1. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    I was looking at a Surface Go tablet. 10.5 screen with keyboard. It looked great - a portable work station that weighed about a pound, just what I wanted for carrying around. Plus the keyboard was nice and had great action.

    Problem was, Best Buy (yeah you) had no keyboards in stock. So I left and prudently used the opportunity to check the reviews.

    Turned out the Surface Go is a piece of crap. Sluggish (even the high end version), the specs looked equivalent to a midrange cell phone. And you can only use apps from the Microsoft Store so no 7Zip, no Foobar, no Audacity. Unless you pay Microsoft a little fee to get your piece of equipment out of bondage.

    I'm thinking screw it, I'll get an iPad Mini. Not an IOS walled garden fan, but I know it'll work.

    Before I make the jump (today's a holiday), does anyone think an Android/Samsung tablet would do just as well?

    Alternatively are the Surface Go's not that bad?

    All I want is to edit text docs and spreadsheets, use Google Drive or MS Overdrive and edit sound sound files, and it should have a keyboard and weigh a pound. Not high-power stuff but I don't want to sit twiddling my thumbs waiting for a file to open. After 20 years of computer development this should be possible but it doesn't feel like it is.
    05-23-22 03:31 PM
  2. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    I was looking at a Surface Go tablet. 10.5 screen with keyboard. It looked great - a portable work station that weighed about a pound, just what I wanted for carrying around. Plus the keyboard was nice and had great action.

    Problem was, Best Buy (yeah you) had no keyboards in stock. So I left and prudently used the opportunity to check the reviews.

    Turned out the Surface Go is a piece of crap. Sluggish (even the high end version), the specs looked equivalent to a midrange cell phone. And you can only use apps from the Microsoft Store so no 7Zip, no Foobar, no Audacity. Unless you pay Microsoft a little fee to get your piece of equipment out of bondage.

    I'm thinking screw it, I'll get an iPad Mini. Not an IOS walled garden fan, but I know it'll work.

    Before I make the jump (today's a holiday), does anyone think an Android/Samsung tablet would do just as well?

    Alternatively are the Surface Go's not that bad?

    All I want is to edit text docs and spreadsheets, use Google Drive or MS Overdrive and edit sound sound files, and it should have a keyboard and weigh a pound. Not high-power stuff but I don't want to sit twiddling my thumbs waiting for a file to open. After 20 years of computer development this should be possible but it doesn't feel like it is.
    I had a Surface Pro 4... loved it, but didn't really use the keyboard all that much. Was looking to upgrade and MS has made it much more complex.... with the Surface Go, Surface Pro 8 and Surface Pro X (ARM). The PRO 8 is what I wanted, but price just didn't feel right too me. I really looked at what I do, and decided that yeah I didn't have to have WINDOWS on my tablet anymore. So looked at a Galaxy Tablet and an iPad... I've had a Galaxy Tablets and checked around and they still don't update their tablets as well as they do the phones. Dex is interesting...

    But in the end, I'm using an iPhone and an iPad made more sense to me....

    I'd go buy a Kindle before getting a Surface GO...
    Laura Knotek likes this.
    05-23-22 03:51 PM
  3. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    Wow, pretty bad if you'd go for a Kindle first!

    This Surface Go was so nice in the hands, wish I could flash it with Windows 7 even though that's out of date.

    I had an RCA android tablet, didn't like it much because it had no right click mouse functions for the mouse and I use those constantly. At the time Android just didnt have much going on for mice; that might have changed.

    I hadn't heard of Dex, I'll look that up, thanks.
    Last edited by Paul Reichert; 05-23-22 at 05:04 PM. Reason: get another one hit at android in.
    05-23-22 04:43 PM
  4. Ph1llip's Avatar
    I have had four Windows tablets and three Android ones. In the end, the result is the same as Windows Phone-the lack of apps will get you. You can get the entire MS Office Suite on Android so you can have both Office AND apps. I currently use a Galaxy Tab s7+, 12.4 inch screen, zippy and yes, you can buy an OEM keyboard for it from Samsung. The only thing that didn't fit your criteria is that it weighs 1.27 pounds.
    Laura Knotek likes this.
    05-23-22 07:46 PM
  5. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    I have had four Windows tablets and three Android ones. In the end, the result is the same as Windows Phone-the lack of apps will get you. You can get the entire MS Office Suite on Android so you can have both Office AND apps. I currently use a Galaxy Tab s7+, 12.4 inch screen, zippy and yes, you can buy an OEM keyboard for it from Samsung. The only thing that didn't fit your criteria is that it weighs 1.27 pounds.
    Man that's heavy.

