[ale] [OT] fyi Office Depot, semi annual mega sale including tablets / obd stuff

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi all,

PS to prior message.

I haven't opened the Lenovo A1000-F tablet, but upon further reading 
about it online, it seems that it may have a fatal flaw.  It has 16 GB 
of memory, contrary to the 8 GB that I said before.  Many Android 
devices, including the Acer A500 tablet that I already owned, allocate 
all the remainder of memory after the OS is accounted for to the user's 
apps and the user's data.  So, that generally means you can use about 13 
GB of memory on a 16 GB device.  However, on this device, the designer 
only allocated 512 MB of memory to the internal storage.  So, that means 
that installing about 5 apps crashes the device with out of storage 
errors.  This design is insane.  Apparently, there was a patch which 
increase it to 2 GB total rather than the 512 MB, which is a little 
better.  But, it's still insane.  Just give me all the flash that's left 
over after the OS and let me do what I want with it.

I'll probably be returning the tablet unless I can confirm that this is 
no longer a problem.

Just passing it along since I was touting this unit as a great deal.  If 
they did increase internal storage to 2 GB and you only want to install 
a few apps with minimal data, it still might be a good deal.  If the app 
lets you move it to 'USB' storage (the remainder above the 2 GB), or 
move its data there, then you might be able to use a minimal amount of 
'internal storage'.  This doesn't work with all apps though.

Sincerely,

Ron


On 9/15/2013 2:54 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I just wanted to give you a heads up that Office Depot is having a semi annual mega sale with many different items on sale at decent savings.  Not everything is on sale though.  I think it runs through 09/21/13.
>
> I just got 2 reams of HP Multipurpose Printer Paper with 800 sheets per ream (rather than 500) at $ 8.49 ea.  So, that's like getting 300 sheets free per ream.  I also got some plastic storage boxes and business card holders at a discount.
>
> Finally, they have some cool tablets.  I got a 7" Lenovo A1000-F Android 4 tablet for $ 100 which is normally $ 130.  It has 1 GB ram, dual core cpu, 8 GB flash, micro usb, micro sd, wifi, and bluetooth.  That's a pretty good deal I think.  They've got an Asus one with slightly lesser features for the same price.  2 year extended warranty with some protection for things like broken screens is $ 15.
>
> I may use the tablet for running the Torque program and monitoring the instruments in my car.  If I go that route, I'm hoping to use an obd wired cable to the usb since I don't like leaving a bluetooth device that someone else could potentially communicate with in the car all the time.  I also don't like plugging and unplugging the device from the obd multiple times per day.  I'll have to get the obd - usb cable from amazon and a micro usb - usb OTG adapter.  However, I may conclude that the problems of mounting the tablet and powering it without obscuring my vision in the car are too much.  So, I could return it and get a scangauge, which only displays 4 sensors at a time but is much smaller.  But, at least I wanted to get a tablet before they all disappeared.  I hate the idea of returning the tablet since it's just a cool device for a cool price.  I could use it for a permanent weather radar display at home or something.  But, alas, I don't have the budget to buy both a ta!
>   blet and a scangauge.
>
> Now that I've got mine, you guys can go buy the rest.  8-)
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
>    

-- 

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Ron Frazier
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