Tablets, I don't get it?

I am going to make some assumptions here, and if I am wrong please correct me.

1) I assume most of you do not use your computers on a professional level and do all your daily work at your job on a computer.

2) I am also going to assume most of you have not branched out that much beyond Windows. I mean this in the sense that you gotta use a non Windows machine for at least 6 months straight, if not 1 year. You cannot really pick up Linux or OS X and know how to thoroughly use the ins and outs of the OS in less than 6 months. Unless you have tons of previous experience.

The iPad has it's place for sure. I have about 300 to 400 at my work. Most of them are for students to use in class, use digital text books, and do research on. The students like it because it doesn't weigh a ton, it is portable, and it just works.

Then I have many directors and executives that have iPads. These people are in and out all day long. They are in meetings, shooting emails, in more meetings and are on the go constantly. With cloud sync they can sync their docs on their iPad with their desktop and other mac laptops. They don't have to carry around a laptop and a charger since the iPad is thin and light weight and the battery lasts all day pretty much.

Me personally, I cannot use an iPad for work. For one I need command line access as I write code in shell and python. I also need apps that don't really exist yet on the iPad to be able to do my job.

My friend's fiancé is a lawyer. She just bought an iPad and uses it in trial, she does her ical on it, and she loves it. Because again, she goes back and forth all day from her office, the courts, and where ever else she needs to be to do her work on whatever case she is on. So she does field work too.

The medical field is huge on iPads. It replaces the doctor's clip board, with a digital one with tons of medical apps. The doc can pull up patient info, xrays, test results and so forth. It is light weight both in the OS and physically so it runs fast and smooth.

Finally, the UI, is quite intuitive. I have not yet seen a touch device that is as smooth as an iOS device. I have seen touch devices that have better operating environments, and possibly better apps, but Apple just makes their multi-touch screen products better than everyone else's. Not everyone does true multitouch either. I have sat down and demoed several Android devices and the iPad when we were first looking at deploying them at work. While, the Android devices had their pros, and were nice, the UI didn't seem as intuitive as the multi-touch on Apple products. I really cannot explain it, it is something you need to sit down and use both hands on several products to get a feel for it.

Is the iPad for everyone? Nope, but it sure does have it's place. When you use your computers professionally for your work and you rely on them every day for your job, you tend to look at them a different way. You don't look at hardware specs, heck you don't even look at the price some of the times, you look at how efficient it will be with your work.
 
Personally I have used Linux and OS X for more than a year and a half, and I can say that I do have a feel for it at least.
And I agree about the iPad's unexplainable magic, I've picked up a friend's XOOM to see what it was like, and it just didn't compare in my opinion UI-wise.

So, there's no battle between which is best, it's just personal preference, and I hope other people realize that and stop trying to force their preferences on other people, like this thread has done.
 
Intel_man said:
lol iPads blow for tablets.

Asus EEE Pad Transformer is the best.

ASUS_EeePadTransformer_4.jpg
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Yeah right...

It may be a great piece of hardware, but Apple has the functionality down to a science. I mean professional musicians are recording music straight onto their iPads. The ecosystem Apple has developed between the iPad, cloud services, other Apple devices, and even Windows currently has no match. I wish there was legitimate competition for the iPad, but there isn't. A lot of decent tablets out, but Apple got a huge head start, and no one offers the complete ecosystem Apple does.

The point of tablets is to provide intuitive functionality without the complexity. Asus, Motorola, HP, and most tablet companies have yet to understand that. Having the fastest hardware or the most USB ports is irrelevant if the average person hates using the device.
 
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I think tablets definately have their place like tlarkin said. I can totally see the benefit of those in the medical field. The medical field is always trying to find a new gadget for that, the palms were big in the medical field. The problem is they tend to market the tablets to home users and i personally dont see the benefit of them besides a toy. I would pay $150 for one but never $500+. I would use it to casually browse the web and check email really fast waste some time playing a game and take to the throne room. Other than that I personally wont use it for any other reason.

I did however see one that had a RJ45 jack on it... now that is starting to get into my line of work now. Given the right applications on it i can take it to my sites and plug it in to the network and do scans and internal audits. A lot of the places i go doesn't have a desk and using a notebook can get awkward, that would work out great. I think that one was like $200 which is do able for me.


I think tablets are pretty neat but its all about price with me... like everything is. I work hard for my money I dont like paying too much for something I don't need.
 
