Googles Nexus 7 tablet discussion, reviews
- Thread starter Sunray
- Start date
elbows
Well-Known Member
I'll try to cover a bit more of the pre-iphone evolution of flash-like alternatives.
Quite a long time ago now there became an increased desire for having stuff in a browser that is more like an app than a collection of pages. This wasnt new, and had been done in all sorts of ways with java and (usually really badly) flash before. But with a reasonable choice of browsers, faster computers & graphics, people started to do it more and more with javascript. Things like AJAX became popular methods for squirting data from server to client without refreshing the whole page, incentives were there to improve javascript and all sorts of people knocked up interesting toolkits etc. For example some people started coming up with a variety of animated page elements that served the user experience on websites well, and some of the ways they were having to use javascript etc to glue this functionality together was clunky. People started wanking about Web 2.0 because it felt like some kind of milestone had been reached. As several companies were busy steadily improving their browsers anyway, they looked at this stuff and started introducing additional stuff to their browsers, for example by adding their own stuff to CSS to enable animation to be handled by the browser rather than having to do it in javascript. And they made their javascript engines faster.
Apple were certainly into this, and one reason became clear later when the iPhone appeared. As there was originally no app store or other method for 3rd parties to write apps for the iphone, all of the initial focus was on webapps, much to the understandable disgust of those who wanted to write apps that were not well suited to javascript webapps. Anyway, we know the picture soon changed but at that early stage Apple were easily able to incorporate work already done with webkit to include a variety of CSS elements that enabled hardware-accelerated animation, thus ensuring the webapps had approximately the same smooth UI feel as the rest of the device.
So thats one element, which is part of what some people mean when they say HTML5, although much of this is really more like CSS3 & javascript. If memory serves me correctly when HTML5 first started to emerge it was quite likely that many were more interested in what it offered in terms of semantic tags and being able to get away from various flaws or limitations of HTML4 & XHTML, and the fact things in the past had ended up being divided into 2 with XHTML as well as HTML.
edit - this post was stupidly long, even by my standards, so I have chopped out the paragraphs of waffle about video, I'll save that for another time.
Quite a long time ago now there became an increased desire for having stuff in a browser that is more like an app than a collection of pages. This wasnt new, and had been done in all sorts of ways with java and (usually really badly) flash before. But with a reasonable choice of browsers, faster computers & graphics, people started to do it more and more with javascript. Things like AJAX became popular methods for squirting data from server to client without refreshing the whole page, incentives were there to improve javascript and all sorts of people knocked up interesting toolkits etc. For example some people started coming up with a variety of animated page elements that served the user experience on websites well, and some of the ways they were having to use javascript etc to glue this functionality together was clunky. People started wanking about Web 2.0 because it felt like some kind of milestone had been reached. As several companies were busy steadily improving their browsers anyway, they looked at this stuff and started introducing additional stuff to their browsers, for example by adding their own stuff to CSS to enable animation to be handled by the browser rather than having to do it in javascript. And they made their javascript engines faster.
Apple were certainly into this, and one reason became clear later when the iPhone appeared. As there was originally no app store or other method for 3rd parties to write apps for the iphone, all of the initial focus was on webapps, much to the understandable disgust of those who wanted to write apps that were not well suited to javascript webapps. Anyway, we know the picture soon changed but at that early stage Apple were easily able to incorporate work already done with webkit to include a variety of CSS elements that enabled hardware-accelerated animation, thus ensuring the webapps had approximately the same smooth UI feel as the rest of the device.
So thats one element, which is part of what some people mean when they say HTML5, although much of this is really more like CSS3 & javascript. If memory serves me correctly when HTML5 first started to emerge it was quite likely that many were more interested in what it offered in terms of semantic tags and being able to get away from various flaws or limitations of HTML4 & XHTML, and the fact things in the past had ended up being divided into 2 with XHTML as well as HTML.
edit - this post was stupidly long, even by my standards, so I have chopped out the paragraphs of waffle about video, I'll save that for another time.
Nahh, ebuyer fucked up and drove a coach and horses through the embargo date. For once we got something techie in the Uk before the yanks.
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Why is this worth having but your HTC flyer wasn't?
grit
an ugly force for good
I agree with your summary of the historical progression, but not with the CSS3 & javascript bit. I think its generally a reference to the audio api and canvas/webgl tbh.
editor
hiraethified
Off the top of my head: Much lighter. Much thinner. Much better battery life. Much better screen. Android 4.1. Better Google integration.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
I so SO want one... will 8GB be enough? I've already used 10GB on my Galaxy Nexus. Though most of that is photos and videos. 8Gb will probably be ok.
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
But that's not why you said you wanted it, how does the Nexus do better watching or browsing than the flyer?
mwgdrwg
Be a Pisces. Jam.
I would like one but for the same price I could get a Blackberry Playbook which I can easily tether to my phone to get 3G access anywhere, and it has a better UI (shame about the lack of apps 
). But I'm having a hard time justifying getting a tablet of any kind, as I already have a nice phone, a 3DS, and an eReader to keep me occupied!
). But I'm having a hard time justifying getting a tablet of any kind, as I already have a nice phone, a 3DS, and an eReader to keep me occupied!
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
Shipping info here http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2667319&topic=2411735&ctx=topic
I pre-ordered mine on 1st July, so looks like I won't get it till next week
I pre-ordered mine on 1st July, so looks like I won't get it till next week
editor
hiraethified
Ah, I see it's turning into some kind of quiz where you're trying to catch me out. Let's try again: given the choice. I'd rather use a smaller, lighter, faster, more powerful tablet with a vastly improved battery life running a vastly superior OS.
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
Callum91
Let them eat cock
Yes and yes
editor
hiraethified
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Don't be a dick, if anyone really wanted to play that game there's tons of posts that could be pointed too. Just seemed odd that your alleged distinctions aren't as big deal as you first implied.
editor
hiraethified
I've no idea what you're on about or why you're weirdly failing to comprehend the clear and obvious advantages of the Nexus 7 over the HTC Flyer. And cut out the 'dick' stuff please.
editor
hiraethified
I'm soooo tempted.Just ordered mine
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
editor
hiraethified
I really, really have no idea what you're on about here, but I will ask you - once again - to stop the personal insults, please.Ok dickhead. Play the innocent, again.
Callum91
Let them eat cock
Impressed so far. Feels well made, the textured back feels nice in the hand, leathery, not too heavy. The display is a nice resolution and size, but looks a tad washed out (compared to my One X). The whole ''project butter'' thing certainly lives up to the hype, gone is Android lag.
editor
hiraethified
Have you tried watching videos/iPlayer on it yet?
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