Developers, developers, developers, developers

[Tsutarja]

I've let my Nexus 7 discharge for up to 8 hours one time and by the time I plugged it back in again, it was only down to like 43% battery, and that was from constant usage as well.

 

[Legendary Silke]

There's something I like about large tablets. They might be less portable, but they can pack a lot of battery guts inside. :)

 

[Cordelia]

It'd cost money if it's a Windows 8 non-Pro machine... :)

I should be glad that I started with 7 and took the upgrade offer.

(Windows 8 Pro offers downgrade rights to as far back as Vista. Let that sink in for a while - a Windows 8 Pro tablet running Vista?!)

Lol paying for it ;)

My tablet sits idle for a long time and doesn't lose battery. I used it literally all day yesterday and it was down to 30% when I woke up this morning. Not bad at all. B)

 

[Legendary Silke]

I wish I could say the same for my laptop.

Then again, when my laptop gets the 6-cell replacement battery, maybe it'll somehow pull off at least five hours? I'm running on something that's probably 4-cell right now.

 

[Starry Windy]

I bet your laptop will last longer if using 6-cell battery, Twiggy. And lately I'm looking at the mAh capacity thing if it comes to buying phone battery, because I always wanted my phone to last longer when playing videos, interneting and all, especially because my old battery was problematic for months.

 

[Buoysel]

After a while, I got used to the different interface of Windows 8. It's doesn't feel too tablet-like now, though it was very noticeable in the beginning. There are some things that are still bothersome to do on desktops/laptops, like closing apps. If I want to check the weather or not use a different picture-viewing program, the entire display is taken up by the app with no way to close it. Fortunately, I know my keyboard shortcuts so it's not a major problem, but I can see how it would be frustrating for other people.

To close any 'modern' app in Windows 8. Move the courser to the top of the screen in the app, the arrow should turn to a hand, click and drag towards the bottom of the screen to close the app.

To open pictures the 'old' way, right click on any photo and choose open with, then choose "Choose Default Program" then select Windows Photo Viewer.

Windows 8 is great, you just have to get used to it. I use 8.1 at home, at work, and on my tablet. My desktop at home, and my workstation are regular computers, no touch screens.

 

[Meganium]

Sooo much tech goodness out there...but I'm still set for a laptop. Sorry. I'm such old school and I still need my keyboard. xD I mean, I looooove the Surface. It's the coolest thing ever. But then, I might not end up using it as much as my tablet.

Agreeing with quil on Windows 8. It's just something new that some peeps need to get used to, because eventually we're gonna end up using it as a main OS sometime in the future. I'm sure we all reacted the same way when we tried out 7, right? xD Be patient with it and you'll start learning what you're reeeeeeally missing out on the new OS.

 

[Tsutarja]

I'm in love with Windows 7. At first the transparency of Aero while having a program in fullscreen bothered me, but not so much anymore.

As for Windows 8, I really want a laptop that runs it, but I'm just out of money to be able to have one at the time being, but I'm so glad that I got my Nexus 7 earlier this year. Maybe soon I'll order a keyboard to go along with it so that I don't have to touch my screen to type.

 

[Legendary Silke]

I bet your laptop will last longer if using 6-cell battery, Twiggy. And lately I'm looking at the mAh capacity thing if it comes to buying phone battery, because I always wanted my phone to last longer when playing videos, interneting and all, especially because my old battery was problematic for months.

A more meaningful measure would be the watt-hours (Wh), which you can get by multiplying the battery's voltage with its ampere-hours (Ah) (You get Ah by dividing mAh with 1000). Some batteries also have the Wh listed right there. The current battery is rated for 48 Wh on my laptop; the 6-cell is rated for about 67 Wh.

Agreeing with quil on Windows 8. It's just something new that some peeps need to get used to, because eventually we're gonna end up using it as a main OS sometime in the future. I'm sure we all reacted the same way when we tried out 7, right? xD Be patient with it and you'll start learning what you're reeeeeeally missing out on the new OS.

