Your opinion on tablets

[MonmouthDroid]

I think they are dumb. What is there use? If I want my media (including videos, magazines, etc) with me on the go, I want something that fits in my pocket. If I want something to type email on I want a keyboard. If I am carrying something that large with me, for 9 out of 10 uses a netbook or full blown lap top will be better. The only thing a tablet would be better for is watching videos because of screen resolution. Lets look at this realisticly. How many times is it convenient for you to be carrying around something the size of a tablet (8-10 inches) and you WOULDN'T want the added functionality of a netbook? Even though there is Flash 10.1, flash is easier to interact with on a computer (even a netbook) than on a mobile device. Watching movies is truly the only time I can think of that a tablet would out preform a netbook.

 

[mpw]

I think they are dumb. What is there use?...

Ever had a job where you used a clipboard to take short notes or complete forms?

As for tablets outperforming netbooks for movie viewing, I'd say that the opposite would be true for many situations where you'd need to prop the tablet up to view.

I love the tablet format, and have been crying out for a decent one for years, now Apple have the gorgeous iPad, and I'm not in a position to buy one

Really looking forward to seeing if any Android/WebOS device can match or batter the iPad for less money.

 

[Snow_Fox]

I'm glad you said "tablet" and not "ipad" because I honestly agree..

When I mention ipad in a moment.. I am referring to ALL tablets.. but, ipad gets the rap since its the first serious contender.

iPad bugs me because first, everyone is claiming it is a "laptop replacement" and.. I feel there are certain standards for a laptop.. A cd/dvd drive in many cases... Usb ports are nice as well, not to mention a keyboard.

I had a customer tell me "play with one five minutes and you won't want to put it down" in a condescending manner when I said "it is not and never will be a laptop replacement".. I stand by this now.. laptops are for more than ****ing around on the internet.. Some people don't have 500$ to blow on something that really has no advantage over any product it competes with.

Anandtech said it best.. "it is not even a great 2nd computer.. maybe 3rd or 4th.. or 5th" and ironically anandtech praised it quite highly.

However, this is because lets face it.. apple did what apple does best.. created a shiny product that has enough "fun" value to justify purchasing even if it is horribly lacking in practicality on a few levels.

I would not mind a 5" or 6" internet tablet device dedicated to being a powerhouse at its size... I LOVED the n810 although i do admit it lacked polish to the 10th power. However, something that is 5" or 6" has a 2 ghz processor and a sufficent amount of ram and hdd would be amazing. And I still wouldn't want to pay more than like 300$ and I would still want like 12 hours battery life. (yes I'm picky here.. but, this is why I don't think any real net tablet is worth my time)

Small enough that I could quickly type out notes and junk on. Big enough to browse the web comfortably on and powerful enough that I won't have to worry about it being bogged down for any given reason would be nice.

however, the idea of anything bigger than 5" or 6" just gets to be a bit out there.. I mean at 5 inches..they could make a pretty comfortably keyboard on screen, still have plenty of room for whatever you want to watch without eye strain and your in a pretty nice position..

I find the ipad and other tablets.. just for some reason disgusting.. I mean I've seen people's reasons for wanting them.. "Oh I can read the news paper with it!"... well yeah.. now you can even read the news paper from an ebook reader... "oh I can put recipe's on it!"... are you serious? 500$ for a recipe book?...

The ONLY thing I can say redeems it and I CANNOT say this about any other tablet until they come out.. is old people believe the ipad is "easy to use" and they do get some benefit from it they wouldn't get otherwise... being able to see pics of grand kids and general stuff like that..

However, I dislike tablet pc's as a whole.. partly because they are being marketed as this wonderful thing... When it really does so far make me think its little more than an over sized phone... and I am not even trying to just sit back and say "oh ipad = iphone" i'm saying until something really concrete comes out in the way of net tablets.. your not really getting anything besides an over priced toy as far as functionality goes...

If they ever manage to shrink it down to 5" stick a 2 ghz processor and a gig of ram in there.. let me know.. especially if it has usb ports and 12 hour of battery life while in use.. and it isn't a huge clunky awkward device...

Until then.. I am not really too anxious to jump in.. Once it gets to the point I just described? well yeah.. I could use that.. I could bring it to school browse the web between classes.. get email over my school's wifi, use it as a dedicated pda device and at 5" I could probably bring it just about anywhere.. so it could be an mp3-pda-mobile computing device.. since I can't get a smartphone at the time.. but, right now.. I see nothing in the tablet field that really makes me go "oh cool, thats something everyone should have!"

