What do you use your tablet for?

dr.stevil said:
I sort of understand that. Honestly, you almost need to build up muscle for it. Sort of like when someone first starts driving a standard transmission... your clutch leg can get a little stiff/tired at first, but after a while, you don't even notice it anymore.

With that said though, you really don't need to hold it at all. You can put it on your lap, knee, crook of your arm (like a painters easel), etc and still use it comfortably. When I first got my iPad, I found it to be a little awkward to hold, but that wears off pretty fast... you just need to get used to it and find what's comfortable for you.

As for sitting hunched over a coffee table hacking away on a laptop, I don't know how anyone finds that comfortable. My back aches just thinking about it.
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Again, that's personal opinion, lol :p

Whenever I use either my TF101, or my iPad 2, the web is not only slower to load on either device, tabbed browsing and typing is much harder, too. I'm tempted, however, to replace my TF101 with a Transformer Prime + KB dock and end this finally :)
 
I use my tablet mainly for web browsing when I am away from my PC. I used to use a netbook but I like the tablet form factor much more.
 
Browsing the internet and occasionally checking email. If was provided by work, and it was a waste.
 
The case I prefer on my ipad has a rigid back with a bt keyboard. I don't use the keyboard much, but I'm constantly hanging the ipad over things. I also often use splashtop and have my desktop content playing on my ipad. So the ipad will be streaming a movie to me while I'm folding clothes, or fighting the cat, etc etc.

One place in particular, my bedside table, has a metal frame underneath that is perfect for perching the ipad there and letting it dangle and play some music, or a movie from the computer.
 
jeremyshaw said:
Again, that's personal opinion, lol :p

Whenever I use either my TF101, or my iPad 2, the web is not only slower to load on either device, tabbed browsing and typing is much harder, too. I'm tempted, however, to replace my TF101 with a Transformer Prime + KB dock and end this finally :)
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yeah im just not feeling it. i dont sit for long periods of time "hunched over my laptop." if im gonna do that, i will just go to my desktop. i never do important stuff at home, thats why i go to work for 8 hours every day. :D at home i watch and listen to media, look stuff up, skype my gf, remote desktop to my htpc/server to download torrents, and browse [H]. reading email is the only thing i didnt mind on a tablet, but responding to emails took so much longer that i stopped using it for that too. but really, when i use my laptop i have remote desktop, skype, firefox, steam, etc open at the same time, and trying to do all that on a tablet is more difficult if even possible. as for media, i would gladly use my slightly bigger and heavier 15" screen and decent speakers over a 10" screen and those awful tablet speakers any day. i added what i want to my sig. i think i dont want to give up any of the capabilities/performance of my laptop, but i still wouldnt mind some extra portability and a touch screen for the occasions where they might come in handy. with windws 8 i think we might start seeing something like what i want since its a full windows operating system thats also optimized for touch inputs. looking forward to 6-12 months from now!
 
I have an ipad 2, (didn't really want one, it was a gift) and have been using it almost exclusively in the bathroom. Got a bunch of free magazine trials on it that I've been flipping through, and actually subscribed to one since I liked the interactive features.
 
Etherea1 said:
I have an ipad 2, (didn't really want one, it was a gift) and have been using it almost exclusively in the bathroom. Got a bunch of free magazine trials on it that I've been flipping through, and actually subscribed to one since I liked the interactive features.
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also gr8 4 teh shasturbationz? :p
 
ekuest said:
really? i find it extremely uncomfortable to sit with one hand in the air holding a tablet. i have to do everything (including typing) with one hand,and i have to constantly hold it up with the other. putting my laptop on my lap sitting up or on my chest or night table (coffee table in the living room) is so much more comfortable for me. maybe thats the main reason i dont like tablets. maybe im just not getting the whole convenience/comfort thing. also my laptop is a pretty lightweight, thin, long battery life one (see sig) so it doesnt bother me as much as some other laptops might.
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well i got rid of my tablet and now only have laptops to use on the couch, and i can tell you for simple websurfing and email which is 90% of what i do with it, i miss the tablet terribly. its the other 10% of use, when i need to pound out a paper for ENG111 on MS Word that I need the actual laptop advantage, but only then.....but I tried it with the tablet and it just doesnt work as well
 
I use my Acer A500 to surf on the sofa while wife watches Anti-men Lifetime movies, lol. Also use to view all my digital pics like a frame I can also surf or let the kiddos play games our watch movies while traveling. I do no work whatsoever on my tablet strictly a goof off gadget
 
I picked up an HP Touchpad during the fire sale. It is a great consumption device.. eBook, web, news, email, games, movies. But not practicle (to me) for getting any real work done.

