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Anyone else think that tablets are useless?

tdale said:
What a bizarre thread.

A desktop is useless as its too big
A laptop is useless as its less powered, small screen
A tablet is useless as its less powered, small screen
A phone is useless as its less powered and a tiny screen.

In various use cases, one of the above is near perfect, whether you need power, screen size, portability. So, if you have a use case for each, you own each.
Same applies to a small fridge, medium fridge, large fridge, same goes for cars.

To state that a device is useless is silly and short sighted.

iPads sell. iPhones sell. Imagine if you can buy an iPad for $99 on contract?

I have an iPad Air, 128, Cellular. Do I use it heaps? No. But when I use it, its ideal. Im not carrying my rMBP outside to have a quiet one in the sun, nor to hospital where I was for a week a while back. iPad perfect. Do I sit here in my living room typing this post on my iPad? No, I am on my rMBP. If you have a use for a device, use it, otherwise no need to buy.

I personally feel a phablet is too big for a phone, and too small for a tablet, but many like it, so while its not me, its also not useless.
Click to expand...

I think the point a lot of people are making is that a tablet is the luxury item here. It is the first one you could happily cull from your list of devices and not really miss at all. It doesn't do anything whatsoever that either a mobile phone, or a laptop can do. It is less portable than a phone and less powerful than a laptop. It's no more portable than a notebook/small laptop and it isn't as useful. For the vast majority of people, it just isn't all that necessary. Who here; if they own a phone, a laptop and a tablet, wouldn't hesitate to lose the tablet if they had to be without one of the three devices on a permanent basis? That says it all really. Sure there will be people who have kids and parents who couldn't possibly operate without their tablets, but for the majority of us it's a luxury item.

Also, who here would own a tablet if Apple didn't make them? How many here bought an iPad purely because they're suckers for Apple products? Would you bother with a Samsung tablet if that's all there was available? Doubtless most would dismiss the Samsung tablet as a 'pointless product' ;-)
 
I love my kindle fire hd and 7 inches is the sweet spot for a tablet. Small enough to fit in my pockets and very portable and light. For reading its a great choice
 
sunking101 said:
I think the point a lot of people are making is that a tablet is the luxury item here. It is the first one you could happily cull from your list of devices and not really miss at all. It doesn't do anything whatsoever that either a mobile phone, or a laptop can do. It is less portable than a phone and less powerful than a laptop. It's no more portable than a notebook/small laptop and it isn't as useful. For the vast majority of people, it just isn't all that necessary. Who here; if they own a phone, a laptop and a tablet, wouldn't hesitate to lose the tablet if they had to be without one of the three devices on a permanent basis? That says it all really. Sure there will be people who have kids and parents who couldn't possibly operate without their tablets, but for the majority of us it's a luxury item.

Also, who here would own a tablet if Apple didn't make them? How many here bought an iPad purely because they're suckers for Apple products? Would you bother with a Samsung tablet if that's all there was available? Doubtless most would dismiss the Samsung tablet as a 'pointless product' ;-)
Click to expand...

I think the point more people are making is that an ipad fills an important gap between a laptop and a phone/phatablet. Serving a completely different function than either can serve.

It's like saying an Elantra fills the same function as an M5 and both do exactly the same thing, yet BMW sells a bunch of $100K M5s and why would people buy an M5 if an Elantra provides the equivalent functionality?

There is a demographic of people who use an ipad, because:
- ipad only apps exists specifically on that platform alone.
- most laptops are not portable for families and a phone is not easily shared in a lot of public venues.
- Peoples situations are different, for primarily consumption an inexpensive ipad fills the bill. For heads down content creation, maybe not so much...or a Bluetooth keyboard is paired to the ipad, providing additional flexibility.
- My laptop and ipad serve to completely different functions. I rarely use my laptop anymore except when I travel and have to be sure I can use windows based software. At other times I use this: http://www.celluon.com/products.php with my ipad.

One questions, since you made a statement that the vast majority does not need an ipad, how would you characterize the customers who purchased 200 million ipads since inception? A they a vast majority that bought a luxury item? Do you really claim to be able to know they bought them as a luxury item? How do you know the motives behind apple customer base? It's clear what I would consider a necessity, you would deem my need as a luxury item.

And then there are they other android devices that are not specifically tablets per se. Why buy a kindle when the kindle app is available on an ipad? Yet in my family we have a kindle and spouse prefers that to reading rather than the ipad. More of a luxury item?
 
tdale said:
What a bizarre thread.

A desktop is useless as its too big
A laptop is useless as its less powered, small screen
A tablet is useless as its less powered, small screen
A phone is useless as its less powered and a tiny screen.

In various use cases, one of the above is near perfect, whether you need power, screen size, portability. So, if you have a use case for each, you own each.
Same applies to a small fridge, medium fridge, large fridge, same goes for cars.

