Day 28

I just had to use a calendar to figure out the day for the title! In my defense, I have had a pretty wicked past 3 weeks, with family visits, conference, and now a wicked cold (I am writing this with a 100 degree fever, so forgive typos).

A quick rundown of what I have done anf noticed with the tablet:
-it seems to have become less responsive to touch. I have to tap two our three times to make an app go our to get a link to open. I can't tell if this is an actual thing, like maybe I downloaded a bad app which is slowing the while thing down, or if it is just my expectations changing!
- battery life is really variable. Sometimes it lasts 20 hours of intense work, other times it lasts 4 hours when all I am doing is reading ebooks.
- I did a lot of ebook reading and agree with what another librarian said: I don't seem to remember the ebooks I read as much as the physical books. Yet my brain doesn't work this way when reading other screen things: I can remember short stories and webpages I read. Very strange.

Day 17

Oh my I may have fixed the swype keyboard problem. You need to put the offending word all alone on a document before the keyboard will let you select the swype keyboard. But I am using a KEYBOARD you will note, not a kryboard. I might give up on the tablet today in support of my tiny victory and the fact I only got 4 hours of sleep last night.

The dolphin browser keeps having eeird left-right scroll issues. Can I delete or move the bookmatks snd widget bsrs, so I dont see em everytime I try to go sideways on the browser?

Day 16

Rr he swype keyboard hates me and won't let me add words to my dictionary nor delete really wrong ones. It keeps suggesting and writing stupid stuff like "kryboard" for "keyboard," or "tje" for "the", and each time I correct it, it pops up a tip: highlight the incorrect word and press the swype key to activate the word window and delete words from your dictionary." I highlight "kryboard", tap the swype key, and it pops up: sorry, we are mot sure what you are doing! Tap the swype key to activate the swype keyboard. So HOW do I make it activate the word window? I tried doubletapping, pressing shift and then swype, shift and swype together, enter and swype rt ogether, every possible key combo. I am growing angry at my "kryboard".

I learned a lot about efficiency during the meeting, like how to quickly get to files in word (through tje word app, not tje my files directory), how to set j up directories so it is easier to find tje files I need quickly, and less worry about good spelling on tje swype keyboard.

Day 15

Spent all day today taking notes on the tablet. It is easier than I thought but may get easier as I get beyer at the swype keyboard. I am trying to figure out how long to keep the tablet awake before it goes to sleep. I seem to take notes about every 5 minutes, but thday kills the battery, which is actually pretty crummy for how much this cost. Hi have to charge it every other day. It does charge really quickly if it's plugged into the wall, thankfully. I was running out of power by midafternoon and wanted to use the tablet later thday night to take out to dinner (to test the gps function!). I ran up to my room and charged it for about 15 minutes- I also turned it off first- and when I turned it back on, I had 40% battery power instead of 15. Maybe it is a small battery.

Only a few people asked me about the tablet at the meeting today, and only my former coworker w. took me up on the offer to try it out. he did start playing A ngry Birds immediately, which was great.


the swype keyboard also got stuck inexplicably on all caps today. luckily I was writing my presentation so it doesn't matter that I randomly got All Formal While Discussing Library Stuff, but I hope no one sees my notes.

Day 14

Well the TSA couldn't or wouldn't accept my electronic boarding pass, so I had to stand in line anyway. Boo! I am also missing some features of my iPod touch which I used to use for trips (and brought with me today too). The ipod told me more and better info about wifi networks before I connected; the tab just tells me of the network and when I try to connect, it tells me I need a password or to pay or whatever.i did just figure out the save feature for documents while writing this blog post at the bar in lax. I also learned that the swype keyboard gets really confused when switching between swype and finger tapping input. It also does not work at all with the stylus.

Day 13

Used the tablet to check in to the airline. It was fine and could display the boarding pass; let's see if it will work tomorrow at the airport. I could not get it to work to make a super shuttle reservation because the pulldown menus didn't work on the dolphin browser or the comes-with browser.
it kind of stinks to still need another computer for stuff you would think a portable computer would be used for, like making travel arrangements.

Day 12

No day 11; I had too much to do yesterday to write.

Used the maps a lot today (my parents are in town so we're going new places and different ways). I can't get the google maps to work the same. It seems I have a google directions widget which only works when I have gps on, and then it shows turn-by-turn directions, but senses where you are- so you can't just see the entire route nor pretend unless you actually drive it. that doesn't really work for how I navigate! The gps sucks the battery, too, so I hate to leave it on. I can also use gmaps online without tge gps on but sometimes it kicks me back to the directions widget. Overall the directions are tough. I will have more chance to use it cold when I go to san francisco later this week.

Day 10

Watched a lot of youtube today. Looks great!
I also downloaded (or I guess "added" is what one does with an app?) Set, an incredibly nerdy card game, for my upcoming plane trip.