Definitely love it for eBook, movies and Web browsing. Would never pay MSRP for one.
 
Use the Asus Transformer here. I mainly surf the web but I also read and watch movies/shows on it. I honestly bought it for note taking in class but I haven't really found a good note taking app and most of the time my stylus is huge so trying to write neatly on 1 page is kind of hard. Oh I play some games occasionally =)
 
Jehutiy said:
Use the Asus Transformer here. I mainly surf the web but I also read and watch movies/shows on it. I honestly bought it for note taking in class but I haven't really found a good note taking app and most of the time my stylus is huge so trying to write neatly on 1 page is kind of hard. Oh I play some games occasionally =)
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I highly recommend the free "Simple Notepad" android app... I have it as a "android wallpaper widget" and I can put up shit I *NEED TO DO* ASAP, as kind of a digital sticky note spot. Just tap it, and start typing :)

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.mightyfrog.android.simplenotepad&hl=en
 
I don't really see the point of tablets beyond Watching movies/tv on the go or away from your HDTV. Things that I pretty much never do as watching stuff on a tiny screen or through tiny little speakers doesn't exactly bring a good movie experience.

It's kind of like a Wii. Sure it's fun, but it's just a toy at the end of the day.



The only reason to get a tablet imo is if you're on the go a lot and don't need to do much productivity. If you do need productivity, a laptop would serve much better.

It's pretty smart for manufs really. Average consumers can't handle Windows or Mac OS X. I'ld say more than 50% of internet users do not know what an address bar is and will google www.facebook.com instead of simply going to the site directly. lol gotta love it
 
iPad 1 user:

It's a content consumption device. The usefulness is in the form factor. I can do things with it while laying in bed (on my side), on the sofa, on the back porch, take it for a weekend trip. It's not going to replace your home desktop/laptop computer, but I only use those on a desk.

For streaming video, I use Airvideo. I can control iTunes on the desktop with it, to adjust volume/track while playing music, can also control Airport express installed in other rooms. I use it as a GPS when I travel.

Some apps I use:
Video consumption: YouTube, NPR, PBS, CBS news, 60 minutes, TED.
For reading, Engadget, iGeeky. PDF reader.
GPS. Digital map of where I am, CityMaps2Go (download maps on wifi before travel), and Navigon for GPS sat/nav.
Remote. To control itunes and airport express at home.
VLC Streamer, to control VLC media player while I am watching a movie on my desktop/laptop connected TV.
Off Remote. To control the power features of my desktop/laptop, like turning them off/restart/standby etc.
Several cook book recipes apps.
Reference guide, like dictionary, world history, CIA factbook, IMDB movie database etc..

Mostly, I just read online materials on my ipad, and occasionally watch online videos, and sometimes stream my desktop bound videos. I could also see backing up my digital camera pictures on my ipad, when I travel, thereby negating the need to haul my 18" laptop, but I only have the 16GB version, I'd need at least a 32GB version for that, plus the media reader kit.
 
Got a Galaxy Tab 10.1 for my birthday this year and though I wasnt really planning on buying one myself Im glad I got it. I was a hater and I thought to myself why do I need such a thing when I have a laptop for this purpose. However over time it basically made my laptop obselete. Granted I dont have to work while traveling much, and if I work at home I do it at a proper desktop.

Mostly use it for what its designed to do, consume media on my couch, on the go (thanks to PDAnet) and while droppin a deuce :p. I have an Atrix but honestly the screen is too small for viewing docs/e-books and watching movies. Also the Tegra games are that much cooler on the tablet. With Honeycomb finally getting attention from the devs, its actually finally slowly but surely becoming an appealing alternative to the iPad. Though when I first got it earlier this year the marketplace was a wasteland of buggy under developed apps.

I must say that Im happy with my gift and totally underappreciated it when I first got it but in the end I dont ever want to go back to hauling my laptop, even though its a ultraportable, around ever again, unless its one of few instances I need to do actual work while on the go.
 
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I read on my iPad, use it pretty much as an ebook reader and little else even though it can do a lot of other things.
 
I use my tablets for pretty much everything, ebooks, web surfing, watching TV, coding etc. but my primary use is for note taking and as a personal database. I've been using OneNote since it came out and its simply one of the best tools for gathering and retrieving information there is. Other than contact information anything I need to remember or keep a record goes into OneNote.
 
