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HOT NEWS! Mozilla Aurora Browser Supports GDocs on Honeycomb! |
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Thursday, 23 June 2011 |
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 We recently reported that editing Google Docs on a Honeycomb tablet was almost impossible. The few programs that let you edit a Google Doc document on a Honeycomb tablet didn't synchronize the changes back without a LOT of hurdle-jumping. Top that off with the fact that the built-in Webkit-based browser doesn't let you edit Google Docs natively in the browser, and you have a real roadblock to adoption of the Honeycomb platform. Google is, after all, the creator and steward of the Android operating system. It's just not a great sign that Google itself can't figure out how to get the exploding popularity of its Google Docs platform ported over to all these spiffy new tablets.
Well last night I experienced a HUGE breakthrough on this front. The Mozilla foundation's Aurora web browser finally supports FULL Google Docs editing right inside the browser. Now don't get too excited, because there are some small speed bumps. Typing speed is just a touch dodgy at times, and I noticed that certain numbered lists didn't seem to work 100%. Other than that, though, it was mostly smooth sailing. The fact that I could finally edit Docs the way Google intended - online, and inside the browser - gave me an enormous boost of confidence in the Honeycomb platform. It also made me rethink my readiness to ship the Asus Eee Pad Transformer back to Best Buy. Here's the REAL story behind why this is such an important milestone. Apple just wouldn't let something like this happen on the iPad. Why? Because it took a DIFFERENT BROWSER to get the job done. Apple handcuffs software developers and flatly refuses to allow any browser onto its systems that isn't born out of the Webkit browser itself. In Apple's world, the Webkit-based Safari is sufficient. All others need not apply. Aurora, the 6.0 alpha verson of Mozilla's browser line, will never be permitted to run on an Apple iOS system. This means I'm giving the Asus a little more time before I give it the heave ho. If I can actually get into and edit my Google Docs on the Asus using a browser like Aurora, the iPad will suddenly become less essential for the kind of creative, collaborative work that I do on a daily basis. The Asus and its instant-on, touch-screen-friendly, ultra-long-lived, Honeycomb-driven, docking clamshell form factor will finally have a leg up my iPad. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 July 2011 )
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The Bittersweet Taste of Honeycomb |
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Monday, 04 July 2011 |
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It was easy to write about the Asus Eee Pad Transformer , warts and all. The Eee Pad is the new flagship of the Honeycomb Tablet revolution, supplanting the Motorola Xoom's claim to that title with a somewhat smarter design, (if not for it's plasticky packaging), and a smarter vision for the future of ultra-portable computing. By the way, don't let Samsung try to fool you with their latest entry into the Honeycomb wars. Their new Tab 10.1 may be thinner, cooler looking, and all kinds of SWEET, but in so many ways it's just another "blah, blah, blah" Honeycomb tablet. It doesn't really do anything new or unique when you compare it to the Motorola Xoom, the Acer Iconia A500, or the Asus TF101 (aka: "Eee Pad Transformer"). In fact, none of these tablets differentiates itself much from its competitors. The only thing Samsung does better than Motorola is drop the price and make the tablet thinner. The only thing Acer does better than the Samsung is drop the price while increasing the weight in the process. The only thing the Asus Eee Pad Transformer does better than the Acer Iconia is... Hmmm... Asus dropped the price, added a docking keyboard that folds the tablet down into a Netbook-sized clamshell, and nearly doubled the battery run-time. Okaaay. Maybe there is something a little different about this Honeycomb tablet! In the last installment I said I couldn't recommend buying the Asus Eee Pad. Not yet, anyway. So if not now, then when? |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 July 2011 )
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Asus Eee Pad Transformer In Depth - The Software |
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Friday, 17 June 2011 |
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In my last installment of the hunt for the "Perfect Netbook" I extolled the virtues of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer’s laptop/keyboard combo. On the surface it represents exactly what I want out of a “Perfect Netbook.” It is powerful-enough to do real work, it's the right size and weight to take anywhere, it sips battery power through a coffee stirrer, it has a vivid screen, it can turn into a tablet when I need it to be a tablet, and it comfortably lets me type longer documents when I need to sit down and get real work done.  In other words, from a hardware perspective the TF101 by Asus is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It’s not perfect, but it's really, really close.
Take that, Apple!
And that's right about the time that this all gets annoying. For all that Asus has done right, the company can’t over come the one thing that keeps it’s new toy from becoming a true iPad killer. Android. If the iPad is a kindergartener on its way to cranky adolescence, Honeycomb tablets represent a room full of babies learning to toddle. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 22 June 2011 )
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