A Tablet For The Head Honcho?

[SEMIJim]

The Big Guy's MS-Win laptop is dying. I figure I can either get him a brand-spanking-new Win7 PC, a refurbished laptop just like what he has, or a tablet. We're seriously considering that last option.

Mainly he needs it for email. He does frequently read/review MS Excel and MS Word documents. He sometimes makes changes to them and sometimes authors his own. I think Documents To Go will suffice.

For the fact it has standard micro USB and microSD, we're leaning toward a 10" Xoom. (We're also leaning that way for in-house/development use.)

He's aware he won't have MS Outlook and the standard MS Office suite, and doesn't seem concerned about that. I've already found I can easily move his existing MS Outlook mail store into our IMAP server easily, so there's no problem there. There are some Open Issues, however.

He's wondering about laptop <-> tablet sync. Will he have to rely on a USB connection and manually picking & choosing what to copy, and in which direction, or is there an app for that?

Can we hook a keyboard and mouse to a Xoom (BT or USB)?

Does anybody know of a small "travel/pocket wireless access point" that can be used to create a personal WiFi hotspot on-the-fly, should one find one's self in a hotel/motel with only wired connections, and there's neither 3G nor 4G available?

How about extended power for these? Say, a rechargeable external battery pack?

That's about all I can think of, off-hand. Anything I'm missing anybody can think of?

He's going to be taking this thing on a business trip to Asia pretty shortly, so I've got to get this right pretty much right off the bat!

Thanks,
Jim

 

[pbrauer]

Mainly he needs it for email. He does frequently read/review MS Excel and MS Word documents. He sometimes makes changes to them and sometimes authors his own. I think Documents To Go will suffice. <--Either Docs to Go or QuickOffice work well. I like them both, and they are very intuitive

For the fact it has standard micro USB and microSD, we're leaning toward a 10" Xoom. (We're also leaning that way for in-house/development use.)

He's aware he won't have MS Outlook and the standard MS Office suite, and doesn't seem concerned about that. I've already found I can easily move his existing MS Outlook mail store into our IMAP server easily, so there's no problem there. There are some Open Issues, however. <--Take a look at Touchdown from NitroDesk. The tablet version is a full Exchange client, including calendar and todo items and again a very familiar feel to the UI

He's wondering about laptop <-> tablet sync. Will he have to rely on a USB connection and manually picking & choosing what to copy, and in which direction, or is there an app for that? <-That is one way, there are others like SugarSync, which allows you to simply specify folders that you want to keep synced between devices, anything that gets put there syncs automatically. There is also WiFi File Explorer which allows you to move folders and files very easily without wires

Can we hook a keyboard and mouse to a Xoom (BT or USB)? <-- I have my Logitech Tablet Keyboard and my MS-BT5000 mouse connected via BT to my Xoom, worked right out of the box

Does anybody know of a small "travel/pocket wireless access point" that can be used to create a personal WiFi hotspot on-the-fly, should one find one's self in a hotel/motel with only wired connections, and there's neither 3G nor 4G available? <-There is the MiFi from Verizon, otherwise depending on the head honcho's phone, if it is an android then root it, and install WiFi Tether that allows them to just use the phone as a hotspot. that is how I connect when not on a trusted wireless net

How about extended power for these? Say, a rechargeable external battery pack? <-Those are iffy at best in my experience. just make sure they have an extra charger or two

 

[Walkop]

Okay, first off, for what you're boss wants, I'd say either the Xoom or the Acer Iconia A100. Docs to Go should work fine for document writing.

The reason I suggest the Iconia is that it comes with both a MSD slot and a FULL-sized USB port. It also has a better display, with the best blacks of any tablet (search for DisplayMate tablet display shootout).

You aren't getting an IPS display, which is the best type out now for major tablets, but it is still ptretty good.

