Android Tablets - Any experiences?

E

edmundchina

Member
Greetings Pleco Forums!

I've very interested in getting a Tablet in the next few weeks when I return to the States from China. My buying window won't be very big, only a couple week. As a result, I won't have much time to test drive the tablets and see what works!

Pleco Forums Friends: Do you have any experience using Pleco on an Android Tablet? What works for you? I really am interested in the document reader abilities and think a phone, even a big phone, wont be enough. Plus I need something mobile for flashcards (its coming soon!).


I've really considered an Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" with 3G (international). Lots of South and Central Americans buy them on Amazon and have great luck with them. Its a phone, its Pleco Machine, it does email, Hurrah!

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 seems great, but seems like lots of screen problems from humidity on the XDM forums.

ViewSonic gTablet with 10" seems great at 260 dollars, much better than 500-700, but I'm not a tech guy and don't know how to root and re-rom the thing!

What do you think?

Let's get a discussion going about the Android tablet king for Pleco! Thanks~

Edmund in China
 
F

Felth

秀才
I have the galaxy 7 inch but it is not the international version. Everything seems to work fine. I highly recommend it because i fell the size is perfect. Big enough to read stuff. small enough to hold in one hand. I'm just waiting for flashcards to buy it. I've only tried out the basic features but everything seems great.
 
W

watereyes

Member
Felth said:
I have the galaxy 7 inch but it is not the international version. Everything seems to work fine. I highly recommend it because i fell the size is perfect. Big enough to read stuff. small enough to hold in one hand. I'm just waiting for flashcards to buy it. I've only tried out the basic features but everything seems great.
Click to expand...

The Galaxy is BY FAR the best Android Tablet at this point in time...
 
H

haraldalbrecht

探花
Here is another happy Galaxy 7" Tab user running PlecoDict. :D

I'm using an unbranded and unlocked international version (European version) with UMTS and WiFi. For UMTS I got a comparable cheap prepaid SIM, where I can either get mobile Internet per month or per day.

In terms of performance, the Tab is satisfying my needs and I like the 7" size very much, especially for reading ebooks, geocaching (okay, that may be a bit oversized but I also have a real outdoor GPSr, so the Tab is for getting terrain overview), and showing photos to my friends. The only thing that is still lacking is a 60m proof casing so I can take it on my dives. :mrgreen:
 
S

stephanhodges

状元
ViewSonic gTablet with 10" seems great at 260 dollars, much better than 500-700, but I'm not a tech guy and don't know how to root and re-rom the thing!
Click to expand...

I bought one for someone else (in China), and got to play with it for a week first. The US version doesn't have any Chinese support, and I wasn't able to find anything (again, in about a week's searching). Even if you root it and replace the OS, the options available don't support all the hardware.

However, after looking around some stores in China, they also sell the same thing, at about the same price, but it's the "Chinese" version. So, perhaps a couple options for you there ... either get it in China, or perhaps find the Chinese rom images and reflash it.

My sister bought a Galaxy 10.1, and that is far better than the Samsung one. I also saw an online coupon for $100 off, I believe though Staples. That was only though end of this month (July) however.

One last point, the Samsung only has a forward facing camera, and it reverses all images, so basically OCR won't work for you, unless you first scan and reverse all the Chinese text!
 
A

annk

Member
I've been using Pleco on my Asus Transformer for a couple days and am quite impressed. My only point of reference is Wenlin on Mac OS X, though - this is my first exposure to Pleco.

The OCR works really well, but the tablet is a bit heavy to hold up to capture characters. I'm thinking that that feature will work best on my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S2). If I understand correctly, I can install my purchased dictionaries on more than one device as long as I only use one at a time (have to look into this before I do anything though...).
 
D

DavidFong

Member
I also have an Asus Transformer, and Pleco works well other than a slow startup time.

I agree that the camera is too hard to hold steady for OCR. There should be a snapshot function.

I bought my Transformer in China. In case you didn't realize, sometimes Chinese versions of tablets and phones do not always encourage use of Google services e.g. Android Market, or perhaps any other service which allows people to spend money outside China. (Google really should make Market available as a separate download, but it does not).

My Transformer (which is made by ASUS, a Taiwanese company, and is available internationally of course) did not have Android Market. And none of the various unofficial Android Market packages, some of which can be found on Chinese versions of Android market!, worked. So I had to re-flash my Transformer. Rooting and flashing my Transformer, although not excruciatingly difficult, was not very easy either!

David.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
DavidFong said:
I also have an Asus Transformer, and Pleco works well other than a slow startup time.

I agree that the camera is too hard to hold steady for OCR. There should be a snapshot function.
Click to expand...

Already has one if you take a picture with the separate camera app - do that, launch OCR and choose the still image menu command and you can scroll around the picture you took to look up words in it.
 
A

annk

Member
Ah, that's a good tip about the camera Mike, I'll have to try that.

By the way, is it true that it's ok to install the Android beta/purchased dictionaries on another device as long as only one is used at a time? It would be interesting to try out the OCR on my Samsung phone as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top