Huawei S7 Android Tablet

I purchased a Huawei S7 Android tablet a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share my experience with it. It’s the relatively low-cost Android tablet that’s carried by Best Buy. I bought it as an alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. It’s about half the price of an unlocked Galaxy, and I think it’s a reasonable alternative, especially if you root it. More on that later.

Advantages

• It’s smaller and lighter than my iPad
• It’s quite fast in its performance, seemingly as fast or faster than my EVO 4G
• The screen is quite bright and readable outdoors
• It comes with a custom launcher interface that’s pleasing to the eye and easy to use
• It’s unlocked and offers the option of voice and 2G data service through AT&T or T-Mobile
• Unlike many other low-cost Android tablets, this tablet comes with full access to Google’s Android Market
• It works extremely well with the SwiftKey custom keyboard
• It has a nice stand that locks in two positions and is great for viewing videos

Negatives

• It comes with Android 2.1, and Huawei apparently has no plans for an OS upgrade
• It has only a small amount of internal memory, meaning you are quite limited as to the number of applications that can be installed on it
• The resistive screen doesn’t support multi-touch and takes some getting used to
• A low screen resolution of 800 X 480, but see below on Rooting
• Battery life is around 4 hours, although it fully recharges in an hour
• The forward and rear-facing cameras are of extremely low quality
• The front-facing camera doesn’t appear to be supported by any Android web conferencing software

Rooting
The Huawei is extremely easy to root using z4root, which allows it to use the following software:

• Titanium Backup – it’s worth rooting just to have this software for backing up the tablet’s applications and settings
• LCD Density Changer – this program allows the resolution of the LCD to be increased; I’ve got mine set to a density of 140 and the screen looks very nice at that setting!
• AutoKiller – this application keeps the tablet’s limited memory optimized for good performance

Other non-root required software that I’ve installed that I find very helpful include Juice Defender for increasing battery life, Executive Assistant Widget for easy access to Facebook, RSS, and my Got To Do task list, Pure Calendar Widget for displaying a unified Google / Exchange calender, and Rock Player for viewing videos in a wide variety of formats.

Conclusion
I personally feel that the Huawei S7 is a very usable Android tablet. It’s half the price of the Galaxy, but with a lot more than half of the capabilities of that tablet. I’m actually using it as something of a replacement for the work-oriented functions of my iPad. It’s so much smaller and easier for me to carry than the iPad. I’ve got Documents To Go, LogMeIn, Dropbox, GDocs, Touchdown (Exchange/ActiveSync), Evernote, Got To Do, OI Safe (password manager), Astro File Manager, Dolphin HD Browser, Rock Player (viewing videos while flying) and Thinking Space (mind mapping) installed on it and regularly use it for work tasks. I’d previously stopped taking my HP netbook with me on business trips, using a WiFi iPad instead, and have now replaced the iPad with S7. I haven’t had to get a SIM card for it as it works great with my EVO 4G’s hotspot function. I also use a Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard with it. All-in-all it works great for me. So I’m going to hang onto it until I see what the next generation Honeycomb Android tablets looks like next year. In the meantime, I will be using it whenever I am traveling on business.

Two Months with an iPad and Some Surprises

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two months now since I’ve had my iPad. Time has flown by. It’s also been over two months since I posted here on my blog. I’ve been primarily posting items to Twitter and Facebook, trying out some social media alternatives to blogging. I guess I’ve decided to come right back where I started – to this blog.

In any case, as I said above: I’ve been using my iPad for over two months now. It’s a 64GB WiFi model. Since I already owned a Cradlepoint 3G mobile WiFi hotspot I felt no need to wait for the 3G model. I did order a 3G model for my wife, which she has had for over a month now and dearly loves.

In any case, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share my experiences so far with the iPad. It’s surprised me in many ways – all of them good!

First of all, the iPad has become my primary work computer. I take it with me every week as I travel to IT management consulting engagements. As the picture above shows, I’ve got a Griffen stand and an Apple Bluetooth keyboard for use when typing large amounts of data into the iPad. One of the surprises, however, has been that the longer I’ve owned the iPad, the less I’ve used the Bluetooth keyboard and Griffen stand and the more I find myself holding the iPad in my hands to use it. I’m also using the onscreen virtual keyboard quite a bit. The onscreen keyboard works great for light-duty input especially in conjunction with the Apple iPad case, which allows the iPad to be positioned at the right angle for onscreen typing when placed on a table or desk. I tend to do just that for all but the heaviest keyboard input tasks.

The second surprise is that my old HP Mini 5101 netbook has turned into a companion device for the iPad. Now most mobile devices end up being used as companions to PCs, but mine is the reverse case: my PC is a companion to the iPad. This is because I can so easily access the netbook using the LogMeIn Ignition application whenever I need to accomplish a work task that requires a Windows-based program such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. In fact, I find a netbook to be the perfect companion for an iPad given it’s 1024 X 600 screen size. This screen size renders perfectly on the iPad’s 1024 X 768 screen and allows room left over for the icons and buttons that appear on the top and bottom of the LogMeIn Ignition screen. The HP doesn’t even have to travel with me – it can sit at home, left on and connected to our home network and still be accessed from the iPad through LogMeIn, no matter how far away from home I may be. I’ve even accessed it from an in-flight aircraft using Delta’s or US Air’s onboard WiFi services.

