Like many people [that was sarcasm], I have a graphing calculator. I'm 
pretty sure it's powered by a Z80, and it has an awful 160x120 LCD. You 
can "program" it, in that you can write a macro that opens menu pages in 
a specific order. (WTF is the point of that, BTW?)

I keep thinking to myself "man, if only this had an actual programming 
language on it. It's already a hand-held computer, if only I could write 
code on this thing!"

Several times a week, Ebuyer sends me emails telling me about all the 
wonderful stuff I could be giving them money for. I notice that some of 
the really small tablets have now reached a price point where normal 
humans can realistically afford to buy them. I'm vaguely tempted. But I 
wonder... what can you actually do with a tablet?

I'm genuinely curious. What does a tablet let you do? Can you use it as 
a hand-held Unix computer, run arbitrary code on it, use it to control 
other electronic devices, and so forth? Or is it hard-wired to only let 
you surf the Internet? For that matter, how does a device with no GSM 
even connect to the Internet in the first place?

I have a couple of ideas for projects where a hand-sized computer would 
be really useful, but I don't know if a tablet will actually do what I 
want. Maybe it would be simpler to buy a Raspbery Pi and a touch-screen 
hat. (OTOH, you can't really put that in your pocket, so...)

Post a reply to this message

On 10/18/2015 12:24 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> I'm genuinely curious. What does a tablet let you do? Can you use it as
> a hand-held Unix computer, run arbitrary code on it, use it to control
> other electronic devices, and so forth? Or is it hard-wired to only let
> you surf the Internet? For that matter, how does a device with no GSM
> even connect to the Internet in the first place?
>

Android devices can connect to the internet via Wifi or GSM if they have 
a SIM.

As for running your own code on it. Quite a few people write their own 
apps. (Sorry programme is too big a word to use.)
For instance the battery monitoring app I have will record, store and 
graph the battery voltage. It can access the tablets internal inputs, 
temperature, phone signal strength, accelerometer etc. It can output a 
text file for debugging.

Does this help?
TL;DR

http://lifehacker.com/i-want-to-write-android-apps-where-do-i-start-1643818268


> I have a couple of ideas for projects where a hand-sized computer would
> be really useful, but I don't know if a tablet will actually do what I
> want. Maybe it would be simpler to buy a Raspbery Pi and a touch-screen
> hat. (OTOH, you can't really put that in your pocket, so...)

Raspberry jam, indeed. ;-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 10/18/2015 3:58 PM, Stephen wrote:

Bugrit! My fingers are out on strike with the junior doctors. :-(

I mostly use my small tablet for reading ebooks on and looking up words 
I'm not sure of the meaning off.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and yet, here I
am.

I have a scheme interpreter and, just out of curiosity, PARI/Droid.  Sometimes I
use them to test out algorithms for project euler while on the bus.  As any
handy calculator.

I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone however, I
use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...

Post a reply to this message

On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
> coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and yet, here I
> am.

Does it vary depending on the size of the screen? I guess either way 
there's no tactile feedback. Ooo, does it have that gizmo that weights 
the next letter by probability according to what you already typed?

> I have a scheme interpreter and, just out of curiosity, PARI/Droid.  Sometimes I
> use them to test out algorithms for project euler while on the bus.  As any
> handy calculator.
>
> I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone however, I
> use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
> communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...

Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the 
idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

Post a reply to this message

On 18/10/2015 04:06 PM, Stephen wrote:
> I mostly use my small tablet for reading ebooks on and looking up words
> I'm not sure of the meaning off.

Seems legit.

Post a reply to this message

On 10/18/2015 7:13 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
>> coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and
>> yet, here I
>> am.
>
> Does it vary depending on the size of the screen? I guess either way
> there's no tactile feedback. Ooo, does it have that gizmo that weights
> the next letter by probability according to what you already typed?
>

You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function 
that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and pausing 
for a fraction on the letter you want to select.



