Do you need a tablet???

[Warped9]

While this is tangental to technology this really has more to do with lifestyle. And while the initial question mentions a tablet it's really about any gadget that many take for granted be it a cellphone, a laptop, whatever.

I work at an electronics retailer and recently HP released its tablet version here. Apparently it was considered quite a good price and quite a few of the staff were jumping onto the tablet bandwagon. A number of times I was asked why I wasn't getting one particularly since it was at such a good price.

My response was simple. It doesn't matter how good the price is because I simply don't have any need for a tablet. It's the same in regards to a celphone---while I do have a celphone I use it rarely (it's often turned off) and it's a simple model as apposed to a multi-function smart phone or PDA or whatever. I certainly don't carry my phone with me when I'm at work. I don't have a laptop or netbook for the same reason I don't have a tablet: I have no need whatsoever for it. I don't need that kind of information mobility and I don't feel the compulsion to have instant access to messaging from god knows who.

I do have a desktop computer at home where I do anything computer related. But in all honesty it is mostly a form of entertainment and yet I don't feel compelled to have instant uninterrupted access to such that I have to have it mobile.

I understand that lifestyles overall have changed, but one thing doesn't seem to have changed for at least as long as I've observed such behaviour for the past thirty plus years: a lot of folks seem to buy stuff for little more reason than other folks are buying said stuff. Often they'll play with it awhile until the novelty wears off and then they're fascinated by the next thing. And they're spending a lot of money for little return in value.

I also find it odd how some can look at you as strange because you're not jumping on the latest bandwagon.

I remember what it was like in my late teens and twenties when you experienced this urge to have the latest and greatest thing because you wanted to be more like others. In some way having these things made us feel relevant and important in some way. Of course at the time we didn't acknowledge our impulses as such but rather rationalized our desire for whatever thing we wanted at the moment.

Maybe going through quite a few years having to cut back and do without helped give me a different perspective. Yes, I can still be drawn to gadgets of interest, but these days it's a lot harder to tempt me into action.

This little rant is brought to you with an amused smirk.

 

[JoeZhang]

You aren't alone - At the moment, there is no tablet market, there is an Ipad market and basically an 'something else market'. The most recent market research I saw indicates that only around 10% of internet connected individuals want a tablet and the vast majority of them want an ipad. So we have a massive oversupply and underdemand of WebOS, BBOS and Android tablets.

So at the moment, you see a lot of hype from tech journalists and geek sites but not an awful lot of interest from the public.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Apple basically created a market out of thin air with the iPad. It's not as though tablets hadn't been tried before, but it took Apple to make people want to buy them. It helps that they found "everyday" uses previous tablets had ignored: ebook reader, video player, competent web browsing, etc.

A tablet doesn't really fit me at the moment, and certainly not at the iPad price point. But that's not to say others don't have perfectly legitimate uses for them.

That's the thing that annoys me about threads like this. "This device is not useful to me" is morphed into "this device couldn't possibly be useful to anyone." The expression "your mileage may vary" should be used more often.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I really enjoy my smartphone and it's been useful in surprising ways. That said, I don't own a tablet or laptop because one of the pleasures of leaving home or my office is getting away from my computer and from the Internet. Using the web on the smartphone is just cumbersome enough to keep me from doing it continually.

 

[Warped9]

Don't get me wrong about this. I can see where a tablet could be useful for some, but it just seems that a lot of people are dazzled by something they may not really have a use for.

Some tech I do see as worthwhile. I have a three year old iPod Nano, and while I don't use it often I do like having all my music in one place as opposed to stacks of CDs and before that cassette tapes or vinyl LPs. Also I tend to use my iPod mostly in a dock where I can listen to the music the old-fashioned way as opposed to using headphones. While I have done it I rarely take my iPod with me out of the house---I don't feel the need to have music with me all the time or feel my life needs a soundtrack. I simply like it mostly as a compact and very convenient home entertainment unit. And if you connect it into the car stereo you don't have to decide which CDs to bring with you because you can bring them all so to speak.

 

[Lindley]

Tablets are a much better vacation-computer than a laptop. They provide the ability to look up directions, itineraries, and information about your travel destination without being bulky to take along with you. The few-moving-parts design makes them somewhat more robust to being taken places like the beach than a laptop would be (though do be careful even so). Plus they can double as a GPS navigation system.

 

[Pingfah]

I will never own something like this unless it become both possible and easier to do processor heavy graphics and web work on a tablet, which seems unlikely considering the size of them. Otherwise I will stick to laptops, I have no interest in having the internet or other entertainment on the move beyond what a laptop can already provide for me, and since a laptop does it all I don't require anything else.

 

[sojourner]

I never understood people who buy cellphones and then keep them turned off the majority (yes, I do understand that there are times to turn them off) of the time. It seems very passive aggressive.

 

[Warped9]

It's a good thing I don't need the mobility because I much prefer the keyboard and larger display of a desktop over that of a laptop.

 

[SPCTRE]

Apple basically created a market out of thin air with the iPad. It's not as though tablets hadn't been tried before, but it took Apple to make people want to buy them. It helps that they found "everyday" uses previous tablets had ignored: ebook reader, video player, competent web browsing, etc.

The same could be said about the iPod and iPhone. Mp3 players and smartphones existed before Apple decided to create a be-all-end-all* solution.

But I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. Or rather, copulating with one.

