I've been considering getting a Tablet...

[Telarus]

Kinda disappointed that most of the software environments are "closed markets" that you have to get "approval" to publish on, but I'm wondering what you PD spags' opinions on the iPad and various competitors are.


?

[Jasper]

Find someone who has one.  Play with it for a bit.  Wait a little while.  See if the urge to have one passes.

[Salty]

I would avoid the samsung galaxy tab. It's basically the exact same as their phone and that one has been sort of a flop despite the excellent hardware. I cannot say for certain, but it seems android developers tried doing a little more than they actually needed to and it makes it clunky, prone to freezing.

Plus, the galaxy s is a bitch to restore to factory settings should the need arise. Right now, if you try resetting it from with in, erasing all data and resetting it to default it deletes all of the applications. All of them. Including those that you need. There's no simple way around this that I've seen. Certainly none that wouldn't void your warranty.

Which is a shame as if you root the thing you can run Firefox on it. Which is damned shame since the web browser is lackluster compared with say...safari. And if you're concerned about markets...either way is going to be hard unless you root the thing. I'm guessing that this will be easier on the galaxy tab.

Now if the new Windows 7 mobile comes out on a tablet I'd get that shit real fast. For whatever reason, despite failing so hard to make a simple, efficient web browser on their PC OS the mobile version is...amazingly awesome. Fast, loads in the background super fast. That's a big factor for me. And the OS as a whole runs smooth, fast, and easy.

But right now the ipad, for better or worse, is the easiest one to manage as I've seen. It can do quite a bit and there shouldn't be too much difficulty restoring it should it come to that. Though I haven't actually done it, just basing that off of iphone use. Plus there haven't been a load of bugs or other problems that I've seen.

[Salty]

Also, if you plan to get an ipad, what with the price and everything, you may want to to wait and see if they're coming out with a retina display model. The samsung has that sweet screen already.

[Requia ☣]

Android tablets are open market (the android market itself is closed I think, but you can buy things elsewhere).

[LMNO]

Also, if you plan to get an ipad, what with the price and everything, you may want to to wait and see if they're coming out with a retina display model. The samsung has that sweet screen already.

iPad2 is coming out early next year.

[Richter]

I've been eyeing and coveting these for awhile now, but the specs and the capabilities seem neutered compared to what they COULD be.  Personally I'd like to see:

- An OS that will support easy file managing.  I don't care if it's Fisher-Price Apple/Android, just let me move, create, and access files around like a fucking adult.  Don't force feed them through "Music", "Movies", "Pictures" functions.  It's like trying to eat an ice cream sundae with a straw.  Possible?  With time, yes; but you'll quickly get sick of the slow feed and do something else long ebfore it melts down enough to be practical.   

- A fully capable browser.  Youtube, java, flash, and whatever else.  The real websites too, not the dumbed down "Phone" versions.  I'm not hauling around a 7+ inch tablet just to see everything in simpleview.

- Native support for common file types.  Really, this is a subset of my first point, but I did not shell out hundreds of dollars to be told I must be graced by a seperate app to read file in .pdf, .txt, or .html. 

- Copy + Paste.  Sounds stupid, but I REALLY miss it when I don't have it.

- Serious text entry and editing.  An "Open office" app would be fine here.  Anyone who thinks the "memo pad" dinglies are more than passingly useful should be forcibly sodomized with an old 3.5" floppy. 

- Compatibility with bluetooth keyboards.  Sound stupid, but when I heard it wasn't CERTAIN that Ipod touch / Iphone / Ipad would work with Apple's pornographic bluetooth keyboards I realized this was one of my big caveats.  Half screen keyboards just don't cut it for me.  All the shiny gizmos from thy company shalt play NICELY together or ELSE!

- Removable storage.  SD or Micro SD. 

- Easy filesystem to filesystem interface when connected to a regular computer.  The "Manager" programs like Itunes are a necessary evil for some things, but going back to the "Let me move an access my stuff like a fucking adult" sentiment, I really prefer to transfer media though something other than your logo bespangled cheesy codpiece interface. 

For fucksake, we have had netbooks of similar size / weight ratio for 4 years that do better. 

[Cain]

I don't understand what tablets are for.

No, seriously.

I have phones to make calls, an MP3 player for music, a Kindle for books (soon, anyway) and a laptop for word processing, the internet and games.  If I had a netbook for travel, I'd be set.  Where does the tablet fit in? 

Of course, I may be biased, since a certain kid at camp kept distracting himself, and everyone else around him, with an iPad until the point I was tempted to drop it (and him) off a nearby cliff...but I feel my questioning is reasonably well justified.  I mean, if you want portable gaming, for example, that is what the PSP is designed for.

Tablets, to me, seem like the ultimate postmodern consumer item...no-one knows what they're actually useful for, but they want them regardless.

[Telarus]

I want to avoid paying $1,000 - $2,500 for a Wacom Cintique (drawable LCD screen with pressure sensitive wacom pen)...

So I was considering a tablet for a "digital sketchpad", but most of them seem like they don't even support pressure sensitive styluses.

Ah well, I'll keep looking... Thanks for the comments, keep them coming!

[Requia ☣]

Presumably in the same slot as a netbook.  I'm not sure why you would use an iPad for that though, since its got the strangled app environment.

Richter: A touchbook 2 (tablet PC with detachable bluetooth keyboard) should do what you want, at least in the linux version, I have no idea if android is capable of the filesystem things you want.  (you'll also have to futz around with windows to get it to read a non windows filesystem).

https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/products/touchbook.htm

Telarus: Look at HPs touchscreen notebooks, traditionally they've had one with a Wacom made screen for around 1500, still expensive but if you need a new laptop anyway it becomes a bargain.

There should be a pressure sensitive stylus for the iPad soon, assuming apple allows it to exist, the prototype is already made.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

i dunno... it seems to me that a tablet would basically be a smartphone that's too big to stow away anywhere really useful, and as a netbook replacement, i'd miss the keyboard. i know keyboards are "old fashioned" but it's my favorite way to write anything. also, i refuse to use anything that claims to be more than a phone but can only muster a screen resolution of 1024x600.

[Triple Zero]

Now if the new Windows 7 mobile comes out on a tablet I'd get that shit real fast. For whatever reason, despite failing so hard to make a simple, efficient web browser on their PC OS the mobile version is...amazingly awesome. Fast, loads in the background super fast. That's a big factor for me. And the OS as a whole runs smooth, fast, and easy.

Yes, this is because MS wrote the Windows Mobile OS basically from scratch without all the decade legacy backwards compatibility stuff.

And believe it or not, if they can, MS is very capable of writing pretty good code (see also: Visual Studio).

Except I'm not 100% sure on how well they'd do in integrating the whole touchscreen control useability in the OS, since the applications are developed by different departments that compete with eachother sometimes.

[Cain]

i dunno... it seems to me that a tablet would basically be a smartphone that's too big to stow away anywhere really useful, and as a netbook replacement, i'd miss the keyboard. i know keyboards are "old fashioned" but it's my favorite way to write anything. also, i refuse to use anything that claims to be more than a phone but can only muster a screen resolution of 1024x600.

And as an ebook reader it is larger and inferior to a Kindle or similar device.

I can kinda understand the digital sketchpad point of view...but it may be better just to go for a digital stylus in the long term.  The iPad and similar with have a lot of redundant features, while barely being useful for that particular purpose.

[Requia ☣]

i dunno... it seems to me that a tablet would basically be a smartphone that's too big to stow away anywhere really useful, and as a netbook replacement, i'd miss the keyboard. i know keyboards are "old fashioned" but it's my favorite way to write anything. also, i refuse to use anything that claims to be more than a phone but can only muster a screen resolution of 1024x600.

That's a pretty standard notebook resolution on low end machines.  Also, why would you want more than that on a 9" screen?

[Richter]

Presumably in the same slot as a netbook.  I'm not sure why you would use an iPad for that though, since its got the strangled app environment.

Richter: A touchbook 2 (tablet PC with detachable bluetooth keyboard) should do what you want, at least in the linux version, I have no idea if android is capable of the filesystem things you want.  (you'll also have to futz around with windows to get it to read a non windows filesystem).

https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/products/touchbook.htm

Slick looking piece of hardware!  Thanks!