The "New Toys" Thread

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ASUS Eee PC 1001PX-EU27-BK Netbook

Powered by the energy-efficient Intel? Atom? N450 processor, the 10.1? Eee PC 1001PX gives you mobile efficiency at an amazing value. Compact and lightweight, easily fit this netbook into your carrying case or backpack and experience on-the-go productivity with the ergonomic chiclet keyboard and multi touch trackpad. And thanks to the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine, enjoy up to 4 hours of unplugged freedom1 for your day-to-day basic computing needs. Surf the Web, work on documents, or listen to music, the Eee PC 1001PX with Windows? 7 Starter brings you closer to your mobile world.

Specifications:

Operating System: Genuine Windows? 7 Starter
Processor: Intel? Atom? N450 processor (1.66 GHz)
Graphics: Intel? UMA
Memory: 1GB DDR2 667MHz (expandable to 2GB)
Storage Drive: 250 GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
Display: 10.1? WSVGA display (1024 x 600)
Sound: Built-in stereo speakers
Webcam: 0.3 megapixel
Communications: 10/100 Ethernet LAN, WiFi 802.11b/g/n
Expandability: 3-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, SDHC)
Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45,VGA D-sub 15 PIN, Digital Array mic-in, headphone
Battery: 3 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery, up to 4 hour battery life

On sale at Fry's for $188.
 
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On sale at Fry's for $188.

Very nice, I've been very impressed with the EEE PC my Dad bought my Stepmom for her birthday last year. It's been a very solid netbook.
 
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Since my DMC-TZ4 had an unfortunate accident. I loved my old camera so I replaced it with a newer version of itself (I think there have been 4 upgrades since then and the one I got was #3? I didn't want the GPS the newer ones have).
 
Wasn't aware of that, how?

There are a couple of things to consider:
1) Enterprise users, no matter how technical you are you can't really root phones that are not yours due to support contracts and such. So default user experience matters quite a bit. As an example in my company they were giving out the Captivates but a bunch of people had them switched for IP4s because of all the issues they had. Mind you these are not the people who actually had an iPhone of any kind before and they still preferred Apple's offering due to its better user experience and stability.
2) Techies who don't want to root phones, this is something that I learned from friends and from working in the IT field myself. When you start dealing with tech issues day to day and have to troubleshoot all kinds of problems at some point in time you just want to go home and USE the device as opposed to actually deal with the problems. I personally wanna play some Angry Birds, get my IMs and generally fart around on the phone rather than go through rooting it.
2.1)Even though Windows is easy enough to reinstall and techies can remove all the crapware that comes with laptops most will still seek out those with the least amount of crapware
3) Not all techies are phone techies. I work with UNIX servers all day, yet I don't magically know how to root an Android phone. In fact when I was doing a Froyo upgrade for my g/f's phone because VZ was not pushing it out for some reason I had to do quite a bit of research on the XDA forums. By the same token my father who is a DBA has no clue how to admin his Windows boxes beyond the basics.

1) Enterprise users are a special bunch... and I think most are used to being forced to use devices they don't want anyway. So many enterprises have been stuck using Windows Mobile or BlackBerry, so I think most would probably be extremely happy to get any Android device, regardless of UI.
2) You're making it seem like rooting is a time consuming task or one you have to repeat - it isn't. Some devices have a one-click rooting tool, and those that don't aren't hard at all to root either if you can follow some plain English instructions. This is also something you do once, or once in a great while.
3) Nobody here is a phone techie per se though, as in they didn't study or work in that field... we're all just technologically minded people who took the time to read through XDA because we wanted to customize our phone experiences.

See, the thing is, there is nothing wrong with any of these custom UIs... they don't massively reduce your productivity, they don't slow your phone to a crawl. If you want a slightly speedier UI or one that you find more aesthetically pleasing then you want to go over and above, and should have the small amount of time and patience it takes to root and flash a new UI.

But I personally get the feeling that many people decry custom Android UIs without really knowing why. There is really nothing too wrong with any of these custom UIs, and many of them add features that Android itself is bizarrely missing. You might find one or two instances of crapware, but for the most part the custom Android UIs aim to improve the user experience and thus can't be compared to crapware on PCs which often consist of trial versions of various pointless programs.

