OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[-Deborah-]

Yeah I had read some concerns over its weight also. When I got to the AT&T store on Friday, I realized those people are tripping. It feels perfect to me.

After using WP over the weekend, I love it. I still have concerns about apps, but the majority of the ones I rely on are available and I think we'll see more developers giving WP their attention. The current Facebook app is really dreadful, though. I hope that's fixed soon.

[Topweasel]

Are you going to check out the HTC 8X instead, then? I really think that phone looks sharp! It would be a great substitute!!

Nah not a fan of HTC it looks sharp, but they tend to use the crappiest materials for their phone. I have to buy my phones out of contract for now on, so I am only going to get the phone I really want. This generation its the Lumia 920, so if its not available on Verizon then I can wait till next gen. Currently using a Droid Razr Maxx, so there isn't a hurry, its a great phone.

[Masspartan]

Here is an all in one that actually is kinda portable because they built it as a gigantic tablet.

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/son...-35477655.html

ahh ... now that is what I've been looking for. Does it work like a tablet (ie like a giant phone) or does it work like a PC with touchscreen?

[Topweasel]

ahh ... now that is what I've been looking for. Does it work like a tablet (ie like a giant phone) or does it work like a PC with touchscreen?

A little of both. Win8 the interface is seamless between all of the devices (RT tablets and Cellphones) and all of the apps that you can run on those devices can run in windows 8. So it can be as tablety as want it to be. But because it is a desktop OS, with ultra-book internals, you can run your standard apps that may or probably do run better with a keyboard and a mouse.

[Masspartan]

more importantly ... I'm assuming you can run microsoft word and excel etc on it easily.

[Topweasel]

more importantly ... I'm assuming you can run microsoft word and excel etc on it easily.

Yes. For the devices that can't run desktop apps they basically get a free version, the RT devices get an ARM conversion of the full apps, and on the phone side they get a more condensed mobile version. But because this is a normal desktop OS you would have to supply your own copy. So really you would be set with any of the versions of Windows 8.

Best way to think of it. It is a tablet because its designed to be treated as a tablet. But in terms of equipment and capabilities, its really an ultrabook.

[Masspartan]

For the devices that can't run desktop apps they basically get a free version, the RT devices get an ARM conversion of the full apps, and on the phone side they get a more condensed mobile version. But because this is a normal desktop OS you would have to supply your own copy

- please translate

[Topweasel]

For the devices that can't run desktop apps they basically get a free version, the RT devices get an ARM conversion of the full apps, and on the phone side they get a more condensed mobile version. But because this is a normal desktop OS you would have to supply your own copy

- please translate

For example on Debs Lumia she now has a mobile version of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Now they are really good readers, but really stripped of a lot of editting capabilities, because they are made to run on 5" or smaller screen. But it didn't cost her anything extra to get it.

Now look at the Surface RT, the Dell Inspiron Tablet, or the Asus Vivotab RT. They are running what you could call an Arm version of Windows 8 (pretty much exactly the same thing as the phone), called Windows RT. Because you can't install normal programs and have to use their App store like Itunes or Google play and to cover most use cases, they all have a ARM compatible version of Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). Though compared to the phone its more feature rich. It's the full applications.

Tablets running an Atom or better CPU (x86), come with Windows 8. Windows 8 for the most part is Windows 7 streamlined, with a new interface. Apps made for Windows XP on up should install and work fine on it. It can also use the same app store as the phone and RT devices. This means that any Tablet or phone app can be loaded and work like it does on the other devices. But since it is a normal OS that is backwards compatible with old software and these are the systems most businesses will use, you have to supply your own copy of Office (any Office version from 2003 on up should work).


So while it's a Tablet in design and you can for the most part use it more like you would a iPad, Android Tablet, or even a Windows RT tablet. It is still a Laptop in terms of the hardware and OS loaded, therefore Microsoft would like to make sure you pay full price for Office.

[Coop]

apps is why I stick to the iphone and ipad...

[nhwbrooklyn]

ahh ... now that is what I've been looking for. Does it work like a tablet (ie like a giant phone) or does it work like a PC with touchscreen?

I would wait until better versions come out though. That one isn't quite where it should be but soon there will be awesome huge touch screens that fold flat into touch tables and other cool stuff like that.

[CGVT]

What do you all know about the Nexus 7 (point me to the posts if it has already been discussed)

[nhwbrooklyn]

It's a great bargain and my wife loves hers. The form factor makes for easy browsing. Basically almost everything you can do on an android phone is enhanced because of the big screen.

All tech reviews online about it are positive.

[Mainevent]

Ok, I need some assistance from the computer folks. We seriously need to upgrade the home computer and get some big time storage for photos and vids of the kids. Any suggestions out there for the type of computer to look at? We primarily use it for media, storing documents, basic programs, etc.

Also, what about cloud storage solutions for photos? I've read some articles and it sounds pretty good, but does anybody use it, would you reccomend it? Should I stick with my own backup drives (or both)?

thx in advance for any advice.

[Tony G]

I may be wrong but for as cheap as external storage is I'd just buy a couple of 1 or 2 TB ext HD. I'm one of those squirrelly people that doesn't trust "the cloud" just for storage. I could see using it to share files to a group of people though.

[CGVT]

It's a great bargain and my wife loves hers. The form factor makes for easy browsing. Basically almost everything you can do on an android phone is enhanced because of the big screen.

All tech reviews online about it are positive.

So it's basically an android I-Pod?

My wife has an I-Pad and loves it, but we are looking for something for one of the kids and don't want to spend that kind of cash.

I read a bunch of reviews and they look good. I just wanted to know if anyone here had any experience with it.

Are there a lot of apps available?