Day 9

Didn't do much today on the tablet. Did do some settings changes in aldiko and made the font much smaller; we'll see how it how it goes. I was getting annoyed at the constant page turning.

I also watched the swype keyboard tutorial. I should have RTFM in the first place; it tips me how to fix a lot of the things I was having troubles with like double letters and spaces. I still don't know how to add my own words. embarrassingly I kept failing that part of the tutorial and because it was a series of "tips", I couldn't get back and read the dang instructions again. Sigh. Bad UI.

Day 8

Today I checked out some ebook readers and downloaded aldiko as my reader of choice after seeing a presentation on it by another librarian today. It crashed right after I imported my first ebook (a Frank Baum collection of short stories from Project Gutenberg) which was not a great sign, but I figured I would give it a shot. Once I got it back up, I like aldiko, but wonder if I would prefer an even more stripped down version. I really don't need to see the cover of my books, especially when the Project Gutenberg books come with an impossible to read text cover. I dearly wish I could take screenshots on this tablet to show you how ugly they are. I also don't see myself taking too manny notes on books (or hondas, as my swipe keyboard keeps writing for books) as I don't on fun reading and rarely have books to read professionally. I do like the interface for reading and the way I can control the brightness of the screen. The page turning motion is ok, but you can also use the volume keys, which is handy. I am amazed at the level and types of customization available on pretty much all the apps I have DLed, even though all are free.

More keyboard fun: it can learn from one instance of a word in a document. Like the first time I swiped "gutenberg," it suggested horng or firebug (i know!). The second time, and subsequently, it did it right. This might make note taking a lot easier! I also figured out how to get to the money symbols keyboard. It is funny how the swipe keyboard makes me confront how my brain works. Apparently as I type words, it takes me a few seconds to connect the beginning and ending of a word. E.g., during swiping "beginning," I got through begi and forgot what letter was next to connect with the ing, and where it was on the keyboard. This probably leads to more errors in the swipe. It sure makes me wonder how i manage to type so fast on a normal keyboard.

I found my stylus after losing it yesterday. I then lost it in my bag on the way home.

Day 7

My neck is killing me today. I am not sure if this is due to hunching over the tablet for the past 6 days or my house-cleaning-frenzy, but I am giving writing on the tablet a day off to let my tendons restretch.

I have been doing a lot of browsing on Dolphin and finding a lot of neat features, like bookmarks, viewing all open tabs, etc. The gesture browsing doesn't always work. I think the gestures track the placement and size of the gesture instead of the shape. It comes with a ^ symbol as the gesture to "go to top." I had reset this to a line and circle at the top (think a drawing of a balloon) and it kept interpreting this as "back" (which looks like a horizontal line with an arrowhead pointing left). I reset my "top of the screen" gesture to a very narrow ^ shape and now it works better. I tried some smaller localized gestures (what if I drew a star in the top right-hand corner of the screen?) but this is hard to use, as the gesture is "locked" to the location you set it at. For example, I am browsing in horizontal mode and set a gesture as the top right hand corner, when I rotate the tab and browse vertically, the same corner is now the top left-hand corner. To use the gesture I have to remember which corner I set it in, and the exact orientation I started drawing the gesture in. See the picture, and pretend the arrow is a vector showing the direction of the swipe:



Definitely understandable from a programming standpoint, but it's kind of annoying for a device which is capable of orienting in many directions.

I also figured out how to access the bookmarks bar. This thing came preloaded with a whole bunch of AT&T bookmarks to stuff I will never, ever use (at&t maps? at&t-owned wireless hotspots locator? at&t cell phone homepage? at&t weather? Sure, those are better than the google versions!) and they were right at the top of the bookmarks list. I figured out how to delete these FINALLY and move my bookmarks around correctly. I wish I could add more bookmark folders but as of yet that had evaded me.

Today I downloaded the QR Droid reader. Weirdly it seems to flip the camera view, so when I move the tablet left, the camera tracks to the right. Makes it a little tough to find QR codes, but the reader is really good at recognizing them, so it all works out.

I also got the Adobe PDF reader. Still no copy-paste (ARRRGH!) but I like the display and navigation better than the Quickoffice PDF viewer.

I am a little confused by the charging/battery life. I have had to charge twice now. Yesterday I had it plugged into my computer for 6 hours and it only chargd up about 80%! Very frustrating, I wonder how this thing will handle battery-wise when I take it to conferences, when I don't always have 6 hours to leave it plugged in.

Day 6

I am typing this with the predictive text tool. You just slide your finger across the keys and it guesses what you meant. It's pretty good, but has trouble with short words like am, you, and, with, who, and words with double letters. It does make typing easier but would still not be fast enough for minutes or notes.

Today I received a case-thank goodness. BTW the predictive text just wrote "hogan" instead of goodness. HUUUULLKK!

The case came with a stylus with an unknown sharp pointy tool. . Does anyone know what it does? I used it to fix a runner in my tights, but I can't imagine that is what the creators intended it for.

