Just a quick note about the new update being released on Monday...

So I installed the update Rohit sent me this morning (NIA920270511), which is the update being released on Monday... 

I've only started to play with it and I can tell you already that there is a lot to be excited about!  It is awesome to see how much NI has done in this update.  Eden has really been improved a great deal. 

Getting to the home screen is a lot more intuitive, as are other functions within the interface.  It is so much easier to do things like close all panels or close all apps.  The look of the interface is so much more appealing (though I realize that is subjective).   System info (battery/cpu/memory/storage usage) is much more readily available in several places.  There are new apps and several existing apps have been improved.  Lots of bug fixes...  As mentioned earlier, there is a 13 page pdf file listing all the changes that were made.

Anyway, like I said, I just started to play with it.  And I wish I could tell you more.  But at least you only have to wait until Monday to play with it yourself.  The update is definitely worth applying while waiting for Honeycomb. 

I know things are coming out of NI slower than most of us would like.  But everyone there deserves a big thank you for their hard work and diligence towards ever improving our Adam tablets. 

Thanks Rohan, Rohit, Varun, Adarsh, and everyone else at Notion Ink!

--Greg

PS:  I hope to be able to start making time for this blog again.  I apologize for my absence due to circumstances beyond my control.  It has been frustrating not to have time for this and many other things lately.  I do still have my Adam and I am still a big fan.  In fact I have two Adam tablets now; a Pixel Qi and an LCD.  I squeezed out a few minutes for this simple post but probably won't have time to respond to many questions, etc for a little while longer.  Thanks to those who have offered support and to those that have remained patient.

Help Design Adam's User Interface

Notion Ink's developers would like your feedback regarding Adam's user interface.  They have created a survey to help them understand their customer demographic and usage scenarios, etc.

Most of the questions are multiple choice.  That way they can evaluate the feedback quickly, though it does not allow us much opportunity to provide comments.

But then again, I know that several people at Notion Ink read the comments on the community sites like this one and already have an idea of some changes we would like to see in Adam's user interface.

So If you have additional comments/suggestions about the user interface that are not covered by the survey, you can leave comments here and I will suggest to the developers that they pay attention to the comments on this post...

With that said, please take a moment to fill out the survey at:

http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=IODKJK_c017a743

You will have to enter the following password to begin the survey:  NISurvey0012A

UPDATE: My Thoughts On Adam's User Interface...

I filled out the survey but I really wish it had a place to comment openly about my thoughts on Adam's user interface...

Notion Ink has been able to modify Android 2.2/2.3 to bring us many features of Honeycomb even prior to Honeycomb's existence. There is a lot of innovative and useful features in the first revision of Eden. So I am very hopeful for future revisions. Admittedly there are still some bugs to be fixed and design changes that could make it even better. Though in my opinion, the biggest thing hampering Eden's acceptance is the lack of more Eden enabled applications and the Genesis app store. As of right now there are only a handful of apps that make use of Eden panels. If there were a lot more, then there would be a lot more reason to use Adam with apps in panel mode. Right?

So if Notion Ink fixes the few remaining bugs, makes a few design enhancements and gives us Genesis and more Eden enabled apps, then Eden will be much more widely accepted and a very useful feature unique to Adam tablets.

In the mean time I see lots of people supplementing Eden with the edenx ROM by Roebeet. This ROM allows you to keep Eden on the Adam, yet run additional launchers like ADW and Launcher Pro. However, when you install this Rom, you do so at your own risk because it may violate the warranty on your Adam. It's easy enough to revert back to the stock user interface, but if something happened to your Adam and you had to send it in for repair while edenx is running on it, you might not be able to get warranty service. Hence, Roebeet and other's advisory to proceed at your own risk...

But even with this risk I see lots of people (including myself) that have tried edenx and other ROMS and really like them. Why? Because they are so customizable! And that is what I was working up to... People want to be able to customize the user interface!!!

Ultimately, I would like to have the features of Eden's paneled apps, app bar/launcher, etc and the customizable home screens that other 3rd party launchers offer (which also support widgets, etc). Heck, I'd love to run Eden panels as widgets... Wouldn't that be cool?!

