What Do You Think About Tablet Computers?

[jyl]

I am wondering - how many here have purchased a tablet computer or are planning to purchase a tablet computer (of any O/S - iOS, Windows, Android, QNX, WebOS, etc)?

What do you (or your family) mostly use it for - surfing, email, video, music, games, homework, etc? Do you write much on it (either typing or pen input)? What have you found to be the pros and cons of the tablet?

I am not so much asking what your think of the specific model tablet you have, more about your experience with the tablet form factor.

[masraum]

I have an iPad. I use it for surfing, reading, simple games, streaming music, mobile movie player...

I like the size, weight, and battery life. I'm not looking for a full featured PC alternative like redbeard. I carry it around the house and surf the web from where ever. I use it at work to stream music via pandora. I also surf the web on it at work.

When I went on vacation earlier this year I used the digital copies that were included with so,e of my blurays. I ripped the digital copies to iTunes. Once they were on the iPad, I used the TV out cable to play the movies on my mothers TV.

I've got digital subscriptions to Road & Track and National Geographic. I've also got several ebooks.

I've got a bunch of ga,es similar to the type that you might see on a smart phone for when I want a quick short diversion.

I'm typing this on my iPad right now.

I've had laptops (always supplied by work). They are big and bulky and great in certain situations. My wife has had a couple of mini laptops, and we just gave my son a net book for Christmas. The netbook was nice and small, and would be great if you want/need a keyboard.

I think the tablet fills a spot that, for me, is not really filled by anything else. The only thing that comes close is a modern smart phone.

I'm actually not an Apple fanboy. I prefer Adroid. When I got the iPad (birthday gift last year) there was not a comparable/good Android alternative. I don't think there is yet, but there will be by this summer, I think.

[AirKuhl]

I don't own one but I have access to a couple of iPads at work and at home and I use them fairly often. It's pretty good for what it is. What it is NOT is a replacement for a full computer. It's fine for short emails, facebook/twitter, youtube videos, etc.

I suggest waiting a few months. There were some amazing tablets announced at CES a few week ago, like the Motorola Xoom.
YouTube - CES 2011: Motorola Xoom tablet (hands-on)


Also check out the Motorola Atrix smartphone. It's a phone, or laptop or desktop computer depending on which dock you put it in, pretty awesome.
YouTube - Motorola Atrix 4G Hands-On

[id10t]

Bought the daughter an Android tablet for christmas... works very well for what I wanted her to use it for.

I was an early adopter - got a Nokia 770 tablet 6 or 7 years ago. Very nice for a hand held - they've only gotten better, especialyl wtih the release of Android.

[HardDrive]

I have an Acer tablet (packed away somewhere). I used to teach off from it. It was great for that. We used to have these giant 3 ring binders that we would get from Microsoft/Cisco(I had 40+ of them). Microsoft started making their manuals available on PDF. You could take notes and add material to the PDF files, and also correct mistakes. When you went to teach a new class, other instructors who had taught it before could share their PDF with you, thus saving you the time of discovering all the flaws in the material and points where additional data was needed.

[Scott R]

I've got my company Ipad here in my desk drawer. I just can't find a fit for it in my day to day. I sit in front of an array of screens and other computers and I have everything I need right here.

I might find something for it at some point, but as it stands today my laptop has 3g built in, my Blackberry covers everything else. Just need to find something for it to do.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I'm using a nootered B&N Nook Color. Does everything I need it to, which is surf, watch video (mostly movies when the kids are monopolizing the TV watching "Super Why" or yet-another-Godzilla flick), and the occasional round of Angry Birds, Tank Hero, or Space Buster 3D.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I have an iPad and it is in constant use at home. I do not use it for work but it has definitely displaced the home pc for most activities.

The wife and I use it for surfing, email, facebook etc. and the kids use it for games and streaming videos from Netflix. The poor PC just sits there acting as a server for the most part.

The best feature of the iPad is the battery life - like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps going.

Not supporting Flash video is an issue but HTML5 is gaining ground.

[GH85Carrera]

I bought my wife a iPad for Christmas. She surfs the web and does email, and plays several versions of Freecell. I have her email and contacts tied to her iPhone 4.

