Big Changes to Address Windows 10 Upgrade Problems

Microsoft is making some sweeping changes to the way it provides the free Windows 10 Upgrade to owners of Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines. Fixes include slimming down the amount of steps involved in getting the operating system upgrade and giving users options to ignore the upgrade altogether. All told, the fixes finally address many of the Windows 10 upgrade problems that users who haven't upgraded to Windows 10 run into every day.

Microsoft announced changes to address Windows 10 Upgrade problems yesterday on its Windows Blog. The company began letting users download Windows 10 to their machines for free on July 29th. Even before that, users could reserve a download of the free upgrade. Windows 10 includes a Tablet Mode that is disabled by default and apps that users can run on their Desktop and download from the Windows 10 Store. Microsoft has said that 110 million users have already downloaded the update since launch.

Read: Windows 10 Review – A Love Affair

One of the biggest changes to the Windows 10 upgrade experience is how users are notified of it in the first place. Microsoft has heard the feedback about how aggressive its been in pushing Windows 10 to users with an app in the Taskbar. It's updated the Get Windows 10 app notification that it provides to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users with an option to ignore the upgrade forever.

Today, when users decide to download the Windows 10 upgrade the notification app guides them through the pre-installation process, then waits until Microsoft says it's ready to install the actual update. Selecting the "Get Your Free Upgrade" button now will get users the software update immediately.

Just as Microsoft is getting less aggressive on one front, its stepping up its efforts to promote the free Windows 10 upgrade in other ways. Soon, Microsoft says that Windows 10 upgrade will surface in Windows Update as an "Optional Update" for users with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Since most users automatically install all updates, this should go a long way to boosting the number of users with Windows 10 on their devices. Microsoft has plans to be more aggressive with Windows 10 upgrades in the new year. It'll change the status of the upgrade in Windows Update from "Optional Update" to a "Recommended Update."

Microsoft plans to release a single file for more savvy users to download and install Windows 10 on any type of Windows device, instead of the two download approach the company has today with the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.

Lastly, those who are trying to upgrade to Windows 10, but don't have a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 running on their device will find an area for typing in an activation code within Windows 10's Settings app soon. The activation code for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will need to be purchased from somewhere else, but Microsoft is looking to make getting Windows 10 easy – even for users who refused to pay for past versions of Windows.

Windows 10 is free because Microsoft is in the midst of trying to morph Windows into a powerhouse. Typically, device makers paid for operating systems installed on PCs – they still do with Windows 10. The difference is that upgrading to a new PC isn't the primary way for users to get Windows 10. Microsoft is giving it away free to users with Windows 7 and Windows 8 for a limited time.

Besides the new Tablet Mode, Windows 10 comes with newly updated apps for Mail, Music, Video Calendar and more. Also included are the Cortana personal assistant from Windows Phone and the new Microsoft Edge web browser, the company's official replacement for Internet Explorer.

Source: Big Changes to Address Windows 10 Upgrade Problems

User reports of Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 problems proliferate

Microsoft's new flagship systems, the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, shipped on Monday accompanied by an out-of-the-box patch. Judging by the volume of cries on support forums, a substantial number of new owners aren't happy. At least one of the problems, though, has a user-generated fix.

One of the most commonly reported problems is a wildly flickering screen. Poster Jarem on the Microsoft Answers forum puts it this way:

Just got my Surface Book, i7 512GB. Applied all the updates (including the recent firmware). My screen keeps flickering on/off, whether or not the screen is docked. I've tried resetting but the issue still persists. It also seems independent of running apps or focused windows. Adjusting the brightness doesn't resolve the issue.

Here's a video.

As you can see in the video, the flickering makes the machine essentially useless. Several customers on that Answers thread ultimately diagnosed the problem as a Hyper-V apparition. (You have to manually turn on Hyper-V in any Windows 10 Pro system; it's not turned on by default -- although if you install Visual Studio, the installer turns on Hyper-V.)

Poster plost99 nailed it, saying that disabling Hyper-V fixed the flicker. To do so:

Step 1. Right-click Start and choose Command Prompt (Admin)

Step 2. Copy this line into the command prompt and press Enter:

dism.exe /Online /Disable-Feature:Microsoft-Hyper-V

(note the spaces)

Reader mattdlloyd chimed in:

I have this problem as well. Support is useless, and if I could of, I would of pulled the agent through the text message screen and beat him senseless. I have the surface book and noticed the screen flicker as well. NOT THE AUTO BRIGHTNESS, but an actual flicker. Black back to the screen. It's worse when you detach the screen as you run solely on the intel driver. The work arounds I have come up with is run at 2560*1920 and then it works without issue. If you need the full screen 3000*2000 then go into device mgr and disable the Intel driver.  Drawback is you can't disconnect the screen. I discovered this without any help from support again as they are useless. And if they are reading this, I am still waiting for a call back from a supervisor as I was promised.  Further if you spend close to 3K on a laptop the support should be there to help and not aggravate you to the point of returning the computer. So fix the issue or I will make it a point to go to every review site and e xplain the ills of this computer. They almost had a perfect system. And as usual they #$%#$%#$%#

Apparently the Surface Pro 4 tablet has the same problem. Microsoft is aware of the issue and (we're told) is working on a fix.

In the same thread, poster SeanDP reported a problem that I've seen posted in many places:

I also have another strange issue.  When I scroll web pages, the screen appears this light reddish or pink hue color. But when I reach the bottom of the page I am scrolling, it returns to normal color? White on white pages? What gives with that?

I haven't seen any solution to that problem.

There are reports of Surface Book freezes all over the Web. Tweetium Windows author, former developer at Microsoft and all-around guru Brandon Paddock @BrandonLive had a series of freezes and hangs with the laptop, at least some of which were apparently caused by the Intel graphics card. In a lengthy thread about freezes on the Answers forum, he says:

It has hard hung / locked up 9 times now since it arrived. I am seeing lots of issues traced to the Intel graphics driver (including app crashes where the call stack is in the Intel driver). However, the hangs don't result in BSODs or normal event log entries or memory dumps. I did discover that Reliability Monitor has entries for them though, listed as "Hardware error". Some/most of them have a bucket ID with the Intel graphics driver in the name.

At this point I am unclear if this is an actual hardware defect or a driver/firmware bug. At the moment I'm running with the Intel display adapter disabled (which runs the device on the software MS Basic Display driver - despite being attached to the base with the Nvidia card). One possibility is that there's a hardware problem that is impacting the Intel graphics (i.e. bad RAM chip). However it could also be a driver or firmware bug. In that case, though, I would expect it to be very widespread. And it is unusual for driver problems to show up in this way (instead of a BSOD, or a driver restart/recovery). Probably not impossible, though.

Paddock took his Surface Book to a nearby Microsoft Store and exchanged it. As of last night, it's still working. Unfortunately, many people report that the Microsoft Stores near them are completely out of the Surface Book.

A poster who identifies himself as "Lance from Surface Support" gives the following advice for curing freezes by wiping out the hard drive and installing a new Win10 image:

He goes on to emphasize:

I FINALLY got the surface book to boot from the USB and this time it looks like the install went correctly. I'll know in an hour if this did it. It's very important that when you go into EUFI that you DRAG THE USB BOOT MODE TO THE TOP OF THE LIST. IF YOU DON'T DO THIS IT WON'T BOOT FROM THE USB! At least it didn't for me until I did that. The other times I tried to do recovery from the partition on the SSD it just did a screwed up install and would hang at 99% complete.

Several people on the thread blame the freezes on the newly released firmware update for the Surface Book. Paddock says it isn't a software problem, and the only fix he found was to turn in the laptop for a new one -- a process that's easy (but frustrating) if you're near a Microsoft Store and they still have Surface Books in stock, but problematic in any other universe. Not what you would expect from a $3,000 laptop, eh?

Theo Priestley at Forbes points to a tirade on the Microsoft Surface forums. The link in that article doesn't work, but ericspt's post on the Microsoft Surface forum goes to great lengths "after using it for 4 hours: Dell's 34-inch ultrawide monitor doesn't work with the dock; can't boot while attached to the dock; playing MPEGs while connected to the dock throws an unable to decode error; multiple animations on a web page trigger a black screen that won't come back until you dock or redock; can't detach dock; and more."

Lest you think the problems are confined to the Surface Book, permit me to dispel that notion. The wild screen flicker and the color changes, in particular, have also been observed with new Surface Pro 4 tablets.

Right now, there are many more questions than answers. Yes, it's risky buying a "version 1.0" computer like the Surface Book -- but Microsoft should've ironed out the problems in the Surface Pro line long ago. The fact that both SB and SP4 share the same oddities is little comfort.

Microsoft has released 20 -- count 'em -- firmware patches for the Surface Pro 3 since it shipped 16 months ago. Let's hope we don't see a repeat.

Source: User reports of Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 problems proliferate

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 review: thinnest, lightest tablet with a stunning screen

Samsung's latest tablet is the thinnest and lightest available, with a brilliant screen and good build. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Samsung's latest Galaxy Tab S2 tablet is the thinnest yet, outdoing both Apple and Sony,and it comes with a vibrant 9.7in screen and a microSD card slot for storing hundreds of movies.

The follow up to the Galaxy Tab S, the first truly good Samsung tablet, improves on design and speed, but swaps a widescreen for a squarer one, making it a more direct challenger to Apple's iPad.

Thin and light The Tab S2 is easy to hold, light enough to use one-handed for reading and takes up as little space as 9.7in tablet possibly could. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Innovation in tablet design has reached a plateaux. The S2 is typical of this: it's thin, light and has a 9.7in screen – and it's similar to almost everything else.

