Are there any benefits to tablet computing?
Mikey 11 comments Poll
Once upon a time I dismissed the very idea of a tablet, but that was during a time when the 'best' offering was the feature-poor Apple iPad and long before there were any Android offerings. Then Samsung announced a line of Tablets running Android 2.2 (with 2.3 and 3.0 upgrades coming) to be called the Galaxy Tab, and suddenly I was interested. Yeah I'm a self-confessed Android aficionado and have no problems highlighting Apple's miserable product feature sets.
You see, I always knew that even if I wanted a tablet, it would have to do what I want to do with it. Take photos, record high quality video, install unofficial apps if I wanted, view flash in the browser, share, multi task, video calls and phone calls, add more storage, output hi-def video via HDMI - all this at the very least.
With these boxes ticked I decided to dive into the tablet scene with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which I was lucky enough to get a couple of weeks before the official launch.
So the questions still remains - is there a compelling reason to get a tablet (regardless of brand)? I didn't need a reason at first although one did eventuate. I had this discussion with Rodney over IM a while back, where we both conceded to the simple fact that people like him and I are such technology enthusiasts that we simply must have the latest bleeding edge gadget even if we don't need it. It is an instinct we are compelled by and find difficult to ignore. Seriously - there should be a support group for people like us. It's a disease!
But strangely, a real reason other than "I simply must have it!" did reveal itself a couple of weeks in, and that helped take away any lingering feelings of buyers remorse I may have had.
And here it is. The one thing the tablet concept does well - is to liberate you from the desktop. My laptop is collecting dust most days now because I only need to use it for work purposes (Photoshop and programming which I rarely do at home), as I can now do everything else on the Galaxy Tab. Everything. To emphasise this fact, my partner has since got a Galaxy Tab and instead of us spending our evenings in separate rooms doing email, Facebook, browsing etc on our own computers, we can now sit in the lounge together watching TV while talking about our days, happily doing our daily online due diligence together at the same time on our Tabs. That to me, is the biggest benefit of tablet computing - at least in our household - that it can take the dedicated PC factor out of our lives allowing us to spend more time together, in the same room at least where we can communicate.
Even ignoring that, if all you do on your PC is typical web duties, Facebook, Twitter, web browsing, email, instant messaging, listen to and download movies and music, look at photos and all that jazz, there's no conceivable reason to perform those duties chained to a PC at the back of the house.
I recently touched on the subject of de-cluttering your PC life by way of eliminating the beige box concept in favour of something more portable but without sacrificing anything you need. The Tablet concept takes this a big step further. I can already hear some of you saying "but Mike, I don't want to be tweeting from the toilet" and "but I don't want to be checking my email at the breakfast table". I say, if you're going to be doing those things anyway, do them where you want and when it's convenient to you, not where your PC happens to reside and only during a time you are in physical proximity of it.
You should demand more. Consider it.
Hell yeah! GIVE me any kind!...But if I have to buy it, well there needs to be some ground rules.
I remember using DOS and Windows 3.1 It took a while, but eventually, understanding took place, and I began to get good at it. I truly understood how to get around in Win 3.1.
Windows progressed, and I somehow was able to keep up. At some point I got introduced to Mac OS, and though they were different, by and by, I picked it up as well.
Mike, my guess is that you are at least 20 years younger than I, and I gotta' tell ya', I just can't learn another operating system. We've been down this road before. Android looks pretty, but...I just can't get into it.
Where's a name brand, Windows OS Tablet to be found?
f~
...in response to this comment by Friendo. There's a few Windows tablets on the way, including one that dual boots with Android.
http://goo.gl/6Fbnd
Truth be told though, mobile OS's like Android and iPhone are very intuitive, so much that they don't even come with operating instructions. I don't reckon you'd have any issues with a tablet my friend.
Henk V
Sunday 12th December 2010 | 01:06 PM...in response to this comment by Friendo. you mean, couldnt be bothered to learn.. what is the point when website designers absolutely ruin purchasing and information sites?
Information is free, accessing costs no matter how cheap the means are.
Henk V
Sunday 12th December 2010 | 03:56 PMI am not sure who bugs me most in society, difficult web designers or auto gas registration mechanics.
neither seem to be able to impart info that may save you money
Jack
Sunday 12th December 2010 | 10:44 PMRarely leaving my desktop computer, I think I'd feel out of place trying to work out where to situate myself elsewhere.
