Wifi Shmifi, Tablet Shmablet

[jefboyardee]

For several years, I've had a droid phone and used 3G for data transfer. It has always been a simple and effective solution. I watched tablets appear and become popular, but I could never understand why. This week I decided not wanting it might be because I haven't tried it.

So I bought a tablet at fifty percent off, forty-five bucks. I bought a router for forty. As far as I know, that and my existing cable net connection would get my tablet connected for a home starter setup. But then I stopped trying and boxed everything back up, to be returned tomorrow.

I didn't even bother to try and bring this stuff to life. I gave up when I realized that doing all this is just another, but more cumbersome and less secure way of doing what I've been doing for years with my droids. Sure, tablets can have a lot bigger screens, but that's not enough to win me over.

With my new 4G droid with a bigger screen (for me), I'll wait for a real miracle.
Like a big tablet that can split 4G duty time with a phone... call me a luddite.

 

[Dngrsone]

... call me a luddite.

I shant. Frankly, I was doubtful of the whole tablet thing since Apple announced the first iPad.

Sure there are niche uses for a tablet, but for the majority, is a distracting toy, no more.

 

[EarlyMon]

I shant. Frankly, I was doubtful of the whole tablet thing since Apple announced the first iPad.

Sure there are niche uses for a tablet, but for the majority, is a distracting toy, no more.

http://arstechnica.com/staff/2011/02/why-i-dont-care-very-much-about-tablets/

 

[bjacks12]

Wait....people still exist that don't have WiFi?

Can't blame you on the tablet though. I don't use mine much.

 

[mikedt]

For several years, I've had a droid phone and used 3G for data transfer. It has always been a simple and effective solution. I watched tablets appear and become popular, but I could never understand why. This week I decided not wanting it might be because I haven't tried it.

So I bought a tablet at fifty percent off, forty-five bucks. I bought a router for forty. As far as I know, that and my existing cable net connection would get my tablet connected for a home starter setup. But then I stopped trying and boxed everything back up, to be returned tomorrow.

I didn't even bother to try and bring this stuff to life. I gave up when I realized that doing all this is just another, but more cumbersome and less secure way of doing what I've been doing for years with my droids. Sure, tablets can have a lot bigger screens, but that's not enough to win me over.

With my new 4G droid with a bigger screen (for me), I'll wait for a real miracle.

Sounds like me, you have a "phablet". It's large enough to things done, and don't really need anything bigger? I also have a couple of PCs and laptops, for the real office productivity, hobbies and some entertainment. Think a real miracle will be when we finally have flying cars that don't need gas.

Like a big tablet that can split 4G duty time with a phone... call me a luddite.

I don't call you a Luddite. There's plenty of cellular equipped tablets with 3G and 4G that can provide tethering to other devices.

 

[mikedt]

Wait....people still exist that don't have WiFi?

Can't blame you on the tablet though. I don't use mine much.

I've often spent time without WiFi, and I know some who don't have internet at all, might have TV, radio and a flip-phone, or more often these days, budget Android phones. NO computers. I've always had some internet connection though, even if it's only 2G EDGE, so no streaming or heavy downloading, but can still do IM, social, emails, news, browse, post on AF.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

My Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 use both WiFi and 4G. I've had a Wifi setup at home for quite sometime now. The cable guy set it up for me when I started using Xfinity. It didn;t take him long at all.

One thing about the 10.1 though, it costs way more than the $100 you seemed to be prepared to spend.

 

[zuben el genub]

I've got a wifi only Acer and use it. The Vulcan has no problem with the tablet as it is large enough so he doesn't hit a key and turn it off. I have At Bat, and I can take the OTA stuff I record and turn into MP4. I'll watch the same game over again if it was good. This tablet has a full sized USB port, and the HDMI connector so we can also stream from it.

 

[jefboyardee]

Like a big tablet that can split 4G duty time with a phone

There's plenty of cellular equipped tablets with 3G and 4G that can provide tethering to other devices.

Oops, missed those, typical luddite ignorance – just might be interested. How does billing work on these? Do they share one bill ($45month Straight Talk in my case)? Or is an additional account required? And an additional phone number?

 

[WirelessWanderer]

Ever since my wife and I obtained Vizio VTABs, then Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1s, we hardly use our desktop computers at all, any more.

Our phones? Well, at the time we bought the tablets, we both still had "dumb" phones. Now we have "smart" phones, but they're what we consider to be reasonably-sized for handsets. I.e.: Not phablets. We're, neither of us, interested in phablets. Our feeling is they're too big to be phones and too small to be tablets.

To each their own.

And WiFi? Not only connects our tablets, but our phones (for data), when we're at home, and several home theatre devices. And my company laptop, on the rare occasions when I bring that home. Even used it, with a wireless bridge, to provision a new computer from its temporary "home" at a table in the front room. Very handy, WiFi.

 

[jefboyardee]

Okay, here's what I want, but does it exist:

I have a 4G ST phone. That's one account, one phone number, for forty-five bucks a month. I want a 4G tablet, but other than the cost of getting it, I don't want to pay any more monthly. I want to somehow utilize my existing ST account to run both the existing phone and proposed tablet. And I don't want to have to buy additional equipment to make it happen.

Am I just dreaming?

 

[Dngrsone]

Okay, here's what I want, but does it exist:

I have a 4G ST phone. That's one account, one phone number, for forty-five bucks a month. I want a 4G tablet, but other than the cost of getting it, I don't want to pay any more monthly. I want to somehow utilize my existing ST account to run both the existing phone and proposed tablet. And I don't want to have to buy additional equipment to make it happen.