In fact, at 5.6mm thick and 389g in weight, it's 1mm thinner and 76g lighter than last year's Tab S, 0.5mm thinner and 4g lighter than Sony's Xperia Z4 Tablet and 0.5mm thinner and 48g lighter than Apple's iPad Air 2.

The design is understated. A 9.7in screen with thin bezels, metallic sides and matt plastic back. A smaller 8in version is also available. The home button at the bottom of the screen has a fingerprint scanner hidden underneath it. The back has two popper button holes for attaching Samsung's various cases.

The screen is the main star of the show and, as with last year's Tab S, it is stunning. Rich, vibrant colours and deep, inky blacks make videos and photos look fantastic. It has a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch making it as sharp as the iPad Air 2 – its main rival. Unlike most other Android tablets the screen is in the 4:3 ratio, the same as the iPad, which is better for reading books, but means big black bars are visible at the top and bottom of the screen when watching video.

Specifications

Screen: 8in or 9.7in (1536 x 2048) Super AMOLED (264 ppi)

Processor: Samsung Exynos 5433 octa-core (1.9 GHz quad-core + 1.3GHz quadcore)

RAM: 3GB of RAM

Storage: 32GB; microSD slot also available

Operating system: Android 5.0.2 Lollipop

Camera: 8MP rear camera, 2.1MP front-facing camera

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 with BLE and GPS (LTE optional)

Dimensions: 237.3 x 169.0 x 5.6mm

Weight: 389g

Slow charging A microSD card slot in the side makes adding space for movies, music and photos easy. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Samsung has found success using its own processors within its smartphones such as the Galaxy S6, one of the fastest smartphones currently available. The Tab S2's processor is, however, not quite as fast. It gets the job done for the most part and still feels responsive particularly diving in and out of the recently used apps list, but it doesn't feel as rapid as the Galaxy S6 in day-to-day usage.

Multitasking was relatively painless. Samsung's Android tablets allow you to use two applications side-by-side, but only for a limited selection of apps. Those that work, such as Chrome and Gmail, work well. I wish the list of supported apps was longer. Resizing the apps could also be smoother.

The tablet had no issues playing video, playing the odd game or viewing photos. Graphically intensive games such as Nova run smoothly, but battery life took a hit.

Battery life was good but not exceptional. I got around seven hours of comic reading with the screen quite bright, which is good. Standby time wasn't quite as impressive. If left on a coffee table and used occasionally it would be dead within three days, which is a common problem with Android tablets – one that is solved by Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Samsung's power-saving mode helped a little.

It took just under four hours to fully charge. There was no fast charging available, which is disappointing.

Samsung's Android Multi View allows two apps to be used side-by-side on the screen at the same time. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The Tab S2 ships with Android 5.0.2 in the UK and is due to be updated to Android 5.1, but the update had not arrived by the time I had finished testing the device.

Samsung's customary "TouchWiz" modifications to Android are present. Most of them are cosmetic and not as sleek and good looking as the standard Android experience.

Some of the customisations add things lacking from standard Android. Good ones include Multi Window, which allow a small selection of apps to be placed side-by-side on one screen, two at a time.

Samsung's smart stay, which keeps the screen on when you're looking at it, is particularly handy for reading when you might not touch the screen for a minute or so.

Camera The camera doesn't get in the way and will do in a pinch. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The cameras are similar to last year's Tab S cameras, which are relatively bright for tablet cameras, but are not up to scratch compared to a decent mid-range smartphone camera. I don't recommend making it your primary holiday camera

Fingerprint scanner The fingerprint scanner works well and will work any which way up. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The home button doubles as a fingerprint scanner for unlocking the device and some third-party apps. It's fast, accurate and up there with the best of them, even when upside down.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 comes in two sizes, with or without 4G. The 9.7in Galaxy Tab S2 with Wi-Fi and 32GB of storage as reviewed costs £399 in black or gold. The 8in version with Wi-Fi costs £319. 4G versions cost £50 more.

For comparison, Apple's iPad Air 2 with 16GB of storage costs £399 and Sony's Xperia Z4 Tablet costs £500 with a bluetooth keyboard.

Verdict The excellent screen makes comics, photos and videos a joy to view. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The Galaxy Tab S2 is Samsung's best tablet to date. It's thin, light, has a fantastic screen and can do limited side-by-side multitasking.

The 4:3 ratio screen is a mistake, however, as it makes watching video a poorer experience than those with a widescreen. It also is not as sprightly as Samsung's top-end smartphones, which is disappointing and raises the question why it doesn't have the same processor as the Galaxy S6?

Its main rival is the iPad Air 2. For the same money you get a better screen, more storage and a microSD card slot with the Samsung, but battery life is disappointing. Hopefully an update to the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow may help.

Pros: limited multitasking, fingerprint scanner, excellent screen, thin, light, microSD card slot

Cons: 4:3 ratio screen worse for watching video, battery life could be better, no quick charging, plastic back feels cheap compared to rivals

The squarer screen makes viewing apps and websites such as the Guardian easier. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian Other reviews
Source: Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 review: thinnest, lightest tablet with a stunning screen

Turkey's plan to help farmers adapt to climate change? Ask a tablet

A view of the dry terrain just beyond Ahmed Kiṣnavkates' farm near Kazan, Turkey. TRF/Manipadma Jena

KAZAN, Turkey, Oct 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ahmed Kinavkates has a problem.

The farmer in the Kazan district of the Turkish capital usually starts ploughing his fields now, to prepare them for his winter crops of potato and cabbage. But he needs rain and the erratic weather in the region makes it impossible for him to predict when it will come.

So Kinavkates pulls out his iPad and opens an app specifically designed for Turkey's farmers. He types out a question and transmits it to the 30-foot tower on his farm.

Half an hour later, he has an answer: The autumn rains will arrive later than usual, so he needs to wait another week before ploughing. Kinavkates passes the advice on to other local farmers.

After years of fighting climate change - and usually losing - Turkey's farmers are turning to modern technology for a deceptively simple solution.

Under a government project that aims to promote flexible, sustainable farming, specially developed monitoring and information satellite systems now provide farmers with the data they need to continuously adapt to unpredictable weather.

Launched in 2010, but still in the pilot stage, the project gives 3,000 tablet-owning farmers access to real-time agricultural data through a free intranet provided by the government.

At their fingertips, farmers have information on factors ranging from soil quality to atmospheric temperature, and from wind speed to warning signs of oncoming natural disasters. They share the information with their local community, so everyone can decide what crop is best to plant, when to plant it, and how to get the highest yield.

"But if we use the tablets to play computer games, the app immediately cuts off the connectivity," Kinavkates said, with a laugh.

WEALTH OF INFORMATION

Kazan is part of the central Anatolia region, which has an average yearly precipitation of only 300 millimetres (12 inches). Over much of Turkey, the scenario is no better.

"The 52 million hectares of arid and semi-arid agriculture land, which make up 65 percent of the total farmland in Turkey, are worst hit by climate change," said Mahmut Temiz, an official at Turkey's Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs. "Annual rainfall now swings wildly between 250 to 2,250 millimetres."

To take the guesswork out of farming in a region with such unreliable rainfall, the project put 1,200 ground stations around Turkey, most of them in the Anatolia region.

Costing $30,000 each to set up, the ground stations are equipped with as many as 40,000 different sensors, of which only 15,000 are in use now, giving the systems room to grow.

The sensors pick up and transmit data that includes wind speed and direction; the amount of solar radiation available to run farmers' solar energy installations; temperature and moisture levels in the atmosphere and soil; rainfall measurements and predictions; and irrigation and fertiliser requirements at each stage of plant growth.

Every 10-to-30 minutes, the data is sent to a centralised information-processing and analysis station in Ankara run by Turkey's Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

Some of it is automatically fed back in a loop that farmers can access at the touch of a button. But if a farmer has a more in-depth query - such as how to get rid of a persistent crop pest - people sitting in the centralised office collate and analyse the data to send back an answer.

The project also employs 3,000 field advisers to assist the three million Turkish farmers who could benefit from the scheme's information but can't afford or can't operate a tablet computer.

"It is a comprehensive ... monitoring network to manage drought and other agro-disasters," said Gürsel Küsek, a senior official at the ministry's Agricultural Reform department. "Turkey can mitigate climate change impacts by 'precision farming' through real-time information systems."

SWAPPING BEANS FOR MELONS

Kinavkates, who has been using the system since 2012, shows how he uses his iPad to find information on soil quality or send out pictures of an unfamiliar fungus attacking his plants.

He credits the project with saving the livelihoods of many in his community.

Last sowing season, he said, the system used sensor data for estimated water consumption and evapotranspiration (the sum of evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) to advise farmers in Kazan to plant melons instead of their traditional crop of white beans, which use twice as much water.

Kinavkates also got the information on the specific seed variety to use given the climatic conditions, how much supplementary irrigation he would need, when to apply fertiliser, and specific disease risks.

After the September harvest, Kinavkates made his highest ever turnover of 60,000 Turkish lira ($20,700) from the sale of his melons.

"Turkey is investing in a big way in advanced technology in the farm sector," Metin Türker, an official in the General Directorate of Agrarian Reform, said. "Even in the face of increasing drought, floods and soil erosion, we have to ensure food for our people."

