I consider my Kindle Fire a tablet, although I don't think Amazon calls it that. In addition to putting ebooks on it, it can surf the net, run apps, get email and do most of the things you do on a laptop, although you have to use an onscreen keyboard. 90% of the time I use my laptop, but you can't beat a tablet for portability and battery life. I'd sure hate to have to do much writing with that onscreen keyboard and 7" screen though.
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General discussion
Poll: Does someone in your household own a tablet?
-- Yes, just one.
-- Yes, more than one.
-- No.
-- I will get one in the very near future.
-- I will never get one. (Why not?)
Place your votes here:
http://forums.cnet.com/2706-21566_102-2193.html
Discussion is locked
15 Posts
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I just can't consider it a tablet after I've seen some of the things my friend's tablets can do!. I consider the browser to be barely adequate, and have found few useable apps.
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I answered "1" to the poll question, however I do have a Sony Android tablet and a Kobo Vox e-reader. Like Jthelw, I didn't consider the e-reader to be a tablet as it's *marketed* not to be one. It was sold in a non-computer store, in non-computer aisles and sold as a *book*-reader albeit one that had extra functions like video and webby browsing. It was aimed at book-readers [people] not computer-users.
Of the two, the Kobo is actually more like a real PC than the Sony. Both are rather poor PC's, but they are wonderful for portable devices. I am truly pleased with both.
Being able to login to the FON network almost everywhere gives them amazing functionality.
The worst limitation? Neither Sony store nor the Kobo book-store have more than a tiny fraction of the books I want to read. *Both* stores sell parts of multi-volume serials and both stores sell some books by authors and not all. [Example: books two, three and four, but not book one. That's just *insane*.] So long as idiotic, mean-spirited, daft, ante-deluvian, obsolete territorially-limited laws governing publishing rights are written and enforced by myopic, greedy, brainless, lack-witted, soul-free, money-grubbing, parasitic growths like lawyers, *neither* tablets nor e-readers will be truly fit for purpose.
Amazing devices hobbled by unthinking wassocks.
I want to buy *thousands* of e-books. They don't want to sell them to me. How stupid is that?
Apart from the limitations imposed on the stores by "content providers" the machines themselves, and their softwares are impressive.
However, both have their annoyances. Both have "gmail" linkies that I can't get rid off without rooting them. The Kobo also has links into FaceTwit that activate when I hold it wrongly. I understand that one person in seven has an interest in TwitFace, but most of us don't, six out of seven people don't have accounts and are in no hurry to get one. So forcing TwitBook on us is poor judgement on their part. It should have been an optional extra and should have been removable with one click.
There are many, many things I do on my desktop PC that I could never do on either tablet, nor on an i-Device. Typing this rambling note is but one. Like many before me, I've found that they are just wonderful for reading books, following maps, finding eateries and watching videos, better than PC's for a lot of those types of tasks, but tablets and even advanced e-readers like the Fire and the Vox are *useless* for writing, producing or generally creating.
I *like* my Vox, and my Sony, but I *use* my desktop.
Maybe I'm just old?
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Basically, at home and at work, along with my associates, tablets are not really a hot item. A few have been passed around and a few guys bought one, but they faded quickly.We develop SW and do a lot of hardware testing, so tablets are not a good fit. At home, I guess I am old school and I control my kids computer choices, staying away from tablets and building only custom desktops and lately leaning towards Laptops. This is for real work, where a tablet is too limiting for my tastes. If people want to play around while having portability, smart phones are the key niche item that is powerful enough and fills that hole nicely. Tablets have no space in my life.
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I bought a Samsung 10.1 Tab last summer, it's been a mild disappointment. It's really slow and occasionally locks up requiring restarts. I'm not a gamer, I try to use it mostly for business. I would love to be able to take notes and actually use it as paper ( you know, like a tablet ) but the suggested soft tip stylus is a complete joke. I need to create building drawing sketches and for that it is useless. It's handy to have around for photo display, email and cooking. What's really interesting to me is that I have had a Motorola (Android) phone for two years and just switched to the Galaxy S4. The S4 will be my last Samsung phone/tablet device. Both my Tab and the S4 have lag issues.
My next tablet will be a Win 8 convertible, the Lenovo Helix would be perfect, it's just too pricey. I run Win 8 Pro now and I find the integration of the Desktop / Metro to be much easier to use than a whole lot of other folks. If I traveled more, I might consider a second tablet purchase in a "mini" size. For now, I'll just stick with my S4 in this category.
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Yes they own one but they rarely use it since they have a laptop and a smart phone. The laptop gets used at home and the smart phone elsewhere.
-> But the real hours of use and a pleasant surprise performance is our family Kindle Fire HD. We use it as an Amazon Prime Video player (connected over HDMI) and it turns in a great performance.
