Rob's Ramblings : Tablets

Why do you use a tablet?

May 22

posted by Rob Barthle in Tablets, Miscellaneous | 8 Comments

I pose this three-part question to anyone that reads this:

If you own a tablet of any kind...

Why did you get it?
What role does it fill in your life?
Are you glad you made the purchase?

Now the background for this: I am a full-time developer who works from home, and my wife and I have three kids 3 and under. I live in a fairly tech-deficient area, where most people own computers more than 5 years old and maybe you see some smartphones here and there. Ever since the iPad started the tablet revolution, I've always thought I might like one, but that was my inner geek talking, the one swayed by shiny new toys. But recently when attending cf.objective(), I noticed a lot of people had tablets of some kind. And it got me to thinking that I should poll people of a more similar background to me about why they pulled the trigger.

I'll be upfront and say that if/when I get a tablet, it will be from the iPad family. That's because I am a big fan of Apple products and use them every day, so I like to keep things in the same family. Nothing against Android or Blackberry, just not my personal cup of tea. Also, my birthday is coming up in late September, and I'm thinking that if I got ideas on how it could be a good fit in to my life in a useful way, I might answer everyone's question of "what do you want?" with an idea of all going in together on a tablet.

So... anyone willing to share their stories, please comment to this. Please don't spend time trying to convince me of which one to get, like I said I've already made up my mind on that front. I just could really use help on why to get it.

Thanks.

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This entry was posted on May 22, 2011 at 3:36 PM and has received 904 views. There are currently 8 comments. Print this entry.

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#1 by me on 5/22/11 - 2:28 PM

I have an iPad courtesy of work as well as a Dell netbook. The iPad lies idle pretty much most of the time, I've yet to find a situation where I wouldn't rather have the netbook with me. At home the only time the iPad is used is if all the other computers are taken. I can imagine if you are somewhere it is impossible to find a flat surface to work on and you're desperate to surf the internet then an iPad might be useful.
#2 by Adrian J. Moreno on 5/23/11 - 11:14 AM

1. I bought it so I wouldn't have to lug my 17" Dell laptop around AdobeMAX last year.

2. It's almost completely replaced my laptop. I only take my laptop with me if I need to write & compile code or do a presentation with live code. I take the iPad with me to wait for a haircut, wait for an oil change, @ the doctor's, wherever I know there will be a line. I also carry a huge library of technical, business and "for fun" books via Kindle & iBooks. I try not to buy a "real" book now if the electronic version costs the same or less.

3. Absolutely. The only regret I have it that I picked it up in October when the iPad 2 was just a few months away.
#3 by Mike on 5/23/11 - 11:47 AM

Tablets are useful in my opinion. At work, I use a note taking app written by Dan Bricklin, the original developer of VisiCalc. Retro Apple fans know what that is! :) Plus, it's great for video podcasts. In its infancy stages, it can certainly be considered a shiny toy, but it's also one that promotes creative thinking. As a developer, it's hard not to imagine new ideas for programming on this interesting new platform. That's primarily why I own one. It forces me to think beyond ColdFusion web-based programming by considering ideas on a rapidly growing platform that targets a new type of audience.
#4 by Tom Mollerus on 5/23/11 - 3:36 PM

I have a Samsung Galaxy tab which I got at Google IO. I never would have bought one-- between a smartphone (Android) and a laptop (Macbook Pro), who really needs a tablet? At least, that's what I thought.

I have to admit that it's nice being able to carry a device around the house that's light yet has a large screen. If I want to check email or browse a web site, the tablet is the first thing I reach for since it's a larger screen than my phone. It will also be good to have to keep the kids occupied in the car.

Now that I have one, would I suggest that someone buy one? Nah, but if you get it as a gift, it's fun to have.
#5 by Aaron West on 5/23/11 - 4:36 PM

First, I've been an Apple customer for a long time. I've had Apple laptops as my last 5 computers, I bought the first gen iPhone in 2007 and the 3GS in 2009, and I've got tons of other Apple hardware at home. To say my smartphone is attached to my hip would be the understatement of the year. Last summer I switched to a Droid X and have been very, very happy with it. Even to the point of it surprising me a bit.

I held off on buying a tablet for a while. I wanted one badly but told myself to hold off until prices came down. I new I wanted an Android tablet and not the iPad. I also wanted a wi-fi only tablet. After doing some research a few weeks ago I realized prices on the really nice tablets were not going to come down. I bit the bullet and bought a Xoom.

A few weeks later I can hardly stand to use my Droid. At least, as anything more than a phone. I find myself using the Xoom almost entirely unless I'm in a place where I can't get a wi-fi connection. I bought the Xoom as an e-mail and calendar platform, as a movie player for my 4 year old, and as my primary mobile device. It's quickly become my go to device for everything in between. I use my Droid much less, and my Macbook Pro less as well. It's just an absolute pleasure to use and it's so easy to pick it up over the other devices in the house.

I'm very happy with the purchase and my only regret is not getting a tablet sooner.
#6 by Justin Carter on 5/24/11 - 5:35 PM

I despise Apple but I ended up getting the 16gb wifi-only iPad because I wanted to try it out as an alternative to a netbook. I can tether it with the wifi hotspot on my Android phone so I have Internet acess wherever I go, and I find the extra storage would be wasted unless you buy movies from iTunes (bleh) or if you subscribe to a bunch of magazines (they tend to be hundreds of kegs per issue).

As far as the actual uses for tablets go, consuming web content (browsing, RSS - try Flipboard, Zite, etc) and the occasional PDF is about it. Most games wouldn't hold my attention for 5 minutes (already finished Angry Birds on Android ;) hehe) and I struggle to find any truly useful apps. I do watch the occasional TED video and some shows and news from Australia's ABC channel.

I wanted to do some light dev work (using Textastic, seems like a nice editor and has Dropbox integration) but to be honest the iPad can't fill that space at all. Typing is a use-1-finger-on-each-hand affair; definitely tedious!

Hope that helps in some way. It's kinda useful but disappointing that it's not more useful :P
#7 by Lola LB on 6/1/11 - 8:43 AM

If I had an iPad, I would use it to check up on email, do some site monitoring (since I'm the tech part of my company), use OmniFocus. I'd probably also use it for Tweetdeck, keeping up with blogs, reading color books and magazines (I would keep my Kindle for text-oriented books). Also, it would really come in handy for my knitting patterns and references.

I recently got an iPhone and love it - it's so much a pleasure to use compared to my old BB8830.
#8 by Fernando Lopez on 6/1/11 - 10:34 AM

I recently got the Asus Transformer. Two reasons for that particular purchase, price and hardware. I really don't care much about the tablet being and android or ipad. What I wanted was something decent enough to run apps and browse pages at a decent price. Running Flash is great but not the primary reason.
I bought the tablet mainly because I want my kids to be using it during the summer. They have a couple old PCs running Edubuntu but I want them reading around the house and for the 5 year old practicing phonics with some of the apps found out there.

Not only that but I'll use the tablet to either develop a native or an HTML 5 application for my kids. The interface makes perfect sense for kids.