Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 December 27

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December 27

Tablet usefulness

Hello, I am wondering how useful a Kindle Fire tablet would be for a science major in college. Next year (Fall 2016) or the year after (Fall 2017) I will be back in college working on a graduate degree (master's) in geology and a second bachelor's degree in chemistry. Can most graduate level geology textbooks be found as e-textbooks that can be accessed on a Kindle Fire tablet? What about upper-level undergraduate chemistry textbooks? I already have a minor in chemistry so I will only be taking upper level chemistry classes. I already took most or all of the Freshman and Sophomore level chemistry classes such as Organic Chemistry and General Chemistry. I have a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy SIII mini) and a laptop. Can I already access most e-textbooks available for graduate-level geology and junior/senior level chemistry classes on my smartphone or my laptop? Is it worth it to have a tablet if I have a smartphone and a laptop? Any opinions or advice is welcome. If you have personal experience using a tablet in either graduate or undergraduate science or engineering classes any input would be even more welcome. Thank you. A tablet may be very useful for me as a student because I would not have to carry around bulky paper books, and e-textbooks are usually cheaper than paper textbooks.

PS: I may be going to Europe (Germany or Norway)for my schooling. I live in the United States. Are textbooks used in Europe less likely to be found on a tablet than textbooks primarily used in the United States? Would it be worth it to bring an extra gadget overseas? I know I will not be able to bring all of my belongings with me, and will have to pick and choose. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:252:D65:D2F0:C8D9:15B0:FF0E:1B3C (talk) 00:49, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

[The same question was posted at science, whence i have deleted it, redirecting here. μηδείς (talk) 01:22, 27 December 2015 (UTC)]

The tablet holds a spot midway between phone and laptop. Screen size is halfway, battery life is halfway, ease-of-data-entry - about midway...and so on. Things like reading an online book seem to work better on the tablet than a phone because of the larger screen...easier than a laptop because it's less bulky and can be held in one hand and used much like a paper book. So, yeaaah tablet! But if you're writing an essay - a tablet is a terrible input device - and unless you have a Bluetooth keyboard or something, it'll be vastly easier to use a laptop. Any application program that has a ton of menu options and/or needs precise positioning will be tough to use on a tablet.

Tablets and phones are a disaster when you need multiple application open at once - I frequently write and do illustrations for documents at the same time - which I can do with two windows open at once on a laptop - but that's only just barely possible on a tablet.

Watching videos is another thing where a tablet can win - portability and ease of holding it with very little user-input makes that a good fit.

Whether there is sufficient overlap between phone and laptop that you can ignore the tablet depends a lot on just how much you need to slim down the amount of 'stuff' you have - and just how picky you are about the user experience.

What I don't believe is that the tablet can eliminate either the phone or the laptop. You still need both of those devices when you have a tablet.

That said, there are efforts at "overlap" devices - the "phablet" - which is a very large phone that's almost a tablet - then the somewhat unsuccessful efforts by Microsoft to make tablets that have temporary attachments for a keyboard to make a tablet/laptop hybrid (I think that fails because they utterly screwed up how they did the software...but that's another story).

SteveBaker (talk) 02:45, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Maybe some phones are a disaster when you need multiple applications open at once, SteveBaker, but not modern Android smart phones, which dominate the market. I use an HTC One (M8) smartphone running Android 5.0.1, and I can have about six applications open at once, and one click displays them all. I use it for 95% of my Wikipedia editing. This technology is not at all uncommon. About two billion Android phones have been sold worldwide in 2014 and 2015. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:41, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure SteveBaker was refering to Android devices. Definitely I am, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say they are a disaster, but they are no where as effective for efficient multi tasking as laptops or desktops. In fact, since we're discussing phones, even with a 6.5" phablet (which is about the limit for when you can still call the device a phone), working simultaneously with 2 windows side by side doesn't necessarily work well, depending on how much content you need to fit in to each window including stuff such as text size or the size of any graphics, your eyesight, how close the phone is etc. If you have some sort of fixed layout content like a PDF, even 1 window doesn't always work well. (While you may blame the content, ultimately you have to work with what you have or is desired by however you are producing it for). After all, even a single 24" monitor isn't the most effective solution for certain workloads, hence why dual or even triple monitor configs are common for certain use-cases.

