Silly is a euphemism. I tried the $1,000 Google Pixelbook in tablet mode while in a prone position. It's a big, heavy, clumsy "tablet". Who the heck thinks this is a good idea? When you bend the screen all the way back against the top of the laptop, it doesn't suddenly start running Android. It just eliminates the keyboard, which is then exposed on the bottom of the newly formed "tablet". What are you supposed to do when you want to put it down? Unflip it so that the keyboard is not damaged?
The Pixelbook has one of those elongated screens, more vertical than that which we've been using for years. Another, who the heck thinks this is a good idea? Of all things, the Google Chrome browser seemed to be somewhat dysfunctional when resizing: the vertical scroll bar disappeared and some of the top of the screen, too. Gmail just didn't seem to fit on that Pixelbook screen, something that would seem pretty basic. How come all of those reviews that I had checked never addressed that? Maybe because they were too immersed in the screen brightness and keyboard, both of which were nice but not compelling.
I was more comfortable with the Toshiba 13 inch Chromebook that I've been using for a few years. My first Chromebook was an 11 inch Samsung. Both seemed natural and quick enough. The Pixelbook keyboard was backlit but that only presents in the dark. It also felt cramped, I guess because the Pixelbook is about an inch narrower, something to consider when evaluating any elongated screen. I like my Toshiba keyboard better.
I had also ordered the special Google pen for the Pixelbook. I never took it out of the box. I was already disappointed. I tried a couple of built in apps in "tablet" mode. No big deal. I like the idea of a touch screen for my Chromebook but not because I'm desperate to use Android apps.
Finally, much has been made of Google Assistant being built in. Functionally, it's the same as what I've had on my Android phones for years, isn't it? Or on Google Home? And on my Android tablet? My most recent tablet, the Nexus 9, died, which is the main reason I searched for an overall upgrade to another type of touch screen. A 2-in-1 laptop is not the answer and the Google Pixelbook is way too expensive to pretend otherwise. So, after two days I decided to return before it became unreturnable.
To Google's credit I have already received a message stating that I would be reimbursed in full, which is way better than some other companies that charge a 15% restocking fee. I used the Google supplied shipping label and lugged it to the Post Office today.
Google has stopped selling tablets. If you search the Google store for a tablet you are redirected to the Pixelbook. The tech intelligentsia have already concluded that the tablet is dead, that why would anyone want a tablet when he/she can have a 2-in-1 laptop. I think that the death of the tablet is greatly exaggerated.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Altice has problems but should be tried.
This post has gotten several comments, pretty much all negative:
Altice One box: more problems. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018
Most of the problems that I have had have gone away. The remote no longer loses pairing with the Altice One box. DVD playback only occasionally gets interrupted and even then usually resumes after I click OK.
The two boxes still turn themselves off after not receiving something from the remote for a while but I now know to look at the power button and if it's red I push it before turning on the TV and that avoids the formerly mysterious blank screen. Still mysterious is why Altice continues to annoy its customers with this policy but apparently it frees up bandwidth, or so I suppose.
Still annoying and probably easily fixed:
- three buttons must be pushed to get the guide on screen
- on screen information about a program is very limited; a movie does not even show the year on the first screen
- if there are multiple pages of info, the way to get to page two is to click the up arrow to get the cursor positioned to then click the right arrow to get to page two
- comparable nonsense for changing the end time when setting up a recording.
This stuff looks like it was designed by people who had heard about TV but had never actually watched TV. So, why try or stick with Altice?
Altice is making a fundamental attempt to do it differently and it's not missing by all that much. It's the first to actually pair a remote to a box. Previously, if you had two TV sets in the same room, changing the channel on one changed it on all. Now that problem has gone away.
The modem and router functions are combined into one small Altice One tuner box. That's been dismissed in some descriptions as something for non-techies. Hey, why should a techie not like it? Why add complexity and confusion? It forces you to have Internet connections near your TV, which encourages and simplifies streaming.
My biggest complaint, even more than the inconvenience of getting to the guide, is the lack of any intelligent fast forward (FF). In fact, the Altice FF is worse than that of regular Cablevision Optimum. Verizon FIOS has FF in 30 and 10 second chunks, plus multi-speed FF. The 30 and 10 seconds of FF makes looking at recorded sports, especially baseball, fairly palatable. You can FF between pitches, which removes much of the dead time.
Give Altice a try. What the heck?
Altice One box: more problems. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018
Most of the problems that I have had have gone away. The remote no longer loses pairing with the Altice One box. DVD playback only occasionally gets interrupted and even then usually resumes after I click OK.
The two boxes still turn themselves off after not receiving something from the remote for a while but I now know to look at the power button and if it's red I push it before turning on the TV and that avoids the formerly mysterious blank screen. Still mysterious is why Altice continues to annoy its customers with this policy but apparently it frees up bandwidth, or so I suppose.
Still annoying and probably easily fixed:
- three buttons must be pushed to get the guide on screen
- on screen information about a program is very limited; a movie does not even show the year on the first screen
- if there are multiple pages of info, the way to get to page two is to click the up arrow to get the cursor positioned to then click the right arrow to get to page two
- comparable nonsense for changing the end time when setting up a recording.
This stuff looks like it was designed by people who had heard about TV but had never actually watched TV. So, why try or stick with Altice?
Altice is making a fundamental attempt to do it differently and it's not missing by all that much. It's the first to actually pair a remote to a box. Previously, if you had two TV sets in the same room, changing the channel on one changed it on all. Now that problem has gone away.
The modem and router functions are combined into one small Altice One tuner box. That's been dismissed in some descriptions as something for non-techies. Hey, why should a techie not like it? Why add complexity and confusion? It forces you to have Internet connections near your TV, which encourages and simplifies streaming.
My biggest complaint, even more than the inconvenience of getting to the guide, is the lack of any intelligent fast forward (FF). In fact, the Altice FF is worse than that of regular Cablevision Optimum. Verizon FIOS has FF in 30 and 10 second chunks, plus multi-speed FF. The 30 and 10 seconds of FF makes looking at recorded sports, especially baseball, fairly palatable. You can FF between pitches, which removes much of the dead time.
Give Altice a try. What the heck?
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