I have a surface pro 3 that I use exclusively for note taking. I'm a physicist and hand written notes are absolutely crucial. The fat iPad style stylii have way too thick a tip for anything useful. Surface Pros, Lenovo tablets with digitizers, and Samsung Galaxy notes are very popular among people who do calculations
Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
11–20 of 90 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#12I used to, but once I got a bigger phone (Samsung Notes and iPhone 6 Plus) I ended up finding the phone and tablet could become the same thing, so now it's just big phone + MacBook for me on the move. Nonetheless, I do recommend having a tablet because you might find it really works for you - we're all different.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#13My iPad (air 2) works for me as the perfect "consumption" device wherever I are. Reading blogs, kindle app for books (prefer it to the old kindle device by far), twitter, facebook, mails, and so on. Also a few games like fallout shelter for the 5 minutes in between, or even stuff like deus ex, quite immersive gaming experience for a tablet. For when I want to "produce" things, I grab my 13" mbp pro. Actually I have a…
My wife started working for Apple retail a year ago. During training, they asked what an iPad would be used for, and my wife gave pretty much exactly your response -- it's for consumption. WRONG! There was an ad campaign at the time, showing iPads as an important tool in writing music, climbing mountains, etc. They were trying very hard to convince people that iPads were for people doing things, not couch potatoes. I'm not sure they really convinced anyone.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#14I have a Nexus 9. I can't say that I need a tablet, I don't use it a lot, but it's still nice to have one. I use it for netflix in bed, ebooks, check the news whenever there is a commercial break on tv or to google something from the sofa, a couple of fun games, get access to my notes if I reinstall linux or do something that can break my computer. Stuff like that.
My opinion is that for reading and simple point and click stuff it is ok. Whenever I try to write a little more text than 3 - 8 keywords on google or to chat with people, it gets slow and wonky.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#15I used to, but after buying an iPhone 6 plus, I realized that I was doing all my reading, browsing, etc, in that device, and that I just set my iPad mini aside. I gave it to my mom as a gift, now I don't use a tablet, just my phone.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#16I use an iPad primarily for 3 things
1. Music production/performance. The iPad does few things objectively better than Android and touch responsiveness when it comes to playing music apps is one of them. There's a 100-400ms delay with Android for some reason. I had heard they'd gotten better recently but my girlfriend just got a Galaxy S5 and even though it's a last generation phone it's unplayable for being on time.
The iPad has a lot of great emulations of older synths and exciting new apps that aren't available anywhere else. Some big names have also made apps, like Korg, Propellerheads, and Native Instruments. Check out iPolysix, iProphet, Animoog, DM1, Auria, E.L.S.A., Beatsurfing, Impaktor, BIAS Amp, Audiobus, Swoopster, Sparkle, Galileo, Thumbjam, Steel Guitar, Arpeggionome, Orphion, Xynthesizr, Glitchbreaks, Loopy, and Gadget.
2. A second monitor. Duet Display lets me plug in my iPad as a second monitor to my MacBook. This is convenient for coding on the go.
3. Casual laptop use replacement. About the only thing I can't do easily on just an iPad is code or write a lengthy bit of text. If I bring a Bluetooth keyboard I can conceivably do the latter. Possibly the former but I hear the coding apps are still "meh". But if I travel lightly and I want to read, answer email, check the news, play music, or watch some videos, then an iPad suffices over a laptop, and I don't need a heavy power brick. If I want better speakers I can either use headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. If I want a bigger screen there are converter cables or apps that let me do that.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#17I have an iPad Air 2 and use it every day. My main use cases:
1. Reading. I love reading the old, free PDF books available from Google books and archive.org. The OCR doesn't work well, so you really need to read the original scanned image version, which requires a big screen and a fast enough processor (a phone or older model tablet won't cut it). I also moved from using my Kindle to the iPad for reading ebooks, since it is much faster to thumb through the repetitive parts of non-fiction books using the iPad.
2. Playing games with my girlfriend. Our favorite date activity is going to a bar or hanging out on the patio, having a drink, and cooperatively playing some trivia or puzzle game on the iPad.
I previously had a Nexus 10, but it was too slow to read scanned PDF's and it crashed all the time. The iPad Air 2 is much, much better.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#18I have an iPad and i really only use it as my portable spotify pad and streaming station for music for my receiver.
edit: i very much prefer my kindle to read books, and for everthing else i still use a laptop or a smartphone..
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#19I use an iPad primarily for 3 things 1. Music production/performance. The iPad does few things objectively better than Android and touch responsiveness when it comes to playing music apps is one of them. There's a 100-400ms delay with Android for some reason. I had heard they'd gotten better recently but my girlfriend just got a Galaxy S5 and even though it's a last generation phone it's unplayable for being on time.…
Music production
Do you write actual songs on it or rather just work out some melody or beat or so? Just asking becasue I cannot imagine doing the former, especially handling sequencer-style ui's on a tiny screen with touch seems problematic.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use a tablet?
#20Every day I see the top comment in a thread being a typical middlebrow dismissal, the type that adds nothing to the discussion. With that in mind, it's really surprising to me that this comment was downvoted. Before I upvoted it, it was grey, and after I upvoted, it was still grey. Who are these people who downvote a perfectly good comment like this? It puzzles my mind.
At the time of writing this comment, at least 10 comments in this thread were grey. There are a lot of comments in this thread being downvoted for no particular reason - moderators, what's going on?