How do you use your tablet?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am not a good futurist. When the iPad came out I thought it would be a small niche market, but sales are in the tens of millions. I see people carrying them around all the time and am still trying to figure out how they use them, because as much as I enjoy technology I can’t see a need to me to have one myself. Now that the Kindle Fire is coming out there is yet another device that they cynic in me says people will buy just because the marketers tell them they should.

I can imagine it is a great tool for mobile communication, such as email. But most of my computer time at work is spent on spreadsheets and documents, and I far prefer the big screen and tactile keyboard for those types of tasks. I use my smartphone for keeping up with emails, checking map data, and listening to music. So I just don’t need an in-between device.

So what do you do with yours?

2

My brother cant wait to eliminate desktops and laptops from his personal life. All he wants his personal device for is web surfing, e-mail, IM, chat, e-books, and media (iTunes and Netflix instant). The only other thing he does with his personal computer is his personal accounting and taxes. So he says that as soon as he can get Quicken for iPad (he wants it resident, not in the cloud) he’s tossing everything else and getting an iPad.

3

Mr. Athena and I bought an iPad about a year ago, ostensibly for work reasons (we’re software developers, getting into mobile development.) Like you, we couldn’t quite figure out what people used them for, but we figured we should have a working knowledge of the devices for work.

Within a week, we were fighting over who gets to use it.

It’s extremely good at basic web browsing, and it’s really easy to pick up and look something up fast. Mr. Athena has it on his lap at night if there’s a sports game on - he half watches the game (unless it’s a super good game) and half browses the web. We both use it for quick lookups (“what was that actor in?”, “What’s the capitol of Mongolia?”)

I use it all the time for cooking/recipe collecting. I’ll see an interesting recipe on the web while at my real computer, clip it into Evernote, and next time I’m in the kitchen I can pull out the iPad, pull up Evernote there, and make the recipe. I also am a big fan of iPad cookbooks.

It’s also a great music player. We bought a bluetooth speaker, and stream Pandora from the iPad all the time. Want to sit out on the deck? No problem, we still have our tunes, just grab the iPad.

While traveling, it’s a joy. I can look up maps, find hotels, find restaurants, etc. all while in the car.

In short, it does everything your smart phone does, but better, with a bigger screen. You think it’s just an in-between device and not really all that useful, but it’s amazing how much you’ll reach for it over the phone if you have them both sitting there.

For the record, I’ve got a Kindle Fire on order as well. We’ll see how much we like that - the 7" screen isn’t as appealing to me.

4

I use my Verizon Tablet to check email, check the Dope and do some light banking.

5

My sister is a travel and convention planner. She just got one. What does she do on the road? Check her email, check and update her calendar, surf the web. All that can be done from her 3G iPad.

As I keep saying, 90-95% of what I do on a computer, I can do on an iPad. 100% of what my mother does on her computer (read mail and a few websites only) can be done on a tablet.

6

Along with what everyone else already said, I use mine as my work calendar. When I put something into it, it automatically syncs with my phone and Outlook.

7

Mine sat on the table most of the time unless I needed to quickly check a website or something. sold it after about a month.

this is true for both an iPad and a Touchpad. I guess I just don’t grok the whole tablet thing.

8

The iPad, and I assume other tablets, is not a good walking around and using device for most applications. I guess some specialty apps work, but for most personal use I think you will find it used in sitting context. In that context the iPad is useful for so much. I check email, twitter, the weather forecast, look at my and the family’s calendar, catch up on sports scores, browse the web, do the USA Today crossword, play games - all while sitting on the couch in the evening. When I am done, I just pop it into the stand where it becomes a nice picture display. no laptop taking up room on a table.

Plus, I can take it to the gym and watch movies and tv shows while on the treadmill. My kids play games on it. Really the only thing I go to my desktop for is ripping DVD’s to my AppleTV library and doing personal finance.

9

It’s a nice interface for stuff you do already, like surfing the web, checking your email, and playing stupid games. The problem is, it doesn’t replace either a laptop or a smartphone. I need a laptop for my job (I require a real computer when travelling), and I need my smartphone because I’m addicted to having constant access to the internet. The iPad is nice to use when the situation permits, but at this point it’s an unnecessary 3rd device. More of a luxury item, I’d say.

10

I don’t have one, but Middlebro recently asked me to do his market research for him, as he wanted one.

The main purpose was “keeping the Kidlets entertained” (movies and web-based games), followed by his own browsing. I understand he’s happy with the results so far.