(Reporting by Manipadma Jena; editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and corruption. Visit www.trust.org/climate)

Source: Turkey's plan to help farmers adapt to climate change? Ask a tablet

Got A Spare Android Phone Or Tablet? Perch Turns It Into A Home Security Camera

Right now there are three Android phones and four Android tablets within arm's reach of my desk, and another half dozen or so in my closet. (It's OK, I don't have a problem. This is my job.) If you're in a similar situation, you can put some of those gadgets to use: they work great as remotes for set-top boxes like Android TV or Roku, or you can cobble them together into a sort of poor man's Sonos multi-room speaker system. Here's one more option: turn it into a home security camera.

Perch isn't the only app that does this, but it looks like the most user-friendly on the Play Store at the moment. Install Perch on one of your spare phones or tablets, point it towards whatever you want to monitor, like the front door or a baby crib, then log into GetPerch.com. You can see a live video feed from your phone's camera and set up some smart settings, specifically the ability to assign a custom monitoring zone in a grid. When that zone changes, you'll get a notification on your phone and the time will be tagged in the recording. The phone will continue to record with the screen turned off to save battery, but of course you can just plug it in and make it semi-permanent.

  

The service is free, but it's a bit rudimentary right now - you can't even log in with a Google account. That's not surprising, considering the app and service are in beta at the moment. But it's still surprisingly well thought-out; you can access multiple video streams from either the web or another phone, something that most dedicated home security systems don't offer yet. You can even "talk" through the phone to communicate with anyone in your home (or mess with your pets). Give it a try if you have a spare Android device that you need to put to use.

Source: Got A Spare Android Phone Or Tablet? Perch Turns It Into A Home Security Camera

Amazon Fire Review: The $50 tablet that could

Amazon Fire Review

4.0Overall Score

Amazon's latest Fire tablet didn't go for the brightest screen or the fastest processor, instead, Amazon shocked consumers with a price tag that could rival a new pair of jeans. At just $50 the Amazon Fire has become the new standard in low-priced tablet shopping, offering smart cutbacks while maintaining important features.

When compared to the Fire's more expensive predecessors, or Apple or Google's latest installments, the Fire Tablet certainly lacks a few of the finer conveniences and premium hardware upgrades. This won't be a "perfect fit" tablet for everyone but depending on what you are looking for in a second-screen, it may be an ideal companion.

To achieve the low price-point, Amazon went with a few choices that should seem obvious. You won't find any premium metals in the construction and you won't find any of the latest processors or chipsets. The body was designed with a plastic mold and the screen is a simpler glass than you will find in more expensive tablets. That being said, you probably won't find a better tablet at $50 and when coupled with all of Amazon's Prime features, the tablet is practically a steal.

The primary use for this tablet is centered around entertainment and general app use, a day to day tablet without any frills. If you are looking for a tablet to watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon instant or YouTube on, then the Amazon Fire should be a perfect fit. The Amazon runs on Amazon's Fire OS, so you won't have Google Play or the Apple App Store to shop from but you will find all of the popular apps and email settings that most of us use everyday like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, web-browsers and more.

All of the buttons and connections are also designed for using the tablet when it is in landscaped mode. Which is the mode you are most likely to use when watching videos, which is the centerpiece of the entire design. You'll have your volume and power buttons along the left-hand side when viewing the tablet in landscape mode, so you easily change the volume or adjust settings when watching a show or browsing through apps.

Technically this isn't an HD screen, one of the downsides of buying a $50 tablet. The 7″ IPS display offers a (171 ppm / 1024 x 600) display running on a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. If you're reading on the device or checking emails and social media, the display shouldn't really be an issue. It's only when you're going from an HD screen on another device to watching video content on this tablet that the lack of definition is more noticeable.

At $50 I would say you get more than what you are paying for, the 171ppm still allows a very comfortable resolution for any movie on Netflix and Hulu, and even though it's sub-720P, I wouldn't really expect anything better at this price-point. Watching movies and shows, browsing the web, or while playing a few games, the screen's resolution never really distracted me.

If you're looking into the sound then there are two ways to go, with headphones and without. If you watch a lot of content without a headset, then the sound-quality might annoy you. If frequently wear headphones or a headset while you watch content on this tablet than the sound really shouldn't be an issue. The sound is clearly sub-par when compared to today's leading tablets when you are listening without headphones, but again, this device is on a completely different set of standards considering the price. The sound was much better when watching movies than listening to music, but with headphones I was pleased with both.

The cameras on the device won't win any awards but the fact that a $50 tablet has both a front-facing and rear-facing camera is quite exceptional. On the front you will have a front-facing VGA camera, which will allow you to take selfies or video chat on apps like Skype. The 2 MP rear-facing camera will allow you to take photos or record videos in 720p HD, which is a technically a better resolution than the display can even output. The cameras probably won't be used other than video calls on Skype or Google Hangouts, because they do capture some low-quality shots. I don't think anyone will be using the Kindle Fire as their primary camera in the future.

Browsing the web customers will utilize the Amazon Silk browser, there is also a built-in calendar and email service. All of which work perfectly fine for casual use. The quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek processor runs on 1GB of RAM. It keeps the apps relatively snappy even when you flicking back and forth between them. Watching video isn't an issue and jumping from one app to the other never really became a problem during testing. You will have 8GB of internal storage (really 5GB after upgrades and OS installs) but you do have the option to use the Kindle Fire's microSD to bump that up to 128GB of storage.

You will have the option to pair your headset or speakers through the Bluetooth 4.0 and there is a single-band WiFi (802.11b/g/n) connection that works well. Inside the Fire is a 2,980mAh battery that lasts incredibly long. With really heavy video use and app switching, the device lasted between 8-10hrs without needing to be recharged. Obviously the apps that use, screen brightness and other factors heavily effect the battery-life but I was very impressed with the output of the 2,980mAh battery.

As a tablet that was specifically designed to be a low-cost option for video, the Fire is an amazing achievement. The drawbacks come with the display, running Fire OS instead of standard Android or iOS and the chip isn't the fastest in the land. If your looking for a tablet to simply watch movies or check social-media and the internet while traveling, sitting in bed or lounging about the house, I don't think you'll find anything remotely close at $50. You can five of these in a pack and get one free, that's the kind of rock-bottom pricing that we are talking about here, it's really a new standard in low-priced tablet shopping.

Overall I think you get more than what you pay for in this option and if you need another screen for entertainment around the house or office, then you really should put the Amazon Fire on your list. You can find more pictures, prices and specs on the new Amazon Fire here at Amazon.com.

Source: Amazon Fire Review: The $50 tablet that could

Surface Book vs. Surface Pro 4: Picking the best came down to just one thing

Two great productivity machines, one hard choice.

We love the Surface Book. We love the Surface Pro 4. But what we haven't told you yet is the question many of you are asking: Which one is better? And the answer is: the other one.

For the last week, we've tossed the question back and forth: which one do you like? Why? We both agree that the Book's appeal lies in its discrete GPU, battery life, and laptop-like form factor. The SP4 is slightly cheaper but offers some serious bang for your buck. Gordon and I know both devices: I spent time with the Book, then tested the Surface Pro 4. Gordon owns a SP3 and wrote our Surface Book review. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to publication: Each of us became convinced that the other Microsoft product was better. I'm sold on the Book's long battery life, and Gordon was more partial to the sharp uptick in performance the SP4 offered—without all the cash you'd have to lay out for the Surface Book. So here's what we decided to do: make our case for each product, and let you decide who's right. 

But yes, we still picked a winner.

Features

Mark: For me, the debate's almost over at this point. The Surface Book is simply the sexier of the two machines, with that articulated hinge, gorgeous 13.5-inch 3,000 x 2,000-pixel display, and detachable tablet. I can see little wrong with the device, save for the fact that the "clipboard" tablet lacks an expansion slot. Walk into an airport lounge or coffee shop with a Surface Book, and everyone knows you mean business. It's Microsoft's Chromebook Pixel, but it can actually, you know, do something.

Gordon Mah Ung

The hinge on the Surface Book is more than pure bling, Microsoft says. It keeps the entire laptop from flopping over.

Don't get me wrong—I love the Surface Pro 3. That thing's lived in my backpack for most of last year, and finally cracked under repeated use. (Speaking of cracking, the Book's hinge should withstand a normal backpack load, Microsoft says.) The SP4 should step right in as a terrific replacement. But I can't exactly pine for a minivan when there's a Ferrari on the lot, you know what I mean?

Gordon: There is simply no sexier laptop today than the Surface Book. That beautiful, large screen and battery life and its performance really make it my go-to device for just about everything. But it ain't small by a long shot. The Surface Pro 4 is something you don't mind hauling everywhere with you every single day, while the Surface Book will make its presence known in your bag. And if you think "hauling" means walking from your cubicle to your car and tossing the bag in the trunk, I mean trudging or cycling miles with everything on you.

That's why I think the Surface Pro 4 is the device for people on the go all the time. You're getting a real computer with the productivity of a laptop but the footprint of a tablet.

Performance

Mark: For me, any discussion of a mobile device begins and ends with battery life—the best computer in the world is worthless if it doesn't have power. The Book offers 13.6 hours of battery life; the Surface Pro 4 offers just over 8. No, the SP4 isn't shabby at all, but you know how battery life tends to dwindle down over the life of the product. Journalists endure the CES test—a day that begins at 6 a.m., ends at 2 a.m., and involves frantically racing around and filing stories, images and video, often without a power outlet nearby. In such an environment, I want great heaping handfuls of battery life. The Book delivers in spades.

Man, look at the gorgeous battery life number the Book puts up.

