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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

#61

Post by ladon86 »

EnderMB wrote: post #56
cletus wrote: post #21

> Don't get me wrong: I'll always have a tablet in my life... And how is this not a game changer? Would the author have said the before the iPad? The iPad has replaced a laptop or desktop for all casual browsing (I typed this comment on mine) and a lot of media consumption. It's great for technical books. And I play games on it. It is easily the most cost effective tech purchase I have ever made in terms of how much…

> The iPad has replaced a laptop or desktop for all casual browsing (I typed this comment on mine) and a lot of media consumption. It's great for technical books. And I play games on it. I live in a large city in the UK, and throughout the past year I've only seen two iPad's. I wouldn't even remotely say that the iPad has "replaced the laptop" in any way, shape or form. When the iPhone was released it was near imposs…

Which city? I've seen a whole bunch of people in London standing on street corners using their iPads.

Granted they do look pretty silly...

But I would certainly not say that the iPad has been a 'huge disappointment'; not for Apple, and not for the consumer. Or did you mean for you personally?

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

#62

Post by trustfundbaby »

Another savvy computer user goes on the internet and declares that he prefers laptops to tablets ... shocking.

The ipad, isn't made with people like the author in mind ... they're made for people who generally find using laptops a PITA (yes ... there are Millions of people like this).

The other market is for the people who get tired of working on their laptops from time to time (and thats where the author seems to fit). What you'll find with this group is people who try to do things with the ipad but realize that they simply prefer being on laptops (probably a lot of us here on Hacker News).

And for everyone of those you'll have people like me ... the ipad has filled a great gap for me, which I'll call leisure computing ... sitting in my bed on Sunday mornings watching netflix movies, mindlessly browsing facebook and twitter ... responding to work emails before I hit the sack at night ... showing presentations, images etc during meetings instead of having to lug around my laptop.

I thought the ipad would fail spectacularly when it came out, but its success has made it clear to me that there is a world of computer users out there who simply do not view computing the way I do, and not only do they want a simplified computing experience they are willing to pay very good money for a for it ... we on HN would do well to not lose sight of that.

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

#63

Post by ugh »

hammock wrote: post #46
cageface wrote: post #22

The thing is, most people aren't scribes. The iPad isn't a good laptop replacement. It's something new. Developers are still in the early stages of figuring out what this means.

Rule #1 of entrepreneurship? Make sure your product solves an existing problem. If tablets don't do this then they fail.

Just because it’s something new and unlike a laptop doesn’t mean that it doesn’t solve an existing problem.

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

#64

Post by cletus »

Zev wrote: post #54
joe_the_user wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my unscientific survey, netbook usage far outstrips tablet usage in cafes. Moreover, the people who bring tablets don't seem to really use them, they just glance at them occasionally. An iPad just seems like a very expensive Kindle. If Tablet prices get down to say, $50, they'd be great to hang in the kitchen and get weather and recipes from!

In my unscientific survey, MacBook Pro's outrank iPads, which outrank generic Windows laptops in cafe's. Moreover, in a further unscientific survey, paperback books outrank hardcover books, who's usage surpasses the Kindle and Nook, combined. And I live in San Francisco. Moreover, the people who bring any of these items don't seem to drink their coffee! feigned shock

I won't disagree with your observations. I will however point out one thing: the sampling is skewed because you only really see what people are doing in public.

I would guess that the majority of iPad usage is in the home and, to a lesser extent, in the office, so much so that I probably won't even buy the 3G version of the iPad 2 (I have the 64GB 3G iPad). Plus now I live in New York (rather than Australia, when I bought mine) and wifi is much more readily available here (Starbuck's for one) if I feel inclined to take it with me and need the internet.

One disappointing thing is that Apple seems to be doing the big CPU/memory upgrades of the An platform with the iPhone, not the iPad. This is annoying for two reasons:

1. The iPhone 4 came out a mere ~3 months after the iPad. Are you telling me that this 3 month gap meant the iPad couldn't have 512MB of RAM like the iPhone 4? Presumably, the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 will be on a similar gap; and

2. I'm more interested in processing capacity on the iPad than an iPhone.

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

#65

Post by angstrom »

cletus wrote: post #21

> Don't get me wrong: I'll always have a tablet in my life... And how is this not a game changer? Would the author have said the before the iPad? The iPad has replaced a laptop or desktop for all casual browsing (I typed this comment on mine) and a lot of media consumption. It's great for technical books. And I play games on it. It is easily the most cost effective tech purchase I have ever made in terms of how much…

I think for certain use cases it will still be a game changer. It fills the role of a 'more mobile' laptop. The form is not offensive. If someone handed you a tablet to:

Fill out a form in a waiting room.