>
> Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the
> idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

I turn that function off so I only connect to t'internet (Yorkshire web) 
by Wifi. Home or work. So it is free-ish :-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

yes, there is the autocomplete gizmo.  I actually mostly don't type individual
letters, I swipe over letters and form words or best guesses.  Except for sites
in english, because it's a dog changing languages for the mechanism... with
programming language constructs, it's not much help, though you can edit chunks
of text by pressing over a word until a selection cursor appears.

that said, you can of course simply connect a keyboard to the device, but that
won't help with mobility, huh?

finally, can't you just use wifi for internet?

Post a reply to this message

I use my Android tablet to read books, watch TV, check social media, read 
my e-mail (and reply to it), occasionally play games on, and to connect 
to my Linux boxen to run ssh commands.  I have OpenVPN running on it, so 
if I have wifi connectivity (mine doesn't have a SIM slot), I can do that 
from anywhere in the world.

With my phone, I can tether it to a phone network, so if I really need to 
do something remotely, I can as long as I have cell phone coverage.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:54:44 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function
> that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and pausing
> for a fraction on the letter you want to select.

Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.

But I do have a bluetooth keyboard (built into the case) for the times I 
need to write something more involved.  Swype, though, is pretty fast 
compared to normal typing.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On 10/18/2015 8:48 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:54:44 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function
>> that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and pausing
>> for a fraction on the letter you want to select.
>
> Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.
>
> But I do have a bluetooth keyboard (built into the case) for the times I
> need to write something more involved.  Swype, though, is pretty fast
> compared to normal typing.
>

I don't actually use it, Jim. I seldom use my mobile device for sending 
emails.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 10/18/2015 8:46 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>   watch TV

The last time I watched anything on my tablet was:
"You can go to Hell. I'm going to Texas."
But I've mentioned that before.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

> I have a couple of ideas for projects where a hand-sized computer would
> be really useful, but I don't know if a tablet will actually do what I
> want. Maybe it would be simpler to buy a Raspbery Pi and a touch-screen
> hat. (OTOH, you can't really put that in your pocket, so...)

The best (IMO) would be to buy a cheap smartphone (or tablet) running 
Android. You can then download the free developer tools for your PC 
(google "Android SDK") and so long as you can code in Java you'll be 
away. If you have the phone/tablet connected to your PC (via USB cable) 
in the developer tools you can just click "Run on device" and it will 
compile, send to the device, and start it running on the device immediately.

What exactly is it you want to do? Smartphones/tablets are not good if 
you want the user to enter a lot of text, if you can somehow change the 
inputs to something more suited to a fat thumb on a small touchscreen 
then it will work better.

Post a reply to this message

> Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.

I also use swype, and (on mine at least) it even predicts your next word 
(I think you get 3 options) so a lot of time you don't even need to 
swype the word, just tap the suggestion.

If you're bored you can try and write entire paragraphs just by clicking 
one of the suggested next words :-)

Post a reply to this message

Am 18.10.2015 um 20:13 schrieb Orchid Win7 v1:

> Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the
> idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

The difference between tablets and smartphones is mostly quantitative
these days (display size, memory size, processor power, etc.)

Post a reply to this message

On Mon, 19 Oct 2015 08:35:32 +0100, scott wrote:

>> Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.
> 
> I also use swype, and (on mine at least) it even predicts your next word
> (I think you get 3 options) so a lot of time you don't even need to
> swype the word, just tap the suggestion.

Yep.

> If you're bored you can try and write entire paragraphs just by clicking
> one of the suggested next words :-)

That's always fun to do.  The end result sounds a little bit like a game 
of Cheddar Gorge.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:08:23 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/18/2015 8:48 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:54:44 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>>
>>> You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function
>>> that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and
>>> pausing for a fraction on the letter you want to select.
>>
>> Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.
>>
>> But I do have a bluetooth keyboard (built into the case) for the times
>> I need to write something more involved.  Swype, though, is pretty fast
>> compared to normal typing.
>>
>>
> I don't actually use it, Jim. I seldom use my mobile device for sending
> emails.

I don't tend to use my phone for that, but my tablet gets used relatively 
frequently.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:11:16 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/18/2015 8:46 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>   watch TV
> 
> The last time I watched anything on my tablet was:
> "You can go to Hell. I'm going to Texas."

