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Let's settle the tablet thing once and for all

Here's my take:

9 in or higher-----> tablet pc (iPad for now or convertible tablet/laptop)
4.5 in to 7 in -----> pda or mini-tablet pc (i.e. galaxy tab, dell streak)
3.5 in to 4.3 in----> smartphone,ultra-mini-tablet pc (iPhone, iPod touch)


I prefer ultra-mini tablet instead of pda. iPhone and iPad is the best combination.
 
lythium said:
Ipad with a usb port, induction charging, physical button cycling the softkeyboard.
Running OS X.

someday... hopefully.
Click to expand...

Just Hackintosh a Windows Tablet PC. They have been making them for the past ten years, it's nothing new. It's just that the iPad was 'revolutionary' because the OS was designed for touch from the get go, and Apple controls the hardware and software so it's not fragmented like WM was on the PDAs.
 
So much for settling it :)

Good idea for a thread, but it's clearly challenging. What did you have up before PDA? I read the correction 'need a better name' and thought 'PDA seems fine' then realized you'd changed it to that. Anyway...

The wee tablets they use on Star Trek seems a lot like a touch-screen Kindle, to me. I have a Kindle 2, and I wish I could saw the keyboard off. I do prefer it for book reading than the iPad (I have a bulky rubber case because my kids use my iPad so it's WAY heavier).

Have you guys seen Samsungs or Streaks in the wild much, or at all? I guess I'm wondering if people are actually buying them. I think they'll fail, but I wouldn't put it paste Steve to release a smaller iPad and make like he didn't just diss the 7" form factor a month or two ago at all. He does that sometimes. He just needs to waves his hand and mind-trick us 'There's nothing contradictory in the awesomeness of this new product. You must have it.'
 
MrWillie said:
I got a laugh out of it too... But I was laughing AT y'all, not with. I have made tens of thousands of dollars using a PDA, and so have a few others.
Click to expand...

The difference is that when a PDA was a PDA there were no smartphones so your only choice besides a PDA was to carry a laptop or what used to be a tablet PC. Back then a PDA allowed you to bridge the gap between a "phone" and a computer. There's nothing I can think of that the iPad or samsungs tablet can do that the equivalent smartphones cannot do, I'm sure there is something but I just can't think of it at the moment. So you go back to the question of why bother carrying around a slightly larger smartphone? Don't get me wrong it's your decision, but I'm just giving my own personal opinion why that size would be "useless" TO ME in today's modern times.


MrWillie said:
Star Trek, while entertaining, is not real. The iPad like devices they hold in one hand are not real, but stage props. They also set them down before doing any 'real' make believe work.

Did you measure the make believe screen on the make believe device ?

iPad = real
Star Trek Pad = make believe

I have NO problems holding the iPad in one hand.
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Lol, had to chuckle at this one. You will note that even though they had the handhelds they didn't have smartphones. If they had smartphones they would have no need for the 7" tablets. In fact they should have had rollable screens and stuff like that, they were kind of not very advanced IMO.

Also in the original Star Trek (and the only "true" star trek IMO) they did use much smaller devices, I don't think they had screens though. :p
 
Piggie said:
Awwww, don't tell me it's not real :eek:

Seriously though, it does tell you something that Years, Decades before the iPad was launched many many people had decided the size of a useful handheld tablet device.

If you watch they do also have larger devices, but many of the thin slates they use in all the different series are of a size to hold in one hand.
Click to expand...

Next thing they'll try to tell us is that Professional Wresting isn't real...

5" or 7" makes a useful "read-only" device. The touch screen nature allows for a lot of interesting navigation options through rich media content. On the down side, it's hard to do serious work on a device that size.

At 10", the iPad basically hit the sweet spot. With the full sized onscreen keyboard, you can do serious amounts of text creation and editing. It's also large enough that you can zoom and manipulate images and diagrams.

I think on Star Trek, those "data pads" are used mostly for viewing information, and limited interaction, like approving a work schedule, etc. They're more of an evolution of a Kindle than an iPad.
 
From my personal experience i have only seen 4 ipads in the wild and 1 was mine. I travel alot, been through many airports. When i pull out my galaxy tab a few people have surprised me by knowing what it is. I find the tab to be a good fit for me. It fits inside my cargo pocket in my cammies whereas my ipad did not. By some peoples reasoning there shouldnt be different sized tvs. Why get a 40in when you can have a 46in. It is all personal preference, i happen to prefer the 7in screen of the tab. I gave the ipad a fair shake, had it since launch and only recently got rid of it




nightfly13 said:
Good idea for a thread, but it's clearly challenging. What did you have up before PDA? I read the correction 'need a better name' and thought 'PDA seems fine' then realized you'd changed it to that. Anyway...

The wee tablets they use on Star Trek seems a lot like a touch-screen Kindle, to me. I have a Kindle 2, and I wish I could saw the keyboard off. I do prefer it for book reading than the iPad (I have a bulky rubber case because my kids use my iPad so it's WAY heavier).

Have you guys seen Samsungs or Streaks in the wild much, or at all? I guess I'm wondering if people are actually buying them. I think they'll fail, but I wouldn't put it paste Steve to release a smaller iPad and make like he didn't just diss the 7" form factor a month or two ago at all. He does that sometimes. He just needs to waves his hand and mind-trick us 'There's nothing contradictory in the awesomeness of this new product. You must have it.'
Click to expand...
 
sactownbwoy said:
From my personal experience i have only seen 4 ipads in the wild and 1 was mine. I travel alot, been through many airports. When i pull out my galaxy tab a few people have surprised me by knowing what it is. I find the tab to be a good fit for me. It fits inside my cargo pocket in my cammies whereas my ipad did not. By some peoples reasoning there shouldnt be different sized tvs. Why get a 40in when you can have a 46in. It is all personal preference, i happen to prefer the 7in screen of the tab. I gave the ipad a fair shake, had it since launch and only recently got rid of it
Click to expand...