And I know the Book doesn't offer the graphics performance of a gaming notebook, or even a midrange laptop with a discrete GPU. That's fine by me. I can run Crysis 2 on a Surface Pro 4 at resolutions and frame rates that make Original Gamers turn away in embarrassment. I ain't proud. But the Surface Book gives me a decent discrete GPU that does it one better. And wouldn't it be a nifty trick if Microsoft decided to sell a Dock with an external GPU, or just a better base? I think the future's pretty bright for the Book here.

Gordon: There's no question the Surface Book's GPU option smokes the competition. And I mean all of the competition—not just the Surface Pro 4. But if you look at the CPU results, the Surface Pro 4 hangs right there with the Surface Book on just about any task that doesn't stress the GPU. Intel's integrated graphics has really come a long way. Even more impressive is the performance of the Surface Pro 4 over the Surface Pro 3. My biggest gripe with the Surface Pro 3 was how the performance fell off when it got hot, as well as the fan noise just running Chrome. The Surface Pro 4 fixes both issues.

The discrete GPU inside the Book gives it an edge.

I do wish Microsoft had aimed a little higher on battery life, as parity with the Surface Pro 3 wasn't exactly aiming high. One thing I'd add though: The full story on Surface Pro 4 isn't written yet. We pretty much know how all the iterations of the Surface Book will perform in battery life and CPU and GPU performance. The highest-end Surface Pro 4 will actually feature Intel's Iris graphics, which should give it a very serious improvement in performance, while the lowest-end Surface Pro 4 will feature Intel's power-sipping Core m3 chip. So Surface Pro fans, stay tuned—it may very well give the Surface Book more of a challenge.

User experience

Mark: You know, I staunchly defended the Surface Pro's "lap-ability" for a while now. And yes, it's competent. But the Book is a real laptop, one that properly rests on your lap—but  doesn't toast your thighs, either. And the Book just barely reclines far enough that it's comfortable for me to use. 

Rob Schultz

The Surface Pro 4's narrow kickstand is fine for a desk, but it's still not terrific for prolonged lap use.

I carry one or two or three or four devices around with me on occasion for various reasons. I'm a hoarder. I have a problem. The Book is a solid two-in-one that can help me knock that habit. I just need to keep that Pen on a lanyard around my neck or else it's going to be eaten by my backpack. I just know it. (Ditto for the Surface Pro 4, to be honest.)

Gordon: I decided "lap-ability" on the Surface Pro 3 had a ways to go when it flopped off my lap onto the carpeted floor no fewer than three times at the same conference. The reporter next to me had his laptop out and his Surface Pro 3 in his bag so yeah, not the greatest strength of the Surface Pro line.

But outside of those times I'm crammed into a seat that would make a budget airline blush, I've been fine with the Surface Pro. It is no by means a laptop and even I admit the Surface Pro 4 can't touch the Surface Book. The gorgeous screen, the great keyboard, the giant trackpad...yeah, I got nothing here.

Bang for the buck

Mark: Can we just skip this one? Let's just ignore the fact that Microsoft loaned us these tablets for review, so I don't have to justify to my wife that spending $3,000 for a two-in-one when we have other laptops that do exactly the same thing is a good idea. Or that yes, I could buy a much cheaper Surface Pro 4, get my butt to a conference a bit earlier and sit next to a power outlet instead of checking out the complementary breakfast. 

Peter Ruecktenwald

Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 easily tops the Book for bang for the buck.

So, um, I have to concede here that the Surface Pro 4 wins this category hands-down. Can we talk about the display again, though?

Gordon: Not to rub it in, but the base level Surface Pro 4 with its Core m3, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will do the job for what 85 percent of people need out of a portable device. It's also just $900. There's a lot of fancy features in the Surface Book and you pay for it, too.

In the Surface Book's defense though—I know, I'm crossing lines—premium features demand premium prices. No other 13-inch Ultrabook gives you this kind of graphics performance, run time or tablet functionality.

Conclusion: Money talks

You could argue that the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 are two different products for two different markets, and don't compete. But that's a cop-out. Both are mobile devices that Microsoft designed for mobile professionals. 

So here's the way we're going to settle this once and for all. If you're a corporate user, with a giant bucket of IT money sloshing dollars at perks like personal laser printers, oxygen bars and dry cleaning, buy the Book. It might be crazy-expensive, but what do you care? 

But if you're like us, just ordinary folks... well, the Surface Pro 4 might be more your style. You know how it works, you know what its limitations are, and if you believe in the Microsoft "rule of three" (that Microsoft never gets a product right until the third version), you'll feel more assured that the Surface Pro 4 will be around for the long haul. 

Honestly, though, we both feel the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 are terrific pieces of hardware, and worth your money if you have it. You can't go wrong buying either one.

Source: Surface Book vs. Surface Pro 4: Picking the best came down to just one thing

Tstand Aims To Make Tablet Use More Comfortable

I don't know about you, but I've used my iPad in bed many times only to get up with a sore neck and strained eyes. Not to mention the fatigue in my arms and hands from holding the darned thing, sure it's light but after 30 minutes it's a brick. Tstand is trying to make using your tablet in this way and many others ways more convenient and comfortable.

Recognizing that tablets are not designed to be held for more than a few minutes, Surface ID founder Sean Kieley was determined to develop a solution that could solve this problem for the millions of tablet users worldwide. "We love the possibilities that smart tablets have given us, but unfortunately they are designed for their awesome screens, good looks, and computing power, but not for the way we have to hold them," says Kieley. The Tstand solves this problem by elevating one's tablet to eye level when seated or lying down, allowing for hand-free, ergonomic usage in a multitude of scenarios. The first of dozens of prototypes was developed in 2012 and has since then evolved from a small wooden mockup to a sleek, optimized ergonomic device.

With its innovative design and multi-purpose functionality, the Tstand offers tablet users an entirely new level of usability. There is currently no device on the market that accommodates tablet users' full spectrum of needs on an ergonomic level. When used seated or lying down, the Tstand's strategically designed H-shaped base hugs its user's body while stabilizing the tablet at a desirable viewing angle. Its patented reversible base allows it to sit firmly on its user's lap or chest, as well as on virtually any flat surface, such as a desk or countertop. Embracing the mobility of tablets, the Tstand doubles as a wearable device with an optional harness. The device also compacts for maximum portability when traveling.

The Tstand Kickstarter just went LIVE and you can order the early bird at $34. The Tstand looks pretty versatile and for you tablet users who use your tablet often this is one to take a look at. Hit the link below to check out the Kickstarter.

  Source: Kickstarter

More info about author

Alex Hernandez

I'm a married father of five great kids and have been writing about technology since 2012 when I started with AndroidSPIN. I decided to branch out on my own and do an all technology site and started Techaeris in September 2013. Since then we've grown to become one of the fastest growing tech websites to get your tech news fix. I'm a graduate of DeVry University with a B.S. in Computer Networking and I enjoy technology a little too much (borderline unhealthy). You can find me on Google+ and Twitter.

More by Alex Hernandez
Source: Tstand Aims To Make Tablet Use More Comfortable

Tech Talk: big tablets and apps to help make finding things easier

Tablets and apps are the topic of discussion in today's Tech Talk segment.  Check out what tech guru Andy Taylor had to say:

NOW THAT'S A TABLET - NABI BIG TAB 24 SCORES BIG

There has been much excitement over the past year for tablets which are thin, powerful and have impressive screen size. Productivity has been one of the key features in many of these tablets which not only varied in screen size but also price. We also recently have seen some great looking tablets geared at children with tools built in for both education, learning tools and entertainment such as games and videos geared at those age groups that could essentially "grow" with the child. Not too long ago on our segments at KMSB Fox 11, last year we looked at the Nabi Jr Nick Jr Edition tablet which featured strong bumpers and an easy to use interface designed for a younger user.  The Folks at Nabi sent me over the Nabi Big Tab 24 to take a look at last week.

Many companies always look to how they can make the experience for the user better and that is exactly what Nabi has accomplished with its amazing Nabi Big Tab 24. On first look, you may want to chuckle a little with this enormous tablet that is not only designed for the young user but also for the entire family to use. Measuring a stunning 23.6" in viewable screen size the Nabi Big Tab 24 is the largest in the Big Tab line which currently also includes a Big Tab 20. The screen on the Nabi Big Tab 24 is HUGE! I was tempted to take it to the nearest coffee shop and sit next to somebody on a 10" tablet, comment on how nice their tablet looked and then take mine out of a bag just to see their look of surprise. Problem is I couldn't find anything it would fit in. No problem to carry though as the Nabi Big Tab 24 comes with a removable metal frame that can be used to carry this gigantic tablet from room to room.

What I truly love about this multi-touch display tablet is that it can be used by the entire family for game play and education together. The tablet can be propped up in its frame as a stand or laid flat on the ground or a tabletop and used for multiplayer fun. The Android 4.4 Kit Kat OS features the Nabi OS Overlay and allows for some real fun, parent approved and great learning apps and comes bundled with a huge assortment to choose from, over 400.

The Nabi Big Tab 24 can become the center of digital entertainment for the entire family. An internal battery can be used with about 30 min of life however it's best to be used with the included power cord. The Nabi Big Tab 24 is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra Quad Core Processor. Operating RAM is 2GB with 16GB of Storage and also features a 13MP front facing camera with 720p Video Capture.