To state that a device is useless is silly and short sighted.

iPads sell. iPhones sell. Imagine if you can buy an iPad for $99 on contract?

I have an iPad Air, 128, Cellular. Do I use it heaps? No. But when I use it, its ideal. Im not carrying my rMBP outside to have a quiet one in the sun, nor to hospital where I was for a week a while back. iPad perfect. Do I sit here in my living room typing this post on my iPad? No, I am on my rMBP. If you have a use for a device, use it, otherwise no need to buy.

I personally feel a phablet is too big for a phone, and too small for a tablet, but many like it, so while its not me, its also not useless.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. The use case will vary from person to person, and from function to function. The tablet cannot do everything, but what it does well, it does better than a smartphone or PC.

For years, I felt that most of the discussions about digital convergence and the connected living room were fundamentally flawed because media consumption and more casual computing was a "lean back" activity while the interfaces that came from the PC world were based on "lean forward" activity done with a keyboard and pointing device.

The tablet represents the first computing device that is optimized for what people spend more time doing at home -- leaning back. Smartphones have much of the same functionality, but the small screen is much more limiting for home use or situations where portability is less paramount. And once people hit middle age, a tablet sized screen becomes all the more important just because of eyesight.

The use cases that I've brought up are families with kids and seniors. In those instances, I can make a strong argument that a tablet is in fact preferable to a PC, if you're in a situation where you need to choose one over another. When you combine the numbers of families with kids and seniors, that's not some small niche market, but a very mainstream one (and in the case of seniors, a rapidly growing one). How else would anyone explain sales of 200+ million iPads sold to date, and tens of millions of other Android tablets? Those numbers do not represent some narrowly focused product segment.
 
tdale said:
What a bizarre thread.

A desktop is useless as its too big
A laptop is useless as its less powered, small screen
A tablet is useless as its less powered, small screen
A phone is useless as its less powered and a tiny screen.

In various use cases, one of the above is near perfect, whether you need power, screen size, portability. So, if you have a use case for each, you own each.
Same applies to a small fridge, medium fridge, large fridge, same goes for cars.

To state that a device is useless is silly and short sighted.

iPads sell. iPhones sell. Imagine if you can buy an iPad for $99 on contract?

I have an iPad Air, 128, Cellular. Do I use it heaps? No. But when I use it, its ideal. Im not carrying my rMBP outside to have a quiet one in the sun, nor to hospital where I was for a week a while back. iPad perfect. Do I sit here in my living room typing this post on my iPad? No, I am on my rMBP. If you have a use for a device, use it, otherwise no need to buy.

I personally feel a phablet is too big for a phone, and too small for a tablet, but many like it, so while its not me, its also not useless.
Click to expand...

Your right it's about you and use case. It really is. I personally love desktops. I use a desk top all the time. I use an iPad for some of the same and diffrent reasons. I also use my phone for some of the other reasons. It's all about you. You really can't just say its flat out useless.
 
TH55 said:
Based on the responses in this thread, I'd say you're wrong.

----------



Considering the vast majority of the posters agreed with me, I'd say you're wrong.
Click to expand...
So some think they are while many think they aren't. Pretty much like that when it comes to many things in life actually. Nothing new or surprising. What now?
 
It's a matter of choice, preference and usage.

I now prefer to switch on my iPad Air for General surfing than powering up my MacBook Air.

I prefer to only use my iPhone 5s at work due to the environment I work in.
 
Last edited:
I bought the iPad 1 on launch, iPad 3 on launch and the iPad Air on launch. Sold them each roughly half a year after buying them.

I really like iPads, but I just don't really use them a lot. They're 'fun' on vacation for reading, watching a movie and playing games, but at home I rarely use them. My Mac an iPhone are keepers, the iPad just feels like a toy to me (and you can't say I didn't try :p )
 
Jessica Lares said:
I'd rather cut the phone out first before the tablet.
Click to expand...

I'm not at the point, though I do find my iPad to be very useful. I need my phone for calls, emails pages (by way of text messages). Its too much of a tool needed for my job.
 
sunking101 said:
Extreme iPad user alert....
My phone is the most useful, and used, device I own. By a country mile. I would drop everything before I dropped my phone.
Click to expand...

By a country mile my phone would go. I would not be able to make a living strictly off of my phone.

My laptop would get Skype and I'd be off an running. Laptop can do 100% of what phone can, only less mobile. (We are ignoring the hypotheticals there may be specific functionality only available on a per platform basis)
 
sunking101 said:
Extreme iPad user alert....
My phone is the most useful, and used, device I own. By a country mile. I would drop everything before I dropped my phone.
Click to expand...

LOL. I use my Mac the most out of all of them, which is why I said that. My iPhone would be the second, but it'd be easy enough to just use an iPad. I can deal with running bordered iPhone apps if I can have the tablet apps too.