If you're willing to shell out a bit more cash, though, I would suggest the Asus Eee Pad Transformer with keyboard dock. For $499.99 (around there, anyway) you get a MSD slot and mini-HDMI port on the tablet, but you also get a docking station with built-in keyboard, full QWERTY with number row, arrow keys etc. The stock has two USB Ports, a charging port (the stock also has a built-in battery, extends the tablet for around 5 hours in my experience), and locks the tablet firmly in place with two latches. It also has a full-size SD card slot. All ports work perfectly, and keyboards/mice can be used without hiccup.

It also has a built-in (and free) word processor.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Android Tablet Forum

 

[SEMIJim]

I forgot to mention: It's got to be on Verizon. If he had a hot-spot-able phone I guess it wouldn't matter--then it wouldn't even necessarily need 3G/4G, but he's got a run-of-the-mill Blackberry, and I'm not about to suggest he change that too.

That limits the choices to the Samsung Galaxy, Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jim

 

[pbrauer]

i would go with the Xoom then. personal opinion only

 

[SEMIJim]

i would go with the Xoom then. personal opinion only

Thanks for the feedback, but it just became a non-issue: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-discussions/22268-no-proxy-support-really.html

*sigh*

Jim

 

[pbrauer]

Jim -

Pls read my response on your proxy issue....

Peter

 

[bclinger]

I am going to give TouchDown a try. The default application allows me to receive, but I cannot send.

 

[SEMIJim]

I am going to give TouchDown a try. The default application allows me to receive, but I cannot send.

Have you tried K-9 Mail? I'm reasonably satisfied with it.

(N.B.: As I noted earlier: The tablet for the Big Guy is now a dead issue.)

Jim

 

[Tronmech]

Where I work, (big company whose name is a 3 letter acronym) there are company-wide transparent proxies. Essentially the entire enterprise goes to the internet through regional NAT gateways. This allows us to run almost any device on the network without proxy setup issues.

Are your proxy server(s) something like SOCKS proxies? That could be a pain then...

Getting IN FROM the Internet is another matter, I'm afraid as there is no Android support for our corporate VPN. Which often sucks.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

 

[SEMIJim]

Are your proxy server(s) something like SOCKS proxies? That could be a pain then...

Something like that, yes. It's not such a big pain, really... except when a device doesn't know how to use a proxy.

I can probably do something like this: Transparent Proxy with Linux and Squid mini-HOWTO: Setting up iptables (Netfilter) , tho I'm using IPF on a FreeBSD box, rather than iptables on a Linux box, but that doesn't change the fact that lack of a provision for being able to use proxies is a rather astonishing oversight.

Getting IN FROM the Internet is another matter, I'm afraid as there is no Android support for our corporate VPN. Which often sucks.

I don't have my tablet here at work w/me today, but I thought there was something about a VPN in the settings? I didn't look to see what it was about. Most of my internal customers wouldn't have a need for that on a tablet. The engineers, maybe. They can get by with SSH.

Jim

 

[SEMIJim]

Where I work, (big company whose name is a 3 letter acronym) there are company-wide transparent proxies. Essentially the entire enterprise goes to the internet through regional NAT gateways. This allows us to run almost any device on the network without proxy setup issues.

I can probably do something like this: Transparent Proxy with Linux and Squid mini-HOWTO: Setting up iptables (Netfilter) , tho I'm using IPF on a FreeBSD box, rather than iptables on a Linux box, ...

I have to thank you for making me think, Tronmech. The original HTTP/HTTPS proxy we had here couldn't do transparent proxying, so it never occurred to me to try it. The addition of an ipnat redirection rule and enabling transparent proxying on the existing proxy I believe will solve the problem. (It works for a regular browser, but, unfortunately, I don't have my tablet with me today.)

[edit] And it did. Both browser and 'droid marketplace work, now.

Jim

 

[DarrylB]

He's wondering about laptop <-> tablet sync. Will he have to rely on a USB connection and manually picking & choosing what to copy, and in which direction, or is there an app for that?

hey Jim, as pbrauer has already mentioned, SugarSync and WiFi File Explorer are great apps/solutions for this. I might also suggest Android Sync Manager WiFi. Each of these apps mentioned are all free to download and use and should probably do the trick.