Incidentally it's a bit weird to mention 2 billion devices if you're using a HTC One M8, which is, in worldwide terms, an extremely high end device. I used to use a Huawei Ascend Y330 purchased in late 2014. In worldwide terms, this is probably upper low end phone. (In NZ, it's extremely low end.) But the phone was barely good enough for one application, let alone 2 simultaneosly. (Admitedly I probably should have switched off the predictive typing.) It was using Android 4.2, which was before Google started to try to really push to get things working well for low end devices in Android 5, but that isn't exactly uncommon. Of course the screen size and resolution also meant 2 side by side windows was never going to work well for most stuff, so it's a bit of a moot point.

Now people in the developing world or who otherwise have no choice or for some reason prefer to have such low end devices can accomplish a lot of stuff on them. Still we shouldn't pretend like all Android phones are magical devices and that if these people did have a decent laptop or desktop, they wouldn't perform significantly better once they've learnt to use these devices with certain workloads (well presuming they are ever likely to have a need for that workload).

Nil Einne (talk) 09:09, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I came to this thread to see if Nil Einne would show up to promote his fringe theory about how desktop computing is alive and well and how we shouldn't pay attention to the success of tablets and smartphones, and I see he hasn't disappointed. Viriditas (talk) 22:37, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

Right, but I never said any of that either now or before, so it sound like someone has a comprehension problem. I'm guessing you're referring to your weird question about wanting to use your phone on every display where the only person who seemed to really care about desktops was you, since every other participants who you kept disagreeing with barely mentioned desktops at all. (And definitely no one said, there, just as no one said here, that anyond should ignore the success of smartphones or tablets, or that laptops and desktops weren't having problems.)

Both me and SteveBaker seem to be in agreement on most of the keypoints here namely that tablet and smartphones are devices used by many, many people to achieve many different things (including I'm fairly sure both of us), but in certain areas they are still well behind what people can achieve with laptops and desktop. Perhaps you personally never do anything where you gain the advantage of having a proper keyboard and mouse and large display and an OS designed for usage with those, but that doesn't mean everyone in the world is like you. SteveBaker is I believe a computer programmer involved in 3D graphics, and also works with stuff like laser cutters and 3D printers, if you really think they can easily do all they are doing now without a display, keyboard or mouse and decent OS, well I don't know what to say. And if you weren't trying to say this, you've demonstrated why your comment was irrelevant, since this was basically all both of us were saying.

You can of course connect your tablet or smartphone to a keyboard, mouse and larger display; but this was barely discussed in this thread, and definitely wasn't mentioned by me because it was irrelevant to my point about which related solely to the utility of tablets and smartphones as is (since it's clear that is what Cullen was referring to). If you have a Microsoft x86 device, there's basically little difference between your device when it has a proper keyboard, mouse and display except that it's probably slower than a midrange laptop or even a lowend desktop, but performance isn't something anyone referred to until now. More relevant, as Microsoft have found out to their peril, this doesn't mean everyone wants to do that. Most people seem to either prefer to use their tablets and phones as tablets and phones, and if they do want the advantages provided by a laptop or desktop of a proper physical keyboard, a mouse and a larger display they instead choose laptop or desktop.

Funnily enough, I actually though Microsoft would have more success than they did with their model, so another nail in the coffin of something you imagined I said, but I never said anywhere in this thread or in previous threads because I never believed. (In fact in debates I've had before, I've generally been in favour of desktops and laptops significantly dying out simply because a lot of people aren't doing stuff where they gain a significant advantage, ir they simply don't care or don't know. Although I admit I'm starting to suspect perhaps I was somewhat wrong having seen the Microsoft disaster. Although I still believe that the hybrid or tablet + add keyboard & mouse where needed model is eventually going to take off or at least to a far greater extent than it has now and kill a big chunk of the laptop market.)

Android devices are more complicated. Sure they work with keyboards and mice and larger displays, but the user interface and apps still aren't really designed for that. With the possible merger of Chrome OS and Android, things may change, but that's been speculated for a long time, Besides, Chromebooks are very popular devices but they mostly target a specific area namely those typing documents or long wikipedia reference replies (not that I'm typing this on a Chromebook) or other stuff where you want something more than a phone or tablet, but don't need what you normally expect from a full multitasking oriented GUI desktop OS (be it Windows, OS X, Linux or whatever). In fact, I'm not sure the merger will really change that much, at the fairly basic level of Chromebooks, Android devices with keyboard and mice aren't much worse. While it's not that hard to allow people to install Linux apps on Chrome OS (or Android for that matter), it isn't done much and doesn't seem to be a general direction probably at least partially because the current intention is for these devices to fulfill the roles they fill rather than trying to achieve everything you can with a traditional OS.

Apple seems to be dipping their toes in to this with the iPad Pro, but it's not really clear how far they're planning to go and there's no real sign they have any intention of abandoning Mac OS.

Meanwhile the cloud computing model that you were ignoring or saying was irrelevant in your old question is continuing to advance and Microsoft is clearly concerned that Google Docs and it's model (including with Chromebooks) is a major problem for them. As was the case in 2011, that seems to be where everything is headed rather than your belief you would unnecessarily need your smartphone for everything when what people actually want to do is to be able to seamlessly move between devices rather than be tied down to one device and then need to connect it to all sort of stuff.

Funnily enough you seemed to acknowledge this in your comment above since you mentioned tablets and smartphones. Few people are buying touchscreen displays which they wireless connect to their smartphones to use as tablets. If they want a tablet, they buy a tablet. Phablets are a bridge which can fulfill both purposes for some, but basically irrelevant to your old point (or what you said above). Meanwhile, although it's a fair amount easier to wireless connect your phone to your smart TV or dongle connected to the TV, most people aren't using the TV as a display for the phone. At most, they may use the phone to start playing stuff on the TV or dongle and to control it and very occasionally to provide the content. The dongle or smart TV plays the content itself and except for those rare instances where the content is coming from the phone, is basically independent. One thing I don't think I mentioned in your old question, the model you were envisaging where everything is connected to and relies on the phone wouldn't work very well with multi-screeners (or multi screen viewers or second screen viewers or whatever you want to call them).

Actually the only area where things come close to what you envisioned are smartwatches and similar wearable devices which do generally require a connection to a smartphone to be useful. To some extent there are some vague similarities with the Steam Link model, but that's really only because Steam Machines can't be made small or cheap enough yet. Everywhere else the trend is towards multiple devices where needed, with seamless transition between devices where needed under a cloud model.

Nil Einne (talk) 14:29, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

To the OP. The first thing you should do is obtain a list of the text books you need. Then check on-line to see if they are available. Pay attention to what format the e-books are in. Currently I have an Acer Iconia One 7 (7 in screen) tablet, a Dell Inspiron 17 (17 in screen) laptop, a Samsung Galaxy S4 (5 in screen) smartphone and a Sony Reader PRS-T1 (6 in screen). It is possible to read books on the phone, I used to read books on the Palm m130, but not very often. I don't do very nuch book reading on the laptop as it's hard to get comfortable. So for reading it is either the Sony or the Acer. The Sony was given to me a few years ago and the only disadvantage is that you need external light, The Acer is great for reading and the only software I have purchased in the 8 months I have had it was the Mantano Reader. What you have to decide is do you want something that can do several things or something that is dedicated to one thing. And that is a decision we can't make. Take a look at Comparison of e-book readers, Comparison of e-book formats and Comparison of Android e-book reader software. No matter what you should get the calibre (software) to manage your books. Also look for the plug-ins that caan remove the DRM. I have used it to remove the DRM off of my books so that I can read a book on my laptop occasionally, when an image view may be required, tablet, phone and reader. I usually go with the EPUB as it is supported by most readers. Some years ago, before I was given the Sony, I looked into getting an ereader and rejected the Kindle because it didn't support the EPUB format. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 04:48, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

If you're using Calibre and deDRMing, you probably won't actually lose much with the majority of books by letting it reformat the book from ePUB to KF8 or MOBI. That said, the lack of ePUB support on Kindle devices is annoying. If you're looking at text books I would pay close attention to whether they're fixed layout. If they are, is there a version suitable for 7" tablets? I would expect they're commonly more optimised for larger 9-10" tablets and at 7" you may find the book is a little hard to read if full page or need to be displayed half page and so required more manipulation to read which you may find annoying. The lack of colour and the not so good graphics even with something like the Kobo Aura H2O is probably a big disadvantage for many text books with most ereader. (Those few colour ereaders out there tend to be expensive and still aren't that great with graphics from what I've read.) Of course, if your text books are nearly totally text this may not be an issue. Nil Einne (talk) 15:16, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

If You are used to access the internet like in the US, keep in mind Germany is 20 years behind in offering internet access on public places. If Your tablet computer has large screen and supports USB devices like keyboard and mouse, theres no relevant limitation to a laptop computer except gaming. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 12:46, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

Colorado 1867

Why to place the plot of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman specifically in 1867 Colorado Springs if the city wasn't even exist at that time? Gridge (talk) 17:15, 27 December 2015 (UTC).

Colorado Springs was incorporated in 1886, but that doesn't mean there was no settlement there before that. The Colorado Springs, Colorado "In 1859 after the first local settlement was established...". -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 17:26, 27 December 2015 (UTC)