Do you really need a tablet?

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/21/editorial-tablets-arent-the-third-device-id-hoped-for-fr/

by pedalpete • 15 years ago

15 31 15 years ago

nesbot5• 15 years ago

Nice editorial. I have gone back and forth on this topic with myself for awhile. I finally caved and bought a pre-order Notion Ink Adam that I recently sold. I used that money and purchased an Asus Transformer with keyboard dock and an iPad2 with the goal to return my least favourite. Every time I see a 10" keyboard I get excited and think how great it would be to have - so light and portable. I always drop back down from the high once I use the keyboard and remember how bad they all are.

I find my tablet (read iPad) is great for consuming content while laying around. I don't think they are quite as awkward to use as the author suggests, at least for me. However, I agree that at times when I want to be more productive it frustrates me and I always move to my laptop or desktop to actually get 'er done.

Another usage for me is that they are great for kids in the car.

I have a beefy desktop, 13" laptop, iPad2 and iPhone4. If you held a gun to my head and said I had to give one up I would, without hesitation, hand over the iPad.

anigbrowl3• 15 years ago

i had the opposite experience. I had a a laptop and liked it OK, but I was getting sick of the screen wastage - I read a great deal of material in PDF and long article form, and I'm sick to death of web design getting in the way. On 80%+ of the websites I frequent, 30-40% of the screen is empty, with acres of blank space to each side. I was getting to the point of wanting to turn the laptop on its side so I could have something with the same aspect ratio as a printed page. There's a limit to the amount of text I can read on a smartphone without eyestrain but I can work on a tablet for hours in comfort. The keyboard works OK for me; I wouldn't want to write a novel on it but it's fine for notes and short comments like this (the on-screen keyboard, that is...I prefer a plugin one for long-form writing).

I'm so much happier reading PDF files and the like now. Web pages, not so much. Getting a tablet has made me realize just how bad many of them are, and how poorly many webmasters and bloggers use their RSS feeds. No wonder services like instapaper and readbility are doing so well. Surprise casualty: Wikipedia. Needs a lot more work to be functional on a tablet.

The other thing is the multitouch functionality. My hobbies include drawing and electronic music and having a high resolution control panel is absolutely killer for these applications, in much the same way that the mouse was a huge game changer by freeing people from the command line.

nesbot5• 15 years ago

That is one thing that made me keep the iPad over the others. The aspect ratio is much nicer than the wide screen versions. I do as well frequently turn it to be portrait for reading.

I agree that responding to tweets, emails or forums and the like that don't require more than a few sentences is completely acceptable for me as well.

I am just saying, for me, its the one I would give up first, but I do currently choose to keep it.

jfruh• 15 years ago

I'm not sure why the author seems so focused on the need to be "productive" with a tablet. For me, the tablet form factor seems to be recognizing a truth that's still emerging, although it's inevitable: much of the time I used to spend reading books and magazines and newspapers for fun or personal edification I'm now spending reading those things or their equivalents on the Internet. And if that's all I'm doing, I'd rather be on the couch with a vaguely book/newspaper/magazine-shaped object than sitting in the same chair in front of the same monitor where I spend all my workdays. I can't tell you how much it's improved my life to have instapaper on my browser on my work computer, so I don't have to make the "this looks really interesting, do I waste work time reading it or lose it forever?" decision like I used to.

That said, I fully agree with nesbot above: if you made me give up one of my gadgets, it'd be the iPad, no question. But since nobody's making me give up any of my gadgets, I'm not too worried.

nesbot5• 15 years ago

Agreed. My final decision was and is to keep it.

kloncks• 15 years ago

Great perspective.

It's a topic I've thought about personally. Forget all the marketing gimmicks and terms like "third-device" or "post pc device".

For me - and this obviously is just my own perspective - tablets are absolutely fantastic for media consumption.

Watching movies with Netflix or shows with Hulu Plus. Reading news with apps like The Economist's or the New Yorker. Interacting with all of it with others like Twitter or Flipboard. Consuming books with iBooks or Kindle. Watching casual videos on YouTube. Sifting through emails, PDFs, or presentations.

Pecking away on an iPad's keyboard is torture. That's why it loses productivity for me. I don't ever see myself going for my iPad rather than my MacBook to type a document up. But in terms of media consumption, the tablet, with its battery life and form factor, is king.

tewks3• 15 years ago

The biggest problems with these devices today are ergonomic, but these will be fixed with time and the laptop with keyboard will gradually be made obscure: tablets won't be the third device.

As the thickness and weight of the iPad decrease, it will become less cumbersome and more natural. iPad2 is already a big step forward in the latter two categories: it is significantly less awkward to hold an iPad1 but still has quite a while to go.

Typing today on an iPad is slightly awkward. Good voice recognition could eliminate this in private settings.

