5 ms·

I've always been surprised that cellular tablets didn't experience more marketshare compared to smartphones. No one has exclusively a cellular tablet that I kno

I've always been surprised that cellular tablets didn't experience more marketshare compared to smartphones. No one has exclusively a cellular tablet that I know of, but frankly I'd probably ditch my smartphone for a cellular tablet that I carry around at all times. For me, communication mostly happens by email/text and phone calls have almost entirely been replaced by videocalling, so in the long-run I see myself moving to just a internet-enabled tablet of some kind. I guess the growing ubiquity of WiFi makes it less of an issue for most people

evan_ 8y ago
The difficulty is you can’t very well use a cellular tablet with one hand while you’re in line at the coffee shop.
- bergie 8y ago
  Depends on the size of the tablet. A full-sized iPad? Probably no. But I used a Nexus 7 as my primary mobile device for a couple of years without issue. Shame good-quality cellular small tablets are not really a thing any longer. Though, I suppose the new big phones are close to similar form factor. Just not quite as nice to read with...
sys_64738 8y ago
This is the whole point of larger phones as most people need a phone to be reached. It makes the tablet market redundant if you can carry the tablet around - why would you want to?
api 8y ago
Tablets are in an uncanny valley. Phones fit in your pocket and are good for communication, brief transactional interaction with services, and casual stuff. When I want more than that I want a real computer, which means I pull out a laptop. Laptops are only a little bigger than tablets. Tablets have the crippled by design OS of a phone but none of the portability. There is a market for tablets but I see it as somewhat niche.
- freehunter 8y ago
  Personally for me, phablets are an uncanny valley. I had an iPhone Plus for a while and it never clicked. It was too big to use with one hand, but the screen size didn't warrant using two hands like an iPad does. I switched to a smaller phone and just use a tablet when I need a big screen. Real work gets done on a laptop, but there's a lot of space between "phone" and "real work". I do wish I could get an iPad Pro with a mouse and the ability to run VSCode though...
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  There's nothing but app ecosystem standing between Tablet aand useful flyweight mobile computer. Getting Termux on Android was a complete game-changer, and took the device from hated useless toy to ... well, still-hated, but occasionally useful toy. But clearly the limitation is in apps and OS, not form-factor.
  - api 8y ago
    That's what I said -- "dripped by design" OS. That being said I don't see it as something that's going to change. The duopoly behind phones and tablets wants these devices locked down. In Apple's case it's so they can take 30% of every transaction. In Google's case it's so the device can double as a surveillance platform.
    - dredmorbius 8y ago
      I'm watching Purism and Ubuntu with interest.
elboru 8y ago
I really liked the idea of a tablet in 2010/2012 when I didn’t have a big screen in my pocket, then new phones with big screens and great resolution arrived and I just started declining the use of my tablet. And that was not because I prefer to watch a smaller screen but because I almost never carry a backpack with me just to carry a tablet, if manufacturers finally figure out how to break the usability wall between laptops and tablets I might change my mind again (Surface Pro has been tempting).
freehunter 8y ago
I would use an iPad Mini sized phone, but iPads can't be used as cell phones even if they have LTE. Carriers won't activate them as phones and you can't give them a number that rings to the dialer, since the dialer doesn't exist on an iPad. It would work for me since I never take a call on my phone, I just pop in my Airpods and never actually pick the phone up. Oh well.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Google Voice.
- deathhand 8y ago
  They fixed that(somewhat): https://www.att.com/devicehowto/tutorial.html#!/stepbystep/id/stepbystep_KM1280837?make=Apple&model=iPadPros&gsi=GE_OKiA https://www.att.com/devicehowto/tutorial.html#!/stepbystep/i...
mimming 8y ago
I made the switch to a cellular tablet (9.7" iPad Pro) a couple years ago and it's been great. It reduces the urge to whip out my mobile device at every moment of mild boredom, and collaborative apps like ported board games shine. The one downside is that I look pretty silly when taking photos.
- crispyporkbites 8y ago
  > The one downside is that I look pretty silly when taking photos. I am glad you acknowledge that. Although it is a little strange that we feel this way, what's actually silly about using a tablet to take photos?
calgoo 8y ago
I would prefer a mobile hotspot with 24+ hours battery life, and a couple of different tablets: 1 small 4.5 / 5" and 1 that's around 8" / 10". That way I would just use the device i feel for using be it a smaller one or a bigger one. Basically make us all portable hotspots that future smart clothing and devices can connect to.
- marci 8y ago
  You'll soon(ish, eventually) have one device for both screen sizes https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=219&v=Sp6RVQUQ1G4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=219&v=Sp6RVQUQ1G...
- scarface74 8y ago
  I can’t find anything more recent, but the iPad Air got 24 hours of battery life as a hotspot five years ago.... I doubt the 2018 9.7” iPad is worse.
sonnyblarney 8y ago
You kind of need a smartphone to talk, to move around with, small enough to keep in your pocket. You need 'something with a keyboard' to do regular stuff. Nobody needs a tablet.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I do know people (mostly writers of one sort or another) who mostly travel with just a tablet these days though it’s never clicked for me. I usually travel with a tablet and small Chromebook. The Chrimebook is a flip model but it’s just not good enough as a tablet for me.
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    If you have a detachable keyboard, a high powered tablet is borderline laptop. It's a decent travel companion, but with macboooks so light these days ... again the tablet is just an unnessary thing. It's an optimization, not a necessity.
zaphoyd 8y ago
I've been using a 9.7 inch cellular iPad as my primary mobile device for 6 years or so. It works very well for my use case but I do understand why more people don't do it. In my arrangement, the tablet replaces a phone, ebook, paper notes, and a laptop. I primarily use the machine for messaging/email, maps, reading (books, websites), writing notes, and using terminals. I use desktop computers with many displays (and clouds/racks of servers) for anything "real work" like. A laptop doesn't cut it. The bigger screen is significantly better than a phone (even a big one) for most of those things. Especially multi-tasking use cases where I want slack+a terminal visible at once. The bigger keyboard is far more comfortable for taking notes and using terminals. I make/receive very few phone calls, and the ones I do use a headset and a Voip app. If you use the phone a lot for holding up to your head and talking to people a tablet works poorly. Most of my camera use is for things like scanning documents, qr codes, etc where the size/awkwardness is less an issue. I have a single purpose camera that I take on photo heavy trips like vacations. These are both trade offs that make sense to me but I don't think make sense for a lot of people. I have a case with a hand strap that makes it safe and easy to use the tablet while standing/walking around, something that is hard to do with a laptop. I don't own or use a car so I tend to carry a messenger bag with me everywhere for general storage so adding the tablet to that is straight forward. It is easy to take the tablet in and out of the bag while standing if I need to look something up. Because I primarily use public transit I am free to actually use the screen of my device while in transit. Again, the more common use case where your car stores your stuff and you can't use your screen while in transit likely pushes the common case towards phone sized devices. I pay $17.50 per month for Verizon cellular data with no contracts and no funny business. LTE data plans for tablets are priced assuming you have a smartphone already. Especially with today's $1000+ phones, a tablet + LTE plan can be drastically cheaper than a smartphone. Finally, I like the friction of usage balance. It is much easier to grab the tablet (especially while standing/walking) than to deal with a laptop. It is a bit harder than pulling a phone out of your pocket. This leads me to avoid wasting time on my mobile device when with other people, in meetings, standing in line, etc, but makes it much easier to deploy computing power when it is necessary (standing in the data center and need to run one terminal command quickly). The one thing I would change would be to add a watch that would help with turn by turn walking directions, basic message checking, and NFC payments. I look forward to the day that Apple Watch will pair with a tablet (or work with no tethered device).