Well, my gut feeling is that Notion Ink will be releasing Honeycomb, Genesis, and more Eden enabled apps all at the same time. Honeycomb might bring big changes to Adam's user interface and Eden's implementation. Honeycomb's fragments and Eden's panels are very similar, so I'm very curious to see what Notion Ink does with them.

Ultimately I'd like to see the same ability to customize Adam's user interface that other launchers offer... Who knows, maybe that is in the works. Once Adam is running Honeycomb, we will have market access without needing a root hack. Maybe we will be able to use Eden side by side with widgets and alternative launchers too...

Adam's Eden user interface has a lot of potential, especially on Honeycomb. What are your thoughts? How would you like to see Adam's user interface improved? Fill out the survey and leave comments here to let Notion Ink know...

--Greg

First Impression, App and Game Reviews

Hey everybody,

I put two videos together trying to answer some questions people had on my last video. Some included things like HDMI to TV connections, My Caselogic Gtablet case, Email attachments. I tried to answer these and can have followup's to these.

I also covered in this video some questions about the screen, some app reviews like Drop Box, I also covered some games that are for the Tegra 2 chip. These games were Samurai Vengence (Tegra 2), Fruit Ninja HD (Not Tegra 2), Dungeon Defenders (Tegra 2), Backbreaker HD (Tegra 2)

There are now some nice games coming out, lets hope they continue to evolve, Dungeon Defenders actually uses the Unreal Engine.

Hope you enjoy my videos, there are actually 2.

Thanks,

-Mike

A very promising stand I have pre-ordered

Hey there Notion Ink Fans,

I just wanted to post quickly a stand that I had ordered (Backed). It is being produced from a small designer and inventor. This is very nice and also goes along with the same concept that Notion Ink has brought to us. It is shipping in Aril and I cannot tell you how many times I needed something like this on the couch or heck even in bed.

Here is a link to their project site.

Let me know what you think...looks really promising.



Have a great day!

-Mike

Mike receives his LCD Adam 3G

Hey everyone,

I received my Adam on Tuesday afternoon here in Pennsylvania. I know there are a  bunch of unboxing videos out there, but I had to do mine since I have been "Waiting" for about 6 months to finally buy/get one. I am going to be posting up some game reviews of the new Tegra 2 designed games. I recently bought Samurai II and also Backbreaker. These both are designed for the Tegra 2 processors and are great games. Checkout my video below and let me know what you think!

Thanks,

-Mike (Vector66)

First Impressions: Motorola XOOM

UPDATE: Video added at end of post.

So I had to run some errands this morning and while I was out I decided to stop by Best Buy to check out the Motorola XOOM.

(Click image to enlarge)

With today being a Saturday, the store was packed. It took me forever to find a parking spot so I figured I'd probably have to wait in a long line to get my hands on the XOOM. I began to wonder if it was worth the effort; maybe I should wait a couple weeks for the crowds to die down... As good luck would have it, I found a parking spot just before I was about to change my mind and drive away.
So I walked through the crowded store and found the XOOM with no one paying any attention to it. There were lots of people all around but they were all looking at the other tablets, netbooks, etc. Definitely not what I had anticipated. From everything I read, I thought the XOOM would be Best Buy's main attraction for at least a few weeks. Oh well, guess not.

Anyway, here is what I thought... (And please keep in mind that these are my thoughts and opinions and may vary from other's.)

Let me start out by saying that everyone who has bought an Adam really needs to go check out the XOOM. Why? Because once you do you will feel confident you made the right choice when you bought your Adam. Seriously!

I'm sure Motorola will sell lots of XOOM tablets. Well, maybe they will if they drop a few hundred dollars off the price. It is a nice tablet but it is way overpriced, especially when compared with the Adam.

The XOOM has the same physical size display, but it is higher resolution display than Adam's. So that is what I was most interested in seeing. The other thing I really wanted to check out was Honeycomb.

The display is nice, but I seriously could not tell much difference between it and my Adams' display. I may have to go back some time with my Adam to do a side by side comparison to see the difference. I figured the increased resolution would make a huge difference, but not so. Maybe it will make a difference when viewing high resolution photos or something similar. But I could not see any difference at all with all the apps I ran and very little difference with the web sites I visited.

