Google quits selling tablets • Hacker News Board

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#141

Post by eight_ender » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:05 AM UTC

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #41

This is somewhat strange. I thought tablets killed the PC market. My wife is a primary school teacher and it's very difficult to teach children to use a mouse because they all have tablets at home. I know Android tablets haven't been selling well, but that's because people like me have been desperately waiting for a decent device to be released. iPads are absolutely everywhere. What's the proposed alternative for med…

There's no real alternative. You buy an iPad or Amazon tablet, and you get either iOS with the App Store or Amazon's weird Android fork and it's Amazon centric ecosystem.

Google is being short sighted here. These are the operating systems our kids are growing up with, and tablets are amazing for kids. My kid started on a busted old iPad 3 I had laying around, and now he's punching trees in Minecraft on an iPad Air.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#142

Post by jimjimjim » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:10 AM UTC

everytime there is a tablet article on hn i feel the need to ask if there is a replacement tablet at least as good as the nexus 7.

mine is physically looking a bit rough these days and i'm worried what I can do if it finally breaks.

7inch tablets are the perfect size for reading ebooks on a train or in bed.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#143

Post by pjmlp » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:13 AM UTC

All tablets worth using are using Windows 10.

Microsoft might have lost the mobile OS war, but outside US they won the tablets and convertibles one.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#144

Post by garyclarke27 » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:21 AM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #16

giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

My favorite tablet ever made is discontinued and I never got to buy it[0] and it had a design that made complete sense to me. It is the only tablet where the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom (idk any other tablet doing this...) and they're really loud. My fiance has one because I recommended it to her, and her parents got it for her as a graduation present. It has it's funky moments, but I'm…

>the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom This drives me crazy on my iPad. My phone came out in 2016 and has stereo speakers. My iPad came out in 2017 and despite being massive in comparison with tons of available space (and weirdly, a headphone jack) it only has one speaker. Yet I never watch movies on my phone and I do it all the time on my iPad, where it makes way more sense to have stereo spe…

So true - iPad speakers have always been rubbish - extremely annoying to spend £700+ $1000 (several times) to get the same tinny no base no volume experience. Which idiot decided to put the speakers facing backwards ??? Also screen brightness is still a problem in sunlight, surely with their umpteen billions in cash they should be able to develop a screen one can actually read from outside?? Having said that its still by far my most used consumption device - as a web browser and kindle reader. Such a bonus not having the weight of books to carry when traveling or filling the house with newspapers and magazines.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#145

Post by Too » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:23 AM UTC

atomi wrote: post #8

sliken wrote: post #4

I loved my nexus-7, and the 2nd gen nexus-7 even more. Inexpensive, pure android, decent hardware spec, and a usefully larger display than a phone. Anyone know of a current table that avoids the adware, crapware, and 3d contact managers where each card flies around in 3D? I just want android with the current security updates and 7-9" display.

Nexus 7 2013 is still a great tablet.

While the Nexus7 gen 2 was, and to some extent still is, a great tablet. I don't think i would recommend anyone to buy it today. It's stuck on Android 6.0 with known security vulnerabilities and the performance is starting to fall a bit behind the software "development".

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#146

Post by garyclarke27 » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:26 AM UTC

wlesieutre wrote: post #34

freehunter wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom This drives me crazy on my iPad. My phone came out in 2016 and has stereo speakers. My iPad came out in 2017 and despite being massive in comparison with tons of available space (and weirdly, a headphone jack) it only has one speaker. Yet I never watch movies on my phone and I do it all the time on my iPad, where it makes way more sense to have stereo spe…

The iPad Mini (2012) and iPad Air (2013) and all iPads since have stereo speakers on either side of the bottom edge. They're laid out for portrait though, since Apple treats that as the standard orientation. Not ideal for watching movies. The Pro versions have four speakers in the corners and adjust which pair are left vs right depending on whether you're in portrait or landscape.

Yes how stupid to assume portrait, I (and everyone I know) have always used iPads in landscape mode! And why on earth do their crappy speakers face backwards ??

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#147

Post by mmsimanga » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:27 AM UTC

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #41

This is somewhat strange. I thought tablets killed the PC market. My wife is a primary school teacher and it's very difficult to teach children to use a mouse because they all have tablets at home. I know Android tablets haven't been selling well, but that's because people like me have been desperately waiting for a decent device to be released. iPads are absolutely everywhere. What's the proposed alternative for med…

I ran into the issue your wife experienced with kids at her school teaching kids to use a mouse with my daughter. We have a Samsung tablet that my daughter has made her own for the last several years. The tablet will not charge anymore so I put her in front of my old laptop. I was surprised at how much she struggled to use the mouse. Her hands are stiff and she seems bewildered. I realise now how intuitive tablets are.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#148

Post by makecheck » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:30 AM UTC

For me the tablet form factor was killed not by apps but ironically the non-apps: web browsing went from perfection to trash once sites tried to detect touch screens and “improve their experiences”.

Pinch-and-zoom with normal sites goes a long way and should have been the preferred tablet web model.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#149

Post by mehrdadn » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:31 AM UTC

makecheck wrote: post #148

For me the tablet form factor was killed not by apps but ironically the non-apps: web browsing went from perfection to trash once sites tried to detect touch screens and “improve their experiences”. Pinch-and-zoom with normal sites goes a long way and should have been the preferred tablet web model.

+1 honestly the optimization for tablets made every UI trash. Don't forget Windows 8 & 10's new interfaces.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#150

Post by kurtisc » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:31 AM UTC

013a wrote: post #58

Microsoft seems like the only company that understands tablets right now. They should be more like computers, not more like phones. There's also a pretty great argument that given all of our phones are absolute powerhouses nowadays, phones should also be less like phones and more like computers. I'm hopeful Microsoft can also move to spur on this change; maybe soon the market will be ready for the return of Windows P…

I've found Windows very frustrating to use on non-Surface tablets and somehow the tablet mode is even more so. IIRC, opening the on-screen keyboard makes you lose focus on whatever window it was you wanted to type in.