LOL

> But I've mentioned that before.

My cable provider provides an Android app that lets me watch stuff I've 
recorded on my DVR as well as their On Demand selections.

That's kinda handy.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

> Like many people [that was sarcasm], I have a graphing calculator. I'm
> pretty sure it's powered by a Z80, and it has an awful 160x120 LCD. You
> can "program" it, in that you can write a macro that opens menu pages in
> a specific order. (WTF is the point of that, BTW?)
>
> I keep thinking to myself "man, if only this had an actual programming
> language on it. It's already a hand-held computer, if only I could write
> code on this thing!"

I still have a TI-86 somewhere gathering dust. That had a BASIC 
interpreter built-in. Somehow IIRC we also had a version of Mario 
running on it, I assume you could also run assembler on it somehow.

In fact I wrote a simple "shoot the target" type game in BASIC for a 
piece of GCSE Maths coursework. It showed you a target (a pixel) on the 
right edge of the screen, and you had to enter an angle and speed to 
fire an arrow (another pixel) to hit it. I learnt two important lessons 
doing that. Firstly to test your program with sufficiently varied input 
before releasing it, and secondly that 45 radians roughly equals 45 
degrees (mod 360).

Post a reply to this message

On 19/10/2015 08:31 AM, scott wrote:
> The best (IMO) would be to buy a cheap smartphone (or tablet) running
> Android. You can then download the free developer tools for your PC
> (google "Android SDK") and so long as you can code in Java you'll be
> away. If you have the phone/tablet connected to your PC (via USB cable)
> in the developer tools you can just click "Run on device" and it will
> compile, send to the device, and start it running on the device
> immediately.

But you can't run the SDK *on* the device itself?

So I'm not going to be sitting in the corner of Blenheim Palace writing 
a quick Java class or two. (Or rather, I can *write* then, just not 
*compile* and *execute* them...)

> What exactly is it you want to do? Smartphones/tablets are not good if
> you want the user to enter a lot of text, if you can somehow change the
> inputs to something more suited to a fat thumb on a small touchscreen
> then it will work better.

My sister got be a rather expensive digital recording system for my 
birthday. It's really cool, but the one thing it can't do is the one 
thing I was expecting it to do: overdub. It can be configured as a USB 
audio interface though, so from a PC it's trivial enough to open up 
Audacity or whatever and overdub to your heart's content.

Trouble is, the set of places where I'm allowed to make noise and the 
set of places where my PC is have an empty intersection. I can use my 
laptop, but it's big and heavy and requires mains power to operate.

A tablet is obviously much smaller. I have no idea whether any of them 
can act as a USB *host*, nor whether Andriod has drivers for something 
as exotic as a USB audio interface. I doubt you can run Audacity, but it 
can't be *that* hard to hack together a simple Java console program that 
starts or stops recording on a certain key-press...

Post a reply to this message

> Trouble is, the set of places where I'm allowed to make noise and the
> set of places where my PC is have an empty intersection. I can use my
> laptop, but it's big and heavy and requires mains power to operate.

I thought a laptop had a battery? Sounds to me like a small laptop would 
be better than a tablet. You get a real keyboard, ability to install 
lots of developer tools, and easily interface to various bits of 
hardware via well-tested drivers and software.

> A tablet is obviously much smaller. I have no idea whether any of them
> can act as a USB *host*, nor whether Andriod has drivers for something
> as exotic as a USB audio interface. I doubt you can run Audacity, but it
> can't be *that* hard to hack together a simple Java console program that
> starts or stops recording on a certain key-press...

This was the first result from google:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en_GB

I suggest you get hold of a phone and try it out with your hardware, in 
the page above there is also a trial version to test if your hardware 
works or not with it.

If that doesn't work I suspect you'll have a far more painless journey 
with a laptop.

Post a reply to this message

On 10/19/2015 4:03 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> My cable provider provides an Android app that lets me watch stuff I've
> recorded on my DVR as well as their On Demand selections.
>
> That's kinda handy.

My ISP has a function that plays the BBC iplayer on the TV. It has never 
worked.