I figured out how to download e-books from the public library to her iPad.

She still uses our netbook that runs Ubuntu for some tasks.

[red-beard]

I have an HP Slate 500. It is a touch screen full Win 7 Pro machine. If you purchase a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, it can replace a netbook completely.

On the Tablet:

Dual Atom 1.8 GHz processors
2GB RAM
64GB Storage (SSD Drive)
Front and Rear Cameras (no flash)
USB Port
SD/SDHC/MMC card slot
WIFI-N

It comes with:
A case
A precision pointer
A docking station which has 2 more USB ports and an HDMI port for an external monitor

I've been using it for almost 2 months now and I've given away my old Netbook. It will do anything a Windows machine can do. I am presently running Office 2003, Quickbooks, Adobe Acrobat on the machine.

It works best if you setup the icons to be large and the fonts large. It connects well with my cellphone (WM6.5 HTC HD2) over bluetooth, WIFI or USB cable for 3G access. I use this on the sofa to surf and post a lot on Pelican. The on screen keyboard is pretty good. You can also use the pointer for handwriting. Or you can activate voice command sub-system and have it fully voice controlled (built into Win 7).

A 64GB iPad is much more limited and configured with the same options, higher in price. My Slate was $799. The iPad with accys is over $850.

I was considering getting my wife a Wifi only 16GB iPad, until I saw they were $499. The 64GB iPad is $699 without options.

It all depends on what you want to do with it. For me, it is my "goto" machine around the house and while traveling.

[Halm]

Originally Posted by masraum

I have an iPad. I use it for surfing, reading, simple games, streaming music, mobile movie player...

Pretty much sums it up. We have a Galaxy Tab, use it the same way and absolutely love it.

Tablets are not yet notebook replacements but are getting closer with each component upgrade. For example, we'll see dual core processors running at 1.5GHz at Mobile World Congress next month, video play back at 1080p, ext. So the proverbial "horsepower" is there.

Now the software vendors have to catch up and produce / port enterprise type applications and then we'll be close to notebook replacement.

[red-beard]

The Slate is dual 1.8 GHZ processors and will do 1080p Video.

[rnln]

Can a smart phone be used for these or is it too small?

Originally Posted by masraum

I have an iPad. I use it for surfing, reading, simple games, streaming music, mobile movie player...

[gr8fl4porsche]

Originally Posted by rnln

Can a smart phone be used for these or is it too small?

My iPhone does all of the above. My iPad does all of the above with a larger screen. The apps written for the iPad do most things a little better since there is more processor and ram to do it with.

[Halm]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The Slate is dual 1.8 GHZ processors and will do 1080p Video.

James, thanks. I wasn't clear. The new tablets (Android and iPad later this year) will have GPU's to improve video performance.

Randy, right now all tables are using a phone OS. The first to come out with an OS optimized for a tablet will be the Motorola Xoom, announced earlier this month at Consumer Electronics Show. It is running Android 3.0, specifically designed to scale to the larger screens. Also, 7" versus 10" is purely personal preference.

[Hugh R]

iPad here, fine for movies and surfing and short emails, would want to write a report with a touch keypad. You can get a $100 carrying case with an external regular keypad, but haven't tried one.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by id10t

Bought the daughter an Android tablet for christmas... works very well for what I wanted her to use it for.

Could you share make and model?

I might be in the market for and Android tablet sometime in the future.

Thanks

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rnln

Can a smart phone be used for these or is it too small?

They work. It depends on the phone. Some have a pretty big screen. I haveosted here and surfed on my phone. I've got acoule of buddies with some of the reaaly big hones. They watch movies on theirs. There are a few devices that are marketed as tablets, but they only have a 5" screen and built in voice. To me those are big phones, not tablets.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Halm

James, thanks. I wasn't clear. The new tablets (Android and iPad later this year) will have GPU's to improve video performance.

Randy, right now all tables are using a phone OS.

Except the Slate which is Win 7 Pro.

And I think that the Slate has the little video card built in for decoding. It also has the hardware for 3G direct, but no way to open the back, without voiding warranty.

[red-beard]

OH, and one correction, the Slate supports even SDXC, the 64GB SD cards! And it defintely has the Broadcomm Video accellerator