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I have an iPad3 and a Nexus 7. They sit mostly unused. I'll pick up the iPad3 once in while just for fun. I've played a few games to completion (Sword and Sworc

I have an iPad3 and a Nexus 7. They sit mostly unused. I'll pick up the iPad3 once in while just for fun. I've played a few games to completion (Sword and Sworcery, Groove Coaster) but that's about it. I don't find them good for consuming except for movies on a plane. Movies at home? The bigger the screen the better. I'd much rather watch movies on my 42 inch TV from my sofa than my tablets. Reading? I'd much rather use my Kindle Paperwhite. It's better on the eyes and soooo much lighter. Browsing the internet? I'm a curious person and I click lots of links. So for example I'll come to HN and ctrl click every title that sounds interesting. Tablets hate this workflow as they start removing tabs. Even when it does work invariably I'll run into a page that doesn't work on the tablet. Maybe it's a WebGL page. Maybe it's a Flash page. Maybe it's a page that requires interactivity but does not respond to touch events. Finally I'll want to comment on something or post something I found to my facebook or G+. In those cases tablets suck balls. Editing text in a tablet is a exercise in frustration. Trying to move the cursor, format, copy and paste. It's not fun. Pasting a link in the Facebook app doesn't generate a editable preview like it does in a regular browser and many other shortcomings. I could go on and on. Some of these limitations I put up with on my phone but then my phone fits in my pocket and is always with me. My tablets though, really, I find them pretty useless. There's sole purpose at this point is to once in a while check out some new app someone tells me about. Otherwise mine are unused.

bane 14y ago
I agree with almost all of your main points, except that Chrome on my tablet does a pretty decent job of supporting your "opening lots of interesting looking tabs" workflow (which I also do).
visarga 14y ago
I don't use my iPad much because these things suck: - The cursor placement - Copy&paste - Lack of a file system - Inability to choose which app to associate to various links and files - Difficulty to switch from one app to another (compared to the laptop) - Constrained web experience (as the parent post said) It's a toy. It doesn't even come with Basic or some shitty scripting language to play with (unless you count the browser & javascript)
8ig8 14y ago
> I'm a curious person and I click lots of links. So for example I'll come to HN and ctrl click every title that sounds interesting. Tablets hate this workflow as they start removing tabs. I'm the same way on my desktop, but on my iPad, I accomplish this by using the 'Add to Reading List' functionality. Just tap and hold a link and it is queued up. I used this all the time for HN and Google News. I like not having the clutter of tabs.
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  It also saves them for offline viewing, so you can view those "tabs" in, say, a bus to work (without using 3G network).
rockfort 14y ago
I recommend SwipeSelection on your iOS devices (needs a jailbreak though). It makes text editing so much more easy on touch devices. Here's a video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b3UtjC-O2Ls#t=56s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
pawelwentpawel 14y ago
I've recently got kindle paperwhite - definitely the best purchase of this year so far. Pretty much the only thing I use my smartphone for now is splitting internet connection and picking up calls. Even the kindle experimental browser is not that bad as one might expect. I don't really see much use for myself in a tablet apart from using some interactive apps/games and watching movies on the go.
cpleppert 14y ago
I mostly agree with your critiques. I would just add that even if there something I might want to use my tablet for the cost of context switching from the computer to the tablet is just too high. And if I suddenly needed to do something the tablet didn't do well I would have to go back to the computer in any case.

bane 14y ago

I agree with almost all of your main points, except that Chrome on my tablet does a pretty decent job of supporting your "opening lots of interesting looking tabs" workflow (which I also do).

visarga 14y ago

I don't use my iPad much because these things suck: - The cursor placement - Copy&paste - Lack of a file system - Inability to choose which app to associate to various links and files - Difficulty to switch from one app to another (compared to the laptop) - Constrained web experience (as the parent post said) It's a toy. It doesn't even come with Basic or some shitty scripting language to play with (unless you count the browser & javascript)

8ig8 14y ago

> I'm a curious person and I click lots of links. So for example I'll come to HN and ctrl click every title that sounds interesting. Tablets hate this workflow as they start removing tabs. I'm the same way on my desktop, but on my iPad, I accomplish this by using the 'Add to Reading List' functionality. Just tap and hold a link and it is queued up. I used this all the time for HN and Google News. I like not having the clutter of tabs.

pooriaazimi 14y ago
It also saves them for offline viewing, so you can view those "tabs" in, say, a bus to work (without using 3G network).

rockfort 14y ago

I recommend SwipeSelection on your iOS devices (needs a jailbreak though). It makes text editing so much more easy on touch devices. Here's a video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b3UtjC-O2Ls#t=56s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

pawelwentpawel 14y ago

I've recently got kindle paperwhite - definitely the best purchase of this year so far. Pretty much the only thing I use my smartphone for now is splitting internet connection and picking up calls. Even the kindle experimental browser is not that bad as one might expect. I don't really see much use for myself in a tablet apart from using some interactive apps/games and watching movies on the go.

cpleppert 14y ago

I mostly agree with your critiques. I would just add that even if there something I might want to use my tablet for the cost of context switching from the computer to the tablet is just too high. And if I suddenly needed to do something the tablet didn't do well I would have to go back to the computer in any case.