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Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

arstechnica.com

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Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#31

Post by Bossman »

dwc wrote: post #3
Bossman wrote: post #2

I think people are making too big of a deal out of all these tablets coming out. Android 3.0 looks like a great OS and I'd love to have a device that runs it, but I don't think they're as useful as people believe them to be. The main reason they're becoming so widespread is because carriers are offering them with 3G data plans. People use them for tethering, etc. I have an iPad that I hardly use. The thing is useful…

Tablets are not for us, but they are for someone. I bought my wife an iPad and she loves it, not for the gee-whiz factor but because it's well suited to how she use a computer at home.

I like my iPad a lot, too. And I have a feeling I'd use a Xoom more than my iPad. But it's more a novelty thing. You can't be extremely productive on it like you can on a cheap netbook. I'm not saying they don't have a market, but it looks like an artifcially created market.

I think tablets will be immensely more useful in a few years when you can do a hell of a lot more on them.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#32

Post by neutronicus »

A lof of the author's point hinges on his affection for dead-tree media and television. If at all possible, I read pdf's on my laptop instead of books, and I kind of prefer watching TV on my laptop as well.

Of course, I love my laptop and can't see blowing my disposable income (of which there is not that much), on something which duplicates only the unproductive functionality of my laptop.

However, as an older and richer man, I could see myself having a desktop and a tablet instead of a laptop.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#33

Post by tomwalsham »

Regarding tactile feedback. I recently just re-enabled audio feedback on my Chumby (resistive screen), and the combination of physical push + audible 'click' is sufficient for most of my need for feedback, and those of my 3-year-old.

I also have the vibrate feedback on my Nexus One, and find that for small capacitive screens a subtle vibrate executed on the exact click-fire to be extremely useful.

Neither of these will ever compare to old-school keyboard tactile response - something that laptop keyboards also fail to equal - but funnily enough I find the N1 input feedback more satisfying than a MBP keyboard.

We're a long way off programatically raised areas on low-cost touch-input devices. That said, Apple have a long track record of amazing UX and must be looking into these options. I suspect the tactile vibrate experience wasn't too compelling on the scale of the iPad, but it wouldn't surprise me if this feature appeared (localised in quadrants?) in future iPad versions to afford better feedback for typing and other operations.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#34

Post by swift »

> ... this separation of our productive workspace into display and input planes has been with us since the dawn of writing, ... and it means that multitouch tablets will continue to be novelty/entertainment items.

> So a new tablet will never be exciting the way that a new, luxury gel ink pen will be exciting, or a new leather journal, or ...

This seems inconsistent to me. The way I interact with a leather journal, or a sketchbook, or a notepad, or any paper that I write or draw upon, is very much like a tablet: there's only one surface I interact with, not two. The author seems to enjoy this arrangement, as I do.

The author did specify multitouch, and I agree that multitouch seems better suited to simpler interactions and media consumption, at least based upon my experience with it so far. Even taking that into account, though, I think his diagnosis of the problem is wrong; for me, the problem is not having one surface instead of two, but the inability to use a precise stylus! An iPad or iPad-like device which could use a stylus with the accuracy of a Wacom tablet in addition to supporting multitouch would be a real game changer for me.

Fortunately, I don't expect to wait too long for this; the advantages are too obvious. When such a device is announced, I feel confident it will be more exciting than a new luxury gel ink pen, even for Jon Stokes.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#35

Post by epochwolf »

shantanubala wrote: post #17
lowglow wrote: post #14

I love my iPad. It's taken over as my mobile computing solution in most cases. I think there are more possibilities left to explore with tablets in general, and I think exercising more innovation will only lead to greater things in that arena. I use my tablet for reading, mailing, surfing, and communicating while not having to be tethered to a terminal. I honestly can ask this question now after having experienced th…

I think the author misses a key point of tablets: they're not for information production. I can't think of anyone who prefers tablets for writing or coding, but I do know a bunch of people who like getting stock quotes, reading the news, using Instapaper, and consuming content. The analogy with the scribe doesn't really work because the purpose of the tablet is to consume content, and actual user input is minimal.

I beg to differ on the production thing. I do some of my fiction writing on my iPad using a Bluetooth keyboard.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#36

Post by zmmmmm »

I think it's important to separate the advent of the touch screen interface from the form factor of a tablet.

I kind of agree that tablets are pretty poor for everything (unlike others I think tablets & the iPad specifically is a mostly poor device even just for consumption, mainly because it can't stand up by itself, and it's near useless outdoors). But I can see that the touch screen interface has revolutionized interaction with computers, most especially with very young and very old people. Touch screens are the real revolution that is going on now and while the form factor is a part of it I think it's secondary.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#37

Post by Groxx »

>No tactile feedback

That might be partially solved soonish, actually. http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/08/11/electrotactile-arrays-...

>Instead, what all magazine publishers produced (Condé Nast included) was a bloated, multitouch-enabled version of the exact same "new media" experience that used to ship on a CD-ROM under the name "multimedia."

Not surprised about this in the least. The vast majority will always do what never worked previously - we need people to make a few revolutionary improvements, then we'll see better tablet content across the board.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#39

Post by Groxx »

jordanb wrote: post #13

I got in a lot of fights with Apple fans over this last year. :) My point is that tablets have never ever taken off---even though various companies have been trying for decades . Of course the argument that the iPad is different from every other device in history due to ubiquitous internet access and multi-touch. And I admit that I couldn't even convince myself entirely that those weren't game changers, but a year la…

>a year later it seems that the verdict is in: they're not.

Not entirely sure what world it is you live in... how has touchable computing not been a game-changer? Just look at all the iDevice apps out there, and how frequently and powerfully the UI decisions there have changed desktop applications.

Re: Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore

#40

Post by [deleted] »

jordanb wrote: post #13

I got in a lot of fights with Apple fans over this last year. :) My point is that tablets have never ever taken off---even though various companies have been trying for decades . Of course the argument that the iPad is different from every other device in history due to ubiquitous internet access and multi-touch. And I admit that I couldn't even convince myself entirely that those weren't game changers, but a year la…

[deleted]
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