Oh, and since you and I are getting into so many debates lately, I just want to say I wasn't taking a shot at your post specifically. People airing their grievances about custom Android UIs is a very common thing to hear, and one that I think has an easy enough workaround for anyone who cares enough about the UI on their phone to make a strong case against it.


There's something you can do in application settings, reset defaults somewhere, that also gives you the prompt even without a launcher replacement. My dad managed to turn off Sense on his Hero once....

You need to reset the defaults for the default Launcher in the applications menu, then it should give you the prompt without having to download any new launchers.

But obviously this only returns you to the default Launcher, as rickhamilton620 was saying most of these UIs go well beyond the launcher now and can't be effectively turned off.
 
I wish that all Android phones came with an option to have stock UI or the add-on UI. From what I have seen the only one that really adds anything to the experience is the Sense UI the Motoblur and the Touchwiz are pretty damn useless.

Well Google is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place in this case. When they announced their intention to only allow advanced preview code for manufacturers that submit software changes to them for review and approval they got shit on for being "evil" and breaking the whole "free/open" idea they themselves set out to popularize. OTOH people are bitching because of all the crapware that Androids end up with or custom UIs that crash and/or add nothing to the actual experience. I think Google made a strategic mistake announcing Android as open they should have made it open source but announce from the get-go that it's their platform and that they will have the final say on what goes into it.

As much as people hate on Apple because of the tight control over the entire ecosystem, they do have a much better and MUCH more consistent user experience than Android.***

***Before SOME people *cough*narf*cough* start bitching about me using opinions as facts, this is my opinion that comes from having a Captivate (ATT Galaxy S), having used the Droid Incredible (g/f's phone) pretty extensively, and using my friend's Droid (original) and having iP3G/4 as my personal phones for a while.

I asked specifically about the removal of BLUR/Touchwiz/Sense/whatever other custom UI, and they said they won't meddle. I also asked it were possible to have Google do a line of Stock UI firmwares for all androids, and again, the answer was no, we won't meddle in it. Same story for whether Google could get Phone manufacturers to help Open-Source FW like CM etc...

Basically it boils down to this: Google can do all that we want them to do relating to Android Firmwares, but they won't. :(
 
Your carrier is the one who sends it to you, not Google itself. Besides, everyone I know with a Nexus One got the update 2 days after it was released at most.

Yeah, I got it quickly after it was released. The problem is it was released about 6 months later than promised and after the Nexus S got it. It was six months of "it'll be out any day now" from Google. And Google didn't put the build out there for you to install yourself.
 
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Puzzle Piece lockscreen that lets you jump into your missed calls, emails and texts if you have them
Swipe left/right to text/call from contacts/call log
Yeah those are pretty cool I actually like those features.
2) You're making it seem like rooting is a time consuming task or one you have to repeat - it isn't. Some devices have a one-click rooting tool, and those that don't aren't hard at all to root either if you can follow some plain English instructions. This is also something you do once, or once in a great while.
My feelings on rooting are pretty much the same as they are on jailbreaking. It's cool that it can be done and it's more than simple enough but I don't think it should be necessary to get what I believe is basic functionality.
3) Nobody here is a phone techie per se though, as in they didn't study or work in that field... we're all just technologically minded people who took the time to read through XDA because we wanted to customize our phone experiences.
When I said phone techie I meant specifically people who are interested in doing anything with their phones. Like back when I used to be a Linux geek, I didn't go to school to learn Linux or anything along those lines I just enjoyed playing with it and figuring it out.
See, the thing is, there is nothing wrong with any of these custom UIs... they don't massively reduce your productivity, they don't slow your phone to a crawl. If you want a slightly speedier UI or one that you find more aesthetically pleasing then you want to go over and above, and should have the small amount of time and patience it takes to root and flash a new UI.