11

My wife has one and loves it, she uses it to browse the web, check email, etc. She uses it so much that going to get her laptop and wait for it to boot up seems like a big chore now. It is small enough that she takes it everywhere.

And as mentioned above, it is great for using as a cookbook. We will make dinner, listen to music on the ipad, read the recipe on the ipad, and often times there is a video link in the recipe showing a particular technique. That right there is pretty damn cool.

I didn’t buy one, partly becuase I have an iphone and it just seems like the iphone and ipad are close enough that I didn’t need both.

12

I’m right there with you CookingWithGas, I just don’t understand the appeal of tablets. They are shiny and cool but…

  • I don’t want to replace my laptop with one.
  • I always think they should be smaller and then I remember smartphones exist.

OTOH, I don’t have a smartphone yet. Data plans are expensive, the battery life is still pretty sucky, and they’re SO big. If I did more traveling or my commute was on public transit, I could see getting a tablet but maybe I’d just give in and get a smartphone.

My Nook Simple Touch is cool but I do catch myself wishing that it did more, that the touch screen was more responsive, that the browser was more usable, that it had a traditional desktop and OS.

It’s interesting to watch the tablet market evolve but I’m not ready to make the leap yet and when I do, well, I’ll probably end up with a smartphone instead.

13

I have a WiFi-only iPad and mostly, it’s the world’s most expensive Scrabble board. When I was visiting my brother’s family, we used it to play a lot of Scrabble, Monopoly and some other games. It’s also great for reading the newspaper and even this board, when I was in an airport terminal that had WiFi available, because it’s less bulky than a notebook computer.

14

I have an iPad 2 with 3G.
It’s made my work day much nicer, because now I can take a nice long lunch and not worry about being away from a computer when I get a tech support call.

15

I use it primarily to read online books I don’t want to read at the computer. I also check TV listings with it. Other than that, I wouldn’t need it.

16

I do a few things on my Wifi Xoom:

Mobile browsing is nice, and allows me to sit just about anywhere comfortably, while doing so. This includes browsing my RSS feeds and such, reading the news, etc.

Music is another, as I have a good chunk of my music collection stored locally and the rest available through cloud services. It also does double duty by streaming via bluetooth to my car, so that I can play my entire music collection through the speakers. It fits nicely in the glove compartment.

I also read books on it, which is nice, as it eliminates physical space concerns.

I do movies via netflix or my own personal ones, if I’m traveling and/or mirror it to the television.

I play or let others play games, all of which are better on the bigger display.

I do video chatting on a regular basis, which couldn’t get much easier.

Really, there are a multitude of reasons, but I didn’t always feel this way about a tablet. It was after I purchased one for a vacation, that I started to integrate it into my life, and it largely replaced my cell phone for many uses.

17

I bought one of the Touchpads during the recent fire sale, and I’ve mostly used it in the kitchen to look up recipes and listen to music while I cook. It’s ok for web browsing and it even has a competent Super Nintendo emulator (if you’re into that sort of thing.) Definitely would not have paid iPad prices for this experience, though.

18

1st gen ipad user here.

80% reading e-books
10% games
10% web

19

I use mine all the time. I read on it constantly, it’s only been 15 months or so and I’ve got several hundred ebooks already. I got rid of cable last year and now I buy the tv shows I want to watch on Itunes and 90% of the time I watch them on the iPad. For work I use it to take notes in meetings, email, document review although not creation, and presentations.

I also use the Citrix client for access to a couple applications.

20

Mr. Ipsum got me an Android tablet for Christmas (and bought himself one a few months later). It doesn’t replace my laptop, desktop, or phone. They each have their own uses.

I like using the tablet for reading longer documents or ebooks - it’s easier to hold in portrait mode than a laptop, and I can easily relax on the couch or in bed. I don’t buy a lot of ebooks, but I get some through the library (with the Overdrive app) and get some of the free classics for Kindle.

I also recently moved all my recipes to Google Docs, which means I can easily access them through the Docs app on my phone/tablet. Now I use the tablet to look up recipes in the kitchen (and keep a ziplock bag over it to protect from splashes). If I may offer a shameless plug, I recently wrote a blog post about how I set up my Google Docs recipe collection: http://www.cookingwithfood.info/2011/09/24/organizing-recipes-online/

I was actually eyeing the Asus eee Pad Slider, which has a slide-out keyboard for those times when you really need to type something. But I think I may stick with my current tablet for a while longer.