Saturday, July 13, 2024

Within Limits ...

... that Android tablet I bought back in March (not an affiliate link) turned out to be a good choice.

As you may or may not remember, I bought it with a specific use in mind: I wanted to see if I could substitute a tablet with keyboard for my Chromebook as a "travel work rig."

I couldn't.

My requirements aren't for a crap ton of RAM or processing power. I mostly just visit web sites and edit text.

But I absolutely require the ability to run multiple tabs, accessible with one click (rather than by clicking three dots at the top right of the screen, opening a list of tabs, and going to the one I want), in both my browser and my text editor.

That doesn't seem to be a thing in Android. I have yet to find a working browser or text editor that does that.

High on the list, although not an absolute requirement, is the ability to run two screens. I have a USB travel monitor. It works with the Chromebook. It doesn't work with the tablet.

So, not a "daily driver," or even "traveling light" work machine.

Since March, the tablet has basically been an occasional "play Bejeweled" machine, something I can keep next to me while watching TV or in the car in case I'm stationary somewhere with wi-fi and want to check my email, etc.

Last night, on the way out the door to take Tamara to the emergency room, I grabbed it for the latter purpose. For the next six hours, as she mostly slept while awaiting a bunch of tests and test results, I used it to check email, do the day's Wordle, listen to a local radio station over the web, and, yes, plaay Bejeweled. I probably could have used it for messaging to update the rest of the family, but I had my phone and that was at least as easy.

So, decent buy.

And yes, Tamara is OK. Some ongoing symptoms -- consistent with a heart problem -- that I had been badgering her to get seen about got suddenly worse, and she finally gave in. EKG, chest X-ray, and contrast CT came back looking good. Still not sure what's going on, but now I'm not as worried about her ticker suddenly exploding or something. Definitely some bradycardia going on, though.

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