I couldn't resist any longer. I had to give in and purchase a new gadget. I purchased the Acer A500 tablet.
Here's what I can tell you about having a tablet. I don't need one, and I find it hard to believe anyone would really need one. It is useful and it can be fun to play with, but it still falls strictly under luxury item in my mind.
I don't have a laptop. I have my phone and the desktop computer. So for me, this tablet filled the gap of electronics instead of getting a laptop. I've had the opportunity to take it out of town with me and it was easy to have something that size tucked in my bag. The times I find myself using the tablet are times I feel like I would use a laptop if I had one. So, if you have a laptop you may have even less reason to purchase a tablet at this time.
If you have a smart phone running the Android operating system, then picking up a tablet running Android will be an easy transition. For the most part, the tablet uses the same apps as the phones do. Some developers are getting better at creating content to look good on the larger screen, and I'm seeing more come on board each week.
A few things that work really well on the tablet are reading news, watching videos, sketching / drawing, social media, reading books, and general web browsing. I've also found a few games that work well on the tablet. One game that works well with multiple people is Carcassonne. Carcassonne is a digital version of a card game of the same name. It's very convenient to play on the tablet because you eliminate setup time and clean up. Also, the game keeps track of scoring and it's easier just to focus on playing the game.
After having the tablet for about a month, I still find myself using it pretty frequently. It still sits squarely in the luxury category, but fills the gap that existed between my phone and my desktop computer. It never was easy to drag the desktop out to the couch while watching TV.
2 comments:
I have to agree with you Ed. I use my tablet frequently (Blackberry Playbook), but I would have to be honest with myself and also categorize it in the "luxury" item list. There are some things it does very well and I am getting better in using it for work functions (client documents, etc). I do enjoy it though:)
Ditto - I have an iPad for work, but I don't think I would have purchased one. I don't have a laptop, either, but I've got a little netbook. I tend to use the netbook and iPad about the same amount, but there are some things the netbook will do that the iPad just can't handle.
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