When these physical dimensions diminish, input improves, and screen resolutions increase, the experience will converge towards that of a truly interactive notepad or piece of paper, thereby becoming much more natural.

jerf• 15 years ago

"As the thickness and weight of the iPad decrease, it will become less cumbersome and more natural."

Try this: Hold your empty hands in a "tablet position" for ten minutes.

Even if the tablets managed to converge at zero weight (presumably helium is involved), their ergonomic problems do not go away.

tewks3• 15 years ago

Most users can read or draw on paper for more than ten minutes. The user can still place a tablet on his/her lap or desk.

technoslut• 15 years ago

While I'm no longer a fan of Engadget, I do find this article interesting but it's a typical response and misguided.

I agree with you that there will be such things as voice to supplement the experience but I think that the article vastly underestimates what mankind can do with a soft keyboard. While there are many that complain about the soft keyboard, younger generations will be able to adjust where today's generation cannot.

tewks3• 15 years ago

Agreed. I personally vary between delight and dislike of the soft keyboard. They can do nothing but improve and your note about young people adapting is absolutely true.

zerostar07• 15 years ago

I dislike the limitations of apple products and gave away both a macbook and an iphone in the past. But i love my ipad. It has made my toilet time so much more productive. The one thing that makes it shine compared to the phone is the web: With the ipad you can actually surf the web in normal size while in bed or walking around. I don't expect to write code on the tablet. I barely use any other app than safari, but that's enough to justify my purchase.

bradleyland• 15 years ago

"Do you really need..." is a horrible rhetorical device. All we really need is food, shelter, and someone to love. When making the iPad decision, my questions were more subtle:

* Will I use it?

* Will I enjoy it?

* Can I afford it?

As it turns out, all three are yes for me. The author comes across as trying to convince me that I'm not really enjoying my iPad as much as I think I am. I find that tone obnoxious.

cletus• 15 years ago

"Need" is really the wrong question to ask because, apart from food, water and shelter, there aren't many things you "need" by the strictest definition. After all, in years not too long ago we managed to live just fine without cell phones or even personal computers (of any kind).

The thing that most people missed before the iPad was they didn't understand what its purpose was (myself included, although I was neutral on the device rather than negative). You pick one up though and it's simply a joy to use. There's no booting it up, battery life is great, it's sufficient for Web browsing, reading email and generally consuming various sources of information. Updates are a breeze (of both the OS and apps). The payment ecosystem is built in.

The iPad is for me the most used gadget I think I've ever bought. For the foreseeable future I think it's easily justifiable (for me, having sufficient disposable income) to buy the new model every year. Not because I need it (I have the iPad 2 and could easily have lived with the iPad 1 for another year).

But it's simply a joy to use.

Apple has a great history now of taking things that suck and making them great. Using computers, generally speaking, sucks. Updating tends to be awkward and haphazard. You end up wasting huge amounts of time solving arcane problems (on Windows and even more so on Linux).

In years passed I used to like buying PC parts, assembling a PC, installing the OS and so on. Now? I just can't be bothered. I'm happy to pay a premium to someone (which only seems to be Apple these days) to solve these problems for me. Not because I can't solve them but because I just don't care and I value my time more.

jamesbritt• 15 years ago

Updating tends to be awkward and haphazard. You end up wasting huge amounts of time solving arcane problems (on Windows and even more so on Linux).

Updating on Ubuntu is way simpler than on a Mac. No competition. And I reboot less often with updates on Windows 7 than I do on Snow Leopard.

I'm glad you like the iPad. I picked one up and found it too heavy to be practical. Likewise I find the OSX GUI sort of sucky, preferring my KDE3 set-up.

But that's me; it's all anecdotal.

starwed• 15 years ago

I have to say, after switching from Ubuntu to OSX I was not exactly blown away by the UI. Some things were done better, some things worse -- the mac might have an edge but it's a small one.

And while I haven't wasted much time solving arcane problems, that's because the problems I do have seem to have no solution at all. On Linux, I can google for instructions, try a few things, and a few hours later I'll have fixed what was bugging me. On OS X I'm stuck with it.

kristofferR• 15 years ago

I absolutely agree. The iPad is a tool and toy you probably don't need, but if used to the max it'll probably enhance your life in some noticable way.

Every single morning, while sipping coffee and waiting for my omelette to finish cooking, I catch up on the latest news through Reeder, the first RSS reader I've actually enjoyed using. I also check my mail to see if there's anything important I need to respond to right away.

When I'm finished eating and catching up to the latest news, I grab my iPad and go upstairs for my exercize. While doing strenght training I use my iPad to quickly make a note of how many reps and how much I lifted. After I'm done with my strenght training, I take a run either outside or on my threadmill. If I take the run on the threadmill, I'll use the iPad for watching a video, either South Park or TED.

