Thinking of buying a tablet

Have you looked at a Harmony remote? One remote. Done and done. My wife loves it and my 7 year old daughter can work it like a pro toggling between the XBOX360 for her Kinect games, the PVR for her TV shows and our AppleTV for Netflix Kids movies. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Harmony Touch on sale at Best Buy. $102 OFF the price. Selling for $147.98.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/logitech-logitech-harmony-touch-universal-remote-915-000199-915-000199/10220711.aspx?path=c5d4c1cea2dffb64e73e21804a1f6779en02

I may pick one up. Hmmmm... heh heh.

I'd get a Harmony. Mine is awesome. Plus, then everyone has access to it. They really are amazing. Once you have one, you'll wonder why you waited so long to get one.

Too bad it doesn't work on ps4

#PS4FAIL

There is word of updates coming from both sides that will fix this. So, just a matter of time.

But still... #PS4FAIL

XBOX One works fine Harmony remotes though.

shabbs wrote:Have you looked at a Harmony remote? One remote. Done and done. My wife loves it and my 7 year old daughter can work it like a pro toggling between the XBOX360 for her Kinect games, the PVR for her TV shows and our AppleTV for Netflix Kids movies. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I've had three of them. Best one was the 880 that I got for half price from Dell.ca about 4 Boxing Day sales ago but even that one was far from perfect as far as the WAF is concerned. The product is just no the same since it was bought by Logitech, but I think I soured on it even before that. I've been checking them out, periodically, since then but, so far, not interested in coming back.

TouchSquid sells at app for the Samsungs -- a bit pricey at $50, but there are free ones as well.

I really don't get this, though. As I was shopping around before Christmas I saw a bluetooth dongle (plugs into USB) at The Source for $20. Surely it would take even less to add one to a remote like Harmony. If you were a PS3 owner would you not be willing to spend an extra $20 to be able to ditch your bluray remote? Those things can be had for $10 now but used to be $30.

And what about all your other devices? Wouldn't it be great to finally get rid of IR? And it doesn't even have to be bluetooth. My TV, PS3, tablet(s), iPods, Wii are all on the home wifi network. If/when I switch to Bell my PVR and other set top boxes will be as well. Should be able to work something out there, no?

IR is so 80s, yet it's still everywhere.

Good point. IR is really annoying.

tim1_2 wrote:Good point.  IR is really annoying.  

I can't believe how many times I have to yell at my kid to put his feet down.

Also, the new soundbar is just tall enough to block the IR receiver on the TV if it sits right in front. Luckily the receiver is on the far right of the bezel and the soundbar is not wider than the TV, but still, it's awful close and I still have to swing my arm out to the right and (sometimes, if someone has moved the bar) a bit up.

shabbs wrote:#PS4FAIL

There is word of updates coming from both sides that will fix this. So, just a matter of time.

But still... #PS4FAIL

XBOX One works fine Harmony remotes though.

I intend to purchase one of them PS3s I've been hearing so much about.

wprager wrote:If you were a PS3 owner would you not be willing to spend an extra $20 to be able to ditch your bluray remote?  Those things can be had for $10 now but used to be $30.

And what about all your other devices?  Wouldn't it be great to finally get rid of IR?  And it doesn't even have to be bluetooth.  My TV, PS3, tablet(s), iPods, Wii are all on the home wifi network.  If/when I switch to Bell my PVR and other set top boxes will be as well.  Should be able to work something out there, no?

IR is so 80s, yet it's still everywhere.

I don't own a PS3 so that's not an issue for me. I do have an XBOX360 tho, which uses IR. My Harmony One controls every single one of my AV devices in our great room perfectly. WIFI/Bluetooth will certainly be (or should be) the next big wave for remote control as devices become more intelligent. The new Harmony Ultimate includes a hub that will control IR, RF and BT devices and has an iOS/Android app that lets your phone become the remote (a solution for you maybe?) which is pretty slick. But the price point on that one is pretty high.

'Member the days of getting up and turning the dial on the huge floor stand TV? Remember channel "U"?

Ahhhhh.. the good old days.

