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

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

#21

Post by cletus » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 11:46 PM UTC

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

Apple has sold 16M since launch with 40M+ expected this year. For a new product segment.

Sounds like a game changer to me.

What I am over is all the hype over Android tablets. Basically I'll believe it when I see it.

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

#22

Post by cageface » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 11:53 PM UTC

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.

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

#23

Post by Legion » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 11:55 PM UTC

Using Wired's awful iPad app and its ludicrous 700MB downloads as an example of how magazines are bad on tablets is a joke.

Go try the Economist app and then come back and try to make the same argument. I hardly read my print copies anymore.

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

#24

Post by spanktheuser » Sun, Feb 20, 2011, 11:56 PM UTC

I think the author gets tripped up in the classic "all users look like me" cognitive trap. Just by mentioning OmniFocus, we know he is a power user of some type. Which means his article probably contains any number of very good points, but the title should have been "Why power users won't care very much about tablets soon."

For regular users, the list of use cases the author proposes should also include: To do all these things, I want to just press a button on my home screen. Anything else may confuse me.

Over Christmas, I told my 70 year old mother (who has never sent an email, seen YouTube, or looked up directions on Google Maps) that I had downloaded a quilting application on my iPad. And left it, powered off, where she could get to it. I returned 10 minutes later, and she was happily creating a complicated quilting pattern on the iPad.

While a macbook air would let some types of users create quilting patterns more efficiently, OSX is just too complicated for my mom and many others like her.

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

#25

Post by jgamman » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:02 AM UTC

Legion wrote: post #23

Using Wired's awful iPad app and its ludicrous 700MB downloads as an example of how magazines are bad on tablets is a joke. Go try the Economist app and then come back and try to make the same argument. I hardly read my print copies anymore.

seconded. worldwide distribution at midnight thursday. the economist is excellent (nb didn't translate the UX to the the sister pub Intelligent Life - good articles but doesn't behave as expected)

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

#26

Post by codeglomeration » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:07 AM UTC

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 content ditch the computer for a tablet? Possibly. Would somebody who creates content ditch the computer for a tablet or smartphone? Doubt it.

At the same time, this is not a zero sum game. People can own a computer and tablet.

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

#27

Post by bradshaw1965 » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:11 AM UTC

I think the ipad is best of breed for pdf's and comics. Throw in a retina display or whatever hires equivalent you want to use and it's long form magazine nirvana. Sure it's a rich geeks toy...but what a toy.

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

#28

Post by johnrob » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:14 AM UTC

Legion wrote: post #23

Using Wired's awful iPad app and its ludicrous 700MB downloads as an example of how magazines are bad on tablets is a joke. Go try the Economist app and then come back and try to make the same argument. I hardly read my print copies anymore.

One reason content can look good in a tablet is that it's designed with UX in mind. Print design has always favored maximizing the content per page over actual usability.

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

#29

Post by jules » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:20 AM UTC

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?

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

#30

Post by epochwolf » Mon, Feb 21, 2011, 12:20 AM UTC

jordanb wrote: post #13

I got in a lot of fights with Apple fans over this last year. :) My point is that tablets have never ever taken off---even though various companies have been trying for decades . Of course the argument that the iPad is different from every other device in history due to ubiquitous internet access and multi-touch. And I admit that I couldn't even convince myself entirely that those weren't game changers, but a year la…

I vastly prefer my iPad over a laptop. The only reason I have my laptop anymore is for a few games and programming.