After I've showered, groomed, brushed my teeth and flossed, it's time to start working. When I work my iPad is always lying on the desk next to my laptop. I use it for:

* Displaying my ToDo-list (the Hit List)

* Displaying the email I'm working on.

* Displaying some relevant notes to the work I'm doing (Evernote).

* Displaying a PDF or website containing documentation to what I'm working on.

* As an extra screen (AirDisplay) for Photoshop tool pads and similar.

* VNC or SSH to another computer

* The occational check of HN, Twitter or Facebook.

* Calculator

* Calendar (Week Cal HD)

Yup, everything I've mentioned could be done on a normal laptop. However, it's incredibly useful to have an extra screen for displaying relevant information that'll never be obscured by application windows covering the information.

After I'm satisfied with my work for the day, I might hang out with my friends, perhaps take a picnic in the park. My iPad is always accessible in my manpurse. If a customer has an emergency problem, I can quickly and easily log into their server and fix the problem (Textastic/Prompt). If I get a brilliant idea, I'll note it down in Evernote and analyse it with the Business Model app. Maybe I want to think deeply about my business - I'll just open Dropbox and read through some business documents about future plans or surf on some of my competitor's sites through Mercury Browser.

When I'm back home I might do some more work or chill out with some games. Perhaps I'll open Rage HD and have one of the most immersive and physically exhausting gaming experiences possible through the Virtual Window control mode.

Right before I go to bed, I write in my diary (Day One) and finish my TODO-list for tomorrow.

bnegreve• 15 years ago

I am not sure I understand your point (that's honest) : The article claims that we don't need iPads to improve our productivity, and you say you bought one mostly because it's a joy to use it. How is it contradictory ?

georgemcbay2• 15 years ago

My Asus Transformer has shown me that I do not need a tablet (but I like having one for the oft-mentioned couch-surfing), and the ideal tablet for me is one that can easily convert into a laptop form factor.

I'm actually very much looking forward to Windows 8 because the one failing of my Android-based Transformer is not being able to run "big boy" apps like IDEs, Photoshop, etc, when it is in laptop mode. I really do like the simplified UI/OS for doing all the basics -- email, web surfing, reading news feeds, etc, but having one device to act as my tablet/notebook/productivity machine would be absolutely ideal and while it is somewhat possible to mix Linux in with Android (I've done it on both of my Honeycomb tablets) the results are pretty hacky and it looks like Microsoft is the only player who is really going to push a meshing of the desktop and tablet ecosystems into one OS.

We may be moving into a Post-PC world, but I for one am not nearly ready to step into that yet.

cdcarter• 15 years ago

I would say that with teh direction Apple is taking Lion (and whatever will come past that) and iCloud, they are also pretty committed to "push[ing] a meshing of the desktop and tablet ecosystems into one OS".

georgemcbay2• 15 years ago

Apple is certainly pushing towards making the ecosystems inter-operable, which is great, but I don't think they are aiming for a true melding the way Microsoft is.

In basic terms, I think I will be able to buy a Windows 8 tablet/notebook (in the style of the Asus Transformer) in 2012 on which I can run Photoshop and Visual Studio. I don't think I'll be able to buy an iPad in 2012 which runs Photoshop (the real one, not Photoshop Express) and Xcode.

nextparadigms• 15 years ago

I think the Transformer is the evolution of both tablets and notebooks, but you're right Android does need more "pro" apps. But I wouldn't be so quick to switch to Windows 8, either. I believe all computer machines will gradually switch to ARM this decade, as they become more and more powerful, while maintaining an order of magnitude smaller TDP and several times smaller price than similar performance Intel chip.

As such, Windows 8 for ARM will be even more behind Android by the end of 2012, because they can only support legacy apps on x86 chips. The ARM ones will have zero old Windows apps. With Transformer you can get about 15 hours of battery life. With an Atom based Windows netbook you get about 5, and netbooks generally have the best battery life from all Windows notebooks.

yalimgerger• 15 years ago

As a commentator in the article's comment system mentioned, tablets are amazing to consume content. Much much better than a laptop. So if all you do is look at stuff without contributing more than 10 words a day (typical Facebook user), which what like 99% of the world's population does, iPad is an order of magnitude better than a laptop. Both objectively and subjectively. Objectively, it has much better battery life, is easier to use, easier to carry around because it is lighter, more affordable etc...etc...Subjectively, it is more fun to use, cooler to own and more pleasant to look at. As subjective as these are, it seems to be shared by the overwhelming majority of the economically relevant population. If you visit an Apple store, you will see so many people inside buying iPads, you would think that they are giving it away for free.