I recently bought a Playbook as they were $300 off making it $199. Been debating on a tablet so figured at that price I'd get it. I'm still not sure what I really want to use mine for. Like, it's a really cool toy and stuff, but once the novelty wears off, is it just going to sit somewhere? That is the question.

So far I found a few minor uses. One is having internet access from bed or the couch. Sometimes I just want to check something real quick without going on the computer. The Playbook does not have an email client, which is kinda silly, but for any other tablet, I suppose checking your emails from the couch and stuff could be cool. I will probably be setting up a webmail app on my local server to solve that problem. I also found an app that turns it into a remote for my HTPC. It's very basic, but still kinda cool.

As far as away from the house, it's kinda tricky, I would only see myself bringing it out of the house if I specifically plan on using it, so if I'm going to be traveling or something. But unlike a phone it's not really something you'll always have on you and can pull out on a as needed basis.

Oh, and I have actually seen some people use it as their Bible. Yes, like, an actual Bible. In church. :D
 
I don't own one yet... tried to get in on the 64gb playbook deal, but best buy canceled my order :(
 
dont have one yet, told the wife to get me the transformer prime for xmas....

what would i use it for? well surf the web, watch pron, movies, i guess maybe games if they good enough and what ever else i can...
 
I use my iPad 2 for all of the standard media consumption stuff (web stuff, music, audiobooks, kindle books, movies (but only when I'm stuck some place with nothing else to do, etc.).

As I am a engineering prof, I also use it to study my own notes and to present my material during lectures. I can also work examples in class and project that to an large screen. Way lighter than any laptop. I also read PDFs of technical papers and books. Also, I use it as a navigation device in my car -- a task for which it greatly excels compared to either my phone or Garmin Nuvi.

It does a lot of stuff very well, IMO. I still use my laptop when I want to use and project some kind of simulation during a class. Also, I use the laptop (tablet pc) to make video lectures with annotations on top of powerpoint slides.

All serious writing, code development, CAD, illustrations, etc, is done on a desktop PC with a large display. I will never change this as neither a laptop nor a tablet serves as well as a full desktop PC for this kind of thing. However, when I travel the laptop goes with me, but so does the iPad. The laptop becomes the workhorse when on travel (assuming I'm working, that is).

I would say I use the laptop less because of the tablet and the same goes for the phone (the iPad is better for media consumption than is my phone, except during those times when I don't want to take the iPad with me, which is typically during outings during the day). I take the iPad to doctor's appointments when I expect to do some waiting.
 
AQ_OC said:
As I am a engineering prof, I also use it to study my own notes and to present my material during lectures. I can also work examples in class and project that to an large screen. Way lighter than any laptop. I also read PDFs of technical papers and books. Also, I use it as a navigation device in my car -- a task for which it greatly excels compared to either my phone or Garmin Nuvi.
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The iPad 2 is much lighter than conventional laptops but not a lot lighter than even some current x86 slates. It's only 5 ounces lighter than the HP Slate 2 and 11 ounces lighter than the Sandy Bridge Core i5 based Samsung Series 7 Slate. Of course if one where having to hold a device for extended periods of time those 11 ounces would add up in a hurry but still very portable. And for notation duties digital pens are very useful. All pen and paper duties can be handled on pen enabled Windows devices, its been the primary use of my Windows tablets since day one and when coupled with programs like OneNote there's still nothing in the iOS or Android world.

Office 15 which will be "Metrofied" should be coming out in beta around CES along with the beta of Windows 8, I can't wait to get those puppies installed on my S7S. Of course a device like an S7S is considerably more expensive and get only half the battery life of the iPad but this time around we have Windows on ARM. Something like the HTC Flyer running Windows 8 at the same price point running a touch and pen enabled version of Office that's 100% compatible with the desktop versions with a pen that's as thin and light and battery efficient as a mobile OS tablet in the same price range will be very compelling for a lot of folks.
 
Got a touchpad in the fire sale (paid more second hand though).

60% e-reader (side loading into kindle is the only decent e-reader app though, preader sucks)
35% electronic magazine before going to bed. Reddit app, browsing forums, basically reading internet content but not really interacting with it
5% games and email. My phone just does this much better, and its more of something I can check when I am already using the tablet and am bored, not something I actually pull it out for.

Overall I think I would be happier with an actual e-reader, or a device that can stream content like netflix.
 
