Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've avoided smartphones for years now. Just have no "need" for it. But everytime I'm waiting for my wife somewhere, I always borrow her Iphone to do stuff. I never bring a laptop or netbook. Too much of a bother.
While using her Iphone, I inevitably find myself thinking, I wish it had larger screen. So I guess I'm a good candidate for an Ipad. The form factor is excellent.Holding it in one hand like a book or folder is so much easier than having a netbook or laptop on my lap or having to find a flat surface to use it.
But if it were bigger than a cell phone, would you always bring it with you? Do you carry a manbag everywhere big enough for a 10" tablet?
it is also production device and capable of writing docs, spreadsheets, powerpoint-like presentations, simple video editing. Music composing. You can even build websites on one if you wanted to.
There are even applications for doing vector illustrations and photo editiing
Your only limited if your mind/imagination is limited.
Most people do not use their computers for anything more than the simplest tasks and web browsing anyway.
Im getting one over the summer. All i need is the WiFi version. I wish they made tethering to a hand-held easier and less expensive (yes, I know there are work arounds).
Compared to an actual MacIntosh, the IPad is a kazoo. And yes, you can compose a symphony using only a kazoo.
You can do documents, spreadsheets, powerpoint-like presentations, simple music composing and website building with it...but I don't see those professionals who earn their living by creating the items you listed dropping their current hardware and rushing out to the Apple store to replace them with IPads.
You are correct in that most people do not use their computers for anything more than simple entertainment (simple tasks and web browsing) - that's the target market for the IPad.
iPads (or any other tablet) are not meant to replace primary production computers. They are adjuncts. I would never consider doing major design work on a tablet. But its good to know that I can make minor edits and /or notes on most of my files.
Regarding Music. You have obviously never used apple's "Garage Band" -a free brom that allows you to create amazing HIGH end musical compositions.
tablets may also be a good tool for designing presentations. Powerpoint has too many bells and whistles that in the hands of non-professional designers produces some of the worse presentations i have ever seen. Maybe if you limit design tools amateurs can produce better looking websites.
Regarding Music. You have obviously never used apple's "Garage Band" -a free brom that allows you to create amazing HIGH end musical compositions.
Actually, David Albarn of the British pop group Gorillaz used an iPad during their U.S. tour to make a new album (The Fall) that he released it on the Gorillaz website (free to website subscribers) on December 24th, 2010. However, I don't know what app he used when making the album.
However, I don't know of any other successful professional musician who has eschewed the music studio for an iPad.
Quote:
tablets may also be a good tool for designing presentations. Powerpoint has too many bells and whistles that in the hands of non-professional designers produces some of the worse presentations i have ever seen.
The solution to crappy presentations isn't to simplify the tool...the solution is to stop the crappy non-professional designers from making those presentations.
Quote:
Maybe if you limit design tools amateurs can produce better looking websites.
Naw, it's not the tools that make for bad-looking web sites...
But if it were bigger than a cell phone, would you always bring it with you? Do you carry a manbag everywhere big enough for a 10" tablet?
Me, bring a purse? probably not. That's what my wife is for ... . Okay, not politically correct. But my wife always has hers.
Seriously, though, I usually have my sling backpack for whatever book I'm currently reading and usually a couple of magazines and a bottle of water. You never know when you might get stuck somewhere. I can wait all hours in the car or in the mall, as long as I have a book or magazine to read. So a tablet would actually lighten my load for me and even add web surfing capability while waiting.
Point being, I work on computers all day, all week. The last thing I want on a weekend is another keyboard. The netbook fad I never really understood. Why buy a very small laptop, when I already have a 15 inch laptop that I don't find heavy at all?
I've looked into e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. Great for reading. But very limited web surfing. I'm trying out the Pandigital ereader and I like it more than the Kindle or Nook. We might keep it.
However, the Ipad is starting to look better to me. Cheaper than the Xoom. Seems to function flawlessly. Get the job done.
About the only thing I don't like about these smart phones and tablets is the anti-social effect that comes with it. I like striking up conversations with other folks when I'm at the mall or anywhere for that matter. I like people in general. But notice how some folks these days seem glued to their smartphones/tablets? I see people, with each other, and they're each glued to their smartphones instead of talking to each other?!
