Monday, January 21, 2013

Organizing your Tablet or eReader

Seven inch tablets can already do almost everything larger computers can do, better and faster, and do the job when and where you want it done.

Not only that but it's getting better and better. In its latest update the Nexus 7 provides new ways of working more efficiently.

You can now place email on the opening lock screen so that you see your email the moment you open the tablet. You can do the same with Google News.

The setup for this is done simply by tapping at the top of the lock screen and sliding left to type again on the plus sign to add a so called widget.

In the previous version you could do the same with widgets on other screens. You can have a screen for listening, for reading, for watching, and so on. That makes it easy to organize your tablet for the most efficient possible use. A few taps will do what you need to do.

Recently the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 has been updated to do most of the things the Nexus 7 now can do. This tablet has been reduced in price and has a back facing camera, louder sound, and more memory.
Other tablets are less advanced. Both of the above can display a line of most frequently used apps at the bottom of every screen.

Organizing books is still a little more difficult. The paper white screen devices allow classifying books by subject or shelf if done locally in the device itself. Otherwise for other devices it is necessary to go to the PC or Mac .

Adobe Digital Editions comes to the rescue but only for PDF books and epub books, but not for books in the Kindle proprietary format. That actually puts the Nook Simple Touch at an advantage despite its limitations if you value portability and light weight, not to mention ability to read in direct sunlight.
Otherwise the downside is that you need to use a PC or Mac to do your organizing . There ought to be a better way directly on the device itself.

Another way to organize e-books is to use Calibre, just a bit more complicated.

Dictated and published from my Nexus 7.