evan_ 8y ago

The difficulty is you can’t very well use a cellular tablet with one hand while you’re in line at the coffee shop.

bergie 8y ago
Depends on the size of the tablet. A full-sized iPad? Probably no. But I used a Nexus 7 as my primary mobile device for a couple of years without issue. Shame good-quality cellular small tablets are not really a thing any longer. Though, I suppose the new big phones are close to similar form factor. Just not quite as nice to read with...

sys_64738 8y ago

This is the whole point of larger phones as most people need a phone to be reached. It makes the tablet market redundant if you can carry the tablet around - why would you want to?

api 8y ago

Tablets are in an uncanny valley. Phones fit in your pocket and are good for communication, brief transactional interaction with services, and casual stuff. When I want more than that I want a real computer, which means I pull out a laptop. Laptops are only a little bigger than tablets. Tablets have the crippled by design OS of a phone but none of the portability. There is a market for tablets but I see it as somewhat niche.

freehunter 8y ago
Personally for me, phablets are an uncanny valley. I had an iPhone Plus for a while and it never clicked. It was too big to use with one hand, but the screen size didn't warrant using two hands like an iPad does. I switched to a smaller phone and just use a tablet when I need a big screen. Real work gets done on a laptop, but there's a lot of space between "phone" and "real work". I do wish I could get an iPad Pro with a mouse and the ability to run VSCode though...
dredmorbius 8y ago
There's nothing but app ecosystem standing between Tablet aand useful flyweight mobile computer. Getting Termux on Android was a complete game-changer, and took the device from hated useless toy to ... well, still-hated, but occasionally useful toy. But clearly the limitation is in apps and OS, not form-factor.
- api 8y ago
  That's what I said -- "dripped by design" OS. That being said I don't see it as something that's going to change. The duopoly behind phones and tablets wants these devices locked down. In Apple's case it's so they can take 30% of every transaction. In Google's case it's so the device can double as a surveillance platform.
  - dredmorbius 8y ago
    I'm watching Purism and Ubuntu with interest.

