Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by forgottenpaswrd » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:18 AM UTC

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.

The first time I used Windows 3.11 it was a toy compared with the real work you could do with DOS and all their programs. In Windows, you could use the mouse to paint, that is, all the big games and programs were still DOS.

Ipad today is a toy like iphone 1.0 was, but this will change as the technology matures.

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

#132

Post by forgottenpaswrd » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:30 AM UTC

swift wrote: post #34

> ... 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, o…

"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."

There are already tablet prototypes with pen input, it does not have tilt and rotation like wacom does but normal ink pen have not either. I bet on Apple being the first to make it mass produced as usual.

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

#133

Post by JonnieCache » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:33 AM UTC

ladon86 wrote: post #61

EnderMB wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

In my experience, seeing something brandished ostentatiously on certain street corners in london, but nowhere else (which is my experience,) is evidence in favor of it being a fad of little relevance.

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

#134

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:36 AM UTC

EnderMB wrote: post #116

danudey wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Vancouver, BC and I've seen tons of people using them. If you hit a few Starbucks in a day (as I tend to do) chances are that you'll see at least one or two people using them there. Saw one girl yesterday that seemed to be reading a book; another one today was writing something. They're not ubiquitous, but I get the sense that a lot of people buy them and use them at home instead of dragging them around tow…

I go to Starbucks at least twice a week, and I've yet to see one there. The only places I've seen them is at a graduation party and a few days ago at Wagamama (asian restaurant). In contrast I see a Kindle nearly every single day on the bus or in Starbucks. I can imagine them selling quite well now, but I can't help but feel that people are buying them because they're a shiny, new Apple product, rather than because t…

[deleted]

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

#135

Post by yardie » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:53 AM UTC

mkr-hn wrote: post #10

6ren wrote: post #5

Convenience and price is how disruption starts. Why did anyone buy a cell phone if they had a landline? It was worse in every way, except portability.

Except your option was a cell phone or a land line. In this case you've got a choice between smartphone, ultralight laptop, netbook, and tablet.

Your options were landline, cellphone, carphone, suitcase phone, VHF, and CB. Each one had their pros and cons. For example, Nextel IDEN phones had excellent PTT that rivaled VHF. The Nokia/Orange version was inferior in every way. Sprint eventually shutdown that band down and twitter (and facebook) took its place.

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

#136

Post by danssig » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 11:58 AM UTC

knieveltech wrote: post #76

redthrowaway wrote: post #59

The points he raises are the reasons I never liked tablets. Sure, I respect the iPad, and I'd kind of like to have one, but for what? Productivity? Laptop. Web surfing? Laptop. Movies? Laptop or TV. Games? PS3. It simply isn't good enough at anything to make me want one. I still respect it, but I've never been able to get behind the idea of buying one. I've been counselling people to grab the Air, as it's a fantastic…

Probably because there is no point once you peel back the layers of marketing and breathless fanboyism. I've seen two (2) of these things in the wild since they came out. I live in one of the top three tech hubs on the east coast and I've been to countless meetup groups, starbucks, panera and at least one international developer conference in that time. Both of the people I saw with ipads where eager to breathlessly…

Well I use it a ton every single week. I ride the train for about 3 hours per day (total), with connections. With a laptop the start/suspend cycle made it just not worth it to use on some of the connections. I can use the iPad any time I'm still long enough to justify taking it out of the bag. I've recovered most of my travel time for reading or watching movies now.

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

#137

Post by glhaynes » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 2:45 PM UTC

rkudeshi wrote: post #105

samtp wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I may not be representative of most people, but I rarely read outside. I find myself reading more on plains, trains, and at home curled up on a couch. Given that usage pattern, the glare makes little difference (but the iPad's increased utility makes it a worthwhile "upgrade").

It'd be nice for the iPad to be more readable outside, but it'd be even nicer IMO for the Kindle to be more readable in the dark/dim.

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

#138

Post by samtp » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 3:29 PM UTC

rkudeshi wrote: post #105

samtp wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I may not be representative of most people, but I rarely read outside. I find myself reading more on plains, trains, and at home curled up on a couch. Given that usage pattern, the glare makes little difference (but the iPad's increased utility makes it a worthwhile "upgrade").

Living in South Carolina, it'll be 75-80 degrees F every day for the next few months. Not being able to read a book/magazine/blog.. outside would make me go a bit bonkers.

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

#139

Post by gms » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 4:09 PM UTC

rkudeshi wrote: post #104

gms wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Women especially love having the iPad at home.

If you're going to generalize like that, it's best to cite some evidence to back it up.

It comes from my admittedly small sample size. The women I know (friends, family) have always ignored tech purchases their significant others brought into the home.

But not with the iPad; they ended up being very active users. In bed, on the couch, in the kitchen, etc

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

#140

Post by CWuestefeld » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 4:15 PM UTC

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…

Buying the new version--pretty much whatever it is--is almost a no-brainer.

You had a good reply going up until this point, but here you make me question your judgment.

Even if it's true that a tablet -- a 1st generation iPad -- was an important innovation for you, it in no way follows that an upgrade from the 1st generation to the 2nd generation will justify laying out that much money again.

One imagines that it's something along the lines of 80/20. You probably captured 80% of the possible utility with the 1G product (I suspect even more than that). If the 2G product has improvements bringing that to, say, 90% (adding 10 additional points), then it's only delivering 1/8 as much utility, and is thus far more expensive per unit of utility.

It almost certainly does not make sense to buy the new one, precisely because you derive so much utility from the original.