No need for consoles, the Nabi Big Tab 24 with 1920x1080 16:9 widescreen also allows for the viewing of movies and with parent approval access to the internet. A Kid Mode allows for safe game play and even chores list from the parent while a Parent mode can allow for a full android experience. If you have been searching for a tablet solution the entire family can use and have the portability to move this from room to room, the Nabi Big Tab 24 is a wonderful choice. A suggested retail price of $499, I've seen this available for as low as $399 from major retailers such as Best Buy. For more information take a look at http://www.nabitablet.com  

TILE NOW AVAILABLE IN RETAIL

If there is any product I can honestly say I use almost every day, it would be the Tile from TheTileApp. While some users might not feel it a device used daily, when needed it is a great digital companion. Tile is a small footprint device which can be attached to virtually anything and when needed, summoned from a smart phone or tablet via Bluetooth. There is no recharge or connection to a port needed, the battery in the tile which is designed to last for about a year does its job, waiting until lost to be found. I tend to misplace my keys many times a week and turning to the easy to use app and sending a tone can actually make it fun in my frustration.

The New Tile devices can now be used to locate your phone within 100ft even with the ringer off. So if you have the keys but are missing the phone or paired tablet, pressing the E on the Tile Device can send a signal to your phone!  Another wonderful feature of the Tile is its ability to use the network of Tiles to report a location on a Tile when reported missing. A Story on TheTileApp website tells the tale of a man whose vehicle was stolen but located 112 miles away using the community find feature.

When Tile first appeared, the product was only available online through http://www.thetileapp.com  and still can be purchased through the site. Now, those needing this device like I did can purchase it at The Apple Store, Target or T-Mobile Stores. The Retail for about $25 and Target even offered a 4 Pack for a savings, priced at $69 so everybody in a family of four could have one.   

For more Information check out http://www.thetileapp.com

Andy Taylor serves as Tech Correspondent to Fox 11 KMSB Daybreak. Please feel free to drop an email with comments, tips and questions to andy@techtalkradio.com. Be sure to visit the website at http://www.techtalkradio.com for videos, stories, news on technology and interviews.

Copyright 2015 Tucson News Now All rights reserved.

Source: Tech Talk: big tablets and apps to help make finding things easier

Memory 2.0 Café uses tablet, smartphone technology to help those with memory loss

Frances Weishaar looks confused and lost, nervously rubbing her wrinkled hands.

Then the music reaches her ears. Weishaar's face opens into a smile and she starts to sing and clap.

"My Bonnie lies over the ocean," she sang quietly. "Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me …"

Instant success in …

During a Memory 2.0 workshop at St. John's Cathedral, Coach Billene Western, left and coach Traci Wells, on right, use an iPad to play and sing the song "Ain't we Got Fun" with Francis Weishaar who struggles with memory issues. COLIN MULVANY colinm@spokesman.com(Full-size photo)(All photos)

To attend or volunteer for a Memory 2.0 Café, call the office at St. John's Cathedral at (509) 838-4277.

Frances Weishaar looks confused and lost, nervously rubbing her wrinkled hands.

Then the music reaches her ears. Weishaar's face opens into a smile and she starts to sing and clap.

"My Bonnie lies over the ocean," she sang quietly. "Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me …"

Instant success in the first five minutes of the Memory 2.0 Café, a new workshop using iPads and therapy and game apps for people with memory loss – from severe to slight – and their caregivers.

Debby Dodds, whose husband is a Spokane native, recently moved to the area after completing a master's degree in gerontology at the University of Massachusetts. Her capstone project was developing the workshop to use digital technology to engage and inspire people with memory loss.

The idea came when Dodds bought an iPad for her own mother, Hazel Brown, who has dementia. She was surprised more care facilities weren't taking advantage of available technology.

Besides singing programs, there are puzzles, apps to create memory and picture books, storytelling and other games all geared for older adults. Dodds said because the technology is portable it can help ease the anxiety of doctor's appointment or travel, or even at home when family is looking for ways to engage with an elder who has memory loss and seems distant.

Researchers are already developing apps for people with memory loss. Dodds' goal is to connect people with those technologies and let them know it is as easy as turning on a smartphone or tablet. She started a similar program with the library in Santa Cruz, California, which continues to have success helping people with memory loss – whether from Alzheimer's, traumatic brain injury, dementia, Parkinson's disease – connect with loved ones and caregivers while socializing in society.

More than 10 percent of people age 65 and older have memory loss. By age 85, it's 50 percent.

"There really is a need that exists," Dodds said in between helping the three participants at a recent session at St. John's Cathedral.

Dodds is having the Memory 2.0 Café sessions every Wednesday until Nov. 18. She encourages anyone with memory problems, whether it's just general forgetfulness to full blown dementia, to attend. She's also looking for volunteers to help at the workshops. Participants must register for the free program by calling the St. John's Cathedral office.

She will continue with the sessions in the new year.

Weishaar, a resident in Touchmark on South Hill's memory care facility, has visited the Memory 2.0 Café for several weeks. Although she doesn't remember, she is alert, participatory and enjoying the in-the-moment activities during the hour-long sessions.

Weishaar can no longer read or remember the words of songs when asked. But by using the free SingFit app, which people can download on their phone or iPad, she can sing with friends and caregivers – an activity that always boosts her mood. Music is known to spark memories, heighten mood, decrease stress and pain, and promote socialization, Dodds said.

"Music hits all parts of the brain," she said. "On an MRI it lights up the whole brain."

SingFit, designed by music therapists, provides a verbal cue of the song lyric, allowing listeners to sing along with the music. The volunteers who work at the café pick music lists from the 1940s and '50s. Weishaar and Betty Vande Kamp, who also lives at Touchmark, put on green headphones connected to the iPad. The ladies smile at each other as "This Little Light of Mine" starts to play.

Afterward, Vande Kamp lets out a big sigh of relief.

"Phhhhh," she said. "I haven't sung in a year."

She claps as a new song starts; soon she's making hand gestures for the number of strikes in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Later, the two women are playing Tangram, where they arrange puzzle pieces on the table so they match the on-screen shape.

At another table, Niles Schomburg surfs for pictures of Paris to use in an electronic storybook he's creating to email to his wife, memories of their European vacation. He's sharp and vocal, but Parkinson's is robbing his word recall and causing tremors. He shakes as he holds the mic to narrate the picture show.

Karen Schomburg, Niles' wife, arrived to pick him up with her two adult sons who often are caregivers. She marveled at the Paris pictures and her husband's description of the trip, especially the food.

"It's a powerful use of technology," she said.

Source: Memory 2.0 Café uses tablet, smartphone technology to help those with memory loss

MMDA equips enforcers with tablet computers

MANILA, Philippines – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) equipped its traffic enforcers with tablet computers on Friday to complement their monitoring and reporting capabilities, especially during emergencies. 

MMDA officer-in-charge Emerson Carlos said the additional 20 tablet computers will also aid the agency's traffic enforcers in traffic management.

Communication through a dedicated application in the tablets would also enable traffic enforcers in the field to have better visual coordination with the MMDA's Metrobase. The Metrobase is the MMDA's nerve center located at its office in Makati.

"We currently use radio and CCTV (closed-circuit television cameras). The problem with radio reporting is that decision-makers at Metrobase have trouble visualizing (the situation)," he said, adding that a video report makes it easier for decision-makers.

Carlos said Pureforce, a private solutions provider, donated the tablets with a free loaded application. Pureforce earlier donated 20 tablets to the MMDA, Carlos said.

Carlos said enforcers will use the tablets on All Souls' and All Saints' Days as well as during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month.  

Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

He said the tablets will help enforcers record incidents on the street and send these videos or photos to Metrobase, which will post them on social media sites.

Carlos added that the application loaded in the MMDA tablets is also synchronized with the respective nerve centers of the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Fire Protection and the 17 local government units of Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, Carlos said the MMDA also plans to equip its flood control team with the dedicated tablet computers.       

Source: MMDA equips enforcers with tablet computers

Google Pixel C vs. Microsoft Surface 3 – Which Tablet Has Better Specs?

Until now, Google has been creating a family of laptops in collaboration with the biggest names in the industry, but they were running on Chrome OS. The Pixel C is the first tablet running on Android OS and which was exclusively built by Google. We'll compare it to Microsoft's Surface 3 tablet which runs now on Windows 10, but which has a weaker processor than the "Pro" version. The Pixel C tablet has also an optional keyboard accessory, but it lacks a stylus. But, more about both devices you'll find out in this article.

Displays

The screen of the Pixel C is a bit smaller, measuring 10.2-inch and it's an IPS display which is able to support a resolution of up to 2560×1800 pixels. The images are pretty sharp because the resulted pixel density is convenient at 308 ppi.

The Surface 3 uses a ClearType screen with an aspect ratio of 3:2, but it has a diagonal of 10.8-inch and its resolution is Full HD, so don't have high expectations from the image quality, because the pixel density is very low at 214ppi. Even so, you won't have any problem when reading content in direct sunlight, because the ClearType technology makes text viewed on liquid-crystal displays, even outdoors.

Hardware

These tablets have completely different internal configurations. For example, the Pixel C is using a big.LITTLE Nvidia Tegra X1 octa-core processor which is paired with Nvidia Maxwell GPU and 3GB of RAM, and it has two variants of internal memories: 32GB and 64GB, but they're unexpandable.

The Surface 3 is powered by an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 quad-core processor which is clocked at 1.6 GHz, but the speed can be increased up to 2.40 GHz. The tablet has either 2GB or 4GB GB LPDDR3 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics and there are also two variants of internal memories with capacities of 64 and 128GB, but there is room for extra storage up to 200GB, by adding a microSD card. The tablet has also an LTE option and the Type Cover is backlit, but which is also attached to the bottom of the device using magnets.