Am I just dreaming?

You are dreaming. Say you get a 10" tablet with 4G. It will have its own phone number assigned, but you won't be able to actually make phone calls to or from it (not without some rooting and Skype hacks). You will have to pay an additional fee for the tablet connection (I think mine is $10 mo for 2Gb of data) plus other add-on expenses.

 

[jefboyardee]

Okay fine, I'll just do all my traveling with this eensy phone because I don't need a tablet enough to futz with wifi or to pay ten bucks a month for an extra 4G phone number... I'm right back where I started this thread.

 

[WirelessWanderer]

*shrug* We use our own WiFi network, or whatever WiFi network's handy, with our tablets. If there's no WiFi network available we just tether 'em to our handsets. Works like a charm.

 

[jefboyardee]

If there's no WiFi network available we just tether 'em to our handsets.

What app do you use to do that?

 

[WirelessWanderer]

What app do you use to do that?

No app at all. Enable WiFi hotspot on the handset and tell the tablet to connect to it.

Obviously your mobile plan has to include that capability. Ours does.

 

[nickdalzell]

Ever since tablets came out i never use a laptop at home. tablets are far more portable. many today are fast enough to keep up with my 80wpm typing rate. data connectivity is better than being tied to a wifi or lugging around a laptop. laptop batteries last around two hours then go kaput. if i want to have a similar size screen device and not be tied to an electrical outlet, a tablet is the way to go. i find laptops old school these days.

They also make better media consumption devices. say i want to watch YouTube or Netflix as i am walking in the woods? why stare and strain my eyes at a tiny smartphone screen when i can use my iPad Air?

The only use i have for a laptop these days is PC Gaming.

'Phablets' are too small to watch videos, too small to browse the web (unless you like looking at a super-tiny font on a 5.5" screen) and too BIG to make a proper phone (my Note 3 still looks like i'm placing a Motorola DynaTAC 800TX to my ear when i use it, only without the giant rubber antenna) Phones are so darn huge i just use my 'earwig' ( a term i give my Plantronics Voyager Legend BT headset) and tell my watch to dial contacts.

 

[jefboyardee]

This week I decided not wanting it might be because I haven't tried it.

Ever since tablets came out i never use a laptop at home.

Hmm, never thought about it that way.

 

[jefboyardee]

But then I stopped trying and boxed everything back up, to be returned tomorrow.

No app at all. Enable WiFi hotspot on the handset and tell the tablet to connect to it.

Well, the boxes are still in my car, waiting for me to either take them back to the store(s) or to read something like what you just said. Now they'll have go to back in my office and get re-un-boxed for one more shot.

 

[nickdalzell]

I find data-enabled tablets far more useful than wifi-only tablets. wifi-only tablets work well at home but not when there's no internet connectivity. i just find it more comfy to have one with me on the couch. batteries last like 8 hours with the screen on all the time, making the asinine need for an outlet and the wires a non-issue.

I only have an iPad Air for on the go. don't ask me why (ask Verizon) but the Android tablet aside from being huge (12" is too big!) was also twice the price over the iPad Air 2. At home it's a Samsung-verse. i find Samsung to be the most reliable and user-friendly of Android tablets, and also because a comparable LG product just doesn't exist here to buy.

 

[mikedt]

Ever since tablets came out i never use a laptop at home. tablets are far more portable. many today are fast enough to keep up with my 80wpm typing rate.

Can you type at 80wpm without looking at it though, without looking at the onscreen keyboard and your fingers?

I can type 80wpm accurately with my eyes shut or while looking at something else. LOL ... I'm rather like a concert pianist when at the keyboard, he never looks at the piano keys when he's playing Chopin or Beethoven, and I never look at the keys when I'm composing my masterpieces and posts on AF, all done by touch alone.

 

[Dngrsone]

Can you type at 80wpm without looking at it though, without looking at the onscreen keyboard and your fingers?

I can type 80wpm accurately with my eyes shut or while looking at something else. LOL ... I'm rather like a concert pianist when at the keyboard, he never looks at the piano keys when he's playing Chopin or Beethoven, and I never look at the keys when I'm composing my masterpieces and posts on AF, all done by touch alone.

I wish I could... my laptop keyboard is pretty crappy, especially with the silicon cover I have on it.

I want a nice ergonomic keyboard, but that kind of negates the whole "laptop" concept a bit.

 

[jefboyardee]

Not an issue for me, at roughly 80MPW.

 

[gbsa]

I use the foxfi app to make a Wi-Fi hotspot so I can use my phone's data on my tablet no extra monthly cost

 

[mikedt]

I find data-enabled tablets far more useful than wifi-only tablets. wifi-only tablets work well at home but not when there's no internet connectivity. i just find it more comfy to have one with me on the couch. batteries last like 8 hours with the screen on all the time, making the asinine need for an outlet and the wires a non-issue.

Do you know you can tether a tablet to a phone via WiFi, just like you can with a laptop? I've done that with a WiFi only tablet. Are you paying for two carrier plans? $$$$ ...or you're swapping the SIM between the phone and the tablet? Which might not be very convenient or desirable, depending on how often you do it.

8 hours battery life on a tablet, depends on the tablet, some of them are only one or two hour screen on time, but then some laptops can go 8-10 hours on battery power. I've got a six year old Macbook, and that does around five hours, and that's still on the original six year old battery. ...I find three hours to be long enough for a sofa session without being plugged in, need to have a break anyway I find.