Select your order at a restaurant.

Go over your vitals in a hospital.

Track incoming/outgoing inventory in a warehouse or somewhere else in the field where a desk may not be at hand.

Businesses can see how this leads to improvements in productivity by reducing the data entry step that would usually be done by another person copying what was already entered. The functional potential goes beyond consumer web browsing and game playing.

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

#66

Post by soulclap »

I don't own a tablet, saw one in action for the first time a week ago and the owner and I basically came up with the same reasons why it's rather useless as the ones mentioned in the article. It's definitely nice to have for reading in bed or keeping up 'on the road' but overall it seems to be pretty reduced to 'consuming' instead of 'producing'.

One thing I like about tablets is that they made publishers reconsider how they can bring a better and more rich 'experience' to their readers (subscribers). But I wonder how long it will take until they notice that they should rework their web pages as well. I am so tired of (nearly) all web 'articles' ('features') just consisting of a headline and endless blocks of text, maybe an embedded video and some links, you could do so much more.

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

#67

Post by rudiger »

burgerbrain wrote: post #42
rudiger wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, portability is a huge deal.

Since when are laptops not portable? It's not even like the ipad is particularly portable, like my regular laptop (although unlike my netbook.....) I cannot fit it in my pockets, I would need to carry a bag for it anyway. Throw in having to carry a keyboard and some sort of stand as well to make the thing actually usable, and suddenly laptops start looking way more portable.

I was talking about phones.

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

#68

Post by soulclap »

codeglomeration wrote: post #26

The point seems to be that it doesn't do all the things that the author wants it to do. And, it doesn't have to. Anybody who knows what his talking about is not saying that computers are dead, and that tablets are the way forward. In the same way, nobody is complaining that smartphones are crap because it's hard to create content on them. Obviously the use cases are different. Now would somebody who mostly consumes c…

The problem is that people who should know what they're talking about have said things like 'the tablet will eventually replace other computer set-ups' a lot when tablets first came up. And I don't think it's a problem of 'adapting' if you claim that this won't happen.

At least I won't believe that until someone beats me in 'Typing Of The Dead', desktop versus tablet.

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

#69

Post by gms »

cletus wrote: post #64
Zev wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my unscientific survey, MacBook Pro's outrank iPads, which outrank generic Windows laptops in cafe's. Moreover, in a further unscientific survey, paperback books outrank hardcover books, who's usage surpasses the Kindle and Nook, combined. And I live in San Francisco. Moreover, the people who bring any of these items don't seem to drink their coffee! feigned shock

I won't disagree with your observations. I will however point out one thing: the sampling is skewed because you only really see what people are doing in public. I would guess that the majority of iPad usage is in the home and, to a lesser extent, in the office, so much so that I probably won't even buy the 3G version of the iPad 2 (I have the 64GB 3G iPad). Plus now I live in New York (rather than Australia, when I b…

Women especially love having the iPad at home.

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

#70

Post by sudont »

hammock wrote: post #46
cageface wrote: post #22

The thing is, most people aren't scribes. The iPad isn't a good laptop replacement. It's something new. Developers are still in the early stages of figuring out what this means.

Rule #1 of entrepreneurship? Make sure your product solves an existing problem. If tablets don't do this then they fail.

An existing problem is not always codified through speech: rather, we may not understand the problem because it is such a part of the fabric of our life we cannot consider the alternative. It’s possible that tablets and their rapidly evolving OSes have not been around to show us the distinction between digital data retrieval and desktop computing. This is not the same as a manufactured problem. Using digital data in the field has always been shitty, but it’s been up until now that we’ve understood that computers must be in some static form, not a clipboard. Previous tablets most likely failed through latching an OS for sitting onto a computer for walking.

The same issue is in art: our modern idols are merely the most recognizable stop points in a continuous evolution of style and formality. In retrospect, it’ll be easier to see the distinction between tablet and laptop five years from now.

See also: the faster horse in your garage or driveway.

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