Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

makeuseof.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 115 posts

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#101

Post by SirPulse »

MrFoof wrote: post #94

I use my iPad for when I don't want to work. It's that simple. I don't find using it to be terribly productive for work purposes (especially as a data warehouse consultant). I realize that some people have, and that's great, but for me it doesn't fit the bill. So what I use it for is when I specifically want to ensure I can't work. I grab it, I go into the sitting area of my bedroom (away from dual 27" display setup)…

Get a surface Pro. You should be able to do both the things, work and play without having to worry about switching devices.

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#103

Post by nawitus »

Mz wrote: post #99
nawitus wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy dual monitors for a price of a cheap tablet.

And if you are in a situation with limited access to electricity, that may not be relevant. Some third world countries have electricity but cannot afford to make it available 24/7. You clearly have no idea how spoiled you are that you think a decision like that is purely a matter of personal budgeting. A netbook would have been cheaper. I know that. It would not have served my needs as well. It still wouldn't. Nowher…

Eh? I don't claim that dual monitors are the best option for everyone, but it's a possibility to most Western people, since the cost is the same as it is for a cheap tablet. I think you should have some better manners and stop calling everyone "spoiled". It's not a good way to have a constructive discussion.

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#104

Post by Mz »

nawitus wrote: post #103
Mz wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you are in a situation with limited access to electricity, that may not be relevant. Some third world countries have electricity but cannot afford to make it available 24/7. You clearly have no idea how spoiled you are that you think a decision like that is purely a matter of personal budgeting. A netbook would have been cheaper. I know that. It would not have served my needs as well. It still wouldn't. Nowher…

Eh? I don't claim that dual monitors are the best option for everyone, but it's a possibility to most Western people, since the cost is the same as it is for a cheap tablet. I think you should have some better manners and stop calling everyone "spoiled". It's not a good way to have a constructive discussion.

You haven't heard anything I have said. Replying with your rebuttal completely dismisses my point. And now you are engaging in ad hominems. Saying someone is spoiled says they lack perspective as to why this might be valuable to someone in different circumstances. That's all. Nothing ill mannered about it. But your replies are pretty disrespectful, and getting increasingly worse.

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#106

Post by giulivo »

I stayed in the dark for long time, waiting for a post like this. I refused to spend any good money on whatever tablet.

Better, not only I haven't found any single productive use for a tablet, I haven't ever found one for a smartphone either.

I think one could buy a porable mp3 player or an ebook reader for much less money.

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#107

Post by pooriaazimi »

8ig8 wrote: post #83
greggman wrote: post #61

I have an iPad3 and a Nexus 7. They sit mostly unused. I'll pick up the iPad3 once in while just for fun. I've played a few games to completion (Sword and Sworcery, Groove Coaster) but that's about it. I don't find them good for consuming except for movies on a plane. Movies at home? The bigger the screen the better. I'd much rather watch movies on my 42 inch TV from my sofa than my tablets. Reading? I'd much rather…

> I'm a curious person and I click lots of links. So for example I'll come to HN and ctrl click every title that sounds interesting. Tablets hate this workflow as they start removing tabs. I'm the same way on my desktop, but on my iPad, I accomplish this by using the 'Add to Reading List' functionality. Just tap and hold a link and it is queued up. I used this all the time for HN and Google News. I like not having th…

It also saves them for offline viewing, so you can view those "tabs" in, say, a bus to work (without using 3G network).

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#108

Post by fencepost »

This seems to be mostly looking at tablets as potential computer replacements, but that's not really where they're good. A tablet (or phone) can be a decent supplement but is unlikely to be a replacement.

A few areas to consider:

* When you're mobile with a laptop and used to working on multiple monitors, there's software you can use to make a tablet or "phablet" into a second monitor. This depends on you having a reasonable stand and you'll probably want it plugged in (at least if it's a phone and you want to preserve battery life), but at least one of the options (iDisplay, iOS and Android) works with either Wifi or USB as a connection.

* Offload non-essentials or things you'd like to be able to refer to - ebooks, to-do lists.

* Offload communications (email, twitter, etc.) that you might otherwise be tempted to have on your laptop - if those are on the tablet, you're not flipping over to them on your primary machine.

* (mostly phones) As a capture device, these may not be as fast or flexible as pen and paper, but where they can be great is as meta-capture devices: take notes, draw, etc., then take a picture of it in something that auto-syncs for you to process further later (e.g. convert that quick sketch into a network diagram)

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#109

Post by jaxn »

erichocean wrote: post #28

This is timely. My company is building business software, and amazingly, it runs best on a tablet (iPad specifically). Oh, it's perfectly usable on the desktop, but it's so much more effective on the iPad -- faster, more enjoyable, easier. I'm still amazed; a month ago, I could have penned the OP's article.

This doesn't surprise me at all. I am reading all of these critiques and wondering if the people who don't have a use for tablets are all programmers who sit at a desk all day.

My iPad is indispensable. I use Evernote to store a ton of important info. My calendar is almost exclusively managed on my iPad (largely because I set appointments while in meetings). I have a few web apps that are critical to my business that I frequently use from my iPad.

Then there is my downtime. I love reading on my iPad. I also have a Nexus 7, but I don't like it nearly as much. The narrow screen makes traditional websites uncomfortable to read, though the evernote and calendar uses are great.

Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet

#110

Post by hollerith »

pd_drawexpress wrote: post #77

I am an author of DrawExpress - a gesture recognition diagram app. I built it because there is really no app that let me draw ideas and designs fast enough. Too many of the current apps for tablet are not optimized for touch-based input. Productivity is all about speed and I like to see more gesture controlled productivity apps in the near future. (My app video - http://youtu.be/SI9VdC_JYWU )

I wish you luck with your app, but think your comment is not really relevant to the current topic (so I, ah, downvoted it).
Post reply on HN