*read: "retard-proofed interface, no customizability, everyone and their dog can use it" (no, I don't mean that as an insult, I applaud Apple for making a shit ton of money. It's what I would do, if I was, you know, fucking Apple.)

 

[Warped9]

I never understood people who buy cellphones and then keep them turned of the majority (yes, I do understand that there are times to turn them off) of the time. It seems very passive aggressive.

Admittedly it's convenient to have a celphone for when you need to make a call and you needn't look for a pay phone or ask to use someone's phone in a store or office or wherever. I certainly keep it off when I'm at home because the house phone is there if needed. At work it's not convenient for me to be carrying it all the time. When I'm out and about I do have it turned on although I still rarely use it.

 

[Warped9]

Apple basically created a market out of thin air with the iPad. It's not as though tablets hadn't been tried before, but it took Apple to make people want to buy them. It helps that they found "everyday" uses previous tablets had ignored: ebook reader, video player, competent web browsing, etc.

The same could be said about the iPod and iPhone. mp3 players and smartphones existed before Apple decided to create one.

But I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. Or rather, copulating with one.

Apple created brand identification much like Coke and Kleenix before them. How many people ask for a Kleenix rather than just a tissue or for a Coke rather than just a cola? Lots of people come in asking what kind of iPods we carry as opposed to what MP3 players we carry.

In many cases it isn't being the first, but the one who can market better. And if your product is at least half decent then you can dominate the market. You get into a position where anything other than yours is often perceived as second rate.

Funny, because although I quite like my Nano I really don't like the current version. I liked that Apple's wheel design on the earlier generation allowed me to manipulate the device in my pocket without looking at it. Now because of its touch-screen control and very compact size you lose that convenience I currently enjoy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I like my iPad a lot. I use it for Kindle reading, MLB.com At Bat (I can view live baseball), web browsing, games, that type of thing. It would never replace a computer for me, but it's better than a laptop.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I never understood people who buy cellphones and then keep them turned of the majority (yes, I do understand that there are times to turn them off) of the time. It seems very passive aggressive.

Admittedly it's convenient to have a celphone for when you need to make a call and you needn't look for a pay phone or ask to use someone's phone in a store or office or wherever. I certainly keep it off when I'm at home because the house phone is there if needed. At work it's not convenient for me to be carrying it all the time. When I'm out and about I do have it turned on although I still rarely use it.

So nobody ever calls you? That's the only way this "my cell phone is off at home" thing would work. It's not like everybody would know whether or not you're at home.

This is why I have only my cell phone and a work number--and my cell phone is always on. I may not answer your call (for whatever reason) but I'll get back to you if you leave a message.

Having a cell and then leaving it off most of the time does seem odd, unless virtually no one ever calls you.

 

[PurpleLady]

I sometimes wonder what the future will hold for everybody that are soooooo tightly attached to their electronic gadgets. Posting each and every little bit of their days on FaceBook, texting ad nauseum, glued to those electronic gadgets. People will forget how to interact face to face. Voices will become rusty from lack of use. Social skills will spiral downward. Internet use will become a recognized addiction and used more frequently as a defense to certain crimes.

But in answer to your original question, no I don't want nor need a tablet. For the same reason I won't buy an electronic book. It doesn't give me the same satisfaction.

 

[Warped9]

For the same reason I won't buy an electronic book. It doesn't give me the same satisfaction.

Agreed. While I find ebooks a technical curiosity it cannot replace the tactile experience of reading pages in a book. There is also that wonderful smell of pages in a book.

Candidly I think it comes down to type of use. If I'm reading for pleasure then I want the hardcopy book and the tactile experience. If I'm reading out of necessity then I can see the advantages and appeal of electronic reading.

 

[PurpleLady]

For the same reason I won't buy an electronic book. It doesn't give me the same satisfaction.

Agreed. While I find ebooks a technical curiosity it cannot replace the tactile experience of reading pages in a book. There is also that wonderful smell of pages in a book.

Candidly I think it comes down to type of use. If I'm reading for pleasure then I want the hardcopy book and the tactile experience. If I'm reading out of necessity then I can see the advantages and appeal of electronic reading.

You express my thoughts quite eloquently. Thank you.

And if I'm reading something for work, reading it on the computer is fine, I don't need to do anything differently.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Tablets are a much better vacation-computer than a laptop. They provide the ability to look up directions, itineraries, and information about your travel destination without being bulky to take along with you. The few-moving-parts design makes them somewhat more robust to being taken places like the beach than a laptop would be (though do be careful even so). Plus they can double as a GPS navigation system.

I do all this with my HTC Incredible, and it fits in my pocket.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Having a cell and then leaving it off most of the time does seem odd, unless virtually no one ever calls you.

Agreed. Mine is only off when I'm not on-call and I'm going to sleep, though often I leave it on all night in case my colleague who's on-call gets in a jam.

OT: I don't really need a tablet and it's definitely a luxury. What makes me want one is that my "desktop" computer at home is a Mac Mini which is hooked up to my TV. If I'm watching a DVD and want to quickly look something up on the web a tablet would be handy and the larger screen would make web browsing easier than on my iPhone; ditto for why it would make for a better book reader and device for playing games which are the three things I would use it for. A laptop would be a bit overdone for any of these things.

 

[Warped9]

The general wisdom I've been hearing is that tablets will get better and eventually kill off the netbook. Indeed we're carrying very few netbooks now. Folks are looking for either laptops or tablets.