Just my observations - I've yet to see a single galaxy tab in the wild, and in the few situations I've had reason to bring it up (usually an insult :rolleyes:) no one has had any idea what it was. However, I've seen five or ten iPads around. People reading or typing in coffee shops is common, once or twice in an airport. Once on a ferry. That's the honest truth there - I'm not fanboy-ing
 
I dont visit coffee shops so maybe thats why i havent seen any around. I thought for sure i would see them at the airport, maybe when i fly home after new years i will see more

Dumbledorelives said:
Just my observations - I've yet to see a single galaxy tab in the wild, and in the few situations I've had reason to bring it up (usually an insult :rolleyes:) no one has had any idea what it was. However, I've seen five or ten iPads around. People reading or typing in coffee shops is common, once or twice in an airport. Once on a ferry. That's the honest truth there - I'm not fanboy-ing
Click to expand...
 
sactownbwoy said:
I dont visit coffee shops so maybe thats why i havent seen any around. I thought for sure i would see them at the airport, maybe when i fly home after new years i will see more
Click to expand...

Perhaps I was just on a lucky day at my airport. But they seem quite popular at little coffee shops above borders's. Seen them there three different times =/
 
If you want to find out the reason the Glaxay Tab isn't showing up like the IPad do this; go down to the Verizon store and try one out.

I tried the Galaxy last week and quite frankly it is a waste of money when compared to the Ipad. It is slow, the touch screen doesn't come close to the smothness of the IPad, there aren't the variety of apps and it is just a bit more "clunky."

What is good about it is, the Android "open" OS and the variety of memory and ports built in. But, given the quality and functionality of th IPad the Galaxy ranks a very distant second, if you want to rank it at all.
 
bjet767 said:
If you want to find out the reason the Glaxay Tab isn't showing up like the IPad do this; go down to the Verizon store and try one out.

I tried the Galaxy last week and quite frankly it is a waste of money when compared to the Ipad. It is slow, the touch screen doesn't come close to the smothness of the IPad, there aren't the variety of apps and it is just a bit more "clunky."

What is good about it is, the Android "open" OS and the variety of memory and ports built in. But, given the quality and functionality of th IPad the Galaxy ranks a very distant second, if you want to rank it at all.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I completely agree! The touch screen is quite difficult to use, and the system was actually very laggy doing extremely simple tasks like moving through home menus or opening the app drawer (list of apps).

Arent these things more expensive than the iPad? I'm not sure, don't flame me if I'm wrong. But for a similar or higher price, the only thing that this device has over the iPad is a smaller screen. Not that I would want it myself - I love my full sized tablet - but I realize that a lot of people would prefer a 7 inch.
 
bjet767 said:
If you want to find out the reason the Glaxay Tab isn't showing up like the IPad do this; go down to the Verizon store and try one out.

I tried the Galaxy last week and quite frankly it is a waste of money when compared to the Ipad. It is slow, the touch screen doesn't come close to the smothness of the IPad, there aren't the variety of apps and it is just a bit more "clunky."

What is good about it is, the Android "open" OS and the variety of memory and ports built in. But, given the quality and functionality of th IPad the Galaxy ranks a very distant second, if you want to rank it at all.
Click to expand...

The tab and ipad share the same processor. As with any demo device it is.loaded down with crap and has been running all day. My tab runs quote smooth and it gives me options that my ipad didnt. To each his own. Some like the ipad and some like the tab or various other tablets out there.

The tab is an awesome device and so is the ipad, everyone has their thing
 
sactownbwoy said:
The tab and ipad share the same processor. As with any demo device it is.loaded down with crap and has been running all day. My tab runs quote smooth and it gives me options that my ipad didnt. To each his own. Some like the ipad and some like the tab or various other tablets out there.

The tab is an awesome device and so is the ipad, everyone has their thing
Click to expand...

The logical part of me tells me that technically you're right, the fanboy part says hell no.

For onesies - if going from my experience with the galaxy s phone (which the tab was modeled after) the tab probably comes with a ton of crap ware too. And the thing to think about - it's SUPPOSED to run all day. If it can't handle a single day of the casual user messing about with it - it's a pretty sad device. The iPads at the apple store are used probably much more intensively, as they have much more traffic, yet I notice absolutely minimal slowdown when I go in and test drive one (quite often). So there's just another test that the iPad passes while the tab fails.
 
I'm glad people will be "satisfied" with the Tab, but to say the demo model is slow because... just doesn't pass the smell test, and that is what demo models are for.

I have gone to the Verizon store, the Microsoft store and the Apple store to test their respective products. I would assume a retailer just doesn't throw their stuff out but actually tries to present their products in the best of light. I played with the IPad for months, read reviews, asked work mates who had them about their personal satisfaction and quite frankly Apple has done it better. Not only have they done it better but the first product is far better than any comparable device.

I challenge any one to test the various devices at the stores and tell me which one is the best.

Now does Apple sell the best and most economical light weight computer, ie. the Air? Well the first Air wasn't but the latest one is really good...

PS. I still have an Android phone (Moto Droid) which is rooted and over clocked. It runs great but it isn't an IPhone, maybe close but no cigar. When Verizon starts selling the IPhone I will switch (rumor says maybe Feb 2011).
 
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