My third surprise is that I’m using LogMeIn, and therefore my “Windows companion”, less and less. At first, it seemed like most of my work day was spent using my iPad as a client to my Windows netbook and using Microsoft Office software predominantly to get my job done. Now I’m doing more and more of the work natively on the iPad. This has mostly been made possible by the Dropbox iPad application and its associated syncing and remote storage services. I automatically sync every file associated with my current consulting client between my HP netbook and the iPad. In fact, the files are also automatically synchronized with our large Gateway quad-processor desktop system, providing me with additional data redundancy. Now I often find that I use Dropbox to access a file that was originally stored on my PC and then importing it into one of the iWork applications on the iPad: Pages, Keynote, or Numbers. Alternatively, for PDF files I’ll end up importing the files into Goodreader. I’m also finding the new iPad compatible version of Documents To Go to be wonderful when working with Microsoft Word files, especially with its superb integration with Dropbox.

So much for the pleasant surprises – what more would I like to see improved in the iPad? Apple: please improve the iWork applications! Pages needs to handle more of the complex features of Word better, and will you PLEASE enable Keynote and Numbers to export files in Microsoft Office format!!! I still don’t understand why Apple allows Pages to export Office compatible files, but not Keynote and Numbers.

Nevertheless, I’m extremely happy with my iPad. It’s got a brilliantly clear screen, is small and lightweight and a breeze to carry when traveling, and it’s FAST! It has truly become my primary traveling work computer and supports all my needs, especially when teamed with its netbook companion. It’s also a wonderful entertainment and social media platform for use during the evenings in my hotel room. I’m especially loving the Netflix application!

iPad Coming to my House Saturday!

I got a notification that my new iPad is currently in the UPS facility in Lexington, KY, less than a 3 hour drive from my house. That got me to thinking – exactly what am I going to use the new 64GB WiFi-only iPad for?

Well, I’m going to try to use it to replace my current work computer: an HP 5101 netbook. The little HP has served me well, but I’m thinking that the iPad can do even better. Along with the  5101, I use a Cradlepoint 3G-WiFi router with an AT&T Mercury USB cellular modem plugged into it to access the net – which is why I didn’t purchase the 3G enabled version of the iPad.

I’m an IT management consultant who travels about 40 weeks a year. So, my work computer needs to be small and lightweight, yet powerful enough to create the products of my work: documents, presentations, and the occasional spreadsheet. I also create project plans – currently using Microsoft Project to do so. I also make extensive use of the Web, using Web-based email (Gmail for personal and Outlook Web Access for work), Toodledo for task management, and Google Calendar for appointments.

My work computer also serves as a general Web browsing platform into social networks, in my case Twitter and Facebook. I use them for two purposes: to stay in contact with friends and family, and as a source of technology news. Social networks have even replaced RSS feeds as my primary source of up-to-the-minute information on technology.

In addition, I use my iPhone quite a bit, for performing the same tasks as the netbook when I’m away from my computer. I use Pocket Informant syncing with Toodledo and Google Calendars as my PIM, DocsToGo to read and perform limited updates on documents, spreadsheets, presentations and even project plans (by saving my Microsoft Project plans to Excel for access by DocsToGo). It also serves as my travel manager using FlightTrack, TripIt, Siri, AroundMe, Point Inside, LocalEats, and Yelp applications, and as an entertainment device for listening to music and audio books, and viewing movies and TV episodes. I even play the occasional game on it.

So, how is the iPad going to replace the HP netbook? By using the iWorks applications for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and using Safari to access my Web-based applications and for general browsing. I’ve purchased three accessories to help facilitate this: the Apple Wireless Keyboard, the Apple iPad case (which can serve as a stand), and the VGA adapter for hooking the iPad into a projector for presentations. In addition, I plan on using LogMeIn Ignition whenever needed. I already own it for my iPhone and have been amazed at how well it lets me access my monster desktop system at home. This system is a Gateway quad-processor with 8GB of memory, and almost 2TB of disk space, and with 2 attached printers. Anytime I might need a Windows application that has functionality unavailable on my iPad, I plan on running it remotely on my home system through the iPad. I can also use it to remotely access client systems using Citrix on my home desktop.

The iPad will also undoubtedly replace quite a bit of my iPhone usage. The ability to run iPhone applications on a much bigger screen, especially when these applications are rewritten to take advantage of the larger screen, will make for a much better usage experience. In particular, I’m really looking forward to viewing movies and TV episodes on a plane using the iPad.

So, what challenges do I foresee? I really only see one: printing!

Every single week, I need to be able to print out expense reports and receipts for faxing to my company’s office (yes, they plan on automating this process SOMEDAY!), as well as occasionally printing out a document or presentation for review with my clients. At this moment in time, I’m not aware of any way to print out iWorks documents, or other documents from the iPad. I own and use ActivePrint Traveler on my iPhone, but it only works with text files, pictures, and Web pages.

