have an Android phone at the moment, but I only use it for basic stuff. I'd be inclined to stay with Android in the future, but I confess that's in some measure because of a possibly irrational aversion to Apple.

Thanks,

Dave

In that case, have a look at other Android devices as you already have at least a passing knowledge on the OS through your phone. Both the ASUS Transformer series and the Sumsung Galaxy devices have been getting good reviews. I have a first generation ASUS Transformer T101 device and am quite happy with it, and they have gotten better and faster. There are a number of picture storage options available and I certainly use it for that purpose.

A number of the people I work with have various versions of the iPad, and from what I can tell, at least for me, there is no compelling advantage of one platform over the other. I just wanted to be a little cautious when jumping into the tablet marketplace just over a year ago, not knowing how I would take to the technology. The ASUS unit gave me the main functionality I needed at a hefty discount versus the iPad, so in my case cost was a factor. In retrospect, I feel I made the right decision, and when looking at a replacement at some point in the future, I will be picking up another Android device.

[Donald]

For work purposes, I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet. Great tool. It is designed for business purposes, but that doesn't mean it can't do other things. The 'pen' that can be bought for use with it and used to handwrite notes on the tablet are what sold it to me for work.

[lenelg]

I have an Ipad, and for showing off images the screen is great. But - I also planned to use it to back up photos when I am traveling, and this has become a major p.i.t.a. : Getting photos onto the Ipad is easy, using an SD card reader which fits into the Ipad´s only port, but deleting hundreds of photos is a nightmare. I have found no way of deleting an entire folder in one go, I am forced to click on each and every image to select it for deletion..

[Snarkbyte]

If you're willing to wait until November, Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD model sure looks like a winner to me. A friend has the original Kindle Fire model, which is impressive, and the HD model seems almost unbeatable for the price. I've pre-ordered the 8.9" 64GB model... check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i01

[davidedric]

but deleting hundreds of photos is a nightmare. I have found no way of deleting an entire folder in one go, I am forced to click on each and every image to select it for deletion..

Tak, Lennart.

Does anyone know if it's as difficult on an Android device? Or does it depend on which flavour of Android is instaled?

Dave

[Manfred M]

Tak, Lennart.

Does anyone know if it's as difficult on an Android device? Or does it depend on which flavour of Android is instaled?

Dave

Very easy to do on the Android using the file manager. It lets me select the folder itself or use a "select all" function within the folder. Hit the trash can (delete) icon, it asks for comfirmation and the folder (or files) are deleted.

[enaiman]

+1 for Android
Been an Asus TF 101 owner for more than a year and very happy.

One advice if you go for next Asus Transformer - be sure to get the dock too.

[ktuli]

I've been looking at the Asus Transformers as well... I've been giving serious consideration to the Infinity model as it has a higher res screen than most other tablets out there (only topped by the latest iPad, but I don't want to go down the iEverything route, so I'm still leaning towards Android). I have a friend who has one, and he demoed it for me, and I thought it was very nice indeed. The only daunting part is the pricetag... $500 + $150 for the highly recommended dock.

I'm still on the fence though...

- Bill

PS: I found this site to be somewhat helpful for just a quick comparison of features. It doesn't go into super depth, but it should help you narrow things down and see how things stack up against each other on paper.... http://www.tabletpccomparison.net/

PPS: And if you shoot Canon, also consider this thread when you're debating Android vs iPad - Interesting Android App for Canon DSLR Cameras

[enaiman]

Personally I am recommending the dock mainly for the USB port and the SD card reader.
There are other advantages but these two makes everything much easier.

[FrankMi]

Personally I am recommending the dock mainly for the USB port and the SD card reader.
There are other advantages but these two makes everything much easier.

Hi Eugen, I take it that you use the SD reader to upload your camera's images and the USB port to backup to a thumb drive?

[Manfred M]

Just remember that tablets have a relatively thin body; the only external data device that my Transformer has is a microSD slot, and I use that for additional storage capacity. Data transfer to it is normally via WiFi. I'm not counting the headphone jack or HDMI slot here; different uses...

The dock has both USB and and SD which makes things more convenient when travelling, for viewing and backup.

[PhotoRob]

I have an Eye-Fi card and it works quite well streaming photos to a tablet (I happen to have an IPad)...

[enaiman]

Hi Eugen, I take it that you use the SD reader to upload your camera's images and the USB port to backup to a thumb drive?

Mainly yes Frank.
The USB port comes in handy to connect to the camera to use DSLR Controller app (no need for USB Host cables).
I have also an Eye-Fi card and that works very well.

All in all, plenty of connectivity options.

[davidedric]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice and comments. It doesn't seem that there is any particular reason to go down the iPad route, since there is a lot of satisfaction with Android devices.

From doing some googling, it seems that I can share a Windows (VISTA) folder onto my LAN, and copy files across to an Android device, with additional software. Has anyone done this? Again, any tips or recommendations? (I don't want to go down the Cloud route, because we live out in the sticks and our "broadband" speed is rubbish).

Thanks,

Dave

[davidedric]

Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD model sure looks like a winner to me.

Certainly looks interesting, but no launch announcement, price point (or 3G deal) in the UK, so I don't think I'll hang on.

Thanks,

Dave

[ktuli]

Certainly looks interesting, but no launch announcement, price point (or 3G deal) in the UK, so I don't think I'll hang on.

Thanks,

Dave

There's also the Kindle Fire's main competitor in the Google Nexus 7.