bliss• 15 years ago

It's all a matter of the journey I suppose. this chap has found his niche and is happy there. My journey was a little different. I started pocket computing with my USR palm 5000, upgraded to a palm III and then ended that part of the journey with a Zaurus. I decided that the form factor wasn't good enough for me to get productive work done and they were really just toys, so I struggled by with laptop and desktop, I got an MSI Wind and really enjoyed it, proper portable computing, then when apple finally launched their much anticipated tablet, I jumped and I love it. Now, since I had fallen out with pocket size computers, I never got a smartphone since I would have considered it a toy, I just have a standard nokia that can make calls and send and receive SMS. My tablet is now a device that gives me great productivity. i'm a bit of a photo buff and have by slr handy, or a little point and shoot nearby, don't care about having one device that does everything, right tool for the job is my mindset. My iPad is used for consumption and for creation, I'm a BA and that involves lots of meetings and workshops, having all project documentation at my fingertips in that situation is perfect, I make big use of mind maps and the software I have for that integrates with the desktop software for continuing the work later on. So yes, I do really need a tablet, it's perfect for me, I waited years and it has delivered proper portable computing that I've long dreamed about. I think that if you have a smartphone, you're perhaps duplicating a lot of the functionality of your powerful little phone on the tablet device, but don't forget the screen size, the thing that turned me off the palm type devices in the first place, that is the winner for me. I don't need it to fit in my pocket. That's my journey and it's a bit different to the author's, so arrives at a different place. The author made it clear at the beginning of his piece that one size does not fit all, the tablet is not something he's willing to get on board with and that's absolutely fine, but he does appear to be drawing the conclusion that no-one needs these devices and it's somehow that we've all been seduced by slick advertising selling us a device that we have no use for. I suggest that the author gives it a whirl, he might be pleasantly surprised.

beej71• 15 years ago

I absolutely do not need one, and I can prove it. :-)

I have an iPad 2 sitting on my desk right here. I use it for developing and testing iPad apps. The rest of the time, it is 100% idle. I have never once used it to watch videos, answer email, or anything else. It's sitting right there--I could use it at any time, but I always reach for the netbook or desktop instead.

(I've used my phone for all those things, though, when I'm out and don't have a computer.)

My reasons are simple: my other devices are better than tablet PCs at basically everything I do.

Other people's needs make a tablet a better choice. So the author can flag all the legitimate reasons he and I don't need a tablet, but how can he claim to speak for everyone else?

phamilton• 15 years ago

Frequently mentioned in these comments is what we really do "need". While necessities are food/clothing/shelter, I think the author of the post is looking at a different definition of need. He mentions video editors and how they need a Thunderbolt RAID array. His argument is whether a technology contributes substantially to ones profession. A Thunderbolt RAID array does contribute substantially, making it a justifiable purchase. He mentions ultraportables. He also mentions gamers (questionable "need" here... I think). But basically he is putting forth a rhetorical challenge. How straightforward is your justification for buying an iPad?

As others had said, a tablet is not an essential. There may be use cases where it is very justifiable, but for most of us, it's not.

ChuckMcM• 15 years ago

I find these sorts of editorials fascinating, basically they are "I don't see a need for this, my friend/spouse/other also doesn't see a need for it, therefore there is no good reason for these things to exist." As if the entire world was defined by the standard of the author.

A really good example is this comment in the article: "Pixel-for-pixel, I can see almost as much information in the palm of my hand as I can with an unwieldy screen that requires two hands to use with any precision whatsoever."

Here the author has no trouble at all reading the same text on a their iPhone that they have on their iPad. They are in for a rude surprise when they hit their mid-40s and their eyes start losing their current flexibility :-). Unless you want to look really dorky holding your iPhone three inches from your eyes, you will really appreciate that the larger screen makes things 'bigger' without having to zoom and give up those pixels.

That being said, the author misses that it is easier to read with a tablet than it is with a laptop because the keyboard is in the way and not essential to the task. And yes, when you want a keyboard, not having one sucks, but there are many applications where having a keyboard is actually broken.

For example, sign-in/sign-off sheets. You've got a bunch of people who are coming to your conference/meeting/facility and you have them on a list. Looking them up on a list, checking them off, and even entering the time/date when the arrived it hugely more productive with a tablet than it is either with a laptop or a pad of names. Many sort of form processes get similar benefits (inventory, quality sorting, Etc.) It can be an awesome calculator/adding machine (much better than a PC) because you can customize the key layout to your particular needs. Consuming information can be easier, and its a huge win if you want to show snapshots to your friends from your camera.

If the author had any sense of history they would look up the sage advice about how useless it was to put all of these 'smart' features on a phone, all you needed was for it to call numbers, and ring when called. The rest was just fluff.

Now, not so much.

Do you really need a tablet?

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