I suspect "Threshold" will make Windows 8 practically Windows 7 + Modern apps + Modern UI aesthetic, seeing as the return of the Start Menu is hot right now in terms of rumours.

As for Windows 8, I really want a laptop that runs it, but I'm just out of money to be able to have one at the time being, but I'm so glad that I got my Nexus 7 earlier this year. Maybe soon I'll order a keyboard to go along with it so that I don't have to touch my screen to type.

Have you experimented with different software keyboards? I don't think the keyboard provided by either Google or any of the OEMs are good, in my opinion.

Speaking of software keyboards, I actually like how the Windows software keyboard since Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 automatically try to compensate for typing patterns by fudging with the invisible hit targets for keyboard keys. You can actually almost type blind on a smartphone as soon as you get the hang of it. Autocorrect being more passive than what you'd find in Android keyboards also helps a bit.

 

[Tsutarja]

Have you experimented with different software keyboards? I don't think the keyboard provided by either Google or any of the OEMs are good, in my opinion.

I actively use the Swype keyboard layout on my tablet. It's not bad at all, except I find that I'm just faster at typing on a physical keyboard rather than an on-screen keyboard. And I will agree that there are different keyboards available for Android that are better than the stock Google keyboard.

 

[Meganium]

Swype is fun to use. I actually miss using it on my phone now that you mention it. xD

 

[Legendary Silke]

I prefer actually typing on a keyboard, so a very good prediction algorithm without invoking Autocorrect works wonders for me. Must be why I love the Windows Phone software keyboard. It's like it knows what I'm going to type next...

 

[Meganium]

my iPhone does the same. When I type in "doesthesame" it automatically spaces those three words in between because I type extremely fast on my phone. I'm left with no worry. :3

 

[Legendary Silke]

my iPhone does the same. When I type in "doesthesame" it automatically spaces those three words in between because I type extremely fast on my phone. I'm left with no worry. :3

Same, but does it give you the reassurance of something like this?

Say you're typing a word. The next letter is extremely likely to be U, but you hit low and hit H or J. No problem, it'll just pretend you hit U, since the next letter was extremely unlikely to be H or J. You stop thinking about correcting it later, since as far as you're concerned, you're on the right track.

(The Surface Touch Covers also has some fudging. People tent to hit the space bar low. There's a reason why the touch target for the space bar extends downwards... You never get misses.)

 

[SS01]

Same, but does it give you the reassurance of something like this?

Say you're typing a word. The next letter is extremely likely to be U, but you hit low and hit H or J. No problem, it'll just pretend you hit U, since the next letter was extremely unlikely to be H or J. You stop thinking about correcting it later, since as far as you're concerned, you're on the right track.

(The Surface Touch Covers also has some fudging. People tent to hit the space bar low. There's a reason why the touch target for the space bar extends downwards... You never get misses.)

Autocorrect will likely catch that. It's been much improved in iOS 7.

 

[Buoysel]

Autocorrect will likely catch that. It's been much improved in iOS 7.

Quite frankly autocorrect, I'm getting tired of your shirt.

 

[Tsutarja]

Sometimes autocorrect can be a good thing, and other times, not so much.. I've had to extensively apologize to people in the past that I have texted because of improper typos I've made and autocorrect chooses the wrong word.. yet at the same time, autocorrect can allow for me to type in a lazy manner and still get everything correct.

 

[Hiatus]

I have auto-correct enabled in all my devices, and I love it—it comes extremely handy. d: It could get a little frustrating when it chooses to pick the wrong words, though, just like you said.

 

[Meganium]

quail has provided a perfect example as to why autocorrect sucks.

**quil.

But I do agree that iOS7 has improved. Back then when I owned an iPod, autocorrect was just absolutely horrible.

 

[Cordelia]

I depend on autocorrect on both my phone and tablet with the SwiftKey keyboard. I love it <3