500$ on a ipad? no thanks... I would take a 5870 over an ipad any day thank you very much.

 

[Xyro]

I think the problem is they're too much of a compromise and not strong enough in one area. They're kind of in between phones and laptops; not as portable and convenient as a snartphone, but not as capable as a laptop

I would far rather buy a decent phone and laptop than spend more money on a single tool that doesn't shine in either area.

 

[MonmouthDroid]

I think the problem is they're too much of a compromise and not strong enough in one area. They're kind of in between phones and laptops; not as portable and convenient as a snartphone, but not as capable as a laptop

I would far rather buy a decent phone and laptop than spend more money on a single tool that doesn't shine in either area.

This is me too. The best tablet in my opinion would be something Dell streak-like. 5 inches, it can fit in your pocket, and it can make phone calls. So it can replace your phone. But with that large screen it is clearly the small end of the tablet spectrum.

 

[wmtoandroid]

Actually, I think it's quite funny to see a cell phone US running on a large device. Things just don't look right.

I'd love to get a tablet that's under $200, but really.... I don't need one, so unless I win one in a draw, my phone and laptop are more than enough.

 

[gallandof]

the only tablet I would truly enjoy would be something with the Stylus support of a Wacom and enough power to run PS with a bunch of layers, that I could find extremely useful, heck throw a camera onto the back so you can snap a picture and edit it right away, give it cloud storage so you could for example, take a picture of a car, crop out the whole background with the ease and accuracy of photoshop, then host it to the cloud to bring down on your main workstation. other than that I find tablets useless

 

[SB13X]

I think they are awesome because I'm a geek and want everything to get as close to star trek as possible and these things would rock with an LCARS OS!!!

 

[SoFLO]

Personally they're not for me. I find it inconvenient to carry such a large device that can do all the things my phone can do. If I want a larger screen I'll just use my laptop. I agree with Xyro, I feel like they're a compromise.

 

[JAL]

I think it would be the PERFECT kitchen computer, but I'm bit of a ghetto foodie. I am holding out for the Notion Ink Adam, against all hope.

 

[Snow_Fox]

I think it would be the PERFECT kitchen computer, but I'm bit of a ghetto foodie. I am holding out for the Notion Ink Adam, against all hope.

No no no you have it all wrong.

Ghetto foodie is a book of recipe's held together by zip ties.

Not a 400$ + recipe book.

 

[mpw]

...I would far rather buy a decent phone and laptop than spend more money on a single tool that doesn't shine in either area.

I don't disagree with you that money would be better spent on phone/laptop rather than a single tool such as today's tablets; but I'd love to know how many of today's tablets (massively dominated by the ubiquitous iPad) own them as a single tool, and don't also own phone, iPod, notebook and desktop.

I highly doubt the tablet will be a single tool in the next 5years. I used to have just a notebook, thinking it was the single tool I wanted, now I have just a desktop and smartphone, but would love something more than the smartphone while away from my desk, for me an iPad is close to the product I need when away from my desktop, can't wait to try some decent alternatives for Android and WebOS, but if Apple add voice calling & better battery life to the iPad I can't think of much it'll be missing for my needs.

 

[MarcMaiden]

The idea of a tablet is GREAT. I see so many uses for them, but so far none have been executed properly.

Ipad: Its build is nice, and we all know the ease of use of the IOS. But no multitasking and no web cam are a deal breaker. these are basic core things a portable computer needs these days IMO.

Android Tablets future and present: Android is great, but a great phone OS and Ill leave it at that. The galaxy tab makes me drool every time i see it, and is close to what tablets need to represent.

Windows Tablet: This is the one i think im holding out on. If windows makes a good Tablet version of windows 7, Ill buy it for sure. Mainly because I would use it for school. Most of my classes are engineering, math, and programming classes, and being able to run things like photoshop, visual c++, access, and being able to multi task is what tablets should be about.


and the four universal truths:

1. Needs to have high resolution.
2. Needs to have a capacitive touch screen. Resist is pointless for anything touch these days
3. Needs to multi task
4. Needs to run core applications (word etc)

 

[mpw]

...2. Needs to have a capacitive touch screen. Resist is pointless for anything touch these days...

Or better still, both(somehow). I'd love my tablet to be touch a la iOS/Android, most of the time, but the ability to take note with handwriting, and sign my name would be great.

