The Glade 4.0

But it's still a Kindle, not an Android Nexus...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Good thing Android is open source and you can root anything, huh?

If that's the route you want to go, I suppose. I've fiddled around with rooting and custom loads and the like, and found it was way more effort than I want to put into a mobile device.

Add onto that what will probably be a 3-4 month wait for launch, the fact it's still rumor, a larger device size, and unknown pricing, and I think I'm okay jumping at the Nexus 7 redux.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That's odd because I found rooting my Kindle Fire one of the easier things I've done as far as modding goes. Root process is a one time, 2 minute process. Then you drag over a .zip file, reboot and hit "install"... done.

It's missing one very important feature.

Stock android (4.2 or 4.3 - either will do)

Well, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to fix a firmware deficiency than it is to upgrade tablet hardware.

Is the N7 hardware deficient?

Compared to the Kindle, yes.

I've seen a number of otherwise highly positive reviews of the device state that the processor is disappointedly last-gen and OK for now but will date itself even more quickly than the first iteration. I'm not really up on the number-crunching for Android tablet specs, but it's a common sentiment.

My end-user experience is still quite satisfactory on the first gen. It's really the screen that's got me drooling, not the inability to crunch content or drive apps.

Of course, I have exactly two games on here, because most mobile games simply suck as games. So that might be coloring my evaluation, I suppose.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Also, keep me posted on this, please. I don't spend much attention to the mobile community, so it's likely to breeze by me for a few days/weeks, otherwise.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That is my thought too Kaffis. My first gen N7 is more than adequate. My primary desire in the new one is to have LTE, followed closely by the new screen.

I don't play mobile games much, and have never noticed processing power to be a problem.

I seem to recall you having difficulty getting decent data speeds last time this came up.

Are you getting better coverage now?

I'll admit, narrowing the side bezels will make it slide into my pocket a bit more comfortably, too.

I figure I'll get the LTE version because, the month or so a year I'd get mileage out of it, I can do the contract-less thing and then cancel when I'm done traveling. I'd love to have it year-round, but my stomping grounds remain mildly frustratingly just outside of Dayton's good coverage area.

Alternately, since Asus and Google have apparently succeeded in a minor miracle, this particular device shouldn't lock me into any particular carrier, so if I decide having wireless year-round would be awesome (say, with a new job that shifted my budget some), I can shop around for good coverage.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

A 7" tablet in your pocket?

The only use for that shirt is to get an app that looks like Iron Man's reactor.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That just makes me want to punch that **** right in the chest.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Entirely this. I've rooted every Android device I've ever owned and loaded custom ROM's. The end result was always worth it, even for the ones that had some initial hurdles.

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The Dude abides.

Really? I had a hell of a time after rooting my old Samsung Galaxy Ace phone. The custom ROMs never worked as well as the original ROM.

It leaves me reluctant to do anything with my new Nexus 4, especially as it already has Jelly Bean 4.3 on it.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

What's the best EPUB reader on Android? None of the reputable apps support the format (Kindle, Google Books, Nook, Kobo, etc.).

I've not used this, but it claims epub compatibility and has good reviews.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... roid&hl=en

I could've sworn Nook supported epub.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

If it does, Android doesn't recognize that it does when I task it with opening an EPUB file. Even with Nook and Kobo (which I think also handles EPUBs) installed, it sez I need to download a program that can support that file type and doesn't give me an "open with" option.

I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure i've used this software to create mobi format files for Kindle before - http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp

I just double-checked, and yes, Nook's native format is epub.

I think the problem you may be having is that Nook doesn't have a file browser -- it only opens stuff in its own content directory or in the "My Documents" folder in the Nook directory. If you've got a file manager, you can navigate to it and put your epub in there. Then, Nook will pick it up no problem.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades