It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.
It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.
Tablets have had a couple of “waves”. They’ve never really gone away, but also haven’t really become the norm, either, not in the larger-than-a-current-smartphone sense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer#Early_tablets
Tablets are in such a weird middle ground spot now that they really seem like a niche device.
For heavy tasks, you probably want a full-fledged computer (laptop or otherwise). For lighter weight tasks, phones have gotten large and capable enough.
I can see them useful for parents. Also in commercial/professional settings, like a doctor’s office using tablets for patients to fill out their info.
What? Tablets are super common.
They exist — and in fact, I have an Android tablet in my backpack right now — but a lot of people felt that they were going to become a major computing paradigm, and that hasn’t happened.
In practice, the PC today is mostly a conventional laptop. Hybrid laptops with touchscreen exist, but they aren’t the norm.
Mobile OS tablets also exist, but they haven’t managed to take over from smartphones or approach their marketshare, and there are fewer options on the market than there were a few years back; “mobile OS” tablets today are mostly, as best I can tell, a specialized device to use for video-watching with a larger screen than exists on a phone, with a larger screen and better built-in speakers, but without the sensors and radio suite. Not all that much uptake.
I know a ton of people who don’t own a “PC” anymore, and instead have a tablet with one of those keyboard covers as their largest home computing device.
I only know one person with an iPad. Total apple fan boy, watch, phone mac etc, I dont know one person with android tablet - all our students have windows laptops
You realize Microsoft has an entire line of business tablets right? Google Microsoft Surface, they’ve been around for many years.
I think your personal experiences may be biasing your thinking on this one.
Yes. My girlfriend once owned a surface. I know what google is. I was clearly giving a personal account, I didnt say 94% of all people worldwide dont use tablets. You realise that right? Do you realise that microsoft has a line of laptops too? And they make operating systems for dekstop PCs? You realise that right? That would be quite the statement if it meant anything. Nike have an entire line of shoes, but they sell shirts too? You realise that right?
The original question was “constant failures, but we can’t stop trying to make it work”
Tablets are clearly “working” already, they aren’t a failure as a product category in any way. Companies aren’t going bankrupt and cancelling lines of tablets to refocus on other products. They’re just part of a standard product mix these days.
Ok, so, you responded with anecdotal evidence to someone who said they think tablets are a failure, which I replied to with my own anecdotal evidence. At no point did I say I agree with tablets being a failure. I was just countering your anecdote with my own. You came back at me in a condescending manner. I’m allowed to post my personal observations without being treated like a stone age moron who has never heard of a surface or tablets. So I replied in kind.
You can argue all you want, but thats not going to change the statement, my initial statement “I dont know anyone with a tablet, except for one”, which is all I said.
Personally I think laptops are great for work, programming dealing with 200 emails, having 45 tabs open, and all bloody office apps across two screens at same time, but tablets, great with a cat on the lap on the sofa. Original marketing hype was that anything you can do on desktop you will be able to do on tablet. It’s just not true. And reality. They just smartphones with bigger screens. So from a certain pov, they can be considered a failure. Which in my world, is true.
Yeah, similar to VR, they have their use, but compete with technology that pretty much everyone already has, so when push comes to shove, people will use what they have.
The problem is that a tablet ends up just being a cheap computer, but Android requires a lot more involvement of OEM’s to update compared to Windows.