That is kinda un-handy.

Well it would be if I watched TV. ;-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 20/10/2015 08:18 AM, scott wrote:
>> Trouble is, the set of places where I'm allowed to make noise and the
>> set of places where my PC is have an empty intersection. I can use my
>> laptop, but it's big and heavy and requires mains power to operate.
>
> I thought a laptop had a battery?

Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer 
functions.

(Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime 
out of it...)

> Sounds to me like a small laptop would
> be better than a tablet.

Yeah, that's the other possibility of course...

> This was the first result from google:
>
>
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en_GB

7.9MB?! o_O

Not that I suppose that's a problem, I'm just surprised it's that big... 
Man, I feel old now!

> I suggest you get hold of a phone and try it out with your hardware, in
> the page above there is also a trial version to test if your hardware
> works or not with it.
>
> If that doesn't work I suspect you'll have a far more painless journey
> with a laptop.

Yeah, you could be right.

I'm pretty sure the Raspberry Pi *hardware* can do this, but again I'm 
unsure about software. (Although since it's basically running Debian, it 
seems reasonable that it might work.)

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:29:56 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/19/2015 4:03 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> My cable provider provides an Android app that lets me watch stuff I've
>> recorded on my DVR as well as their On Demand selections.
>>
>> That's kinda handy.
> 
> My ISP has a function that plays the BBC iplayer on the TV. It has never
> worked.
> 
> That is kinda un-handy.
> 
> Well it would be if I watched TV. ;-)

It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV. :)

But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not that 
I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes with it.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:10:30 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.
> 
> (Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime
> out of it...)

4 year old laptop here, still gets several hours out of the battery.  
Dell Inspiron.  Also, Macbook Pro, still get 8+ hours out of its battery.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

On 10/20/2015 6:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV.:)
>

I wouldn't know. :-(
I don't think I've watched TV for a couple of years except for some 
comedy programmes on Freeview*.

I lost the habit years ago before there was satellite TV. When I was on 
the rigs. Radio 4 was all we could get and that was on Long Wave.


> But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not that
> I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes with it.

I use get_iplayer as a PVR.

*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview_%28UK%29

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 10/20/2015 6:10 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.
>
> (Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime
> out of it...)

Run it flat, charge it up. Repeat.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Le 2015-10-18 14:13, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
> On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
>> I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone
>> however, I
>> use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
>> communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...
>
> Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the
> idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

You have wi-fi at home, yes?

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.

You could always get a new battery. If it's a fairly common model 
there's normally non-OEM ones available quite cheaply.

> I'm pretty sure the Raspberry Pi *hardware* can do this, but again I'm
> unsure about software. (Although since it's basically running Debian, it
> seems reasonable that it might work.)

Well if it's a USB interface then the Pi definitely has a working USB 
port :-)

Raspbian can definitely talk to a USB DAC for *playing* audio. But lsat 
time I checked the drivers were a bit buggy and you got random 
split-seconds of white noise every 30 seconds or so, and switching to 
different sample rates sometimes completely crashed the sound system and 
hung whatever app you were running. I ended up going back to the 
analogue audio output. But it might be fixed by now, or just my DAC was 
strage, IDK.

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 19:25:39 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/20/2015 6:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV.:)
>>
>>
> I wouldn't know. :-(
> I don't think I've watched TV for a couple of years except for some
> comedy programmes on Freeview*.
> 
> I lost the habit years ago before there was satellite TV. When I was on
> the rigs. Radio 4 was all we could get and that was on Long Wave.

We just recently got a cable subscription again (when I got laid off in 
2011, it was the first thing to go to save money), so we've got a handful 
of shows we're watching.  But unlike before, when it was costing us 
upwards of $130/month for a basic digital package with HD, we're now 
paying only about $30 more than we were for our Internet connection, and 
the 'net connection is a business expense (so I get reimbursed for it).

>> But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not
>> that I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes
>> with it.
> 
> I use get_iplayer as a PVR.