I spend a lot of time typing, and it's a huge difference in experience between the iPhone and iPad.
 
C DM said:
So some think they are while many think they aren't. Pretty much like that when it comes to many things in life actually. Nothing new or surprising. What now?
Click to expand...

Exactly right. Car, TV, house, everything has size options, that make the device more useful or less useful. Those of us that have the financial resources to maximise our uses are lucky enough to have one of each.
 
sunking101 said:
I think the point a lot of people are making is that a tablet is the luxury item here.

It is, yes. We can go without one if we have a PC and a smartphone


It is the first one you could happily cull from your list of devices and not really miss at all.

Thats quite a generalisation given the sales. There are no doubt sales that, wow, this is cool, and ended up gathering dust. For the majority, we would cull it if we had to, and not be happy. The longer you have one, the more uses and time you use it, thats my experience




It doesn't do anything whatsoever that either a mobile phone, or a laptop can do. It is less portable than a phone and less powerful than a laptop. It's no more portable than a notebook/small laptop and it isn't as useful.

Its much more portable than a laptop. Laptop really needs a bag, and ideally a mouse, and the long power cable with the brick in the middle. Flights now do not allow a laptop bag, it has to be incorporated in carry on or checked baggage.


For the vast majority of people, it just isn't all that necessary. Who here; if they own a phone, a laptop and a tablet, wouldn't hesitate to lose the tablet if they had to be without one of the three devices on a permanent basis? That says it all really.

You asked a question, then you answered it on behalf of us?


Sure there will be people who have kids and parents who couldn't possibly operate without their tablets, but for the majority of us it's a luxury item.

Also, who here would own a tablet if Apple didn't make them? How many here bought an iPad purely because they're suckers for Apple products? Would you bother with a Samsung tablet if that's all there was available? Doubtless most would dismiss the Samsung tablet as a 'pointless product' ;-)
Click to expand...

.
 
My iPad replaced my MBP for couch surfing. I don't think my iPhone could do that. So no, tablets aren't useless.
 
rrl said:
Sure, maybe, if you have an iPhone or something smaller. But plenty of us that have large HD phones have just about stopped using our tablets.
Click to expand...

For some a large hd phone is still to small. Everybody has their own line in the sand of what they deem necessary and important.
 
It's the phones that are useless. The screen makes them unusable for just about anything other than a few texts. Surfing on a phone? Watching a TV show or movie? Seriously?

Not to mention is there anything more annoying than everyone's face buried in their phone all day long? Bunch of desperate dorks. It's like..... Get a life. :rolleyes:
 
s2mikey said:
It's the phones that are useless. The screen makes them unusable for just about anything other than a few texts. Surfing on a phone? Watching a TV show or movie? Seriously?

Not to mention is there anything more annoying than everyone's face buried in their phone all day long? Bunch of desperate dorks. It's like..... Get a life. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Depends on the screen size. 5.2 is just about right.
 
Jessica Lares said:
I'd rather cut the phone out first before the tablet.
Click to expand...


the phone is an old concept (telephone evolved into mobile, mobile evolved into smart, smart is evolving towards the bigger which will clash against tablets, tablets will eat giant 'smartphones', smartphones back to mobile will re-start a new life into watches)

the call function or basic information should soon be included in iAppleWatch or GoogleGlasses

the 'phone' as it is now it's just TOO BIG and getting to the bigger direction is like pushing people for tablets.



basic-phone-call ultra portable tool = watch / glasses

everything else, tablets (from 7'' or phablets)


anything bigger than that is another concept more likely for people at work-school

at home we should soon have giant ipads (mixed or merged with the 50-60-70'' flat screens we have)
as we had CRT to small LCD to big LCD to Smart Big LCDs

we are defyining NEW CONCEPTS
the diversities of the people will tell us sizes etc.
 
Jessica Lares said:
I'd rather cut the phone out first before the tablet.
Click to expand...

Totally agree here. I mainly use my Mac for content creation (creating home movies and editing photos) and productivity (typing papers and the occasional email). I tend to use my iPad for reading/textbooks and surfing the web. The only use that I currently have for my iPhone is for making phone calls. Although I rarely use my iPhone any more, that doesn't make it useless.

However, I would cut the tablet out first if it was the WiFi ONLY version. I have a mobile app for texting and making phone calls (I carry a BT headset to avoid the awkwardness). I'm actually looking to close my AT&T account after my contract expires and opt for a larger capacity data plan for my iPad instead.
 
s2mikey said:
It's the phones that are useless. The screen makes them unusable for just about anything other than a few texts. Surfing on a phone? Watching a TV show or movie? Seriously?

Not to mention is there anything more annoying than everyone's face buried in their phone all day long? Bunch of desperate dorks. It's like..... Get a life. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Or more annoying than random people posting random things on random online forums. Spending all that time online. Seriously. ;)
 
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