Oh and on that ASUS thing, that looks promising... the problem is it will probably use windows which i think is a horrible OS for tablets. Windows needs to make a tablet OS if they want to compete they cant just throw 7 on a tablet it doesnt function the same way its a different computing experience altogether.

Asus does make fine products and wouldnt be surprised if that device isnt phenomenal.... it needs to run android though.

I haven't used HP's webos yet but i bet it is good, it is essentially PALMos since they bought them out. I always liked PALM os i mean its outdated now but it still works its quick responsive stable... not alot of bells and whistles but they knew how to make a product that worked well. Let's see what HP does to it.
 
The other thing about the iDevices from Apple is that iOS runs apps in their own instance. They are completely self contained, so if an app crashes it cannot affect the rest of the system at all. This also makes it very secure. You may lose the ability to "customize" the iOS exactly how you want it, as some of you like to bring that up a lot. However, the tablets are meant to be mobile computing devices.

It also has hardware not found in any other tablet. They designed their own processor based off of ARM technology. The iPads also boast an IPS screen. It has the thickness of the iPhone. You cannot really compare it to a netbook or any other tablet on a hardware level, because the hardware configuration in the iPad is pretty much exclusive to the iPad itself.

There are apps for everything. There are apps to control A/V switch boards remotely. So your A/V tech can sit in the crowd at a presentation and tweak the audio/video settings with out having to go actually touch the control panel. There are apps that will control your whole home entertainment system, your receiver, itunes, TV, digital media, and more. There are apps that can control your car, arm the alarm, unlock the doors, control powered windows, control the car stereo and so forth. An old buddy of mine I used to work with has one and he travels for his job. He has the Marvel Comics app, and gets all sorts of comics downloaded to his iPad so he can read them when he is flying out of the country.

There are tons of real world applications for the iPad (and other tablets) from personal usage all the way to enterprise usage. The apps out there are almost endless. There are sound boards that will direct input to these devices so if you do a keynote or a speech you can output all your audio to an instant pod cast.

Really the only limit is the user, and how the user uses these devices. Some users will use them to their fullest potential, and other users may just use them for a glorified web browser. It just depends.
 
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There are tons of videos for this stuff. You gotta buy a unit you install in your car and the iPhone just acts like the remote control interface to it.
 
hahaha that would be crazy if that were real.

I would buy one and just stick them on peoples windshields and open their doors and steal their car...
 
Quiltface said:
hahaha that would be crazy if that were real.

I would buy one and just stick them on peoples windshields and open their doors and steal their car...
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Oops I was busy at work and grabbed the wrong link....there is a guy that demos what the package can do in his GT. It costs some money and requires 3rd party hardware to work along with the iPhone, but it does exist.

That is obviously a parody...hahaha, my bad.
 
lol i thought you were trying play me for a fool for a minute.

to me that stuff is all cool and impressive, but I cant say I will ever need to roll my windows up from my phone or something like that. Ill just do it from the car like i have been doing for the past 12 years ive been driving.

I like how there is so much potential with technology these days, I just wish more practical things would come from it... it will happen i guess... im sure with every next big thing there was some trial and error before it.

Kind of like my car has a push button ignition... ok i didnt want it it came with the package that had all the other stuff i wanted with my car so i had no choice but to get it. Are people really that lazy that we have to justify getting a button to turn our car on as opposed to turning a key? that is fluff to me.

but im sure when it went from cranks to keys someone probably said the same thing im saying.

I want a program that will change my oil.
 
Lol, rolling down your car windows with a tablet is about as useful as that new pepsi vending machine concept.

Maaaybe if I had money shooting out of my ass I'd buy an ipad for my house that acts as a light switch/heater macro. Then again there's still a million things better to spend money on in my opinion.
 
speedyink said:
Lol, rolling down your car windows with a tablet is about as useful as that new pepsi vending machine concept.

Maaaybe if I had money shooting out of my ass I'd buy an ipad for my house that acts as a light switch/heater macro. Then again there's still a million things better to spend money on in my opinion.
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haha I never said it was technology everyone needs. I agree, I wouldn't buy it either. The only reason I brought it up, is to show that companies are innovating off the iOS devices. Have you seen the app that controls your home? It controls your showers/baths, ovens, thermostat, lighting, home entertainment systems, and so forth. While I don't need (or could afford that) if I did have a pimp ass house and money I would totally buy it.

I could probably look at over half the stuff you own and think of better things to spend my money on....that is total opinion. I am sure vice versa of my things if you came over and looked what I own.

