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Technology...What should I buy?, I currently have nothing.

by serryjw
11 replies
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I currently have nothing!:rolleyes:

smartphone +++
1)I need very little talk or text, just data for mobile Internet.
I need big buttons OR touchscreen, camera & HD video
2)Internet I want to be able to download ebooks
3) I want to be able to download & listen to my favorite music for hours w/o it breaking the bank.
4) I love APPS...I want to be able to D/L a bunch.


I work out of the house where I will always have a landline, so all this technology is for fun. What is your best/cheapest recommendations? I am so confused with all the choices, that I buy nothing.



Thanks for your help,
Serry
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    If you throw away the idea of a phone, like you apparently have, and don't need INTEL compatibility, your best bet is likely an android tablet!

    Of course, being at HOME, if you are OK with being tethered there, you can have added capability and upgradability for MAYBE a lower cost(I got my last one for like $250, and it is NICE!) by getting a desktop.

    It REALLY depends on what your business does and what you REALLY want.

    For the tablet deal, there IS a neat little tablet that has a screen the size of a big phone, for a fair amount LESS than $100, that bestbuy sells!

    Tablets are often in roughly 3 form factors. I believe the smallest is about 4". The other two are 7" and 10". Of course the larger ones tend to run longer and have bigger screens but otherwise may be near identical. Brands and models are very different though. But ANDROID is the most common.

    As for ebooks, MOST, if not ALL, ebook computer providers, like amazon and barnes and noble, provide software for tablets, laptops, and notebooks, FOR FREE!!!! Obviously, they hope you'll be adicted and buy lots of books! In such cases, they ALL support android and PC, others they MIGHT support.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author serryjw
      1)Actually, a phone is very important. I have Comcast phone and when I lose my internet, I have no phone , also
      2) and don't need INTEL compatibility??? Of course, being at HOME, if you are OK with being tethered there, you can have added capability and upgradability for MAYBE a lower cost(I got my last one for like $250, and it is NICE!) by getting a desktop.What does that mean?

      I appreciate your help. I also want MUSIC & APPS Downloads...Pretend that I just dropped in and no nothing about technology.

      Serry
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by serryjw View Post

        1)Actually, a phone is very important. I have Comcast phone and when I lose my internet, I have no phone , also
        2) and don't need INTEL compatibility??? Of course, being at HOME, if you are OK with being tethered there, you can have added capability and upgradability for MAYBE a lower cost(I got my last one for like $250, and it is NICE!) by getting a desktop.What does that mean?

        I appreciate your help. I also want MUSIC & APPS Downloads...Pretend that I just dropped in and no nothing about technology.

        Serry
        It sounded like you wanted to go on the cheap, an you said you needed very little talk or internet and will work at home where you have a landline.

        If you want to be able to run most software, and use customer and corporate file formats, you almost CERTAINLY need what was considered 8086 compatibility. NOW, it is basically PENTIUM compatibility. But they are INTEL processors, and so people speak of intel compatibility. MOST intel based computers are intel compatible. If you want to make sure, they will often mention celeron, atom, i3,i5,i7, etc... Also, AMD makes some intel compatible processors. If it runs the STANDARD windows, it is intel compatible, but watch out for windows RT. Windows RT is totally different.

        If you want a phone, samsung galaxy phone is a good one. A lot of people like it, it is android, like a tablet, and it is a PHONE!

        OK, so I explained the idea of intel compatibility, and updated what I would get FIRST if I were you, needed a cell phone, and wanted all you want. The other thing I spoke of was TRADEOFF! It may by 2014, but NOBODY has ever imagined any viable way of getting rid of tradeoffs.

        1. PHONES-- are NICE. They are made to be PORTABLE, but primarily are PHONES! YEAH, I said that, PHONES! So they tend to be SMALL. This means lower compatibility, less screen area, etc.... They also TRY to have long standby modes because you want to be able to talk untethered, and depend on the phone. That can hurt trying to do a lot of extra things. ALSO, FEW phones are INTEL compatible. BTW if you go over maybe 5" on the screen, you have FEW choices!

        2. TABLETS-- try to keep a lot of portability, but are larger. But STILL, they are limited in expandability. AGAIN, FEW are intel compatible. If you go over about 10" on the screen, you have FEW choices! REAL Windows can run on many of the INTEL compatible laptops today.

        3. LAPTOPS and the like-- try to be portable computers. MOST are INTEL compatible, and nearly all of them can run windows. They are STILL limited in expandability. If you go over maybe 15-17" on the screen, you have FEW choices!

        4. DESKTOPS -- MIGHT be SOMEWHAT portable, but it is not a concern. The majority are intel compatible, and nearly all of them can run windows. If a part goes bad, you can often fix it yourself, Screens can be as large as you want, etc....

        I ORIGINALLY was snubbing apple because the tablet is kind of expensive and has a few problems, and the computer platform DOES have a relatively small market share, on an industry basis. And that leaves essentially 3 main competing processor types. ARM(Ironically the small APPLE devices use this also, but it is NOT INTEL compatible. The largest consumer software base for it is ANDROID.) and INTEL AND AMD.

        BTW ARM is used because it was low power and is inexpensive, so it got a foothold in the cheaper devices that have little access to power. Intel was late to offer a viable substitute.

        I'm just trying to give you a general idea.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
          Yep, normally l would recommend a tablet phone, but since it isn't a real workhorse type way, and is more of a cut and paste approach to business, l still think that a 15, screen Laptop with possibly W8, and touchscreen is the best way to go.

