The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out • Hacker News Board

Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out

#81

Post by zem » Fri, May 01, 2015, 5:49 AM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #18

I still don't "get" tablets. What are they good for again? If I need/want to code (or type anything longer than a text message), I want (at least) a laptop. If I want to consume media while on the go, I care more about portability than anything else, so I use my smartphone -- it fits in my pocket so I always have it with me (unlike a tablet). If I want to sit up in bed (or on the couch) and read a novel, I use an e-r…

they're good for watching movies while lying in bed - phones are too small, and laptops too inconvenient.

Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out

#82

Post by lazylizard » Fri, May 01, 2015, 6:34 AM UTC

at my workplace there're many fans of the surface pro 3.. enough muscle to run a few VMs in vmware workstation and portable..easier to carry around to different customers' sites.. but i guess most tablets aren't like that.

Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out

#83

Post by thedrbrian » Fri, May 01, 2015, 12:16 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #18

I still don't "get" tablets. What are they good for again? If I need/want to code (or type anything longer than a text message), I want (at least) a laptop. If I want to consume media while on the go, I care more about portability than anything else, so I use my smartphone -- it fits in my pocket so I always have it with me (unlike a tablet). If I want to sit up in bed (or on the couch) and read a novel, I use an e-r…

Not seen it mentioned yet but the 4g iPads make for a fantastic GPS replacement. £579 for 64gb 10 inch nav that is streets ahead of any manufacturers' system.

Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out

#84

Post by coldtea » Fri, May 01, 2015, 11:06 PM UTC

ableal wrote: post #63

coldtea wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If Apple pumped out over 250 million iPads, a great majority of which is probably still in use, with the usual Android and Windows numbers the whole tablet population must be in the neighborhood of one billion. How so? Android and Windows tablets never sold as much as iPads and still don't. It might be 50-50 now, but not 3 times as much by any means.

I was guessing, but looking it up ... Gartner are talking over 200 million tablets per year, of which only 50 or 60 are iPads (according to the Quartz charts), so I'd say it's in the ballpark. (I'd expect the Androids to decay faster, though ;-) http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2954317 """ Device Type 2014 2015 2016 [...] Tablets 216 233 259 """

Interesting.

The last numbers I've seen were from around 2012, when no Android tablet had made any dents yet, and that version of a Surface was a failure.

Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out

#85

Post by marssaxman » Sun, May 03, 2015, 2:30 AM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #77

marssaxman wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No keyboard = minimal text entry = disqualification as "primary" anything.

I think most smartphone users would disagree that no keyboard equals minimal text entry. Phones are hardly used for calls now. But I also know a lot of people with keyboards for their iPads. But really I think that most non-technical users aren't using their keyboard enough to really need one. If you are hunt-a-peck typer, a physical keyboard isn't that much of a necessity.

I hardly use my phone for calls either, but I'd still call the amount of text I can stand to enter into a touchscreen "minimal". A couple of sentences at a time, maybe.

I think the fact that I have been touch-typing since I was eight or nine actually makes it much more difficult to put up with touchscreen keyboards, because it's so difficult to make myself look at the keys instead of the text.