5 ms·

The Future of the Tablet, and It Isn’t the iPad 2

35 points by eaxitect 16y ago

brd 16y ago
PG said it best: http://www.paulgraham.com/tablets.html http://www.paulgraham.com/tablets.html
mrspeaker 16y ago
tl;dr:
- mrspeaker 16y ago
  he, oops.. that was supposed to be a snarky "that article was a long-winded way to say pretty much nothing". Starting at "tablets are basically expensive video game consoles" (really?!) with the conclusion "Rather, the tablet has the potential to improve our productivity." (wow!) If your productivity isn't improved with the iPad (or any current gen tablets) then you're doing it wrong.
ugh 16y ago
That’s the first thing I found after googling for Kno besides their website: http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-tablet-start-up-in-talks-to-sell-off-tablet-part-of-business/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-ta...
brown9-2 16y ago
This is why the Xoom is so intriguing. Motorola and Google are two companies that have proven their ability to see around the corner and they have made it much easier for developers to get applications to market than Apple has with the iPad. Really, Motorola has proven their ability to see around the corner? What have they been successful with since the Razr? Seems like the Droid is a success much more due to the Android OS than anything related to Motorola's manufacturing of it. Also not sure why anyone would lump Motorola in with Google as having "made it much easier for developers to get applications to market". Besides, the innovative features that the author mentions the Kno having, like split-screen functionality or things for note-taking - who's to say future versions of iOS couldn't incorporate those? This doesn't need to be a winner take all, one-shot market.
- dspillett 16y ago
  Also Motorola's attitude to OS upgrades certainly does not compete with other products (including Apple's). They refuse to allow user or third party updates and while some of their phones have seen updates to later versions of Android most (including mine which is still on 2.1) have not. I don't mind with my current phone as it only cost £150 (I always buy the phones I use directly rather than from my mobile network) in a new-year offer so it won't matter so much in a years time if I want to upgrade enough to warrant buying a new device, but there is no way I'm plumping down £400/£500/what-ever for a Motorola device. For that sort of money I'd buy a device from another Android using manufacturer (or, <deity> forbid, maybe I'd consider becoming part of the Apple nickel-and-dime lock-in racket).
- bitwize 16y ago
  Seems like the Droid is a success much more due to the Android OS than anything related to Motorola's manufacturing of it. More like Verizon's positioning and the fact that at the time of its release, the Droid was the most advanced consumer Android phone around and the first credible iPhone competitor. Before that there was pretty much just the weaksauce T-Mobile G1, and Android was really nothing to write home about.
- herval 16y ago
  I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but the very first "iPhone" was Motorola's MotoROKR. It seems to me they're pretty good at seeing around the corner - just not that good at delivering...
brudgers 16y ago
As a form factor the future may look more like the Kindle than the iPad, Xoom, etc. The killer application for tablet size devices remains the reader and once their economics approaches that of pocket calculators (or MP3 players or digital cameras or other bulk produced electronics), the hardware cost will be competitive with paper in three ring binders. The tablets based on the iPad model are akin to graphing calculators - there is sophisticated functionality added, but it doesn't really offer improved performance on the tasks for which most people require.
ddagradi 16y ago
"The future of the tablet" isn't bolting a second screen on it to mimic a physical methaphor - aka the book. As PG said, flexibility is key, not replicating existing technology with digital artifacts. Now, the Kno does some interesting things in software, but shackling that to two 14" displays sounds like a recipe for failure. (And it would barely make it through a day of class on that battery).
- buro9 16y ago
  Also... it seems to me that using 2 screens just to overcome the current modal nature of tablet applications (that have been upscaled from smaller devices where modal makes more sense) isn't the way to solve the multi-tasking problem (reading and writing at the same time). An iPad is still good for that, the screen real estate is enough to do the job... once the slate computer gets beyond a certain size the modality is what needs addressing. Perhaps move to a, erm... windows approach or more likely... a tiling app manager so that 2 apps run side-by-side on the existing single tablet. Seems weird to overcome a current (and probably temporary) software constraint with a hardware approach.
