Poll: Do you own/use a tablet?

[Psykoma]

I have the surface pro 2, and I'm quite in love with it.
It's a bit heavier than most tablets but I find with the stand I prefer it to the others.

Also as a portable gaming machine is great - it's not near as powerful as my desktop, but it's still powerful enough to play games on the run. So far I've made it through tomb raider and the mass effect series on it during many trips.

Video watching is nice too, I can usually get between 7-8 hours of video on a single battery charge (I'm still also waiting on the battery cover to come out)

Which speaking of covers, I really like it, especially the type cover providing the actual typing feel. My only qualm of them is that the covers are only connected by magnet, and I'd prefer if there were some additional stronger connection between the cover and the tablet.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I own a Android tablet, only reason I still have it around is for the Android port of Carmageddon and Doodle Jump. Damn thing is really unresponsive. Got it for free a few years ago anway so no money was lost.

 

[trollnystan]

I want one but I can't afford one. I read a lot of e-books nowadays and use my phone to do it, but the screen feels too small sometimes. I'd also use it to watch Netflix and probably to play games on. If I ever do get one it'll probably be an Android. Don't like Apple stuff much and so far not terribly impressed by Windows phones/tablets.

But yeah, can't afford one =(

 

[gorfias]

I got one of these. The keyboard charges the screen portion if you are away from an outlet, which for most of us, is often. It lasts about 3 times longer than the best laptop batteries out there.

http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-TF300-T-B1-BL-10-1-Inch-Tablet/dp/B007P4YAPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400091022&sr=8-1&keywords=tf301

As others have posted, the detached screen is great for reading. Any long train/bus commutes, watch videos. Some cheap gaming. Good network aps for cheap.

Fun little thing for having, though, for portable gaming I prefer the Vita.

 

[Do4600]

I got a Galaxy Note 3 a couple months ago, the screen is like 3" by 5" but it has about the same functionality as a tablet. The reason I bought it was because I wanted to upgrade from my six year old LG feature phone to a smartphone and also because I don't have a laptop. I'm a sculptor, I spend most of my time out of my apartment in a studio. The tablet functions are incredibly helpful. I do a lot of first draft sketches for jewelry and sculpture on my phone now, and I can incorporate photo collage into those sketches using photoshop touch and autodesk sketchbook. I still prefer to do final draft sketches on paper with pencil, ink, charcoal, marker and paint. It might just be because I'm not yet used to how the surface of the stylus drags on the screen at least not as experienced as the 20 some years I've been drawing on paper. Anyway, another awesome thing my phablet has allowed me to do is create time lapses of my working process and document my work better. It also allows me to access and perform complex calculations on various things I need to know, such as the melting points of various materials, estimating the volume and weight of material I'd need to fill a specific space or mold or create a specific curve or taper on a multipart surface. Taking notes, taking pictures and making notes on them, taking the pictures with notes on them and sketching on top of them to create a plan of what I want to build onto the already existing form and finally now that I'm getting into 3-d printing I can use a few of the apps in development to build a form 3 dimensional and use only my phablet to control a makerbot printing that form. There's a great deal of games, but many of them have the feeling of bejeweled. There are many great games that have been ported, but there are a select few that exist only on tablet that have any real depth. For apps I would recommend Wolfram Alpha, Autodesk Sketchbook and Adobe Photoshop Touch.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I don't have one, and I don't want one. They serve no useful purpose to me. If I'm at home I have access to my PC. If I'm at work, I have access to a PC. If I'm not at either, I have a smart phone.

And I barely ever use my phone. Pretty much just use it exclusively for calling, texting, and sometimes as an alarm clock.

 

[loc978]

No desire for one... it's just a netbook with a touchscreen instead of a touchpad mouse and physical keyboard. I despise touchscreens and the operating systems that are optimized for them, so if I need a tiny computer running an underpowered ARM processor for the sake of battery life and heat, I'll just get a 12" laptop. As things stand, I don't find a 15" x86 laptop at all cumbersome to keep (well-hidden) in my car. I don't need to have access to the internet when I'm out walking around... and it's not like I live somewhere that's feasible with cell service anyway. Can't even make voice calls on any network from my house, the nearest hilltop for roaming access is about a half mile away... which only (barely) works with Verizon.

 

[Ieyke]

I own an iPad 2. I use it mostly for taking notes and gaming.
I would recommend Android.
Insane stupid frustrating Apple limitations are ultimately not worth the hassle.
Also, I don't use it much....partially because it's Wi-Fi only, and that's just impractical as hell. It needs 4G.


Got a Galaxy S5 a couple weeks ago, and it's just vastly more useful, despite the relatively tiny screen.

 

[Frezzato]

I'm not sure what media center Android uses, but I'd love to know more. I bring this up because of the media-sharing capabilities of iTunes, which extends (naturally) to iPads.

I currently use iTunes and love it because of its library-sharing features, which covers music, movies, etc. Dragging an MP4 into iTunes and being able to stream it to other iTunes-capable devices with my shared library is pret-ty fucking cool, but then again I'm very behind the times.

The good news is that the shared library functionality still works on the older iPhone 4 (non S model), which I got from a friend. The bad news is that it's probably only a matter of time before Apple drops support for it. I can't test it, but I'm sure support for the iPad 1 is probably gone by now. Sure, Android has its own share of problems [http://www.androidcentral.com/why-you-ll-never-have-latest-version-android] but I can't find news of that beyond 2012. Either way, I think you'll have to pay a "premium" price for whichever tablet you decide to buy, whatever their respective ceilings are.