Motorola didn't do much to reduce fingerprints or glare either. It was pretty bad. Not that Adam is any better, but I had hoped that for the price they are charging that it would have been better. So do I still want a better display on the Adam? Sure I do... But is the display on the XOOM better? Uhmmm, not much, and definitely not worth paying much more for. And if you plan to use your tablet outdoors, then I'd say Adam's Pixel Qi even has the edge over the LCD on the XOOM.

So what else does the XOOM have that might justify the hype and the inflated price? Well, I played with the camera for a few minutes and I think that it is better than Adam's camera (referring to XOOM's 5 MP rear facing camera; XOOM's front facing camera is is only 2 MP). And I like the camera flash. I have a flash on my blackberry and it has come in handy a few times. Though it is a small flash and only useful for fill and only short distances. But the camera and flash are still still not worth the extra cost. Adam's camera actually is pretty decent once you get some different camera software installed. Or wait a while for Notion Ink to improve the stock camera app that comes with the Adam. But as it ships, XOOM's camera does seem a little better, though like I said, still not enough to justify the higher cost.

Honeycomb is pretty nice, but it will be on Adam soon too. So it's a draw there. However, I'm still waiting for Genesis and to see what additional Eden enabled apps will be available once Notion Ink gets it too us (I think they are likely waiting to release it at the same time as Honeycomb). The combination of Honeycomb and Eden together could be a really good thing...

BTW: I installed edenX by Roebeet, a member of the A-Team at notioninkhacls.com. It was very easy to do and it provided some really nice upgrades to my stock Adam. Things like root and market place access, etc. I also chose to install Launcher Pro. So now I can very quickly and very easily choose between Eden, Launcher Pro, and the stock Android launcher / home page. This concept is probably pretty confusing to anyone new to Android since it was foreign to me too just a few months ago. But what it equates to is having the best of both worlds. I did not give up the benefits of Eden, but I gained another completely customizable user interface with widgets, live wall paper, etc. I've really liked my Adam from the get go, but now it is even better.

Oh, I should tell you that I showed my Adam after I first got it to a friend that owns an iPad and he thought it was pretty cool, but I could tell he felt his iPad was better. Well, I showed it to him again now that I have it all customized and some cool apps installed, etc. Well, let's just say his jaw dropped on the floor and he has been over a couple times to see it again and has been telling others about it too. And all that changed/improved was software...

So I can't wait to see what Honeycomb + Eden + More Eden Enabled Apps (+ possibly a Honeycomb Enriched Version of Launcher Pro) does for the Adam. (insert big grin here)

Sorry for digressing a little. I guess I'm trying to say that the biggest advantage of the ZOOM are the features provided by Honeycomb. And those will be available to the Adam and other tablets as well very soon. And some of the coolest features of Honeycomb are already on the Adam thanks to Notion Ink's customizations and enhancements to Android 2.2/2.3. Hmmmm, where does that leave XOOM?.

Well, this is not a thorough and detailed review. It does not cover or compare every feature. It is simply my first impression. There may be those who disagree, and that is fine with me. I'm just offering my thoughts for comparison with others thoughts to help you make your purchase decisions.

As I walked into Best Buy I really wondered if I was going to leave there wishing I would have bought a XOOM instead of an Adam. I'm happy to report that I walked out feeling very happy, reassured, and proud to be an Adam owner. I felt bad that there wasn't an Adam sitting next to the XOOM for everyone to compare it to.

@Rohan, just get us Honeycomb, Genesis, more Eden enabled apps (and work through some of the small company / start-up related issues) and Notion Ink will definitely come out on top!

--Greg

PS: A few other observations... Adam's speakers/ sound is better. Adam's connectivity is better (no full size USB or HDMI on XOOM). Button placement on rear of XOOM is awkward, I inadvertently pressed it a few times and put it to sleep. I had a few apps hang/shut down (expected as Honeycomb is pretty new).

* Inspiron41's "Notion Ink Adam vs Motorola Xoom" video added...

Check Out My Carbon Fiber Adam!

Our good friend Jake (also known as TactusTexus in the Notion Ink community) sent me some awesome carbon fiber strips for my Adam.  Take a look at the photos and then read my review below...


 1. The Notion Ink Adam tablet ships with white accent strips.   

2. This is my Adam with the white accent strips removed.

3. And here is my Adam with the carbon fiber strips installed.

First of all... I love the way it looks with the carbon fiber strips!  I was never really a fan of the stock white accent color.