Me, bring a purse? probably not. That's what my wife is for ... . Okay, not politically correct. But my wife always has hers.
Seriously, though, I usually have my sling backpack for whatever book I'm currently reading and usually a couple of magazines and a bottle of water.
I don't carry anything like that all the time. So if it doesn't fit in a pocket, its going to be something I have to decide whether or not to take. If I'm going to make a conscious decision to carry a bag with a device in it, I want a real computer, not a big ipod. My upper limit for an "always with me" device would be something like a Droid X with a 4.3(?) inch screen.
Tablets are nothing but a fad, just like they were 10 years ago when the last push for them was made, and just like they were back when Apple made the Newton ages ago.
They're only good for what we in the IT world call "vertical apps". Things like a doctor being able to pull up diagnostic records or X-Rays for a patient through a specialized program, or a construction foreman pulling up blueprints, those sorts of things.
For the home user, they aren't upgradeable, they lack the power to effectively run resource intensive applications, multitasking is a chore, you get no tactile feedback from the "keyboard", storage is highly limited, they are no more convenient than a laptop since they are too big to fit in your pocket (and anyone who claims lugging around a 3-4 pound laptop is too heavy needs to start lifting tomato cans or something), they don't access secure network environments well, you can't play anything but the most casual of games on them, they become tiresome to hold up for extended periods of time to view, etc.
There are a lot of things that tablets cannot do, and will never be able to do simply due to the fundamental flaw in the design of them. My company did a pilot program to see if integrating tablets was viable. Handed out 45 tablets to people around the company in various departments with various job functions. After 6 weeks, only 3 of them were still regularly in use for business purposes - 2 salesmen who were convinced that they provided a "wow" factor that encouraged clients to buy from them...a dubious claim, and 1 HR person who could never really answer why it was she liked it; the rest had either been drawered or else were being used as glorified e-readers. End of program.
Tablets are nothing but a fad, just like they were 10 years ago when the last push for them was made, and just like they were back when Apple made the Newton ages ago.
You will be eating your words in about 5 years. IT people have always been threatened by Apple products and innovation. Most think they are still toys.
As I have said Tablets are not meant to replace higher end desk tops, but to complement the desk top. the limited storage issues will be replaced by cloud networking, and larger capacity flash drives as they become available. I can still remember very well 128 mb hard drives and thinking that storage capacity was HUGE.
You will be eating your words in about 5 years. IT people have always been threatened by Apple products and innovation. Most think they are still toys.
I've been in IT for a decade and a half now. People like you have been telling me that my ilk have been terrified by Apple that entire time, and guess what? Still not concerned about them.
BTW, there's nothing "innovative" about ANYTHING Apple has made in the last 15 years. Not one thing. Apple is great at making a device utilizing decade-old technology, slapping their logo on it, and convincing Apple loyalists that they've just created something new.
Quote:
As I have said Tablets are not meant to replace higher end desk tops, but to complement the desk top. the limited storage issues will be replaced by cloud networking, and larger capacity flash drives as they become available. I can still remember very well 128 mb hard drives and thinking that storage capacity was HUGE.
Ahh yes, the mystical "cloud". AKA the single point of failure. This is the exact same rhetoric everybody was spewing 10 years ago, and look what happened there.
Tablets were, are, and always will be, little more than toys, and that goes beyond Apple to Android and HP's new offering with the Palm OS. Know the only thing I ever see people doing on a Tablet? Reading an e-magazine or a book. They're less functional and less powerful than ANY notebook, and just about any netbook. They're no more convenient to lug around, and they have no legitimate niche. If all you want is a reader, save yourself 400 bucks and buy a Nook or a Kindle. If you need to run apps, grab a netbook or a laptop. If portability is what you crave, get a smartphone. There is no box a tablet - any tablet - really fits into, and that is a fundamental problem with them.
As I said - fad. I've got 3 tablets sitting in my garage collecting dust that I've had since about 2000. The amazing thing is those 11 year old devices are actually more functional than a present-day iPad, which isn't saying much given how useless they are. But yeah, these things are "innovative" alright.
Typical iT guy response. The said a lot of the same thing about aple computers back in the early 1990s. Toys they called them.
10 year old tablets are MUCH different than the current crop.
its a brave new world, dude.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
