Reasons to buy a tablet pc...

I'm currently having a bit of a debate with my boyfriend over buying an ipad or droid tablet.

What would be your reasons to buy a tablet? What makes owning a tablet better than owning a laptop/smartphone/etc? I just can't see the use of having one...

 

My mates got an iPad. It's an amazing piece of technology. So many things you can do with them, some of the apps he showed me for recording and mixing music were pretty cool. And my other mate has an android phone, the GPS google map feature on that is really cool, you can zoom into and look at a 360 degree photo of a street and if you hold it up and and pan it round the view pans round with it, like its a small window into another dimension.

 

I've never actually used an ipad (besides the ones they have at the stores, chained down to the counter). I have an android phone and I LOVE it which is another reason why I don't know if I can justify getting something extremely similar except bigger, like an ipad...

 

iPad's are great.

It's total simplicity, user friendlieness, portability, ease of use anywhere and everywhere, and yet a very powerful interface with access to thousands of very powerful apps.

Droid's going to have serious virus problems when their un-moderated app system gets overrun. Apple are nazis, but that's because they can see the future. Market share can only save you so long, and when you get big enough everyone's gunning for you. The iPad will be immune to this because apple needs to approve apps.

On the downside, they're evil and record your GPS locations and what you do where.

I wouldn't get one, I'd get a medium powerful netbook for cheaper, and install linux and whatnot. But I'm a geek, and these are designed to be joe schmo consumer electronics that JUST go and do it well.

Also, iPad's are NOT over-sized phones, if you think that you haven't used them enough. First of all, it's designed as a reader, and second of all, trying to DO anything on a phone is cramped and shitty, iPad has the capacity to act as a full fledged computer.

 

Yeah I know the ipads/tablets and phones are different. Do they have the same apps/markets, though? The only reason I'd use a tablet is for an ereader instead of using my phone, because like you said, it is cramped and harder to use compared to something with a big easy-to-read screen.

The GPS thing freaks me out, too...

 

Yeah, many apps work accross ipod, phone, and ipad. Some only work on one though.

I mean, I THINK the same ones work on iPad... maybe I'm full of shit, I don't own one. At least most people make a version for all of the devices, I know.

The GPS is a problem, it MAY be possible to disable it with jailbreaking techniques now, I don't know. But with most phones and mobile devices, and ANYTHING with 4g or any of that crap, they ALWAYS know where you are. apple devices keep a log on the device, but they ALL send it to the tower, and it's being collected in a central database.

If you're in the mobile digital age, you're trackable. Which is why, combined with great customization options, and half the price, I'd personally buy a netbook for linux. However, it will be thicker and the screen won't be as good for reading, by any means.

Seriously, fuck that noise, go linux:sunny:

 

I looooove Linux.

 

Mac doesn't do Flash unless it's a "real" computer

 

Can't you get VLC on the iPad?

 

I have no use for an iPad or any of these 'new' tablets.
They're great for accessing email, the web, your files, on the go.
But I very rarely ever find myself in a situation where I absolutely have to have the file right now.

I asked a tech guy friend of mine to convince to get one and he said that he built a panic button on his ipad.
He presses it and through gps it tells him exactly where he is.
me, i look around when I want to know where I am.

There are some very cool apps that really only matter if that's your hobby.
If you like astronomy or astrology they have cool apps.
The piano and other music apps on the iPad are actually very powerful.

I am considering a traditional tablet PC as my next computer, but that's quite a bit different from these new tablets.

 

I bought a netbook and its great for the price

perfect little thing for checking emails and online resources I need for work sometimes (have to be near an unsecured network though because Im too cheap for the wireless web card) ...its not much larger than a tablet either

got mine for like $175

 

I have an iPad and I consider it one of the best purchases I have ever made. I literally carry that thing around with me everywhere and use it for everything. While I still use a PC for compiling files and such, the iPad does nearly everything else.

I use it to take notes at grad school. You just use your finger on the screen and take notes that way- no wasting paper and carrying around shit.

I am also a teaching assistant so I give lectures four times a week to undergrads. The iPad is perfect to carry with you at the chalkboard to work out seamless examples without fumbling around with paper and not being able to read your own writing.

It is also great for quickly getting on the internet (I don't even have the 3-G one, just wifi) and making grade adjustments and sending emails. You learn how to type on it quite quickly. However, I still prefer the PC for typing long things (like this post ironically).

For 500 bucks, I couldn't think of a better thing to buy (except maybe a Fender P-Bass).

 

the iconia w500 tablet can like, support all of the millions of freeware applications which android severs ties with. I got linux multimedia studio on it right now.