Aku12 said:
Got a touchpad in the fire sale (paid more second hand though).

60% e-reader (side loading into kindle is the only decent e-reader app though, preader sucks)
35% electronic magazine before going to bed. Reddit app, browsing forums, basically reading internet content but not really interacting with it
5% games and email. My phone just does this much better, and its more of something I can check when I am already using the tablet and am bored, not something I actually pull it out for.

Overall I think I would be happier with an actual e-reader, or a device that can stream content like netflix.
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have you tried cm7 yet? i have it on mine and from what i hear netflix works great. i dont have a netflix account so i havent tried it yet.
 
I don’t think that tablets are worth the price but still I do use iPad as whatever it is capable of doing, does it nicely. It is lightweight, has fantastic resolution and a reasonable battery and it works fine for me while browsing internet. Though I do feel it is over-priced.
 
I have been tempted, but like you I no longer have netflix. I was leaching off my parents since they only used it for the disk in mail. Since netflix changed their subscriptions, I canceled their streaming capabilities to save them money. From what I have read though, it still has some bugs. Where my webOS runs pretty smooth.
 
I mostly use my tab to read ebooks and browse the web before I am about to go to bed.
 
E-reader (I use night mode in my e-reading app -- screens are too bright for my eyes, even at lowest settings)
Digital Comic Reader
Newspaper (Pulse is awesome!)
Movies when I travel and am not bringing a laptop
General internet surfing


I find it far easier to surf/read with when sitting on the couch or lying in bed compared to a laptop. It's more ergonomically friendly, in my personal experience.
 
i have and ipad2 and honestly it sits in my bathroom for when i take a dump. everything id use it for i can just do on my desktop.
 
I'm currently rocking an ASUS Transformer. It's become a laptop replacement for me in most respects (I have he keyboard dock), and I'm actually posting from it right now. I use it for notes, media consumption, and staying up to date with news and other stuff. My only gripes are the apparent lack of a *good* facebook app, and the considerable lag on the keyboard. The former isn't a huge deal since I usually only log onto FB at work, and the latter really only gives me issue when typing long strings of words (aka sentences). The lag is only noticeable when I type fast and am not careful when putting in spaces. I love the portability and instant-on of the tablet, and the doubled battery life provided by the keyboard dock isn't too shabby either.
 
I use my iPad2 to read the news and browse the web comfortable from my sofa while drinking my morning coffee. Also read books at night sometimes as well.

If I'm heading out of town for less than a week, I'll just grab it instead of a laptop. They are great for just browsing the web on the go.

Too many people think that tablets are supposed to replace laptops, when they are really nothing more than fun gadgets that perform their feature set very well.

heatlesssun said:
The iPad 2 is much lighter than conventional laptops but not a lot lighter than even some current x86 slates. It's only 5 ounces lighter than the HP Slate 2 and 11 ounces lighter than the Sandy Bridge Core i5 based Samsung Series 7 Slate.
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You say that like its no big deal. 5 ounces is almost a 25% increase, and a metric shitload when you've been reading for 3+ hours.
 
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I use my iPad 2 for work and pleasure. I do training with it connected to an appletv. I do schematic tracing on it so that my students undertand the workings of a particular circuit. Right now I'm using it on vacation in Puerto Rico. I no longer travel with a laptop.
I also use it for remote desktop to my mom's PC, as well as other people's. For large files, I access a NAS drive from home.
 
InorganicMatter said:
Too many people think that tablets are supposed to replace laptops, when they are really nothing more than fun gadgets that perform their feature set very well.
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The term "tablet" or as I prefer "slate" only references a devices form factor and lack of integrated physical keyboard. It has NOTHING to do with a devices capabilities.

InorganicMatter said:
You say that like its no big deal. 5 ounces is almost a 25% increase, and a metric shitload when you've been reading for 3+ hours.
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Sure lighter is better but even the lightest of things become annoying to hold in a single hand while fully supporting its weight after awhile. Most people I see using tablets in public have them in a case resting in their lap or on a surface. I'm writing this post in pen with my S7S supported in my forearm and armrest. I can hold this device much longer and more comfortably that way than one could an iPad standing supporting it's full weight in a single hand.

Again, yes lighter is better but more of a factor when talking about small weight differences is how the device is actually held or not held.
 
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I use my Asus Eee Pad for internetting. Checking and responding to email. Web browsing, reading magazines via Zinio, playing games, watching netflix in bed. It's great. Much more practical for general use than a laptop.
 
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