People are still using tablets?
Google quits selling tablets
31–40 of 330 posts
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#32My Chromebook that runs Android apps has replaced any need for a tablet for me. It is lighter than my bug laptop but still can get a lot done and if I want I fold it into tablet mode and I'm set.
This is not a serious solution at the time I tried this several months ago.
Most of the apps I downloaded for Android were not optimized well for a Chromebook with text/window sizing, prevented resizing of the windows and were downright buggy(not registering presses and sometimes would even crash.)
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#33> ... few people see any reason to upgrade a device that was originally sold for its simplicity and ease of use, not its specs. I, for one, have been using the third-gen (1st Retina) iPad since its release approximately 500 years ago and have never felt any compulsion whatsoever to get a new one. This seems a little weird to me. Don't tablets age in a similar way that smartphones age? As in, the battery gets weaker o…
My cheap Allwinner based Chinese tablets do just fine next to the iPad my son uses on almost everything except when he wants us to play Roblox together. So basically anything that doesn't require high 3D performance. I'm sure I could find other things if I tried, but my experience is that I don't see much need to upgrade my tablets for performance. What's driven my upgrades for tablets have been improving screens / resolution.
That makes me think you have a point with screens. Resolution also plays in - e.g. I read comics on my phone a lot, and it made a huge difference when I got a phone with a 1920x1080 screen - e.g. I'd less often need to zoom in. And as my phones have pushed up towards 6", I went from 7"-8" tablets up to 10", but at the same time my usage probably dropped. My tablet has supplanted a little bit of my laptop use with the larger screen (and it has a magnetically attachable keyboard, but that gets little use), but I use my phone for a lot more things that I'd previously use my tablet for.
In general I replace my phone maybe once a year or once every 18 months on average, while my tablets easily live for 2-3 years or more.
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#34My 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…
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.
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#35Good riddance! It’s not like they have actively been developing Android to support tablets. In fact, it is the other way around. The older versions had better support for tablets. Even Nexus 9 was a half hearted attempt at best — and the rest is history. Google’s lack of interest in nowhere more evident than their own apps — many of them were just scaled versions of phone apps. And if Google is not bothering to optim…
I admit that I haven't paid much attention. But the whole revamp of the UI framework into Fragments was precisely to let app developers support both phones and tablets.
Why do you say older versions of Android had better support for tablets?
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#36> ... few people see any reason to upgrade a device that was originally sold for its simplicity and ease of use, not its specs. I, for one, have been using the third-gen (1st Retina) iPad since its release approximately 500 years ago and have never felt any compulsion whatsoever to get a new one. This seems a little weird to me. Don't tablets age in a similar way that smartphones age? As in, the battery gets weaker o…
> I think a more plausible reason for sales numbers falling is that people don't need or want tablets as much as they thought they did
That probably is part of the explanation. For me, I bought a "New iPad" on 2012. Some months ago I bought a new model, as iOS is not updated anymore. That is the main reason to upgrade and this is another topic for discussion. It has been six years between tablets. And the need for an upgrade is slightly artificial.
A 6-year-old tablet will still be able to run the latest version of Chrome and I can play casual 2D games without a problem. If Apple has not stopped supporting it I will continue using it.
When I was a teenager, I was changing computers every two years and a half. If you were a gamer it was a must do. For office applications, browsing the internet and playing casual games the live of computers is getting longer. Even my gaming computing is getting old, it supports VR and an extra wide 4K screen without a problem.
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#37The idea that the tablet is dead is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It is probably the most useful form-factor there is -- at least ultimately. But it hasn't come to full fruition yet. Stylus writing is really necessary, and lighter weights will be a big deal. Ultimately the tablet will be ubiquitous, and therefore must necessarily become dirt cheap. There is little to no profit margin. Revenue will have to come from software. Which makes it really disappointing that Google has bowed out as they are probably in the best position to pull that off. But instead it looks like Amazon is going to own the tablet market too, generating revenue via eBooks.
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#38So ChromeOS with android apps it is, hopefully Google improves the android capabilities of ChromeOS; but I wonder whether the android on chromeOS will ever be nearly equal to a standalone version.
As of now Google NaCL severly limits background services (for good?) of android apps, so you are required to keep it in foreground (above browser) for long operations.
It's possible that, even threads are limited; as I noticed that some android apps which are heavily multi-threaded slows down on the Chromebook 11 N7 (Acer).
Maybe this is Chromebook hardware specific, can anyone with a Pixelbook comment how good the android app performance is on their hardware?
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I understand, the Nintendo Switch is pretty much a (newer) Shield reference system implementation with a different OS. There's also a working exploit to run Ubuntu on the Switch right now: https://gbatemp.net/threads/quick-tuto-how-to-boot-linux-on-...
I would love to be able to stream games from my PC onto my Switch like you could with the Shield. It's just such a convenient system to play.
It’s only a matter of time since the device has been completely hacked now. Check for updates on the related subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/switchhaxing
Might want to pick one up in the near future though. Nintendo has a hardware update in the works to remedy the unpatcheable tegra exploit in current models.
Re: Google quits selling tablets
#40Good riddance! It’s not like they have actively been developing Android to support tablets. In fact, it is the other way around. The older versions had better support for tablets. Even Nexus 9 was a half hearted attempt at best — and the rest is history. Google’s lack of interest in nowhere more evident than their own apps — many of them were just scaled versions of phone apps. And if Google is not bothering to optim…
I admit that I haven't paid much attention. But the whole revamp of the UI framework into Fragments was precisely to let app developers support both phones and tablets. Why do you say older versions of Android had better support for tablets?
Lots of Android system UI and first party apps had better tablet interfaces in ICS than they do in Nougat or Oreo.