elboru 8y ago

I really liked the idea of a tablet in 2010/2012 when I didn’t have a big screen in my pocket, then new phones with big screens and great resolution arrived and I just started declining the use of my tablet. And that was not because I prefer to watch a smaller screen but because I almost never carry a backpack with me just to carry a tablet, if manufacturers finally figure out how to break the usability wall between laptops and tablets I might change my mind again (Surface Pro has been tempting).

freehunter 8y ago

I would use an iPad Mini sized phone, but iPads can't be used as cell phones even if they have LTE. Carriers won't activate them as phones and you can't give them a number that rings to the dialer, since the dialer doesn't exist on an iPad. It would work for me since I never take a call on my phone, I just pop in my Airpods and never actually pick the phone up. Oh well.

scarface74 8y ago
Google Voice.
deathhand 8y ago
They fixed that(somewhat): https://www.att.com/devicehowto/tutorial.html#!/stepbystep/id/stepbystep_KM1280837?make=Apple&model=iPadPros&gsi=GE_OKiA https://www.att.com/devicehowto/tutorial.html#!/stepbystep/i...

mimming 8y ago

I made the switch to a cellular tablet (9.7" iPad Pro) a couple years ago and it's been great. It reduces the urge to whip out my mobile device at every moment of mild boredom, and collaborative apps like ported board games shine. The one downside is that I look pretty silly when taking photos.

crispyporkbites 8y ago
> The one downside is that I look pretty silly when taking photos. I am glad you acknowledge that. Although it is a little strange that we feel this way, what's actually silly about using a tablet to take photos?

calgoo 8y ago

I would prefer a mobile hotspot with 24+ hours battery life, and a couple of different tablets: 1 small 4.5 / 5" and 1 that's around 8" / 10". That way I would just use the device i feel for using be it a smaller one or a bigger one. Basically make us all portable hotspots that future smart clothing and devices can connect to.

marci 8y ago
You'll soon(ish, eventually) have one device for both screen sizes https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=219&v=Sp6RVQUQ1G4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=219&v=Sp6RVQUQ1G...
scarface74 8y ago
I can’t find anything more recent, but the iPad Air got 24 hours of battery life as a hotspot five years ago.... I doubt the 2018 9.7” iPad is worse.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

You kind of need a smartphone to talk, to move around with, small enough to keep in your pocket. You need 'something with a keyboard' to do regular stuff. Nobody needs a tablet.

ghaff 8y ago
I do know people (mostly writers of one sort or another) who mostly travel with just a tablet these days though it’s never clicked for me. I usually travel with a tablet and small Chromebook. The Chrimebook is a flip model but it’s just not good enough as a tablet for me.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  If you have a detachable keyboard, a high powered tablet is borderline laptop. It's a decent travel companion, but with macboooks so light these days ... again the tablet is just an unnessary thing. It's an optimization, not a necessity.

zaphoyd 8y ago

I've been using a 9.7 inch cellular iPad as my primary mobile device for 6 years or so. It works very well for my use case but I do understand why more people don't do it. In my arrangement, the tablet replaces a phone, ebook, paper notes, and a laptop. I primarily use the machine for messaging/email, maps, reading (books, websites), writing notes, and using terminals. I use desktop computers with many displays (and clouds/racks of servers) for anything "real work" like. A laptop doesn't cut it. The bigger screen is significantly better than a phone (even a big one) for most of those things. Especially multi-tasking use cases where I want slack+a terminal visible at once. The bigger keyboard is far more comfortable for taking notes and using terminals. I make/receive very few phone calls, and the ones I do use a headset and a Voip app. If you use the phone a lot for holding up to your head and talking to people a tablet works poorly. Most of my camera use is for things like scanning documents, qr codes, etc where the size/awkwardness is less an issue. I have a single purpose camera that I take on photo heavy trips like vacations. These are both trade offs that make sense to me but I don't think make sense for a lot of people. I have a case with a hand strap that makes it safe and easy to use the tablet while standing/walking around, something that is hard to do with a laptop. I don't own or use a car so I tend to carry a messenger bag with me everywhere for general storage so adding the tablet to that is straight forward. It is easy to take the tablet in and out of the bag while standing if I need to look something up. Because I primarily use public transit I am free to actually use the screen of my device while in transit. Again, the more common use case where your car stores your stuff and you can't use your screen while in transit likely pushes the common case towards phone sized devices. I pay $17.50 per month for Verizon cellular data with no contracts and no funny business. LTE data plans for tablets are priced assuming you have a smartphone already. Especially with today's $1000+ phones, a tablet + LTE plan can be drastically cheaper than a smartphone. Finally, I like the friction of usage balance. It is much easier to grab the tablet (especially while standing/walking) than to deal with a laptop. It is a bit harder than pulling a phone out of your pocket. This leads me to avoid wasting time on my mobile device when with other people, in meetings, standing in line, etc, but makes it much easier to deploy computing power when it is necessary (standing in the data center and need to run one terminal command quickly). The one thing I would change would be to add a watch that would help with turn by turn walking directions, basic message checking, and NFC payments. I look forward to the day that Apple Watch will pair with a tablet (or work with no tethered device).