  - ajscherer 16y ago
    Even with a 27" monitor I choose to use second monitor, and when I am cross referencing two documents I will put one on each monitor. The 27" could easily hold both documents, but it just feels so much easier to use two screens. It seems pretty unlikely that two screens on a tablet would be viable in terms of power and cost, but I can totally see it being a superior experience.
delinka 16y ago
The Kno "...emphasizes the ability to take notes and seamlessly integrate your own thought with the information that you are reading." That's a software thing, not a hardware thing. The iPad can certainly allow this kind of functionality in an app. The quoted statement sounds like it's celebrating purpose-built hardware rather than general purpose touch computing. Having these features in every ebook reader would certainly be a benefit.
terhechte 16y ago
Really? The future of the Table is 'more screens', and an added pen? I thought most people had finally learned that throwing more hardware at something doesn't necessarily improve the overall experience. Apple wins because they try to do more with less hardware.
- tomlin 16y ago
  While I don't entirely agree with the article, I do think that the future of manufacturing is more automated, and because of that we may see refined products for specific tasks. Perhaps you could say there is a bit of 37signals mentality in having a simple, clean tool for each job rather than a multi-tasking OS. I don't see anything wrong with this, as products like the iPad would probably represent most consumers.
nopassrecover 16y ago
Er dupe: (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2304779 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2304779)
greyman 16y ago
The FC EXPERT BLOGGER fails to distinguish between the hardware and software part of the tablet and is confused by it. Moreover, he didn't explain why he thinks copying iPad is a doomed strategy.
valjavec 16y ago
Very poor article. Claiming you can do truly multitasking because it has 2 displays is ridiculous, but that's not the biggest issue in my opinion. More of a problem is that whole vision of this tablet is made on old technologies presented in new form. Ooh, they also added pen! Sort of like best use of radio, when it appeared as new media, would be reading newspapers.
- bitwize 16y ago
  To me, a pen is an important addition. A tablet should be more than just point and grunt; it should be a tool of expression as well as consumption. I bought a Tablet PC -- a $1500 item at the time -- so I could do digital art with it. I'd like to do the same with a lightweight and cheap device with a nice battery. Right now I can't because all tablets (except certain Windows tablet PCs) are designed around point-and-grunt (and no, those little rubber styluses aren't good enough).
  - fab13n 16y ago
    A pen-tablet is suited for applications which are too complex for an iPad and too simple for a netbook. That's a ridiculously thin niche. Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility advantage compared to a netbook user. For the narrow niche of applications which require drawing on the screen, you can simply design a capacitive pen for iPad; you'll never amortize the development of a dedicated hardware, let alone OS.
    - bitwize 16y ago
      Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility advantage compared to a netbook user. There are tablet PCs which accept both pen and finger input. And you pretty much need a Wacom-style digitizer in order to register pen strokes with the precision and pressure sensitivity required of art or handwriting applications.
- biot 16y ago
  Old technologies indeed. It looks like an Apple Newton mated with a Nintendo DS.
msluyter 16y ago
The dual display is sorta neat, and makes me wonder if there's a way to link two iPads via Bluetooth to achieve the same effect?
adsr 16y ago
I don't think I agree with that. Usage outside of what was mentioned is possible with the apps running on the tablet. Pens can already be bought as accessories.
martythemaniak 16y ago
Consider the tablet OSs competing with each other these days: iOS, Android, BBOS, Windows 7 and webOS. Out of those, only Android is built from the ground up to be customizable to any meaningful degree and I fully expect that within a year we'll see a dizzing array of tablet form factors with Android: 7" screens, 10" screens, dual screens, netbook-like clamshells, slide-out keyboards, thin glass slabs and who knows what else. A 10-12" Android clamshell is perfectly cable of replacing the majority of netbooks. Expecting everybody to use the same identical glass slab is no different from expecting everybody to use the same phone, same TV or the same car model. It's not going to happen and Android is the only OS cable of the flexibility required to meet this demand.