Removing the stock white accent strips was pretty straight forward since they are just stickers.  Though it does take bit of work to remove the glue from the old stickers that gets left behind.  I rubbed at the glue with my finger nail and it would ball up and became easy to remove.  After removing the stickers and glue, I dampened a paper towel with some rubbing alcohol and used it to clean the surfaces for the new stickers to be applied to.

Installing the carbon fiber stickers was pretty easy too.  I just needed to take my time and exercise care as I lined them up with the ports on my Adam. I found it easiest to start on the speaker ends and worked my way down the sides.  If I did not get it exactly right I could carefully lift the stickers and reposition them.  I did not press them firmly down into place until I had them just right.  It took about 20 minutes start to finish with most of the time spent removing the old glue.  Now I can't wait to show my friends.   

Keep in mind that the carbon fiber strips do not have the labels/symbols printed on them like the stock white strips, but I prefer the cleaner look and doubt I will have much trouble identifying the ports and switches without them.

So where can you get some of these for your Adam?  Well, you will soon be able to buy the carbon fiber strips through Jake's website at tactuslabs.com.  If you prefer a different color, Jake says they will have several choices available in the near future. 

And Jake will have other Adam accessories too.  I'm especially excited for the hard shell case with a built in stand and other great features.  This is the "stealth" case that he has been working on in partnership with our friends at notioninkhacks.com.  

--Greg

Another New Update & Application Switcher Usage

Today's post by Rohan showed us that Adam tablet production is moving along at the factory.  And at the same time Notion Ink developers are working hard to continue improving Adam's software! 

Earlier today I received the latest update from Rohit Rathi at Notion Ink for testing.  I've only had it on my Adam for a few hours but I can already see improvements in stability, etc.

The build number is NIP20120211 but that may change by the time it is released to the public some time soon.  Rohit sent me this list of some of the things included in this update, which could also change by the time it is released...

  In addition to improvements to system stability in general, the following apps are updated:
  - Keyboard(Changes heavily)
  - Calendar(much more stable)
  - Browser
  - Panel Manager(stability)
  - Mail'd(Added Syncing contact)
  - Added internet connection speed feature in Update Adam.
  - Undo erase feature in Canvas
  - Fixed Video and Audio syncing issue in Video player.
  - syncing the Music player in Sniffer with main music player, so only one song will be player at a time
  - Changed the status bar, no more flashing, added more functionality.

Previously Rohit and I also discussed modifying the camera app to facilitate saving photos and recording video directly to the external SD card.  Unfortunately that feature did not make this update because it will require some additional Android framework changes.  They probably do not want to delay this update for that feature but Rohit said he will try to include it in the next update.   

Rohit also mentioned that some people have been confused about the behavior of the application switcher.  So I created a quick video to demonstrate its use.  I hope it helps everyone understand how short and long presses of the home button will result in different actions depending on if apps were launched from Eden or the Android home screen.



So keep an eye out for the next update.  It should be available soon!

UPDATE: I loaded NotionInkHack's Marketplace update and so far it seems to work fine with this update.

--Greg

So what is coming next from Notion Ink?

Earlier today I asked Rohan about the status of the official Notion Ink forum.  His response included the following information (which he said I could share with everyone)...

"From 14th you will see a lot of activity on the design firm. We just scaled our design team from 6 to 16 and this time Adam will see a lot of games, illustrations and statistical visualizations! :) We are also in the process of forming a dedicated web team which will take care of new letters, forum, flyers, website, etc."

So after reading that, I'd say baring any issues that force a change in plans, we have some exciting things to look forward to beginning February 14th!

--Greg

Notion Ink Adam Review

*Several new updates added to this post below...

Well, this video is not what I had planned.  Originally I thought I'd follow up my unboxing video with a thorough review of the Adam.  This video actually ended up being more of a response to requests from many people for me to share my thoughts and opinion on my Adam after having it for about 10 days.

Lots of people here have been waiting patiently for my response.  And I really appreciate it!

I recently received an email from none other than John Biggs at crunchgear.com.  Lets just say that he suggested I get the review done too... 

So I put off everything I could and rearranged my plans to free up some time today so I could get the video clips put together.  It was a rush job to get it done, but I think it may help others see why I like my Adam so much.

