<p>Ice Cream Sandwich on the Kindle Fire. I don't need all the bells and whistles.</p>
<p>Only thing I would like is the ability to insert a SIM card and use a Bluetooth headset, and be able to have the tablet actually *be* the phone...</p>
<p>--<br>
Sent from my Ice Cream Sandwich powered Kindle Fire!<br>
Pardon any typos...</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Feb 22, 2012 5:50 PM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com">atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi guys,<br>
<br>
I just recently bought a Pandigital SuperNova tablet for $ 200 from Best<br>
Buy, kept it a couple of days, and returned it. I don't really have $<br>
300 - $ 500 to spend on a tablet. It's actually a really cool device,<br>
with a 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and 4 GB of shared storage. It<br>
has an 8" capacitive touch screen, SD card slot, USB host capability,<br>
HDMI out, wifi, bluetooth, and dual cameras. It's pretty snappy to run<br>
and plays video on Youtube well and displays web pages well when you add<br>
the Dolphin web browser. I really liked it, BUT ... I was really<br>
annoyed by the fact that it is running Android Gingerbread 2.3, will<br>
probably never be updated, and doesn't have the Android market place.<br>
It has Getjar, and I installed Amazon market. However, you still have<br>
only about 1/10 the selection of applications that you would with the<br>
Android market place. I was particularly bothered by the fact that I<br>
could not install Firefox, nor the Barnes and Noble Nook program without<br>
having access to the Android market place. It has a built in BN app,<br>
but it's not the same thing. I could potentially root it and install<br>
the Android market place, and it may be possible to install the Android<br>
market place without rooting it. However, it would become more obsolete<br>
over time and possibly more subject to viruses. Also, every time there<br>
was a firmware update from Pandigital, I would be worried about the hack<br>
failing. In the end, I decided to return it.<br>
<br>
I'm wondering if you guys know of any similarly priced alternatives that<br>
are running Android 3.2 Honeycomb or Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich. In<br>
terms of screen size, I don't really need 10". I think 8" is about the<br>
biggest thing I can thumb type on when it's in landscape mode. It's<br>
also a nice size to carry around, but still big enough to read the print<br>
on the screen without a microscope.<br>
<br>
I was also disappointed in some ways with Android, although I didn't get<br>
to play with it too long. For example, though, you can't even print<br>
from your applications without adding a $ 13 specialized app from the<br>
app store.<br>
<br>
I was also wondering if anyone knows of a solid Linux tablet that's not<br>
Android. That would give me more of the features I'm used too and more<br>
traditional applications. I don't want to primarily use the tablet for<br>
content production, but I want it to be able to run my same (or<br>
equivalent) applications when I need them and I'm out and about. I want<br>
to be able to attach a keyboard and mouse and do real work on it if<br>
needed. Most of the time, though, I'd use it for content consumption.<br>
It would strictly be a backup computer for when I'm away from my desk.<br>
I may consider a netbook, if there's nothing really in the tablet<br>
space. It looks like non Android Linux tablets aren't really there yet,<br>
but maybe you guys know of some. I'd like to see Ubuntu or Debian<br>
running on a tablet. The CPU's and memory are certainly powerful enough<br>
for some versions of Linux.<br>
<br>
I've only just begun research into non Android Linux tablets, but I ran<br>
across this link which looks interesting.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/spark-the-first-free-software-linux-tablet-is-on-its-way/10255" target="_blank">http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/spark-the-first-free-software-linux-tablet-is-on-its-way/10255</a><br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
<br>
<a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://c3energy.com" target="_blank">c3energy.com</a><br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div>