Software

The Surface 3 takes advantage of the operating system it comes loaded with, being capable to run many applications which aren't accessible to the Android users. But when it comes to gaming, the Pixel C has a slight advantage, because there are plenty cool Android games for mobile devices.

Prices

The starting price for the Pixel C is $499, but if you want to buy the keyboard, you will pay $150 more. The 64GB variant of the Surface 3 costs $500, and its Type Cover is cheaper at $130.

Source: Google Pixel C vs. Microsoft Surface 3 – Which Tablet Has Better Specs?

Teacher says there’s too much tablet time in class

Melissa Darbee knows how much technology can benefit students in the classroom.

But the Joshua Cowell educator is also concerned about what she says is a recent Manteca Unified mandate stating that students should spend 80 percent of their school day working with technology – a fact that she says, flies in the face of contemporary child development research linking excessive screen time to common problems.

Last week Darby delivered a sharply-worded and reinforced statement to the Board of Education centering on the 80 percent requirement and possible links between the amount of time that students spend on computers or wireless devices and things like anxiety, depression and obesity. Such time has increased with the issuance of tablets to all 23,000 Manteca Unified students as part of the Going Digital endeavor.

And she had the facts on her side.

Among her comments were researched ideas from the A.D.A.M. Medical Dictionary, the Mayo Clinic and a series of independently written articles by The Huffington Post that link too much screen time to childhood obesity, irregular sleep, behavior problems, impaired academic performance, violence and less time for active, creative play.

"Members of the board, fellow teachers, parents and concerned citizens, in a society when obesity-related illness is at an all-time high and in a country where mental illness leads to mass violence at alarming rates – in a time when 11 percent of the children in our classrooms have diagnosed attention disorders – we must offer a well-rounded education," Darbee said. "We cannot ignore solid research or years of teaching practice in favor of an off-the-cuff mandate.

"We must provide an education that reinforces actual human interaction – an education that produces students that are college, career and life ready."

Darbee also pointed out that she can't simply be targeted as "anti-technology" in the wake of the Going Digital p latform because she has implemented many facets of the program tailored specifically for the age groups that she teaches.

Too many students, Darbee said, rely on the devices solely for their education – taking away traditional classroom methods that have been proven successful even amongst the newest, tech-savvy generation.

Too many students, she said, are focusing solely on the tablets and the computers which are supposed to augment in-class instruction but has instead nearly replaced it.

"Given the current research in child development it is not only ridiculous, it is unethical for Manteca Unified School District to push teachers to plug students in for 80 percent of the day," she said. "May I close by pointing out the irony that I'm speaking on this topic tonight – ironic because I am implementing technology in my classroom and ironic because I've spent hours researching and looking for age-appropriate applications to the devices at my school site.

"It's ironic because I was asked to be a 'site tech champion.' I'm not anti-technology – I am using age-appropriate technology to support students and maximize their learning. I also have four students in my classroom that cannot hold a pencil – these students do not need to be plugged in for 80 percent of their day."

Source: Teacher says there's too much tablet time in class

Amazon’s $50 Fire Is the Paperback of Digital Entertainment

Oct. 13, 2015 2:14 p.m. ET

Amazon.com AMZN -0.23 % recently began shipping a tablet computer that's so cheap, you can buy it like bulk Snickers. The new 7-inch Fire tablet sells for $50, and if you get five, they'll throw in a sixth free. Imagine the trick-or-treating this year at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' house. You get a tablet! And you get a tablet!

Since tablets arrived five years ago, we've been trying to figure out what they're good for. The first iPads were all about you being the first of your friends to own an iPad. But the magic wore off quickly. Tablets have been in a race to the bottom on price while sales overall are in a slump. In search of profits, Microsoft, Apple, even Google have been pushing higher-end tablets as replacements for work laptops.

Amazon's bargain mini-tablet strikes me as something different: a throwback to the paperback novel. A year ago, I was impressed when Amazon brought out a $100 6-inch tablet that didn't stink. Now we've got one for half that price with an additional inch of screen (albeit lower resolution).

Using the $50 Amazon Fire for the past week, I wasn't drafting presentations or burning through email. It doesn't have anywhere near the necessary speed or screen resolution for serious work. Performance is almost beside the point. Instead, the Fire seizes on the reality that, for many of us, tablets are entertainment—a means to read novels, binge on Netflix NFLX -3.28 % in bed and sling Angry Birds.

Half as powerful as an iPad but one-eighth the cost, Amazon's tablet is cheap yet good enough to have fun. And like a checkout-aisle thriller, it won't mind getting battered at the bottom of a gym bag or even dropped on the floor.

Amazon's $50 tablet doesn't single-handedly solve the existential crisis facing tablets. Especially as phones get larger, more of us use them for tablet-like tasks. Even Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite e-reader lives on to compete with tablets in its single niche, reading e-books indoors and out. But the price does change my perception of tablets: They're a low-commitment way to get a bigger screen without going full phablet (shudder). And they're a cost-effective way to keep children occupied.

To see Amazon's cheapie in better context, I checked out eight of the latest mini-tablets, including the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 and iPad Mini 4, all released with little fanfare in the last two months. Here's what you can expect in a cheap tablet that's just entertainment—and what you get by paying extra.

Necessities

In raw processing power and screen pixel count (1024x600), Amazon's $50 Fire is a step down even from modestly priced tablets like the $100 Amazon Fire HD 6. But it keeps one critical feature: visibility.

Older LCD screens require your eyes to be directly in front of the tablet or the image gets washed out. Bargain tablets, such as the $70 Trio 7.85, get in trouble when you rotate to a vertical orientation, a big problem for reading. Amazon's Fire keeps things visible at all angles with a technology called IPS that's worth looking for on any tablet.

An entertainment tablet also needs to play video and games without hiccups. The Fire played all the video sources I could throw at it, including local files and content streamed from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and, of course, Amazon. Casual games, including Angry Birds and Monument Valley, worked fine.

Of course, a family-ready tablet needs a battery that keeps "Wild Kratts" playing the entire cross-country flight. The Fire ran for a little over seven hours in my local video-playback tests, though closer to five when I streamed via Wi-Fi.

The Fire is made of a sturdy plastic that withstood being repeatedly dropped out of a bed, but any technology that's priced to be disposable needs a good means of disposal. Amazon, like Apple and others, has a free system that takes back and recycles your tablet after your child inevitably drops it in the toilet.

There are a few acceptable compromises for a $50 tablet. It won't be slim—the Fire is 0.4 inches, though its rectangular shape still felt comfortable for one-handed reading. The camera isn't going to take print-worthy shots, but is sufficient for a video chat with the grandparents.

With an Amazon tablet, you're also buying into a relationship with Earth's largest online retailer, which makes money on bargain hardware by upselling us on digital media. You are stuck buying movies and games from Amazon, though you can still stream from services like Netflix that Amazon allows in its own app store. Amazon puts ads on its lock screen, which you can remove for $15. You can't remove the persistent home screen shopping links, however.

Still, the Amazon link may be what makes the $50 tablet idea work. It happens to have an incredible digital media store and parent-friendly features like time limits. And when Amazon puts its good name on the line with budget hardware, it's easier to trust.

Nice-To-Haves

Spending more for a mini tablet buys you two important things: A better screen and better battery life.

A screen with more pixels packed in helps your eyes with HD video and fine text alike. Just a slight bump in pixels per inch, or PPI, makes a big difference in viewing pleasure on something you hold close to your face.

But higher resolution can tax the batteries, so manufacturers have to bump that up, too. The mid-level Amazon tablet, called the Fire HD 8, actually got worse battery life performance, by about an hour, than the 7-inch Fire. That's all because of the higher-resolution screen.

My favorite step-up tablet is Lenovo's new 8-inch Yoga Tab 3, which for $170 has 189 PPI and a battery that lasted about 10 hours in my test but the company says can do up to 20 hours of just reading text. (By comparison, the 7-inch Fire has 171 PPI.) The Android tablet gets its stamina—and some very nice speakers and a rotating 8-megapixel camera—from an unusual tube shape on one side. I found the tube convenient to grip, but it weighs one pound, so I suggest handling one in a store before you buy.

If you've got $100 more to spare, one of the best deals is the two-year-old iPad Mini 2, which Apple now sells for $270. It has a 326 PPI screen and 10 hours of battery life (but no fingerprint reader).

Another nice-to-have: a memory card slot. There's one on the Yoga Tab 3, Amazon's $50 Fire and the high-end Samsung Tab S2. Apple's iPads don't offer them because of their super-slim form—and likely also their maker's interest in extracting another benjamin from us for more built-in storage.

Luxuries

If price is no object, what's the best you can get in a mini-tablet? Money buys you a super-luxury, super-thin screen and power to do more than just entertain yourself.

You can't buy a better handheld entertainment display today than Samsung's $400 8-inch Galaxy Tab S2. Its screen is beautiful, using a technology called Super AMOLED to provide truly black blacks and colors that look saturated even in brighter situations.

Because of the screen technology, the super-thin Tab S2 is also the Energizer Bunny of tablets, lasting about 15 hours in my video playback tests, nearly 50% longer than the iPad Mini 4. The Tab S2 also comes standard with 32 GB of storage. You don't have to pay any more to be vacation-ready.

So where does that leave the iPad? This year's update added more multi-tasking capabilities and a screen that looks slightly better in daylight. It matches the Samsung in slimness and features like a fingerprint reader. But with inferior screen and battery performance, you're really buying access to the Apple world. It comes with an elegant operating system, giant app store and admission to the alluring ecosystem of Macs and iPhones.