During the past 10 days I have been very busy with work and other responsibilities, but I have also spent a good amount of time working with Andy at notioninkhacks.com to test the root, market access, and other hacks he and his team have been providing for other the Adam owners.  I have also been working with Notion Ink to test the updates they have been working on.  It is exciting to see how much progress has been made in only 10 days.  It is even more exciting to think about the changes that are coming soon!

Anyway, here is the video... 

Part 1 of 2


Part 2 of 2



UPDATE #1: Here is a bonus video that Mike (vector66) created...  He has been on the fence for the last 6 months in regard to buying a tablet.  This is him describing his experience over that time as he purchased a ViewSonic G-Tablet and now compares it to the Adam tablet he has ordered.




UPDATE #2:  I wanted to call attention to the many comments to this post.  Be sure to check them out.  There is there is a lot of good information there.  I also wanted to pull Andy's comment to the forefront and post it here because he provides a great explanation of root access, etc.  So here it is...  (Thanks Andy!)

zerofill said...  I would like to quickly explain Root and why it voids warranties. Some manufactures go out of the way to make their devices restrictive and the process of gaining root can actually damage your device. This is done to prevent you from doing this like creating a wifi access point for your phone. Otherwise, they cant charge you that additional fee. Furthermore, if a user goes out of his way he can use Root access to change out Kernels and overclock the speed of the processor and damage the device. Now, I like to use root to do the opposite. My HTC Incredible has a 1000Mhz Processor. I use a program that requires root called SetCpu to underclock my processor to 250Mhz when idle and when I use my phone it shoots up to 1000Mhz to save battery life. With Root you can do full backups of your device, etc. When I say full I mean you can backup the entire device to your SD card. It allows you to experiment and have fun with your device without having to worry about reloading all your settings, etc. Or lets say you want to clean your device out you can use Titanium Backup and backup select applications and settings. You can then reset your device to factory and use Titanium Backup to restore your applications with all your passwords and configuration settings. The beauty with the Adam is that its almost impossible to physically damage your device and its easy to undo root. No manufacture supports applications that they didn’t ship on their device. Let me tell you a little information that I have never really shared. About a month before Adam was released I started my Q&A with Rohan asking technical questions. After he said there would be security on the device I emailed him back and asked Rohan to do something revolutionary and ship the device unrestricted. Rohan wrote me back and said he would check on it but he couldn’t make any promises due to partner agreements, etc. Well, Rohan delivered and shipped the device open my team had very little work to do. I have a good relationship with Rohan because my team supports the community and his team. We have enough knowledge and understand what is a software vs. hardware issue and we debunk false claims and tell the world the truth. For instance: When the FCC photos were posted and people started saying that thing is built like crap. We did what any hacker would do and took apart a brand new Adam and disproved the claims posted on just about every major tech website. We even posted the pics for the world to see. You think anyone said hmmm were sorry and posted the facts? No… How about all the websites posting about the camera being broken? Well once again during our tear down we found there was a second protective cover over the lens that was causing a problem. I emailed that info to nearly 800 people and do you think the blogs corrected their statements? No… Listen folks the internet can be a great place or a place where anyone can post something and rumors fly like no other and it can take 3 years of hard work and ruin it overnight. My team has a place for people to report bugs and my crew will replicate the issues and report them to Notion Ink. My community is working to make the first high quality hard case with a kickstand for the Notion Ink Adam. Our hacks don’t interfere with the OTA updates and don’t undo the beauty of Notion Inks work. My group has respect for Notion Ink and the entire community and tells the truth. We gave you Market access to make things easy on you and allow you to download your licenses for paid apps, we gave you Adhoc mode so you can tether your Adam to your cell phone. My community supports you when you need technical assistance. I wake up at 4:00AM in the morning to email Rohan and team to help get the facts and my team works until wee hours of the night to support the community. Judge us by our actions and not by our name. Wouldn’t you want us on your team?  Andy

UPDATE #3:  Here is another great video...  This one is by Shane Trafford.  He shows lots of apps in use on his Pixel Qi Adam.  He also shows the Adam being used with a portable/flexible keyboard and mouse while playing an online game.  Be sure to check it out!  Thanks Shane!



--Greg