          Least you can reload a better OS later on.


          And as for the music, just use Googles free download service for their video clips.

          The quality isn't as good as a bought version, but it is good enough to listen to!

          And it might not work for everything, but it does work for most.

          YouTube to mp3 Converter


          As for a HD, camera the cheapest option is a Digital camera with sufficient Megapixels.

          I probably will chew the batteries up, but it will only cost a hundred or so, and deliver great video quality.


          Shane
          Signature
          Archimedes Forum, Sign up l won't bite
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    • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
      A few questions you should ask yourself -

      1) What are you going to do with it primarily? Play games, and use other apps. Buy an Android tablet or iPad. iPads are grossly overpriced but have a far richer set of apps. Androids are cheaper and have a decent collection of apps too.
      Are you going to be using it for work? Then you might wanna go for a Windows tablet. Steve goes into detail on why this is the case. What do you lose? There are very few apps in the Windows store as compared to Apple and Android stores.

      2) Is calling important? I don't know whether iPads have calling facility. Maybe Steve can enlighten. There are android tablets with GSM calling facility available (like Nexus 7).

      3) Camera - how good? For Skype, or for actually taking pictures and videos? Usually, people don't take pics with their tabs and so the camera isn't very good (Its okay on most high end devices however). You might wanna think of considering a smart phone if you are going to be taking a lot of pictures. Devices like Samsung galaxy S4 have a decent 13 MP camera. But the screen sizes are smaller (5-7 inches) for smart phones and the buttons aren't very big.

      4) How portable? Phones are very portable, fits in the pocket. 7" tabs are portable - you can carry them around in your hand. As you move higher and higher to 9 and 10, you'll need a backpack to carry.

      5) HD streaming? Even most moderately cheap devices allow for 720p HD streaming these days. 1080p streaming is there on the higher priced ones.

      6) Internal memory - If you are going to be downloading and running a lot of apps you should consider a 32 GB or even a 64GB internal memory device. If you need to store a LOT of music and documents, then you should also consider tabs with expandable memory.

      It's not an easy choice to make. You have to give up something or the other. What you should be asking is what are the features I can do away with?

      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      Tablets are often in roughly 3 form factors. I believe the smallest is about 4". The other two are 7" and 10". Of course the larger ones tend to run longer and have bigger screens but otherwise may be near identical. Brands and models are very different though. But ANDROID is the most common.

      Steve
      4" devices aren't tablets. They are barely smart phones. Also, there are a collection of tablets that sell for sizes ranging from 7-12" (Samsung has a 12.2" tablet.) although mostly they are 7 and 10".
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Sumit Menon View Post


        2) Is calling important? I don't know whether iPads have calling facility. Maybe Steve can enlighten. There are android tablets with GSM calling facility available (like Nexus


        4" devices aren't tablets. They are barely smart phones. Also, there are a collection of tablets that sell for sizes ranging from 7-12" (Samsung has a 12.2" tablet.) although mostly they are 7 and 10".
        I don't know why you asked ME, but there ARE some tablets, including some ipads, that CAN hook up to the cellphone system and probably CAN receive normal calls. Such tablets ARE able to MAKE calls to normal phones.

        There ARE some 4" tablets. And they call them tablets. Ones without phone capability really can't be called phones. They almost ALL have the same intelligence most phones have. The difference is that they might not have the facility to easily make a call, and may not even have the ability to hook into the cell phone network. I known that microsoft WAS thinking of making a LARGE tablet, but I meant POPULAR.

        Hey, you can buy almost ANYTHING these days. You want a cellphone type motherboard with extra IO, and android, but NO case, display, or keyboard? They sell it!

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          I don't know why you asked ME, but there ARE some tablets, including some ipads, that CAN hook up to the cellphone system and probably CAN receive normal calls. Such tablets ARE able to MAKE calls to normal phones.

          There ARE some 4" tablets. And they call them tablets. Ones without phone capability really can't be called phones. They almost ALL have the same intelligence most phones have. The difference is that they might not have the facility to easily make a call, and may not even have the ability to hook into the cell phone network. I known that microsoft WAS thinking of making a LARGE tablet, but I meant POPULAR.

          Hey, you can buy almost ANYTHING these days. You want a cellphone type motherboard with extra IO, and android, but NO case, display, or keyboard? They sell it!

          Steve
          I haven't seen any 4" tablet models in India. A 4" tablet with no calling is more like an expensive paperweight.
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  • Profile picture of the author serryjw
    THANK YOU everyone...As I said on my original post...TOO many choices. I have a lot more information.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by serryjw View Post

      THANK YOU everyone...As I said on my original post...TOO many choices. I have a lot more information.
      For the phone, I think most would agree that the samsung galaxy is a good phone, etc...

      But I STILL don't know if THAT is what you wanted, etc... Your original post DID indicate that you DIDN'T want a phone.

      AND, if fun is all you want, there is the question of WHAT kind of fun? For basic notes, maybe some short editing, games, maybe reading ebooks, and using various apps available today, the phone would be FINE! If you want to do MORE extensive editing, have program and format capability, you would have to move up a bit.

      THEN, when you determine what you want, determine what you want ON it. On tablets, for example, they have some that are INCREDIBLY sluggish, one core, Probably less than 1GB RAM, etc.... They have others that have i7s, etc... FAR from sluggish, etc.... some have NO connectivity, and some have a lot. It goes on and on. So RESEARCH.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author serryjw
        OH MY...I have so much to review. Thanks again,
        Serry
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