 

[MarcMaiden]

Or better still, both(somehow). I'd love my tablet to be touch a la iOS/Android, most of the time, but the ability to take note with handwriting, and sign my name would be great.

so the inclusion of a capacitive stylus would be a huge plus. I agree.

I should just make a tablet with everything i posted above and destroy the competition

 

[Weazol]

I think they are out of their price league. Like it has been said before drop the price to under 200 and I would consider one. (mainly because it could be my eBook reader +more)

(I also think eBook readers cost way to damn much)

 

[Xyro]

I don't disagree with you that money would be better spent on phone/laptop rather than a single tool such as today's tablets; but I'd love to know how many of today's tablets (massively dominated by the ubiquitous iPad) own them as a single tool, and don't also own phone, iPod, notebook and desktop.

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying. I mean, I actually would like to own a tablet (we are all a little gadget obsessed here, aren't we?), but until I have lots of extra money I'll always go for the phone/laptop upgrades.

It would be a purely luxury purchase for me, as something extra on top of my phone/laptop.

I think they are out of their price league. Like it has been said before drop the price to under 200 and I would consider one.(mainly because it could be my eBook reader +more)

(I also think eBook readers cost way to damn much)

I actually gave in and bought a kindle 3 last week, which seem to be priced lower than the previous generations (

 

[Weazol]

I actually gave in and bought a kindle 3 last week, which seem to be priced lower than the previous generations (

 

[MonmouthDroid]

I think this recent tablet craze could result in a phoenix like rise of the convertible PC. Imagine a small laptop (12" tops) that ran windows when in laptop mode but when you swiveled it to touch screen mode, ran an OS designed for a touch screen (be this Android, WebOS, or iOS) instead of some crappy "touch" hack up of windows. Or a truly touch optimized windows 7.

I used to have a tablet PC and I loved it most of the time, but sometimes using windows XP as a touch OS was frustrating. If it had run Android or Web OS when in tablet mode, it would have been great. I really like the concept Lenovo is going for with that small laptop that runs windows when the screen is attached to the keyboard and switches to Android when you remove the screen to use as a tablet. I think this is even better than a convertible because you still get that sleek, thin tablet form factor.

I don't think tablets will ever replace laptops, but they could be integrated into, and improve laptops.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I can play Starcraft on my laptop. Can't do it on a tablet...

 

[Member138406]

I have an ipad which I got for free. But I never use it.. just sits at home, some guests use it for the MLB app which is cool for a moment. I don't really see anytime where it would be practical to use over either my phone, netbook, or laptop. It tries to be this jack of all trades but seems to fail at all of it imo, and they are decently expensive at this point to boot.

 

[Snow_Fox]

Anandtech described it best..

"it doesn't replace anything you already own"

Now future tablets may offer some interest..

6" with enough power could be a very sweet spot for me.. But, I also want insane power at an insanely low cost..
(well I'm saying this.. you can get a netbook for 250... so before long what I want will be realistic)

*Just noticed* galaxy tab by samsung..

I do think it is cool it is 7 inches.. the swype is also nice.. *Especially* since one of my main gripes has been typing. however, price is still out of my league.

I would be willing to pay max 300$ for it.

 

[TheSultan]

My opinion: cool if someone gives me one, not cool if I have to pay for it.

 

[JAL]

Too many people seem to want a thousand dollar computer for two hundred dollars.

 

[Snow_Fox]

For 1,000$

I have a 23" monitor.
Quad core 3.2 ghz oc'd to 4 ghz.
4 gigs ddr3 ram.
750 gb hdd
And*EVERYTHING* barring crysis level games play at moderate to high graphics.

I do realize that the smaller computers go up in price exponentially the more powerful they become..

However, what *you* seem to not realize is apple makes roughly 240$ per ipad charging right at about 500$ for them on the low end.

And the ipad is probably powerful enough to do most of the stuff I say I want to do on a tablet.

At that rate I think about 300$ is more than a fair enough price for a tablet :/

having some serious horse power in a pc has sort of raised my standards.. Especially after building it for far cheaper than most manufacturers would sell it.

We don't want a 1,000$ computer for 300$.... We want the "pc" alternative to an ipad.

You know.. something powerful, lots of functionality and a lot cheaper.

And I'm not trying to start some ipad vs other tab thread here.. But, lets be honest.. apple is making huge profits off of it.

Although I'm annoyed by what I hear about Galaxy S Tab pricing as well..