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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

#81

Post by samtp »

ihodes wrote: post #19

The thing is, nothing beats a tablet (well, I use an iPad) for reading. Instapaper (articles, news), iBooks (pdf, ebooks), Reeder (rss), Safari (everything else) are all excellent. I can't lay in bed with my laptop or desktop, nor does reading on my phone cut it. The Kindle is nice, but it's black and white, and for me the lack of backlight makes it harder to read (esp. since I'm reading at night, and don't want to h…

Try reading an iPad outside, it sucks. The Kindle lets you read in some fresh air without squinting your eyes out.

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

#82

Post by Herring »

jules wrote: post #29
ihodes wrote: post #19

The thing is, nothing beats a tablet (well, I use an iPad) for reading. Instapaper (articles, news), iBooks (pdf, ebooks), Reeder (rss), Safari (everything else) are all excellent. I can't lay in bed with my laptop or desktop, nor does reading on my phone cut it. The Kindle is nice, but it's black and white, and for me the lack of backlight makes it harder to read (esp. since I'm reading at night, and don't want to h…

How is the ipad on the eyes? My eyes get tired from reading from a laptop screen at night. Is the ipad better?

I find it easier on my eyes, but YMMV.

http://imgur.com/jPXrT

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

#83

Post by [deleted] »

ugh wrote: post #53
jules wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the ipad on the eyes? My eyes get tired from reading from a laptop screen at night. Is the ipad better?

It obviously is exactly the same because the iPad uses a laptop screen. (It has a higher quality IPS and not the usual TN panel [1] but I don’t think that matters a great deal. IPS panels have better color reproduction and better viewing angles, that’s the only difference to lower quality LCD panels.) The iPad screen has even a similar number of pixels per inch compared to current laptops. (A 15" laptop with a resolu…

[deleted]

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

#84

Post by ihodes »

ugh wrote: post #53
jules wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the ipad on the eyes? My eyes get tired from reading from a laptop screen at night. Is the ipad better?

It obviously is exactly the same because the iPad uses a laptop screen. (It has a higher quality IPS and not the usual TN panel [1] but I don’t think that matters a great deal. IPS panels have better color reproduction and better viewing angles, that’s the only difference to lower quality LCD panels.) The iPad screen has even a similar number of pixels per inch compared to current laptops. (A 15" laptop with a resolu…

The newest Macbook pros have roughly the same PPI. Old laptops do not; there is a difference.

Just like reading on a CRT is more unpleasant than reading on a newer IPS, reading on the iPad is more pleasant than reading on most laptops.

The other factors that make reading on an iPad more pleasant for me are:

1) Angle (I hold it like I want it)

2) Location (I hold it where I want it)

3) Duration (I hold it for 10 hours–or lay it on its back, or prop it up…)

So it's not only better on the eyes, but the back and neck.

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

#86

Post by commieneko »

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.

Revolutionary tools seldom solve existing problems, instead they give us new abilities or mental modes for dealing with the world. (And sometimes it gives us new _limitations_ as well...)

In other words, an automobile is not simply a better horse. A word processor is not just a better typewriter. A printing press isn't just a faster scribe.

While there may be some overlap between abilities between the old and the new, and that overlap is often a useful marketing tool, that is usually the least interesting area.

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

#87

Post by ctdonath »

blocke wrote: post #75
trustfundbaby wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15 Million Ipads sold in one year would seem to handily contradict whatever argument you're trying to make. People love tablet pcs, because they simplify computing for them ... a lot of people on hacker news don't get that, because using computers (in all their delicious complexity) is generally second nature for us.

$15 million impresses you? Chump change.

No, but >$500*15M=$7.5B in less than a year with a new product in a went-nowhere-for-decades category does.

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

#88

Post by verisimilitude »

jules wrote: post #29
ihodes wrote: post #19

The thing is, nothing beats a tablet (well, I use an iPad) for reading. Instapaper (articles, news), iBooks (pdf, ebooks), Reeder (rss), Safari (everything else) are all excellent. I can't lay in bed with my laptop or desktop, nor does reading on my phone cut it. The Kindle is nice, but it's black and white, and for me the lack of backlight makes it harder to read (esp. since I'm reading at night, and don't want to h…

How is the ipad on the eyes? My eyes get tired from reading from a laptop screen at night. Is the ipad better?

Consider color temperature when reading at night: http://stereopsis.com/flux/

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

#89

Post by idlewords »

verisimilitude wrote: post #88
jules wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the ipad on the eyes? My eyes get tired from reading from a laptop screen at night. Is the ipad better?

Consider color temperature when reading at night: http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Consider your sanity when using flux. It has all kinds of weird interactions with other software (VMWare especially was unusable with Flux installed), and it's also very stupid about time zone changes. I ultimately ended up just uninstalling it out of frustration.

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

#90

Post by jerome_bent »

I got an iPad in April, at launch, and gave it away at Christmas. I wanted a tablet to replace two distinct sets of physical objects that haven't yet gone digital: my moleskine/writing pads and my library of magazines and reference books. The iPad is useless for scribbling and the reading experience (the screen, the weight, the UI) is poor. The iPad doesn't autodeliver new content and I fear Apple has killed the inchoate market for digital newspapers, magazines and the like with the new heavyhanded rules for digital subscriptions. The iPad had great promise but it is unfulfilled.
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