But I personally get the feeling that many people decry custom Android UIs without really knowing why. There is really nothing too wrong with any of these custom UIs, and many of them add features that Android itself is bizarrely missing. You might find one or two instances of crapware, but for the most part the custom Android UIs aim to improve the user experience and thus can't be compared to crapware on PCs which often consist of trial versions of various pointless programs.
When I said crapware I meant the crapware that telecoms install not the actual custom UI's, sorry shoulda made that clear. I do like the Sense UI the most out of all of them, I did like my friend's Nexus One with fully stock Android UI as well it was a pretty nice UI. Motoblur and Touchwiz just don't seem to bring enough to the table but you know its my opinion obviously.
Oh, and since you and I are getting into so many debates lately, I just want to say I wasn't taking a shot at your post specifically. People airing their grievances about custom Android UIs is a very common thing to hear, and one that I think has an easy enough workaround for anyone who cares enough about the UI on their phone to make a strong case against it.
Oh I didn't take it personally at all I agree that a lot of times people make claims that are not necessarily founded. I have a friend who used to bash on Smartphones completely and use a Sidekick until he got a BB then he was bashing Android and iOS. Now he has an Android phone and he bashes iOS but he doesn't have nearly enough knowledge/experience to have an actual informed opinion.
Basically it boils down to this: Google can do all that we want them to do relating to Android Firmwares, but they won't.
And that sux IMO. I think that Google should really have gone the way of Apple in creating a strong design language and doing its best to get other people to adhere to it. Consistency is important, especially in smartphone world where less technical users are the norm.

Having said that I like that there are currently two very strong forces in the mobile computing/entertainment/communications field with extremely fierce competition between each other. Hopefully MS can catch up as well, fiercely competitive field will benefit us as consumers :)
 
So I noticed that playing MechWarrior: Living Legends (Crysis Wars total conversion to MW, awesome, check it out) brought my Core i7 to over 70?, and that the boxer cooler is way loud at full revs. And since I take no half measures, out with the puny thing...

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and in goes the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B:

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The bloody thing barely fits inside the case. Result: idle temperature down 10?, full load temperature down to ~50? from >70?, and it's much quieter as well.
 
1) Enterprise users are a special bunch... and I think most are used to being forced to use devices they don't want anyway. So many enterprises have been stuck using Windows Mobile or BlackBerry, so I think most would probably be extremely happy to get any Android device, regardless of UI.
Forgot to address this one. While I generally agree with what you are saying I am seeing in my company that people prefer iOS over Android when given the choice. It seems to be the case in many other places as well. iPhone is at 61% vs 17% for Android.

The main reason is that Apple does a very good job of making consistent and intuitive UI, which is the kind that appeals to upper management :)
 
The place my dad works at (Fujitsu) stopped offering people Windows Mobile and Android devices cos people just had too many problems with them. Ease of use was apparently a major factor.

They now offer iPhones for everybody and it's the 'standard' device.
 
Just bought TDU2 (PC) and Red Dead Redemption (360) for ?17 each while I'm in England for the weekend, heck over here in Belgium those still cost 50 and 45 euro respectively.
 
And that sux IMO. I think that Google should really have gone the way of Apple in creating a strong design language and doing its best to get other people to adhere to it. Consistency is important, especially in smartphone world where less technical users are the norm.

Having said that I like that there are currently two very strong forces in the mobile computing/entertainment/communications field with extremely fierce competition between each other. Hopefully MS can catch up as well, fiercely competitive field will benefit us as consumers :)

Feel free to drop Google a line
 
so had to buy Pata hd to fathers dvb-t recorder :eek:
so used 45eur to get this 160GB WD 1600AAJB.

now mom isn't angry to father about using her dvb-t recorder.
 
In early January I ordered a Logitech G27 (from Tigerdirect.ca) and a WheelStand Pro to play GT5.

After waiting a long time, I finally received the stand in March, and a notice from TD that the G27 would take some more time to become available.

So I patiently waited some more, only to check on the order status sometime in April only to discover they had cancel my order (without ever notifying me).

Well, for the past few days buy.logitech.com have been listing the G27 as available (but at full price, with free shipping). Now I've just found out you can answer a survey to get a 20% coupon code, so I did, and ended up getting the wheel for the same price as I initially did from TD, but with free shipping this time :D


So cliffnotes, after waiting since early January, I will finally have my G27 :cool:
 
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