Both the Tab S2 and Mini 4 come with blazing-fast future-proof processors. At the smaller size, I've found the iPad Mini useful as a creative tool for drawing and taking photos. You could even hook up a keyboard for word processing.

But as high-end tablets verge into laptop capability—and prices rise accordingly—it's vital to consider your needs. Why pay the hardcover price when all you need is a paperback?

Write to Geoffrey Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter at @GeoffreyFowler.

Corrections & Amplifications

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 has a MicroSD card slot. A previous version of this article incorrectly said that the Tab S2 did not have one.

Source: Amazon's $50 Fire Is the Paperback of Digital Entertainment

Microsoft Surface: From Cross-Bearer To Standard-Bearer

The Microsoft event that introduced Surface to the world in June 2012 was awash in pairs of stacked rectangles. Most obviously, they were the new Surface and its keyboard. But below the surface, they represented something else: the twin challenges of creating an ARM-based tablet that ran a credible version of Windows (RT), and an Intel-based tablet that was thin and light with long battery life. At the first task, Microsoft failed. But at the second, it succeeded well enough to make the first task irrelevant.

The Surface Book has a detachable keyboard

Critics were quick to call the Surface a flop—especially given the massive write-off Microsoft took on the business—but by the second generation of the Surface Pro, there were glimmers of success, at least in specific industries such as health care. With the next Surface iteration, the even thinner and larger Surface Pro 3, Microsoft had largely abandoned taking on the iPad and set its sights on competing with conventional laptops (even though Surface's keyboard was still optional). The even thinner, lighter, and faster Surface Pro 4 continues this trend with a larger, higher-resolution screen and thinner and more rigid Type Cover featuring an enlarged trackpad with an optional fingerprint reader.

With the Surface Pro, Microsoft has clearly hit on something. It was one thing when Microsoft's hardware partners released tablets with their own Surface-style keyboard covers. But Apple's recent announcement of the iPad Pro combined with iPad improvements in iOS 9 seem to take several cues from the Surface. Multiple apps on the screen at the same time? Larger screen? More pervasive keyboard shortcuts? Magnetically attached keyboard accessory? Digital pen? Check off all five boxes.

The Surface Pro 4's Type Cover

Now, Apple can credibly claim that its keyboard accessory is an evolution of its own smart covers that preceded Surface, and that multiple apps sharing the screen have been a Mac thing since the days of 1991's System 7. And the company steadfastly maintains that its MacBook and iPad lines shall not merge in a Surface-like way. But the timing of it all makes it hard to look away from Redmond's influence completely.

With the foundations of Surface Pro 3's success, the Surface Pro 4 clearly represents an evolution—albeit a more pronounced one than we've often seen between successive iterations of iPad or MacBook. But even this new tablet was dramatically upstaged by the Surface Book, the thin and powerful 13.5-inch, two-in-one tablet with a snaking hinge that can be used as a tablet, either with or without its battery-extending and GPU-providing keyboard base. Despite the upper half's large screen size, it's lightweight, and the base's hinge has attacked the balance problem that many tablet/laptop hybrids have. And like the Surface Pro 4, it features an instantly recognizable profile.

The Surface experience story isn't quite as good as it looks on paper.

If the Surface tablets have made waves in Apple's backyard, the Surface Book may spawn a tsunami in Microsoft's. Unlike with the first Surface tablets, Microsoft had nothing to prove with the Surface Book. As the Surface Pro customer base has grown, it's likely that Microsoft is just accommodating potential customers who prefer a more laptop-like device than the Surface Pro 4, which is still a tablet propped up with a kickstand.

While Microsoft is quick to compare its "ultimate laptop"—which starts at $1,500 and goes way, way up—to Apple's portables, it will walk a far narrower tightrope in competing with its own hardware partners with the Surface Book. Not only does the first model stand to do battle with the best that HP, Dell, Acer, and Lenovo have to offer, but the company is poised to come downmarket with a lower-priced mainstream version, as it did with the $500 Surface 3.

The Surface experience story isn't quite as good as it looks on paper. Even with the considerable reconciliation of Windows 10 and the arrival of a touch-optimized Office as well as other universal apps, Windows' interface is still in transition. Many people with Surfaces spend much of their day working not so differently than they would with a no-touch Windows 7 laptop. Even on the marketing side, Microsoft needs to rethink the Surface Pro, which it's been promoting as the tablet that can replace your laptop. Now that the company wants to sell you a laptop, where does that leave the Surface Pro?

The Surface Pro 4 at work

Still, Microsoft has shown it can innovate in tablets and even in the ancient laptop category. At its launch event, Surface products stood in contrast to its new Lumia phones, which represented a modest upgrade from their predecessors. Indeed, the new phones' signature feature is what they can do when they're tethered to a monitor on a desk, a relatively limited scenario.

As a Microsoft sub-brand, Surface still has its limitations.

What's next? Given the Surface trajectory towards larger screens, an all-in-one iMac competitor is almost certainly brewing at the state-of-the-art prototyping and development lab that bakes Surface products. The upgraded Microsoft Band still leaves plenty of room in the company's device portfolio for a more full-featured smartwatch. And then perhaps a beastly desktop aimed at power-hungry professionals would take on the Mac Pro, letting Microsoft recast the Surface Book as the laptop that can replace your workstation. After all, the Surface message has long been as much about performance as it's been about form factor.

As a Microsoft sub-brand, Surface still has its limitations. The Surface Hub wall-mounted Windows 10 giant touchscreen takes on a niche computing form factor that has previously been the province of a few small vendors. Meanwhile, it makes sense that the HoloLens augmented-reality headset—a product that can eschew surfaces altogether—would skip the Surface label. Both the Surface Hub and HoloLens are high-end enterprise tools, at least in the short term. Indeed, despite the Surface business's reported $3.5 billion in revenue, Microsoft still hasn't made much headway into the consumer tablet market, a major thrust of the Surface's original mission. Still, the division's impact is destined to expand as an Apple alternative and threat to Windows PCs manufactured by Microsoft's customers.

Keep an eye on the trackpad that guides you, PC industry. Microsoft's gloves are off.

Get the latest Fast Company stories in your inbox daily

Source: Microsoft Surface: From Cross-Bearer To Standard-Bearer

Amazon's tablet stuck in no-man's land

Tthe new HD 10 and HD 8 have improved little over last year's mid-tier Fire tablets.

Amazon's newest Fire HD tablets have a problem: It's hard to be in the middle of a road when you're selling gadgets these days.

At US$230 and US$150, respectively, the Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 8 sit in a funny no-man's land. On the one hand, they're too pricey to be cheap - for that, Amazon has a US$50 tablet it would like you to look at, which you can opt to buy in a six-pack that still costs less than the cheapest iPad.

At the same time, these Fire HD tablets are not quite good enough to consider as a cheaper option to a high-end tablet - in most cases, the money you save may not be worth the tradeoffs you make.

No-one's quite sure how the tablet market - which is really just five years old, if you think about it - is going to play out. But if it's anything like the smartphone market, we can probably expect to see two very clear paths to success: pursuing the high-end or dominating the low-end.

Smartphone success seems to come either by being a premium brand - which is hard to establish - or by selling lots of devices that are cheap but pretty good - though that's no cakewalk from a profit standpoint.

In tablets, the high-end has fallen to Apple and Samsung, which are offering cutting-edge tablets that can be marketed as productivity tools. At the low end, there are the sub-$100 tablets that are really designed for consumption, meaning that they'll work for watching videos on a plane but you probably don't want to try and do any work on them.

Enter Amazon. Cheap but good may be an area it can own, as the firm has traditionally eschewed profit and used its gadgets as a portal to content. In fact, given that the company's attempts to make high-end devices fizzled - the Fire Phone, for example - cheaper tablets are sort of a return to form.

But with the new Fire HD tablets, the company didn't return far enough. These tablets have the screen sizes of Amazon's pricier HDX line (starting price US$430) - which is not getting an update this year. But in terms of quality, the new HD 10 and HD 8 have improved little over last year's mid-tier Fire tablets.

That shows up in a few ways. For example, neither the HD 8 nor the HD 10 have the crisp display of the HDX line, which is particularly important for a consumption device. It's especially noticeable on the 10-inch tablet, which was perfectly fine for watching video but wore on my eyes over time for reading books. The Fire HD 8 was a little better in this respect, but still not nearly as crisp as, say, firing the Kindle app up on a high-end smartphone.

The new tablets' performance was also very middle of the road. There were noticeable stutters, for example, when I started apps up for the first time and even occasionally when I tried to get back to the homescreen. Video playback was smooth - a crucial box to check for Amazon since its tablets try aggressively to get you to pick up more Amazon content.

Ad Feedback

Browsing on the company's Silk browser was also fast. But I often found myself waiting impatiently for content in apps to load. Even in Amazon's own Kindle app, it would sometimes take so long to get to my book that I had wondered whether the tablet had frozen.

There were things I liked about the tablets. For example, the sound quality for a tablet at this price point was surprisingly good. I picked up background noises and sound effects in television shows on the Fire HD that I didn't get when watching on other tablets, or even my television. The tablets also have a slightly odd proportion that I actually liked for widescreen viewing. In the case of the smaller tablet the stretched-out shape was also good for getting a lot of text onto a single "page" of an e-book. And the option for expandable memory is welcome - both tablets support up to 128GB of memory.

Still, given what we've seen from Amazon lately, these tablets feel like leftovers from another strategy, somewhere between the company's former play for the high-end and the renewed push for the low. For some consumers, these may be acceptable tradeoffs. But most probably won't be that interested in getting stuck in the middle.

