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I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
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Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#92Probably stupid to admit this, but I bought a tablet to go homeless. It has a longer battery life, which is extremely important when access to electricity is limited. It is also far more user-friendly when in a tent or otherwise without proper desk facilities, which is the norm for me, not the exception. Given my medical condition, I view paper as evil. And normal keyboards get pretty disgusting. My tablet is surpris…
You can buy dual monitors for a price of a cheap tablet.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#93Tablet is primarily a media consumption device. So - reading/learning. That can be productive. I also reply to emails and schedule calendar events from it. As soon as I need to edit documents, manage servers, or write code - I move to a laptop or desktop, it's just more comfortable. P.S. wrote this on my iPad
> "reading/learning. That can be productive."
I've been using one of my tablets to read through a book I'm using to tutor a friend's high school aged kid.
My wife uses one to read programming books and reference materials.
My preschool-aged son and nephew watch educational videos (type "number", "polygon", "alphabet", etc. into the youtube app; there's some great stuff out there.) They also play number, letter, color, shape, reading, and math games (the five year old plays Dragon Box! [0])
My sister uses hers to schedule substitute teaching and tutoring jobs, and on occasion she works as a manuscript editor (the keyboard dock is important for this.)
So there's a lot of reading, learning, and even production of content going on on tablets in this household.
[0] http://dragonboxapp.com/ ; HN discussion at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4105397
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#94I use my iPad for when I don't want to work.
It's that simple. I don't find using it to be terribly productive for work purposes (especially as a data warehouse consultant). I realize that some people have, and that's great, but for me it doesn't fit the bill.
So what I use it for is when I specifically want to ensure I can't work. I grab it, I go into the sitting area of my bedroom (away from dual 27" display setup), and do things that are very much "not work" in my lounge chair. I might check on my finances. I might play some games. I might browse a few sites, catch up on them with something like Reeder, or read old articles with Instapaper. I watch my subscribed channels on YouTube. Perhaps check the weather. Perhaps do some shopping, catch up on Twitter, or maybe check Facebook to see what friends are prattling on about. If it's late, it'll get perched on a nightstand and I'll play some podcasts, stream a movie or TV show, or put something on from YouTube and fall asleep to that.
I could do that on my iMac + display as well, but then I might get sucked into doing actual work, which I want to avoid. I'm not going to work on large database apps or ETL processes on my iPad. I'm not going to code effectively on my iPad. It's suboptimal for it. So I relish in that fact and it's my "coffee table computer" or my "fun computer". And for that, it does a great job, mostly in ensuring I stay away from "doing work" when I don't want to be working. Overall, it ends up being about 30-35% of my "total computing" time, but at least all of that time is 100% leisure instead of constantly straying back towards work.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#95Fully agree, it is nothing more than an expensive toy to browse the Internet and play games. A proper computer wins hands down for any type of productive work.
I am sitting at a rec center right now while my son attends a birthday party, having just finished updating a slew of items on Asana from my Nexus 7, tethered through my smartphone. It has been an incredibly productive hour or so. I wouldn't have brought a laptop, but a little pad tossed in the swim bag...perfect. That is how it often is. The tablet saves the day where alternately I had no real convenient options. It…
I have a netbook for such things.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#96I think the author has an excellent point until he gets to "I feel like tablets are a short-lived fad." Every single comment here is how much people are using their tablet: for reading, surfing the web, watching videos, etc. I personally use my Nexus 7 every day both directions on my commute to do all those things. However, the like the OP I'd really like to do something productive with my commute (coding, writing, w…
I think the author has an excellent point until he gets to "I feel like tablets are a short-lived fad."
Fine, but are you going to spend $500+ for the new iPad now that you know its limitations first hand? That's what he may have meant. Personally I'd buy a cheap one to browse while in the backyard or couch but the price matters. What I love is a hybrid, or a light laptop (you don't even have to hold it)
The PC is not going anywhere for most people
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am sitting at a rec center right now while my son attends a birthday party, having just finished updating a slew of items on Asana from my Nexus 7, tethered through my smartphone. It has been an incredibly productive hour or so. I wouldn't have brought a laptop, but a little pad tossed in the swim bag...perfect. That is how it often is. The tablet saves the day where alternately I had no real convenient options. It…
I have a netbook for such things.
That is great. So a tablet isn't for you. It is for me and many others, however, and this bizarre need to deride the tool is baffling.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#98Probably stupid to admit this, but I bought a tablet to go homeless. It has a longer battery life, which is extremely important when access to electricity is limited. It is also far more user-friendly when in a tent or otherwise without proper desk facilities, which is the norm for me, not the exception. Given my medical condition, I view paper as evil. And normal keyboards get pretty disgusting. My tablet is surpris…
It's not stupid at all. If you didn't buy it, you would have lost a source of revenue, which would have made your situation worse in the long run. I'm definitely spoiled, as in, I've never had to worry about having food and shelter. I've been close to that point while looking for work, but its never actually happened. I'm fortunate enough to have a tablet and a computer, and while my computer is clearly better suited…
Stupid to admit it because my credibility is in the toilet as is. Reminding people that I am homeless just gives them another excuse to be dismissive assholes. No one wants to hear that I am competent, intelligent, etc and on the street because of my medical situation. It is too threatening. It is far more comfortable to believe my problems are somehow due to poor choices. It is similar to the principle that if you want to convict a rapist, you want a jury full of middle aged men, not women. Women will blame the victim and let the rapist off. Most women do not want to believe that you can do nothing wrong and still be the victim of sexual assault. So they find fault with the rape victim and conclude she was "asking for it" so they can tell themselves "I will never be raped because I would not (dress that way/talk that way/go to that part of town/whatever)."
I know plenty about social psychology. It is actually a personal strength or I literally would likely have died.
Anyway, off topic and probably nothing anyone wants to hear. I am just kind of cranky this morning.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#99Probably stupid to admit this, but I bought a tablet to go homeless. It has a longer battery life, which is extremely important when access to electricity is limited. It is also far more user-friendly when in a tent or otherwise without proper desk facilities, which is the norm for me, not the exception. Given my medical condition, I view paper as evil. And normal keyboards get pretty disgusting. My tablet is surpris…
You can buy dual monitors for a price of a cheap tablet.
And if you are in a situation with limited access to electricity, that may not be relevant. Some third world countries have electricity but cannot afford to make it available 24/7. You clearly have no idea how spoiled you are that you think a decision like that is purely a matter of personal budgeting. A netbook would have been cheaper. I know that. It would not have served my needs as well. It still wouldn't. Nowhere in there did I list price point as impacting my decision to purchase a tablet.
Sheesh.
Re: I Can't Find a Single Productive Use For My Tablet
#100I have an iPad3 and a Nexus 7. They sit mostly unused. I'll pick up the iPad3 once in while just for fun. I've played a few games to completion (Sword and Sworcery, Groove Coaster) but that's about it. I don't find them good for consuming except for movies on a plane. Movies at home? The bigger the screen the better. I'd much rather watch movies on my 42 inch TV from my sofa than my tablets. Reading? I'd much rather…
I mostly agree with your critiques. I would just add that even if there something I might want to use my tablet for the cost of context switching from the computer to the tablet is just too high.
And if I suddenly needed to do something the tablet didn't do well I would have to go back to the computer in any case.