-

snip

Now THAT thing looks awesome. If only it had native USB connectivity, I would get that instead of an iPad. Have you found that to be an issue at all?

 

[DanielBrown]

My grandmother owns an iPad and my mom has a Samsung(I guess that would be Android?). Comparing the two I find the Samsung to be many, many times better. Often borrow it to watch Netflix in bed and it's great as a gaming device in case I got a long wait in the car coming.

As much as I like it I don't think I'd buy one at the current prices. I got Netflix on my PC and PS3 already and while gaming is better on the tablet it also works fine on my cell phone, though the tiny screen is really fucking annoying. I got huge hands.

 

[ace_of_something]

The department I work for has started making all the detectives carry tablets. Needless to say some of the older veterans are struggling with it. It's windows based and fairly recent. Seems intuitive enough.
Though the 'mugshot' program leaves something to be desired as the images rarely load next to the rap sheet which is most of the damn point. That's more on the developer of that software rather than the tablet I think.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I mainly use an android for drawing because fuck you trees I'm not going to use your corpse for fine art, I will be restrained by your physical borders no more!

 

[gorfias]

-

snip

Now THAT thing looks awesome. If only it had native USB connectivity, I would get that instead of an iPad. Have you found that to be an issue at all?

There has been a huge problem with the USB. I used to be able to plug in a wireless adapter for USB into the tablet to connect to a wireless gamepad controller.

I could hook the tablet up to my TV by mini-to normal HDMI cable and play games on it as if it were a console. I upgraded the OS and am not able to roll it back. Now the USB controller doesn't work. Don't recall trying a wired controller. I'm advised I could root it. Dangerous but might be worth doing for a lark.

This particular type of tablet is fun in that you can put micro SD cards into it for added storage. Last I looked, Apple can have added storage with a huge dongle thing.

A 7 month old compare:

 

[Rad Party God]

My dad gave me his old phablet over a year ago and I still use it, it's a Samsung Galaxy S YP-G70 and I pretty much use it to chat on Steam/Facebook/Skype and play some Humble Indie Bundle games on it, I like it.

My dad bought a Galaxy Tab for himself and it's pretty neat, although I prefer the smaller size of my Galaxy S, I just find it's size right to stare and use, even if it's not even half as powerful as the Tab.

 

[doxydejour]

Yes, an iPad 3. I got it when my laptop finally gave up the ghost, and I don't think I'd go back to a laptop now. I have a little Bluetooth keyboard and all the apps I need, it's easier to transport and I love curling up in bed with it and my Netflix app.

 

[Syntax Error]

I don't have a smart phone, so having a tablet is a very big boon for me. I also do some sales jobs, so I put my presentations in there to make the whole process more professional. That, and it's very convenient to have. It's a 16GB iPad mini I won in a raffle during our last year's Christmas Party.

 

[The White Hunter]

Yes, I grabbed a 2012 Nexus 7 refurbed for like £90 for the sake of a ghetto shield project which had mixed results, the concept was fine and it worked, but the locked down nature of googles own products in regard to wired HID's meant I had to fuck around a lot with rooting to use a g amepad.

Could play Civ 5 on stock though, that was pretty sweet.

I use it for voip when playing console games, or casual browsing, and it's easier to lug around than a laptop is, so I get quite a bit of milage out of it.

 

[wickedmonkey]

Got a Nexus 7 and I love it. My view is the trick to tablets is they aren't meant to be used exclusively instead of another product - they are companion devices to be used in conjunction with other devices to enhance the usage experience.

When I'm gaming on my PC I have my tablet next to me for wikis, forums, random youtube and when I start Twitch streaming I can use it to display the audience chat window.
If I'm working or just browsing forums on my main PC I usually have Netflix going.
When I need to go on a trip for business etc, I've got movies and emulators that I don't need to squint to watch them on my phone and there's enough screen real estate for touch controls without getting in the way of anything on-screen.

It's also handy for displaying information when meeting clients etc.

That said, I don't read e-books on it - I much prefer the the basic Kindle because those thumb buttons are far better for page turning than swiping the screen and they've spoiled me.

 

[Frezzato]

snip

Thanks for finding that video. I'm actually ashamed I didn't look for a comparison prior to this. What stands out most to me regarding Android is the different flavors and it kind of alarms me.

Regardless, I've been reading up on getting KitKat on the Transformer TF300T [http://www.android.gs/update-asus-transformer-pad-tf300t-to-android-4-4-omnirom/] and it's an intensive read, although I imagine you might be trying for Jellybean. Man, reading all of this just makes me feel old.

 

[gorfias]

I've been reading up on getting KitKat on the Transformer TF300T [http://www.android.gs/update-asus-transformer-pad-tf300t-to-android-4-4-omnirom/] and it's an intensive read, although I imagine you might be trying for Jellybean. Man, reading all of this just makes me feel old.

I might be interested in KitKat if it will make my wireless controller work again. Otherwise, I will be looking for drivers and/or rooting the thing (no built in telephone network so safer than doing this to a cell phone.)

A big difference between apple and android is just how open it is. The more you know about the tech, the more I'd predict you can do with an Android. Apple is a simpler consumer device but relatively locked down.