35 points by eaxitect 16y ago

brd 16y ago

PG said it best: http://www.paulgraham.com/tablets.html http://www.paulgraham.com/tablets.html

mrspeaker 16y ago

tl;dr:

mrspeaker 16y ago
he, oops.. that was supposed to be a snarky "that article was a long-winded way to say pretty much nothing". Starting at "tablets are basically expensive video game consoles" (really?!) with the conclusion "Rather, the tablet has the potential to improve our productivity." (wow!) If your productivity isn't improved with the iPad (or any current gen tablets) then you're doing it wrong.

ugh 16y ago

That’s the first thing I found after googling for Kno besides their website: http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-tablet-start-up-in-talks-to-sell-off-tablet-part-of-business/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-ta...

brown9-2 16y ago

This is why the Xoom is so intriguing. Motorola and Google are two companies that have proven their ability to see around the corner and they have made it much easier for developers to get applications to market than Apple has with the iPad. Really, Motorola has proven their ability to see around the corner? What have they been successful with since the Razr? Seems like the Droid is a success much more due to the Android OS than anything related to Motorola's manufacturing of it. Also not sure why anyone would lump Motorola in with Google as having "made it much easier for developers to get applications to market". Besides, the innovative features that the author mentions the Kno having, like split-screen functionality or things for note-taking - who's to say future versions of iOS couldn't incorporate those? This doesn't need to be a winner take all, one-shot market.

dspillett 16y ago
Also Motorola's attitude to OS upgrades certainly does not compete with other products (including Apple's). They refuse to allow user or third party updates and while some of their phones have seen updates to later versions of Android most (including mine which is still on 2.1) have not. I don't mind with my current phone as it only cost £150 (I always buy the phones I use directly rather than from my mobile network) in a new-year offer so it won't matter so much in a years time if I want to upgrade enough to warrant buying a new device, but there is no way I'm plumping down £400/£500/what-ever for a Motorola device. For that sort of money I'd buy a device from another Android using manufacturer (or, <deity> forbid, maybe I'd consider becoming part of the Apple nickel-and-dime lock-in racket).
bitwize 16y ago
Seems like the Droid is a success much more due to the Android OS than anything related to Motorola's manufacturing of it. More like Verizon's positioning and the fact that at the time of its release, the Droid was the most advanced consumer Android phone around and the first credible iPhone competitor. Before that there was pretty much just the weaksauce T-Mobile G1, and Android was really nothing to write home about.
herval 16y ago
I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but the very first "iPhone" was Motorola's MotoROKR. It seems to me they're pretty good at seeing around the corner - just not that good at delivering...

brudgers 16y ago

As a form factor the future may look more like the Kindle than the iPad, Xoom, etc. The killer application for tablet size devices remains the reader and once their economics approaches that of pocket calculators (or MP3 players or digital cameras or other bulk produced electronics), the hardware cost will be competitive with paper in three ring binders. The tablets based on the iPad model are akin to graphing calculators - there is sophisticated functionality added, but it doesn't really offer improved performance on the tasks for which most people require.

ddagradi 16y ago

"The future of the tablet" isn't bolting a second screen on it to mimic a physical methaphor - aka the book. As PG said, flexibility is key, not replicating existing technology with digital artifacts. Now, the Kno does some interesting things in software, but shackling that to two 14" displays sounds like a recipe for failure. (And it would barely make it through a day of class on that battery).

buro9 16y ago
Also... it seems to me that using 2 screens just to overcome the current modal nature of tablet applications (that have been upscaled from smaller devices where modal makes more sense) isn't the way to solve the multi-tasking problem (reading and writing at the same time). An iPad is still good for that, the screen real estate is enough to do the job... once the slate computer gets beyond a certain size the modality is what needs addressing. Perhaps move to a, erm... windows approach or more likely... a tiling app manager so that 2 apps run side-by-side on the existing single tablet. Seems weird to overcome a current (and probably temporary) software constraint with a hardware approach.
- ajscherer 16y ago
  Even with a 27" monitor I choose to use second monitor, and when I am cross referencing two documents I will put one on each monitor. The 27" could easily hold both documents, but it just feels so much easier to use two screens. It seems pretty unlikely that two screens on a tablet would be viable in terms of power and cost, but I can totally see it being a superior experience.