Yeah, I've been using that for years.  But there have been instances 
where it was just more convenient to stream directly.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message

> I wouldn't know. :-(
> I don't think I've watched TV for a couple of years except for some
> comedy programmes on Freeview*.

TV for our house is only something to turn on during dinner, to avoid 
having to talk to each other too much :-) For the last couple of years 
though it's been mostly something provided by iPlayer (food is never 
ontime!), usually some type of general knowledge quiz.

> I lost the habit years ago before there was satellite TV. When I was on
> the rigs. Radio 4 was all we could get and that was on Long Wave.

I lost the habit at University with no TV for 4 years.

Post a reply to this message

If I download the Andriod SDK, it comes with a device emulator, right?

Question: Can I use that to just, you know, *run Andriod*? Or will it 
*only* let you run apps you just developed?

Obviously if you're emulating a phone, you can't actually make calls 
with it. But can it simulate everything else? If so, this seems like the 
easiest and cheapest way to find out what it's like to use...

Post a reply to this message

On 19/10/2015 04:28 PM, scott wrote:
> I still have a TI-86 somewhere gathering dust. That had a BASIC
> interpreter built-in. Somehow IIRC we also had a version of Mario
> running on it, I assume you could also run assembler on it somehow.

Yeah, I imagine on the ones that really *are* programmable, you can do 
that. Mine, sadly, isn't. (I think it's Casio, off the top of my head. 
Hmm, I wonder where the hell it is...)

> In fact I wrote a simple "shoot the target" type game in BASIC for a
> piece of GCSE Maths coursework. It showed you a target (a pixel) on the
> right edge of the screen, and you had to enter an angle and speed to
> fire an arrow (another pixel) to hit it.

Sounds more advanced than anything I ever wrote!

> I learnt two important lessons
> doing that. Firstly to test your program with sufficiently varied input
> before releasing it,

Hahahaha! ;-)

> and secondly that 45 radians roughly equals 45 degrees (mod 360).

Funny. WA claims it's actually equal to 58°.

But don't worry. exp(pi) - pi = 20.

Post a reply to this message

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Hash: SHA256

Le 25/10/2015 15:31, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
> If I download the Andriod SDK, it comes with a device emulator,
> right?
> 
> Question: Can I use that to just, you know, *run Andriod*? Or will
> it *only* let you run apps you just developed?
> 
> Obviously if you're emulating a phone, you can't actually make
> calls with it. But can it simulate everything else? If so, this
> seems like the easiest and cheapest way to find out what it's like
> to use...

To have tested, the android emulator on i686_64 is very slow.
(phone is usually ARM, not i386)
It is also a memory eater. (you need far more on the PC than on the
real device), so beware of more slowing due to swapping.

I'm not sure you can connect to the playstore either to try
applications with the emulation.

On the bright side, you can download your own application without
paying google, and you can try various screen size, orientation and
physical buttons.

Now, emulating the touch screen with a mouse is not always the right
thing. (and do not consider the multi-touch gestures either)

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Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 25 Oct 2015 14:31:35 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> If I download the Andriod SDK, it comes with a device emulator, right?
> 
> Question: Can I use that to just, you know, *run Andriod*? Or will it
> *only* let you run apps you just developed?

You can run Android, with limitations, but yes, it is slow.

Have a look at the free version of Genymotion.

Jim




-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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> If I download the Andriod SDK, it comes with a device emulator, right?
>
> Question: Can I use that to just, you know, *run Andriod*? Or will it
> *only* let you run apps you just developed?
>
> Obviously if you're emulating a phone, you can't actually make calls
> with it. But can it simulate everything else? If so, this seems like the
> easiest and cheapest way to find out what it's like to use...

No. It's slow, you can't use your fingers on the screen, and the 
resolution may well be larger than your monitor (vertically at least). 
But yes, you can navigate through the Android OS once you exit your app 
(IIRC it starts your app automatically with the emulator).

Why don't you just go to a shop that has these things on display (eg a 
big Tescos) and have a play?

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On 29/10/2015 08:18 AM, scott wrote:
> Why don't you just go to a shop that has these things on display (eg a
> big Tescos) and have a play?

To be fair, that's probably a better idea...

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