Just found out that pressing back on a new tab in dolphin makes it close.

Day 5

Figured out how to add files using the USB cord. It is so handy! I am going to read my upcoming librarian presentation from the tablet, because it's so easy to hold (also, my library will look super-slick if I go all techy while presenting). I can also run my Prezi on it (there's a Prezi app), which will mean I will spend the plane ride to San Francisco practicing my talk! Awesome.

PDFs display really looks nice, but I wish I could select text.

Day 4

I downloaded and installed Epocrates and MedScape today, and compared QR code readers on the marketplace. I don't know which one to use-- do I really want/need to make my own QR codes?

I also discovered how to move icons and delete unused ones from my desktop.

I did solve the tab problem I had with Dolphin: too many tabs being open at once. Still don't know the limit of tabs, but at least I have less frustration.

Discovered the best way to make friends in the subway: bring out the tablet! This was the longest and oddest conversation I've ever had with an LA County Sheriff. They could not believe I was a librarian.

Josh downloaded a drawing program. That might actually be easier to use for notes; you can do cursive with your finger.

Learned how to add home screens today. Apparently this device must have five home screens, no less. I just want three- am I wrong?

I transferred files using the usb cord too. I like how it can recognize what type of file I add and convert it to the droid file format. I do not like the pdf reader- I want to copy and paste events into a calendar, and I cant copy text.

I also learned how to quick scroll through google search image results. (you have to grab and flick in a specific way which I can't do reliably.)

Day 3

Today I started using the word processor which comes pre-loaded onto the Galaxy. I linked up my Google Docs and DropBox accounts and was able to open and access materials from those sources, as well as make new documents.

There is a lot of legalistic loophole language used in the Help files which come with the applications loaded onto the tab. A quick read of the help file implied that one must purchase an add-on to the word processor to create new files. A more close read and some random clicking on "+" buttons in the file view proved that one can make new documents using only the factory-installed application (I assume the purchased add-on makes this easier?). However, saving a new file to a location of your choice is a beastly operation which involves catching and clicking on a box which appears for .3 seconds. Perhaps they could write an app for saving files-- I'd pay for that.

I still can't make my keyboard-slide-finger work. Goal for tomorrow is to figure that out, and install some apps.

Day 2

Today I downloaded the Dolphin Browser and installed my first app (Mahjong, because I like puzzles).

I also figured out how to add icons to the homescreen. One thing I wish I could do is delete stuff from the homescreen.

I am really frustrated by the lack of documentation with the Galaxy. I got a 12-page quick start booklet and it covers VERY LITTLE of what I have questions about. I end up Googling and finding hundreds of web pages with all sorts of conflicting advice. It's more confusing because no one uses the same language to describe what is broken and how to fix it, so you need to use plenty of synonyms in your searches to get close to what you want. It's terrifying, as I don't know whose advice to follow. I think this is a trend, as my iPod Touch came with a similar "training booklet" as did a friend's new iPhone, but I would like to register my discontent.

I was able to make Dolphin do the things I want in a browser (force-open new tabs, quick scroll to bottom and top of screen) and have fallen in love with the gestural browsing, but it seems to work intermittently. Sometimes the option to open in a new tab disappears after I have opened 3 or 4 links from the same page; it confuses two gestures which are similar; sometimes trying to view open tabs opens the bookmarks bar. I am not sure if this is because I am a fumble-fingers or if it is just buggy.

I discovered that you can press the power button to lock the screen-- so view a webpage, click power, now the touchscreen is disabled so you cannot scroll, click, or interact with the page. I guess I "discovered" this in the sense that I kept swearing it because the touchscreen kept stopping working; it was because I was pressing the power button every time I was picking it up to move it around the house.

No complaints about Mahjong. :)

Day 1

My work bought me a Galaxy tablet and it arrived today. This blog will chronicle the first 30 days of using the tablet for work, fun, and whatever else I can come up with.

The Galaxy has 3G data, phone, and wifi; however, I do not have a phone or data plan, so I am using it on wifi only.

On first look, it would be too giant to hold up to your head as a phone. It's about the size of 2.5 iPod Touches or iPhones, or a little less than half the size of an iPad.

My coworkers showed me how to unlock the screen and then it was the end of the work day. I went home with the new toy and started taking photos just to use the camera. I put the tablet back in the box (I don't have a sleeve yet, so it is being stored in the factory box) and when I picked it up after dinner, it had a "under construction" logo and the statement, "Downloading! Do not turn off target!" I hadn't downloaded anything-- the wifi wasn't even on-- so I went onto Google to see what the heck was wrong with it. I found a lot of scary info about people having this issue with their phones, "reformatting the hard drive," losing all your data; luckily, I also found how to restart when everything is unresponsive-- press down both volume buttons and the power button until the screen goes dark. I did this and it powered back up, and seemed totally normal.

After the "breaking it within 10 minutes of getting home, and then miraculously fixing it" I left it alone for the rest of the night.