Google quits selling tablets • Hacker News Board

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#291

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:24 PM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #274

jrs95 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft doesn’t need to constantly rebuild different kernels for every supported device, which is basically a necessity for Android/ChromeOS because of their Linux base. That’s probably a big motivator for the Fuschia project.

It has far less to do with the Linux base than the shear variety of chipsets with custom loaders needed for ARM architecture.

And anything like PCI lookup on ARM.

Damn it, MS balked at offering Windows on power efficient Atoms. This because Intel had stripped PCI from the SoC to save transistors and thus power.

I suspect that if you were to poke at the ARM chips found in the Windows RT devices, they would be special variants with PCI grafted on.

ARM SOCs are a bit like firing up an old DOS PC and fiddling with IRQ and DMA setting, only that you can't pull the cover off to see what cards are inserted and what the DIPs are set to.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#292

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:31 PM UTC

bhauer wrote: post #253

I am not surprised. What we think of today when we say "tablet" is a first-class computing device and I am of the opinion few people want a plurality of such devices in their life. This is due to what I call the "yet another application platform dilemma." At some saturation point, few people want the mental burden of adding the care and feeding of another device to their life. Few people want to manage numerous devic…

I remember those smart displays.

As i recall, they didn't go anywhere because MS could not get their licensing scheme to work with it. Because their Windows Home license assumed one active user pr PC, but people assumed that with the smart display one family member could be on the couch while another was typing at the keyboard.

But when you undocked the smart display, all other displays connected to the PC blacked out.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#293

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #56

derefr wrote: post #50

> Cheap Kindle tablets from Amazon have proliferated somewhat, presumably as distractions for kids who would otherwise get fingerprints all over mom’s new phone, or for ultra-compact time-wasting on airplanes. Why does everybody think of only consumer-electronics uses for a $40 tablet? I think it would be quite obvious what the real use for these is: IoT control surfaces (the “smart fridge” upgrade), POS systems, inv…

I agree completely! I've been thinking about why the rise of the ultra-cheap Fire tablets haven't created a new maker revolution so to speak. They can be had for cheaper than the RPi for Black Friday with a built in screen!

Likely a lack of physical IO.

These things have a single micro-USB port, and it will be dedicated to charging more often than not.

an RPi by comparison have ethernet, multiple A style USB ports, and dedicated video out (never mind the pin array).

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#294

Post by techsin101 » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:37 PM UTC

Time for fuschia os

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#295

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 6:41 PM 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…

Funny thing is that the early days of Android tablets were just like that.

Hell, Android was poised to get into the 2-in-1 market as well.

But then two things happened.

First Google expanded the Android Marketplace (later rechristened Google Play) to offer movies and music. Coinciding with this, Google redesigned the permissions surrounding removable storage, making them for most apps read only (making it that much harder to produce on a Android device and then store the results on a USB stick or similar).

Second was now CEO Pichai's baby, ChromeOS. The path of it and Android beyond phones crossed, and Pichai was able to best Rubin. Thus we had a grand unveiling of ChromeOS where they tried to angle it towards corporate use, to the point that they had Citrix join them on stage to demo logging into Windows PCs from a ChromeOS browser window.

And while Google tried in vain to sell ChromeOS as a corporate tool, Android languished. Only recently have there been renewed interest in Android beyond consumer phones. First with a "sandbox" for work apps, second by putting Android apps on ChromeOS.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#296

Post by drak0n1c » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 7:05 PM UTC

wishinghand wrote: post #195

drak0n1c wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's newest full form-factor iPad is only $300, and often is available on sale for ~$270. I think that's made a big difference.

When you say full form factor, do you mean something other than the 13”? That model is $800 at the cheapest.

I mean non-mini. The traditional 9.7 inch screen.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#297

Post by __sr__ » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 7:13 PM UTC

doingmything wrote: post #252

__sr__ wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that varies from person to person. My iPad Pro, for example, is my most used personal device. I prefer it over my phone whenever possible. In fact, I like phones small - it’s a pain to pull out a brick every time I want to talk. It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess.

Do people stilll talk on phones? Serious question. I think I do about 99% of my communication via text or other messaging

Definitely. Text is good for “lazy” communication — so is email. By lazy, I mean, I sent you a text and you can respond whenever you like. But if the communication is real time - i.e. the sender expects a quick response and vice versa, voice call is usually better. In fact, unless I know the person very well, I usually send a text asking if it is a good time to talk.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#298

Post by __sr__ » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 7:18 PM UTC

EpicEng wrote: post #246

__sr__ wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that varies from person to person. My iPad Pro, for example, is my most used personal device. I prefer it over my phone whenever possible. In fact, I like phones small - it’s a pain to pull out a brick every time I want to talk. It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess.

>It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess. Of course it is, but tablet sales have been declining for years.

It’s more like cell phones have created unreasonable expectations for sales. People change phones once ever 12-24 months. Tablets, on the other hand, easily last 3-4 years. In that sense, tables have more in common with laptops than phones. People who need them, buy them all the time. It is just that not as many people need tablets as phones. Initially a lot of tables were sold because of the hype. But then people realised that not everyone needs a tablets — and theat tablets can be shared among the family — unlike phones. Hence the so called “decline”.

I like to think that tablet sales are reaching their stable values rahpther than just declining.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#299

Post by __sr__ » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

mnem wrote: post #256

EpicEng wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess. Of course it is, but tablet sales have been declining for years.

163.5M is still a significant number of sales per year though. I don't think it's a dying segment yet. Interestingly detachable tablet sales have increased for the past few years. Source: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43549518

I’d say tablet sales are approaching their stable values.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#300

Post by defined » Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 7:30 PM UTC

mrexroad wrote: post #290

chiefalchemist wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. But I think the gist of the point is you're in the fringe, the minority.

I’ve owned every other generation iPad since launch. The iPad Pro 10.5 is something special. Keyboard cover, screen size, split view, effortless portability... they add up in a way that has significantly changed how I use it. I rarely use my MBP away from my desk anymore. Aside from work requiring Xcode, Smart Keyboard cover + ssh client + tmux works surprisingly well (for me) for away-from-desk dev work.

I have the same tablet and the same experience. If they stopped making the iPad Pro, or something like it, I would be very much affected, because I do a great deal of real-world work on it, in places that would be much less hospitable to even small laptops.

I, too, do ssh + tmux, as well as Textastic, Pythonista, and Working Copy (git), so much so that when I showed a colleague what I did, he exclaimed in an astonished tone that the only things he thought people used iPads for were email, browsing, and games.

That remark prompted me to make an 11 minute video (all done on the iPad using screen recording, Keynote, and iMovie) of creating a Linode, sshing into it, installing a user with SSH login, logging out and sshing in as the new user, installing the latest Docker from docker.com, and demoing some of the apps I just mentioned (to fit a 15 minute time budget). The latest iPads are not toys; they can be used for professional work.

With LTE access, I can easily work almost anywhere; working on a plane is much easier than with a laptop (for me - I'm pretty tall and it's already a squeeze).