delinka 16y ago

The Kno "...emphasizes the ability to take notes and seamlessly integrate your own thought with the information that you are reading." That's a software thing, not a hardware thing. The iPad can certainly allow this kind of functionality in an app. The quoted statement sounds like it's celebrating purpose-built hardware rather than general purpose touch computing. Having these features in every ebook reader would certainly be a benefit.

terhechte 16y ago

Really? The future of the Table is 'more screens', and an added pen? I thought most people had finally learned that throwing more hardware at something doesn't necessarily improve the overall experience. Apple wins because they try to do more with less hardware.

tomlin 16y ago
While I don't entirely agree with the article, I do think that the future of manufacturing is more automated, and because of that we may see refined products for specific tasks. Perhaps you could say there is a bit of 37signals mentality in having a simple, clean tool for each job rather than a multi-tasking OS. I don't see anything wrong with this, as products like the iPad would probably represent most consumers.

nopassrecover 16y ago

Er dupe: (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2304779 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2304779)

greyman 16y ago

The FC EXPERT BLOGGER fails to distinguish between the hardware and software part of the tablet and is confused by it. Moreover, he didn't explain why he thinks copying iPad is a doomed strategy.

valjavec 16y ago

Very poor article. Claiming you can do truly multitasking because it has 2 displays is ridiculous, but that's not the biggest issue in my opinion. More of a problem is that whole vision of this tablet is made on old technologies presented in new form. Ooh, they also added pen! Sort of like best use of radio, when it appeared as new media, would be reading newspapers.

bitwize 16y ago
To me, a pen is an important addition. A tablet should be more than just point and grunt; it should be a tool of expression as well as consumption. I bought a Tablet PC -- a $1500 item at the time -- so I could do digital art with it. I'd like to do the same with a lightweight and cheap device with a nice battery. Right now I can't because all tablets (except certain Windows tablet PCs) are designed around point-and-grunt (and no, those little rubber styluses aren't good enough).
- fab13n 16y ago
  A pen-tablet is suited for applications which are too complex for an iPad and too simple for a netbook. That's a ridiculously thin niche. Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility advantage compared to a netbook user. For the narrow niche of applications which require drawing on the screen, you can simply design a capacitive pen for iPad; you'll never amortize the development of a dedicated hardware, let alone OS.
  - bitwize 16y ago
    Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility advantage compared to a netbook user. There are tablet PCs which accept both pen and finger input. And you pretty much need a Wacom-style digitizer in order to register pen strokes with the precision and pressure sensitivity required of art or handwriting applications.
biot 16y ago
Old technologies indeed. It looks like an Apple Newton mated with a Nintendo DS.

msluyter 16y ago

The dual display is sorta neat, and makes me wonder if there's a way to link two iPads via Bluetooth to achieve the same effect?

adsr 16y ago

I don't think I agree with that. Usage outside of what was mentioned is possible with the apps running on the tablet. Pens can already be bought as accessories.

martythemaniak 16y ago

Consider the tablet OSs competing with each other these days: iOS, Android, BBOS, Windows 7 and webOS. Out of those, only Android is built from the ground up to be customizable to any meaningful degree and I fully expect that within a year we'll see a dizzing array of tablet form factors with Android: 7" screens, 10" screens, dual screens, netbook-like clamshells, slide-out keyboards, thin glass slabs and who knows what else. A 10-12" Android clamshell is perfectly cable of replacing the majority of netbooks. Expecting everybody to use the same identical glass slab is no different from expecting everybody to use the same phone, same TV or the same car model. It's not going to happen and Android is the only OS cable of the flexibility required to meet this demand.