I do know that ActivePrint has announced plans for an iPad version of the program that adds support for printing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, but nothing about iWorks nor any details on exactly how these Microsoft Office documents are printed or even how they would be stored on the iPad.

So, I’ll only really know how well the iPad will work for me after I’ve actually used it for a while on the road. I plan on bringing along my HP netbook on my first business trip with the iPad as insurance, but I’m going to really try and make it work as my primary traveling work computer. I’ll try and keep you up-to-date on how well it works out.

Siri Personal Assistant for iPhone

Siri is a wonderful application that provides iPhone users with a voice-activated, natural language-processing, personal assistant. You can request information from Siri simply by asking it questions like “Where is the best Mexican restaurant near me” or “What family-oriented movies are playing today.” Siri Assistant can handle requests for information on restaurants, events, movies, taxis, weather and local points of interest. It can also provide information on flight status, email you reminders, and even respond to more general questions. I asked it “What is the capital of South Dakota”, and it correctly answered “Pierre”, and provided a bunch more information on that city.

It’s an amazing program. Siri states that it’s optimized for the iPhone 3GS, but it works fine on my 3G. It’s a free application, so there’s no excuse for not downloading it for your iPhone!

Reportage iPhone Twitter Client

I’ve got a new favorite Twitter client on my iPhone: Reportage. The thing I like most about it is that it organizes tweets by the posting person, using a channel paradigm to do so. It also allows you to mark users and create a special subset of them for times when you just don’t have time to go through all your tweets. I’m really enjoy reading tweets with this app.

MobileToolz for iPhone

I recently found yet another truly innovative iPhone application, and one that I haven’t seen written up anywhere else: MobileToolz.

MobileToolz is a real Swiss Army Knife of iPhone applications. It performs so many different functions that it’s kind of hard to fully describe. I’m only going to hit the highlights of some of the functions I find especially handy in the paragraphs below. To give you a quick summery right now: it supports printing (both to network printers and Fedex Office printers), faxing, sending email with attachments, document loading through a Web interface, document viewing (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPEG, TIFF, and PNG), simple image processing, external input from a computer keyboard, iPhone to PC screen sharing (for presentations of iPhone content), and it even has a music module!

The first and most amazing function to me is its ability to input text directly from a computer’s keyboard into the email function provided by the program. That’s right, and not only can you input via your keyboard, but you can see what appears on the iPhone screen right on your PC! The closest thing I’ve seen to this is the old PDAReach program that works on the Treo, and which I used extensively when I owned a Treo. However, unlike PDAReach this input functionality is limited to just the email function within this program. The ability to display the iPhone screen contents on a PC is also used in the function for presenting the iPhone’s screen contents through a PC.

By the way, the email function itself has some really nice features, too. The most significant is that it supports sending file attachments, not only from files residing within the MobileToolz document function, but also from files residing on the computer being used for keyboard input into the iPhone!

The ability to download documents into the application and view them should be a great boon to many users. I already own the Documents To Go application, which allows me to perform similar functions plus being able to actually edit the documents on my iPhone, but if you don’t have such an app on your iPhone then this function should prove to be extremely valuable.

The ability to print the documents from the iPhone is also extremely handy. I haven’t been able to test it yet at my current client site, but plan to do so when I get home.

Please understand, I’m just scratching the surface of this application’s functions in my description so far. It’s amazing just how many things this app does, and at a very reasonable price. If its functions sound interesting to you, definitely visit the App Store and purchase a copy for your own iPhone so that you can be as amazed as I am!

Another Innovative Note Taking iPhone App

In my last posting here, I mentioned an innovative note taking program: Dan Bricklin’s Note Taker. Today, I’m going to talk about another very innovative note taking iPhone application: FrogPad NoteTaker.

FrogPad is an interesting company. They manufacture a one-handed keyboard that uses multiple key-presses to input characters and attempts to create an ergonomically optimized device for inputting data. I actually owned one quite a few years ago. It’s an interesting approach to data entry, but I never got the input speeds claimed by FrogPad and eventually gave up on using it. It may be that I simply didn’t have the patience to master this new approach to typing.

FrogPad has taken this concept and created an iPhone application that I’m finding works extremely well. As you can see in the picture above, it puts far fewer keys on the screen than the built-in keyboard. The keys are thus much larger than the built-in keys. In fact, they are large enough so that I’m finding that I never hit the wrong key, something that happens all too often with the built-in keyboard, even when using it in landscape mode.

Since the text entered in this program can easily be copied into the clipboard and pasted into other applications, it would become my preferred method of keyboard input on the iPhone, except for one glaring problem – the program crashes and loses all your input if you enter too many characters in one session. This is the first version of the program and I’ve reported the problem to FrogPad, so I’m optimistic that it will soon be fixed. In the meantime, I like it so much that sometimes I’ll enter 60 or so characters of input into it, close the application, re-open the application and continue with my typing. It’s a drag, but I’m finding it so wonderful to be able to type so accurately on my iPhone that sometimes I’m will to actually put up with it!

If you’re interested in trying out a truly new and innovative approach to soft-keyboard input on your iPhone, get a copy of this application.