Remember the cable boxes where you had a row of about a dozen buttons, then a switch which would shift them into the next range?

Yes. I also remember playing pong

Well, some sad news to report. My precious Nexus 7 (2nd gen) has been reduced to nearly catatonic state. Not exactly sure what happened but I was emptying my pockets and tossed one of those big nail-clippers on my bed. As soon as I heard the clunk I picked up my tablet, it looked find, did not see any cracks. But later that evening I pulled it out while waiting to pick up my son and immediately noticed the ding on the right side, right at the edge, about half-way up, and then a crack extending almost top-to-bottom. Unfortunately it's way more than cosmetic. Somehow this affected the touch screen so that there are only a few spots left that are touch-sensitive. In some cases I can flip it around and eventually get that button/whatever into one of those areas, but in most cases (like a pop-up with the ok/cancel in the middle of the screen) it is unusable.



Took a quick look around. The new one from Google is a 9" (I liked the 7" form factor) and is over $400 ("from" $429 on the Google PlayStore). The old ones are still available on eBay and I'm very tempted, but after what I paid for it ($234 ope-box) I'm certainly not on-board paying $328.65 + $17 shipping (new) or even $140 US (plus $14 S&H plus $23 import charges -- total is over $215CDN -- that's for a 4-year-old tablet.

Geez, the 16GB is selling for $250 on TigerDirect.ca. The 32GB was selling for $260 when I bought it (just 18 months ago).

Crap, makes me really sad now -- I've only had it 18 months! Should have bought a better case (I used the pouch my son bought me for Christmas because, well, it was a gift from my son -- the pouch was fine, but it was good for storage, you either had it in or you had it out for use -- needed something like what I got for my daughters).

Ooh, was just checking out (online only) some Samsung Galaxy tabs. Tab S comes in 8.4" and 10.5" sizes, there's also a Tab Pro (8.4"). Screen resolution is 2560x1600 in both with the newer S sporting the super-AMOLED tech (higher contrast, lower power consumption).

OK, so now it's just a matter of finding these for under $300 and I'm set. This might take a while.

Very close comparisons between the iPad Mini 3 and the Tab S. Screen is definitely superior on the Tab S (but iPad Mini is no slouch, either). The Galaxy has a widescreen aspect ratio while the iPad is 4x3 (or very close). I like the widescreen for video but I have to admit I've never tried a 4x3 tablet. They say the A7 CPU is superior. Then, again, Samsung can run multiple apps (not so for the iPad mini). That's a somewhat useful feature (I know when I played Zinga Poker I could not fold and switch to another app -- well, I could, but it would not continue running in the background so I could not easily switch back and forth). The iPad Mini is virtually the same price for the 16GB version ($10 more at Staples.ca). 32GB is $50 more (Tab has a micro-SD slot to allow for cheaper expansion).

I know nothing about other tablets other than I am not a fan of my wife's iPad Air (seems to hang too much when browsing the net) and I am a huge fan of my Nexus 7.

tim1_2 wrote:I know nothing about other tablets other than I am not a fan of my wife's iPad Air (seems to hang too much when browsing the net) and I am a huge fan of my Nexus 7.

I'm a huge fan of my Nexus 7, too (don't know if yours is the 1st gen or the 2nd gen with the FHD). Fantastic screen. But it's busted.

Looking around there are replacement kits -- around $60US for the screen+digitizer+top glass, but since in my case the LCD itself is fine, I can get away with the cheaper $20 just for the top glass and digitizer (I suppose "digitizer" is the touch-sensor). The full LCD+digitizer kit is easier to install; for the other one they recommend a professional repair person. Asus themselves were offering repairs for $130 (couple years back, may have changed since then) so I figure replacing just the digitizer/glass would be under $100. I've sent a quote request to a local repair shop (Merivale). We'll see.

On the other hand, now that I've read the specs on the Tab S it's hard to be as excited about my "old" Nexus 7. $400 is a bit steep for my taste but I've only just begun to look. I'll be visiting my sister in law in the US this summer so I should definitely check out for sales south of the border.