Today I want to discuss a controversial topic. I am both fascinated and appalled by the tablet craze going on right now. I don’t get it. Maybe I’m getting old and maybe I just don’t get technology, but when I look at the tablet scene it leaves me scratching my head.
I can’t seem to reconcile how one would fit into my life when I already have a cell phone and a laptop and ol’ Clanky (even if I can’t use him anymore…). So I scoured the Internet (I.E. did a quick Google search) and picked some of the funnest (most fun?) reasons one would want a tablet:
- It plays music anywhere you go. Well, yes. But so does my phone. In fact, my phone fits in my pocket so I don’t even have to figure out where to put it while I’m listening to music.
- An e-book reader. Well, great. Books make for great readers too, and they never need to be re-charged. (Remind me someday to give my tirade on why I don’t like e-readers.)
- It runs apps. Um. Wow.
- Ideal for browsing the web on something larger than your phone. You know, like a laptop. But smaller.
- Mount it in the kitchen as a message dock. Yes, mounting my $700 device in the kitchen (grease, water vapor, steam, garbage) seems like a great idea. Sigh.
- Price. This one confuses me. A quick Google search reveals that the Apple iPad is about $500. The Motorola Xoom is about $600. I can buy a very very decent laptop for about $400-$500. The laptop would be better featured and have more power. Really?
- Ideal for use while watching TV. In our Attention Deficient society, we simply can’t watch TV anymore without playing on the web, or playing with something in our hands. What better than a tablet?
Needless to say, I am not a fan of the tablet revolution. I just don’t get it. That’s not to say that others won’t do well with them or that they aren’t for everyone or that they don’t fit a need. But Dave expects me to write something, and this has been on my mind as of late.
There are products out there so you can hook your tablet to a keyboard and type on it. If the display is too small, you can export the video to a monitor or television. I think you can even hook a mouse (with some work) up to them. And ~poof~ we now have a computer set up being powered by a tablet – an underpowered computer by modern standards.
Hopefully someone can explain this to me. Please comment in the forum.