The fact is that iOS devices changed the rules on smart phones and tablet devices. Companies are innovating with them, and while some or a lot of it may not apply to you, there is a market for it. If there wasn't a market for it, they would fail. Apple sold over 5 million iPad 2s opening weekend. Verizon has already activated like 3 million iPhones since they got the ability to do so.

Then again, everyone wants to just play angry birds, which is a game I don't play. So, your mileage may vary.:D
 
tlarkin said:
haha I never said it was technology everyone needs. I agree, I wouldn't buy it either. The only reason I brought it up, is to show that companies are innovating off the iOS devices. Have you seen the app that controls your home? It controls your showers/baths, ovens, thermostat, lighting, home entertainment systems, and so forth. While I don't need (or could afford that) if I did have a pimp ass house and money I would totally buy it.

I could probably look at over half the stuff you own and think of better things to spend my money on....that is total opinion. I am sure vice versa of my things if you came over and looked what I own.

The fact is that iOS devices changed the rules on smart phones and tablet devices. Companies are innovating with them, and while some or a lot of it may not apply to you, there is a market for it. If there wasn't a market for it, they would fail. Apple sold over 5 million iPad 2s opening weekend. Verizon has already activated like 3 million iPhones since they got the ability to do so.

Then again, everyone wants to just play angry birds, which is a game I don't play. So, your mileage may vary.:D
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The house remote, while a cool idea, is definitely more of a flashy look at me concept than a useful one. I could see it becoming annoying after the first week.

I know you would, even I see half the crap I have and go "why do i need it?" You're right though, it's entirely opinion, I know there's a lot of things I appreciate way more than a lot of other people would. If everyone had the same opinion life would be boring.

I realize no one knew what the hell to do with touch before Apple came along. At which point, Apple laid down a brilliant foundation for how touch interfaces should be. For this I am thankful. What has sprouted from that is some brilliant creations from other developers (Android for one), which happen to cater more to my preferences. There are some people who prefer the original, albeit basic design and they can go ahead and buy an iOS product, no skin off my back.

Augh, Angry birds is not worth the hype it gets. It's just another repetitive cell phone game.
 
like i said hopefully people will continue to just spit out goofy gadgets in the hopes they come across something that changes the way we live for the better. I think its pretty much agreed that we dont need to roll down our windows with our phone. as cool as that would be to show someone who has never seen it it would lose its pizazz after a while and never be used again.
 
I think you will see the iOS model come out in many different forms of technology. Kiosks, retail store registers, menu systems at restaurants, even the menu's them self can be replaced with iPads. I did the math and it is actually around the same price to have leather bound fancy menus versus iPads. High end restaurants charge you $300 a meal, so having an iPad for a menu is no biggie.

You will see the model at grocery stores and so forth and the reason is, is because that the iOS model is very secure. Apps run entirely in their own environment, they are 100% self contained. If the app crashes, then the rest of the iOS features work no problem. If an app is malicious, it cannot infect anything outside of it's own environment. Users do not run as admin/root and the only time you actually modify the iOS device is when you update it via iTunes. Even then, apps don't access other apps.

This model is very secure, and stable. Plus it is simple, and it only really uses Obj C and open standards. Meaning that anyone can develop for it and it should be compatible with everything else that supports open standards.

Time will tell where it will go, but Apple has sold a crap ton of the iOS devices and no one has really made one better than they have. I admit I like the Android's openness about developing and distributing apps, but the iOS devices Apple makes, their UI just cannot be touched. I haven't touched or messed with a touch screen item that is as intuitive as Apple's multi-touch screen.
 
tlarkin said:
I did the math and it is actually around the same price to have leather bound fancy menus versus iPads. High end restaurants charge you $300 a meal, so having an iPad for a menu is no biggie.
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OK, I get it, you LOVE Mac. But how much is Apple paying you? And can we please see your math?

Or please link me to your past post so that you dont have to repeat yourself.

Thanks
 
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Iceyn1pples said:
OK, I get it, you LOVE Mac. But how much is Apple paying you? And can we please see your math?

Or please link me to your past post so that you dont have to repeat yourself.

Thanks
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You are a hair away from my ignore list, use the search function.
 
I dont know what you have against me, but i simply asked to see the math that you did where you proved that an ipad would be just as cost effective as a leather bound paper menu.

Im honestly curious, I want to see the menu that you priced out that can cost "around the same" as a 499 for the entry level iPad.

Dont be hatin!
 
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