Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Text program with good search for tablet? (Windows, Android, iPad)

(1/2) > >>

ital2:
I cannot find a good solution for my mobile needs.

Hardware

Tiny Windows tablets (7-8") - when available in Europe - seem to be all of very bad quality, see the amazon and other reviews, the brake (without falling) within some months it seems, and get much too hot (which could explain them breaking). It seems there is no real market for them so there is just a niche left, without much money for production since they are sold between 70 and 230 Euros (80-240$ even including VAT between 20 and 25 p.c.); good quality would cost then 400 Euros, for which there is no market. Good Windows tablets are too big and too heavy (Microsoft, from 10"). Windows smartphones seem to be ok for some of them (from Microsoft again), but they do not run Windows (8.1 or 10, as the Windows tablets do), but Windows Mobile, a telephone tool, which means you cannot run regular Windows programs on them but almost nothing.

With Android or iOs, there are available good tiny tablets, with external memory for Android, without that for iOS, so for the latter you must check how much internal memory will suffice even in the long run, which can become difficult, considering the prices for additional internal memory and which is only available upfront.

Since I need geographical map functionality only here and there, but would need a tablet to be really lightweight and easygoing, I am not that fond of tablets of 10" and more, also because for map functionality, Windows would be far from ideal, and with Android or iPad, you don't need to buy a 10" tablet in order to get a good tablet, so Android or iPad 7-8" seems to be the ideal solution if it weren't for the text software.

Software

As I said some months ago, I use ListPro for some lists, and my agenda also with it, on my pc, and that's available for iOS but not for Android, but I discovered that the iOS version does not do alarms anyway, so that doesn't make sense, and I cannot put all my lists into ListPro since as a database, it's just too basic: No good search, no global replace.

But anyway, I would like to avoid to put all my lists into a database since that would be manual work for a week for some of them, or I would have to dig deep into RegEx replacements.

Currently, I have those lists (on my pc) in an editor with good search functionality, which means I can search for some entry, and it displays all the lines with a hit in them in a table-like extra list, as would do a database frontend, and this is exactly what I am looking for for mobile use.

Currently, I print out those lists and take those printouts with me, which is not only lots of paper stuff, but much worse, and since it's all that much paper, I only print out those lists, which I need mobile, here and then, and in-between, I update the lists on my pc, and also, by hand, in the printouts. More often than not, I forget the manual updating, which regularly causes problems, and it even occurred that I forgot to update the pc list, so I have to visually check the printouts and their manual additions in order to be sure that my pc lists are up-to-date. Let alone only very basic search functionality in the print-outs, in fact only alphabetic search possible for one aspect, none for others. So my current overall system is a complete mess.

I tried to find some good text program (with rtf which I would prefer) or text editor (without rtf) on Android, reading into the descriptions and reviews for hours, but there does not seem to be any, while for iPad, there does not seem to be such a thing either, but here I'm less sure, my searching having been less intensive, for lack of information if you don't have an iPad and cannot try those programs.

I do not understand why all those Android text programs of which many are praised as being sophisticated, do not offer good search but ask for manual browsing all the occurrences of some search term one by one, by "go to next", BUT
- I hope I may have overlooked some which does do it better, OR
- I hope there may be such a program in the iPad side

So that I finally could solve my problem which system make of mobile tablet to buy, and solve my mobile data access problem. I am aware of the fact that I could solve it, less the maps, by buying and taking around a Microsoft Surface (10" or bigger), which would then run the same programs as my pc for these needs, or, when it's a database, I could probably choose Android as well as iPad, but would need to put all my lists into a SQLite database, with the manual work that this way would need. Here, I suppose that the same databases in SQLite format would run, without transformation (but just copying over the current version by WLAN), on the mobile device as on the pc, but this could be an error on my side.

In fact, what I would really need would be such a HP mobile pc of some years ago, weighting about 500 g and with a physical keyboard: The iPad unfortunately killed that market of really mobile real, fully functional computers, but regrets over that will not make them available again so I have to get something of the available builds.

dr_andus:
There are now convertible Chromebooks that also run Android, such as the Asus Chromebook Flip, Asus C302CA, and the Samsung Chromebook Plus.

They are fully functional computers (with built-in keyboard), if you can live within Chrome OS and Android.

For your list you could use web apps such as WorkFlowy.

You might need a mobile broadband dongle, when you're away from wifi.

tomos:
a full word processor for Android is Textmaker -
this page compares it with other possibilities on Android:
http://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office-hd-android-textmaker-comparison

Seems you cant just get the Word Processor: the full office suite (Softmaker) for Android is 20€ (here) prob. cheaper in US$, but may still be worth it to you.

Note there is a free version for Android smartphones -- I'm immediately confused: I presume this can also be used on tablets then (?)
http://www.freeoffice.com/en/discover/freeoffice-mobile-android

Disclaimer: the version for Windows I find very good, but I have not used it on Android.

ital2:
Thank you for the Chromebook hint.

I had not thought of that line of product indeed. Unfortunately, they don't do anything really tiny but all come in full format, from 10,1" on, with a keyboard part of again that same size. I don't know where their weight starts, but it's evident they are in the Windows subnotebooks or Netbook range, not in the size and weight range of 7" or 8" tablets or then, that defunct HP mini pc.

Thank you for the full office application suites for Android hint.

I had not thought of those either, had been focused on text-only. On that SoftMaker comparison page, I do not see the term "search" though, so I suppose they do not display all search results in a list either. I understand this is more a feature of some more sophisticated desktop text/programming editors so it cannot really be expected elsewhere, but for me, as said, it would be only function in the text program/editor I would really use so it's quite special or simply too special.

Thus, logically, I should discard that editor idea but get acquainted with the possibilities to get my data from text files into an SQLite database which I then would shift around, by WLAN, from desktop to Android tablet or iPad and back to desktop. After all, handling data with databases is natural, while handling them in editors may be practical in some use cases but quickly becomes unmanageable when extending the use case, as we clearly see in my case here.

Android/iPad instead of Windows tablet.

As I said in the thread I began with my FF bug and which then switched to the problems of buying second-hand hardware, it's very surprising an i5 processor is so lame. Thinking on it, upon the introduction of Windows 10, they said it was even light on load and good for old hardware (Dual Core etc.) - I now suppose that was marketing speak, and fact probably is that each new Windows, exactly as in the old days, more or less eats up most or at least much of additional processor power you buy in new devices.

And this means that if I'm not completely mistaken, Windows 8.1 or 10 simply aren't good mobile OS, for underpowered i3/i5 notebooks - and with i7 you get into heat problems - and all the less so for even more underpowered tablets - the lesser expensive Surface 3/4 which do not even have an "i" processor. Fact is, many user reviews speak of lame response with those Surface 3 devices, and even with Surface 4 i5 - and of heat problems with Surface 4 i7 which is not surprising at all.

In other terms, MS simply do not have an adequate modern OS for mobile devices, their Windows eating up too much memory and too much processor power which simply cannot be available in really tiny devices - and not speaking of battery time sharply going down by this, too.

Which brings me to the question if iPad/iOS or Android is the better, lighter, more effective - or do they say efficient? - system for tiny mobile devices?

Sorry for almost systematically deviating from my original questions!

cranioscopical:
Perhaps this will satisfy your need. I use it but can't vouch for how it handles seriously long documents. It claims 1,000,000 characters but, try as I might, I cannot muster that many with which to test it.
https://sites.google.com/site/aquamarinepandora/home/jota-text-editor

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page