Tablets

I've had three tablets. All were initiated off my desire to use them to display piano music. I started with a Samsung model chosen to a considerable degree because the display was closer to the length/width ratio of my music scores, where the standard form factor wastes space.

But, while largish for a standard tablet, it was nowhere near big enough a screen for my aging eyes to read music a page at a time, so I had to turn it sideways, displaying a half-page at a time, and suffer difficulty in scanning, for example a piece of chamber music printed at 5 systems/page.

That Samsung died, and as I was in a crunch time to a performance, I replaced it with an identical model to avoid learning time.

Most musicians who use tablet-displayed scores use ForScore running on an Apple tablet.

For my third tablet I jointed them, buying an Apple-refurbished iPad Pro a generation older than then current. That has served me well for five years now, without noticeable battery life loss and very few troubles.

As my computing is on a Windows PC, and my carry-it-with-me device is a smartphone, the iPad sees almost no use unrelated to music display, though I do occasionally remember how much bigger and better the display is than the one on my ereader, and load a Kindle book to it so I can actually see illustrations usefully.

@archae86 I've watched a number of David Hicken's yt vids (https://www.youtube.com/c/EnchantingMusic/videos). He uses some kind of tablet with a foot actuated button to advance pages.

Depending on your instrument and eye sight, a monitor may be a better option than tablet. Said display could still be driven by a tablet (most support video out via the usb c). I'm sure your fruit device supports such functionality as well.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active PRO SM-T547UZKAXAA in February 2022. It is pretty much a "one trick pony" for us. It is used in our Can Am Maverick UTV to run the Polaris Ride Command app for trail navigation. Water-resistant rugged tablets are a bit less common than most other consumer grade tablets.

If I were looking for a tablet today and didn't want/need a water-resistant rugged tablet, I might consider a Google Pixel tablet. They tend to have less bloatware on them than Samsung tablets. I saw some at a Best Buy near me this afternoon for $249.00.

Tablets? When it suits me. I have one for work but that doesn't count. My Samsung and my iPad no longer receive the latest version of their operating systems. Both still function, but I don't really need either.

As for rooting? I can easily root the Samsung but choose not to. No compelling reason to.

Yes, I use a pedal also. In my case the whole point of using the tablet while playing piano was to solve the page turning problem. Touching the screen with my finger would still mean lifting my arm away from the piano while using my foot is much better.

Once I got going I found other advantages. I have many dozens of pieces on the tablet and can find the next one quicker than I can find the paper score on my bookshelf. It also turns out to be a superior way to make notes compared to using pencil and paper. Not only can I use color if I like, but the marks erase perfectly when I wish.

I really do wish more apps had better functional settings backup/restore features.

The main app I use, a browser called vivaldi, cloud sync is terrible. About the only thing sync'd between android devices was the open tabs and speed dials (similar to bookmarks, url shortcut tiles on the main page). App settings, history, passwords, not sync'd.

History loss was annoying but not terrible. As for settings, I had to have both tablets side by side, going through each option to get the new one configured similar to the old.

Without root, the app's data folder is inaccessible. With root just a matter of copying it from one device to the other.

Use "aqua mail" for email. That does have a backup/restore feature. It worked as advertised. Even the account passwords were restored.

On the pc, when I need to backup/restore firefox/chrome/vivaldi to another pc, it's really as simple as just copying the profile folders over.

Interesting. I use Vivaldi on both PC and phone and have no issues at all with sync between PC and phone. You may want to delete your Vivaldi sync data and resync.

Email? GMail, so sync works perfectly whether to Outlook on my PC or the GMail app on my phone.

@Strephon_Alkhalikoi

I tried it several times, deleting the sync data each time; same deal. Both devices were using the same app version too. Maybe the sync failure is because source of data is another phone, not pc.

I never tried sync pc-pc because copying the profile folder works without using any third parties.

Re email; never realized gmail will poll none google imap servers (or send using third party smtp servers). I'm confident any such content retrieved is still subject to their privacy policy meaning all your emails are still scanned. Pass.

My own email server is only accessible from lan for outbound. When out and about and need to send an email (rare), i'll connect to the home lan using wireguard, then send the message. Mail server itself only allows inbound traffic on port 25 (mta).

Have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of them at work, and lots of complaints. Namely they are meant to replace a Panasonic Toughbook (no cost savings as the co thought), and they don't cut the mustard. Next, they are locked down. What we missed on was the end user satisfaction.

So I just think that since they are a headache at work, I don't want them to be a headache at home, but I do have various work tablets for troubleshooting and a main Tab Active 4 Pro with 5G. It looks like a very nice tablet overall, but I'm like Telly Savalas, with Talky Tina in the Twilight Zone. I want to put it out in the trash, or crush it in a vise, but it would only come back anyway lol

Because we needed a new laptop and didn't want to break the bank, got one $449, Asus, 16 gb ram 1 TB SSD, Core Ultra 5, Win 11, etc etc. Don't think a tablet really stacks up to a low end laptop other than size

…if you have Sirius in a car you can use the Sirius app on the tablet then “feed” the content to other Bluetooth devices in your home. I do this with my home stereo, headphones and even an old stereo system that lacks Bluetooth using a cable connection

Before I retired, I used Panasonic Toughbooks. Needless to say, they are very rugged.

I was at a Best Buy near me three days ago and there were some Samsung tablets on display. The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra was $1,000 and up. For that price, I hope it stacks up to a similarly priced laptop computer, but I don't know if it does. The one I looked at had a magnetic keyboard case attached to it.

For that kind of money and functionality, a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet could be purchased.

https://www.samsung.com/us/tablets/galaxy-tab-s11/buy/galaxy...

I can't find a use case for a tablet every time I pick one up. It's a weird middle ground between a laptop and a phone, where the phone is better for portability and the laptop is better for everything else, especially a hybrid like a Microsoft Surface or Lenovo Duet.

I’m on my second iPad now. The screen size advantage over a phone speaks for itself. I can take my iPad when travelling. A laptop is too cumbersome in my opinion.

I believe that he posts here are supposed to be in timestamp order. One,
___ Mon, 12/01/2025 - 5:31am
___ John from PA
is out of sequence. How does that happen?

I presume that timestamp is in mountain time. MY PC is.

I have used iPads since the iPad 2 was released in 2011 and the iPad mini (1st gen) in 2012. I have kept pretty much up to date on the iPad mini hardware (every model except the iPad mini 3).

The mini is my favorite form factor with the size being just right for my use-case. I have multiple iPad Air models (up to the iPad Air M1 & M2) but the size is just too big...I will always reach for the mini first.

My wife finds her tablet a lot easier to see than her phone for some applications. In particular using it as an e-reader. I notice that she uses quite a large font size.

I've had 2 tablets so far. One ASUS and one Samsung. My Samsung is really old (maxed out at Android 8) and is getting pretty funky. Also uses a USB Micro cable rather than USB C. I read on my tablet quite a bit so prefer a smaller tablet. Just ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE. Only got the 128 GB model. Wifi only. It will do everything I need and was on a Cyber Monday sale. Ordered yesterday and will arrive tomorrow.

7:31 AM which as best I recall is correct. That is on an iPad.