Tablets are on a decline

[Bokishi]

Everything's saturated, looks like it's the post-iPad era now

 

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150202005241/en/Worldwide-Tablet-Shipments-Experience-Year-Over-Year-Decline-Fourth#.VM_8EdXF9NE

[ShadySands]

I know I barely use mine and my wife doesn't use hers at all anymore

 

In my case I have a big ass phablet and 13" laptop and it's pretty much the same way for my wife except for the phablet

[Keyrock]

A lot of people saw this coming from a mile away.  Tablets are mostly unnecessary.  They have their strong points, but are far from essential.  I'll admit it took the tablet bubble longer to burst than I thought, though.

[Vaeliorin]

Given how ubiquitous cell phones are nowadays, yeah, it's not surprising. For those of us who don't have/want cell phones, though, they're nice to have as an e-reader/internet browser that doesn't require being tethered to a computer.

[Cluas]

Guess I'm just old fashioned, I like my mouse more than any tablet

[Gorgon]

Turns out people don't actually use their tablets after the novelty has worn off, they use their phone, the large display phones are on the rise. Tablets are pointless. They aren't really mobile because of their size and they aren't really practical because of the lack of a keyboard. 

 

I could have told them that, whoever them is. 

[Gfted1]

I use my tablets daily.

 

Anyone use the MS Surface 3? Im considering it as a laptop-lite kinda thing for work. Does the 12" screen make it a pain to use for long periods?

[LadyCrimson]

A lot of people saw this coming from a mile away.  Tablets are mostly unnecessary.  They have their strong points, but are far from essential.  I'll admit it took the tablet bubble longer to burst than I thought, though.

Exactly/ditto.

 

I can understand/see they have certain uses but it's not something most are going to use constantly, hence wanting to upgrade/rebuy them all the time (to keep the "market" high) always seemed rather dubious to me. The ubiquitous cellphone or some variant seems the main route for portable computing/'net use, long term.

[Humanoid]

I use my tablets daily.

 

Anyone use the MS Surface 3? Im considering it as a laptop-lite kinda thing for work. Does the 12" screen make it a pain to use for long periods?

 

I use a similar device at work, 11.6" convertible. Nothing wrong with it and can use it hours on end just fine, but it pretty much is attached to the keyboard all the time, so the tablet part of it is kind of redundant. Only time I did use it in tablet mode was when I was away on a training course and needed to use it in a cramped training room where there wasn't really room to plant it on the table.

[Tigranes]

Not everybody has the same lifestyle. 

 

I travel a lot, I hate carrying a lot around, I use shoulderbags, I don't own a laptop. My 10" & bluetooth keyboard is just fine for a lot of purposes. 

 

They always should have been a specific niche though, and I'm sure most people don't need one.

[Leferd]

I use my iPad for just about everything. It's my default for email and web browsing. It's my eBook reader, and most of my posts here are from its touch screen.

 

Most of my gaming nowadays is actually on the iPad. I take it with me everywhere and by far. It's my favorite electronic device.

[ManifestedISO]

Never owned a tablet. Maximum mobility for me would be reading this forum on the way to the fridge. Several hundred dollars seems extravagant in that regard. Maybe if the pretty ladies thread was still a viability. 

[Gorgon]

You can plug a phone into a keyboard and a TV without too much trouble though. Depends on where you are going I suppose. The Gallaxy note is large enough for my needs. Only thing that bothers me is android. Unless you root your device it's going to be filled up with bloatware from the manufacturer.  

[ShadySands]

Yeah, my tablet is only an overly expensive e-reader at this point and it's not even an expensive one. I'm on the go a lot but I find my ultrabook much, much more useful with my phone filling most of the smaller tablet duties.

 

If I had a larger laptop then I probably wouldn't feel the same way

[Hurlshort]

Every parent I know has their kids using a tablet, so I'm guessing a decline may be overstated.  You basically have an entire generation growing up with tablets as their primary entertainment device.  

 

 

Personally I use my kindle every day for reading, it has replaced books.  I still prefer my laptop for everything else, but I think moving forward, that will be more niche than using a tablet.

[500MetricTonnes]

As one who utterly loathes cellphones and refuses to own one, I find that a tablet has all the features of smartphone without the irritating phone bits.

 

Seriously, if I had a hammer, I would smash every single cellphone in the world.

[ShadySands]

Not I. I don't even have a landline anymore and haven't for at least 12 years

[Leferd]

Me, I'd rather go back to the days when my cellphone can last 3 days before a charge rather than 3 hours.

[mkreku]

When I'm home I use my tablet for everything. I can play Baldur's Gate while sitting on the loo, play Dragon Quest 5 just before sleeping in my bed, read news everywhere, control my TV from everywhere, stream music to any of my speakers for whenever I have friends over, look up maps while driving, look up recipes in the kitchen, read books in text mode (seriously good), stream movies when I go to friends on Airplay or Sonos or Miracast or whatever they have, talk to my parents and friends in other countries on Skype, entertain kids with silly apps. I have found so many uses for it. Also, the battery in it lasts for 10-11 days! I never have to worry about it running out of juice, unlike my phone (lasts a day when used heavily).

 

Also, my pad is only 7.9 inches (same screen as the Ipad Mini) so it never feels heavy to hold or annoying to take with me. It fits everywhere except my pockets.

[Leferd]

I use my iPad for just about everything. It's my default for email and web browsing. It's my eBook reader, and most of my posts here are from its touch screen.

 

Most of my gaming nowadays is actually on the iPad. I take it with me everywhere and by far. It's my favorite electronic device.

 

Heh. Of course, the bane of all tablets and smartphone users are autocorrect and typo fails.

[ManifestedISO]

 

I use my iPad for just about everything. It's my default for email and web browsing. It's my eBook reader, and most of my posts here are from its touch screen.

 

Most of my gaming nowadays is actually on the iPad. I take it with me everywhere and by far. It's my favorite electronic device.

 

Heh. Of course, the bane of all tablets and smartphone users are autocorrect and typo fails.

 

 

Oh, I disabled auto-correct from the beginning. My brain as a dictionary is ten times better than any software. 

 

 

 

Except the word, hubris, let me see if I remember the meaning for that one. 

Edited February 8, 2015 by ManifestedISO

[Leferd]

Why do you all hate Star Trek so much?

 

 

 

Are you anti-progress? Because that's the only LOGICAL conclusion I can make.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Leferd

[LadyCrimson]

If Star Trek was truly advanced, they'd be using pc's implanted into their brainstems, retina's and eardrums. Like the Borg. You will assimilate.

 

...I don't think anyone's saying tablets as a whole suck/are useless. Just that in the long run, the market demand for them probably won't be very strong.

[ManifestedISO]

It would be interesting if tablets become the cassette tapes of touch computing, say, if touch becomes three dimensional, swiping and poking thin-air illusions of a 3D interface.

 

What's even stranger, is that the human baby my buddy and his wife just had, technically could live to see the year 2100.  

[Lexx]

I like my tablet. Not using it for any gaming, because I hate the slow touch-controls, but for everything else it is great. Right now I am planning to get rid of my old sound system and instead hooking speakers up on my tablet for all of my music needs. Also I am using it a lot to skype with my family (I don't see them in person very often anymore). Oh, and now I can be super lazy on saturdays and stay in bed while browsing silly websites.