...in response to this comment by Mikey. Thanks for the Kudo's Mike... Perhaps intuitiveness is required by the operator as well as the Tablet OS. If it were someone else having the issues I have with Android I would say it was PEBKAC, but as I don't think that is appropriate in this case, I'm going to say PICNIC!
I look back on how I was able to pick up an understanding of Windows and Mac OS, and though I am self taught, it seems there was always plenty of other users around to get help from. Well, there are now getting to be quite a few Android users around me, this wasn't the case at first. I am going to hold out I think.
Henk...You are probably right, it is indeed likely the real issue is that I can't be bothered to learn Android OS. But why should I? While I can assure you, I don't have the Degree in Amorphous Philosophy that you do, I can still make my persona every bit as cryptic, doubtful, dubious, enigmatic, equivocal, inconclusive, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, muddy, multivocal, obscure, opaque, polysemous, puzzling, questionable, tenebrous, uncertain, unclear, unintelligible, vague, and ambiguous when I need to.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about your comment regarding the "difficult web designers or auto gas registration mechanics." I can stretch Mike into the Difficult Web Designer role, but I fail to see how he can absolutely ruin purchasing and information sites? I can tell you for sure that my information gathering and purchasing has only been enhanced and expedited with the advent of the net.
Now I did Google (for free) "auto gas registration mechanics" It was comforting to know that I could save on Auto gas registration mechanics and get free 2-Day Shipping w/Amazon Prime! Noting that the term seemed a bit ambiguous, I scrolled on down, and found that owning a car in Costa Rica can be an expensive undertaking and that I could avoid the expense of insurance, vehicle registration, maintenance, gasoline, and annual inspection. It seems some transplants to Costa Rica opt for a combination of taxis and public transportation, which is inexpensive, efficient and reliable. But...then it hit me: I am in the car business. Not a salesperson, but in the business nonetheless. You used this term in a comment, directly below one that I had made. Could you possibly consider me an "auto gas registration mechanic?" I'm not quite sure what to make of all this.
Anyway, it now seems like just another Sunday. I look forward to not having to go outside, where its 8°c
f~
Henk V
Monday 13th December 2010 | 07:06 AMIt just frustrates me that the crucial information is somewhere else or the purchasing mechanism is hidden, product description is tiny in comparison to grandiose mission statement or self-righteous company head patting.
I look for product, price, location. I know its a lot to ask for.
Auto gas mechanics.. I was talking with two mechanics today after I plocked the severed head of the "penultimate" gas provider for the rest of my life on their desk. I promised the ultimate one tomorrow.
Just that one fucking stupid question or demand too many.. At least he halved his original quote to remove the tank and anally insert it for being a painful jerk over the six visits I invested at his company.
LPG mechanics are few and far between this way. The local ticket must attract nutters. It also attracts attention under our federal law if they continued to piss me off.
Its cheaper just to remove the fricken tank.
Go on, you tell one of your customers its 50 bux to fix head lights and your customer finds out you gave the lenses a 3 minute hand rub with cutting compound. Where would your desk chair be? on the inside or the outside of your colon?
This behaviour has been exhibited to me by lpg mechanics for the past decade in this area. I now pay a perfectly sane mechanic to go over the beast with a fine tooth archaeological brush prior to registration and drive the car directly to the lpg rego.
Just so I can say, "mate, that is bullshit!"
One got it today, one gets it tomorrow.
PS the head came off when he asked me if I had permission to remove the tank from the other registering agent. My darling was down the road waiting for me when she heard the head coming off.
Ben Thomas
Monday 13th December 2010 | 11:54 AMiPad, because it does what I want from a tablet, and does it so slickly.
Henk V
Monday 13th December 2010 | 01:25 PMLithium, because its just so...nothing
seamless pharmaceutical interactivity. 1 tablet = 30 years of apps.. beat that
Sms Blast
Friday 15th July 2011 | 07:45 AMI think that there are benefits to owning a tablet. But I honestly won't be spending any money one one anytime soon. My android phone does almost everything that a tablet does, and I can text and receive phone calls from it. I really am a laptop type of person. But, hey, if you would like me to use a tablet, I'll accept one as a present.
andrew
Saturday 11th December 2010 | 07:39 PMi like this line "Seriously - there should be a support group for people like us. It's a disease!"
and with ur tablets why chat verbally with one another it can be communicated via the tab!! only joking but isnt that the way of the future,no verbal only written communication...