When faced with the prospect of returning my company owned iPad, I was faced with the choice: which tablet would be best for me? Given I would now be spending my own money, there was a greater sense of the need to optimize the decision. You may read my earlier post about the research which went into this decision, but after heavy testing with my new tablet, I'm convinced I made the proper choice (research post: Honeywell Minus iPad = Nexus 10).
My computing profile might be described in this manner: Does heavy research, browsing and reading ... not a gamer. Having music and movies on my tablet is not important. If your computing needs tend to my profile, the Nexus 10 will be a perfect fit. If you're more of a gamer who wants lots of music and movies on your tablet, the iPad may be your best bet due to it's huge number of apps and installed base.
From the start I liked the fact that I was able to connect any standard USB device to my Nexus 10 without the need to purchase special costly cables as was required with my iPad. Given I split time between between Duluth and Minneapolis, I now plan to leave my large screen laptop in Duluth during short trips south. I'll just connect a full sized keyboard and mouse to my Nexus 10 when I have heavy data input / typing needs.
The next item I really like about my Nexus 10 from a configuration / setup basis is that I am able to create multiple user identities on my tablet. As house guests always seem to want to use my tablet, I have created a "guest identity" of my Nexus 10. My friends now use the "guest user account" and are able browse the web, read books, etc without gaining access to my own accounts or tablet settings. See the next few screenshots ... you will see both my login screen and various desktops (mine and the generic guest).
Click any image in this blog post to view at full size!
Login Screen: Rich Hoeg and Guest
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Desktop Screen: Rich Hoeg
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Desktop Screen: Guest
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Often when reading techical reviews, I like to see a bit of what is under the hood. Thus, the next two screenshots are of my Nexus 10 Settings, and AndroSensor. If you're not familiar with AndroSensor, it's a great free App which lets you know what sensors (and their readings) are running on your device.
Nexus 10 Settings | AndroSensor Readings (click to maximize)
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Continuing this review, here are some other nice features I've learned to appreciate very quickly. While my first post of this Nexus 10 review series was created on my tablet, I'm using my laptop for this post. Transferring data between the two computers was extremely easy. Using a standard USB cable I connected my Nexus to my laptop. The tablet was recognized immediately as "an external hard drive". Within a few moments I was able to browse all the folders on my Nexus from my PC, and then copy the screenshots over to my laptop for this post. No expensive cables, special software or rooting was required.
The next part of my test involved confirming I could do the following ... a key test for my desired off line use while taking long distance bike rides (i.e. many days):
- GPS chip allows quick location readings
- Able to pre-cache large regions of Google Maps
- Able to import Garmin 305 bike ride data into Sportablet
This Summer I will take a 2000+ mile bike ride named the Grand Gaspe Tour (see route map). My Nexus 10 will be in my saddle bags. My goal is to be able to use Google Maps even while NOT connected to the web and still be able to determine my exact location. At the end of a day's 60 to 80 mile ride, I want to off load my day's Garmin 305 data to my Nexus 10 and Sportablet (i.e. route, distance, elevation, time, etc). My bike route will generally be in regions where a web connection is not available most of the time.
I am glad to say, my Nexus 10 passed tests #1 to #3 in flying colors. Here are a few screenshots. Everything was done while I was offline.
Google Maps: Northeast Minnesota Offline
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Sportable Nordic Skiing Activities / Workouts (click to maximize)
Route
Activities | Elevation over Distance
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In closing this review, the issue of the availability of apps needs to be addressed. While the number of Apps available for the iPad far exceeds the Android marketplace, if you are not a heavy gamer or intend to save lots of music to your device via iTunes, for normal browsing, research, data input, and information focused apps, the Nexus 10 is a hands down winner. The ability to directly connect your PC to your tablet and use your Google accounts in their native environments is fantastic. In addition, remember that for $100 less than an iPad 2, you also get a tablet which is much better from a hardware vantage point. (screen display, cameras, speakers, etc). Learn more about this aspect of the Nexus 10 via the Mostly-Tech blog's review.
One final word of caution ... many corporations do not allow Android devices to be connected to their networks. Given all the different flavors of Android, it is a sys admin's nightmare in terms of managing all the various network configuration and security options.
My last set of screenshots will give you an idea of the apps I have installed. The first two screenshots show all my apps (no bloatware!), and the last few are of some apps which may be a bit unique to my interests, but help demonstrate the wide variety of apps available for the Nexus 10.
Click to expand any image and view at full size.
NorthStar Nerd's Nexus 10 Apps - Screen 1
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NorthStar Nerd's Nexus 10 Apps - Screen 2
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iBird and Moon Phase
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Amazon Kindle (books downloaded from my library)
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USA Today (not an app, but html 5 optimized via Google Chrome)
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This ends my initial Nexus 10 review. You may access all of my reviews in this series via this blog post: (scroll to the bottom of linked page for a list of my Nexus 10 posts / reviews)