 - The Washington Post

Source: Amazon's tablet stuck in no-man's land

The Problem With Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet

Tunisia certainly deserves a Nobel Peace prize for being the only democratic success story in the wake of the Arab revolts. The political, economic, and security challenges of 2011 until now have been exceptionally tough. Shaking off decades of a Western-backed dictatorship was also (and still is) a huge challenge. Despite all of this, significant advances were made in creating a democratic structure of governance and a culture that Tunisians can be proud of; it's one that provides a model for the world, not just the Middle East.

But there is a key problem with the Nobel Committee's announcement on Friday that the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet had won the prestigious award: The main actors who actually protested in the streets—those who made excruciating compromises, then facilitated a voluntary step-down, and then handed over power in early 2014—were actually the democratically-elected representatives of Tunisia and their political party leaders, not the four NGOs that ostensibly "steered" the negotiation process.

Indeed, if the Committee really wanted to show that "Islamist and secular political movements can work together to achieve significant results in the country's best interests," the logical choice would have been the leading Islamist party, An-Nahda, and any number of their "secularist" coalition allies, or perhaps even their current partner in government, the Nidaa Tounes party, which currently holds a plurality in the parliament, the presidency, and the prime ministership. In fact, this is exactly the duo that the International Crisis Group is recognizing in their annual Peacemakers celebration later this fall.

Additionally, one should not forget that the Quartet, which includes the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, is in significant ways part and parcel of the dictatorship era, with some of its four components not only occasionally offering opposition, but also sometimes standing in as regime support-bases—the very structures that helped keep key sectors of the Tunisian body politic and economy frozen in the monopolistic mold that many Tunisians found frustrating and oppressive.

As the Oxford University scholar Monica Marks explained in Foreign Policy in late 2013, there were also a number of problems with the Quartet's stewardship of the whole dialogue and negotiation process (full disclosure, I helped co-direct the annual Tunis Exchange politics conference). Marks wrote:

"…important flaws [in] the National Dialogue process—flaws that, rather ironically, also plagued the NCA's [National Constituent Assembly] constitutional drafting work. Like the NCA, the dialogue failed to adopt a robust public outreach plan. Communication with average Tunisians about what was actually happening inside the dialogue, its procedures, and the motivations behind its decisions was almost non-existent. Tunisian citizens, along with local journalists and NGOs trying to follow the negotiations, often found themselves confounded about what was happening behind closed doors. Foreign journalists, as indicated by the almost complete absence of coverage on Tunisia over the past few months, largely gave up trying to cover the dialogue, or found editors back home uninterested in detailed reports on Tunisian political wrangling—however important that political wrangling was for Tunisia's future. I often confided in fellow Tunisia-watchers that, even as a person living here and speaking almost daily with parties involved in the negotiations, I often felt ignorantly mute—like a sportscaster stranded outside the stadium.

"Like the NCA, the National Dialogue repeatedly failed to honor self-imposed deadlines, operating on an amorphous timetable that Tunisians quickly began to treat with a grain of salt. Whether or not the dialogue should have been declared illegitimate on November 3, a day after it had promised to choose its nominee for prime minister, and a new, technocratic dialogue should have taken over is a tongue-in-cheek question that rarely elicits laughter from Nidaa Tounes supporters. "It's totally different [from the NCA]," a leading candidate for prime minister who had been supported by Nidaa Tounes told me. "The dialogue is informal. The NCA is an official body that made an official promise. It's different.

"Frustration with political parties across the board—and with the indecipherable, seemingly endless politicking going on inside the National Dialogue—grew steadily amongst Tunisians through the dialogue process. It seemed to many that this new, more "technocratically legitimate" body shared the same time management problems as the NCA, and may have been even less transparent about its internal procedures…"

Eventually, of course, the process came to a head and an agreement was forged that ended up facilitating the approval of a new Constitution and fresh elections, among other positive outcomes. All of these advancements are laudable, but the Quartet was a vehicle in the process, with the real sacrifices made by the political leaders and elected officials.

Furthermore, the Quartet is also mainly responsible for installing the notion that whenever matters get tough, one can and should go outside of democratic governance structures (like an elected Parliament) and sit with NGOs and whoever else can muscle their way into the back room to hammer out compromises.

Viewed in this sense, one can also say that the Quartet process may actually represent one of the main inflection points when democratic structures were elided and therefore weakened. Given the robust comeback of the old "parallel state" in Tunis—the de facto authority in the country before the revolution and now re-ascendant—perhaps we should look at the Quartet's role from 2013 to 2014 as yet another moment when Tunisia and its external backers failed to replace the parallel state, composed of the security sector, some business elites, and the local mafia, with a durable democratic framework. As I argued in Tablet in September, this may yet prove to be a fatal flaw for Tunisia and the wider Mediterranean region.

Related: Forecast for TunisiaIt's Not Springtime in Tunisia AnymoreAnother Middle Eastern State Could Collapse, and More Cash and Weapons Won't Save It

Nicholas Noe is the co-founder of Mideastwire.com and co-director of the Tunis Exchange Politics Conference. His Twitter feed is @NoeNicholas.

Source: The Problem With Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet

Google’s Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw

Reviews

Appliances

Electronics

Gadgets

Gaming

Mobile

Security

Deals

Gifts

News

Reviews

Appliances

Health Appliances

Kitchen Appliances

Beer Accessories

Refrigerators

Toasters

Wine Accessories

Other Home Appliances

Bathroom Gadgets

Lawnmowers

Vacuum Cleaners

Smart Home Automation

Automation Systems

Smart Thermostats

Smart Light Bulbs

Smart Locks

Auto Tech

Car Accessories

Breathalyzers

Radar Detectors

Car Audio

Car Security

Electronics

Audio

Headphones

Bluetooth Headphones

Earbuds

Over the Ear Headphones

Home Audio

Home Theater Speakers

Home Theater Systems

Radio

Speakers

Computers

Computer Accessories

Computer Monitors

Gaming Monitors

Computer Mouse

Computer Speakers

Graphics Cards

Keyboards

Bluetooth Keyboards

Wireless Keyboards

Hard Drives

External Hard Drives

Flash Memory

NAS Storage

Portable Hard Drives

Solid State Drives

Desktop Computers

Apple Desktops

Dell Desktop Computers

Lenovo Desktops

HP Desktop Computers

Laptop Computers

Apple Laptops

Apple Macbook Air

Apple Macbook Pro

ChromeBooks

Acer Chromebooks

HP Chromebooks

Samsung Chromebooks

Dell Laptops

Gaming Laptops

HP Laptops

Laptops for College

Lenovo Laptops

MSI Laptops

Samsung Laptops

Toshiba Laptops

Touchscreen Laptops

Ultrabooks

WebCams

Digital Cameras

Other Electronics

Printers

Televisions

LCD TVs

LED TVs

OLED TVs

Projectors

DLP Projectors

LCD Projectors

LED Projectors

Streaming Media Players

Chromecast

Fire TV

Sticks

TV Accessories

Blu Ray Players

DVD Players

DVRs

Universal Remotes

Video Cameras

Wearable Technology

Google Glass

Fitness Trackers

Fitbits

Running Watches

Garmin Running Watches

Suunto Running Watches

Smart Watches

Android Wear

Apple Watch

Pebble Smart Watch

Gaming

Gaming Accessories

Video Game Consoles

Video Games

Geek Toys

Lego Toys

RC Toys

Mobile

Cell Phones

Cell Phone Plans

AT&T

Sprint

T-Mobile

Verizon

iPhones

iPhone 5

iPhone 5s

iPhone 6

iPhone Accessories

iPhone Batteries

iPhone Battery Cases

iPhone Cases

Lightning Cables

Android Phones

Google Android Phones

HTC Android Phones

LG Android Phones

Motorola Phones

OnePlus Android Phones

Samsung Android Phones

Sony Android Phones

Cell Phone Accessories

Android Cases

Bluetooth Headsets

Cell Phone Chargers

Docking Stations

External Batteries

Portable Chargers

Mobile App Reviews

Android Apps

iOS Apps

Tablets

Android Tablets

Google Tablets

Kindles

Samsung Tablets

eReaders

iPads

iPad Accessories

iPad Batteries

iPad Cases

iPad Keyboards

Tablet Accessories

Android Tablet Cases

Windows Tablets

Microsoft Tablets

Security

Home Security

Personal Security

Sports & Outdoors

Vehicles

Bicycles

Boats

Cars

Motorcycles

Trucks

Gadgets

Cool Clocks

Cool Furniture

Cool Gadgets

Gadgets for Men

Home Gadgets

Internet of Things

Smart Credit Cards

Spy Gear

Tools

Travel Gadgets

Services

Business Services

eCommerce Services

Lifestyle Services

Satellite TV

Gifts

Gifts by Recipient

Gifts for Dad

Gifts for Gamers

Gifts for Geeks

Batman Gifts

Star Trek Gifts

Star Wars Gifts

Gifts for Music Lovers

Photo Gift Ideas

Tennis Gifts

Gifts by Occasion

Gifts for Christmas

Gifts for Fathers Day

Gifts for Halloween

Software

Business Software

Internet Browsers

Accounting Software

Security Software

Utility Software

News

Apple News

Gadget News

Gaming News

Google News

Tech News

Search on Gadget Review Gadget Review ▸ Reviews ▸ Mobile ▸ Tablets ▸ Android Tablets ▸ Google Tablets ▸ Google's Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw
Source: Google's Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw