tsekhar
February-22-2011, 06:51 PM
After many moons, my Adam finally arrived this evening courtesy of UPS who dropped it off in my garage without so much as asking for a signature! But, I digress. I have spent the better part of 3 hours working with it. First off, I figured out that the version was one where there was an OTA update available. Of course, if you had not been following the NI blog you would have no idea about how to go about updating the Adam. What about folks who do not read the blog? Or are the current owners all tuned to the blog? Anyway, in order to update the Adam one has to configure the wifi. It took me multiple attempts and then a trip to this site to figure out how to bring up the keyboard! Intuitive, it is not! Once the wifi was configured, the OTA went without a hitch.
As far as the tablet is concerned...the build quality appears pretty solid. It feels good in the hand and the rounded top gives it a good grip. The screen is very reflective. i have the Pixel Qi version and the first thing I had to do was to turn off the automatic sensing feature and push it to max brightness. It is not as bright as the iPad, but not too bad. One of the tradeoffs of the Pixel Qi screen I guess. When you turn off the LCD, then the screen becomes like e Ink except that the contrast is not as good. Will test it outdoors tomorrow.
The software is not very intuitive. I have been using the iPad for the past year and the Droid X since it came out and I have to say that the process of syncing the two with my google account was about as seamless as you can get, especially with the Droid. The calender app will not sync or pull up the multiple calenders that are associated with my google account, but will only get the main one. Any help in trying to figure that one out would be greatly appreciated. The contact sync and the mail sync was simple and the only issue was that when it asks for the server you have to put in m.google.com rather than the default gmail.com. The browser is just about as rudimentary as one can get. The sensitivity to touch is still a bit laggy.
I am trying to get various apps loaded but am in the dark about the process. I do not want to root the device as yet. Can anyone suggest the methods of getting access to the App store?
So far, my impressions are:
1. Given that it is based on the Android system, there has to be a simple and painless way to sync with Google. Just ask for a google account and password if one has that, then voila! That would be a great improvement.
2. The keyboard needs to pop up when you get to a entry field. It should not require multiple taps or visits to another website using my iPad to figure it out!
3. A better browser would be great.
4. My Adam does not seem to have flash enabled. Any ideas about how to do that? What is missing? One of the main reasons I got the Adam was for flash!
5. The screen protector went on very well and makes a big difference. A little patience was needed.
Have not tested the camera or most of the other features. Will need to get a microSD card as the next step.
To everyone out there...please feel free to fill in the blanks and help me improve the Adam. I realize that as an early adopter, we are essentially the beta testers. I don't have a problem with that. I just wish that we had been told that. The hardware feels great, but the software and the UI needs work.
As far as the tablet is concerned...the build quality appears pretty solid. It feels good in the hand and the rounded top gives it a good grip. The screen is very reflective. i have the Pixel Qi version and the first thing I had to do was to turn off the automatic sensing feature and push it to max brightness. It is not as bright as the iPad, but not too bad. One of the tradeoffs of the Pixel Qi screen I guess. When you turn off the LCD, then the screen becomes like e Ink except that the contrast is not as good. Will test it outdoors tomorrow.
The software is not very intuitive. I have been using the iPad for the past year and the Droid X since it came out and I have to say that the process of syncing the two with my google account was about as seamless as you can get, especially with the Droid. The calender app will not sync or pull up the multiple calenders that are associated with my google account, but will only get the main one. Any help in trying to figure that one out would be greatly appreciated. The contact sync and the mail sync was simple and the only issue was that when it asks for the server you have to put in m.google.com rather than the default gmail.com. The browser is just about as rudimentary as one can get. The sensitivity to touch is still a bit laggy.
I am trying to get various apps loaded but am in the dark about the process. I do not want to root the device as yet. Can anyone suggest the methods of getting access to the App store?
So far, my impressions are:
1. Given that it is based on the Android system, there has to be a simple and painless way to sync with Google. Just ask for a google account and password if one has that, then voila! That would be a great improvement.
2. The keyboard needs to pop up when you get to a entry field. It should not require multiple taps or visits to another website using my iPad to figure it out!
3. A better browser would be great.
4. My Adam does not seem to have flash enabled. Any ideas about how to do that? What is missing? One of the main reasons I got the Adam was for flash!
5. The screen protector went on very well and makes a big difference. A little patience was needed.
Have not tested the camera or most of the other features. Will need to get a microSD card as the next step.
To everyone out there...please feel free to fill in the blanks and help me improve the Adam. I realize that as an early adopter, we are essentially the beta testers. I don't have a problem with that. I just wish that we had been told that. The hardware feels great, but the software and the UI needs work.