    Everything's closed today I so I decided to collect information and make a sober, well reasoned purchase choice. After an afternoon trying to collate almost-but-not-quite-matching parameters for iPad Gen 6, Galaxy Tab S8 and Surface GO 3 I entered an out of body experience and while out of touch with reality, went on eBay and ordered a Psion Series 3 for $139USD. Should come next week, can't wait.
    dmlis likes this.
    05-23-22 08:43 PM
  6. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Man that's heavy.

    Everything's closed today I so I decided to collect information and make a sober, well reasoned purchase choice. After an afternoon trying to collate almost-but-not-quite-matching parameters for iPad Gen 6, Galaxy Tab S8 and Surface GO 3 I entered an out of body experience and while out of touch with reality, went on eBay and ordered a Psion Series 3 for $139USD. Should come next week, can't wait.
    Well if that covers your "tablet" needs.....
    05-24-22 08:48 AM
  7. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    Now I'm having second thoughts! But who knows, maybe it'll do for my narrower purposes.
    05-24-22 10:18 AM
  8. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Now I'm having second thoughts! But who knows, maybe it'll do for my narrower purposes.
    I figured you were just joking... getting it more as a novelty or collectable.
    05-24-22 01:45 PM
  9. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    I figured you were just joking... getting it more as a novelty or collectable.
    It really was a result of getting sick of comparing specs etc and not finding quite what I was looking for and looking at some rotten compromise. But the Psion maybe really would be good enough for entering text and would certainly be a conversation piece.
    05-24-22 01:59 PM
  10. dmlis's Avatar
    I think that the Galaxy Tab series is worth considering. There are light versions under around one pound if the weight is important.
    Keyboard cases are available in many kinds. But nothing beats the Psion's keyboard, certainly.
    05-24-22 05:16 PM
  11. zer0ten's Avatar
    Definitely will have to recommend an iPad when looking at tablets. Despite Apple being a greedy trash company, the iPad is a slick piece of hardware.
    05-24-22 05:45 PM
  12. zer0ten's Avatar
    It really was a result of getting sick of comparing specs etc and not finding quite what I was looking for and looking at some rotten compromise. But the Psion maybe really would be good enough for entering text and would certainly be a conversation piece.
    Is it even possible though to transfer the text you entered on a 30 year old PDA to something modern? What's the point if the text you entered is confined to that archaic hardware.
    05-24-22 05:48 PM
  13. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    Is it even possible though to transfer the text you entered on a 30 year old PDA to something modern? What's the point if the text you entered is confined to that archaic hardware.
    Calculated risk.
    05-24-22 06:59 PM
  14. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    And the alternative is spending $7-900 on one of the big 3 and finding out don't really like it.
    05-24-22 07:00 PM
  15. zer0ten's Avatar
    Calculated risk.
    Fair enough. Drunk E-Bay shopping has also netted me a small pile of treasures I may put to use someday.
    05-24-22 07:03 PM
  16. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Definitely will have to recommend an iPad when looking at tablets. Despite Apple being a greedy trash company, the iPad is a slick piece of hardware.
    I don't know.... when I compared a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 to an iPad Pro, Apple didn't seem to be all that out of line on hardware.

    And I really don't see much of a walled garden in my usage.... I can load music and videos from my personal collection. I work with PDFs and Office documents with no issues. Wife and I do have to pay $5 a month for additional shared cloud storage. But had to do the same with an Android if you wanted to save images in full resolution...

    If I still needed the PROGRAMS that Windows could run, I'd have put $1,500 into a Surface Pro. But I didn't need that anymore so just got an iPad as it fits with my other iDevices, and only spent $1000.
    05-25-22 07:09 AM
  17. Paul Reichert's Avatar
    But to load music etc don't you have go through iTunes, ie you can't just drag and drop your music files onto the iPad?
    05-25-22 12:19 PM
  18. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    But to load music etc don't you have go through iTunes, ie you can't just drag and drop your music files onto the iPad?

    Might be necessary to organize them and play them with the Apple Music app... but there are other apps that allow you to select file locations. The phone will play MP3 files in the default player, but just one at a time. For movies that's fine, but music your going to need to be able to play a playlist.

    I've never used iTunes with my iPad.... most all my files are stored in the cloud on OneDrive so I pull them from there if I need them. And OneDrive does fully integrate with the default FILES app.
    Laura Knotek likes this.
    05-25-22 01:25 PM

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