Amazon, for us has hit the right balance of security and ease of use. They have it so you can lock it when it turns on and easy enough to get to the amazon store.
Bob
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My iPad won't do everything my computers will do, but it is a lot faster and more convenient for the things it can do. It is handier for using at my easy chair or carrying out to the RV or garage or shop, or to the hardware or repair shop to show a tech or clerk some household repair situation, and get the right supplies and advice for fixing. In that regard, it transports easier than a laptop and shows a bigger and clearer image display than a smartphone, and you can take the original photo onsight with the device; no need to transfer from a digital camera. Just snap and go show someone, or snap and immediately post it on a forum thread for input from contacts.
The convenient dimensions and weight, together with ease of use for the most common daily activities, is what is driving tablet sales.
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We have two Kindles and two iPads. I now do >85% of my internet activities on the iPad. I have a MacBook Pro and an HP piece of junk PC, both of which I only use for files that don't work on the tablets. I can't see anyone wanting to lug a portable PC around for all of their work. I have no interest in buying another. PC/Mac.
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It is too inconvenient for serious work. People who believe to need super portability can better get a smart phone. Maybe it is the screwed up Windows 8 which helps driving people to tablets. But this 2 year replacement cycle is scary . The mountains of electronic trash are growing. Off course,if we are on the wrong path the best thing is to go full throttle.
I would like to say never but there is no such thing. Maybe, in 10 years there will be nothing more printed on paper except junk mail and I will need a tablet to read a book in bed.....
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...but not everyone owns a tablet. Thus tablet sales will out-number computer sales until the market is saturated. Since we will go through tablets faster than full computers as they develop and improve, this may be a permanent phenomenon.
Everyone in my family of five has at least one computer. Three of five have tablets. The other two have large screen smart phones. Three kids in college or grad school.
I'd like a tablet for work, one for the car and one for home!
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This is a serious question. Why would I pay $500+ for a tablet, which is really only useful for email and internet, when I could buy a decent netbook for $300-$400 which can run real programs? I can't think of any reason to do so.
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Netbooks are a dying breed, being replaced by tablets. I just took a quick look at the selection at BestB*y. The 8 they have listed are all MarketPlace items (sold by someone other than BB) ranging from about $275 to $500. A 7 inch Android tablet costs $250 or less and has access to about 600,000 apps in the Google Play store. I can't think of anything that you can do on a netbook that you can't do as well and cheaper on a tablet. The most glaring example I can think of is Microsoft Office, $100/yr for Office 365, vs $15 for Documents to Go.
So, from my perspective, netbooks aren't cheaper, and, in fact, are vanishing from the market. Tablet apps (Google Play Store) have broader capabilities and are considerably less expensive than comparable PC apps. So again, from my perspective, tablets are better.
I think your statement that a netbook "can run real programs," implying that a tablet can only run "toy" programs is incorrect. I don't know what programs you use on a day-to-day to basis, but from what I've seen, anything you can do on a netbook, you can do on a tablet.
Bob
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I have a couple of laptops and a netbook, a few desktops, and I have 3 tablets.
It's not a matter of cost, sure I could've bought a nice laptop for the amount I paid for one of my tablets, but the portability of a tablet, the battery life, and the convenience outweighs me lugging around a laptop or even my netbook. When I need to work I use my laptop or desktop to run programs and such, but when I'm out and about and having fun that is when my tablet comes into play... tablets for me were never meant to replace my laptop or desktop, it's purely a secondary and an entertainment device that I can also use to take notes, check emails, Web surf, etc... I would never want to lug a laptop or netbook to the beach, on a road trip, etc...
My reasons for owning a tablet has nothing to do with the cost of the device... or being better than or lesser than what a laptop can do... it's the form factor and ease of use that sells me on these device.
I hope you understand my point of view. Not everyone shares them, and that's why tablets aren't meant for everyone, just for those who find there uses for them.
Cheers!
-Lee
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In my family we used to have a couple of tablets, one at a time, (ipad, Samsung, etc.) to try out if they provided a viable alternative/complement to laptops, but we didn't find them useful for anything that made it worth lugging them around in addition to the work laptop. They were eventually replaced by a couple of smartphones, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Samsung Note 2 and now the latest addition a Blackberry Z10. Smartphones provide a more user friendly format than tablets with the same functions. Personally I believe smartphones will take over the role of the pads, since they fit in the pocket and can be used in cramped places. Anyone who have tried to haul out a tablet on the subway to read an urgent email would have to agree.
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Everyone in my household owns a tablet or e-Reader/tablet hybrid. We've just recently gotten our second generation of tablets. Right now we are at 1 Kindle Fire HD, 1 Nexus 7, 3 Nook HD+. When the new wears off my Nook HD+, I'll probably jump on an N2A card download.
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